"By the way, nice umbrella, Stan. When did you get it? Two thousand years ago?" Cartman snickered, grabbing at it as they walked to the bus stop.

Kyle sighed as he watched the two slap at each other's hands, both struggling to get the umbrella away from the other.

"Stop it asshole, it's sunny out." Stan hissed. "I'll burn."

"Aren't you wearing, like, SPF 100 or something dude?" Kyle asked.

"SPF 180, but I'm not taking any chances." Stan said seriously.

"Whatever, fag. Have fun with your gay umbrella and skin cream. I'm going to run to school." Cartman said with a smirk. "Also, Kyle, you should loosen your bandages a little. You look as tightly wound as your mom."

"These bandages are preserving my skin, asshole!" Kyle yelled, but at that point Cartman was already halfway down the next block running on all fours through the snow.

"He's going to get all of us caught if he keeps this up." Kyle said, shaking his head.

"I'm surprised he's still fat when he can run like that." Stan remarked.

Kyle laughed, subconciously loosening the bandages around his neck and pulling his collar back up to hide them again.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Kenny asked, waving to them from the bus stop. His parka hood was pulled around his head loosely, exposing some of his green skin that he hadn't covered with makeup. Kyle was pretty sure the only reason he still wore that parka was because he didn't have the money to buy enough concealer for his whole face. It also happened to be a convenient way to cover the bolts in his neck and stitching along his arms.

"Hey Kenny. Cartman ditched us to run to school." Stan explained.

"Yeah, I saw. Funny how he's still fat after all that running, huh?"

"That's what I said!" Stan exclaimed.

Meanwhile Kyle was staring at Kenny's mittens. Something seemed off to him.

"Kenny... is something wrong with your hands?" Kyle asked, looking up at Kenny in concern.

"I don't think so, why?" He asked.

"Well, it's just that... they don't seem to be there."

"Ohhh, yeah. Bebe wanted to borrow them. Apparently some other girls have been flirting with Clyde and she thought holding his hand in public would let them know to stay away." Kenny explained.

"And Bebe can't just use her own hands because...?"

Kenny's expression dropped sadly.

"People have been spreading rumours that she's anorexic, and they've been pretty mean about it. You haven't heard? She's been trying out any way she can think of to cover her body."

Kyle was at a loss for words. Poor Bebe. She wasn't always the nicest herself, but she didn't deserve all that from her classmates.

"Oh, Wendy mentioned that." Stan interjected. "Should we do something about it?"

"I don't think there's anything we can do, besides support Bebe. She's not the only one who has trouble hiding." He looked at Stan and Kyle pointedly.

"Hey! At least my limbs don't fall off all the time!" Kyle retorted.

"As if anyone notices." Kenny scoffed. "They're too busy staring at your bandages. Try to keep it in your pants, dude."

"Please stop you two. We've got enough going on already, okay?" Stan pleaded, coming between them. "But Kyle, you actually do have some bandages sticking out of your pants. Maybe just-"

Kyle glared at him.

"You know what, it's fine, it looks great. Embrace your freaky flaws."

Kyle crossed his arms and turned away. Embracing your flaws, what a joke. How could he when the people of their small town were so intolerant? It didn't matter whether they were preaching acceptance or throwing down slurs, inside they were all terrified of the unknown, and that included them. The monsters. They made up a fair percentage of this town's population, mainly because the weather allowed for concealing their abnormal and mutated body parts, or "freaky flaws" as his mom liked to call them. Unfortunately it started to catch on. Still, it wasn't exactly safe in the mountain town. Bebe being picked on mercilessly for her weight was as good as life got for them here. Others faced much worse...