Nuu Park [Book 1?]

CHAPTER 7: Stark's Pond

The goth kids waved at Stan, who wasn't dressed in all black and stuck out like a kitten in a litter of puppies. He sat on their blanket and pulled out a Pepsi bottle filled with "water" and a cigarette. Henrietta tossed her lighter to him.

"Haven't seen you in a while, Raven."

"I'm avoiding someone."

Michael cocked his head towards the shortest teen. "Who?" He asked, then took a drag of the cigarette he was holding. Stan looked down toward his lap, uncomfortable.

Kyle looked towards Stan's usual lunch spot. He wasn't there, of course he wasn't. And honestly, the ginger was relieved. So fucking relieved. He was dreading seeing the teen next block. It would've been awkward enough to see him after they kissed, but it was made even worse that the taller teen had left at 4:30 in the morning and hadn't texted or called Stan since.

"Where's Darsh at?" Cartman asked. He was across the table, with a nearly empty tray.

Kyle's eyebrows slanted away from each other. "I—I dunno," He said, shoving food in his mouth to avoid talking more. Kenny looked up.

"Do you think he—?"

"No. He's avoiding me."

"Why? What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." And with that, silence filled the group.

"Trouble with your cheerleader girlfriend? What's her name, Wendy?"

"Y—Yeah, but she's genderfluid so sometimes it's different. And—And it's actually someone else, Wen doesn't have the same lunch period as me. It's Kyle. Something...happened."

"It's not too goth, but do you want a hug, Rae?" Henrietta put out the butt of her cigarette and scooted closer to Stan. He nodded while tears pricked his eyes, and Henrietta all but jumped at the other and wrapped her arms around him. The other two dropped their cigarettes in favor of rushing toward the crying boy.

"What happened, Raven?" Pete asked.

"He spent the night— a—and s—something—something happened...and he left in—in the middle of the night..."

"That's a real bummer. I wish Firkle were here. He'd know what to say."

The bell rang. "You gonna go to class?" Michael asked. He scooted away from the group a little bit to light up another cigarette. "I dunno. We have class together and we sit right beside each other. And I know Kyle is at school." Stan wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I think you should go. Face your fears and all that conformist shit. And I don't want you to get in trouble for skipping." Henrietta smiled at Stan. Her juggalo-esque makeup was slightly smudged from the hug.

"Okay. Thanks, Henri. I—I'll text you guys later." He stands up and starts towards the door.

"Bye, Raven."

Kyle sat in his seat and took out his history notebook. He flipped to the next clean page and took out his phone. And of course, right as the second bell rang, Stan sat down beside Kyle in his own chair. Neither of them spoke to the other. The teacher walked into the classroom and started talking about something that happened to her over the weekend.