Stan had been relieved to no end that Kyle had woken up and he was ok. Granted, the doctors told Cartman and Stan after the surgery that Kyle would most likely be fine, and although those doctors usually had no clue what was going on, Stan was confident his best friend would pull through. He had stayed with Cartman for most of the afternoon, until they caught footage of the riot starting downtown. Cartman had convinced Stan to go check out the situation, and maybe find Kyle's parents in the midst of it. Stan hadn't wanted to leave Kyle, but by the look on Cartman's face, he knew that he was being taken care of. He made Cartman promise, though, to text him the moment he woke up.

Cartman had done so, which made Stan relax a bit. At least Kyle was awake. But when he got the text from Cartman that Kenny was there, he had rushed right back to the hospital. The town was calming down anyway, due to Kyle's mom's influence. He ran the entire way, listening as his sneakers thudded against the pavement and his heart practically beat out of his chest.

When he rounded the corner and looked in the room, he immediately looked to Kyle to make sure he was alright. Once that was confirmed, he looked at Kenny, and the feelings of guilt that he had been carrying around with him surfaced.

Now, he clung onto Kenny for dear life, repeating his apology in soft whispers even though Kenny had already told him it was alright. "So sorry…" he murmured.

Kenny laughed softly, rubbing his back gently. "Really, Stan, it's ok."

"I guess this means I don't have to kill you, Stan," Cartman announced loudly, which caused Stan to pull away just slightly from Kenny.

He blinked, and then smiled a bit. Stan had been friends with Cartman long enough to realize when the other boy was trying to be comforting.

"Thank god for that," he grinned. "I'd die instantly the moment you sat on me."

"Hey!" Cartman replied. "Stop insinuating that I'm fat! I'm big-boned!"

Stan laughed with the others, and even Cartman joined in after a moment of pretending to look angry. Stan looked at Kyle and smiled, sending a secret message to his best friend that everything looked like it was going to be ok. Kyle grinned back.

Stan blinked when he noticed that Kyle's hand was entangled with Cartman's, but he decided not to say anything. After all, he had seen the state Cartman was in after Kyle was hurt, and instantly recognized that Cartman cared a lot for Kyle. He would talk to Kyle at length about it once everything calmed down a bit more. For now, he chose to ignore it.

"Bubbulah!" Stan turned along with everyone else to face the door to the room. There stood Kyle's mom, her face twisted in worry for her son. She rushed forward, and Kyle was forced to drop Cartman's hand to hug his mother.

"It's ok, mom, I'm fine."

"Oh, thank goodness you're ok! I can't believe I didn't get the message until now! Your father went home to grab Ike, and then they will be coming right over. Are you sure you're ok?"

Kyle nodded weakly, but closed his eyes briefly. Stan figured it must be from the pain. He reached over and touched Kyle's mom's shoulder gently.

"Mrs. Broflovski? Kyle will be fine. We're going to let you have a moment with him to yourself, ok? We'll be right out in the hall if you need anything."

She smiled warmly at Stan. "Thank you, Stan, everyone."

Stan led the group out into the hall, shoving his hands into his pockets. He wasn't sure what was going to happen now, but things had started to get serious. He knew that there was no going back. The climax was approaching, and he could only hope that they would all be strong enough to save their little redneck town.

-.-.-.-.-.

It was hard to stay by Kyle's side when Cartman demanded to be there as well. Hell, Kenny even insisted that he stay by Kyle's side, arguing that he had become a part of the Broflovski family as of late. Stan could understand both boys' reasons, but that didn't mean he wanted to leave Kyle either. Hell, Kyle was his Super Best Friend, and there was no way he could go home after what happened to him.

Luckily, Sheila Broflovski understood everyone's feelings, so she convinced the hospital to let them stay. She even called all the parents to make sure it was ok. The next morning, Kyle was released bright and early, so she drove all four boys back to their house. She told them to take Kyle upstairs so he could rest, and promised to make them all breakfast. The schools in South Park were shut down due to yesterday's riot, so it wasn't as if they were missing classes. Stan was thankful for the break, because he would have skipped school had it been in session.

They shuffled upstairs, all of them carefully eying Kyle and making sure he was fine. Kyle sighed when he made it to the top of the stairs, turned, and glared at them.

"If you guys don't stop babying me right now, I'm going to shove you all down the stairs," he growled, but they all knew it was an empty threat.

"Don't get your panties in a twist," Cartman grumbled, grabbing his arm gently and walking with him to his bedroom. Stan and Kenny weren't far behind, and Stan closed the door after they were all inside.

They all made themselves comfortable. Kyle crawled onto the far end of his bed, propping himself carefully up on his pillows. Cartman protectively sat next to him, his legs dangling off the side of the bed. Stan wheeled Kyle's desk chair over and sat in it, while Kenny chose to aimlessly wander Kyle's room.

They hadn't really had time to discuss what happened the other day. Kyle's family had been there with them the entire time, and they really didn't feel comfortable talking about things in front of them. They finally had some time to themselves, and Stan figured that they would want an update.

"So," Kenny began casually, fiddling with something on Kyle's desk. "Do you want to update us about the riot last night?"

Stan nodded. "It was chaotic. Kyle was sent straight to the hospital. Butters actually was the one to call me, since Cartman was…" He hesitated, not really wanting to describe that Cartman was in no mental state to call him. "He was busy with staying close to Kyle and such. I met them at the hospital. Butters left, and as we were sitting there, Cartman and I saw the footage of the riot on TV. It looked crazy. Cartman and I both decided that I should go check it out. We also figured that Kyle's family would be down there, since they weren't answering their phones. They deserved to know what happened.

"When I got down there, I seriously couldn't believe how crazy things were. It wasn't as if the whole town was in an uproar, but there were quite a few people involved. People were shouting and fighting… Everyone had taken a side on the issue, and no one was there to stop it. That is, until Kyle's mom came. She got on top of Tom's Rhinoplasty and sprayed everyone with a fire extinguisher. She then started yelling at everyone, telling them that they should be ashamed of themselves. She said that everyone has a right to wear what they want and act how they want. She then told everyone to go home. After she had gotten most of the crowd to disperse, I got the text that Kyle was awake. I wasn't able to talk to her right away, since she was having a discussion with Officer Barbrady, and then I got the text that Kenny was alive. When she was finally done, I quickly told her what had happened with Kyle, and that he was in the hospital. She decided to get over there right away, but first she had to find Kyle's dad. I ran ahead of her… and then from there, you know the rest of the story."

Kenny frowned. "What I don't get is why your mom didn't know you were missing right away, Kyle. I mean, you normally go home right away after school."

"Well," Kyle explained, "That afternoon I told her that I would be running late, since I was planning on stopping into the video store. My boss wanted me to pick up a short shift that afternoon, since he had a doctor's appointment. I told my family that I was going to be studying at the library, and wouldn't be home until after dinner."

Stan nodded. He had wondered why Kyle's mom didn't suspect something was up as well. "That makes sense."

"Well," Kenny grinned. "Now that all of that is cleared up, why don't we stop talking business for a while and just relax. Let's put in a movie or play some video games or something."

Kyle smiled. "That's actually a really good idea. It will help me keep my mind off of things, like my throbbing head."

Stan was also thankful for the distraction as well.

-.-.-.-.-.

Stan wasn't too happy to go back to school on Wednesday. Not only was he still enraged that Kyle had gotten beaten up by some students there, but he also hated being there when he couldn't talk to his friends. If recent events had taught him anything, he learned that his friends were the most important thing in his life, excluding Wendy. He didn't know how he had survived not talking to them for so long before. Now, it was difficult to ignore them.

Kyle stayed home Wednesday as well, since his mom was concerned for his well-being, and Kyle was still complaining of not feeling well. Stan was glad, because otherwise he'd be worrying about Kyle all day.

He decided that he would use his frustrations about recent events by focusing his energy on figuring out a way to fix South Park. He became hyper-aware of what his 'friends' were talking about and paid extra attention whenever they brought up the tense situation at school. Stan found himself asking point blank whether they planned on doing something about it.

"Well," Seth muttered, "My idea of setting the school on fire is starting to sound better and better every day."

Stan didn't like that thought but luckily the others didn't seem as keen to the idea as Seth was. Stan hoped that it would stay that way.

After school, Stan decided to do a little bit of extra work and hung out with his make-shift friends. They all headed down to the field behind school to throw around a football. Once again, Stan asked them what they were planning.

Dave laughed. "It sounds like Stan wants to do something about it."

"Well," Stan hesitated. "It's not really that so much as I'm wondering what YOU want to do about it. I mean, it sucks and all, but is there anything we really CAN do?"

"We have to do something," Seth growled. "They're ruining our whole town!"

"You guys need to calm down," a quieter member of their group, Jason, said. "I mean, yeah, it sucks, but Stan's right. There isn't much we can do about it."

"Yeah, but if we let them continue this crap, then we're no better than the rest of this town! No one wants to do anything about it. Well, I say that we be the first ones to do something. We can't let this happen. Otherwise, we're just willing to throw away what's good about this town."

Stan caught the football that Seth chucked at him easily. He tossed it over to Jason casually. "Well, what do you suggest we do?"

"I say we start making their lives miserable. Make it apparent that wearing stupid outfits and acting like morons gets you nowhere. Start treating them like the dirt they've become, and then maybe they'll start to see reason."

"Bullying is already going on, and it doesn't seem like it's changing anything," Stan pointed out.

"Well, then we step it up a notch."

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," Jason complained.

"We won't hurt anyone, unless if it has to come to that."

"I say," Dave spoke up, "that we unite with the adults who are against this whole thing. I mean, the town is already in the fray as well, might as well join forces with them."

The boys all nodded, agreeing with Dave's wisdom. Stan pursed his lips, not really liking the idea. It would mean that he would be taking a public stance against his own dad, and for it to be believable, his dad would have to believe it too.

Stan didn't like where this was going.

-.-.-.-.-.

"You looked great today, Wendy," Stan smiled sheepishly as he crawled through her window. Now that their relationship had to kept a secret, Stan felt the need to use the window instead of the front door.

Wendy turned around, flashing him a sweet smile. "Thanks Stan! I picked it out the other day when we had off from school." She twirled around once, showing it off. She was wearing a cute casual blouse with some jeans. She hadn't gotten too far away from her personal preferences, however, since her top was still purple. She was also still wearing her hat.

"Well, you'd look good in anything you wore," he said truthfully, hugging her tightly.

"How's Kyle doing?" she asked, hugging him back and snuggling into his shoulder.

"He's doing better. He took the day off today for recovery. I've been texting him throughout the day to make sure he's ok, and I think he was getting annoyed by it. I think all of us were doing it, too, which made it worse." He chuckled a bit, picking up Wendy and swinging her gently. She laughed as well.

"God I miss you," he groaned.

"I miss you too, Stan. I hate being able to see you all day during school and not being able to talk to you."

He nodded in agreement. "Are your parents home?"

She smiled. "Unfortunately, yes."

He grinned. "Well, then we'll just have to be extra quiet."

She squeaked happily as he fell with her on the bed.

-.-.-.-.-.

"Morning!" Stan greeted happily, walking up to the bus stop. The other three were there. "How are you feeling Kyle?" he asked, worried for his best friend.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, just like the other bazillion times you guys asked me."

Cartman seemed crankier than usual this morning, but Stan wasn't going to be the one to ask why. He figured it had something to do with Kyle going back to school.

"You're wearing your hat," Stan pointed out, studying Kyle.

"Yeah, that way you don't see the bandage on my head so much," Kyle explained. "Tomorrow they are going to be taking off the bandage, but my hair is all cut to shreds, so I'll have to keep wearing the damn thing."

Stan took a moment to study his friend. He remembered the first day Kyle had shown up not wearing it, and how it didn't feel right. But he had the same feeling now as he did that day a few weeks ago.

"It's strange to see you in it now," he pointed out.

Kyle blinked, glancing over at him, and then smiled. "Yeah," he admitted. "To be honest, it's really weird to be wearing it again."

Stan smiled a bit too, and then wandered a bit away from them. The bus was coming soon, and they had to look like they weren't friends anymore. Kenny and Stan stood the furthest apart, where Kyle and Cartman stood together between them. Stan hated the distance, and hoped that all of this would be over soon.

He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.