Disclaimer: I don't own South Park

Author's Note: As of 12/31/18 this chapter has been heavily reedited to make more sense. If anyone's interested in how the original chapter looks I will consider uploading my original draft of the story as a separate "draft dump" story. I would also like to thank my beta reader and editor, Ohsa, for helping me with this chapter! I love you!

He'd done it. Cartman had finally reached senior year. Somehow he had passed all his classes and reached his final year of hell. For the first time in awhile the short, 5'6" male felt a brief moment of relief. The moment he graduated he had planned on moving far away and never looking back. His shaggy, chestnut brown hair was tucked messily into his grey beanie; feathering out and ending just below his chin as he entered the gates of his high school for the last year. The boy's 200 pound-almost pear shaped-wide frame was loosely covered in a grey shirt, a red hooded sweatshirt, and ill-fitting, black Levi's. His nerves kicked in as he began to nervously fiddle with the faded black straps of his checkered black-and-white JanSport backpack. He started nibbling his lip as his calm began to dwindle.

What if this year's worse? It's always worse. He thought, Why would now be any different?

Cartman kept his eyes downcast as he walked towards the white-bricked building. He carefully counted every crack in the ground as he trudged towards his first of six classes: Economy. Unaware of his surroundings, he quickly jerked away in shock when a firm hand landed on his shoulder. He was unsurprised and even less thrilled to find Craig three feet away from him.

"It's nice to see you again", he licked his lips, "Where were you all summer? I've missed you."

How revolting.

Cartman kept his eyes to the floor as he answered, wary of setting the 6 ft giant off.

"Was at home," he replied," I had no reason to come out."

"Am I not reason enough?" the black-haired boy faked hurt.

"I have to get to class," the pudgy boy trailed off as he headed for the door.

"Oh, how fun," the snarky boy replied, "looks like we have class together."

The fat boy ignored him as he headed through the door. On his way to the back of the room he noticed Craig following closely behind him. His unease built as he was blocked from sitting in the seat at the right, very back corner of the class.

"I'm sitting there," Craig grunted, steering Cartman forcefully from the chair, "Sit in front of me."

Cartman hesitantly did as he was told, squeaking when he felt a firm hand grasp his ass.

Craig's towering frame leans over the boy's much shorter body, his lips brushing against his ear,

"Sit down already. I don't bite," he whispered.

Cartman shivered as he took his seat. The fact that Craig dared to touch him like that was repulsive.

This is a new low, he bitterly thought, even for Craig.

He tried to ignore the boy behind him and focus on class, the entire time feeling Craig's eyes burning into the back of his skull. Eventually, Cartman gave up and started watching the clock, waiting for the bell to ring. When it finally did, the chubby boy quickly scurried off to his next class: English. They played the game of cat and mouse all morning until fourth chubby boy was too nervous to risk being alone with Craig, but to his dismay they had anatomy together.

"I'll start by assigning you all lab partners," the teacher began, "These will be your partners for the rest of the year. No exceptions."

Cartman looked around apprehensively as Mrs. Pelimo began listing the groups.

"Kyle, Stan, and Kenny."

Anyone but him, the brunette begged.

"Scott, Red, and Heidi."

He glanced at the tall, black-haired boy nervously as the fat teacher spat out names.

"Bebe, Token, and Wendy."

Literally anyone but him, he began chewing on his nails as more and more people joined their groups. Eventually he heard his name.

"Eric, Clyde, and-"

Please! he thought.

"-Craig."

"Fuck!" Cartman screamed, jumping out of his seat.

"Mr. Cartman we do not curse in this classroom!" the blonde professor shouted.

"I'm sorry, please just change my partner, I can't be with Craig!"

He heard muttering among the students, but he didn't care right now. He couldn't be paired with Craig, especially if he was with Clyde.

" I understand there's some bad blood between and you, but you two are practically adults. Surely you can get along by now-"

"But-"

"I don't change groups once paired. No exceptions. Now sit down," The fat woman warned.

Cartman plopped down in his seat dejectedly. He timidly glanced towards the muttering students. He caught a few sympathetic glances before putting his arms on his desk and laying his head in them. He stiffened when a hand roughly clutched his upper arm.

"Don't embarrass me like that.I'm only giving you the treatment you deserve you miserable cunt," he squeezed Cartman's arm, seething, "Understand?"

"Yes," Cartman cringed, "Now please let go of my arm."

Craig scoffed and let go as Clyde finally joined them. Each group sat at the table they'd be assigned to the rest of the year. Cartman kept his eyes trained on the teacher the whole time, ignoring Craig and Clyde's conversation and occasional taunts the best he could. She droned on about what they'd be learning this year. The only remotely interesting things being the upcoming dissections, the first being a Leopard Frog.

Eventually the lunch bell rang. Cartman quickly jumped out of his seat and speed walked to the office before Craig or anyone else could stop him. Normally he'd hang out in the bathroom until the bell rang, but he was too afraid he'd get hurt for his outburst if he got caught alone. He decided it was best to stay close to the school staff for the day.

The rest of his classes were a breeze until he got to art, his last class. Cartman cursed his luck. He shared three classes with Craig, this one included. He took minimal satisfaction from their seats being on opposite sides of the room.

I guess it's better than nothing, he bitterly thought.

The class went by smoothly, to his surprise. He expected at least some type of incident during or after class, but he managed to walk home without any trouble. For that he was grateful. When he got home the house was unsurprisingly empty. His mom had moved out 3 months ago.

Apparently one of her clients had been some rich guy who'd occasionally visit Colorado from Minnesota on business trips. They must've gotten close because one day when he came home the only thing left besides his belongings was an envelope taped to the front door. Inside he found a note explaining how the guy promised to take care of her if she'd join him in Minnesota and $500 to "keep him going" until he found a job.

Immediately he called her cellphone and found out that, to his horror, her number had been disconnected. For the first couple days he had just stayed home and cried, unable to believe his mom would actually abandon him, but by the seventh day he'd realized he really was on his own. He had no idea where she was and no way to contact her. She really was gone.

He quickly found a job as the cashier at South Park's local McDonald's. He wasn't qualified to work anywhere that would pay above minimum wage. So he settled for the measly $8.23 an hour until he could figure something else out. Unfortunately after doing the math he realized that only got him to $790 a month so he quickly found a second job at a small antique shop. That got him to a total of $1,280 a month, with rent taking $1,000 out of his paycheck and his phone-which he needed for work-taking another $50 out. He only had $230 a month to take care of his other needs.

Now, 3 months later, he found himself barely making rent even with the power shut just couldn't afford it, even with two jobs. The fridge was almost completely empty, but he didn't care much. He decided it would benefit his weight loss. At least he told himself that when he got hungry.

He'd applied to move into a cheaper apartment, but no one was willing to let him live in one, claiming his lack of credit was just as bad as no credit. Personally he thought they just didn't like him enough,but they'd never get away with saying that if a legal battle occurred.

He went into his room and quickly changed into his work uniform. On his way out he checked his phone.

It's almost dead, he thought, I'll have to charge it at work.

Due to the lack of electricity, work and school were the only places he could charge his phone. He rarely used it at home; he couldn't risk the battery dying. He quickly hurried to his job. Things would be a lot harder now that he's back in school. He worked 5 to 6 hours a day, 7 days a week between his two jobs. School takes up 8 hours of his day along with an hour to get ready and traveling between school and his jobs takes him a total of two hours a day. This left Cartman with only 7 or 8 hours, depending on his schedule, to sleep and do everything else he needed.

"I'll never make it…" he muttered to himself as he arrived at work. The boy pushed that thought out of his mind as he got behind the cash register. Plastering a huge, fake smile on his face, he spoke to his current customer.

"Welcome to McDonald's. What can I get ya?"