Author's Note: So, I'm going to be unoriginal and add to the millions of South Park high school stories that are already out there (Yes I know). I realize that the Kyle/Stan/Wendy triangle is pretty overused, but I'm going to do it anyways with the hopes of adding my own spin to it and making it a little less cliché. Let me know what you think!

Pairings: Lots of different pairings. Style is obviously the main and it starts off with Stendy, and there are also a few others that will be introduced later on.

Warnings: Well, I presume if you're watching South Park in the first place, you aren't easily offended, but gotta put this in anyways. This fic is rated M for language and sexual content in later chapters, so don't read if that stuff bothers you.

Disclaimer: I do not own South Park, nor do I own the cover art used for this story.


Best Friends Forever

Chapter 1

Functioning in Society

..

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I exhaled nervously, feeling small lines of sweat running down my forehead as I stood alone, clad in a fancy tuxedo, in front of all the people I held dear in my life. Shifting my weight slightly, I glanced up and scanned the room. My parents, my friends, my classmates… even my dog Sparky, they were all there, watching me. Kyle stood nearby me, dressed equally fancily and for once not wearing his hat, his curled red hair framing his face as he smiled with encouragement at me. The whole thing seemed so surreal, so unnatural. My eyes finally landed on the female figure walking down the aisle, her long black hair contrasting rather nicely with the extravagant, flowing white dress, blue eyes sparkling and beaming as she made her way towards me.

I quickly rubbed my palms against my pants, which were sweating profusely due to my current state of nervousness. I'm not ready. I can't do this.

Wendy finally reached me at the head of the aisle, beaming at me as she faced me. She held the bouquet in one hand and moved to grab my hand with the other. God, I hope she didn't notice how sweaty they were. She was acting as if it was the best day of her life for her, but it couldn't be more the opposite for me. I couldn't remember why I agreed to this in the first place. I loved Wendy, but when did I ask her to marry me? I couldn't remember at all. Either way, I definitely wasn't ready for this level of commitment, but I felt as though I was stuck, unable to move, unable to speak. This didn't even feel real.

She looked up at me, bright cerulean eyes fixing on mine. I saw her mouth move as she spoke to me.

"Stanley?"

Wait, what? That was not Wendy's voice. That was definitely a male voice.

"Stanley!"

I heard the same voice speak again. Wendy and my surroundings began to blur and fade away.

"Stanley Marsh you wake up this instant!"

I opened my eyes, squinting slightly as I was met with the bright, fluorescent light of my 11th grade classroom. It was just a dream. Whew.

I felt someone gently nudge my arm. "Dude, wake up. We're in class."

It was Kyle. I could never mistake that voice. I groaned, lifting my head and turning to look at my best friend. He simply stared at me, his expression remaining neutral.

"Do you think algebra is a joke Stanley? This stuff is important; you need it to function in society! So you better stay awake and listen!" I turned to look at Mr. Garrison, his brows creased into a firm, disapproving glare and hands firmly placed on his hips.

"Yeah right," I heard Kenny mutter next to me, slouching further down in his chair.

Mr. Garrison, I thought I was done with him when I finished 4th grade. But one day, he decided that he was sick of elementary school students, and was reassigned to South Park High School. Or perhaps it was possible that the school board finally decided that his behavior was too inappropriate for Elementary School students and moved him themselves. That certainly seemed like the more plausible option, considering what his behavior was like when I was in 4th grade.

The 11th grade class size was so small that we only had a couple teachers. Mr. Garrison unfortunately taught three of my classes, Algebra, Geography, and English, none of which he was good at teaching. Age apparently did little to improve his teaching style… or ability to go a whole class without ranting about something unrelated. It was easy to space off and not pay attention in his classes, but I rarely actually fell asleep. Then again, I only got a few hours of sleep last night because of Wendy. She had a bad day, and being the good, dutiful boyfriend I am, I comforted her at the cost of my own rest.

"I'm sorry Mr. Garrison," I finally spoke with no real sincerity. "I won't do it again."

"You better not," he responded sternly, before turning back to the chalkboard to continue his lesson.

I heard Kenny groan out of boredom, noting him pick up his pencil out of the corner of my eye and beginning to doodle on the table. He hated this class as much as me. Then again, Kenny hated school in general. I'm pretty certain the only reason he hasn't dropped out is because of the easy access to girls his age. He was always perverted, even when he was just a kid, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he turned out to be a bit of a manwhore. Kenny was effortlessly good looking, so much so that it almost made me a bit jealous. He didn't work out, he didn't style is hair or wear nice clothes… he didn't do anything, he was just 'all natural' I suppose. Lucky bastard. Once he stopped hiding his face with that orange park he used to wear, girls began to flock to him and he relished in it. Kyle and I would often make bets about how many STDs he has picked up by now – he claims zero, but I'm not certain I believe that.

Speaking of Kyle, to the left I heard him scribbling diligently in his notebook. Practically the polar opposite of Kenny in this regard, he religiously took notes in every class. I would never say it around Wendy, but I always considered Kyle to be the smartest person I knew. He was an anomaly of both book smart and street smart, combined with great common sense. He has always been quick to point out when something was a bad idea, and usually, he was right. I admired it a great deal. There's no one I'd rather ask for advice other than my best friend.

All too quickly Mr. Garrison's lecture became vague background noise, my thoughts drifting back to Wendy and the dream. Thank god it was only that. I loved Wendy; she was beautiful, smart, kind, I knew I wanted to be with her for a long time, but marriage? That was just too much to swallow. I wasn't ready for that yet, especially at our age.

Thankfully, Wendy wasn't in this class. I can only imagine her scolding look if she found out I was sleeping during class, the very thought made me cringe a little. Wendy valued highly education and genuinely cared about my success, she was always encouraging me to pay attention and take notes in class so I could get good grades. I wasn't as smart as her though, no matter how hard I tried, I would never be as successful in school as her.

Due to her above average academic performance, Wendy was placed in an advanced placement calculus class along with Token, Nichole, and a few other students. Kyle was also given the opportunity to attend that class as opposed to algebra, but he declined, claiming that he would rather have class with his friends. I was happy to have my best friend in class with me, but at the same time I was disappointed that he opted for a shittier education with Mr. Garrison when he could have had so much better.

I looked glanced over at Kyle again, who was still diligently taking notes. His eyes were hidden from my gaze by his green ushanka, the very same one that he wore as a kid. The majority of us had discarded the hats we wore as children, I honestly couldn't remember the last time I wore my blue hat. Kyle was the one exception to this. Even though he no longer had the "jewfro" he had as a kid, Kyle was still embarrassed about his hair, and chose to constantly obscure it with his hat. I never understood why, I liked Kyle's hair. It was unpredictable and fiery, much like his personality – it suited him quite well.

Continuing to tune out Mr. Garrison's lecture, I scanned the room. I glanced back over to Kenny, seeing that he was still drawing what seemed to be boobs on the school desk. Craig, who was sitting next to him, was sitting slouched in his chair, arms crossed and an utterly disinterested expression painting his face. Even the light pornography Kenny was making on his desk didn't seem to faze him.

In front of me was Clyde, who was half-heartedly taking notes, and next to him was his girlfriend Bebe. Bebe was Wendy's best friend, despite the fact that they were nearly polar opposites. Wendy had black hair, Bebe had blonde hair. Wendy had blue eyes, Bebe had brown eyes. Bebe wore copius amounts of make up and Wendy wore none. Bebe was a party girl, and Wendy was studious. Their friendship started when we were kids, which would explain why it even managed to occur, but how it has survived this long is beyond me. At least Kyle and I have some things in common, even if we had grown up to be quite different.

Bebe was considered by most to be the most attractive girl in school, having a large bust, curvy figure and long blonde hair. I'd never let on to Wendy that I think that about her friend… although I still much preferred Wendy's more conservative appearance. Unbeknownst to Kyle, Bebe had quite a large crush on him in our sophomore year, but he appeared to be oblivious to her advances. Eventually, Bebe gave up and opted for Clyde, who had been into her since our middle school years.

I was actually glad that Kyle ignored Bebe's advances. I had nothing against Bebe, she was indeed a pretty girl, but Kyle could do so much better. He deserved a loyal, down to earth girl that was just as smart as he, not a party girl that would dump him as soon as she got bored of him.

On the other side of Kyle sat Cartman, whose apparent level of boredom appeared to rival Craig's. He was slouched over his desk, his head propped up by his hand and eyes glazed over. Cartman was never one for school, especially mathematics. Unsurprisingly though, he thrived at debate. According to Wendy, who was in the debate club with Cartman, he is "rude, but convincing" with his arguments. No surprise there, that definitely sounds like Cartman, a master manipulator at heart.

Cartman still hung out with our group, but it our 'friendship' was still quite tentative. While he would occasionally act friendly towards us, normally he just used us as verbal punching bags, especially Kyle, whose rivalry with Cartman had not ceased at all over the years. Why Cartman always chose to sit next to Kyle in class was beyond me, but I presumed it was so he could find any opportunity to make fun of him. Kyle always made a point to tell Cartman just how unwelcome he was, but the larger boy would just laugh it off and do what he wanted, regardless of Kyle's opinion.

Yep, my friends were strange. But I suppose I wasn't much better, already a vegetarian and animal rights activist at age 17. A "hippie" as Cartman would call it. I suppose I am my own degree of weird, but I feel very strongly about my beliefs. Even if my friends didn't feel the same, I couldn't stand the thought of eating meat while knowing an innocent animal was killed to provide it to me. I'm sensitive, I admit that, but my sensitivity is what attracted Wendy to me in the first place, so I suppose it is a blessing in its own right.

I glanced back up at the blackboard, tuning back into what Mr. Garrison was saying. He was going over how to graph equations. Honestly, I didn't understand this stuff at all, and how Mr. Garrison explained it made it even more confusing. Oh well, I could just ask Kyle to explain it to me later. I was just too tired today to pay attention; thank god this was the last period of the day.

I felt my eyes once again begin to droop. Just as I was about to doze off again, I was startled awake by the school bell. Immediately I heard shuffling around me, as everyone scrambled to put their things away. The mad rush to get out of class that is so characteristic of the end of sixth period.

"Okay class! That's it for today; remember to do your homework on page 123 which will be due tomorrow!" I heard Mr. Garrison yell, attempting to speak over the noise the students were making. "Oh, and one more thing! We have a new student that will be attending class starting tomorrow. I know that you guys already have your little groups, but I want you to all include him! I heard that he swings for the same team." He said the last part much quieter. "But there is nothing wrong with that, so you better treat him nicely!"

I doubt many of the students actually listened to what Mr. Garrison was saying; most were already filing out the door, chatting loudly amongst themselves before he even finished. The majority of this class had watched Mr. Garrison go from a homophobic man to a gay man, to a straight woman, to a lesbian woman, and then back to a gay man during our 3rd and 4th grade years. I highly doubt the idea of a new potentially gay student bothered anyone in the slightestconsidering who we had for a teacher.

"A new kid, huh?" I heard Kyle pipe up next to me. "I wonder what he's like"

"You mean aside from being apparently gay?" I responded jokingly. That is literally all we had to go on right now.

"Uh, yeah, aside from that."

"Well you better watch yourself Kahl; you certainly look girly enough to attract a homo. He'll probably be all over your Jewish ass," I heard Cartman speak up behind us as we were making our way out of the classroom.

A taunt. Kyle, of course, fell for it as normal. "Shut the fuck up fatass, I am not 'girly'," he snapped back.

Cartman simply scoffed. "You keep telling yourself that girlfriend."

"I'm more masculine than your tubby ass. At least I don't have boobs."

I fell behind them, tuning out their bickering; I normally chose to stay out of their quarrels unless it got serious. They would go on like this for hours sometimes, but usually it was nothing more than exchanging petty insults.

Kenny appeared beside me, his arms casually tucked in his sweatshirt pockets as fell in step with me. "Hey dude," he greeted, flashing me a toothy grin. "Feeling more awake now?"

"Not really," I replied honestly. "Did your playboy sketches on the table satisfy your urges for the day?"

Kenny laughed. "Not by a long shot. In fact, I have someone I'm meeting after school today."

That is… quite unsurprising. "Is that so? Who's the victim this time?"

"Willing victim, mind you," Kenny rebutted. "It's that girl Red, you know, Wendy's friend." He leaned in close to me, speaking in a hushed whisper. "I heard that she loves taking it in the back door."

"Sick dude, that's disgusting," I responded hastily, crinkling my nose in disgust. "Why would you even want to do that?"

Kenny shrugged. "Don't bash it until you've tried it."

"I suppose." I honestly can't even imagine trying anal sex with Wendy; she would probably kill me if I even asked. In fact, I even envision her reacting quite unfavorably if she knew one of her friends was doing those things with Kenny.

"Speak of the devil!" Kenny exclaimed, spotting red headed girl in question, who was chatting with her friend near the lockers. "See ya later dude!"

I watched Kenny run off to meet Red, wasting no time in intervening in her conversation with her friend to chat her up. I sighed and shook my head. That guy. I don't think it's even possible to think more with your dick than Kenny does.

I increased my pace to catch up with Kyle and Cartman, who had apparently finished arguing judging by their substantially more relaxed posture. Cartman was now boasting about something to an incredibly bored looking Kyle.

"-and than I just told her that it was none of her business because I had the authoritah, and that shut her right up!"

"Yeah, whatever," Kyle responded with obvious disinterest, rolling his eyes.

"I swear, it's true!" Cartman exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air to enunciate the point.

Kyle smiled at me on my approach and I readily returned it, moving to stand next to him. Cartman, seeing this, smirked at us. "Well, I guess I should just leave you lovebirds alone," he sang mockingly. "I have a date with Wendy anyways; I can't be late for that. See you queers later!"

Cartman laughed and winked at me, before turning and striding confidently away from us. I felt Kyle fuming next to me, but I maintained my cool. Cartman had been making gay jokes about us since we were nine; I had learned not to take them seriously anymore… not so certain Kyle has though. As far as the "date with Wendy" thing goes… there was no credence to that. Cartman had debate with Wendy. That was all. I know that I wasn't in any danger of losing her to Cartman, she hated him almost as much as Kyle did. He just liked to boast that he got to spend time with her when I wasn't present.

"I can't believe him!" Kyle exclaimed, once again allowing himself to get riled up. "You're just going to let him get away with that?"

I shrugged and started walking down the hallway, Kyle closely following me. "It's just Cartman being Cartman. I wouldn't take it seriously."

"But still," Kyle began. "You're okay with him being alone with Wendy? I mean, what if he tries something? He's been acting this way about being in that club with her for a while."

I let out a light chuckle and shook my head. "Wendy can handle herself. Don't you remember when she kicked Cartman's ass back in fourth grade? I don't think I have anything to worry about."

Kyle burst out laughing at this, there's nothing he loved more than hearing about Cartman getting humiliated or beat up. "Haha yeah! He got his ass handed to him!"

It was pretty funny, even I admit that. At first I was nervous when I heard that Wendy challenged Cartman, but man, she really did kick his ass. That's something he never lived down, no matter how hard he tried to make everyone forget about it.

We walked in silence for a moment; we would normally walk together to the school gym after school every day. Football season was over, so I did not currently have an after school activity to attend like Wendy and most of my friends did. Wendy always wanted me to attend debate with her, but it just wasn't my thing. Why waste energy arguing about something for fun? I never understood that. Instead I opted to work out at the gym until she was done. I had to stay in shape for the next football season after all, or else the coach would have my head.

Kyle attended a martial arts class after school; he had been for about a year now. Kyokushin karate I think he called it. It was a relatively new addition to the school's after-class activities and apparently Mr. Mackey recommended the class to him after he had gotten into a few too many fights with Cartman, claiming that it would be a good way to "channel his anger". I can't say the class has helped quell his temper at all, but at least he enjoys it. I've thought about attending it with him during non-football seasons, but fighting isn't really my thing either. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty athletic and I'm sure I can hold my own in a fight if I needed to, but I would only ever fight if I was forced into it. Football was about as violent as I could get.

I felt my phone rumble in my pocket, signifying a text message. It was probably from Wendy, she normally texted me after school each day. I shoved my hand in my pocket, tugging the rectangular device out and switching it on while Kyle watched me out of the corner of his eye.

"-Hey, do you want to go out somewhere today after debate? Bebe wants to hang out, and I was thinking we could have a double date with her and Clyde. Love you! Xoxo-"

Ugh.

I honestly had no interest in hanging out with Bebe or Clyde, I was never good friends with either of them, plus I was tired, and had homework to do tonight. I just wanted to go home and relax. But, at the same time, I couldn't say no to Wendy. She would be disappointed in me, and there was truly nothing I hated more than that. I replied back, telling her I would be available. I'm a pushover, I admit it.

I sighed. It's times like this that I wish that Kyle was the one to date Bebe, at least then I would get to hang out with him instead of Clyde.

"Hey, Stan," Kyle spoke, breaking the silence. "Are you okay today? I mean, you seem really tired, I've never seen you fall asleep in class before."

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine," I replied, hastily brushing off his concern. "I was just up really late last night, Wendy was upset about a fight she had with her friend and needed someone to keep her company."

"So, she vented to you all night?" Kyle scratched the back of his head. "That seems… excessive."

I shrugged. "It's okay, as long as it's not an every night sort of thing, I can handle it. She's my girlfriend... I kind of have to comfort her when things like that happen."

"Yeah, but still… if you're losing sleep over it, it's not okay," he said, a disapproving look coating his face. "I doubt she would be happy if she knew you were falling asleep during class."

"Yeah… I suppose not," I muttered quietly, staring at the ground. He did have a point.

Kyle had always been supportive of my relationship with Wendy, but at the same time he was critical of it. Although they seemed to like each other on the surface, there was a bit of tension between them which I occasionally had the displeasure of dealing with. Kyle disliked that I didn't hang out with him as much as a used to because of Wendy, and always saw her as being too controlling. On the other hand, Wendy always grew jealous when I wanted to hang out with Kyle, believing that I was blowing her off for him. Best friend and girlfriend, sometimes it was difficult to have them both. But I didn't want to lose either of them, so I continued with this lifestyle with the hopes that it wouldn't escalate between them.

We made our way to the locker room to change into our respective work-out clothes. As I was inputing the combination to my lock, I saw Craig come in out of the corner of my eyes, who also attended the martial arts class. He nodded a mute greeting at Kyle before making his way to the other side of the locker room, completely ignoring my presence.

I was never sure what to think of Craig, I had known him since I was five years old and I still never developed a solid opinion of him. We rarely had any interaction, so I suppose that would make it difficult to know what he was really like. He was one of those 'tough guys', I knew that much, but he always had this emotionless, apathetic air about him. I always found it a bit odd, and I was well aware of the fact that he was not too fond of me. According to Kyle, he had started learning karate back in middle school, and had already earned his black belt. Good for him, I guess. It was quite suiting, considering all the fights he used to get into during grade school.

I quickly changed into my gym shorts and shirt before peaking over at Kyle, who was in the process of tying his belt. Kyle's belt was green, which according to him is a mid-upper level rank. Once he was finished, he removed his hat and placed it in his locker, one of the rare moments that I would see him take it off as apparently hats were not allowed for this activity – they got in the way. I watched as he rubbed his hand over his hair, in attempt to smooth it out.

I don't know why he is so self-conscious about it; I personally think he looks pretty good without his hat. I'm sure he would have more girls interested in him if he didn't wear it. I would never actually say anything about that to him though, that'd just be strange. We were great friends, but we weren't… like that.

"Stan? What are you staring at? Do I have something on my face?!" He said, hands immediately clasping to his cheeks and rubbing, trying to find the invisible 'something' that might be there.

Staring? Oh, I guess I was. Oops. "Ah, no, you're good. I was just looking at your belt."

It was partially true at least.

"Oh yeah! I'm hoping to advance up soon, there is a belt test coming up in a couple weeks. Hopefully I will earn my brown belt then," he said with excitement.

"How much longer until you go for your black belt? That's the last rank right?"

"Yep. Brown is the rank before black. So if all goes well, I'll hopefully get it before the end of the year."

"You know Kyle, I never would have expected you to be so good at this. It doesn't really match the whole super nerd thing you have going on the rest of the time," I joked, flashing him a smile.

"Hey!"

I laughed, lightly slapping him on the shoulder and rubbing slightly. "You should let me know when your test is, I'll come cheer you on."

"Alright, I'll let you know," he smiled at me. "Anyways, I better get going... Would you be up for coming over to play some gamesphere later tonight?"

"Man, you know I'd love to, but I can't. Wendy wants to go on a double tonight," I said truthfully, I really would rather spend the night playing gamesphere with Kyle than do this stupid double date thing with Wendy.

"Double date?" He questioned, quirking a single red eyebrow. "With who?"

"Bebe and Clyde," I bit out begrudgingly.

"I'm sorry," Kyle said, offering me a sympathetic smile. "They are pretty gross sometimes aren't they?"

I snorted. "You're telling me, they can't go five seconds without eating each others faces."

"Maybe you just shouldn't go then," Kyle insisted. "It's obvious you don't want to - I can tell, you're too easy to read. Just tell Wendy you aren't comfortable with it."

"Dude, you know I can't. It will disappoint her," I stated. Kyle has never been in a serious relationship, he doesn't understand that sometimes, you have to do things you may not want to for your loved one. He'll understand someday. "It'll be fine. I'll just deal with it."

"Right, of course it will disappoint her. Like always," Kyle said with a roll of his eyes, voice laced with sarcasm. "I'd like to think that people who care about each other wouldn't force each other to do things they don't like."

"Kyle," I sighed out with an edge of frustration. "Can we please not do this right now?"

Kyle mimicked my sigh, staring at the ground in silence for a few seconds. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just don't want to see my best friend taken advantage of... but I know you're fine, I'll stop."

"Thanks. It'll be fine, I'll just deal with it. It's only one night after all," I said, breathing a sigh of relief that Kyle backed down and didn't turn this into a big deal. I know he does it because it cares, but I really just can't deal with it right now.

"That's true, I suppose Wendy doesn't do this that often. Good luck though," he said, flashing me another sympathetic smile. "Anyways, I better get going, I'm already late for class. Talk to you later Stan!"

"How about tomorrow night?" I called out as he began to jog away.

"Huh?" He stopped and cocked his head towards me.

"Lets hang out tomorrow night instead," I offered again. "We haven't actually hung out together for fun in over a week now. Gamesphere and chill?"

At this, I watched Kyle's mouth curl into a beaming grin, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see that. "Sounds great!" He said. "Anyways, I really do need to go. See ya dude!"

I watched Kyle turn and begin to jog away, red curls bouncing like slinkies around his head and eventually disappearing from my line of sight as he made his way to the padded room where he had class. I sighed; crisis avoided, thank god. For a few moments, I thought that today was going to end with another argument with him about Wendy. I could still tell that he wasn't happy about it, he is still constantly under the impression that Wendy takes advantage of me, but at least he is placated for now.

I really, truly, and honestly didn't know how to manage them sometimes. Kyle didn't have a girlfriend to spend time with when I wasn't around. If he did, he would probably understand my predicament a bit better. I had to make time for both my girlfriend and my friends, which wasn't always easy. I wish I had more time to be able to hang out with Kyle more, I do miss seeing him as often as I used to... but girlfriends have to come first.

I sighed to myself and made my way towards the weight room. Fuck this double date, the rest of the day was definitely going to be a long one. Somehow I doubted I would be getting much sleep tonight either.

...

To be continued…


A/N: Well, first chapter done. Sorry if it's boring, this chapter is meant to be more of a set up to introduce the characters whatnot. I promise it will get more interesting later. Love it or hate it, I would enjoy some feedback, so let me know what you think.