I apologize in advance that I won't be updating as much as I want to. I have a lot of stories I'm working on, plus I have a summer job at an amusement park. So, again, I won't be pumping out chapters like I used to.
Anyway, obviously Heidi is not happy with how she was brushed off. Hopefully, we'll be looking more into Kyle's mindset as well, and we'll start to see what it's like when Cartman is no longer making his life miserable.
Chapter Three – Thanks for the Memories (Even Though They Weren't So Great)
Heidi felt kind of strange after that (sort of) exchange with Kyle. It was a weird feeling, and she didn't like it, but she wasn't sure what it was. Maybe she felt… bad? That couldn't be possible, she had done nothing wrong. Kyle was just being an asshole, that was all. It wasn't like she felt anything for him, and Eric did tell her what he had done. This was probably just him trying to manipulate her more.
Eric was grumbling under his breath when she sat down next to him. Even though the teacher was already rambling on about something, neither of them could focus on him. Heidi tried to focus on the teacher and the lesson, but her mind kept wandering. She couldn't help but think about what Stan had said. There was no way that Eric was the one who was manipulating her! He wouldn't lie to her, he loved her! She knew that! He respected her too much, right?
Finally, and mercifully, the bell finally rang and everyone started heading towards lunch. She was annoyed to see Kyle talking and laughing with Stan and Kenny, not caring about the emotional abuse he had brought on to her and Eric. Heidi couldn't stand how he was acting like the victim from all this. If anything, she was the victim!
She was taken out of her thoughts when Bebe suddenly came up to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Hey Heidi," she greeted her. "How's it going?"
Heidi stared at her. Had she not seen what had happened before class had started? "Not great," she replied after a moment. "I don't know why Kyle's mad at me. If anything, I should be mad at him!" Bebe blinked at her in surprise.
"Why would you be mad at him?" she wondered. Heidi sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Because," she said, "I thought he was trying to help me through my problems, but he was just manipulating me the entire time! And now he's acting like I did something wrong, just because I shot him down."
Bebe stopped dead in her tracks. "You did?" she asked. "When?"
"A couple of days ago," Heidi replied.
"And…who told you that he was manipulating you?" Bebe continued to question.
"Eric, why?" Bebe stared at her as if she had gone mad.
"And…you believed him?"
"Well, yeah," Heidi said. "Why wouldn't I?"
Bebe opened her mouth to explain the hundreds of reasons why Heidi shouldn't believe a word that Eric Cartman said, but was shoved out of the way by Cartman, who came up from behind them and wrapped an arm around Heidi's shoulders.
"So, babe!" Cartman greeted in an obnoxiously loud voice. "You want to do something really romantic tonight or something? I figured since we're so in love, we would do something special!"
"Sure, Eric," Heidi replied, confused. "That sounds nice."
Heidi turned down one hall to go to her locker, so she didn't see Cartman glare ahead to where Kyle, Stan and Kenny were still happily chatting, not registering a word he had said. Nor did she see Bebe angrily sucker punch Cartman in the gut a couple of seconds later.
Days passed in this fashion. Cartman was angry to see that Kyle wasn't even sort of cracking in his defense. Heidi seemed nonchalant about the whole thing as well, but people could see her cast occasional glances towards Kyle and his friends. Kyle continued to manage to ignore both of them, and even a random bystander could see that he was looking happier.
But that wasn't the only relationship that seemed to be going in shambles. Cartman and Heidi's relationship also seemed to be going south. Heidi actually started to notice how Cartman constantly rolled his eyes whenever she spoke, or tried to ignore her every chance he got. Their only conversations were about Cartman and his problems, or screaming matches. In the frame of one week, they had broken up and gotten back together three times.
The school was still in a tizzy about the whole Skankhunt thing as well, so everyone was on edge by the end of the week. Bebe, for one, was sick of the whole drama. But she wasn't sure if she should be the first person to break the ice. A lot of the boys were just as angry at the girls as the girls were at the guys.
She decided to go for it a few weeks later, because despite Nichole and Wendy being known as the most sensible girls, they were still too stubborn to admit that they were wrong and talk to any of the guys. She found Kyle at his locker after school one day, putting his books away and talking quietly to Kenny, who had a locker next to him. She took a deep breath and made her way over to them.
"Hey Kyle," she greeted, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. He and Kenny looked up at her, surprised.
"Oh, hey Bebe," he replied warily. "I thought none of the girls were speaking to us at the moment." Bebe cocked her head and smiled.
"Why? Because of the whole Skankhunt thing?" she questioned. "Yeah, I got over that a couple of weeks ago. I realized the whole thing was kind of stupid to begin with. I mean, it's not your fault one guy was being an asshole, right?"
Kyle flinched, because that asshole had been his dad, but he decided not to comment on it. "Fair enough, I suppose," he said instead. "So, what's up?"
"I heard about your whole thing about kicking Cartman and Heidi out of your life," Bebe started. Kyle immediately rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.
"You're not going to try and talk me into making up with asshole too, are you?" he growled. "Because Cartman especially doesn't deserve forgiveness, and I don't think-"
"No, no," Bebe interrupted. "I completely agree with you. I'm actually surprised you didn't do it sooner. But that's not the point. I was just curious as to why you're so mad at Heidi as well."
Kyle blinked in surprise at her before frowning. "Let me guess, she told you that I was manipulating her and you think that she has the right to be mad, but I don't," he growled after a moment.
"Actually, that's what she said Cartman told her," Bebe replied calmly. "That's why I wasn't inclined to believe her."
"To be fair, if she was willing to fall for whatever dumb shit Cartman tells her at the drop of a hat, she didn't really deserve you to begin with, Kyle," Kenny put in helpfully. Kyle turned to give him a grateful smile, so he didn't see Bebe give a start of surprise at having forgotten that Kenny was standing there in the first place. Kenny then turned to Bebe to add, "No offense."
Bebe shrugged. "Eh," she said, nonchalantly. "I can't help but agree with you. She knows Cartman is a lying asshole, so she should know better."
"Anyway, she accused me of manipulating her," Kyle told her. "Then she basically called me a dirty Jew, broke my heart, and then went back to Eric fucking Cartman. And then she didn't even have the gall to apologize to me the next day. If she had, I wouldn't be giving her the same silent treatment, but frankly she deserves it."
Bebe reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "I completely understand," she said softly. "I'll try and get her to understand that."
"Good luck with that," Kenny scoffed. "Cartman is pretty much the only person she will listen to for some reason. She's in too much denial."
"What do you mean he wants me to apologize?" Heidi growled as soon as the words left Bebe's mouth. "I haven't done anything! If anything, he should apologize to me!" Bebe let out a sigh and rolled her eyes as she tried to explain, once again, how she really shouldn't be trusting Cartman.
"Did you even attempt to get his side of the story?" Bebe wondered.
"What side of the story?" Heidi snapped. "All I said was that he was manipulating me and that I shouldn't trust him because of his people. What's not to understand?"
Bebe immediately let her head fall into her hands with a groan. She swore her friend hadn't always been this stupid. She slowly counted to ten before she looked her friend in the eye again. Heidi had her hands stubbornly on her hips, glaring at her as she composed herself.
"You're right, Heidi," she said slowly. "You are being manipulated, but not by who you think. Cartman is, was, and always will be an asshole, and you honestly believe him? He dumped you and then immediately got back together with you by threatening to kill himself! You're always telling me how he barely listens to you! You're basically his trophy wife! A prize for him to show off to other people!"
"No, I'm not!" Heidi snarled. "I'm my own thinking person! I would know if he was manipulating me or not!"
"You didn't apparently know Kyle was manipulating you until Cartman said he was," Bebe pointed out calmly. Heidi glared at her.
"I don't have time for this," she growled. "I have a date with Eric that I need to get ready for in thirty minutes."
"I thought you two broke up two days ago."
"And we got back together yesterday."
"Of course, you did…"
Sorry about the long wait and the sort of short chapter, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. Also, for the first few chapters, I'm kind of making this up as we go along. There's going to be a time skip at some point, it might be next chapter, but I'm not sure.
Bebe's actually going to be appearing a lot in this story as the reluctant voice of reason for Heidi, who refuses to listen to her. I don't know why I decided it would be Bebe, but she's going to be the sensible one anyway. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out sooner and- wait! Did you see that!? That kid kicked sand in Cool Cat's face!
