Kenny PoV
Kenny rushed in the locker room, doing everything as fast as he could. When he met Marina at the car she told him they were all meeting at Stan's. He nodded as he got into the car. "Soo." He let out a deep breath.
"So.. my parents are separating." She sighed as she put her seat belt on.
"I'm so sorry." He frowned.
"Get ready because I am about to just tell you everything all at once. If I take my time I will cry again." She waited on Kenny to nod and then she began, "Cartman told me this morning that he found out my dad and his mom are in an actual relationship. Like dates and shit. Then I go home and my mom tells me she's got a boyfriend of 4 years now and she's moving to California and that I am not allowed to go with her until I graduate. I have no idea what is going to happen here. My dad can't afford that house on his own, and Cartman told me today that his mom told him that he should start packing. So I have no idea what that means and he doesn't either. I will be fucking pissed if I have to live with Cartman."
Kenny's stomach started hurting at the thought of Cartman being in the same house as Marina constantly. "You are welcome to come to my house any time." He told her.
"So glad I am blessed with the honor of being the only girl allowed in Kenny McCormick's room." She smirked, he smiled sadly, knowing Marina was pulling one of her classic moves, quickly finding a way to change the subject away from an issue she's going through.
He knew better than to not just go along with it, "Yes. I just need to change the sign outside of my door that says 'No Girls Allowed!' to add 'Except Marina'."
She giggled, "Don't you have a poster of a supermodel in a bikini on the outside of your door?"
"Yeah, actually underneath the poster, I had wrote 'STAY OUT' on the door. But obviously it now needs to be replaced with a no girls allowed paper.." He chuckled.
"Maybe you could just replace the poster with a picture of me. So that way all the girls know only I am allowed in Kenny's room. 'You must look like this to enter', terrible ring to it though. But it would drive all the ladies nuts. Even though really, only your family would see it since you don't invite girls over."
"Marina, let's be honest with ourselves here, if I had a poster of you wearing a bikini, it would definitely not be on the outside of my door." He would for sure put it somewhere close to his bed, for easy viewing of course.
She laughed, avoiding that topic as well, "The real question here is why the poster is on the outside of the door period."
"My mom told me I needed to find a way to clean the marker off of the door and I sarcastically covered it with the poster of that bikini model. And then my dad thought it was so funny that he never made me take it down."
"That is hilarious." Marina pulled into Stan's driveway.
They walked right into the house, finding everyone in the living room, pizza boxes on the floor, they were already starting to play some video game he didn't remember seeing before. "What are you playing?" Kenny asked.
"I don't remember, found it on Game Pass." Kyle told him.
Marina sat down on the floor next to Wendy, grabbing a piece of pizza from the box closest to her, Kenny grabbed a piece out of the box before she closed it.
"Do you want some punch?" Wendy asked Marina, sliding a big Hawaiian Punch jug toward her.
"Nah, I should be fine." Marina told her.
"I think you'll definitely want some of this." Wendy nodded at her with her eyes wide.
"Ohhh. Hell yea I want some." Marina grabbed it, pouring it into the cup Wendy gave her.
"Kenny?" Wendy asked.
Kenny wanted some, badly, but as he was watching Marina chug her cup and he knew he would need to drive later with her being in this mood.
"Not right now."
They all hung out for a couple hours before Stan's parents told them all they needed to leave. Marina walked over to the passenger side, tossing her keys over the car to Kenny.
She threw them horribly and he had to dodge them to miss it hitting his face, "Sorry!" She laughed.
"Trying to kill me?"
"You'd just be back tomorrow." She winked before getting into the car.
Kenny started the car and she reached over, turning the radio on.
He pulled down the long driveway and started down the long road toward town.
"I love this road." She exclaimed, rolling her window down and leaning her head out.
"Why?" Kenny asked.
"Because you can do this." Marina screamed at the top of her lungs, "And nobody hears it or yells at you to shut up."
"Why does that sound murdery?"
"I mean... if I ever got murdered, I would hope it would be out here. What a good way to go. Nothing but the earth around you. Choked out while looking at the stars."
"Marina." Kenny shook his head.
"Too bad I can't die and come back like you can." She sighed.
"You don't want that." He replied softly.
"I do."
"You don't, it is actually terrible."
She glared at him before looking out her window, "I do though." She whispered.
"We're in a small car." Kenny whispered as well, not sure if she thought he couldn't hear her still.
"I kinda hate my life." She whispered toward the window, "This year is starting to suck."
"Life is what you make it." He continued whispering back.
Marina sighed, "You're right."
Kenny reached over and placed his hand over hers, she turned her palm up and wrapped her fingers over the back of his hand.
Kenny pulled into her driveway and turned the car off. She let out a deep breath and stared at her house. "If you end up needing to get away tonight, just call me and I'll let you in. Okay?" He told her softly.
She nodded before getting out of the car and going inside the darkness of her house.
Kenny watched her before shoving his hands in his jacket pockets and heading toward his
House.
He headed over to her house the next day, her mother was outside packing her car with some boxes. "Hi Kenny." She smiled at him.
"Hey Natalie. Where ya goin?" He played stupid.
"California. I have been meaning to talk to you, why don't you help me get this box in the trunk for a second." He nodded, walking over to her and picking it up, "I'm moving out and I'm making Marina stay here. Please make sure she doesn't lose herself completely. And that she doesn't run away. I'm sorry I won't be making you any breakfast in the morning anymore."
"Got it, and that's okay."
"I'm just not happy here with Henry anymore. But I have a couple things I really want to say to you before I go. Some things I have wanted to say for a bit. I know your reputation around here, Ken. I know what they say about you. But, I also know the kind of person you are and I know that you aren't a bad guy." She took a step closer to him, lowering her voice, "I also know that you are in love with my daughter. I'm not sure you have completely admitted it to yourself yet. But I just wanted you to know that I know. All those times that you brought her home and you thought we were asleep, I was actually in the spare bedroom across the hall, on the phone with my boyfriend in California. And I'm not going to lie, sometimes I listened through the door...most times. I also know that my daughter was drugged. She told me about it, and I am really glad you were her hero that night. I heard you in there when you broke down.. Don't worry I didn't tell anyone.. You actually made me cry. I've heard the amount of times you have told her you loved her. And I know you're going to retort with saying you said it as friends. I've heard the different ways you say it to her. When she can't reply back, you say it differently. I understand you don't do well feeling vulnerable. I'm not saying you guys need to rush into some relationship. I don't fully know how my daughter feels. But I see how you look at her. I know how you have taken care of her when she needed it. When you guys are ready, don't miss your opportunity by throwing your life away with someone if you don't like them the way you like her, all because you were afraid to admit how you felt to each other. Because all it does is lead you to 18 years of wishing you would have just had the guts. Like I did."
Kenny stared at her blankly.
"Anyway, I love you as if you are my son, and I actually hope that one day you will be." She winked, "I am going to miss you as much as I miss my Marina. Take care of yourself. And continue watching out for my baby okay?"
He nodded, trying to process everything still.
"Were you coming over to see Marina?"
"I was actually coming over to get my phone. I left it in her car I think."
"Oh, okay! She is refusing to leave her room right now."
"Are you leaving today?"
"Tomorrow. I plan to spend time with her today."
He got his phone out of the car and then started to turn around and go back to his house.
"Wait!" Natalie called behind him, running over to him, "I can't believe I am going to give you this, but I found this a couple years ago. I bought this notebook for Marina when we first moved here to help her have somewhere to put her feelings while dealing with a new place. Keep it somewhere she can't find it. She would absolutely kill me if she knew I had it, so don't let her know okay? And don't let anyone else find it!" He nodded and grabbed the notebook from her.
Once Kenny got to his room he stared at the notebook in his hand. It was a hardback, white with purple and pink flowers all over it. He contemplated not even opening it, it was obviously a diary. Her first thoughts of the town were probably scrawled inside of it. Her first thoughts of all of her friends most likely. He didn't know if he wanted to know. Kenny took a deep breath and crossed his room, locking the door.
He sat on his bed for what felt like a long period of time, going back and forth in his brain about if he should or shouldn't read it.
Kenny finally decided against it, moving his closet door and shoving it into the very back of the dresser he had in his closet.
Marina PoV
Her mom wanted to go out to the mall for the day, Marina didn't really care. She felt numb at this point. She felt like she had cried all of the tears out of her body. Her mom just kept trying to buy her things. They were in the car on the way home when Natalie tried to break the silence, "You know I'll call you every day right?"
Marina nodded.
"I love you baby. I just need to do this. I promise that you can come as soon as you graduate. Please don't be mad at me."
Marina nodded again.
"Are you mad?"
Marina looked over at her, "You know, I thought it was dad who was shitty for cheating on you. But it turns out that both of you were just shit to each other."
"We haven't been in love for a very long time, Marina. I knew I was in love with Gary when I was 18 years old. But I was too afraid to say anything. He was only my friend, I didn't think he felt the same. We both ended up in unhappy marriages. Please understand that I am not trying to hurt you sweetie. I just can't live like this anymore. I can't afford to live around here all alone."
"I could work extra and help you."
"You need to finish your time being a teenager for the last couple years you have left." Her mom told her quickly.
Marina sighed.
The next morning, Marina was standing on the driveway hugging her mom. She didn't cry. She was doing her best to block out her emotions. Her mom was crying though. She even hugged her dad and they apologized to each other. Marina stood next to her dad after her mom shouted from the car that she loved her for the millionth time that morning. She yelled that she loved her too, and watched as her mom pulled away.
"You okay?" Her dad asked.
"I don't want to talk right now."
"Okay. Well we need to have a talk whenever you are ready to talk today."
She closed and locked her bedroom door. It had been a couple hours of her just sitting and staring at the wall. Her dad had knocked a couple times and she just ignored him. He finally knocked again, "Marina we really need to talk and if you won't come out, I will just have this talk through the door."
"Through the door then." She replied.
"I just want you to know, before I say this, that I can't afford this house without a second full time income. I am really trying not to make you have to move. I want to let you know that during this next week, the Cartman's will be moving in."
"I figured that was coming." She sighed.
"Please try not to be a total asshole to Liane."
"You know what dad, I don't really have a reason to be mean to Liane, she didn't ask for you to cheat on mom. You chose that. The only people I am going to be a total asshole to are you and mom. And you aren't going to punish me for it. I will be doing whatever I want. You owe me that. I lost my mom through all of this."
"You didn't lose your mom Marina. She is still going to call you and talk."
"Is she living here in South Park? No? Then I lost my mom. Please leave me alone."
Kenny walked into her house about 5 minutes before Stan got there. Marina was in the kitchen rushing to make toast. He walked over to her and grabbed the peanut butter, spreading it on the one she handed him.
"Sorry it's just toast." She told him in a breathless voice, "I woke up later than I meant to today."
"It's okay." He told her calmly, giving her a smile, "You didn't have to make me breakfast at all. In fact, I was not even expecting breakfast this morning."
"My mom made me promise that I would make sure you were fed in the morning."
He laughed easily, "That woman."
Marina looked over at her dad who was watching them through his glasses, when they made eye contact, he looked back at his tablet.
They climbed into Stan's car, "Well Marina." Cartman started.
"Cartman. Please. Not today. Not to-fucking-day. Just shut your mouth okay? I don't want to hear some stupid ass joke about me or my family or any dumb shit right now. I'm not in the mood and I will actually kick your ass if you piss me off at all today."
All of the guys sat in silence, but of course, not Cartman, who cleared his throat, "I was only going to say that I am sorry that you're going through this."
Marina instantly felt guilty, "I'm sorry." She sighed.
"And I was also going to say that I am excited that we will be roommates by the weekend."
"Roommates?" Stan asked.
"Yep. Marina and I are going to be step-siblings."
"Oh my God." Kyle shook his head.
"Tell me about it." Marina told him.
"Oh shut up, we are going to have so much fun!"
When Wendy finally walked into her class with Marina, she sat next to her and just stared.
Marina slowly turned toward her, "I heard." She whispered.
"About what?"
"Cartman? What the hell is going on Marina?"
"My mom left to go be with her boyfriend in Cali. Now the Cartman's are moving in apparently. He better not throw a fit about not getting his own bathroom in his room. I will die before I am forced to change rooms."
Wendy half laughed, "I'm glad you're finding humor in this."
"I'm not finding humor in it. I am so serious. I am fed up with being screwed over lately. I'll kick his ass."
The week went by very slowly, she had to work every night she didn't have practice. The Cartman's had already started moving their stuff in. Cartman took the only open spare bedroom since the other was her dad's office. Not to her surprise, he did complain when he found out she had her own bathroom.
For the most part, Marina wasn't home much or long enough to really have to hear any of it and she was grateful for that.
