𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

Chapter Two

Tweek, Craig, and Token sat at the lunch tables, sluggishly force feeding the cafeteria food to themselves. Tweek was visibly roused up, still a little concerned on just how much Cartman knew. "Ngh! Cartman won't leave me alone, he keeps lying about crap you never said."

Craig seemed eager to put down his fork and talk. I swear I just saw my pudding wink at me. "Well, that's just how the guy is. He'll be over it in a week. We give it time and things will back to normal."

"Huh. E-easy for you to say. I don't know how much more I can take because I already punched him in the jaw."

Token laughed. "That fat-ass spews bullshit, both out of his ass and his mouth, not that you can really tell the difference."

Craig chuckled at that before looking over to Tweek with a certain glint in his eye. "Hm. It isn't like you to punch him. What did he say?"

Tweek noticeably blushed before chugging his milk in a hurry and coughing. Lie to him, lie to him! "Gah! Er, well, he called my mom a trannie-hooker." That should work.

Token whistled. "That's pretty harsh, but I think you'll manage. He calls me a bunch of racist crap." He chuckles. "You did the right thing by punching him cuz' it always gives you a nice feeling of relief to see his fat ass get beaten up." He laughed. "He's practically a fatter, less evil but still evil version of Hitler. Racist and just plain wrong."

Tweek felt a little more laid-back. It was times like these he really felt like he was part of Craig's gang. They always had his back.

"You got that right. But it's not just him; his whole gang is pretty weird. Who the hell goes into a situation knowing something's going to go terribly wrong?" Craig griped.

"You pragmatic son of a bitch!" Token teased, laughing a little. "You really hate them, huh?"

Craig shook his head to the side. "I don't hate them, just Cartman. But then again, who doesn't? His own gang seems to find his company as pleasant as sticking swords down their eyelids." Token winced at the graphic imagery but nodded none the less. "And anyway, they never really seemed normal to me."

Tweek smiled. "Heh. You're not exactly normal either." Craig gave him a small stare and Tweek nearly jumped off his seat. Damn, did he take it as an insult? "Gah! Wait, wait, I didn't mean it, I mean, sorry!" Craig shook his head.

"Hm… I guess not. But you know me best. What works for me, I do it. If it doesn't, I don't. Simple code." He answered. "Nice and boring."

It feels kind of nice to hear that I know him best. I never thought of it that way… … I never noticed how much I liked his voice either… Little bit nasally, devoid of human emotion, monotone and dull, yet… Expressive. Tweek smiled to himself. He had never really analyzed Craig before, and when he did, he thought he summed up his voice perfectly. Tweek's smile was mere indents at the corners of his mouth, nearly imperceptible yet there none the less. Nobody noticed when Tweek was genuinely smiling, but Craig caught it, and he absentmindedly smiled himself. "Hey… What if something 'exciting' did happen to you? Something not nice and boring?" Tweek's question was on the tip of his tongue for quite a while now, and this time, it had slipped out. Oh well, at least I'll hear his reply.

Craig's eyes expressed a little bit of curiosity. "Something not nice and boring? Well, I guess I'd merely accept fate as it is." Tweek merely nodded.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, dudes, let's not start talking about fate and stuff. Don't want to get philosophical right now, especially not in the cafeteria." Token put up his two palms as he said so. Tweek grinned as he scratched the back of his neck; he hadn't realized how serious a talk he was striking up with Craig in public. "Hey, Craig, Cartman's walking over here." Craig shook his head reproachfully as Cartman forced a bogus smile his way. Craig nodded to an equally annoyed looking Token and Tweek before getting up to meet him.