A dirty trail follows Kenny McCormick.

Not a literal dirty trail mind, god, he's not ten years old anymore. This is moreso a guilty trail. Markings that his boots leave in the snow, revealing long-hidden blades of grass flattened under the ever eternal snow of South Park, branding him a dirty sinner as he trudges away from Marjorine Scotch's house. It's a long walk towards her house, but it's worth it to see her.

Usually.

Her words had hurt. A lot. Kenny wasn't going to pretend that he felt tears fill the edge of his eyes and his heart start pounding harder and faster - for the wrong reasons - as she spat those foul words about his parents straight to his face. It wasn't like she was wrong, his parents definitely were drunk and high, fucked off somewhere to do who knows what with who knows who, while Kenny's left to pick up the scraps of his broken family, being as much of a full time carer for Karen, still too young to understand why her parents care so little about their children, while Kevin runs off to chase a better life outside of South Park, becoming everything he had despised about their parents while he still lived under their roof.

Kenny practically ripped his hood off and sobbed into the ground.

Cold snow bit at his forehead as he sank to his knees, reduced to a mess of tears, heaves and shakes as the gravity of everything hit him at once. His shitty parents, his girlfriend's even shittier parents, his little sister, his fragmented friend group, his schoolwork, his arm that just wouldn't stop hurting after that fall.

But he had to keep going. He had to make it home in time to wake Karen up. Sure, he'd get no sleep, no time to tackle his own worries and thoughts, but it wasn't like anyone else in South Park was going to do it.

Try as he might, the world would not stop for Kenny McCormick.

A door clicks from outside her room. Limited light from under the door shuts off. She frantically throws the duvet away and throws the window open.

"Ken?!" Whisper shouting, Marjorine Scotch looks down at the ground, looking for any sign of life. No one is there.

Oh god. She had just ruined everything.

Marjorine sunk down the wall, shakes beginning to overtake her body, trembling fingers running through blonde hair, the maximum length that still qualified as a "boys" haircut to her parents. Her parents . Gosh dammit, when was she going to admit to herself that they weren't looking out for her? It was like she constantly had an angel and a devil on her shoulder, the angel pleading with her to reason and rationalise their behaviour, while the devil…

Well, the devil was Kenny McCormick. In a good way. Kenny only wanted the best for her, and was incredibly defensive over how she was treated at home because of how he was treated at home. But as much as his words made sense, as much as deep down she knew he was right and her parents would keep her locked in this silly little room and silly little religion for as long as they possibly could… They were her parents. Could she really chuck every piece of good they had ever done for her because Kenny McCormick has 'been there done that?'

"Of course you can, they're abusing you, Marj'." That's what she imagined Kenny would say if he was here.

Oh god. Why wasn't he here?

The words she said looped and looped and looped and looped around her head. She couldn't stop hearing it. Immediately jumping to their drug issues, dragging Karen - Kenny's little sister , for gosh sake - into their conflict. And all the while, her argument may as well be claiming that the Titanic is unsinkable while water snapped at her heels, because Marjorine Stotch was drowning in her issues. Trying to pass off as a guy at school, at home, her only sense of relief being alone with Kenny. If she lost that small slice of freedom, the ability to show her true self to just one person in town, she'd have absolutely nothing left.

It was going to hurt , but she had to make this right.

Dark semi-circles clung to Kenny's eyelids, trying to force them down with all their might. Despite that, he'd checked off all his errands for the morning - return home, wash the melting snow and dried tears off of his face, softly wake Karen up, pack her lunch, ask about the day she had ahead, walk her to the bus stop, walk to his bus stop, and try to catch up on any sleep on the way to school. Right now, he was somewhere between step seven and step eight, simply trying to avoid falling asleep while standing upright.

"Dude, you look like shit." The ever familiar voice of Kyle Broflovski rang out, prompting a groggy turn of Kenny's head.

Kyle hadn't changed too much since they hung out most often, mainly losing his 'iconic' ushanka in favour of showing off his large bundle of red hair. His orange jacket was now unzipped, showing off a t-shirt with an extremely large graphic on the front. Kenny could hardly stay focussed enough to read the text. He knew Kyle was mainly hanging out with a few of the girls from elementary school, along with Stan. In fact, Kyle was usually never without Stan, they'd been joined from the hip since ten.

"Where's Stan?" Kenny's voice comes out muffled from under his parka, showing his face being the least of his concerns today.

"He's ill today, can't come in. Don't answer a question with a question though, Ken."

Huh. 'Ken'.

And just like that, everything from the night before came crashing back. "I… I dunno, man. Long night. Dealing with Karen, you know how it is." Kenny looked away, trying to hide how his sleep deprived mind was melting under the idea of last night's argument.

"You sure? It's just some of the guys… well, Stan, noticed you've looked kind of down recently, and we just wanted to, y'know, check-in." God, this felt awkward. Kyle tried not to notice how uncomfortable Kenny looked by the question, hoping he was doing the right thing.

"I'm fine, Kyle. Karen's hard work, but I'll manage." Short and sweet answers. Just had to stick with those until Kyle went away.

Only… Kenny didn't want him to go away. Since they graduated from South Park Elementary, his group had fragmented: Stan and Kyle, slowly drifting away and leaving him hung out to dry with Eric Cartman, and Cartman being so unbearably Cartman-like that not even Kenny could pretend that their friendship worked anymore. It took a few failed attempts to start various conversations with the students of the school before Marjorine finally asked if he was doing ok, creating a friendship formed by him shattering to pieces in her hands, and a relationship crafted by her fitting him back together.

And just like that, while lost in thought over Marjorine, Kyle was gone again. With the bus pulling in, Kenny resigned his efforts of speaking up, tightened his hood, and forced himself through the vehicle's door.

No Marjorine on the bus. Two empty seats, towards the back, on the left. Kenny instinctively threw himself down into the aisle seat, chucking his beaten backpack onto the seat next to it.

Holding a bus seat for someone who wouldn't arrive.

"Alright, fine, Butters, we won't put the lock on your window." Stephen Stotch checked his mirrors as he pulled up in front of South Park High School, noticing the thin smile on his only child's face as he finally backed down from the argument. Marjorine eagerly looked out of her car window as they got closer to the school, checking for one specific orange coat. Her father must've picked up on it, launching a quick attack to try and catch her out. "Anxious about anything today, son?"

"N-Nothin', dad, just lookin' for my friends." Internally, she chuckled - more like 'friend', singular.

"Alright, well, don't get into too much trouble." Stephen apathetically remarked, unlocking the car door. Marjorine scrambled out with a quick goodbye, checking her watch as she booked it for the one spot she could count on seeing Kenny McCormick - fire exit doors, right hand side of the school, the farthest door away from the main entrance. She passed varying faces, some recognisable, some indistinguishable, before finally arriving at her destination - a boy in a bright orange parka, seemingly just as anxious as Marjorine herself.

Gosh, he looked awful.

Kenny, half-asleep, glanced up at his girlfriend. Every feeling of anger and hurt evaporated as he saw her presentation, her usual skirts and dresses swapped for parental-approved shirts and trousers, makeup removed, never to be seen by students or staff. He pulled his hood down instinctively while looking at her, mouth about to open to speak-

"I-I'm so sorry, Kenny." Tears begin to form in Marjorine's eyes as she takes charge of the conversation. "I really- really shouldn't have said what I said last night, I know. I-It was just me gettin' all defensive f-for no reason, I know I shouldn't stick up for my folks, b-but sometimes-" Marjorine's rambling apology is cut off by Kenny's chuckle.

"Trust me, it's ok. I get why you stick up for your parents, it's a natural thing, trust me." Kenny smiled, the lines under his eyes only exaggerated by the movement in his face.

"B-But what you said is right, they… I think they abuse me, Kenny, a-and I shouldn't stick up for abusers." Marjorine wasn't entirely ready to outright admit their abuse yet, but it felt like she'd reached a 'happy' middle ground for now, if you could call it that.

Kenny took a quick look around before using Marjorine's preferred name. "Marj', there's a reason I tried storming off the moment you said something true about my parents." His reassuring smile made Marjorine feel a little better. He knew how hard it was to even realise that you'd been dealt a rough hand in life, let alone accept it. The only thing that he could do was offer his love and support. "You want to protect them, and that's ok."

"I know, but… I-it's different with me, isn't it? Your parents are, well, p-pretty bad- n-not like, bad bad, but-" Marjorine stumbled over her words.

"They're bad, Marjorine, you can say it."

"W-Well, yeah, a little. But with my folks, th-they…" She succumbed to her stuttering, choosing to gesture vaguely to her makeshift boy's body. Kenny understood what she was trying to say.

"Marjorine, abuse is abuse. Doesn't matter if my parents are junkies, or if yours are controlling beyond belief. As long as we both recognise that they do bad things and… don't really have us at heart, we're on the right track." Kenny could feel Marjorine ease up merely from admitting that Kenny had bad parents, the statement no longer feeling forbidden. It still stung, but not as much as the night before; probably because it wasn't being said to try and drag Kenny down with her.

"Gosh, thank you Kenny." Marjorine let out a sigh of relief. "T-Thanks for understanding everything." She wrapped Kenny in a hug, an act he graciously accepted, but Marjorine could tell he wasn't fully relaxed into it. This wasn't like the hugs he gave when the two of them were alone in his bedroom, the house empty barring Karen, or the hugs he melted into at the dead of night, sneaking out to some empty area of town to chill out in. He felt rigid, like he could throw her off of him at any point in time. And the worst part was Marjorine felt the same. They had to act like this in public, faking forced hugs and whispering true names, not letting anyone have even the smallest peak at their relationship.

All it would take would be one blabbermouth letting word get to Marjorine's parents. Then everything would come crumbling down around them.