Late afternoon, Marsh Residence. Stan emerged upstairs and reached Shelly's door. In his hurry, he again made the mistake of opening it without knocking first.
"Shelly, Mom wants to know if-"
What he saw before him stopped him in his tracks. Shelly was again in front of the mirror, only this time, she was dressed. Well, getting dressed actually. She was wearing blue jeans, the type that she usually wore in special occasions. But above her waist, she only had her bra on. Stan's jaw dropped as he stared to his sister's exposed skin, much to her annoyance.
"What? You missed something?" She called out.
"N-no. I'm sorry." He was closing the door behind him, when something sparked in Shelly's mind.
"Oh. Hey, turd!"
He opened the door again. "What?"
She looked down, with her hands on her waist. "Well, this is quite embarrassing, but… I need a guy's opinion on this."
With that said, she picked two bloused, still with their hangers, off her bed, and showed them to Stan. She held a pink blouse with her right hand and a white blouse with her left hand.
"Which one do you think it's the most attractive?" She asked.
Stan was surprised. He wasn't the kind of person that Shelly would ask fashion tips to, but he decided to help her out anyway.
"Uh… the pink one." He answered, while pointing to said blouse.
Agreeing with Stan, Shelly tossed the white blouse back on the bed and removed the hanger from the pink one. Now the message was clear to Stan. She was dressing up for something.
"…Mind me asking?" He questioned.
"I got a date tonight."
Stan was shocked. "A date?!"
Shelly was just finishing putting her blouse on, when she turned to Stan in wonder.
"You jealous?"
"No, I'm happy for you."
He was happy indeed. Shelly hadn't had much luck with relationships in the last years, so this was a game-changer.
"Who's the guy?" Stan asked.
"A boy from my class. We actually talk a lot there. He's cool." At that moment, her phone on the bookshelf rang. "Oh, it must be him."
Stan picked up the phone to give it to her. He took the chance to check who was calling. There was a picture of a boy, around Shelly's age, on the screen.
Wait, I think I know this guy, he noted.
"Turd, the phone!" Shelly demanded. Stan hurriedly handed it over, and she answered it. "Yeah? No, I'm done already. Okay, I'm going."
She hung up, then put the phone in her purse and left the room. Stan followed her and watched from the stairs as she exited the house.
The next day, in South Park Elementary, it was recess time. Stan wandered through the surroundings of the main building when he passed by the Eighth Graders, who were all gathered together. Certain that they were talking about Shelly, he decided to take Sharon's advice and ignored them. However, one of them said something that caught him by surprise.
"Guys, you won't believe this! My brother is dating Shelly Marsh!"
Shocked by what he just heard, Stan hid behind a corner and spied on them. He spotted who was speaking, it was an Eighth Grader. Specifically, the one who was paying for pictures of Shelly the previous week.
"No shit!" Another Eighth Grader voiced.
"I'm serious! Imagine my surprise when I saw both of them in the front yard last night!"
That was why the guy in Shelly's phone looked familiar to Stan. He was his older brother. Damn, I knew it!, He thought.
"Man, you're a lucky bastard! Did you take pictures?"
"Hell yeah I took pictures! Here, take a look!"
The guy then showed the pictures in his phone to his friends, who stared at them in admiration. Stan exited the scene, pissed off.
"This gotta be a fucking joke!"
In perfect timing, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny approached him. They looked curious.
"Hey, Stan, is it true that Shelly has a boyfriend now?" Kyle wanted to know.
"Yeah, unfortunately."
"Cool! I heard our moms talking about that on the phone, but I wanted to check with you to be sure."
Kyle was happy for Shelly. Stan was happy too, until a minute ago, when all the stuff that he learned from the Eighth Graders soured his mood.
"Do those guys know?" Cartman asked, pointing to the Eighth Graders' group. Stan nodded. "They know? Man, bet they're biting themselves with jealousy."
"No, they're super happy!" Stan corrected.
"(Why?)" Kenny asked.
Stan sighed. "Shelly's boyfriend is the brother of one of those guys. The one who Cartman tried to sell those pictures to!"
"No shit, dude!" Cartman blurted.
"Yeah, and now they don't need to pay for pictures of her. They can get all the pictures they want for free!"
A few thoughts ran through Stan's mind. Did Shelly know about her boyfriend's brother? Did the boyfriend know about his brother, and the other Eighth Graders who were all over her? Was he somehow part of all this?
"Are you gonna tell Shelly?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know, dude. She looked pretty happy this morning. She looks happy with her new boyfriend. I don't wanna ruin that."
"What if she finds that out on her own later? And that you kept this for her? This could be a lot worse."
"Yeah, I know."
Just then, the supervisor blew her whistle, indicating the end of recess. The boys went back to class. Stan wondered what he should do.