Flying Solo {Completed}

Chapter 7

Wendy stood with Bebe on the playground. At exactly 8:10 A.M. she gave Bebe and see ya in a minute look and slipped in through the door. She had almost reached her classroom when the first bell rang. 

Wendy loved coming to class early because it gave her a few quiet moments alone with Mr. Garrison. He would stand by her desk talking to her, never pressuring her to answer back. Now she entered room 238 and looked around, but the room was empty. 

Where is Mr. Garrison? Wendy wondered. Then she spied the large block letters on the blackboard. 

GOOD MORNING, YOU WILL HAVE A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER TODAY. I KNOW YOU WILL GIVE TO MRS. CHOKESONDICK THE SAME RESPECT. SEE YOU MONDAY. 

Wendy stamped her foot and the sharp sound echoed in the deserted classroom. 

She drifted over to where Butters Stotch used to sit. A photograph of Butters hung on the wall, but Wendy turned away from the grinning face and glanced at his old desk. She reached down and quickly touched the surface, running her thumb over the place where a heat had been carved into the wood and the letters B.S + W.T. 

Bebe came into the room and stared at the blackboard. "Oh no! A sub!" Bebe cried, reading. "What a bummer"

Wendy and Bebe had been best friends wince the second grade. Before Wendy stopped talking, they'd get on the phone and lose track of time in deep talks about boys, music, religion, god, ghosts, ESP, telepathy. They agreed that is was possible to read another person's thoughts, if you were close enough. 

More than anybody else, Bebe excepted Wendy's silence. Other kids got all nervous and chatty around Wendy, not Bebe. When they were together Bebe didn't try to fill the dead space with lots of empty chitchat the way most kids did. The silence always felt light and easy between them. 

Loud laughter outside the door. Red and Lola raced into the room. 

"I won!" Red spoke, laughing and breathing hard. 

"They won" Lola pointed out. "Hey, Bebe. Hey Wendy"

Last fall when Wendy stopped talking she stopped smiling too. Now she gave the girls a small wave as a gesture intended to mean "Hello" At the beginning of the year, Wendy considered Lola and Red close friends. But after she stopped talking, the other two girls acted friendly toward her, but things were somehow different now. 

"Anyways" Lola was saying "I would've beat you if you hadn't tripped me" she stuck our her lip. 

"Tripped you?" The girls took seats next to each other on the other side of the room. "You tripped yourself. 

Clyde Donovan lumbered into the room. "I'm ready to go home now!" he announced, flopping down onto his desk and stretching out two big feet. His father was a heart surgeon and Clyde liked to brag that his father "cut people up" He was loud, obnoxious and all the girls loved it. 

Heidi Turner and Jenny Simon came in next. Rachel thought they looked a little funny together. Since Jenny was so short and Heidi was so tall. 

"Oh, a sub" Heidi groaned, seeing the big not up on the board. 

"Fact" Clyde smirked. He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "And what better way to end the week than tormenting some brain damaged sub?"

Clyde's voice put Wendy on edge, the kid was annoying beyond belief. To help tune him out, she watched the rest of the class enter the room. Kyle ran in, laughing, with Token and Tweek right behind. Then Red came in and plopped down next to Bebe. 

"My last day!" Cartman shouted as he entered the room. 

"I thought you said Monday was your last day fatass" Kyle asked.