A/N: Welcome to Knots! This is going to be a story of about 50,000 words, most likely more, because I'm writing it for NaNoWriMo. A new chapter of around 5,000 words should be posted every Sunday (as long as I don't forget). All chapters will be edited now before posting, but I'm only human, so if you see any mistakes I missed then please tell me! I hope you'll like this story as much as I liked writing it. Okay, I'll shut up now so you can read. Please enjoy!
Blood spots and blots the ground, taking the forms of footprints. A thin blond boy's breath clouds about his mouth as he sprints frantically, a pair of hazelnut eyes clawing the landscape. The stars above blink down at him, watching the small figure as he scars himself on the blades of glass underneath his toes. He looks around and sees nothing other than glass, glass, glass. Glass trees. Glass hills. Glass moon. All glass. The ferns cut and tore at the skin of his feet, leaving splashes of ruby behind him, but he didn't care. He was busy. He was looking. However, the transparent landscape made it confusing as to what and where he was looking at, making him run in circles. He can hear the soft singing of a lone piano, calling out to him from what seemed like nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Confusion and worry knit his eyebrows together, creasing his forehead.
Tweek Tweak opened his eyes, watching his alarm clock ring. He sat up, covers pooling about his hips, and rubbed away the sleep. After a few seconds of staring blankly at the walls, he slapped the top of the alarm, silencing it. The golden haired boy slipped out of his bed and began to ready himself for school, packing large, unwieldy textbooks and torn spiral notebooks into his bag and pulling on a shirt and jeans. Tweek made his way downstairs, dropping his pack next to a dining chair and stepping into the bathroom. He gazed at his pale skin in the mirror and ruffled his hair, trying to make it look like anything but its usual sloppy mess. It didn't take him very long to give up, instead making his way into the kitchen and quickly brewing some coffee and pouring it into his thermos, making sure to put in an extra large amount. After slinging his bag over his shoulder, he stuffed his feet into a pair of shoes and stepped out of the house.
It was cold, but hell, it was always cold in South Park. If you didn't feel like pulling four coats on, shoving your hands into your pocket, and there wasn't at least three feet of snow on the ground, then there was something wrong. And sure enough, snow was falling steadily to the frozen ground, the sky a dismal gray. Just a usual day in the quiet mountain town.
"Tweek! Hey, Tweekers!"
Tweek spun to see two other blond haired boys running his way, grinning ear to ear. He gave a shaky smile as they made their way over to him.
"Hi, C-Clyde, Butters."
The two boys stood there, panting, before leaping at Tweek, wrapping their arms tightly around him. Tweek let out a weak screech, nearly toppling to the ground by the weight of his friends. Clyde and Butters laughed at his display.
"Good mornin', Tweekers. How are you?" Clyde asked, re-adjusting his brunette hair.
"F-fine. Pretty calm."
"Seems like it. Why, you're hardly tremblin' at all! And you haven't made one of your silly lil' noises." Butters responded, reaching up to try to fix Tweek's knotted hair.
"I-I haven't had much of my coffee yet."
Tweek's one fix was a steamy, dark, bitter on the tongue, burning on the throat drink; coffee. Every day he poured the scalding mix into his thermos all the way to the brim, careful to make just the right amount and not to leave a drop in the coffee maker. He was pretty sure so much caffeine was the source of his uncontrollable twitching, but his parents always said it was ADD. Tweek had learned never to trust his parents though; they were spacey and unreliable. Just like everyone else's parents in South Park.
The three continued on, careful not to slip on the icy sidewalks. Thankfully, South Park High School stood only a handful of blocks from Tweek's house. While the other boys started up a passionate conversation over last night's horrible calculus work, the Tweek stared forward. He awoke from his thoughts only when Butters placed his hand on the twitchy boy's shoulder.
"Tweek, are you alright? You've been acting funny." Concern was etched across his face. Tweek nodded, taking a deep breath.
"Ah... yeah. Yeah, let's just g-get to school," he responded, bowing his head and picking up their pace.
It wasn't long before they reached the large building, where the bus had just pulled up and opened its doors. Parked cars were scattered through the parking lot haphazardly, some stretched across two spaces, some pulled up onto curbs... some barely situated in a parking spot at all. The three were careful while crossing the cracked, shoddy parking lot, keeping an eye out for reckless teen drivers. Thick ice and snow glazed the concrete, making even the best driver slip out of control at times. Besides, the Colorado high schoolers weren't exactly the best drivers in the first place.
Butters and Clyde shed their coats when they stepped through the large, glass and metal doors, thankful for the warmth inside the building.
"W-well, I gotta get to my locker, fellas."
"That's alright, blondie. I need to stop by mine too."
Tweek waved to his friends and said, "See you guys in c-class." He turned and started in the opposite direction, opening the lid of his thermos and taking and swift gulp. The bitter, black drink helped warm him up as he swallowed it. As he walked, he kept his eyes to the floor until he reached his locker, trying his best to avoid anyone's eyes. His characteristically shaky hands made it difficult to get the numbers quite right on the dial, making him have to restart numerous times. He was on his seventh try when a hand slammed flat on his locker and an arm snaked around his waist, clutching him tightly there. The fingers began tickling him, making the thin blond boy laugh and shriek and wriggle quickly out of the grip. Tweek spun on his heel and backed into the cold metal behind him to get a good look at Kenny McCormick. The dirty blond haired boy laughed heartily, placing one hand to his stomach and the other to his forehead, tears of bliss forming at the corners of his eyes.
"Oh, god. It's funnier every time no matter how many times I do it."
Kenny McCormick was possibly one of the most handsome boys that lived in the frozen town, but at the same time he was easily the most unfortunate. He almost never talked about himself, so Tweek didn't know that much about him, but from what he saw his father and mother weren't exactly the most supportive parents. No, they were alcoholics, and bad ones at that. When you saw a McCormick car, it was never steady on the road unless Kenny was driving. Tweek was pretty sure Mrs. and Mr. McCormick did drugs as well, he was sure he saw the two of them smoking behind a Shakey's Pizza once or twice before. And Tweek was also pretty sure that those bruises all over Kenny's body weren't just from football practice. But no matter how messed up Kenny's life may be, he never talked about it. He only listened to other people's problems. The blue eyed boy was practically South Park High's best counselor, and the only one the kids bothered to go to.
"Jesus, dude! Don't scare me like that!" Tweek tried his very best to seem angry, but didn't exactly make it very convincing.
"Want me to try?" Kenny gestured toward the locker, giving Tweek a sympathetic look. He knew his locker combination was one of the more difficult things Tweek had to do, and often unlocked the locker for the fidgety coffee lover. Tweek nodded enthusiastically, stepping aside for the handsome male. Kenny stepped up to the locker and began working away at the dial, tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.
"Aha!" he shouted in triumph when the lock stuck on the last number. He swung it open and looked inside, thought displayed on his face.
"Let's see... You need... Calculus and Geography books, right?" Kenny pulled the two large, heavy textbooks out of the cramped metal rectangle and placed them gingerly into Tweek's arms.
"NGH- Thank you, Kenny!"
"No problem, kiddo." Kenny said, taking out his old, beaten up cellphone to check the time. "Now what do you say to us getting to class? The bell's gonna ring soon." He flashed one of his famous smiles and placed a hand on the small of Tweek's back, escorting him to their class.
As they made their way down the hall, Tweek felt eyes from all directions focused on the two of them. Of course, it wasn't really a surprise to him. Whenever he was with the popular honey haired lady killer in public everyone nearby would stare at Kenny and the people he was with. They didn't even try to be inconspicuous about it either, they just flat out gaped at him. Kenny seemed to be used to it, but Tweek sure wasn't. He did his best to ignore the unwanted attention by gluing his eyes to the glassy tile floors beneath his feet.
By the time they reached their room, Tweek's face was beet red from all the indirect attention.
"Dude, are you feeling okay? Your face is all red... Do you have a fever?" Kenny placed the back of his hand against Tweek's warm forehead, testing to see if he felt feverish. "You are pretty warm... Do you want me to take you to the nurse?"
The thought of more eyes following them made Tweek want to faint, but he instead shook his head violently and responded, "GAH! No, I'm fine! I just want to get to class."
Kenny shrugged. "If you say so."
The two walked in classroom and took their seats near Butters. Kenny sat behind him, and Tweek took his place to Butters' right. Their cheap, metal, plastic and wood desks faced toward the front of the room where the whiteboard was against the wall. A few posters lined the walls, saying things like 'Drink Milk' and 'Just Say No'. To the left of the whiteboard sat Mr. Garrison, who looked like he would fall asleep any second, like every other day.
Mr. Garrison had been their teacher since they could remember. Of course, the occasionally had Mrs. Choksondk, and there was always Mr. Adler and Pearl, who taught Shop class and Home Economics respectively, but Mr. Garrison had stayed around the longest.
Butters turned to Tweek and asked, "Hey, did you get all your homework done?" Tweek nodded in response. "Aw, jeez... do you think Mr. Garrison will collect it today?"
He gave the champagne-haired boy a nervous smile. "He n-never collects it anyway, so- NGH- I wouldn't see why he would choose today to collect it."
As if on cue, Mr. Garrison picked up a stack of papers on his desk and tapped it a couple times to straighten it out. "Okay, class. Get out your homework and pass it to the front while the announcements are going."
Butters groaned, taking out from his folders whatever he had done. "My parents are gonna ground me for sure..." Kenny gave him a reassuring pat on the back.
"Don't feel so bad. I didn't do any of the homework. I'm sure you'll be fine."
The boy in the light-blue shirt smiled and thanked him, saying that Kenny 'made him feel much better'. Despite Kenny's comforts, Butters' imminent grounding was unavoidable. The polar opposites of Kenny's redneck, irresponsible, uncaring parents, Butters' father and mother were as conservative and over-protective as it got. Any grade below and A was unacceptable, and any misdeed would get the frail blond boy grounded on the spot. This feeling of constant pressure and even fear he got from his parents gave him little nervous habits, like stuttering and rubbing his knuckles together. Tweek knew it was a thing to feel sorry for, but he (and everyone else) couldn't help but find his habits cute, along with the rest of him. The blond boy's favorite shirts were Hello Kitty, light blue colors or a hybrid of the two. Butters wore two clips in his hair to pull a bit of his bangs off to the side. The kinds of pins he wore were the sort of clips that five-year-old girls could just as easily wear, but somehow Butters pulled it off better. Butters Stotch wasn't only cute- he was nice, too. The kind of boy that donated his movie money to third world countries and brought homeless people back to his house.
Just then, the bell signalling the start of the day rang, and the PA system soon after came on with two cheerful beeps. "Good morning, South Park High School! These are the morning announcements. Tomorrow marks the day that..." Tweek tuned out the announcements, they never said anything important anyway. He answered questions when asked, payed attention when Mr. Garrison got enthusiastic. The graffiti littering his desk kept him entertained for the day, until Mr. Garrison dismissed them with a friendly, "Alright, ya little brats, go home now." The only thing Tweek really learned about in their class was the Kardashians and the Real Housewives of New Jersey, and he heard enough about that from Butters. Tweek was a bright kid underneath his twitchy, spastic exterior, so Calculus and English were easy subjects for him.
"Geez, I never knew Kim had done anything like that before," he heard Butters say to his left.
"I know what you mean. Pretty sick stuff," Kenny replied, being surprisingly successful at sounding interested. "Anyway, are you two ready to go home?"
Tweek nodded, taking a drink from his thermos. "G-get me out of here."
Just as they were about to exit the classroom, a blond girl named Bebe stepped in front of them. "Butters, aren't you staying for the GSA?" Tweek turned to Kenny, shooting him a questioning look. Kenny just smiled back sadly.
"Oh, golly, that's right! Sorry, fellas. You'll have to go on home without me. Unless you want to stay...?"
Before Tweek had a chance to ask what the GSA was, Kenny spoke up. "Sorry, Butters. We should really get home." The boys bid their farewells, Butters giving out hugs and Kenny waving to all the girls and flashing one of his smiles. Tweek was surprised nobody fainted. The two started toward the main doors in silence, the shouts of high schoolers surrounding them. Kenny let out a sigh of relief when they stepped outside into the cold Colorado air. No different from this morning, snow was falling and the clouds were blotting out the sun, making sure South Park was as cold as possible. When they were a good distance from the school, Tweek turned to Kenny.
"Dude, w-what's the GSA?"
"The Gay Straight Alliance. And of course, Butters goes." The orange-clad teen sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I just don't see what I'm doing wrong."
"Neither do I. I don't r-really think you're- NGH- doing anything wrong, maybe Butters is just... B-being Butters and isn't picking up on anything. You know how totally oblivious he c-can be."
"Yeah, you're probably right... That doesn't make it any less frustrating though."
"Don't worry, K-Kenny. You'll win him over someday. I'm sure s-sooner or later he'll be as crazy- AUGH- for you as y-you are for him." Yes, it's true. Kenny, the blond haired, blue eyed beast, the lady killing bad-boy, the heartthrob of South Park high school was completely and entirely in love with his best friend. A guy. Who had absolutely no clue Kenny felt that way about him.
"I'm sorry," Kenny said after a pause in which he was trying to compose himself. "You're always helping me with my love life, and I never stop to ask or even think about yours. I'm pretty terrible, huh...?"
Tweek let out one of his habitual shouts, defending his friend. "No, it's totally fine! I don't have a l-love life to talk about in the first place! I-I like helping you, Kenny. It's not like I'm- NGH- going out of my way to listen to you."
Kenny laughed, patting his shoulder. "You're the best, Tweekers. But seriously, there's not anybody you even have eyes on? Not anyone?" Tweek shook his head, smiling at Kenny. "C'mon. Who's the lucky girl? Or guy, if you swing that way."
"Really," Tweek continued, "I have a-absolutely no love life to even mention. All the girls are either way too weird or taken, and all the guys are way too straight or taken."
Tweek stiffened when Kenny turned to him with a sly grin on his ridiculously handsome face. "So you are into guys, huh...?" Kenny pretended this was the first time Tweek had told him of his preferences. The shorter boy gave a fake gasp, pretending he had made a Freudian slip.
"Oh, n-no! Now you know my- AUGH- dark secret!" He lost it when Kenny started tickling him, writhing to get free from the gloved fingers.
A/N: (After edit): I've changed the Author's Notes in the beginning after getting a pretty enlightening review. It was... well, it didn't give a good feeling about the story, to say the least. I don't really have the best self confidence, so writing a negative Author's Note like that felt normal. But they were right, if I want this story to do well and be liked, I should be positive. Since I'm done with the story as of now (Nov 30th), I'll have more time to go back over chapters and make them better. On a lighter note, thank you very much for reading the first chapter, and I hope you liked it!