A couple of weeks pass by and things at the school got a bit crazy. Mostly because of Kenny's mysterious return to school and the town. I keep a distance from him though. Just watching from a far. And from what I can see, he seemed pretty popular with a lot of people at school. A lot of them seemed happy to see him again. Of course the most common thing he was asked, was where he was all that time. The others and him just told everyone else that he moved away to live with his grandparents for a bit but ended up deciding to come back home. Although Butters told me he had to tell his siblings and parents that he ran away.

As the days continued to pass by, things gradually grew calm again at school. Kyle, Stan, Butters and Kenny hung around one another a lot at school, along with Cartman too sometimes, who didn't seem to buy the whole Kenny just moving away thing and kept on asking them about it. They would sometimes come up to me and ask me to join them or hangout, but I would decline, saying I was busy. But mainly because I wasn't sure how to act around Kenny, he would often just watch me or look at me when they did that. Then there was also Jason's very shocked and somewhat even afraid reaction to seeing Kenny, but he didn't say anything to him, just kept his distance. Luckily he hasn't bothered me either and I hope it stays that way.

And so, today after school, as the sun is beginning to set. I find myself at my locker, opening it and putting some of my books and things away, getting ready to leave. After having spent a couple of hours in the library studying and doing some work on an upcoming project.

"Um, hello," a voice greets. A very familiar voice at that.

I freeze and hesitantly glance around my locker door and see Kenny standing there. The setting sun's light shinning in brightly from the windows at the end of the hall behind him, causing a glowing effect to form around him.

"...Hello," I reply slowly.

"Sorry if this seems a bit strange, but the others, Stan, Kyle and Butters have been filling me in on what happened after I woke up that day, in that abandon apartment building," he tells me, "to be honest, I was very confused at first, but I did remember being taken away by a group and a ritual and stuff too. However, my memories stop there, the moment I entered that portal, I don't remember anything else. Everything's a blank until I had come to in that room..." he trails off, his gaze drifting away as he does so.

I look back into my locker, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because..." he starts, "the others had told me that you were mainly the one who had saved me, and that you were my friend."

"I was friends with a demon pretending to be you," I correct.

"I know, but even still..." I glance back at him and see that he's looking at me again, "thank you."

"For what?" I ask.

"For saving me," he laughs softly and I go quiet, "look, I know you probably are avoiding me because of what happened to you. Heck, if the same had happened to me, I would probably do the same thing as you," his gaze drops again, "even looking at me, I probably remind you of painful things now, so I don't blame you if you turn this down but... I want to know you."

My eyes widen, "...What?"

He looks back up at me, "I just- after hearing about you from the others, about how well you all got along and how you saved me and stuff. My curiosity grew about you more and more and I wanted to know more about you. I wanted to know you, and remember you. And I wanted you to know the real me, not whatever was pretending to be me."

"I..." I fall silent.

I had told myself over and over, so many times that it was the demon and not him, but it still hurt for some reason. But I also couldn't blame Kenny for what had happened to him, it wasn't his fault. He was a victim in all of this after all. His actions were not his own, as they were being controlled by another as his soul lied dormant for all that time.

"It's okay if you don't want to though," he speaks up noticing my silence, "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, it's just a thought is all."

I look back in my locker, examining everything that's in it as my thoughts wonder. I can't lie to myself and not say that some part of me also thought the same as him. Wanting to know how the real Kenny was like, and not the thing that was pretending to be him. I continue to look in to my locker for what I'm pretty sure are a good some seconds before I take my bag out, close my locker then look at him.

"It's okay," I say after coming to a decision, "I would like that."

He smiles and although I thought seeing it again would remind me of before, this one seems to have something in it, something more.

Life.

"Awesome!" he says enthusiastically, "Do you- wanna come and hangout with me and the others today then?"

I smile back a bit, "Sure."

And we start walking down the hall.

"Oh yeah... this is another thing that may sound a bit strange to say but, I had a dream with you in it recently," he tells me.

"A dream?" I repeat back.

"Yeah," he laughs, "I'm thinking it's from all the stories I've been told about you recently."

"What was it about?" I ask a bit curious by it.

He stops and thinks of it for a moment then looks away, "Um, you know what- never mind forget I brought it up," he says quickly and starts walking again.

"You already brought it up though," I point out, "so just say it. It's just a dream right?"

"I just don't... want to make things awkward between us, after you said you were okay with me getting to know you," he says quietly.

"You already brought it up, so just tell me it," I say.

He turns to look at me, a sheepish expression on his face, "In the dream, you were leaning your forehead against mine and said that you 'wished I were here with you'," he tells me and a long silence falls, my eyes widening at his words. He shakes his head, "Great, I've made things awkward haven't I?" he let's out a sigh, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even brought up that dream I had."

"It wasn't a dream..." I murmur quietly.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

When I realize I had said that out loud, my face burns and I quickly turn away and continue walking down the hall.

"Hey- wait! What did you mean!?" Kenny asks shouting after me.

"It's nothing," I say, "let's just go and find the others."

As I reach the doors he stops me, grabbing a hold of my wrist, "Look, I'm sorry I brought up that dumb dream, just- please don't be mad at me," he pleads.

"I'm not mad," I tell him and look up at him.

Now his are the one's whose eyes widen.

"Whoa- hey- are you cr-crying?!" he let's go of my wrist, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean- don't cry, please!" he says worriedly, I laugh and wipe the tears from my face. He stops and looks at me concerned, "Are you okay?"

I sniffle a bit then smile at him, "Yeah, I think that I am now."

He gives me a puzzled look but doesn't say any more, instead places a hand on the other door, and slowly we both push open the heavy school doors. The setting sun's light filling up the halls dark shadows behind us.

END

A/N: And that's it, that's the end of 'The Boy In The Mirror'. I want to thank those that have stuck with this story from start to finish, and those that reviewed it and such. I hope that you enjoyed reading this story, I had a lot of fun writing it!

I even made a playlist for it.

https:_8tracks_com_omission-tunes_ i-ll-be-right-here

You can take a listen to it if you want by following the link. (Add two slashes after https, and put a dot before com, then a slash after com, and one more in between the words 'tunes' and 'i'll')

Thank you and until next time, take care!