Hi, guys, here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 15

It seemed that no matter how many times Kyle travelled to the South, he would never get used to the intense heat.

It was now January, and Sheila was hoping for a great year. Kyle had only won four major titles in the last seven pageant of the previous year, and she wanted him to up his game.

For his part, Kyle was doing his best to stay out of her way; she was still sour about the Winter Wonderland pageant in December. Kyle had done amazing (her words), but had only won King, even though his scores were very good. Even now, Sheila was still convinced the loss was deliberate.

While Sheila and Tony were queueing up to sign in for the American All-Star Pageant in Florida, Kyle, Jake, and a few other boys were outside. Jake and the others were crawling through the grass and bushes, looking for animals, but Kyle was stood nearby, watching them, not in the mood to join in. Just like Kyle, they ignored the camera following them, as it was something they were used to.

"Look!" Jake held up a frog, and Kyle knelt down. It had been a while since he had seen a frog up close.

"Wow," he said. Jake handed it to him, and Kyle held it up to his face.

"Is the pageant scene always this close-knit?" asked Janet, and Kyle turned to her, looking slightly uncomfortable. He handed the frog back to Jake.

"Not many boys do this," he said, turning his head away, "so it's easy to get to know people."

Janet could sense that he wasn't happy to be filmed, but she did have a job to do, so she gestured to Tom to keep filming, but did not ask Kyle any more questions.

~ X ~

The next day, he was sat in the ballroom with Jake and Brianna. He and Jake were in their tuxedos, Brianna was in her dress, and they were waiting for the Beauty round to start.

"Hey, Kyle, look at this." Brianna held up a small, pink, plastic case, and she opened it.

"What's that?" Kyle could only describe what was inside as a little semi-circular line of oddly shaped pearls.

"It's my old flipper!" she giggled. "It's the one I used to wear, but I have a new one now."

"Oh, cool," he said. "Why do you still have it?"

"I wanted to show it to you. Try it on!"

"What?! No."

"Oh, come on! I haven't worn it for ages, and it's clean."

"No way. It's been in your mouth."

"But it's clean," she wheedled, playfully nudging him.

"No! Gross!"

"Pleeeease?"

After much cajoling, Kyle reluctantly took the flipper out of the case, only because he knew she wouldn't let up if he didn't. He put it in his mouth, trying not to grimace and pressed it to his teeth. It felt weird, like he imagined dentures would feel. The flipper was a bit too big for him, and his friends chuckled. Kyle gave a wide, over exaggerated pageant smile, all of which the camera recorded without his knowledge. Hey, waiting was boring, and he would take any form of entertainment he could get.

The director was standing in front of the judges table, calling for quiet, and so Kyle removed the flipper and handed it back to Brianna.

"The three top winners of the pageant – the Ultimate Grand Supreme, the Grand Supreme, and the Beauty Supreme – these are our first, second, and third places, will not only win these beautiful crowns, trophies and sashes, but they will also win..." she paused for dramatic effect. "A puppy!"

Kyle's head shot up as children all around him squealed in delight, and he joined them in racing over to the judges' table, where three tiny, adorable Shih-tzu's lay snuggled up together in a box. He wanted one of those puppies; his mother had always had a strict "no pets" rule, but maybe if he won it, then she couldn't say no. He reached out and gently touched one, a smile slipping onto his face. They were so cute. The little girls around him were stroking them as well, and the puppies were lapping up the attention. Kyle could have stayed with them all day, but the pageant was due to start, so Sheila led him back to his seat, as did the parents of the other contestants.

For the first time, Kyle was actually looking forward to competing, and resolved to give it his all in every single category.

~ X ~

Kyle tried not to get his hopes up, as the ceremony continued into the Supreme titles. (He had swept his division, winning everything but King.) So far, he hadn't won anything else. If he won the Ultimate Grand Supreme, it would be the best day of his life, because not only would he get to quit pageants, but he would also get a puppy.

"And, now, for your Beauty Supreme," announced the emcee, and the audience went silent and still, save for the excited squirming of the children. Kyle was listening intently. "Put your hands together for... Kyle Broflovski!"

Sheila barely had time to register the win, as Kyle was up like a shot, and had actually ran towards the stage, one of the camerawomen following him, while the other focused on her and the cheering audience around her.

Kyle stepped up onto the stage, and stood at the end of the catwalk next to the five foot high trophy, where a sash was placed over his shoulder, and a large, sparkling crown was placed atop his head, grinning widely all the time. But then came the part he was waiting for; one of the tiny puppies was taken out of the box, and he eagerly held out his hands. The brown-and-white puppy was handed to him, and Kyle held it close to his chest, looking down at it, until a gentle tap on his shoulder prompted him to look up and smile for the cameras.

Sheila observed her son; he was smiling so widely it looked like his face was about to split in two, and his eyes were sparkling. He kept looking down at the excited puppy in his arms, and laughing. "Once again, ladies and gentleman, your Beauty Supreme. Give it up for Kyle!"

As the audience whooped, Kyle was helped offstage, while the lady who had crowned him, moved the trophy to the floor. Kyle was preoccupied with his puppy, so Tony came up and grabbed his trophy, and they both made their way back over to Sheila. Kyle was beaming. Brianna ran over him, and as she couldn't hug him, she congratulated him, and stroked the puppy.

"Well done! I can't believe you won!" She grinned, and Kyle smiled at her.

"Thanks!" he said, as she beamed at him. When she left, he turned to his mother. "Ma, look! I won a puppy!" Kyle hugged the little dog to his chest once again, before lifting him up to his face. The dog was fluffy and mainly white, but had brown patches, little brown ears, and matching brown patches around his eyes. It was the cutest thing that Kyle had ever seen.

"Well done, bubbe," she said, as the Grand Supreme was announced.

"I wonder what I should call him?" Kyle mused as the 6-year-old Grand Supreme was given her puppy, pressing his nose against his puppy's. Sheila looked over at him as the Ultimate Grand Supreme was announced. She knew he would be upset when she told him they were not going to keep the puppy.

~ X ~

In the car, on the twelve hour drive back to Colorado, Kyle sat in the back seat with his new puppy, while Sheila drove, and Janet sat in the front with her camera. Kyle giggled as the dog licked his face, for once not caring about the camera. "Hey, Ma, what do you think we should call him?" he asked, planting a kiss on the puppy's nose, and the dog licked him back.

"I don't know," answered Sheila. She could see that Kyle had already bonded with the dog, which was only going to make it harder.

"Maybe we should stop now," Kyle suggested brightly, and Sheila glanced at him in the rear view mirror.

"What do you mean?"

"Stop the pageants."

"Janet, would you mind turning the camera off?" Sheila sweetly asked in a low voice. Janet complied, although she left the voice recorder on, and turned her attention to the front. "Why do you want to stop?"

"Because I did really good today."

"But you didn't win Ultimate."

Kyle frowned a little upon hearing that.

"I won Beauty Supreme," he argued. "That's just as good; I won third in the whole entire thing."

"Precisely, bubbe; you won third, not first."

"Well, does it really matter?"

"Yes, it does. We'll discuss it later when we get home."

~ X ~

They arrived home at 8am, sans film crew, and Kyle, although exhausted, managed to drag himself inside the house, and he showed his dad his puppy.

"It's cute," said Gerald, unable to not look at the dark circles under his son's eyes. "You'd better let it outside, then go up to bed."

"Bed?" said Sheila, but Gerald ignored her, as Kyle took the dog to the back garden. "It's Monday; he's got school," Sheila said, once Kyle had taken the dog upstairs

"He's staying home from school today," Gerald told her.

"What?"

"He's exhausted; he could barely stand up straight. He needs to rest."

"Fine." Sheila wasn't too happy about that, but she knew that if she mentioned anything, Gerald would not hesitate to bring up the fact that Kyle had missed practically every Friday for more than two years now. Though in her eyes, that was completely different; they needed to travel on Fridays so that Kyle wouldn't be jet lagged for the competitions.

"Well, at least he's happy," Gerald mused. "Really loves that dog, huh?"

"Yeah, well, he'd better get used to it while he can." Sheila made her way through the kitchen, back into the living-room, with Gerald following her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We're not keeping it."

"What? Why?"

"I've told you, I won't have pets in this house."

"You can't do that! It's Kyle's, you can't just take it away from him!"

"We are not having pets," she said firmly, and Gerald just stared at her, not quite able to believe what she was saying.

"That's low," he said. "That's cruel," and coming from the man who would later become the notorious Skankhunt42, that meant something. "If you didn't want it, then why did you let Kyle bond with it? Why didn't you give it back right away?"

For a moment, Sheila was speechless.

"That's in poor taste," she said eventually. "Handing it back to the director would be like handing your crown back and saying you didn't want it."

"Why don't you just keep the dog, and you can dress it up and enter it in dog shows?" Gerald suggested. 'Pretty much what you do to Kyle,' he thought."It can be your thing."

"I've said no. I don't want any pets."

"You're unbelievable." Gerald shook his head before heading upstairs.

~ X ~

Kyle awoke later in the afternoon, and came downstairs holding his puppy, who he had decided to name Artie. Sheila, who was sat on the sofa, called for him to stay in the living-room, feeling lucky that Gerald wasn't there.

"Let me just put him outside so he can go to the bathroom," said Kyle. When he returned, he stood in front of his mother.

"Bubbe, you're not going to want to hear this, but you have to know. I'm afraid we're not keeping the dog."

Kyle's jaw dropped.

"Why?"

"Because we're not dog people; it wouldn't be fair to it."

"But I'll look after him; I'll feed him, and play with him, and take him for walks, and I'll even use my own allowance to buy his food and toys. I'll even train him myself!" As angry and upset as he was, he tried to remain calm. If he could just convince her to change her mind, he would never ask for anything else for the rest of his life. He would never complain about the pageants, and would happily compete for as long as she wanted him to.

Regardless, his infamous temper was bubbling up beneath the surface.

"I'm sorry, but the answer is no. Besides, it wouldn't be fair, with all the travelling we do."

"Then we can quit pageants!" Kyle screamed, his hands balled into fists, his previous attempts to remain calm gone in a flash. "I wanna keep the dog!"

"We just can't, bubbe."

"You can't give him away; he's mine, not yours!"Kyle snapped. "He's mine, and I love him. Please, let me keep him!"

"The answer is no. Now, stop making such a fuss, and go and say goodbye to the dog!"

"No!" Kyle snapped, before heading up to his room with his beloved dog.

~ X ~

He kept his door locked for the rest of the day, not trusting Sheila one bit. The real challenge would be how to keep the dog safe while he was at school tomorrow; he had a hunch that that would be when Sheila would rehome Artie. He briefly contemplated hiding him, but he quickly decided against that, because it would be cruel.

Kyle sat on his bed, as the dog napped beside him, wondering what to do. He supposed he could take Artie to Stan's and leave him there until he could figure out a plan. His only problem was getting the dog out of the house; what if Sheila caught him? Kyle wouldn't put it past her to literally rip the dog out of his arms. He supposed that Stan could come over and smuggle the dog out. If he distracted Sheila, it might work.

Kyle picked up his phone, but put it down after a moment. Something inside him was telling him not to tell Stan about Artie; a very small part of him was yelling that if he told anyone he finally had a dog, then he would no longer have a dog. Kyle didn't want that to happen.

The only option was to talk to his father.

He waited until it was very late. It wasn't hard to keep himself occupied; Artie was very entertaining, and loved playing fetch with an old baseball Kyle had found in his closet. Kyle had fun throwing at across his room for hours.

When he was certain his mother had gone to bed, Kyle snuck out of him room, closing the door as quietly as he could behind him, leaving Artie asleep on his bed. He locked it, just to be on the safe side, and tip-toed down the hallway, stopping outside his parents' bedroom. He could hear a slight shuffling and took that as a sign Sheila had gone to bed, so he softly carried on across the hall and down the stairs.

"Dad?" he whispered, catching sight of Gerald on the sofa, watching a late night show. "Dad?" he stood by the sofa, casting a quick glance upstairs.

"What is it?" Gerald asked, and Kyle hurriedly shushed him.

"I don't want Mom to hear. Will you do something for me?" he whispered.

"What?" Gerald had lowered his voice, certain that he could guess what Kyle was about to ask.

"Tomorrow, when I go to school, will you keep an eye on my dog, so Mom doesn't sell it?"

A look of pity crossed Gerald's face.

"I will," he said, and Kyle slumped in relief.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"Great. Thanks, Dad." Kyle gave a tired smile before heading quietly back upstairs to his room, where he soon fell asleep with Artie in his arms.

~ X ~

Kyle woke up the next morning feeling nervous. It wasn't that he didn't trust his dad, he just wouldn't put anything past Sheila. Nevertheless, he tried to act casual as he got dressed and brushed his teeth. Before he went downstairs, he went back into his bedroom, and gave Artie another hug.

"See you after school," he said, kissing the dog on top of his head. He felt bad about leaving the dog alone in his room, and he made a mental note to ask Gerald to keep him company.

Sheila was acting nicer than usual, and Kyle knew she was trying to get him to let his guard down. He spoke to her as little as he possibly could without making her mad, pretending his cereal was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. Kyle took solace in the fact that his dad was on his side. Gerald might not be perfect, but Kyle knew he wouldn't allow Sheila to get rid of his dog; whenever Kyle had asked for a pet in the past, Gerald had always been onboard.

However, his stomach was in knots as he left the house and boarded the bus. Gerald had given him a wink and a thumbs up, but Kyle was still worried. He knew he was chatting to Stan, and he knew he was sitting in the classroom, half-listening to Mr Garrison, but his mind was back at home, and he could not concentrate on anything else.

The knots seemed to be getting bigger, and more twisted up, and Kyle was soon hunched over his desk, hands clenched into fists. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and he was so worried he felt like throwing up.

"Can I go to the nurse's office, please?" he gasped when he could no longer stand it, and Mr Garrison barely glanced in his direction as he gestured to the door.

"Dude, you okay?" Stan whispered, as Kyle stood and grabbed his backpack.

"Fine," he replied tersely as he quickly left the room, and headed to the medical room.

Nurse Gollum took one look at the pale, sweaty boy hunched over and clutching his stomach, and decided the best course of action was to send him home.

Worried sick though he was, Kyle managed to tell that both his parents were at work (a lie) and that he would get the bus (another lie). Nurse Gollum offered to walk him to the bus stop, but Kyle declined, and quickly stumbled out of the room.

He ran home so fast it was as if he had wings attached to his feet. With each step, he felt more and more anxious, wanting to get home, but fearing the worst. He slammed the front door open, startling Sheila, who was sat at the sewing machine in the living-room.

"Kyle! What are you doing home?" she asked, but Kyle ignored her, and ran straight upstairs. "You shouldn't slam the door like that; you're old enough to know better!" she called after him. Returning her attention to her sewing machine, she sighed; Kyle making her jump had caused her to mess up the costume she was altering. She held it up and examined it, feeling relieved when she saw that it could easily be fixed.

Racing upstairs to his room, Kyle flung his bedroom door open, and in an instant, his worst fear was confirmed. Archie wasn't there.

"No," he whispered, his heart and jaw dropping. Even though he knew it was fruitless, he searched his entire room from top to bottom, even looking in his dresser drawers, but there was no sign of the dog. "Artie? You here, boy? Artie!"

Standing the middle of his ransacked room, Kyle blinked away the tears, breathing heavily. He felt like screaming, crying, and throwing something all at once. But he didn't do that. Instead, as calmly as he could, he went downstairs into the living-room. "Mom?" he said quietly, his voice and body shaking with anger. Sheila did not look up from her work. "Where's my dog?"

"With a family who'll give him the love and attention he deserves," she said casually, still absorbed with stitching sequins onto one of Kyle's shirts.

"You sold my dog?" Kyle glared at her, and she finally looked up. "How? I asked Dad to watch him. When did you have the time?"

"I found him a new owner last night. When your father was taking a call this morning, I drove him to his new home. He'll be a lot happier there. Oh, and I don't appreciate you and your dad plotting against me."

Kyle shook his head in disbelief, his face red with fury. "How could you do that?"

"I was doing the right thing by that poor animal," she said. "At least this way, it won't be neglected."

"He wouldn't have been! I would've taken care of him!" Kyle snapped. "He was mine, and you had no right to give him away!"

"I have every right!" Sheila snapped back, standing up and towering over her son. "When you're an adult and you contribute to running this house, then you can have a say!"

"That's so unfair! I want my dog back, and until you get him back, I won't practise any more!" Kyle folded his arms and stuck his chin out, deciding to hit her where it hurt, as she had done to him. He had never been so angry in his entire life, which was saying something, considering he spent practically every day with Eric Cartman. The anger was so strong, it could almost be construed as hate. Was it hatred? Kyle could have never imagined hating his mother, but she had deliberately given away his beloved dog, and he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to forgive her.

"What?" To say Sheila looked furious was an understatement. For the first time, Kyle did not back down, and stared her out. He liked to think that it shocked her.

"I won't practise, and I won't do any more pageants! I hate you!" And, at least in that moment, he meant it.

Before she had a chance to answer, he stomped upstairs, and shut himself in his bedroom.

~ X ~

True to his word, Kyle did not emerge from his bedroom for evening practise. Sheila hammered upon his locked door, and screamed through it, to no avail. Kyle had his headphones on, and was blasting music, as Sheila had always been able to shout him into submission. He knew deep down he would break, and come out, just to get her to stop yelling, and so he had to block her out.

He knew he was making her mad; he had a big, National pageant that weekend, and he knew he was supposed to be practising three times a day at this point, and therefore she was freaking out.

Although he knew that she easily could – and would – physically drag him onto a plane and the stage, she couldn't make him perform. He would just stand there. She wouldn't be able to go on stage with him, and he would lose, and then it would really hit her where it hurt.

To his surprise, Sheila gave up and left fairly quickly, but Kyle did not unlock his door; he wouldn't put it past her to barge in and physically drag him out.

It was late and he rolled over onto his side, facing the wall. He thought about the night before and how happy he had been as his own little puppy fell asleep in his arms. Now, the space next to him was empty, and his bed felt huge and lonely. His face crumpled. For a few, blissful hours, he had known the joy of having a dog, something he'd wanted for as long as he could remember, and he would never know that joy again.

Burying his face into his pillow, Kyle silently cried himself to sleep.

~ X ~

Done! What did you think? I'd love to know!