Chapter Seven

Stan's Point of View

There's just no point anymore. No point in trying, no point to life. Without Wendy I have no support to stay positive through it all. There's only one choice, to stay negative. It's 7:45; I have a free period first, meaning that I have nothing to do for at least an hour. I'm currently sat on the bleachers staring at nothing, with coach still away; P.E is cancelled, there will be no disturbances to my silence. The obvious down side to this is that I really shouldn't be left alone with my thoughts at the moment. I'll only replay the break up scene in my head again, hear the anger in Wendy's voice and the bitter shock in mine. I know that it's all my fault, I know that I pushed Wendy beyond the limits of her patience but surly if she truly loved me, being with me would be easy and not 'a chore,' that's another thing I blame myself for: putting words in an angry person's mouth. I really feel the need to talk to someone who isn't peppy and full of life, someone who understands pain and suffering. As I sit contemplating I see Kenny and Damien walking down the field heading into the trees on the other side, cigarettes in their hands and blank expressions on their faces. I know where they're going of course: they're going to the old janitor's hut. Me, Kyle and Cartman once asked Kenny why he was always there with Damien yet seemed to ignore him when we were around, Kenny replied:

"Well I'm not friends with Damien; we just have a mutual agreement to go to that hut together when we want to skip class. I sometimes talk to him but often we just do our own thing and smoke."

We didn't think anymore of this, it sounded exactly like the type of thing Kenny would do, the rest of us avoided Damien, we all vaguely remember him from that short amount of time he was in our third grade class and therefore are very aware that he is the son of Satan, as a general rule I always avoided people like that... Not an impulse I jump up and start to head over to the hut, I figure that these are the perfect people to be around right now, the hut is a secluded place where I can have quiet but not be on my own, Damien may even listen to me if he's got nothing better to do, he's definitely not peppy and full of life. The snow crunches under my feet as I head through the trees, as I get closer to the hut I can feel the heat radiating from within and can see some smoke escaping from the chimney, not enough that you would be able to see from the school building though. I take a deep breath as I head towards the door and knock. After a long silence I realise I'm going to get no reply, "Kenny, Damien I know you're in there," I say.

"Stan?" Asks a slightly breathless Kenny, he's probably relieved that I'm not a teacher.

"Yeah dude, can I come in?" Kenny doesn't reply; I didn't realise that they were running an exclusive club. I stand here feeling stupid for a few moments and I am about to turn around and walk back towards the school moodily... Just then I hear a padlock being unlocked and stand back to see the door being thrown open revealing Damien's face, he looks like he couldn't care less about me turning up.

"Come in Stan," he says. I notice the warmth as I enter; probably exaggerated by the fact I've just stepped out of the freezing cold snow, but still do they need it this hot! I look over at Kenny, he's sat on the floor directly under what appears to be a rod screwed to the wall, he smiles at me but I can tell in his eyes that he is not happy to see me, (or is that just me being negative about everything again, he probably doesn't care.)

"I was just looking for somewhere private to crash for a while," I say looking down at the floor.

"Well then you came to the right place," remarks Damien who is now sitting on a wooden table, the only other object in the room apart from the fire. He directs his attention towards the blond boy sat stiffly on the floor and asks, "Kenny don't you have a lesson now that you didn't want to miss?" Kenny looks wide eyed at Damien, "why look so shocked wasn't that just what you were telling me?"

"Ermm y-yes," stutters Kenny to Damien before turning his head towards me giving what appears to be a very concerned look.

"Don't worry Stan will be fine... I'll sort out what's wrong," Damien gives Kenny a dark look. Kenny bows his head and nods awkwardly before heading out the door.

"I'll see you at recess Stan," he says desperately as he closes the door. Kenny's acting odd today; he told us very clearly that Damien isn't his friend that means that he shouldn't get jealous or worried if I hang out with him. Maybe I'm being too tough on him; he probably wanted to stick around to find out what's wrong with me. I sit down in the spot which Kenny just vacated and look up at Damien.

"It's nice to get a chance to talk to you Stan; I've always thought you were interesting. You seem to be troubled, what's wrong?" I know it sounds ridiculous but I felt small sparks in my chest and stomach when I looked into his eyes as he was saying that, I'm sure he noticed this because suddenly they were gone and his eyes weren't burning as bright.

"I just don't care about anything anymore," I reply.

"I've heard Wendy broke up with you."

"Well officially we're 'on a break' but yes that's the general idea." As I continue to tell him about my worries I get on overwhelming feeling that he is not a good person to talk to, he seems like he's concentrating very hard on something and occasionally when his concentration appears to slip his eyes seem so intense and sinister, which bring backs the horrible but exciting feeling of sparks. I am not enjoying being in this hut anymore. I fall silent as I look around the room. Looking up at the rod above me I notice scratch marks all along it as if something sharp and metal has been rubbing against it in various places and when I look over at the fire I see something that stops my heart. The logs on the fire are still whole, completely unlit, where the hell did the smoke and heat come from then? I look down at my watch, 8:55, thank god it's time for second period. 'I have to get to class,' I say as I quickly stand up, 'thanks for listening to me.'

"No problem Stanny," he says mockingly, "Bye now."

I know one thing for sure I think as I head out of the hut, I will not be returning here, Damien is extremely intimidating and I am not prepared to become this type of person, I have to get my life back on track.

A/N: Thank you for reading another chapter! I would also like to give a big thank you to 'bella-romeo' who has continually reviewed and supported this story from the beginning. I'm offering chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, chocolate swirls and fudge pieces to anyone who reviews this chapter. *Places them on cyber coffee table* That's right, I'm cyber bribing...