Sixth Grade Beginnings

Chapter 18

Helga cleared her throat and began to search through her minds files. "Any question...?" She wondered out loud over the phone to him, "Any question at all, huh? Hmmm..."

Arnold gave a small aggravated sigh. "Yes Helga, I've said that already."

Resting the phone between her ear and her shoulder, she entwined her fingers for a long arm stretch. "Alright, how about this one?" She started with a smirk, "Why did you really call me? I mean, yeah you said you were worried and I get all that but..." Her voice got hushed a little as a hue of pink adorned her cheeks. Hope began to tingle within her chest. "Was there... possibly... something more?"

Her question was blunt and despite knowing her personality rather well, Arnold was caught off guard. "Something more?" He repeated softly, finding himself a little shy.

"Yes yes! More! You know, as in other reasons besides you worrying about me?" She blurted out with impatience, "I mean you worry about everyone all the time so it's not like this particular time is any special, right?" Although she knew what she wanted to hear, she couldn't help but doubt him as she spoke.

Arnold thought about her words and could hear that her attitude was returning to normal. This made him rather happy but his feeling of shyness continued to grow for a reason he couldn't quite understand. "W-well..." He stammered as he reached up to the back of his neck to scratch the nonexistent irritation that he thought was there. "I was worried about you but I guess there might have been more to it..."

She could hear the hesitation in his voice and it made her heart flutter. "And that is...?"

With a small exhale of defeat, the boy lowered his head. "I just wanted to hear your voice... sorta."

Helga immediately became lightheaded as her emotions swiped her off her feet and on to her bed where she buried her face in her pillow. It seemed like all of the horribleness that had been affecting her all day long had vanished in one instant. He wanted to hear my voice?! She asked herself in her head. Mine?! Helga G. Pataki? I think I might die!... oh wait, probably because I'm suffocating myself, doi. Helga regained her composure and shook off her embarrassment. "R-really?" She asked. "But why? That sounds kind of stupid, even for you Football Head."

Her jab at him hurt worse than intended and the boy frowned. "You think it's stupid that I want to hear your voice?" He asked, silently contemplating his decision of calling her.

She could hear the disappointment in his voice and realized her mistake. "N-no..." She confessed as she pulled her body to roll over on her back. "I mean... probably not for a Football head like yourself. Maybe to us normal people, it might be."

The comeback wasn't exactly what Arnold was hoping for, but he took what he could from it. "When someone you care about is in trouble, I think it's normal for you to want to hear that they're okay above all else." He explained as he pushed his negative feelings aside for her. "And in my case, hearing your voice just gave me some much needed relief, you know since you didn't talk to me all day." Arnold waited for a response from her but when he figured he wasn't getting one, he continued on. "Okay, my turn." He fumbled with a few thoughts in his head before finally opening his mouth to ask, "What happened today that got you so out of it?"

Helga scowled at the question. "Way to just go straight for the goal." She hissed.

"I answered your question so it's only fair, right?" Arnold asked; a little defensive.

She rolled her eyes at his response. "I was just kind of hoping that you would have, ya know, danced around the subject a bit before getting straight to the point.... But if this is what you want..." Helga took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, "Alright."