Kyle's POV

"KYLE!"

My mother's voice echoed up the stairwell as I jumped out of my bed and opened my bedroom door. Even though it was quite early, about 9pm or so I didn't have much else to doing having finished homework and being grounded.

"Yeah?" I called back a little nervously, no clue what was going on.

"What the fuck was Stan doing standing around outside? Were you supposed to meet up or something? Is that it? Good thing for me your boyfriend is too dumb to think things through if that's the case."

That surprised me a bit, both the language and the content of the words my mother was throwing at me. By now I was all the way down the stairs with my mother impatiently shifting her weight side to side with her arms crossed menacingly. As I studied her face I thought to myself 'You've lied convincingly enough this long, please keep it up longer.'

I bought myself a little bit of time by looking down and shook my head before I carefully asked,

"Mom, why do you think Stan's my boyfriend? I think you might've meant best friend?"

Boy did that ever throw her for a loop. She comically blinked and gasped at me while she floundered for words. I struggled to keep my face neutral while I inwardly panicked over the new possible outcomes I had just thrown in. Why on earth would I do that? This was one of the dumbest things I'd pulled through this ordeal and it had only been three days. Slowly her face hardened and she her face became redder before she hissed out,

"You think you're clever you little shit? I will get something on you soon, I guarantee it and you'd best be watching who sees you and your little most likely homo friend around. Now get, I don't want to see you again tonight."

Those words that were flung at me felt like spears. I went to open my mouth, feeling a surge of anger but quickly closed it and turned on my heel back to the stairs. As I started climbing up I began to shake with a million different emotions, anger, fear, loathing and sadness were among the most prevalent. When I neared the top I harshly rubbed at my eyes to try and stop the prickling feeling of tears which really didn't do anything besides make them even more red.

When I opened them again, of fucking course my father had to be right there coming out of the bathroom. I tilted my head downwards a little to try to hide my face as I was heading to my room. He didn't say anything besides looked a little puzzled while I stomped past. Just before I closed the door my mom called out,

"I'll be checking your room during the night to make sure you're still in there! I wouldn't put it past you to sneak out."

Fuck. I shouldn't have to deal with this shit at all. Ever. Ignoring the ice that went through my veins I yelled back "Yeah whatever, have fun getting no sleep then!" I barely had the mind to not slam the door, but made a point of closing it a little louder than needed.

Yet again, I sat in my room, on my bed alone to think. Thinking was rough, I can definitely see why Stan drinks at times like this now. All I could do was hope tomorrow was going to be better.

_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
After school the next day (Friday)

Fuck did I ever feel like shit. Ignoring Stan's apologies was hard, not looking at him was hard, keeping the one friendly wave and neutral face was hard, and it broke my heart every time to see him look more and more downcast through the day to the point he would barely even look at me. In a way that was easier to deal with from people, not so easy on the mind.

We exchanged a couple letters to each other, but never got to read the previous ones so we both had no clue what we were writing to each other about besides just whatever there was. I wrote about the previous night and an assortment of other things. Most importantly how my mother was cracking down on me so we were going to have to get used to this new relationship we had for right now quickly as it was likely going to last a while. With luck I could have my phone back sometime but that was a little far fetched at the time.

Walking home always felt longer when I had to do it alone. I was so used to always having Stan, Kenny or Cartman walk back with me I hadn't even realized what a difference they had made. Except for Stan of course because now that I think about it I might have always paid a little too much attention to him. Anyways it felt longer with Stan and Kenny walking with each other while Cartman trailed along behind them.

I walked up my stairs and waved behind me to the three of them, well maybe just Kenny and Stan since I flipped the finger to Cartman. We still hadn't talked much after the couple of fights plus the tension and I honestly didn't mind not being his friend very much so, win-win situation. Instead of doing anything back he waved his phone and winked at me. I was taken aback by the strange gesture for a moment but glared at him and repeated my former send off and assumed he was showing off how he still had a phone after mine got taken.

I didn't say anything as I walked in since nobody else was home except for maybe Ike, but he might also be out with friends. Thankfully the last couple of fights he's either been playing games or out and about.

I placed my bag down and went to get a glass of water. My mother didn't get home for another 15 minutes but I decided to wait to read the letters in case she got home early. Was I ever thankful since I had just barely drunk the water and sat on the couch to watch TV when I heard the car pull up.

I heard her come thinking in and clatter the keys down onto the counter before appearing in the living room. She marched right over and I was gearing up for another fight, not likely to the be the last but I was already feeling drained from the amount over the past few days. She stood between me and the TV so I crossly folded my arms and sat a little straighter, mentally preparing myself for whatever argument she had today.

However, I was the one getting thrown for a curve ball when she held up my school bag and asked,

"So, are the notes you got from Stan in here then?"