Craig stood in front of Stan and Kyle's locker the next morning. He waved to Stan as the other boy approached. "Dude, did you forget to sleep last night?" The dark under Stan's eyes gave way that he was not counting sheep at night.
Stan shrugged. "Not really, just been having trouble sleeping since school started."
"Right, since Kenny returned you mean."
"Both, I guess." Stan paused and looked around noticing other students filling the halls with the conspicuous absence of a certain redhead who shared his locker. "Why are you even here Craig? Isn't your locker at the other end of the hall? With your boyfriend?"
"Tweek's taking a break from school today, it's been a lot for him to process and it's only the third day of school."
"Good thing it's Friday then," Stan said as the schools usually started on Wednesdays to give everyone a few days to adjust their schedules. "Still doesn't explain why you're here."
"Kyle asked me to keep on eye on you, he's worried about you."
"Why isn't he here?" There was silence for a couple minutes as even Craig wasn't able to hide that he was taken aback by Stan's question.
"He texted me and said he wouldn't be here today, I just assumed he would have told you that, too."
"No, he didn't," Stan said unsure what to think.
"Are you sure? You have been really spacey lately."
"Positive," Stan said pulling out his phone and shooting off a quick text to his friend. Hey, are you ok? Craig told me you weren't coming to school today? It was very disturbingly unlike Kyle to miss any school much less on the first week. Kyle texted back immediately, Yes, I'm just not feeling well, maybe caught something. Stan frowned and shot back a reply, OK, get better soon. He put his phone away still confused. Kyle usually didn't miss school unless he was deathly ill. Not to mention why would Kyle ask Craig of all people to keep an eye on Stan. Why would anyone need to keep an eye on him anyway? He could take care of himself.
"Dude," Craig's voice cut through Stan's thoughts. "You're doing it again. I've only said your name like three times."
"What? Really?" Stan asked surprised, "I didn't hear you, really."
"I know, why do you think Kyle is worried about you?" Craig asked answering Stan's earlier thoughts.
"Right, right, makes sense," he muttered still preoccupied with worrying over Kyle. He stuffed second period's books in his book bag before throwing it over his shoulders, took his book out for first period, and started walking in the opposite direction of the class. Craig stood at the locker, arms folded across his chest, unimpressed.
"Class is the other way, Stan."
"I know, but we still have almost ten minutes. I want to check in on Kenny and Cartman. Yesterday someone tagged their locker."
"I heard." He unfolded his arms and sighed. "Guess I'll tag along."
Ω
Cartman and Kenny were at their locker, Cartman angrily snapping at some kids hanging around them. "Get out of here, we're not a freakin' exhibit, morons!"
A group of younger looking girls were near and it didn't take long for Stan to register them as Karen's friends from the other day. One girl's voice rose above the other voices in the hall. "We just want to know where he's been hiding all these years and why he's been hiding." She crossed her arms clearly not planning to leave anytime soon.
Kenny kept his head down while Cartman scowled at them. "What the hell? Are you even supposed to be in this hallway? Aren't middle schoolers supposed to stay in the middle school halls? Last I checked no one in middle school was up here except you."
"We're owed that much!" the girl exclaimed.
"You're not owed anything!" Cartman countered, "Get out!"
Craig and Stan approached the girls from behind. Craig's monotonous voice climbed a couple decibels in volume so he could be heard. "You heard him. Leave to your classes, bell is about to ring."
Stan caught on and joined the act. "Yes, security is on their way here doing hall sweeps so I'd suggest getting to your own halls before they get here."
A few of the girls nodded and broke from the group leaving just two there. The one girl who had spoken kept her eyes on Kenny clearly angry at being told to leave before she got her answers. After a couple more intense moments she unclenched her teeth. "Fine," she bit out. "But we'll be back. You can't hide behind your friends forever!" She walked past Cartman hair swishing behind her, her friend followed as well and the hall was vacant of all middle schoolers. Cartman angrily slammed the locker door shut. Stan saw Kenny jump at the sound.
"Those fucking bitches!" Cartman punched his locker door angrily. "I should go to the principal and have administration deal with them, they should be expelled!"
"It doesn't work that way," Craig pointed out. "Students just don't go and make expulsion recommendations."
"Fuck you, Craig, those girls need to be put in their place!"
"Don't," Kenny's voice joined them. Craig's interest piqued at hearing their friend; this was the first time he'd heard him actually speak. "They were Karen's friends."
"Clearly! And so?!" Cartman cried. "So what?! They can't do this, they need to be taught a lesson-"
"Don't," Kenny said again more forcefully, then lower. "Leave them alone, they've been through enough."
Cartman made a noise in protest and punched the locker again before turning and stalking off.
Craig watched Cartman leave before looking over at Kenny who refused to look at the other two still there. Craig cleared his throat, "Kenny, you've been through a lot, too. It's not fair of them to target you like this."
"It's fine," Kenny mumbled.
"No, it's not fine!" Stan cried stepping forward, grabbing Kenny by the arms and giving him a little shake. "Snap out of it!" Stan pled with his friend. Suddenly there were hands on Stan's shoulders pulling him away from Kenny.
"Stop, Stan," Craig scolded. "It's not helping anyone." He looked over at Kenny who was looking up in shock. "Kenny," Craig said trying to get his attention on him and away from Stan. Kenny looked over at Craig uncertainly. "Where's your next class? Lead the way." Kenny nodded and led them to the class without saying a word. Once there Craig waved him off before turning his attention to Stan who had also remained silent the whole walk. "Stan, what the hell was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you snapping and grabbing him like that. The guy probably has major PTSD, he doesn't exactly need people suddenly grabbing him and shaking him."
"Oh, guess I didn't think of it that way."
"Of course not," Craig mumbled rolling his eyes. "Just don't do it again and maybe apologize when you see him again?"
"Yeah, I will."
"Good, let's get to class now. We're late. You're late. Again."
Ω
The rest of the day flew by for Stan. He was relieved that Kenny was still at the school for lunch. They managed to eat without incident although it was an unusually quiet lunch missing both Kyle and Tweek. Cartman did ask about Kyle but Stan shrugged it off saying that Kyle had stayed home sick. Cartman had snorted clearly not buying that Kyle of all people would be sick on the third day of school. Butters and Craig mostly spoke and Stan suspected Craig was just humoring Butters and trying to keep the attention off of Kenny. It seemed Kenny was becoming more and more of an enigma to all those that once knew him, present company at the lunch table included.
During art there wasn't much said between Cartman and Stan. Cartman asked about Kyle again but Stan didn't have any more information for him. Kenny didn't look at Stan the whole time and Stan struggled to find the words to apologize if he was out of line earlier. He must have been if Craig had gone out of his way to point it out. The bell rang before Stan was able to find any words and he found himself in his last class, his mind still preoccupied with Kenny.
Craig eyed his friend with concern. It was close to the end of class and the teacher had given the last few minutes to the students. It was pretty common practice the teachers would leave the last five minutes to the class. Stan had been staring gloomily ahead the entire period, not interacting with anyone or participating in class at all. Craig was going to have to step it up if he was going to keep his word to Kyle. He leaned over. "Stan? Penny for your thoughts?" He held up a shiny copper coin.
"You're actually going to give me a penny?" Stan asked humor glinting through the worry in his eyes. Craig beamed at him happy to have lifted his friend's spirits even if just a little.
"Yup!" He confirmed and started to give the penny to him but pulled it away. "Uh-uh, you gotta tell me your thoughts first."
"I wanted to apologize to Kenny about this morning but haven't yet."
Craig raised his eyebrows. "Why not? Didn't we eat lunch together? And don't you have a class with him after lunch?" He belatedly realized he sounded harsh but he couldn't take the words back now.
"Yeah, I just-just…" Stan trailed off.
"Just?" Craig prompted.
"I don't know, just embarrassed, I guess?" Stan really didn't know why he hadn't made more of an effort to bring it up throughout the day.
"There's always the rest of the day or tomorrow," Craig pointed out. Stan nodded without saying another word. Craig easily tossed the penny onto his desk, Stan picked it up and rewarded his friend with a smile. The bell rang and both boys left the class. Craig noticed Stan walking at a faster pace than normal.
"In a hurry?"
"Yeah, I'm going to go see Kenny." He thought he also might stop by Kyle's, too.
"Okay….just be sure to think before you act," Craig advised. Stan nodded and waved at his friend before heading towards his locker. Craig watched him for a moment before turning in the opposite direction to get to his own locker. He shot off a text to Kyle. Hey, your spacey friend made it through another day. Kyle replied with gratitude. Later, Craig would regret not actually walking Stan home, but he could only do so much.
Once Stan escaped from Craig, he hurriedly dropped his things off in his locker, completely forgetting that he should take his book bag with him so he could do homework over the weekend. He went straight for the old Target building not bothering to find Kenny at the school after classes. He really didn't want to have to deal with Cartman again. So far Kenny had been alone when Stan had found him out here; granted, he'd only been by twice but he was hoping the pattern would hold up for him. He rounded the corner of the building to find the picnic table already occupied but not with Kenny. Instead a few older kids sat there. Stan recognized two of them as seniors instantly, mostly likely friends of Kevin's. The other two looked a year or two older, also probably Kevin's friends. How did they even know Kenny stayed here, had they followed him before? Why were these kids so obsessed? The boys waited for Stan to approach them before saying anything.
"Hi Stan," one of the boys recognized him. Aaron, Stan realized he'd seen the boy at a few of Shelly's school events, he was friends with her. Stan's defenses dropped a little; Aaron had always been nice to him.
"Hey," another said, someone Stan didn't know well but knew his name. Derek. "Why are you hanging out with that McCormick kid after what he did?"
Stan shook his head. "No. He didn't do it." He was totally affronted by the fact that these people could even think Kenny would kill his whole family.
Derek and Aaron both rolled their eyes while the other two boys shook their heads. Aaron spoke up. "Come on, dude, he's the only survivor? What are the odds? Besides he was in plenty of trouble back then and it wouldn't be the first time he had messed with a gun."
Stan's whole being stiffened, all ease gone. What exactly did these guys plan to do once Kenny got there? "He wouldn't have hurt his sister," he ground out through clenched teeth.
"People say that all the time," Aaron said, getting up from the bench. "But then they do hurt their family members when drugged out."
Stan was horrified. "He wasn't drugged out! He didn't do it!" He yelled, righteous anger spilling into his words. Two of the boys had circled around and were behind him. Stan was hyper aware that there was four of them and just himself. He was alone. He kept his eyes on Aaron and Derek who remained in front of him.
"Dude!" one of the other boys shouted, "How do you know that? Maybe you were there with him?"
"What? No!" Stan cried. Hands were grabbing his and just like that he couldn't move his hands anymore.
"Get down, now," an angry whisper in his ears. Stan slowly got to his knees on the ground, half expecting one of them to pull out a gun and start pistol whipping him. This was insane. Clearly, the schools had not done well on grief counseling after the murders.
Derek towered over him, arms crossed. "Well, were you there that night?"
Stan didn't say anything until there was sharp pain in his back, no mistake a foot had caused it. His hands were pulled back further adding to the pain, and a foot stomped on his right leg a couple times. His face began to turn red as he couldn't hold in a whimper from the pain. He spit on Derek. "No! I wasn't!"
"How fucking dare you?" Derek spat, wiping the spit off his pants and spitting back onto Stan before kicking him in the chest. Stan couldn't do too much but take it as the two behind him were showing no signs of loosening their grip on him. Derek kicked him again. Aaron was looking uncomfortable as he watched Stan squirm in his friends' hold. Derek socked the younger teen in the eye. "For spitting on me, asshole." Panic was beginning to take over Stan's senses. Were these guys actually planning to kill him? Had they been planning on killing Kenny?!
"What the fuck is going on over here?!" Stan had never been so thrilled to hear Eric Cartman's voice in his entire life.
There was scuffling behind him and Stan heard Kenny's angry voice. "Get off of him!" His restraints gone Stan quickly stood up, ready to return Derek's punch. Cartman had already charged at him so Stan spun around to help Kenny. The blonde had managed to get one of the two guys on the ground and was straddling him, punching him repeatedly. The other guy had been knocked to the ground earlier but had gotten back up and was heading towards Kenny. He spotted Stan at the ready and turned to flee. Aaron was nowhere to be found, he must have fled right when he sensed things going down unfavorably. Stan glanced at Cartman who was exchanging punches with Derek before looking back down at Kenny. It dawned on him that the teenager under Kenny was no longer fighting back, he looked unconscious but Kenny didn't realize. Stan rushed over putting his hand on Kenny's shoulder.
"Hey, hey, Kenny, stop, he's out," Stan squeezed his friend's shoulder and Kenny stopped mid-motion, yanking his fist away. He looked up at Stan.
Derek shouted at them. "You guys are insane! Keep protecting that murderer! Look, he's probably killed Liam! It's your guys' funerals!" He spat at them deciding to leave.
"Yeah, you better run!" Cartman screamed after him. "Pathetic!"
Cartman walked over to where Stan was helping Kenny back to his feet. He looked down at Liam. "Damn, Kenny, you actually knocked him out?" He pulled out his phone but stopped when he heard sirens closing in on them. "Well, I guess we don't need to call the medics."
Stan looked uncertain. "What are we going to do?"
Cartman shrugged. "We're going to tell them the truth. We sure didn't go looking for them for a fight so there's no point in leaving unless we want to look suspicious." Liam had started to stir.
Kenny shifted his weight looking more and more uncomfortable as the sirens and bright flashing lights drew closer. Cartman shook his head, taking in both Stan and Kenny's expressions. "Just let me talk, okay? Stan tell me what happened when you got here." Stan filled him in on the details. Liam had managed to stand up and had been ready to flee but stopped when he realized the police had already seen him. He shot a wary glance at the other three boys uncertain how they planned to explain this to the police.
Dread filled Stan when a police officer he didn't recognize got out of the police car. Thankfully, they weren't taken down to the station. Cartman filled the police officer in on what had happened and supplied him with both his and Stan's cell phone number. Kenny didn't have a phone but Cartman assured the officer he could reach Kenny through Cartman. The most awkward question turned out to be why on earth were there so many teenage boys hanging out in back of the old Target building after school. Cartman had only paused for a moment before explaining that they just liked hanging out there. The officer had given them a disapproving look indicating all the dirty needles on the ground that were visible to the naked eye. He clearly thought that the kids had been arguing over drugs even after Cartman explained that the other boys had been there to attack Kenny and Stan had just gotten caught in the crosshairs. Stan supposed that Cartman's story, while the truth, actually sounded a bit ridiculous in comparison to some boys getting into a fight over drugs. Liam made a couple snide comments about Kenny unintentionally corroborating Cartman's story for the most part. Liam accepted a ride home with the officer not wanting to stay behind alone with the other three. They were happy the officer had let them off so easily, Cartman and Kenny both were visibly relieved once the officer left.
Stan sat on the bench heaving a sigh of relief. "I am so glad you guys showed up when you did."
"Yeah," Cartman said while Kenny remained silent, his back to Stan. Cartman looked down at Stan. "What the hell were you doing here anyway Stan?"
"I wanted to talk to Kenny, to apologize for earlier today when I kind of lost it." Cartman looked confused so Stan clarified, "You weren't there Cartman, it was after those middle school girls had left."
Kenny finally turned around, pulling at his hair with one hand, the other still clenched tightly into a fist, blood smeared on a few knuckles. "You don't have to apologize for anything. I'm sorry this happened to you."
Stan facepalmed frustrated. "God, Kenny, this is why I was even here in the first place. You don't need to apologize, you didn't do anything."
Cartman nodded. "Yeah, Kenny, listen to him." Kenny said nothing and the three fell into a short silence. Stan finally broke the silence.
"Why are they so obsessed anyway? I've never seen Aaron like that… like possessed or something."
Cartman and Kenny exchanged a knowing look but Stan didn't catch it as he was still staring straight ahead. When no one responded to him, he spoke up again, looking at Kenny. "There is no way in hell you are staying here tonight. You can stay at my place or Cartman's." Kenny made to protest, but Stan quickly held up a hand signaling for him to stop. "No way in hell," he emphasized firmly.
"He's right," Cartman said with a nod. "And we're all leaving together," he added giving Stan a look. Stan stood up more than happy to get out of the area.
Kenny chose to stay with Cartman and while Stan was a little disappointed, he was also relieved. At least Cartman would only have to convince one person to let Kenny stay and Lianne would usually do anything Cartman asked of her. Stan would have had three people to convince and convincing his mom would not have gone over well. Speaking of which, he stood in front of his mother and father both looking extremely displeased.
"Where have you been Stanley?" Sharon demanded. "You were supposed to come straight home and why do you look like someone beat you up?"
Randy sat on the couch with a beer, looking his son over. "Stan, do we need to get you into martial arts? Are you being bullied?"
"What? No," Stan quickly denied without a second thought despite the fact that was exactly what had happened.
Shelly's voice startled him. He hadn't even realized his sister was in the room on the recliner. She no longer had any of the metal around her face except a small nose ring and had grown into an attractive senior student at South Park High. "It was because of Kenny. Some of Kevin's old friends found out where Kenny has been staying and went to find him. Stan found them first."
Stan glanced at his sister. Obviously Aaron had texted her. He wondered if Aaron was also the one who had alerted the police. Sharon and Randy looked at their daughter confused. She held up her phone confirming what Stan thought. "A friend texted me about what happened."
The room became quiet. Sharon finally spoke up. "Should you be hanging out with Kenny, Stan? I mean it's obviously not safe."
"Mom!" Stan protested. "It's not his fault some of the kids at school are crazy. He's the one getting bullied, they were planning to jump him and I just wound up there first. Kenny needs friends."
Sharon sighed. "I know, I just don't want you getting hurt. He did just reappear after four years. Who knows what he's been up to or what's happened to him."
"I'll be fine, Mom, I can take care of myself."
Randy shook his head and Shelly snorted. Sharon smiled at her son, concern still in her eyes. She would revisit this later; it didn't seem right to scold her son on his choices when his lip was bleeding and his eye swelling. "Well, come on, let's get you cleaned up. Looks like you'll have a shiner."