This is another one of those chapters that was a bit wonky for my tastes. Most of the earliest ones seem too forced, to me. Especially the ones in the teens. (Mainly chapters 11 and 16) I can't really complain, though, because if I didn't force them, they probably wouldn't have ever gotten done. The main reason being that the words were so incredibly boring. One of the main reasons why I don't like this chapter is because I don't really think any of the examples I gave would be considered over-complicated. I will say, however, that I'm glad it turned out that way, because later on in the plot it becomes increasingly obvious that Craig's over-complicating things. And when I say over-complicating things, I mean he's making things worse than they would be if he didn't try so hard.

003. Simplifies

simplify (v) to reduce in complexity or extent

It was Wednesday, and he didn't have any homework. Sitting on his bed, listening to the music on his iPod, Craig came to a realization. His whole life, he had tried to complicate things. Like that time in the fourth grade, when he found out he had lice. He had tried to hide it–the second he stepped out from behind the screen, he put his hat on his head and proudly stated he was clean.

Or that time…the first time he actually acknowledged Tweek. Kyle, Stan and Cartman had decided to get the two of them fighting. He had over-complicated it, saying over and over he was defending Stripe, when all the while he was wondering if Tweek really was saying those awful things about him and his guinea pig.

And yet, in the hospital, he and Tweek had found a common ground. It was rocky at first, but they made it work. They soon became close friends. And he really couldn't understand why he had felt the need to make amends with Tweek in the first place…

Things could be so much simpler–like calling the teachers douche bags and getting away with it like Thomas. Yet, they weren't…at least not for him. It was baffling, really. Why did he complicate things? Why couldn't he just simplify everything?

He turned to the blond sitting next to him. "Hey, Tweek…I want you."

Tweek began to hum, completely oblivious as he took a sip of coffee and started working on his own homework. He twitched every so often, and after a moment Craig noticed the mp3 player Tweek had curled around his arm.

He sighed, mumbling to himself. "If you just listened to me for once, I would be so happy…" Life was just too complicated with music players.

Lice
Made famous in the episode titled Lice-capades, mainly because Craig takes off his hat in that one and you get to see his hat hair. Ha ha. I always imagined he'd look like a black-haired Clyde, to be honest. xD But yeah. As shown in that episode, all the children had lice, so he was obviously lying when he said that. Sorry if I spoiled the episode for any of you, but you shouldn't be haphazardly reading South Park fanfiction if you haven't seen most of the show. Most fanfictions end up referring to the show in at least some way. Well, at least mine do...

Acknowledging Tweek
 The episode titled Tweek vs. Craig. This is also a fun episode because it shows where Craig gets his lovely habit of flipping people off on impulse. The main reason why I brought this up was because it mentioned Stripe, whom Craig loves with every fiber of his being and would never shove up his ass. I also wanted to mention how he and Tweek became friends in the first place, but I never got around to it. All that matters is that they became friends afterwards, as shown in the later seasons of the show.

Thomas
 Ah. Thomas. He's in the episode titled Le Petit Tourette, and Craig grows very envious of his ability to call people naughty words and phrases. He then tells Thomas that he is cool, and he wants to be his friend and do his laundry. In my fangirly mind, I've attributed Craig's apparent affection for Thomas to be simply because he's a bit spastic like Tweek. So shut your mouths Craig/Thomas fans; nothing you can say will change the Craig/Tweek fangirl in my heart, because she rationalized me out of every other pairing Craig could have with anyone else. Although I can say that, despite the fact that the creators just wanted Craig to say something funny and made him offer to do Thomas's laundry, the only other reason for why he'd offer that I can imagine would be so he could get a whiff of the clothes and intoxicate himself with Thomas's scent. Yes, I am well aware intoxicate wouldn't normally be used as a verb. Shut up.

"...I Would Be So Happy..."
This was in the aforementioned episode. Craig would say this after Cartman would "tic" and yell out some random string of foul words. At the end of the episode, he overhears Thomas and then blah blah blah I already mentioned this in the previous paragraph.