Sorry if I don't get these chapters out as fast as I want to. I have a full-time job now, so I don't get home until around five, and I have to go to bed around ten, otherwise I'm too tired in the morning. But I'll try to work on every one of my stories as much as I can. Just try to be patient.
Chapter Two – One Month Later
Stan stared blankly up at the wall where the clock was hanging, wishing he could make it move faster. He didn't want to think the cliché of time seeming to slow down when you were bored out of your mind, but time seemed to slow down when you were bored out of your mind. And Stan usually got bored when he was in school. Or maybe it had something to do with his date with Wendy he had the other night.
His girlfriend had seemed rather jumpy for the past month. She constantly looked worried, and she wouldn't say why. Every time he asked her, she would just tell him that she was fine. Stan wanted to believe her, but Cartman had the same look on his face. True, he hid it slightly better than Wendy, but it was still enough to worry Stan. They both looked guilty about something, and Stan just hoped they weren't feeling guilty about the same thing.
"All right, class," a stern voice said suddenly, breaking into his thoughts. "Before we leave for the day, I want to announce the homework." The Psychology class groaned and their teacher frowned at them. "There's no need for that," she reprimanded them. "Now, this homework assignment is very important because it will be leading us into our next project."
Butters raised his hand. "Will this project involve anything painful?" he asked her. The teacher, Mrs. Simone, rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"This is psychology, Mr. Stotch," she replied. "Not gym class. This project won't be painful in the least." Butters was about to point out at that this was what she had said about the last project and they all knew how that had turned out, but Mrs. Simone had already moved on.
"Anyway," she said, clapping her hands together. "Everyone is to write down their deepest, darkest secret on a sheet of paper and bring it to class on Monday. Make sure your name is on it, but don't let anyone else see it."
"If no one else is going to see it, why are we putting our names on it, or writing it?" Stan asked, raising his hand. The teacher glared at him.
"Just do what I told you," she snapped. "Class dismissed," she added as the final bell rang. Everyone slumped out of their seats with groans and random grumblings. Stan waited near the front and quickly joined his friends in the hallway.
"I don't know why she expects us to actually do what she says," Cartman grumbled. "I could write any shit on that paper and she would never know."
"Actually, she would," Kenny replied. "I heard from another kid who had her class before say that she reads them herself, to make sure no one bullshit the project. She can spot a fake secret from ten miles away, too."
"Did he say what the project actually was?" Stan asked. Kenny shrugged.
"I wasn't really talking to him," he said. "I was just eavesdropping. And I didn't really think anything of it."
"As long as she doesn't force us to read our secrets out loud, I don't see what the problem is," Stan sighed. "I don't really think I could bear it if anyone found out my secret." Cartman gave him an evil grin.
"Really?" he said in a sneaky voice. "And what is your secret, exactly?" Stan glared at him, his lips drawn back into a snarl.
"None of your business, fat ass," he snapped. Cartman held up his hands defensively.
"I'm only trying to get your goat," he replied.
"Yeah right," Kyle said, rolling his eyes. "We all know you would blackmail anyone with their secret if you had the chance. You haven't changed in the sixteen years that you've been alive, fat ass." Cartman glared at him, but didn't reply because that was something he would totally do if given the chance.
He glanced at his three friends and wondered what their secrets were, anyway. He knew what he would be writing down, but he wished he knew Kyle's secret so he could use that against him. All four of them refused to look anyone else in the eye, as if they were already thinking about their secrets.
Just then, Butters caught up to them, also looking a bit nervous.
"Heya, fellas," he greeted with a tight laugh. "That's quite the assignment Mrs. Simone dropped on us, huh? I don't think I could have anyone know my secret, even if it is a teacher." Cartman let out a snort of laughter.
"Yeah right," he laughed. "There's no way you have a secret, Butters. Let alone one that you would be nervous about!"
Butters gave him a hard, serious stare that for some reason made Cartman nervous.
"I can hide things better than you think, Eric," he said in a low voice before quickly walking away and disappearing around a corner. The four friends stared after him in surprise.
"Have you ever seen Butters look that serious?" Kenny asked after a moment.
"Never," Stan replied, shaking his head in disbelief.
Wendy and her friends were not fairing much better with the assignment. Red looked like she was on the brink of a panic attack, Nichole was wringing her hands nervously, and Heidi kept looking around, muttering under her breath. Wendy and Bebe were trying to remain calm, trying to tell themselves that no one was going to read their secrets, but it barely helped.
"I've been feeling so guilty after the party, and I think Stan's starting to notice," Wendy whispered to Bebe in a low voice as they made their way to their lockers. "And I haven't been able to look at Jason at all. Do you think he remembers what happened?"
"There's no way to know without asking," Bebe replied. "And I don't think that's a great idea. But why do you feel so guilty? You were drunk at the time! It didn't mean anything! And besides, it's not like you slept with him or anything."
"I know," Wendy sighed. "But I still can't help feeling guilty about it. Maybe writing it down as my secret well help me not feel so guilty anymore."
"Guilty about what?" Heidi asked, catching up to them. Wendy gulped.
"Uh, nothing," she lied. Her friend gave her a suspicious look, but didn't comment.
"Have you thought about what you're going to write for the assignment?" Bebe asked Heidi before the silence could lengthen.
"A little bit," Heidi replied. "I don't know why everyone's stressing out so much. Nobody else is going to read our secrets. I'm sure the teacher will make sure we actually did the assignment, but she's probably not going to actually read them."
"I guess you're right," Wendy sighed. "I am kind of curious about what we're going to be doing with our secrets, though. And I wonder what everyone else's secrets are."
"Guess we'll never know," Heidi replied.
"It's probably for the best," Bebe added. "Who knows what kind of deep dark things some of our classmates are hiding? Or what they'd be willing to do to keep their secrets?"
Aside from Stan and his friends and the five girls, three out of four of the goths (Firkle was too young) were also in their Psychology class, as well as Mike Makowski. Craig, Tweek, Clyde, Token, Jimmy and Jason were in the class too. It was an interesting group, to say the least.
"I still don't get this assignment," Henrietta complained as the goths walked towards her house. "We're either going to read our secrets out loud, which is so not happening, or we're going to do some sort of bullshit about 'letting it go' or some crap."
"Either way, the whole thing is pointless," Michael agreed. They reached the corner of a street, and Michael suddenly veered away from his friends towards a different path. The other goths stopped and turned to him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Firkle growled at him. Michael froze and took a moment to put on a straight face before turning to them.
"I have something else I need to do today," he told his friends in an even voice.
"No way," Pete snapped. "You are not ditching us again! It's Friday! That means it's poetry night! There's no way you're skipping that!" Michael blinked at him in surprise. How could he forget?
"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered. "But I really can't change…my plans…"
"Since when did you turn into a conformist business asshole?" Henrietta interrupted. She grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards her house once more, ignoring his protests. "There's no way whatever you were planning on doing is more important than us."
Michael let out a sigh and quickly pulled out his phone, sent a quick text, then pocketed it before letting himself being dragged forward. He supposed he should make it up to his friends for constantly ditching them. He knew he had a problem, but he didn't know what to do about it. And there was no way in hell that he would ever tell any of them what he did when he was leaving his friends behind. If they ever did find out…He shuddered just thinking about it.
But Michael wasn't the only one who was keeping a secret. He still remembered last year when Pete and Henrietta decided to start dating each other, only to break up a week later. And they were so nonchalant about it that Michael and Firkle didn't find out that they had broken up until about three weeks later. What was weird was that neither of them were angry or heartbroken, yet they both refused to tell their two friends why they had broken up in the first place. Or why they had gotten together, really.
As he glanced at Pete and Henrietta now, he saw them walking side-by-side. Nothing about them gave any indication that they had suddenly started dating and had broken up just as suddenly. The only answer Pete would ever give to what happened was just stating it was because Henrietta was his best friend. Firkle and Michael still didn't know what he was talking about.
"I am so glad I'm not taking that class," Firkle said, breaking him out of his thoughts. "It sounds like a nightmare. Like a brainwashing cult or something."
Michael didn't realize that they had already reached Henrietta's house, but she was just unlocking the door and letting them through. None of them spoke again until they were all sitting around in her room.
"You know when you get to your junior year we're going to make sure you also take this Psychology class, right Firkle?" Henrietta asked, looking over at their youngest friend. Firkle blinked in shock at her.
"B-but you're all going to be in college by then!" he stuttered. Michael gave him an evil grin in response.
"Yeah? So?" he said.
"Think of it as payback for betraying us during the emo incident," Pete added, staring down at his book that he had already gotten out. Firkle glared over at him.
"You are never going to let that go, are you?" he growled.
"Never," Pete replied nonchalantly.
I really don't want to just go through every group of characters and have them say more or less the same thing. So, I'm going to end this chapter here. Next time, we'll see them working on the project, and see what's going to happen. After that, it's just going to go downhill from there. Hopefully, we'll also get Craig and his gang more into the story, because they're going to be important too.