How Things Work
Krys723
A/N: Thank you for the reviews in the last chapter! I hope you guys love this chapter as well! Please read and review it at the end!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING SOUTH PARK-RELATED! I JUST OWN WHAT I MAKE UP!
Date: Thursday, December 8TH
Time: 3:15 PM
Chapter Two
Coffee Boy
Craig Tucker…
It's been almost two months since Craig moved to South Park, Colorado. He fell into a routine over time; get up, eat breakfast and go to school, come home and watch Red Racer while doing homework, go to bed and get up to do that same thing again. While in school, he hung out with Token and Clyde. He would usually eat lunch with them and Stan and his friends. At recess, Craig would play on the cold-weathered playground with Token and Clyde; sometimes they played football with the other boys in their class. In class, he learned to tune out Cartman and Kyle's usual arguments like the class teacher, Mr. Garrison. Unless Token and Clyde were talking to him directly, Craig kept to himself. He was the quiet and his two friends respected that. He didn't like that many girls in his class either, the only girl he was really close with was Red, but that's was only because they were related. He hated Wendy Testaburger though, she was obnoxious and a smartass. Token was a smartass too, but he didn't shove it in everybody's face like Wendy did.
"So what are you doing after school today?" Clyde asked Craig as they walked to their lockers. Class was over and Craig was glad that the weekend would be here soon enough. Christmas break would happen soon enough as well and that would mean two weeks away from this icicle of a school.
"Red Racer and then homework as always," Craig told him as he opened his locker and transferred out the books he wouldn't need for the night.
"You should hang out with Token and I at Token's house. You know he's having a sleepover next weekend," Clyde said. Craig had heard about the sleepover, apparently Token was thinking about inviting Stan and those guys. Craig was hoping Cartman wouldn't come; but if Stan, Kenny, and Kyle were going, then of course Cartman would come.
"My Mom says I can go if I want too," Craig said. The two heard a high-pitched scream and when they turned around, they saw a flash of green with spiky blonde hair run by. Sixth graders were going after the green flash. Running after the group were Stan and his friends. Token had left Mr. Garrison's classroom and had walked up to all the commotion.
"Hey, Cartman, what's going on?" Clyde asked Cartman, who was the most excited.
"Tweek bumped into the sixth graders and poured coffee all over the leader. Now they're going to beat him up good," Cartman said excitedly. They heard another scream from outside the school and everybody ran towards the front, where they saw spiky, blonde hair curled into a ball as sixth graders constantly threw punches at him.
"Turn him around," the leader of the sixth graders ordered.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Stan asked out loud.
"Oh no, Tweek dug his own grave," Cartman said with a laugh. "Maybe he'll stop having those damn panic attacks." Craig could have stayed put, he honestly could have. If he stayed put then he could have just went home when the fight was over and he could have been home in time for Red Racer. But he didn't, he felt his feet move as he pushed from between Cartman and Stan and over to where the sixth graders, pushing them off the small, skinny boy.
"Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you?" the leader asked him.
"Leave him the fuck alone!" Craig shouted, surprised at how high his voice was raising. "He didn't do shit to you."
"He poured hot coffee on me you fucking asshole. Now move before I fucking beat your ass, punk." One of the sixth graders came over, but Craig pushed them back again. Why was he protecting this kid? He wished he could look over, but he kept his eyes on the sixth graders.
"I knew that new kid was a fag!" Craig heard Cartman shout.
"Fuck off, fatass!" Craig shouted back without turning to him. He kept his eyes on the sixth graders, glaring at them. He hoped he wouldn't have to fight them, but if he might have to if they kept trying to keep coming towards this kid.
"Alright, kid if you don't want to move, then we'll have to fight you ourselves," the leader said. Craig fought them for as long as he could, but he was overpower (due to height) and then everything went black.
Time: 7:30 PM
Tweek Tweak…
Tweek Tweak looked at the boy next to him, wondering why he tried to protect him. They were both at Hell's Pass Hospital, the principal saw everything from her window and called 911. The boy—Craig Tucker—had lasted 30 minutes before getting knocked out. That was longer than anybody who stood against the sixth graders. They were both bruised badly—Craig had a concussion and my ribs were bruised, but not broken—so they both had to go to the hospital. He hated the hospital, they freaked me out more than the underpants gnomes. They both had to stay in the hospital overnight, Craig longer if it depended if he woke up. Tweek wanted coffee, he hadn't had coffee since earlier. He also felt bad, his parents blamed him for the fight. He heard them from the hospital door and in order to avoid a lawsuit, Tweek's parents agreed to pay for both hospital bills. This made him feel worst, his parents didn't even care that Craig was defending him, Tweek's Dad just wanted to keep his reputation safe.
Tweek also doubted that he and Craig would be friends, when they were back at school on Monday; Craig would go back to hanging out with Token and Clyde while Tweek would go back to being the loner that he was. Tweek didn't mind the loneliness, everybody had their groups. There was Stan and his group and apparently Craig with his duo. The girls hung out in one group and even Butters didn't hang out with Stan and his friends a lot.
"Fuck." Tweek, who had been lost in his own thoughts looked over and saw Craig slowly starting to open his eyes. "All I wanted to do was go home and watch Red Racer," he mumbled under his breath.
"Y-Y-You have a concussion," Tweek said quietly. "W-W-We're in the hospital." Craig touched the top of head and winced in pain.
"Are you shaking?" Craig asked him. Tweek really needed coffee.
"I need c-c-coffee," Tweek said. "GAH!" Craig sat up.
"Why did you scream?" Craig asked him.
"This is too much pressure, I can't handle this! The underpants gnomes are going to steal my last pair of underpants tonight! I'm not going to be home to defend them," Tweek said. "I want to go home!"
"Apparently we can't go home, we're in the fucking hospital," Craig said. Tweek looked over at Craig, shaking as he normally did. "Calm down."
"I-I-I need coffee," Tweek said. "The hospital won't let me have any c-c-coffee. I just want coffee." Craig sighed as he got out of his bed and walked over to Tweek, giving him a hug. Tweek calmed down and Craig quickly let go. "Why did you do that?"
Craig shrugged his shoulders as he got back in the bed. The door opened and Craig's parents walked in. His Dad glared at me as his Mom walked over and gave Craig a hug.
"Are you alright?" she asked him.
"Mom, I have a concussion," Craig pointed out.
"Well that's what you get for fighting, we told you a million times not to fight and what do you do when we get here? You start fighting," his Dad said sternly.
"Thomas, he just woke up!" his Mom said.
"Fine, he gets a warning. Next time we find out you've been fighting, you'll be grounded until your 21." Craig's Dad left the room.
Mrs. Tucker kissed the top of Craig's head. "Red Racer is on the DVR. You can watch them when you get home." Craig gave a small smile as he Mom left the room. "I'll bring you some food later." Why couldn't Tweek's parents come and see him?
"What's your name anyway?" Craig asked Tweek once the door was closed.
"Tweek Tweak."
"Craig Tucker."
And the two shook hands.
Date: Friday, December 9TH
Time: 2:30 PM
Craig Tucker…
"Dude!" Token and Clyde entered Craig's space-themed bedroom the next afternoon once school was out. Token had a set of books in his hand and Craig groaned, homework. He was upstairs in his room watching the episodes of Red Racer that he missed while he was in the hospital. He was released around noon and Craig's Mom came to pick him up. Tweek was released that morning, even though his ribs were bruised, they weren't that bad. "How's your head?" Clyde asked him.
"It could be better," Craig said honestly. His head still felt like hell, but it wasn't as bad as last night. At least he'll be able to sleep sometime today.
"Your Mom said we couldn't stay long," Token said. "Everybody at school's still talking about the fight, Cartman's calling you a fag because you defended Tweek." Craig rolled his eyes, he could honestly give two shits about Cartman.
"Nobody defends Tweek, he's a spaz," Clyde said. He reached over and grabbed one of the cookies Craig's Mom brought from the store before picking him up. Token smacked him against the head. "I mean you honestly spent the night with him in the hospital, did he make up that shit about the underwear gnomes?"
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Token said.
"He's not that bad. He honestly just needs some friends," Craig said. "And stop stealing my cookies, douchebag."
"They're my favorite kind," Clyde said as he took another one. "Why would we hang out with Tweek Tweak?"
"He's just lonely. His own parents didn't even visit him yesterday," Craig said.
Clyde moved from the subject. "Are you still coming to the sleepover next week?"
"I don't know, my Mom and Dad still have to talk about it. My Dad doesn't want me to fight, even if it was because I was defending somebody else."
"Understandable, but you hardly hang out with us anyway," Token said. "We're your friends, you don't have to be a loner like Tweek. Let's go, Clyde." Toke and Clyde waved bye and walked out the door, leaving Craig to think. Did he really want to be a loner like Tweek Tweak?
Later that night, Craig was doing his homework in his room when his Dad entered the room. Dinner wasn't that long ago, but since Craig was sleep he missed it.
"Your mother and I had a long talk during dinner," his Dad said as he sat down the plate of food on the free space on his desk. "You can go to the sleepover, but if you ever get caught fighting again, you won't get lucky again."
"Fine," Craig said in his stoic voice.
"I'm serious, Craig. My job wasn't the only reason why we moved to South Park. You know that." Craig nodded, not wanting to think about that day. Maybe that was the reason why he defended Tweek. "When you finish eating, go to bed early. Your Mom wants you too."
Craig nodded as his Dad left the room.
Date: Monday, December 12TH
Time: 12:00 PM
Tweek Tweak…
He had just left the teacher's lounge, his thermos filled with a fresh batch of coffee. Now all he had to do was go the locker and he would be safe until after recess. He passed by the busy lunch room, he hoped he wouldn't see those sixth graders again. He couldn't get involved with another fight, he parents wouldn't allow it. They were already paying off both his and Craig's hospital bills. His father (jokingly?) stated that if Tweek got in another fight, he would have to ship him off to Africa. Tweek wanted to be alone for as long as possible.
"Tweek?" Tweek jumped and screamed before turning around to see Craig, Token, and Clyde coming around the corner. He nervously waved. "You don't each lunch?"
"N-N-No, GAH! Too much pressure," Tweek responded.
"You have to eat," Craig said. "You can eat with us." Maybe it was because of the pressure of walking away, but Tweek nodded and followed behind the other three boys inside the busy cafeteria. He hated breaking out of routine.
A/N: What's Craig secret? Why do you think they moved from Denver to South Park? All questions will be revealed as the story goes on! Please review so I can continue! Also, I'm sorry if this took a long time, I was trying to figure out how to write it out, but it won't be that long next time!
