Chapter 8:

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains drug use and references which some readers may find disturbing.

Kenny PoV

"Do you want to come back to mine?" Bebe asks me as she swings my hand through the air.

"Well obviously I would prefer that to going back to the dump." I ponder. "But I don't want to leave Karen."

"Bring her along." She suggests, Bebe was actually very good with Karen. I think my sister looked up to her as a mother or older sibling figure as mom had never really had time for us.

"Yeah ok." I can imagine Karen's face when I tell her that we won't be having cream corn for tea. "Tell you what. I'll go home, get changed and wait for Karen to get back from school and then I will bring her over."

"Ok awesome." She beams and I kiss her on the lips as she reaches her house. I watch as she glides down the garden path and shuts the front door behind her. I swear I live in two completely transverse worlds. School was heaven; a place where I was one of the most popular kids in the year, my girlfriend was head cheerleader and life seemed like a fairytale. At home, it was hell, with no central heating, cold water, hardly any food, unemployed and lazy parents alongside the fact that I was virtually bringing up my younger sibling.

I take a deep breath as I reach my garden path, bits of old garbage scattered out the front. It was on the corner of town so no one had to see what a mess it is. The roof was falling in, the paint was chipped and the whole yard stank of weed.

"I'm home." I call as I open the front door. I did not know whether anyone would be in, the door was always left unlocked, there was nothing for anyone to steal. It was rusted anyway; I doubt a key would work in there. "Mom, if you're here, I am taking Karen to Bebe's for tea."

No response, she was probably down the bar or out selling her body for some extra cash. I head up towards my room to get changed, when I am stopped outside the bathroom.

"Mom?" I notice her lying flat out on the floor, saliva dribbling from her partially open mouth. Overdose, again. I kick her head lightly and then bend over to shake her a few times. This had happened three times in the last six months. I whipped out my cell and dialled the number I was so used to calling.

"911, what's your emergency?" The receiver picked up almost immediately.

"Hi yeah, my name is Kenny McCormick... You probably know me." I drone. "I've just got home and found my mom. She has had another drug overdose."

"Ok, do you know what substance she could have been taking?" The woman asks calmly.

"I am going to assume heroin." I reply shortly, finding a syringe under her left leg. "There is no substance left in the syringe but this was the cause the last two times it happened. She takes cocaine and speed regularly but never ends up like this."

"Ok, we have tracked your address back to the house on the outskirts of South Park that has no number." She recites, as if mocking me. Man I hated my parents so much. "Is that correct?"

"Yeah." I mutter.

"Ok, an ambulance is on its way." She assures me. "Would you like me to stay on the line?"

"No that's ok." I tell her. "Thank you."

I hang up, sliding my cell phone back down into my pocket and begin shaking my mother's shoulders harder.

"Carol?" I yell in her ear, it was a more likely way of getting her to come round. "Carol wake up."

Nothing. Great, this was all I needed. I pulled my cell out again and dialled dad's number. I got a lump in my throat as it began to ring, mom I could deal with but he scared the shit out of me sometimes depending what mood he was in.

"Yeah?" I hear my dad's slurred tone on the other end of the line.

"Dad, it's Kenny." I answer. "Mom has had another relapse."

"Oh for fucks sake." I hear him yell. Yep, he was drunk, as usual. "That stupid bitch, why has she gone and done that again?"

"Probably because she is stuck here all day slumming it whilst you are down the pub." I snap and it goes silent for a second.

"Shut up Kenny you little bastard." He spits down the phone. "Have you called 911."

"Yes, as per." I mumble. "Look do you want to be here when the ambulance arrives or not?"

"Nah." I hear him bang his fist on the table for another shot. "It's your stupid mothers fault, I'm not getting involved."

"Fine." I retort, he made me so angry. "I'll take care of the paramedics, mom and Karen then."

I hang up on him, fuming at his uncaring attitude. Why did I have to end up like this?

Kyle PoV

Right. Screw homework, I had more important things to sort tonight. I had to find myself a girl who was willing to go out with my Saturday night. I was not going to be left out again.

I had downloaded a series of dating apps and was scanning my Facebook for available chicks near me. Obviously they would have to live outside of South Park, as we were a very small community and it would be incredibly hard to find anyone who my friends had not met. They also had to live within a five mile radius. I still could not drive unlike Stan, Kenny and Bebe and so would either have to walk or get my mom to pick her up, which would be extremely embarrassing.

Searching for the name Cady was not going to work. It was not a very common name and the only people who came up lived a few states over or were middle aged women. Cady. Why did I have to say Cady? Why couldn't I have said Amy or Sophie or Chloe? It would have made life so much simpler.

This meant I had two options; to tell the non-existent girlfriend about my plan and get her to call herself Cady for the evening. Or I could pretend I said the wrong name at the lunch table. Either way it was going to make the situation harder and a lot less believable.

I sent friend requests to all the girls who were appropriate. My standards were not very high, looks did not matter at this point in time as long as they lived close, were aged between sixteen to eighteen and had a vagina.

As soon as a notification came through saying someone called Lily Gyre had accepted me. I got straight to talking to her.

"Ok, be cool Kyle." I mutter to myself, opening up a chat and drumming out a greeting on the keyboard. 'Hiya, you ok?'. I sent it before I could change my mind and then went on to stalking her profile. She was actually quite pretty, with fair hair and freckles, she did not wear much make-up but she didn't really need it. Suddenly a message pinged through. Oh my God, a girl was talking to me. How come I had never tried this before? 'Hi, do I know you?'. The message read. Well this awkward, I didn't really know how to phrase this reply. Should I tell her the truth or make something up.

Truth. Truth. My head was repeating. What did I have to lose? 'No sorry, I just came across your profile and wondered whether you would do me a favour?'. I type out and read it over a few times. I pause before sending it, that was ok, not jumping straight to the point. I was making a proposition first. 'I'm not sending you nudes'. She replied, bluntly. Shit. 'No! I don't want nudes, don't worry, I just wondered if you want to come on a date with me Saturday night? I told my friends I was bringing a girl along and so I am looking for someone who is up for it'. I didn't even read it over, I was too flustered with the previous response. But that was probably a bad move because she blocked me five minutes later.

For fucks sake. She seemed perfect as well, except for the bitchy attitude. Right, I clicked on my notifications to open the profile of another girl who had accepted me. Her name was Laura and she appeared to be an Emo chick. She had black shoulder length hair and winged black eyeliner. Pretty. She seemed like a safe bet.

'Hi, how are you?' I press enter and watch the message appear on the screen. Ok she had read it. I waited for her to reply... Waiting, waiting. I drum my fingers on my desk, my eyes glued to the screen. Maybe I should go ahead and water my crops while I was waiting. She was probably just replying with a long response, maybe spell checking it over to make sure she acts cool in front of me. Man this was a long reply...

'Hi, good'. The message flashed up on the screen and I blinked at it several times. Well she hadn't really left me much to work with here. She clearly wasn't the conversation holding type of girl. I decided to jump straight to the point. 'How do you fancy getting some dinner Saturday night?' I send before I can doubt myself. I wait another couple of minutes for her to reply again. 'I'm busy'. Ok. This was going pretty well, at least she wasn't making assumptions like Lily did. 'Oh cool, doing what?' Maybe if I tried to continue the conversation, she would come round. 'Fucking your mom.'

Or not. I was going to take that as a no...

This was completely hopeless. No one I find online is going to want to come on a date with a complete stranger. Plus the fact it is me, they will see me, meet my parents and run a mile before we even get to Shakey's. I was just going to have to cancel and tell Stan that me and Cady have broken it off or something. Yeah, that would be easy.

"Kyle?" My moms voice shrieks up the stairs. "Come and meet your cousin Sian!"

What? Cousin Sian was here now? Ugh, I really was not in the mood for meeting long lost relatives right now. But I traipsed down the stairs all the same.

"Hi Kyle." I hear a bright voice and look up to meet the blue eyes of my so called 'cousin Sian'. No way was she my cousin, because she was too beautiful to have any of the genes in my family. Her hair was a light blonde, swept back in a ponytail. She was skinny, wearing denim shorts around her waist and a crop top to show off her body. Wow ok, this was bad, I was checking out my cousin.

"Hi..." I mumble and my mom gives me a sharp look. A thought suddenly hits me and I look her up and down again.

I couldn't? No, that would be disgusting... But we wouldn't... I can't believe I was even considering this.

Bebe PoV

I was regretting inviting Karen over because my mom was out at Yoga tonight and so Kenny and I would have had the house to ourselves. I did really like Karen though, I am sure I can find something a lot more wholesome to do with the three of us.

My cell begins to vibrate and I pull it out of my hand bag to see Kenny's name flash up on the screen. This would be him ringing to tell me he has just left the house. He always did that, as if I had stuff I needed to hide before he got here.

"Yep, I'm ready Ken." I laugh as I answer the call.

"Bebe?" I hear his voice pick up, but it did not sound cheery like it had earlier on. "I need you to get Karen and drive her to Hells Pass."

"What? Why?" I stammer, knowing something was suddenly up. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Kenny reassures me. "My mom has just had another overdose and the paramedics are here now. Karen still hasn't arrived home so I have called her and told her to go to your house instead. Can you drive to the hospital once she gets there?"

"Oh shit, yeah sure." I fluster, packing a few things into my bag. I sounded more panicked than Kenny, who seemed weirdly calm about the situation. "Um... Is your mom gonna be ok?"

"She always is." He confirms, as if it was the daily school run. "It's a relapse, she has probably just done it to get the free hospital food and a warm bed for a few nights."

"Oh..." I mutter, why was he so bitter about the whole thing? "Ok well I'll meet you at the hospital in a bit then, good luck."

"Thanks babe." He says. "Love you."

"Love you too." I tell him and then hang up. What was I supposed to tell Karen now? I had done this twice before but Kenny had been with me then, when Carol had her last overdose and when Stuart, their dad, went in with alcohol poisoning. It must be really tough for them both, I couldn't even imagine. Well I could, my dad used to get drunk all the time and trust me, the consequences were not nice. I wince at the memories, shutting him out of my head. I had more important things to focus on right now.