Chapter 11. Again, I didn't think I would make it this far.

Another gift! I wanted to post something before the school week started... since SCHOOL HELL!
I need a review from one new reader to continue. And as always, every TWO reviews calls for an early update day. :)

We are approaching some angst stuff in the near future. Either this chapter or the next.

As you might have noticed, I decided to make Ike an important character in the story. He replaced Cartman, yet he doesn't. His role may be more clear later on.

myspace. Again, the link is on my homepage. My URL is jbd420ct.

When Stan does his research he gets on a site with nine arguments. If you are truly interested in what the author, Dr. Niclas Berggren, has to say, just do what Stan does. The website actually exists.

The three boys were happy to find Kyle awake when they arrived. As they soon found out, Kyle was not to leave his bed just yet, and though Kyle argued about the whole ordeal he agreed to remain in bed until further instruction. Ike was first to rush to his brother's side, burying his face into Kyle's chest, staining him with his tears. Kyle glanced at his two other friends over Ike's shoulder and patted his brother several times on the back.

When Ike had parted from his brother Kenny had stepped forward to hug his friend. In his mind Stan was thinking on how this closely resembled Frodo's parting in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, only that this was more of a coming back than a departure. Frodo had said goodbye to Merry and Pippin first. Good friends, of course. But then he had saved his best friend for last, Samwise Gamgee.

All the Lord of the Rings comparisons were confusing Stan, so he had stopped thinking about it. By now Kenny had also parted with Stan, and he backed up to make room for Stan to approach Kyle. Stan cleared his throat, stepped forward, and found himself shaking. He glanced nervously at Kyle, and though he really wanted to embrace him and tell him that everything was going to be all right, he merely stuck his right hand out to shake his hand. Kyle frowned, but took his hand anyways.

"What did I miss?" Kyle asked weakly, even trying to chuckle a little. Ike got up on the bed beside his brother and cuddled him. Stan smiled at the two. Ike truly admired his brother a lot. But then... had his parents told Ike yet?

"You haven't missed anything," said Kenny. "At least, nothing that we've missed. And since we were with you all of yesterday I'm sure we didn't do much. The hospital isn't a very fun place..." Ike nodded in agreement.

"We were all so worried about you!" Ike exclaimed. "Mom was out of her mind when the doctor told her that you were going to be out of it until this morning. Imagine what she would be like if you were in a coma!"

"Let's not," muttered Stan under his breath, but he hadn't been discrete enough. Kyle's gaze immediately found itself looking at Stan, and Stan found Kenny and Ike following suit. Stan laughed nervously and took a new interest in the tile patterns of the floor. "Erm, what I mean was... I'm happy with having Kyle awake. Let's not think about the coma."

"Good idea," said Kenny, turning back to Kyle. Stan only continued to stare at the floor, and it was almost as if he could feel Kyle looking at him still. His father had been the one to save the day, popping into the room to check on Kyle.

"Just making sure to see you all are okay," said Mr. Marsh, patting his son's back fairly hard. "Doctor says I can't bring you home because I'm not your legal guardian. So I'll go home and tell your parents to pick all of you up." He waved a goodbye and walked out the door.

"Why aren't my parents here?" asked Kyle. Only Kenny and Ike could truthfully shrug their shoulders. Stan imitated their movements, but it felt awkward. It wasn't like he knew for sure that it was the reason; he had only assumed it. Still, knowing a vague idea differed him from the others.

"They said they couldn't come," said Ike, frowning. "They couldn't give me a straight answer though. They went shopping a lot though." The sound of this relieved Stan. They were probably preparing for a welcome back party for Kyle.

Yeah, that was it.

"I'm parched," said Kenny suddenly. "Anyone want to find a vending machine with me?" Ike sprung off the bed and joined his side, claiming that he had been dying for a drink. The two of them walked away, leaving Stan to watch over Kyle.

"Do you remember what Mr. Absenence said?" Stan muttered as he took a seat on the plastic chair beside Kyle's bed. "He said that medical emergencies would be excusable." He chuckled lightly.

"That's right," said Kyle, shifting his weight so that he was in a sitting-up position. "We can get an extension on that project, right?" Stan nodded, and then the room fell to silence again. These awkward silences...

"Are you still up for that interview?" Stan asked him softly. He turned to his best friend and saw doubt in his eyes.

"Honestly, no," said Kyle, "but you need the grade..."

"Don't force yourself," said Stan. Kyle nodded.

"I'll do it later then." The two nodded in their agreement. Then, as soon as another silence had set in, the two other boys came rushing back into the room, smiles plastered on their faces.

"You guys should've been there!"

"It was so great!"

"We went to go get a soda from the vending machine downstairs-"

"-and we couldn't get the dollar bill in-"

"-and so some lady gave us another dollar to put in the slot-"

"-but we didn't want t to take it because it was hers-"

"-so we let her keep the bottle when it came out-"

"-but then when she opened it it exploded all over her face!" Stan and Kyle both raised an eyebrow at the two. Stan wasn't even sure who said what because it all sounded like one long sentence. Kyle raised his eyebrows, partially amused.

"We ran away as fast as we could," said Kenny. "She looked really pissed. But we left our dollar on the floor in case she wanted... reimbursement." Ike giggled at their deed, and Stan could only imagine what the scene looked like... and old woman with a cane, hair drench with soda... It was definitely a good comic relief.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was around four in the afternoon when Mr. Broflovski had returned. His wife hadn't gone with him so that the four could properly fit into the car. The children had to wait for several minutes while Mr. Broflovski did some paperwork that Stan didn't understand. Once that had finished Mr. Broflovski got the kids into the car, where they made their way home. The ride wasn't too pleasant, especially with the tension Stan could feel in the air. Occasionally Ike would burst into laughter thinking about their soda mischief, and soon after Kenny would join in with him.

They first dropped Kenny off at his... house. Kenny didn't really have that great of an economic status, so to say. Cartman made fun of him constantly for being poor, but excluding him his friends didn't care that much. Because of the lack of food available to eat Kenny was rather skinny, and when he visited Kyle or Stan's house he would seemingly 'binge' eat. Of course, it was nothng of that matter, and Stan knew that. He was just really hungry sitting at a table with more than a waffle to share.

Kenny had said his goodbyes before walking into his abode. Mr. Broflovski hung around for several minutes, making sure that Kenny got into his house okay. When Kenny had stepped inside and shut the door Kyle's dad sped off, making his way to Stan's house. Ike had stopped making random outbursts, which hadn't been a good thing since Stan had been relying on it to break the silences. He began humming a song under his breath, just to amuse himself for the ride.

Caresses sur l'océan... The song was from a french movie that his teacher had shown in class one day, Les Choristes. It was a movie about a man going to a school of troubled boys, so to say, and turns them into a singing choir in an attempt to calm them down. Though Stan didn't understand the majority of the movie he still enjoyed the music. He especially liked the voice of the character Pierre Morhange, and Stan was shocked to learn that it had actually been him singing, and not just an actor lipsyncing to a song.

Porte l'oiseau si léger... Stan saw Kyle's head perk up at the sound of french. Of course, Kyle had also been there to watch the movie, though he was supposed to be working on learning the subjunctive instead of watching. Kyle didn't even bother doing his assignment that day, and watched the movie with the rest of the class. He liked it just as much as Stan, though he probably understood more of the movie than Stan had.

Revenant de terres enneigées... Stan was surprised to hear Kyle join in with his humming, which was a good thing since Stan didn't know the rest of the song. Stan made a note to himself that Kyle had a pretty good singing voice. He thought that it made his own voice sound like Vietnamese people having their intestines pulled out through their mouths, as his dad had put it once.

Kyle had continued singing, and Stan let him finish the song by himself. Of course, Kyle's voice didn't compare to the original actor's voice, but it was still good enough to soothe him.

Air éphémère de l'hiver... au loin ton écho s'éloigne... châteaux en Espagne... vire au vent tournoie déploie tes ailes... dans l'aube grise du levant... trouve un chemin vers l'arc-en-ciel... se découvrira le printemps...

As soon as Kyle had finished Stan felt the car come to a halt. It was definitely a coincidence that he finished in time. Mr. Marsh was waiting outside to greet them, and this made Stan wonder how long exactly had his father waited for them.

"Mr. Broflovski," began Stan politely, "would it bother you if Kyle stayed here for a while? I mean just for a few hours... we need to put together a project..." Kyle looked at him curiously, but Stan didn't make any obvious gestures. Kyle's father agreed, and after Kyle had gotten out of the car he drove off with Ike. Mr. Marsh led the two boys inside the house, and after that the two made their way to Stan's room.

"I printed some stuff while you were at the hospital," explained Stan. "I just wanted to get your opinion on it. I think we have a poster board somewhere in the house, so we can put stuff on it too." Stan led Kyle to his room and showed him the papers. Kyle nodded in approval. Then the two went around the house in search for a poster board. Shelley had ended up having one, and she gave it up to the boys in the condition that they would leave her alone. Stan graciously took it and left before his teeth were knocked out of his mouth. Kyle was smart to follow suit.

As they began arranging papers on the board to figure out where things would go, Stan brought up the interview once again. Kyle stopped what he was doing and thought about it for several moments. "I know you need to do this before Monday," he had said, "but right now I don't want to talk about it... especially since what had happened yesterday." Stan nodded in agreement and focused once more on the project.

Denied again.

- - - - - - - - - -

Two house later brought them to six in the evening. Kyle had fallen asleep out of exhaustion. Stan understood why the boy was tired, and had relocated him to his bed, as opposed to his previous position on their poster board. With nothing else to do, Stan had decided to research for his debate, which was to occur on Monday. He thanked Ms. Kitorese for making it an informal debate, as not only did he not know how to properly cite his sources, but he also didn't know how to present it as such.

He typed in 'arguments on homosexuality' in the Google search box, and plenty of sites popped up. Stan settled for the first entry, which had a whole perplexed essay about nine different arguments against homosexuals. Thankfully enough the essay was outlined, and so he was able to see what each argument was and could find each argument easily.

He began to write a speech to guide him through his debate, implementing what he read with every keystroke he made. He found the author's arguments to be quite valid, and agreed with almost everything he said. Stan didn't know that the topic could be argued that in-depth, and the article clearly changed his mind. It opened new windows for Stan, and gave him a whole new outlook on the topic.

Stan had just finished reading the author's ninth argument when he felt something looking over his shoulder. He glanced at his right shoulder, and true enough found Kyle looking over him, reading the site along with him. Stan immediately reacted in surprise, but Kyle only smiled.

"H-how long have you been there?" Stan asked in disbelief.

"Only for five minutes," Kyle replied. "I was wondering what you were doing, so I took a look. That site you were just at has some really interesting points..." Stan smiled at his friend.

"You don't really need to read those arguments to truly accept it," said Stan. "I accepted you for who you were before reading this. I think that that should be more of a... guide... than a dictation..." Kyle nodded, rising up to his full height to pace around the room.

"Stan... I think... I want to do that interview..." Kyle grinned sheepishly at Stan as he said this.

"Are you sure?" asked Stan. In truth, Stan hadn't really come up with any questions to ask Kyle. After he had been refused twice Stan figured that he would use the time to think of some things to ask Kyle, but Stan hadn't had the chance to yet. Deciding that he would have to just make up some questions, Stan answered, "If you want to..." Kyle sat down on the edge of Stan's bed, and Stan reopened Microsoft Word so that he could type Kyle's responses. "Uh... do you think that homosexuality destroys society?"

"No," responded Kyle, and immediately as he said this Stan's fingers were put to work. "Uh... I think that homosexuality a normal characteristic trait that is determined before birth, and that homosexual behavior is natural for those who hold that orientation. It's existed in every culture before ours, sometimes accepted in those cultures. If it truly destroyed society, would we really be here...?"

"Do you think that homosexuality is accepted in this culture, then?"

"Obviously not, Stan," Kyle replied, "or else I wouldn't have been beaten up..." Kyle trailed off, and Stan, sensing that it hadn't been a very good topic to ask, changed the subject.

"Uh, do you think that homosexuals have a hard time... fitting in with society?"

"Another obvious one, Stan," said Kyle. "Of course it's hard... what are you supposed to say when someone asks you if some model is hot? When kids look at porn behind the school and they offer you to look, what're you to do? When you like guys that don't like you back, how're you to react?" Stan knew that Kyle had said that last line intentionally to him. He thought that Kyle had gotten over that... maybe the fight had reawakened things inside of him... and yet Stan couldn't blame him... Kyle probably just wanted someone to comfort him and tell him that things would be better.

"Uh, how about-"

"Let me ask you a question," said Kyle. "Do you think that heterosexuals are fair to homosexuals that like them? Do they properly treat the matter without having to be encouraged to do so?" Stan refused to turn his chair to face Kyle. He knew Kyle was right; Kyle had to be the one to apologize for what he did... even though Stan wanted to talk to Kyle about the whole matter, he knew that he was incapable of doing it... Kyle definitely had a point.

"Kyle, I... I really wanted to talk to you about it... I really did. It's just that at that time I didn't know if you were ready to talk about the matter yet..."

"But that day at lunch," started Kyle, and Stan instantly knew where he was getting at; "you were leading me on to thinking that you did care... in that way... and then you let me sink rock bottom... saying that you cared about me in a different way, and then ending it by saying as best friends... as brothers perhaps; I don't remember. But if you were really my best friend, why did you lead me like that...?"

"I'm sorry Kyle," Stan said, and when Stan turned around to look at him Kyle could see how soaked Stan's shirt was from wiping tears. "I'm sorry, alright? I-I didn't know how to react... it's not like I-I knew what to do or anything... I-I went to see Ms. Sagisak as to what to do, but she told me exactly the same thing as I-I told myself, and she said that I-I had to get through it myself, to build up strength i-independently to talk to you... to give the both of us closure..."

Now it was Kyle's turn to cry. "I shouldn't have brought it up... I said I would get over it. I said that I could settle as friends... but apparently that wasn't so..." He raised his left arm and stained his orange sleeve with tears. "There was just something inside of me that wanted to believe that you would change your mind... does this count as closure?" Stan nodded, stifling in more tears.

"Almost... but it's good for now..." Kyle smiled and almost dived into Stan, hugging him while burying his face into his chest. Stan wrapped his own arms around Kyle, and rested his chin on Kyle's head. He felt comforted by Kyle's warmth, and somehow it made him feel better.

Misconception may have been a malicious thing, but in the end the truth always shines through the darkness of the clouds. A piercing light will shine through the pitch-black sky, shining ever so blindingly onto the deceitful world, and purify the hearts of those loyal and true. The coming of eternal darkness would always be hindered by truth, loyalty, and above all... friendship.

Not the ending. I just felt like having a sappy chapter end. I don't know how to treat this chapter. I think I did okay. It's long though! :-D