Disclaimer: South Park and all its characters is copyright Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and whoever else owns it or whatever. That means, not me.

Authors Notes: Next chapter. This one's longer. Aren't you all happy? XD

Yeeeaaahhh… Uhhh. I hope I wrote Cartman allright. OMG BUTTERS. dies yeah… just, read now…

Everything around me is turning into shit
And I don't know what to do
Everyone I know is having a fit
'Cause I haven't got a clue

I don't know who I am
Patience is wearing thin
I think my head is caving in

I don't wanna live in a rubber room
But I think I'm halfway there
The funny thing about it is the worse it gets
The less I even care

I don't know who I am
Patience is wearing thin
I think my head is caving in

"Rubber Room" Screeching Weasel

Title: The Spiral Clause

Author: Zoshi the Confused
Rating: PG-13 to M (eventually)
Category: South Park

Genre: Angst/Psychological

Contains: (or will contain) Violence, Adult Situations, Swearing, Psychological Trauma

"So… so like, in English class this morning, I stole Tweak's coffee, right?" Cartman snickered as he led the way to the lunchline, Kenny following behind. "Right? And then he was getting all twitchy and buzzeh and stuff… but he couldn't do anything cuz Ms. T is a bitch, right? And then… you listening Kenneh? And then, when Ms. T wasn't looking… I.. heheh… I heh… when she wasn't looking, right? I put some… heh… I put some kitty litter in it, right? And then… and then I was all like "Hey Tweak, look what I found over here…" and he… you know what he did?"

"What'd he do?" Kenny asked, grinning already in spite of himself.

"He DRANK IT. All of it!" Cartman started laughing, slapping a hand on Kenny's shoulder so hard that he thinner boy almost fell over.

"Dude, that's fuckin' sick…" Kenny laughed.

"I know, I know, I'm awesome." Cartman said, grinning self-importantly. Then, noticing the line had stopped, he shoved the kid in front of him. "Hey! Who the fuck's holding up the lahn?"

Kenny's laughing was dying off slowly; now he knew why Tweak had looked so green in bio class that morning.

The sound of raised voices reached them, and he turned around to look behind them, curious. He couldn't see much beyond the mass of people gathered around, and it seemed whatever was going down was far across on the other side of the cafeteria.

"What is it this time?" Cartman groaned as the people in line before him stopped to turn and stare at whatever was going on behind them. "Come oonn… today's pizzaa daaaay…"

"Stan and Kyle are fighting…" A slightly shaky voice said, and Kenny turned to see Butters standing next to him. The other blond turned wide eyes to him. "Its… Its kinda scary…"

"Oooo…. Bitch fight…" Cartman rolled his eyes, sighing loudly. "C'mon Kenneh, let's go get the food while everyone's busy…"

"I don't know Cartman…" Kenny frowned, trying to look over the heads of the people standing in front of him. Voices were raising even louder, and becoming almost coherent even at this distance. "This is looking pretty fucking bad…"

"Pretty fucking bad?" Cartman gave him his "you're-an-idiot" look. "Please, poor boy, this is not 'pretty fucking bad'. They got mad at each other, they didn't talk while it was all boiling up inside them, and now they're going to do what they always do: they're going to bitch about it, they're going to slap each other like little girls, cry on each other's shoulders, and then kiss and make up. That's how it goes."

"Ah don't think ah've ever seen Stan and Kyle kiss before…" Butter's said, frowning. Cartman turned his 'you're-an-idiot' look on him this time.

"It's a figure of speech, Butters. I know you don't have much of a brain, but use what you have, please. Maybe then you won't sound so goddamn stupid." Cartman said with barely constrained patience. He turned back around and began pushing past the people who had started coming back to watch whatever was happening. "C'mon, let's get some fucking food, I'm hungreh…"

Kenny frowned and turned back to look how things were progressing between his two other friends. Pushing some people aside, he managed to slip closer to the ring of people, and the empty circle where Stan and Kyle were screaming at each other.

"What the hell Kyle? I'm trying to apologize!"

"Apologize! That's all you ever do!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?!"

"All you ever do is fuck up and apologize, do shit and apologize…"
"What am I supposed to do?! I'm fucking sorry, alright?!"

"BULL SHIT! You're not sorry! You never are!"

"What the fuck got up your ass this time?!"

"How about you?! You're the one who was acting like a giant dick!"

"I was the one?!"

From where he was standing, Kenny could see just enough past the people in front of him to see Stan grab Kyle by the collar of his shirt.

"What the fuck?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Let go of me, asshole!"
Kyle grabbed Stan by the collar this time, and the two were now glaring eye to eye.

"What the fucking hell do you want me to do?!"

"Leave me the fuck alone, alright?! Just fuck off!"

"The hell I will..!"

Suddenly, the ring around the two boys parted. Murmurs ran around among the gathered kids, and most backed away from the scene.

From the gap in the ring stepped out a tall, dark haired man. The students closest to the man grimaced, and Kenny guessed that more than a few whimpered before backing away even farther. Kenny couldn't blame them, really. He'd had more than one run-in with that man, and he shuddered slightly.

"Boys! BOYS! BREAK IT UP!" The man moved to pull the two apart.

"Oooooh, Mr. Lieber." Butters breathed next to him.

"What? What happened?" Cartman had returned, his lunch tray heaped with all the slices of pizza he could manage to pile on it.

"Stan and Kyle got all up on each other's asses, and now Mr. Lieber showed up." Kenny said, pulling his hood lower over his face and resisting the urge to pull the drawstrings closed.

"Ooooo…" Cartman said, watching as Mr. Lieber started dragging Stan and Kyle out of the cafeteria, then snickered. "They're totally screwed now…"

Kenny lay on his bed, staring up at his ceiling, his mind still plodding through the events of the day. Mr. Lieber had kept Stan and Kyle in his office all through lunch, and through most of the next period too. Kenny had seen stan in his last class of the day, but the boy had still been fuming strong and hadn't responded when Kenny tried to talk with him. He hadn't managed to catch Kyle at school, but he had seen the Broflovski's classy Mercedes peeling out of the school parking lot after classes ended. Seemed someone had been - to put it mildly - seriously pissed off.

Now Kenny lay there, staring at his ceiling, feeling a headache coming on. It was the middle of the night, but he'd had a hard time sleeping ever since that one night a few weeks earlier, when a thunderstorm had come through, and a freak lightning bolt had streaked through his open window and fried him in his bed. He figured that if he stayed awake as long as he could, he'd have a better chance of getting away from another freak lightning bolt. Stupid, he knew, but most of his Plans To Stay Alive were.

A knock at his window shocked him out of his thoughts. He frowned thoughtfully, staring out at the black sky visible beyond the dirty windowpanes. He seriously doubted that a lightning bolt could learn how to knock… but, then again, this WAS South Park, and he WAS a boy who died and came back to life. He figured pretty much anything could happen in this town.

A second knock brought out his curiosity, and he pulled himself off his bed, turning on the dim lamp on his dresser as he shuffled his way to the window. Opening it, he grimaced as the cold wind outside blew in, biting frostily through his thin and ragged t-shirt. He peered out into the darkness; according to the school's science teacher, no clouds meant no lightning, so he should be safe, he guessed.

"Kenny?" A voice called out softly from somewhere close beneath his window. He looked down in surprise, but even though it was dark he knew who it was.

"Kyle? What the fuck are you doing here?" He asked, but reached down to help the other boy up off the tree branch he was sitting on and in through the window.

"Oof… you know, that tree could be a little taller…" Kyle said after he'd finally managed to climb in. He stood, shivering slightly, as Kenny closed the window.

"heh, guess so…" Kenny grinned slightly. "You all right?"

"Yeah, yeah… just needed to get out of that house…" Kyle said, glancing around at the walls.

"They really let you have it, huh?" Kenny asked, and Kyle nodded in response, muttering something under his breath. He picked at his shirt, and Kenny noticed that he wasn't really dressed for wandering around in the night. All he had on was a t-shirt, a pair of baggy sweatpants, and a pair of old sneakers.

"Your hair's wet." Kenny noticed, surprised, and then saw that his clothes were too. Kyle looked confused, raising a hand to his head. The auburn curls, usually poofed out, were hanging loose and limp around his face.

"Oh, yeah… it was sorta snowing before…" Kyle said, shrugging, his hand dropping back to his side.

"Shit, dude…" Kenny shook his head as he made his way over to his closet. Shoving aside the broken sliding door, he started looking through his few sweatshirts, searching for one that wasn't too dirty. Finally finding one, he tossed it over to Kyle. "Put that on, don't want you fucking getting sick or something…"
Kyle pulled the shirt on, then continued to stand there, glancing around but not really focusing on anything. The sorta-glazed, not-all-there look in his eyes was making Kenny nervous, and he watched his friend for a moment before speaking.

"Kyle?" He said, but at first the redhead didn't seem to hear. "Kyle, hey…"

"Huh? Yeah?" Kyle blinked, looking at him.

"What the fucks wrong?" Kenny asked, frowning.

"Nothing's wrong…" Kyle answered quickly, face darkening.

"Dude, please… I'm poor, not fucking stupid. I know when something's wrong, alright?" Kenny fixed him with a stern look. "What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing, all right." Kyle growled, his fists clenching at his sides. "Jesus Christ man… everyone's all over my fucking ass today. I thought I could get some fucking peace here at least but I can't can I?"

"Woah, woah, calm down…" Kenny said quickly, his hands rising up defensively. "Ididn't wanna piss you off, alright, I'm just worried…"

"There's nothing to fucking worry about…" Kyle's voice sounded calmer, but his eyes were still sparking dangerously.

Kenny walked over, gently pulling Kyle over to his bed and forcing him to sit on it. He sat down next to him, biting his lip worriedly. Kyle was still simmering, his eyes holding a dangerous edge to them.

"Look, its all right, okay… You don't wanna talk about it, that's fine. I won't push…" Kenny said finally. Kyle was still glaring at the floor, but his breathing was slowing down.

"I… I just don't feel like it right now…" Kyle muttered, shaking slightly.

"Its okay… Look, you ever need to get away or talk or something, I'm here. All right?" Kenny said, trying his best to grin. Kyle looked at him, a curiously lost expression on his face.

"Really?" He asked, as if it was something truly alien to him.

"Yeah, really." Kenny answered, this time managing to grin.

"Thanks Kenny." Kyle smiled, a little sad, but fully relieved, smile.

"Y'know, that's what friends are for, right? That's what friends do…" Kenny shrugged. Kyle nodded, sighing sadly.

"Yeah, that's what friends do…"

Look, endnotes!: Uhh…. The episode The Jefforson's leads me to believe that Kyle has a history of sneaking out and climbing up to his friends windows. You know? That part where Stan wakes up when there's a knock to his window, and he goes "Kyle?" but instead its freak-master? Yeah… XD