Hey guys, I hope this chapter didn't take too long. I really felt bad leaving you guys on a cliffhanger so I really tried hard to write this one as quickly as possible, especially since finals week is about to start and I'm going to have zero free-time. I'm really happy with how this chapter came out and I hope you guys are too (: thanks for reading!

I rummage through my closet, pulling out the first set of presentable clothes I lay my eyes on and throw them on. She's wrong. She has to be wrong. I feel my eyes burning from tears welling up, but I try to calm down. I'm just overreacting. Her mom was just misinformed, and I just have to talk to Stan and everything will be okay. She has to be wrong.

I slip into my blue Converse and jog down the stairs. Maybe I'm being impulsive by dealing with this at 6 in the morning, but I have been sitting on this information for two hours and it can't wait any longer. I have to know. I push the front door open, and I can make out the sun appearing over the house across the street, but I don't take the time to admire it and I jog over to Stan's house. She has to be wrong. I think back to our conversation and consider any other explanation for why she might think it's true.

()

"But there's something I really have to tell you Kyle," She is facing the wall opposite of where I'm sitting, refusing to look at me. The dejection of her words immediately set off an alarm in my head.

"Okay, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Stan's leaving," her words leave quickly and are almost as quiet as the silence that follows them.

"What? What do you mean?" I crawl over to where she's sitting so that I can get a clear look at her face. A single tear is slowly traveling down her cheek, but her facial expression remains dull, and she continues staring at the wall.

"His parents, they're getting a divorce. His mom is leaving to California and taking him with her. He's leaving," Her last sentence forces her face to momentarily break her trance-like expression, and I can almost even hear her voice breaking.

"No… that's not possible. He would have told me. I was just with him-"

"I know, I have no idea why he hasn't told you yet. I just, I know how much you care about him and you deserve to know something this huge," She sighs heavily and wipes her face off, "I'm sorry, I feel so shitty just coming here and dropping this load of shit on you… I just… I thought it would be better you know as early as possible," I stare blankly at her. I see no sign of her lying or playing some sort of joke on me, which she would have no reason to do, but I don't believe the words coming out of her mouth. They can't be true.

"How do you even know this? Maybe you misheard a rumor in school and-"

"My mom ran into his mom at that Rhinoplasty place, and they talked about it. I don't know all of the details, but you should talk to Stan as soon as possible," I mindlessly nod at her and she hops off of my bed, "Again, I'm sorry. I feel like such a bitch just dropping by at 3 in the morning and… Oh god I should have waited until the morning shouldn't I?" She buries her face into her hands, "I just couldn't sleep thinking about it."

"No, you shouldn't feel bad, thank you for telling me I just… Something has to be wrong. I trust you, but I just need to hear this from him."

"Yeah I understand, you should probably get some rest and talk to him in the morning," I nod to appease her, but I have no intention of getting sleep. With that she walks out of my room, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the next two hours.

()

I am about to knock on his front door before realizing his parents probably aren't up yet. I decide to climb up to his window, which I used to do when I was younger. It's been a while, but I don't really have any other alternative. I make it up to his window pane, and I reach out and push against the glass. The window hurts my hand due to its freezing temperature, but I ignore it and manage to get the glass open. I crawl into his bedroom to find his mattress empty. I hear the sink running in his bathroom, which probably means he's brushing his teeth. I immediately begin to feel ridiculous. I snuck into my boyfriend's bedroom at 6 in the morning to interrogate him? Despite the rising embarrassment resulting from my horrible life choices, I decide to stand my ground, since attempting to escape through his 2nd story window would most likely just add onto the shame.

I hear the water turn off, which is followed by Stan walking through the door.

"Kyle? What are you doing here?" I realize I haven't exactly planned out what to say, so I mutter out the first thing that comes to my mind.

"Are you moving to California with your mom?" Wow, that was straight to the point. His expression quickly changes to gentle curiosity to extreme confusion.

"How did you…How did you know that?"

"So then… It's true?"

"Who told you?"

"Wendy did. Now yes or no, is it true?" I try to act intimidating.

"Yes." I don't exactly know how to react. Maybe the reality of the situation hasn't set in yet, or maybe it has and I was already expecting his answer. We both just stand there for a moments, but the silence isn't awkward, it's just necessary. I can tell he wants to say more, but he's not sure what.

"I'm sorry, about your parents. I can't even imagine what you're going through," He is taken aback, either by the break in silence or by the mention of his parent's divorce. He slightly nods his head as acknowledgement, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just…I couldn't. Not you," I only partially understand what he means, but his answer is enough for now.

"Well, when do you leave?" I take a couple of steps towards him and sit on his desk chair.

"My mom is going to let me finish this school year. I leave in May," A small weight is lifted off of my chest, and I smile at him to try and let him know I'm not too devastated.

"Well that's good at least, I thought it was going to be sometime soon. I mean the thought of finding out you had to move away in like a few days would be too much-"

"Kyle, I don't think we should date anymore," His sentence pierces through the air, and after a few moments into my chest.

"…What?" The smile remains on my face, my mind still clinging onto the idea that maybe he's joking.

"I just… I don't think us being together is a good idea," the smile fades away, and a look of anger replaces it.

"I don't understand," He remains staring at the ground, "You can't just say you don't want to be together because it's 'not a good idea'! Now give me an explanation! What the hell do you mean you don't want to be together?!" Despite the volume of my voice, Stan remains relatively calm.

"If you want an explanation Kyle, I can't give you one. It's as simple as it sounds. Us being together just isn't a good idea," Tears threaten to escape my eyes for the second time today. I get up out of the seat and walk up to him.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me why," I whisper, knowing if I raise my voice the dams that are my tear ducts will overflow. He continues staring down onto the floor, "Tell me why!" I shove him, but it fails to move him, "Look at me you fucking coward, and tell me why!" I shove him harder, which sends him staggering back a few steps. At this point I'm bawling my eyes out, not caring about how much of a mess I probably look like right now. He finally looks up at me. His eyes are red, tears evident in his eyes.

"I can't," There's a sternness in his voice that I've never heard before. It tells me that I'm not going to get an answer. I quickly walk over to his door and swing it open. I think I can make out his mom sitting in his kitchen, but I ignore her and walk out of his front door, I stop for a moment, wondering if I should go back up there and tell him a thousand more things I want to say, but I don't. I just shut the door behind me.

()

It takes about 4 hours of uncontrollable sobbing in my bed for me to full grasp that Stan is no longer my boyfriend. My anger has subsided into a deep sullenness, and tears stopped actually falling from my eyes a couple of hours ago. I am trying to wrap my head around everything. The swiftness of it all. None of it makes any sense. I think back to the picnic last night, about how he told me he loved me. Was that all bullshit? Stan seemed so sure that he wanted to end things today, so that means he must have known last night. It had to be bullshit.

I begin searching through my blankets for my phone, and when I find it I pull up my messages.

1 New Message from Wendy

Wendy- Hey, how did things go with Stan?

I stare at the message for a few moments before deciding what to reply.

Me- You were right. Everything you said was right. Can you come over?

Less than a minute after I send the message I hear my phone buzz.

Wendy- I'm on my way.

Sure enough, Wendy arrives at my house in a few minutes. She greets me at the door with a tight hug and a warm smile. Other than me filling her in on what had occurred a few hours earlier, we surprisingly spend a small amount of time talking about Stan. I think that we both want to avoid the subject, so we talk about small things like school and the upcoming holidays, which actually does manage to lift my spirits a bit.

I notice that every once in a while, Wendy will look down at her phone and her smile disappears. After she does this for about the tenth time, I decide to bring it up.

"Is something wrong?" I motion to her phone. It seems to take her a couple of moments to figure out what I'm referring to.

"Oh, no, it's nothing really," She looks up at me and can tell I don't believe her, "Okay fine, there's this party that Clyde invited me to and I was gonna go but well..." Her sentence ends abruptly, but I can tell what she was going to say.

"But you're stuck here being an emotional support system for me," I say, hoping she gets that the sass in my voice is aimed at me rather than her.

"NO, that's not it at all. Ugh this is why I didn't want to tell you Kyle. I would much rather be here with you than at some dumb high school party full of drunk teens," I look at her affectionately, touched by her sentiment.

"Thank you Wendy, that honestly really means a lot to me," I place my hand on her shoulder, "But we're going to that party," I pick myself up off of the floor and head to my closet, already picking out what I'm going to wear.

"Are- Are you sure? We can seriously just stay home and watch Full House reruns if you want," I wonder if she is referring to those times back in middle school when we would have day long Full House marathons at her house.

"I just need something to distract myself with right now. I don't want to have to think about…" I decide to finish my sentence right there. I can't bring myself to say his name. It's strange how 24 hours ago his name made my heart soar, and now the thought of it makes my stomach feel as though it's filled with bricks.

Luckily, Wendy decides not to protest anymore and calls Clyde, telling him to come and pick us up. I don't really know what is compelling me to go to this party. I'm the type of person to avoid social interaction when I'm devastated, yet I want nothing more than to go to a house that's most likely full of complete strangers. I decide to ignore my sudden change of character and just go with it. I just want to forget.

Clyde shows up about 10 minutes later in the 2016 Honda Accord he got for his last birthday, and me and Wendy sprint to the car, desperately trying to avoid the light rain dropping down on us. Wendy enters the passenger seat, so I essentially crawl into the backseat. I try to hide the fact that I'm intensely shivering, because I have a strange need to convince Clyde that I'm not totally pathetic. Clyde looks back at me confused, and I start panicking that maybe Wendy didn't inform him that I was coming. Just as I open my mouth to begin explaining, he interjects.

"Is Stan not coming?" The car becomes completely silent, aside from the rain hitting the car windows.

"No, he isn't." I think that he's able to read the tone in my voice because he nods sympathetically and turns around to start the car, not pushing the topic any further. I realize that I have yet to tell anyone besides Wendy what happened. Kenny. Butters. I groan internally at the idea of those painful conversations.

Clyde begins to drive, and I turn my head to the right as we pass Stan's house. I see that his bedroom light is on. A part of me wonders what he's doing. I wonder if he's watching The Avengers, or maybe playing a video game. I wonder if he has thought at all about me since this morning. I wonder if he's happy. If he's content. I hope that he is. The other part of me just wants to look away.

()

I fall asleep during the car ride since I've been awake since 3 in the morning. I awake to the sudden movement of the car stopping. We're parked in front of a relatively normal looking suburban house, albeit a bit bigger than the ones on my street. I don't recognize it, so we must be a little bit outside of South Park, since South Park only has like 10 houses.

When we exit the car, I already hear the music coming from the house. They seem to be playing classic rock rather than modern day pop, which is a little surprising. I walk behind Clyde and Wendy as they approach the house. Clyde greets a guy at the door who looks a couple of years older than us. I assume that he is the host of the party since Clyde introduces us to him and he welcomes us all in.

I push my way into the house alongside Wendy, relieved to get out of the cold. I look to my left to see that Wendy is walking over to a group of girls taking shots in the kitchen. Just as I predicted, I don't recognize anyone. I begin making my way further back in the house, hoping to see someone that I know. I spot a door that is slightly open, so I take a peek inside. It looks like a bedroom, most likely the host's. The lights are off and it's completely empty, so I decide to enter. I realize that it is an invasion of this guy's privacy, but I assume him and the rest of the party guests are going to stay towards the front of the house and won't even notice that I'm back here. I'm not even sure why I'm compelled to enter. Something about the stillness of the room in contrast to the rest of the house is soothing.

I take a seat on the bed and just stare at the ground. My chest begins to feel heavy and I start feeling the need to cry. I don't know why I'm here, on a stranger's bed, on the verge of tears. Yesterday, everything was perfect. And now, everything isn't right. Maybe I'm at this party so I don't disappoint Wendy. Maybe I'm here because I want to prove I can still have a good time without Stan. Or maybe I just came here to try and forget.

I see the door open in the corner of my eyes. I turn and see that it's Wendy.

"Hey Kyle, what are you doing in here?" I pick myself off of the bed and try to give off an aura of confidence.

"Just catching a breather. I have horrible stamina when it comes to partying," She nods half-heartedly, her eyes absently staring at the floor. I get the sense that she didn't come into this room searching for me, "Is everything alright?" This seems to pull her out of her trance and she forces a smile.

"Yeah, yeah everything is great, I just came back here to um, to put some makeup on," She stumbles forward towards the restroom near the back of the bedroom. I grab her by the shoulder to keep her from falling and hurting herself.

"Are you drunk?" I look deeply into her eyes, which don't look back into mine. A defensive look appears on her face.

"What?! No! I just had like 3 or 5 shots," She escapes from my hold on her and continues her journey towards the restroom.

"Are you sure everything is okay?" I still sense that something is bothering her. She turns her head towards me.

"Kyle, I'm fine. Now go and enjoy the party, I think I saw Kenny in the living room. Go talk with him. Have some fun, you deserve it," She pushes the door open and disappears into the restroom.

()

Sure enough, I spot Kenny in the living room. It looks strange seeing him without Butters by his side, but I know that Butters' parents would have never let him go to a party out of town, especially on a Sunday night. Kenny and about 10 other people, including Craig, Token, and couple of other football players, are gathered in a circle smoking pot. I think about going up to him and saying hi, but he looks a little occupied with getting high. I turn my back and start heading towards the kitchen when I hear Kenny yell my name. I think about ignoring it since from the tone of his voice I can already tell he's completely high

"Kyle! Come over here man!" His voice is too loud for me to pretend I don't hear him, so I turn around and begin approaching him.

"Hey Ken! I didn't see you there!" It's pretty apparent that I'm lying, but he's so high that it seems to go right past him. He just keeps a huge smile on his face.

"Dude, where's Stan?" An exaggerated look of concern spreads across his face. I decide that telling him about what happened in front of about 10 other people isn't ideal, so I once again choose the easier route, AKA the lying route.

"He couldn't make it, he had to stay up late doing a project for Chemistry." Of all the lies I could have chosen, I had to go with the most unbelievable. Stan hasn't done his homework in all of the years I've known him. However, he seems to buy it and his cartoonish grin returns to his face.

"You want some?" He holds the blunt up to my face.

"I'm gonna have to pass on that, thanks though," I gently push his hand away.

"C'mon Kyle, loosen up a bit," He returns his hand to my face, "Just one puff?" I drop to my knees and sigh.

"Fine, just one though," Kenny gives me a pat on the shoulder and hands me the blunt. I'm surprised at myself for agreeing to do this, especially with such little persistence on Kenny's part. I simply credit it to the fact that half of the party's eyes are on me, but I know deep down that there is another factor involved. I hold the blunt to my lips, and Kenny holds up the lighter and lights it for me. I inhale deeply, feeling the smoke travel down my throat until it settles in my lungs. I begin to violently cough as Kenny takes the blunt from me and passes it to Craig. He pats my back when he notices I'm still coughing. I would feel embarrassed, but I figure that when someone inhales smoke down their throat, they're bound to cough at least a little.

I always thought that when people smoke weed, they get high immediately after inhaling it, but that's not the case at all. When I take my first hit, I feel absolutely nothing. Then when I take my second, still nothing. Then my third. Then my fourth. Then my fifth. Then I start to realize how heavy gravity is, and how I can feel every bit of it on my skin. I realize that the taste of nothingness has a very distinct taste to it, but I can't decide if I like it or not. I realize that I have been swaying back and forth for what has felt like hours, which for some reason makes me starting laughing uncontrollably.

I pick myself up off the floor and begin wandering the house aimlessly. I can't tell if I'm running or walking, but either way it feels exhilarating. As I pass one of the rooms closer to the back of the house, I hear someone call my name from inside it. My lack of sobriety forces me to follow the source of the noise and enter the room. The lights are off but I make out what appears to be a pool table, and a couch is lying directly next to me.

I hear the door close behind me, which causes me to abruptly spin around. I see a figure, and after a few moments my eyes adjust to the darkness and I can make out a face.

"Craig? What the hell are you doing back here?" He doesn't answer me and instead lunges forward and places his lips on mine. I'm completely caught off guard, and it takes me a few seconds to even register what's happening. Why the hell is Craig Tucker kissing me? I push him off of me, "Dude, what the hell are you doing?"

"Shut the hell up, you know you like it Broflovski," He then returns his lips to mine, completely disregarding my obvious resistance to the kiss. He pushes me down onto the couch, and I feel his tongue enter my mouth. Once again, I shove him away from me, except this time I forcefully meet his face with hand. We are both taken aback.

"Dude, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-" He lifts his hand up and I subsequently feel severe pain on my nose. I instinctively raise my palms to my face, although it does little to stop the pain. I hear him walk away and open the door, mumbling "faggot" as he slams the door behind him. I drop my palms to see that there's blood on them. Great. My nose is bleeding. I don't know where any of the restrooms are, so I decide to try and find the one in the bedroom I was in earlier. I surprisingly manage to remember where it is. It turns out that being punched in the face is a very sobering experience.

When I enter the bedroom, I notice that the restroom light is on and the door is shut. As I approach it, I hear that a girl is crying in there. I almost wonder if I should just leave and find another restroom, but then I realize that the last person I left in here was Wendy, and I haven't seen her at the party since. I walk up to the door and knock.

"Wendy? Is that you in there?" I get no reply, but I recognize the cry as Wendy's, so I decide to open the door. Luckily, it's unlocked and I make my way in. I find Wendy sitting next to the toilet, mascara running down her face, and a half empty bottle of vodka sitting beside her. She looks up at me, and I can see the pain in her eyes.

"Kyle…I-" She starts sobbing again.

"Wendy, what's wrong?" She shakes her head, as if to indicate that nothing is bothering her, "Wendy don't bullshit me. What's been bothering you? I've noticed you've been down for a while now. Just please tell me what's wrong."

"It's just," She runs her hand through her hair, letting out a joyless laugh, "Things are so fucked up."

"What do you mean? What kind of things?" I try to put on my most comforting voice.

"I-I can't tell you. Not you."

"What the hell does that mean? Wendy I'm your friend, you can tell me anything," I then notice a necklace in her hands that I didn't see when I first came in. I immediately recognize it. It was Stan's one year anniversary gift to her. It's actually a locket that has a picture of both of them inside. I know because I remember helping Stan pick it out for her. Then it all starts to make sense. My conversation with her at the stadium. The way she looked at Stan. The way she cried over him leaving this morning. I walk over to Wendy and take a seat beside her, "You're still in love with him, aren't you?" I look over to her face to try and see some sort of reaction, but I get none. However, her silence is enough to confirm my accusation.

"Are you mad?" She weakly asks. I put my arm around her and pull her head onto my shoulder.

"Wendy, I could never be mad at you for something like that. I know that he has this unrelenting hold on people. I, of all people, should know," I hear her take a sigh of relief.

"But, you're going through so much worse shit than me. And I'm here acting like a selfish bitch who can't let go of the past," She momentarily lets out a sob, but manages to contain herself pretty quickly.

"We're both going through pretty fucked up shit Wendy, it doesn't matter who has it worse," I place my head on hers, "I'm going to help you through this just like you helped me today. I promise. We're both going to get over Stan Marsh."

"That's easier said than done."

"I know, but in a few months Stan is going to leave South Park. Time will go on and one day it will seem like I never even knew him," The solemn words leave my mouth with a hesitant confidence.

"Is that what you want? To forget?" She lifts her head off of my shoulders and looks at me.

"It's not so much that I want to forget. I just think that I have to. I have spent too many nights hoping that Stan and I end up together. I just… I can't spend anymore. The only way that I'm ever going to get over Stan is if I forget about him," I realize now that a couple of tears have come down my face during this conversation. The words I speak aren't comforting to me, but they do help me grasp the reality of my situation a little better.

"By the way, what the hell happened to your nose?" I hold my finger up to my face and remember that my nose is bleeding.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later. Plus you're not much one too talk about appearance. You look like a disaster right now Wendy," She lightly punches my arm, and I think I hear a laugh emit from her.

The sound of glass breaking, and a subsequent cheer from the party from just a few yards away is heard by me and Wendy. I hear her chuckle lightly, "Hey, Kyle can I tell you something?"

"Yeah sure, what is it?"

"I didn't even really want to come to this party," We both sit in silence for a while, with the distant music vibrating the tile beneath us.

"Then why did you?" She looks at me little confused, either from the unexpected question, or from her not knowing the answer herself.

"I guess that I wanted to try and forget too."

()

We decide to go after I clean the blood from my nose. The party is still going strong when we leave since it's only about 9 P.M. I try to look for Kenny to say bye, but I can't find him, so I assume he's either passed out somewhere or went home. We hop in Clyde's car and take off towards South Park. I look up to see that there's a full moon out tonight. It looks so beautiful and comforting, and it's so huge that I wonder how I didn't see it there earlier. Something about it makes me feel better, at least for a moment. I try not to reminisce about the events of today, and try not to think about the happenings of tomorrow. I try to just think about this moment, and I try to be content with it.

This chapter was definitely one of the darker ones I've written, but definitely one of my favorites to write (I'm a sadistic little shit). I was really trying to dive into Wendy and Kyle's relationship since it's such an odd one, and the chemistry between these two characters is a joy to write. I'm already ecstatic to write the next chapter, and I'm aiming to have it done by the end of winter break, but hopefully earlier. I hope you enjoyed (:

Reviewer Responses:

KWriter in Training: Yeah don't worry, Wendy definitely isn't an antagonist whatsoever, she is just a very emotionally confused girl who sometimes doesn't always make the best choices. Also yeah I actually spent a lot of time trying to figure out whether there should be a time jump, and trust me later in the story there will be time jumps, but for the story I wanted to tell in the first couple of chapters, a time skip just wasn't really necessary. Thanks for the review!

BattleTurtle: I'm so sorry for the cliffhanger, I really hope this chapter made it up to you. Thanks so much for the review!

Mekabella21: I'm sorry if this chapter was tough to read for you, because I know you ship Kyle and Stan just as much as I do ): But the whole Wendy coming into Kyle's room at 3 in the morning was mainly just to show that Wendy really deeply cares about Kyle and wanted him to know this huge news as soon as she did.

Twotailedfox: Thank you so much, hope I don't disappoint (: