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Another World: House of the Holy	By : Estromale Category: +G through L > Hey, Arnold! Views: 3141 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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It didn’t take Helga long to realize that they were all pretty much outcasts from the regulars of D’yer Mak’er. Timmy seemed to have a demeanor that frightened girls away. Sandy was backwoods enough that people pretended to find her interesting, but talked about her behind her back. Eliza was simply too tomboyish and intelligent for most girls to handle, and Gaz was, by far, the freakiest of the group. She was angry, squinted more than opened her eyes, and usually gave no one the time of day. This would have held for Helga if Timmy, who was pretty much the voice of the group, had insisted she stay and this was with good influence from Eliza.
“So what’s the deal, are they going out or something?” Helga asked Sandy one day, while she was copying down words for a quiz she had that day.
“Naw,” Sandy said, grinning. “Lord knows Timmy tried, but Eliza don’t see him that way. He’s a good friend, and they pretty much backbone the rest of us.”
“Hmph,” was all Helga had replied. The thought had crossed her mind that Eliza liked girls, but after a few days, that idea was out of her head. The way Eliza was into sports and writing and talking to animals, she just plain didn’t need anyone else, male or female. Sandy seemed straight as a stick, and she was sure Timmy was too. It wasn’t like Helga was all that interested in their sexuality, but if the group were to come upon her secret. She didn’t want to put herself at risk again.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to worry about this.
“So Helga,” Eliza had said, after reading all her poems for the seventh time, “what makes you write such heart-aching poetry?”
“What?” The question dropped Helga off her guard. It had taken three weeks before she’d allowed anyone to read the notebook, and though they all showed an interest, it was Eliza who was the most immersed in the words and the way they worked.
“Well, I read them, and they...I dunno, just seem so REAL to me!” Eliza got that look in her eyes that the whole group liked seeing: it was that adventurous, happy shine that made you feel like a million dollars.
“Ah know what you mean,” Sandy said. “The poems seem so heartfelt and sad its like the writer’s been through it all.”
Helga was speechless for a moment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Helga retorted, frowning. “It’s just...I don’t know...words and feelings! How hard is it to do that? Gaz writes that stuff too!”
“Don’t put us in the same heading,” Gaz said, drinking her classic poop drink. “I write about stuff like I see the world: ugly, stupid and full of war. You write like you actually give a damn about feelings and heart...and if you say you don’t, then you’re lying.”
Helga tried to shake her head, but Timmy smiled at her. “Hey, if you don’t want to tell us, it’s all right. We can be kinda pushy, but it’s only because we like to stick together and we understand each other better.”
“That and everyone else is so busy acting like they think they know something, they freak out the moment they hear something bigger than their little heads can comprehend.” Gaz shrugged, and finished up the rest of her classic poop, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.
Helga tried to shrug, then looked at her notebook and stared at it wistfully. “If I tell you guys...do you promise not to look at me different?”
“I won’t promise that,” Gaz piped up. “If I promise something like that, it means I don’t get to make fun of you later.”
Everybody glared at her, but Gaz only shrugged. Helga reached into her pocket and pulled out her faded wallet, and took out the picture of Phoebe, running her hand nervously through her hair. The three looked at the picture, smiling.
“She’s really purty,” Sandy said, giving Helga a toothy grin. “Was she a friend o yers?”
Helga took a deep breath. “A little more than that,” she said, looking in the distance wistfully. “ I loved her.”
The four stood agape with awe, than nodded, looking at the picture.
“Did you guys break up?” Eliza asked tentatively, looking at Helga.
Helga folded her legs beneath her, fidgeting. “Yeah...my dad didn’t like us together...said it was wrong, that it didn’t make sense, junk like that. Just one more reason to make me power in his eyes than my picture perfect sister.” She heard the bitterness in her voice and recoiled a little inside. Am I still angry with her, even though it’s still not really her fault?
“That’s...that’s just awful,” Eliza said, tears in her eyes. “And you...actually told your parents you loved her?”
“Yeah, for much of a difference it made,” Helga said, glaring at no one in particular. “I...I’m just nervous telling you guys...because if that freaked you out...”
“Aw, heck no!” Timmy piped up, smiling. “It takes more than that to scare us! I bet we all have had our own experiences with the same sex. I mean, I was freaking out about girls until Chester showed me how to kiss!”
Sandy had a dreamy look on her face. “Pearl,” she said, smirking a little. “Man, but that gurl could...well, yeah.” She turned a little red. “Her ol’ man woulda skinned me quicker’n a jack rabbit if he knew what we’d done!”
Eliza looked down, kicking at her feet a little. “There...was this girl, Susie Carmichale, that I thought was really neat...it never went beyond kissing and hugging, but it was still one of my best first experiences.”
The group looked at Gaz, who growled.
“I hate everyone,” she finally said, glaring at them all. “The thought of kissing or hugging sickens me. Anyone who submits to that kind of crap should be doomed to face the doomy consequences.”
“Now Gaz! What a thing to say!” Sandy was adamant. “It ain’t Helga’s fault that her family didn’t like her bein’ with a gurl...”
“No, they’re stupid,” Gaz replied, “But Helga’s stupid too. She gave herself away to a feeling that gave her joy and comfort...and now that she no longer has it, what comes out of it? Mopey poetry and a bad disposition, that’s what. Well, I say that love is a plague and a curse: if you love, know that at any day it can turn around and kill you. I don’t trust anyone with feelings like that.”
Helga was speechless. Why did she and Gaz have to think alike so much of the time anyway? This was one of Helga’s deep-seated fears, and now that Gaz had named it, Helga felt selfish for complaining.
“Now come on Gaz!” Timmy insisted. “You can’t just look at relationships that way! What about commitment and love and warmth and just taking care of each other? That won’t function if your parents try hard to make sure you don’t get together!”
“Oh, are you going to blame her parents too?” Gaz said, looking at him hard.
“Darn tootin’!” Sandy said. “Who wouldn’t? They’re more to blame than anyone else!”
“Helga was the one that fell in love!” Gaz said, still glaring. “Human beings aren’t meant to love, no matter what you guys think: they either take more or give more, until either one results in the relationship wasting away. You don’t want to acknowledge that relationships are that way, fine. But don’t sit here and say Helga had no part in making her own fate. Of course she did! I have a brother who I thought was the smartest guy, if a little stupid and weird, until his obsession with a kid wound up becoming the scandal of school history. They even danced at the prom...and they were sworn enemies! Well there goes your logic!”
“That’s just it!” Eliza said. “Love isn’t about logic, its about feeling and caring and respect!”
“Oh please!” Gaz said, throwing up her hands in annoyance. “Who wouldn’t want to have control of their feelings, so they don’t hurt like that? Where are the people you guys mentioned, huh? I’ll bet they’re not in this stupid school, are they? You guys know the truth: it’s better to have an easy, non-committal relationship where you can breathe as opposed to one where you have to jump hoops to please someone!”
“That’s not true!” Helga finally spoke up. “I...I really loved Phoebe! In fact, I couldn’t have imagined being with anyone else but her when I was with her. A relationship like mine is good when it lasts!”
“You tell em, Helga!” Sandy said, smiling.
“Oh...you guys are just stupid,” Gaz said, exasperated.
Timmy looked bemused. “Then why do you hang out with us?”
Gaz shrugged, leafing through Helga’s poetry book.
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Another World: House of the Holy