Kyle slugglishly opened his eyes and rolled over to his phone. Not once did he hear it ring, but then he remembered that Stan wasn't his friend anymore. Every morning before everyone was awake they would call each other and talk about the dreams they had. This morning was different; Stan didn't call, Kyle couldn't bring himself to dial his number. Because his brain wouldn't let him go back to sleep he cracked his door open a bit and poked his head out. The halls were pitch dark and not a sound was made as he tip-toed out of his room with a towel under his arm, making his way to the bathroom. He closed the door before he turned on the lights so that no one was to be disturbed. Kyle sighed and looked at himself in the mirror, his curly, reddish hair sticking every which way, his emerald eyes dulled gray with exhaustion.

He placed the towel on the sink and undressed, tugging his sleep shirt off first and then he spotted something strange on his side. Kyle lept onto the sink to get a closer look at the mark on his left side and smiled weakly to himself, remembering the scar's importance. Cartman had been tricked into giving his kidney to Kyle a while back in order to save his life. Without it he would have died of his original kidney's failure. He and Eric were closer than they thought, both in their broken friendship and anotomy. Once in the shower Kyle let the water smooth his messy hair down before rubbing shampoo in it, but when he tried to examine the scar he found that it was gone. All that was left of it was a barely visible line on his milky skin. Before it was as if he had just gotten out of surgery. He shut off the water and climbed out of the shower, shaking the wetness out of his hair and wrapping the towel around his waist to amble back into his room to get ready for the day.

The first light of day peeped over the mountains and bathed the sky in beautiful reds, oranges, and dark purples. A start of a new day, and Kyle was determined to make the best of it. After jerking on his jacket he climbed down the stairs to make his toast for breakfast when he saw his mother sitting at the table in the dark. She had obviously been waiting for him as she didn't act surprised when he came into the kitchen.

"Kyle, your father and I have been worried about you lately." Sheila whispered.

"I'm fine, mom, I'll feel even better after I get some studying done." He adjusted the weight of his backpack on his shoulder.

"You aren't sick again, are you? You know it would break my heart if you were."

"I'm not sick I-"

"Then why are you not coming down for dinner when I send your father up to fetch you?" She rose her voice so that the whole house shook.

"Mom, please you'll wake Ike up."

"Ike wouldn't let his dear mother wait up all night so she could talk to him about something so insignificant."

The bread popped up in the toaster, but when Kyle made a move to go towards it Sheila stepped in front of him.

"I just don't want you to be such a disappointment to this family!"

"If this is about my school work I'm doing the best I can!" He battled back with a more forceful attitude.

"This is about how you've been acting these passed few days! When it comes to this it's like you don't even try to spend anytime with your family."

"Look, I don't have time for this. The school's going to open soon and if I don't get there I won't have time to study." He tried to slip by her, but she wouldn't let him go.

"Don't you talk to me that way, young man! You will tell me what's going on this instant!" she shreiked.

"Nothing is going on I just want to have some time alone."

"It's those foul mouthed friends of yours isn't it? They're always causing trouble for you and holding you back from succeeding!"

"No! They aren't my friends anymore!"

"Don't raise your voice when I'm talking to you Kyle!"

His anger rose sky high and finally burst to where he couldn't contain it anymore. In his loudest voice he spoke in a way he hasn't for many years since the New Jersey epidemic.

"Look if ya have a problem with me then just say it! I don't need you to keep hinting it and expect me to know directly what I did wrong!" Kyle pushed passed her and grabbed his toast.

Sheila silently watched her son go out the door and didn't move a muscle. Kyle took a bite of the toast while he marched angrily to school, thinking that there was bound to be quite a few people in the library due to his delay now. The frost of snow cascaded onto his face making his cheeks and nose pink with coldness. That's all it took for him to stop in his tracks and think back on what just happened. Stan was right, he did have an anger problem. What he was trying to do was help him rather than subject him to make up with his enemy and friend. He did not see this at first being blinded by his own fury, but by the time he did it was too late. Dropping the bread he rushed to the school and flew through the doors going straight to the library.

His pace had slowed by the time he got inside and he sat his bag down next to a table looking for Stan. Though he always saw studying boring, Stan had made it a habit of coming with Kyle to look for books to read for the upcoming exam. If he still went in that pattern then he was sure to be there. No matter where he looked he couldn't find the raven haired boy, causing Kyle to stand in disbelief. He walked half-heartedly to retrieve his backpack and walked out of the library to class. Once he was gone Stan peeked from behind a book case and didn't come out until the bell rang.

In the classroom the 4 boys didn't look at each other the entire time. The only one who dared to was Kyle, who hadn't completely lost touch with Kenny, but was close enough to the edge. At lunch, Kyle gathered up his courage to approach the two boys on the playground.

"Kenny? I need to talk to you." He didn't meet his gaze.

He hesitated for a moment, but approved when Shay nodded.

"What do you want?" he turned to face Broflovski.

"Well...I've notice how unwell you look and was just wondering why."

"It's none of your buisness." He coughed violently. "Now tell me why you're really here."

"I know, but...I have a proposition for you."

Kenny looked back at Shay and whispered something to him. Shay's eyes lit up and practically glowed as he dashed off.

"And what is this proposition?"

"For your health...I'm willing to take Frost off your hands for a while until you're better."

"Why? Is it because you think just because I'm poor I can't take care of Shay?" He defended.

"No it isn't that at all it's just...well..." Kyle put his hands in his pockets and hung his head, "I don't want our friendship to go to waste. Friends help each other in need, right? I just thought that I might be of assistance."

Kenny let out a loud sneeze and sniffled once. His head was foggy with a cold and he knew that Kyle was right. The last thing he wanted was for Shay to catch the sickness too.

"Just until I'm well again?"

"Yes."

With another sneeze Kenny agreed.

"Alright then, I'll tell him he'll be staying with you for a while."

"Great, meet me here after school."

"Fine."

Shay ran back with a small bag in his hands that read, "Cough Drops". Kenny shook one out and popped it into his mouth. Kyle nodded and walked away from them into the groups. Stan had been viewing their conversation from afar and grew jealous of the thin friendship they still held. Wendy saw this and dashed behind him, jumping onto his back, and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Stan, why are you so sad?" She asked.

"It's nothing...I just kinda miss Kyle I guess."

"Well, you know you can talk to me whenever you're down. Hey! Bebe and I are going to the mall after school today! Why don't you join us to get them off your mind?"

He put his hands on her arms to steady his balance and sighed.

"I don't know, I got a lot of homework to do."

She hopped off his back and made a face that signaled her climb to crying.

"But if it's with you then I'll gladly go!" He covered up.

Rapidly she switched gears and smiled.

"Great! We'll be waiting for you outside the class!" She gave him one last kiss and skipped away to join the other girls.

A few yards away Cartman was with Butters scheming. He had seen the way Stan had given in easily to Wendy's tricks and scoffed.

"Look at that sissy, letting a girl walk all over him." He shook his head disapprovingly.

"Wendy always knows how to get her way with him." Butters said and turned bewildered to Eric. "I thought you said you were over them?"

"I-I am! Shut up Butters or you'll make everything worse!" He hit him on the head.

"Ow! I'm sorry!" Butters shielded himself.

Although the boys were separated they still missed hanging out in their own group. Since then they had found others to hang around with, but it just wasn't the same. Back in the class room, Mr. Garrison had announced that they would be presenting their essay's and that he'd given them enough time to work on it.

"Alright, Wendy you go ahead." He nodded.

"Thank you." She went up and cleared her throat. "The Great Depression happened not only in the U.S, but in other countries world wide as well. It preceeded World War II and the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust-"

"Seig Heil! Heil Cartman!" Eric stood up and thrusted his arm up in a Nazi salute.

A few students, excluding Kyle, laughed quietly, but Wendy just gave him a look similar to that of an angry cat. He sat back down and giggled to himself.

"As I was saying, the Great Depression led to many people losing their jobs and becoming a poverty struck land in America."

"Ooh Ich habe Angst!" Cartman put his hands to his cheeks and pretended to faint.

"Mr. Garrison could you please tell Cartman to be quiet?"

"Eric, stop talking in whatever language and listen."

"Es tut mir leid." Cartman apologized.

"Thank you, now-"

"Wir müssen die Juden ausrotten!" Eric blurted out and covered his mouth.

"What did you say?!" Mr. Garrison demanded.

"Nothing." He said over his hand.

"That is it! Eric go to the counseling office!"

"But I didn't mean to say that!"

"Go!"

Cursing quietly to himself Cartman slipped out of his seat and trudged out of the room. Wendy let out a small "hmph" continued with her paper.

"Now, because jobs were unavailable people didn't have money to care for their families. And if they did their wages weren't enough. The economy went down fast and after World War II, the Great Depression came to an end. Some think that because the government spent so much on the war it ended, but others aren't too sure." She bowed and went back in her chair.

Several students applauded and Mr. Garrison stood in front of the class once more.

"Thank you Wendy, that was very informative. I'm afraid we won't be having another presentation due to Cartman's impulsive forgein language spurt."

The bell rang and Stan packed up his stuff as slowly as possible. He took what he needed and made his way out of the classroom only to find Wendy and Bebe waiting for him just like she said. Wendy squealed in delight as she grabbed Stan, who was trying to sneak away.

"Now we can get going!" She smiled.

At the mall Stan stood waiting for the girls as they zoomed around the store at all the nice clothes that were on sale. He looked at his watch and heard a familiar voice by the dressing room.

"Yes, so this is in a small, right?"

"Right, now if you'll follow me up front you can pay for it."

Stan peeked around the clothes and saw Butters paying for a light blue dress. The cashier smiled at Stotch as she ran the tag under the scanner.

"Is this for a special someone?" She asked.

"Well...sorta." Butters blushed and took the bag. "Thank you."

Butters happened to look in his direction and froze. Stan slowly came out of the clothes in which he had been hiding and waved.

"Hey, Butters."

"St-Stan! What are you doing here?" He stammered.

"Wendy and Bebe dragged me along with them to shop. So who's it for?"

"Who's what for?"

"The dress."

"Ah, n-no one."

"I see."

"I gotta go!" He ran out of the store and didn't look back.

Wendy finally waltzed out of the dressing room and tapped Stan's shoulder lightly.

"Oh Stany, how does this look?" She twirled in the lavender dress.

"It's okay." He shrugged.

She stopped and stared at him.

"It's okay? It isn't bad? It isn't good? It's just okay?"

"Yeah."

Bebe came behind Wendy as her face went red.

"Umm, I think I see a cute one over there!" She tried to pull her away to no avail.

"No! Stan, don't you think I look even a little nice in this?"

"I don't know! What do you need it for anyways?"

Both girls stood as still as statues with their jaws hanging wide.

"You don't mean you don't know?" They asked in unison.

"Know what?"

"The Snowflake Ball!" Bebe held out her hands.

"What?"

"A dance that's coming up soon!" Wendy hit the heel of her hand on his forehead.

"A dance? You mean to tell me you made me come here for a dance?" Stan pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tightly.

"Well I gotta see which dress you like best." She paused and looked up at him with big eyes. "You are going to take me to the dance, right?"

That question caught him off guard and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean? Is there someone else you're thinking of taking?" Her voice was harsh.

"No, it's just that I don't know if I'll even go."

Frustration surged through Wendy's veins and she grabbed Stan's jacket collar, pulling him closer. Stan didn't say another word in fear of making her even more mad.

"You are going and you will take me. Is that clear?" She hissed.

"Okay, okay!" He gulped.

"Good! Now we must pick out some nice shoes to go with the dress." She skipped happily with Bebe out of the store.

At the playground in the school yard, Kyle waited quietly in the falling snow for Kenny to arrive when he saw a faint gray shadow in the fog. McCormick was followed by Shay as they met Kyle face to face in the chill.

"I've explained to Shay about...about...ah...ACHOO!" Kenny sneezed forcefully then continued, "about what'll happen."

"Good."

Kenny turned to Shay and smiled.

"It'll just be for a little while, remember?" He confirmed in a nasily tone.

Shay nodded and walked over to where Kyle was. He was sure to take a small boy under his arm and waved as Kenny walked away. disappearing into the mist. They walked back to his house and Kyle grinned as Shay looked around curiously at all the nice houses in the neighborhood. It was clean and quiet, nothing like the poor side of town. A friendly atmosphere floated in the air and greeted them both. Once inside the house, Kyle made sure that they got upstairs without anyone knowing and sighed the moment they were safe.

"So, Kenny went through all this to make sure you were well." Kyle chuckled. "This is going to be a long week."