Love Grows ♡ Kenjorine

Chapter 1 ♡

Marjorine's point of view ♡ 

I wake up to the sound of Wendy and Heidi's delicate snores, a good indicator I had awoken with enough time to get ready. Today is the first day in two years I'll be meeting all the kids of my past as who I truly am. Our first day at Park County College.

I've had a lot of time to prepare, considering I dropped out during our last year of high school. I moved out of my parents house to escape their continuous abuse and I bought this apartment with money I earned from part time work. I thought I would let Wendy and Heidi stay with me here for college, considering how much they'd helped me on my journey in the past year or so. They are the only people from high school who know me as Marjorine, and have been nothing but welcoming. 

Sometimes Heidi knits me clothes, with how ethical and resourceful she is, and Wendy has tried her best assisting me with makeup and wigs. She swears she hates all that, and that it's artificial and belittling to our gender, yet she's guilty of it too. I know the second I'm finished my makeup a sleepy Wendy will saunter into the bathroom to apply mascara. She thinks she is a lot of things which she is not - but I love her dearly anyway. With her by my side, I am less scared. She has more of a back bone than I or Heidi do.

I stumble out of bed to prepare myself an iced coffee before heading to the bathroom and rubbing my face with a towel in the dim fluorescent lighting. I absolutely love getting ready, and I've mastered it with the girls' help. Looking in the mirror and seeing myself as I truly am. As I begin my eyebrows, I fantasise about my brand new life. I'm coming back, but not as dopey little Butters who was constantly ripped on, the punchline for the boys' absurd antics. I'm Marjorine, the English major, with long blonde hair and her shit together. 

Okay, I'm not all that different. I still say 'oh, hamburgers,' and I still love Hello Kitty more than really anyone. But I finally have a fierce group of girlfriends, I'm not grounded for every little thing anymore, and most importantly, I'm not so afraid anymore.

Wendy barges into the bathroom. 

"Pass me the eyeliner!" she hollers frantically, "Marjorine, why would you let me sleep in so late?"

"Jeez, Wendy," I giggle. "Why are you in such a huff?"

"Kyle! Stan! Whatever - we've been over this!" she says. "Oh for fuck sake!" She applied her eyeliner too shakily - she looks like a raccoon.

"You know that Kyle and I are in the same course - law, yeah? And you know I need to look good in front of Kyle. Why? Because everything he sees goes back to that EMO little low life, STAN!"

"I thought you didn't care about him," I said, knowing we both know that's not true. Wendy and Stan's relationship continued the same way it did in elementary school all the way through middle school, high school. They were constantly on and off. Stan didn't really pay close attention to Wendy's needs, I'm pretty sure he messed around with a few girls and boys when he shouldn't of. She was also very skeptical of his new piercings. Every time he'd fuck up by Wendy he'd resort to the goth kids, so he's kind of bound to this weird E-Boy look now.

"How do you think I feel?" Heidi yawns, stumbling in lazily. "I'm petrified of seeing Eric. I need to roll a joint."

"Heidi, stop it." Wendy scoffs. "I don't care if it's from Mother Nature or whatever you defend it with. You're gonna turn in to Randy Marsh. URGH! MARSH!" 

"Relax, Wendy, babe," Heidi laughs. "If you had to deal with Eric Cartman in the same way I did you would need a vice too. Not like you don't have one. You're a total wine mom."

"AM NOT!" Wendy huffs, scrubbing her face aggressively to redo her eyeliner.

Me and Heidi snicker at each other. That's what I was waffling about earlier. In addition to thinking she is above makeup, Wendy swears she is straight edge. I can promise you, she is not. 

I suddenly escape from girl world and fall back to Earth. I realise who Heidi mentioned, who I have been trying to forget about all these years.

"Oh, fellas, I don't wanna see Eric either." I say softly. "You know how he treated me. I hope he doesn't recognise me. Remember when he literally locked me in a bomb shelter?" 

This wave of anxiousness washes over me. I said I'm not so afraid anymore, that doesn't mean the idea of Eric Cartman isn't daunting.

Wendy calms down. She notices my face, hurt. She grabs me and Heidi by our waists and holds us in for a cuddle.

"I'll deal with him, neither of you have to worry," she assures us. "I wiped the playground with him in Elementary and I can do it again in college. Let's get out there and show them how we've grown, whose boss. I promise I won't let a thing happen to either of you." 

"Fuck boys, who needs them," Heidi smiles, reaching for some lipgloss to apply her own makeup, too. "Speaking of boys, Marj, your long lost love, Kenny, couldn't enrol to college. It's a shame because I feel as if he was one of the only boys from high school who deserved to."

"Kenny?" I gasp. "Come on now, fellas, you know that was just a fleeting crush!"

"A fleeting crush you wrote poems about, more like," Wendy giggles. "I wonder if you'll find a way to incorporate him into your writings like you did in high school."

It's true, I am a bit disappointed that Kenny won't get to meet me as who I truly am. He always stuck up for me back in school, he was one of the only guys who wouldn't rip on me. He got super cute around high school too, with his strawberry blonde mullet, and that 'silent but deadly' energy which surrounded him. But that's whatever. I don't need to hold on to high school feelings. I'm going to get my degree, stick with my girlfriends and focus on myself.

My heart beats faster and faster as I perfect my look.

"Come on girls, we best get going!" I smile.

Park County College, here we come.