Summer Camp

Yay! Arnold admitted it. He actually admitted it. And yes, I know that
he's a little on the dense side, but I truly believe that he knows that Helga loves him
on some level and he just wants to give her some time to figure out how to bring things
up. He's dense, but he's not stupid.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMER CAMP
Chapter 4: A Night To Remember

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Helga hummed to herself as she pulled her hair into a loose ponytail and smiled at the reflection in the mirror. For the first time in her life, she felt pretty...no, beautiful, and all because Arnold had said to her the three words she had waited an eternity to hear. The reflection in the mirror blushed and as such, Helga felt her own cheeks grow hot. She closed her eyes tightly and giggled, curling her legs up underneath herself as she reminiced the words he spoke to her. She felt like a little kid again, swooning over her beloved Football Head as she watched him at baseball or football practice. Her eyes shot open when she heard a knock at her door, and her heart fluttered when she heard the voice that followed.

"You ready, slow-poke?" he teased. She rolled her eyes and lept from in front of the mirror on her dresser to throw open the door. She grinned at the boy and placed her hands on her hips in an almost pouty way.

"Who are you calling slow-poke, Arnoldo?" She asked, narrowing one eye up at him.

His jaw dropped and he placed a hand over his chest in mock-hurt. "I beg your pardon," he replied dramatically. "I'm not the one who takes three hours to get ready in the morning to go on our camping trip. Tell me, Helga, why is it that all the girls in your cabin, and all the boys in my cabin, as well as myself are completely ready, and you are still in your room?"

Helga smirked and dropped her arms around Arnold's neck. "Just thinking about some stuff," she whispered softly. "Stuff that a certain someone said to me a few days back." Her smirk turned into a full blown smile at the dark red that crept over Arnold's cheeks. She pushed off of his shoulders and grabbed her dufflebag that was packed and ready to go, throwing it over her shoulder. Sidestepping him, she made her way to the cabin door and turned around to face him. "Aren't you coming?" she asked and pushed the door open for him.

He turned to face her and smiled, the blush not completely gone from his cheeks. He made his way to the door and leaned against the wood so that he was looking down at Helga. After a quick check to make sure they were not being watched, he quickly pressed his mouth to hers in a chaste kiss. A few seconds later, he pulled away and smiled down at the blonde girl. "And unlike certain people in this room," he whispered, "I will never take it back."

Helga frowned at his impressive memory and the past where she actually admitted to Arnold she loved him and then took it back. What she wouldn't give to have changed the past. She sighed and turned to watch Arnold as he stepped out of the cabin and into the gravelled road. More to herself than anyone else, she quietly whispered, "next time I get the chance, I'll tell you. And I swear, I'll never take it back after that."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bus ride to the campgrounds site seemed to take forever and more than once Arnold looked down to see Helga fast asleep against his shoulder, only to be jolted awake when the bus hit a pothole. All thirty kids had been paired up with a small group of three so that when they got to the campsite, they would have a specific chore to do, and both near-adults would be supervising. Arnold smiled when Helga leaned against his shoulder once more and soon fell into a light slumber, and slowly slipped his hand into hers. He blinked in confusion at the slight chill in her fingertips but as their fingers entwined, the cold slowly disappeared. Arnold chuckled to himself and rested his cheek against Helga's soft blond hair, reminicing in a time where he was shorter than she was and could not do anything of the like. How he blessed growth spurts.

The rest of the long ride seemed to take no time at all, and soon the two councelors, the bus driver, and all thirty campers found themselves in a beautiful little clearing next to a rushing stream. Within minutes, the bus was unpacked, and the kids had set to work on their tasks. The tents were pitched, wood was gathered for a fire, leaves and pine needles were cleared away, food and luggage were stored away neatly into the tents, and just as night began to set, they all gathered around a roaring campfire.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arnie felt his heart pounding as he approached the door to the roof, ready to face Deep Voice; ready to find out once and for all who he was. The phone that was in his hand dropped to the floor with a dull thud, and over the roar of the storm, he could hear Deep Voice continue the instructions to get out of the building. As Arnie threw open the door and cried 'Deep Voice!' lighting tore across the sky, shadowing the face of the mystery man." Arnold paused for a second, smirking at the intent expressions of the thirty kids as they listened to his tale. Arnold was no Gerald when it came to telling tales, but he wasn't terrible at it, and if their expressions were any consolation, he would make a pretty good storyteller.

Arnold quickly made eye contact with Helga, and frowned at her glare. Flashing her a quick smile and an even faster wink, he continued with his story.

"Deep Voice threw up his hand to block his face as he shouted 'Don't come another step closer! Pay no attention to that man with the voice box!' but Arnie didn't listen. For the first time, he saw the voice box, and narrowed his eyes. Slowly he closed the door behind him as he stepped out into the pouring rain. 'Who are you?' he demanded, noticing that the so-called-man was just a little taller than he was, which obviously meant that he was not an adult. Deep Voice still had the voice box up to his mouth, disguising his voice. 'No one in particular,' he said. Arnie was sick of being tricked. 'No more games, Deep Voice!' he said, walking forward until the cloaked man was up against the side of the building. 'I'm not doing anything until I know who you are!' He watched as Deep Voice tripped over a loose board and came crashing down. The voice box went flying and Arnold met his eyes with Hilda. 'Hilda!?' he cried out in shock. 'You? You're Deep Voice!?'" Arnold smiled as Helga shifted uncomfortably on the wooden seat, subconciously rubbing her ankle.

Finally, after being silent all through the story, she chirped up. "Heh, heh," she chuckled, knowing that Arnold would take the bait. "Looks like it."

Arnold smiled, knowing that she knew their dialogue from years back. He gave her a slight nod and stood up, ready to perform their scene. "But I don't get it!" he said, throwing his arms to the side in mock confusion. "How come you couldn't just tell me what you knew? Why'd you have to make up all this crazy secret identity?" He watched as Helga turned away from him, subconciously rubbing her arm.

"No reason."

"But Hilda, you just risked everything to help me save the neighborhood!"

"So? What's your point?"

"That's a pretty amazing thing to do for someone you claim to hate!"

Helga smirked and placed her hands on her hips, staring up at Arnold from under her eyelids. "Yeah, we'll I'm a pretty amazing person, Football-Head."

Arnold tried to force down a smile as he began to move closer to her. "But I...I thought you were on your dad's side. I thought you were gonna get rich off the whole deal."

"Money isn't everything."

"Hilda. Why'd you do it?"

Helga nervously chuckled as he began to walk toward her. "It's my civic duty!" she said.

Arnold glared at her, but quickly flashed her a short smile. "Hilda."

"Because I love a good mystery?"

"Oh come on! What's the real reason?" Arnold cried, unsatisfied with her response, despite he heard it before.

"Oh, I don't know! I guess maybe I just took pity on you and your stupid friends."

"Well, why?"

"Because...Because I guess maybe I don't hate you as much as I thought, okay? I guess maybe I kinda like you a little. Heck, I guess you might even say that I like you a lot." By now, Helga was pressed up against the trunk of a tree, nervously glancing from one camper to another. They seemed to enjoy the slight change of storytelling and were watching with bulging eyes. It seemed, almost, like they knew where this was going.

"You do? You did this for me?" Arnold asked, catching her eyes again.

"That's right, Hair Boy! I mean, criminy! What else are you supposed to do when someone you love is in trouble!?"

Both Arnold and Helga smirked when they heard their campers' breaths catch in their throats, but quickly hid it from view. Arnold dropped his voice to a soft whisper, "make it convincing, okay?" Helga nodded slightly so that only he would be able to tell what she did. "Love?" Arnold asked in a louder voice.

Helga clenched her fists to her side and prepared herself. "You heard me, pal! I LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU!" She slowly started to back Arnold toward his bench as she spoke, putting as much honesty and passion as she could in her performance. No one could ever say she was a terrible actress, especially as she held the attention of her campers. "Who else do you think has been stalking you night and day, building shrines to you in a closet, filling volumes of books with poems about you? I love you, Arnie! I've always loved you! Every since I first laid eyes on your stupid football head. And from that moment, and every moment since, I've lived and dreamed for you; dreamed of the moment I could finally tell you my secret feelings, and grab you and kiss you, and...oh!" Helga threw her hands to her mouth.

Arnold blinked back tears of injury as he pushed himself off the ground. It seemed that neither of them were watching as Helga reinacted her confession and he stumbled backwards, tripping over the short bench. All around him, the campers were laughing. The fall had snapped them out of the intense part of the story and neither Helga nor Arnold were upset at it.

"So what happened?" the girl named Karen chirped up.

Arnold smiled and pushed himself back on the bench as Helga took her seat opposite him. "Arnie barely heard the last words that Hilda spoke as she grabbed him around the shoulders and kissed him. Now, they had kissed before, but only in situations where they actually had to do it, so when Hilda had pressed her lips to Arnie's, he wasn't sure how to react. He had never kissed anyone before, and now that the girl who tormented him constantly was in the process, he couldn't even react. Finally, Arnie couldn't breathe if he wanted to and pulled away from Hilda. 'I'm confused. Did you just say you love me?' he asked in shock. Hilda glared at him and began to shake him. 'What are you deaf!' she shouted as the walkie-talkie sparked to life. Arnie didn't even hear what Gerald had said when Hilda grabbed the device, choaked out a 'not now!' and threw it over her shoulder."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"'Wait a minute,' Arnie replied as he and Gerald began to walk off toward the basketball court. 'Now you're looking on the bright side?'

Gerald turned around to face Arnie as he walked and flashed his best friend a smile. 'Somebody has to do it,' he said, repeating what Arnie had said earlier that summer. Arnie nodded and they walked off, ignoring Eugene's singing. The end." As Arnold finished the story, he was rewarded with a round of applause from each of the campers, but when he looked in the direction of where Helga was sitting, he found her seat empty. He shook off the frown that had appeared on his mouth and turned to the campers. "Okay, guys. Lights out in twenty minutes."

And with that, he stood up and walked off toward Helga.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


After about five minutes of looking for her, Arnold found Helga leaning against a pine tree, staring up at the moon. He grit his teeth gently when he saw her brush away a batch of tears. "Are you okay," he wondered softly, setting his hand on her shoulder.

She nodded and turned to look up at him. "I took it back," she whispered. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out when we were kids. I shouldn't have even said anything. I was so stupid for thinking you liked me back then, let alone even loved me. What was I thinking?" She sank to the ground, burying her head in her hands as she did so.

Arnold knelt down beside her and tilted her face back up so that he could look at her. "Don't worry about what happened when we were ten," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "It was so long ago, Helga. I barely remember what happened."

Helga scoffed and elbowed Arnold in the ribs. "Yeah, right. You can recite exactly what we said that night, word-for-word. Don't tell me you don't remember what happened."

He smiled gently and rubbed his rib. Finally, he got an idea. "Do you love me?" he asked, forcing her to look at him. A fresh set of tears were already in her eyes and he wiped them quickly away with his thumbs. When she didn't say anything, he repeated the question. "Do you love me?" Helga blinked and forced her head out of Arnold's grip, looking away. "What are you afraid of?" He asked.

"Getting hurt," she replied without looking back up.

Arnold smirked and leaned closer to her. "Helga, I may have hurt you when we were kids, but I never rejected you. I let you take your confession back when we were kids because I didn't think either of us was ready for that kind of relationship." He slid her hands into his and kissed her on the cheek. "But we're older now. Nine years older, in fact, and I think I know you a little bit better than I did when we were ten. We've grown up together, and like I told you before, I would consider us friends. I told you the other day that I love you, and now it's up to you to change this relationship."

Helga brushed away the moisture from her eyes and leaned into the warmth of his body. "What if it doesn't work out?" she asked.

"Then it doesn't work out," he answered, kissing the top of her forehead. "But we'll never know if we don't try." He chuckled softly. "Who knows, Helga. Maybe that fortune teller that Rhonda made when we were in fourth grade can actually tell the truth and really predict the future." He laughed when Helga whipped her head up to stare at him. "Yes, I knew that you knew about it." He paused for a minute and then sighed. "Now, answer me. Do you love me?"

"Yes," she replied softly, "I always have."