My teeth chattered as the cold winter wind seemed to charge straight at every bone in my body. I reached up and pulled my hat down as far as possible and attempted to use my gloves as a makeshift shield to protect my face from the cold. I tried my hardest to keep my eyes open but I was relying heavily on my red-clad friend who was walking beside me in order to stay on the path.
"Almost there" he breathed, his black boots catching deep into the snow with each step he took. Cartman was at least double my weight so the snow tended to swallow him up to the knees with each step rather than leaving an ankle deep imprint like my boots did.
"School should have been cancelled!" I muffled through my gloves as I began to feel dizzy, "I don't feel so good, dude!" I panicked at the thought of possibly being left in a snow bank while Eric Cartman boarded the school bus.
"Come on, Jew, your people escaped the Holocaust yet you can't survive a walk through the snow? One more block and we're at the bus stop!" Eric grumbled, giving me a small push, causing me to fly forward into the snow. The world seemed to slow down and everything was quiet until a moment later when I felt two strong hands grab me from underneath each arm and pull me up off of the ground with one swift pull. I felt tears begin to stream down my cheeks and I turned my head to see Cartman removing his jacket.
"Dude, what are you doing?" I asked, still feeling light headed and out of it.
"I can't have you die on me, Kyle, today's the school pep rally and I am not going to miss it 'cause of you." Eric grumbled, wrapping his jacket around me and helping to lead me to the bus stop. We had been lucky enough to arrive just as the bus pulled up.
As soon as we boarded the bus, Cartman sat me down and took the seat next to me. I managed to catch my breath and my vision returned to normal. I turned to see Stan sitting across from us, obviously waiting for me to say something first. Stan is my best friend and we get along but he tends to try to control my every move rather it be who I'm friends with or what I'm doing on the weekend; I just chalk it up to him being afraid of losing me. We're seventeen years old now and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that best friends of yesterday become arch enemies or simply acquaintances of tomorrow when you're our age.
Cartman seemed to notice too because he turned towards me, blocking my view of Stan.
"Dude, what are you doing?" I questioned, confused by the smirk across his face.
"Don't you have something to say to me, Jew? I risked my life out there for you! How will you ever manage to repay me? There's money but, let's be honest, your people have trouble parting with even a small chunk of your gold." He whispered, clearly amused with himself.
I glared up at him, my cheeks becoming warm and red from the extra warmth created from his jacket that was still draped around my body, "I would have done the same for you, Cartman."
"What world are you living in, Kyle? You couldn't have lifted me out of that snow bank if your life depended on it! I'm big boned and you're a twig." He grinned, moving closer to me, enjoying the uncomfortable blush that painted my cheeks.
"Cartman-"
Just then Stan poked himself between us; he had managed to move to one of the seats behind Cartman and I and was now leaning forward, looming slightly over us.
"Great." Cartman scoffed, clearly annoyed by Stan's presence.
"Leave my best friend alone, fat ass! Who do you think you are, pinning him in the corner?" Stan fumed, blowing the whole situation out of proportion before taking the time to be told that Cartman had basically saved my life.
I pushed my back as far back against the bus window as I could in an attempt to distance myself from the two of them by a few more inches, "Stan, Cartman's actually being really cool. He borrowed me his jacket and fished me out of a snow bank." I piped up, feeling sheepish.
Stan seemed disappointed and sat back in his seat, now more interested in texting on his phone rather than talking to me.
"Like I was saying, Kyle, I expect a thank you" Cartman smirked, a lock of brunette hair was poking out of his hat and lying in front of his right eye. I hate to admit it but Eric sure has changed from his younger years to now; he's still big boned as he likes to call it and he's still an asshole at times but now that he's reached seventeen, his baby face has been replaced by a more shapely face with a slightly square jaw line with, dare I say, model-like cheekbones. His eyes have always been slightly on the larger side and bright blue but nowadays they just seem to glow. Maybe it's just me but I swear they've got something extra to them now.
I blushed at my thoughts when I realized that Cartman was looking off to the side, bothered by my staring, "What are you staring at, kike?"
"You" I blurted out before I could stop myself. My cheeks began to burn red and I felt as if all eyes were suddenly on me.
Cartman's bright blues met my own green eyes and narrowed, "I'll get my revenge" as the bus filled with gossip over what had just happened. I sunk low in my seat and pulled my green hat down over my eyes; maybe if I just take a deep breath, all of this will pass, I thought to myself, crossing my fingers for extra measure.
The bus came to a quick halt and I practically flew forward out of my seat but a familiar strong hand grasped my arm, "You're welcome, Jew boy" he snarled, leaning close to me and lifting my hat out of my eyes, "Meet me outside of the gym before the pep rally" he whispered into my ear before practically ripping his jacket off of my body; he began to push past all of the people who were beginning to leave the bus and managed to get off first, clearly proud of himself.