For what might have been the first time ever, Kenny McCormick was on time for high school. In fact, he was a few minutes early, which seemed an almost impossible occurrence.

But he had a reason for this. He knew what he needed to do.

"Hey, Kenny." Kyle, who was standing by his open locker with a pile of textbooks in his arms, waved him over.

"Sup, Kyle," Kenny grinned, his voice clear for once, since his Parka was only zipped up to his chin. "Stan." He nodded to his other best friend, who still seemed half asleep but managed to blink in response. Not that Kenny could judge him for that, since the blond would normally still be in bed at this time.

Kyle raised an eyebrow at him. "I know I've been telling you to come into school on time, but I was never expecting you to actually wake up before nine 'o'clock. Why are you here so early?"

"And you have a lot of energy for this time in the morning," Stan yawned.

Kenny's smile faded for a moment as he thought about what to say, but then he beamed and fixed his friends with an intense, anticipatory gaze. "Well, you see, I wanted to ask you guys if-"

"Sup losers!" Kenny was cut off by the booming voice that could only belong to Eric Cartman. The large boy stomped towards them, his steps making heavy thuds since at least half his bodyweight was made up of fat, and most of the rest was muscle. "Looks like the hippies and the nerds are all up early this morning."

The comment didn't have Cartman's usual harshness or ridicule, and Kenny suspected this was because Cartman wasn't used to insulting him as much as Kyle or Stan as he used to. Over the past year, the two had become closer friends than they'd been before.

"Dude, you're early too," Kenny reminded him.

"Yeah," Cartman admitted, "but I'm only here to get another breakfast from the canteen."

"Hold on a second." Kenny told him. "I've got something you'll like."

"Hm?" Cartman suddenly seemed interested. "Does it involve pie?"

Kenny shook his head. "But it does involve money."

"Go on..." Cartman prompted him, momentarily forgetting to comment on the fact that the poor boy was talking about money.

Kenny turned so that he was facing all of his friends. The unusual seriousness of his expression got Stan and Kyle's attention. "There's this place I know, a jewellers in Shi Tpa Town. They're doing pretty well, but word on the street is that they're a little lax on their security. So, I was wondering if you guys would help me out."

"Dude, you want us to help you steal stuff? No way," Kyle squeaked, a little louder than he should have.

Stan elbowed him, but said to Kenny, "I'm with Kyle on this one. We're not going to break into a jewellers with you, I don't want to end up in prison."

"Come on, guys. We'll split the money." Kenny insisted.

"Give me 80% and I'm in," Cartman said.

"What? No way. We'll split it evenly." Kenny told him.

Cartman considered this for a second. "Ok, fine, but Kyle's doing my homework for a week."

"What? Why me?" Kyle asked.

Cartman rolled his eyes. "Well, I can't exactly ask McDumbass here to do it, can I?" He gestured to Kenny. Ok, maybe Kenny had been a little presumptuous about Cartman being nice to him.

Then he turned back to Stan and Kyle. "Come on, guys, it'll be a blast. There's no danger, they don't even have security cameras."

The two shook their heads.

"Guys, really. You're my best friends. And I'm asking for your help with this. I... I kind of need you guys," Kenny felt his cheeks turn a little red as he spoke. But it was true. Kenny had been a loner for most of middle school, and had only gotten back into his old friendship group in the past year. Now that he had Kyle and Stan back, he needed them to be there for him.

Kyle hesitated, hearing the emotion in Kenny's voice. "Well... I guess. If... If we aren't going to get caught. But the people who own the shop need the money."

"They're assholes." Kenny said, simply. "Kevin worked there for a few months earlier this year, and they treated him like shit."

The thought of moral injustice seemed to make Kyle's mind up for him. "Alright. When are we going to do it?"

Stan nodded. "If Kyle's in, so am I."

Kenny held back his sigh of relief, but it was difficult. He hadn't been sure if he'd be able to convince Kyle to break the law. And if Stan hadn't decided to go along with Kyle, he would have been a lot harder to convince.

"Tomorrow night." Kenny said.

Stan nodded. "We can meet at my place. I'll tell my parents we're all going to the movies."

Kenny grinned. "This is gonna be fun."