I'm back with a new chapter! I've been working with this other crap, been kinda busy. Well, first to answer the ONE review I got for my latest chapter, argh:

Courteney: I'm sorry, but I already have the story all planned out; I can't put in a major character now. However, maybe I'll make a cameo with Shanna or something.

Not much else to say.

Chapter Six: Tomato's A Fruit

I don't like this anymore. I liked it at first, but not anymore. I thought it was good for me, that it would ultimately help me evolve as a person…but now, it sucks ass.

I don't like me anymore. Kyle was right all along. I am a fatass. I am a stupid, fucking fatass. That's why I can't risk losing a friend to be with a fucking chick because I'm too much of a stupid fatass to make new friends. Goddamn it…I don't want to be me. I wanna be Kenny. Or Kyle. Or Stan. Even Butters would do. No, I changed my mind, not Butters.

Maybe it'll blow over…maybe I'll just forget this…feeling someday. That would be nice. Cause I don't like it anymore. It's not…good…anymore.

Or maybe I deserve it. I think I do.

It would be nice to die. I think Kenny was lucky sometimes. He would have those weird periods when he would die randomly…I wonder what that is like. It must have been nice, getting to be free from this fucking world for just a few hours…how the fucking hell did he always come back!

No, this is all Wendy's fault. If she wouldn't have been such a bitch with her goddamn hair and her smarts and her ice-skating and all of her shit…if she wouldn't have been so fucking goddamn selfish! Sexual tension…fucking bitch.

Maybe I should die. Maybe I should do the 'unthinkable'. That would be weird. Wonder if anyone would miss me? Probably not. Except for mom maybe…no, she has her boyfriends, she wouldn't give a shit.

Maybe if I became thin, like Stan, she would like me. Fucking hippie asshole, it's all their fault. Stan and Wendy. Cartman and Wendy. Cartman and Wendy. Cartman and Wendy.

I don't like it anymore.

The next day, Cartman was missing from school. Stan and Kyle weren't that worried, but Kenny wasn't sure if Cartman was just sick. They sat in their usual seats in the back of the classroom as Mr. Garrison wrote on the blackboard. They wore the same as yesterday, except Kenny had left his old parka behind and instead wore a denim jacket.

"Dude, do you guys know where Cartman is?" He wondered, leaning against Kyle who sat beside him. Kyle shook his head, not looking up from his book.

"I'm sorry, but Eric left early this morning. I thought he was going to meet you boys." The boys had headed over to Cartman's home after school, on Kenny's command. Kenny was even more concerned as Mrs. Cartman informed them that Cartman had not been at home. She headed back into her home, closing the door, leaving the boys outside.

"Dude, where the hell is fatass!" Kyle exclaimed, waving his arms. The boys didn't say anything after as they continued their travel back home.

Cartman looked out of the window, watching the outside scenery pass by as the bus started moving again. He held his yellow backpack tightly against his chest. He looked at the others on the bus. The disgust that he felt only motivated him more…but when he thought back at the one thing that motivated him the most to do this, he sighed and looked back out of the window. "Fuck…" He mumbled, feeling a small smile creep up on his face subconsciously.

Two weeks. Two weeks went by, and it seemed that no one had cared enough to put up a search for Cartman. Stan, Kyle and Kenny were the only ones who seemed to be willing to look for Cartman. They had put up several, large pictures of Cartman with alerts and phone numbers on them around town, but many were taken down by Officer Barbrady since if they didn't have a license, it was considered litter. They had even went to the police office, and even though they had thoroughly explained that two weeks had gone by, Barbrady kept saying that they had to wait for twenty-four hours.

It was Monday of the third week since Cartman had been missing. The boys were too sad and worried to say anything to each other as they met at the bus stop with some of their other classmates. Stan wore his white shirt, his black, thick vest and blue jeans, Kyle wore his beanie, his green jacket and his black pants. Kenny had taken his denim jacket and his blue jeans for the day. Kenny looked at the other kids. Some had helped putting up pictures and searching, but most had been happy when they heard Cartman was gone, since everyone remembered how terrible he was against everyone during their younger years. Once the bus arrived, they got in the back with Butters. Tweek soon came to join them. Butters rolled his thumbs, humming a song as quietly as he could. He looked up at the three boys and noticed they were all bothered by something.

"Are you okay, fellas?" Butters wondered with the same innocent smile on his face as usual.

"No! Cartman is still missing, dude!" Kenny exclaimed.

"He is!" Butters replied, horror striking his face. "No one told me that!"

"Dude, it's been like two weeks!" Stan stated, amazed as he looked at the clueless Butters. Butters gasped and looked down, as if he had done something wrong.

The blue math books were left untouched as Mrs. Jenkins lectured. Cartman had been missing during the three first lessons. Kenny, Stan and Kyle were all too concerned to concentrate on math. Actually, everyone had a hard time concentrating, as Timmy was very upbeat today. He kept shouting out "Timmy!" and random gibberish.

"Ugh…when will this day end…" Kyle murmured, sighing. Everyone looked up as the door opened. Gasps were heard as a boy stepped into the classroom, wearing a white shirt and a blue vest, together with black pants. Kyle gaped, his eyes just like his friend's widening. "Cartman!" Indeed, the boy was Cartman, although he had lost A LOT of weight. Cartman smiled nervously as he walked into the back of the classroom and sat down next to Kenny. Everyone started whispering until Mrs. Jenkins managed to settle everyone down and continue her lecturing. Kenny leaned over to Cartman.

"Dude, what the hell! Where were you!"

"Well, I signed up for a program called Intensive Weight Care. Just plain, intensive training and a diet for two weeks." Cartman explained, smiling a little. It was amazing how he looked so…different. But it was still there, Kenny could see it. It wasn't like the time Cartman had hired a thinner version of himself to trick everyone that he had lost weight, it was for real. Cartman was no longer ´fatass, he was actually thin. Actually, some of the girls were giving Cartman looks that popular people like Stan knew all too well.

"Wow…I mean, two weeks? How'd you do that!" Kyle wondered, surprised.

"Dude, are you deaf? I just told you guys…" Cartman said, chuckling a little. Kyle didn't find this funny; he continued gaping just like Stan.

"Hey Eric, you're really looking good!"

"Hi Eric!"

Cartman waved to the group of girls as they walked by the lunch table, giggling and speaking to each other. He was of course very happy but he felt as if the joy was false…hollow. But, he kept smiling and turned back against his friends, who were all still baffled. He smiled even wider, surprised how much a physical change could make everything so different. He thought everyone was being a bit shallow, but he still enjoyed it.

"Cartman…" Kyle mumbled, still gaping a little.

"Yes?" Cartman answered, picking a small Tupperware box out of his backpack. He opened it and fished out a fork. They all gasped as they watched him beginning to eat something they had never seen him eat before: a salad.

"You're eating vegetables…" Kyle continued. Cartman chuckled a little in response.

"Yeah, so?"

"You're eating vegetables."

"Well, I realized I needed a healthier life."

"You're eating vegetables…"

"I…know."

"…tomatoes and cucumbers…"

"Actually, tomato's a fruit." Cartman corrected. Kyle let out a little squeal and looked back down at his food. Stan tried to say something, but only a small wheeze came out and he looked down at his food as well.

"Why didn't you leave a note or something! We were worried!" Kenny exclaimed, his rage starting to unleash as he was beginning to process all that had happened during the day.

"I couldn't! I left last minute, had no time." Cartman said, still smiling. However, Kenny was not pleased.

"Had no time! Had no time!" He fell silent after that and sunk back into his seat, starting to pick at his food.

"So, you guys wanna do something?" Cartman wondered as the boys headed home from school. The others were starting to adjust to the new Cartman after having a long argument about how insensitive Cartman had been, just leaving without saying anything. But since he had done it for a good cause, they didn't bother him more about that and instead tried to act normal.

"Yeah sure, why not?" Kenny said. "Anything if it keeps me away from those assholes at home…"

"I'm up for it." Stan said.

"If you're all in, I'm in too." Kyle added.

"Okay! My place it is!" Cartman said happily.

As they kicked off their shoes, Cartman headed around the house to see if his mother was home. He found her in the kitchen, baking something. "Hi mom." He said, smiling. For a moment, Mrs. Cartman didn't do anything. Then, she stopped and slowly raised her head. She then turned it to face Cartman. At first she seemed incredibly mad, but then she looked happy.

"Eric…you're…"

"Not fat?" He watched as a tear fell down his mother's face and he knew that moment that he was forgiven. Mrs. Cartman gave him a hug and continued with her baking.

"You run off and I'll bring you a cake real soon, okay poopykins?" She said, smiling. Cartman nodded and hurried back to his friends who were sitting in his room. He found them playing the Okama Gamesphere and sat down on the floor. He was happy just watching them play, since they hadn't even noticed he had entered the room. And it struck him…it was the first time he wasn't too large to be able to hide.

"Whoo! I win!" Kyle exclaimed, putting down his controller just like the other boys. "I wi-in, I wi-in!"

"Meh, I'm tired of playing games anyways…" Stan said, leaning back on Cartman's bed. Kenny and Kyle sat on the edge of it, Cartman sitting on the floor next to it. Stan looked at Cartman. "What was it like?"

"What?" Cartman wondered.

"The program. The exercising."

"Oh, that. Well, you know that story about the guy who was doomed to forever push a stone up a mountain, and whenever he got to the top, the stone would roll down and he would start over?"

"Yeah."

"I wasn't that guy."

"Huh?"

"I was the guy who was doomed to forever sit there and watch to make sure that the guy didn't try to run away…" Stan laughed a little when Cartman said this.

"Well, it must feel pretty good now, huh?" Kyle wondered, leaning forward a little.

"Unbelievable…check out what I can do!" Cartman said. He stood up and bent down, touching his toes while keeping his legs straight. No one was really impressed; that move was often used as a simple warm-up during P.E. "I could never do that before!" Cartman said, smiling widely. The others tried to see where he was coming from, but the joy that Cartman was experiencing was probably something one could only understand if they had accomplished what he had.

"Dude, what do we do now?" Kyle wondered.

"Talk?" Kenny suggested.

"Talking sucks ass." Cartman said.

"Meh…what else is there to do?" Stan mumbled. They all fell silent, completely still for a moment. "Hey, have you talked to the gals lately?"

"No." Kyle said. "I tried, but she was kinda busy…"

"I'm working on it…" Kenny mumbled, thinking back to the night of the party. Everyone looked at Cartman. He sighed and shook his head.

"They were all goddamn drunk…" He murmured, and the others laughed. The boys once again fell silent, not knowing what to say or do. Kyle suddenly stood up.

"I gotta get home…see ya!" He said and hurried out. Stan got up as well.

"Wait for me!" He called out, running after Kyle. Kenny looked at Cartman and became confused. Cartman was just staring at the floor, his head slightly tilted to his left. There was a sheepish smile on his face that made him look as if he wasn't quite aware of…anything.

"Cartman? Cartman…are you awake?" Kenny asked, waving his hand out in front of his friend a little. Cartman looked up.

"Sorry, I kinda started daydreaming…"

"About what?" And then, Cartman's smile faded. He felt the sting. And he frowned. He was furious. He understood now.

No matter what he did, it wouldn't blow over. It wouldn't go away. It was there to stay until Cartman did something about it.

"Kenny…"

"Yeah?"

"If you were Stan…and I really want you to imagine you're in his shoes…with his life around you…" Kenny knew where this was going and smiled sympathetically. "Would you…forgive me?"

"Cartman…I really can't imagine that kind of situation…it's just one of those things you have to go through…" Cartman stared straight into Kenny's eye, a raging flame burning inside of his eyes.

"Don't you get it! I am going through it! I am!" He exclaimed. He felt anger and depression at the same time as he stood up. And to make it worse, he felt the thing. "Don't you understand that I am going through it!" He shouted again. He stood there, his face red. Kenny wasn't hurt at all; he felt with Cartman. And he watched as Cartman fell to his knees, tears running down his cheeks quietly, and once again he felt guilty that he couldn't help his friend anymore than he had already tried.

Kenny was asleep on Cartman's bedroom floor in a yellow sleeping bag. Cartman slowly snuck out of his bed and over to his desk. He took a tiny, red book out from his wardrobe and turned on the little lamp on his desk. He opened the book and took a pen out from a tiny yellow cup.

I don't know if it helped just yet…it's only been a day…but I don't think it will. I realized something today; I'll always be Cartman the stupid, evil, insensitive, fat, weird, insane, rude jackass. And Stan will always be goodie two-shoes who goes out of his way to help the helpless and innocent and yattayatta. And Wendy will always be too good for me…goddamn it, I cried in front of Kenny today! Fucking shit.

Yeah, probably didn't see that coming, did ya? 'OH MY GOD, CARTMAN'S THIN! WHAT MADE YOU DO THAT!' Well, my friends…I don't know. I just felt like it. What you gonna do about, huh? Huh!