Wendy's night had proven to be equally turbulent to Cartman's, if not more so. After hurriedly greeting her parents and eating dinner, she rushed up to her bedroom. Wendy was determined to crush all rumors that Heidi had started, texting practically all of her contacts to explain that Heidi was a lying bitch. Most of the responses she received had been positive, but she still felt a sense of rage thinking about what Heidi had done. There was one name in her contacts that she hadn't texted yet, though: "Eric Cartman".
Wendy was keenly aware that Heidi's spiteful nature had grown out of a desire to get revenge on Cartman for all of the messy breakups they'd experienced. It made sense, in a way; after all, Cartman had practically wrote the book on revenge. Wendy still remembered Cartman forcing Scott Tenorman to eat his own parents, as well as countless other instances of brutal revenge that he'd doled out on his enemies.
"Perhaps he can help me out," She thought to herself, "I'll ask him tomorrow." She then pulled a book down from her shelf and began to read. Wendy had recently developed a love for the classics after finding a hard cover copy of "Paradise Lost" at a book store, which she had tucked securely away in the safe on her desk. "Well, it had been secure, until Heidi popped her ugly head inside," Wendy thought. She had bolted a combination lock onto the safe for extra protection as a result. She was now reading through "The Count of Monte Cristo" hoping that it would give her some ideas for revenge. After reading for a few hours, she slipped in a pair of headphones and listened to soft music before falling asleep.
Wendy did not dream very often, and when she did the dreams were often too fuzzy to remember. However, some dreams stuck out in her mind. Occasionally, she would dream of her and Stan skating together across an icy pond, his warmth shielding her from the biting cold in the air. She could always remember this dream clearly; it had happened three times up to that point. Each time she had the dream though, there was a very subtle change. The warmth she felt from Stan had become progressively weaker. On this night, Wendy returned to that icy pond once more. The previous dreams had been in the daytime, but this one took place in the late evening. Stan's form was harder to discern in the fading light, and he barely connected with her at all while they skated. The freezing wind nearly stole the breath from her lungs. She could also swear that she saw a tall figure standing at the edge of the pond, but she couldn't quite make out who it was.
Wendy awoke the next morning in a fog. Her sleep had not been as restful as she'd hoped. She quietly slipped into the shower and got dressed, eventually making her way down the stairs. Her parents had prepared a lovely breakfast for her, consisting of pancakes and sausage. Wendy had been opposed to eating meat for some time, but found herself indulging in it more often as of late.
"Have a good day at school, honey!" Her mom called out cheerfully.
"See you tonight!" Her dad chimed in. Wendy replied with a smile and a wave as she shut the door behind her. She then climbed into her car and set off for school, listening to classical music the whole way there. She found this music calming, particularly on days where she felt exceptionally stressed. Her main objectives for the day were enlisting Cartman in her plan for revenge, as well as trying her best not to murder Heidi.
As she pulled up to the parking lot, she noticed Stan and his friends chatting outside of the school. Naturally, Kyle and Cartman were caught up in a heated debate. Wendy couldn't quite tell what the debate was about, but she caught the word "anus" multiple times through the shouting.
"Hey Sweetie," Stan called, "How are you?" He greeted her with a quick kiss. Wendy smiled, though she found herself a bit distracted by the obscene material that Kenny was greedily rifling through.
"How have you not gotten expelled yet?" She questioned. Kenny responded by silently sliding a false book cover over the magazine, the title of which read "All About Foot Fungus". Wendy chuckled.
"You're one weird mother fucker, Kenny." Stan remarked, with Kenny simply laughing in response. Stan then turned his attention back to Wendy. "Would you like to go out sometime this week?" He asked gingerly, "There's an awesome new movie playing at the theater." Wendy was well aware of Stan's love of action movies, which she had begun to enjoy quite a bit as well. "I can't wait! It's called 'Love in the Snow'," Stan added. Wendy groaned under her breath.
"Shit," She thought to herself, "I know he's trying to impress me, but those kinds of movies really suck."
First period passed in relative peace, though Wendy still noticed the occasional glance. Fortunately, the school's rumor mill worked at fever pitch, and the student body had mostly moved on to the next piece of drama. Wendy didn't care to learn much about the rumor, though it apparently involved Tweek and some kind of alien anal probe. "Must've been what Cartman and Kyle were fighting about," Wendy thought. Speaking of Cartman, he had returned to poking fun at her behind her back, which she found oddly comforting after the turmoil of the last few days. Stan had been casting smiles her direction during most of the class, which Wendy faintly reciprocated. All the while, Cartman had probably called her "ho" a double-digit number of times, but he weirdly exuded more passion in his harassment than Stan did in his kindness.
"Hey Cartman, shut the hell up," Stan quietly called back to him.
"Hey Stan, suck my dick!" Cartman shot back, causing Wendy to burst into uncontrollable giggles. Stan merely turned his head back to his textbook, a light blush forming on his cheeks. Wendy looked back at Cartman.
"Nice one, fatass," She remarked, trying to look angry but still chuckling slightly.
"All in a day's work," He replied, placing his hands confidently behind his head. Wendy hadn't really looked closely at Cartman for quite some time, and she'd never noticed how muscular his arms had gotten.
"…Holy shit, he looks strong. Could probably twist Stan up like a pretzel," She thought, finding it hard to believe this was the same kid that she had beaten up all those years ago.
"You checking me out, ho?" Cartman scoffed, causing Wendy to realize that she'd been staring.
"I-in your dreams, asshole," She stammered back, quickly spinning around to face forward.
After first period dismissed, Wendy quietly walked to math class, dreading the idea of encountering Heidi again. Bebe raced up to her in the hall and met her with a tight hug.
"WENDS!" She cried out, "I'm so sorry for avoiding you yesterday! I should have known that dumb bitch was lying." Bebe gushed as she gripped firmly around Wendy's waist. Wendy was slightly taken aback by her apology, as she found it strange that Bebe didn't believe her from the jump. Of course, Wendy figured that she couldn't be too upset, since she'd long known of Bebe's gossipy tendencies. After some brief conversations, mostly involving Bebe talking at lightning speed while Wendy nodded along, the girls parted ways.
Wendy found a pleasant surprise as she stepped into her math class: Heidi was nowhere to be seen. A strong sensation of relief washed over her as she relaxed into her desk. This feeling was not destined to last long though, as a voice soon came over the intercom:
"Wendy Testaburger, please report to the Principal's Office."
"Oh God," She thought to herself, wondering what manner of hell awaited her downstairs. Wendy slowly walked out of the room, noticing the concerned expression on Mr. Garrison's face. Surely enough, Heidi was sitting in a chair right in front of the principal, a very faint smirk plastered on her face. The school's principal was a familiar face to Wendy: Principal Victoria, who had returned to the job after a lengthy hiatus.
"Wendy," the Principal started, "Ms. Turner here claims that you punched her in the stomach after school yesterday."
"WHAT?" Wendy roared, "That's…That's a complete lie!" Heidi began to feign tears.
"M-miss Principal…" Heidi sobbed, "She hit me really hard!" Heidi then lifted up her shirt to reveal multiple dark bruises on her stomach.
"That's bullshit!" Wendy snarled, "I only hit you once and you kn-" She froze mid-sentence. Principal Victoria cast a judgment glare in Wendy's direction. "…Look. I did hit her, but it was on Saturday, after she decided to read my diary out loud in front of all my friends! Not to mention the fact she's been spreading horrible rumors about me since yesterday." The Principal looked thoroughly at the two girls. Heidi didn't speak, resolving to hang her head low and continue to bawl.
"Well, I'd say it seems both of you have something to apologize for," The Principal commented, "I was going to issue suspensions, but in light of your honesty, you'll each only receive one week of detention."
Wendy was livid, but quickly determined that arguing with the Principal was an unwise decision. She had expected Heidi to be upset over her own detention sentence, but the girl seemed totally unfazed by it. In fact, Heidi appeared to have a grin subtly hidden on her face beneath her hands, while crocodile tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Wendy was in near disbelief. Heidi hated her so much that she was willing to get herself sent to detention just to punish Wendy in equal measure. Principal Victoria then promptly dismissed the girls back to class. Heidi left the office first, nowhere to be seen after Wendy emerged moments later. Heidi was dead silent in her desk for the remainder of second period, though Wendy was convinced she was shooting nasty looks at her whenever she wasn't paying attention. Wendy felt like she was boiling from within, sweat dripping from her brow despite the relative cold of the school building.
Thanks to Heidi's intervention, Wendy would be forced to eat lunch in detention hall for the next week, sequestering her away from Stan and the others. When she arrived, however, Heidi was nowhere to be seen. "How the fuck did she get out of this?" Wendy thought, her anger reaching a breaking point. Wendy thoughtfully surveyed the room to see whose company she'd be keeping. The room was mostly barren, but she noticed two students sitting at opposite ends of it. One of them was Craig, who seemed to have detention every day due to his constant bird-flipping toward the school faculty. The other was Kenny, who'd apparently gotten in trouble when one of the teachers decided to actually read his "foot fungus" book. Wendy approached the teacher at the head of the class
"Mrs. Balzac," Wendy queried, "Isn't Heidi Turner supposed to be in detention as well?"
"Ms. Turner will serve her detention privately," Mrs. Balzac explained, "She stated that she felt unsafe sharing a classroom with you."
Wendy had already been having a rough day, and the news that Heidi received her own private room by playing the victim filled her with fury. She eventually took her seat and began silently eating at her desk. The time passed at a snail's pace, but she was eventually freed from her brief Purgatory. She sighed, realizing that her opportunity to enlist Cartman in her revenge plot had passed by. Lunch was behind her, and the two shared no classes for the rest of the day. Wendy had yet to give up hope, though. She determined that her only course of action left was to step directly into the lion's den and speak to Cartman face-to-face.