Chapter Twenty-Eight - Heart Attack.

"So, you're gonna' talk to him, right?"

Bebe's gentle question almost went completely unnoticed as Wendy finally spotted her boyfriend standing gloomily amongst the crowd.

The girls had been dropped off at school together that Thursday morning and were now waiting out the front of the main building with their suitcases and the rest of their cheer squad. A number of coaches were just starting to arrive at South Park High School to take all the kids to Denver airport. But unfortunately for Wendy, the trip to Phoenix was the absolute last thing she felt like embarking on that day.

The raven haired beauty was exhausted – both physically and emotionally. She'd barely slept a wink all night because all she'd been able to do was lie awake thinking about Stan. Her mind had been over-actively dwelling on everything that had happened, everything that they had said to one another, and the horrible final insult that Stan had hurled her way. But even more than all of that, Wendy couldn't stop telling herself how much she wanted to just apologise to him and put the entire thing behind them.

The teenage girl knew that she had completely over-reacted. Of course she knew that, she wasn't denying it for a single second. But Wendy just couldn't explain the unfathomable rage that consumed her at the images that had appeared to her of Stan and Darcy being together. Maybe she was being jealous and insecure. But Stan was the love of Wendy's life. She was terrified of ever losing him again, or worse, having some other girl steal him away.

That was enough to make any love-struck fool feel insecure.

"Wendy?" Bebe suddenly spat, trying to wake her best friend from her miserable daydreams, "C'mon, girl, you don't want to be fighting with him all weekend."

Willing herself to tear her eyes away from Stan, Wendy glanced at Bebe and sighed, "I know. You're right," she conceded, "I'll talk to him."

As the dark haired cheerleader began to take a timid few steps forward, Stan was yet to notice that she had arrived at school. He had his back turned to the area in which she was standing and was currently in a very heated discussion with Kyle.

"…And then she stormed out," Stan spoke, concluding his explanation with a sad sigh, "I still haven't spoken to her, either. I was gonna' text her last night, but she told me she didn't want to even hear from me…"

"Dude," Kyle stated in disbelief, "That is so freakin' ridiculous."

"I know," Stan admitted, "We both totally blew things out of proportion."

"Both of you?" Kyle repeated with a frown, "Stan, she started on you for absolutely no reason."

Narrowing his eyes at his best friend and his suspicious tone, Stan shook his head, "It was both of our faults, Kyle, not just her. I didn't have to fight back with her, I should have stopped things before they got out of hand. I took it way too far."

Rolling his eyes with a groan, Kyle remained unconvinced. He predicted all along that it wouldn't take too long before something caused a fight between Stan and Wendy, but damn, it hadn't even been two weeks since they got back together yet.

Stubbornly licking his lips to speak again, Kyle suddenly froze for a fleeting moment as he spotted Wendy and Bebe approaching Stan from behind him. Without even stopping to consider what he was about to say, the Jewish boy folded his arms across his chest and shot Wendy a judgemental grimace.

"Well, that didn't take long, did it?"

Coming to a surprised halt, Wendy parted her lips with a small gasp and glared back at Kyle just as harshly. Instantly frowned at his friend in confusion, Stan followed Kyle's line of sight and slowly spun around. A relieved smile initially crossed him to find Wendy standing before him, but the angry expression on her face quickly made Stan swallow a nervous gulp.

Up until that moment, Wendy had been more than ready to pull Stan aside and sort all their crap out. But then – of course – Kyle just had to stick his nose in.

Wendy clenched her fists. She wasn't going to let Stan's best friend judge or condemn her any further.

"Kyle, I am fucking angry, okay?" she announced, watching surprised jaws drop all around her, "I am allowed to be angry, ya' know? It doesn't mean I'm going to break up with him, but even if I did, it would be partly your fault because you can't mind your own business!"

Thrown into total shock to hear Wendy finally snap back at him, Kyle fell to a deathly sharp silence. Stan, on the other hand, remained hopeful as he anxiously cleared his throat.

"So, does that mean you're ready to talk to me now?"

Stan flinched as Wendy's furious eyes flicked over to land on him.

"No!" she huffed, immediately twirling around on her heels and angrily strutting off.

Watching on as she did, Bebe groaned in annoyed disappointment. She knew how badly her best friend wanted to mend things with her boyfriend, but Wendy was clearly still too irate to attempt a mature conversation just yet.

Right as the blonde girl went to follow her friend, Bebe's ear perked up as Kyle's voice box sprang back to life.

"See, dude?" he spat at Stan, "You do this to yourself by insisting on having a girlfriend. I don't see how any guy could willingly put themselves through a girl's manipulative bullshit like that. Relationships are all the same – nothing but trouble."

Instantly feeling her heart splinter, Bebe's stomach tangled up in a sickly knot. Trying to disguise the pain in her expression from Kyle's harsh words, the beautiful blonde girl sniffled through a deep breath, "Well, good to know I can stop wasting my time now."

Kyle's eyes immediately widened at the dejected tone miserably echoing from behind him. His heart stopped as he snapped his neck around and fell witness to the sadness in Bebe's dull, green eyes. Goddamn it.

"No, wait, Bebe, I didn't mean – "

"Just forget about it, Kyle," she sniped at him, ripping away from his attempted grip on her, "I wouldn't want to use my super female powers of manipulation to cause you any trouble, now, would I?"

The rapid rate that Kyle's own words had come back to bite him left an aching sting in his chest. He watched Bebe coldly walk away from him in search of her equally scorned best friend as he regretfully ran his hand down his face. Any chance the red-headed teenager had to take Bebe out on a real date may have very well just slipped out of his grasp.

"Well, welcome to my world," Stan suddenly spoke with little sympathy and plenty of sarcasm, "The dog house is not a very fun place to live."

Huffing out an extremely agitated grumble, Kyle rolled his eyes. His Bebe problems were clearly going to have to wait till later.

"C'mon, dude, don't be all shitty with me," Kyle urged. He strolled back over towards Stan and began to follow him as they rolled their suitcases over to one of the coaches that had finally pulled up.

"Well, she kinda' has a point," Stan griped, referring back to Wendy, "You haven't exactly been our biggest supporter since we got back together."

Kyle scoffed, "Hey, you can't say I haven't at least been trying. It's not like I'm standing here attempting to break you guys up, or anything," he argued. Coming to a pause, Kyle brought his voice to a caring tone, "What did you say to make her so furious at you, anyway?"

At the sound of this question from Kyle, Stan immediately hit a wall. He bit down hard on his tongue, not knowing what the right thing to say was, or whether he should even say anything at all.

The quarterback knew that his best friend was the last person on the planet who would ever judge him for any of the idiotically awful things that he said – that wasn't Stan's concern at all. There was only one other factor telling the teenage boy that maybe he shouldn't go into detail about the tipping point of his and Wendy's argument.

To reveal that to Kyle would mean that Stan would have to give his insult some context. But to give it some context would mean that he would have to explain everything that happened to Wendy in Malibu. And quite frankly, that just wasn't Stan's secret to tell.

"Not that I don't trust you, dude," Stan finally spoke after a wave of hesitation, "But I think going into any of that shit is just gonna' get me in even more trouble."

Kyle simply nodded his head in understanding. Stan was obviously stressed out enough with the weight of everything on his mind, and the last thing he needed was Kyle trying to force any of it out of him.

By this stage in their morning, it was getting close to the time where all the students would be packing onto the coaches to head to the airport. However, it was also getting much closer to the time where the rest of the school were arriving to go to their homerooms and start their day.

And a particular group of these regular schoolgirls just happened to be walking by as Stan sadly spoke his last sentence.

"Aw, what's that? Trouble in paradise, Stan?"

The wicked grin on Darcy's cynical expression made Stan's skin crawl as the auburn haired girl sauntered past him. She was giggling away with Leah and Tori as they all held their textbooks close to their chests. The teenage boy wanted nothing more than the chance to scream at Darcy and gain retribution for all the crap she had caused between him and Wendy. But, miraculously, Stan managed to hold his vicious tongue.

His short temper had already gotten him into way too much strife over these last twenty-four hours. Instead, he only murmured through gritted teeth.

"Grow up, Darcy."

The patronising comment was all Darcy needed for her ears to spitefully perk up and a wave of anger to cross her.

"Me grow up?" she spat, scraping her shoes around in a circle on the concrete, "You're the one obsessing over some stupid little girl just because she'd let you hold her hand in elementary school."

With a simple roll of his eyes, Stan shook his head at Darcy and turned around to walk away from her. He wasn't going to let any part of himself be baited into the argument she was so obviously trying to start.

Taking a step forward, Darcy cleared her throat, "When are you gonna' let go of your inner child and let a real woman show you the right way to be treated?"

As he came to a screeching halt, Stan could barely believe what he was hearing. The reasoning behind every despicable word that left Darcy's mouth was so backward that it was starting to drive the teenage boy completely insane. If he was honestly such a rotten, bad guy – then why were all of Darcy's attacks still being directed solely at Wendy?

Balling his hands up into fists in his pockets, Stan's vision shot up from where he had been glued to the ground. Catching Kyle's eye and noting the wary expression and shake of his head he was sending his best friend's way, Stan ignored it all as he whipped back around and marched towards Darcy.

"Look, I am sorry that I hurt your feelings, okay? It was honestly the absolute last thing that I was trying to do," he unwillingly admitted through his furious tone, "But I'm not going to let you keep all this shit going any longer."

By this point, the rising volumes of both their voices had brought the hustle and bustle of all the students scrambling to class or piling onto coaches to a curious standstill. A range of teenagers from freshmen to seniors all gazed over to Stan and Darcy, needlessly wondering what their heated argument was all about.

Carrying right along, barely even noticing the dozens of eyes on him, Stan licked his lips, "You and your two Barbie Doll friends need to get over it and move on," he warned her, "Because Wendy's the girl I'm in love with."

Darcy didn't miss a single beat, "You didn't seem very in love with her the night that you were with me."

The instant ooh-ing and ahh-ing that resonated from the nosey crowd watching and listening on shook Stan to his absolute core. His blood skyrocketed to an insanely dangerous level of heat. He glared at the auburn haired girl before him with absolute daggers. Her pure audacity had thrown Stan into utter disbelief. What could possibly possess Darcy to say something like that in front of so many people – something so vulgar that would completely crush Wendy's spirits if it ever got back to her?

As the severe need for retaliation began to build in him all too quickly, Kyle grimaced at the infuriating expression he could see as clear as day on his best friend's face. The red-head quietly spoke Stan's name, gently taking him by the arm in an attempt to coax him away from the three girls. But it was far too late. And as Stan ripped away from Kyle's grasp, he fired back at Darcy just as crudely as she had spoken to him.

"See, that's the difference between you and Wendy. Wendy's the type of girl that will love you and stay committed to you," he thundered, "And you're the pathetic type of girl who will dig her claws in and suck off any guy who's stupid enough to give you the meaningless attention that you so desperately crave."

Each word he spoke was like a knife through Darcy's chest, puncturing all of her vital organs as the cocky expression finally fell from her face. A shocked silence had swept over the gathering crowd before they awkwardly began to disperse, leaving the young girl in the open space face-to-face with her ex – or whatever he was to her.

Though, of course, in that instant, Stan didn't feel like much to Darcy at all.

As his appearance remained stone cold, Stan carelessly watched the tears form in Darcy's eyes before she turned on her heels and bolted into the school building with Leah and Tori close behind her.

The dark haired boy hadn't even budged, and as Kyle stared at him in complete bewilderment, wondering if he should dare speak anything, he suddenly jumped in surprise as Stan jerked back to life. Snatching up his suitcase, Stan pushed through the rest of his team and shoved it in the compartment under the coach before silently climbing aboard.

Kyle huffed out a hopeless sigh. Stan and Wendy were fighting, Bebe was upset with him, and now on top of everything else, Stan had humiliated Darcy in front of the majority of the student body and, in the process, thrown himself into a disgustingly severe anger.

How could this weekend possibly get any worse?

"God fuckin' damn it…"

Stan winced and hissed through gritted teeth as the cold water continued to plummet down onto his bare back. He desperately wished he could crank up the hot water and simply melt away into the relaxing steam of the shower, but he knew nothing was going to help his sore muscles more than the freezing temperatures. As the cold slowly became a little more bearable after a few minutes, Stan rested his arm on the tiled wall and leant his head against it.

It had been an incredibly long first day. Somehow between landing in Arizona that morning and immersing himself in the shower where he stood now, Stan's team had played two games of football against two different schools. The quarters were only ten minutes long rather than twenty to save from too much exhaustion, but the quarterback was certainly still completely worn out. Not only was his body drained of all energy from winning both games, but Stan's mind was also pretty drained, too.

He still hadn't spoken to Wendy.

It had been utterly agonising for Stan to try and concentrate on the game at hand when all he could really focus on was Wendy. Despite the pressure of the competition, what he had shouted at Darcy earlier that day, and everything else – hiss girlfriend truly was all that he could see.

For the entire length of both his games, she had been there in the corner of his eye, running and dancing and cheering up and down the sideline. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her perfect little skirt and cheerleading top. The teenage girl hadn't missed a single step, either. She was just as athletic and graceful as she had always been.

Stan wished more than anything that he could have dashed over to her after both of his team's wins and celebrated with her. But she was still stubbornly torturing him with her silent treatment, and he was too pig-headed to find the courage to just go up to her himself and force a conversation.

Stan sighed, resisting the urge to punch the wall of the shower. This was just getting ridiculous.

Winding the taps to the right and switching off the cold water, Stan opened the shower door and reached over to the basin for his towel. As he dried his face, he groaned in frustration into the soft, white material. It only took him a minute or so to quickly run the towel through his black locks and dry the rest of his body before he pulled on his briefs and a pair of jeans.

Opening the door that lead back into the room he was sharing with Kyle, Stan expected to find his best friend sitting up in bed reading or playing on his mobile phone. But instead, the quarterback frowned when all he discovered was an empty bedroom.

Stewing on the thought for only a moment, Stan snatched up his own phone and quickly ran his thumbs along the keypad.

'Where are you?'

By the time he pulled on a t-shirt and grabbed his blue and red poofball hat from the top of his open suitcase, Kyle had replied to him.

'We're all just hanging out in the lounge, come down'

With a roll of his eyes, Stan forced another grumble from the back of his throat. He didn't exactly feel like socialising in a large group, but he supposed it was better than moping around by himself in his room all night.

As he slipped into his shoes, Stan fell to an instant of hesitation. He wondered who Kyle meant when he said "we" – was it just football guys and some of the other boys? Or were the girls going to be there, too? A bolt of nervousness shot up his spine at possibly being there with Wendy. Surely she wouldn't cause a scene in front of so many of their friends… but did that mean that would just get up and coldly walk away?

Stan suddenly shook his head, ridding it of all its negative thoughts as he closed the door to his room behind him. He headed out of the South Park boys' cabin and over to the common area where the lounge was situated. If Wendy did happen to be there, then it was as good a time as any to put an end to their argument. Because Stan sure as hell wasn't going to put up with this crap all weekend.

Just as he managed to settle on an opening line to earn his girlfriend's full attention, Stan entered the main cabin of the camp ground that housed places like reception, first aid and the lounge to find that his girlfriend wasn't there. The dark haired boy instantly spotted Kyle sitting with a couple of their friends and Stan's other teammates. There were groups from a number of different schools all hanging out and chatting, and South Park had comfortably inhabited the back corner of the room.

Stan wasn't sure if he was relieved or not that Wendy wasn't anywhere in sight, but the thought soon became lost to him as he heard his name being called from across the room. As he continued to half-heartedly stroll over towards his friends, the quarterback narrowed his eyes to find that it was his football captain who had noticed him and was now beckoning him over.

The captain of the South Park Bulls football team was named Shawn – a senior, obviously, and just happened to be dating the senior captain of the cheerleading team, Bree. A total cliché, but one that made perfect sense. Shawn and Bree were flawless together.

Walking past Kyle and giving him a quick nod, Stan took a seat on the couch beside Shawn, smiling up at his friend, teammate and captain. He was a super friendly guy and had taught all his teammates so much. He had certainly earned Stan's respect as his captain.

Shawn grinned right back at him, "How's my quarterback feeling?"

"Fine," Stan answered simply, "A little bruised, I guess, but nothing a good night's sleep won't fix."

Nodding his head in silent response, Shawn subtly looked over his shoulder to Bree. His girlfriend was deep in conversation with a couple of the other cheerleaders, and once he was sure that no-one else was listening, Shawn turned back to Stan.

He ran his hand over his brunette buzz-cut, "Is everything okay with you, man?"

For a split second, Stan's appearance went blank. He quickly tried to force a certain expression with a casual shrug of his shoulders, "Uh, yeah? Of course, dude, why?"

Shawn frowned, "I dunno', you just seemed a bit… distracted out there today."

"We won both games," Stan snapped back with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, you played fine," he mused, "Just not really… like yourself."

Stan held in an anxious shudder at what he was hearing. He knew his head hadn't fully been in either of his games that day. He had forgotten certain plays and hesitated before firing really long passes down the field. He didn't need any amount of post-match analysis to tell him these things. But to actually hear that his teammates were starting to notice that he was playing with a scattered brain?

"Hey, Stan?"

Quietly relieved to hear Kyle's familiar voice calling his name, Stan snapped himself out of his worried trance. Turning away from Shawn, he gazed over to his best friend.

The Jewish boy had casually wandered from the corner of the room to examine the back wall of the lounge area where each of the schools' team sheets were hanging. There was a list for every school that named each player on that team and their position, including South Park. The thing that had caught Kyle's attention, however, was the sight of one of the camp ground's staff members taking down lists of teams that had been eliminated on the first day and pinning up new sheets of those that had just arrived for day two.

Scanning his eyes over one page in particular, Kyle tilted his head to the side, "Isn't this Wendy's old school?"

Allowing his friend's words to dwell within him, for the first instant, Stan was totally nonchalant as he thought nothing of them. But then all of a sudden, the teenage boy abruptly remembered something detrimental that Wendy had once mentioned to him. The thought hit him like an aggressive tidal wave, completely drowning him and slapping him hard across the face.

Stan choked on his breath and felt his blood run absolutely cold.

With his jaw agape in fear, Stan could barely move, and certainly couldn't utter a single sound. Eventually willing his legs to take one step forward, the dark haired teenager silently crept up on the team sheet and reluctantly ran his vision down the list of names under the banner for Malibu High School.

And then, Stan's heart stopped.

"…Where is she?"

The words that had mutely slipped from Stan's mouth made Kyle's brow collapse in confusion. A confused chuckle escaped him, "…What?"

"Where's Wendy?" Stan yelped, spinning around in a sudden panic, "Where is she?!"

The faces of all those around him fell into frowns at Stan's rapid burst of brash terror, but none more so than Kyle's. The red-head felt a renewed sense of anxiousness as he stared at his best friend until he heard Bree clearing her throat behind them.

"Um, she and Bebe went for a walk down to the football fields."

Oh my fucking God.

"By themselves?!"

These final two horrified words were the last thing Stan could bring himself to say before he made a mad dash for the entranceway of the lounge. He had never sprinted so hard or so fast in his entire life. As pained and exhausted as every muscle in his body may have been, there was one all too powerful thought that was going to carry him all the way to Wendy.

In the blink of an eye, Stan had bolted out of the room, leaving Kyle completely dumbfounded. He only allowed himself the shortest possible couple of seconds as he cycled through each word that Stan had just spoken.

Whatever it was that had reduced the dark haired boy to such a frenzied state of shock didn't seem to just affect Wendy. It sounded like Bebe could be in danger, too. And whether she still happened to be upset with him or not, this notion alone was all Kyle needed to blast off out of the room and after his best friend.

What the hell was going on?

"Stan!"

... Well, I don't think I have to say anything more.

Except maybe, HEY LOOK, FIVE DAYS LATER AND I UPDATED AGAIN ;)

Please leave me a review and let me know what you think/how panicked you might be. I look forward to reading your reactions and predictions :)

Till next time guys,

Reneyyyyyyyyyy x