Heidi had just gotten her things and closed her locker door. She walked among the hub bub that was the norm for in between classes at South Park Elementary. Among the sounds were locker doors being open and shut, sneakers squeaking on the lithium floors, and children happily chatting away in friendly manners. But then, she got to a more quiet part of the halls and that's she stumbled unto a very different kind of scene taking place. A girl with curly brown hair wearing a green jacket was surrounded by several other girls, who were all pointing and chanting one word at her.
"Slut!"
"Slut!"
"Slut!"
"Hey!" Heidi shouted at them.
Heads turned in her direction as Heidi came over and pushed her way next to the trembling girl, which was made easier by the fact that ( while she had lost some weight ) she was still the biggest girl then and there. "What is the fuck is wrong with you? What gives you all the right to make fun of this poor girl?" indicating with her hands to said bullied girl.
"But-but she was checking out my man!" Red retorted, a bit stunned but not backing down.
"I...I was just..." The curly haired girl tried to say before being interrupted.
"Shut up whore!" Red yelled, which had made the other girl back away a few steps and tremble more.
"You shut up!" Heidi shouted back, getting up into Red's face. "Did she even make a move on him?"
"Well...no but i know she was going to! That's how she is! She's always lusting after the boys!"
"Like when?"
"The Bay of Pigs Memorial Dance! She was kissing and slapping butts and everything!"
Distant memories of that dance came back to Heidi. Yes, she had seen a promiscuously dressed girl her age going around kissing every boy she could get her hands on. Heidi looked over the modestly dressed girl by her side. She had also heard rumors about said girl acting and dressing as promiscuous as ever. "This is the same girl?" Heidi thought to herself.
"Have you seen her do anything like that since then?" She asked out loud.
"The other girls looked at each other. Finally, Bebe spoke, "Well no, but we've heard that she has!"
"You heard? So you're going off on her based on rumors?" Heidi asked, throwing hands up in the air. "I don't believe this, you hypocritical bitches!"
"What did you just call us?" Wendy asked of her, stepping forward.
"You heard me, especially you, Wendy 'Feminist' Testaburger, you..."
Heidi was interrupted by the ringing of the school bell, signaling that classes would start again soon. She and Wendy glared at each other for a moment longer before pulling away and starting the awkward walk to their next shared class. The other girls scattered too until only the curly haired girl was left. She started off in Heidi's direction for a few more seconds, then went on her way as well.
During class, Heidi could hear whispers and caught quick glimpses of her female peers looking in her direction. No doubt that word was slowly getting around about the events that had just transpired. She really hadn't been thinking as she had gone off on her peers, she had just acted. Watching them bully that girl had unleashed something in Heidi, something that she had wished to keep buried deep down inside. But, even with all that, Heidi knew that she had done the right thing. That poor girl didn't deserve all the crap that had been thrown her way and Heidi was glad she was able to halt it, if only for a short while.
Later during recess, Heidi had walked unto the playground and was wondering what to do when suddenly she heard a familiar, nervous voice coming from behind.
"Um, excuse me."
Heidi turned and saw that it was the girl she had defended earlier.
"Uh, hi." The girl said, giving her a small wave.
"..Hi." Heidi responded, copying her. "You okay from earlier?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to say...well...thank you for standing for me."
"It was nothing."
"It's something to me. No one has ever stood up for me like that before. Well, except for my brother." Rebecca said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Before Heidi could think of a reply, Rebecca asked, "You want to swing with me?"
"Huh?"
"You want to swing with me?" Rebecca asked again.
"Uh...sure." Heidi said. She had nothing better to do and this girl seemed nice.
"What's your name?" Heidi asked as they got on the swings.
"Rebecca. Rebecca Cotswolds. I'm surprised you didn't know that, you must know the rumors about me too."
"I did hear them yes but it's been a while and I've been real behind on the gossip scene lately."
"Oh." Rebecca responded. "Well, I know your name. You're Heidi Turner."
"Yeah, that's me." Heidi knew all too well her reputation.
Wanting to change the subject, Heidi asked what had happened in the hall and Rebecca explained that she made a comment along the lines of one of the fourth grade boy's having a cute butt. Well, the boy's girlfriend happened to overhear this and that's when she had gone off on Rebecca and was soon joined by several of her friends.
"I wasn't trying to take anyone's man, I swear! I didn't even know he was taken and...and I was just looking! I wasn't gonna make a move on him and even if i did, I would have backed off if he said so." Rebecca explained. "...Why can't I just enjoy the view, huh? It doesn't hurt anyone."
"No, it doesn't. I say, as long you're not, you know, drilling holes in the wall to look into the boy's locker room or some creepy shit like that, you can look all you want." Heidi responded, making Rebecca's face flush.
"Sorry! Too much!" Heidi profusely apologized, mentally kicking herself. God damn it she had to work harder on being more appropriate.
"I-It's okay." Rebecca said meekly.
Heidi sighed, then continued. "What I'm trying to say is, as long as you're not hurting anyone, you do you and fuck anyone who says you can't."
"...W-wow...um...thanks." Rebecca said. "No one...no one was ever agreed with me before. At least, not on that subject anyways."
"Well, today's your lucky day." Heidi responded in a matter of fact tone.
They went on swinging in silence for a few minutes, unsure what to say next. Truth be told, there was a part of Heidi that wanted to ask Rebecca how much of the rumors surrounding her were true. From what she had heard and seen that day, they were at the very least exaggerated. Rebecca talked about checking out the boys but did she hit on any of them? Heidi decided not to push it. It wasn't her business and it would be hypocritical of her since she herself didn't want to talk about anything pertaining to her own reputation.
It was Rebecca who ended up breaking the silence.
"You want to come over to my house after school?"
Heidi was taken aback by this offer. She mulled it over. She had planned on hanging out at the mall with a few of her friends that afternoon but...even though she had dumped Eric Cartman ( hopefully for good this time ) , things weren't the greatest between her and the other girls. For a number of reasons. At least, the ones that she regularly associated with. Rebecca wasn't one of those girls. While neither of them had ever had any personal conflict with each other, Heidi and Rebecca had only known each other through the grape vine with not so flattering impressions to go on, that day being the first time they had ever even spoken to each other. Still, Rebecca's offer was appealing, if only because there was less tension with her then there was with her friends.
Finally, Heidi answered. "Sure."
So they ended up at the Cotswolds house, which looked for all purposes looked normal except for one thing. The iron bars across the windows.
"Why the hell do your windows have bars?" Heidi asked as she and Rebecca walked inside.
"Safety." Rebecca responded as if it was the most mundane thing in the world. "Wanna see my room?"
"Sure." Heidi said, glad to get out of view from the bars.
"Well, come on. Rebecca said, leading Heidi upstairs and into her bedroom. It was a nice room, with blue walls, a pink, blue, and white bed spread and pink curtains flanking windows with more iron bars. Heidi didn't like the bars, there was just something about them made Heidi feel uncomfortable, almost like she was in a prison cell. She wondered to herself how could Rebecca be so unfazed by them. But then, her train of thought was interrupted when she looked over at a side wall. Along said wall were two tall bookcases stuffed with books complete with a step ladder to get to the top shelves.
"There's so many." Heidi said with awe.
"Yeah, I'm quite a bookworm."
"Hey, me too."
One thing that brought Heidi joy those days was getting back into reading. Immersing herself in the other worlds inside the pages helped her forget her troubles, if only for a little while.
There were books of various sizes and reading levels on Rebecca's shelves. There were standard kids books, though Heidi didn't recognize most of the names but there were also books that older kids read and even adult ones. Books across different genres were represented as well. Fantasy and mystery. Drama and comedy. Science fiction and horror. Autobiographies, books pertaining to science and more.
"Can I pick one up?" Heidi asked.
"Sure, go ahead."
There were whole series, including one called 'Drill Down to The Roots'.
Heidi pulled one out and looked over the cover. It was the first of the series and had a picture of a woman who seemed to be a dentist, judging from the doctor's uniform she wore and the drill in her hand. She was also carrying a magnifying glass in the other one and wearing a detective's hat. The title was 'Roots'.
"It's uh...about a dentist who...who after h-helping the police solve the mu-murder of one of her patient's, goes on to solve more and uh...look, I know it sounds dumb and they are but... I don't know, they're just...fun to read." Rebecca spoke fast while fidgeting with her hands and avoiding eye contact.
"Relax, I've liked plenty of dumb stuff myself, believe me." Heidi tried to reassure her, putting the book back in it's place and continuing to look over the spines of others. "Still do in fact."
There were several thick biology books, including a couple volumes of 'Human Anatomy'.
"You like biology?" Heidi asked.
"Y-yes! I want to be a doctor when I grow up, either a brain or heart surgeon! Or maybe just a general surgeon, I can't decide." Rebecca responded, nervousness replaced by enthusiasm.
"That's cool, I like science too." Heidi responded.
"Oh really? In that case, wanna see my tardigrades?" Rebecca asked, face lighting up more still.
"Tar-da-grades? What are those?" Heidi asked, rising an eyebrow.
"Oh, maybe you know them by their more common name, water bears?" Rebecca asked.
Water bears?
"Wa-water bears?" Heidi said, trying her best to keep her cool.
"Yeah, they're real neat. They're right here on my desk."
Flashbacks to the Special Ed's Science Fair came back to Heidi, back when she was still with Eric Cartman, back when she was at her fattest and meanest, back when she was so angry at the idea at judging the science fair and being at school on a Saturday, that she...
Rebecca went over to her desk, which had a microscope and several petri dishes containing balls of moss, which housed the micro-animals. She grabbed one and proudly showed it off, "So, ever hear of these adorable little badasses of nature or what?"
"I have to go." Heidi said barely above a whisper.
"What?"
"I have to go." Heidi said again, louder this time before heading for the door.
"Wait, Heidi!" Rebecca yelled, gently putting the petri dish back on the desk before following her.
Rebecca's numerous calls of her name didn't stop Heidi. She exited Rebecca's room, then her house, then she kept running, leaving Rebecca standing dejected on her threshold.
"What did I say?"
The next day at school, Rebecca tried to flag down Heidi but over and over again, Heidi pretended not to hear her. Finally, during recess, Rebecca found Heidi sitting alone under a tree in a quiet corner of the playground. marched up to her and asked, "What did I do?"
"Huh?" Heidi looked up at her.
"I thought we were having a nice time yesterday, what did I do wrong?"
"It's nothing, you did nothing wrong, I just needed go home, that's all."
"I know that's not it! Please tell me the truth."
Heidi stayed silent, avoiding Rebecca's pleading eyes.
"I want to make things right but first you have to tell me what's wrong." Rebecca said as she sat down next to Heidi.
More silence.
"It was the water bears, wasn't it?"
From the look of shock that came across Heidi's face, Rebecca knew she was on the right track.
"I mentioned them and that's when you got weird and left. What I don't understand is, why? Why did that upset you?"
Finally, Heidi sighed, looked at Rebecca and spoke, "You remember the week of the Special Ed Science Fair?"
Rebecca pondered for a moment before saying, "Oh, yeah, I was sick with the chicken poxes that week. I remember cause I was so upset that I wouldn't be able to go. Then, I heard that it got canceled cause..." Realization suddenly struck Rebecca. "Oh my god, I remember now, it was you." Pointing at Heidi. "You got it canceled."
"Yep, but...that's not the whole story. You didn't hear what happened next?"
"No, I didn't care to know anymore after that, I was too upset about the science fair. But I assume water bears were involved, right?"
"Yes." Heidi took a deep breath before continuing. "For their project, two boys studied and were able to train some water bears to be able to dance."
"No. Way."
"I'm serious. They were able to get them to dance to Hokey Pokey and soon, Taylor Swift as well. This caught the attention of some government guys that wanted to use them. But then...I got the science fair canceled and when they found that out, the government were pissed. So much so that they pulled guns out and held everyone hostage, saying that they needed the water bears cause football was dying."
"Football?"
"Yeah, they wanted the water bears to be football fans. I don't know, it was some bat shit crazy reason. Anyways, then someone saw that the water bears had actually become football fans. Don't ask how, I don't know either. Anyways, with that distraction, I took them. I took the water bears and I was chased for a bit and then there was a standoff. Everyone tried to get me to hand them over but...I didn't listen. I was just so angry and sick of feeling used that I...I drank the water bears."
"You drank them!?"
"Yes, I drank them! I killed innocent creatures that were starting to gain sentience and could have benefited to society all because I wanted the science fair cancelled and you want to know why? Because I wanted to get out of judging it and being at school on a Saturday. In my fucked up mind, I thought I was being forced to be a judge, that i was being treated like a 'slave'." Here's the thing, I had willingly volunteered to do it in the first place the month before. I was just looking for someone to blame, just playing the fucking victim."
"So there you have it, what do you think?"
"...Wow. I...don't know what to say." Rebecca said, stunned.
"How about 'What the fuck is wrong with you?'" Heidi thought to herself. "Or 'I don't to hang out with you anymore' or 'Stay the hell away from me, you freak!'"
"I'm sorry." Was Rebecca's answer.
"What?"
"I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable yesterday." Rebecca continued.
"What are you talking about? You have nothing to apologize for. You didn't know."
"But I still made you upset and I'm apologizing for it. I promise, If you want to come back to my house, I can hide the water bears in a closet or something so you won't have to even think about them. Or, we can just stay away from my house until I release them back into the wild, if you would prefer that."
"Wait, you still wanna hang out with me?" Heidi said, taken aback.
"Yes, if you still want to hang out with me."
"But, but you know what I did and...and I'm not just talking about the water bears. You know how awful I became while I was dating...him." Rebecca could practically feel the disgust coming from Heidi's mouth at that last word.
"...I did...hear things. You...weren't very nice." Rebecca said hesitantly.
"I was a fat entitled bigoted bitch who made everyone around me miserable." Heidi said simply.
"But you're not like that now!"
"And what do you know about who I am now?"
"...I know that you enjoy the sciences and literature. That you will stand up against bullies, can't stand hypocrisy, that you're nonjudgmental with how people live their lives. And that you seem genuinely contrite for your past actions and are really working hard at being a good person."
"And, if you'll have me, I would be honored to continue to hang out with you."
Heidi didn't responded for a few seconds. Finally, she spoke.
"What if I told you I used you as an excuse to ditch my friends?"
"...Why did you do that?"
"Cause they're all a bunch of two faced bitches, that's why! When I quit Twitter, they all completely ignored me! They all acted like I was dead, a ghost! No one bothered to talk to me face to face like a normal person! Because of that, I was all alone and that's when I ran into Eric Cartman. We were just two kids with no social media and no friends and he was all I had and...and..." Heidi paused and lowered her face. "Fuck."
"Heidi...?" Rebecca started to reach a hand out to her.
"There I go again, putting the blame on others." Heidi spoke soflty.
"What?" Rebecca stopped in her tracks, letting her hand fall to her side.
Heidi lifted her face back up and spoke louder. "The first person that I approached after throwing away my phone was Cartman. Not any of my friends, him. I had ignored them all right back."
"Okay, you all definitely should have talked to each other back then. That was a mistake on everyone's part though, not just your's."
"...Yeah, but that's not the only thing. Before the last time I did it, I had dumped Eric before and the girls took me out to celebrate. But then they just kept saying things like 'what were you thinking?' and 'we told you so' and...and making me feel like a idiot for dating him in the first place and it made me want to prove that I wasn't and I ended up back together with him and well...you know how well that turned out." Heidi's arms were stiff at her sides, balling up clumps of grass and dirt with her fists, knuckles turning white.
"And you know the worse part? None of them has apologized for what they said. Even though I've apologized for all the crap I said and did, not a single one of them has done the same for me. I mean, all I'm asking is for a simple 'I'm sorry for saying those things to you that made you feel like a moron and drove you to get back together with your abusive boyfriend and say antisemitic shit to a really great guy who helped you when no one else did', that's not too much to ask for, is it?" Heidi looked up at Rebecca with pleading eyes shining with the beginnings of tears.
Rebecca had questions about the antisemitic shit but decided to push those aside. Heidi needed her then and there. Her inquiries could wait.
"No, of course not. It's the least you deserve." Rebecca said in the gentlest voice she could. What she said next, she proceeded to do so with caution. "It's just...maybe just maybe the reason they haven't done so is because they don't realize their words hurt. Maybe you have to confront them about it, make them understand what they did was wrong."
"How could they not understand!?" Heidi shouted, startling Rebecca. Lowering the volume, Heidi went on. "I'm sorry, it's just...I don't understand how none of them can see it. I mean, what if they do, or at least some of them do and and they just don't care."
"I don't know but you don't know that either and you won't unless it's brought up. Bring it up."
Heidi didn't responded right away, looking back at Rebecca, then sweeping her gaze over the playground at their peers enjoying themselves, then to something over the horizon that Rebecca couldn't see.
"Okay, I'll tell everyone at the next girl's meeting...and I want you there as well."
"What? Why?"
"You're the one getting me to do this, maybe having you there will keep me from chickening out?"
"Bu-but am I allowed? I'm not exactly on good terms with everyone."
"I'll find a way."
"...Okay, I'll do it."
"Wow" Rebecca said with awe.
"Nice, isn't it?" Heidi said.
They had entered the meeting hall for the fourth grade girls, a bright pink room with unicorn and boy heart throb posters, paper hearts, and lists adorning the walls. Two long rows of pink desks faced each other and at the head of it all was a judge's bench with a table in front. Heads turned as they walked to their respective seats, the chatter from before dying as eyes recognized Rebecca. Glares were shoot her way, causing the girl to become tense and grab Heidi's arm. Heidi was a bit taken aback by the contact but not enough to shake the other girl off. Instead she let Rebecca hold unto her and shot daggers right back at their peers, who wilted under her gaze and looked away. Everyone got settled in their seats ( with Rebecca in an extra chair at Heidi's desk ) and the meeting began.
Bebe banged a small toy gravel. "Today's meeting is called to order. Now, today is going to be a little different. Heidi has a special topic that she wishes to discuss." she announced to the crowd.
"But I thought we were going to continue to list the best lipglosses?" A random girl whined.
"And hopefully we can continue that but for right now, let's hear what Heidi has to say." Bebe explained. "Heidi has the floor."
Heidi took a deep breath, then stood up.
"Thank you. My fellow girls, there is an important matter that I feel has been ignored for far too long."
"Is this about her?" Red interrupted, looking straight at Rebecca. "Is that why she's here?"
"Red!" Wendy said.
Heidi continued. "Yes but it goes deeper then that. How Rebecca has been been treated is only the tip of the iceberg that is my problems with all of you."
This caused murmurs among the crowd.
"You haven't there for me!" Heidi proclaimed.
"Huh?" The crowd went.
"None of you have been there for me." Heidi's volume had lowered but still loud enough for everyone to hear. "When I quit Twitter, instead of comforting me in my time of need, all of you ignored and treated me like I was dead! A ghost! It made me feel so alone..." There was sadness and bitterness in her tone as she went on. "and then I find someone else all alone as well and we start talking and he listened to me and was real sweet and...when you feel you have no one, you'll take any kindness you can get, even if it comes from Eric Cartman."
"Oh, so you're blaming us for you getting together with that sociopath? No one made you throw your phone away, Heidi!" Bebe argued.
"You're right, that was my choice. And yeah, I should have tried to reach out to one of you first, that was a mistake on my part, i admit that. But at least one of you should have done the same for me. A kind word or two, a shoulder to cry on, even an awkward pat on the back and saying 'there there'," Heidi said, giving her own shoulder a few quick pats.", something, anything. Why? Why didn't someone, anyone do that?" holding out her hands, imploring for an answer.
The girls looked around among themselves. No one knew how to respond. The ones not close to Heidi at least had that excuse but what about her closest friends? What was their's?
"Me personally, I...I don't know." Isla said timidly. "It was scary and I didn't what to do or what to say and...that's no excuse and I'm sorry."
"I just...with everything else going on at the time, you remember, it was crazy, Shankhunt, breaking up with the boys...I didn't know what to do with you...I didn't know how to help you...fuck...I'm sorry." Wendy added.
There were apologizes thrown around.
"Hold the apologizes." Heidi interrupted. The room quieted down. "That isn't the worse part." She paused, everyone waiting with baited breath.
Heidi swallowed hard. She looked around the room. The next words she had in mind, once she spoke them, they could never be taken back. She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw that it was Rebecca's. She was giving her an encouraging look. Heidi gave her a small smile, took a deep breath, and turning back to the crowd.
"You all judge me for being with him in the first place but did any of you even once try to see things from my point of view? Did you even think to hear what I had to say on the matter, instead of jumping to conclusions and criticizing me? Did anyone think that maybe what I needed the most wasn't being told 'I told you so' but instead someone to just listen? Kyle..." Heidi swallowed a lump in her throat. "...Kyle was the only one who did that for me and it worked. I broke up with Cartman, starting seeing Kyle, and I felt better then I had in months. And then...the night you all took me out to dinner to celebrate my freedom. Where you all processed to go right back to mocking me. Nothing had changed! I had still dared to date Eric Cartman and you all made good on making sure I didn't forget how stupid and naive I was! It made me feel like no matter what I did, it would never be good enough for you!"
"That's not fair!" Bebe jumped up out of her seat, palms flat on table. "We weren't trying to make you feel bad! We were just having fun!"
"I wasn't having fun! Do you like being called stupid?" Heidi argued, pointing at Bebe, then at herself. "Cause I don't! It fucking hurts! It made me feel small and useless and because of you all, I wanted to prove that I wasn't more then ever! Because of you, I was willing to listen to anyone who told me I wasn't! So I went back to Cartman to prove to you, to prove to myself that he wasn't all bad and then he went and told me what I desperately wanted to hear, that I wasn't stupid, that it wasn't my fault that our relationship fell apart and I listened to him, let him fill my head with complete and utter bullcrap to make myself feel better! I let myself believe that he wasn't at fault, that Kyle and I were, because i'm of Irish decent that I couldn't help being moody and therefore couldn't control my emotions and that Kyle was a sneaky jew who couldn't help tricking me and destroying our relationship! And I ate it all up because you helped put me in that vulnerable frame of mind by constantly making fun of me for following my heart and doing what i thought was right!"
As Heidi processed to try to catch her breath, no one else dared make a sound. Had it no been for Heidi's panting, one could have heard a pin drop, or a pen as was the case, it's owner ignoring the blue writing instrument as it dropped down unto the pink carpet. The owner's name was Jenny Simons, who had been listening with baited breath as Heidi had recounted her tale.
Someone else who was on the edge of her seat was Wendy Testaburger. All this talk of betrayal brought back memories of when she herself had her conflicts with her peers. The time when it was the latest trend to be a whore because of Paris Hilton and all her friends abandoned her for her refusal to conform. She had eventually tried to become promiscuous to get her friends back but luckily Mr. Slave set her and everyone else straight and things back to normal. Then there was the time she was accused of being 'jelly' and a 'hater' because she had tried to speak against the unfair body standards for women and girls when all the girls were altering their pictures in Photoshop to look more 'beautiful', but her words were taken the wrong way and in the end, she had succumbed to peer pressure and altered her own picture, all to make the accusations stop. Yep, Wendy was no stranger to being mocked and left behind for following her heart and doing what she thought was right.
"There are things that i could have done differently, that I should have done but the same goes for all of you too. I've apologized and am trying to own up to my mistakes, now I'm asking the same of you." Heidi finished.
Bebe rose out of her seat and spoke. "So, it's our fault that you let him walk all over you? It's our fault that you fed into his bigoted bullshit? It's our fault that you let him turn you into a monster as well? Newsflash Heidi, that isn't on anyone here but yourself! You chose to quit Twitter, you chose to isolate yourself, you chose to talk to Eric Cartman, even though you knew what he was like. You chose to ignore all our warnings, ignore the fact that he is a monster. You chose to take our joking around that night seriously. And now, you dare ask us to apologize, like you did nothing wrong? Fuck that!"
Heidi was about to argue that when she was interrupted by Wendy getting up in her seat and shouting at Bebe. "Shut the fuck up, Bebe!"
"Wendy..." Bebe was stunned to say the least.
"Heidi admits that she made mistakes, she's saying that she isn't the one here who did. And she's right, we're all at fault here." Wendy went on, then she looked directly at Heidi. "I was so caught up with trying to stop Shankhunt and the war against the boys that I forgot to be there for you and I continued to do that by judging you for dating Cartman. I should have tried to understand the how it happened and why you stayed with him, instead of blaming you and saying that it was your fault for letting him abuse you, which is complete and utter bull crap. And you want to know something really fucked up? Kyle tried to warn me and several others about that very thing and we didn't listen." Wendy banged her fist unto the table. "We didn't listen." and hanging her head in shame.
"Kyle warned you?" Heidi was stunned by what she was hearing but not as shocked as she would have thought. That was so like Kyle.
"Yes, he did. He told us to stop ragging you and warned us that if we kept doing it, you would keep doubling down and going back to Cartman and we ignored him. I ignored him." Wendy's voice got more choked up as she went on. "I'm supposed to be your friend and yet all I did was help push you into the arms of a monster. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Heidi." Wendy had been fighting to hold back tears through Heidi's recounting of the unfortunate events. Now, they were freely flowing out of her eyes and down her cheeks. "I'm supposed to be all about supporting your fellow girls and I couldn't do that for you. You're right, I really am a hypocritical bitch."
Heidi wasn't as trusting as she had once been, not so quick to take people at their words anymore but as she studied Wendy's face, hazel eyes staring into brown, she found herself starting to believe that maybe her friend was truly remorseful for her actions.
"...I want to believe you but...it's going to take more then saying sorry to make things right." Heidi said.
"I understand. Is there anything I can do? That we can do?" Wendy asked, looking around the room.
"Yes, there is. Let's be better to each other. Assume less and listen more. Stop being so quick to judge anyone who might be a little different or strange. Let's reach out to some of the other girls at school, the rejects, the outcasts, and I think the perfect girl to start with is Rebecca Cotswolds." At her name, Rebecca stared in shock at Heidi.
"What?" Rebecca and the other girls all exclaimed at the same time.
"No way!" Red said. "I am not going to be friends with that man stealing whore!"
"Me neither!" Bebe joined in as did several other girls.
"That's not fair, I think we should give Rebecca a chance!" Nicole piped in.
"Yeah!" Esther agreed as did several other girls.
Then things escalated into a shouting match as both sides agreed their point. One had a hard time hearing their own thoughts with all the noise that soon consumed the room. Heidi was so caught up in the chaos that it took her a few moments to notice Rebecca, who had covered her ears and shut her eyes, trying to drown it all out. Heidi stopped and knelt down next to her. Then she stood back up, determination on her face.
"Stop!" Heidi tried to shout above it all. It didn't work. She tried again. "Stop!" Still wasn't loud enough.
"Bebe, please, think about what you're saying!" Wendy was pleading with her friend.
"I know exactly what I'm saying and I'm not backing down. Rebecca is a two bit slut and Heidi is a bitch who's still trying to play the victim!"
"Will you listen to yourself?! You're the one being the bitch playing the victim!" Wendy shouted.
"Am Not!"
"Are Too!"
"Am Not!"
"Are Too!"
"QUIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!"
Finally, Heidi was able to make her voice ring out above them all, making everyone else stop and look at her.
"This is getting us nowhere. How about we put it to a vote? Everyone in favor of my plan, raise their hand." Heidi raised her own hand. Rebecca, Wendy, Jenny, Nicole, Esther, Isla and several others raised their's as well.
"Fine, now all oppressed raise your's." Bebe said, raising her hand. Red, Lola, and several others raised their's. It was clear to see that they were outnumbered.
"Nah uh, no way, I'm not doing this." Red said, making stopping motions with her hands ,then starting towards the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" Nicole asked.
"I quit this stupid club. Have fun with your two faced bitches and gutter sluts. Screw guys, I'm going home." Red said, flipping the bird as she walked away. All the girls who had voted no on Heidi's plan got up and started towards the door themselves.
"Lola, please." Jenny begged her friend.
Lola looked away as she said, slight hesitation in her tone, "I'm sorry, Jenny but I can't be apart of this."
"Please girls, let's talk about this." Heidi pleaded.
"There's nothing left to say. You may have all of them fooled." Red said, pointing to the girls in agreement with Heidi. "But not me." then pointing to herself. Then she continued on her way, out the door, along with all the other girls in agreement with her, the last one out slamming it shut. Everyone left stared at the door in silence for a few moments after that, stunned in place.
"Oh my god." Heidi said, covering her mouth, the gravity of the situation hitting her. she turned to everyone who was left. "Girls, I...I didn't mean for that to happen. I didn't think they would just walk out like that. I..."
"It's okay, Heidi." Wendy said.
"Yeah, we don't need them. We can carry out your plan just fine with everyone here." Jenny added.
"You sure? I mean, do you all really want to do it?" Heidi asked.
"Yes, we've been unfair and unkind far too much." Annie responded. "It's time to change that. I want to change that." To which the other girls agreed.
"You said you wanted to start with Rebecca here, right?" Wendy asked. "Well then, I think our first order of business should be to invite her into our club."
"What?" Rebecca said.
"But only if you want to." Wendy quickly added, then speaking slower, she added.. "It know...I know you haven't had the best experiences with us, so don't feel like you have to say yes."
"...I don't think I'm ready." Rebecca answered.
"I understand."
"But maybe we can start a little smaller?"
"How about sitting with us at lunch tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'd like that."
Heidi looked on and felt something that had been in short supply for her as of late. Hope for a better tomorrow. There was still much work to be done but hopefully things would get better. They just had to keep moving forward the best that they could.