One Little Slip Chapter 5: Cinco, a south park fanfic

Author's Notes: It's the chapter you've all been waiting for…because you all care SO goddamn much. That's right, it's ALL Homecoming. And the morning after. Well, except the first part. The first part is going to be Mandi's dream sequence…it's in italics, so you'll know it from everything else. Originally, I had her fighting with Kyren to show how they broke up and how she and Seth got together, but I decided to do a dream sequence instead because it's shorter and easier to condense the happenings of about six months into one little dream. The dream sequence begins around Halloween 2005 and ends right around the time she hooks up with Seth, in March 2006. Anyway, as always…read, enjoy, review.

Mandi tossed and turned. She wasn't awake, but she wasn't exactly in the deepest throes of sleep, either. Her eyes fluttered open once, twice, three times. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it was 3:23 AM. Her alarm was set for 9:30, so she still had about six or so hours. Her eyes fluttered shut once again and almost immediately, she began to dream.

"I'm sorry, Mandi." Kyren began, fidgeting . Mandi had just opened her front door and had no idea what he was talking about, but a cold fear settled over her. She looked past him into her driveway, and saw Grace Johnson, a sophomore girl from His Holy Name High School sitting in Kyren's Jeep. Grace smiled at Mandi and waved. Mandi scowled.

"What is she doing here, Kyren?" Mandi asked, annoyed. Kyren's parents had been trying to set him up with Grace since she started attending their church a year ago.

"She had nothing else to do tonight and she wanted to come to the dance." he replied, shrugging. Mandi wanted to cry. The Halloween Dance wasn't that big of a deal…it wasn't even called the Halloween Dance. It was called Fall Harvest Ball, even though everyone always wore costumes and the decorations were all jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, and creepy crawlies. Mandi had traded with some new girl at Whistlin' Willie's so she could go to the goddamn dance and had spent weeks working on her costume all by herself. She was a butterfly, and she had painted her wings herself. Kyren was supposed to be a flower, but she saw that he was only wearing the stem part of his costume.

"I see." she said, not sure what else to say. She shrugged, drug him inside for the obligatory photos that her mom wanted, and crossed her arms when she was finally settled in the Jeep, behind Grace. Grace had tried to make friendly conversation with her as she climbed in, but she had silenced her with a death glare.

At the dance, she found Rebecca, who had somehow detached herself from Stan. Janae had opted to stay home because she thought the Harvest Ball was lame. Rebecca took one look at Mandi and immediately scanned the gym for Kyren. It seemed like he was making her friend cry more and more lately and she wanted to at least give him a dirty look, if not a piece of her mind. She finally found him out on the dance floor, dancing with some blonde girl who looked like she was enjoying herself. Kyren was smiling politely and talking to her, but he kept looking for Mandi. Rebecca sighed and placed a comforting hand on Mandi's shoulder, not sure what else to do. Mandi smiled at her gratefully, as if that tiny gesture meant everything in the world to her.

Mandi was suddenly transported to Whistlin' Willie's, two weeks later. Fuck if she understood this goddamn dream. Anyway, she remembered that particular Saturday because she worked noon to ten, or noon to close. It was basically dead, and she wanted nothing more than to be at home studying for her giant Spanish 4 test, but she had a feeling that that just wasn't going to happen since her boss was a bitch. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, expecting some overly tall middle school kid. Instead, she saw Kyren. He grinned at her and even though she felt like smacking him for the events two weeks earlier, she grinned back. He gestured towards a booth near the arcade and her grin faded. His parents were sitting at the booth, along with Grace Johnson. His mother looked up, scowled at Mandi, and waved Kyren back over to the table. Kyren shrugged and went back to join them. When he sat down, Grace blew the paper off of her straw at his face, and he laughed. The simple gesture tore at Mandi's heart and she struggled to regain her composure. She looked over at their table again and saw that they had a pizza tag sitting on top of the napkin dispenser. Number 27. She walked back to the food window, determined to distract herself, and saw that Number 25 and 26 were up. She delivered those pizzas, hoping that one of her co-workers got Kyren's table. As she returned to the food window, though, she saw that Number 27 was up and the only other pizza runners of the night were busy with a birthday party in the staging area and Whistlin' Willie himself was there as well. She grabbed the two pizzas from the window and took them over to Kyren's table, pausing to grab a cup of ranch dressing for Kyren's father. She sat the pizzas on their table and smiled.

"Can I get anything else for you?" she asked, not making eye contact with any of them. Kyren's mother smiled.

"Oh, Amanda, I didn't know you were working tonight." she said. That was a lie. She had cornered Mandi three days before and asked what she was doing that weekend since some random relative was having a birthday party on Saturday night and she didn't want Mandi to be lonely while Kyren went to Conifer with them. Apparently those plans had fallen through.

"Yeah, noon to close. I'm ready to get out of here." Mandi replied, smiling. It felt more like a grimace, though.

"Amanda, have you met Grace Johnson? Grace, this is Amanda, one of Kyren's…well…his friend from school." his mother said, smiling. Mandi looked over at Kyren, expecting him to correct his mother, at least so that Grace knew that she was more than just a friend. However, Kyren remained silent, not even making eye contact with Mandi.

"Call me Mandi, Grace. And yes, Mrs. Andrews, we met a couple of weeks ago. She came to the dance with us." Mandi replied. If she hadn't been working, she would have given that snooty bitch a piece of her mind.

"Grace and Kyren are getting along so well these days." Mrs. Andrews continued, smiling. Mandi smiled back.

"That's absolutely fantastic. I have to get back to work, though. The pizza window is filling up." she said, shrugging. As she walked away, she saw that the pizza window was empty. Mandi felt herself being transported again.

A week and a half later, as the first snow settled over South Park, Mandi woke up late for school. She called Janae and told her to go on without her, that she would probably be late for first period. She grabbed her backpack and rushed out the front door, not even realizing that she had fallen until she was on the ground. Maybe it was shock or maybe it was the subzero temperatures, but she felt no pain until she tried to get up and walk. The pain was a white hot dagger shooting from her left ankle and radiating up her leg, all the way to her hip. It was enough to knock her back on the ground. She began to cry silently, well aware that the tears would freeze to her face. She looked down at her ankle for the first time and saw that it and her foot were twisted in a way that a human's should never be. She finally found her voice when she heard someone opening the front door. She screamed loudly and her brother almost fell himself. The rest of the events were a blur, screaming and sirens. A montage of pain and fear.

Four hours later, in the ER of Hell's Pass, where an ambulance had delivered her since neither of her siblings could drive yet and her mother was already in Denver for work, the doctor finally came in to tell her what her x-rays said. Her mother was down in the cafeteria, grabbing a coffee, and her father was snoozing next to her in a chair. He sat up when the doctor came in and made some joke about an ankle transplant. The doctor laughed, but he looked grim as he showed Mandi the x-ray and explained the problem. Something wasn't going to set right, so she needed pins put in to help. It would be a long process. Eight weeks in a cast, months of physical therapy after that. Someone would be down to take her up to the OR in a matter of minutes, were there any questions?

She awoke three hours later in a hospital room. Her mom was next to her, smoothing the blanket down on the hospital bed. Her dad was playing some travel board game with her little brother. Desirae was flipping channels. She looked next to her and saw a balloon bouquet and three vases full of flowers. Her mother handed her a cup of ice water and she drank, hoping it would stay down.

She was in the hospital for a total of four days, so she missed the rest of the week of school. Janae, Rebecca, and even Wendy had visited her every single day, but she hadn't seen or heard from Kyren. No flowers, no calls, no anything. When she got home, though, she saw that he was sitting on her front steps, looking worried. Her mother helped her inside and situated her on the couch. Kyren sat next to her.

"Mandi, I'm sorry." he said, looking into her eyes. She shook her head.

"You didn't visit me. You didn't even call, Kyren." she said. She didn't want to seem needy or clingy because that definitely was not the kind of girl she was, but goddammit, she had had surgery. Her boyfriend should have come to see her.

"My parents…they…they didn't want me to." he said quietly. She shook her head.

"Janae said you didn't even mention it when you talked to her. I know you knew about it. My sister still went to school that morning." Mandi said, on the verge of tears.

"I just…I don't have an excuse, I suppose. I'm sorry, Mandi." he said, taking her hand.

"No. No you don't." she replied, taking her hand back. He let out a shaky breath.

"I know that things have been bad for us lately. I know it's been rough. But Mandi, I love you. I don't want to lose you." he said, taking her hand again. This time, she let him keep it.

There was a quick montage, shots of Kyren helping her to and from school, carrying her books, getting her food in the cafeteria, sitting with her in her bedroom, helping with what she had missed in school. It was like they had renewed their relationship. Grace was not mentioned. It was all about them. He held her hand and kissed her again. They shared mushroom pizzas again. It was like when they had first discovered making out in eighth grade…they were suddenly all over each other again. They even started talking about having sex, a subject they hadn't broached in six months. It was all fantastic. Naturally, it had to end.

Kyren's parents heard about her accident and invited her over for dinner the Friday after Thanksgiving. She had a bad feeling about it, and soon discovered why when she was halfway through her lasagna.

"Kyren has been helping you out a lot, Amanda." his mother said, watching as Kyren got up and went to the kitchen to get Mandi another glass of lemonade. Mandi smiled.

"Kyren has been wonderful. I don't know what I would do without him." she said. She was still on top of the world with she and Kyren's newfound happiness.

"Well, you might want to figure that out." his mother replied, rather coldly.

"Darling." Kyren's father said, as if warning her. Mandi's heart stopped beating for half a second.

"It's hurting Kyren's grades and frankly, I don't like them spending so much time together." his mother said, shooting Mandi an apologetic look.

"What she means is that we would prefer it if maybe you could find someone else to help you out. We understand that you're going to be going to be in a cast for the next couple of months, but surely you have other people willing to help you out." Kyren's father said.

"We also know that you only live with your mother and that she works long hours. You do not share Kyren's beliefs in God. You probably do not share his views on sexual intercourse outside of the marital bed." his mother said. Mandi wanted to laugh. Mandi wanted to tell her that her precious baby boy had been the one to go up her shirt first and that she certainly wasn't some little whore, waiting to corrupt him with sex and sin. However, she didn't say anything. Instead, she merely nodded and wondered why Kyren was taking so goddamn long to bring that lemonade.

The next day, Seth Testaburger called her. He was home from school and had heard about her ankle. He hoped she wouldn't mind if he dropped by and said hello. She agreed, even though she knew that Kyren would probably get pissed. Even though she wasn't exactly happy with him. Seth arrived with a bouquet of yellow daisies and a teddy bear with a University of Washington sweater on. She smiled and thanked him and thought she actually saw him blushing.

"It's no big deal, really. I just remember you saying once that yellow daisies were your favorite and I know that you like stuffed animals…" he said, running a hand through his hair. She smiled.

"Thank you…it's all great, Seth. Really." she replied. She almost felt guilty when he sat next to her on the couch and scooted closer, as close as Kyren usually sat. Or when he gently lifted her ankle from it's pillow, placed the pillow on his lap, and re-positioned her ankle onto that pillow. Or when he rested his hand on her good leg, drawing little circles into her jeans with his finger and making her entire leg tingle. Or when he didn't just help her to the downstairs bathroom. He picked her up as if she weighed nothing and carried her. When she put her arms around his neck, she felt something, but it wasn't anything like guilt.

A week later, Kyren caved. He let himself into the house and saw her sitting on the couch in the family room, watching some lame TV movie. She shut the TV off when he entered the room and scooted away from him when he tried to sit next to her.

"Mandi, come on." he pleaded. She shook her head.

"It's not working anymore." she said, thinking of how Seth had made her feel the weekend before. Adored, beautiful, funny, smart. All the things Kyren hadn't made her feel in months.

"That's not true. Come on, can you really throw away five years?" he asked, sighing. Even when he asked, he knew it was a lost cause. Yes she could. Yes she would. Her mind was made up.

"I don't think I'm the one who threw them away. I've tried. You haven't." she said, shrugging. He felt tears forming in his eyes, but he didn't care.

"I can change, Mandi. We had a good few weeks, remember? We talked about…about…my God, Mandi, we were going to take that next step in the relationship! Two weeks ago we were on your bed, trying to see how far we could take it." he said, one tear escaping.

"We can still be friends." she said. Somehow she didn't want to cry.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked.

"We fell out of love. It happens. This isn't healthy anymore." she said, like she was telling him what math problems to complete for homework. He couldn't believe how casual she was being about the entire thing.

"Is there someone else?" he asked. Her mind briefly flashed to Seth Testaburger, but that was one afternoon. She thought of Grace and her skinny little form, her perfect blonde hair. How she blew that straw paper at Kyren right in front of her, how they had danced together.

"Not for me." she replied.

Everyone was shocked by their break-up, but Mandi really wasn't. There were dates and parties where she made out with other guys, but she never felt anything. That part didn't shock her too much, though. Who would really want to have sex with Clyde, Bryden, Kevin, or Kenny, anyway? She was shocked, however, by Scott Tenorman's interest in her. He found her on Myspace, started talking to her, and asked her out. She ignored her better judgment, which told her that he was a deadbeat baby daddy to Millie's kid and that he was, you know, five years older. They had five dates before they were wriggling around on his futon, hoping like hell his roommate didn't walk in. When he tried to unzip her pants, she swatted his hand away.

"We've only been seeing each other for three weeks." she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So? I really care about you." he replied, kissing her neck.

Two weeks later, her virginity was no more. By Valentine's Day, she and Scott were no more. When he sent her the text message telling her that he thought they should see other people, she cried not because she missed him, but because she missed that little part of herself that she lost to him.

Seth Testaburger called a couple of weeks later. He asked if she was okay because he had heard about her relationship with Kyren. She decided not to tell him about Scott. He asked about her ankle, which had been out of it's cast for almost a month at that point. He wanted to go to physical therapy with her and take her out. She thought of that day back at her house, right after Thanksgiving. That was what made her say yes.

Their date was a simple one. Dinner and then back to his house. They watched movies in his room and she briefly wondered why his parents didn't demand that he keep the door open. Still, he didn't sit next to her. He situated himself on the floor, on a beanbag. She sat on the bed, wondering why he wasn't trying to make a move on her. Halfway through the movie, he spoke.

"This is pretty lame, huh?" he asked, getting up from the beanbag and sitting next to her on the bed. She smiled.

"Just a little bit." she replied. She looked at him and saw that he wasn't making eye contact. He looked nervous, which was weird for him. Seth Testaburger did not get nervous, especially around the opposite sex. Seth Testaburger had been the Kenny McCormick of the class of 2005. He had the "sweet hockey body" that Cartman often pointed out about himself, but he was also a genuinely nice guy. Plus he had that whole save the world mentality, which made a lot of girls hot in the pants. That was why he scored so much and Mandi had watched him go after many a conquest, being smooth and nice and then hot and heavy and finally the poor girl would show up to his games, weepy and mournful, and Seth would explain to that it just wasn't going to work out. He had gotten a girlfriend his senior year, a girl on the tennis team. Everyone had been shocked about it and had never expected it to last. Mandi, however, had gotten the real story from him on Myspace. He had taken to talking to her more and more that year, outside of the usual banter they had enjoyed whenever she went to talk to Wendy about something. Kyren had suspected that Seth was in love with her, but Mandi had never agreed with that theory until the daisies. Then it had all made sense.

"I really like you." he said, looking down at his feet. She was both shocked and not at all shocked.

"I think I've always known that." she replied, blushing. He had always teased her when she came over to hang out with Wendy. She had gone to a few of his hockey games with Janae, whose boyfriend their sophomore year had been on the team. He always took time to talk to her, ask her how she was, make her laugh.

"I wanted to tell you last year. When I came to your house over Thanksgiving break, I didn't care that you and Kyren were still together. I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to tell you how I felt. Pretty shitty, huh?" he asked.

"Not really." she replied, shocking both him and herself.

"No?" he asked, looking at her for the first time since he sat next to her.

Her response was to take his hand. He reached out and smoothed some of her hair out of her eyes, then leaned in and kissed her. A part of her had known that this was coming. A bigger part was glad that +it happened, even though she thought it would just be a hook-up. In fact, she didn't know that it was an actual relationship until Seth changed his relationship status on Myspace and moved her into the number one slot on his top friends. When Wendy had demanded answers, Mandi had simply shrugged.

For whatever reason, all of the girls had decided to gather at Mandi's house to get ready for Homecoming. Mandi had known that Rebecca and Janae were coming over, but she was shocked when Wendy, Bebe, and Jessica had come knocking on her door. She raised her eyebrow at them when she opened it.

"Um, can I…help you?" she asked, glancing at the plastic covered dresses draped over their arms. Bebe smiled and held up a silver carrying case that Mandi assumed was a make-up kit of some kind.

"We thought we would get ready with you guys. Token rented a stretch limo and Wendy wants to cram everyone in it." Bebe explained.

"It's better for the environment that way." Wendy said.

"I see…" Mandi said, still unsure what that had to do with getting ready together. Jessica sighed in frustration, as if Mandi had the inability to comprehend the situation.

"So move out of the way. I know how to do hair and you probably need my help." she said, pushing past Mandi and walking inside her house. Mandi frowned.

"Why no, Jessica, don't just stand outside. Come on in." Mandi said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Wendy and Bebe walked inside as well.

"Please, Mandi. I mean, we're practically family, what with you boning my brother and all." Jessica said, walking into the kitchen. Mandi blushed.

"Why does everyone think that?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Wendy just shrugged.

"Because it's Seth." Bebe said, shrugging. Mandi sighed, but decided not to push the argument.

"Whatever. We're all upstairs." she said, watching Jessica walk up the stairs and disappear around the corner. Not the way to Mandi's room, either, but the way to Desirae's. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"My sister has that bitchy cheerleader thing down." Wendy said. Mandi laughed.

"Yeah she does." Bebe said, choosing not to remind Wendy that she had once been a cheerleader.

"Why is she going to my sister's room?" Mandi asked, amused.

"I think she thinks they are friends or something. Since she's going to Homecoming with Kenny and your sister is going with Cartman. Kenny and Cartman are best friends, so she thinks they have to be friends." Bebe said.

"Wait, what? My sister is going to Homecoming with Cartman?!" Mandi replied, incredulous.

"I thought everyone knew that." Wendy said, looking at her. Janae chose that moment to descend the stairs.

"Mandi, what the hell is taking you so goddamn long? Who is it?" she asked, not noticing Bebe or Wendy.

"Hey, Janae." Bebe said, smiling at her. Janae gave her a weird look.

"Do I want to ask?" she asked, looking at Mandi.

"Something about getting ready here and riding in a limo because it's better for the environment or something. Fuck if I know." Mandi replied, shrugging.

Janae grinned and motioned for Bebe and Wendy to follow her upstairs. Mandi followed suit.

Desirae was minding her own business when Jessica chose that moment to burst into her room. She put down her copy of Cosmo and looked up at Jessica, both amused and confused.

"Can I help you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Jessica smiled at her.

"You're going to the dance with Eric Cartman. I'm going with his best friend, Kenny. Kenny McCormick." Jessica said, smiling at Desirae. Desirae did not smile back.

"I know who Kenny is." she replied. Jessica frowned.

"Really? How?" she asked. Desirae's mind drifted to the night two years ago when she and Kenny had hooked up in the backseat of Mandi's car. Mandi still didn't know about that. Kenny had been the first guy she had ever let get to second base and a month later, she had finally had sex with him. Kenny had a thing for virgins, apparently.

"School. Plus he took my sister out a few times." Desirae said, deciding not to tell Jessica about Kenny's little fetish. She would find out soon enough.

"Mandi?" Jessica replied, frowning again.

"Yeah. I think he was between Bryden and Clyde, but I could be wrong." she replied, shrugging.

"But…your sister is dating my brother…" Jessica said, confused.

"She wasn't dating him then. This was before Scott Tenorman, even." Desirae replied.

"I see." Jessica said, sitting down on Desirae's bed. Desirae shot her a dirty look, but Jessica didn't see it.

"So I'm thinking we should get ready together. We have to stick together, right? Since we're going to be sophomores going with seniors and everything." Jessica said, smiling at Desirae. Desirae frowned.

"I doubt Cartman and I will spend much time dancing." she said.

"What? What do you mean?" Jessica asked. She assumed they would just sit on the bleachers the entire time, which didn't sound fun to her at all.

"You think I give a rat's ass about a stupid fucking high school dance? Cartman only asked me because I'm a sure thing. I only said yes because he knows what he's doing." Desirae replied. Jessica had no idea what she meant for a second, then she got with the program.

"You mean…you two…you're going to have sex?" she whispered. Desirae started laughing.

"Whispering it doesn't change the meaning, Jessica." Desirae replied.

"Well…I…I…I…just…I…how old are you?" Jessica asked.

"Sixteen." Desirae answered.

"I see." Jessica replied, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Spare me the mom lecture and tell me what the hell you want." Desirae said, not in the mood for Jessica's prudish bullshit.

"We get ready together. My best friend won't get ready with me…or even talk to me. She's Kenny's sister and she hates that we're dating." Jessica said, picking up a plastic covered dress and a red carrying case. Desirae sighed.

"I haven't even decided what I'm wearing yet." she replied, rolling her eyes. Jessica's eyes almost bugged out of her head.

"It's almost one! How have you not decided?" she demanded.

"I have yet to go to my sister's closet and steal something from her." Desirae replied, shrugging. Jessica immediately headed for Desirae's closet and began sorting through everything, ignoring Desirae's protests. Finally, she emerged with a pink strapless dress that was still in it's plastic bag. She held it out to Desirae.

"Here. Wear this. It's pretty and it will go well with your complexion. And by the looks of it, you've never worn it." Jessica said. Desirae took the dress and sighed.

"I could easily borrow something of Mandi's." she said, rolling her eyes. Jessica shook her head.

"No way. Mandi has like four inches and fifteen pounds on you. Nothing of hers would fit you right." she said. Desirae gaped at her.

"Did you just call my sister fat?" she asked, shocked. Jessica shrugged.

"Not fat. But she does weigh more than you do. What are you, about 5'4"? And maybe 130 pounds?" Jessica asked, looking her up and down. Desirae shrugged, even though Jessica was exactly right.

"Maybe." she said. Jessica nodded.

"And your sister is like 5'8" and 145 or so?" she asked. Desirae shrugged again. Like she knew.

"I have no idea." she said. Jessica nodded.

"Well, obviously my brother has an ass fetish." she said. Desirae wanted to puke.

Seth grinned to himself as he handed the airline representative his suitcase to check. He didn't think about how his coach was going to castrate him for missing practice or how he would be missing three classes on Monday and two on Tuesday. Instead, he thought about how he was going to surprise Mandi by showing up at the dance. He thought about how he was going to walk in, cut in on her dance with Kyren, and make her smile. And hopefully get into her pants at Token's party. He glanced up at the clock and grinned. He would be in Denver by 5:30. Then he would have one of his friends pick him up from the airport and take him to his house, where he would change into his tux that he had wound up buying after Prom his senior year and borrow his dad's car. And explain what he was doing to his parents. Because they had no idea that he was coming.

Four and a half hours later, Mandi, Janae, Bebe, Rebecca, and Wendy all stood in front of the mirror in Mandi's mom's giant bathroom. It had taken all afternoon, but Wendy had doled out assignments to each of them when it came to getting dressed and helping each other. Somehow, they had all managed to each other's hair, nails, and make-up in record time. Janae grinned at their reflections.

"We look damn good." she said. Wendy nodded in agreement.

"Token is going to cream his pants, Wendy." Bebe said, grinning at her. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"And Scott Tenorman might actually make it on the sex offenders list after tonight." she replied. Mandi went pale.

"Scott Tenorman? He's coming to my house?" she asked. Bebe shook her head.

"No. Hell no. I'm smarter than that. He's meeting me at the dance." she said. Mandi let out a sigh of relief.

"Man, Bebe, you're lucky my brother isn't here. He hates Scott." Wendy said, shaking her head.

"Can I ask why you're dating him, anyway?" Rebecca said, glancing over at Bebe.

"Yeah, you know he only wants one thing." Janae said, rolling her eyes. She and Mandi had had the same conversation about fifty times.

"He likes me. I like him. We have fun. We're not having sex. Just let me be happy, okay?" Bebe said, rolling her eyes.

"Just leave her alone about it. It's her choice." Mandi said. Bebe shot her a grateful look.

An hour later, Token's giant limo pulled up in front of Mandi's house. Token had apparently called everyone's dates because Kyren, Butters, and even Derrick Hartman got out of the limo and walked towards Mandi's front door. Mandi's mom answered, smiling at each boy and tell him how nice he looked. When she saw Kyren, she got misty-eyed. Mandi rolled her eyes and told everyone to head to the family room so her mom could take about eight thousand pictures. Which she did. It literally took half an hour.

"Sorry about that." she told everyone once the photo session was finished. Token shrugged.

"No problem. I had a feeling that that was going to happen." he said, grinning.

"Look, Mandi. I'm sorry that we have to ride with everyone." Kyren said, taking her arm and pulling her off to the side. She gave him a weird look.

"I'm not. It's going to be a lot of fun." she replied. Kyren just shrugged.

"Okay everyone! Now, have a good time tonight!" Mandi's mom said, coming back into the room. Mandi rolled her eyes.

"We will, Mom." she replied. Her mom glanced up and saw that Kyren still had Mandi's arm. She smiled and nodded.

"Well, looks like you will, anyway." she said, smiling at Kyren's hand on Mandi's arm. Mandi followed the direction of her gaze and snatched her arm out of Kyren's grasp.

"Whatever. Let's just get this bullshit over with." Mandi said, suddenly really wishing she could go with Seth instead of Kyren.

Cartman pulled into the driveway just as the limo was turning the corner. Kenny's car was broken down again, so that poor piece of shit had somehow talked Cartman into letting him ride with him.

"There goes something that Token paid for." Kenny said, staring at the limo. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, you poor piece of shit." Cartman snapped. Kenny looked at him, a little shocked. Before he could say something, though, Mandi's front door opened and Mandi's mom came down the front steps, giving Kenny and Cartman a questioning look.

"Aren't you two in Mandi's class?" she asked, eyeing them. Cartman nodded.

"Yes, Mrs. Smith. My my, you look beautiful today. Too bad I already have a date for this thing." Kenny said, grinning at Mandi's mom. Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Oh…well…thank you." she replied, blushing. Desirae and Jessica appeared next to her.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Desirae asked. She filled out the dress that Jessica had picked out for her very well. She had twisted her hair up into a sleek bun. Cartman couldn't wait to mess it up.

"Oh, girls. I'm just talking to your dates." Mrs. Smith replied, blushing. Desirae rolled her eyes.

"Chill, Mrs. Robinson." she said, walking down the steps and standing next to Cartman. He wiggled his eyebrows to signify his appreciation for her dress and she elbowed him in the side.

"Oh Des." Mrs. Smith said, blushing again.

"Hi Kenny." Jessica said shyly. Kenny looked her up and down. She was wearing a light blue halter dress that poofed out at the hips and stopped a few inches below her knees. He resisted the urge to let out a wolf whistle.

"Wait a minute…Kenny? Desirae, didn't you two used to date?" Mrs. Smith asked, staring at Kenny.

"I wouldn't call it dating." Desirae replied. Mrs. Smith's eyes went wide.

"Then what would you call it, dear?" she asked, confused.

"Boning? Meaningless sex? Wham, bam, thank you ma'am? Take your pick." Desirae replied, shrugging. Jessica gasped a little.

"You two had sex?" Jessica asked, looking between Kenny and Desirae.

"Like fifty million years ago." Desirae replied. She turned and headed towards Cartman's car. Mrs. Smith stared after her, incredulous.

"Desirae Dawn Smith! We obviously have a lot that we need to discuss!" she said, caught somewhere between humiliated, shocked, and pissed. Desirae laughed.

"What, are you going to give me the talk? You knew I was having sex." she said, shrugging. Kenny literally thought that Mrs. Smith was about to faint.

"We are having a nice long talk when you get home, young lady." Mrs. Smith said, narrowing her eyes. Desirae rolled hers.

"Whatever. We're going now." she said, glaring at Cartman.

"I thought you were a virgin, Kenny." Jessica said quietly. Cartman started laughing.

"Kenny? A virgin? Yeah right." he said, wiping tears from his eyes.

Jessica got in the backseat and crossed her arms, going into full pout mode. Kenny made no mood to stop her. Desirae, completely ignoring the awkwardness in the backseat, turned Cartman's radio on.

"Bitch, did I say you could touch that?" he asked, shooting her a dirty look.

"Do I care what you say?" Desirae asked, smiling sweetly. He sighed and rolled his eyes, but he didn't touch the radio.

"I think I'll have the chicken parmesan." Mandi said, handing her menu to the waiter. He smiled and wrote it down before taking her menu.

"Excellent choice." he said. Mandi gave him a small smile. She glanced around the restaurant. It wasn't the fanciest place in Denver, but $45 for a plate of chicken parmesan was a little bit steep in her opinion. As if reading her mind, Token smiled at her.

"Don't worry, this is all going on one check. My treat. Well, my father's treat, anyway." he said, grinning.

"Wendy, I might leave my boyfriend and date yours." Rebecca said, winking at Token. They laughed together and Wendy joined in, but Butters just looked sullen.

"Butters, she's joking." Janae said, nudging him under the table. He mustered up a smile.

"I know." he replied. His tone didn't sound convincing, but Rebecca either didn't notice or chose not to delve into the topic any farther.

"Sorry again." Kyren whispered to Mandi, touching her hand under the table. She moved her hand away.

"For what?" she asked. This marked the eighth time he had apologized.

"Everything. This should have been our night together. Not as friends. As…well…you know." he said, looking directly at her. She felt her stomach drop down to her knees.

"Kyren, I've been seeing Seth for almost seven months now. It's not like it's not serious or anything. I don't want to leave him. I'm not just biding time until you come to your senses." she said. His eyes told her that her comment stung, but he didn't say anything else. Nor did he try to touch her under the table again.

"This is your idea of a nice dinner?" Desirae asked, incredulous, as Cartman pulled into an empty parking space right outside King Jimmy's Buffet.

"What's wrong with it?" Cartman asked, unbuckling his seatbelt. Desirae shot him a dirty look.

"Discount chicken strips will not get you into my panties, buster." she said, rolling her eyes.

"A fucking Slurpee from Six Twelve will get you into her pants." Jessica said, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out the of car. Desirae rolled her eyes.

"That girl needs to stop living in the past." she said, shaking her head. Kenny shot her a dirty look.

"You didn't have to say anything. Why would you blow my cover like that?" he asked. Desirae turned around to look at him.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I'm surprised she didn't know earlier! The whole goddamn school found out when that happened, Kenny!" she said, her voice going shrill. Cartman grabbed her wrist.

"We're not doing this. Get your ass into the restaurant, bitch. I'm fucking hungry." he said.

An hour and almost $500 in food later, Wendy found herself back in the limo, en route to Park County High School. Token kept moving his hand to her leg, rubbing the silk. She figured it was supposed to excite her, but it really just annoyed her to no end. She had somehow managed to get by with not having sex with him for three weeks, and she was planning on keeping it that way.

"Why are you so tense?" he asked, scooting closer to her. She frowned and scooted over, nearly into Bebe's lap. Bebe made a surprised noise, but said nothing.

"I'm not tense." she replied, wondering if a dress could catch on fire like pants did.

"What is your deal lately? You've been stone cold and I don't fucking get it, Wendy." Token said, his tone turning angry. Mandi elbowed Janae.

"I'm not fighting with you." Wendy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, but why not? That seems to be the one way that you'll talk to me lately!" he said. Everyone else shifted uncomfortably.

"Not true." Wendy said. Even though it was.

"What the hell is with those two?" Derrick whispered to Janae. She shrugged.

"Fuck if I know. I'm just here for the free limo ride." she said.

"Cartman? Where the fuck does Cartman even come into this?" Wendy screeched. Mandi's eyes widened.

"Okay, I missed it. What?" Janae whispered to her.

"Something about how she argues in debate, but that's one thing. Then Token said something about how she never has time for him. Then Wendy said something else about debate. Then Token said something about how there are some people there who she's really interested in. Then Wendy asked him what the fuck that was supposed to mean, then he said her thing for Cartman was really obvious." Mandi said, turning back to the fight.

"Don't even talk about our sex life in front of our friends! My God, Token, what is your deal?!" Wendy yelled. Janae turned to Mandi again.

"Token said something about how she gets off from debate and that he can't get her off or some shit. Then she asked what that was supposed to mean, and he said that he obviously wasn't fulfilling her needs and that she always acted like sex with him was a chore. Then she said that. You need to pay more attention, Janae." Mandi said, sighing. She smiled, though.

"Yeah right, Wendy. Like you really fucking care!" Token yelled. Janae turned to Mandi, who shrugged. They both looked at Rebecca.

"What?" she asked.

"We missed it." Mandi said, gesturing towards Wendy and Token. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"I'm not paying attention, Mandi." she said. Janae narrowed her eyes. Rebecca sighed.

"Okay, so it was something about how we're not Token's friends, we're Wendy's friends. He doesn't hang out with nerds like us. Then Wendy said something about how all of his friends are meathead jocks and then Token got pissed off and said something about how she sure likes Cartman and he fits into that category, and then she told him that he needed to leave Cartman out of it. Then she asked if he was jealous and he said that. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but then again, she is arguing with Token." Rebecca said, shrugging.

"Fine. Don't fucking talk to me tonight, then!" Wendy said, getting out of the limo, lifting up her dress, and storming off. Mandi wanted to say something about how it wasn't wise to storm off on the interstate, but she realized that they were parked just outside of the gym. She glanced over at Token, who was running a hand through his hair, annoyed. He looked up when he felt her staring.

"Look…Mandi…can you….can you talk to her?" he asked, sighing. Mandi could have been the nice girl that she was. She could have smiled and said sure, then smoothed things over. Unfortunately, Mandi was not that girl anymore. So instead of smiling at Token, she scowled at him.

"Sorry, Token. I'm just too much of a nerd to do that. I mean, I doubt I have the social skills required." she said, storming out of the limo herself. Token shot a look at Kyren, but he shrugged.

"Don't ask me to talk to Mandi." he said, also getting out of the limo. Token looked around and realized that he was literally the only one still inside. He sighed and followed everyone into the gym, hoping that he and Wendy could patch things up and not totally ruin their senior Homecoming.

Seth grinned as he opened the door to his house. He walked through the living room and found his mom in the kitchen, stirring a pan of what looked like vegetable soup. She looked up at him, clearly shocked.

"Fall break came early?" she asked. He grinned and kissed her cheek.

"I'm taking Mandi to Homecoming." he replied. His mother narrowed her eyes.

"This was her idea?" she asked.

"Nope. She doesn't even know about it." he replied, rather cheerfully. She wanted to say something to him, like how risking his grades for what she saw as a fling was a stupid idea, or how they were not paying for him to fly home on a whim for some stupid high school dance, but she kept her mouth shut. Instead, she smiled.

"I hope you remembered to get her a corsage." she said. He grinned.

"Picked one up at the airport, actually." he replied. He tossed it onto the counter and headed toward his father's office. He knocked on the door lightly and then walked in. His father looked up from a stack of papers and frowned.

"Why did I have a feeling you would be showing up today?" he asked. Then he grinned. Seth laughed.

"You know me too well, I guess." Seth said, shrugging.

"I heard Mandi mention that she was going to the dance with that weird religious kid." he said.

"You heard her mention it or you saw it on her Myspace?" Seth asked, raising an eyebrow. His dad blushed.

"Okay, maybe I saw it on Wendy's Myspace. I have to keep up with you kids somehow." he said, shrugging. Seth rolled his eyes.

"Are you going to lecture me like Mom was aching to?" Seth asked, bracing himself. His dad shook his head.

"You had straight A's when I got your midterm grades. You haven't seen your girlfriend since Labor Day weekend. You miss her, I get it. A few days away from school aren't going to hurt your grades too much." he said. Seth grinned.

"I'm glad someone gets it." he said.

"I take it Mandi has no idea that you're here." his dad said, smiling. Seth shook his head.

"Nope. I would have told her, but I wanted this entire thing to be a surprise." he said. His father nodded.

"Just…just be careful, Seth." he said. Seth looked at him, confused. Then he realized what he meant.

"We're not even at that level yet, Dad." he said, smiling. His dad shot him a look that clearly said "Yeah right".

"Seth, you can be honest with me. My God, you're almost twenty. It's okay if you're having sex with your girlfriend." he said. Seth shook his head.

"I'm really not. Yet, anyway. I'm hoping to change that soon." Seth said, grinning. His dad grinned back.

"You've been dating this one for what, six months now?" his dad asked.

"Seven. Well, almost." he replied, grinning.

"Seven months and you're okay with not sleeping with her? You used to go through them in high school like used Kleenex." his dad said. Seth shrugged.

"And I never loved any of them, did I?" he replied.

"Wendy, come on." Bebe said. She had been trying to coax her best friend out of the bathroom for twenty minutes. She could hear Wendy sniffling, but so far she hadn't said anything. Janae walked into the bathroom and shot her a sympathetic look.

"How's it going?" she asked, gesturing towards the bathroom stall. Bebe shook her head sadly.

"She doesn't want to even answer me, much less come out of there." Bebe replied, throwing her hands in the air. Janae grimaced.

"Look…Rebecca went off to dance with Butters and Mandi is still out in the hallway. I know Scott is supposed to be meeting you soon and I doubt you want him to see Mandi." Janae said, giving her a pointed look. Bebe nodded.

"Good point. Uh…take over for me, okay?" she said, heading for the door. Janae sighed and knocked softly on Wendy's stall door.

"Wendy? Come on. Token is a dick, just come out and have fun." she said. Like she really knew what to say to Wendy.

Bebe made it into the hallway just in time to see Scott approach Mandi. She wanted to keep him from having something torn off, but at the same time, she wanted to see how it played out. Curiosity got the better of her and she crept back to where no one could see her.

"Oh…Mandi." Scott said, staring at her.

"Scott." Mandi replied. He couldn't read her expression, but he took it as a good sign that she wasn't ripping his balls off.

"I'm uh…Bebe…is she here?" Scott asked, jamming his hands into his pockets. Mandi gestured in the general direction of the ladies' room.

"Wendy's having a crisis. Bebe is playing mediator." Mandi replied, shrugging. Scott nodded.

"Aha. Well…uh…shit. I don't know. This is weird." he said. Mandi nodded.

"Yes. Yes it is." she replied.

"So…uh…where's your date?" he asked, trying to make conversation. She shrugged.

"Probably off in the men's room, masturbating and crying. Tears are good lubrication." she replied. Scott chuckled.

"He's already having that terrible of a time?" he asked, smiling.

"When is he not having a terrible time?" Mandi replied, looking towards the bathroom. Where the fuck was Bebe?

"Who is it, anyway?" Scott asked.

"Kyren." Mandi replied, rolling her eyes. Scott smiled.

"Hey, you guys got back together. Congratulations." he said. Mandi scowled.

"No. We're not back together." she said. Scott nodded.

"Oh…I see." he said. Mandi shrugged. They stood there in awkward silence before Mandi finally decided to say something.

"I should go find Bebe." she said. Scott shook his head.

"Wait. I should…I feel like…I'm sorry." he said, staring at the floor. Mandi did a double take.

"What are you sorry for, Scott?" she asked.

"For everything that happened between us. I really did like you, Mandi. I just…I don't know. I felt like I was some kind of rebound for you. I shouldn't have pushed you to have sex. That was wrong of me. I just hope you don't hate me too much." he said, looking up at her nervously. Mandi frowned. She wasn't too sure what to say.

"Um…apology accepted, I guess." she replied, shrugging. She literally never expected him to apologize for anything that had happened, but she was sort of glad that he had. Bebe picked that moment to emerge from the bathroom. She was smiling at Scott and he smiled back.

"Someone looks gorgeous tonight." he said, looking Bebe up and down. Mandi rolled her eyes. Maybe he hadn't changed, but at least he had some tiny bit of a conscience buried under all that so-called sex appeal. She headed into the bathroom to see if Wendy had come out yet and found Janae banging on Wendy's stall door.

"Goddammit, Wendy. Stop acting like a fucking freshman. Token is a stupid fucking BOY! What kind of example are you setting, huh? HUH?" Janae demanded. Mandi stifled a giggle.

"Janae, what the hell?" she asked, walking over to her and standing beside her. Janae looked at Mandi, relief spreading over her face.

"Oh thank God. Bebe fucking abandoned me in here because she didn't want you and Scott to have some kind of encounter out there." Janae said. Mandi sighed.

"Too bad we did." she said. Janae's eyes widened.

"Okay, and now you're going to tell me everything." Janae said. Mandi recounted the entire story. When she finished, Janae let out a long, low whistle. Mandi shrugged.

"He said sorry. Obviously we aren't going to be best buddy friends and go out for Sunday brunch together, but it's better than being afraid of encountering him, right?" she said. Janae eyed her.

"It's probably some lame attempt to get in your panties. Again." Janae said, rolling her eyes. Mandi shrugged.

"I somehow doubt it. But whatever. Now I can stop having internal panic attacks whenever I hear that he might show up." she said, shrugging. Janae didn't say anything. Finally, Wendy broke the silence.

"I guess his apologizing at least shows that he has some form of a conscience, right? So we know he thinks with the right head at least some of the time. Even if he is about eight months late with this." Wendy said, her voice heavy with emotion.

"Finally, she speaks!" Janae said, rolling her eyes. Mandi nudged her.

"Wendy, come on out. I'll let you dance with my date." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy let out a short little giggle.

"Mandi, you'll let anyone dance with your date. You're just desperate to get rid of him." Wendy said. Mandi could hear the smile in her voice.

"Exactly. Come on. You can hang out with me. We'll avoid our dates and dance together." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy laughed.

"Don't lez out." she replied.

"I guess that's an option too." Mandi replied, winking at Janae. Janae rolled her eyes.

"That's not an option if you want your dates to leave you alone, dumbass. They'll pay to see that show." Janae said. Mandi and Janae heard Wendy stand up and she finally came out of the stall. Her eyes were a little red from crying, but otherwise she looked fine. Mandi put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"You know, no one is going to hold it against you if you break up with him." Mandi said, smiling a little. Wendy smiled back.

"I know." she replied. Janae let out a sigh of relief.

"It's about goddamn time you two broke up. Mandi, you owe me five dollars." Janae said, smirking. Mandi shook her head.

"No! You said October 1st. I had Homecoming!" Mandi said. Wendy looked at both of them in confusion. Mandi started fishing around in her purse.

"You two made bets on when Token and I would break up?" she asked. Mandi nodded.

"Don't worry, we make bets on everyone." Janae said. Mandi held up a sheet of notebook paper triumphantly.

"Aha! See, Janae? I had Homecoming!" Mandi said, grinning. Janae rolled her eyes and pulled a five dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to Mandi. Mandi stuffed it into her purse. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"You guys are so…" she said, not sure how to insult them.

"Lame?" Mandi offered.

"Pathetic?" Janae said, laughing.

"How about ridiculous?" Mandi said.

"Or desperately in need of lives?" Janae said. Wendy laughed.

"All of the above?" she said. She smiled and they both relaxed a little.

"Come on. Let's go get this goddamn dance over with." Mandi said, linking her arm through Wendy's. Janae hooked her arm through Mandi's and they walked into the gym together.

Red snuggled up against Stan and grinned. He smiled at her, but he really felt like pushing her away.

"So…when do you want to head back to my place?" Red asked, wrapping her arms around his waist. He shrugged.

"Actually, I thought we might hang out here tonight." he said, smiling. Red frowned.

"What do you mean here? I don't want to hang out here." she said, pulling away from him.

"But I do. I mean, I promised Kyle…" Stan said, scanning the room for Kyle. Hopefully Kyle wouldn't be a dick about it.

"Screw Kyle. What about ME?" Red asked, crossing her arms. Stan sighed.

"Red, come on. I spend every waking moment with you lately. I want to hang out with my friends." he said.

"Every waking moment my ass! Admit it, Stan. You don't want to hang out with me because you don't like me!" she said, her voice starting to crack. Stan moved to embrace her, but she took a few steps back.

"You know that's not true." Stan said, looking down.

"You're so goddamn obsessed with her that you can't see what you have right in front of you!" Red said, pointing a perfect French tip manicured finger in Rebecca's direction. Rebecca was standing at the food table with Bebe, laughing about something. He took a second to notice how great she looked in her dress before turning around to look at Red again. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing the exact same dress as Rebecca.

"I'm not obsessed. You need to stop being so crazy." Stan said. He turned to look at Rebecca.

"Unbelievable! You stare at her right in front of me!" Rebecca said, actually stamping her foot. Stan wanted to laugh at her since she was acting like an angry toddler, but he really didn't want those perfectly manicured nails digging into his eye sockets. Or one of those four inch stiletto heels up his ass.

"Come on, Red. I am not." Stan said, looking over at Rebecca again. Red smacked his arm.

"Just answer one question for me, Stan. Do you love me?" she asked, her eyes bright with unshed tears. He could have nodded. He could have said something about being unsure about it. Instead, he looked away. That was the only answer that Red needed. As the tears began to fall, Stan moved to embrace her again. She pushed him away and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Red. I really am." he said. She shook her head.

"You…you are such a dick, Stanley Marsh! I can't believe I didn't see this before! I loved you!" she said.

"Red, come on." he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She pushed him with force this time.

"Keep your fucking hands off of me! I can't believe you! It is SO over!" she yelled, stomping out of the gym. Stan shook his head and sighed. Kyle chose that moment to walk over and stand by Stan.

"You probably shouldn't stare at your ex-girlfriend when you're trying to tell your current girlfriend that you're not obsessed. It makes it more believable." Kyle said. Stan shot him a dirty look.

"Yeah? Well now they're both my ex-girlfriends." he said, sighing. Kyle shrugged.

"Dude, I really don't know what to tell you. You were the one who broke up with Rebecca for Red. It's not my fault that you conveniently forgot to get over Rebecca." Kyle said.

"I didn't want to break up with her…" Stan said. He meant Rebecca, but Kyle assumed otherwise.

"Then I suggest you give her maybe half an hour to calm down. Otherwise she might hurt you. Then you go talk to her and make up some bullshit excuse about how she and Rebecca are wearing the same dress." Kyle said. Stan stared at him.

"Dude, not Red. NOT Red." he said, shaking his head. Kyle frowned.

"If you mean Rebecca, then I suggest you stay away from that situation again. She has a boyfriend, dude." he said, gesturing towards Butters. Stan rolled his eyes.

"Butters is such a pussy." he said. Kyle nodded.

"But he's also dating her. Leave it alone, dude. Focus on…shit…I don't know. Focus on football or school or other shit that you should be focusing on right now. Girls are going to be the death of you, I swear to God." Kyle said, rolling his eyes.

"Thanks Dr. Phil. I'm so glad you're in our studio audience today." Stan said. Kyle shrugged.

"Dude, I know you're going to do what you want. You never listen to me, but I'm always right in the end." Kyle said. Stan knew he was right, but that didn't keep him from shooting him a dirty look anyway.

When Seth's ring tone began going off, Mandi frowned at her phone. She gestured towards the phone and Janae nodded. She walked out of the gym and towards the bathrooms, answering the phone as she approached them.

"Hey." she said, surprise evident in her voice. She didn't think Seth would call during the dance.

"Hey babe." he said, the smile evident in his voice. This made her smile.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Everything is great. I just wanted to know if you were having fun." he said.

"Oh…kind of. Token is being an asshole again." she said. Seth grunted something that sounded like "what else is new?".

"Hmm. Well…where are you right now?" he asked.

"In the bathroom. Why?" she asked.

"The one by the gym?" he asked.

"Yeah…" she said.

"Hey, do me a favor." he said.

"What?" she replied.

"Go out to the trophy case and see if my hockey trophy has my name on it yet." he said. She laughed.

"I'm sure it does, Seth." she said.

"Do it anyway." he said. She walked out of the bathroom and over to the trophy case. She scanned through the trophies and finally located the one that he was referring to. Sure enough, it had his name engraved on it.

"Yeah, it has your name on it." she said.

"I could have told you that." he said, walking up behind her. She spun around and let out a little squeal.

"You're here?" she asked, shocked. He grinned.

"Yup. In the flesh. I couldn't let you go to the dance with Kyren, now could I?" he replied. She threw her arms around him, wanting to freeze time. She breathed in his scent and sighed contentedly. He laughed.

"God, I've missed you." she said, not caring how lame she sounded. He responded by wrapping his arms around her tighter.

"Come on, let's go dance." he said, unwrapping her arms from around him and taking her hand. He led her into the gym just as some lame Savage Garden came on. He pulled her into the middle of the dance floor and wrapped his arms around her. She laid her head on his chest and smiled, swaying slowly to the music.

Bebe almost crapped her pants when she looked out onto the dance floor. She nudged Wendy, who was chowing down on chocolate chip cookies right next to her.

"Call me crazy, but is Mandi with your brother?" Bebe asked. Wendy gave her a weird look.

"You're just now figuring that one out? They've been together since March, Bebe. Get with the program." Wendy said. Bebe shook her head.

"No, I mean now. Look." she said, pointing to Mandi and Seth on the dance floor. Wendy's eyes widened.

"Well, she's enjoying herself too much for that to be Kyren." Wendy said. Bebe nodded.

"Kyren is going to be pissed." Bebe said. In typical perfect timing fashion, Kyren chose that moment to walk up to Bebe and Wendy.

"Why am I going to be pissed?" he asked. Wendy shot Bebe a questioning glance and Bebe shrugged.

"Um…" Bebe said. Kyren scanned the room.

"Have you seen Mandi? I want to ask her to dance. This song was the first one that we ever danced to." he said, smiling wistfully. Wendy and Bebe exchanged nervous glances.

"Um…well…" Wendy started to say. The shocked look on Kyren's face made her stop, though.

"I didn't even know that Seth was coming." Kyren said, his voice low. Bebe shrugged.

"None of us did…" Bebe said, not sure what else she could say. The poor kid was obviously still head over heels in love with Mandi. Kyren's face registered absolute devastation as he watched Seth lean down to kiss Mandi. Bebe thought it was really sweet that Seth had flown so far to see Mandi, but she didn't say anything. Finally, Wendy decided to break the awkward silence.

"Well, this is just about the shittiest Homecoming ever, isn't it?" she asked. Kyren grunted. Wendy decided to just shut her mouth and go back to staring at Mandi and Seth like Kyren and Bebe were doing. As she watched them play tonsil hockey, she noticed that Token was standing near them, looking slightly disgusted. She sighed and realized what she had to do. As she walked towards him, he looked up and saw her. Instead of looking happy, though, he just looked pissed off. As she pulled him into the hallway, he mentally prepared himself for what she would say.

"We need to talk." she said, once she had pulled him into a private corner. He sighed.

"Yeah." he replied.

"This hasn't been working for awhile." she said, sighing. She hated break-ups.

"No. It really hasn't." he replied, shrugging. Wendy hadn't expected him to agree with her, so that caught her off guard. She stared at him for a moment before continuing.

"I think we should break up. We're going to be in two different places next year and I don't feel right continuing on like this. All we ever seem to do is fight and I hate it." she said. Token nodded.

"Yeah. I don't love you like I used to." he said. Wendy was grateful for his honesty.

"And I'm not sure if I ever loved you to begin with." she replied. He took a step back, as if Wendy had slapped him.

"Fair enough, I guess. See you around." he said, turning and walking off. She sighed and slid down onto the floor. She was glad to end it. It made her feel lighter, somehow.

Three hours later, everyone piled into their respective vehicles and headed for Token's mansion. Mandi had decided to ride with Seth instead of getting back into the limo and facing Kyren and Wendy had bummed a ride with them, not wanting to face Token. They made a pit stop at Mandi's before heading to Token's so that they could change. Wendy rolled her eyes as Seth and Mandi disappeared into the same room, presumably to change. Their affection for each other might have been cute to other people, but it made her want to puke. She had her dress off and a sweater and jeans on within five minutes of arriving at Mandi's. Assuming that Mandi and Seth would be taking their sweet time in Mandi's bedroom, she settled down in the living room to watch TV. After she had been channel surfing for about two minutes, Bebe called.

"Hey." Wendy said, picking up the phone.

"Hey. Where are you?" Bebe asked.

"At Mandi's. We made a pit stop so we could change clothes. Seth and Mandi disappeared into Mandi's room and I have no idea what they are in there doing. Nor do I really want to know." Wendy replied, resisting the urge to gag.

"Sick." Bebe replied.

"Very." Wendy said, shuddering involuntarily.

"Anyway, I'm not going to come to the party." Bebe said. Wendy had kind of figured that much ever since Scott Tenorman had tracked her down. She had barely gotten five minutes alone with her to tell her about her break-up with Token.

"Do I want to ask what you're doing instead?" Wendy asked, hoping like hell it didn't involve going back to Scott's apartment.

"Oh…maybe going to UHOP or something." Bebe said. Wendy could tell that she was probably lying, but she let it go. She told Bebe to have a good time and ended the call. Just as she started channel surfing again, she heard Seth and Mandi coming into the living room. She turned off the TV and walking into the foyer to meet them at the end of the stairs. As they descended, she could see that Mandi's hair was messy and that she had a big red mark on her neck. Seth's shirt was wrinkled and he kept reaching out to touch Mandi, who was in front of him on the stairs. Whenever he would do this, she would turn around and smile at him. Wendy shook her head in absolute disgust. Somehow, she could not wrap her mind around how any of this was supposed to be cute.

"It took you guys long enough." she said, rolling her eyes. Mandi blushed a deep crimson and Seth just grinned and shrugged.

"Sorry, sis." Seth replied. Wendy shook her head.

"Well, at least you guys didn't keep me waiting longer. I'm glad you're fast." she said, immediately regretting it. Now she really would puke. Mandi blushed a deeper crimson.

"That's not…we weren't…" she stammered. Seth took her hand.

"Trust me, that's not what we were doing. That would have taken a lot longer." Seth said, winking at Mandi. Wendy made a gagging noise and walked outside. She got in the car and shook her head.

Token's party had been going on for about an hour by the time Stan got there. He located the keg almost immediately and filled a cup for himself, chugging it down within seconds and pouring himself another one. Kyle, who had come with him, clucked disapprovingly.

"Dude, slow down." he said, shaking his head. Stan waved him off and took his beer towards the center of Token's house, where the indoor pool was located. He saw Cartman and Desirae Smith making out in a deck chair and several members of the football team engaged in a rousing game of beer pong. He took a seat in one of the few empty chairs and sipped his beer. As he looked over at the pool, he saw that Janae Smith and some guy who looked like a black version of Cartman were playing Marco Polo with Clyde and Patty Nelson. He laughed at the situation. Of all activities for people to engage in at a party, Marco Polo was definitely not one of the more common ones.

"Are you really going to believe a girl you hardly know over me?" Kenny asked. He had hoped that Jessica would drop the entire argument from earlier, but she had opted to continue it. After the dance, of course. God forbid she act like something was wrong in front of her bitchy friends.

"Kenny, you do have a reputation. And my sister warned me." she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"So I've slept with other girls? What does it matter? I'm dating you now." he said. He didn't add that he had been faithful to her for almost three months at that point. And that his balls were threatening to explode.

"But you lied." she said. He rolled his eyes.

"I didn't lie…I just…didn't tell you the exact truth. So sue me." he replied, shrugging.

"And God, you probably expect me to…well…you know." she said, blushing. He shrugged again.

"Whatever happens, happens." he replied. And hopefully sex would be happening because he was not suited to monogamy unless she threw him some kind of bone. Or he gave her the bone. He snickered at his own little joke.

"I need some time to think." she said, walking away from him and over to a group of her friends. The dirty looks they sent his way suggested that they had heard bits and pieces of the story, all from her point of view. He rolled his eyes and walked off to find someone else to talk to. Maybe he could even find Desirae and they could re-create some of those moments they had shared in Mandi's backseat.

Seth and Mandi had gone off together almost as soon as they arrived at the party. Wendy had rolled her eyes, but she hadn't tried to stop them. Because she didn't know where her friends were, she opted to find the keg and drink like a fish. Of course, she found out very quickly that she couldn't drink beer. Instead, she found the hard liquor in one of the downstairs closets and had taken a bottle of rum for herself. She found a half empty two liter of Nurse Pepper in the refrigerator and had poured the rum into it. At first, it had tasted terrible. It had started to taste better as her blood alcohol level had gone up, though. She found herself wandering through the downstairs area of Token's house, hoping not to run into him. It seemed like everyone that she ran into was busy with something. Then she stumbled into the pool area and sat down in the only open deck chair. Well, more like she flopped down into the chair. She let out a little giggle. Falling down was absolutely hysterical to her. Stan came back to the chair a few minutes after she flopped down in it, a bottle of vodka in one hand and a two liter of 8 Down in his other hand. Wendy glanced up at him from the chair and immediately started giggling. Stan laughed right along with her.

"You took my seat." he finally said. Once they had calmed down a little, of course. She responded by scooting over. He sat down next to her, trying not to think about how weird it was to be hanging out with her, of all people.

"Where's your girlfriend?" she asked, craning her neck to see if Red was coming over. She really didn't want to move. It would take too much energy.

"I don't have one anymore." Stan replied. Somehow, this was funny, so he started cracking up again. Wendy grinned.

"Hey, me either!" she said. This, of course, made Stan laugh harder.

"You're a lesbian!" he managed to gasp out. She rolled her eyes.

"Noooooo, I mean I broke up with Token." she said. She tried to swat his arm, but somehow wound up swatting his neck instead. This triggered another bout of hysterics.

"That sucks." Stan replied, finally calming down. He took a sip of his weird drink concoction and made a face. Wendy took a sip of her giant two liter and grinned.

"Why did you and Bread rake up?" she asked, slurring her words a little. She didn't notice this, of course. Stan did, however. He laughed a little, but then frowned.

"She wanted to tie me down and shit. She was pissed because I kept staring at Rebecca. You know, lame shit like that." Stan replied, shrugging.

"Ohhhh." she said. Stan realized that she probably hadn't comprehended a word he had just said.

"Why did you and Token break up?" he asked, suddenly curious. From his perspective, things had seemed fine with them. Of course, he hadn't really paid attention to Wendy in awhile, so he was probably wrong.

"Because Token is a fucking dick." Wendy replied, shrugging. Stan's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh…" Stan replied, not sure what else to say. Luckily, Wendy saved him from that. She somehow managed to stand up and she extended her hand to him.

"Come on. Let's go explore." she said, smiling. Stan took her hand and tried to pull himself up, but that didn't work well. Finally, he let go of her and pulled himself up on his own.

"Lead the way." he said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs.

Rebecca sighed and wondered how she had found her way to Token's party. Mostly, though, she wondered why she and Butters were sitting in one of the guest bedrooms, playing fucking Monopoly, of all things.

"Is everything okay?" Butters asked, frowning at her. She wondered what made him think that something wasn't okay.

"Everything is fine, Butters." she replied, trying not to grit her teeth as she said it. She couldn't help but think about the after party the year before. She and Stan had gone swimming and then had sex in one of the guest rooms. Probably the same one she was in now. She smiled at the mere memory of it.

Stan and Wendy had explored, alright. They had explored their way into every empty guest bedroom in Token's house, going through the closets and laughing. They kept drinking as they went through the closets, getting progressively drunker as the minutes went by. Finally, they had reached the last guest room. Wendy turned and smiled at Stan as she opened the bedroom door. Instead of throwing open the closet door like she had been doing, she flopped down on the bed. Stan wasn't sure what to do, but she motioned him over to the bed as well. He perched on the edge of it, glancing nervously at Wendy. She grinned and tugged at his sleeve until he was finally lying next to her.

"This bed is so comfy." she said.

"Yeah it is." Stan replied. He sighed and stretched a little. After a few minutes of silence, he felt Wendy reach over to take his hand. He immediately sat up and glanced at her. She smiled seductively at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. He knew that she was going to kiss him. He didn't think it was a good idea, but he wasn't about to stop her. As their lips met, he thought about how they had both just ended relationships. How they didn't even like each other. However, as she reached down to stroke his leg, he stopped thinking with his brain. He relaxed into the kiss and pushed her gently onto the bed, crawling on top of her as he did.

"Bad idea." Mandi said, backing out of her make out session with Seth. His hand had found it's way up her shirt and he was trying to unfasten her bra.

"Why?" Seth asked, trying to pull her back in. She shook her head.

"I am not having sex in one of Token's guest rooms." Mandi said, sitting up. Seth laughed.

"So it's not about the act. Just the location?" he asked. Mandi smiled.

"I have standards, you know." she said. He raised his eyebrows.

"Sure you do. That's why you're dating me." he replied. She swatted him playfully.

"What if we go somewhere else?" he asked, reaching over and taking her hand.

"Like where? Your parents are home." she replied. He grinned.

"And your mom took your brother to some Cub Scout thing until tomorrow, right?" he replied. Mandi smiled.

"Yeah…she did…" she replied.

"So she won't be home until tomorrow afternoon, am I right?" he asked.

"Yes, you're right." Mandi replied.

"So your house is totally empty right now." he said.

"Well, not counting the pets, yes." she replied.

"So technically I could spend the entire night with you and no one would have a problem with it." he said. She grinned.

"Okay. You've been a good boy for almost seven months now. I guess you deserve a reward for that." she replied, grinning. His eyes lit up.

"I thought my reward was what happened earlier." he said. He was referring to their joint clothes changing session right after the dance. Normally, Mandi wouldn't change in the same room as him. That night, however, she had let him stay. And then they had lost track of time and had made out for about fifteen minutes. Mandi smiled at the memory.

"Well, if you want to settle for that…" she replied, grinning. Seth laughed and stood up. He grabbed his keys from the nightstand and then pulled her up from the bed. She laughed as he led her down the stairs and to the car. As they drove to her house, she thought about how she wasn't really dreading sleeping with him, like she had been with Scott. In fact, she was pretty excited about it. She smiled and reached over and squeezed his hand. He smiled back, happy to be with someone he truly cared about.

Wendy realized several things when she woke up the next morning. The first was that she was completely naked under the covers. The second was that she wasn't in her bed. The third was that her head was killing her. She turned over and realized a fourth thing…that Stan Marsh was sleeping next to her. From what she could see, he was shirtless. She nudged him a few times until he finally woke up. He gave her a questioning look as he opened his eyes.

"Stan, what the hell happened last night?" she whispered. Stan shook his head.

"I really don't remember…" he replied. She frowned.

"Try." she said. He scratched his head.

"We drank…a lot. Then we came up here…" he said. She groaned.

"Oh God, did we have sex?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Maybe?" he replied. She sighed. Of course they had. It was all coming back to her.

"Stan, this was a mistake." she said. She was very happy when he nodded in agreement.

"Yes it was. No offense, Wendy, but I just…don't like you. Like that." he replied. She nodded and then immediately regretted it. Her head felt like it was about to explode.

"So we'll just forget that this ever happened." she said. He nodded in agreement.

"And we're still friends." he said.

"Yeah." she replied. Even though she could literally count the number of times that they had spoken in the past year on one hand.

"Do you, uh…need a ride or anything?" he asked. Wendy smirked.

"I think you already gave me one of those last night." she replied. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious. You didn't drive here, did you?" he asked. She shook her head and then groaned.

"Yeah, a ride would be nice." she replied. She wanted to go home and curl up under her own covers for about ten hours.

Their drive home was silent. In the most awkward way possible. When Stan finally pulled into Wendy's driveway, he didn't even say goodbye. Instead, he smiled and waved. She did the same thing and went inside, hoping that her parents weren't too pissed. To her surprise, they weren't waiting up for her. She tiptoed up the stairs and peeked into their room, where they were sleeping soundly, her father snoring like always. She tiptoed to Jessica's door and peeked in. Jessica was dead to the world. She glanced into Seth's room and saw that his bed was still made, a sure sign that he hadn't come home yet. That probably meant that he had spent the night with Mandi, which was enough to send her to the bathroom, her stomach contents coming up fast. When she finally finished throwing up, she grabbed two aspirin from the medicine cabinet and downed them with a glass of water. She stumbled down the hall and into her room where she quickly pulled on a tank top and sweatpants and crept into bed. The first rays of sunlight were just beginning to spill in through the blinds, and she groaned and threw a pillow over her head as she felt them stabbing through her eyes. She curled into the fetal position and fell asleep, hoping not to wake up until dark.

Author's Notes: So there you go. You'll find out the consequences of Wendy and Stan's drunken night of passion later. Sorry that this was so goddamn long, but I had an extra burst of inspiration while writing. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter…it's been my favorite one to write so far. Please review now. =D Oh, and chapter six should be up soon. I literally have nothing better to do with my time than write this goddamn story. I might even finish it before I go back to school in August. Now THERE'S a concept…