Stan groaned as he entered the attic. He coughed as dust rushed towards him and up his nostrils. He sneezed and promptly turned the attic light on.
The previously dark room flooded with light and roughly thirty large cardboard boxes became visible. Stan sighed, realizing that cleaning out the attic would be a much more difficult job than he'd anticipated when he'd agreed to perform the chore. He grabbed the first box he could see and opened it up, trying to convince himself that it wasn't that bad. In exchange for not having to clean the attic, Kyle had to clean the bathroom instead.
The first four boxes were boring; they contained such items as old books, clothes and posters from both his and Kyle's childhood. Stan had made two large piles, things of his and things of his boyfriend's. Kyle's pile was admittedly much smaller than his own, as Stan was somewhat of a hoarder with his things, never wanting to throw stuff away, no matter how useless.
When Stan was just about to open up the sixth box, he heard footsteps climbing up the rickety steps to the attic, and he turned around.
"Hey, babe, need some help?" Kyle asked with a helpful smile. Stan returned the smile and nodded. The Jew sat down beside him and proceeded to help Stan sort through the many boxes of stuff.
Only a few minutes later, Stan happened upon an item of particular interest to the black-haired man. "Hey, Ky, look at this!" he said excitedly, motioning towards the yearbook he'd uncovered. Kyle took the book and opened it up.
"Jeez, this is so old," Kyle said with a laugh. "Look! It's us in eleventh grade!" he pointed to a small photo on the second page of the two waving with toothy grins, Stan in braces and Kyle in glasses. Stan laughed, reminiscing about their high school years.
Four years, you think for sure,
That's all you've got to endure,
All the total dicks,
All the stuck-up chicks,
So superficial, so immature.
Then when you graduate,
You take a look around and you say, "Hey wait,
"This is the same as where I just came from,
"I thought it was over,
"Oh, that's just great."
Stan turned the page, remembering everyone from South Park High School. "Look, it's Cartman!" Kyle pointed out the said teenager, laughing heartily, Stan following. "Jeez, he hasn't changed at all," he added. "Dick."
Stan snorted, pointing out Wendy. "Neither has she. Stuck-up bitch," he said with a deep grudge.
Kyle rolled his eyes and turned the page again. "Face it, Stan, most people do all their growing up in high school, and then they're the same from then on." Stan just nodded and scoffed.
The whole damn world is just as obsessed,
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex,
Who's got the money, who gets the honeys,
Who's kinda cute and who's just a mess.
The two laughed even further at Bebe's picture. She'd been voted 'best dressed' that year, but unfortunately, her clothes were now twenty years out of date, which made for some good-natured joking by the two.
"Hey, look at Kenny," Kyle said with a giggle. Stan directed his vision to a picture of Kenny flirting with Heidi, and Heidi attempting to ignore him. He chuckled at their friend. "Same old Kenny," Kyle said, turning the page once more.
They laughed at a picture of Token, Clyde, Butters and Tweek. Clyde and Token were high-fiving, Butters was smiling like the innocent little boy he was and Tweak was freaking out.
"Man, we should show this to everyone," Kyle said with a grin as he turned the page.
And you still don't have the right look,
And you don't have the right friends.
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends.
Check out the popular kids,
You'll never guess what Jessica did,
And how did Mary-Kate lose all that weight?
And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight.
"Wow, it's so weird how little anything has changed since then, huh?" Stan said absently, eying a picture of himself and Kyle holding hands in the cafeteria, smiling at the camera. Kyle nodded.
Kyle scoffed begrudgingly at Rebecca, his ex-girlfriend from eighth grade. She'd become a total bitch in high school and dumped him, which Kyle had never really gotten over. Kyle pointed at a photo of Craig from later in the year when he'd first developed his eating disorder. "Yeah, he's come a long way, though," he commented, referring to the fact that in the photo, Craig looked relatively skeletal, and now he had about ninety pounds of muscle.
Stan agreed and laughed at a photo of Clyde and Nelly holding hands outside, Nelly almost eight months pregnant. Stan marveled at the fact that after all these years, Clyde and Nelly were still together, albeit with five kids, but together nonetheless.
And the only thing that matters,
Is climbing up that social ladder,
Still care about your hair and the car you drive,
Doesn't matter if you're sixteen or thirty-five.
Reese Witherspoon, she's the Prom Queen.
Bill Gates, Captain of the chess team.
Jack Black, the clown,
Brad Pitt, the quarterback.
Seen it all before,
I want my money back!
The next page had a large picture of Token, with dreadlocks and shades on, leaning on his expensive car that he'd practically been married to since tenth grade. Kyle snorted and shook his head. Stan turned the page.
He frowned, a large prom dress-clad black-haired female staring at him with a golden smile. "Whore," he said simply. Kyle rolled his eyes at Stan's hatred. On the opposite side of the spread, there was a small picture of Kyle and Scott Malkinson holding up a large trophy, having won some sort of chess tournament. Kyle blushed heavily.
"Christ, I was such a nerd," he murmured, turning the page quickly as Stan muffled a soft giggle. A photo of Jimmy Vulmer graced the page, him smiling awkwardly in front of a large crowd, presumably performing stand-up.
"Hey, it's Jimmy," Stan commented. Since high school, Jimmy had become a very successful comedian, with his own show. It was interesting for the two to see their friend on television all the time, and now see him in an old yearbook from twenty years ago.
The next page had a picture of the football team, including Stan, the star quarterback, grinning up at himself. Stan smiled, remembering the glory when he'd made that game-winning touch down in the playoffs that year. Good times...
The whole damn world is just as obsessed,
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex,
Who's in the club and who's on the drugs,
And who's throwin up before they digest.
And you still don't have the right look,
And you don't have the right friends,
And you still listen to the same shit you did back then.
At the end of the yearbook, Stan tossed it aside into the pile of stuff to throw away.
"Hey, don't you want to keep that?" Kyle asked.
Stan shook his head and stood up. Kyle did the same and gave his boyfriend a look of confusion. "Why not?"
Stan shrugged as the two started towards the exit of the attic. "Nothing's really changed since then, Ky. Think about it," he said. "Bebe's still ;best dressed', Kenny's still a flirt, Tweak's still a spaz, Clyde's still a sweet-talker, Wendy's still a bitch, Cartman's still a dick and Nelly's still a slut," he said without hesitation.
Kyle shrugged. "I guess so, but -"
Stan put a hand on his best friend's arm and kissed him into silence. "I don't want to think about the past when the present is so much better," he said with a smile. "Everything is right now. Clyde and Nelly are married, Cartman's in the army, Wendy moved away, Tweak got off the coke, Craig eats again and Bebe's actually a nice person now. Why waste our time thinking about the past when the present is where we are now anyways?"
Kyle smiled and kissed his friend again, wrapping his arms around Stan's abdomen lovingly. "You're right about all those people. But you know what the best part about the present is?"
"What?" Stan said with a grin.
"Us."
A/N: Sorry for the update from the jurassic... anyways, title and lyrics are from Bowling From Soup's High School Never Ends.