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Not exactly the ugly duckling	By : DancingBear Category: +G through L > Hey, Arnold! Views: 5459 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold, nor any of the characters. I do not, and will not make any money from this story. (Original creator: Craig Bartlett)

Chapter List
- 1-Not exactly the ugly duckling
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 4-4
- 5-5
- 6-6
- 7-7
- 8-8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 15-15
- 16-16
- 17-17
- 18-18
- 19-19
- 20-20
- 21-21
- 22-22
- 23-23
- 24-24
- 25-25
- 26-26
- 27-27
- 28-28
- 29-29
- 30-30
- 31-31
- 32-32
- 33-Epilouge
- 2
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- 4
Helga woke up the next morning with a churning feeling in her stomach, so pleasant she almost couldn't stand it. She had seen Arnold! She had gone to his house and talked with him for hours. He had walked her home, like a proper gentleman, and if she wasn't mistaken, he had made some kind of pass at her. Hadn't he?
She pushed her face into her pillow and pulled her sheets close around her shoulders. She deliberately went through a myriad of small moments she had mentally documented the night before. How his eyes had widened when she had first said his name. How they had drooped half closed, in a sexy, suggestive way when he had asked her to sit in the front room with him. How he had leaned closer and closer towards her, turning to face her while they had been talking.
And lastly, how he had stepped right up to her, his face so close, and touched her wrist, when he dropped her off home. A little twinge rang through her, way down, just remembering that confused, hesitant look on his face. Of course, she had freaked out and high-tailed it back into her apartment, but in the bright morning light, she allowed herself a moment to fantasize. What would have happened if she had asked him upstairs for a coffee?
She giggled into her pillow at that. Imagine, she thought to herself. After all these years of me pining away after him… imagine if he actually wanted to… She conjured up images of their long, skinny limbs, all tangled together, and bit her lower lip.
Argh. She mentally shook herself. Snap out of it. She commanded herself. Even if Arnold does want to… She couldn't quite make herself state what he might want to do, even mentally. It doesn't mean squat. I'm not going to be one of those girls, not even for Arnold. I've waited this long, I can wait until its… proper.
There was more than a little bitterness to her inner ramblings. Helga Pataki, the twenty two year old virgin. She had dated a little, a very little, but most of the guys she had seen had stopped calling her after she hadn't made any indication that she would put out. Good riddance. She had stood by her own sister's side as Olga had gone through an abortion. Helga knew from her sister's experience that no matter how nice a guy might seem, he could just up and leave you if things got a bit hairy.
She shed her good mood as she climbed out of bed to get ready for work. "He was just being Arnold." She growled to herself as she put on her minimal make-up. "Arnold's nice, that's his thing." She sneered severely at her own reflection. She ruefully wished that something about her would change. She had the long, shapeless body of a model. This would be all well and good if she wanted to model, and men actually found that physique attractive, but she couldn't think of anything worse than prancing about in her knickers for a camera, and in real life, men didn't look twice at her.
She shucked her robe off her shoulders, and surveyed herself in the mirror. She was long. Granted, she could wear a bikini in public easily enough, but she would like to fill one out. Even phoebe, with her tiny frame, had bigger boobs than Helga. She sighed, cupping her palms over her breasts. "Not even a handful." She scowled.
Her hips were a bit better. She turned away from the mirror and craned her neck to see her reflection from the rear. Although she wasn't… opulent… she at least didn't have that swimmers look, all broad shoulders and manly hips.
Telling herself off for being so vain, she slid into some slinky undies and a matching bra. She pretty much only bothered wearing bra's to work, out of a sense of decorum, its not like they actually held anything up. She liked this underwear, a pale, frothy blue, with a low-cut cup. She tended to wear it on Friday's, just to make herself feel a little more capable, or powerful, or something.
"Ah shit. Friday." She groaned, and hurried to get dressed. There was a board meeting today, and she had meant to get to work early to make sure everything went smoothly. As stupid as it seemed, the heads all had their favourite pastries, and she liked to make sure she got to the patisserie early. Grabbing her bag, she shot out the door. Today was going to be a taxi day.
Helga was almost humming when she finally got home from work. The board meeting had gone perfectly, even the projector was working. She had managed to get the last chocolate croissants in the store, and a bag of the fresh-ground coffee that her boss really liked. She had even voiced an idea in the meeting, and it had been met with agreement!
The company was going to have a new point-of-sale computer system designed for their retail stores, and Helga was now in charge of contacting stores and collating all of the feedback on the old system. Nothing huge, but it was a step to show the higher-ups that she wasn't just a pretty, vacant face.
She kicked off her shoes as she stepped in her door. Taking a long, deep breath, she let herself relax. It was Friday night, her father would be out at the pub until at least midnight, and she wanted to catch up on TrueBlood.
She took a long, hot shower, and slathered herself in her favourite lotion. She was just putting the kettle on for a cup of tea, when the phone went. She glanced at the called ID and picked up when she recognized the front desk's number.
"Yaaa-lo." She chirped, opening a cupboard and scrutinizing its contents.
"Hey there Helga. Got two guys in suits waiting to come up? I didn't catch a name for ya… but I can ask if you like?" Helga frowned for a second. She was expecting a Fed-Ex from an office across town, but it was pretty likely that someone was just dropping it off on their way home, to save on postage.
"That's okay, let them up Dave."
"Will do, ta Helga." She smiled when he hung up, Dave was one of the few people that she genuinely got along with.
She stepped into the lounge to check her reflection in the big mirror on the wall. She was tidy enough, and in a silky, kimono style robe she treated herself to a few months back. She turned side to side, making sure that she was presentable enough to be seen by her boss's associates. She quickly decided that she looked like she was either getting ready for a big night out, or preparing herself for a big night in. Good. Keep 'em guessing...
She was checking that her teeth were clear of spinach when the doorbell rang. She stepped down the hall, and opened the door, a big smile on her face, and her eyes heavy-lidded. She opened her mouth to speak some inane greeting, when she recognized the two men standing in front of her. Words failed to come into her head, so she just stood there, feeling half naked as her visitors grinned at her.
"Arnold?" she managed at last. "Gerald?" They seemed to fill up the hallway, Gerald was lounging against the door frame, looking every bit as confident as she remembered, and Arnold was standing beside him, a little less self-assured than his friend, but he always had been. The oddest thing, however, was that they were in suits, black suits with white shirts and black ties. They looked great, but… what on earth?
Gerald just grinned. "Day-um, Helga! You grew up fine!" Gerald held his arms open, his grin letting her know that he was the same old Gerald "Come gimme some sugar!" she stepped hesitantly into his hug.
"Uh, Hi, guys…" she faltered as she stepped away, completely taken off-guard. "What are you doing here?"
"The old lady is showin' some back to backs, baby! Come hang with the cool cats!" Gerald's explanation left Helga speechless, and she turned to Arnold in confusion.
He laughed softly as he deciphered Gerald's speech for her. "There's a Tarantino double feature on at the old theatre tonight. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp fiction, if you wanna join us?"
She forgot her cup of tea and unwatched shows, and smiled as she moved aside to let them in. "Sure! I, uh, have to get dressed, though." She gestured to her robe, blushing as Gerald cast an obvious, appreciative eye across her.
"Fancy dress!" He grinned, opening the front of his jacket to show the silky lining. "Tarantino or nothing, pretty lady."
Helga laughed. "Yeah, sure. So… are you guys actual characters, or just generic Quentin suits?" She raised an eyebrow at them as they stood in the hallway.
"Do you have to ask? I, of course, am the Bad Mother Fucker. And God will strike you down with great vengeance and FURIOUS anger, and all of that." His smile was infectious, good old Gerald.
"And you?" She turned to Arnold, her heart thumping in spite of herself.
"Ah, Mister… Blue? Or White or something? I forget…" He leaned over quickly to look at a childhood photo of Helga and Olga that was framed on the wall. "The guy that Tim Roth plays in Reservoir Dogs, the undercover cop…"
Helga just nodded. Her mind was racing furiously through the Tarantino movies she had seen, and trying to match one of the female characters with her wardrobe. "I have no idea who to go as…" she admitted as she led the guys into the lounge and told them to make themselves at home. "I'll just go have a look, see what I've got…"
She raced into her room, an idea having just leaped into her head. She pulled a pair of black Capri pants from her wardrobe and tugged them on, then searched through her drawers for a pyjama set that she hadn't yet worn. Finding it, she shook out the top and grinned. Perfect. She tugged the white cotton shirt on over her head, checking carefully in the mirror that her nipples weren't visible through the material.
She tied up her hair, and pinned the ponytail flat to the back of her head, then ran around her eyes heavily with black eye-liner, and spread red lipstick across her lips. She stuck her head out of the door, and making sure that the guys weren't looking, padded down the hall to her sisters unused room. Opening Olga's closet, she tugged a black wig from the shelf above the hangers. Thank god Olga was so organized.
The wig was from a 'Romeo and Juliet' fancy dress party, where Olga had gone as Juliet's mother from the Claire Danes/Leonardo Dicaprio movie. Who incidentally dressed up as Cleopatra. Convoluted. Apart from the gold plastic snake twined around it, the wig was perfect, cut into a severe, fringed bob. Helga tore the snake off the synthetic hair, and grabbed a brush off the dresser to brush out the remnants of glue that had held it in place. It smelt a bit stale, but it looked great. Once the wig was on her head, Helga preened a bit in Olga's mirror, then went and stood in the doorway of the lounge.
"I've forgotten what Maya says when they're about to go to Jack Rabbit Slims…" she confessed, "but I promise that I won't snort your smack."
They whistled when they saw her, making her blush...
"Two from Pulp Fiction!" Gerald crowed as they walked down the pavement. "You're the odd one out, buddy!" He slapped Arnold on the back.
"Oh, I dunno." Helga's hand came halfway up to touching Arnold's hair, but she stopped herself in time. "Your hair looks almost long enough to tie up. You could be mister La' Royal with cheese…"
He laughed, that soft, throaty laugh that had always caught Helga's attention, and she realized suddenly that he had invited her to the movies. It wasn't a date, but he had gone out of his way to bring her along. She started to get that happy churning feeling again, and tried desperately to squash it.
"Sure, I'll try, if you have a hair tie I can borrow?" Helga couldn't meet Arnold's eyes as she scrounged through her bag for a hair tie. They all laughed as he just managed to pull his hair back into a tiny nub that stuck out from the back of his head. "I need some Bryl-cream." He muttered as he checked his reflection in a dark shop window.
They stopped in at a burger joint on the way, Gerald raising a few eyebrows when he asked for a 'Big Kahuna Burger', and by the time they got to the theatre, they were almost late.
Helga was ecstatic. She was actually out, doing something, on a Friday night. Not only was she being social, but she was enjoying it,and she was out with Arnold, the guy she would have given limbs to be with back in school. She knew it was pathetic, having such a big crush on a guy like that, and she knew it was even more pathetic now, that her giddy feelings had resurfaced so easily.
But she still hoped to hell that he would hold her hand.
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Not exactly the ugly duckling