Sorry I couldn't get this done earlier, my stupid computer keeps freezing on me.
Chapter 3
While Stan and Wendy did their best from letting Cory know the truth about his conception, Cory would eventually figure out anyways. However, the truth did not come from either of the parents or any of the friends; in fact, the revelation shortly led to PC Counselor (previously PC Principal) leaving South Park Elementary for good after serving eighteen years a school principal, then counselor, until one eventful day while Cory was in 2nd grade.
The school bell rung and shortly after, all 2nd grade children got up from the cafeteria and shoved each other to go have lunch recess outside in the playground. As an eight-year-old Cory came out of the restroom with his hands still wet (the boys' restroom ran out of paper towels), he passed by two boys from the 4th grade, his ears perking curiously from a conversation that would foreshadow his fate.
One boy wore a black baseball cap backwards. "Oh man, so apparently, I've heard most of the 2nd graders are unwanted pregnancies."
Another boy wore the hood of his blue jacket. "Wait what? Who told you this?"
The first boy raised an eyebrow. "Our teacher, Mr. Garrison." Cory knew he heard his parents mention a man by the name of Mr. Garrison, but he wasn't sure what this was all about, and why they were talking about pregnancies and why they were talking about 2nd graders. But if there were a few things he already knew, he already knew the concept of sex and the concept of a pregnancy. Cory crept closer, intrigued by the conversation.
"So what about the 2nd graders in this school?" the boy in the blue jacket asked. "What's this got to do with anything?"
The boy with the black hat laughed. "I just think it's just funny, you know, that an entire generation doesn't know and/or forgot the concept of birth control haha. Don't think those trashcans even know what a condom is."
A lot of the words the first boy said confused Cory. He didn't know what birth control is and he doesn't know anything about condoms. As he crept closer, both boys took notice. "Hey, what are you doing here?" The blue jacket kid asked. "Beat it."
"Hey wait a minute..." The boy wearing the black hat took a closer look. "Oh man, you're Cory Marsh huh?" Cory was taken aback. How did the two older boys even know him? "I've seen you around, seen kids your age call out your name. Man, speaking of unwanted pregnancies..."
"What?" Cory was completely confused at the situation.
"Next time you see your dad you should teach him how to use a condom." Both boys began to snicker and laugh as they slammed their lockers shut and walked away.
Cory's mouth hung open. "What's a condom?" But no one heard him. Cory was confused. He wasn't sure what they meant by condoms and birth control (nor does he know what they actually are). He wasn't sure if he was just insulted just now. And he was still rather skeptical about how both boys knew of him, despite sufficient reasoning they gave. Of course though, as Eric Cartman had told (and joked with) Cory, the best place to look for research was the internet. Wasting no time, he stood up, and instead of going out to play on the playground, he snuck over to the computer lab.
Luckily, the door was unlocked, no one was in the computer lab, and the computers were still on. Pulling up a chair at one of the computers, he sat down, fired up Firefox, and went over to the resource he knew best - Wikipedia. After about ten minutes of research or so, he found out that condoms were a form of birth control, but for why and how? Why would anyone want to prevent a pregnancy? Tons of questions unanswered floated through his mind.
"Hey bro, you shouldn't be on the school computers at this time!"
A rugged, manly voice made Cory jump two inches vertically from his seat. Turning around, he saw a muscular man in his late forties with dirty-blonde hair beginning to gray, blue polo shirt, khaki pants, and blue-shaded Oakleys. "PC Counselor, I-I -"
"Don't you dare touch that computer, Marsh!" Cory trembled in fear as PC Counselor waded over to the younger boy. He put his hands over his heart, afraid of what PC Counselor might do. As far as he knew, PC Counselor has rather violent tendencies and a valiant crusader of political correctness. PC Counselor wanted to make sure that school was a safe space for everyone, and if he had to beat up a kid, then so be it. That said, when PC Counselor took a good look at what Cory was looking at on Wikipedia, he first grimaced, then his disgust quickly turned to anger, seething beneath his breath. "I cannot believe that's what you're researching. Do you have any idea how your actions can hurt others?"
"PC Counselor, I-I didn't mean-"
"To my office! Now!"
No more than two minutes later did Cory find himself marched down into PC Counselor's office. The door to the hallway remained open, but neither Cory nor PC Counselor seemed to mind. PC Counselor straightened his Oakleys before he went on. "Listen, bro! Do you even know how you're hampering onto the safe space of others?"
"N-no." Cory was very easily intimidated by most adults, as demonstrated by his soft, nervous voice, and PC Counselor was notorious for striking fear into the hearts of young children who would not abide to his political agenda. "I-I d-didn't mean t-to hurt anyone, p-p-promise."
PC Counselor shook his head, grinding his teeth angrily. "What if another girl sees what you were looking up? Do you even realize how uncomfortable you'd make them feel if they saw you were looking up what condoms are? Do you not have any sense of respect for women, bro?"
Cory raised a confused eyebrow. "What do girls have to do with any of this? I just wanted to know what they are because some boys told me that I should teach my dad how to use a condom. I don't get it." The more the conversation progressed, the more bewildered Cory became. This day was becoming more and more boggling each second, and his head started to hurt from all the vague confusion. Seriously, what the hell are these people even on about?
PC Counselor sighed as he took of his sunglasses and placed them on his desk precisely 2.38 inches away from his own chest (oddly a very specific number). "Cory, you know what sex is right?"
"A little bit, why?"
"And you do know that unprotected sex leads to pregnancy, right?"
Cory rubbed his chin. "Um...what? Is that true? I mean, I know what being pregnant means." Cory bit down on his own teeth. Given the lack of innocence of the nature of this topic, the mention of his parents, and the context of why he was brought here in the first place, he suddenly had a dread feeling that this conversation wasn't going to turn out alright for him. I have a dread feeling about this, I don't think I'm gonna like where this is going.
"And condoms are used to prevent pregnancy, so that the man doesn't accidentally...you know..."
Cory rolled his eyes impatiently. "Ok. I get it now, PC Counselor. But what do condoms have to do with my parents? Why did some kids mention my parents in this?" The real question to Cory is why the two 4th graders brought up his parents and if they were truthful? But if they were lying, why would those two 4th graders even bring it up in the first place? "Unless..."
"Um, Cory, I don't know how to tell you this..." PC Counselor sighed as he closed his eyes. He slowly began to say his next words. "Your parents...um...you see, they forgot..." But PC Counselor spoke no more. He couldn't say the rest. Eighteen years ago, PC Counselor swore to make sure that every child's safe space was protected, and for Eighteen years he stood true to his verdict, and now he suddenly realized that he was breaking his own code. He flashed a nervous smile at the younger boy. "It's nothing, you know how kids are, Cory, heh heh, always playing jokes."
But Cory already began to place the pieces together, ignoring PC Counselor's last words. At that moment the ugly truth was revealed, forever altering his mindset at the revelation so lurid and vile. He felt nothing but deceit and darkness, the evil truth of the reality of his own existence hitting him in the heart harder than any sniper rifle bullet possibly could. Tears began to slide down his eyes as he stood up and stumbled backwards from his chair, nearly causing him to fall to the floor. "No...no...this can't be..."
"Cory! Wait!" But Cory already started running away, wailing and screaming down the hallway.
Half-an-hour later, Wendy, Stan, and Principal Victoria showed up in PC Counselor's office. Unsurprisingly, Stan and Wendy were both extremely pissed off at the situation. "You told our son WHAT?" Stan yelled.
PC Counselor, for the first time since the Ad invasion in South Park eighteen years ago, trembled in his chair in full-blown panic. "Bro, I didn't mean to say all that, I was just educating Cory about what he was looking up on the school computers, why he shouldn't be doing it, and how it could be hurtful to other girls, I didn't mean to reveal all that personal shit about you, bro!"
That only pissed off Wendy even more. "Didn't mean to? Like all those other children you hurt while we were here because you're such a self righteous prick? Knowing you, you were probably trying to blackmail our son, FUCK YOU!"
"There's a reason we kept that secret from him, and I can't believe you told him all this!" Stan added. "What makes you think you can go around spreading our secrets to the whole world like that?"
"Why did you keep it secret from him, bro?" PC Counselor tried to find any excuse to try to counter the angry couple, but it was no use. No one would have it.
"What does it matter to you anyways?" Wendy retorted. "How is it difficult to not hurt others while you do your fucking job? As a counselor?"
Principal Victoria stepped up, not taking her eyes off the counselor. "You know, making a child cry like that and possibly scarring him for life is unacceptable, right, PC Counselor? I saw the whole thing, nothing he did warranted your actions against him." She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, you did a fantastic job for the length of time you were here, but whether or not your words held malicious intent, I'm afraid my hands are tied. We're just going to have to let you go."
PC Counselor said no more. After all, it was his fault. He got carried away, like he usually did. While many detested his methods (those who interacted with him and those who knew him perhaps through a filter), none could deny his effectiveness. But he broke his own code, he unjustly ruined a child's day, and unbeknownst to him, possibly his life. The guilt-ridden counselor simply got up and left without another word.
"ALRIGHT KIDS! SHUT UP AND GET OUT!"
The screech of Ms. Crabtree caused Cory to jump from his seat from his previous slumber of himself leaning onto the right side, his cheeks previously into the window. As Cory swung his backpack onto his right shoulder, as he passed by Ms. Crabtree on his way out of the bus, he grumbled and groaned. Ugh, I hate this school bus driver! Why can't she ever shut up and stop yelling?
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Ms. Crabtree nearly made Cory jump again. Cory turned around to meet Ms. Crabtree's brown eyes glaring directly into his own blue eyes.
"N-nothing!" Cory quickly jumped out of the school bus before Ms. Crabtree could yell at him again. After a clean landing, he put his left arm through the left strap of his backpack so now his backpack was on him fully. Afterwards, he walked towards the front doors into the school. Suddenly, he found himself once again, like yesterday, pushed along the wave of several hundreds of students like himself. The surprise and sheer force caused Cory to fall face-first down to the ground in the middle of the main entrance room. "Goddamnit! I really hate people today." His chest ached from the fall, but he was fortunate he didn't fracture nor break any bones in his body, and for that, he was thankful something right went his way today.
Cory waded over to his locker and threw his backpack in. As he slammed the locker door shut, he turned around to see one of the two people he did not wish to see today. "Samuel." Cory's voice was full of venom and hatred.
Sam, guilty over what happened yesterday, had his palms out. "Cory, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't think-"
"Shut up, Sam! Shut up!" Cory attempted to use his left hand to slam his locker door shut with as much force as possible, but his locker door was already shut, so as a result, he only ended up banging on his own locker, causing the palm of his left hand to ache a little. "Ow!" But it made no difference in further showcasing his anger at the situation. "You messed up everything for me, Sam!" Cory shook his left hand a little from the shock of the impact as he went on. "You ruin everything! Now Kelsey will never go out with me, and everyone in school thinks I'm a giant asshole! Because you can't keep your stupid mouth shut!"
Sam was about to point out that Cory was the one who pushed Kelsey down, but he knew that that would not exactly be a good idea. "Cory, please-"
"Go away! God I hate you!" Cory, once again, began to cry. From such a strong word used against Sam, it broke Sam's heart, but ultimately, Cory was right. Sam did ruin everything for Cory. But it was no use to try to make peace with Cory right now, Cory was too irate to attempt to discuss anything rationally.
Sam walked away, cracking his jaw. Well, he has his mom's temper alright. Sam chuckled at the thought before sighing again. He couldn't deny it, he really messed up. Sam loved to tease Cory, but he wasn't trying to be mean, he just wanted to have fun and to bring out laughter and innocence in Cory because he truly believed that there was life inside the haunted raven-haired boy, but as he tried more and more, he began to realize that his efforts were futile. The result made him realize that not everyone appreciated his antics, and that such antics could cause unintended hurtful consequences. As much as Sam tried to now stay positive like he usually did, the guilt of the situation weighed him down.
I should leave Cory alone for now, but he'll have to calm down and forgive me eventually, right?
Mr. Garrison brought a two cartons of white chicken eggs into the classroom. A magnetic board was attached to the blackboard. One column was labeled "BOYS" and the other was labeled "GIRLS", but the contents of both columns underneath were empty...for now. "Ok, children, this week we are all going to learn about parenting." Mr. Garrison proceeded to take a piece of chalk and write the word "PARENTING" on the board. He then went on. "I'm going to pair all the boys and girls into couples, and give each couple an egg."
"Ew! Boys!" some of the girls said.
Mr. Garrison rolled his eyes at the lack of maturity some of the students showed. "Shut up. Now, you must care for and look after this egg just like a baby for one full week. If you break your egg, it means you have a dead baby, and if you kill your baby, you get an F."
Cory, leaned back in his chair, muttered angry words underneath his breath. "Pretty sure an accidental pregnancy would also kill a baby."
Mr. Garrison shot an angry glare at Cory, appalled by his rude interruption. "What was that, Cory?" Mr. Garrison wasn't sure what exactly Cory said, but nevertheless, he wasn't in the mood for Cory's nor anyone else's crap.
"Sorry, just tired," Cory lied.
Mr. Garrison shrugged then continued on. "Anyways, when I announce your names, please move and sit with the person you're paired with." Mr. Garrison then began to place nametags of children in boy-girl pairs inside the columns. "Kat Allen, you're with Charlie Brown." Kat let out a groan in response. "Walker Irvington, you're with Diane Dimmons."
Cory banged his head down on his desk. Oh no. He's gonna pair me with Kelsey. What am I going to say to her? How am I not going to look like an idiot and not look like an asshole? What is she gonna say to me? How am I going to explain why I pushed her down yesterday? Does she like me? Everything about Kelsey proceeded to run through his mind, his arguably unhealthy obsession over the blonde McCormick girl causing enormous amounts of stress in the raven-haired boy.
"Sam Broflovski, you are with Claire Stotch," Mr. Garrison said.
"Oh boy!" Claire beamed as she went over to sit next next to Sam. "I'm glad to be working with you Sam! I can't wait to meet your parents again, they seem like pretty nice fellas." Sam's only response was a blank expression followed by two blinks of his own green eyes.
"John Donovan, you are with Kelsey McCormick," Mr. Garrison continued.
What? Cory looked up to see Kelsey join John towards the left side of the room. John? No. This can't be happening. This has to be a bad dream. Cory, using his right hand, pinched his left arm as hard as he could, but nothing came out it. No!
"Cory Marsh, you are with Nicole Cartman."
Cory grumbled beneath his breath. What? Mr. Garrison can't be serious! What am I going to say to Nikki? Why is he doing this to me?
After all of the names were announced, Mr. Garrison began to pass out the eggs, each having his signature on them. "Now I'm going to give you the eggs. I have already signed my name onto them so if you break your egg and try to replace it, I'll know." After each group had received their egg, Mr. Garrison concluded, "You may begin."
Nikki's presence from Cory's right nearly made Cory jump. "Sup, bitch." Cory turned to Nikki, not saying a word. He gulped. unsure of what's to come. He didn't know what to say, nor did he know what he could say. "Glad you could be working with me, huh, bitch."
"Nikki, look, I know you're mad-"
"We're not talking about this now." Nikki looked around the classroom at the other children who seemed to be indulged in their partners and their own eggs. "Too many people. Comeon, we're coming to my house to get this done, whether you like it or not."
Cory, of course, knew that Nikki was only inviting him over so that she could interrogate him in private. But alas, there was nothing else he could do, and if he tried to avoid Nikki, she would likely tell on Mr. Garrison for not helping with the egg project. All he could do is play along and hope for the best, right? "Yeah, I'll go home with you." Cory let out a sigh. He then set his eyes upon John and Kelsey. Because of how loud the rest of the class was, it was too difficult to make out what either of them were saying. But he could see clearly that John had cocky expressions as he leaned closer to a nervous Kelsey. It made him angry that his nemesis was with the girl of his dreams. He watched a John continued to try to sway Kelsey.
However, Nikki's rude voice interrupted Cory. "Hey, are you actually going to do a damn thing or are you gonna sit there and stare at...off into space?"
Cory jumped from surprise. "What?"
Nikki nearly shoved the egg into Cory's face as she began to describe its features. "I drew the big circular eyes, gave it a smile, and put a tuft of brown hair, not from myself, and I was thinking of making a cradle. Seriously, what the fuck have you done?"
Cory gulped. "Nikki, I-"
Mr. Garrison turned his gaze upon Cory and Nikki as he lowered his glasses slightly. "Cory? Nicole? Is there a problem between you two?"
Nikki turned back to Mr. Garrison and shook his head. "No, Mr. Garrison. There is no problem." When Mr. Garrison then turned back to his computer, Nikki shot another angry glare at Cory. "You better meet me at my house after school so we can discuss the things. And help me with egg project, or bad things will happen to you. See you after school, bitch."
Cory slammed his head on his desk once again. What little ounce of optimism that was left in Cory drained completely. For the third time this week, he had this back against the wall figuratively. And for the third time this week, he had to play along with the next drama that would be in store for him, but he already knew that like usual, this rarely ever went his way. After all, it was how it always ended, right?
When Cory exited the school bus after school, he did not exit near his house, but rather at a much different bus stop. There was nothing but some trees and snow around along with a single children-crossing sign. Jumping out, he turned to his right to see Nikki jumping out of the bus and landing by his side. Other children that got off included Sam, Claire, Kelsey, and John. Without many words, they parted ways from Cory and Nikki. Nikki pulled out the egg from her pocket, smiling that it was still safe and sound. "My house is this way. Come." Nikki began to walk east and motioned Cory to come along, and Cory complied.
For about four minutes, the couple walked in silence, not exchanging any words. For Nikki, she wasn't sure how she was going to approach the Kelsey problem with Cory. She knew how sensitive Cory could be and she already learned so far that insulting Cory wouldn't work. On the other hand, she obviously can't let Cory know that she already knows about his crush or Cory would start begging her to try to matchmake the two.
Cory, on the other hand, had many things on his mind, such as if Kelsey really liked John, but more importantly, how is he going to explain to Nikki why he shoved Kelsey to the ground yesterday?
I guess I should try to make conversation with Cory, since we're gonna be around each other for a few hours. "We should be about two more minutes out." Nikki's voice dragged Cory out of his thoughts. She clamped her mouth down as she waited how Cory would respond at her attempt at making civil conversation.
Cory met the short sentence with caution. He was usually accustomed to Nikki rejecting Cory (as most other girls, and kids in general, do to Cory), but at least there was cold comfort in him knowing that Nikki didn't immediately try to insult or attack him. "Uh huh."
Nikki sensed some discomfort in Cory's voice, but she shrugged it off. "You shoulda seen Sam today, he was going off about how he want's to build a cradle for his egg and take super good care of it. Me, I'm just thinking of putting the egg in a plastic container, because I'm lazy, and honestly, pretty sure you only need to not break the egg in order to get an A. Easy. Sam's pretty weird, haha."
"Me and Sam don't talk anymore," Cory stated.
"Why not?"
Cory cringed. He knew he immediately said the wrong words, and those words could lead down the path into something he did not want to reveal to Nikki, not at this time. "We got into an argument. I can't tell you about it, it's personal stuff. But yeah. We don't talk anymore." He took off his gloves and shoved them in the pockets of his jacket.
"Oh, that sucks." Nikki shook her head. "I mean, if it really is that bad, then I don't bug you for it." Cory sighed with relief, at least he wouldn't have to tell Nikki the truth. "But I still want to talk to you about you pushing Kelsey." Cory groaned in response. "Uh, we're here."
Nikki's house is exactly like most other houses in South Park. The only real difference is the color of the exterior of each house; in the Cartmans' case, their house is colored green. As soon as the two kids entered the front door, they were immediately greeted by Nikki's mother Red. A looked of surprise overtook Red as soon as she laid her eyes down upon Cory. "Cory! I didn't expect you to be here today."
"We're doing a school project." Nikki took out the egg that she decorated it and showed it to her mother from a distance. "This egg is like our baby and we're the parents."
"Oh, that project. I've done it before." Twenty years ago, Red had done that exact egg project in her 4th grade class, but Eric Cartman was not her partner. "It should be really easy, hon. So did you choose Cory as your partner?"
Nikki shook her head in response. "No, Mr. Garrison assigned us all our partners."
Red nodded. "Ah, I'll leave you two to it then. Call me if you need anything, Nikki."
Red then went into the kitchen and out of sight. Just then, Nikki's younger brother Martin came from the kitchen. Her brother was slightly on the heavier side, though nowhere nearly as fat as Eric Cartman used to be. His brown hair was curly and messy, and he wore a brown T-shirt and black pants. "Nikki, is Cory your boyfriend?"
Nikki fluttered her eyelashes a little as she looked up at the ceiling, giving Martin a sarcastic look. "No, Marty, he ain't my boyfriend."
Martin snickered beneath his shirt. He smirked as he began to say his next piece. "Do you want to fuck him?"
Cory immediately blushed, his cheeks burning bright red. Nikki's eyes both dilated, her glare full of fury. "Shut up, Martin."
Martin snickered even louder, despite him covering his mouth with both his hands. "You do, don'tcha?"
Nikki took off her gloves and shoved them in the pockets of her jacket. She then rolled up her sleeves and clenched and cracked her knuckles. "Shut up or I'll kick your ass!"
"I'm gonna tell mom if you do." Martin brought his hands together behind his butt as he swayed back and forth, a mischievous smile flashing on his face.
"Let's just go, Cory." Nikki rolled down her sleeves, grabbed Cory's left hand with her right hand, and quickly marched upstairs, leading him on. Before either of the older children could hear anything else from Martin, Nikki quickly dragged Cory into her room and shut the door. Her room was similar to Cory's, in which it was neat and tidy. The only difference is that the interior is green instead of Cory's blue interior from his own blue house. Other than that, Nikki's bed was placed just underneath the front window, like Cory's. Nikki plopped down on her own bed and sighed. "Sorry 'bout that. My brother, he just hears what kids in our class say. Thinks it makes him sound older."
Cory gave a modest nod. "It's fine. I understand."
Nikki was relieved with the sincerity of Cory's voice. Yeah, my own idiot brother knows the definition of the word "fuck" since he was four. She pulled out the egg from her pants pocket, which she found was still intact, to her relief. "Guess we work on the egg. The one I worked on the whole time earlier."
"I'm - I'm sorry I didn't help you earlier today." Cory sat down between Nikki and her pillow. "I just...I was just distracted."
Nikki had a hunch of what exactly distracted Cory from concentrating on their own project, but first, there were more pressing questions on her own mind. "I came off like a bitch yesterday, but I really want to know why you pushed my friend down. Like she's my friend, and seeing you push her down just...pissed me off, you know? You know what I'm try'na say?"
Cory knew he could evade this question know longer. He didn't want to lie nor did he want to tell the truth, but the problem is that Nikki is his project partner, and he really wasn't in any position to turn anyone down. Maybe if he was lucky enough, he might gain a new friend, and more importantly one who was female and pretty. Lastly, he couldn't hold everything in any longer, he had to share it with someone who actually has a good sense on what to do with the knowledge. It can't be his parents, for obvious reasons. Sam already knows, but likes to tease him for it. Either way, as insensitive as Nikki has seemed in the past, she was his best shot. "If I tell you...can you promise not to tell anyone? If John finds out I told you, I'm dead."
Nikki reluctantly nodded her head. "Tell me."
"Alright..." Cory took a deep breath. "The truth is, and I know it sounds stupid, but I actually have a crush on Kelsey." Nikki rolled her eyes since she had already knew this in advance, but fortunately Cory didn't catch her eyeroll. "It's just...John Donovan, you know him right?" Nikki did not say anything, but she sat up straight, leaning close to Cory, ready to listen everything. "He has me do lots of dares so that I can hand out with him and his friends, and if I don't do them, he says he'll reveal all my secrets."
"What kind of things does he make you do?" Nikki asked. "I won't tell anyone.
Cory shook his head. "I can't tell you. They're really bad." He didn't trust Nikki enough, and frankly, John and his friends could sell Cory out anytime they wanted at this point, so it's not like Nikki will never know. "Anyways, so Sam was teasing me against yesterday about Kelsey. Then John must have heard because he was the one who wanted me to...push Kelsey to the ground."
Nikki's eyes opened with disgust. "W-w-why?"
"He said something about 'competition' and the End-Of-The-Year dance." Cory shrugged. "I don't remember what though."
"That fucking asshole!" Nikki clenched her fists, her face becoming redder with rage. "I can't believe he would use you like that...ok, I can believe he would use you like that. But still...Cory, has it ever occurred to you that he made you push Kelsey to manipulate her into hating you?"
"What?" Cory began to see what Nikki meant. He then realized what John meant by competition. And like what he did when PC Counselor gave clues about his conception, he sorted the pieces together. "No...no...this can't be..."
"Sorry, Cory, but you got the short end of the stick, man." Nikki's chuckled in a sarcastic tone, which didn't make Cory feel any better. She then frowned. "Ok, that was distasteful of me. But seriously, he did that so that Kelsey hates you, because John is so insecure about himself that he would have to cheat his way through life like that."
"I can't believe that asshole! God, I hate him so much!" Nikki had never seen Cory this angry in a long time.
Nikki put her hands on Cory's left shoulder. "Cory, you gotta calm down. It's like what you said, if John finds out you told me, you're pretty much boned, man."
Between Nikki's touch, and the point she made, Cory's anger quickly deflated as it rose. He leaned back onto Nikki's bed. Placing his right forearm on top of his eyes, he began to cry again. "Oh God, what am I going to do?" Cory began to sob more. "I'm - I'm just trapped. I don't know what to do."
Nikki pulled Cory up to sit upright, then put her arm around Cory. "It's alright. It's not your fault. It's not fair for me to blame you..." Nikki's next words became soft with a bit of sarcasm. "...even though you knew full well what you were doing."
"It's not just that," Cory continued. "It's like...it's like no matter what I do, people just hate me, you know? It's like I'm never supposed to be happy, because I get jerks who pick on me. It's like...I'm never supposed to exist."
The last five words pierced Nikki in the heart. As much as it hurt Cory, it also reminded her of her own past. Nevertheless, the difference between her and Cory is that she already knew from years ago and she learned to deal with the truth. And the way she dealt with these problems best was that she would just laugh it off and turn it into a sardonic, sarcastic joke. "Look man. You're an accident. I'm an accident. We're all accidents. But it's not that big of a deal, you know, you shouldn't let it bug you that much. We're both thrown onto this planet, might as well make the best of it, right? Haha." Nikki chuckled a little. She took her arm off Cory and turned to Cory only to be met by a silent Cory an his cold, dead stare. Anyone who showed that kind of face would scare the other person, and for Nikki, it unnerved her. "Ok. That was pretty rude." She continued before Cory could make a bitter remark. "But my point is that you gotta keep, positive, ya know? Gotta look on the bright side, man."
Cory grumbled a little. "That's what Sam tells me all the time."
Nikki laughed a little. "No, you see, the difference between my advice and Sam's is that Sam just sucks. He's - he's just a shit person, you know?"
"I appreciate your sarcastic humor, Nikki, but he really did cause my problems in the first place." Cory let out a growl. "Teasing me about my crush daily, and he's trying to make me see 'the light of the world', what a fuckin' joke. He has the gall to act all nice to me for months, but the way I see it he's just a douche. Then he 'accidentally' tells John. What next, John tells the whole world?"
"Well actually..." Nikki hesitated in saying the next piece. "...Kelsey and I both knew you had a crush on her. For a looong time."
"What? How? Who told you?"
"No one ever did." Nikki began to laugh again. "I mean, you made it fairly obvious, we both can see the way you stare at her every single day. How you blush all the time when she's near you. Cory, we both know you're super obsessed with her." Then it hit her. That was likely a huge contributing factor to why Cory was acting so moody for a long time. He was super obsessed with Kelsey, but he had a poor self image and poor popularity at school. "That's why you were acting super weird when Mr. Garrison announced partners today, huh?" Cory slowly nodded. Everything made sense to Nikki now.
"Y-yes," Cory softly said.
Nikki's phone vibrated all of a sudden. She saw the text from Natalie Black that said, Yes, we do have to build a cradle. "Goddamnit." Cory turned to Nikki, wondering what her sudden frustration was about. "Ok, we actually have to take care of our egg like we would a baby. Like we have to build a cradle and shit...we should probably get working. We wasted alot of time already."
"Agreed."
"So how's the date coming along?"
"Dad, it's not a date." Nikki rolled her eyes as she set her eyes down upon her own meal at the dinner table. It was a fairly modest meal of bread, steak, and string beans in their pods. Eric and Red sat next to each other on one side of the table, and Nikki and Martin sat on the other.
"Maybe you should-" Martin began to say.
Nikki immediately pointed at her six-year-old brother, interrupting him. "Shut it. Not another word out of you." She then turned back to both her parents. "The project is coming along fine. We're doing great. We're almost done with our stupid cradle." Nikki shook her head. "Seriously, I don't get the point of this stupid project."
"Well aside from giving the basics of being a parent," Red said, "the idea is also about learning how to cooperate and deal with kids of the opposite gender, since you will have to deal with them later on in your life."
"Well that's a pretty terrible premise, mom, because as far as I know, Cory's not like the other guys at school, like at all." Nikki ate another string bean. "Trust me. That said...do you...do you ever worry about the Marsh family?"
Eric and Red looked at each other, and both just shrugged at each other in confusion. "They're doing pretty well to me, right Red?"
Red nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with either of their parents, why do you ask?"
Nikki rubbed her chin. She didn't want to get Cory into any sort of trouble, but she doesn't want to sound like an idiot either. And she especially did not want to incite her little brother to say something stupid, especially since it's very likely to her that the little pest eavesdropped on her conversation with Cory. "I know him for a pretty long time. But at the same time, he still like an enigma to me. I don't know. It doesn't seem like he ever talks to anyone about his problems, even his parents. I don't want to get him into any sort of trouble, it's just...I don't know."
Eric gave Red a glance telling her that it was better that she handled it. Red nodded. "Everyone has inner turmoil that they have to deal with. No one is perfect. With that said, if you really care about Cory that much...you should talk with him more about it at school. Have him open up to you. Besides, having a pretty girl like yourself to talk to could be a huge boost in his confidence." The last sentence made Red giggle.
Seconds later, Eric and Martin began laughing and Nikki rolled her eyes and growled. "Mom, I told you we aren't dating."
"I know, hon."
Despite the antics Nikki's parents pulled on her, she knew that in the back of her mind that nothing was going to be easy. More importantly, she didn't know what the future held in store for either of them. But as far as she knew, she hoped for the best - for her own grade on her project and the drama of what's to come.
So what I intended to do with Nikki's personality is that I modeled her personality closely off of one of my other OC's from one of my previous stories. The inherited would be Cole Dimmons (whose own personality was modeled off of Cartman and Kyle), so in a way, to me it seemed consistent with being Eric Cartman's daughter. Since that has been said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
Until next time.
