South Park High

Chapter 4-Heidi Turner

Kyle sat in his third-period shop class gazing out the window into the faculty parking lot when he heard the seat next to him screech across the floor. Heidi Turner, the school's sweetheart, plopped down right next to him.

Heidi was well known throughout the school due to her love for animals and for the successful protest against animal abuse she held last year. Although, Kyle was pretty sure the main reason so many students were in attendance was that they wanted to skip out on a full day of school.

"Hey Kyle," Heidi hesitantly said while guiltily stealing a peek at him through her long light brown lashes. After last year, their friendship had become extremely strained, if you could even call it that.

"Sup," Kyle imparted, solemnly nodding his head in her direction. "It's been a while."

"Yeah," Heidi responded awkwardly. Heidi Turner and Eric Cartman were all the school could talk about last year. At first, it seemed like the sweet young beauty had tamed the obnoxious bully of a beast.

Unfortunately, the relationship became extremely toxic since Eric would constantly gaslight, manipulate, and treat Heidi like trash. As a result, Heidi became a shell of her former self, turning into a bully who spewed cruel insults everywhere she went.

Kyle had tried to help Heidi get out of the abusive relationship, but Cartman quickly intervened and turned Heidi against Kyle. The poor girl eventually got out of the relationship towards the end of last year, but not without a severe eating disorder and months of emotional trauma.

"I'm really sorry about what I said and did to you last year." Heidi quaked regretfully as tears filled her bright yellow-green eyes. "I wasn't in a good place, and while that doesn't excuse anything I did, I hope it helps explain, and with time you'll be able to forgive me."

"Don't worry about it," Kyle insisted, reassuring her with a sympathetic smile. "You're the sweetest girl at school, so I know you didn't mean anything you said."

"Thank you," Heidi said as gratitude and happiness danced across her face.

"Settle down, class," Mr. Adler said from the front of the room. Heidi, Kyle, and the rest of the class ceased their discussions and turned their head toward Mr. Adler.

They definitely didn't want to annoy a teacher in a room full of sharp tools and dangerous machinery. "Our first project will be building a birdhouse with a partner. I want to see what you guys already know through these structures and assess your skill levels."

"Partners?" Heidi whispered to Kyle

"Sure," Kyle grinned, his eyes lighting up.

Mr. Adler continued to drone on about the project, what the rest of the school year would be like, and what he expected in terms of behavior from his students.

"This is gonna be a long year." Kyle groaned jokingly to Heidi. The brunette attempted to stifle her laughter by covering her mouth with her dainty little hand while the redhead smilingly shook his head at her reaction. After exchanging numbers with Heidi, Kyle headed toward his fourth-period class.

When Kyle entered Mr. Garrison's class, he saw Eric, Kenny, and Stan already sitting at a table. Kenny waved Kyle over to join them.

"Guys, I have an idea," Eric whispered. "You know how we have to write all those essays? There are people we can hire for them."

"Goddammit, Cartman! Don't tell me your brilliant plan is to hire the Mexicans down by the truck rental place. Don't you remember what happened last time?" Stan said.

"Chill, it was just an idea," Eric retreated, offended. The rest of the school day went on uneventfully. After school, Kyle headed over to Heidi Turner's house. On the way there, Kyle listens to 'Sweater Weather' by the Neighborhood. They'd both planned to meet after school to work on their shop class project.