*Warning: explicit language is used frequently.
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The first bell of the day rings out loud and clear over the cafeteria. Everyone really ignores it except the teachers who try to make us leave. After that bell, first period starts in almost twenty minutes or so, and everyone sees it as a pointless noise in the background of their conversation. But, for people like me, we try to vamoose and get to class as soon as possible - we're the first in class because we're the first ones that want to leave the cafeteria and all its chatter and giggling hordes of dumb teenagers behind to sit in a quiet classroom for twenty or more minutes.
First period I have a college algebra course. I really don't like math nor - although it comes very easily to me - but my parents made me stick with taking it through all of my high school career, even though I could have dropped it after I passed algebra II when I was a freshman. Nonetheless, I head to first period after I wave goodbye to the girls.
I make my way quickly through the halls so I can get straight to first period quickly and avoid any boys in the hallway, to elude their ever-lasting taunts. With the halls so empty and wide - maybe forty or fifty feet wide even, which seems pointless to me because this town probably has less of a population now than it did before it was even founded - my footsteps sound like small claps of thunder, but maybe it's the small amount of heel on my shoes that makes that noise as I walk down the linoleum halls to the auditorium.
You see, my class is on the other side of the school, so I can either go through the auditorium or through one of the best hang-out spots for the rest of the population in this god dammed place. Tough choice, right?
I click my way down the halls of the school until the auditorium comes into view, and then a little smile appears on my face - the sight of the auditorium in front of me means I'm home free! I feel my pace start to increase as I make my way to the wooden double doors, my messenger bag waving side-to-side against me as I try to gain speed slightly to get there just a little bit faster. Almost there yet, I reach out my hand towards the handle, fingers ready to push down on that hinge that will open the door and provide me with a little bit of security for a little while before first period. My fingers quickly dance across the cool metal of the door on the left as I finish the thought and I quickly push down and swing the door open - and walk forward and gracefully find myself doing a face-plant right into the door.
I groaned and step backward, raising a hand up to my nose to rub off the pain a little. "Sheesh," I say to myself, huffing lightly before trying the door again - to no avail. "What is up today?" Pouting, I turn to the door on the right - maybe that one will work, right? Because some of the doors in this place always seem to pull tricks on you. Some doors will open, and others just won't. But it's funny - I usually use the door on the left. Maybe that one just became locked overnight?
I try the right door hinge, and it doesn't budge either. I gulp lightly, licking my lips dryly. Does this mean I'll have to use that godforsaken hallway?! I hope not. I mean, I've used the auditorium as a safe-haven to first period almost everyday since freshmen year! This isn't gonna happen today. Preferably not ever.
Biting my lower lip inward, I turn back around, clutching some of my books against my chest with both hands, bag swinging at my side. Looking up from under my yellow bangs, I can see a few students walking down the hallway - and guess who? Oh, it's my best friend in the entire world, Eric Cartman. Pee-shaw! If someone ever told you that Eric and I were friends, please, do check them into a mental hospital immediately - because they are illegally insane. And, like always, I'm going to do my best to avoid him. Today's morning bus ride was just a stroke of luck - him sitting upfront (and Kenny next to me, of course). Nothing more. Speaking of the bus ride - I'm surprised he's here this quickly after getting kicked off the bus! His mom must have expected it to happen or something and known to pick him up, because I don't think he has a cell phone yet. But if he did, he'd probably be crank-calling me nonstop, I'm sure. Although, he may have one, and just didn't think of cranking me yet and -- I digress! What I should be doing is getting the hell of out here!
Trying to be as quiet as possible so he and the other gathering students don't notice my presence, I try to take a little leap and dodge his view with a wall. However, my shoes - having a little bit of a heel on them - disagree, and I stumble a little on the way, but I don't think he noticed me - especially the part of my falling down and my papers scattering everywhere.
"Ha! Way to go, you fuckin' klutzy fag," I hear Cartman scoff from behind me. I frown deeply; of course I was wrong about him not seeing!
"Piss off, asshole." I look up - is that who I think it is? It is! Kenny to the rescue! Like a knight in shining armor. But I swear I didn't see him before either. He must be a fucking ninja in disguise (as well as a knight), I swear…
Kenny kneels down to me with a little smile on his face and begins picking up some of my scattered papers. "Need some help?" It's funny that he asked, yet he had already started helping.
"God! Get a fuckin' room, fags, and bang each other 'til you drop there!" Cartman screeches in the annoying voice of his. But Kenny gives a hearty-laugh.
"Too late." Kenny winks at me, then looks up at Cartman with his Cheshire cat grin just in time so he doesn't see me blush a little bit. "But I bet you'd like to see that wouldn't you?"
"Hell nah!" Cartman roars in response, then laughs in a slightly maniacal manner. "But at least I know what you did last night."
"Oh, that's right!" Kenny snaps his fingers as if he remembered something important. "I forget to tell your mom thanks for last night! Can you tell her for me? Yeah, thanks, dude, I knew you would for me." Cartman obviously does not like that, as he sticks up both his middle fingers at Kenny, who's just grinning back at him wickedly.
"'Ey! Ya know what? Fuck you!"
"I know you want to bang me, but please - my sex life is now taken up by Buttercup here, remember? And as of last night, your mom too." I can feel my cheeks burning. I want them to stop growing red but they just won't, and so I force Butters' personality back into mind and glance up between them, acting slightly confused even though my heart's beat is going miles a minute at just the implication of what Kenny said about us. Oh, although, the thought of it is so wonderfully, fantastically glorious and so not something I should be thinking about in public…
"God, Kenny! You're so gay!"
"Only for you, big boy!" And with that, Kenny blows him a kiss, to which Cartman flushes out into a highly appalled state. I feel jealousy burn inside of me even though I know Kenny is joking about this whole conversation.
"Ew, nah, I'm nah a gay fag like you, Kenneh!" To this, Kenny blows a raspberry.
"You wish you were a gay fag like me!" Kenny says this so easily, as if it were a completely true statement. "You're just in the closet, you fucking lard-ass." Cartman is just offended by this point, and is standing aback slightly.
"Screw you butt-fuckin' faggots! I'm goin' home!" Liar - he's not going home; he's really goin' to hang out in the hallway and then leave to bother me in first block.
But with that, Cartman turns away and does that little marching-strut thing that he does whenever he gets offended. I look back to Kenny, who's just grinning as usual. "Ignore him," he says once he catches me looking at him without looking up from. "He's just a closet-cased pussy who's PMSing 'cause he can't get any action."
I snort at the idea. Cartman couldn't be gay if his life depended on it! Well, except for his cousin of course, but he always denies that instance, and we won't get into that otherwise - okay, yes we will. When he was pretending he had tourettes, he admitted that he and his cousin touched wieners or something when they were five. I swear - I had never laughed so hard in my life. But Butters smiles weakly at Kenny, laughing softly too. "I see."
"Yeah, so…" I look up from gathering the last of my papers, and Kenny seems to have trailed off from whatever he was going to say.
"Uh, Ken?" But he doesn't look up, just squints at something - that paper on top of the pile that he's holding. I lean over to him, trying to see what it is that he's just staring at. And, of course, on top is that sheet - you know the one - with the initials all over it and the hearts and stuff? Of course. Of course. Of fucking course that'd be one of the ones he picks up with 'BK' written all over it! Of course he would - oh, I am screwed…
Suddenly, his head jerks upright and falls back onto my shoulder and he holds the papers up in the air, waving them back and forth. "Okay, okay! You gotta tell me who this 'K' person is!" He giggles, a big smile across his face.
"What?!" I ask in shock, and even Butters is a little worried about this. "No!"
"Come on, come on! You gotta, Buttercup! You just gotta!" Kenny pouts over my shoulder, puckering his lips out and giving me this big, blue puppy dog eyes like he does. God, why'd he have to be so cute?!
"No! K isn't anyone! It's no one!" I say, and try to lean over him, groping for the papers. Curse my short arms! I can't reach, especially now that he's holding them farther away.
"It's gotta be someone!" He whines, waving the paper at me from a distance. "Tell me or I'll just start guessing!"
"No - it's no one, really!" Was I, maybe, by that, implying that he was no one? Hell no! I just don't want him to know - I can't let him know - he'll be able to guess that it's him and then he'll be creeped out and never speak to me ever again! Cover-up lies, where are you when I need you?!
He hops upright off of me and holds the paper toward the ceiling, to which I have to stand on my tip-toes to try and reach it. "Is it… Karen? You know - that one blonde chick in our philosophical class-thingy? You know, with Goodwin?"
"N-no! It's not Karen, it's - just, give it back, Kenny!" I jump, but he spins on his heels, reeling the paper away from me.
"What about Karee? Is it her?" He asks, walking quickly enough to get away from me and holding the paper close to his face enough to try and study it.
"No, Ken!" I say, moving after him, holding my other books and papers close to my chest so they won't fall as well and give away any more details. God, if he found those other papers…
"Well, what about…" he pauses, twirling again so that I can't get my papers from him. "I can't think of any other name that starts with a K." God, this kid is an idiot sometimes! Does he know that is own name starts with K? Right now, though, I'm glad that he is.
"Good! Because it's no one!" Finally, I get my papers back from him and shove them back into place with the other papers. "No one - happy?" He frowns.
"Gosh, just tell me! Please?" He pouts again, leaning over to pout right in my face. I frown, but don't necessarily object to him being that close to my face.
"You know what?" I say, giving in. "I'll tell you. But do you really wanna know?"
"Yes! I really wanna know!"
"Fine! It's…" I pause. You know, dramatic effect.
"Come on! Tell me already!"
"Burger King."
He stares at me blankly for a minute, his excitement and anticipation gone. "I love… Burger King." He takes a few moments that feel like minutes to actually respond, staring at me in a dumb-founded way.
"Burger… King?"
"Burger King." He doesn't say anything again.
"Burger King?"
"Yes! It's Burger King, Kenny! I love Burger King - you know, Burger King…?" He nods weakly.
"Why… Burger King?"
"I dunno! I was having cravings, I guess."
"For Burger King?"
"For Burger King." He laughs out loud this time - all sense of confusion gone and his normal frame of mind back once again.
"Cravings!" He laughs again and then slings his arm over my shoulder, pulling me along as he walks toward that always-crowded hallway. "Maybe you're preggo, little Buttercup!"
"Pregnant? I don't think men can get pregnant, Ken…" He shrugs.
"I heard on the news once that some guy from England got pregnant or something."
"A man? Men can't get pregnant, Kenny! You know, the mommy gets pregnant and then the stork comes with the baby…" He looks over at me, staring at me with cool - but not surprised, really - shock.
"You know, you're so smart that it's stupid." I give him a confused look.
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Yuh - it kinda does. You just have to think about it a little. Like, for instance, you also have to think about how a man can get pregnant! 'Cause, you know, he can."
"No," Butters states. "Only mommies get pregnant. Where were you in health class?" Kenny scoffs a laugh.
"No, where were you in health class?" He asks, pointing at me with a confused look on his face.
"I was there! I mean, I was even in the same class as you, Kenny!" Butters almost pleaded, and Kenny shrugged, smiling upward and to himself, joking slightly.
"Eh, well, I'm telling you - men can get pregnant! It happened, they had pictures and everything. I mean, don't you remember back in fourth grade, when Mr. Garrison was actually Ms. Garrison and told us that some guy on that show with Oprah got pregnant and then she flipped out and went berserk and even put her new penis on a mouse or whatever?" I did remember actually - when Ms. Garrison told us about it, Kenny and I were playing in the sandbox, and asked us if we had seen his - or her, at the time - penis. So, I nodded slightly. "Yeah, see? So men can get pregnant!" He then laughed in triumph and I shook my head.
"Nuh-huh! I mean, Mister, er, miss Garrison even said that it was a women who became a man! And then got pregnant as a man! So she was a still a she - not a man."
"True! But you know how gays have sex, Buttercup?" Kenny leaned in close and Butters looked back at him with a confused look, even though I knew and was blushing deeply already - hidden away inside Butters by this point, for the most part. "Well," Ken said, taking a step closer to whisper in my ear. "They, you know, do it up the ass!" Butters looked down, making a little 'O' shape with his mouth. "And a woman get pregnant when she and a man have sex - which is where? Oh, yeah! The front, in her vagina!" I can't help but wince. That word is just so gross to me. "Unless she had some kind of mess up in the operation you know?"
"Oh" was all Kenny got as a response.
"Yeah - kinda confusing, isn't it? See, although she was a man at the time, she still managed to get pregnant! Which means he got pregnant! While he was still a he! And this guy didn't get a sex change - he was born a dude! So men can get pregnant!" But I shook my head.
"I still don't believe you!"
"Fine," Kenny shrugged, looking away in a very cool fashion, hands in his pockets. Then, his eyes gleamed and he jumped forward, waving frantically at someone across the hall. "Hey, Stan! Kyle!"
The two looked up from leaning against the lockers near the crowded hallway that connected the two sides of the school, Stan's arms around Kyle's waist and in the pockets of his boyfriend's pants in a rather public display of affection. Unlike when Butters was still young and more naïve than 'he' was now, he didn't curse the two super best friends slash boyfriends for being homosexual as he probably would have as a fourth grader, and instead smiled happily at them both - I smiled at the too. I helped Kyle with that, after all.
"Sup, Kenny?" Stan nodded at him and Kyle leaned back against his raven-haired boyfriend, practically billowing into him like a kid into a fluffy pillow. Stan just smiled in turn.
"So, isn't it true that men can get pregnant?" Kenny asked in a very calm manner, standing straight with his hands in his pockets again.
Stan just gave him a confused look. "I don't think so…" Kyle raised an eyebrow at Kenny curiously when his boyfriend answered.
"I'm serious! I saw it on the news. A man got pregnant."
"Well…" Kyle tried to justify this a little bit, thinking about things thoroughly as he always did. He was so analytical about everything, but it was nice. "Was this man really a girl before? You know, like that one female-to-male on the Oprah show that got pregnant that drove Mr. Garrison wild and made him become a man again?" But Kenny just shook his head.
"Nah," he said firmly, shaking some blond hair off his forehead. "He was a real boy!" He said it in a tone that mocked that old Disney movie… Pinocchio, I think it was...
Kyle bit down on his lower lip secretively, trying to hide that he was, blushing very, very faintly. "I see," was all he said in turn to this, eyes shifting down quickly and back at Stan for a brief moment before going back to his feet. "I see."
"Uh, well, dude," Stan said, giving a confused look. "Are you sure it wasn't a woman that got a sex change? Like with Garrison…" but Kenny shook his head.
"Nuh-huh. A hundred percent positive that it was a man - no sex change or nothing."
Kyle stared blankly at Kenny for a moment, then turned to Stan. "Stan, I think we need to talk…" I'm pretty sure I've never heard Kenny laugh harder than he laughed right now. Honestly, I think Ken has always known that the couple in front of us has probably had rather copious amounts of sex in their free time - Hell, they'd dedicated days of the week to each other - and although I'm absolutely sure of that, Kenny still laughs. But I just don't know what it is. Though, I laugh (inwardly) too - and then smile at Kyle. He did get what he wanted after all, right? Stan, that is. In many senses, it appears. So I'm happy for him. We all know, though, what they're going to talk about, and its not about a breakup, I can tell, so I have no need to worry. Even so, I'm still a little worried for Kyle, but in another sense, ya know? Maybe you don't, though… are you even there? I wonder if you exist anyway…
"Well," I say nicely, smiling at them both. "I guess we'll be going then. See you later, fellas." Kyle smiles brightly at me as I reach for Kenny - does he know? - and tug him gently down the hall.
"Yeah," Kyle calls after us as Kenny waves later to them. "See you later, Buttercup." Stan chuckles at this, until Kyle turns to him and his face goes a little more serious.
I look over at Kenny again, who's just staring at me with some look I just can't place. But it's pretty intense. Jealousy…? "Uh, Ken?"
"I thought I was the only one that called you Buttercup." He says, frowning and stopping in place to cross his arms.
"Eh?" I look at him curiously a moment, then laugh at him. I mean, was he really jealous over that? Slowly, my laughter starts escalating into a fit of laughter. You know, that kind that makes your stomach hurt?
"Hey!" He says, bending over to grab my cheek, pulling it while I laugh. "It's not funny! I thought I was the only one!" Though, because he's pulling my cheek, my laughs have turned into little squeals of pain.
"Hey, hey, let go, let go!" He does, but stares at me like he won't live it down. Rubbing my cheek absently, I say, "Was it really that big of a deal?" He purses his lips, looks the other direction and shrugs. "Then why'd you pinch my cheek?" I growl half-playfully, frowning.
"I felt the need to. I mean, everyone's just stealin' my nicknames," he says, his little Southern drawl coming into life when he says it.
I huff. "So you pinch me? Yeah, thanks, love you too, Kenny."
He grins. "You know I love ya."
Inside, I want to cry. Outside, Butters laughs, smiles brightly, takes it as a joke, a usual thing to say, gives a little, "Yep!" I know he doesn't mean it the way I want him to. I know he doesn't. Maybe I shouldn't have said it first place, but, even if its just for a second, I can attempt to believe that he means it just these few times that he does say it. The way he says it is the same way that I say it to Wendy and Bebe and, you know, sometimes even Kyle. But when we say it then, we don't mean it like how I would say it to Kenny.
I wonder…
He smiles at me brightly as starts walking again, raising a hand to clap me lightly on the back.
If I should tell him…
I smile back at him, then follow after him with a faint smile.
How I feel about him?
"So," Kenny says, hands stuffed back into his orange pockets of his short-sleeved hoodie, turning around and walking backwards to face me. "You think that Stan and Kyle are talking about Kyle's new-found possibility of getting preggo in his eggo?"
I flush lightly. "Hey, Ken, it's not really our business to but in…"
"Yeah, I know. But, I'm… concerned about them." I blow a raspberry.
"Yeah, you're concerned." He just grins at me.
"I know you're worried about Kyle." A look of shock crosses my face - how did he know? I've never really spoken with Kyle in front of him before. In front of anyone, really. Aside those times that I'm hanging out with all of them. He smirks at me. "Please, Buttercup. Don't think I don't know." He laughs softly, then stops and claps me on the shoulder, with that big smile of his on his face.
And I can't help but wonder how much he already knows, though.
"Hey," he calls me, breaking me out of my thoughts. He's already farther down the hall now, turning around to make me go too. I didn't notice he moved. Spacing out; I need to stop doing that now, I'll blow my cover.
I smile brightly at him, like Butters would. "Yeah," I say. "I'm comin'."
"So," he says, looking down at me from the corner of those blue eyes of his. I love the color of them. "You have that crazy-hard math class first period, right?" I laugh.
"It's not 'crazy-hard.' It's pretty easy, just like algebra, just a little more college-level." He shrugs.
"I was never very good at math." I shake my head.
"Math's easy. It just stakes some getting used to, ya know?" I say, looking up from my books to him, my little 'BK' paper on top. Maybe I should tuck that away before other eyes pry in on it. If Wendy and Bebe saw it, there would be hell to pay.
He blows a raspberry at me, to which I laugh. "Naw," he says in that Southern drawl of his. I always wondered where he got it. "I suck at math." The imagine that first came to mind wasn't the one that he meant when he said that, and it stirred a pit of jealousy in my stomach. What a silly thing! Math can't do that! Stupid teenage mind, stupid teenage mind, stupid teenage lust…
"Want me to tutor you or something?" I ask, locking eyes with him when he looks down at me. Nervously, I tug my books closer to my chest. I almost start up with that old Butters-esque habit of grinding my knuckles together, but the books get in the way.
"That," he says. "Would be awesome." He raises his eyebrows like he's trying to emphasize what he's saying. I smile. Then, he pokes my cheek lightly, grinning brightly. "But are you trying to hit on me?"
"Hit on you?" I ask, patting his hand away. He just laughs. "I don't… get it." He rolls his eyes.
"Never mind," he says with that big grin still on his lips. I pout.
"Meanie."
"I am not!" He says, smiling at me mischievously again.
"Are too." I say rather childishly. It's a game we like to play.
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not!"
"Are too!" I almost sing it.
"Am not," he sings back.
We laugh at each other. I like this. I like us. Most of all… I like him.
"Kenny?" I ask, looking back at him. "Your class isn't in this direction..."
"Yeah, I know."
"So… what are you doing?"
"What?" He asks blatantly. "Can't walk you to class?" I chuckle. He smiles to himself. "Makes me seem like a gentleman. Boyfriend-y." After he says that, though, I can't look at him. It's only a joke, after all. But I can't take it like that.
"Yeah, very." Butters says, looking back at him. He just smiles brightly at me. I hate it when he smiles. But I love it so much. Like a love so strong you just hate it. His smile makes me just want him more, and because I can't have him, it just makes me more sad once he stops.
I must admit, Kenny means a lot to me. More than anyone else in this little piss hole we call civilization. I tell you, once I'm old enough, I'm outta here... I've got it all planned out. I've always had it planned, right from the beginning. Ever since I could remember, right after college when I can finally stop needing my parents in one way or another, I decided that I would leave completely. Some days, I thought of dropping off the face of the earth to become the person I want to be. I'd become a girl, like Mr. Garrison did, but actually stay a girl. I'd change my name, move as far from South Park, Colorado as possible. Not Florida or California, but maybe England or somewhere in Europe. Maybe even Canada and maybe, if I could ever get to him, take Kenny with me and…
"Butters!" Kenny calls out. I notice his hand's in front of me, waving. "Yoo-hoo, are you there? You almost walked into a wall there, Buttercup…"
"Oh…" I giggle nervously, slightly embarrassed. I was so caught up in thinking that I almost walked into a wall in front of him! I'm so embarrassed…
"You're so clumsy sometimes. It's so cute," he laughs, pushing his hand forward and leaning against the wall. I look up at him behind me, hair falling out of my eyes as I half-lean over backwards to do so. He grins down at me with that Cheshire cat smirk of his. He pulls it off to an almost uncanny level sometimes. Then, for whatever reason, he looks down both sides of the hallway. It must be empty; I don't hear anyone but us. "How much more time before class, do you think?" I blink at him then set myself up right, then look down at my pink wristwatch.
"Uh, almost twenty minutes still…" I say, then turn around to find him giving me that grin again. Well, it's a slightly different grin this time.
"Well then," he said with that smirk on his lips. He lifts the other hand from his waist and shifts his weight slightly, then runs a hand through his hair in a very… amatory manner. "Hi, I'm mister Right," he says, smiling that same erogenous smile back at me. "I heard you were looking for me?"
I giggle and smile up at him. "Well, who told you that?"
"God did, of course!" He grins at me slyly. Another game. Just another game we like to play. But it's only a game; it's always and ever only a game. "Well… now that I think of it, it may have been Kyle…" My heart thumps hard; too hard. Is he being serious? Or is this a game? Kyle, if you told him, I'll… "Seeing as, for a moment I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I see that I am very much alive, and heaven has been brought to me…" he finished and leans his face in close to mine. I giggle bashfully.
It's only a game, though.
"Hey," he says quietly. God, he's so close; please, just give me this one chance… just this one chance. "Did it hurt?"
I blink up at him, unsure of what he's getting at. "Did what hurt?"
"When you fell from heaven, of course. I mean, someone should call God! Because it appears his heaven's missing an angel." I titter.
Just a game.
I like our games; I hate our games. I like his smile; I hate his smile…
But we always do this. It's routine. Kenny gets new pick-up lines, tests them on me. I don't think he's ever even used them before on anyone in actuality, but rumors say he does. But lots of girls that I hang out with like him, so they probably lie to myself and the rest of the girls that they "hooked up." It's been like that since elementary school though, really. Then again… Kenny always seemed to have that kind of forté on women (and myself), sex and the whole likeness to it. Aside, Kenny always shakes his head and denies it when I ask if he hooked up with so-and-so who apparently did hook up with him, according to themselves.
Oh, what am I doing to myself? I've gone off the deep end. I'm just making it worse for me than it already was. If this was the reason I've gone mad and completely out of my mind, I kind of like it. The games, that is. They keep me attached to him. Everything about him, actually, keeps me attached to him. How could you not be? I'm sure he'd be voted most popular. Well, not exactly popular, per say, but well-liked, sort of. A lot of people like him, okay? I mean a lot. A lot of my 'friends' talk about him all the time, and I can only silently agree. I'm sure that, by now, my friends know I'm gay, but I haven't exactly confirmed that I am. I mean, I've never dated a girl since that time that Butters did, but, you know how that went, don't you? And even then they, being Butters and that Raisin's girl, weren't really dating. Butters just wanted so badly to believe they were. He gets pushed around so easily sometimes. But at any rate, I wonder if they've figured it out. I'm sure if I came out directly to the school, it wouldn't change much. I might get teased a little more often, but that's about it.
Now if I came out admitting that I liked someone, I wonder what would happen. As long as I didn't say who that person was, of course; just to protect their hide. I wouldn't want Kenny to get hurt, nor leave me because I do like him. If I have to, I'll leave things as they are and be happy with it. I know I won't be happy without him there, and I'm not even sure if I'd be able to hold my up charade without him. He's like an energy source. He's addictive. No wonder everyone likes him.
"Shouldn't we be getting to class?" I ask. Technically, I'm almost right next to my class room. But Kenny's is on the other side of the school. I know because he's told me before, not because I stalk him. Honest!
"Ah," he says lightly, shrugging and smiling with that grand, princely smile again. "Why? Do you want to hang out in the classroom so we can make-out in privacy?" He laughs at me, smiling brightly and just shifting his weight slightly to lean a little closer to me. Or so, it appears to me that he got closer.
Butters tilts his head at Kenny. Simple Butters and his naïveté. "What do you mean?" Kenny beams at me with a smirk, then leans in really close - to close for my comfort when I can't kiss him - and lifts a finger, tapping the tip of my nose.
"Oh, Buttercup," he says, with a singing note in his words. "You'll learn eventually." He looks up a second with that little titter of a grin on his red lips, then back down at me, smirking wickedly. He stoops over slightly to whisper in my ear this time. My cheeks flare red. Like fireworks going off in my brain. "Maybe," he whispers, turning slightly to very faintly nose my ear, to feel his breath rasping across my neck like a ghost. "One day I'll teach you personally."
Quicker than anything I've seen, he's up again, grinning down at me while I'm clutching my books to my chest tighter than ever before, propped up against the awkward white brick wall. I look up at him with a very confused look. My Butters mentality clouds over again. Butters tilts his head at Kenny, smiling because he doesn't understand.
"What you talkin' 'bout, Ken?" Kenny just smiles.
"I'm talkin' 'bout many things, little Butterscotch," he says, tapping the tip of my nose again. He shifts his weight again. "You, that's one of the things I really like about you." It's a game. It's all a game. It's always just a game. Don't let it affect you, because he never really means it. He could, but he doesn't. Not like you like him, does he? "You have so many things to learn." Butters titters.
"I know I do," but Butters thinks he's talking about things that require mental assistance. Kenny's eyebrows raise.
"Do you now?" Butters nods.
"Mm-hmm." Kenny's smile grows malign again.
A small "I see" is all I get in response. Well, along with that Cheshire-cat of a smirk, of course. I look down the hall. Other people are starting on their way to class. I look back up to Kenny. "Well, Mr. McCormick, I think ya' should be headin' to class, don't you?" I ask him in a formal manner - another game. I snigger lightly at our jokes to myself. He purses his lips slightly at me, leaning forward to me more with an inquisitive look.
"Maybe I should, Miss Stotch." I give him a funny look.
"Didja just call me miss?" I tilt my head slightly, half-smiling at him. It's a first that he's called me miss.
"Yeah," he says and taps my nose. "'Cause you're quite a pretty little miss." I laugh again.
"Why, thank you, Mister McCormick." He smiles at me, then pushes off the wall and shoves his hands back in his pockets and turns around, already starting off. What - no goodbye? Gee, thanks, Kenny. It's okay - I still love you though, you know. Well, I hope you don't know, at least. But you know what I mean, don't you?
"Well then, Miss Stotch," he says, smiling as he spins back around to face me from across the hall. "I believe I must bid you adieu," he finished, taking a bow and tipping his invisible hat at me. I laugh. He's such a goof sometimes. But I love that about him. "Well - until sixth period, at least." I laugh again. He probably means seventh period. We have seventh period together, not sixth. Silly Kenny.
"You mean seventh period?" I ask, smiling at him again with a little wave. He just shrugs, smiles and then turns around again, walking off with another tip of his 'hat.' I watch him until he turns the corner of the hallway, and almost knocks into another group of people, which he narrowly misses by hopping around them. If he really wanted to, he could be a ninja. Not like back when we were little kids, you know, pretending to be ninjas, but a real ninja. He could pull it off, I think. Aside his hair, because that's so bright it's like the sun. But ninjas wear those little head-cover things, so I guess he'd be okay, wouldn't he? I think so, at least. Maybe. If he tried.
I smile blankly at the thought. It's kinda silly. Kenny as a ninja. Just silly.
I turn around and head to class. Now I have twenty minutes or so to waste. I wonder if anyone else is in first period already?
I turn into the classroom. First period is college algebra.
"Oh, Butters, hey!" I hear a very familiar accent that cannot be describe in any other way that with the word - or name, rather - Pip.
"Hey, Pip!" I wave back at him. He has this class with me, yes. He's pretty good at math, to be honest. I usually get help with it from him. I sit next to the windows of the classroom on the edge, with Pip seated at my right. "How are you?" He shrugs and smiles back at me.
"Fine this morn so far," he replies, with his English-twisted words. His accent always makes me smile a little. Back in elementary school, he got picked on for having that accent of his. Personally, I thought it was a little funny too. Really, you have to admit that it makes you laugh a little. Don't you? "What about you?" He swivels in his chair, turning toward me. He hasn't changed all that much from the early years of school. He still wears fairly British clothes, but with real style nowadays, and has the same cap and haircut sorta, and has the same accent. Though the way he speaks - not his accent, that is - have changed, along with his mannerisms. But nothing changes much, does it?
"Perfect so far!" I beam back at him. He smiles brightly. "I mean, I got to hang out with Kenny all morning, plus Cartman didn't bother me all that much, because Kenny stopped him." He laughs and beams back at me.
"Go Kenny!" No one likes that fat-ass anyway. If you asked anyone, I'm pretty sure everyone will agree in one way or another that he's just an idiot that no one likes. Those that do like him are his fan-followers and basically follow him wherever he goes. But after middle school, there aren't many in that group either.
I think this day, so far, is the best day of my life. How could it get any better? Actually, I could name a few ways that it could get better. But that would make me want them more, so I won't name them. I bet you could guess though. I mean, you can do that, right? I've subtly hinted at them. A lot. I'm sure you've got them by now. Maybe. Who knows.
"You know," Pip says, taking me back to reality just in time for my thoughts to finish themselves off. "I think Kenny's like your knight in shining armour, don't you think?" I want to blush. But I don't. Butters.
"What do you mean?"
"He's just always there for you, I mean."
"Oh." I smile. I suppose he is.
"He saved you from Cartman. Which is basically like slaying the dragon, aye?" He laughs and blushes very faintly, but I see it. "Damien wouldn't do that for me, I don't think." I chuckle.
"No, I think he would." I smile at him. "I mean, he cares for you after all."
"Though, he'd probably tell him something like, 'No one can tease Pip but me!' or something like that."
"Oh, he would." We laugh with each other.
Yeah. Today's a very good day.