Chapter Two-
Bebe
Bebe liked riding the bus in the mornings because it meant she could sleep.
She had never been a morning person, not ever. When she had first started riding the bus in kindergarten she vividly remembered crying for an hour when her mom mentioned she had to be up at seven in the morning. Middle school was even worse because the wake up time changed to before six. It was horrible, at first. What with the assigned seats and the terrible bus driver who spent half her time screaming at the top of her lungs at anyone who dared to move away from their seats. Never mind the time the bus had almost dropped off a cliff.
Seventh grade though things changed. In seventh grade Bebe got placed next to Craig Tucker. They had a new bus driver, which helped, but Craig had little to no interest in bothering her. Her other seat partners either happened to be horrifically chipper (Butters) and tried to spread it over to her or took fun in making sure she didn't get a wink of sleep on the way to school (Cartman). Craig was apathetic, sat as far away from her as the bus seats would allow and even went as far as to bring a small pillow with him to school to make sure she stayed asleep. Because if Bebe was asleep that meant Craig could pretend she didn't exist.
The ability to sleep in for another hour greatly improved Bebe's opinion of the school bus. She even found that school itself was a lot easier to get through now that she could enter it somewhat refreshed and ready to tackle the day.
So that morning, that bitter February morning, when Stan Marsh slid into the seat next to her instead of Craig with no plans of moving Bebe could be forgiven for how she responded.
"Owwww!" Stan sat in the middle of the aisle, rubbing his side and looking like a wounded puppy "Bebe why did you kick me?!"
"That's not your assigned seat."
"It is today! Miss. Renee gave me permission!" Stan scrambled back into the seat, immune to the look Bebe was currently giving him. Her friend Annie mentioned once or twice that it was a look that could sour milk so it frustrated Bebe that it wasn't working on Stan.
"What do you mean?" Bebe demanded, turning the heat up a few notches.
"I cleared it with Miss. Renee and I paid Craig seven dollars to skip the bus and get a ride from his uncle today!" Stan said proudly. If there was one thing that Craig cared about, besides his boyfriend and his alone time, it was making a quick buck.
"Why?" Bebe really hoped this wasn't some sort of attempt to hit on her or something "Don't you have a super best friend to sit with and talk to at this ungodly hour?!"
"It's 6:04 Bebe."
"It's ungodly is what it is."
"The sun is up!" Stan grinned "and if the sun is up then that means we should be up too!"
"Quote Butters to me one more time and the next kick will send you out the window." Bebe actually lifted her leg up in a threatening manner.
"Alright! Alright!" Stan held his hands up in a calming gesture "I was kidding."
"Don't even. He hummed and prattled every day for the entire hour. The entire hour Stan." Bebe couldn't remember her dreams, but she was certain that if she could they would turn out to be nightmares about morning time Butters chatting for hours on end.
She shivered. "Now where's Kyle and why are you even here? This better not be a daily occurrence!"
"Well Craig did mention that if I wanted to pay more he had a rest of the year package I may be interested in..." Stan trailed off and it finally seemed like Bebe's glare was having an effect. The threat of having her sleep time cruelly snatched away for the rest of the year must have given her the scary she needed.
"But anyway!" Stan continued on hastily "Kyle isn't here because he's going to be getting rides to school from his mom for the next few weeks since she's driving Cartman anyway."
"Driving Cartman? He doesn't even come to school anymore." Bebe tried not to pay much attention to Eric Cartman and his nonsense but him not being around with his perpetual frown and storm cloud that seemed to follow him everywhere was noticeable even to her. "Besides why would Kyle even want to spend extra time with Cartman? They hate each other."
Stan sighed "Cartman's mom won't let him stay home anymore and I know they hate each other, that's why Kyle's doing it."
Of course it was. Cartman may have had a storm cloud but Kyle had a sunshine and rainbow. If it meant basking in Cartman's misery Kyle absolutely would go to school each morning with him, Bebe really should have guessed.
"Have you told him his glee about Cartman's misfortune is ironically causing him to act exactly how Cartman himself would act in this sort of situation?" Bebe asked.
"Yeah. He just denied it and reminded me that Cartman really really deserves it this time." Stan looked exasperated and Bebe didn't envy being in his shoes. Kyle was stubborn when he really wanted to be and being compared to Eric Cartman was one of his biggest anger buttons.
"More importantly you're here because why?" what in the world could be so important that Stan had to ruin Bebe's mandatory bus sleep time?
"Because you're the best person I can think of to put in a good word for me to Wendy." Stan gave her a winning smile and Bebe sunk down into her seat, letting out a groan. That was her second fear actually. In fact she almost wished now that Stan had decided to hit on her. But really why was she surprised? Stan had always been irritatingly persistent when it came to Wendy Testaburger. Even when Wendy made it perfectly clear that they were through.
"No." Maybe he would just take that for an answer.
"Oh come on! Please?" Of course he wouldn't.
"No."
"It'll take you five minutes."
"We aren't even that close anymore Stan."
"I know that! But you were best friends for a really long time so I'm sure she'll take what you have to say seriously!" Stan said earnestly.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up." Wendy didn't exactly have anything against Bebe, they weren't quite feuding, but she certainly wouldn't listen to her if she tried to set her back up with her ex. Stan happened to be a sore spot with her.
"You can try though!" Stan prodded.
"The only thing I'm going to try is to get some sleep." Bebe turned away from him "You'll just need to ask someone else."
Bebe wouldn't get any sleep that day however. Stan seemed to take a leaf from both Butters and Cartman's books and made it his personal mission to keep her awake the entire time. Every few minutes he would ask Bebe again for Wendy related help and she'd refuse. There was no point wasting her time and having Wendy be all pissy with her. She tried to convey this to Stan but he wouldn't listen. Stan would just keep right at it. He even mentioned saving up some money to buy the seat from Craig and beg their bus driver to make the change a permanent one. By the time they pulled into the school Bebe was twitching and Stan had finally fallen silent, keeping pace with her from the bus to her locker all the way to first period.
"So you're just going to follow me around until I agree to do what you want me to do?" Bebe practically growled.
"Of course not!" Stan looked scandalized "I'm going to go over to my own desk, think up a way to convince you to say yes and then follow you around until you agree to help."
"Seems like Kyle isn't the only one pulling a Cartman." Bebe had hoped being compared to Cartman would shock Stan and make him stop, or press a button or something. But Stan just shrugged and headed off to go talk to Kyle, who he naturally shared an entire class schedule with. Bebe just closed her eyes and weighed the pros and cons of sleeping through English class. It wasn't like she was failing (she had a high A) and she was going to need all of her wits if she was going to threaten Craig out of ever again leaving her side on the bus later on. Bebe put her head in her arms, letting her tiredness wash over her while hoping that maybe she'd get lucky and today would be a movie day or something. Sleeping through English class was the way to go.
"Bebe Stevens please report to the guidance counselor's office. Bebe Stevens report to the guidance counselor's office."
Stan would later tell her the sound she made upon hearing that was a lot like a cat getting strangled.
SP
"I'm going to cut right to the chase m'kay."
Bebe sat quietly in her chair having somewhat coolly dodged the usual small talk that Mr. Mackey tried to open up his conversations with. Good morning. Yes she was fine. Yes she had gotten a lot of sleep last night. No she does not want to sign up for... okay so she had kinda drifted out on that last one. Mr. Mackey seemed to have noticed too because he had abruptly leaned forward and looked rather intense.
"Eric Cartman is in very real danger of failing the eighth grade." Mr. Mackey said.
Bebe very carefully did not ask why Cartman wasn't in here then instead of her.
"Because he missed four days of school?" Bebe questioned instead. That seemed like a safer route. She might not really take the man in front of her too seriously but that didn't mean she should be rude to him. Especially when she knew perfectly well it was only because of a missed nap. Once she was actually wide awake she would wind up regretting it.
"Because for the last two months his grades have significantly declined." Mr. Mackey corrected her.
"Oh. Okay." Bebe didn't see why that was her problem. In fact she'd rather not even be involved at all. Cartman's angst wasn't any of her business and Kyle wasn't exactly wrong about him deserving it.
"Bebe, the faculty absolutely can not handle another year of Eric Cartman in this school m'kay," Mr. Mackey said "We've been looking forward to never seeing him again for far too long."
Bebe could understand that. There had been a large changeover about the time they had all entered middle school. A lot of the staff had followed Principal Victoria when she bounced from Elementary school principal to middle school principal. She only lasted a year though before PC Principal replaced her but the other staff remained. Eight years of trying to keep Cartman in line would be draining for everyone.
"So that's why we need you to tutor him after school in English and Math," Mr. Mackey said "Make sure those grades rise up to solid As."
Bebe blinked. Tutor Cartman? After school?! Two subjects?! Solid As?!
"That way, even if he gets Ds in his other classes, PC Principal can roll his fat butt out of here." Mr. Mackey looked at her expectantly "What do you say?"
"I say is this going to be a trend today?" never mind, she wouldn't regret being rude. This was stupid. "People asking me to do things I really don't want to do?"
"Now Bebe..."
"He shouldn't get special treatment just because he's a pain in the ass!"
"Special Treatment? Now listen Bebe, here in South Park Middle School we want all of our students to succeed m'kay!" Mr. Mackey snapped "Even students we can't stand."
"Good luck then."
Bebe stood up, annoyingly wide awake now. Without another word she picked up her purse and turned to leave. Tutor Eric Cartman. They must be out of their minds! Make Wendy do it she's the smartest one in the grade. Or better yet let Kyle do it so he can spend more time rubbing Cartman's shitty life in his face. There was no reason for her to have to get involved with that fatass or his problems. If he failed then that just meant she wouldn't have to see him very much anymore which could only be a good thing. Her fingers wrapped around the doorknob, a "have a nice day" rising up her throat.
"Help Eric now and next year we can get you into Honors courses."
Bebe froze. Honors courses were the advanced versions of her core subjects that one could take in high school. Taking them let you qualify for advanced placement courses come senior year. They were fiendishly difficult and only sophomores and up with certain grades could get in. However, anyone who did well in the advanced placement courses was practically guaranteed to get into a good four year college and Bebe needed that if she was going to be a lawyer later in life. Mr. Mackey would know that.
"Freshman can't do Honors," Bebe turned around to face the older man "Wendy already looked into it. No exceptions."
Wendy was also determined to get into a solid four year college and part of the reason why they had gone their separate ways was due to Bebe rising up in class standings to challenge her. She already had Kyle to rival with and she didn't need more than that.
"Personal letters of recommendation from myself, the principal and all of your teachers will take care of that silly rule m'kay." Mr. Mackey said, much more relaxed now that he had Bebe's attention. "Liane also promised to use her sway to help you as well."
There was a mental image she didn't want.
"Why me?" Bebe asked "What about-"
"Wendy Testaburger?" Mr. Mackey interrupted "Said she'd just wind up killing him. Kyle Broflovski laughed for ten minutes and we didn't think it was right to ask Heidi Turner. You're our last hope Bebe. We had to pull out the big guns for you."
Bebe bit her lip. On one hand, this was a wonderful opportunity. Getting special permission to take Honors classes a year early and passing them meant that a spot in AP was all but assured. Early AP probably. It was the fast track to the future she had always wanted.
On the other hand it wasn't fair that she get this chance when it wasn't available to everyone. Unfair advantages were how her mother got through life and Bebe would be damned if she turned out anything like her mother.
But technically she wasn't getting by with her looks, she was working for this. Cartman wouldn't just suddenly decide to listen to her and it would be a fight just to get him to accept the tutoring.
Although Stan could probably convince him...
Which would require stirring up trouble with Wendy.
...who was already going to really hate her anyway if she got into those Honors classes.
Honors classes that she desperately wanted to take.
"I'll tutor him." Bebe said "I'll get Eric Cartman out of this school and your hair and in return you'll get me into those Honors classes."
"Done." Mr. Mackey looked so relieved that Bebe's slightly guilty conscience eased up a little bit. They shook hands and Bebe left the room, mind turning around and around as she decided how she was going to best approach this.
"How'd things go?" Lo and behold Stan was waiting for her, hall pass dangling from his hand.
Bebe smiled at him sweetly.
"So Stan. You said you wanted me to talk to Wendy?"
Stan nodded eagerly.
"Well then I'm going to need your help with something..."
