Disclaimer: I do not own South Park; it is the property of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.


Victoria didn't seem the least bit surprised to see them.

"Well boys, here we are again." She peered at them, then looked up at the door, "I assume Eric is coming along too? The four of you usually end up in here together."

"He went home," Kyle replied.

Victoria's brows rose above her glasses. "Did he now? And who gave him permission to do that?"

They looked at each other, before Stan said, "Well… no one. But," he paused. He knew he'd regret this. Still, he continued, "Cartman really didn't do anything wrong… for once. Garrison just told him to come here with us because he thought Cartman would be involved."

"And was he?"

"There really isn't anything to be involved in," Stan replied. He closed his eyes, "I… was acting out in class again. Kyle and Kenny just got caught up in the crossfire."

"That's not true!" Kyle said. Victoria turned to him, and he added, "I mean… it's kind of true. Stan and I were talking in class because Garrison—"

"Mr. Garrison," she interrupted.

"—right… because Mr. Garrison was talking about irrelevant nonsense, like he usually does. He caught Stan, and… yea, okay, maybe Stan was a bit of a smartass." He shot Stan an apologetic look, but he just shrugged. "But it wasn't just Stan's fault. It was mine too."

"And what about you, Mr. McCormick?"

"I told the teacher to suck my dick," he replied smoothly, causing Stan and Kyle to smirk at his nonchalant tone.

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Honestly, I don't know why you boys insist on being such a disruption in class. Though I will say, I am surprised to see you in here Kyle. Lately, you've been much of a model student.

"As for you, Stan," she said, glancing at him. "This is the second time in just three days that I've had you in here. Now I don't know what is making you feel the need to disrespect your teacher, but this behavior cannot be tolerated."

Despite himself, Stan muttered, "It's not like he's ever done anything to earn my respect."

"Be that as it may," she said, not even trying to defend Garrison to them, "he is still your teacher. I can't have you boys," she looked at Kenny, "constantly interrupting class. It isn't fair to the other students."

"We won't," Kyle said immediately. Now, his goal was damage control. He just needed to make sure his mother didn't find out. "We'll behave, right?" he looked to his friends for support.

Kenny nodded unenthusiastically. "Sure."

Stan was silent.

"Stan?" Kyle asked.

The raven-haired boy looked to his friend, then back to his teacher. His heart suddenly sounded very loud in his ears.

The rut. It's going to consume you. You'll live in the rut until you die in the rut.

"I…" he looked back at Kyle. "I… can't. I can't keep doing this."

Kyle looked confused. Stan couldn't read Kenny's face, being as it was hidden beneath the parka. Principal Victoria's expression mimicked Kyles. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I'm going to die like this," Stan whispered. Suddenly, he was helpless to stop the tears that flowed down his face. Everyone seemed to perk up in alarm at this.

"Kenny, Kyle, the two of you may return to your class."

"But—"

"We can't just leave him like—"

"Now boys," she said, her voice firm. They hesitantly obeyed, both of them keeping their eyes on Stan.

Once the other two kids had left, Victoria stood and walked around her desk until she was standing in front of Stan. She carefully set a hand on his shoulder. "Stan, what's wrong?"

He tried to wipe away his tears, but new ones just continued to fall to replace the old.

When he didn't respond, she clicked her tongue. "I'll go get Mackey."

"No!" Stan said, reaching out and grabbing her sleeve. "No, I'm… I'm fine. I don't want to talk to him. He's just as much of an idiot as Garrison."

She sighed, "Clearly, something is wrong. Now, if you won't talk to me I'll have to get Mackey."

Stan was silent for a moment longer. "I'm just…" he let out a shaky breath. "The rut."

The woman pulled one of the chairs over to she could sit down in front of him. "The rut?" she repeated, confused.

"It's… it's this thing. It happens to everyone in this fuc—in this town. They're born here, they go through the shitty school system here, and then they work a shitty job here, and then they die a shitty death here. Only a few people manage to escape it." He looked down at his hands, "I know I won't be one of them."

Victoria frowned. This was a bit more than she'd been prepared to deal with. After all, how often did twelve-year-olds have existential crises? "Why won't you be one of them?"

"Because I'm not Kyle," he replied, angry. "I'm not Kyle or Token or Wendy or Jimmy. My grades are average at best, and I don't have extremely well-to-do parents that can help me move forward. I'm not talented enough in anything to get me out of this town, like Jimmy. I'll have to go to SPCC once I get out of high school… and that's if I can even go to college! Most kids in this fucking town don't even get that far. They just get some shitty job right out of school and work until the day they die."

She frowned, "Well if you're so worried about all of this, then why don't you try to change it?"

He shook his head, "It's too late for me."

To Stan's surprise, she laughed. "Stan Marsh, you make it sound like you're sixty and have been working a boring office job for the last forty years of your life. You're twelve. I know that all of you kids are probably a lot more mature—in some ways, at least—than most other kids your age, due to what goes on in this town. But you're still just a twelve-year-old kid. Maybe instead of moping about how you think your life is going to turn out, spend some time studying. Get your grades up, join an afterschool activity. Maybe even pick up an instrument or pursue something you enjoy. Try finding a hobby that you can turn into a talent that could lead to some exciting things outside of South Park."

Stan looked up at her, and she smiled. "What I'm saying is, maybe spend a bit less time thinking about how shitty everything is and spend a little more time trying to make everything less shitty."

Rubbing his sleeve over his eyes to wipe the rest of his tears away, Stan found himself smiling as well. He'd never really thought of the Principal as someone who might actually have some sound advice. But then again, he never gave her much thought except when she was reprimanding him and his friends. After a moment, he said, "I thought teachers weren't supposed to swear in front of students."

She laughed at that, "Well, if you say anything to anyone, I'll deny all of it." Her mood sobered a bit, and she added, "I will still have to call your mother about what happened today, Stan, and tell her what we talked about."

He just shrugged. "Go ahead. She already knows how I feel. I told her the other day."

Victoria nodded. "Very well. Undoubtedly, Kenny and Kyle ignored what I said and are waiting for you outside the door. Go on out to them." She checked her watch, which made Stan blink. Really? Who wore watches anymore?

"School is already nearly over, the three of you can just go ahead and head on out."

"Garrison gave us all detention after school."

She shook her head. "While I admire your honesty, I'll let you boys off the hook. I need to have a talk with your teacher about what he is teaching in that classroom anyways. No go on before I change my mind."

She didn't need to tell Stan twice.

Once he was out the door, Stan found himself ambushed.

"Dude, are you okay?"

"What happened in there?"

Leaning back from his friends, who weren't allowing him much space, he said, "Relax. It's alright, I'm fine."

"Dude, you were crying. What is going on?" Kyle asked, worry etched into every line of his face. "You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?"

Stan glanced at Kenny, silently watching. After a moment, he reached out and squeezed Kyle's shoulder, "I know, dude. But trust me, I'm all good. After all," his smiled turned devilish, "I just got us out of detention, and we don't have to go back to class. Victoria's letting us leave."

Kyle blinked, "Wait, you… were faking?"

"Duh," Stan replied, "I mean, come on dude. Do you really think I'm gonna break down into hysterics for real?" Stan rolled his eyes at that, managing to catch Kenny's gaze in doing so. Even from beneath his parka, the blonde seemed skeptical on the matter. Before either of them could respond, Stan grabbed Kyle's hand and tugged him through the halls. "Let's just get out of here before Victoria figures it out."

Kyle smiled at that, "Yea… I guess that doesn't really sound like you."

They made it out of the school, and Kyle said, "Hey, since we're out early, let's go play some basketball before you have to go meet your friend."

Ah shit, he'd forgotten about that. Seeing Kyle's earnest expression, Stan sighed. "Sure dude, sounds good. You wanna come play, Kenny?"

"Nah, I've got a date with Mary Jane," Kenny said, eyes glinting.

Kyle frowned, "Mary Jane? Who's that?"

Stan snorted. "No one you'd want to know, Kyle."

"Right. She is to me what Stan's friend Jameson is to him," Kenny replied.

"Jameson?" Kyle turned to Stan. The redhead felt like he was missing part of the conversation, and he hated feeling let out of the loop.

Shooting Kenny a dark glower, Stan looked up at his best friend and replied, "Never mind him, Kyle. Kenny's just being a dick."

Barking out a laugh, Kenny waved him off, "Yea Kyle, I'm being a dick. I'll see you guys later." Sticking his hands in his pockets, the boy in the orange parka strolled away.

Kyle looked up at his friend imploringly, "Stan?"

"What?" snapped Stan, a bit more harshly than he'd meant to due to his annoyance at Kenny.

Rather than backing down at the tone, Kyle straightened to his full height and glared down at his best friend, "Dude, you didn't have to drive Kenny off. Now what's with you lately? I feel like you're keeping something from me."

Anger growing, he said, "You're reading too much into things like you usually do, Kyle. And I didn't 'drive Kenny off'! It's not my fault if he can't handle it when he's called out."

"Something is definitely wrong with you," Kyle said, stomping his foot. "Because you are behaving like a royal ass lately, Stan Marsh. I just can't figure out why you won't talk to me. We're super best friends. We tell each other everything!"

"I do tell you everything!" Stan lied. Shaking his head, he said, "Just drop it Kyle. I thought you wanted to play some basketball?"

"I do, but not if you're going to lie to my face." Kyle crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Look, I don't know what's wrong, but I can't help you if you won't talk to me." His expression softened, and he set a hand against Stan's shoulder. "Please, Stan?"

Stan looked up into Kyle's inviting green eyes. The jewish boy always had this affect on him, where he'd just want to spill all of his troubles and worries onto his best friend. But he couldn't. Couldn't Kyle just understand that?

Trying to give Kyle the best placating smile he could, Stan said, "It's really nothing, Kyle. Come on, I don't want to waste this extra time outside of class. Let's just head over to the park, huh?"

Kyle sighed and dropped his arm. "I don't really think I could get into it right now, Stan. Look, when you're ready to tell me the truth hit me up. Until then, I've got some homework to work on."

"But… we left class before Garrison assigned us any homework."

Giving Stan a flat look, the redhead replied, "Yea, I know. Sucks being lied to, doesn't it?" He turned and began walking off in the direction of his house.

Stan stared after him for a moment. A lump formed in his throat, and his eyes felt misty. "God damnit Marsh," he muttered. "Even when you're buzzed, you still manage to push him away."

Obviously, something needed to change. Stan couldn't keep dealing with this on his own anymore. He needed to talk to someone he trusted that might be able to help him. So far, he'd talked to his mom, Kenny, Pete, and even his principal. They'd offered him… something, but none of it really helped.

Stan chewed on his lip a moment. He wished Chef was here. No one in this fucking town really knew how to help him with his problems like Chef could… well, almost no one.


So, a couple things. The first, being that I recently realized that this story has consisted of a lot of heart-to-heart talks between Stan and someone else. This chapter not being much of an exception. I also doubt that this is going to change much, as I've come to the realization that building a support network for Stan is probably a good thing at this point in the story, before shit really hits the fan. Hopefully people don't mind this sort of storytelling. Either way, I suppose I enjoy it.

Second, a bit of an announcement. I've decided that I am going to have a bit of a contest/celebration of sorts once I reach Chapter 10. Thus, if you enjoy my writing or this story, you might consider leaving a review or a follow so you don't miss the announcement.

And finally, do you have any idea who Stan is talking about at the end there? Haven't given many hints up to this point, but if you manage to guess, then kudos and brownie points!