A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review, you don't know how happy and confident that makes me. If anyone was wondering, I don't thing I'll cancel this story after all, so anyone who cares can breathe easy.

I'm aware that this chap. may be a bit boring, but bear with me, it's going somewhere.

Thanks for all your support!

Chapter 3

Craig couldn't know.

If he discovered the truth, their friendship would crumble.

Who would still remain friends with someone who'd lied to them their whole lives?

She wouldn't let that happen. She couldn't let that happen. She didn't care if that meant never being able to be more than just a friend to Craig, she would do everything and anything in her power to prevent her best friend from discovering her secret.

These were her thoughts as Kenny tightened the bandages on her chest more than ever before, and made sure that the mumbles through her hood could not be recognized as a girl's.

After so many years of nobody suspecting anything, she'd let her guard slip a few times.

Never again, she thought to herself as she tucked her now long hair into her hood.

If just one strand came loose, she was dead. Why hadn't she ever cut her hair?, she thought, scowling to herself. As long as she had her hood on, hopefully no one would notice.

"Kenny, get your ass down here and go to school!" her "mom" shouted.

Ugh. Why wasn't it Saturday?

Kenny trudged slowly down the road, painfully aware of the pair of eyes burning into her back, but pretending not to notice or care.

"Hey Kenny!" he called out to her after a while.

"Found nothing in my back, didn't you?" Kenny smirked.

Craig flipped her off.

"I will find out what your secret is, Kenny McCormick. I'll find out, if it's the last thing I do!" he exclaimed.

Kenny felt her stomach churn.

"Well then, you're already on the wrong track!" she retorted, and immediately wished she hadn't.

Craig paused and glanced at her, while Kenny resisted the urge to clamp her hands over her mouth.

Idiot!, she scolded herself, What kind of an idiot are you?

Craig was quiet as he pondered on the meaning of Kenny's statement, and Kenny punched and yelled at herself inwardly, so the two walked the rest of the way in silence.

Oh crap, he's gonna figure it out!

Kenny kept glancing back at Craig, holding his head in his hand with a pensive air.

Shit! Stupid, stupid Kenny! she told herself fiercely.

At that moment, Craig shook his head and saw her. Kenny instantly turned her attention back to the front of the class.

Shit.

The next few days were a living hell. Craig never left her alone for a moment, and when they were together he wouldn't say anything, just look at her with those dark, pensive eyes that sent shivers down her spine.

She tried to avoid him by sitting, for the first time in a long time, with her old childhood friends, but to no avail. Craig followed her like a shadow, and even when they weren't sitting together, she could still feel his eyes on her, piercing through her.

When the last period on Thursday came, after three days spent like this, Kenny felt as though she would pass out at any moment. The stress of it all, having to act nonchalantly while she felt as though the tension would make her snap. Keeping it up was so tiring, she didn't know how she'd managed to get through nearly the whole week. Virtually, it had been nothing. Craig had wasted three days looking at her.

But to Kenny, it was so much more. She felt as though her life were on the line, like at any moment Craig could have a revelation or epiphany that would end her life as she knew it and loved it forever.

Kenny lay her head down on her desk. It was almost over. She sighed contentedly at the thought. One more hour, and then she'd be able to go home and rest. Maybe, if she was lucky, Craig would get bored of it, and she'd be able to go back to her normal life, with no one suspecting anything. After all, he knew Kenny would tell him nothing, and what could he discover by just looking at her?

Now that the day was almost over, confidence swept over her. He wouldn't be able to find out anything. She'd kept up the act for eight years, why should he find her out now?

Kenny stiffened as a note fell onto her desk. She turned around to look at Craig, who nodded silently.

Oh Lord.

Shakily, Kenny opened the note.

What she read knocked all the air out of her lungs.

I need to talk to you.