I laugh as the biology teacher gets into the classroom. Stan and her stare at each other like there is no tomorrow, their staring competition giving everyone in the room absolute chills... Stan rarely is as hostile as he has been towards her.

"Anyway. Unless Stan wants to take this class too," the biology teacher says.

"I would love to," Stan says.

They are still staring each other down.

"We have chosen your work tests or whatever, the places they're at," the teacher says.

Stan rolls his eyes.

"Red. You are going to the place you chose. Great job, they loved it," the teacher states happily.

Red smiles. She's a really pretty girl, gotta admit, even as a gay guy. Admittedly, I've always loved smiles, they're pretty on anybody.

"Stan... sorry. You didn't get it. Maybe being a teacher is a little too much for you," the biology teacher says.

Stan hits his head on the desk.

"I did it last year!" Stan says.

I sigh. Our science teacher walks in and gives Stan a paper.

"She dropped it," he says, smiling.

Stan opens it and smiles, taking the letter into a hug.

"Why did you say I didn't get it?" Stan asks.

Red goes to the front and gets her letter.

"Thank you," Red says.

There is like 4 boys staring at her... and Wendy.

"Good job," Wendy says.

Red blushes and sits next to her.

"They're so gay," Cartman mutters.

"We all know that," I say.

Cartman laughs, actually laughs.

"There would be like 3 boys mad about that though. They're in denial," Cartman says.

"Watch them go through the five stages of grief," I say.

The realisation hits me immediately. Oh shit, his mom...

"More like four. They're not going to accept it," Cartman says.

Okay, chaos has been completely avoided.

"Eric," the teacher says.

I find myself wishing he got it.

"Sorry, you didn't get it," she says.

She looks scared of Cartman immediately. He, however, just sighs and looks at her.

"So neither took me?" Cartman asks.

"No, your second choice did," the teacher says.

Cartman shrugs and takes the letter.

"I'm sorry you didn't-," I say.

He shrugs.

"I might like this one more anyway. The first one is a stupid dream," he says.

He shows me the name on the letter. I've never heard of the place.

"What is it then?" I ask.

"Eh. I don't know. Some shitty Marketing company. Apparently I'm good at marketing so I thought I would," Cartman says.

I nod.

"Kyle, congratulations," the biology teacher states.

I take the letter with a 'thank you'.

"What is it then?" Cartman asks.

I show him the letter with a sigh.

"I put the first one for my mom. I didn't think I could have it. I wanted the second one," I say.

"What was that one?" Cartman asks.

"I wanted to work for a safe house for the week. But I don't know, apparently I couldn't," I say.

"You do realise that you're having work experience in one of the hardest places to get, a hospital. And you're complaining?" Cartman asks.

I laugh.

"I don't want to be a doctor, not much. I'd have a panic attack," I say.

"Do drugs, they always help," Cartman says.

"Kids, always do drugs," I say.

Both of us start laughing, loudly. I sound like a pig but so does he do it's okay.

"Calm down! Wanna explain what it is?" The teacher asks.

"Do drugs," I say, hitting the table.

"It shouldn't be this funny," Cartman says.

"Shut up, it's so funny," I say, laughing.

"I guess but it's not this funny," Cartman says, laughing as well.

"It's not. But I don't give a fuck," I say.

I start calming down seconds after Cartman.

"Fucking queer," he says.

"Yes, I am. I am weird enough to be considered queer," I say.

Cartman rolls his eyes.

"Of course you are," he says.

I shrug and keep my eyes ahead.

"I like your laugh, I'm not the only pig," I say.

"Fuck you," Cartman says.

As the others continue getting letters, we continue talking.

"Kenny, congratulations," the teacher says.

Kenny jumps up and takes the letter. He is smiling widely.

"Where?" I ask.

He shows the letter. It's a publishing company.

"They said they'd look at my book, if it seemed all okay. So I'll just have this there and hope for the best," Kenny says.

I nod, smiling. He sits back next to Bebe.

"Bebe, congratulations."

Bebe takes the letter and sits with Kenny, showing him the letter.

"Do all these people actually realise they're most likely going to be cleaning the damn floors?" Cartman asks.

"Don't break their bubbles," I say.

He shrugs.

"Fine. I won't," he says.

He mutters something alike to 'Life will' under his breath.

"Yeah, I guess," I say.

Cartman reads through his letter while I read mine.

"How is it?" I ask.

He shrugs.

"It's okay," he says.

Should I? We've been really friendly today.

"How's your mother?" I ask.

"Not so good. She thanks you by the way, for telling her hi. I swear, she's never been anything more than an inconvenience to me before she went so bad. It's so fucking sad. Looking back, I've been a fucking terrible child," Cartman says.

"You can atone it," I say.

"I can't exactly atone everything that I've done," he says.

I smile.

"It'll all fine. If you try enough, I'll take it," I say.

He nods with a small thank you.

"How come you're so different?" I ask.

"Well... even if I seemed like a sociopath, I was meds away from getting huge regret," he says.

The principal walks into the classroom.

"Eric Cartman. You have to go to the hospital, it's your mother," he says.

Cartman sighs and gets up, taking his bag.

"Nice talk, Jew," he says.

"Oh you don't change, do you?" I ask.

"No," he says.

He leaves the classroom without a look back.