A/N: Big shout out to my reviewers, for their kind and thoughtful reviews:

Emerald's Shine

OPL- I hope you don't mind I used the last name you gave Lola, if you do mind, I can change it.

Otempora42- You were right; Lola has brown hair. I don't know why I thought she was a blonde…..

Anyway, I probably won't be able to update until the end of the month because I'm doing two challenges due around the same time. Con-crit is always appreciated.

Monday mornings. Usually for Lola Mandoval that meant trying to stay in bed for as long as possible, accompanied with muttered profanities and all around procrastination. This Monday, though, felt different; the way one falls asleep and wakes up knowing that something amazing has happened, but can't place their finger on what exactly occurred.

Lola hopped out of bed with the energy of a small child, instead of the dazed, sleepwalking gait that she normally possessed, and spending extra time in the bathroom- scrubbing her nails free of oil paint, putting on eyeliner and straightening her hair before tying it up in the black ribbon she had used since childhood.

There was a calm, self-assured attitude reflected in her brown eyes, a mantra playing over and over in her head.

Kyle kissed me! She thought, giddy with just the mere thought of Kyle Broflovski actually noticing her.

It was an unwritten rule amongst the girls at South Park High School: Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh and Kenny McCormick had firsty-lasty status. Meaning that he was always called by both his first and last names in his presence or in the presence of another girl. If another guy was deemed hot enough by a majority of girls, he too would gain the almost god-like status. In meetings similar to the ones they had as children, the girls nominating various guys and a judge looming over them; they debated for hours, rating guys on a scale of one to ten. After the incident with The List in the fourth grade, Wendy prevailed over all the girls. Lola, Red and any of the others involved with the 'Clyde conspiracy' as it was known, were demoted to the far end of the room, their popularity diminished.

It was around this time that Lola started drawing, after a field trip to an art museum in Denver.

That day was always in the back of her mind…………

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A long bus ride, with the boys, Stan as their leader, throwing spitballs at a group of girls Wendy bossing them around like a military general.

"No! We can't let them getting away with this! Come on girls, let's…let's…." Wendy looked around the bus wildly, hoping for something nearby that could cause carnage when thrown.

Wendy's gaze landed on Stan; he smiled sheepishly and she blushed. "We need to….uh…um….."

"Aww, look at the hippie skank getting all hot and bothered." Eric Cartman's Southern drawl floated towards the back of the bus.

"Shut up fat boy!" Stan clenched his fists.

" 'Ey, I'm not fat!"

Lola looked up from her station beside the window, where she had been gazing at the passing countryside with a bored expression. Cows. More cows. A farmhouse.More stupid cows. This fight was way more interesting than the scenery.

"Psst…Lola." Kyle hung over the edge of his seat and addressed her.

"What?" she asked, sitting up straight and worrying about whether or not her hair looked frizzy

"Testicles. That is all."

"What?" Lola knitted her brows in confusion, unaware that Kyle was quoting Family Guy. Instead, her mind was jumbled with thoughts, considering whether or not Kyle was serious, disbelieving that Kyle had actually addressed her, and wondering if boys acted this way when they liked a girl.

Feeling bold from her menial exchange with Kyle, Lola called out, "Hey Cartman!"

"What, skank?"

"Your ass is so fat that they should make custom make pants for you, with the words "wide load" stitched on the back."

The class burst into giggles, giving Lola a rush of adrenaline she had never felt before. So this is what it is like to be popular, Lola mused, opening her mouth to say something else to keep the attention on her.

Those words never left the confines of her mind.

The rest of the class had moved on; they were busy teasing Stan about his relationship with Wendy. Lola knew that they didn't ignore her to be mean, but that didn't stop it from stinging.

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"And here's another painting by some Mexican skank on her period," said Mrs. Garrison, pointing to Autorretarto con Collre de Espinas y Colibri by Frida Kahlo.

The rest of the class moved on, Lola saw Wendy running around the museum at a breakneck pace, determined to absorb everything. Lola stared up at the painting, fascinated. It appeared to be surreal-a dark haired woman with butterflies in her hair and vines (or was it branches?) encircling her neck. Lola continued to stare at the painting, transfixed. There seemed to be much more there, some hidden emotion that she couldn't see. And for the first time in her life, Lola Mandoval had the urge to pick a paintbrush and create a picture just as complex, a piece of art that would keep people thinking and guessing.

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"How people can see anything in these mirrors is beyond me," Lola muttered, attempting to apply lip gloss in the dingy first floor girl's bathroom.

The majority of the female population avoided the first floor bathroom; the tiles that covered the walls and floor were once white but had now turned a dismal gray, and the faucets were rusted shut. It was where cigarettes were shared and Kenny would take various girls if the janitor's closet happened to be occupied. The high pitched squeal of the door opening on rusty hinges made Lola cringe, the sound of chipper, overexcited voices grew closer.

Sure enough, Wendy, Powder, Annie and Rebecca Cotswold, newly transferred to the school, were gossiping at a mile a minute.

"So," Wendy leaned over one of the sinks, applying mascara expertly despite the clouded mirror, "what happened?"

"Well," Rebecca pulled a brush out her purse and began to de-tangle her frizzy locks, "he said, and I quote, 'can't wait for Friday, it's gonna be a blast.' And he kissed me goodnight," she squealed a very un-Rebecca like squeal.

Lola barely suppressed a snort. Rebecca had gotten over her whore stage pretty quickly, but she never went back to being herself, for some reason she acted much stupider than she actually was.

"I can't believe Kyle Broflovski asked you out," Powder's voice was bitter, barely disguising her envy.

Lola froze; a glob of lip gloss fell off the applicator and into the sink. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes, Rebecca's news confirmed what she had known all along: Kyle Broflovski would never like an artsy loner. She couldn't believe that she had hoped, no considered that Kyle liked her. It was obvious he still liked Rebecca, even though they had broken up in third grade.

"Lola? Hello?" Wendy waved her hand in front of Lola's face.

"Yeah?" Lola tried to snap out of it, she was still so shocked over Rebecca's news that she didn't even notice that this was the first time Wendy had addressed her in five years.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lola smiled the fakest smile she could muster under the circumstances.

"Okay. If you say so." The girls left in a cloud of chatter and perfume.

Lola screwed the top back on her lip gloss and shoved it in the front pocket of her backpack. Popping some gum in her mouth, she turned to leave when she heard a husky voice coming from the far corner.

"I can help you, if you want."

The stench of cigarette smoke filled Lola's nostrils; she coughed and dropped her backpack on the dingy floor, turning to address the person.

The unidentified person stepped out of the shadows and Lola gasped.