It had only been a month since the whole gang was last together, but to them it had felt like an eternity. Kenny and Cartman were talking to each other, just having a quick catch-up, much like Stan and Kyle did at the bus stop.
As Kenny leaned further onto the flag pole Cartman raised the camera that was attached to a leather strap around his neck and snapped a picture of Kenny learning against the flag pole. "Sweet, I knew photography was my calling, I'm killer at it bro!" said Cartman as lowered his camera. Kenny simply shrugged, looked at Cartman and said "Yeah, yeah Cartman you've told me this a thousand times already!" As Kenny was about to lift his hood he heard a familiar voice call out…
"Hey Kenny! Kenny, dude it's us!" Shouted Stan. Kyle waving at them with a huge grin on his face expressing excitement. The four boys began walking towards each other, each taking a notepad out of their pockets and holding it in their hands, when they got close together they stood in silence for a few seconds, enjoying the moment of being together again.
"Okay, okay, so! Kenny, Cartman what have you picked as your study options?" Said Kyle, breaking the silence. Before anyone else could say anything Cartman took a step forward then grinned at Kyle and said "Don't be sneaky, jew! You and Stan got here AFTER us, so you and Stan have to go first!" Kyle let out a sigh before shrugging before looking at Cartman and just saying "Fine." Kyle then proceeded to flip through his notepad, then when he found a page with drawings he liked the most he turned the notepad around to show Kenny and Cartman. "I've decided to take up art and design. After all our adventures and everything we've seen, I don't think there is an idea out there that I couldn't work with!"
"Well, guess it's my turn now…" said Stan as he started to flip through his notepad, after finding the page he was looking for he let out an "Ah ha!" then turned the notepad around to show the others. "I've also decided to go for art and design…" he paused for a second as he rubbed the back of neck "I have the same reasoning as Kyle." After that he returned the notepad to his pocket. Cartman shrugged and said "You two SURE you didn't go over this together? I remember us AGREEING this decision had to be made by each of us, as individuals!" It was easy to tell that Cartman was annoyed that both Stan and Kyle had picked the same study option, it wasn't out of the ordinary for Cartman to just jump to a conclusion. Kyle chuckled before calmly saying "Calm down, fatass. We didn't come to this decision together." Stan then added to Kyle's statement by saying "Yeah, I was surprised when Kyle told me on the bus ride, that he had picked art and design to." Cartman just folded his arms, looked at Stan then Kyle and paused for a second before smirking and saying "Okay… cool." He then looked at Kenny gesturing him to go next.
Kenny stepped forward and quickly flipped the notepad a few pages, before turning the notepad around to reveal a crudely drawn music note. "I've decided I want to study music. After I told my dad, he took me to Pal's Music Place and got me this AWESOME guitar!" Kenny flung the guitar holder off his shoulder, laid it on the ground and opened the case, to which the other boys just said "Wow…" as they saw the shiny and custom designed guitar, it was shiny black with a flame pattern on it. Kenny then put the guitar back in the holder and flung it back over his shoulder, he wasn't wearing a backpack so that made carrying the guitar around much, much easier for him.
"That's great Kenny, glad to see your families not as poor anymore." Said Cartman as he stepped forward, to which Kenny and the others just frowned at Cartman, not wanting to verbally approach his comment. Cartman that cleared his throat before putting one of his hands under the camera around his neck and raising it slightly. "After much deliberation as to where to take my many talents, I've decided to study photography, I could become something awesome like a freelance journalist!" said Cartman with an excited and smug look on his face. The boys just looked at each other for a second, then Stan smirked and said "Well, as long as you aren't taking year book photos we should all be fine." Cartman raising one eyebrow turned to Stan and replied by saying "Oh, just you wait Stan… Just you wait…" to which all the boys started laughing.
With that the school bell rang, signifying that now was the time for everyone to start making their way to their form class. "Well, there goes first bell. We better head in before second bell, we don't want detention on our first day." Said Kyle, to which Stan and Kenny nodded in agreement. The boys then approached the school entrance and walked through doorway into the main lobby, then made their way into the main corridor.
When they entered the main hallway they were greeted by Mr. Garrison, holding a clip board and a pen, for the past few years Mr. Garrison instructed students on which form class they got assigned to, seemed like this year Mr. Garrison drew the short straw again. He turned around and noticed the boys, "Oh hey boys, great to see you again this year…" he said while rolling his eyes in the typical fashion he was known for. "Alright so, let me see… Stan, Kyle and Kenny you boys are in form D9 as for Eric, your form is D7. Both rooms are to the end of this corridor, now hurry you don't want to be late." The boys thanked Mr. Garrison and started making their way to their class rooms. Cartman began complaining about being in a separate form class, pulling his old rant about the school being against him. Kyle wasn't really paying attention, all that was running through his mind was a WHOLE YEAR with less Cartman.
As the boys walked the corridor they noticed the rooms as they walked past D4, D5, D6 and they stopped outside D7. Cartman sighed and said "Well, this is my class, guess I'll see you guys later or something…" obviously still annoyed at the school for assigning him to a different form class. Kyle put his hand on Cartman's shoulder and said "Ah, don't worry Cartman we'll see you in some of our other classes, it's not that big of a deal." Cartman hadn't noticed Kyle winking at Stan and Kenny while saying that. "Yeah, relax Cartman, there will be people you know here to." Said Stan. Cartman's mood seemed to lift a bit, no longer looking annoyed. Cartman stepped forward and the very moment he opened the door a resounding "Oh, hi Eric!" from within the room, Cartman instantly slammed the door shut again and turned to the others… "Oh fuck… It's Butters… Why Butters… WHY?! WHY ME?! JESUS CHRIST!" exclaimed Cartman obviously both shocked and annoyed. Stan, Kyle and Kenny where just snickering. "It's fine… IT'S FINE! I'VE GOT THIS! I'M SUPER COOL, so I won't let his fucking annoying face bring me down." Said Cartman, who then with a deep breath opened the door and stepped inside, as he closed the door all that could be heard was Butters saying "You can sit next to me Eric!" Closely followed by a loud groan from Cartman.
Stan, Kyle and Kenny now continue to their form class, and start laughing at how Cartman's school year luck had started out. It wasn't long before the laughter stopped and the boys found themselves outside their form class, strangely enough the door was locked, Stan looked up to double check the markings on the window. "Yup, this is D9, what gives?" said Kenny, looking around. Then suddenly the boys hear a familiar voice from the row of lockers ahead of them "Hey, you guys in D9 to?" said Craig as he closed the door to his locker. "Oh hi Craig, yes we are… But the door is locked, what's going on?" asked Kyle. Craig walked closer to the boys, readjusted his backpack and said "Mackey came by earlier, before first bell and said our teacher was running late and would be here by second bell." The boys looked at each other a second before looking back to Craig. "Thanks, Craig. Guess we'll just wait around with you until our teacher shows up." Craig instantly replied saying "Yup." and then leaning on the wall between the lockers and the classroom door, he then looked around and noticed several students just gathered by their lockers. "I guess some of the stragglers around here are with us." The boys began looking around, Kyle looked at his watch and said "It's close to nine o'clock when the second bell rings, and classes start…" After a few minutes of waiting the boys just slouched on the lockers close by, by this point the second bell had come and gone and the boys started to become impatient. "I think he's here… Finally." Said Craig as he put the magazine he was looking at back in his backpack. It was indeed the teacher, who started to unlock the door and said "Sorry, about being late everyone." He then opened the door and said "Okay everyone, go and take your seats and I'll be back real soon, I just need to get our register." And with that he quickly darted down the corridor again.
Everyone flooded into the room, picking where they wanted to sit. Craig sat next to Clyde and Wendy sat with Bebe at the front of the class. Stan and Kyle decided to sit at the top corner of the class, close to the windows, they took a second to look around the room and it seemed oddly familiar, thought Stan as he put his backpack next to his desk. "Say Kyle, isn't this the same room we had art class in last year?" said Stan, now sitting in his chair. Kyle now also sat in his chair looked around "Huh… Y-yeah, I think it is dude." Said Kyle as he looked at some of the pieces of art pinned to the display boards behind them. After a few seconds Kenny walked into the class room, closely followed by their teacher. Kenny sat in the desk between Stan and Kyle that was in the middle row. "Hey dude, where have you been? You said you was going to the bathroom and never came back." Said Stan, curious as to what took Kenny so long. Kenny turned to Stan "Yep! Sometimes nature likes to take its sweet ass time." Said Kenny winking at Stan.
"Alright everyone, before we begin I need to take register." Said the teacher as he began scanning the names on the list. The students each responded to their names. Then when the teacher got to the last three names on his register he looked up "Well, well… Stan, Kyle and Kenny. Great to see you again this year." The boys looked up, now recognizing that this was their art teacher from last year, they wondered why they didn't recognize him sooner! They smiled and nodded at their teacher, Kenny then raised his hand, chuckled and said "Sorry, Mr. Thoth, we didn't recognize ya!" To which Mr. Thoth chuckled, stood up and made his way to the front of his desk, he leaned slightly onto the desk. Everyone looked forward, awaiting what their teacher was about to say…
"Firstly, sorry about being late. Several blocked roads made me have to take the extremely long way here…" he then quickly let out a sigh before speaking again. "Anyway! Welcome to the tenth grade! As some of you know I'm Mr. Thoth and I'm your form teacher for the remainder of time you are here at South Park High School. If you have any problems or just need some advice, please don't hesitate to come talk to me. I'm here to help YOU." The first day back was always known as an easy day, not much was done in terms of studies, and it was more about getting everything organized for the rest of the year.
The whole day had gone quite smoothly for the boys, hearing Cartman complain about Butters and having Mr. Adler as his form teacher was a highlight for Kyle. Stan and Wendy had spent some time talking, they had stopped dating the previous year after finding that their relationship had become boring for them, and agreed they had more fun just being good friends. Kenny had spent a lot of day doing what Kenny does best, just laze around.
On the bus ride back, Cartman had took a picture of him, Stan, Kyle and Kenny sat together. As his and Kenny's stop came up, he simply got up and waved and made his way off the bus. Kenny said his goodbyes to Stan and Kyle as he made his way off the bus.
Stan and Kyle talked about random stuff for the rest of the bus ride, when the bus made it to their stop they made their way off the bus and stood in silence for a few seconds, then Stan rubbed his neck and turned to Kyle "Well… I guess this is where we split…" said Stan seeming a little nervous, Kyle looked at Stan now also rubbing the back of neck a little "Y-yeah…" The silence returned for a few seconds "So, let's do something this weekend, dude… If you want you can stop over for the weekend." Said Stan grinning and appearing more relaxed now. Kyle took a second to think letting out a loud "Hmm…" as he thought. "Sure Stan, that sounds awesome!" said Kyle now looking excited, and with that the boys said goodbye and began walking towards their homes.
As the boys make their way home, their heads fill with thoughts about the weekend, excitement fills them, now they just had to make it through the rest of the school week…