Chapter Text
Alarm ringing. Loudly. Kyle groaned, rolling over in his bed to turn it off. 7 am. Too early. Yawning, Kyle got out of bed. He had told Stan and Wendy he’d be ready by 7, he was hoping they got caught in traffic or something so he actually had time to get ready. He got dressed and then went downstairs to get something for breakfast, but was interrupted by loud honking from his driveway. Who was he kidding, wishing there was traffic in South Park. He grabbed his backpack and rushed outside, where Stan and Wendy were waiting.
“Dude, it's 7:10 we’re gonna be late!” Stan yelled at him from the driver’s seat as Kyle exited his house.
“Yeah, I know, dipshit, I can see that.” Kyle replied, getting into the backseat of the car.
“I told you he wasn’t gonna be up in time. Didn’t I tell you, Stan?” Wendy, who was fixing her eye makeup in the passenger seat mirror, said, then she turned around to face Kyle. “If I get marked tardy because of you, you’re done for.”
Wendy’s threat fell flat on Kyle, who just rolled his eyes in response. “Here, I brought this,” Kyle said, handing Stan a CD. “Burned it myself.”
“If this is more of your emo shit, I am never driving you to school again.” Stan loaded the CD into the dock, and then pulled out of the driveway.
“Nah man, you’ll like this one, I swear.”
“Why don’t you guys just use Bluetooth like normal people?” Wendy asked, putting up the mirror and readjusting in her seat. “We don’t live in the 1900s anymore.”
“It’s more authentic, sounds more real.” Stan exclaimed, more enthusiastically than necessary, clearly making fun of his own words a little bit.
Kyle nodded, “Yeah! It’s like, how music was intended to be listened to, you know?”
“You just wouldn’t get it, Wendy.” Stan said sarcastically, smirking at her. She met this with a glare before rolling her eyes and turning her back on him in favor of the window. Stan laughed as the CD finally loaded and music started playing throughout the car.
Third Eye Blind's Graduate played as the three of them sat in silence, not uncomfortable silence, rather the type that happens sometimes among close friends. They pulled into South Park High School’s parking lot at 7:16, which gave them 4 minutes to get in and get to class before being considered late.
“Stan, just drop me off at the door. I can not have a tardy on my record.” Wendy demanded, beginning to unbuckle her seatbelt, looking like she may jump out of the car while it was still moving.
“If I dropped you at the door, it would just make me even later, thirty more seconds for me to park isn't going to hurt you.” Stan said, surveying the parking lot for an open spot.
“No, Stan. Drop me off at the door.”
“Look, there’s a spot right there, I told you it would be thirty seconds.” Stan pulled into the parking spot. Once parked, Wendy immediately got out of the car, and went directly into the school building, very clearly intentionally ignoring Stan.
“Guess she was really serious about not being late.” Kyle said, getting out of the car and grabbing his bag.
“Yeah, guess so.” Stan sighed, “Could you grab my bag from the back?”
Kyle nodded, picking up Stan’s backpack from the backseat and handing it to him.
“Thanks, man.” Stan said as the two of them began to head into school. Kyle checked his watch. 7:18. Two minutes. Admittedly, he was nearly as nervous as Wendy about getting to class on time, but at this moment he found he did not really care. He looked over at Stan as they walked into the school building, and noticed that he was biting his lip. Stan always bit his lip when he was nervous, and Kyle always noticed.
“Hey man, are you alright?” Kyle asked, tilting his head quizzically.
“Yeah, why?” Stan replied, a little too quickly to be believable.
“You just seem a little on edge, is all.”
Stan sighed, “I’m just nervous about Wendy. If she breaks up with me again I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
“It’s not like you’d be apart for long, even if she did.”
“I guess,” Stan bit his lip again, “I don't know, things have been… weird recently.”
“Weird how?”
The bell rang. Kyle’s stomach dropped. He was officially late for class.
“I’ll tell you later.” Stan said as he headed off for class, “See ya, Kyle!”
“Bye, Stan!” Kyle replied, heading in the opposite direction to his first-period class. He was late to school for the first time in his academic career. He supposed his tardiness was probably wholly his fault, waking up late and then wasting time talking with Stan.
Maybe Wendy had had the right idea getting to class so quickly. Still, he could not find it in himself to be truly upset that he was late, but he could not seem to figure out why.
Besides a scolding from his first-period teacher, Kyle’s school day went about as normal. He went through all his morning classes, till eventually it was time for lunch. He walked into the cafeteria, looking around until he spotted that familiar orange jacket. Kenny quickly noticed Kyle’s arrival and waved him down, quite aggressively, which made Kyle chuckle to himself. He walked over to Kenny’s table and sat down.
“Hi Kenny!” Kyle said, putting his bag down.
Kenny gave a muffled enthusiastic hello, his mouth full of ham and cheese sandwich. Kyle laughed, and went off to get his lunch from the kitchen. He always found there was little he actually wanted to eat at the school cafeteria, but he figured it was less embarrassing than bringing a lunch box as a Senior in high school. Everyone else got their lunches from the kitchen, so he did too. He grabbed something small to eat, as he usually actually ate lunch at home after school, and went back to his seat with Kenny.
Kyle ate lunch with Kenny every day, yet he still found it hard to find things to talk with him about. Talking with Kenny used to be easier for him, but as they grew older he had an increasingly difficult time having conversations with him. They had less and less in common as time went on, but despite this, they both tried to act like everything was normal every time they spoke. That, or to Kenny everything was normal, and Kyle was making up this disconnect in his head. He was not entirely sure.
“How have you been, Kenny?” Kyle asked, attempting to break the awkward tension that might have existed only for him.
Kenny shrugged, “Same as always,” He took another bite of his sandwich, “Mostly working. How about you?”
“Pretty much the same.” Kyle answered, wondering how he found himself stuck having small talk with someone he used to be so close with.
“I’m hanging out with Cartman after school today.” Kenny said, clearly trying to gauge Kyle’s reaction to mentioning Cartman. Kyle and Cartman had not spoken since their Sophomore year. “He’s been telling me how he wants to talk to you and Stan again. He feels real bad about what all happened, you know?”
Kyle did not respond. He was not sure how he was supposed to feel about Cartman. It had been two years since everything had happened, but for some reason, he still felt hurt by it.
“I think it would be nice if you guys just tried talking with him,” Kenny shrugged, “Nice for all of us.”
“I don’t know.” Kyle responded, “I’ll think about it.”
Kenny let it go after that, and they continued their lunch discussing more mundane things. Eventually, the bell rang and they said their goodbyes. Kyle went about the rest of his day as usual, but he could not get what Kenny said out of his head. If Cartman really did genuinely feel bad for what happened, maybe it would be good for them to talk to him again? He did really hurt Kyle, but it had been two years. That was plenty of time for a person to change, even Cartman. Despite that, he still felt like he did not particularly want to talk with Cartman again. Kenny would appreciate it a lot though. It seemed like Kenny wanted to get their original group back together, and it honestly was unfair of them to leave Kenny out like that when they stopped talking with Cartman. Hundreds of thoughts ran through Kyle’s head throughout the day. He decided he would talk to Stan about it, he would know what to do. Even reaching that conclusion did not stop him from thinking about it though, all the way up until the bell rang to signify the end of the day. He felt a sense of relief when that final bell rang, because that meant he would finally be able to talk with Stan.