Thanks to 'Shirbells Style Whitlock' and 'SuperDupergirl' for the first two reviews on my story. Although one of them wasn't really a review, I still love getting them!

Chapter two
When he was finally let up, Kyle curled into a ball on his bed. The angry red welts covering his skin burned furiously. Tears flowed down his paled cheeks, and he wiped them away, annoyed at himself. Why did he keep screwing up like this?
The sound of the doorbell broke the silence, and he sat up on hearing Stan's voice. The conversation was muffled but he could pretty much guess what was being said. His mother would tell Stan that he was in trouble for getting an F on a test, but would usually let him see his friend anyway.
"Hey dude, what's up?" Stan let himself into Kyle's room, and paused momentarily on seeing his friend's red-rimmed eyes. He dismissed it quickly, knowing that Kyle tended to get hay fever around this time of year.
"Shelly's having a friend over for the night and I was wondering if you wanted to come over as well?" Kyle forced a smile across his lips. "Yeah, if my mom'll let me. She wasn't really pleased that I failed the test." Stan sat beside his friend on the bed.
"Yeah, I guessed. So what, are you like grounded or something like that?"
Kyle looked away, clenching his fists."Something like that." he replied.
"You okay dude?" Stan sounded concerned, watching his friend's expression carefully.
"Yeah. I'm fine."

No one in the Marsh noticed a major difference in Kyle that evening; although a few eyebrows were raised at dinner when he gasped and leapt up as his bruised flesh made contact with the hard wood of his chair. His cheeks had reddened, and he had forced himself to sit down again and act like nothing was wrong.
It was only when the boys were getting ready for bed that Stan realised something was wrong. Due to his diabetes, Kyle sometimes had to inject himself with insulin in the hip. He tugged his trousers down slightly at the back and pulled his white t-shirt up at the back, forgetting that Stan would be able to see the welted skin. Stan looked up briefly to see what his friend was doing - and that was all it took. He gasped.
"Shit, dude!" Kyle spun round, bringing a hand up to his mouth. Stan was gaping at him, his eyes fixed on the spot where he had just caught a glimpse of his best friend's abused body. He stood up shakily and the two boys stared at each other until Kyle broke the strained silence.
"It's... It's not what it looks like!" Stan shook his head unbelievingly. He only had to put two and two together to realise what was going on. "So your mom... That's how... That's how she punished you? Shit... Oh shit..." He took a step towards Kyle, who in turn stepped back. He sighed.
"I... Can I see?" the red-head opened his mouth to say no, but he was suddenly overcome with a huge sense of longing. Years of being beaten mercilessly by his angry mother flashed before his eyes, and without saying a word he turned around again, putting his hands on the bed covers and leaning forward. Stan took a deep breath as he carefully lifted up his friend's shirt, and he let it out in a low sigh when he saw the marks criss-crossing Kyle's back. He gently touched one of the welts, stroked it tentatively with his finger.
"Oww..." Kyle whimpered quietly, clenching his jaw.
"Sorry dude... But you have to tell someone!" Stan dropped his friend's t-shirt and put a reassuring hand on his arm. Kyle shook his head.
"No... She only did it 'cause I failed a test! It was my own fault, I should have studied!" Stan sighed again.
"But this isn't a normal punishment... This is abuse, Kyle..." The red-head turned around to look at his friend, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Do you think I don't know that?" he hissed. Stan stepped back, alarmed.
"Do you think that I'm not reminded of that almost every fucking second of every fucking day? And don't you think that if I wanted to tell someone, I woulda done already?" Kyle crumpled in a heap on the floor, his head buried in his hands. Stan slid down beside him.
"I'm sorry" Kyle mumbled. "I'm just... Scared." His friend nodded, and patted him awkwardly on the shoulder.
"I know Kyle. I know."

Neither of the boys mentioned the painful marks on Kyle's skin over the rest of the weekend. They hung out with Cartman and Kenny, and Stan realised that if he hadn't seen what he had seen then he might not be able to tell anything was wrong with his best friend.
He seemed perfectly normal.

I'm going to leave it there as I'm really crap at doing long chapters.
I'd love a review, and maybe you could let me know what you think Stan should do. Should he tell someone or leave it up to Kyle's decision? Tell me in a review!
Thanks for reading, and I hope it wasn't too shit.