She sat on the front steps as snow fell softly around her. She'd moved to this little mountain town late last night, and hadn't been able to sleep since. Her parents were undeniably excited about the move, but she felt a little more apprehensive. She'd never even heard of South Park before, or seen it on a map. It was a tiny town stuck in the middle of nowhere, and she'd just had her whole life up-rooted to move there.
It had taken them five hours to drive from their old town to this crap-hole, and every minute was filled with her parents sprouting lines like they were part of some made-for-tv movie.
"Oh, this town is so peaceful."
"This is just what we needed – after, y'know…"
"Sweetheart, look at the cows! Ah, this little town is just perfect for us!"
She scrunched the snow that gathered around her feet in her hand. Her parents would fit right in here. They were the type of people that thought moving across the country would magically fix all their problems. Her eyelids felt heavy, and as the sun had risen, she'd started to wish she'd tried harder to fall asleep during the night. She was expected to spend the whole day helping unpack, and then tomorrow she was straight into school.
Slurs suddenly sounded up the street. She spun her heavy head to the noise, curious as to who would be so confident in yelling shit like that up what looked like a pretty middle-class suburban street. Four boys were walking up the side walk, and a particularly fat one was mouthing off. "Jews cannot be fucking trusted, I told you guys! I gave you one thing to do Kyle, one goddamn thing! You did this on fucking purpose!" His chin wobbled in frustration as he struggled to keep up with the other three. Wearing a bright red coat and a turquoise and yellow bobble beanie, he slightly reminded her of a dollar store teddy bear. A really fat, ugly, anti-semitic teddy bear.
"Are you kidding me? I had to do nearly everything! It's not my fault you didn't write your tiny part of the speech!" A much skinnier boy in a bright green hat and orange jacket shot back – he must be Kyle. He'd decided to sport dark green trousers and lime green gloves as well. Interesting fashion choice, but whatever.
"No, no, no, no!" The fat-ass's voice went so high in his rage she had to fight off the urge to cover her ears. "I distinctly remember you saying you'd do that part, you lying, back-stabbing asshole!"
"Shut up, Cartman." The boy walking in front looked visibly annoyed by this exchange. The most normal looking of the four, he was dressed in brown and blue. He also wore a knitted bobble hat, with a red pom-pom on the top. They must be big in this town. "No one cares that you were too lazy to write your own part. You deserve to fail." They were getting closer to her now, and she started to feel a little weird about sitting on her steps. Going inside probably would've been a good idea at this point, but she was pretty sure the fat kid would pass out soon, and she kind of wanted to see it.
"Of course you side with the Jew, Stan. Big fucking surprise there. You're so far up his ass, you can't see that I'm getting ripped off!" Cartmans face was bright red, and was visibly puffed. He forcibly stopped the kid in front him, and his expression changed in an instant. "What about you Kennyyyy? You agree that Kyle should take the fall for this, don't youuuuu?" His voice had switched to the weedly-whine children often pulled out when they were begging their parents for a new toy.
A muffled noise came from the final boy. His face was obscured due to the oversized orange parka he wore, and she couldn't understand a word that he said. However, it seemed the other boys could. "Ah, well what the hell would you know, you're fucking poor! Poor people like you have no problem with fucking other people over!" Whatever Kenny had said, it hadn't been what the fat-ass was hoping for. They were nearly at her house now, and she averted her eyes, attempting to give off the impression she hadn't just listened in on their whole conversation.
Cartman continued on his tirade, and from the sound of his footsteps, he'd managed to run in front of the other boys. "This is a fucking outrage, I swear to god Kyle, I'll –" The muffled voice of Kenny spoke up, and suddenly all the footsteps had stopped. She felt all their eyes on her as she tried to fiddle with the snow at her feet as casually as possible. God, she should've just gone inside. The chance to watch him pass out wasn't worth it.
"Who the fuck is this? When did Kevin move?" Cartmans voice irritated her enough that she found the courage to look him in the eye.
"Like last week, dude." Stan stared at her nervously. He looked a little sick. "Who're you?"
"I'm Cooper." She said defiantly, glaring at Cartman, trying to give off the impression she was a lot more confident than she felt. "Who're you?"
"I'm Kyle," Kyle started, and introduced Kenny and Stan as well. "…and the fat-ass is Cartman."
"I'm not fucking fat, I'm big-boned!" Cartman spat in retaliation, and Cooper couldn't stop the snigger that slipped out. Cartman glared at her, "Like we didn't have enough bitchy girls in this town already." His cheeks seemed to be permanently red from anger. She saw an early-in-life heart attack in his near future.
Kenny cut in with more muffled noise before she had the chance to insult Cartman back, which was probably for the better. Kyle agreed, inadvertently revealing what Kenny said to her. "Yeah, shut the fuck up Cartman." She didn't understand how the muffled noises translated into English, but the boys certainly seemed to comprehend it. Was it just her? She inwardly wondered whether she had below-average hearing. "Are you going to South Park high school?"
"Tomorrows my first day."
"C'mon guys, this girl is lame!" Cartman moaned. "Lets get to the bus-stop already. I'm not walking to school." He walked off in a huff.
"You couldn't walk to school, you fat-ass. You'd have a heart attack before you even made it halfway." Kyle called to his retreating back. She was getting the impression he and Cartman had a difficult relationship. "Well, I guess we'll see you in school tomorrow." Kyle waved, and Stan and Kenny both glanced at her quickly before mumbling their goodbyes. As they wandered off down the road, she heard Cartman scold Kyle.
" – the fuck did you say you'd see her in school tomorrow? We aren't hanging out with a girl."
She sighed heavily, and put her head in her hands. Cartman's voice rang in her head, awakening fears she'd tried to push deep down inside. Making friends wasn't exactly her strong point - and in this sort of town, at her age.. well, it would be hard for an outgoing person to make friends. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she looked back up at their retreating figures. She met the eyes of Kenny, who held eye contact for a surprisingly long amount of time before he turned back to his friends.