Chapter 14

"So, what are we doing in shop class today…" Stan thought aloud.

"Okay," Mr. Bob firmly set his hands on the table, "Today, we are going to build metal pipes to use as small chimneys all throughout the school. They will be used on portables and such. Get into your pairs."

The students scrambled throughout the classroom. Stan tried to look for Kyle, and quickly succeeded in doing so.

"Don't tell me…" Kyle put one of his hand in his own face and the other in front of him, "You want to be partners with me, right?"

"Well, yeah, dude," Stan cocked his head much like a young child would, and pointed his ears at the ceiling, "It's not like I really want to work with anyone else in this class."

"Okay," Mr. Bob got his class' attention after they followed his current instructions, "Before you get started, let me show you the basics of what you need to do. First, you cut the steel like this… Then you do this… Watch out. You definitely need your work gloves for this, or you will be cut by the metal."

I wonder if he realizes that he says we need work gloves for more than 90% of what we do in here… Stan looked at Kyle, giggling.

I agree entirely, Kyle nodded.

"Okay, start," Mr. Bob prompted as he walked to his desk.

"Well, now…" Kyle went over to Stan, covering him from other people's view, "You don't want anyone to see your brand, do you?"

"Everyone knows already, so there's really no point," Stan took off the glove on his right hand, waving his rouge-colored mark in the air, "But thanks for the offer."

"I agree on that," Kyle now had both of his work gloves on, "Well, let's get to work. Hey, what's the matter with you?"

"That didn't sound very right…" Stan blushed, looking away from Kyle.

"Oh, come on," Kyle laughed, "You're acting like a virgin, Stan. In fact, you're acting like you've never even kissed anyone, boy or girl."

"You think that's because I am a virgin?" Stan wanted to shout, but only loudly whispered, "Stop acting like you've done it with millions of girls."

But I'm still a virgin too, Stan… Kyle put Stan's right index finger to his mouth, In fact, the only people I've ever kissed are Bebe and… you. And Bebe's ancient history now.

"Ahem…" Mr. Bob coughed from behind them, "I don't mean to interrupt you two loverboys, but… there's work to be done."

"Excuse me, sir," Kyle bowed his head in apology.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Bob?" Stan could believe what the shop class teacher just said.

"Leave your homosexuality outside of this room," Mr. Bob's tone was not friendly in any way.

"Homophobe…" Stan muttered.

"What did you say, Mr. Marsh?" Mr. Bob put his hands to his hips and looked down at the adorable apostle of Begnion.

"Nothing!" Stan scurried from Kyle and Mr. Bob, "Come along, Kyle, we have work to do!"

"Riiiiight…" Kyle sensed some kind of trouble brewing within Stan, but there was a mix of too many different emotions to get something definite.

"So, I heard that Valentine's Day is tomorrow!" Stan nervously asked, "You getting something for someone?"

"Yeah, of course," Kyle took a sheet of metal and smiled at Stan.

"Oh, yeah…" Stan giggled, "I'm getting something for Wendy. So there!"

"Somehow, I sense that that's not what you really think…" Kyle shook his head, both shamefully and happily.

"What?!"

You see, I can see into the past and know virtually anything that happened to people, Kyle explained, Just like you can see into the future, I can read people's pasts and have impeccable memory. Unlike you.

"Oh, be quiet!" Stan hissed, "Do your work!"

"Yes, Mother," Kyle found it hard to contain his laughter, "Ouch!"

"What happened?"

"I cut myself on the metal…"

"Don't say that so loud! Someone will hear you."

"Why? I'm going to go to Nurse Gollum's office now."

"Sigh," Stan shook his head, "You're very hopeless, Kyle. Always getting hurt. Here, let me heal it for you."

"But why are you using Sacrifice here, for something so minor?"

"If it's only a small wound, it's nothing for me. I've been getting better at using Sacrifice. Besides, ever since that one football game, everyone has already known about it. Right? So please, let me heal it…"

"Damn, always the insistent one, eh, Apostle Stanley?" Kyle giggled, "Fine, go ahead."

"Thank you," Stan nodded as he took Kyle's hand in his own, touching a finger to where the wound was. It took only one or two seconds to heal this wound, and not too much energy from Stan.

"Are you sure you're all right, Stan?" Kyle put his hand to Stan's forehead.

"Yeah!" Stan furrowed his eyebrows, "I'm perfectly fine! Not a headache, no sweating, nothing!"

"I can tell you feel somewhat flustered, though…"

What did I say about teasing me? Stan's tail stood erect while his ears went flat.

So sorry, Stan. I apologize. Kyle's face looked rather melancholy as his ears drooped.

Oh, quit your whining. I didn't mean it like that, Stan patted his best friend on the shoulder, then reverting to regular speech, "After school today, you want to go to the mall to buy something for Valentine's Day? I've yet to do so."

"Sure," Kyle nodded, "Anything for you, Stan."

I would really appreciate it if you didn't show your love for me so easily in public, Prince Kyle… Stan nearly gritted his teeth.

"Sorry, sorry," Kyle had already finished doing his work as Stan finished doing his, "So, right after school?"

"What if we have homework?"

"It would be so mean of the teachers to do that on Valentine's Day…" Kyle swished his tail, "Besides, can't you predict the future, Stan? Can't Ashera's or Yune's voice tell you if we have homework today?"

"Kyle, it isn't that simple," Stan held up one index finger, "I can't choose what I see in the future. I can really only hear oncoming dangers, or something specific that one of the goddesses tells me."

"Well, that's a shame. Can't you talk to them and ask them if we have homework tonight?"

"Kyle, give it a rest," Stan lightly slapped Kyle on the left cheek, "If we have homework, then we have homework, though I hope we do not. I think that the goddesses have better things to do than listen to complaints of a 16-year-old prince of Hatari. Besides, you're so smart, you'll get it done in no time."

"But what about you, Stan?" Kyle looked into Stan's eyes, trying to win him over (failing, of course).

"I'll be fine," Stan reassured.

"If you insist…"

~Last period, Mr. Wich's graphic arts class…~

"Okay, go to your computers!" Mr. Wich ordered his students.

"Hey, Valentine's Day is tomorrow," Wendy noted.

"I know," Bebe whispered to her, "Hey, I wonder if Stan is going to get something for you. Would you want that?"

"Not really," Wendy laid back in her chair, "I don't like him anymore. I stopped liking him in the 6th grade."

"But he's sooooo cute!!" Bebe squealed, "Next to Prince Kyle, he's got to be the second most popular boy in the whole school."

"That's true, but… I just… I just don't like him anymore."

"But do you at least think he's cute?"

"Yeah, I suppose. Kyle is pretty fine, too."

"Go for him, then."

"I can't. You know how many other girls are trying? Besides, he likes someone. He just won't tell anyone who it is."

"What about me?"

"What?!" The two girls looked behind them, seeing Stan right there.

"You were saying how cute I was, and how Kyle liked someone?"

"Well, yeah. There just has to be someone. And we already know for sure."

"What?! You know who it is?"

"No. And why do you care?" Wendy eyed Stan curiously.

"He's my best friend," Stan giggled, "Of course I'd be concerned! It's not like I'm trying to… trying to get him to be… my boyfriend or anything!"

"Hmph, I knew that," Wendy nearly scoffed at Stan, "I was only testing you. But I can read right through you, even without your or Kyle's mind-reading powers. You are in love with him. It's too damned obvious."

"Why the hell does everyone think I'm in love with Kyle?!" Stan went into his "feral cat mode" for about the 10th time that day, "He's a friggin guy, and I don't like guys like that!"

"Girl's intuition, I guess," Bebe shrugged, going back to her computer work.

"We can read the minds of gay men, even without your powers," Wendy did what Bebe was doing.

"Girls sometimes…" Stan muttered, shaking his head in shame.

To everyone's surprise, that second, the bell rang.

"Hey!" the students went into an uproar.

"Sorry, class," Mr. Wich appeared clumsy at that moment, "I was so carried away that I lost track of time. Sorry."

Stan hurried his way out of the room, looking for Kyle right away.

Kyle? Stan gripped tightly on his sending stone, Kyle, where are you?

"Right here, silly goose," Kyle had his sending stone in his left hand and grabbed one of Stan's cat ears.

"W-where the f*** did you come from?!" Stan jolted, baring his cute cat fangs.

"Shouldn't a goddess' voice tell you that?" Kyle grinned.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I can only predict certain things?"

"Sorry!" Kyle beat his wings to hover in midair before Stan could grab his bushy wolf tail, "Anyway, come on. Let's go. Or are your wings still too tired to fly?"

"I… yeah," Stan strained very hard to get to where Kyle was, "*pant* Hurry… Put me… on your back…"

"Okay, okay, already…" Kyle rolled his eyes, seizing Kyle so that the young apostle was on his back, "Is there anywhere else you want to stop by?"

"No. Just go to the mall," Stan gripped tightly onto Kyle as they flew.

"Okay…"

"Say, Kyle?"

"What?"

"Are you getting something for me for Valentine's Day?"

"Maybe… Why don't you read my mind to find that out?"

"But I'd much rather hear it straight from you."

"Ooh, so… Oh, never mind. It's been hard to hold myself back from trying to admit to your feelings for me, you know?"

"What feelings might those be? Tell me, I implore, Prince Kyle of Hatari and Serenes. I'm in love with Wendy and you know it. End of story."

"If you so insist, Prince Stanley of about 75% of all of Tellius…"

"You're a douchebag, Kyle."

"I don't think you're a douchebag, Apostle."

"THERE YOU GO AGAIN WITH CALLING ME APOSTLE!!!!"

"Sorry about that…" Kyle quickly apologized as he and Stan landed on the South Park Mall's grounds.

"All right, off to American Greetings!" Stan pointed towards the mall's front doors, which is where he and Kyle landed, "Come on, Kyle, I have lots of things to buy."

"Right on, Prince Stanley!" Kyle followed after the apostle, "What's with that look? You didn't say I couldn't call you 'Prince'."

"I suppose you can call me that," Stan said as he and Kyle were walking to the American Greetings store, "But try not to, okay?"

"Well, well," Kyle was rather surprised, "I'd have to say, you're atti- dammit!"

"That's right, Kyle," Stan laughed evilly, "You keep your nasty comments about me 'being in love with you' and crap to yourself, you hear?"

"Wow," Kyle looked to his left, "It looks like we're already here."

"So we are…" Stan spoke rather blankly as he and Kyle went in the American Greetings store, "First thing's first… I'm going to have cards that I pass out to all of my friends. Then I'll have a very special card for the one I love."

Which is me, of course, Kyle whispered in his head, putting his sending stone down on the floor.

What was that, Kyle?!

Sorry, I just can't help myself. Forgive me, Prince Stanley.

"All right," Stan forgave Kyle, "Just pick up your sending stone before someone takes it and come on."

"Fine…" Kyle looked at Stan's inventory, "Hey, what's that you got there?"

"Um… just some bags of candy, some Valentine cards, and… uh…"

"And what? What's that box of chocolates you have there? Looks awfully fancy. You got all of that pretty fast."

"If you think it's for you, you are sadly mistaken. It's for Wendy, douchebag. And I got all of this in the back of the store."

"Let's just pay for all of our stuff already," Kyle said, "I have homework, and I really need to go home to do it. We can come back after we're done with all of our homework."

"Okay," Stan agreed, "I have a fair amount of homework as well, so yeah."

"That's a total of $50.00," the cashier told Stan as the amount showed up on the cash register.

"Dude, 50 blasted dollars?!?!" Kyle was in shock, "Do you have a job, Stan? There is no way that could be allowance money."

"But it is," Stan spoke without looking at Kyle, and paid the necessary $50.00, "I always save up for big things like this. Besides, my birthday party is coming up soon, and I'm bound to get a lot of money. Last year, I got about $500 dollars."

"$500?!" Kyle couldn't believe what Stan was telling him, "Who are you, Bill Gates' son?"

"No," Stan said as he and Kyle were exiting the mall, "Good guess, though."

"What the hell did you do with all of that?"

"Well… I used about $200 on manga books, donated about $150 to charity, another $100 to my college savings account, and I gave the remaining $50 to you. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah…" Kyle scratched his chin, "Well, in any case, I can't wait for Valentine's Day tomorrow. Can you?"

"I can't wait at all," Stan's heart rate instantly went up to far faster than normal, "I'm probably the most eager person in the world for Valentine's Day right now. You'll see."