Chapter Text
You are invited to an evening of artistic exploration and inspiration at our upcoming art event. Join us for a night of captivating exhibits, engaging conversations, and a celebration of creativity. Your presence would make the occasion truly special.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Best regards, The Student Council of South Park High.
Kyle finishes sending the last emails to the remaining students as Wendy had asked him to do earlier. He rolls his chair away from his desk and looks at the clock beside his bed. It’s 11:33 pm, and it is way past Kyle’s bedtime. The boy sighs, burying his face in both his hands, wishing he didn’t have to wake up so early the next day. Why couldn’t senior year be the year of relaxation instead of the year of dread and constant chaos?
Kyle stands up from his chair and starts getting ready for bed. If only it were that easy, going to bed, it sounded nice but lately lying down meant overthinking about everything and anything. School, college, family, friends, you name it. Kyle probably would be thinking about it until it was too late to go to sleep and wake up well-rested the next day. Is just that, everything has felt like too much in the past few months. Maybe years. But everything has always felt like too much, right?
Before he can get a migraine, Kyle turns to his side and closes his eyes, ready to shut all those annoying thoughts out. Before finally falling asleep he thinks about the last two years. He knew things weren’t this heavy before, he knew he could enjoy things more and that some things didn’t feel like an obligation. But that was before. Before things got messed up.
***
The next day, Kyle wakes up with his alarm clock screaming in his ear. With his eyes still closed, he moves his hand around until he's able to finally shut the goddamn thing off. The headache he managed to avoid last night seems to have found him this morning and it came with a vengeance. Before his body can properly wake up he takes an aspirin with a huge glass of water and messages Wendy about today’s preparations.
He takes a quick shower to start the day. Today’s outfit consists of a brown T-shirt with drawings of frogs that was a gift handmade by Butters on Kyle’s birthday, light-wash jeans, and his old Converse. Kyle downs his breakfast as if it were a shot of tequila. He gets his backpack and his car keys and says goodbye to his family before rushing out the door.
The car was a gift from his dad and even though it was from a second-hand dealership, it still took the boy everywhere he needed to go and also served as a great spot for his lunchtime nap. Kyle starts the car and leaves the entrance of his house driving to the school.
The school’s parking lot is empty when Kyle arrives. He leaves the car, walks across the parking lot, and into the building. Kyle goes straight to the room where the student council usually has their meetings. Wendy’s already there, as he expected. Stan is there too, sitting on one of the tables while he reads the little programme they worked on with the students from the arts and design club. Both Wendy and Stan look just as tired as Kyle feels.
“Hey, guys. Good morning.” Kyle cumprimentou enquanto deixava sua mochila sobre a mesa no centro da sala. “How are we today?”
“Hey, dude.” Stan gave Kyle one of his big smiles.
“Hey, Kyle. We’re running on fumes and it's only.” Wendy checks her wristwatch. “7 a.m. But we have a lot to do for the event tonight so we have no choice but to be okay, right?”
“Yeah, I guess. But it still sucks though.”
“I know. Besides, Stan never let me forget.” Wendy laughs. Kyle squints his eyes at the raven-haired boy who’s not in the student council, debate team, or any of the many other extracurriculars the other two are.
“What? I’m the guy who has to drive her everywhere and because of that, I’m basically living on the same schedule as you guys. I know first-hand how these hours can be brutal.”
Kyle knows for a fact that his friend is not lying. Since Wendy decided to do more not only as the president of the student council but also as the president of most of the clubs she was part of, Stan became her driver for important academic-related things, as he liked to say. That paired with the fact that Stan was one of the star players of the football team, made him understand pretty well what Kyle and Wendy were going through in the last few months.
And even though that was a lot, he never complained or opted out, not even when Wendy told him that was obviously an option, which happened quite a few times. The thing is, senior year was so busy and chaotic that Stan was glad he was able to spend as much time as he did with his girlfriend, even if that meant spending a lot of time on school grounds. He also knew his friends would be attending different universities in different states soon, so his free time was also put towards hanging out with them. And that’s what made Stan a good friend and boyfriend.
“Anyway, guys. I need to go. There’s a few things I need to take care of before going to class.” Stan said, picking his backpack up and putting it over his right shoulder. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?” He gave a quick peck on Wendy’s lips, a tap on Kyle’s shoulder, and left the room.
“Okay, Kyle,” Wendy said after clapping to wake herself up. “Let’s get to work!”
And with that, they start working on the last preparations for the event. Everything had been done already, but Wendy believed they could always do more, so one of them was always checking their list of emails to see if everyone had been notified, making sure that the paintings and projects hadn’t been damaged before the showing and always keeping in touch with the people responsible for providing the foods and drinks.
After they finish what little work they have regarding their school event they decide to use what time they have left to go eat something before class starts. They leave the school and Kyle drives them to Tweek Bros. Lately both of them have not been sleeping or eating very well, as their list of responsibilities grew so did their habit of drinking huge amounts of coffee, eating snacks with no nutritional value, and taking naps in the school parking lot.
“Good morning, Mr. Tweak.” Wendy and Kyle said almost at the same time.
“Morning, kids. So what is it gonna be today?” The older man asks, radiating with a joyfulness that scares Kyle. “Just the usual plain black coffee?”
“Yes, please.” Wendy says after checking with Kyle and receiving an affirming nod. “And I’ll also take a cookie for the road. Do you want one?”
“No, thanks. I ate a sandwich before I left the house. I just need something to keep me awake through the boring first classes of the day.”
“What do you have? English with Mr. Schnauzer and sociology with Mrs. Fowler?”
“Yep.” He says emphasizing the p.
“Ugh, good luck with those two.”
“Thanks, I’m gonna need it.”
“Here you are, kids. Two black coffees and a cookie.”
Kyle’s the one who pays for their orders this time around and after he does, they get in his car and go back to school.
***
Kyle survived his first class and is now in English class with Mr. Schnauzer. Kyle has always been one of the most applied students, but at the moment he’s leaning over his table, talking about useless stuff with Kenny and Butters. Kenny has his back turned to the teacher while Butters is pretending to pay attention while focusing on what his friends are saying.
“Do you have any plans for after your artsy thing tonight?” Kenny asks.
“Not really. I was just thinking about going home right after. Why?”
“Well, we have all been so busy with school and our jobs that I thought maybe we could do a movie night at my new place. That way we can spend a few hours together and y’all can get better acquainted with the hottest spot in South Park.”
“With the hottest spot being your new apartment?” The ginger raises his eyebrows.
“And where else would that be, my dear friend?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please, Kyle! Please!” Butters whispers trying not to get the teacher’s attention. “It’ll be great! Only the best of friends watching a movie, just like old times!”
As soon as he heard the words “friends” and “old times”, Kyle’s shoulders automatically tensed. He heard what Butters was saying, how enthusiastic his voice sounded, but something was lying beneath that simple invitation to watch a movie at Kenny’s new place. And suddenly, things weren’t that simple anymore.
“Is he gonna be there?” Kyle asked with his tone a little more serious. Kenny and Butters just looked at each other for a moment knowing exactly who their ginger friend was talking about.
“I mean, I haven’t invited him yet but probably. I don’t know for sure.” Kynny sounded apologetic already. Kyle sighs, placing his head on top of his crossed arms.
“Maybe you could just not invite him? Just this once?”
“I’m sorry, Kyle. But it would be kinda of an asshole move on my part if I didn’t. I mean, I already invited Stan, Butters, you, and even some of the guys from Craig’s gang, you know? If I don’t invite him it will look like I have something against him and I don’t. Mainly because y’all refuse to tell me what went down that night that made you stop talking.”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“Does that mean you’re going?” Butters moves excitedly in his chair.
“No, Butters. It doesn’t. It just means that I understand where Ken’s coming from. And I also believe that I’ll be very tired after tonight’s event.” Kyle watches as the boy shrinks a bit.
He understands the frustration of not having all his friends there, but he has to deal with the fact that things are not going back to the way they used to be. Just like Kyle did.
There was a moment of silence, nobody knew what to say but that’s what usually happened when they talked about him. Kyle refused to explain anything, Stan pretended like nothing ever happened, Kenny asked as many questions as he could before Kyle got mad at him and Butters went right back to his mourning stage. That was the current state of things in their friend group or what was left of it anyway.
“Do you miss being friends with him?” Butter’s question catches Kyle off guard. He stops and thinks for a second before answering the smaller boy.
“I don’t know, Butters. I don’t think so.”
“Will you ever talk to each other again?” Kenny asks. His eyes are fixated on Kyle’s, that doesn’t take a lot of time thinking about it this time around.
“I think you already know the answer to that, don’t you?” Kenny just nods and then turns around to face their teacher again. Kyle leans over a bit more to reach his friends. “I’ll see you guys tonight though, right?”
“Yeah, dude. Of course.” Kenny whispers back before they all fall back in silence.
Kyle went back to a sitting position but his eyes remained fixated on the back of Kenny's head. The red-haired boy knew that even though everybody felt in different ways the impact of that last fight, Kenny was the one who took it the hardest. He was friends with both of them and that’s why it was so hard when they stopped talking.
That’s the problem of fights that big. In the heat of the moment, everything seems very high stakes for you and the person you’re fighting with. The punches are meant to draw blood and words are meant to cut as deep as they can. There’s too much feeling involved in every fight but there’s always one fight that changes things, and in their case, it changed their group dynamic.
***
When lunchtime finally came, Kyle, Stan, and Wendy took their trays outside so they could eat away from all the noise at the cafeteria. They didn’t need a headache before the end of the school day. Stan was eating with the veracity of a wild animal after spending the last hour in a surprise tournament with the rest of the football team. Before his mouth was filled with food he could not stop cursing his coach and his stupid tactics to keep the team ready for anything.
“Dude, are you okay? You’re gonna choke if you keep going at it like this.”
“Kyle’s right, Stan. Can you stop for a second?” Wendy asks, resting one of her hands on her boyfriend’s back. “Tell us what happened. Maybe that way you’ll feel better.” Stan stops eating and takes a deep breath. He looks at the two sharing the table with him.
“I was in the middle of art class when Coach Miller showed up and asked Ms. Sutherland if she could excuse me so I could help him with something. And it turns out that something was a fucking intense training session!”
“That’s fucked. Do you think it would help if we tried talking to the principal about this?”
“No. He will probably just get angry at the whole team and get even worse than he already is. But it’s frustrating not being able to do something, you know?”
“I’m sorry that’s happening, dude.” Kyle gave him small pats on the shoulder for support. Wendy then turns towards Kyle with a puzzled look on her face.
“Speaking of things happening… Kyle, do you know why only one person didn’t receive our email inviting ALL the students and faculty to the art thing tonight? Like, how did that happen? I even asked you to check it at least three or four times this week.”
“You did! And I did check it! I don’t how that happened, Wendy.” Kyle knew how. “I’m pretty sure I sent it to everyone.”
“Not everyone, Kyle.”
“Wait, Why do I feel like something is happening here that I’m not catching on to? “Stan chimes in. “Who did Kyle miss? And why are they so important?”
“It’s not about them being important or not.”
“Which they are not!” Kyle clarifies quickly.
“Okay, but who the fuck are we talking about?”
“Stan!” Kyle and Wendy yell in unison They keep their eyes on the boy hoping the message gets through. It takes a minute but Stan eventually catches on.
“Oh. Oh!” He realizes. “If it is who I think it is, then Wends, I’ll be siding with Kyle on this one. Like, it’s fair for him to not want the guy there.”
“Aha!” The ginger celebrates.
“But let me clarify, that even though I understand your motives to not send him an invitation, I still think you could’ve at least told Wendy about your decision.”
“Aha!” Wendy laughs in Kyle’s face and the boys laugh with her.
“Anyway, dude. How are you? I know talking about him gets you all flustered.”
“I do not get flustered and I’m okay. But I am sorry, Wendy. Stan’s right. I should have let you know that I wasn’t comfortable.”
“It’s fine. But I had to send it though.”
“I figured you would.” Kyle sighs and lets his body relax, accepting there's nothing he can do about it anymore.
“Oh! By the way, while we are on this topic!” Stan says excitedly. “I heard that somebody saw him smoking with Henrietta behind that strip club Kenny’s always talking about.”
“Rob’s Sassy Ladys?” Kyle asks.
“Yeah, that one! They were seen there. Henrietta and him. Together.” He emphasizes. “The rumors are that they might be fucking each other.”
“Just because they were smoking together behind a strip club?”
“Hey, man. That’s what I heard. I don’t know the specifics.”
“That’s one thing I dislike about you, Stan. You never listen to the whole gossip, just parts of it.” Wendy points out.
“Ugh, forget it. I don’t wanna know anyway.” Kyle buries his face in the palms of his hands. “I just hope he’s not there tonight. We don’t need any more shit on top of the already existing stress.” He then starts feeling the signs of a headache coming. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me!”
***
Kyle is jumping around the house looking for one of his shoes while trying to put on the other. He hasn’t brushed his hair yet, his special jeans are still in the dryer and he cannot, for the love of god, find the T-shirt he bought last week for tonight. Everything was in shambles even before he left the house. As if all of this wasn’t enough, he hears Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” coming from his room, which indicates that Wendy is calling him.
“Mom, have you seen my other shoe?” He screams from upstairs.
“Which foot?”
“The left one?”
“Wait a second, I’m coming.”
“No, there’s no need for you to come here. I just need to know if you’ve seen it.” Kyle jumps back into his room to answer Wendy’s call. And of course, it’s a fucking video call. He answers it. “Hey, Wends. I’m kinda all over the place right now. Can I call you in a second?” He can see that she’s rushing trying to do her eye makeup thingy while she looks for something on her desk.
“Hey, Kyle. I’m also in a hurry here, but I needed to ask if you managed to get in touch with that Albert kid.”
“The one with the nightmarish drawings?”
“Yeah, him.” She starts putting her golden earrings on.
“I did. I talked to his mom.” Kyle starts looking around, searching for his shoe. “She said he’s coming a little bit later because he had some sort of falling out with a group of kids from South Park Elementary and according to his mom ‘they fucked his shit up’.”
“Oh, that’s rough. But I guess he’ll have a lot more inspiration to paint now.” Wendy lets out a small laugh. “I’m sorry. That was not a nice thing to say.”
“You’re fine.” Kyle laughs while looking for his shoe under his bed.
“Still, we have to keep that in mind so we don’t describe his art pieces as ‘nightmarish’ or ‘weird’ during the presentation.”
“That's fair.” He nods absentmindedly as he starts to look inside the closet. “Found it!” He raises the shoe in celebration.
“Did you find it?” his mother asks from downstairs. “Where was it?”
“Yeah, it was in my closet for some reason.”
“What? I can’t see you. What did you find, Kyle?” Wendy moves around as if this would allow her to see the boy.
“I just couldn’t find my left shoe but it’s okay. I found it. But anyway, I need to leave the call to finish getting dressed. I will talk to you later. Bye.”
“Okay, I need to finish up here too. See you there. Bye.” She ends the call.
Soon Kyle finishes getting ready. He checks the time on his cell phone, seeing that he’s sort of late for one of the people hosting the event. He quickly brushes his hair, makes sure his insulin pump is in its place, gets his key, and rushes his family out of the house.
His family doesn’t stop talking for one second during the drive. While he tries to practice some of the things he prepared during the week, his mother gives her honest opinions on what he should and shouldn’t cut, on what is and isn’t funny. It’s really hard for him to concentrate in this environment, but good luck telling anyone in his family to shut up and getting them to actually do it.
“Guys, can you please keep quiet? I’m trying to remember what I'm going to say there.”
“Oh, Kyle. You’re doing fine.” His mom encourages him.
“Thanks, Mom. But it’s harder with Dad talking by himself and Ike’s game at the highest volume.”
“Kyle, your dad is rehearsing his speech.”
“For what?!” Kyle points out. “You know this is not my event, right? Is something the student council put together and nobody will be making any speeches. Maybe the guys from the arts and design club, but that’s it. No one else will be saying anything.”
“That’s quite disappointing. Your father was very excited.” Sheila rubs her husband's shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Dad. Maybe you can use it at my going away party.” He offers. “And Ike. Can you turn that volume down, please?” the boy doesn’t respond and just continues playing.
“Great.” Kyle sighs to himself.
As they get to the school, Kyle parks the car while he walks his family through what not to say about the paintings, since some of the artists aren’t very good at dealing with criticism. They then get out of the vehicle, walking across the parking lot and towards the school building.
Inside, Kyle parts from his family and looks for Wendy and Stan, who end up being next to the snacks that haven’t started being served to the guests yet. They look nothing like the zombies Kyle had lunch earlier. Wendy’s wearing a slim black dress with kitten heels on. While Stan is rocking a simple t-shirt, black jeans, his everyday Converse, and an oversized blazer that probably belonged to his dad.
Kyle doesn’t get more than three words out before Wendy tells him that he needs to Stay close to Albert’s paintings and present them to the guests since he's not there to do it himself. Even though he hates not having any time to talk to his friends or get a feel of the place, he goes where he is needed. For the next half hour, he stands beside one of the more nightmare-inducing paintings as he watches the guests walking around the room.
“Kyle, my favorite vice president!” The red-haired boy turns around to see Kenny stumbling in his direction. “Oh, look at you. You look so charming all dressed up. Super fancy.” Kyle can smell the faint smell of weed on Kenny’s breath.
“Dude, did you smoke before coming here?”
“Just a little.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Kyle tries to keep his voice down.
“Dude, relax. Plus, it was not my fault this time, I swear.”
“Who’s fault was it then?” Kyle asks.
“A friend.”
“Butters?”
“No.”
“Well, I know it wasn’t Stan because he hasn’t touched any of that stuff since.”
“It was not Stan.” Kenny says before Kyle can finish his sentence. They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment.
“Were you smoking at your place?”
“Nope.”
“Then where were you?” Kyle sounds just like his mom when she’s questioning him.
“Outside. Near the parking lot.” The blonde boy indicates with a head move as if Kyle didn’t know where the parking lot was.
“I didn’t see you there.”
“We were hiding behind his mom’s minivan” The blond boy hoped his friend would pick up what he was, not very successfully, putting down. He isn’t sure until Kyle speaks again.
“Will he be coming in?” It’s weird for Kyle to acknowledge his existence.
“I’m not sure. But probably not.”
“It’s not important anyway. I’m happy that you’re here, man. Just, please, don’t go anywhere near my parents smelling like that. You know how my mom gets with that kind of stuff.”
“Got it. I’ll be alert.”
“And Ken.” Kyle calls out to his friend. “I’m sorry for grilling you like that.”
“It’s fine, Kyle. At the end of the day, you are one of Sheila’s boys.” He laughs along with his friend.
“Also, there’s no need to be nervous. I don’t think he’s coming in.” Kenny gives Kyle one of his reassuring smiles and leaves to take a look around.
Kyle goes back to standing next to the painting and explaining it every now and then when people stop by to ask about it. Eventually, he starts paying more attention to the people existing around the room than the people coming by. The turnout has been way better than the student council had predicted. Some of the students started looking bored after a while but that’s to be expected from a generation with one of the worst attention spans. Still, it was great that everybody showed up for them and the kids from the arts and design club.
It’s been almost an hour and thirty-five minutes since Kyle assumed his position next to Albert’s art piece.
His stomach is growling and his feet are tired from standing still. He looks around, searching for Craig or Clyde, who are working as waiters for the night. Kyle can see some of the guests eating but there’s no sign of the boys anywhere. From the other side of the room, he sees Stan and tries signaling him, so he can take his place or find something for Kyle to eat. When he finally manages to get Stan’s attention the boy’s eyes open wide as if he’d seen a ghost. Stan starts making weird gestures at the same time Kyle’s trying to explain that he’s tired and needs to eat something. But to no avail, his friend is too focused on his mission, whatever that might be.
“I think he’s trying to say this is one of the most disturbing things he’s ever seen. Like, I don’t mean to be rude, but has anyone checked this kid’s record or something? ‘Cause I honestly think there’s something really wrong with him.”
Kyle doesn’t need to turn around to know who is standing beside him. His voice sounds a little bit lower but it still has a certain softness and sarcasm to it. Kyle can smell the citric perfume in his clothes along with the faint smell of the weed he smoked with Kenny earlier. The difference is that he doesn’t sound as high as the blond did. Reluctantly, Kyle turns in his direction.
“Hi, Kyle.” He smiles full of confidence.
Kyle can’t help but notice how good he looks. He’s wearing Doc Martens shoes, black dress pants, and a t-shirt just like the one Butters had gifted Kyle, but this one had handmade drawings of small raccoons dressed as burglars. He’s also wearing a small hoop earring in his right ear and his hair looks messy in a fashionable way if that’s even possible. Kyle hates him so fucking much.
“What are you doing here?” Kyle looks pissed.
“I’m just looking at good-ish art. What about you? How have you been?”
“I was doing good until you showed up here.” Kyle says defiantly. The other boy just looks at him, his eyes roam Kyle’s face a couple of times and then he smiles.
“Don’t you wanna know how I’ve been?”
“Honestly, no.” There’s a pause. The bigger boy spends a few more seconds staring at his face like it’s one of the paintings. Kyle sighs. “What do you want, Cartman? Why are you here, truly? Because we know you don’t care for this kind of stuff.”
“If I’m being honest, I miss being around the guys. I missed being around y-”
“Don’t say that! That’s bullshit!” Kyle almost screams. “That’s bullshit and you know it!”
“Okay, okay. Hum, Kenny seemed kinda bummed with the fact that you wouldn’t be in his stupid movie night tonight, so I thought I could talk to you since I’m probably the reason you’re so adamant about hurting Kenny’s feelings.”
“First of all, wow ‘adamant’, that’s a really grown-up word for someone as childish as you to be throwing around. And second, fuck you! You’re not the reason why I’m not going to Kenny’s tonight. And by the way, third, mind your fucking business!”
“Wow, those are some big feelings.” Cartman laughs. “Do you feel any better after that?”
Kyle sighs deeply, burying his head in the palms of his hands. Why is this happening? Why is Cartman here? Why is he talking to Kyle? And why is Kyle talking to him? Kyle didn’t need to be reminded of how shitty he felt a few years back. How out of place everything seemed out of sudden. He was a new person, he didn’t need all of that coming back again to haunt him. It was too much.
“Kyle.” Wendy calls out.
“Yeah?”
“I need your help with something.” Her eyes tell Kyle everything he needs to know. She’s on a rescue mission.
“Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere.” Cartman says. “I’ll be here when you come back.” Kyle looks baffled at him. He is still the same self-centered douchebag he has always been. Kyle laughs. Why would he want to come back?
“Kyle?” Wendy calls again. “Let’s go.”
With nothing to say, Kyle leaves, following Wendy. Before he gets far enough he hears Cartman yelling.
“If you don’t come back, then I’ll see you around. But I’ll be here.”
Kyle speeds up, trying not to think about any of that. He hopes to never see Eric Theodore Cartman again. No matter how good he looks.