**Okay, I'm straying slightly from the original story, but hopefully you are still enjoying it :) Took a while to write this one, but hopefully fills in some of the gaps that the last ones left open**

The school bus was packed when Kyle arrived. He couldn't see Kenny, so took a seat in the third row from the front, next to Craig. Even though Kyle had lost many friends over the years and gained many others, his reaction to Craig's gang, which still consisted of Tweak and Token (Clyde had moved to Michigan in sixth grade), had remained surprisingly neutral. Craig hadn't changed much in the last few years, same clothes, same looks and same friends. Even the same tendency of flipping people off.

"Hey," Craig said, confidently nodding at Kyle and then looking away.

"Hey dude," Kyle muttered, suddenly nervous, feeling as if Craig was judging his every word.

They sat in silence for the rest of the journey, awkwardly staring in different directions, Craig out of the window, surveying the snow covered buildings, Kyle across the aisle at Stan and Wendy, wrapped in each other's arms. He made sure not to make eye contact. Ever since he'd seen Stan and Wendy together in third grade, Kyle had wished for love, but it had never came. In a way, he was probably jealous, wanting what Stan and Wendy both had, someone to look out for them, hold them close and care. But that was natural, wasn't it? Wanting someone there. Maybe he was finally going to get someone…

Kenny had missed the bus. As usual, he had woken up late, but would have got there on time, if it hadn't been for his dad, making him wash the dishes while he watched the Super bowl on the TV. So, despite the cold, Kenny trudged along the road on the four mile walk to school. Passing the Cartman household, Kenny looked up to see his chubby ex-friend leaning against the windowsill, deep in thought. As Cartman saw Kenny, he seemed to smile and managed a half wave. Kenny waved back, but then quickly turned away and continued walking.

How could he do this? How could Cartman even treat him like a friend? After all he had done… But even as he thought that, Kenny dismissed his negative thoughts towards Cartman. Even after all the bullying, the pain and suffering, Kenny couldn't stay mad at him. He would give anything to have Cartman back again, get the friends back together and act as if nothing had changed.

But it wasn't so bad. Stan was a lost cause and he couldn't face crawling back to Cartman, but Kyle was still there. That was all he cared about right now…

The yard was deserted by the time Kenny arrived at school. He looked at his watch and noticed that it was already 9:30. Trudging across the yard and towards the reception, Kenny scrawled a note from 'his mother' in the back of his journal and placed it on the secretary's desk. As he turned away, the secretary shouted back at him, "Wait there a moment Kenny!"

Sighing, Kenny turned back, as the secretary handed him back his note. "The principal wants to see you. Give this to him when you see him." Kenny closed his eyes and cursed under his breath before walking away along the corridor and taking a seat beside the door of the principal's office. The fluorescent light above him flickered, as he sat, staring at the note grasped tight in his hand, the silence only shattered by the secretary's occasional tapping at her keyboard.

The English lesson was dragging, as Kyle desperately tried to think of another interpretation of the poem on his desk. Around the room, children were shouting, throwing things and laughing, a mayhem that the teacher wasn't even trying to control. To Kyle, it seemed as if he was the only one trying to pass his exams. Didn't they realise the importance of it all? This work would impact the rest of their lives, but all they were doing was frittering it away. Kyle felt alone, as if no one could see it the way he could, the right way. Despite everything they had been told, everything else was content on frittering it all away, living for the moment, as if life would never catch up with them. But it would. It always would.

But Kyle was misinformed, as another child sat at the other side of the class, focussing on the same poem as Kyle, trying as hard as he could to draw the same interpretations. He was focussed, still trying to make the most of his education, though not for the same reasons as Kyle. Since their relationship had begun, Wendy had always been the clever one, but now Stan was trying to make up for all that. He was tired of being overshadowed by his better half and wanted to show her that he was more than just a man for her to play with. Even though their relationship seemed stable to any outsider, Stan still felt insecure, as if he wasn't pulling his weight, just tagging along for the ride. He felt like he needed to make more of a contribution, prove that he could drag his weight and deserve a girl as perfect as Wendy.

The bell rang, as Kyle desperately tried to scrawl down one last sentence before the teacher took his work away. The last out of class as usual, Kyle tried to find Kenny amongst the mass of children surging along the corridor, but was unsuccessful, instead being forced to follow the wave to his next lesson. The orange parka clad boy was nowhere to be seen.

**If you got this far, thanks for sticking with me! :) Please, please, please leave a comment, its what keeps me going ;) And I'm wanting to know if you're enjoying it or not.**