Have Your Cake, Helga! 🎂 | a Hey Arnold! Fanfic

Chapter 4

"Helga – phone for you!"

Helga extricated herself from her homework long enough to grab the phone from her mother.

"Hello? Oh, hey Phoebes," she answered. She listened for a bit before her eyes lit up. "DinoLand? Seriously?" She listened for a bit more. "Sure! I mean...I guess I could kill a few hours on a Saturday doing that....alright, I'll see you then."

She hung up the phone then turned to Miriam. "Did Dad sell anything today?"

"Now, let me think..." Miriam looked down, rubbing her chin with her hand. "Actually, honey, now that you mention it, a group of college students came by to purchase beepers for a scavenger hunt."

"Perfect – oh, by the way, I think Dad used the rest of your tobasco sauce on his breakfast burrito this morning."

"What?!" exclaimed Miriam. "B...?" she turned around and immediately started searching for her husband.

With no witnesses, Helga walked over to the cash register and took out $50 in cash, pocketing it. Now that she was fully funded for a day of fun at DinoLand, there was nothing in her way from giving her all to her new relationship with Arnold. Saturday was her day to shine.

Indeed, there was no better place to spend a weekend than at Hillwood's premiere prehistoric amusement park, Dinoland. Phoebe had extended the invite to Helga to join her, when in fact it was Arnold and his parents that had invited the entire sixth grade class; Stella and Miles were gracious enough to cover admission costs for all the children.

Everyone fractioned off into smaller groups to enjoy the park; Gerald and Phoebe spent the majority of time together, opting to explore the midway first. Jicu spent the day with her favourite attraction: Brainy. Try as he might to shake her, jumping from rides to restaurants to even restrooms, Jicu was always one step ahead; eventually he resigned himself to being her unwitting date for the afternoon.

While everyone was splitting off, Helga mustered her courage to approach Arnold.

When he saw her, Arnold's face lit up. "Hey, Helga – you made it!"

"How could I say no to a free day at DinoLand?" said Helga. "I hear the new rollercoaster is super scary – four out of five rides end with someone having a stroke. Wanna check it out?"

"Yeah!" Helga extended her hand and Arnold eagerly accepted it, and the two made their way to the new ride in the park: CenoZania.

As with any feature attraction, the line to CenoZania was exceptionally long. This allowed ample time for conversation, of which Helga took full advantage.

By the time it was their turn to ride the rollercaster, Helga had spoken for 45 minutes, and was essentially spent. Arnold took up the slack when they were fastened in and the CenoZania lurched forward on the rails.

"I'm so glad you decided to join us," said Arnold. "Call me crazy, but I couldn't shake the feeling that you were trying to avoid me."

Helga made a Psh-aw gesture. "It really means a lot to me that you came out today. To me and to my parents."

"What?" Helga said. "Your parents? What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Helga," Arnold said. "My mom and dad really like you. They care about you, and they want to know as much about you as they're learning about me. I almost think in the back of their minds, they wish they had a daughter instead."

Arnold intended this as a joke, but Helga said nothing, merely nodding.

They just reached the top of a tall inline and the coaster raced down at max velocity. They went through a few loop-de-loops and seveal corkscrew turns but as they were turning the bend for the final portion of the ride it abruptly stopped, causing Helga and Arnold to lurch forward in their seats.

"That can't be good," remarked Arnold.

"Mr. and Mrs. Shortman!" Sid came running to find Miles and Stella at one of the concession stands enjoying a prehistoric hotdog. "Arnold and Helga are trapped on the CenoZania ride!"

Miles was in mid-bite during the revelation, and Stella had to slap him hard on the back to keep him from choking on the food in his mouth.

"Thanks," he said.

"We've got to go save them!" said Stella.

"Right!" replied Miles; the two ran in the direction of the CenaZania ride, leaving a very bemused Sid in their wake.

"They're like 1000 feet from the ground right now!"

Actually, Arnold and Helga were only about 50 feet up, but that did little to deter the adventurous duo from attempting a rescue effort.

Miles had grabbed a whip from the souvenir shop, which the two of them used to expertly climb the metal behemoth that was CenoZania.

A crowd was developing to watch the scene unfold as they scaled the rollercoaster. Eventually they had reached the car where Arnold and Helga was stuck.

"What the heck?!" said Helga. "What are you two doing?!"

"Saving your skins," replied Stella, pulling a knife out from under her shirt and slicing away at the restraints that kept the kids in their seats.

They got Arnold free without a problem, but they were only halfway through Helga restraint when the car started moving again.

"Helllllp!" she screamed as car shot forward at breakneck speed. While Miles and Arnold tried to navigate their way down the coaster (a fire engine was conveniently on its way), Stella grabbed the whip from her husband and used it as a grappling hook to hang onto one of the bars of the departing rollercoaster car.

Stella was practically skating on the rails as she used all of her upper-body strength to close the distance between herself and Helga. She was now hanging on to the car itself when Helga screamed and pointed: less than 100 meters away was the final loop-de-loop, and without restraints Helga was sure to plummet.

Thinking fast, Stella spotted the highest most point of the loop and timed it JUST RIGHT, so that she grabbed Helga, used the whip again to hook onto the side of one of the rails and hang suspended in the air. She then swung back and forth, mustering up enough momentum to propel both of them back into the car when it was right-side up again.

The car pulled into its original location, and Stella and Helga were finally safe. Stella assisted a frazzled Helga out of the car, whose hair was literally standing on end as though she had put her finger in an electrical socket.

By the time they descended the steps to the ground floor, the crowd had ballooned to not only include gawkers, but police, firemen, and a local news crew.

Miles ran up to the two of them. "Stella, honey! I'm so glad you two are safe." He looked at Helga. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Helga, still in shock, shook her head slowly. Miles put a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. "Good. We were both so worried..."

"We'd never let anything happen to you," said Stella. "You're like family to us."

FAMILY. The word stuck in her craw, making Helga go catatonic. She didn't even feel when Arnold approached and embraced her.

Arnold sensed something was the matter and pulled away slightly. "Helga? Are you alright?"

Helga came back to herself, but in lieu of shock she brought something else...rage. She pushed Arnold to the ground.

"Get away from me, you football-headed freak!" she yelled, so loudly that the crowd surrounding them had gone quiet. "For your information, I was just fine until your loopy parents decided to go all Indiana Jones and almost get us killed! You, you and YOU—" she pointed at the three of them with as much venom and malice she could muster,"—why don't you all do me a favour and just stay out of my life!"

Stunned, Arnold could only take a step back as Helga stormed away from him. Phoebe try to stop her, but she brushed her off and retreated as quickly as possible, lest someone catch the tears that started to stream uncontrollably down her face.