Kenny opened the door of his house, pulling up his hoodie around his head to keep out the morning chill. He was walking towards the high school when something caught his well-trained eye. The gloomy house at the end of his street, which had been vacant since the run-in with the Cult, suddenly didn't so look so vacant. Kenny slowed and watched as the purple door opened and a petite girl with curly red hair, much like Kyle's, walked out. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the morning light, making her blue-green plaid skirt and black sweater stand out. As she turned more towards him, Kenny noted the crescent moon embroidered on her right breast.
Her smile dropped the moment she closed the door softly behind her and she sighed, creating a cloud of fog in the cold air. Their eyes met, blue against green, and she gave him a friendly smile, her features becoming clearer the closer she walked to Kenny. " 'Scuse me, do you know where the high school is?"
"Yeah," he replied, his voice characteristically muffled by the cloth of his parka. Her features reminded him of a doll, soft and feminine. Breakable. "You new?"
"Yupp," She chirpped, popping the p. The girl held out her hand, "Fable Sweeney. Moved in over the weekend."
He pulled down the orange hoodie and shook out his messy blonde hair before shaking her hand. "Kenny, Kenny McCormick. C'mon, kid, I'll walk you."
She followed after him, having to take more steps to keep up with his longer strides. "Thanks!"
The walk to the green and yellow high school was rather silent minus Kenny pointed out bits of useful information, like pointing out the coffee shop the goths hang out or where he hangs with his friends at another local one nearer town, and soon they stood in front of the front doors of the school. Kenny stopped and faced Fable, earning a curious look as she was expecting him to just show her the school and then leave her alone but her attention was soon caught by other students entering around them and she blushed, reminding Kenny of his little sister.
He let out an inaudible sigh and then gave her a friendly smirk that didn't really reach his eyes. "Don't look so nervous, I'll help you out. Got your schedule?"
"I'm not scared." Fable stuck out her tongue, causing Kenny's smirk to hold more emotion and he chuckled. "But yes, I have it. Here." She fished it out of her purple messenger bag and handed him the paper.
"Lucky for you, your locker is near mine." He began walking as he examined the crumpled paper, opening the door for her and entering the thankfully heated school. "We share homeroom, study hall, and math together. You have English with Cartman and Kyle. That'll be fun. And European History with Stan. Butters and Pip are in French, I think with you. Tweak is in Dramatic Literature and Wendy in Biology."
Fable listened to his rambling and looked around at the school, glancing with wide eyes at the students walking by. He walked through the halls, slowing down when he realized she was having trouble keeping up with his long legs and smirked. "You're really short." He commented, earning a glare from her.
"I am 5'4. Not my fault you're a mutant." She teased back, giving his 6'5 frame a once over.
Kenny laughed and shook his head. He walked towards the east side of the school and stopped at a locker, dialing in her combination and opening it. "Here's your locker. Mine's two down." He let her unlock it herself to get a feel for it before walking towards the cafeteria. "The bell will ring in about ten minutes and I usually hang with my friends here."
She caught up with him, giving him a nervous glance. "I don't want to intrude-"
"No worries." Kenny cut her off with another friendly smirk, steering her into the white and green cafeteria and towards a table where his friends were seated. "Hey, guys." He called once they were in hearing range. They looked up from whatever they were discussing to look at Kenny.
"Kenny, why are you so late? Usually you're the first one here." Stan commented, pulling a black-haired girl closer to his side. His eyes glanced to Fable who was standing beside Kenny with a nervous smile on her soft face. "Who's this?"
"Ew, Keeny brought a ginger, he's infecting us all." Cartman complained. Kenny shot him a glare and Kyle slapped his arm.
"Guys, this is Fable. She's new here and I'm showing her around." His glare never left Cartman's even as Fable gave them all a small wave.
"Hi." She said, her voice small and sweet.
"Don't mind the fat ass, my hair is red too." Kyle reassured her. "Welcome to South Park, Fable."
"What brought you here?" Stan asked.
Kenny could tell Fable felt a bit cornered and he spoke before she could, "Maybe it would be easier to introduce yourselves first." He smirked as if it was obviously amusing.
"Oh, right, sorry. I'm Stan." The boy in the blue puff-ball hat smiled at her.
The black-haired girl beside him grinned and waved in an overly friendly manner. "I'm Wendy!"
"I'm Kyle and this is Cartman."
"Nice to meet you all." Fable said, her smile growing bigger as she relaxed. The shrill bell rang above them, signalling first period. Before she had a chance to ask, Kenny steered her by the elbow out the quickly crowded cafeteria. "Wha-"
"First period is with Kyle and Cartman. Try not to let him nag at you too much." Kenny said quietly, waving the boy in the lime ushanka. He came over followed angrily by Cartman. "Kyle, do me a favor and watch over Fable?"
Fable pouted but was secretly grateful for Kenny's help. "Sure thing! C'mon, we'll be late to class." The friendly one smiled at her and led her down the halls.
"See you at second period!" Kenny called before he was swallowed up in the sea of students.
Fable followed the two boys silently as they weaved their ways through the halls, swift eyes easily catching their mannerisms. Cartman was the taller of the two, if only by an inch, but he still had baby fat on his face, making it seem as if he was chubby as a child. He had taken his hat off and smoothed his brown hair down, blue eyes glancing down in annoyance at Fable and she accidentally bumped his arm.
She glanced up at him through her lashes before looking at the other. His skin was as pale as hers and she could see some red hair near the ears of his ushanka. But no freckles, which surprised her. He must've felt her gaze and he turned his head a bit to smile at her, warming up his face in a way that made her smile back. Despite his more obvious friendliness towards her, Fable couldn't help but feel like an intruder. Here she was on her first day and was already making these boys go out of their way to help her.
"You can sit by us, Mrs. Harolds isn't strict." Kyle told her, earning a glare from Cartman as the trio walked into the white marbled classroom and took three seats in the back corner while the classroom filled up. Fable sat on the corner followed by Kyle and Cartman, which she was grateful for.
It didn't take long for the two to forget she was there. Kyle not intentionally, he was fighting with Cartman too much that she slipped his mind, but Fable didn't take offense. Instead, she watched as the short and toad-like woman walked in and droned on about Shakespeare, oblivious to the note passing and texting going on in her class. " 'Ey, Feeble!" The mispronunciation grated her ears and she turned to look at Cartman who was leaning over an annoyed Kyle's desk. "Why'd you move here?"
"My parents wanted a fresh start." Fable replied coolly, her defenses instantly rising to this sudden questioning.
Cartman looked as if he didn't buy the perfectly logical answer. "Why? You deal drugs or something? You seem like the type." He pressed.
"No, I don't. And before you ask, I don't smoke or drink or steal or sell myself for money. Did I cover it all?" Fable asked, her usually soft and melodic voice chilly, like dry ice.
"You in a Cult? You look like you could be a goth."
Fable couldn't help it, she tensed and her eyes turned to slits. "No." She hissed. "I am not in a Cult."
"Then why so touchy?" He smirked, knowing he hit a raw nerve by her instant reaction. Kyle looked uncomfortable and opened his mouth, his words drowned out by Cartman's whispering, "Previous involvement in the Cult? I won't judge."
"Heh, I trust that statement as far as I can throw you, fatty." Fable snapped back, taking the bait. Kyle choked on his laugh and Cartman grew flustered, glaring heatedly at her. "And if you must know, yes. My mother, now dead, was in the Cult and my father took me in." She pulled out a black book from her bag and started reading, signalling the end of the conversation.
Kyle and Cartman both stared at her, she could feel their shocked eyes watching her calm movements. Was her hand shaking? No, she was too controlled for that. After a minute of silence, some other student riled Cartman up and he was heatedly fighting with Kyle again, either oblivious or ignoring Fable to which she was immensely grateful. Grateful-it was an emotion she was feeling an abundance of today. Not sure how she felt about that.
The bell rang and before she could be cornered by the two again, she ducked out of the classroom, using her small frame to her advantage. But a broad orange surface stopped her a few feet from the door, making her stumble backwards until Kenny caught her by the elbow. He noticed his friends looking a bit worried as they walked past them but filed it away for later and looked down at the new girl, smirking a bit. "You're in a hurry. Everything okay?"
She nodded and they walked to second period. Study Hall was in the library and spent mostly in silence as Fable read a book and Kenny worked on homework. After the long stretch of quietness, the bell rang and Kenny packed his things as Fable gracefully stood from her seat across from him and they walked silently to the door. He made sure to walk her upstairs to Dramatic Lit. before heading to his own class.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Kenny continued walking Fable to her classes, and they small-talked. He learned she was now living with her father after living her entire life with her mother. It was weird for her in South Park as she came from a large city in Indiana, which was why she was used to the cold, and it was a slow adjustment. She was grateful for his help, extremely so, and said she'd make it up to him which he said she didn't need to. Kenny was intrigued by the girl, so much so that he hoped Wendy invited her to coffee after school.
It wasn't her looks or personality that drew him in, it was what he just knew she was hiding underneath it. He held back so much from his outside personality that he recognized when someone wasn't truly being themselves. And Fable was one of those cases, so naturally, Kenny had to look into her. That's why he was waiting by her locker at the final bell, his signature laid back smirk on his face.
She walked up, her eyebrows raised at his smirk while she tried her combination. It didn't budge and her calm expression turned into one of annoyance. She did it once more and growled a bit, earning a laugh from Kenny. "Well, if you think this is funny, you open it!"
He waited for her to step back before swiveling in her combo from memory, ignoring the confused look Fable gave him, and then hit just above the lock with the side of his fist, lifting the knob, and opened it. "There."
"...Jerk." She said, hip-bumping him out of the way to put her new textbooks up but she was smiling.
"So, you coming to the coffee shop with us?" He asked casually, leaning once again on a nearby locker as she organized her things, watching the students file out, a few of them glancing at Fable curiously.
"No, why would I?" She asked in obvious puzzlement as she shut her locker and shouldered her bag.
"Because I am cordially inviting you." Kenny answered with a lopsided grin. She chuckled and began walking out with him. "Wanna go?"
"Can't, I have to-make dinner tonight." There, right there. Any other person wouldn't have caught it, but Kenny did. The slight hiccup in her speech, as if coming up with an on-the-spot excuse though her facial expressions remained constant. Fable was a pretty good liar.
"Oh, alright. How about tomorrow?" He asked, playing along though his suspicion was peaked.
Fable thought for a minute while they walked down their street, coming to her house first. "Sure, I think that'll be fine." She smiled and Kenny found himself grinning back.
"Cool," He said, trying to play it off casually. "I'll meet you here in the morning then."
"You don't have to-"
"Shut up and just take it." Kenny interrupted, pushing her towards her house before continuing to walk to his. He watched behind him to see her stick her tongue out at him and hurry inside, turning at the doorway to wave at him, which he returned with a small, nearly invisible, smirk.