1:13 am.

The clock had to be wrong. There was no way Craig would ever have a reason to wake up at such an early hour. Especially on the weekends. Unless of course, his phone was buzzing on the hard coffee table next to him. And who else in the world would be calling him now but Kenny. His life time best friend. (Well maybe not, no one wakes up Craig Tucker at 12 o'clock and gets away with it…) Anyway, who even calls people anymore? Craig sighed and picked up the phone and with as threatening a voice as he could muster sent a simple, but well understood message.

"This better be good…"

The voice on the other end of the line seemed to pause and ponder whether or not he should answer the annoyed boy on the other end on the line. Making a decision, the supposed 'friend' took a sharp intake of breath and said in a calm voice a slightly more complex message than the raspy greeting he had gotten from his friend.

"Sup?"


Kenny flinched as he heard the phone slam down onto the coffee table in a failed attempt to silence him. Chuckling, he held the phone up to his ear again.

"That's your cell phone sweetheart, it doesn't have a receiver, you may want to try pressing the 'end' button."

Hearing the exasperated sigh and the deadly 'click' on the other end of the line brought a smile to work its way onto his already excited expression. Kenny glanced at the clock, waiting ten more minutes to give Craig a little time to get back to sleep before flipping open his phone once again and dialing that oh so familiar number.

Hearing the line pick up again only made the smile grow wider.

"What do you want Kenny?"

"Nothing much, just thought you might like to hear the little rumor I hear is going around. But you're probably not interested anyway; it was stupid of me to call you. I'll let you go back to sleep now. Toodles..." Kenny moved the phone away from his ear and waited. It didn't take more than a few seconds before he heard the response he was waiting for.

"…..just make it quick…"

If Craig was anything, it was curious. He loved hearing about the latest gossip and was practically filtering the rumor mill. He was never without his precious BlackBerry logged on to the most juicy news at Parkview High. If you ever needed any information, Craig tucker was the guy to see.

Smirking at the sound of his prey giving in to the overwhelming temptation of 'gossip' Kenny took a deep breath and began his rehearsed speech.

"I heard from Bebe that Clyde heard from Token who heard from Cartman that Kyle and Stan saw Red telling Wendy that she heard from"

"WOULD YOU JUST TELL ME ALREADY?"

Kenny laughed, what made irritating Craig so appealing.

"Fine Fine, I'll tell you, long story short, Tweak and Butters saw your Dad making out with the Waitress at Hopkens Diner. You know the one with the cute little bow and the tight little"

"I know who she is…"

Kenny sighed, and took another breath. "Does that bother you, you seem a little upset?"


At times Kenny could read the atmosphere better than anyone, but now was not one of those times. Looking across the Room at his closet he set the phone down on the coffee table and moved slowly to the hidden cubby under the third shelf in his dresser. The drawer was broken so the cubby was easy to hide. He had built it during his freshmen year in shop class.

Sliding open the compartment, he reached inside and pulled out a photo of his mother. Seven years ago, the crash that took her life wasn't on the news. The drunk man that pulled down 134th avenue at 60 mph couldn't even see over the steering wheel. He shouldn't have even been driving. And yet, the innocent woman and her daughter driving to soccer practice to pick up their son and brother were 'just in the wrong place at the wrong time'. That was the police mans excuse when he came to inform Mr. Tucker of the accident. It was Seven years ago last weekend.

Craig hugged the picture to his chest. Ignoring the "Craig's" coming from the phone on the coffee table beside his bed. Kenny hadn't meant to upset him, and he knew that. It's just the thought of his dad actually with another woman, even if she was just a one night fling, was heart breaking. Craig gently replaced the photo into the compartment and clutched the fabric over his chest. Closing his eyes he fought back the tears. Emotion was not something Craig liked to express. To most people he had two expressions. Angry, and Cocky. But inside, there were things stirring that he wouldn't ever show anyone. Not even his best friend. Biting his lip, Craig walked back to the bed and sat down. He pulled his composure back to its normal monotone flair and picked up the phone.

"Sorry, had to use the restroom. What about my dad? Is that the only reason you called me? To tell me my father was smacking lips with some girl who was probably just looking for a good tip? I'm going back to bed. See you tomorrow."

With that he hung up the phone before Kenny had a chance to respond. Laying his head down on the soft pillow, it didn't take long before his heavy eyelids full of tears rocked him to sleep.


Kenny didn't sleep well that night. But was relieved to see someone did. When he knocked on the door to house 13022 W. Erving Dr, the door was answered by a normal looking Craig. Well almost normal, he had a pair of pants with small little puppy paws on them and a white tee shirt. (Obviously still in his night clothes) And he had a blue toothbrush sticking out of his mouth with a trail of toothpaste and saliva running down his chin.

"That's gross….. go clean yourself up man." Kenny laughed as he waltzed into the equally monotone home of his friend. Seating himself on the brown leather couch in the foyer, Kenny turned to Craig who had a guilty 'I just woke up' look on his face.

"It's fine, I can wait for you to make yourself decent." He smirked when he saw the tall boy roll his eyes at the joke. About three minutes later, Craig walked into the room still pulling on his black wifebeater he always wore under his jacket. Grabbing his chulo off the counter he made his way to the door.

"Shall we?"

"We shall." Kenny hopped up off the couch and flattened out the cushion. He knew how irritated Craig would be if he left it looking like crap. Following Craig out the door and stopping to watch the raven haired boy lock the front entrance to the wall maintained house.

"You hung up on me last night…." Kenny looked up at the boy with sad eyes. "That wasn't very nice, if you ask me, I'd say what I told you last night made you upset. Almost upset enough to show the tiniest hint of emotion" He laughed as Craig fumbled with the keys. "it's not nice to hang up on people and lie to them when they ask if anything's wrong. I AM your friend you know. You can trust me." Kenny pulled the keys out of Craig's hands and locked the door. He looked up at him sheepishly which only made Kenny laugh. "There's that emotion I love."

"Shut up." He snatched the keys back out of Kenny's hands and shoved them into his pockets.

He returned to his monotone nasally voice and turned away from the blond haired boy to hide the small blush creeping up his cheeks. And they traveled the rest of the way to school listening to stupid jokes about Cartman and Kyle's secret love connection.