The sun's bright rays peeked through Kenny's curtains and shined on his still sleeping face. Groaning he rubbed his head and opened his eyes only to meet a pair of glowing, light blue orbs gaping at him. Shay had woken up in the middle of the night and waited patiently for Kenny to finally rise from his slumber occasionally getting up to explore the house. When he sat up Shay jumped off the bed making the bells on the ends of his hat sing with excitment.

"Awake already?" He yawned and grinned. "You don't talk much, do you?"

A knock on the door echoed emptily in his room as his mother peered in. She had just woken up as well and stretched as she greeted her son.

"Kenny, you better get ready to go to school."

"I'll be ready, don't worry." Kenny walked to his closet and brought out his orange parka.

He slipped it on and pulled the hood over his head tightening the strings in one movement. Making sure he had everything in his bag he motioned to Shay to follow and led him out of his bedroom. He got a toasted poptart from the table and broke it in half giving one to his companion. Shay looked at it in Kenny's hand, but didn't take it right away.

"It's a strawberry poptart. We were lucky to get some while we could." Kenny place it in his hands.

The poptart cracked as ice formed over the icing and it steamed with coldness. Abruptly, Shay stuffed it in his mouth and ate it in one bite. Kenny was surprised and they walked outside to begin their journey to school. The sidewalk was especially slippery as it had rained that night and the low temperature had frozen the water. Snow covered the ice and therefore hidden it, making the walk dangerous. Slush caught McCormick off guard and his body went weightless in the air, plummeting to the ground in slow motion. Instead of feeling the hard concrete, Shay had slid under him and caught Kenny before he touched the ground.

"Are you okay?" He said in a calm voice.

"I'm..fine, thank you." Kenny was really amazed now.

Putting him back on his feet, Shay and dusted the snow from Kenny's back.

"It's the least I can do for a friend."

They arrived at school and went through the doors to find groups of students huddled together whispering to each other as they passed by. Ignoring the hushed voices he led Shay to his locker and slipped off his bag to put it inside. He held out his hands as a signal for his friend to give him the container that he had. Once Shay gave him it he put it in his locker and shut it.

"It'll be easier when school's over." He explained.

They trudged onward to class only to meet up with Eric again. His surprised look sold it for Kenny and he made sure that Shay was with him.

"So, you're hanging out with Slushy now? Do you really think that'll get me jealous?" He scoffed.

"I'm not doing this to make you feel anyway. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do."

"Oh right, like I'll believe that."

"Just get out of our way, Eric. I don't want to cause anything. Come on, Shay." He delicately pulled Shay to him and they walked passed him.

In a way, Kenny felt like an older brother to Shay. He noticed that his sister had been getting along with Shay just fine and his family didn't treat him any different. The only thing was Mr. Macky was right, the financial problems were a tad higher, but that didn't dampen his determination in helping Shay as much as he could. Kyle was in the class reading a textbook to study for his paper when Kenny and Shay walked in. They quietly took their seats and waited silently for the bell to ring, which made Kyle a bit nervous. Never did he hear Kenny be so quiet. To make some noise he flipped the pages louder and cleared his throat a few times, rapping the end of his pencil on his desk and tapping his foot. After what seemed an eternity, the bell soon sounded and the students crowded through the door in order to get to class on time. Stan entered with Wendy at his side smiling and giggling happily. He sat down in his seat and stared dreamily at his girlfriend when Kyle reached over and tapped his shoulder.

"How many times are you going to keep forgiving that girl?" He queeried.

"It's not her fault that she keeps breaking up with me! I believe in second chances, you know."

"But you've given her more than second chances and, well..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Stan turned to him with an edgy expression while Kyle tried to come up with the right words. They sat in an untrusting atmosphere and Stan persisted in staring him down.

"It's just that...well...she just doesn't seem right for you. You deserve better, Stan."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything."

Stan bit his lower lip and glanced over at Wendy. She chatted quietly to Bebe and stopped to giggle a bit. Sighing Stan put his head down on the desk.

"You're right, but what can I do? She's everything to me."

"I just don't want to see you get your heart broken again and by the same person."

They stopped talking when the teacher came into the room and started writing on the board.

"Okay students, today we're going to learn about the Civil War." He turned to face the kids and saw Wendy raising her hand. "Yes, Wendy?"

"Didn't we learn this in like 4th grade?"

"Yes, but all of you scored so low on the test the school board is making me reteach it. It just goes to show that most of you really are dumb-asses. Now the Civil War took place 1861 and 1865 and was between the northern and southern states of the U.S, thus the name Civil War."

As Mr. Garrison explained the war to the class, Cartman bent forward to get to Kenny. He put his cupped his hand to his mouth and whispered in his ear to get his attention. Kenny refused to listen to him, but had a hard time concentrating on what the lesson was about when he at long last faced him.

"What the hell do you want?" He snapped.

"Kinny, meet me where we usually stand first thing lunch recess."

"No!"

"Come on please?"

"How many times do I have to tell you leave me alone."

"Pleeeease?"

"Fuck off."

"Now I assume that most of you aren't finished with your poverty papers, and so I'll be giving you one more day to wrap things up." The bell cut into his words and all was lost in the student's clamoring to get out of their seats.

Cartman waited for Kyle to come out the door and when he saw his chance he grabbed the boy away from the crowd.

"Kahl I need you to do something for me."

"Goddamn you scared me to death!" He put his hand to his chest and tried to keep from fainting.

"Kahl, I need you to talk to Kinny on my behalf."

"What why?"

"He won't talk to me or even listen to what I have to say. Please, he'll listen to you, right?"

"Dude, he doesn't even talk to either me or Stan nowadays. He's too busy trying to protect that Shay kid."

"Please!" Cartman clung onto his jacket. "You're my only hope! I hardly ever ask anything of you!"

"You never ask me for a favor actually."

"Kahl, we're friends right? And friends help other friends when they're in need."

"Geez, fine I'll talk to him."

Cartman embraced him and nearly picked him up off the floor.

"Thank you Kahl! Thank God for giving me you as a friend!" He called and ran away.

Kyle straightened his jacket and made his way outside to find Kenny and Shay. The many people didn't help make the job easier until he saw them making snow angels on the clean parts of the playground. Walking towards them he took a deep breath and arranged the right words in a way to make him listen.

"Kenny, can we talk?"

He acted like he didn't hear him and Kyle knelt down beside him.

"Kenny, I need to ask something of you."

He sat up.

"See, the thing is we're all confused about why you're so mad at Cartman."

"You don't mean to tell me you didn't feel the same thing I did when he brutally beat Shay." He said in a dark voice.

"He's very sorry for it, Kenny. Can't you forgive him?"

"No! He's passed the point of forgiveness!"

"Even he doesn't understand why you're so cold towards him."

"Well maybe he should look in the mirror for once and figure it out himself."

That's all Kyle needed to hear and he stood up, walking away from them like nothing happened. Cartman waited eagerly for his response and tittered to himself impatiently. Kyle approached him and looked up at him with blank eyes.

"He said for you to look in the mirror and figure it out yourself."

"What?" He balled up his fists and grinded his teeth. "What kind of answer is that?"

"That's all he'll say to me he wouldn't fully cooperate."

Again Cartman tried to imagine all of the anger butterflies bursting to flames, but something happened in his little happy sanctuary. A dark cloud loomed over head and started to rain acid, dissolving everything and melting the entire land. His aggressivness exploded and he tackled Kyle mercilessly strikeing his fists on his face. However, unlike Kenny or Shay, Kyle stood up for himself and fought back with all his strength. He pushed his face away and managed to kick him off for a moment. Kyle got to his knees and punched Cartman back with a quick swipe and was knocked back with a blow to the stomach. They got to their feet and went on fighting until Stan broke away from Wendy and stained to stop the battle.

"Hey, hey! Stop it! Kyle, Cartman stop!" He yelled.

"Stan get back here!" Wendy demanded.

"You two please stop!"

Cartman stood fearlessly and Kyle was ready for another blow when Stan pushed them away from each other. They breathed heavily and every kid had formed a circle around them to watch the fight.

"Guys calm down! There are young children here for Christ's sake! Set an example for them!"

Mr. Macky had gotten to them, but by then the circle had broken up and so had the fight. He joined Stan and scolded the two boys for what they had done.

"Now violence isn't always the answer, m'kay? You have to be able to settle things without trying to kill each other."

"Tell that to this fat-ass here!" Kyle hissed.

"Shut up you stupid Jew kike!" Cartman roared.

"Boys now don't start up again! You got to control it, m'kay."

"Mr. Macky, isn't there a way we could keep them from doing this again?" Stan questioned.

"Well, the school did set up an anger managment program for students such as this."

"Put them in it, please. I can't stand seeing this happen again."

"Very well, m'kay. We'll make arrangments for this afternoon, m'kay." Mr. Macky permissioned.