Chapter 7:

Stan PoV

After Kenny and I had finally reached homeroom, it was a relief to be able to sit down. This morning had been hectic; it was my dad's birthday and so we had all been forced to watch him open his presents and then bragging about them. Once I had finally left the house, I had been drenched in water from the new snowfall. It had been falling thick and fast all night and although it still had not stopped, South Park High were armed against all weather conditions, so we never got a day off. That's the disadvantage of living in the mountains... Alongside everything else. Neither Kyle or Cartman had turned up at the bus stop, so after missing the first bus in order to wait for their arrival, their non-existence had resulted in Kenny and I catching the later bus and running into school after it was delayed from the tyres slipping on the ice.

"Where the hell have you been?" Wendy hisses as we take our seats next to her and Bebe. "And where are Kyle and Cartman?"

"Good morning students of South Park High." A voice boomed out. "These are the morning announcements and I am Eric Cartman."

"Of course." Wendy rolls her eyes and our attention is immediately dragged from Cartman's broadcasting when the door opens. Kyle walks in, looking soaked, circles under his eyes and strands of ginger ringlets falling out from under his sodden green hat. He seriously did not look right.

"Kyle, what's up?" I whisper as he sits down next to me. Our teacher did not seem to be phased by our late arrivals, as she was scrolling through her newsfeed on the computer. I suppose that is the effect that the morning announcements have on people.

"I do have something very important to tell you all. So I will whizz through all the boring stuff first." Cartman babbles. "Lunch today will be a selection of salad items. I don't have the time to protest against this, not that the lunch menu would matter to me anyway."

"Dude, since when did the lunch menu not matter to Cartman?" Kenny nudges me and I grin, still side tracked with Kyle, who was sat with his head on the desk next to me.

"Wendy Testaburger will be putting up surveys on the bulletin board at recess today, to get students' opinion on what adjustments to make to the school exercise equipment. Exercise equipment. This is what the stuck up bitch wants to change, when our school is made up of inconsiderate assholes, who could all get sacked or excluded if I was in power?"

"For fucks sake." Wendy too buries her head her hands. I now feel incredibly tall sitting between both her and Kyle.

"However I think that apparently, exercise equipment is going to be a very useful tool for me in the future." He continues and at this point, Kyle raises his head to look inquisitively at the speaker on the wall. "Lastly, the school nurse will be in her office all day today, for anyone who has any health concerns. Please make an appointment with Mr. Kyoto as soon as possible. Well I had better get down to his office then. My health concerns are the worst of all, considering I am going to have a heart attack a year from now."

Oh shit. That was why he was acting so weird. I glance across to Kyle who was frozen in his seat, his head arched upward, eyes focused on the speaker. We all knew Cartman can not take hate, but did he really have to go this far with it?

"Which brings me onto my main announcement, the one you will all care about the most." I look around the room to notice that everyone else is still asleep on their desks, doodling in their books or playing on their phones. It did not seem that anyone really cared about it, except for Kyle. "I was told yesterday, by a brave soul that I have to lose some weight. He announced it in front of the whole class, couldn't tell me in private, couldn't have told me anytime before now. He said some... Very hurtful things. Things I will not broach upon you now. But I want you to know that I am going to change. My personality will still be the same, I am still going to rip on every single one of you, don't worry about that. But in a few months time, you will all be so jealous of my buff physical appearance, Kyle will regret saying any of the things he said. Thank you all and have another great day at South Park High."

The speaker cut out and everyone gave a cheer that it was over, then went back to their usual chatter.

"Kyle?" I try again, prodding him in the arm.

"Why does he always take everything so seriously?" Kyle snaps.

"Well he probably didn't, he's probably just over-emphasising everything as usual." I try to reason with him and he turns his head to look at me.

"No Stan." Kyle says adamantly. "He's trying to get everyone on his side again. He's trying to turn everyone against me, so he can start up his own little South Park High holocaust. You wait, tomorrow he will be sat back on his couch, watching Terrence and Phillip and eating cheesy poofs. You just wait."

As soon as the bell rings, he is gone, virtually running out of the classroom. Everyone has gone silent at his sudden uproar and I exchange a look with Kenny.

"Maybe you should go after him." Kenny suggests, hooking his bag over his shoulder.

"Nah man." I shake my head. "He might murder me or something."

Cartman PoV

I already felt faint. It felt as if my stomach was sinking, it hurt so much, I could hear it craving food. I had only eaten one Snacky Cake today. One fucking Snacky Cake and now it was lunchtime. Although today they were only serving items from the salad bar, I was desperate to eat anything that could line my stomach. I felt physically sick, but I don't think I had anything to be sick with.

My mom knew something was up; she made me chicken pot pie last night and put it on the table right in front of me. She was torturing me. I could smell it, virtually taste it but I couldn't eat it. I forced myself to look away and ran up to my bedroom, where I cried myself to sleep. I woke up so dizzy this morning I knew I had to eat something, otherwise I would not be able to function in order to read the morning announcements. So I found a snacky cake box at the back of the cupboard and ate the remaining one. It didn't even taste nice. Every bite I took I heard Kyle's words taunting me. It tasted bitter, it reminded me of how I was fat and everyone knew it. My mouth dried up with self-loathing so I had to wash it down with a cup of water, else it would have stuck in my throat.

I was not going to be weak again though. I knew if I walked into that lunch hall, I would give into the temptation. The candy bars in the vending machines, even the grilled chicken salad. So here I was, stood over the toilet bowl, throwing my lunch token down it and flushing the chain. It was the only way I could be like everyone else. I had to be strong. I had to starve myself.

Bebe PoV

I was not eating lunch with my usual group today. Stan and Kenny had football practice so every Thursday Wendy and I ate with the girls. It was always nice to catch up with them, but they did do my head in occasionally. This was probably because they were always fangirling over guys, either celebrities or the remaining ones in the school who were not taken. This subject was never particularly interesting for those who have boyfriends; me, Wendy, Nicole and Lola, who was dating Bridon Gueermo in the year below. My preferred topic, was bitching about the girls I didn't like. We often talked about the other group of girls in our year group, who were less popular than us, made up of Tammy and her best friend Emily, who were basically the leaders of their group. Other members include Riley, Lizzy, Beth, Kelly, Jessie and Kal. Personally I thought Emily was quite nice, but the rest of them were all pathetic and the kind of girls to date Kevin Stoley, Pete Melman, Scott Malkinson or Timmy Burch, all of which were labelled as the 'nerd' group at South Park High, who endured Doctor Who marathons or swapped comics at the lunch table. Emily had dated Jimmy at one point and they had slept together once. Apart from that, I was pretty certain the rest of the girls in her group were virgins, but a lot of people keep it quiet.

Today however, I was not intent on bitching about Emily's group. Instead, I wanted to turn everyone against Annie, who rumour has it had sex with Clyde in the summer. I was assuming this was true as Annie and Milly were sat alone at a table further over the left, when usually they would be eating with us.

"I'm thinking of kicking Annie off the cheerleading squad." I say out loud and all the girls stop twirling their hair and applying lipstick to stare at me.

"What? Why?" Heidi pipes up first, raising her head from her pocket mirror.

"She just can't keep up." I shrug, making it extremely obvious why. I don't think there was a person in the school who hadn't heard the rumours about Annie and Clyde.

Jenny brushes her hair a few times and then opens her mouth. "Look, if this is because of the Clyde thing-"

"Esther, you are friends with Annie." I snap, turning to her. She was lucky she was even still in our group and the cheerleading squad after we found out she was Kevin's cousin last year.

"Well..." Esther stutters and everyone looks at her intently. "Yeah it's true."

What a bitch.

"Bebe, who hasn't slept with Clyde, let's be honest." Wendy puts her hand on my shoulder. Wendy. Wendy hadn't slept with Clyde, because she had been with Stan forever. In all honesty only Red, Heidi and I have had sex with Clyde, but that is because they had my consent. Mandy, a girl who also used to be a cheerleader kissed Clyde by the lockers last year. Let's just say that she no longer attends this school.

"You." I point out and she takes her hand off my shoulder. "Which is why you are my best friend."

"Bebe..." Red sighs. "You're dating Kenny now and... Clyde's not really yours to own anymore... Now you've broken up."

I can see all the girls are waiting for me to crack after that remark. To clear things up, Clyde and I had a four month long relationship in 8th grade. For me, that is a damn long time because I don't last long in relationships. People wonder why I am with Kenny; I'm normally a one night stand kind of girl, but that is because of much deeper reasons. I understand him and he understands me. He knows about the abuse I suffered and I know about his immortality. He is the one person I can ever properly talk to, the only other person who knows about the abuse is Wendy, but she doesn't have the same perspective as Kenny. Life is all sparkles and sunshine in her family. Clyde was the first person I trusted intimately after it all happened in 7th grade and then he threw it all back in my face. That's why no one understood why I was so protective over him. I wasn't protective of him, I was protecting them.

I snap back to reality after about a minute of them waiting for me to flip out at Red. But instead I just smile at her. "Yeah, I know." I whisper and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. "Don't worry, I won't kick Annie off the squad."

I was too tired to argue with anyone right now, going over my past had brought it all back. Blaming my friends was never the answer.