Hey Arnold: It Started Out With a Kiss

Chapter 8: Revealing Secrets

"YAY!! WE'RE HERE!!" Curly shouted as he started loudly clapping.

This guy seemed like he was known for having random, noisy outbursts.

"What's up with this kid?" I asked Phoebe.

"He's a bit... crazy, as I said before. He once painted himself with tiger stripes and freed a tiger out of the zoo." Phoebe said.

"Poor, twisted little freak." I commented.

"I thought you hated labels."

"I do. But I just thought it was funny how Curly went through all that trouble."

"I guess it is pretty... ironic. Also, you never told me why you don't like labels."

"Well, since you've been such a good friend since I got to Hillwood, you've earned it.

So, my sister, Olga used to get bullied. These two certain people wouldn't leave her alone. No matter how much I tried to get them to stop. They would constantly make fun of her, and would spread rumors about her, and sometimes get physical. And why did they do this? Because she was called an introverted nerd!" I explained to Phoebe.

"Oh god... that sounds horrible, Helga. I can understand why you don't like labels now." Phoebe said.

"Yep." I said.

Our class shortly got off of the airplane and headed to the place where we would be staying. Everybody would have a roommate, and my roommate was Phoebe. We had bonded some more as best friends, and our friendship happened naturally and quickly.

The next day...

I had decided to go to the public showers early in the morning. And that's when I saw something that I never expected to see. Crazy things were already happening.

I saw Lila and this strawberry blonde girl from our class... kissing.
They suddenly stopped kissing as I walked in.

"Sorry, I'll leave right away." I said.

"Wait, Helga!" Lila said.

"What do you want?"

"You can't tell anybody what you saw today, Helga. I'm not ready."

"I just have a question. Did you date Arnold to hide the fact that you like girls?"

"It's a long story that I don't wanna tell right now. Just don't tell anybody what you saw."

"I won't. I might be stubborn and sassy and whatnot, but I'd never out someone. I wouldn't do something shitty like that."

"Thank you ever so much."

"Bye!" I said as I left.

I was so confused about what I saw. Did Arnold and Lila break up because of this? Or was it really because Arnold and I kissed at Rhonda's party? It might've not been any of my business, but I craved answers.

Three hours later...

Phoebe and I were just chilling in our dorm, and that's when I heard a knock on the door.
I got up to check who was knocking on our door, and it was no other than Arnold.

"Hi, Helga." Arnold greeted.

"Hi. What brings you here?" I said.

"I just wanna hang out."

"Whatever floats your boat."

I liked the fact that Arnold had made the effort to come and hang out with me. It made me feel internally fangirly, as much as I didn't want to admit it.
I loved and enjoyed Phoebe's company, but I wanted to spend some time with just Arnold at that moment.

"Phoebe, how about you go clean your glasses in the bathroom?" I said.

"I gotcha. I get that you just want spend time with him for now, you coulda just said so." Phoebe said.
Phoebe left our dorm room, so it was just Arnold and me.

"Why did you choose now to hang out with me?" I asked.

"Why not?" Asked Arnold.

"There's just a lot more times, like when we go out as a class, whatever we're gonna do."

"You want me to leave?"

"NO!! I mean, that won't be necessary."

"I was just teasing."

Arnold and I started talking, and it made me happy that the words were coming naturally. It was surprisingly easy to talk to him. I felt a wave of butterflies in my stomach. It was so strange to me, because I wasn't used to having fuzzy feelings. I've never really saw myself as the type for that.
I had to bring up our kiss, I was procrastinating on that for too long. It might've been weird to bring it up in the middle of the conversation but I did anyway.

"Arnold, sorry if this is out of the blue, but what did you think about the kiss at Rhonda's party?" I said.

My heart started pounding, why the hell was my heart pounding? I wasn't used to stuff like this.

"It was fun. I enjoyed it." Arnold said.

"Good to hear. This is our first time talking about it." I said.

"I was scared to bring it up. I-I wasn't sure if you'd want to!" Arnold awkwardly said. "But I gotta ask... why'd you kiss me so long?"

"Why did YOU kiss me so long, football head?" I pulled the reverse card on him.

"No, Helga, you can't turn this around on me. Even though the kiss was mutual, you kissed me first. Silly girl." Said Arnold.

I blushed uncontrollably at that moment as my face was heating up from it. Why must he have this effect on me?

"I was doing the dare, football head! I was just being professional." I said.

"Sure you were." Arnold said flirtatiously as he gazed into my eyes. His emerald eyes were gorgeous.

Then, he did something I didn't expect. He crashed his lips against mine. This was the second time that our lips had met and I secretly hoped that it wouldn't be the last, though I didn't know wht he did it.

"Sorry, I-I couldn't control myself." Arnold said.

"It's okay, I liked it and it's not like the first time that has happened." I shot back.

I noticed Arnold blushing in silence.

"What did this mean?" I asked.

"It meant something for sure." Arnold told me. The butterflies in my stomach were feeling more active.

"You know I have to ask this... do you still have feelings for Lila?" I asked.

"I do not, to be honest. My feelings for her went away before you even arrived at Hillwood." Arnold told me.

"Why did you stay with her, then?"

"My relationship with Lila was going downhill for a long time actually. We just didn't want to say anything.
I had dreamed of being with her for a long time before we got together. She was everything I wanted, and I was so happy when we finally got together. But I soon found out that our relationship wasn't as great as I had dreamed. We didn't have anything in common and I realized I was so bored with our relationship.
I know that it's natural for the heat to die down in a relationship after a while. But it was more than that for Lila and me. I felt like that we were so emotionally distant. I didn't understand why because I had dreamed of being with Lila before our relationship. Looking back, it was superficial. We stayed with each other because we didn't want to hurt each other and we were the most popular people in school.
When you and I kissed both of those times, and even when I talk to you... I get a rush of excitement that Lila never made me feel. Not only that, you're so nice, funny, and smart... and I love your sarcasm and you're also pretty on top of that.
Sorry if this is too soon but... I like you like you."

A/N: I might not be able to update that often, because I've started doing school online and it's making me even more busy. I bet you already know why I'm doing school online now. Stay safe and wash your hands!
This story is not going on hiatus, I'm just saying I might not be able to update as often.