A/N: First of all, thanks for all the lovely reviews for the last chapter. I'm excited to say that this is the penultimate chapter-I will bring you the final chapter later this week! Cheers!

"So…where the hell should we look first?" Kenny asks me as we enter the mall.

"Fuck if I know." I reply, looking around. Kenny gestures toward the directory so we can try to get a better sense of our surroundings. I wish it were more helpful, but without knowing why the fuck Kyle and Cartman are even here, it's hard to guess where they might be going. And this mall is pretty goddamn big, so that doesn't help either.

Finally, Kenny and I shrug at each other and head off in a random direction. I don't care how long it takes…we're gonna find them.

"How'd you two assholes get here?"

Suddenly, an ambush.

"Ay, those pigfuckers killed me! Give me some more quarters, Jew. I need to finish this game."

"Use your own quarters, fatass."

"Pssht. Figures a Jew would be stingy with his money. Way to reinforce stereotypes, Kahl."

I roll my eyes at Cartman and hand him three quarters. "Whatever, Cartman. But you're buying the next game."

I feel like we've circled the mall at least twice, and there's still no sign of Kyle and Cartman. Frustrated, Kenny and I sit on a nearby bench to gather our bearings.

I sigh loudly. "Where else could we possibly look?"

"I don't know, dude. Maybe we could head to the food court again. Fatass is probably gonna want to hit there at some point."

"Heh, yeah, okay." I smirk at the hint of an insult. Cartman's really getting on my last fucking nerve today with this bullshit.

Kenny and I start to stand up when something catches my eye from the opposite side near the arcade. Something green. Something like…Kyle's hat! Oh fuck, I think I found them!

"Oh shit, dude, there they are!" Kenny exclaims, jumping up and craning his neck to track where they're heading.

"Dude, quiet! They'll fucking hear us!" I scowl at him, pushing him back down on the bench where Kyle and Cartman won't notice us.

"Come on, Stan! What are you waiting for?" Kenny asks hurriedly, trying to peer up at them again.

"I don't want us to get caught, Kenny—why the fuck else?"

"We're gonna lose them if we keep stalling!"

A pause.

"Fuck, let's go." I reply.

We stand up and try to spot our friends again. I think I see a hint of Kyle's hat heading toward the movie theater, so we start that way. By the time we get there, though, I don't see a trace of either of them.

God dammit.

"This is why I thought we shouldn't wait," Kenny mumbles angrily.

Fuck, this is my fault. It took forever to find them, and once we finally did, I screwed it up. It was right there in front of me, and I waited too long to act on it. Why'd I have to puss out?

It's just that…right now, nothing seems to be adding up. I have no clue what's going on, and it's unsettling to say the least. I really do want to get to the bottom of this, but now that I actually have a chance to be confronted with it…I guess maybe part of me's a little afraid of what I might find out.

After all, Cartman is involved.

"You're right, dude. Sorry for fucking this up." I reply sheepishly. "What should we do now?"

At this point, both of us become aware of the lobby being significantly less crowded than it was a minute ago. And Kyle and Cartman are nowhere to be seen.

"Shit, which theater do you think they went into?"

"No clue, dude."

"Well, fuck."

"Yeah."

After a moment of silence, an idea pops into my head. "Hey, you know we could just wait here until the theaters start emptying out again. We're bound to catch them at some point."

"Ugh, that's gonna take forever."

"Only a couple of hours at the most—we can manage that."

About half an hour later, we're kicked out for loitering.

I stomp out into the parking lot with Kenny close behind. We're both furious. This is becoming harder than I thought it would be. Ugh, I hesitate for one moment and I'm paying for it all day. Kenny looks aggravated at me. Jesus, dickhole. I feel terrible and I already apologized—what more do you want?

We head to where Cartman had parked his mom's car earlier and start searching for it. At the very least we can hang out there until we spot them coming toward us later.

We walk around for a couple of minutes, trying to find the car. I thought I could remember where it was, but now I'm not so sure.

"Dude, you think…" Kenny starts slowly, still looking around for the station wagon.

"Yeah?" I answer. I'm pretty sure I know what he's about to ask, and I don't want to confront that possibility.

"…You think they left already?"

My stomach sinks at hearing it out loud like that. I know he's right—I have a feeling about it. They must've gone out the side door by the movie theater (the same one those movie theater dickheads just threw us out of) instead of actually going into the theater when we lost them earlier. I should've thought of that.

Son of a fucking bitch.

Suddenly, Kenny turns to me, his eyes narrowing. "So what do we do now, Stan? You're the one with the plan," he says, the bitterness clearly present in his voice.

Now I'm getting pissed off. "God dammit, Kenny," I reply, the volume of my voice rapidly rising with every syllable, "I said I was sorry! What the fuck else do you want from me?"

"I want you to stop wasting my fucking time with this bullshit!" he shouts.

"What the fuck? I thought you wanted to help!"

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind."

"Yeah, well…it's too late. We're already fucking here."

Kenny scoffs at me, folding his arms together and doing everything he can to avoid looking in my direction. There's an uncomfortable silence before I hear him speak up. "You know, maybe it's none of our business."

"What?" I ask incredulously. He finally turns to look at me.

"Whatever Kyle is doing with Cartman. Maybe it's none of our business…none of your business."

My brow furrows in aggravation. "Why are you being such an asshole, dude? You know I'm just trying to help Kyle."

"Maybe he doesn't need your help!"

"Yes he does! Clearly Cartman is…" I trail off, still unsure of a proper way to end that sentence.

Kenny gives he a look signifying, Yeah, that's what I thought. "Maybe they really are just better friends now. Have you considered that at all yet?"

I pause, thinking it over. "…But it doesn't make sense, Kenny. They've never acted like this before," I answer honestly.

He stares back at me for a moment. "Well…I can't say you don't have a point there, but maybe it isn't up to us to question it. Obviously it hasn't been working out so well for us so far," Kenny says, gesturing with his eyes to the open parking lot and our current stranded state.

I hang my head and sigh, disappointed at how this day turned out. "Yeah, you're right."

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Hey look," I hear Kenny say before I lift my head up. "I'm sorry for being a dick to you. I just don't feel right spying on our friends like this. But if you want…I can keep my eyes open around them in the future in case anything else strange happens."

"Sounds good, dude."

Kenny's right. Part of me really wants to keep looking today, but I can't keep following them around like this, and I can't keep forcing Kenny to go along with me. It isn't right. I mean, for fuck's sake—we're stranded in North Park now because of it.

"So, uh…about getting home…?" Kenny asks.

"Uh, yeah….that."

"I can't believe this is the last time we'll be here," I say, giving Stork's Pond a once-over before sitting down beside Cartman.

All of this happened so fast, and it's about to be over just as quickly. After that it'll just be a memory…and a strange one at that. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about today. I mean, I'm relieved there's a way out of this that doesn't involve the guys finding out anything. I don't know what I'd do if they found out…especially after what happened the other day with Stan. I'd hate to have a repeat of that.

For some reason, though, I've had this weird nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach all day. I know it'll all be over in a couple of hours, but I guess I can't help still feeling guilty at having to hide this from my friends. Then again, maybe there's a part of me that's a little let down, too. There was something kind of exhilarating about sneaking around like we have been…it'll be weird getting used to it not happening anymore.

I look at Cartman, his eyes cast down toward the pond, his expression stoic. He's either disappointed the day's coming to an end or wishing it would fucking hurry up and be done already—I'm not quite sure which one is closer to the truth.

"So, uh…this has been—"

"Save it, Jew," he huffs at me, folding his arms together.

"Jeez, fatass, what's your problem?"

"Nothing, asswipe," he spits, rotating his body away from me.

My eyes narrow, and I grasp his shoulders, spinning him back around so he's forced to look at me. "Tell me what crawled up your ass right goddamn now.'"

"Fuck off, kike."

I harden my stare, shoving my face right in front of his. "Just tell me what's going on, Cartman."

"Make me."

"Stop being an asshole, Cartman," I growl at him. This is getting ridiculous.

"No fucking way," he growls right back. We're both getting angrier by the second.

"Seriously, stop! I've had enough!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"For fuck's sake, Cartman, just stop already!"

"And what if I don't want to fucking stop? What if I changed my mind?" he fumes. There's an air of awkward tension before he starts to backtrack, "I mean…uh…fuck you, Kahl!"

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, fuck you with a thousand dildos, Kahl."

I scoff at him. "No, not that. The other thing. Are we still talking about you being an asshole here?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Seriously, Cartman! Answer the fucking question."

"What was the question?"

I fight the urge to smack him on the back of the head. "What did you mean by what you said?"

"I don't think that's any of your business, Jew," he cuts me off, poking his index finger at my chest.

"I think it is, fatass," I seethe, poking him back twice for good measure. "You'd better fucking tell me," I finish, grabbing his jacket collar and pulling him even closer to me. The tips of our noses are touching.

His eyes widen in response. "Uh, uh…" he stammers.

Somehow we managed to get a cab that'll take us to South Park. I'm afraid to think about how much the fare's going to end up being by the time we get back. I know I didn't bring enough money with me for the whole thing, so I'll have to run inside when I get home and hope there's enough stashed away in my room to pay for the rest. I was saving up that money in hopes of spending on something much less retarded, but I don't really have a choice at this point. I am the one who got myself into this mess, after all.

I sigh, sinking into my seat. This day totally sucked ass. I glance at Kenny, who's looking out the window. I shouldn't have gotten him mixed up in this. I shouldn't have gotten mixed up in this. I don't even know why I let myself get so worked up. For fuck's sake, I've been spying on my best friend all week! What kind of person does that?

I'm not gonna lie—it still really bugs me that I don't know what's going on with Kyle. Why the hell would he let Cartman of all people drive without a license to hang out in fucking North Park? What's so important here? What's with all the secrecy?

I guess I'll just have to wait until Kyle decides to tell me. If he ever does.

"Holy fuck, is that what I think it is?" I hear Kenny exclaim. "Hey, could you pull over here?" Kenny asks the driver, who complies.

"What's going on, Kenny?" I ask.

"I figured this might be a good place to stop." He grins and hops out of the car.

I pay the fare and step out of the car too, eyeing it worriedly as it pulls away from us. "Now I'm confused," I say. "I thought you wanted to go back home. I don't know if you can tell, but we're still in North Park, dude. And that was our only way back."

"Yeah, well…" he starts. "I told you I'd keep my eyes open, didn't I?"

"Huh?"

He steps to the side, and behind him I can see it.

That fucking station wagon.

"Okay, fine. I wasn't exactly talking about being an asshole."

"Okay, then…what were you talking about?"

"God dammit, Kahl! Isn't it obvious?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Either way, I want to hear him explain himself.

Cartman sighs loudly and finally answers. "I was talking about, you know…" he stalls, averting his eyes away from my stare, "…this," he finishes quietly, slowly refocusing his eyes toward mine. "This thing we're doing."

I gulp nervously, suddenly realizing how serious this conversation is getting. "So, y-you changed your mind?"

He gives a slight shrug.

"But we agreed to—"

"I know," he cuts me off.

I suddenly feel a pang of guilt in my stomach. I didn't realize this was affecting him this strongly. I mean, I'm disappointed too…

"…But we just can't risk it anymore," I finish my sentence out loud.

"I know," he mutters. "I just…"

"What?"

"I wish we could."

My heart thumps wildly at his sincerity. I suddenly realize how much I'm going to miss getting to see this side of him.

"Me too."

"You rock, dude!" I immediately pull Kenny into a tight hug.

"No problem, dude," he laughs, wriggling himself away from me, "but we should probably be quiet. Looks like they might be the only ones here." He points to a sign that says "Stork's Pond".

Stork's Pond? The fuck? This is even more confusing than the mall. But it'll be a great place to check in on them. I know, I know-I was supposed to stop doing this, but this is just too great an opportunity. We'll finally get a chance to see whatever Cartman and Kyle are doing alone together. We might get some pretty good clues if we're lucky.

Kenny and I share a look and quietly walk toward the entrance, trying to muffle our footsteps as much as we can. There's a lot of trees and shrubbery in the way before we reach the pond, so it might be hard to spot Cartman and Kyle as we get closer. We should be able to find a good hiding spot, though. We can stay for a few minutes, and if it doesn't seem like there's anything to go on, we'll go back to the car and hide until they come back out. They'll never even know we were here.

If there is something to go on…well, I guess we'll figure that out when we get there.

Kenny leads the way as we slowly head closer to the pond. I fight the urge to shout out when I see what looks like Kyle's hat on the ground several feet in front of Kenny.

Really? His hat's off again?

As quickly and as soundlessly as I can manage, I grab Kenny's arm and point to Kyle's hat.

"I'll go check it out," he whispers.

He walks over to where the hat's laying and takes a look at what's ahead of it. Suddenly his eyes bug out and he cranes his neck around a tree to get a better view of whatever he's seeing. He turns back to look at me and immediately drops eye contact. He stumbles backward nervously from his spot and I can see him mouthing what I think is no fucking way on his way back over to me.

"Look, dude," he starts, still averting his eyes from me. "We should probably get going."

I don't believe him for a second. He looks like he's seen a fucking ghost or something. And I know he doesn't give a shit about ghosts, so what the hell is over there?

"What did you see, Kenny?" I ask.

"Nothing, dude. Let's go back to the car. I think Cartman and Kyle might be leaving soo—"

"Cut the shit, dude." I fume through clenched teeth, struggling to stay at a whisper. This is starting to get really aggravating.

Kenny sighs. "You really don't want to see what's going on over there. Trust me."

God dammit, I'm getting so fucking tired of everyone wanting to hide things from me! "Fuck that," I growl as I push Kenny away from me. He grabs my jacket to try to stop me one last time, but I'm sure he knows it's useless.

My heart races as I approach where Kenny was standing just a minute ago. I'm finally gonna have an answer! Fuck yeah!

The first thing I notice as I step into the spot is a sound. Sounds kind of like…I don't know. Breathing? I can't really tell.

Next I crane my neck just like I saw Kenny do. The first thing I see is Cartman. Cartman's back, specifically. He's on the ground, on top of someone I can't see from this angle. Kyle?

This is the quietest fight I've ever heard them have. Weird.

My eyes move up, and the next thing I see is Cartman's hand. In Kyle's hair.

My eyes shoot back to Kyle's hat, then back to Cartman's fingers entangled in Kyle's Jew fro. I continue to stare blankly until something hits me. Something big.

I'm not so sure they're fighting.

Holy shit. This is what Kenny was warning me about. Holy fucking Jesus, I should've trusted him.

Oh, fuck no.

I can't be seeing what I'm seeing. I stare at Kyle's hat lying on the ground once more, and bile starts to rise in my throat. I manage to spew out one sentence to express how I'm feeling before the contents of my stomach soon follow.

"Holy shit, dude!"