Stan adjusted his laptop screen, sighed, scratched his head.
Then he swivelled around in his chair to face the hallway.
"Hey Kyle, I'm setting up the Skype chat!"
"Coming!"
Stan turned back to the screen and shrugged his shoulders to loosen his neck muscles. It had been a long trip from South Park to Colorado State University in Fort Collins and he had tensed up a lot during the ride.
A few seconds later, Kyle trudged in and sat at the edge of Stan's bed, right next to the desk.
"Is Kenny online?"
"I...think so," Stan said, clicking around on the screen. "We said six o' clock, right? Maybe he – oh, hold on, he's calling us now!"
"Cool," Kyle huddled closer as Stan pressed the bright green "answer" button.
A lean young man with a crop of scruffy blonde hair grinned at them from the screen, from a room that looked far more familiar than anything else they had seen in the past nine hours.
"Hey guys," Kenny greeted them. "Good trip?"
"Kenny!" Kyle and Stan cried out in happy unison.
Kenny laughed his doglike chuckle and kept on grinning.
"Wow, you seem cheerful to see me!" he joked. "Not feeling homesick already, are ya?"
The guys laughed nervously and Kenny, picking up on this, changed subject quickly.
"I'm glad to see friendly faces in any case, my boss was not a pleasant fella at work today," Kenny shoved a hand through his hair absent-mindedly. "The shop was crazy busy from open 'til close!"
"Lots of broken down cars in South Park today?" Stan asked with a smirk.
Kenny laughed again.
"What can I say guys? Everything's fallen to pieces now that you're gone!"
"Aww, well try to keep it together until we come back at Thanksgiving," Kyle smiled and Stan felt an internal flinch that they wouldn't be back home in so long. "We're gonna miss you man!"
"We sure are," Stan added solemnly.
Kenny waved a dismissive hand at the screen.
"You kidding? You guys will be too busy with college friends and college pussy to even think about your loser mechanic-in-training friend back home!"
Stan gave Kenny a kindly look.
"You're not a loser man, you're pursuing something you're good at!"
"And getting paid for it!" Kyle chimed in. "That's more than we can say yet!"
Kenny smirked, obviously touched by their thoughtfulness.
"Yeah, well, when Kyle's a rich psychologist and Stan's a world-renowned zoologist, you might think differently."
He was joking but Stan could hear the nervousness in his voice.
"Nah," he shook his head and smiled. "That'll never happen."
Kenny grinned again. He opened his mouth, about to ask a question undoubtedly about the CSU campus, when a female voice rang out behind him.
"Kenny, come get dinner while it's hot!"
"Oh shit, sorry guys, gotta go! Mom's being a lot nicer to me since I got this job and showed her that I won't end up like," he put on an exaggerated "redneck" accent. "Muh deadbeat daddy!"
Kyle and Stan both laughed.
"Alright dude, tell her we said hi," Kyle said.
"And we'll talk to you soon," Stan added. "Tell you all about this place!"
"Cool, can't wait to hear it!" Kenny grinned, and seemed to be about to say something else before Mrs McCormack's voice boomed out again.
"Kenny!"
"But right now I gotta go, later guys!" and with that, his image disappeared off the screen.
Kyle shifted uncomfortably on the bed as Stan closed the laptop.
"Stan, is it weird that I actually do feel a little homesick already?" his question caused a feeling of calmness to bud in Stan's chest.
"No, it's not!" he said, letting out a relieved laugh. "I feel the same way man!"
Kyle sighed and forced a smile.
"I guess I'm just feeling out of place," he commented thoughtfully. "But we'll get used to it around here, right?"
"Of course we will dude, we're just out of our comfort zone right now," Stan rationalised. "And this is what we both really want to be doing, right? I'm studying animals and you're-"
"Studying a different type of animal," Kyle smirked. "Finally finding out why I people act the way they do and why I could never keep up with the fads when we were kids!"
"Dr Broflovski, PHD," Stan said admiringly. "That's a dream worth having dude."
"Yeah," Kyle smiled to himself. "I guess it is. So what time are we Skyping Cartman again?"
"Nine. He won't get home from work until then."
"Right. Hey, Stan?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it bad that I'm secretly overjoyed that we got into college and Eric Cartman works at a K-Mart?"
"Unless 'bad' means 'totally justified,' then no."
"OK, good. Just checking."
The boys grinned at each other. It was nice to know that some things never changed.
Several hours later, after meeting all their roommates, chipping in on a pizza order and Skyping Cartman at 9:00pm, Stan changed into a worn pair of pyjama bottoms and began getting ready for bed.
Drowsily moving around the room, he still felt nervous about college but distinctly more stress-free after meeting his roommates and finding out that Kyle felt the same way.
It has to get better, he thought to himself as he finished making his bed. We'll find some comfort here in time.
He stretched and went over to close the curtains, peering sleepily out into the street below.
Suddenly, his eyes went wide and his hands tightened on the two sides of curtain.
That girl walking past on the street with the long, sleek black hair...was that?
"What time is your first lecture tomorrow?"
Stan whirled around to see Kyle yawning in his doorway.
"Eh...ten o' clock," he said hurriedly. "You?"
"Nine," Kyle answered with a bitter smile. "But you know our roommate Brian? Turns out he's doing psychology too! So we're in the same lecture, it's perfect!"
"Cool," Stan glanced out the window again but the girl was gone. "That's awesome man."
Kyle narrowed his eyes.
"Dude, are you OK?"
"What?" Stan spun back around. "Yeah, fine! I just - "
"Still nervous?" Kyle looked sympathetic. "Me too. A lot."
Stan felt the tension leave him, seeing the apprehensive look on his best friend's face.
"Kyle, don't worry, it'll be OK," he said cheeringly. "We'll find some comfort here in time."
Kyle grinned optimistically at him.
"Yeah. Yeah, we will. Goodnight Stan!"
"Goodnight Kyle."
With that, Stan climbed into bed and shut his eyes.
And totally didn't think about Wendy Testaburger.