A/N- Hey, guys, hope you like this chapter. I've been having a bit of trouble writing lately, but hopefully, it'll go away. Anyway, review, let me know what you think.

The rest of the week comes and goes by slowly. The weekend passes, and still no sign of Kenny. I've just been getting more and more anxious. I mean, Kenny has gone missing for far more than two weeks before. The last time, he was gone for two months. So I'm not sure what I'm freaking out about. But I look for him everywhere I go, like he'll just suddenly be there. I keep ending up imagine horrible, unrealistic things that could've happened. And I just have to tell myself every time, it's only been two weeks, I know he's fine. He's always fine.

By the time this Friday comes, I'm still worried about him, but I'm also kind of pissed. I know it's unreasonable, because he never even tells Craig where he's going, but I just find myself getting kind of mad at Kenny for disappearing without telling me. I mean, I waited for him Monday morning, and he didn't tell me he wasn't coming. That just seems inconsiderate.

Stan offered to drive me, so we've been carpooling again this week. His car feels safer, as does his driving. And he never complains about my driving, so that's nice. All in all, it's probably a more pleasant arrangement than driving with Kenny all the time. And logically, I recognize this. But I still miss driving with Kenny.

And Stan is usually late, like today, which is one of my pet peeves. I mean, we start class at the same time every day. You'd think he'd have gotten the hang of it at this point, but no, he continues to be at least five minutes late every day.

I sigh loudly as I check my watch. Eight minutes late. I'm going to need to run to class. I hate doing that.

He pulls up with an apologetic look on his face, mouthing the word sorry.

I roll my eyes as I get in. "I hate you sometimes."

"I'm sorry!" he says with a smile. "I do have a good reason this time."

"Oh, yeah?" I raise an eyebrow at him. He always has a good reason. "What is it this time?"

He hesitates for a moment. "Would you believe me if I said that my alarm clock is broken?"

"Maybe," I say thoughtfully with a shrug. "If you hadn't used that twice already."

"Damn," he says. Then he looks at me and grins. "Okay, I slept through my alarm. But guess what?"

I sigh. "What?"

"Wow, tone down the enthusiasm," he replies, shooting me a glare. He quickly goes back to being cheerful, though. "Wendy and I talked about it last night, and she's applying to Boulder! We might go to the same college!"

I glance at him uncertainly. "Is that really a good idea?"

"Hey, don't ruin this for me. Our relationship is going great."

I snort. "Yeah, this week."

He grips the steering wheel and his knuckles turn white and glares at me a little. "Back off, dude." Then he glances at me with a weird look in his eye. "Have you heard from Kenny yet?"

"No," I say, and I can hear the lack of patience in my voice. I doubt that Stan can, though.

He just shakes his head. "I don't get it. I mean, I know last time he disappeared it because of what happened with him and Craig, but why this time?"

"Him and Craig?" I ask, suddenly a lot more interested in and a loss less annoyed about this conversation.

Stan looks over at me, and I'm pretty sure I can see some smugness in his face. Jerk. "Yeah, him and Craig. Kenny disappeared for two months because they broke up."

"Wait, what?" I say, turning my whole body in the seat to face Stan. "Broke up? They were dating?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Shut up, Stan, I obviously didn't know, or I wouldn't be asking. "They were dating on and off for a while. I could never quite tell the difference between when they were on and when they were off, since they acted the same around other people. I was pretty sure they'd broken up for good this time."

"Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?" I reply. I feel really weird, half jealous of Craig ad half really interested in the possibility that Kenny is gay. For some reason.

Stan shrugs and smirks a little. "I don't know, you didn't used to be so interested in Kenny's love life, I guess."

"Still, you'd think I would've heard people talking about it or something," I reply, glancing out the window.

"I'm not sure how many people knew or cared, really," Stan says. And I guess that makes sense, I'm sure a lot of people didn't care to begin with or got tired of caring when they became so on and off. I'm really not sure why I care at all. Why should I care who Kenny does and doesn't date and whether or not those people are male?

As we pull up to the school, we're not quite as late as I thought we would be. I don't quite have to run to class and I get there just in time. The morning goes by pretty slowly, and by the time lunch rolls around, I'm exhausted.

Yawning, I walk in to the cafeteria and sit down at my usual table. Butters isn't there yet, and Cartman looks like he's sulking.

Stan sighs in annoyance when I sit down. "Well, aren't you both rays of sunshine. Maybe I should go sit with Wendy."

Cartman shoots him a vicious glare. "Fuck off, Stan."

Cartman has been acting weird these past two weeks. So has Butters, come to think of it. Butters is only around half the time, it seems. The rest of the time, he's not even in the cafeteria for lunch. And Cartman is in a perpetual bad mood. He's stormed off for the tiniest reasons more than once.

"Dude, what's your problem?" Stan replies. Stan is usually patient and level-headed, but I think Cartman's hostility has been getting on his nerves the past couple days. He seems a lot less willing to put up with it.

Cartman just glares at Stan again, though this time it's more half-hearted. Then he just gets up, leaves his food, and walks toward the door. Stan sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

Butters walks in the cafeteria right as Cartman is walking out and they almost run right into each other. They both stop for a moment, and then Butters starts walking again. Cartman grabs his arm and says something to him.

Butters just yanks his arm away and walks quickly away from Cartman. I'm a little surprised. This might be the most assertive I've ever seen Butters be. Cartman stands by the door for a moment before leaving, his shoulders hunched over.

The rest of the day passes just as slowly as the morning, and I'm almost falling asleep in class by the end of it. I walk out to the parking lot to see Kenny. Clyde and Kenny are laughing and smoking, Craig is rolling his eyes, and Tweek is just leaning away from the smoke.

I'm so tired that I'm just confused for a few moments before I register what's going on. Kenny is just casually smoking a cigarette in the parking lot as though he never left. I guess this is always how he comes back. I just never really realized how weird it was.

He glances over and we make eye contact for a second. I don't know what to do, I just panic and pretend I didn't see him. It doesn't work though, because he walks over to me. "Hey, man, need a ride home?" he says, smiling at me. His tone is casual, like no time has passed. Like I didn't kiss him when I was drunk. Like this isn't really, really awkward. And maybe it isn't for him.

I'm a little taken aback by how normal he seems, and it takes me a moment to respond. "Uh, Stan is driving me home."

"Okay!" Kenny says, downright cheerful. "I'll pick you up tomorrow, though, yeah? I think it's my turn."

I just stare at him for a moment. "Um, okay," I say, because I don't know how else to respond.

"Great, see you tomorrow!" he replies. Then he ruffles my hair and almost skips back over to his friends. I just stand there baffled for a minute before heading to Stan's car.