A/N: Hello, internet! It has been a while hasn't it? Figured it was about time for another South Park fanfic. Hope you guys like this one, I was banging my head against a wall for months trying to come up with the plot, rewrote it twice, but I think I got a pretty good one here, let me know what you think and, well, enjoy!

Summary: In order to win tickets to the San Diego Comic Con, the kids decide to enter an art competition. Stan and Kyle begin working on a song, while Kenny and Cartman butt heads on the direction of their entry. Meanwhile, as Butters tries to help Cierra with her entry, an old friend of Cierra's comes for a visit whose enthusiasm for Cierra's work and Cierra herself may be driving a wedge between Butters and his new friend.

"Ow!" Butters cried.

"Sorry, Butters." Cierra quickly replied. "But you've gotta stay still!"

It was late in the afternoon and the two friends were in Butters's bedroom. Across the floor were scraps of turquoise colored fabric, a pair of sewing scissors, measuring tape and a few pins glimmering under the room's bright light. Butters was standing on a stool wearing a plain-looking, turquoise dress that looked two sizes too big for him with an array of pins at its hemline. Cierra's hair was in a messy blonde bun and she was examining the hem closely with her red reading glasses.

"Ahh!" Butters whimpered again as he felt the poke of another pin. "Hey! Am I a mannequin or a pin cushion?"

"Maybe if you'd quit swinging your arms!" Cierra said with a giggle. "We're almost done for the day. Just hold still!"

Butters held his arms at his sides.

"How much longer until the dress is done?" he asked.

"Well, I'm almost done with the base," said Cierra removing the pins from the dress, "The hem still needs a little work but soon I'll be able to add pleats to the skirt and embroidery to the neckline."

"Uhhh..." Butters said hesitantly. "Pleats? Embroidery?"

Cierra sighed, slightly agitated and shook her head.

"Nevermind," she sighed. She removed the last pin. "I think that's enough for the day." She pulled a magnet from her pocket and began sweeping it across the floor, collecting a small cluster of pins in the process.

Butters sighed in relief and slowly began to take the dress off. Cierra looked away and closed her eyes as Butters was left in only his underwear. While still keeping her eyes closed, she held out her arms and Butters draped the dress across them, then began searching for his clothes. She turned her back on him and placed the dress into a dress bag.

"Let me know when you're decent, Butters," she said over her shoulder.

"Will do," Butters replied chipperly.

Cierra heard Butters shirt and jeans ruffling as he put them back on. She continued to keep her back to him and pushed loose pins into the pin cushion on her wrist.

"Keep an eye out Butters; One of my pins might still be on the floor."

"OW!" Butters shrieked and held his foot tenderly. Cierra whipped her head around.

"What happened!?" she asked in shock.

Butters sat back on the stool and held his foot up to Cierra. A long pin was sticking out of it and Cierra grimaced at the sight. She slowly removed it and Butters rubbed his foot furiously.

"You need some peroxide?" Cierra asked. "That looked like it really hurt."

"Nah," Butters said examining his foot bottom. "I think I'm good."

Cierra cleaned off the pin, stuck it into the pin cushion and stored the cushion into a small black box.

"Thanks again for helping me, Butters. I wouldn't have made this much progress without you."

Butters gave a small smile.

"No problem, Cierra," he said. "I'm happy to help."

"If I still had my dressmaker's dummy…"

"I know," said Butters, "but it broke after the whole gym class incident."

"Don't remind me," Cierra said while shaking her head.

"Butters!" Mr. Stotch called from downstairs. "Is Cierra staying for dinner?"

"Ummm…" Butters looked to Cierra who nodded.

"My Dad isn't picking me up until later," she said.

"She's stayin', Dad!" Butters cried back to his father.

"Since I'm staying for dinner, maybe we can get in a little more work afterwards," she said happily.

"Uh...yeah…" Butters said with a nervous chuckle. "Great."

The next morning, Butters and Cierra saw Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman all gathered around a poster on the school bulletin board. They headed towards them as the four boys remained unaware of them.

"'Art is Everywhere: Young Artists Competition'," read Stan."'First prize in every category is 4-day passes to this year's upcoming San Diego Comic-Con'."

"Tickets to the San Diego Comic Con!?" Kenny mumbled eagerly.

"Isn't there gonna be a panel for the new Hobbit movie this year?" Stan asked excitedly.

"And sneak peaks for all the upcoming fall and winter release games!" said Kyle with equal excitement.

"You guys, we have GOT to win those tickets," Cartman said urgently.

"But none of us paint," said Kyle.

"That's okay," said Stan, "Look, there are plenty of categories: visual art, auditory art, performance art…"

"Hey, fellas!" Butters said enthusiastically. "What's goin' on?"

"None of your business, Butters," Cartman said dryly.

"An art competition?" asked Cierra. She quickly skimmed the poster and gasped excitedly. "Butters, look!" She pointed to the poster. "There's an applied arts category!"

"Applied arts?" asked Butters.

"It's basically when you make something people use for a practical purpose look nice," Kyle explained. "Like industrial design, graphic design-,"

"Fashion design!" Cierra chipped in. She brought Butters closer to her and whispered into his ear. "We could enter the dress I've been making. I hear the Con is having a Friendship is Magic panel with a sneak peek at season 5!"

"Okay," said Cartman. "I've got visual arts covered."

"Me and Kyle've got audio," said Stan.

"Cuz," Cartman looked to Cierra, "You can help me with my entry."

"Oh...umm…" Cierra murmured. "Actually...I was thinking-" Cierra pursed her lips after saying Cartman's trigger word. Cartman shot her a warning glare and she quickly backtracked, wringing her hands nervously. "-I-I mean, I was HOPING, to enter the applied arts category."

"With what?" Cartman chuckled. "Not one of your piece-of-shit dresses."

"They're not pieces of shit!"

"Right," Cartman said sarcastically. "So, when's the last time you a first prize trophy for them Miss Honorable Mention?" he added smugly.

Cierra recoiled at this question and found herself staring to the floor.

"That's what I thought," Cartman said in the same condescending tone. Unknown to him, Kyle was shooting him a death glare as he continued. "So, you'll be helping me with my entry to spare yourself some embarrassment," he said definitively.

Cierra looked away but before she could say anything more, the six kids were interrupted by another voice.

"What's the point anyway? You peons don't stand a chance," the owner of the voice said haughtily. Before them stood a group of bohemian-looking sixth graders. Their leader, a tall, lean black-haired girl was the source of the comment and stepped forward.

"Do you honestly think your mainstream, crowd-pleasing mindsets will be able to manifest true art?"

"Oh, God…" Cartman groaned.

"Who are you guys?" asked Butters.

"The only kids in school more annoying and preachy than the Eco kids," said Cartman.

"Hipsters," he and Cierra said with the same agitated groan.

"We are all creating a group piece, just for us to enjoy" said a boy with a tattered, sand-colored fedora. "An abstract art piece you plebeians wouldn't be able to comprehend."

"Peons? Plebeians?" asked Cartman.

"Sorry," said the boy, "were those words too...advanced for you?"

"Do you even know what they mean?" asked the lead girl.

"Do you?" asked Cartman.

"Ugh, it doesn't matter," she brushed away Cartman's question. "If the judges have any artistic integrity, they wouldn't so much as spit in your direction."

"Well, that's a little unfair," Cierra said. "Judging our artistic abilities before even seeing any of our work."

"Like we have to," said the girl, "It'll just be the same regurgitated, pop art garbage that's destroying revenues for serious artists like us. We don't need approval from contests to prove we're progressive...Hey..." she got a closer look at Cierra, "aren't you Cierra Cartman?"

Cierra was taken aback but nodded.

"I saw your fashion designs in a contest last year…"

"Yeah?"

"Well, honey," said the girl, "Maybe you should consider dressing yourself in the mornings before thinking about dressing anyone else."

Cierra's eyebrows narrowed at this statement. "I did dress myself this morning!" Cierra cried.

"Not surprised; your fashion sense betrays your…" she chuckled smugly, "...mediocrity as a designer."

Cierra folded her arms across her chest. "I wouldn't talk about fashion sense if I looked like my clothes came out of a dumpster!" she said sharply.

The leader girl scoffed and rolled her eyes as Cartman addressed her.

"What exactly is your 'abstract art piece' called anyway?" asked Cartman.

"Meringue," the leader girl said proudly.

The six kids stood dumbfounded at the absurdity of the name.

"You have no idea what it could be, do you?" asked the leader. "That's its hidden brilliance," she added smugly.

"Oh, I think it's a fitting name for your piece," said Cierra.

"Do you?"

"Yeah, meringue is just like you: white and pretentious," she added sassily.

"Oh-ho!" Cartman put his hands up. "We've got little Miss Sassypants over here today!"

"Is that so?" asked the lead hipster. "Well, I'm surprised a hack designer like you even got past the qualification round in an art competition."

"Hack?" Cierra spat. "Hack!? Who died and made you a fashion expert? I have a friend whose cat dresses better than you!"

"Ooohhh!" Cartman said mockingly. "Burrrn!"

The leader got into Cierra's face and said smugly, "Not if you're the one designing its clothes."

"Get your rancid, kimchi stank breath out of my face!" Cierra spat at her. "And go suck your own farts!"

"Better that than breathing in the wafting stench of your bourgeois presence," she said haughtily.

"Bourgeois is a term that refers to the middle class," said Cierra, "I'm from a six-figure income home, bitch!"

"Think you could afford to dress better," the girl shot back.

Cartman put his hands up again.

"Says the girl wearing yesterday's fashions; News flash, those designs were in the thrift store for a reason." She snapped her fingers.

"Ohhhh! Shiiiiit!" said Cartman throwing his hands up again. "Shots fired!"

The leader girl huffed. "Well, if you think you're so fashion forward, go ahead and enter the contest."

"I WILL!" Cierra screamed at her. "And I'll win!"

"You tell her, Cierra!" said Butters enthusiastically.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." The lead hipster girl motioned to her friends and they all left.

"You and I are gonna show those pretentious assholes, cuz," Cartman moved to put his arm around Cierra's shoulders but Cierra moved away not even noticing his gesture.

"Butters," she looked to her blond friend, "You and me, after school. We're going to my place and picking up all my materials," she lead Butters away from the other four boys.

"Heck, yeah!" said Butters. "We'll show that snobby skank!"

"Nobody gets away with insulting my artistic abilities," Cierra snarled as she stomped away with Butters in tow.

The four boys looked after the pair confused and Cartman chimed in.

"Usually, Cierra's pretty mild-mannered but...she can get a little crazy when it comes to playing dress-up."

A/N: Disclaimer-I have nothing against hipster culture, I don't know enough about it. Anyway, leave a review and let me know your thoughts so far!