Mended Hearts.

Part V.

It was the middle of September now, although to many students of South Park High School it definitely seemed like August hadn't even finished yet, judging by just how slowly the time had seemed to pass for them and how many of them had still been in the whole tranquil summer mindset; which meant that taking care of things such as ever-growing, grueling piles of homework and taking surprise quizzes from various classes just weren't everyone's number one priorities at the moment.

But to Wendy Testaburger, it seemed like her first three and a half weeks of attending a completely new high school had flown by surprisingly fast, as evident by the fact she had managed to get easily into her own routine of studying everyday and always trying to stay on top with her school work – although the fact that she had been getting accustomed to her new high school surroundings relatively well was even more important to the teenage girl.

Apart from always being surrounded by a lot of familiar faces from her former elementary school, Wendy had also managed to meet a lot of new people during her first several weeks of attending new high school – some who happened to be really friendly and great to have around, but also some who happened to be a lot less friendly towards her.

One of the people who definitely belonged into the latter category was Melissa Commerford, the current girlfriend of Wendy's ex-boyfriend Stan and someone who was slowly, but surely getting herself very high on the list of people who could easily piss off the raven haired beauty with their crappy personality and a stuck up attitude.

While the two girls had never spoken to each other before, ever since the noirette made her presence known to Melissa, there hadn't been a single day in school without her receiving a death glare from Stan's long-time girlfriend, even though Wendy knew very well that the girl in question had absolutely nothing to worry about and that she was most likely just overreacting about the whole goddamned thing.

Strange enough, and in what seemed to be an ironic twist of fate, Wendy realized that she and Melissa had at least one thing in common – both of them had had spats of jealousy when it came to the dark haired teenage boy.

But all things considered, paying attention to who her ex-boyfriend was now dating was probably the thing that was the least on Wendy's mind at the moment, as she wanted to focus one hundred percent on her school work and have the best possible grades that would help her towards getting into a good university and having a successful career like both of her parents.

And since that particular Thursday wasn't vastly different from most of her school days, Wendy decided to spend the gap she had in between her AP Chemistry class and eleventh grade English class by going through her notes in the school library and getting her own caffeine shot for the day – the latter being the courtesy of her best friend Tweek Tweak and his gallon-sized coffee thermos.

Normally, she would've spent the gap in her schedule with any of her friends who also happened to have it, but today she opted to politely turn down the offer to spend time with Nichole and Heidi at the school courtyard, deciding to use that as a good way to distract herself from all the unnecessary boy drama she had involuntarily found herself in and from her own ever-growing piles of homework that she would need to finish later that day.

Although she had been sitting in the exact same spot for the past half an hour and had managed to go through a good chunk of her notes, the teenage girl could slowly feel her concentration dwindling and the effects of coffee wearing down at the same time, so she decided to close her History notebook and do something else for the remaining fifteen minutes of her break – well, at least something that could be deemed productive and not a big waste of her precious time.

After she got up from her chair and pushed it under the desk she had sat at before, Wendy made her way over to the shelf that hopefully contained the American Civil War book she would need for her eleventh grade History class and the upcoming group project her professor had been talking about over the past week.

But with quite a pep in her step and eagerness to snatch the book from the nearby shelf as fast as possible, she didn't really seem to notice someone walking straight in her direction. And while she did finally manage to grab the book, the whole situation unsurprisingly ended with her bumping into the unknown person.

"Oh, sorry.", Wendy apologized immediately, brushing some of her messy bangs away and making sure that she had at least managed not to drop the goddamned book on the floor. ''I didn't really pay attention to where I was going.''

''Nah, don't worry about it, everything's cool.'', a male voice caught her attention, peaking the teenage girl's curiosity enough to see into who she had accidentally bumped.

The teenage boy standing in front of her was someone whom she had clearly never seen before. He had honey brown hair, hazel eyes and a slightly tanned complexion. He wasn't necessarily that taller than Wendy, and she immediately presumed that he must've been a part of some school's sports team, judging by the letterman jacket he held in his right hand.

"Hey, are you new to this school?'', the still unknown guy continued further. ''I don't think I've seen you around here before.''

"Well, I kinda' am.", Wendy laughed gently, nodding her head in response.

"Kinda'? How so?", he raised a curious eyebrow.

"Well, I lived in South Park up until the end of fifth grade and then moved to Florida. I actually moved back here almost a couple of months ago because of my parents' new jobs.'', she explained briefly. ''So yeah, I guess you could say that I am new to this school."

''Well in that case, welcome to our school, although I know it's a bit late to say it.'', the brunette teenager chuckled, before he extended his hand out for himself and Wendy to meet. "Oh, and I forgot to introduce myself. I'm David, by the way."

"Wendy, nice to meet you.", she reciprocated the handshake, feeling sort of encouraged to continue their conversation, despite her having to end it rather soon in order to get to her English class on time.

"Likewise.'', David said, flashing the raven haired girl a gentle smile. ''So, Wendy, have you settled nicely in here?''

''Yeah, I definitely have. It's been much easier for me knowing that a lot of people going to this school used to be my elementary school classmates, so we're kind of a tight knit group.'', she replied as the two of them walked towards the desk where Wendy had placed her belongings earlier, but not before she took a quick glance at her phone and realized that she only had a few minutes left to get to class on time. ''You know, I would really love to chat with you more, but I kinda' need to get to my next class and be there on time.''

''Oh, that's fine. I also have to get going, since I promised my friends we would meet up after my break is over.'', the brunette replied back. ''Just out of pure curiosity, what year are you?''

''Junior.'', Wendy responded as she adjusted the straps of her backpack. ''Why? Are you also a Junior?''

''Yeah.'', David confirmed. ''By the way, what's your next class?''

''English.''

''At Mrs. Clarkson's class?''

''Yeah, why do you ask?''

''Stroke of luck, I guess. I also happen to have English the very next class.''

''Nice.''

''Well, in that case.'', the teenage boy said as the pair of new acquaintances walked through the door of the school library together. ''Would you mind if I walk with you to the class?''

''Sure, why not?''

Even though dating had definitely been out of the question for her right now, Wendy thought that there was absolutely nothing wrong about meeting someone completely new and being on friendly terms with them.

Because why the heck not?

After her English class had ended and she had found herself being bombarded by sudden questions from her friends about the guy she had walked with to the classroom, Wendy strolled down to the school cafeteria alongside David once again, before they said their goodbyes to each other and went back to their respective groups of friends.

Deciding to skip the usually less-than-appetizing cafeteria grub, the teenage girl brought her own food to school today and unwrapped fresh, homemade beef tortillas her mother had made for her earlier that day. She plopped herself down on her usual spot at the lunch table and began eating her food in relative peace, as well as waiting for the rest of her girl friends to sit down and catch up with them on the potentially newest and latest school gossip.

Red was the first one out of her group of friends to walk up to their usual lunch table, with Annie and Lola in tow right behind her. The younger of the two Tucker cousins had a playful smirk plastered across her face, feeling eager to ask her ravenette friend about something that perhaps every single person in their circle of female friends hoped to find out as soon as possible.

''So, who's the guy you walked with to the class?'', the vibrant-haired girl asked, instantly catching Wendy's attention and causing her to glance up from her phone.

''What?'', Wendy replied, mouthful. ''Oh, you mean David?''

''Well yeah, if we're talking about the same guy – you know, the one who plays on the school's basketball team, has brown hair and is super tall?''

''Duh, we are talking about the same person.'', the dark haired girl replied in a slightly nonchalant manner, taking a sip of water from her hydro flask. ''Yeah, he did mention that he plays basketball, and is also a huge fan of it. I think he said that Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets are two of his favorite NBA teams.''

''How did you guys even meet?'', Annie asked from her spot opposite of Wendy, dipping a piece of french fry into ketchup sauce and shoving it lazily into her mouth.

"Well, I was studying at the library during the gap I had earlier today and when I went to get the book for our History class, David was walking right in my direction and we ended up bumping into each other. Nothing special, really.", Wendy explained briefly. "He's actually a really nice guy, and it turns out that we have English together."

''Oh yeah, we saw it.'', Lola teased, biting into a slice of something that the cranky lunch lady described as pizza. ''I mean, good for you. If you guys manage to hit it off right from the get-go, then who knows what will happen between you two in the future.''

''Trust me, I have way more important things to worry about than that.'', the raven haired girl retorted. ''And besides, I haven't had a boyfriend since we were fifteen, and I don't really feel the need to be in a committed relationship right now. I'll find time for that eventually.''

''Who says you have to be in a relationship anyway?'', Bebe suddenly chimed in, taking a seat beside her long-time best friend and giving her a cheeky smile. She swapped curious glances with Nichole and Heidi, who now also joined everyone at their usual lunch table. ''Look at me, I'm doing just fine with an occasional friends with benefits situation.''

''Well, I'm more of a committed relationship kinda' girl.'', Wendy replied as her eyes wandered over to the table where her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend were currently sitting, laughing together at something Butters showed them on his phone. ''I think all of you know that very well.''

''Oh, whatcha' looking at?'', Nichole smiled as she whisked away one strand of her dark brown hair, not taking her that long to see in which direction her friend was looking at, which conveniently happened to be in the direction of a table where a certain group of teenagers sat at.

''I really don't care. If Stan's happy with her, then I am happy for him as well.'', the dark haired beauty admitted.

''Speaking of Melissa, I don't think she's been that thrilled about Stan being friends with you, because yesterday I happened to be right at my locker when she was passing by with her posse and ranting about him greeting his ex-girlfriend and talking to her.'', Red snorted. ''I know you probably give zero fucks about it, but I just wanted to let you know that she was most likely spewing out some dumb shit about you.''

"I really, really don't care about what she thinks of me. I know damn well that I'm not here to ruin anyone's relationship or potentially steal Stan away from her.''

"Well, you really have no reason to think that you are. I mean, they've been dating for the past year or so and seem to be really happy with each other. Most of the jealousy probably stems from something she must've imagined in her head and thinks that will happen.''

''Okay, she might hate my guts because I used to date Stan, but she doesn't seem to be that bad of a person. If we exclude her jealous tendencies, obviously.'', Wendy said, but was left quite surprised when suddenly everyone at their lunch table (minus her, of course) snorted in unison at her words about Melissa potentially not being that bad of a person.

''She doesn't seem to be that bad? Oh Wendy, you clearly haven't been back here long enough to know what she's really like as a person.'', her blonde best friend replied. ''Even both Kyle and Kenny managed to notice just how crappy she sometimes acts towards Stan, and you know something is really messed up when two of his best friends start commenting on his relationship.''

''Well, care to elaborate on that?'', the ravenette offered. ''And I just can't wrap my head around one thing – wouldn't any person with a normal way of thinking try to break up with someone if they treat them like dogshit?''

''Dunno', ask Stan that, but I don't think you would be given an answer to that question, since he and Melissa apparently managed to talk through everything and have clearly worked on improving their relationship. That's at least what he told both Kenny and Kyle.''

''To answer your question Wends, it actually got to the point where Stan started skipping his football practices, so you can only imagine in just how much trouble he found himself in.'', Lola chimed in, clacking her manicured fingertips against the shiny plastic of her lunch tray. ''He nearly got himself on the brink of being kicked off the football team, so he could only thank Kyle for knocking some sense back into his thick skull and telling him to get his shit together and actually start showing up to football practices again.''

''Wait, seriously?'', Wendy replied, chocolate brown eyes now widened in surprise. ''I just can't imagine Stan ditching the thing he loves the most.''

''Yeah, I'm not even kidding!'', Bebe confirmed, rolling her eyes in sheer annoyance. ''Because he's been the school quarterback ever since the beginning of our Sophomore year, he can't really afford to miss any football practices without giving his coach a notice beforehand. So, I guess something actually came out of Kyle's ranting and thus forced Melissa not to act so fucking selfish any –''

''Ugh, I think I've heard enough about those two for an entire week. Can we talk about something else other than my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend?''

''Gladly!'', Annie spoke up, trying her best to alleviate the slight awkwardness that had suddenly transpired. She pulled her phone out of her bag and fired up her Instagram, swiping across the app to show the girls something she was planning to buy with some money she had managed to save up over the course of the summer break.

''Okay, so the Homecoming dance is in two weeks' time and I was thinking about wearing something like this…''

After the lunch break came to its end, Wendy was now having History class as her sixth and final period of the day.

Despite usually being always active in her History class and paying a lot of attention to it, she had been trying her damnedest not to slump her head against her desk and fall asleep right away instead, even though she had drunk her second cup of coffee of the day and thought that that might help her stay more focused – but it actually did very little for her already dwindling levels of concentration.

''Alright class.''

The voice of her eleventh grade History teacher suddenly made Wendy snap her head up and divert her gaze towards the woman standing at the very front of the classroom.

Mrs. Ackridge, currently in charge of teaching several classes of Junior students, was one of South Park High School's History teachers. She was easily recognized for her fiery red hair and tall stature, but certainly didn't allow anyone in her class to think she was some goofy goober or something else along those lines – she could easily do a one-eighty and become way stricter and more stern if needed. But despite all of those things, the students always appreciated her clear fondness for History and just how much she tried to make her lectures more entertaining and less boring for those who had to take her class.

''As most of you probably remember…'', the red-haired woman began. ''Well, at least I hope that you do remember. Anyway, I've talked about you doing several group projects over the course of this school year and how much of an impact this could have on your overall grade.''

''I feel like we've delved enough into the topic of American Civil War, so I decided that this will be the perfect opportunity to start the very first project in this semester.'', Mrs. Ackridge continued further, ignoring the sudden swarm of disappointing groans and sighs echoing throughout the classroom. ''I know that some of you will not be happy with this, but also consider this to be a good opportunity to get more acquainted with the subject matter. I don't think I even need to mention that you could all get excellent grades from this project, which can help you achieve an overall better grade!''

The class' disappointment was still going strong, but the older woman decided not to have any of it and went ahead with her arrangements anyway.

''I will split you all into five groups of five students. Since there's twenty five of you in my class right now, I think that's the best option possible.'', she walked over to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper containing the list of all the students that were in her class. ''You won't have to sit with your designated group today, but from the next class and onwards, you will have to sit together with your group members and spend the last twenty minutes of class working on the project together.''

''Anyway, I'll read the groups right now.''

''Group one will consist of Kyle Broflovski, Kenneth McCormick, Clyde Donovan, Bebe Stevens and Heidi Turner.''

''The second group will be Tolkien Black, Nichole Daniels, Jimmy Valmer, Annie Nelson and David Rodríguez.''

''The third group will be Eric Cartman, Leopold Stotch, Lola Harris, Kevin Stoley and Bradley Biggle.''

''Fourth group will be Esther Stoley, Jennifer Simmons, Scott Malkinson, Sophie Gray and Nelly Tanner.''

Wendy, although listening to her teacher reading out the History class project groups and who was going to be in each of them, was actually thinking more about one thing that had suddenly popped into her head and was something she hadn't really taken into consideration prior.

Working with her ex-boyfriend on a class project.

Sure, being put in the same group with someone with who she got along very well and working with someone who was one of her closest friends were always welcomed in her books, but the teenage girl just couldn't imagine herself doing the exact same thing with her ex-boyfriend – especially given the fact that his new girlfriend seemed to hate her guts for no particular reason, so Wendy thought that it wouldn't be a complete shocker if Melissa lost her shit and put an even tighter leash on Stan than she already had had.

''And final group will be Wendy Testaburger, Tweek Tweak, Craig Tucker, Rebecca Tucker and Stan Marsh.''

Exchanging a surprise glance with the vibrant-haired girl who sat in the desk next to hers, Wendy let out a faint groan as she felt a gentle pat on her back.

''What's wrong? Surprised about the fact that the teacher put you and Stan into the same project group?'', Red whispered over to her friend.

''I dunno', all of our last names start with 'T'. I was kind of expecting either Heidi or Nelly to be in our group to, you know, keep the trend of last names starting with 'T' afloat.'', the ravenette said. ''But to answer your question – yeah, I kinda' am surprised that Stan is in our group, but I don't see anything bad about it. At least I get along with all of you guys.''

''Well, now I kinda' want to see Melissa's reaction once Stan tells her who's in his History class group project.''

''I really don't know what her deal is. I think my presence annoys the shit out of her, so I'm not surprised she's only given me death glares whenever I say hi to Stan. Doesn't she realize that we've known each other for over ten years know and that it's completely normal for me to be civil and friendly to someone who treats me the exact same way?''

''Well, just ignore her. She hasn't spared any of us either, no matter how much all of us have tried to act friendly towards her and wanted her to feel included.'', Red said. ''Anyway, you shouldn't really worry about her. You should focus on this group project instead and not allow the thought of working on the same project with your ex-boyfriend to overshadow it, okay?''

Sighing at her friend's words of encouragement and feeling a bit more at peace, it wasn't long until Wendy realized what Red had actually said.

''Wait a sec', how did you know I was thinking about it?!''

Hello beautiful people, how's it going?

First and foremost, have you guys seen the newest South Park: Post COVID movie?

Initially, my expectations for it weren't that big, but after watching it several times now and laughing my ass off every time I gave it a watch, I have to admit that it completely surpassed my expectations and made me even more excited about the upcoming sequel.

Obviously, the fact that Stan and Wendy didn't end up together is probably my least favorite thing about the whole movie, but I sort of expected that to happen. I really don't like the fact that Wendy is married to someone else, but I'm happy with the fact that we got at least one Stendy interaction, Creek still being a thing after nearly four decades and Wendy having a solid amount of screentime.

And with my thoughts about the most recent South Park movie out of the way, let's move onto the real meat and potato – this chapter!

Do you guys remember when I said that Wendy's potential love interest will be introduced a bit later? Well, I just couldn't wait anymore and decided to introduce him in this chapter. He, just like Melissa, will have a bigger role in the future chapters, so definitely stay tuned for that.

Also, I can now confidently say that at least one portion of the story is completed, which makes me super happy. However, the final number of chapters still remains undetermined and will depend on how the story unfolds, although you can rest assure knowing it won't be longer than twenty five chapters. ;)

Until the next time guys, xo!