Hi! Welcome to my new story! And if you haven't read The Games We Play, it's not critical, but you may wanna check it out as I'm using characters from that with this one. This features brand new characters (though don't worry, Dahlia nd Clover do show up!), and a brand new story. I'm not 100% done so bear with me, but I do have a few chapters stocked for you all to read while I get back in the groove of things. I also hope you enjoyed this one as much as the first one! Happy reading!

CHAPTER ONE

CECILY

"Hey."

I looked up to see one of my classmates, Clyde Donovan, sitting down beside me with a smile. He shared a table with me in our math class (which was beyond me, wasn't math generally a solo thing?), and liked to talk with me on the rare occasion we had free time. I didn't mind, Clyde seemed like a sweet guy, friendly, and helped class time pass more quickly. "Hi," I said softly with a smile. I wasn't very talkative, but the brunette didn't seem to mind. He teased me about it on occasion, and that resulted in a smile that usually broke the ice-at least for the day.

"Whatcha drawing today?" He asked, gesturing to the Cintiq tablet in front of me, and the pen resting atop the surface of it.

"Ideas," I replied. "I, um...I was thinking of some new outfits to sew." I blushed slightly, looking at him. He knew that I was trying to get into the fashion industry, but I always felt silly talking to him about clothes-he was a jock, what did he care about clothes? He took the pen from the tablet, looking at the now-dim screen. "Well...there's nothing up there yet but a sketch of a body."

"It's cool. You draw really well."

I bit my lip, looking down shyly. "Thanks, Clyde," I said. "I'm glad you think so."

"Yeah, dude! Even the sketches you draw are great," he said. "I wish I could draw like you."

"They're really nothing special," I said, shaking my head at his praise. "But it makes me happy to hear you like them."

He grinned at me when I looked up at him. "You don't look like you're this good at drawing," he said.

"...Thank you? I think?"

"Dah! Goddammit, that's not what I meant," he said, a faint blush on his cheeks. "I just meant you look more like...a librarian, or something."

I giggled a little bit, tucking a strand of my dirty blonde hair behind my ear. "I'm assuming you're trying to give me a compliment, so I'll take it."

He rubbed the back of his neck and grinned at me. "Yeah," he said. After a few moments of awkward silence, he gestured to my hoodie. "Did you make that?"

I toyed with the sleeves and looked at him. "Yeah."

"Whoa, dude, it looks professional. That's pretty fucking cool," He said, then grinned. "You wanna teach me how to sew?"

"It's not hard…" I said with a slight smile. "But if you'd really like to learn I guess I could teach you."

He laughed a little and shook his head. "I'm kidding. I'm not a good student-I don't pay attention." He looked at the clock, and about the time he did the professor dismissed us. "Sweet!" He grinned at me. "Want me to walk you to your car?"

"Um, sure," I said. I gathered my materials, putting them in my bag. My face burned in a blush. Did Clyde like me? I fought the urge to snort-of course he didn't. I was a grown woman and I should know better. "O-okay, I've got everything."

I fixed my messenger bag over my shoulder, holding onto the strap with one hand. I bit my lip as we began walking together, looking down for a moment while I struggled to find something to say. My thoughts were jumbled further when I bumped into someone-a guy-taller and broader than I was. I backed up, my bag hitting my thigh just the right way to send me careening back on my behind, my glasses askew. I'm sure my face would have rivaled a fire engine as I looked up at him, stammering out an apology while pushing my glasses back up on my nose. Oh my God, he's hot.

Clyde poked his head around Tall Hot Guy as he reached a hand down wordlessly to help me up. I accepted with little to no hesitation, but let go as soon as I was back on my feet. "I'm sorry," I apologized again and he let out a little noise that could have been a grunt or a laugh.

"Don't worry about it," he said coolly, looking at Clyde. "You coming? We had shit to do today."

"O-oh right," Clyde said. He looked at me sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I forgot I told him I'd hang out with him and the gang today."

I nodded with a small smile at him. "I understand." I pointed to the door down the hall. "I can get to my car on my own."

He laughed. "I'll see you on Thursday, Cecily." He and Tall Hot Guy turned the other way, Clyde talking away animatedly as they headed off to their vehicles. I walked to my car, paying careful attention to where I was going this time.

I took a deep breath as I got in my car, leaning my head back against the headrest. "Good job, Cecily. As usual, you embarrass yourself in front of the hottest guys you possibly can, and also Clyde, who is going to make fun of you when he sees you again." I rubbed my eyes, sighing and turning the car on. "Whatever, what's done is done, I guess." I flipped my radio on and flicked the knob with my fingers to turn it up. Once the car was finished warming up, I drove home to my decent-sized apartment (2 bed, one bath), where I lived by myself. It wasn't huge, but it had a pretty good-sized living room and kitchen, and since I obviously didn't use both bedrooms to sleep in, one was my sewing room. It was my getaway place to experiment with clothes and generally just relax. I never had guests over (probably due to the fact I was super shy and had barely any acquaintances, much less friends), so it was fine the way it was. If nothing else, the couch I owned was also a pull-out bed so if people really needed a place to sleep, they could crash on the sofa-bed.

I sat my bag down as I stepped in the door, sighing at the empty apartment before flipping the lights on. I missed home, a little-I was used to a bunch of noise and various animals greeting me as I walked inside. Living by myself was a little lonely sometimes, but I reminded myself that it was all worth it. I turned the TV on to give myself some background noise as I went in the kitchen to grab a little something to eat before fixing dinner. I opened the fridge and let out another huge sigh. Today was just not my day, was it? I had nothing, save for a bottle of ketchup, half-gallon of milk and didn't that used to be a fruit? I remembered telling myself that I needed to go shopping, and even though I didn't necessarily want to go out, I had to if I wanted to eat. I looked at the clock, seeing it was around 4, and made a face. I could either go to a restaurant or I could go grocery shopping and neither one really appealed to me, since I would have to deal with traffic no matter where I went. Living in Denver was more of a con than a pro, honestly, and I wouldn't live there if I didn't have to.

I decided to search for different restaurants in the area, and happened to come across a "Raisins" in South Park. I cocked my head to the side, not ever having been there, punching the address in the GPS on my phone. I shrugged to myself after seeing it was about an hour and a half to two hours to get there, but at this point I didn't care anymore. I wanted to get away, and if South Park was the place to go to get away, that's where I was going.

Once I got to South Park, I was instantly comfortable. It was a small town, seemingly quiet and there was virtually no traffic. Of course, there were the occasional stop signs and stoplights but nothing like the rush hour of Denver. It was about 6ish when I arrived, and pulled into the Raisins parking lot. I was reminded of Hooters and felt a little weird, but when I saw a group of women going into the restaurant, I felt a little less awkward and got out of my car.

I was showed to my seat by a girl named Mercedes, and while she was nice, I noticed that she wasn't as pleasant as she could be-I'm assuming it was because I was a female and she figured woman=no tips. Ah well, I wasn't the type to not tip so she'd get at least a dollar. After a long while of sitting in the booth alone, wasting time on my phone, I noticed a shadow cast over me and looked up. It was an attractive redhead, with a bridge, eyebrow and 3 lip piercings. She smiled at me and beckoned me over. "You look lonely. Wanna come sit with us?"

I bit my lip and looked at the table she gestured to. They were a big table already, I noticed and looked back at her. "Are you sure?"

"Pff, yeah, they're used to us bringing huge groups in here," She smiled again, holding out a hand. "I'm Dahlia. Nice to meet you."

"Cecily," I said, reaching out. "And likewise. I, ah…I appreciate your offer."

"No problem," she said. "You're really cute. I love those glasses." I blushed as I followed her to their huge table-it was one of the booths that took up nearly the entire side of the restaurant, with individual chairs on the other side of the table. Dahlia sat down beside an attractive blonde who was in the booth, and patted the seat beside her as she leaned back against the wall. "Sit here."

"O-okay," I said softly, sliding in beside her. I felt everyone's eyes on me and fidgeted, looking down at my lap. I never liked to be the center of attention…

"Guys, this is Cecily. Be cool-she's joining us for dinner," Dahlia said. I looked up as she gave a pointed look at an overweight man seated at the end of the table. "That means you, fat boy." He glared at her from over the menu in his hands as she pointed at each individual person starting with him. "That's Cartman." Next to him sat a dark-haired man (Stan), a woman with long black hair (a tinge of green in her bangs and underneath) and dark makeup (Clover), a bespectacled redhead (Kyle), and that finished up that side of the table. On our side sat another blonde, seemingly shy (Butters), and the guy I was assuming was Dahlia's boyfriend (Kenny).

I smiled tentatively at all of them, not sure exactly what to say. Lucky for me, the waitress walked up, leaning down by Stan before noticing me. "Your group got bigger."

"Yeah," was all Dahlia said before the girl shrugged.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked, looking around.

I quickly looked in the menu for something while everyone else ordered, and it finally got around to me. I put the order in, just choosing pretty much at random. As the waitress-Lexi, I think her name was-picked up the menus and left to put the order in, Dahlia pointed at Cartman. "You're going down."

"You got lucky that first time and you know it," he said. "You haven't won the wing challenge since then, and that was two years ago!" He put his nose in the air. "Stupid bitch."

"I was sick last time we did it," she said quickly. "And all the times before that."

"You're such a fucking liar," Kenny laughed. "You have to accept defeat."

She snorted. "I got this," she said, then looked at me. "You have no idea what we're talking about, do you?"

"No," I said, then raised my hands. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!"

Clover smiled at Dahlia. "No wonder you went over to bother this one. She's cute."

"Isn't she, though?" The redhead replied. "So, Ceci, where are you from?" She seemed to have forgotten her original question, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to know what was going on between her and Cartman anyway.

"Denver," I replied softly.

"Ooh, the big city," Kenny teased. "What brought you to a little bullshit town like this one?"

"I don't think it's a bullshit town," I said, shaking my head. "It seems really nice." At their looks, I continued. "It's better than the city, in my opinion."

"You are obviously new here," Clover said, with an agreement from pretty much everybody. She gestured to the window with a black gloved hand, at the darkening sky and virtually empty parking lot (it was Tuesday, after all), and back to me. "This town? There's nothing to do here. Really." She shook her head and leaned in close. "And there's all sorts of fucked up shit that happens here."

"Yeah," Kyle said. "Shit we can't really explain."

I bit my lip. "I...are you serious?"

Dahlia nodded. "Yeah. I've only been here for two years, and I've seen a few things that I can't explain." She waved her hand and giggled softly. "But it's not like you're moving here, right? I don't want to scare you into not coming back."

I shook my head. "I'm not afraid," I said. "Actually, that's kind of interesting…"

"It's not haunted," Kyle said. "It's just...well...weird."

"Still interesting, to me," I said as our food came out. I smiled at him.

The conversation was cut short as Dahlia and Cartman had buckets of wings ("Raisin's Wing Bukkits") placed in front of them, and Lexi started a timer. She let out a snippy "Go" and the two began eating. It was amusing, and the rest of the conversation was animated as the two fought to be ahead. I didn't really know what the challenge was supposed to be other than see who could eat the most, but it was entertaining to say the least. I talked with Kyle, Stan, Clover and Butters, while Kenny whooped and cheered the redhead on. She was down by a few, and it looked like she was getting slower as Lexi called time. She wiped herself clean and flopped back in her chair, letting out an irritated sigh. "Fuck, I lost again."

"I told you the first time was a fluke," Cartman said with a smug grin on his face. I noticed he still had a little bit of wing sauce smeared on his cheek but I didn't say anything to him. He looked at Dahlia and reached out a hand. "C'mon pony it up. You're paying tonight."

She rolled her eyes as she asked Lexi for the check. The blonde waitress lugged the two pails back with her to clear room on the table and after a moment was back with it. She slapped it down in front of Dahlia and walked off. I tapped Dahlia on the shoulder. "Wait, you're paying for it all?"

"Oh. Yeah. That's how we do it when we have these challenges-the loser pays for not only the winner and themselves, but everyone else, too. So, since I invited you to dinner, that means you too."

"I...you can't! Here, take this," I said, handing her the smallest bill in my wallet, which happened to be a $20 (and in case you're wondering, yes, it was also the biggest bill in my wallet). "I can't let you pay for me."

"Don't worry about it," she said with a reassuring smile.

"I insist. And...it was nice to have dinner with other people for a change," I said sheepishly. "This is my thanks for letting me hang out with you."

"D'aww, this one's a keeper," Clover joked, winking at me. "She's a sweetheart. We don't have enough of them in our group. I vote we take her home with us."

I blushed crimson and looked at the floor as a few others laughed. "You sound like a kidnapper, Clover," Stan said, but he was grinning.

She flipped him off and I giggled. After dinner was paid for (Dahlia finally stopped butting heads with me), we walked out together, and I was invited to a movie with them. Since I didn't have school the next day, I accepted and followed them to the theater, just a couple streets away. We decided to see an action flick that looked interesting, and since we had just eaten, went ahead into the theater instead of stopping by concessions. I sat in between Kyle and Dahlia, and we chatted amongst ourselves until the movie started.

The movie, titled DoomsDay, and filled with explosions, was pretty good all in all, and I found myself really enjoying it. After it was over, Dahlia walked me to my car, leaving Kenny and the others alone for a moment. "Sorry we drug you everywhere with us… I hope I didn't come on too strong," she apologized.

I held a hand up. "You don't have to be sorry," I said, my face turning red. "I had a lot of fun. Living by myself gets a little lonely, so it was nice to get out and enjoy myself tonight." I bit my lip. "I don't have many friends."

She held her phone out to me. "Put your number in, and I can give you a call whenever we all hang out like this. Or, if we're headed your way and you're not busy. Is that okay?"

"S-sure," I said, putting my phone number in her contacts list. "Um, is it okay for you to text or whatever so I'll have your number, too?"

"Yeah, that's what I planned," she said with a smile. "Thanks for letting me drag you around. And the $20 at dinner."

"It's no big deal. I didn't feel right letting you pay for all of it."

"You'll get used to it. We go to Raisins every couple of months or so and I normally get stuck with the bill," Dahlia laughed. About that time, Kenny called her, waving her over. "Ah, I gotta get going. We have a game date at Kyle's."

"Thanks again for inviting me," I said. "And whenever you're in Denver, give me a call. I have class all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I'm usually home by 3… If you're around that late."

"When we go out, we don't really keep tabs on the time, so I'm sure we'll be around," she said with a smile. "I'll send you my number when we get to Kyle's. See ya around, Ceci!"

It was around midnight when I got home, and I was tired. It had been really nice meeting Dahlia and her friends, and I hoped to hang out again soon-God knows I needed some kind of human interaction besides classes. Talking with Clyde was always fun, yes, but that was only Tuesdays and Thursdays, and usually he was out the door the minute the professor dismissed us. I didn't blame him, of course. After all, I was always pushing him away with my awkwardness, wasn't I?

"I didn't know you were friends with Clover and Dahlia," Clyde greeted me as he slid into his seat at the beginning of class on Thursday.

"Oh, I'm not...really," I said. "I mean, I'm not yet, I just met them."

"Oh," he said thoughtfully, leaning back in his seat and putting his feet on the desk. "I didn't think I'd ever seen you in South Park."

"How did you know I was in South Park?" I asked after a moment.

"I saw you coming out of Raisins with them," he said. He shook his head. "Between me and you, I wouldn't get real friendly with them. Cartman's an asshole."

"I've noticed," I said with a tiny smile of amusement. "Dahlia invited me to eat with them before dinner even started, so I got a little glimpse of what he's like."

"Good. I think you should come hang out with us sometime. Dahlia and Clover get along with us pretty well-just ask her to bring you around," he said.

I'm pretty sure my face matched the red of his jacket when I nodded. "O-okay." I bit my lip. "I appreciate the offer."

He frowned a little bit. "You're not gonna decline, are you? We're cooler than those guys." He winked at me with the last bit, grinning then. "Besides, Craig was asking about you."

"Craig?" I asked blankly.

"You know, my buddy. That you ran into. In the hall," he said.

By this point I'm pretty sure I was radioactive and they could see my blush in China. "Oh. That Craig." I laughed sheepishly. "What, um...what did he want to know?"

"He asked if you were always this clumsy and that next time to pay better attention before busting your ass," he said, and my shoulders drooped a little, making him laugh. "But if it makes you feel better, he okayed it when I said something about you hanging out!"

"I guess," I said with a little laugh of my own. It did make me feel good that he wanted me to hang out with them-I hadn't gotten this many invites in years. Since it was only two, you can imagine just how dull life was as Cecily Louise Hart, sewing extraordinaire and the most uninteresting woman on Earth.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked.

"Um...nothing. Sewing, probably," I said.

"If you're willing to come to South Park, come hang out with us. We're gonna go to the park and probably play a little basketball, then catch a movie or somethin'. We usually wing it but you can come if you want," he said.

"Sure," I said softly with a smile at him. "It sounds fun."

"Great!" He said enthusiastically.

Before any more words could be exchanged, the professor announced that class was beginning and we "best pay attention, or else". We'd heard it before, and one of the students had decided to accept the challenge...resulting in near-expulsion, so we didn't test it anymore. The way the professor looked at it was that if you didn't care enough to pay attention to the lectures you were being given, the best place for you was at home. That went for sick days too-we were only allowed three sick days for the entire semester, and if you were out more than those three days, you could count yourself off the roster. You were, however, refunded the rest of your tuition for that class, and told you could try again next year. None of us were stupid enough to spend more time than absolutely necessary out. I hadn't missed a day yet.

Class time flew by, Clyde asking me for help every now and then, and occasionally passing me a note while the professor was speaking (not looking, of course. He treated us like children and whoever was caught passing any note was made to read it aloud in front of the whole class). I genuinely enjoyed math classes, and since I'd be using numbers my whole life, it was a breeze. Once class was over, I gathered my things as Clyde practically sprinted out of the classroom. I smiled to myself. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was starting to like him. It was about mid-year now, and I'd started to loosen up a little bit. I supposed Clyde noticed it too, and took it as an invitation to strike up conversation, not that I minded. And...he wasn't bad to look at, either.

As I stepped into the jam-packed hallway, I felt a hand on my shoulder. "So...I know I asked you to hang out."

"Clyde, you scared me," I breathed, my hand over my chest as I turned to look at him. I frowned slightly. "There isn't a problem, is there?"

"No," he said, rubbing the back of his neck a little awkwardly. "But, like...I know it's a shitload of gas to get back and forth from South Park to here, so...you want me to come pick you up?" His face was red, and I'm sure mine was too as I registered the information. He spoke again before I could and put his hands up. "I mean, you can trust me! I'm not going to do anything creepy, Craig'd have my ass if I did that."

I giggled at that, shaking my head. "Um, no, you're fine. But are you sure? That would be four trips back and forth from here to there, while if I drove it would only be two…"

"Uhhh…"

"Don't be ungrateful," said a deep voice behind me. I turned my head to the side to see none other than Tall Hot Guy-ahem, Craig-and I'm sure my face would have rivaled a fire engine. I jumped and tripped over my own feet trying to turn around quickly enough, and of course, I was unsuccessful. He sighed, holding my shoulders to steady me as he walked past me to Clyde. "So, you gonna let him pick you up or not?" He sounded bored, almost, as he asked, and I didn't think he cared very much whether I said yes or no.

"S-sure," I stammered, looking at my feet. "I-if you want to."

"It's no problem, dude," Clyde said. "You need to get out some. How am I gonna know you're gonna show unless I come get you myself?"

I bit my lip, then giggled a little. "Fine."

"Great! Then I'll see you tomorrow?" He said eagerly.

"Don't you need her phone number?" Craig said, jerking his head toward me. "Unless you're going to knock on every door in Denver. Dumbass."

Clyde laughed it off. "Right."

I blushed and wrote my number quickly on a sheet of paper, handing it to him. "I guess just call when you're on the way and I'll tell you my address."

He nodded and with a goodbye, made his way to his car with Craig. I assumed they rode together, from the way I would typically see them walking the same direction. I turned and made my way to my car, starting it up and taking off to my apartment. I still needed to do some actual grocery shopping, so I decided to go ahead and do that before going home.

"Hey, so I'm in Denver," Clyde said when I answered the phone. "Where do you live?"

I told him my address, trying to hide the fact that I was kind of freaking out inside. He was here? Now? I wasn't even dressed! "You're actually not too far from me." My voice actually sounded way more calm than I felt and I was a little proud of myself.

"Kickass," he said and I heard a grunt in the background. I could only assume that Craig had come with him and I groaned inwardly. How was I going to embarrass myself in front of him today? "I'll be there in a few."

"Yeah," I said before hanging up. I tossed my phone on my bed before yanking my closet doors open. "Okay, so he said they were playing basketball…" I was murmuring to myself at this point. "I don't wanna get too fancy… Agh, I'll probably just wear jeans and a t-shirt." I tossed some light-wash denim jeans on the bed and just a simple black t-shirt before looking in the mirror. My glasses reflected the sunlight and I sighed, grabbing my clothes and walking in the bathroom to change. I decided to wear my contacts-I rarely wore them, simply because I didn't like them all that much. They were okay, but I just felt more comfortable with my glasses. That's probably why Clyde said you look like a librarian.

I ran a brush through my long blonde hair, and with no second thoughts, threw it up in a ponytail. Right about the time I stuck my toothbrush in my mouth, my doorbell rang. I rolled my eyes and rushed the rest of the way. I was not, was not, running to the door with my toothbrush in my mouth. Both times I'd seen Craig I'd nearly tripped and I refused to chance choking just because my balance decided to forsake me. After a moment or two, I grabbed my phone from my bed and made my way to the door. "Ah, sorry."

" 'S cool," he said with a smile. I was glad to see that it was only him waiting for me at the door. "Craig wanted to tag along, but I made him stay in the car."

I laughed. "Why?"

"I thought you may trip again," he said seriously and I blushed. He laughed. "No offense."

"N-none taken," I said with a laugh of my own. "I guess he startles me. I'll be fine today, as long as he doesn't sneak up on me." We reached his car and I slid into the backseat, since Craig had the passenger seat. I didn't say much on the way to South Park, mainly enough to answer Clyde's questions, if he had any. I mostly listened to the other two talk, which honestly wasn't much-Craig wasn't a man of many words.

After arriving in South Park, Clyde parked at a photo shop (Photo Dojo) so we could walk to the basketball court. I, naturally, bumped my head as I got out of the car, and caught Craig's snort of amusement. I looked at him, my face red and he grinned slightly. "Goddamn, you're clumsy."

I bit my lip. "Unfortunately."

Clyde grinned at me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about him. He's just an asshole." As Craig went on ahead, Clyde lagged behind a little, pulling my arm so I could listen to what he was saying. "Dude's always been like that-he's not so bad once you get to know him."

"A-alright," I said slowly. "I don't know what to say to him."

Clyde shrugged. "He doesn't say much."

He noticed the raven-haired man had stopped a little farther ahead, a hand in his pocket. "C'mon, slowpokes." We caught up to him, at the gates of the little park. There was a group of guys there waiting on us, and greeted us as we walked up. Clyde introduced me, and I learned their names before they began playing ball. There weren't even teams-One of the members of their group was handicapped, using crutches to walk, and so he sat on the bench to watch.

He-his name was Jimmy Valmer- smiled and patted the bench beside him. "C-come on. I'm not gonna bite."

I smiled at him as I sat on the corner of the bench. After a second or two of awkward silence, I looked at him. "It's nice to meet you guys. Um...I'm glad you're letting me hang out with you."

"Clyde d-d-doesn't invite girls out much," he said with a grin.

"Oh?" I asked curiously. "I'm surprised."

"He won't shut the hell up about you," Craig said, sneaking up beside me, watching the other guys. He was on a team with Clyde and another of their friends, Token Black-the only African American in the group. The other two were defending their goal at the moment, while complaining at Craig, who just happened to be the tallest of the three. "You're all he's talked about this whole fucking year."

I looked at him in surprise, eyes wide. "Really?"

"You have no idea," he said, jogging back in time to swipe the ball out of the hand of one of the blondes in the group-from the back I couldn't tell if it was Tweek Tweak or Thomas (no last name, I supposed).

I looked back at Jimmy. "Is he serious?"

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "I think Clyde has a little th-thi-" He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath before continuing. "A thing for you."

I looked at my hands. "Well…" I bit my lip. "I don't know. There's nothing great about me, and I think the only reason he even asked me to hang out with you guys in the first place was because he saw me out with Dahlia and her friends."

"You know Cartman's gang?" He asked me then.

"I hung out with them once, kind of by accident," I said with a smile. "Dahlia invited me to eat with them and we went to a movie….But I still don't really know them." I shrugged slightly. "Dahlia did give me her number to hang out more though…"

"I wouldn't get too close to C-Cartman very much. You can't trust him," he warned.

"That's not the first time I've been told to watch out for him," I said. "I got to see a little of him, and honestly…" I bit my lip. "I don't like him too much. I do like everyone else."

Jimmy grinned crookedly and nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty cool."

"Do you guys do this a lot?" I gestured to the group playing ball.

"This is a boring town," He replied. "There's nothing to do here but play basketball and go to the movies, and we usually do that when there's a new movie...u-u-unless one of us has to work, then we do it when we're all off."

"Sounds fun," I said with a smile at him. "I don't really have a lot of friends in Denver...I'm usually behind my sewing machine or in the kitchen cooking." I looked around. "It's really lovely here. I like it a lot."

"You'd be the first," Token said to me as they stopped for a short break. "After living here for a while, country life gets boring."

I shook my head. "I'm so sick and tired of Denver," I said. "I'm only living there because it's close to school. If I had the choice, I'd probably move out here...or go back home."

"You don't wanna live here," Craig said. "Cartman and his stupid friends will drag you into shit that you don't wanna be a part of. Believe me-I got dragged into enough of his bullshit when I was a kid to last me a lifetime."

"So, is it true that weird stuff happens in this town?" I asked, feeling a little silly. "I mean, when I was with Dahlia and Clover, they told me things happen in this town that couldn't be explained. I was just wondering if it was just them or…?"

Craig snorted, plopping down on the ground beside the bench. "Mostly brought on by them. You should talk to them about that if you wanna know more. I've spent most of my life avoiding them."

"Yeah," said Tweek, nodding. I noticed the dark circles around his eyes and how nervous he seemed. I hoped he was okay, and figured he was-no one else seemed worried about him. "Stuff's calmed down a lot, but when we were kids…Aagh! Just thinking about it is freaking me out!"

"Wow," I said quietly. "Tweek, I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"It's okay," he said quickly, holding his hands up. "Don't feel bad."

"He's always been like this," Craig said as Thomas blurted out a string of obscenities.

"Gah, sorry," Thomas said, rubbing the back of his neck and shaking his head a little. "I, um…have Tourette's Syndrome."

I didn't know what to say to him, so I nodded. "Don't apologize...You can't help it," I said finally with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. It seemed to make him feel better since he smiled and blushed a little.

"You were right, Clyde," Token said, looking at his friend with a smile. "She is cute."

I felt my face turn red again, and Craig poked me in the cheek. "Your face is red again."

I swatted at him, looking at my hands. "Shush. You always see me at my worst." I pouted a little, making Jimmy, Clyde, and Token chuckle, and Craig merely smirked at me with a shrug, saying nothing.

"You make it so easy to pick on you," Clyde said with a grin. "Lay off, dude, you're going to scare her."

"If your stupid ass hasn't scared her off yet, I think I'm okay," he said with a chuckle of his own. He stood up then, looking at everyone else. "Wanna go again? I'm down for another game."

"Sure," Clyde said, along with agreement from the rest of the group.

"Cecily," Craig called, and I looked up at him. "You're in too. We didn't have even teams." The corner of his mouth tipped up in a teasing grin before he spoke again. "As long as you promise not to break your face."

"Oh, shut up," I muttered, standing haughtily.

"The tips of your ears are red now."

"Just start the damn game," I grumbled as the teams were split into two. Thomas, Tweek and Clyde were on one team, while Token, Craig (wonderful) and I were on the other. Jimmy sat out again, of course, and we began our game. I wasn't too bad at basketball, but I was more of a softball/volleyball type girl if I had to play sports. I managed to steal from Thomas and Clyde a few times, and Token would usually be the one to catch the balls that bounced from the rim of the hoop when I missed. He'd score for us, so pretty soon we were ahead. I wasn't sure how long we played but by the time the game was over, we were all out of breath. It had been fun, though and I didn't remember the last time I'd let loose like that and really, truly enjoyed myself. Not that I hadn't before, with Dahlia, but this was different. Clyde clapped me on the back.

"Good game! You have to come play with us more often."

I nodded, sitting down by Jimmy and smiling. "Yeah, that was fun," I said.

"Loosen up, blondie," Craig said. "You're too fucking stiff." He flipped my ponytail. "You're way cuter when you smile."

And I blinked at him as Clyde playfully punched Craig on the shoulder. "Alright, dude, stop picking on her."

A grin was flashed over a broad shoulder as said man walked away. "Who said I was joking?"

They dropped me off at home after a pretty entertaining dinner and an equally entertaining comedy movie, and I gained a few new phone numbers (Thomas, who was just the cutest, Jimmy, and Craig-though I knew he'd never, ever call me, he asked for it and without thinking I typed it in his phone. He was just too damn good-looking). I waved goodbye, locked the door and made my way to my room. I kicked my shoes off and flopped back on my bed, my hands over my face. "I've gotten popular all of a sudden," I muttered to myself. "I guess I better be careful with all these boys, huh…"

I rolled to my side, flipping through my contacts and smiling softly when I saw the recently added list. I'd made so many new friends-or acquaintances-and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I'd never gotten called cute so many times-I always saw the same old plain-faced blonde girl in the mirror with muddy brown eyes and a beauty mark right under my left eye, huge glasses since I was pretty much blind without them, skin so pale you could nearly see through it...how was that cute?

I had a mousy little personality, totally shy, easy to pick on since my face turned red at the drop of a hat. I wasn't cool like everyone else-I rarely cursed, never smoked, and had maybe two or three drinks in my whole adult life. I much preferred the company of a sewing machine or a hot frying pan on the stove, the smell of something delicious floating through my apartment. It was the simple things that made me happy, and I never felt like I needed anyone else. That's probably why it was so overwhelming to hang out with two very different groups of people in the same week. And if I had to be honest-I liked Clyde and Craig's gang the most between them and Dahlia's. I felt like my decision may or may not have been influenced by Jimmy, who was the kindest to me, and genuinely made me laugh. I hoped to hang out with them a little more, getting to know them a little better. It was hard, of course, since South Park was such a ways from Denver-it wasn't the kind of trip you could make daily unless you wanted to spend nearly four hours on the road-and as much as I liked everyone I'd met, I didn't like driving that much.

I looked at the time, and sighed to myself. 11pm, huh…I sighed again and hopped up. Well, I wasn't tired, that was for sure, so I decided to take a shower after getting all sweaty earlier...and maybe bake some cupcakes. I smiled to myself and nodded. It wasn't like I needed cupcakes-though I liked to indulge every now and then. I looked down at my flat stomach and shrugged. It wouldn't hurt to have just one, now would it…?

3 hours and four cupcakes later, I was finally in bed and tired. I took my glasses off, laying them on the nightstand before rubbing my eyes and yawning. I wondered what tomorrow would bring, planning on spending most of my day in front of my sewing machine.

And there you have it! Chapter One! I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!