Never Die
Chapter Five: I'll Be Back When The World Stops Turnin'
By: Jondy Macmillan
A/N: Guys! This isn't for sure going to be style! Don't make your judgments yet. Because I have no idea what the end result could be. It's k/s/k, including the dreaded Stan/Kenny (dreaded for me. I'm not a fan). It will not end in Stan/Kenny, but it will exist. But as to whether the end is style or k squared, I'm clueless. That's half the fun.
Kenny McCormick had known deprivation. For more than two thirds of his life, he'd been poor, courtesy of an alcoholic father and a mother who never aspired to be more than a housewife. When his dad finally found a job that he managed to keep, it was some kind of miracle. When his mom finally decided to do something productive with her life, like taking a pottery class, it was a small blessing. His house went from a shithole to a decent looking house on the wrong side of the tracks. They weren't by any means rich, or even well off, but for the first time ever, Kenny's family could live comfortably.
In school, he'd never done all that well, but the day Stan Marsh disappeared, he gained a second brain. Kyle Broflovski had always been a friend, but upon Stan's departure, he became a best friend. Suddenly Kenny had a built in study buddy, not to mention a standing date every Friday night, that is, when he didn't have a date with a girl. Even though he'd had friends before, Kenny hadn't realized that this is what best friends did. The closest he'd experienced to best friendom previously had been Eric Cartman, who by all accounts was more dictator than companion. Kyle showed him what it meant to belong, to have inside jokes and to ally with when things got tough.
Of course, all that had been before he began to feel something more, something ethereal and unexplainable between him and Kyle. At first he thought it the feeling was transient. He would have been okay with that; an evanescent, ephemeral emotion that would disappear in a month or two. In fact, it was for that reason that he decided to savor it. Then, a year had passed and he realized; he was still relishing the feeling, the insubstantial notion that became something more. He would look at Kyle and see his future, and it was fucking scary, in a way, but it was some kind of incredible too. Kenny started making plans, thinking about the college they'd go to together, and the apartment they'd get together, and eventually the jobs they'd get together. It got so he couldn't see his life without Kyle.
Stan Marsh leaving was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
That's what he told Lola during fifth period, anyway.
"Oh my lord," she groaned in reply, "Please tell me we're not going to go through one of your jealous streaks again."
Lola had been Kenny's partner in their physics class the year before. She'd put up with him pitching a fit over this and that for an entire year, and now she considered herself a Kenny expert. She could chronicle the four month period last year when Kyle started dating her friend Mandy like she'd lived it herself. She could explain Kenny's neurotic break during the junior prom when Kyle had spent a month attempting to woo Wendy Testaburger; a mistake if there ever had been one. Hell, Lola could even recite word for word the birthday card that Kenny had written for Kyle the year prior.
It was all rather quaint when one considered that Kenny hated Lola. If he'd been asked, he never would have been able to tell a soul why he thought confiding in a girl he loathed was a good idea. Perhaps it was all the long nights of studying they'd done, or perhaps it was because she had a reputation for being reticent when it came to secrets, despite her hard hitting reporter role on the school newspaper. Perhaps it was even because she was a 'popular girl' being a part of the posse co-captained by Bebe Stevens and Wendy, all of whom he'd known since grade school. Whatever it was, he would never be able to pin down the wraithlike certainty he had that Lola was the person to tell his secrets; at least the ones concerning Kyle.
He would, on the other hand, be able to illustrate all the reasons why he thought Lola was a bad person. He considered her a haughty tart that was far too clever for his own good, which was actually a common theme with all the girls who had graduated from South Park Elementary School. Sometimes he had to theorize that Mr. Garrison, their teacher and mentor, had taught the females more than he'd let on with his discussions on the latest celebrity gossip and his monologues on his own sexuality.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kenny crossed his arms, glaring hard at her.
She glared right on back, "Well, Kenneth. You freak every time an ounce of competition shows up for Kyle's affections. Maybe if you just fessed up and told him how you feel, you wouldn't have to worry. I've heard Broflovski's a loyal guy."
"Where did you hear that?" Kenny asked, panicked, sure that Lola knew something of Kyle's illicit relations that he didn't.
She rolled her eyes, and said, "Just tell him, idiot."
"Don't you think I haven't thought of that?" Kenny demanded, not caring that the teacher was giving him a rather dirty look.
"No. Thought hadn't crossed my mind," Lola smirked, pretending to write down an interesting thought on classical literature. She never got in trouble with the teachers, an ability Kenny had yet to master, even in his senior year.
"Well I have, okay? But if I tell him, then it's like…he'll win."
"He'll…win?" Lola frowned. He could not be saying what she thought he was saying. If so, he was a bigger idiot than she'd initially thought.
"Yeah. Look, I know- I mean, I think I know, but I could be wrong- but I hope, anyway, that K- he, I mean, that he likes me back. If I tell him, it'll be like forcing him, and I don't want to force him. Ever. I want to earn his…affections, or whatever the fuck you called it."
"Mr. McCormick!" the teacher snapped, "Do you think you'd like to share your conversation with the rest of the class?"
Lola smirked, thinking it would be hilarious if Kenny just came out with it and admitted to the entire class that he was jonesing for his best friend. The day could use some livening up.
"Yeah. I was thinkin' I found a funny spot on my dick, and askin' Lola here if it might be gonorrhea. I figured she has experience with STDs an' all."
"Kenny!" the girl shrieked in reply. He was such a bastard.
Instead of dealing with the situation like a real educator might, the teacher turned back to the chalkboard and began extolling the virtues of some long dead writer. There was nothing quite like the Park County Regional academic system.
Kenny turned back towards Lola, who was glaring hatefully at him. She hissed, "I do not have STD's you asshole!"
"Really? I would've thought you'd collected at least one what with all the face time you have with boys behind the bleachers."
The girl bristled, turning away. It wasn't her fault anyway. With her long hair and intelligent eyes, she was a catch among the male half of the student population. That's what Wendy told her when she was feeling particularly low and couldn't score a date, anyway, and Lola had a feeling she'd be enjoying some serious phone time with Miss Testaburger tonight. It was days like these when she didn't know why she even tolerated Kenny, much listened to his problems or tried to help. Maybe she'd understand if he was a normal human being, but he was obviously some kind of alien reject.
"Come on, Lolita," he tugged at her arm, giving her a childish nickname, "You're supposed to be helping me."
"No," she cast him a murderous look, "Talk to someone else. Talk to Bebe."
Kenny made a face. He'd dated Bebe Stevens all throughout their freshman year. No way would he ever tell anything to that bitch.
Lola sighed, "Fine. You know what I think you should do? Find Stan, after school. You haven't even seen him yet, right? Maybe he has no interest in Kyle. I mean as a friend; you can't presume he's a sick pervert like you."
Kenny bit his lip, thinking it over, "You think? I guess you could be right. Or even better, he could be a total dork. He could be hideous now!"
"Sure. There's that," Lola muttered. Boys. They were such morons.
"Right. So the first order of business is seeing Stan after school!" Kenny said. He was cheered by the thought.
Unfortunately, Stan Marsh was not hideous. He was tall and broad shouldered, and every inch a jock. He looked exactly like Kenny remembered him, except older, and more attractive. His dark hair fell in all the right places, and his dark blue eyes were mysterious and charming. Kenny hated him immediately.
"Hi," Stan said, squinting, like that would make him recall who Kenny was. Douchebag. Kenny remembered him just fine; but that was largely because he'd been such a huge factor in the blond's life.
Kyle, who was mediating the meeting, grinned, "I don't suppose you remember a kid running around in an orange parka when we were younger?"
Stan's face screwed up, and he seemed to be thinking hard, "Wait. There was that one kid, who always died? You're that one?"
Oh sure, Kenny thought, he had to bring up the dying thing. At one point, dying had felt like the only thing Kenny was good at.
Kyle nodded enthusiastically, "See? You haven't forgotten everything."
Stan shrugged, seeming less keen on the idea of childhood recollections.
"How've you been, man," he greeted Kenny again, "Long time, no see."
I suppose you think that's clever, Kenny wanted to say. Instead he replied, "Yeah, guess so. I've been good. You?"
Stan shrugged again, choosing noncommittal. Kyle acted like he'd just done the funniest thing ever, chuckling and patting him on the back and acting like Stan was God's gift to man. Kenny wanted to murder them both.
"So, Ken," Kyle practically chirped, and it was sickening, "We were thinking about going to Shakey's. Want to come?"
Of course he wanted to come. He'd been spending every day after school with Kyle since the end of fifth grade. Why would that change now?
Kenny shoved his hands in his pockets and mumbled, "Sure."
They took Kyle's car, because Stan had been driven by his parents and Kenny didn't own one yet. Kyle spent the entire time playing the do-you-remember game, asking Stan if he could mentally picture their clubhouse, their favorite TV show, and everything else they'd done, watched, ate, and laughed about seven years ago.
Thankfully, the game was discontinued when they reached Shakey's. Kenny didn't think his sanity could stand any more of Kyle's attempts to ingratiate himself with Stan fucking Marsh.
They ordered a cheese pie, because Stan wanted pepperoni, and Kenny didn't want anything that Stan wanted, so he tried for onions, and Kyle hated onions, and eventually it turned out cheese was the only thing they could agree on.
"This place hasn't changed. At all," Stan sighed.
Kenny gave him a 'duh' look, "It's a Shakey's, dude. It's a chain."
"I meant South Park," the dark haired boy clarified, "I mean, it all looks different to me, but it feels the same."
"You're lucky you go to live anywhere else. Kenny and I have been theorizing that it's like the fucking Hotel California. You never get to leave."
"What about college?" Stan took a huge bit of his pizza, "You guys will leave for college, right?"
Kyle glanced down, "Only to Boulder."
"What? Why only Boulder? Don't get me wrong, it's a great place, but dude, aren't you like, a genius? Shouldn't you be applying to Harvard or Brown or something?"
"Kyle's going to the same school I am," Kenny interrupted.
"Why?" Stan gave him a strange look, "Are you dating, or something?"
"Sick, dude!" Kyle exclaimed, spewing coke all over the table. Kenny winced. What the hell was sick about them being together?
"No. We're best friends," he retorted, unable to keep the pride from creeping into his voice.
"Okay. So why can't you be best friends at different schools?" Stan asked reasonably.
Kyle's eyes flicked upward, "I want to go where Kenny goes. That's our plan."
"You're seventeen, and you already have plans? I was wrong. You're not dating. You're married," Stan emphasized the 'married' bit, his eyes widening.
Quiet, so quiet that they nearly missed it, Kyle murmured, "I never thought of it that way."
Kenny nearly choked on his pizza. He wouldn't be deprived of Kyle. He couldn't.
Something had to be done.
A/N: Stan's character is still kind of shallow, I know. He'll get deeper and less hate-able as the story goes on, I think. Please review!