Kyle PoV
My head was spinning from today's events and the lies I had told. This was going to be a tricky situation to get out of, as I had not had a girlfriend since middle school when I went out with Nicole briefly after she had broken up with Token. They got back together in Sophomore year however, for some reason, after Token had slept with Bebe. I guess maybe she got jealous, I don't know.
Maybe it was my faith, or my dedication to my studies, or the ginger afro that is concealed under my green hat. But there was something about me, which made the girls turn away.
"Hi buble!" My mother sings as I open the door to my green house.
"Hi mom." I sigh, throwing my bag down by the door and slumping down in a chair.
"Kyle, what's the matter?" She stops dusting the ceiling and sits down next to me. "I've made some Borekas, do you want one?"
"No." I almost shout at her and then restrain myself. "No, thank you, sorry."
"Did your first day back not go well?" She asks and I give another sigh, twiddling my thumbs.
"No, it did, it's just..." I trail off. "I just feel a bit left out, you know?"
"How can that be?" She gasps, my mother always over-reacts about everything. This is why I hardly ever tell her anything. You say the word 'fuck' and suddenly she has declared war on Canada, I don't know. "My little buble is the smartest in his class, a steady home environment, a bright future-"
"Yeah, yeah you're right mom." I silence her, getting up to leave. "I'm gonna go do my homework."
"Ok well don't forget cousin Sian is arriving tomorrow." She calls and this stops me in my tracks. "Who is cousin Sian?"
"Your cousin, Kyle." She blinks at me as if it is obvious.
"What, Kyle has a sister?" I ask, to clear up any confusion, I had another Jewish cousin called Kyle, who was even weirder than me.
"No, she is on the other side of the family, lives in Massachusetts." Mother babbles. "She is doing work experience in Denver for her Junior year project and so I said she could stay with us."
"Well how come you've never mentioned her before?" I frown, trying to scan my brain for any memories of 'cousin Sian'.
"I don't know..." Mom shrugs, this all seemed a bit odd. "She will be sharing a room with you though, Ike decided."
"Well that's unfair!" I retort. "Why does Ike get to choose-"
"Go and so you homework Kyle." She orders, sternly and I give a slight groan as I head up the stairs. I had more important things on my mind right now and that was using social media to search for any girl in a twenty mile radius who was both human and would agree to spend an evening with me. This was going to be tough...
Kenny PoV
My house was my least favourite place on Earth. Although I had recently decorated my room, so that the carpet was not mouldy, the curtains were not moth eaten and I had sheets on my bed which actually kept some warmth in. My family still drove me crazy. My dad was job hopping and my mother washes dishes down at Country Kitchen Buffet, which was rebuilt a few years back. So as you can tell, we don't receive a very large income. I have a part time job working at the local hardware store three times a week, hence why my room has been re-done, as I actually earn a larger salary than both my parents put together. I spend it mostly on myself and Karen, buying us extra meals and anything she needs. It was not her fault my parents were washed up pieces of scum, none of my wages were spent on them, ever.
"Kenny, time for dinner." My mom's distinct redneck voice calls up the stairs. When she says 'dinner' she probably means frozen waffles or a tin of mushy peas, anything they can get from the local food bank. It was a nice surprise to realise that tonight we were having beans on toast, purely because mom and dad were not eating with us, so Kevin, Karen and I got a more hearty meal.
"Where's dad?" I ask mom as she sits down at the end of the table, cracking open a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for her meal. I had told them to stay away from the stuff, it resulted in the three of us getting put into care for a short period when we were younger, as they got arrested for anti-social behaviour. Of course, they never listen.
"Where do you think?" She slurs her words slightly and that indicated that this wasn't the first drink she had consumed today.
Pub. That's right, although my dad is currently unemployed, he spends our Welfare money down at Skeeters bar most nights, getting wasted on the cheap shit and begging shots off lonely old men.
I just nod at my mom, eyeing her up as she takes another gulp of her drink. I glance across to Karen who was sat next to me, stirring her beans around her plate with a plastic fork. Kevin was stuffing his meal down him, he probably had not eaten since breakfast and needed to get out for his next shift on the streets. Speed and cocaine is what he specializes in, earning hundreds more dollars than any of the rest of us. Of course, he spent none of it on us, he was hoping to buy his own apartment out of town sometime soon with his savings. I do not know how as he blows half of it down the strip club in Denver every weekend. Mom and dad had no problem with it, but that was because they had never had a reason to teach us morals, plus he gave them a fix when they were desperate.
"Kenny are you in work tonight?" Karen asks me quietly. If it wasn't for her I would be out of here now; living on the streets would be better than this dump. But I could never take her with me and I loved her too much to leave her behind.
"No." I chew my food slowly, I could see her bread was mouldy. She was eating it the best she could because bread to us was a treat, in date or not. But the crust was so blue, trust our parents to give her the most rotten piece. When mom gets up to throw her can in the trash, I quickly swap our plates round and squeeze her hand. She shakes her head at me but I had argued against her so many times on this occasion that she tucked in without further questioning. "Hey, how about we go for a walk tonight, you and me?" I ask her eventually and she looks up at me with big hazel eyes.
"Well as long as you two mutts don't interfere with my corner..." Kevin growls and I tear my eyes away from Karen.
"We don't want to go anywhere near your corner thanks." I glare at him and he returns the look before getting up to throw his plate in the sink. Mom often steals them from the buffet when her no one is looking, else we would be eating from paper plates instead.
"Kevin McCormick, you wash that dish." Mom snaps back to reality as he heads for the front door. She has been staring out of the window for the past ten minutes. Probably dreaming of the life she could of had if she didn't drop out of school at fifteen to live in a cardboard box with this pothead who later beat her up.
"That's your job, lazy shit." He yells back in his mono tonal voice before slamming the door behind him.
"Come on Karen, let's get out of here." I grab her hand and we follow in Kevin's footsteps, mom yelling at us to help her before she passes out against the wall.
"Is mommy going to be alright?" Karen pipes up, not letting go of my hand.
"Uh... Yeah probably." I shrug, I didn't really care if she was or not. "Come on, let's go to Raisins and get some milkshakes."
Wendy PoV
"So you see Nicole, that is why you don't make the effort to apologise to Token first. Choosing his friends over you is way worse than you kicking off about it. You just have to wait for him to make the first move, all guys to it eventually." I explain to Nicole, who was on the other end of the line. I was multi-tasking by painting my nails, watching a documentary on globalisation and sorting her issues out at the same time. I should win a medal for this kind of thing.
"Are you really sure about that?" She sighs. "I don't want him to think that I don't care."
"That's exactly what you want him to think." I point out. "If it looks like you don't care, then he will begin to feel jealous and come crawling back to you. He's gonna crack at some point. Trust me, I do it with Stan all the time."
"Hey!" My boyfriend interjects from the other side of my room. Stan was sat on my bed reading a comic. I didn't know why he was here, it wasn't as if I was being very entertaining. But as long as he wasn't bothering me too much, I was fine with it.
"Ok, well, as long as your sure." Nicole sounds a bit more confident after my pep talk. I am about to respond with the 'I am always right' excuse when there is a beeping noise sounding from my cell phone.
"Ugh, sorry Nicole, there's another incoming call." I tell her, why did I have to be so popular? "I'll just get rid of them, hold." I pressed the hold button and picked up the other call. "Hello?"
"Wendy hi." A familiar voice sounded.
"Cartman?" I groan, putting him on speaker phone. If Eric Cartman was going to harass me, I needed a witness to the conversation. Stan had suddenly looked up at the mention of his name, looking confused. "How do you have my number?"
"Oh... Stan gave it to Craig, who gave it to Tweek, who passed it to Butters who sent it to me." Cartman recited and I spun my chair around to glare at Stan, who holds his hands up defensively.
"Craig told me he needed it for a project you were working on in History." Stan admits and I raise my eyebrows.
"Why would I be working with Craig for a history project?" I ask him.
"I don't know, I don't take History!" He shrugs, turning back to his comic.
"What do you want Cartman?" I groan, still aware that Nicole was on hold.
"I need your help Wendy." He whispers as if he is a spy and the phone call is being recorded.
"For what?" I hiss.
"To change the school, together." Cartman mumbles. "You and I, we can bring back the full sized lockers, longer recess, chips can be served every day."
"...No, you fat fuck!" I yell preparing to hang up.
"Oh but why?" He whines now, returning to his usual spoilt tone.
"Because I'm perfectly happy with the way school is!" I retort, waiting for another long whine, maybe even some tears to try and convince me to change my mind.
"You're breaking my balls Wendy." He mutters and then hangs up. I turn to look at Stan again, who looks as confused as me.
"The fuck?" Stan frowns and we both shrug, going back to our previous activities.