The bus ride was a rather short one, but mostly pleasant; Hunter sat next to Kenny on the bus, making small talk the whole way. The quivering daint with an aint wanted to bring up the invite to the big game right away, but Kyle had advised her the previous night to wait and just drop it casually into the conversation. Cartman, who had taken the seat at the very back just behind Hunter, was continuously kicking at their backs, acting all innocent as he pretended to fiddle with his Ipod (which he finally got). Annoyed with Carman's actions but more more than accustomed to such treatment, Kenny did his best to not let it bother him, and Hunter was just too stoked at getting to sit with the parka hooded blonde to care much. Although it wasn't quite that manageable the whole ride. Getting a particularly nasty jab in the spine, she looked back once and thought about biting Cartman's head off, but Kyle's multiple warnings (and having to clean the shit on her front step earlier that morning) were starting to sink in at last. Still though, if Fat-ass kept it up she wasn't sure that she could restrain herself.

Aware that she was grinning like an idiot during the last anecdote, Hunter listened raptly to Kenny as he described the nipple-slip of some reporter on the local news. She could have cared less about tits, but obviously it mattered to him, and any straight guy would have cared, so in the interest of not rocking the boat just yet, she was sure to look like she was paying close attention. Of course it annoyed her on some level, but it also only served to confirm her suspicion that he wouldn't go for some small-chested freak in drag. Friend was better than nothing. Friend was better than nothing, Hunter forcibly repeated in her mind the entire ride.

"...And then the button just popped off!" Mr. Orange smiled fondly as he recalled the memories of the short TV time he had shared with his sister last night before work.

"Dude, and they didn't bleep it or anything?!" Hunter broke into a false mien, "That's so fuckin' sweet! I wish I had seen the report... I was too busy making dinner."

Kenny studied Hunter, thinking of Karen's desire for food that wasn't Denny's. Of his own raw, matching wish. Sure, he still went to his friends' houses and got food from them too, but more often not, it was leftovers from work. "You cook?"

Panicking in the face of potential ridicule, Hunter sought Kyle for help. "Uhhh..."

"Yeah, Ike went over to play with Hunter's little brother last night, and so we ended up having dinner there. Hunter's a pretty good cook." Kyle sounded like he was sincere, but he didn't really look away from Stan when he spoke.

Kyle was highly distraught about his best friend ever since he first laid eyes on him that day, because he had the look of a man that had just experienced the single worst night of his life, and was expecting the most miserable morning possible. What the hell happened with Wendy last night to leave the other boy in such disrepair?! It was subtle to the average outsider, but Stan's hair was disheveled and poking out from under his hat at odd angles, his skin looked pale as if he had neither slept nor ate, and there was a slightly stale scent clinging to his clothes. Kyle tried to ask Stan, but the other boy just banged his head against the seat in front of his own, moving only when the bus jarred his body or they flew over a pothole. If that fucking cunt told him his secret...!

Having more tact than to bring light to the situation, Kenny did what he thought was best for his friend and allowed Stan time to lick his wounds. If he had to guess what was behind the deterioration, it would be that Wendy had broken up with him yet again, and Stan was in shock still. He hoped that Stan would be alright and not turn to more drastic measures (which he had done a couple of times during the really bad break-ups), but Kyle was there for him, so it would only be a matter of time before he got over it again. Kyle would look out for him... Kyle would always be there to look out for him... Kenny envied that they had that, that they could depend on each other, that they could mean something to each other, that they would care if the other died...

Seeing how preoccupied Kyle was with a practically comatose Stan, Hunter realized last night that he never told her if he was gay or not, and in everything that had transpired, she hadn't thought to bring it up again... Well, whatever, it didn't matter if he preferred to take or give, because he was really helping her out. It was probably only pity that made him do it, but that didn't change the fact that he was still the closest thing to a friend she had in this new city.

Easily the cruelest and most oblivious, Cartman didn't even notice much of a difference in Stan. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared, because Stan and Wendy were always breaking up. "Pft, you two homos were too busy watching each other jack-off to..." Cartman stared between Kyle and Hunter when their words penetrated his delusional mind. "Wait, did you say that you cook?! What the fuck kind of a guy cooks?!"

Butters, seated in front of Kyle and Stan and across the aisle from Kenny and Hunter, turned around to look at Cartman. "Well, geez, plenty of guys cook."

Cartman raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Do you cook?"

Still stuttering, lovable ol' Butters fidgeted with his hands, a trait he hadn't grown out of. "Well cookin' ain't so bad, Eric-"

Sighing as if his point had been made, the living culmination of Cheesy Poofs and Snacky S'mores pointed over at Butters, "See? Only gay little homos like Butters cook at our age. Everyone knows that a man only cooks when he's off in college and has to impress all his fagot friends with 'unique' skills no one actually gives a crap about."

Agitated with her next door neighbor and emboldened by her pseudo-friend's previous prompting, Hunter leaned back in her seat, shrugging nonchalantly. "What, I can cook. I'm comfortable enough with my sexuality that it doesn't bother me to admit that." She caught Kyle's eye with that line. "In fact, you guys should come over sometime, and I can prove it."

Envisioning a plate bursting with various vittles and stomach almost growling audibly at the tasty thoughts of real foodstuffs, Kenny didn't give a shit if it was almost burnt crispy at this point, so long as it was sustenance. "Alright!"

Stan rolled his head just enough to hear his reply. "Whatever."

Butters, still thinking that he was a part of that conversation, chimed in as well. "Well I have to get permission from my parents first, but it should be alright."

"Oh, uh, alright, I guess you can come over later this week..." She really didn't know what to say to Butters. Glancing sideways at Stan, she figured that she should try to have them over sooner rather than later. The poor guy just looked so down-in-the-dumps. "Stan, Kyle, Kenny, you," Hunter pointed at Butters, not a hundred percent on what his name was. "you want to come over tomorrow night?" She would have offered for today, but she figured that they would need a day in advance. Butters almost certainly would, if he really had to ask his parents.

Stan just stared around bleakly, offering no answer one way or another. Kenny, on the other hand, had something to say. "I can't make it tomorrow - I have work."

Impressed with him more than ever, Hunter had no idea that Kenny had a job. "Oh, well, when are you free?"

Tonight was the only night off he had all week; every other Tuesday and every third Wednesday Kenny would have off, and he had the early shift on the weekend. "Tonight."

A funny little sound much like a poorly concealed laugh escaped from Kyle's corner. Hunter shot him an exasperated frown. Really? Really?! Some part of Hunter's brain was screaming. Just how much shit was she going to get into before it either became too much for her to handle or she backed off?! Jesus Sucker-punching Christ, detention, one-sided fights, feelings like love that were nearly indistinguishable from lust, secrets, promises, plans, crap, and now dinner?! Well, since her dad was going to be so busy with work this entire week, this was the best (if not only) time to get away with it all. Hopefully, after some time elapsed, things would settle down...

"Then come on over with me after school..." She wanted to die on the spot. Kenny was coming home with her, to her house. A boy - with a penis - was going to go over to her house with her. A boy that she liked. "Can anyone else make it?" For the love of God, please, someone, anyone say 'yes'. There was no way that she could possibly handle this... Not if it was only the two of them...

It looked like Stan might have been about to say something, but Kyle quickly intervened. Whether or not he meant to help his new friend remained to be seen. "We can't tonight - Stan and I still have to study for that math test."

Great, just great. Yeah, things might settle down, if she could survive that long...

Will things ever settle down for Hunter while she lives in South Park? Was there really a math test? What's on the menu? The answer is no, yes, and chicken enchiladas. And apparently, Kyle isn't a boy with a penis, according to Hunter's scattered logic.

I do not own South Park, that's all on Matt and Trey, but I do own Hunter and Avery!

[Edit: 9/14/14 - Little changes.]