Chapter two

Shadows

The teens stared in aw as a brown haired young man silently walked into the room. He had a big body, but not at all fat, rather, well trained and toned. His, still cold, brown eyes quickly skimmed the room, looking at all of his former friends.

"Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here"

"Dude…! Cartman?!"

Stan and then Kyle remarked, amazed. A wave of murmur ushered from the students as they observed the new Cartman, who was still standing there in silence, a leather jacket hanging over his shoulder.

His cold gaze fell on Wendy and their eyes connected for a moment. To her, it felt like time had suddenly stopped, as if he was staring into her soul. She quickly looked away, almost gasping for air, suddenly feeling the sensation that she was dirty and cold.

"Welcome back Eric…"

Said Mister garrison, trying to communicate with the young man.

It took Eric a few moments but then turned to the man with the puppet on his hand and spoke in a deep but casual voice.

"Hello Mister Garrison, Mr. Hat, its nice to know that not much changes in this town"

He turned to the class, who were still open mouthed.

"Hello everyone"

He then looked at Stan and Kyle.

"Hey you guys"

He said to them with a smile, but not his typical evil smile he always wore when he was young, but with a kind and warm smile.

"Well then… how about you sit over there behind Wendy"

Mister Garrison said. Eric proceeded to slowly shuffle through the tables until he reached the back, followed in silence by the whole classes eyes as he sat down.

"Ok then… Well children, why don't you start by filling me in on what you did last year and-"

Wendy blocked Garrison out of her mind. She couldn't concentrate with him behind her. She couldn't see him but it was almost as if she could feel him, looking at her, analyzing her.

The first period flew by and as the bell rang both Stan and Kyle leaned back to talk with Cartman.

"Wow dude, what happened, where have you been?"

Stan asked excitedly.

Cartman paused a moment before answering.

"I don't think that matters you guys, I'm back and that's all there is to it." His eyes flew over to Wendy again and he smiled, yet again, with kindness in his expression.

"Hi Wendy, long time no see. It's seems like forever since you beat me up in the playground all those years ago"

Wendy just stared at him. What was the point of brining the up now?

"Oh… yea… haha"

She laughed, not quite knowing how to react.

"Excuse me guys, I have to… go get some books from my locker"

She blurted out. Anything to get away from Cartman and his unidentifiable aura.

When she reached her locker, Bebe was waiting for her with sparkles in her eyes.

"Oh brother…"

Wendy muttered under her breath.

Bebe had been her best friend ever since elementary school, and since then she had transformed into quite the young lady. Her long curly blond hair and voluptuous breasts made sure she stood out wherever she went.

The smiling teen flickered her long eyelashes at Wendy as she got closer.

"Oh. My. God! Did you see Cartman?"

"Hi Bebe, my morning is going well, thanks for asking"

Wendy answered sarcastically as she opened her locker and started rummaging through her things.

"Sorry Wends, but it's just so amazing to see Cartman looking like… that, after all these years! I wonder where he's been and why he's changed so much. Do you think he has a girlfriend? Do you think-"

"Bebe! Stop! Calm down ok? Its just Cartman… Just remember what he was like before…"

"I don't know…"

Bebe said, leaning against the lockers, hugging her books against her chest.

"Look at him now, he's lost all that weight and looks so kind… and handsome…"

Wendy clenched her fist and slammed the door closed.

"Cartman was a fat bastard before and he will be now, no matter what he looks like!"

Bebe just looked at her with a confused face.

"Look, I just… didn't get much sleep today, give me a call after school ok?"

It took only a few moments for the blond girl to go back to her happy usual self.

"Well, ok. Just calm down, ok sweetheart? Give me a shout if you need anything"

She flashed a big happy smile at Wendy and turned around, humming to herself as she went back to her class.

Bebe had failed a grade two years back and so she had to retake all her classes, much to the younger boys in her year's delight.

Wendy had always felt jelly of her ability to not worry about anything and how she lived a carefree life, not worrying about tomorrow and what it might bring.

"Blonds…"

She muttered to herself as she started walking back to her class.

The rest of the day went by quickly and Eric only seemed to be raking up more friends and admirers. By the end of the school day he was saying goodbye to loads of people, especially a few girls, who were giggling beside him. Wendy, Stan and Kyle were waiting for him at the school gate.

"Hey Cartman! Over here!"

Stan yelled.

The brown haired teen said goodbye to the girls, brushing his hair out of his eyes casually and walked over.

"Hey man, do you want to hang out this afternoon?"

Stan asked exited.

Wendy edged over to Kyle and whispered to him.

"Kyle, you don't believe all this do you?"

"Believe what?"

The Jew whispered back.

"That Cartman is back and is a nice guy that and everything is going to be different now!"

She said, almost loosing it.

"Well… at first I didn't want to believe it, but he's been really nice to me dude. He hasn't said a word about Jews and even said sorry for what he did to me as a kid in front of all the other guys during lunch!"

Wendy just looked at Kyle, surprised.

Why the hell would an evil spawn of the devil such as Eric Cartman suddenly return to South Park completely transformed? This was the boy that murdered his own father and fed him, and his wife, to his half brother just to get 16 dollars an 12 cents back! Had everyone just forgotten that?

"Give him a chance Wends, maybe he has changed after all this time, it has been almost 9 years since he left, people grow and mature, I bet even Cartman can't avoid that"

Wendy looked down at the floor, realizing the truth in Kyle's words, but deep down in her heart something was telling her that Cartman couldn't change.

"Once a bastard, always a bastard…"

Kyle sighed and looked over to Stan and Eric.

"Sorry guys, I have stuff to sort out today, give me about a week and I'll be able to hang out with you again."

He said, smiling at the group, his perfect white teeth flashing with each word.

Something inside Wendy dropped, almost kicking her off her feet, but she quickly managed to snap back to reality.

The recently regrouped friends bid each other goodbye and began walking home. The female teen was quiet most of the way as Stan and Kyle talked about the day and, of course, Cartman's unexpected appearance.

When she finally got home she kissed Stan, hugged Kyle and went inside.

Wendy sat in her chair thinking.

What could have caused Cartman to change so much? Was it possible that he simply had become a nice person? People do change and mature as they grow up, maybe he really had gone through that process.

But something inside her told her that it couldn't be true.

Bebe's name flashing repeatedly on her phone, accompanied by various vibrations, brought her back to reality.

"Hey Wendy, feeling any better?"

Sounded Babe's cheerful voice on the other side of the phone.

"Yea… I guess"

Wendy shook herself back to reality; she had to stop thinking about the whole Cartman thing. She had a fun afternoon up ahead at the mall with her best friend to look forward to.

"Can you pick me up from home in your car?"

Wendy continued, feeling slightly better now.

"Of course Wends, I'll be there in about 10 minutes!"

With that brief carefree warning she hung up.

The young girl laughed slightly. Bebe will be Bebe.

As they went round different shops and tried on clothes and shoes, Wendy's head kept drifting back to the image of the new Cartman and his mesmerizing smile.

Hands full of bags and sore feet, the girls stopped one last time to eat some ice cream, before calling it a day. Bebe, as usual, went on and on about what she thought about of boys. She had to of course; she was after all, along with Stan, one of the most popular kids in school.

"Wendy! Are you listening to me?"

Bebe said, slightly annoyed that she had just told her friend all about her "encounter" with Clyde the week before, and the noirette hadn't seemed to hear a thing.

"Sorry Bebe, what was that about Craig?"

Wendy replied, shifting back to the conversation. Bebe raised and eyebrow.

"You were thinking about Cartman, weren't you?"

Wendy looked down and answered.

"I… I just can't accept it. I just can't. There is no way somebody like Cartman could ever become such a nice guy!"

"Sounds like somebody has taken a liking to the old Fatty"

Bebe giggled.

"W-what? Of course not! Why would you say that?"

Wendy replied, feeling herself blush at the thought.

"It's ok Wendy, Cartmans hot now, just accept it. He is tall, and handsome, and so strong… and his hair is so… lush… and his smile is…"

Bebe trailed off as she talked and just stared in space, her face getting redder with each passing moment.

"Bebe!"

Wendy almost yelled at her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But… remember his smile…"

Cartman's white teeth and kind smile flashed in Wendy's head and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"… T-this is stupid! C-common, lets go home"

She said in a huff and left the table, followed by a laughing Bebe.

The weather was still quite nice, but warmth was not a common thing in South Park, so they hurried back to the car. Wendy crammed herself into the little vehicle and sat patiently, waiting for Bebe to get in as well, but she was just standing by the open door, staring into the distance.

"You ok Bebe?"

She asked as she lent over to see what the blond girl doing.

'Isn't that… Cartman?"

Wendy paused a moment and then quickly scrambled back out.

"Were?"

Bebe pointed to the other side of the car park.

Rightly enough, there was Cartman, putting shopping bags into the back of, what they guessed, was his car. Wendy couldn't help but notice his strong muscular arms as he loaded the vehicle, his hair waving around gently with each movement.

"Wanna follow him?"

Bebe asked in a mischievous voice upon seeing Wendy's face.

"…Lets… But just to make sure he is not up to anything strange!"

She replied quickly noticing Bebe's grin.

They crammed themselves back into the car and slowly followed Cartman's car out onto the main road and sat in silence as Bebe tried to keep her distance. After a while, Cartman parked near the center of town and got out. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. He locked his car and walked down the street and then around a corner, out of view.

Bebe quickly parked behind Eric's car and got out. The girls creped up to the edge of the building and took a peek to see if the young man was still in view.

As their heads turned the corner they were met with two staring brown eyes, only a few inches away. The teens screamed and fell back with shock.

"If you wanted to speak with me you could have just asked instead of following me"

Cartman said calmly, as the girls recovered from the shock.

"W-we weren't following you!"

Wendy stuttered, scrambling back onto her feet.

Eric smiled kindly.

"No need to lie girls, I saw you at the mall and then again as you followed me in the car"

He laughed gently.

"W-well your wrong! Come on Bebe! Were leaving"

Wendy grabbed Bebe before she could protest and pulled her over to the car. As she got back in, she looked back at Cartman, who was still smiling as he walked back to his vehicle.

"Come on Bebe, let's get out of here, something doesn't feel right"

"I think you're just exaggerating Wendy… You always go over the top with these things"

She said, as she checked her hair in the small mirror over her head before starting the car.

Wendy clenched her fist in anger but managed to calm herself down, she had to have a lot of patience with Bebe sometimes.

"Can we please leave Bebe?"

She managed to say calmly. The blond girl looked at her, annoyed at her friend's strange behavior, but quickly recovered, smiled and started the car. As they pulled away from the scene Wendy took one last look at Cartman.

He was standing by his car door, just about to get in, still smiling at her.

Suddenly a bolt of terror hit her as she realized something. The smile on his face had changed. As they drove away into the rapidly falling darkness, Cartmans evil smile remained in her eyes, burning like a sun.