(Oops! I hope it won't smell!)

(Oh, God, I can't tell him, it's so embarrassing)

(I'd eat a sandwich right now. Do I have time to eat before...? Yes! Great!)

(At least nobody saw that...)

Timmy paid no attention to the conversation going on in front of him—he heard voices all around him, voices of people who were in other parts of the building or were close but didn't even open their mouths. It was distracting. It made his head spin. However, he still didn't share his discovery with his friends, his parents or even Gobbles. He still wasn't sure of what it meant. He felt so weird he didn't think he would be able to explain what he was perceiving.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"We were asking you if you wanted to play ball with us after school." Craig said.

"Ah. Well...Are you really sure you want to play with me?" Timmy asked.

(If that makes Jimmy stop whining...)

Oh. Of course...

But it was nice to know Jimmy wanted him to be included in the boys' plans.

"Are you kidding? I know you're still learning to use your legs and stuff, but you can't be worse than these guys." Craig replied.

"Oh, yeah?" Kenny placed his hands on his hips in a cocky posture.

"Yeah, Cartman's fat ass is a burden but we are better than all of you" Stan replied.

"Hey, the team would be lost without my leadership; you guys would go nowhere without me!" Cartman protested.

Timmy chuckled.

"Okay, I'm in. If you guys are so good, Craig and company will need all help possible."

"Hey, guys, I heard you talking and I was wondering..." Wendy seemed to come out of nowhere, three books in hand.

(They're going to say no...)

"May I join you?"

(Since when are girls interested in our games? This chick got kicked out by the girls again for sure) That was Clyde's voice.

(Oh, come on, no, no, please) Tweek frowned a little bit, imperceptibly.

Timmy now looked at Stan and saw a strange look on his face, like he didn't know what to say. But he heard what he was thinking.

(What? She's been ignoring me this whole month and now she suddenly wants to play ball with us? Why now? What is she playing to?!)

"Yeah, well, sorry, but we don't need any more players..." He was the one who answered, and the other boys nodded in agreement.

Timmy turned his gaze to Wendy and before he saw her expression, seemingly cool with it, there was something in his chest which told him that the answer she was expecting still hurt.

"Oh, sure...Okay...See you..."

Wendy turned around and left, quite uncomfortably, because the boys were evidently waiting till she left to keep talking.

(The girls are too busy to hang out with me, the boys don't want to play with me...Am I really that unbearable?)

(What a bitch.)

(Girls can't play ball, everybody knows that. Well done, Stan.)

(She must be really desperate to want to join us.)

Timmy bit his under lip. He hesitated a bit, but in the end he rushed to stop Wendy before she left.

"Hey! Wendy! Uh..."

"Yes, Timmy?" She asked, turning around.

"I'm not that sure I'll be able to run too much...So why don't you come over? We'll probably need a replacement."

Wendy blinked as if she didn't believe what she was hearing, then smiled.

"Thank you, Timmy!"

(Oh, shit!)

(Timmy, why, noooo...)

It was kind of fun to listen to those now. Timmy didn't mind if he made someone angry with that. That was the fair thing to do. Wendy had been nice to him, so he had to return the favor.

It was then when the Special Ed kids who needed more assistance were taken to the classroom by the teacher. When they passed by Timmy's side, some called his name loudly, waved their arms, or straight up left the group to hug him. True that he didn't go to Special Ed as much as he used to, since he seemed to understand the concepts pretty well and PC Principal had agreed with his parents that they could give him a try, but they were a nice gang and their appreciation was genuine. Timmy was glad to see them and wished them a good morning.

(It's in moments like this when I see Hitler was right after all…)

Everything was so quick nobody had time to react. Wendy saw a sudden change in Timmy's placid expression, his head turning to Cartman and before she realized, she was watching him knocking the fat boy down on the floor and hitting him with his fists again and again, while Cartman, completely defenseless, screamed nonsense like a pig at the slaughterhouse.

"Timmy!"

"Dude, what are you doing?!"

Soon five boys were grabbing the ex-crippled, but it was not easy to keep him away from Cartman. He was like a beast which wouldn't let its prey go. He really wanted to kill him.

"Stop! Stop!" Tweek screamed, grabbing his arm and nearly getting punched in the face because of it.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Mackey exclaimed in the distance.

Before he approached, Timmy stood up and pushed away all hands holding him without losing visual contact with Cartman, who crawled away from him, a lip busted, an eye aching too much to open and blood coming out of his nose.

"You fat piece of shit…" Timmy growled before stomping away.

"Is there a problem? Hey, I just asked you a question, mkay! What happened here?" Ignored, Mackey didn't chase Timmy, but just stood there and muttered a defeated 'mkay…'

Obviously, Cartman was no one's cup of tea, but that was totally uncalled for and all witnesses had no choice but to side with him.

"Oh, come on, he probably started. I mean, he's Eric Freaking Cartman." Nicole judged at the cafeteria.

"No, I swear, you girls: Cartman was just standing there, doing nothing at all. Timmy punched him for no reason." Wendy explained.

"Well, we all know Timmy: he's always done impulsive things for no reason." Was Red's opinion. Cartman being beaten up surely didn't make her lose any sleep.

"But that was before. It was his illness acting up. And he has never, ever hurt a kid just because…"

"It's just Cartman, Wendy. I don't see the big deal." Red insisted. "Sooner or later he would have given him a reason."

"Well…" Wendy's eyes focused on her apple on the tray. "He scared me...You should have seen his face…"

"Uh...Wendy?"

The girls hushed when the blond approached.

"...May I talk to you for a second?" Timmy asked, his arms behind his back, almost making him look shy.

(Oh, wow, I'll never get used to see him talking and walking...) Bebe thought.

"Sure..." Wendy muttered. She left her things on the table and followed Timmy some steps away from the table.

"My offer is still up, if you wanna-"

"Timmy, why did you do it? Why did you hit Cartman?" Wendy interrupted him, looking at him with concern.

Timmy paused.

"...I...didn't like the way he looked at my partners from Special Ed."

That was technically not a lie, right?

"I guess I'm an ex-handicapped but that doesn't mean I..."

"I understand, Timmy. It's okay. It's just that...Well..."

You were scared of me, Timmy thought. Yes, he could feel it. And he didn't like it.

"Sorry. I..." He muttered.

"No, really, Timmy...I know how nasty Cartman can be. Yes, I'd be so glad to go play with you guys." Wendy said.

She smiled and Timmy did too.

(It's so nice to be able to hold a conversation with Timmy. He was confident before but now, he's different and...I don't know what it is, but he's got something. Perhaps it's seeing him opening his eyes to the world as it is, without his illness in the way...Look at that smile.)

She had never smiled at him that way before. Things were so different indeed. And she mentioning his smile made it widen.

Oh, if only Stan could do the things he did, he would understand her and she would be happy, and wouldn't leave. He regretted all those times when, driven by the opinion of the other boys, judged her and thought she was a bitch. She was not.

If he ever had a girlfriend, he would have liked her to be just like Wendy.

...

Why not her?

Timmy smiled to himself. Nah, she was just amazed at his change, she surely didn't mean...

(...It's...a pretty smile...And that voice...I didn't appreciate it when it only said his own name, but...)

Timmy gazed at Wendy when she made her way back to her seat, and saw she was still smiling. She would turn her head often to look at him furtively.

(And I never thought he could be so sweet...)

Timmy felt in his chest something he thought was the reason why Wendy flinched. He couldn't tell what it was. The last time he felt it was when he—and his male classmates—thought Bebe was the best thing in the whole world. Was it...

...attraction?

He gazed at Wendy. She was still smiling.

Come on. Please, think of me. Think more pretty things about me.

And it happened.

(He's intelligent and kind of cute...How stupid and ableist from me, for not having noticed until now...)

Timmy returned to his partners but ignored what they said to him, about the decision he made after they had already said no. All he thought was Wendy. Wendy thinking of him. He wanted her to think more of him. And she did. The more he wanted her to have him in her head, the less she could focus on something that was not the good qualities and virtues she had overlooked all these years.

That was how Timmy knew he was not an abled person, but something else. And it felt even better than learning how to talk or walk.