Considering how traumatic the night before was, she was reasonably indignant when her parents pushed her out the door to go to school. She'd fought with them, begging to stay home at least one day. She wasn't ready to see the world after last night. Her mother had the final word, saying, "A death is no reason to miss a day of school, young lady," just before slamming the door in her face.

She waited at the bus stop, turning the events of the night over in her head. Remembering details was getting hard – almost like the night was sand slipping through her fingers. She clung to the memory of Mysterion as hard as she could. Her parents had denied he was even there this morning, which had nearly brought her to tears. They were under the impression the ninjas had performed some sort of suicidal ritual – a fact which the news was reporting. It was enough to drive a person mad. She hadn't imagined him. The look on his face as his life left him wasn't imaginary.

Soon enough the boys turned up, chattering away like usual. For once Cartman seemed happy – or at least, excited – to see her. "Is it true? Did ninjas ACTUALLY kill themselves in your lounge room?" She should've expected that sort of stuff would bring him joy.

Kyle and Stan looked at her eagerly. They wanted to know too; they just didn't want to be as blatant as Cartman. Kenny was the only one that seemed disinterested. His hood draw-strings were pulled tight, and he was kicking the snow at his feet angrily. She sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get through the day without telling them. "Yes." She muttered. "They died in my lounge room. But it wasn't some sort of suicidal-shit like the news is saying." She saw Kenny's head perk a little, and he pulled his hood a little looser.

"Oh yeah, how else did they die then, huh? Just fell dead from your parents terrible decorating?" Cartman prodded, cackling. "That is so cool dude, as if NINJAS are –"

She cut him off. "Someone killed them." The words were said defiantly, but she knew they weren't convincing.

"Who?" Stan asked.

"Some... some guy."

"Some guy? Seriously? You're telling us that ninjas broke into your house, but were killed by a guy that ALSO broke in? Where'd he go after he murdered some ninjas?"

"You've got to admit, it's not really that believable." Stan agreed.

"I don't care it's not believable! It happened!" She snapped, annoyed. "His name was –" She just managed to stop herself before she finished the sentence. He'd specifically asked her not to tell anyone. She wasn't sure if that meant in death as well, but it was the least she could do. "… it doesn't matter. But it was real. He was." She looked at their expressions, and knew that they weren't taking her seriously. Cartman was nearly pissing himself laughing. She looked over at Kenny, hoping to find at least one face that didn't make her want to punch it. He was staring at her in shock, his eyes wider than saucepans. He must think she's crazy. For some reason, that hurt more than the condescending stares of the other three.

"Wha – what do you think happened?" He whispered, his words barely audible through his hood.

"A guy killed them. He fought them off – I mean, they would have killed us otherwise! He - he…" She found herself choking up, and quickly stopped talking before they noticed. They were all looking at her like she was mad. "I'm not fucking crazy. I'm done talking about this." She grumbled.

"Well guys, I told you this would happen if we let a girl hang around with us. She's lost it. Gone mad. Officially mental." Cartman sniggered. "In order to protect ourselves, we should probably kill her before she kills –"

"Shut the fuck up, Cartman." Kenny snapped. He closed the distance between her and him in seconds. They were almost nose-to-nose. Her eyes glanced sideways over at the faces of Stan and Kyle, both of whom looked as confused as she was.

"Um – Kenny, what're you doing?" She asked, a little sharper than she'd intended. It had been a long night. She was tired. And these boys were becoming increasingly harder to be around.

"I – I –" He muttered, almost like he was trying to think of the right way to say something. "How are you sure someone else was there?"

"Because I fucking saw it, alright?" She groaned. "I saw – oh Cartman, stop fucking sniggering –" She turned on Cartman, the anger rising up and threatening to bubble out. "I swear to god, I will rip those tiny, little, barely-there balls right off –" Over the last month, his hatred of her had softened a bit, and the arguments between them had reduced to only a few a week. He still knew exactly how to shit her off though.

"You wanna throw down, huh?" Cartman squared up after a moment of hesitation. "You wanna go –"

"Shut – UP." Kyle groaned. "You're not going to fight her."

Cartman's face flashed with relief, before quickly returning to his usual bitter smirk. "Lucky for you, your boyfriend won't let me fight – I suppose it is for the best, I would've kicked the shit out of you –"

She rolled her eyes. "The only way you'd be able to hurt me is if you managed to fall on me and smother me with your fat ass."

Kenny hadn't moved from in front of her, and was clearly growing more and more impatient as the conversation drew on. He cut in before Cartman could retaliate. "Cooper, so you're sure a guy killed the ninjas last night? You're really sure?"

If she rolled her eyes any more in this wait for the bus, they might just fall out of her head. "Yes, Kenny, I'm sure. Jesus Christ, you really think I'd be going through this interrogation if I wasn't telling the truth?"

His eyes widened, and the stare he stuck on her was so intent she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable again. Luckily for her, the bus swerved around the corner, cutting the interaction off.