The Key to My Heart

Part III

It was the middle of September now and about a month had passed since the start of new school year at South Park High School.

With a lot of students going back to their usual routines that consisted of a lack of good night's sleep, running on litres of caffeinated goodness and binge-watching a fuck ton of shows on Netflix/Hulu (or any other streaming service for that matter), the end results were gruelling piles of homework and assignments that had been growing every day. But also, a lot of students joined the school's surprisingly long list of extracurricular activities and sport teams, thus adding a little bit of productivity and excitement into their otherwise boring school days.

But to Stan Marsh, finding the perfect balance between doing his school work efficiently, playing as a quarterback on the school's football team and having enough time to hang out with his best buddies hadn't been such a difficult task. Definitely not as hard as he first anticipated it would be.

Glancing over to the clock once again, the raven haired teenager huffed out nervously, slumping himself comfortably in his desk chair that was at the back of the classroom. To the right of Stan, Craig was being caught up in a hilariously dumb conversation with his boyfriend Tweek ever since the bell rang for the start of their fourth period that day.

The noisy chatter shared between the Sophomore students abruptly ended when their tenth grade Biology teacher entered inside the classroom and made a direct beeline for her desk.

Mrs. Harvey was a shorter blonde woman in her mid thirties. While upon a first glance she didn't seem to be a strict professor, she had actually been very good at keeping control over twenty or something Sophomores sitting in her class. But more importantly, she was one of those professors that actually knew how to make each lecture more fun and productive, instead of just going over the lecture material for the sake of getting through it. Those were just a couple of reasons why she quickly became one of the tenth grade students' favorite teachers, despite her being occasionally stern towards them.

''Okay students, considering the fact that last week we spent a lot of time dissecting various organisms and learning about their anatomy, this week I decided to mix things up a little by splitting you all into pairs and giving you an assignment to do. Of course, your assignments will be based on a topic you decide to choose with your partner from the list of topics I prepared beforehand. You will also be required to do a short presentation on your assignment, summing up the most important parts.'', Mrs. Harvey explained, gaining the attention of all of her students.

Within a split second of their teacher mentioning the word ''assignment'', almost all of the students groaned in unison and began their noisy chatter again. Of course, their conversations were once again interrupted, and it wasn't their teacher who interrupted their chatter this time, but rather the door of the classroom creaking open.

All the eyes were suddenly focused on the raven haired girl standing in the doorway, clearly being out of breath and in the fear of not being allowed to enter the classroom due to her very unusual tardiness.

''Mrs. Harvey, I'm so sorry for being late!''

''Miss Testaburger...'', the blonde woman began in a slightly agitated tone, instantly catching Stan's attention and making him turn his head towards the door. And he felt a small smile wriggle across his lips as he noticed Wendy standing outside the classroom.

''You are indeed very lucky for not missing out on anything important so far.''

Wendy's excuse was almost immediate. ''I'm sorry, but I got caught up in a conversation with my volleyball coach about the upcoming pre-season game against the Evergreen Eagles. I promise that next time I'll be in class on time.''