Chapter Text
It's early fall, the air is breezy and everyone is starting to notice small brown and orange leaves scattered around town. Stan and Kyle have bickered yet again about another pointless topic, eventually becoming unresolved as they both begin to harbor a grudge. Kyle is fed up with his emotional volatility, never being able to voice his true thoughts and instead beating around the bush while slowly shifting the topic. Shockingly, the town has not changed to accommodate their tension as they seem focused on something bigger. Cartman believes it is some kind of disease, finding news of it on his phone. Recently, there has been a serious uprise in people speaking their inner thoughts aloud with no filter, causing serious issues. Earlier that day, Cartman had missed his alarm yet again, dozing off until his mother stormed into the room.
"Poopsie-kins, you are very late! Did you accidentally hit snooze again?" Liane was standing in his doorframe, looking very jittery and nervous as she shuffled around his room.
Cartman grumbled, stumbling out of bed and shooing her off to go get ready, though he could've sworn she said something under her breath, "So lazy... sometimes I worry so much about him."
He rolled his eyes, so what if he was lazy? None of her goddamn business. Liane let out a squeak as she ran off to another room, looking almost scared, what the hell? He swore he didn't say that last part out loud, what was she so worked up about? Cartman was definitely not a morning person, often he got frustrated by simple tasks not being as efficient as he would like, such as the toothpaste being clogged. As he huffed, squeezing as hard as he could, he caught himself shouting, "Goddamn thing! Good for nothing.." he stopped in shock, usually he kept that to himself, just his inner monologue, did it slip? He looked in the mirror at his own reflection stunned beyond words this time, his lips parted slightly as he breathed out. Shaking his head, he slowly pushed out the toothpaste and begun brushing his teeth.
"Guys, guys! You will not believe what happened this morning." Cartman slowly caught up with the rest of the boys at the bus stop, just in time. Kyle rolled his eyes, "What now?" he sounded impatient and annoyed, trying his hardest to not let his gaze drift over to Stan, who was standing directly next to Cartman now.
"Okay whatever Jew, anyway, I had this crazy slip up this morning, like, whatever I thought just poured out of my mouth!" His voice cracked in the middle of his sentence slightly, his mind drifting back to the moment it happened, the shock almost reappearing as he told the story. None of the boys seemed impressed, practically uninterested.
"What? I don't get it, that's it?" Stan sounded genuinely confused, as if he was searching for a deeper meaning in-between Cartman's words. Cartman scoffed, "Whatever, you guys don't get it."
The scene returned to the daily schedule, light bickering mixed with random chatter as the bus sped down the road towards South Park Secondary School, the boys had finally finished Elementary and had just reached the 9th Grade, not like much had changed, everyone grew up still carrying the shell of their child-self, keeping the same habits and personality traits, as if only their physical appearance had changed. As the streets passed by, the faint sight of their school grew closer. The chatter grew to a halt, the bus screeching on the road as it stopped right out front of their building. The kids piled off and separated into their groups as they walked, Kenny was babbling about his new girlfriend, some random blonde girl he had seen in a magazine and declared he must 'wife up', Stan thought it was gold and giggled every now and then, while Kyle just seemed irritated at being in Stan's presence, as if every sight of him sparked up the raw feeling of annoyance.
Eventually, they had finally made it to their classroom, 9B. Mr. Garrison had been promoted and somehow managed to land a job here, the boys were getting sick of his face by now. As they sat down, he announced the arrival of a new student, Alex Murray. He was quiet, almost too quiet, as if he was just observing life as it went by instead of experiencing it. He was sat in-between Jimmy Valmer and Scott Malkinson, despite their efforts, they went unnoticed, the new kid just sat down and kept his eyes locked on Stan Marsh, weird.
The bell had finally rung, all of the kids pushed and shoved their way out to sprint down the hall to the cafeteria, the boys found their spot in the line and begun waiting. "See! I told you guys, remember in second period when I started yelling at Wendy, it's like I can't control it!" Cartman seemed genuinely shocked this time, looking at his hands as he spoke. "Cartman, you always do that." Kenny joked, teasing him. All the other boys laughed at the absurdity of Cartman's worry, as if it was something to care about. He begun getting frustrated with their reactions, storming off in a rage.
As they made it to their table, a weird presence seemed to loom over the three of them, turns out it was Alex. He just stood behind them, staring ominously until he sat down, squishing himself cleanly between Stan and Kyle. The conversation broke completely as they felt awkward, I mean, who told him it was okay to just barge in like that? Kyle's eyebrows furrowed, but before he could get a word out, Alex leaned over in Stan's ear, "I know your secret, Stan. Your dirty secret." he spat out his orange juice all over the tray as he coughed uncontrollably. "Whoa dude, what the fuck was that?" Kyle raised his voice, using tissues to clean up the mess he had made all over his food. Kenny burst out laughing, muffled by his parka. Alex's face remained completely blank, almost as if he had expected his reaction completely, this received a very nasty stare from Kyle, "What the fuck dude? What did yo-" his eyes widened, his jaw snapping shut immediately in suprise. Kyle did not mean to say that, usually he kept his composure, maintaining his perfect school representative image. Even Kenny was suprised, he had seen Kyle angry and frustrated, but never enough to have an outburst like that. As the table is sat there in a daze, Alex gives Stan a deep, heavy stare, feeling a mixture of confusion and horror, he slowly shuffles away as Alex stands up and walks off.
"What the fuck just happened?"