I do not own South Park. Please tune in at the ending for AN and shout-outs.

-Kenny, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and friends are 14 years old-

-Kyle-

Being a freshman in high school was rough. Having to deal with upper classmen, a new homework load and still trying to hang out with your friends, it was certainly a new experience.

I walked into homeroom and placed my books on my desk before walking back to the hallway, and headed towards where my friends met every day. You see, since kindergarten, Stan, Kenny and Cartman have been my friends...Okay, maybe not so much of Cartman, but he was good friends with Kenny who was good friends with Stan and me, so... Association.

"Ey, Jew!" Speaking of the fatass.

Stan ignored Eric. "Hey, dude."

"Hi guys," I responded, realizing I wasn't greeted with a certain muffled 'hello'. Looking around, I asked, "Hey, fatass, where's Kenny?"

"How the hell should I know?" Cartman questioned, rolling his eyes. He didn't give you as much shit these days- he's kinda mellowed out, thank God.

"I dunno, you two usually know each other's whereabouts," I answered matter-of-factly.

Cartman rolled his eyes. "I'm not gay like you Khal. He's not, like, my gay lover or anything. I have no idea where the poor piece of crap is." His comment went without discussion. It often angered me about the comments that he makes about our poor friend, but I don't dare fight them. Who knows what rumors could spread.

The bell rang, signalling us all to go to homeroom. I sigh and turn around, carrying idle conversation with Stan, ignoring Cartman as I did so. By the time we reached our classroom, more than half the class was seated and talking with their friends. We quickly followed suit, sitting in our respective seats. A few minutes later and the second bell rang for class to begin. I scanned the room, not finding our orange clad friend, which was quite weird- even for him...

I looked to Stan, who had a questioning look plastered on his face, obviously coming to the same conclusion as myself. Looking at Cartman, I found him tapping his desk with a pencil and watching the door, his brow furrowed. Guess he was concerned as well.

The teacher began roll-call and everyone called out "here!" when their name was announced. All except for Kenny, of course. The woman looked up and repeated his name. "Kenny McCormick?... Did anyone seen him this morning?" She was met with silence and she shook her head as she marked him absent. So, by the comment, I can conclude that he wasn't called in sick- so why wasn't he here? He didn't ditch school normally.

The lesson went on without a hitch. We learned about x and y intercepts like planned...Well, more like she told us about it, and we just spaced. Stan took notes because he was having problems in this class. Butters tried to pay attention, but his gaze kept slipping to the window. Token, Craig and Clyde all whispered to each other, Wendy passed notes to various girls and Cartman, like myself, kept glancing to the door and clock.

With about 20 minutes left in class, the door squeaked open and Mrs. Hubert stopped mid-sentence. The entire class looked to the door to watch our orange clad friend walk through, head down. He glanced to the class before walking to the front desk and placing a pass down. He then took his seat.

Mrs. Hubert looked at the pass then to Kenny, before pursing her lips and continuing with the lesson.

I looked over to Kenny who kept his head down, pulling out his notebook and opening it but not bothering to write anything. He never did take notes- he just stopped caring about school when we reached high school. I leaned over to him and whispered, "Dude, what happened? Are you alright?"

He looked at me, eyes meeting mine. He gave me a muffled whisper in response. "Yeah, I'm fine. Woke up late." He said it as though it was normal. That's just it, though. It wasn't normal. He was never late- hell, he was always the first to school.

"...You know, if something's wrong you can-."

"Kyle! Kenny! You two may talk after class, but not during a lecture," the blonde teacher scolded.

"Sorry, ma'am," Kenny responded quietly, shifting in his seat to face the front, slouching. I mumbled a "yes ma'am" and continued to take notes, glancing at Kenny occasionally.

Cartman passed a folded note to Kenny, the latter staring at the note for a moment before grabbing and opening it. He read it over, grabbing his pencil and stealing a glance at the teacher while he scribbled down an answer and passed the note back. Cartman opened it immediately, taking in the information written for him. He gave a look of discontent, looking worriedly at Kenny (which I didn't think Cartman was even capable of worrying for someone other than himself), grabbing his pencil and giving a response, passing it as he continued his notes.

Kenny gave no response from Cartman's last note. Instead, he just folded it and shoved it in his pocket. He looked to the board and copied down the homework, though I don't know why he did- he wouldn't understand it without notes.

The moment the bell rang, Kenny was out the door. He didn't wait for anyone. Which, again, that was odd for him.

I stood from my seat, gathering my supplies into my arms, as Stan and Cartman came over to me. "Did he say why he was late?" Stan asked. Out of the three of us, he was probably the least connected to Kenny. At least, that's what it seamed like. I can't really be sure.

"He just told me he woke up late," I supplied. I looked to Cartman as I motioned for us to start walking to the hallway. "What'd he say to you?"

Cartman shrugged. "I asked him what was going on and he just said that he woke up late and got caught up with family."

Stan's face contorted with worry. "You don't think it's anything serious, do you?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Eric responded, annoyed. Wow, this was really bugging him...

We parted ways, going to our respective lockers. I didn't have any of them in my next two classes, so I hung around with Craig and Butters, who had ended up in my 2nd and 3rd hour. I didn't pay attention in class. I just wanted to go to lunch- at least then I could talk with Kenny more in depth.

~Cartman~

The classes that followed were uneventful. I had Clyde in my 2nd hour and Token in my 3rd, so I usually talk with them. Didn't make the class periods any less annoying, though.

The bell rang for 3rd hour to be released and I gathered all my belongings before leaving the class as soon as I could. I had lunch with all my friends 4th hour, so I wanted to rid myself of my school work quickly. I found Stan in the hallway heading to the cafeteria and I followed up behind him. "Ey, did you speak to Kinny?"

Stan looked to me and frowned. "Yeah, but he just repeated what he said to Kyle. He refused to talk any more about it." See? And that's what worries me. I know he didn't just "sleep in". If he got caught up with family, that could mean multiple things!

"Hey guys! Wait up!" Stan and I turned around to find Kyle running to catch up to us.

"What do you want, jew?" I called, earning a scowl. I smirked at his reaction.

Kyle caught up to us, rolling his eyes. "Shut it fatass."

"Screw you, Kahl!"

"Yeah yeah," he waved me off, looking to Stan. "Anything new?" He earned a shake of the head.

I looked to the restroom before peeling off from my friends. "I'll meet up with ya in a bit." They gave quick "See ya"s as I walked to the bathroom. Opening the door, I went into the farthest stall. Yes, I use a stall. Got a problem with it? Well screw you guys! Anyways, I do my business and flush the toilet, ready to walk out, when I heard the door to the restroom open and a pair of feet shuffle in.

At first, I thought nothing of it. Then I open my stall a bit and my sight falls on an orange parka. Kenny was standing at the sink, looking at himself in the mirror. What I didn't expect was for him to pull down his hood. When he did, I had to keep myself from gasping. He did not look good. His eyes and upper cheeks had no problem- then again, if they were bruised everyone would be able to see it.

The only thing visible around his eyes are the bags underneath them. No, his jaw and lower cheeks had bruises littered across them, a few cuts here and there. His forehead wasn't much different, but the colors that mixed looked sickening. Kenny lifted his hand to his face, gently examining his wounds and wincing as he passed over a particularly nasty gash. He muttered a curse under his breath, waving his hand under the sink for the water to spray. He gathered a handful of water before splashing his face.

I walked out of the stall. "Kinny, what the fuck happened to you?" I asked, concern lacing my voice. Normally, I wouldn't show my emotions so easily, but there was no reason to hide it from Kenny.

The blond jumped at my voice, whipping around so fast I worried he'd get whiplash. His eyes were wide as he took a moment to realize who was in the restroom with him and what was going on. When it did register, he turned around and pulled his hood up, drawing the strings closed, saying, "Nothing. Don't worry about it." Even though it was muffled, I had no problem deciphering the words.

I scowled at the response, watching as Kenny attempted to leave the room. I reached for him, gripping his arm and earning a wince from the other. Confused, I moved my hand down on his arm as I pulled him back to look at me. "Kenny. Come on, dude. You know you can tell me what happened," I reasoned.

He just shook his head. "No, you don't need to worry. I'm fine." He got out of my grip.

"You know I'm going to worry, Kenny. You are not okay," I retorted. He opened the door, but this time I didn't try to stop him. I was just going to have to wait till later.

Sighing, I washed my hands and left for the cafeteria.

Hey, y'all! Blackwind137 here with chap. 2! These are amounting to about 4 pages per chapter, so I'm gonna try and keep it that length.

Thank you to: Okatusareawesome101 for favoriting and following, ilicsm for following, johnfranco329 for favoriting and following the story and ME (like, really, you didn't have to do that but thanks a bunch! ^-^) and fandomthings2000 for following! Sorry if I butchered any of your usernames, I suck at things! But thank y'all!

Since these peoples aren't signed in or do not have an account:

Yukon: Thanks for reviewing! :3 For right now, I think I'm gonna do a KennyXEveryone strategy. I do enjoy K2, but at this point I just kinda wanna let the characters write themselves and see where they go- but I am certainly open to Kenny and Cartman!

ghostreader: Thank you for the review~! :3 I do hope I've delivered!

That's all for now, please R&R and I'll see if I can get a new chapter up in a week? I can't guarantee much, but I'll do my best! :3

Blackwind, signing out!