South Park © T. Parker and M. Stone. Ella Tweak belongs to me.
Other awesomely awesome FFN OC's appearing in this chapter:
Vivi Sykes: created by PiScEs-BlOsSoM69
Lucy Montgomery: created by Kootie Bomb
Thought we could all use a break from death and let the kids be normal teenagers for a bit. ^.^ "Damien's girls" will return in the next chapter.
*
South Park High – Monday 11:15 a.m.
Craig Tucker looked around the hall at a sea of faces. The faces of complete idiots. Third period was over, and Ella Tweak was nowhere to be found. He'd called her house Sunday night, and Mrs. Tweak insisted that they'd be sending her to school on Monday, a mere two days after they'd planted her brother. He'd pulled up at her house that morning at exactly 7:15, just as he'd done all year. Finally Mrs. Tweak came out of the house and said that Ella decided to walk that morning. It was only 10 degrees. She always came by his locker after third, and they braved the cafeteria together. Craig checked his phone. No texts. He shrugged and made his way down the hall, stomach growling.
*
Stan skirted Cartman and Wendy, safely making his way out of the classroom and successfully avoiding getting involved in their latest argument.
"You looked at my test Eric! I know you did!" Wendy insisted.
"Listen ho, I'm better at math than you are. I'm a guy." Cartman replied, brushing past Stan to get to the cafeteria.
"Girls are just as- ugh!" Wendy stomped her foot and walked away to join Bebe's group at the end of the hall.
Stan walked slowly. He knew Vivi also had a math class this period, and she had to be here somewhere. At last he spotted a flash of red-violet hair ahead of him and snuck up behind her. He tickled her side and quickly withdrew his hand.
Vivi gasped, turned and swatted Stan's arm.
"Oh my god… don't do that!" she said, looking a bit distressed.
Stan blinked. That wasn't a typical Vivi reaction. "What is it?"
Vivi patted his arm. "It's not you. It's Christophe – you heard? He and I were friends, not that I'd seen him much lately but still…" she trailed off and put a hand to her forehead. It had been a strange weekend altogether. First Tweek's funeral, then Christophe. Something was very wrong and Vivi felt helpless, an unfamiliar feeling.
Stan only hesitated a second and then wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. Vivi's usual playful personality had evaporated, and that worried him.
Vivi's heart sped up as Stan enfolded her in a tight, warm embrace. His arms were so strong and he smelled clean and comforting. She rested her head on his chest for a moment until he stepped back and took her hand.
"I think we should go off campus for lunch. I have a car today." Stan said, adjusting her scarf. "Willie's?"
"Well… okay, but you're doing the whistling."
*
Cartman carefully balanced his heavy lunch tray in one hand, trigonometry book in the other. It was fiesta day, something he'd looked forward to all morning. He steered himself towards the usual table and frowned. Kyle Broflovski was seated alone, texting away.
"Ay! Where the fuck is Stan?" Cartman demanded, setting down his tray and somehow fumbling the math book, sending several folded papers fluttering into Kyle's lap.
Kyle sighed as Cartman plopped down at the table.
"Stan went off campus for lunch. Willie's." Kyle replied, pointing to his phone. He was a bit annoyed about being left to his own devices at lunch, especially when it became abundantly clear that his only dining companion would be Cartman.
"Stan went to Willie's and didn't invite us?" Cartman demanded, taking an enormous bite of his burrito. "What a douche!" he said, with a full mouth.
Kyle fetched Cartman's errant papers, glancing at a couple as he handed them over. One in particular caught his eye. He scanned it quickly, smirked, and then handed it back to Cartman.
"You spelled titties wrong." Kyle said, taking a sip of milk. "Twice."
"AY! That was my personal, private business ya goddamn Jew!" Cartman snapped, snatching his papers back and stuffing them in his trig book.
"I'm just sayin." Kyle shrugged. "Also, if you're writing a poem to a girl –you might want to not mention titties at all."
A faint pink tinged Cartman's cheeks. "I only mentioned them twice." He said defensively.
Kyle shrugged. "Who's it for anyway? Millie?"
"Er.. yeah. Millie." Cartman agreed. "Listen, assmaster. I'll pay you to write me a poem."
Kyle raised an eyebrow. This could get interesting.
*
Craig looked around the cafeteria in horror. Fiesta day? God. Fucking. Dammit. He banged his head rhythmically on the wall.
Heidi sidled up to Craig and smiled. "What's the matter cutie? I love a hot enchilada."
Craig snarled and Heidi scooted away only to be replaced by Lucy Montgomery. Craig quickly dropped his expression down to neutral and idled there.
"Hi Craig!" Lucy said enthusiastically, tucking her ice blue sidebangs behind her ear. She evidently had some kind of winter theme going on today. Her sweater was the same shade of blue and dappled with snowflakes. She paired it with a denim skirt, her long legs in matching blue tights with white boots. Craig caught himself staring a bit too much and scowled to compensate.
"Lucy." He replied, with a small nod and then turned his head back to the food, frowning.
"Aww. What's the matter Cwaig." Lucy teased, helping herself to some tacos with the works.
Cwaig? Craig let it go, too distraught over the food to snarl. "I hate Mexican. It's too spicy."
Lucy shook her head, grabbed a bean and cheese burrito and plunked it on his tray. "Live a little Craig. You're too young to be so old." She grinned and paid the cashier, leaving Craig staring at his tray.
What just happened? Craig paid and trailed after her, hesitating momentarily as she sat at the end of a table by herself. Oh why not...
"Bitch." He said with the slightest trace of playfulness and sat opposite her.
"Asshole." Lucy replied, handing him a napkin and then cracking up as he carefully cut his burrito with a knife and fork. "Craig, seriously. Eat it with your hands."
"No way." Craig continued cutting the burrito in even pieces. He wasn't really sure what to say to her. Typically he depended on Ella as a buffer in social situations, both to initiate conversations for him, and to smooth over his bluntness.
Fortunately Lucy proved adept at picking up the slack in a conversation and busily chatted with him in between bites of her tacos. Craig listened, nodding occasionally as she filled him on the latest. He wasn't at all surprised to hear that Bebe and Token were dating.
"Sour cream." Lucy said, pointing to the corner of Craig's mouth.
"Here?" Craig asked, pointing to the left corner.
Lucy shook her head and leaned over and pointed at the opposite side. "There."
Impulsively, Craig snapped at her finger and caught it. He held it firmly between his teeth and grinned.
*
A brisk wind blew through the quad and cornered the industrial arts buildings with an unholy howl. The shop buildings were desolate at lunchtime and housed a labyrinth of alleys and narrow passageways between structures. It was a place frequented by stoners, smokers and couples looking for a quick rendezvous. The school administrators didn't bother patrolling the area with the same zeal they did the bleachers.
Ella Tweak leaned up against the back wall of the metal shop, right in the heart of this labyrinth. Her petite frame was completely swathed in a ratty brown hoodie, the hem of which came to her knees. The sleeves flowed over her hands and she pushed them up, fishing a paper out of her bag. D+. She'd gotten a D+ on her algebra test. She had completely spaced the test under what she thought were understandable circumstances. Mr. Thompson, her math teacher, disagreed and made her take the exam anyway. She was going to have to show it to her parents, who - despite the fact they just buried their sixteen year old son– were being remarkably douchy about everything. Groundation was imminent.
Ella zipped the hoodie over her nose and inhaled smelling tobacco smoke and something strange and sweet. Kenny. She woke up late Sunday morning underneath his jacket with no real recollection of how it got there. Later, her parents mentioned that he died (again) as they drank their coffee. They were more concerned about the death of Christophe Moliere, as it was highly unlikely they'd see him ambling down the lane a few days later. She slid down the wall and sat, drawing her knees up and pulling Kenny's hoodie down to her toes.
"Hey kid." A soft voice said next to her. "Wanna get high?"
Ella turned. "Hey Towelie." She stuffed her hands in her pockets. Kenny's pockets.
Towlie settled himself next to her. "Something wrong?" He busied himself with rolling a joint.
"Life wrecks my head." She said looking up at the sky as tiny flakes of snow slowly spiraled downward.
"That sounds like fun." Towelie admitted, sealing the joint and inspecting it.
"Not like that." Ella shook her head. "Something awful happened last summer. Something that wouldn't have happened if I had just listened to my brother. I never listened to Tweek. I always thought he was too afraid. He was right though." Ella cupped her hand and watched as the snowflakes disappeared on contact with her skin. "And now he's dead. Most of South Park is acting like it's not a big deal, including my parents."
"Heavy." Towelie said, lighting his J.
"My classes suck except for art and shop." She continued.
"Art. Awesome." Towelie said, his voice distant.
"And there's this boy that I like, but I shouldn't. My dad would kill him. So would Craig." Ella paused. Wait - am I pouring my heart out to Towelie?!
"Yeah. That happened to me once." Towelie said, taking a long toke of his joint. "She was this little pink hand towel. Sweet and fluffy. Not nearly as absorbant as I am, but still…" he sighed.
"What happened?"
"She was incinerated during the Towelocaust. They were looking for me." Towelie sniffed.
Ella facepalmed. I can't believe I'm having a heart-to-heart with a piece of terrycloth. She stood and shouldered her bag.
"Towelie. You suck."
"I know." He said contentedly.
*
The "Towelocaust" refers to the episode "Towelie" in which the military 'kills' all the towels in a 1000 mile radius. At the end of the episode, Cartman says something to the effect of "You're the worst character ever, Towelie." Towelie says "I know."
Towelie really is one of the worst, but I can't help but throw him in, now and then. He's kinda fun to write. ^.^
Anyway. Like I said, everyone deserves a break. Next chapter is right back to the serious effing business with some blasphemy thrown in.