So here's the rundown.

I told you guys the last chapter was going to be huge.

It wasn't because I shoved 75% of it into this chapter instead because I liked the flow better this way.

This chapter really is monstrous.

I hope you guys don't mind. D;

Also, sorry I'm taking so long to update. I know, I know..I suck.

I've been going through a lot of personal stuff though, and prom just passed so i was busy with that too.

Part of the reason this chapter was stalled was because of my depressive feelings, and a story of it's own emerged from that. It's really dark and morbid, but I could post it if anyone is interested. It's only a one-shot with Kyle.

And the part where Kenny's dad talks in this is, the grammar is meant to be messed up...because he's drunk..

But anyway!

Enjoy~

...

My mind was having a battle with itself and I was stuck in the middle, one part of it wanting me to show up to school and the other wanting me to stay home and do nothing. I was kind of going for that whole MIA thing and wanted to seem somewhat mysterious. Going would just ruin my absent streak. I guess I wanted to go though, just because I no longer felt my life falling apart. Now, it was only crumbling a bit.

It was rather dumb that something as trivial as Kenny asking me to dinner could lift my spirits up. It was like I was a girl with a high school crush or something. I definitely did not have a crush on Kenny though. That's not the way things worked; I didn't like anyone. I didn't need anyone.

I got dressed like any other school day, taking a shower first before making sure my looks were up to par by my standards. I didn't put on anything special, just an old tee with my blue jacket and some jeans.

I skipped out on breakfast to avoid confrontation from my mother and instead headed out of the door with my new messenger bag. I had just recently switched to it since book bags seemed to mainstream.

Heh...fucking hipsters.

But anyway, I was running a bit late and needed to use whatever time I had to get out of the door before I missed my bus. I had already woken up too late to walk to school, so that was out of the question if I wanted to be on time, and I sure as hell wasn't running anywhere.

I made my way down the street I lived on, reaching the end and turning left down another street. The end of this one was where the stop was and I was lucky enough to turn the corner just as my bus flew passed.

It was great.

And in case you didn't catch that, that was sarcasm.

I stood in that spot for a moment, a bit dumbfounded, my mind trying to understand that I now had no ride to school and decide what I should do at the same time.

Before my brain had any say in the matter though, my feet started carrying me down the road that led towards school instead of back home.

Not sure why, but I made the lonely trip to school, arriving late and ending up showing my face at the end of first. There was no point in going to class besides the fact that I was in the same room as Kenny, which was only for a moment, and I kind of pretended he wasn't there the entire time but it still satisfied me more than you'd think. I could feel him acknowledge me, it was like he was seeing a car accident happen and couldn't take his eyes off of it, but the car crash was happening on me somewhere.

I only sat for a minute before the bell rang and dismissed us. We, well me and Kenny, shared and awkward glance on the way out of the room. It was the kind where we both looked at each other to see if the other person was watching, and it happened at the same time because that's the way fate wanted it.

We didn't say anything to each other, and despite the fact the day went on. Everything was the same as it had been when I left for my unexcused break. No one asked where I had been or showed any concern, and in all honesty there was a sense of dread that seemed to linger over the fact that I was back. My spot at the lunch table was even filled by Filmore.

That preppy ass freshman...

Clyde looked up from his brown paper bag lunch long enough to see me standing there, tray in hand as i looked back blankly. He gave me an almost sympathetic look before turning to say something to Bebe with a smile, as if he hadn't even seen me there. It was like a punch to the gut, and my self-esteem shrunk a little more.

I convinced myself I didn't care though, that the only difference was that I couldn't make smart remarks now. It just meant that I wasn't going to talk very much today since this period was usually the one where I said the most to anyone.

And so I was forced to sit with the weird kids who occupied the only table with open seats. Who was I to call them weird though? I never said anything unless it was rude and out of line, plus it was pretty strange how much I thought about things that were so trivial.

This table was partially vacant for several obvious reasons, and I decided since it was the least crowded place in the whole cafeteria I'd sit there hopefully undetected. They didn't pay much attention to me since they were fully absorbed in a game of bullshit, which was a game I'd never played but had witnessed plenty of times. I tried to keep my eyes on the blue tray that had come with my meal today but they kept wandering every time someone called BS.

Just from occasionally glancing up, I came to the conclusion that there were five kids who sat here. One was large, like very large, and seemed to really be enjoying himself. There were two skinny, lengthy, nerd looking kids who looked like they were from a movie, glasses and all. Then there was one kid who looked like he could pass for a fifth-grader who sat next to a kid who looked similar to me.

They all talked and joked, everyone except for the small kid who nervously stared at the table to keep from making eye-contact. He seemed a bit strange but I minded him the least out of the whole group. Well, until the end of the match where he lost a fourth round in a row. He continued to stare down at the table, but now he was talking. I couldn't help but look up at him at this point and blink dumbly as he let out a long string of profane words. It was something along the lines of "You son of a bitchin' whore cunt assholes. You cheating prick bitches..". And it went on after that.

Not only was it really fucking weird, but it was also pretty amusing. I was glad I'd seen something so odd.

I threw out my lunch and snuck out of the cafeteria a bit early to avoid the crowd, dodging hallways where I knew hall monitors would be. I didn't really care about getting into trouble, I really had nothing to lose, but I'm sure the principal was getting tired of seeing my middle finger so much.

I loved when I had the halls all to myself. It was a really nice feeling, and though it was a bit lonely as well I still preferred it this way. It was like everyone else was gone. Like the world had ended and here I was, reminiscing on times when I had walked these halls for school, which I would be doing one day but not because of the end of the world. This is why it was almost discouraging when someone else would wander along and walk passed me. It reminded me that I wasn't alone, and the world was still here. Every time I heard footsteps I'd cringe a bit mentally.

This time was no exception, my eyes moving to look at the tiled floor, which kind of reminded me of confetti. Well...if confetti was earth tones and bland as fuck.

As the steps drew closer, I grew a bit more anxious and ready for them to just pass and leave me to my thoughts again. They didn't though, instead they drew closer until I saw a pair of feet stop in front of mine, making my mind fear the worse and believe that I was in trouble again.

Looking up, I found it was just Tweek. I let out a relieved sigh.

"C-Craig...I-I need to talk to you.."

I was glad he was talking to me again, though I wished he had been there when I needed him most. He was still my best friend, whether he was acting like it or not. I gave him a small shrug, indicating I was listening to what he had to say. He was clearly going to tell me why he was mad at me, or something along those lines, and I was ready to hear it. It was just one of those days where nothing effected me. Not the fact that no one cared I was gone, or that I wasn't wanted at my lunch table, or that I was going to get unloaded on now.

"W-well...where have y-you been?" he asked, clearly stalling. I stared blankly, waiting to hear what he actually had to tell me instead of this bull. I think he got the hint that I wasn't going to say anything on that subject and continued on. "I-I...I uhm..." His bright eyes moved down to the ground and that's when I knew something was wrong. "I really like you..." He said softly, as if he said the words loudly, they'd breaking his teeth. His eyes moved back up to meet my cold ones and shock me back into reality.

He liked me..?

"We're friends...of course you do.." I said coldly, and probably a bit more harshly than I should have before turning to walk away from him and avert anymore conversation on the topic. I didn't know how else to let him down, and god damnit, I didn't want to let him down at all.

I didn't even take a full step before I heard Tweek speak in a tone I'd never gotten from him before. "No! P-please...wait!"

I didn't want to, I really didn't, but I knew I'd have to face it at some point to keep our friendship in tact in some way. I stopped and turned around to face him again. He looked desperate, his eyes beginning to glaze over and become glass like, like a dolls. Like one of those really pretty, old-fashioned dolls with the bright green eyes like his, and the image caused a giant lump in my throat that I had to nervously swallow down. Every emotion in his face hit my heart and made it drop down a little more with every single punch. He wasn't twitching like he normally did, he was just looking at me, his hands nervously balled up and held over his chest defensively.

"I-I know you don't like it when people want to be close to you but please! You're always there for me and I need you! And we both know that you don't have anyone else..I just...you can't stay this way! This is why no one likes you..and you can't be alone forever!" His voice faded out, his eyes blinking up at me sadly. "You always seem so depressed and when you were gone for that long...I-I thought.."

I stood still as I blinked at him. I could feel that my expression had softened to one of concern. He had thought what..? Why the hell did he stop there?

I had the urge to hug him tightly, but my body wouldn't move. Even if I didn't like him back. Even if it did mean nothing, I wanted him to feel okay.

My foot began to lift finally but just as it did, the bell rang. People began to flood the hall, and even though I could have hugged him if I really wanted to, I didn't. I just went with the crowd of people, further and further away from him until I found my feet carrying me away as fast as they could.

I guess the rest of my day was normal, besides the fact that I had to shove the reoccurring feeling of guilt to the back of my mind along with the image of his face when he practically begged for my attention. I really didn't know what I was going to do next time I saw him.

I took the bus home because walking to school had seemed like enough exercise for the day, that and not only was I emotionally exhausted but I was somewhat excited for the little dinner date I had tonight. Or..not a date? And maybe not excited...but I wanted to go home and get ready to meet up with Kenny. It was kind of ridiculous how eager I was.

I ended up just sitting on my bed for the longest time anyway once i got home, just staring off into space and thinking about nothing in general. I couldn't really keep my mind on one subject for more than one moment and when I snapped out of it, I was a bit annoyed with myself. I hated when I let my mind wander onto things at random like that.

My eyes moved to the closet that wasn't too far away, my thoughts finally getting organized and sorting out what there was in there and what I'd wear. Then I wondered if it ever mattered. Maybe it wasn't even worth it. It'd be so much easier for me to sit home and do nothing than to stress myself out over a little date. I mean not a date!

As my cluttered thoughts waged war, my eyes were drawn towards the door which was now slowly creaking open. Knowing that Ruby would just be getting home, my brain automatically decided it was her.

"What, Ruby?" I asked with a bit of agitation clear in my voice. How dare she interrupt my outfit choosing?

"Try again~" A voice which definitely wasn't Ruby's came from the other side of the door just before a face framed with light blonde locks popped in. I blinked a few times before raising my hand up to flip him off.

"Why are you here..?"

"We have a date, remember?" He moved the door open a little more to squeeze his way into my room, the hood of his parka almost getting stuck in the door frame.

"It's only like four..." I stated plainly, dropping my hand back down to my lap.

"Oh, but I just couldn't stay away~" His lips were covered with an unnecessary smirk, one that made me roll my eyes.

"I'm not dressed yet.."

I had set myself up for that one, I really had. "I can help you with that." The blonde said with a chuckle, walking over to the dresser top where Dot's cage sat. He looked in curiously before speaking again. "I think you look fine now anyway..just as you are. It's nothing fancy. Even if it was I ain't got nothing fancy to wear.."

I looked down at my attire, not really sure why he thought a Red Racer tee and jeans was fine, it was kind of a relief that I didn't have to change though.

"He's kinda cute.." Kenny said as he looked into the cage for a moment longer. "He kinda reminds me of the rats we got in our house though.."

I got a bit offended by the comment and felt like firing back but I held it in, looking down at my feet. I was glad I was wearing socks right now, because feet grossed me out. Especially my own, but they weren't so bad in socks.

I leaned back on my hands, my eyes moving up to look at Kenny as I did so. He had turned around to face me again and there we were, locked in another awkward stare. I averted my eyes as quickly as I could regain control over myself, looking off to the side as I coughed nervously. It was clearly a fake cough, and sounded more like a sneeze, but it broke the tension a bit.

"Oh man! I left something at home!" He said with clear disappointment in his voice. My eyes moved back up to him just in time to see him reach over and ruffle my hair before stepping back. "Meet me at the buffet in town in an hour. If your late, you will be punished~" He gave me a wink as he backed towards the door, feeling his way out and shutting it behind himself.

I was glad he wasn't in there to see it, but I smiled at that.

What an idiot.

And so I finally got off of my ass and got changed. I knew that he said I looked fine, but I still didn't feel right staying in the clothes I'd spent the whole day in. It's not like I changed into anything much different than what I was already wearing, it was just cleaner. Just another tee and jeans. I washed my face, fixed my hair up, grabbed my wallet and headed out.

I was a bit early in leaving, but I was almost sure that walking would bridge the gap and make it so that I arrived just on time, or at least I hoped it would. I had the option of driving down when the time came, but that would mean that I'd have to wait in my house for another half of an hour, and that just wasn't sitting well with me. That meant I was walking again, despite my theory that walking that morning had been enough exercise for the day.

I knew that I'd have to eventually pass Kenny's house, and I knew that that meant some more awkwardness if he saw me. To avoid this, I'd need to go into stealth mode and pass by undetected. Failure to complete this mission meant possible taunting by a certain blonde. For what, who knows? So when I saw the house coming up, I picked up my pace, hurrying to cross the gap in front of the home as quickly as possible with out running.

It seemed like an easy job, and I was doing well until I heard screams coming from inside the old structure. They weren't of terror, but of anger, or even rage. I found myself stopping, a bit worried, my body ready to run inside as grab Kenny if I heard any sign of him getting hurt. It was kind of disgusting how my body had already decided that I would for me.

I tuned in when I heard him start to fight back, my curiosity getting the better of me. "...and you know it! That was my fucking money! You had no right to take it; I worked hard for it!" As the voice grew louder and louder, I knew he was heading towards the front door, which was open already, Kenny clearly thinking he'd be in and out quickly.

"Isth my house an I'll do what I wahn!" His dad fired back, his words slurred and his drunkenness very apparent. Even though I was hurrying away from the lawn to avoid getting caught, I could still hear him, along with the breaking glass that soon followed. A woman's voice began in on the argument but I was getting too far to understand exactly what it was she was saying.

I felt almost awful for having heard anything, and honestly, if I could have the choice to have gone the other route and not have heard that I would have. I couldn't look at Kenny the same for the entire night now that I knew of what was happening at his house right before he came to see me.

Just as I had thought, I arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before we were scheduled to meet up and instead of going in I decided to wait outside. The traffic in town wasn't too bad, which was understandable since all of the people who were retreating back to their homes for the night had already done so. There were still quite a few stragglers though, who were a little late on their trek home, and I'm sure a few of them weren't going home at all. Maybe some of them were like me, and had somewhere to be, and someone to meet.

I watched these people pass, pondering their destinations for quite some time, almost forgetting that I was waiting for someone myself but not quite. Ten minutes passed..then twenty, and by the time it got to thirty, I was ready to call my mom and go home to mope around like a loser. I was sure I had been stood up, and even though I knew something was going down at his house before hand, I couldn't help but feel sorry for myself.

I let out a sigh, looking at the ground as I prepared to start back towards my house. I was put on halt though as a hand landed on my shoulder, drawing my attention up to the person who owned that hand.

"Sorry to keep you waiting~"

I gave him a look of distaste, a bit angry with the fact that he had left me hanging for so long. I was sure he had picked up on it but he ignored it with that bright smile of his.

"Hey, babe, change of plans! Looks like I'm a little short on funds, so we have to do something a little different~" He said as if it was no big deal. How could he be so happy after that? How was he okay with this?

I went to argue with him and make the threat of walking home, but I didn't. I was going to cut him some slack. "Okay."

There was a pause where I'm certain he had prepared to argue back, but when he realized my response he stopped. "Okay?! Really?!" He looked at me, obviously shocked that I hadn't even put up a fight or given him any attitude. "A-all right! Let's go then!" He said happily, his grin happier than I'd ever seen it as he reached down to grab my hand. He began to tug me away from the restaurant my cheeks getting a bit warmer as I realized that our hands were intertwined. "How's the park sound..?"

I gave a small shrug as I finally caught my footing and began to walk normally beside him, keeping my eyes on the ground nervously. People could see us together right now; not only that but it was pretty obvious that there was something going on, our interlocked fingers a dead giveaway. They could think what they wanted though, because as soon as I remembered how happy it made him to think back on the day we held hands in fourth grade all of my concern melted away. I gave his cold hand a squeeze, looking up to the path in front of us as I caught a glimpse of his bright smile from the corner of my eyes.

"I knew you wouldn't mind breaking the law~" He said with a small chuckle, which confused me a bit for a moment before I realized it was trespassing after dusk. I just shrugged again at the thought, not too concerned. The worst they'd do was shoo us off of the premises with a warning.

"Someone's not much of a talker today. You okay?"

"Yeah. Are you okay..?" I asked quietly. When was I ever much of a talker? But that aside, I also wanted to make sure that he wasn't upset from earlier. If he was, he was doing a damn good job at hiding it.

It was quiet for a few seconds before he finally gave an indecisive answer. "Yeah, I'll be fine.."

"That's not what I asked.." I was feeling a bit brave apparently, for normally I wouldn't spit out such harsh phrases over what I knew was a delicate subject.

He looked a bit surprised when I looked over to see his reaction, and though I didn't blame him I really did want to make sure he was fine. He blinked a few times before smiling at me. "Yeah, I'm fine, dude. Loosen up~"

The park wasn't too far and we arrived just as he finally answered me. It wasn't completely dark yet, but I'm sure the sheriff wouldn't appreciate us being here. Something along the lines of 'move along, nothing to see here' came to mind and made me smirk a bit as we climbed over the fence that surrounded the playground. We definitely were a bit big to be on it, but it was fine, it wasn't like we'd break it, we'd just hit our heads or something.

"Come find me!" The blonde yelled enthusiastically before breaking away from me and running along the wooden structure. The place reminded me a bit of a castle, and was bigger than the rest of the parks in town. In fact, it towered over the rest, and here I was playing hide and seek or whatever.

I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was growing increasingly darker or the fact that the park had so many hiding spots, but I couldn't see him anywhere from the place I was standing. I let out a sigh before beginning my circumference around the playground, peeking around in attempts to spot him sitting somewhere trying to be sly, my hands nonchalantly sliding into my pockets. "I don't feel like it Kenny..." I announced loud enough for him to hear, the statement not completely true. I didn't mind finding him, I was more worried about him jumping out and scaring me, which he did.

He snuck up behind me somehow, pretending to shank me in the side before running a few feet away and turning around. "Wow, you really suck at this game, Fucker~" He was taunting me knowing damn well that it'd make me want to not suck at this game. "I just killed you, dude. Now you have to come kill me for vengeance " He laughed softly before hurrying onto the park and out of sight.

I sighed and chased him up, somehow managing to lose him already. I grunted softly, walking around a bit before hearing him call out again.

"Hamlet! I have killed your father and taken the throne and there is nothing you can do about it! Muahaha~"

Hah, a Shakespeare reference. How cute of him.

Thanks to his need to be humorous though, I found where he was pretty easily. Instead of following the path on the structure itself, I climbed off as quietly as I could and crept around the back of it, listening and watching the shadow I had spotted. With an amount of stealth that surprised even me, I snuck up behind him just as he climbed back down into the wood chips on the ground, quickly wrapping an arm around so that my hand could cover his mouth as my other hands made a slicing action over his throat.

Got him.

He laughed, pulling away just enough to look at me. "I guess I was wrong~" He fell to his knees playfully, his hands clenching over his heart. "The king has been slain! Oh, cruel world!" And with that, he fell onto his back, cracking up as if someone had told a joke or something. This guy literally cracked himself up, which was a bit weird but I wasn't complaining, I just worried about getting arrested for being with someone under the influence.

"Well! Are you going to just stand there or are you going to join me?!" He patted the earth beside him, and after a moment of contemplating, I moved to sit down on the dirty ground. I mean, how could I resist such charm?

My eyes wandered over to glance at him, his eyes fixed on the dark sky above us, and after a moment of admiration mine did the same. There was nothing up there as far as I could see. No stars, no moon, only an airplane, and yet he had looks so fascinated. What was it that he saw out there?

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. His eyes were lighting up just like I assumed mine did when I looked to the woods outside of the window first period. Maybe he had a security blanket, and maybe it wasn't a snow troll, but an alien, or some kind of UFO. Maybe he was thinking about how one day they'd come down for him and take him away, and just maybe, I was being silly.

"Sorry this date is so lame..I did have money saved up to take you out to dinner..but ya know..I kinda wanted to make our first date something nice too since you're so hard to impress.." He let out a sigh, sitting up so that our shoulders were touching, just like they did on that day under the bridge. "My dad took it and spent it on beer..I'll get it back somehow though! And when I do, expect to go on a better first date!" He smiled over at me, and I couldn't help but look back at him, a smile of my own appearing.

"Shut the fuck up, McCormick..this is perfect.." I nudged him with my elbow.

Our eyes stayed locked for another moment, his tongue running over his lips before he leaned in to plant a quick peck on mine. With that, he snickered and jumped back to his feet, running away from me.

Though a bit flustered, I got up and played along. Another game of 'Chase Cladius' ensued, and we played for a while longer before heading back to our humble abodes. He didn't try to make a move or anything. The kiss had been enough, even if it was brief.

It was like nothing else mattered when I was with him, every stressful thing that had happened to me that day being pushed right out of my mind.

I never thought I'd ever favor anything over Chinese food, but I guess I was wrong.