Susan got out of bed perfectly chipper. She was greeted by a happy ray of sunlight that warmed body and mind as it illuminated her room. Today would be the day. The first day of school.

For some girls, moving to a new school might be a fearful experience. After all, getting used to an all new town with all new people all of the sudden is never easy.

But Susan was nothing but excited. At her old school, She was never really unhappy, but she had a best friend that would constantly get all the attention. People always seemed to like her friend more than her, and boys would never give Susan a second glance when her friend was around. She didn't hate her for it, but there was always that nagging feeling that wished their places were switched.

Not anymore, she thought as she entered the bathroom. She could be anyone she wanted here. This would be her time to shine.

She just looked into the mirror and what she saw pleased her. Sure, her bones may sport a fair bit of fat, and her eyes were a bit more sullen than she would like, but her entire frame beamed with confidence. She knew she was a nice person. Funny, social, great personality. She wasn't arrogant, she just had a healthy dose of self-admiration.

But, just for good luck, she decided she would apply just a tad of makeup for her first day. She had been having an acne problem lately, so a bit of masking couldn't hurt, right?

Inexpert handling of her mom's eyeliner caused her to poke herself in the eye. And it showed. Now one eye was all black and twitchy.

Oh well, let's just hope that's not a bad sign, she thought. She may look a bit daft now, but not everything is based on first impressions, right? Surely the kids of South Park wouldn't be that cruel?

Oh Sue, How very wrong you were.

She galloped through the ominous doors of her new school. Thankfully, it was a small building. She'd find her way around in no time.

"All right kids, we have a new student joining us today. Say hello to..."

"Susan" Sue filled in.

"Oh my god, she's massive. Just look at those titties!"

"Kenny McCormick, you watch your language!" A red-faced teacher spoke, spraying saliva throughout the classroom.

Sue just grinned. She scanned the kids to find the obscene. The boy, Kenny was sitting in the back row, dressed in a worn-out orange cloak that covered most of his face. He has cute eyes, Sue thought, as she took place on an empty seat and started unpacking her bag.

Class went pretty well. She was a bright girl, and she caught up with the material fast enough. She knew most of the answers to the questions the teacher asked the class. When she spoke up, however, it wasn't appreciated.

"Wow, dork alert." A boy behind her spat out.

She didn't look around to see who said that. The comment washed right off her. Nevertheless, she decided not to speak up anymore. Apparently it wasn't appropriate.

Class went by pretty quickly and like that, it was lunch time. Great, Susan thought. She was hungry and lunch would be a great time to get to know some of her classmates.

She picked up her lunch and looked around the cafeteria, looking for the table the girls of her class were sitting. They sat near one of the walls and, thankfully, they had a seat left.

"Can I join you?"

The girls looked up at her, judging her and everything.

"If you must." The girl next to the vacant seat told her.

"Thanks." Sue said. "I'm Susan, by the way." And she held out her hand.

The girl next to her looked at it, but didn't meet to shake. Instead she just said "I'm Wendy" and looked away.

"Are you going to eat all that?" Another girl spoke up, one with brilliant red hair and a purple sweater. She was looking at Susan's lunch with a judging gaze.

While all the other girls were content with water and light salads, Susan's lunch consisted of a few slices of bread, salami, an assortment of fruits and a candy bar. The right amount of calorie intake for a normal person, tough not for a supermodel.

"Well yeah. Why?"

The other girls just looked at each other and giggled. They weren't friendly giggles either. During the remainder of lunch time, she didn't partake in the conversations her classmates were having, and they made no effort to include her in any of them, either.

When lunch time ended the girls all sped off, leaving her alone while she was still finishing an apple. She called after them. She didn't even know what class she was supposed to go to. This was just great.

She strolled around the school aimlessly looking for someone to ask for directions. It wasn't long till she found one. She spotted a boy with an orange jacket and green hat who she recognized to be in the same class as her. The boy stuck out because he, too, was pretty cute.

"Hey. Can you help me? I'm lost" She asked the boy.

The boy looked at her and twitched. He put a hand behind his head and rubbed his neck, looking awkward.

"Uhm... I guess. where are you supposed to be?" The boy said finally.

"Look here." She said, and offered him her timetable. Hesitantly, he leaned in and studied the piece of paper

"Oh I know that. It's up at the second floor. First hall on the left, fourth door I believe.."

"Ah great. Thanks ever so much. I.."

She was cut off by a boy in a blue hat who was shouting for his friend

"Kyle. Hurry up, we gotta get to class."

"Yeah all right." Kyle replied. And without another word to Sue, he fell in with his friend.

"Dude were you talking to that new girl?"

"No way, dude. She just came up to me and asked for directions. I don't even like her. She's creepy."

I heard that, Sue wanted to shout after him as Kyle walked around a corner. But what was the point? Fitting in here was hard. She wasn't as insecure that she needed only acceptance and compliments from her peers right away, but she had at least expected that they'd give her half a chance.

Grumpier now, she climbed the stairs up to second floor. She passed by a loitering trio of boys that were apparently humored by her appearance.

"There she blows!" One of the boys called after her with an awfully nasal voice. "There she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!"

She could have just let it pass again. But she concluded that you need to be assertive in here. She walked up to the boy with the blue hat and flouted: 'Who do you think you are?'

"I'm fates' lieutenant!" The boy parried. sticking up his middle finger at her.

A brown-haired boy chimed in "And call me Ishmael."

"Shut up, Clyde." The nasal boy said, rolling his eyes.

"Well move on then. You're fouling the air here."

"Yeah. B-beat it, f-fatty." A boy with crutches added.

She probably could have smashed his smug little face in. Have the rest of the class think he's a wimp for getting whipped by a girl. But Susan did not need that. She just turned around and walked off to class, ignoring the sneers of the three boys.

She didn't manage to pay attention during her final classes. The other kids, well, they had stung her hard. She's been treated roughly by people before, and made fun of because of her weight, but it never got to her the way it did now. These kids were artists at making you feel bad about yourself, she mused.

She pulled herself together by end of class. Today was a disaster, fair enough. The girls thought she was weird, and the boys did not like her, fine. She'd get her chance. They'd stop making fun of her weight eventually, right?

"You're not fat, You're just big boned!" She told herself, out loud

"I know, right?"

Sue looked up, startled. Opposite of her there was a kid in a red jacket and a stretched out ocean blue hat. Like hers, his body was out of proportion, but unlike hers, his eyes did not betray a single twinkle of friendliness.

"Right." She said sheepishly. She felt her face warm up. It was a bit awkward, but it didn't bother her right now.

"Aren't you the new kid?"

"Yeah" Susan said. "And who are you?"

"I'm, Eric Cartman."

"Hey Eric."

What she was gonna say would be a bit forward, but she had had enough of this. She needed to make new friends some time, and with Eric she had one thing in common at least.

"Say, you wanna go do something?" She asked

Cartman looked a bit taken aback by this.

"Huh, no I can't. I'm busy" He lied.

Susan looked to the ground. "Oh, all right. I'll just see you around then?"

"Yeah right." Eric laughed "I don't hang out with fatasses like you"

She raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Are you for real?"

"For real and for true, ho! Now move it. You're blocking the entire hallway." Snickering to himself, the fat kid waggled off.

Susan dragged herself home and collapsed on the couch straight away, trying to hold in the tears.

She was used to this, right? She was used to being treated badly because she wasn't pretty like the other girls. She was used to proving herself by personality thrice as hard. It build character. She didn't even want to be like the other girls. Those pretty, hollow shells who acted like a bitch to everyone and their mother.

She turned around and beckoned her cat. It purred as it jumped on her belly and laid down. She petted the furball and smiled. A pet truly is the most wondrous thing. In it there is unconditional loyalty. love without judgment, no matter who you are. Remembering that drove her, and she was reminded.

It would be caturday soon enough.

"The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw"

______________________

So, sufficiently cynical or no? I was reading one of those new-girl story's (Larziee Alice's, to be exact) and decided I'd get in on that with a twist of my own.
Most would have picked up on the Moby Dick quotes. They were more fitting than Kenny's original joke: 'What you call Sue when she's giving a blowjob - A sperm whale.' which is obviously lame and would rate M.

So, anyone likey despite the absence of OC shipping and slash?