Okay, so I know I have another story going, and I'm not abandoning Beside Me In The Morning, even though it is a huge mess, but I'm more excited about this one right now, so deal with it. I've been wanting to do Bendy for a while now, so I finally decided to just go for it.
The title and description come from the song "Rainy Day" by Zach Berkman. And the chapter title comes from "Stand Too Close" by Motion City Soundtrack.
I own nothing.
Sticks and Stones
Chapter 1: If I Stand Too Close, I Might Fall In
It wasn't that Bebe was fat. Bebe knew what fat looked like, and she wasn't it. It was just that she was well on her way to becoming fat. She had wide hips and full thighs and big breasts and a soft layer of chub around her middle and on her arms.
It wasn't her fault. She just had the genes for it. Her mother was fat, however hard she tried not to be, and Bebe took after her mother in every physical way. Plus, she hated salads and she loved her carbs. And sugar. And greasy French fries. And all the other foods that Wendy and Heidi could enjoy without a second thought.
None of the other girls in her class looked like her. Wendy and Heidi could wear mini dresses and skinny jeans with little black ankle boots and look as if they walked straight out of Seventeen Magazine. Bebe wore wide-flared jeans and cleavage-bearing tops with structured, vertical-striped jackets to trick people's eyes into believing she looked like the other girls. Someday, probably in college, when she'd become fat like her mother, her camouflage tricks would no longer fool anyone. But she would worry about that when she got there. For now, she had to worry about surviving high school. About what people thought about her when they saw her enjoying a cheeseburger in the cafeteria. About waiting until the other girls were cleared out of the locker room before changing for gym. About what would happen when somebody saw her naked for the first time.
"Can you have sex with your clothes on?" she asked Wendy, as the two girls walked together to school.
Wendy pulled the cigarette from her lips. "What?" she coughed, blowing smoke in Bebe's face.
"Can you have sex with clothes on?" Bebe repeated.
"You have to take some of them off. Not much you can do through all of your layers, is there?"
Bebe kicked a pebble off of the sidewalk. "I hate my thighs."
Bebe was the only virgin in her immediate group of friends. Wendy had lost hers freshman year to a girl from Littleton named Chantal, before she'd officially come out.
"Your thighs are fine," Wendy assured her, taking a long drag. "They're nice, in fact."
"I wasn't fishing for compliments, Wendy."
"Good, because I wouldn't bite."
Wendy flicked the ash from the end of her cigarette and blew a smoke ring into the air. Bebe wasn't a smoker herself, but she liked to smell it on Wendy when they walked to school together. She wasn't so fond of the orange citrus body spray Wendy would spritz herself with later to mask the smell. Wendy's smell, as Bebe recognized it, was India ink and pomegranate shampoo and cigarette smoke.
"These'll kill you, you know," Bebe informed her, snatching the cigarette from Wendy's lips.
"Fuck off, I'm trying to rebel."
"What for?" Bebe asked, taking a quick puff of the cigarette. She grimaced. She really wasn't a smoker. "You're already a lesbian. What more can you do to piss your parents off?"
"Whatever it takes."
Bebe coughed. "Are they weird about it?"
"Weird about what?"
Wendy snatched back her cigarette and took another drag.
"About you liking girls?"
Wendy shrugged. "Who knows? It's not like they talk to me, so who cares if they approve of what I do?"
Bebe nodded, shoving her hands into her pockets. "So…when did you know?"
"That I like girls? I don't know. I just knew." Wendy flicked her cigarette to the ground and stamped it into the pavement. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
Wendy raised an eyebrow. "You're curious, or you're curious?"
Bebe rolled her eyes. "Not like that."
"Have you ever thought about girls?"
"No more that most people."
"And how much do most people?"
Bebe faltered. "You know, I don't know."
"Because if you're looking to experiment…" Wendy stopped in her tracks, grabbing Bebe by the hand and stopping her too. "…it might as well be with me. I am your best friend."
Bebe laughed. "What?"
"I'm serious."
Bebe licked her lips. "You'd be willing to be an experiment?"
Wendy shrugged. "Why not?"
Bebe took a deep breath and glanced around to check that the coast was clear. Satisfied with what she saw, she let out her breath, nodding resolutely. "Okay. What the hell."
Wendy smiled. "Good."
She stepped forward, so that she was so close to Bebe that their chests pressed together. Bebe swore she could feel Wendy's heart beating, but it could have been her own. Or both.
"Nervous?" Wendy asked, lacing her hands into Bebe's thick blonde hair.
Bebe swallowed, her arms circling Wendy's waist. "Why should I be?"
"In the name of education," Wendy whispered, before tugging Bebe forward into a searing kiss.
Bebe's eyes slipped closed as Wendy's lips moved against hers. She tasted like spearmint and cigarettes. Her blunt fingernails stroked Bebe's scalp, and Bebe thought, for a fleeting moment, that she might like to have them there forever, even if they rubbed her head raw.
And the next thing she knew, Wendy was pulling away and pressing on towards the school, adjusting her backpack as if nothing had happened. Bebe jogged to catch up with her, careful not to reach for her hand when she was back at Wendy's side.
"So?" Wendy said. "Experiment successful?"
Bebe let out a shaky breath. "I, um…"
"Just let me know," Wendy cut her off, bumping their hips together casually, "if you want to give it one more test run."
Butters and Heidi were already waiting at Wendy's locker when the two girls got there. Bebe gave them each a quick nod. Wendy pushed past them to get to her locker, not even bothering with a greeting.
"Hey, Baby," Butters greeted, linking arms with Bebe. He always greeted her this way. They weren't a couple—Butters was openly and proudly gay—he only called her that because he knew how she despised pet names. Especially "baby", as it sounded like merely a mispronunciation of her real name.
"Hi, Butters," Bebe responded rolling her eyes.
"Hello, Bebe. Bebe's boobs."
"Heidi!" Wendy cried, whipping her head around.
"What? They came out and said hello to me first."
"Well, you could at least call them by their names," Wendy muttered, turning back to her locker to retrieve her orange body spray. "She calls them 'Sonny' and 'Cher'."
"That's right," Bebe agreed. "Show a little respect."
Heidi grinned. "Nice. Mine are called 'Wendy' and 'Bebe'. After my two best friends."
"What about me?" Butters protested.
"If I had a dick, I'd name it 'Leopold'."
"That's sweet of you, Heidi. I appreciate that."
"Anyways," Heidi said, sidling up to Bebe. "You know the only reason I bring up your boobs so often is that I totally envy you for having them. My mom won't let me have mine done. She says when I'm an adult and my body's done developing, I can do whatever I want to it."
Bebe glanced at Wendy. She wondered if she was going to say anything about the kiss. If Wendy wasn't going to mention it, Bebe certainly wasn't. She didn't want to make a big deal about it. Not if Wendy didn't think it meant something.
Bebe wasn't even sure if she thought it meant something. Bebe was never sure of herself. Not like Wendy.
"For God's sake, Butters, who do you keep texting?" Heidi demanded, as Butters tapped away at his iPhone.
"My mom."
"My ass, Leopold. Your mom doesn't know how to text."
Butter's tucked his phone safely into his pocket, picking up his messenger bag from the floor and swinging it over his shoulder. "You coming to class?"
"Do I want to show up early for Slocum's class? No thank you. That woman's had it in for me ever since I mentioned that I was on the pill."
"She can't possibly hate you more than she hates Butters and me," Wendy pointed out.
"Whatever," Butters said, jabbing his thumb in the direction of their home room. "I'll see you guys in there."
"Butters! Wait for me!" Heidi called after him. She turned to Bebe and Wendy. "Are you two coming?"
Bebe glanced at Wendy, who was busy spritzing herself with body spray. "In a minute."
Heidi shrugged and hurried down the hall after Butters.
Bebe took a step towards Wendy, picking at her thumbnail.
"So," she began. "About earlier…"
Wendy placed her body spray on the top shelf of her locker and closed the door. "Yeah?"
Bebe swallowed. "Um…"
Wendy gave her a cute little half-smile and tilted her head to the side, so her black hair tumbled over one shoulder. "You wanna come to my house after school?"
Bebe nodded, grinning sheepishly. "Sure."
"Let's get to class."
"Is it Craig?"
"Nope."
"Stan?"
"Nope."
"Would you lie to me if I guessed it right?"
"Yep."
"Dammit, Butters. It's not Cartman, is it?"
"Sick, Heidi. Not even if his dick was made of diamonds."
"I imagine that would hurt."
"What's going on?" Bebe asked, sliding into the desk beside Heidi's.
Wendy claimed the desk in from of Bebe's, right in the front row. Mrs. Slocum hadn't arrived yet, but when she did, she was sure to convey distaste at having Wendy's shining face right in the front of the room, ready to learn.
Heidi slumped down in her seat, rolling her head in Bebe's direction. "Butters has a new mystery man and he won't tell me who it is."
Bebe rolled her eyes. "It's Kenny," she said simply, hanging her backpack on the back of her chair.
Heidi's jaw dropped. "Nuh-uh!" She turned to Butters. "Nuh-uh!"
"It's not Kenny," Butters replied.
"He's lying."
"Kenny's straight," Heidi insisted. "He was my first."
"I wouldn't announce it," Cartman told her, brushing past to claim his seat in the back of the classroom.
"It's Kenny," Bebe repeated, opening her notebook and uncapping her pen.
Wendy turned around in her seat to face the three of them, a condescending smile on her face. "If Butters wants to keep his new man a secret, that's his right."
Heidi slammed her palm on her desk. "Oh my god!" She looked at Butters accusingly. "You told Wendy and not me?"
Wendy grinned cheekily before turning back towards the front of the room.
Heidi narrowed her eyes. "Wendy Testaburger, you bastard. You beautiful, lesbian bastard."
"Why all the secrecy anyways, Stotch?" Bebe asked, leaning back in her seat. "Is he that hideous?"
"Yeah, actually. He's a Quasimodo." He glanced around the room, which was quickly filling up with students. "Do we have to discuss this in a room full of people?"
Heidi pointed a stern finger at him. "We will talk about this later."
Bebe peered at the classroom door just as Kenny McCormick strolled in. "Hey, Kenny," she said with a wide grin. "What's new?"
He stared at her, wide-eyed, like a kid who'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. His eyes darted briefly to Butters before he ducked his head and hurried to a desk in the back of the room next to Cartman's. Bebe grinned at Heidi triumphantly.
"Shut up, Bebe," Heidi muttered. She glanced down at Bebe's chest. "Bebe's boobs."
Wendy turned around. "Really, Heidi?"
"I can't help it. I mean, look at them. And I'm straight."
Bebe blushed.
Heidi rested her chin in her palm, propping her elbow up on her desk. "Can I feel them?" she asked.
Bebe wrinkled her forehead. "Um, no."
"Can I just feel one of them?"
"No."
"Can I motorboat 'em? Just a little?"
"You're a freak, Heidi. Leave Bebe and her boobs alone."
"Skank," coughed someone from the back of the room.
Heidi whipped her head around. "Excuse me?"
Bebe peered over her shoulder to see Cartman glaring up at them.
"What's the matter, Heidi? Already fucked every guy in the school, and now you're moving onto the girls?"
"I never fucked you!" Heidi shot back.
"The logical first choice would have been the dyke, though," Cartman pointed out, leaning back in his seat leisurely and crossing his arms. "I didn't think Thunder Thighs was a lesbian."
"You know, Cartman, with all the effort you put into tearing people down, I'd have to guess that you're either a latent homosexual or you have a tiny penis."
"Heidi Turner!"
Bebe turned back around the see Mrs. Slocum standing on the doorway, a stack of papers in her hand and an appalled expression on her face. Bebe grimaced.
"What?" Heidi replied, spinning back around in her seat.
"Principal," Mrs. Slocum ordered. "Now."
"What?"
Bebe peeked over at Butters, who was chewing nervously on his bottom lip.
"I will not tolerate that kind of language in this class."
Heidi crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, which word offended you? 'Homosexual' or 'penis'?"
Mrs. Slocum pointed at the door. "Now."
Wendy stood up. "What is wrong with you?"
Mrs. Slocum narrowed her eyes at Wendy. "I'm sorry, Wendy. Am I not being fair?"
"Heidi was just defending herself. Or you just conveniently miss the part where Cartman called me a dyke and Heidi a skank?"
"Would you like to join her, Wendy?"
Bebe watched Wendy's shoulders rise as she inhaled slowly, then lower as she exhaled. She watched her fists clench and then unclench. Then, without another word, Wendy snatched up her bag and marched toward the door. Heidi sighed and followed her out of the room.
Mrs. Slocum fixed her stern glare on the rest of the class. "Would anyone else like to join them?"
Bebe looked at Butters. He met her eyes briefly and shook his head. She gazed back at her desk.
"Good," Mrs. Slocum said. "Now, will everyone open their books to chapter nine?"
