"Fellas! Fellas!" An all to enthusiastic voice pierced through the cold morning's silence. I pulled my scarf tighter around my neck, trying to block out the cold air. I really hoped someone else took Butter's response this morning. I was in no mood for talking.
"What do you want, Butters?" Cartman blurted out in his usual annoyed tone. "Can't you see I'm trying to stand here?" Stan rolled his eyes and looked at me, mouthing out something I didn't quiet catch.
"Did you hear the news?" Butters stopped infront of us, bent over slightly to catch his breath. He brushed his hair away from his face before standing upright to wait for our response.
"Did you finally hit puberty?" Cartman said, initiating a round of laughter from everyone waiting around the bus stop. I couldn't help but laugh as well. The fat ass was annoying as hell, but I'll give it to him that he's clever.
"What? What do you mean?" Butters frowned and looked up at Cartman, ready to continue his questioning.
"Just get on with the news already!" Cartman cut off any further commentary. "I don't have all day." He shook his head and looked at his watch to emphasize the need for Butters to hurry.
"Oh, right. Sorry!" He mumbled a few attempts at words before getting his thoughts back together. "The bus is going to be late because of all of the snow. So make sure to stay warm!" I felt my heart drop to my frozen feet.
"You've gotta be kidding me." I kicked the snow infront of me.
"Ey, what's your problem this morning, Jew Boy?" I was used to Cartman's taunts, but for some reason I couldn't ignore him as easily this morning.
"Shut up, Cartman!" I turned and frowned a bit, not impressed by my astounding come back. I should have just answered him. Told him I had to be up late last night because Ike was out past curfew with his friends and I had to cover for him. He was too stubborn to properly handle situations with our mom, and I didn't want her to end up taking it out on everyone. Cartman laughed and pointed at me.
"Oh man! Have you been practicing that all morning? Clever, Kyle. Clever!" Stan looked over at me and then back to Cartman.
"Shut up, Fat ass. No one thinks you're funny." Cartman went off on one of his tangents, but Stan ignored him and turned to face me. I wished I could be as calm as he always is. I blow up at the smallest thing and he just stays cool.
"Seriously though, what's up? You haven't said anything all morning." The wind blew hard, burning my face. I wondered how no one else seemed bothered by it. Maybe it was because I was tired that it bugged me so much.
"It's freaking cold, dude!" I exclaimed and pointed to the snow around us. Stan raised an eyebrow and nodded.
"Yeah, totally weak." He said slowly, not buying my excuse. I sighed and shook my head, knowing I wasn't getting off without filling Stan in on the details.
"Ike stayed out all night. I had to keep Mom distracted so she wouldn't find out." Stan nodded, understanding why I was bent out of shape.
"Dude, you need to let him fend for himself or he's just going to keep pulling shit like this forever!" I opened my mouth a few times, thinking of a response. I sighed, knowing he was right.
We were quiet for a while before I thought of anything else to say. I looked over to Stan to ask him about the Terrance and Philip movie, but before I could say a word Wendy appeared. I let out a breath of air and turned away from them, not wanting to hear any of their stupid conversations.
I shivered and pulled my coat closer as the wind cut through every layer of my clothing. It was miserable out here! I seen the trees rustle in the distance and knew another nasty cold gust was coming my way. I closed my eyes and turned my head. I heard the wind pass by and felt some of it, but it didn't get me. I looked over in confusion to see what stopped the wind to find Kenny standing next to me.
"What's wrong?" Kenny smirked, "Too cold for you?" He laughed, showing he was speaking in good humor.
"Hey, dude. Where were you?" Kenny shrugged and crossed one foot over the other.
"I was trying to miss the bus." He answered honestly. I laughed with him and shook my head.
"Any other day and you would have been fine!" Kenny nodded and sighed.
"Luck is just not on my side today. At least it works for you though." I frowned and looked up at him. Having to look up added even more confusion. Since when did he get taller than me?
"How does it work for me?" I asked, still not any closer to finding out what he had meant. Kenny wrapped an arm around my shoulder before responding. I would have pulled away, but he felt so warm next to me that my body wouldn't listen to my mind.
"Because otherwise you would mope around and miss me all day." I opened my mouth to respond to him before Stan cut me off.
"Hey, Kenny." Stan said, walking over to us now. Kenny looked over in Stan's direction and nodded in recognition of his greeting. Stan frowned and stood infront of us. Kenny moved awkwardly away from me before looking back over to Stan.
"Hey, Stan. Has your sister beaten you up lately?" I knew Kenny was just goofing with Stan, but something in his voice sounded more severe than usual. The two of them had been bickering for nearly a month now. I had no idea what started it, but it was really annoying. We would all hang out together, like usual. Then I would be talking with one of them and then they just would find eachother and argue about stupid things. I never though and argument over a tomato would ever last an hour.
"No, has your brother been in jail again lately?" Kenny forced a smile and nodded.
"Yeah, he was caught for beating up some annoying kid who likes to run his mouth." I stepped in between the two of them and decided to try to take over the conversation.
"Did you guys do the reading for literature today? I don't think I understand it so could you tell me what you got?" I lied through my teeth. If I ever had to ask anyone for help with homework, it would not be either of these guys. Stan would go off on a rant about how the author was sexist/racist/biased or whatever and Kenny would just try to make perverted connections from the text to god even knows what!
"Did I! Can you believe how the author was trying to argue that microwaves were one of the most revolutionary inventions? He never even stopped to mention the harm it does to the environment!" He shook his head, taking a breath to continue but much to my relief the bus pulled up.
I got on the bus and took a seat next to the window. Kenny sat down near Cartman and Stan followed Wendy to the back of the bus. They had broken up about a month ago, but it looked like they might be getting together again soon judging by the way they followed eachother around again.
I sighed and leaned my head against the window. I jumped about a foot in the air, not expecting the window to be so cold. I ended up hitting my head against the metal frame and grabbed my head in my hands. I heard Cartman laughing and saying something about the bus knowing who the enemy is. I felt someone sit next to me. Sure it was Cartman I looked up ready to say something mean but was met with big blue eyes. Kenny laughed and pushed his finger against the bruise forming on my head. I winced but pretended not to care.
"This is what happens when you don't sleep at night." I blinked a few times and stared at him. He was very perceptive. I leaned back in my seat and stared at the torn cover of the seat infront of me. I expected Kenny to walk away like he usually did. We never sat together on the bus. Kenny was either giving Cartman a hard time or flirting with his choice bimbo of the day. So when he kicked his feet up and dropped his backpack on the ground, I was shocked.
"What? No lady to sweet talk today?" Kenny grinned and looked around.
"Sweet talk? These girls? Ha. Waste of time. South Park is full of the easiest girls on the planet." I felt flustered. It was too weird to talk about a friends sex life, especially Kenny. I hated hearing anything about his relationships! I didn't even know why I brought it up! I grabbed for my backpack, hoping to find something to look distracted by. I felt Kenny watching me and looked over. He looked at me and smiled before reaching his hand into my coat pocket.
"Dude!" I jumped, surprised by the sudden pocket assault. Before I had time to ask him what he was doing, he pulled out my ipod. I instantly felt stupid and could feel my face turning red. Kenny turned it on and put one of the ear buds in his ear before offering me the other.
"A little jumpy this morning, huh?" He laughed a bit before scrolling through the music. "Did you put on any of the songs I told you to?" I ignored his first comment before taking the ipod.
"Yeah, I put it in another folder." I scrolled to the folder labeled Kenny before handing it back to him.
"Isn't that sweet? Making a music folder just for me." He patted my face as he spoke in a fake sweet voice.
"Keep it up and I'll change it all to Madonna!" Kenny shuttered dramatically.
"Ahh, I hate that anorexic fake accent speaking bitch." I laughed, not understanding his unbiased hatred towards the pop star. I thought she was pretty alright, but I would never tell him that!
High school was not much different than elementary school had been. Everyone was pretty much the same as they were when they were kids, just taller. I was generally in the same classes with my friends or at least familiar people.
Nothing really eventful happened until literature class. I always looked forward to this class because it was the only one Cartman was not in and the only one where I was with both Stan and Kenny. The teacher told us that she would announce today what our project would be.
"As I am sure you are all aware, midterms are coming up. I decided not to go with a written test this time since it really doesn't show if you learned anything. That and I am tired of you kids always stealing the answer key." The teacher turned to face the white board to write out something. I seen Kenny smile proudly and pretend to bow. He had been the king of stealing answer keys. Thanks to him, most of the class got a one hundred percent on the last test. I took no part in that though. My mom would be so pissed if she ever found out I cheated!
"So I am dividing you up into groups to do a research paper. It is up to you and your partners to pick out the topic and the requirements for the essay. I will not tell you if you are right or wrong in what you attempt until I give you your grades. By now, you should all know the quality of essays I expect." There was a buzz throughout the class as everyone was pairing up with their friends. I looked over to Stan, knowing we would be in a group together.
"I am writing out your groups on the board now." Everyone in the class moaned and began griping about how they should be able to pick their own partners and so on and so forth. I had to admit I was pretty bummed. I doubted Stan and I would be in a group now. I was putting my papers into my backpack, ready to move to whichever group I was assigned to.
"Guess it's just you and me then." Kenny said as he dropped his bag on top of my table.
"What do you mean?" I looked over to the board to see everyone had been divided up into groups of three except Kenny and I. "Oh, sweet!" I was happy I didn't have to be in a group with any of the girls. They just acted like they knew everything and tried to do all the work. Well, so did Stan. But at least he was fun to work with. I was a bit worried to work with Kenny. He was a fine student and all- when he chose to be.
"So, what are we going to do?" He asked as he took a seat next to me. I was worried I might get stuck with the whole project. I had seen Kenny do this a million times with other students. He would charm his way into them doing the project for him. I swore it wouldn't be that way with me.
"I don't know. What do you like?" I wanted to try to find some common interest so that we could both get excited about the research.
"Stuff." He shrugged with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"What kind of stuff?" I asked, praying for a normal answer.
"We can watch some videos of the stuff I like." He smirked and leaned back further in the desk. I covered my eyes and shook my head.
"No, Kenny! I told you I don't want to watch-" his laughter cut me off. I stared back at him, wondering what was so funny. He laid his chin on the desk and looked up to me.
"What a dirty mind! Is that the way your mom raised you? I meant horror movies." I felt my face burning and looked away.
"You did that on purpose." I frowned.
"Did what?" He played innocent.
"Oh, nevermind. How are we going to do a paper on horror movies?" The idea sounded silly to me. Would we just write some book report of a movie or something? There was no way I was doing that! I had an A in the class and intended to keep it.
"Compare one type to the next. Like American horror compared to Korean or Japanese or something." He looked over, wanting to see what I thought. I blinked a few times and smiled.
"That actually sounds really cool. I don't think I have any Japanese horror movies though and my mom would flip if she caught me watching a rated R movie." Kenny laughed and patted me on the shoulder.
"It's called the internet. You can get all the movies you want for free, my friend. Come over today and we'll get started." I wanted to ask him a few more questions, but he was already on his feet. The bell rang and he was out the door before I could get the chance to argue.
Stan walked over to me when class ended and looked pretty pissed. I grabbed my stuff and walked out the door with him. I expected him to say something since he was not really the type to keep his thoughts to himself. After a few minutes of silence passed, I decided to ask.
"What's up, dude?" Stan looked over at me and rolled his eyes.
"You're in a group with Kenny? Just Kenny? I wonder how he managed that one." I couldn't understand his irritation.
"Everyone else was paired up in threes, we're just one short. What's wrong with that?" Stan shook his head, ignoring my question.
"I hope you have fun doing the whole project for him. I know him. He'll just use you for everything you're worth and then run with your grade." I stood infront of him and crossed my arms.
"I am getting sick and tired of whatever shit you have with Kenny! Get over yourself, man. This is totally weak. What is your problem?" Stan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he always did when he was irritated.
"You are just so- so dumb!" He turned from me and stomped off to his next class. Maybe I was dumb because I had no clue what the whole problem was.
I hoped to run into Kenny or Stan again that day, but I doubted I would have any luck. My last three classes were electives and all of them revolved around computer technology and computer programming. Ever since I was a kid, I liked doing that sort of stuff. I tried to pay attention to my assignment and work on breaking down a fire wall, but I was too distracted. I didn't realize how tired I was until every little thing distracted me like it was the freaking circus.
I felt relieved to hear the bell ring. I wanted to try to find Kenny to tell him I didn't want to come over that day. I was way too tired and really didn't want to be in his house. It always reeked of alcohol and whatever drug his family was into that week. I had no luck finding him until I got on the bus. He was sitting next to Cartman and ignoring every attempt I made to talk to him. I gave up and leaned against the seat.
The bus stopped at the end of the block near Kenny's run down house. I walked towards the exit with Kenny until a voice stopped me. I looked back to see Stan staring at me in disbelief.
"You're going to his house?" I looked between Kenny and Stan and felt a bit guilty, like I was doing something wrong. Kenny put a hand on my shoulder and smiled up to Stan.
"Yep, we're going to be together all today. Don't worry, I'll take good care of him." With that I was half guided half dragged off the bus. I heard the bus driver scream for Stan to sit down and looked back to see his retreating back.
I followed Kenny into the house and was stopped in my step by the smell. This time, it wasn't the usual concoction of aforementioned substances, but a lack of any sort of smell. Kenny looked back at me and grinned.
"We've got the house to ourselves this week. My parents are in some rehab program, Kevin's with his girlfriend and Karen is with her girl scout troop mom." He opened the door for me and I happily went in. It was always the best to go to a friends house without their family around. I always hated going to Stan's when his sister and parents were around, I hated it even more with Kenny! I don't think I had ever been alone with Kenny before. The thought made me a bit nervous at first.
"So, how are we going to find these movies?" I asked Kenny who had disappeared into the kitchen. He brought out two bottles of water and half a jar of peanuts out. I hoped that wasn't the only food he had for the week, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. I noted to myself to bring food with next time some how. Kenny sat on the couch next to me and grabbed his laptop from underneath the couch. It was some ancient thing that he bought off a friend, or so the story went. He popped the screen open and put it on the table.
"Trust me. I know what I'm doing." I was worried he would say that. Before I knew it he was searching through torents to download whatever film he wanted.
"You're going to get caught one day, you know." I said placidly, feeling nervous that I would somehow get caught stealing. Kenny laughed and continued to download the movie he selected, ignoring my comment completely.
Kenny decided we would watch the Japanese version of American horror movies and compare them. I was admittedly surprised that Kenny came up with this idea. He never struck me as a school oriented person. I leaned back against the couch, feeling uncomfortably cold. It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't warm either. My eyes grew heavier all the same. About a half hour into the movie, I closed my eyes and leaned my head against a pillow.
"I'm still listening." I said with my head buried in the pillow. Kenny must have laughed really hard because the pillow even moved. I didn't think anything of it and continued listening to the movie.
"So, how's listening working out for you? I didn't know you spoke Japanese." His voice sounded very close to me, but I ignored it. I didn't know what he meant until I realized the movie was still not in English. I had long since stopped caring though. I felt warmer now and was comfortable.
I don't know when I fell asleep but I certainly did because I remember waking up to the sound of screaming coming from the laptop. I stretched my hands up and accidentally bopped Kenny in the face. I moved my hands over a bit and got him in the shoulder. I felt him laugh a bit and was confused. How was I so close to Kenny while laying on the other side of couch on the pillows. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Kenny's face right above mine. Still confused, I looked around and realized I was laying right on top of him.
"I'm sorry!" I jumped up and nearly tripped over the end table. Kenny was laughing and waving his hands.
"Don't worry, your reaction is apology enough." Kenny motioned for me to sit back down. I awkwardly sat down on the couch as far away as possible. I laughed nervously and tried to make a joke out of it.
"That was totally gay, dude. Sorry about that." Kenny laughed and shook his head.
"You could do better than that." Kenny smirked and looked over to me. I felt my heart skip a beat, feeling a rush of adrenaline with his attention turned full on me. I grabbed for the water, trying to act calm but my shaking hand betrayed me. I pretended not to notice and took a drink of water.
"Well, when we have a gay off, we'll see about that." My attempted joke sounded even dumber out loud than it did in my head.
"A gay off? I could totally kick your ass at that." Kenny crossed his arms, accepting the statement as a challenge. I felt relieved, joking was a sign he didn't think I was a weirdo.
"Oh really? Is that why you are with all the girls?" He smirked and leaned closer to me. I leaned back a bit and laughed.
"I can't help it that they are attracted. I could get any guy or girl I wanted." I rolled my eyes and laughed. Bantering with him was one of my favorite past times. He always got so passionate about challenges.
"Oh I bet you could." I said sarcastically. "How about you prove it then?" Kenny grinned and cocked his head to the side.
"And how would I go about doing that?" I put a hand on my head in thought. I wanted to have something clever to say, but my window of opportunity was closing quickly. Kenny grabbed my suspended hand and pinned me against the couch. "I know one way I could." He pressed his forehead against mine and stared me in the eye until I looked away.
"O-ok you win you win!" I stammered out nervously, feeling flustered. He laughed and took his time pulling back, probably trying to intimidate me more.
"It's getting late, we will have to continue this tomorrow." He laughed and grabbed for his laptop. I stared ahead of me feeling dazed.
"Right, more movies tomorrow." I nodded and pulled myself to my feet. Kenny laughed lighty and waved as I grabbed my coat and made my way to the door.