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“Kinneh, dude, did you see the new Terrence and Phillip last night?!” They were all standing in line at their usual meet-up, the bus stop, waiting for their escort to school. Spirits were low that morning, save for Cartman and Kenny’s, as Kyle had stayed up on the phone for hours last night to remind Stan that his self worth doesn’t lay in Wendy’s hands. This was alas not common knowledge so Kyle had to sulk in silence and solitude.
“Yth! M mhn thf mhrp mhrh Mthn phtd”
“Yeah, that was awesome…” laughed Cartman and dropped his hand onto Kenny’s shoulder, which only earned him a pissed off glance from Kyle who stood on the other side of him.
“Hmm hmth hm hmm hmm hmpth” added Kenny and they quickly fell into easy conversation. Cartman’s hand remained on Kenny’s shoulder for the entire duration, which no one seemed to mind except Kyle who couldn’t tear his eyes away if he tried. It was a nagging little voice at the back of his head that made him hyper focused on the manicured hand. Cartman on the other hand didn’t spare a glance Kyle’s way. He must’ve known that Kyle was in a bad mood and decided to ignore him as to infuriate him further. The least Kyle had expected to wake up to was the familiar banter and a chance to put fatass in his place, and now he wasn’t even receiving that.
He had to do something about it.
“Stop touching people like that, fatass,” Cartman’s gaze shifted to Kyle as if he’d just remembered he was there.
“Why..?” Kyle seemed unable to come up with a good reason, Cartman had done nothing to him after all. That was the problem, wasn’t it? Which is around the point where he realised he might’ve just taken his bad mood out on Cartman. But he’d never back down.
“It’s weird,” he added lamely. It was met by a condescending chuckle.
“Last time I checked I wasn’t near *your highness*” He poked Kyle’s collarbone. A teasing grin slowly spread across his face. “You jealous?”
“Jealous?!” He sputtered out. Great, now he was being demeaned too. Cartman really knew exactly what to do to get under his skin. “Why the fuck would I be jealous, lardass?”
“I don’t know,” his grin didn’t waver “You tell me”
“Come on, Cartman, lay off him,” Stan had finally come to his defence. But it didn’t do much as Cartman completely ignored him and kept his eyes on Kyle, glaring into his soul. The conversation was instead brought to a stop by the bus rolling up.
-OoOoO-
“Alright, class” Mr Garrison tried his best to quiet down the buzzing classroom. An unfamiliar girl stood next to him shyly tapping her feet. “As you all know we have a new student joining us today.” He gestured towards the girl who smiled back at the classroom nervously “Elin just moved here from Sweden, how exciting! Why don’t you introduce yourself?”
“Oh ok,” She looked around the room and locked eyes with Kyle, a slight tinge of pink staining her cheeks. “I’m Elin, I just moved here. I like to read…and I play soccer occasionally” She seemed unsure of what else to say so she just stood there awkwardly. Kyle thought she was quite cute with her blonde hair in pigtails and storm grey eyes.
“Well we’re happy to have you, Elin. We don’t have any spare desks though, so you’ll have to share with one of your new classmates today,” Elin’s eyes widened, understandably, before finally sitting down next to the friendly kid with the green ushanka.
Kyle scooted over and flashed an awkward smile. Sure he thought the girl was cute… and she might be interested in him! But still he couldn’t help but be uncomfortable by the whole ordeal. It reminded him of when he and his loser cousin had to share a seat.
He could hear Cartman grunting in protest behind him, shifting from side to side, pretending like they were blocking his view. It only made Kyle’s smile genuine.
When their first break came around, Elin proposed that Kyle could show her around. He agreed not out of kindness or because he liked the attention. Though that applied as well. No, he agreed because Cartman started turning red in anger at the question. Good, this was a perfect way of getting back at him. With the death glare he’d kept sending him the whole morning, there’s no doubt that Cartman likes the new girl.
Today’s lunch was chicken tenders. The four boys stood in line, joined by Elin at the end. She tried to socialise, but it wasn’t easy with Cartman around, he kept shooting down all her questions with single worded answers. After being served a generous plate of tenders he practically ran after Kyle to take his usual place beside him. Making sure to spread out as much as possible.
“Dude, I think the new girl likes you” whispered Stan in Kyle’s ear while Cartman took his seat.
“The hell she does!” he grumbled. He wasn’t sure why the thought pissed him off so much. There was just something off about that girl running around Kyle like a pathetic little lapdog.
“Dude why do you care?” Asked Stan.
“I just don’t want the bitch to follow us around! I don’t trust anyone with an accent”
“He’s jealous,” Kyle had to answer for him apparently.
“Wha-? I’m not gay! And certainly not for you,” He spat, his eyes widened and panicked at the unexpected question. Though it only took a second for the master actor to switch to a laid back, teasing smile “Sorry, Kyle”
“I meant the other way around…” He sighed at the defensive tone. Typical of Cartman to be accepting of lgbt people, and still lose his mind if someone dares accuse him of being gay. “Are you not interested in her? Why the hell else would you be so passive aggressive all day?”
Cartman could only mutter something in response as he tried to avoid Kyle’s gaze. It was then that another possibility for Cartman’s soreness hit him like a truck. His eyes shot open, as did his mouth and formed an o before mirroring Cartman’s teasing grin from the bus stop.
“ ‘You jealous?’ “ He asked, a whole other meaning behind his words this time.