So, I feel terrible. I haven't updated in forever and I am so disappointed in myself. I hope this chapter makes you guys a little happy. And I hope you don't hate me. I wasn't ground this time, it's just that school is horrible. I'm up to my eyeballs in schoolwork and I don't know how to swim. But no excuses. The next chapter WILL be up sooner than this one was. And if it's not, do me a favor. Shoot me. Repeatedly.
Dirk woke up slowly, reluctantly. Mornings really weren't his thing. And it was so tempting just to snuggle deeper into the warmth at his back and ignore the soreness of his ass. Why was his ass sore again? His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He opened his eyes, squinting against the full glare of the harsh sunlight. A carpet of green leaves and brown dirt met his eyes, trees blocked his vision of anything more than ten feet away in any direction.
Right, he had been chased up a tree by a bear yesterday. With Kyle. And had fallen asleep in said tree. With Kyle. And ended up snuggling. With Kyle. He jerked forward, away from the still slumbering Jew behind him, losing his precarious perch in the process and tumbling to the side and towards the ground.
Kyle, awake but still groggy, grabbed quickly to the boy's shirt, refusing to relinquish him to gravity. They were pretty high up after all. He pulled Dirk back onto the branch, back against his chest. He whispered idiot into the boy's ear, leaving him sitting stunned on the branch as he began the long trek back to the ground, the German boy following quietly.
Once on the ground, Kyle took a closer look at their position, trying to figure out where the camp was. He turned in a circle, his hand held out in front of his face. A make-shift shield to hold off the glare of the sun. He let out a small 'aha!', pointing to somewhere off in the woods.
"Camps this way." he declared, turning to the German boy beside him. Dirk gave him a skeptical look, silently accusing him of a lapse in sanity. Camp, was after all, the other way. He told Kyle so, and received a scoff in return. He glared at the red head. Crossing his arms and turning away from the Jew, he stomped the way he had deemed camp to be. He was roughly jerked to a stop before even making a few steps though by a hand on his shoulder. His arms fell to his side and he swung around to see Kyle standing next to him. He glared at the Jew, who simply raised his eyebrow, his hand sliding down to take Dirk's own, holding it tightly. He pulled the boy in the direction he knew camp to be, ignoring the German boy's complaints and whet he assumed to be insults rattled off in German. He smiled to himself as he dragged the reluctant raven haired boy back to camp.
"*~UTS~*"
"Tweek! Tweek! Please!" Nico pleaded, grabbing the twitchy blonde's shirt sleeve not letting him go. Which only served to freak the blonde out.
"Gah!" Tweek shouted, jumping and sloshing coffee over the side of his mug. He took a long sip of the caffeine riddled drink, unwilling to talk to the boy tailing him. Unwilling to make a promise he wasn't sure he could keep.
"Please Tweek, you can't tell anyone." Nico begged, taking a firmer grip on the blondes forearm to stop him from walking away. The blonde tried unsuccessfully to pull his arm free of the strong grip. After a few failed attempts he gave up, turning to face his captor. "Please don't tell anyone!" Nico whispered loudly, worriedly.
Tweek bit his lip, weighing his chances before nodding. Nico breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at his 'prisoner'. He lost his smile quickly though, searching Tweek's eyes and not liking the uncertainty he found there.
"Promise." He commanded, tightening his grip on the blonde's arm minutely. Tweek let out a quiet 'Jesus' before stuttering an 'I promise'. Nico relaxed visibly smiling slightly before sticking out his pinky. Tweek looked from Nico to the boy's pinky, just staring, dumb founded, mentally questioning the boy's mental stabability. He shakily wrapped his pinky around the long haired boy's own, shaking their connected hands up and down. Nico beamed at the shaky blonde boy, feeling a weight fall from his shoulders. At least he didn't have to worry about his secret getting out. Hopefully.
"Tweek!" someone shouted from across the mess hall, startling the jumpy blonde boy, who dropped Nico's pinky. Both boys looked over to see who it was that had interrupted them. It was Craig, who had apparently just rolled out of bed. At nine o'clock. On a Wednesday. The raven headed boy hurried over to them, snatching up Tweek's arm and hurrying him away, glaring at Nico over his shoulder.
Nico stared after the retreating backs of the two boys, not noticing his friend step up beside him, jumping when she spoke.
"Ya know, I don't think Tweek's the best person to tell as secret to. Badger him enough and the boy will spill his guts." Nico gaped in horror at his friend. Who sounded a lot like she knew his secret.
"W-what?" he stuttered, afraid of her reaction to the secret he had tried so hard to keep and all of the questions sure to be thrown at him. Questions he didn't want to answer.
"No really," She mused, turning partially to smile at him, "Good thing, I guess. You'll know all of Craig's secrets in no time!" Se grinned at him.
"What?" He asked, thoroughly confused. Why wasn't she bombarding him with questions? Why wasn't she storming away from him in disgust? Why the hell would she think he wanted to know Craig's secrets?
"Well, if you know his secrets, then you know what he likes and if you know what he likes than you have a better chance of getting him to go out with you." She explained slowly, mimicking talking to a three year old. He just nodded, to dumb founded to really say anything. She thought he liked Craig? But he didn't. Why would he like Craig when Tweek was so much nicer and sweeter and funnier and cuter and…. Oh, he had a crush on Tweek. Damn.
He fished desperately for something else to focus on and took a strangle hold on the first thought(un-Tweek and/or Craig related) to come to mind.
"Where's Dirk?" The question slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it, and he instantly regretted it when he caught sight of the worried look adorning Riot's face. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. It was a good question, one she couldn't answer. And that worried her.
"I… I don't know. And I'm concerned ya know? But at the same time I can't help but think 'Hey, it's Dirk we're talking about. He'll wander back eventually. And then I feel guilty for thinking that because I shouldn't be sitting her doing nothing when my friend is missing." She drew a shaky breath, leaning into the hug Nico had encased her in.
"I know, I'm worried too. But he will come back, and we both know it." He whispered to her, rubbing her back soothingly. She pulled back, nodding at him. She smiled suddenly, gripping his hand tightly in her own and dragged him through the mess hall, to the brightly lit outside world. When asked what she was doing she replied simply that it was almost time for baseball.
"*~UTS~*"
"Kenny! Pay attention damnit!" Cartman whined, waving his pudgy hand in front of his 'best friend's' face. Kenny continued to ignore the whining boy, angling his head slightly to see past the boy's hand and continue staring. Cartman turned away from the poor blonde, choosing instead to pout to a moody Stan, who really wasn't any more likely to pay attention to him than Kenny was.
Next to the distracted blonde boy sat Butters, who was simply picking at his food, distracted, scared that Kenny's quietness was because of him. That the poor blonde was mad at him for something. He couldn't help but worry, Kenny hadn't talked to him or even paid any attention to him since they had entered the mess hall. The boy had even made a perverted joke or innuendo. Yes, Butters was very worried.
"Hey Butters?" Kenny asked not turning away from his apparent staring contest. Butters started, not expecting his normally vivacious friend to actually speak this morning.
"Y-yeah Ken?" He asked nervously, a slightly hopeful smile adorning his face. Maybe Kenny wasn't mad at him.
"I'm not gonna make it to baseball. Cover for me alright." It wasn't a request, it was an order. And, as the bell that signaled the beginning of all camp activities rung and all the other campers headed outside, Kenny slipped away in the crowd. Butters sighed, knocking his knuckles together in the same nervous way he had when they were younger. So, Kenny was mad at him. It would help if he knew what he had done. Then he could at least try to fix it. But if Kenny was going act like this, then maybe it wasn't worth fixing. A friendship was two parts right and if Kenny wasn't willing to maintain his part, then there really wasn't a friendship, was there? The blonde sighed again, running a hand through his hair, mussing it up. He stared tiredly in the direction he assumed his supposed-to-be friend had slipped off to and decided then and there, Kenny wasn't his friend anymore. Kenny couldn't use him as a plaything anymore. Not if he was going to just throw him away when he was through.
The boy squared his shoulders, slipping from his seat and out of the mess hall, trying not to look back. Fighting not to care.
"*~UTS~*"
Kenny watch worriedly as Butters just sat at their table, not moving, not leaving. He was wondering if the boy would ever leave, annoyed at the smaller blonde's clinginess, as he had been for a while now. The boy really needed to grow up. He couldn't hang off his arm forever. He would have to face the world on his own sooner or later. So what if Kenny was giving hi a push in the sooner direction. It was all for the best. For him anyway. Butters had to learn to take care of himself, Kenny wasn't going to help him anymore.
Kenny glided across the near empty mess hall, unaware of Butters' turmoil, not willing to stick around and wait for the blonde to leave. He quickly made his way to one of the few still occupied tables and sat himself down. The girls at the table stopped talking as soon as Kenny took a seat.
He smiled alluring at them. They smiled back, shooting each other looks from across the table.
"Hey." Michelle greeted, smiling slightly at their unannounced guest. Kenny beamed at the attention, loving every second of it. He greeted her back, ant then turned his greeting on the rest of the group, who returned them a little less enthusiastically.
"So," Kenny drew out the word, fishing for something to talk about. "What're you ladies doing?" The girls once more shot each other looks across the table. It was the blonde girl next to him, Nicole if he recalled correctly, who answered.
"Not much. We were just about to head out for softball. How 'bout you?" She smiled sweetly up at him and he returned the smile, if not a bit more hesitantly.
"Weeellll, I was kinda hopin' to have a nice conversation with you girls." This earned him a small giggle.
"Love to," Mari said, pushing her chair away from the table and standing up, "But can't. I have to get to softball or the counselors will get all perky on me. Again." She shouldered at the memory of the one on one, hour long pep talk she had had with Tammy last week when she had showed up and hour late for basketball. She waved good bye to the others, grabbing Sara's arm and dragging her out, much to the girl's surprise.
The three left at the table smiled at them, Nicole and Michelle shaking their heads in amusement. Kenny grabbed the attention again, striking up a conversation and making them laugh with what he said. This would so be worth ditching baseball. And Butters. Shit, now he felt kinda bad. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, focusing instead on his company.
"*~UTS~*"
Anna was having a great time, softball was, after all, a fovorite of hers. She reached her gloved hand out into the warm summer air, catching the big, round softball. She barely gave it a thought before she chucked it to the girl standing at first base, who just stepped out of the way, the softball landing on the ground beside her.
Anna shot a glare at the girl, who only smiled back lazily. She stomped over to the girl, snatching the softball from the ground swiftly and agilely throwing it to third. She once again turned her glare on the girl.
"You're supposed to catch the ball Hope." She berated. Hope only shrugged her shoulders, still smiling. Anna rolled her eyes, turning back to the game, but a loud thud followed by what seemed to be everyone on the boy's field yelling, stopped her. Both she and Hope peered curiously over at the boy's field, the growing crowd catching their interest.
They abandoned their field just as all the other girl's had done, hurrying to see just what all the commotion was about.
"*~UTS~*"
Kenny left the mess hall with Michelle and Nicole, his arms swung around their shoulders. He was laughing and having a good time, despairing the time when the reached the baseball field and he had to part with them. They were almost already there. And he could see the crowd in the distance. It looked like everyone in the camp was in that crowd. He searched the growing mass for his friends, finding Cartman and Stan near the center. Stan looked scared, Cartman looked pleased and Kenny became worried. Where was Butters?
He slipped away from the girls, running to the mob and pushing his way through, trying to make it to the center. Be fore he could even breach the crowd though, someone caught his elbow. It was Kyle, with a very pissed off looking Dirk at his side.
"Kyle!" He shouted, throwing his arms around his Jew friend. This declaration earned them some attention. Riot shouted happily, tackling Dirk in a flying hug, knocking him to the ground and earning him yet another hole in his abused jeans.
"Dude, what's going on?" Kyle asked, his green eyed gaze shifting from Kenny to the crowd and then back again.
"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to figure out." Kenny answered, leaving his friends side to push through the crowd again. What he found at the center of that crowd made his heart twist painfully in his chest.
Butters was lying on the ground, the big gaping gash in his forehead bleeding profusely. Kenny ran immediately to his friends side, dropping harshly to his knees beside him.
"Butters? Butters wake up!" He called, drawing the boy into his arms and shaking him. One of the camp counselors tried to pull him away, but he jerked out of the grip, shaking Butters harder, tears gathering in his eyes. He unzipped his orange jacket shrugging out of it and balling it up, he pressed tightly to the unconscious blondes forehead. He shook him again, even more roughly and attempted to keep the orange cloth pressed against the wound as the boy's head rolled with the movement.
"Butters! Wake up!" He shouted the tears now running down his face, a dull ache permeating his chest. His heart hurt. He almost laughed at the thought. It was crazy. The boy in his arms groaned weekly, his eyes fluttering, offering only teasing peaks of his brilliant baby blues.
Kenny swallowed harshly, looking down at the boy, tears still dripping. He asked hopefully, tiredly, "Butters?" The boy laying in his lap blinked up at him, his eyes cloudy, looking around a moment before asking.
"Who's Butter's"