Throughout the morning classes I learned all of two things and suspected a third:

One, two plus two was four unless it was said in a different context, in which case it was eleven. I'm still unsure of how that works though, Mr. Garrison went off on a tangent and some of my notes are about Game of Thrones now.

Two, don't answer any questions (on the off chance you might be wrong and get humiliated by not only the class but Mr. Garrison as well).

And three, my teacher probably has a heavy dose of schizophrenia.

Once the bell rang for lunch, I silently followed my classmates into the cafeteria where I stopped to peer around the room. There were inspirational posters hung up across the walls "Lettuce love one another!", "Fruits are fun", "Peas be seated, students!" I felt a gentle tapping against my arm and smiled at the fidgety boy who stayed beside me.

"I-I'm going to grab my thermos from my locker."

"Alright, thanks for walking with me here." Tweek turned to head back out the doors and I grew a little timid without his presence. It felt like all eyes were on me, even though in reality, no one gave two hoots about the new girl. Everyone was either seated with their packed lunches or buying some.

As I was making my way over to the lunch line, I wondered where I'd sit. It didn't look like there were any empty tables in the cafeteria and I felt a bit nervous. Isn't this always the problem with being the new kid? Seating, partners, interaction in general...? Although I didn't consider myself a shy person, there was still a bit of anxiety hanging over my head.

Then, a pretty girl in a purple coat began making her way over to me, a small smile on her face.

"Hello new girl." She said, taking a place in the line behind me.

"Uh, hi. I'm Clara."

"Can I ask you a question?"

This made my heart jump. Not only did she get straight to the point, but 'can I ask you a question' was one of the most nerve wracking things to say. Along with 'We need to have a talk' and 'I want to show you something.'

Without waiting for me to answer, she spoke while gesturing up and down my body. "Who are you trying to impress, Claire?"

Looking down at my clothes in confusion, I slowly responded with a quiet "..huh?"

A few giggles alerted me that other girls were beginning to form behind this girl, also waiting in line. There was a pretty redhead, a brunette in a green jacket, and another girl with curly blonde hair parted in the middle. I recognized all of them from class. What did they want? With a fake smile, I waited for them to continue talking.

"Girls, this is Claire." The girl in purple said, placing her hand on my back.

"I love your hair, Claire." The blonde spoke up.

That was a compliment! Hope flared up inside of me. Maybe they wanted to be friends?

"Oh, than-"

"It looks so much like mine!"

I felt my mouth begin to drop and tried to keep the smile plastered on my face but felt it turn into a toothy grimace. Ah. She likes it because it resembles her own hairstyle.

"I was just asking Claire why she was so overdressed, Bebe." The girls frowned with her, looking at me from head to toe."Yeah, she could at least lose the scarf." One of them whispered.

Letting my shoulder slump just a little, I shuffled up the line. This wasn't going so well. Auntie told me it was cold in South Park, so I layered up. It's better than not wearing enough, isn't it? I would rather be peeling sweaters off, then standing here, freezing. I'm not taking off my earmuffs either, it was a present and it was staying over my ears. Peering back over at them, I raised my eyebrows timidly. The girl in the purple jacket smiled. Or smirked, rather.

"I'm Wendy, This is Bebe, Red, and Heidi." The girls waved in turn.

"It's nice to meet you all." I responded curtly, still unsure of their intentions. Bebe then cut in front of me, picking up a tray from the counter followed by Heidi grabbing the one next to her. "Don't take the fries." She whispered as she passed me by. The fries looked fine to me but I wasn't going to reject the suggestion from a potential friend. Staring down at the trays in front of me, I went with her advice and took the tray with the sandwich.

"Do you want to sit with us, Claire?"

"May I?" I asked, shyly.

Wendy's reply was less then comforting. Would I be better off just standing in a corner? Maybe I could still catch Tweek before he got back to the cafeteria and sat with his own friends. Maybe I could find another group of girls and force my way onto their table.

"Of course. We really want to get to know you!"

Was there going to be some sort of hazing or was she being sincere? I had been standing in the same spot too long for Wendy's taste and she gently prodded my arm with her finger to get me moving. It felt like the walk of death, heading for their table. On the Brightside, I noticed Kyle was sitting at the table across from the one Wendy was heading to. He was talking animatedly with his friends from the bus stop but there were also a dozen more boys from our class seated with him.

ASK ME TO SIT WITH YOU, I tried to mentally communicate with him.

Kyle hadn't even noticed my eyes boring into his head and instead, got into a fight with the fat one. He had a name, he definitely had a name... what was it?

"Sit down, new girl!" The voice interrupted my thoughts.

A girl was already sitting at Wendy's table and beckoned me beside her. She wasn't in line with the rest of us and I spotted the brown paper bag in front of her. Everyone began to drop their trays to the table and sit in their respective places. Hey... They all had fries on their trays! I exhaled through my nose.

Hazing. This was definitely a hazing.