Author's Note: OK, so it took a long time to figure out how I was going to start this. Well, I still don't know, but winging it has worked before, so here goes! Don't worry, I know what I'm writing about, I just have trouble starting stories off. In fact, my friends make fun of me for it...

Disclaimer: South Park by me not owned is. Cryptic disclaimers count too.

Chapter 1: Stan's Morning

Fourteen-year-old Stan Marsh groaned as his alarm woke him up. Yawning widely, he hit the snooze button to see how much sleep he could squeeze in before time forced him to get up or else get a tardy on the first day. That was not the ways to start off the school year, especially if your last year was so crap and you want to make things go better. Normally it wasn't so hard for him to get up in the mornings, but he only got to sleep an hour before the alarm obnoxiously blasted at him.

"Get up, turd!" a shrill female voice called from outside his door. And he thought the alarm clock was obnoxious.

Stan's older sister, Shelly, was going into her senior year at South Park High. Her braces and headgear came off two years ago, and she was attractive enough to hold down boyfriends, but she was still a complete bitch to her little brother. It wasn't as bad now, but if Stan got in her way when she had friends over, he would pay for it dearly. She hadn't made things easier for him in his first year of high school, either, and he was sure this year would be no exception. But it was her last year in high school, and hopefully her last year at home. Her grades were good enough to get into a college, hopefully somewhere far away.

When her brother didn't respond to her first wake up call, Shelly banged on the door and shouted louder. "You're going to be late you dumb turd! Get your ass out of bed!"

Stan pulled himself reluctantly out of his warm, inviting bed, and pulled on a worn T-shirt and the first pair of jeans he saw. "Yeah, yeah I'm up already. Damn Shelly, calm down or you'll burst," he called out to his sister as he ran a comb through his raven locks. He grew his hair out over the summer, and it was long and messy. Girls seemed to react well to it though, his sister being the exception.

He still had five minutes to eat breakfast and brush his teeth before he had to be out at the bus stop. Shelly drove to school because she could, and she would also rather die than be seen on the bus with her little brother. Stan was cool with that.

As he gnawed on a piece of toast, he almost instinctively picked up the phone to call his best friend Ky- Well, they weren't best friends anymore, but for the longest time one of them would call the other on the first day of school. He almost did it anyway, just for old times' sake, but decided against it. Things hadn't exactly ended well between them. They had a sort of "falling out" in eighth grade, that sort of finalized things between them.

Stan discarded the crust of his toast, not having time to finished, and rushed out the door, nearly forgetting his belongings. He arrived at the bus stop about ten seconds before it came. He fumbled for a moment, trying to find his bus pass. When Stan presented the pass, the driver simply grunted in approval and closed the door.

The city Transit bus was way different than taking the yellow bus, or "cheese wagon" in elementary. Yes, the bus drivers were always either fat old pricks, or fat dumb bitches, but the similarities ended there. Unless you caught the school special, which South Park didn't even have, you were on a bus with however many other people, all strangers. It was an intimidating thought.

Stan briefly scanned the bus for someone he knew, and immediately spotted three. Butters, Cartman and Craig were all on the bus, though not together. Except for Butters, who was attempting conversation with Cartman, the three were determinedly ignoring each other, avoiding even a sidelong glance at one another. Stan made eye contact with Cartman for a split second, and they both quickly looked away. Butters, however, waved enthusiastically, and Craig invited me to sit next to him. Stan shot him a puzzled look, because somebody was already in the seat next to him, but the high school boy just smiled.

"Beat it, kid!" Craig demanded. The small boy, clearly freshman, scampered quickly to make room for Stan.

"Hey dude," Stan said upon seeing his former classmate. Stan and Craig didn't really talk to each other during elementary, but they became closer friends throughout middle school and last year.

"You excited for this year?" Craig asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Just hoping it's better than last year," Stan replied. He had a feeling he would be asked that question more than once today.

For the duration of the bus ride, the two boys chattered about their summers, who they though was hot, summer flings, and anything else they could think of. Stan was glad that Craig was on the bus.

At the school, they went their separate ways, Craig instantly making a beeline for Tweek, Stan finding his current girlfriend, Sarah.

"Stan, have I told you I LOVE that you grew out your hair?" Sarah gushed upon seeing Stan.

He smiled in response and said "Yes, only all summer." They shared a brief kiss, and Sarah ran her fingers through her boyfriend's hair.

"Mmm, it's so soft!" she exclaimed.

The two had only been together since June, but they had been nearly inseparable since they hooked up. Sarah was blond and petite, but she was strong-willed and was far from a bimbo. She wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but her grades were good enough. Stan was really happy with her, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"So Mr. Man, let's go find where we are supposed to be this year," Sarah suggested.

Stan's arm was around Sarah's waist, her tiny frame pressed up against his tall, skinny one. Sarah seemed happy there, and Stan was happy with her there.

Lists were posted in the foyer. Stan and Sarah approached one of them and realized they were for homerooms. They students had received their final schedules the week before, but they didn't say anything about homerooms in the letters they received.

Stan pulled a face when he read one particular name at the top of a list. Mr. H. Garrison was the name that screamed at Stan from the top of the list. It wasn't like the man/woman had followed them through their years of school, but somehow he/she managed to get a job teaching high school. Stan quickly scanned the rest of the list, and wasn't surprised to find his name among the others. So much for a better year.

"Oh, I'm not on here with you," Sarah complained.

"Don't worry, we have classes together," Stan assured her.

"Of course. You are so perfect, you know that right?" she gushed.

Many people were surprised the two wound up together. Stan didn't really go for the clingy, mushy, lovey-dovey type of girlfriend, which was exactly what Sarah was like. His other girlfriends were smart, honors student girls, or athletic girls, or politically involved girls. They were all good girlfriends, but they all ended pretty tragically, Stan somehow fucking it up. He had somewhat of a reputation, but he was too good-looking for something as trivial as that to turn away the girls.

Stan kissed his girlfriend goodbye, promised to sit next to her in their first class together, and was on his way. When he found room 116, he walked in and pulled another face. His third and fourth grade teacher stood at the head of the classroom, and various students from previous years of schooling were seated in the desks that filled the room.

Years ago, he though he would be thrilled to see these people filling these seats, but in light of everything that happened, he wished he was in a room full of strangers. Eric Cartman and Butters were in the room, along with Kenny McCormick, Clyde, Wendy Testaburger and Kyle Broflovski. He wasn't sure whether it was worse that his ex-girlfriend or his ex-best friend was in here, but either way things sucked pretty hard.

He took a seat in a desk as isolated as possible, and kept his head down. The atmosphere in the room was tense as they all resolutely ignored each other and their teacher.

When the bell rang, Garrison turned to address them. "Hello, sophomores! Welcome to your second year of high school!"

Author's Note: Ok, so this wasn't all too much better than the prologue. But it WILL get better, I promise you. I know what I'm writing about, I just need to word it and set it up. The good stuff is on its way. And I'm SORRY this crappy thing took so long to get out, but I've been busy, and I have priority with my other story. So just bear with me PELASE!