Chapter One - Oh, Happy Days.

The small specks of snow that danced across the backseat window sent a shiver racing up Wendy's spine. She was nervous. More nervous than she had ever been about anything else in her whole life. It had felt like an eternity since she had last seen South Park.

The seventeen year old sighed to herself, sinking into the backseat of her parents car as they continued to quietly drive down the main road of town. It had been two years since the Testaburgers had packed up and moved to Malibu, but now they were back in the little mountain town and soon enough Wendy would be returning to South Park High School. For anyone who knew her, they would probably assume that she would be over the moon to be returning to her home town and her old friends. But in reality, at that precise moment, Wendy wished that she could be absolutely anywhere else in the world but there.

Gazing back out the window, she twisted a strand of her long, black hair around her finger. Her raven locks had grown almost double the length since the last time anyone had seen her. They were just a couple of inches away from sitting her lap, while her bangs were pinned back out of her face. She no longer wore her old, pink beret, and her face was softly covered with delicately applied make-up. She definitely may have looked different upon first glance, but as her vision continued to scan the houses and trees that flicked past the moving car, it was clear to her that South Park wasn't much different at all.

For the briefest moment, a faint smile crossed Wendy's face as her family drove past Bebe's house. The sight of the vibrant, red bricks warmed her heart. A million childhood memories reappeared across her mind. She remembered being eight and playing dolls with Bebe up in her bedroom, being twelve and camping with all the girls in the backyard, and the party the girls and boys had thrown there together at the end of the summer before they started high school. This final recollection brought Wendy's train of thought to a screeching halt.

The young girl was completely frozen for a minute as she was swiftly reminded of what it was that was making her so nervous about being back home. It was the exact same thought that had been with her every day for the past two years. The same face that had sat in the back of her mind for that whole time.

Wendy's eyes suddenly narrowed as the familiarity of her surroundings began to set back in. She turned away from the car window, desperately trying to ignore the fact that they were now driving past the two-storey family home that was built with dark green bricks. The mere thought of it all absolutely terrified her.

Her final day in South Park from two years ago was one memory that was all too vivid for her. Her stomach still tangled up in knots every time she thought about, even if it was for a split second. The young girl had never felt more sick with sadness than she did that afternoon standing in her family driveway. It was one consolation, Wendy thought, that the Testaburgers had bought a new house and weren't moving back into their old one, but it didn't make her heart hurt any less than how it constantly had since that day.

All of Wendy's thoughts were beginning to feel incredibly suffocating as she loosened her seat belt strap from around her chest. She wasn't sure that anything could feel worse than sitting around her house in Malibu all day thinking about everything and everyone she missed from South Park. But now she was quickly being shown that maybe being back in her home town was just too much for her to handle.

She could only imagine what it was going to feel like when she went to school tomorrow.

Monday mornings were the same thing to Bebe as they were to most seventeen year olds. A complete bore and the absolute worst day of the week.

Pulling up the hand brake of her car, Bebe turned off the ignition as a huge yawn escaped the back of her throat. She was almost tempted to slump her head down on the steering wheel to rest her eyes but was certain she would end up falling into a long, deep sleep. By God, she hated Mondays.

Sighing to herself, Bebe pushed her blonde curls out of her face as she opened her car door and stepped out. Her hair was long and pinned to one side, cascading far down her back. She moved it all out of the way as she slung her bag over her shoulder and began walking towards the front steps of South Park High School.

It was October, and Bebe along with everyone else she had grown up with since elementary school were just settling into their junior year. Already it seemed like the work load was a lot more, and the pressure of getting good grades was becoming more and more intense with each assessment and exam that went by. Coupling that with trying to hold together a decent enough social life, Bebe was definitely feeling like she already needed a break and something new to take her mind off the roller coaster that was her high school career.

That was when her eyes narrowed at the figure she saw standing at the foot of the school steps.

"Wendy!"

The sound of her name caused the dark haired teenager to spin around on the spot, grinning from ear to ear at the sight of her best friend dashing towards her. That was the first snap instant of happiness she had felt in a long time.

"Hey, Bebe!"

The force of Bebe colliding into Wendy with a warm, tight hug almost made the returning student drop all of her books. But still, she was smiling, all too relieved to back in the company of someone she had missed for so long.

Bebe had always known that Wendy was returning to South Park that week. For the entire period that she lived in Malibu, the two had talked online every day, Skyped once a week and spoken on the phone whenever they had the spare time. There wasn't one incident from California over the past two years that Bebe hadn't been told about, but for Wendy, nothing could compare to actually having her best friend back in her presence.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you're back!" the blonde girl said, finally letting go of her friend, "I missed you, girl!"

"I missed you, too," Wendy spoke with an easing sigh, "You have no clue how good it feels to see you in front of my face and not on my computer screen."

"Well, you have no clue how great you look! That Malibu sun has done you good – you're gonna' be, like, the most tanned girl in all of Colorado," Bebe exclaimed with a laugh, locking arms with Wendy as she began to lead her towards the doors of the school, "The girls are all so excited to see you!"

For a fleeting moment, Wendy's overwhelming happiness turned to slight concern, "You didn't tell any of the girls before last night, though, right?"

"Don't worry," Bebe huffed, "I did exactly as you said – nobody knew a single thing before yesterday."

As she reached her hand out and grabbed onto the metal handle of the large door, Bebe looked over to Wendy out of the corner of her eye. It was completely obvious to her that her best friend was suddenly feeling a lot more nervous about being back at her old school. Bebe had told herself to try and not worry about Wendy so much, but she could only just imagine what she was going through and everything that must have been on her mind. She already knew that there was much more going on with Wendy other than merely trying to adapt back to her old life.

"So how has everything been?"

The two girls fell to a short silence as Wendy glanced over to her friend, exchanging a knowing look.

"It's better being back here," she spoke simply.

Within the next second, the pair walked through the double doors and entered the main auditorium of South Park High School. Wendy's heart was racing in fearful anticipation. The halls of the school were noisy with excited squeals and loud conversations, and many different sized students were bumping into the two girls where they stood in the doorway, yet the only one of her senses that Wendy was paying attention to was her eyesight as she hastily scanned the large room. She failed to initially spot any familiar faces as she continued to glance around until she felt Bebe tug on her peach coloured blouse.

"Wendy? You okay?"

Blinking in surprise, Wendy snapped out of her deep trance, staring blankly at Bebe for moment. Despite all else that was consuming her in that instant, there was still one major thought lodging itself at the forefront of her mind.

Sighing despondently to herself, Wendy took Bebe's hand, dragging her out of the walkway. The blonde girl was apprehensive of her friend's demeanour as she watched her fold her arms across her chest, awkwardly pushing a long strand of black hair behind her ear.

Again, she poignantly heaved her chest, "Do you know if any of the girls spread around that I was coming back? Like, is there... anyone else who knows that I'm here?"

Immediately, Bebe knew exactly what Wendy was really asking. She struggled over an answer, and was just about to give the best one she could possibly think of right when she was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing. Students quickly began to disperse and head off to their homerooms as Wendy kept her head down, desperately trying to avoid anyone she possibly knew. Watching her do so, Bebe exhaled a deep breath and took Wendy by the arm again, walking over towards the doors of the various classrooms as she licked her lips.

"I don't know if he knows, Wendy," she spoke blatantly, causing Wendy to be taken back slightly, "And you're only really gonna' be able to figure that out for yourself."

Bebe felt horrible that there wasn't anything more comforting she could tell her best friend. She wished that there was more that she could do for her, but ultimately, she knew that she could only really do what she always had – and that was simply be there to support her, unconditionally.

"So, this one should be your homeroom, right?" the blonde girl asked, gesturing to the door they now found themselves in front of. Gawking up at the number on the door, Wendy referred back to the paper in the front of her binder and nodded her head. "Eleventh grade, 'T' through 'Z'," Bebe went on. She stopped, smiled warmly at Wendy and then pulled in her in for a quick, comforting hug, "Good luck. I'll see you at break."

Wendy returned the grin as confidently as she could, "Thanks, Bebe."

Then, almost as quickly as her blissful relief had appeared that morning, Wendy's smile dropped from her face. For a place that was so familiar to her, filled with faces that she was certain she'd eventually begin to recognise, Wendy had never quite felt this alone before. Well, not for a while now, anyway.

The dark haired girl stood in front of the classroom door, nervously gazing up at it as she dared to place her hand on the handle. The homeroom bell had rung a couple of minutes ago now, and she knew she really needed to get a move on. But something else Wendy also knew was that walking through that door and taking her seat meant that she would be accepting the fact that her life in South Park was officially restarting. And at that particular point in time, she couldn't be one hundred percent certain what that would mean for her. Or for the person whose image kept emerging in her mind.

Shaking her head to try and rid it of all negative thought, Wendy took a final deep breath and pushed the classroom door open. She definitely couldn't stop the inevitable from happening, but she could at least try and put it off for as long as possible and take it all one very slow step at a time.

As this thought remained with her while she entered her new homeroom, Wendy's eyes widened in delight, "Heidi!"

Heidi Turner's brown ponytail swung around as she heard her name. Soon enough, she was collecting her old friend in a long awaited hug as the two of them giggled away excitedly at the front of the classroom. An elated smirk had managed to creep its way back across Wendy's face while her warm grip around Heidi tightened for a brief moment as they happily spun around on the spot.

All of the animated commotion they were causing had certainly caught the attention of the rest of the students who sat at their desks. Wendy scanned the faces of the other eleventh graders she peered at from over Heidi's shoulder. Most of those who were gazing over in her direction were just nameless expressions that she didn't recognise, but yet this only added to her surprise when she finally locked eyes with someone who wasn't one of her girl friends.

As Heidi finally let go of her old friend, Wendy took a step back. The blank, confused stare she was receiving from Craig Tucker eventually became somewhat intimidating enough for her to turn away and scurry off to a desk near the front of the room next to Heidi.

Craig blinked. What the hell had he just seen? Was that really who he thought it was? He supposed that the worried glare he had been on the receiving end of was really the confirming factor. Wendy Testaburger was back in South Park.

The teenage boy paused for a minute, thinking. He reached up under his blue hat and scratched his head, finally deciding to dig his hand down into the depths of his pocket and retrieve his mobile phone. Unlocking the phone and entering his message bank, Craig stopped for another couple of seconds. While his initial gut instincts had instantly told him the most obvious person that he should be text messaging in this situation, he soon shook his head. Instead, he selected a different one of his contacts, ran his thumbs over the keypad, and without a second thought, sent a text zooming across the school.

It was three more classrooms further up the hall when the message finally reached its destination. The vibrations it set off on the phone where it had landed shot up its owner's leg, impulsively causing him to grab it out of his pocket.

Craig? he asked himself, What does he want?

A deeply set frown was already apparent in his brow as he touched his thumb against the screen, opening the message. When he finally read the words that were in front of him, Kyle froze.

'You need to talk to Stan.'

A concerned thought immediately crossed Kyle Broflovski's mind.

'What? Why?' he messaged back.

It was less than a minute before another reply shot back to Kyle's phone. His brow furrowed even more when he saw that the message had a photo attached to it. What was this going to be all about? Kyle wondered if Craig was playing some kind of stupid joke, but when he thought about it, a harmless joke may have been better than anything that was actually bad – especially if it included Stan.

Shaking off the notion, Kyle tentatively opened the attachment. And it was immediately worse than anything he could have imagined.

"Oh, fuck off."

The shocked and agitated mumbles that erupted from the red-headed teenager caused all those around him to suddenly look up, including the larger, hefty figure that was sitting right beside him. Examining the look of disbelief that was clearly spread across Kyle's face, Eric Cartman leant over and looked down at the Jewish boy's phone, "What?" he grunted.

Kyle was stewing in an angered silence, refusing to answer his friend and leaving him to discover the truth for himself. For a split second, Cartman's eyes widened in quiet surprise, but soon enough the photo on Kyle's phone of Wendy sitting at the front of Craig's homeroom with Heidi sent him into an array of chuckles and snorts.

"Ha ha!" he exclaimed, ignoring the blatant concern in Kyle's expression, "Ha, aah, well it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out..."

The fifteen minutes of homeroom had felt like the longest of Kyle's entire life as he came bursting out the door, frantically looking around the hallways. His mind was being pulled in two or three different directions, unsure of who exactly he should be hunting down to confront first.

The photo he had seen as clear as day of Wendy sitting back in a desk at South Park High School still burnt in the back of his mind. It made his stomach turn. While it may have been the one circumstance that he never imagined would ever come to be, it had always been a worry of his ever since the very day that Wendy left. Ever since he had seen what it had done to his best friend.

All of a sudden he spied Craig approaching him out of the corner of his eye. As Cartman reappeared by his side, Kyle quickly looked around to make sure there was no-one else in ear shot, "Are you sure about this?" he hissed in a panic.

Craig raised an eyebrow, "Was the photographic evidence not enough?"

Kyle could feel his head beginning to pound underneath his trusty old green hat, "Well, what the hell is she doing back here?" he spat.

"I dunno', dude, it's not like I spoke to her or anything," Craig argued, "But she did see me. So you might want to do something about it before she does."

An exasperated sigh escaped the back of Kyle's throat as he heatedly began to pace back and forth in front of his two friends. Cartman looked on, still mildly amused by the whole situation as he began to giggle to himself again, "Well, I guess first one to find Stan and tell him wins!"

"No!" Kyle shot back at him, "No, nobody tells Stan anything," he warned with another sigh. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, trying to think of the best possible thing to do. Just as he turned around to open his mouth and speak to Craig, Kyle sensed himself freeze again.

Peering over his friend's shoulder, his eyes narrowed as he finally spotted the dark haired ghost for himself. Seeing Wendy standing a mere few feet in front of him, happily chatting away with Heidi, Bebe and a couple of the other girls as if everything was completely normal seemed majorly and doubtlessly unfair to him. But at the same time, it also made him realise something.

As he shook his head in disgust at Wendy, Kyle then spun back around on the spot, briskly walking past Cartman and Craig and calling back to them as he did, "Leave Stan to me. I'm gonna' make sure he hears this from me before anyone else."

Scrunching up his mouth, Kyle lowered his voice to a mutter, "Or before he finds out for himself..."

Gym class had always been a struggle for Cartman. Even though he was seventeen now and most people assumed that somewhere down the line of his teenage years he would have actually tried to do something about his poor health and his even poorer weight, he was really just as fat as he had always been.

Stumbling back over to the bleaches after running – or attempting to run – ten laps of the football field, Cartman collapsed next to Craig, who was also now joined by Clyde Donovan. The two long-time good friends looked over at Cartman as he sat down beside them, panting like a tired dog. Just as he was on the verge of coughing up one of his lungs, his over dramatic fit of exhaustion was interrupted by Kyle running over towards the group in his own P.E. uniform. His bushy mess of red hair was tied back in a ponytail and he reached his hands back to tighten it as he let out an aggravated huff.

"So, how'd he take it?" Clyde asked, swapping a glance with Craig.

Ignoring his friends, Kyle silently slumped down on the bleaches next to them, causing the two of them to frown.

"What?" Craig questioned him, "Have you not seen him yet?"

"I saw him this morning," Kyle spoke through gritted teeth, exerting a sigh, "but I didn't know how to tell him."

"Oh, wow, well great job, Kyle," Cartman spluttered, still suffering from his dose of exercise.

"As if you give a shit, fat ass!"

"Hey, I offered to break it to him gently for you, but you wanted to bitch your way around it like you always do."

"Break it to him gently?" Kyle repeated in sarcasm, "That's bullshit Cartman, and you know it."

"Calm down, dude," Clyde urged him, "Cartman's kinda' right. You need to tell him sooner or later."

"Yeah," Craig added, "Plus, if he finds out that you knew and didn't tell him, he could get majorly pissed at you."

Falling to a stubborn hush, Kyle rolled his eyes. He didn't think that it was particularly anyone else's business how he chose to handle the situation at hand – Stan was his best friend, and besides, Kyle was the one who had independently taken the responsibility on for himself. But deep down, he knew his other friends were right. He needed to have Stan's back, and tip-toeing around him to avoid hurting his feelings was ultimately doing him much more harm than good.

Groaning in annoyance, Kyle reluctantly lifted himself off the bleaches and started to walk back towards the school building, "He just finished football practice, right?"

"Yeah," Clyde confirmed, "He'll probably be out of the showers any minute now."

Without saying another word, Kyle continued to trudge along, across the oval, up the school steps and through the large double doors, all the while wondering how exactly his best friend was going to react after hearing what he had to say, "God damn it..."

There were a handful of other students standing around in the school gym, some were playing basketball, others were simply chatting away with one another. Kyle weaved his way between them as he walked over to where his gym bag was sitting against the side wall. He retrieved his green hat, stuffed all his hair back into it and then gazed over his shoulder toward the entrance to the male locker room. With no-one in sight, Kyle picked up his bag, walked over to the stands in front of the indoor basketball court and then nervously sat down, awaiting his friend's appearance.

The young teenager's mind began to wander, asking itself dozens of questions. He was so lost in his own uneasy thoughts that he barely even noticed when two familiar faces crossed his path and appeared in his narrowed vision. Kyle looked blankly at Bebe, blinking a couple of times before focusing his sight on the undesirable figure that stood beside the blonde girl. He shook his head at Bebe's friend, appalled, waiting for Wendy to open her mouth and speak.

The dark-haired girl frowned with a shrug of her shoulders, "Hi, Kyle."

Kyle's teeth grinded together in anger, "'Hi, Kyle'? Really? Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

Fiddling with the hem of her P.E. shirt, Wendy exchanged a quick, confused glance with Bebe. Even when she had lived in Malibu, Wendy had tried her hardest to keep in touch with everyone from South Park – not just the girls. It was certainly no surprise to her when Stan had dropped off from all of her contact lists, but it was a couple of weeks later when Kyle had suddenly dropped off her radar, too. He had unfriended, unfollowed and straight out deleted her from every social media connection in existence, so she wasn't exactly shocked to be receiving such a sour reception from him now. But she never really imagined he would seem this infuriated with her.

Quickly getting sick of her silent approach, Kyle licked his lips, "So, are you really gonna' make me ask what you're doing back here?"

Scrunching up her face, obviously offended, Wendy shot Kyle daggers, "My parents missed South Park and wanted to come back, is that a crime or something now?"

"Don't be a smart ass."

"Kyle!" Bebe exclaimed, jumping to the aid of her friend.

Turning his attention to the blonde teenager, Kyle shook his head in complete bewilderment, "It didn't piss you off even a little bit when your so-called best friend just turned up back at South Park unannounced?"

Wendy rolled her eyes, "Of course Bebe knew I was coming – "

" – Ah, Wendy," Bebe suddenly said, cutting her off. Within an instant, the other two eleventh graders were staring at Bebe, puzzled at why she had so abruptly cut in before Wendy even had the chance to finish her sentence.

Eventually, Kyle's eyes widened at her, "You knew? You knew and you said nothing about it?"

Wendy's jaw dropped as she perplexingly looked over to her friend, "Why is it any concern of his?"

The raven haired girl was surprised to hear Bebe sigh and offer what she said next, "Because we've been, like, hanging out, or whatever you want to call it," she admitted nonchalantly before directing herself back at Kyle, "But he doesn't need to be so dramatic about it!"

Feeling himself snap at what was just about the final straw, Kyle scoffed loudly in disgust. He had been hanging out with, or seeing Bebe, or whatever anyone else wanted to claim it to be. But upon discovering that apparently that wasn't even enough to be informed of such drastic and important information like Wendy coming back to town, Kyle angrily jumped up from the indoor bleaches and pushed past the two girls, "You know what – whatever!" he yelled, "I don't have to deal with this shit, so unless either of you have anything useful to say, just forget we ever had this conversation."

Watching him walk off towards the exit of the gym so rudely and arrogantly, Wendy shook her head as she sensed a dangerous thought in the back of her mind begin to fume, "How has Stan been going?"

The precise second that the main subject of the sentence had left her mouth, Kyle came to a screeching halt in his tracks. He was completely solidified in his place, shocked by what he had heard and not entirely certain of how best to react. Slowly, he turned around on the spot, glaring furiously at Wendy as step by step he walked back towards the two girls. He could hardly believe the mere audacity of his friend's ex-girlfriend as he swallowed a harsh lump in his throat.

"Stan's great," he spoke simply and decisively, "And I want him to stay that way. So stay the fuck away from him, Wendy."

All three of them impulsively fell to silence as the callous words from Kyle sliced though the tension like a freshly sharpened blade. Bebe was staring at him in disappointment while Wendy was simply standing firm with her arms crossed against her chest. She remained quiet for a moment with Kyle's spectacular performance still dwelling on her mind as she tried to think of some kind of defence to offer. Just as she was about to open her mouth and speak, she was unexpectedly interrupted yet again before her words had even touched her tongue. But the guilty party was definitely not the person that Wendy was ever expecting.

"Dude, Kyle, like six different people today have said you need to talk to me, what's going..."

As his own sentence trailed off in astonishment, seventeen year old Stan Marsh was completely still.

Stan took the briefest of moments to gaze over at his best friend, vacantly examining the distress that was apparent on Kyle's face. He then quickly glazed over Bebe before he fell into deep hesitation and unwillingly locked eyes with the girl standing beside her. He could barely believe it. It was her. It was Wendy.

The stunned gap that had parted its way between Wendy's lips was seemingly not enough to remind her to breathe as she sensed herself almost choking on her own amazement. Her heart was racing quicker than it ever had over the past two years of her life. Two years without seeing, interacting or speaking to Stan had all come down to this precise moment – the moment that she had been nervous for since she had crossed the border back into Colorado the night before. And holy crap, did he look different.

Stan's hair had grown a little bit longer, and it was clinging wet to his forehead after having a post-football shower. His red poofball hat was still proudly on his head, but it now sat much farther back, allowing his longer black locks to hang out from the front. He was wearing jeans and a Varsity style South Park High Bulls football jacket with his playing number on the back of it. And most notably of all... had he gotten taller?

Wendy swallowed nervously, trying to snap herself out of her hypnotised trance. Sighing to herself and blinking a few times, she soon realised that she and Stan were still staring at each other. Their vision was fastened together so tightly that she could almost swear she could see her reflection in his sparkling, blue orbs. He was even more gorgeous than she remembered.

Cracking the smallest smirk imaginable, Wendy allowed her arms to fall from her chest and clutch onto her hips as she tilted her head sweetly to the side, "Hey, Stan."

Stan was still deathly silent. He stared Wendy up and down. She had definitely grown into a beautiful young woman. Her eyes were just as dazzling as ever, and her stunningly black ponytail reached all the way to the small of her back. But even so, he remained blank.

The expressions of Kyle, Bebe and especially Wendy all fell in immediate confusion as Stan parted his lips to speak two simple words before turning around and carelessly walking away,

"Hi, Wendy."

Thank you to everyone who read, favourited, followed and reviews the prologue of this story! I'm having so much fun writing it, and would love to hear what you all thought of this first chapter!

How do you all think Stan is going to manage now that Wendy's back? Is he really as calm and collected as he seemed to be, or do you think he's trying to hide his true feelings?

Please leave a review and let me know what you think! I would really appreciate it :)

Till next time guys,

Reneyyyyyyyyyyy x