South Park: Dragging Me Down

Talk

Pip scuffed his shoes along the pavement as he trudged along feeling sorry for himself. His right arm was throbbing painfully and he felt more on edge than ever. His run-in with Kenny had left him shaken and he was worried about bumping into the blonde teen again, knowing how volatile he could be. Kenny had already threatened to get the jocks on him so at this point Pip was living in a state of near constant terror.

It was late when he finally carried himself back into his alley. He'd been delayed by detention, injury and being accosted by Mr Mackey who basically told him to 'man up' as a way to stop getting beaten up, before dismissing him. Then a group of students from another year group saw how funny he looked and attacked him. After they'd dispersed, he's been dragged into detention by the textiles teacher for no apparent reason other than the fact he was British. He'd spent detention attempting to sow up bits of his torn up suit. His stitching had worked a little bit but it was still obvious that he'd been bullied.

He sighed. He was glad school was over now and he just wanted to disappear. He felt people would prefer it that way if he wasn't around. He was too much of a burden.

Dumping himself on his blanket, Pip found his only comfort by hugging his knees.

"You're late." came a voice from above.

Completely startled, Pip shot to his feet, looking up to find the source of the noise. Mysterion was perched on the roof, his cape flowing elegantly behind him as he glanced down at the troubled Pip, who was now faking a smile.

"H-Hi Mysterion!" he tried to act as cheery as possible to show nothing was amiss.

"Pip, just don't." Mysterion immediately caught his bluff, jumping down next to him. "I know what happened today."

Pip's smile dropped. He dipped his head and slid back down the wall into a sitting position. "Oh."

"And I also know it wasn't your fault."

His head lifted. "Oh?"

"If bullies want to pick on you for no apparent reason, that's on them. You did nothing wrong." Mysterion approached him.

"I-I... I just didn't want the goth kids getting hurt." he admitted honestly.

"Is that the reason you went with them?" the vigilante asked.

"M-Maybe?" he hugged his knees. "But it worked so..."

Mysterion frowned. "It worked? You got hurt. That's not fair, Pip."

Pip just shrugged.

"Wanna talk about it?" he came up alongside him, leaning against the wall.

Pip gave him a timid look. He was still unused to being asked how he was feeling and to open up to him. He was expecting Mysterion not to care like everyone else. Nobody had cared before and Pip had always accepted nastiness from people because in his heart he knew he deserved it.

"What did they say to you?" Mysterion pried. "Please tell me. It might make you feel better."

"Some stuff." Pip kept it vague.

"Like what?"

"Just... some stuff."

"You can tell me."

"I-It doesn't really matter that much."

"It does to me if it upset you."

Pip went a little red. "It was just... the usual stuff. I know it's true so it doesn't really bother me."

"But it's not true." Mysterion scolded, "Whatever they said, it's not true. You have to stop believing the negative shit they throw at you because it's just not true."