South Park: Senior Year

4. Awareness

"Go suck a dick, you fucking Jew! You fucking cheated!" Eric yells into his headset. He's currently playing against Kyle (reluctantly because Stan is the worst at this game and Kenny isn't answering his texts) in Call of Duty and just got his ass royally kicked.
"How would I possibly cheat, Fat Ass. You just fucking suck!" Kyle shouts back.
"I bet it's not even you playing! You have Ike on the controller don't you?" Eric groans, remembering how that little Canadian piece of shit is a god in every video game he plays.
"What? No!" Kyle responds, though his tone makes it so obvious that he's lying.
He's about to give him shit for being so bad that an 11-year-old had to sub in for him, but he hears his front door open from downstairs.
"Eric, honey, I'm home!" his mom's voice calls up to him.
"Alright cocksucker, tell your fag brother to get a life, I'm getting off." Eric says, taking off his headset and heading down the steps. He lingers on the last few, watching as his mom sits down on the couch with a tired sigh.
"Hey, Mom. How was work?" he asks.
"Oh, fine, honey. Just long." she responds, giving him a warm smile.
"Want me to start on dinner?" he asks, making his way down the last couple of steps.
"That would be wonderful, sweetheart, thank you." His mom leans her head back against the back of the couch with closed eyes. It's obvious how sore and exhausted she is from being on her feet all day.
He sighs and makes his way into the kitchen to fix up something for the two of them.
Back when Eric was in middle school, he wouldn't have even greeted his mom when she got home from work. He would've called her a bitch and demanded she make him something to eat, and she would have done what he said because she's a kind and loving mom. Around the end of 8th grade, though, she got sick and Eric almost lost the only person who ever actually cared and loved him enough to be there for him no matter what horrible things he did.
Ever since he realized how easily she could just vanish, he decided to fix his shit attitude and behavior toward her. She was his mom for Christ's sake, yet it still took her almost dying just to wake him up from the sick reality he was living in and realize he wasn't the center of the universe.
Eric opened the cupboard to grab a can of sauce. His mom entered the kitchen as he began cooking. She took some lettuce out of the fridge and began to chop it beside him. Neither one of them said anything, but Eric enjoyed her company. He stills regrets everything he did to her and wishes he would've been better. He knows that bettering himself now won't make up for it, but at least he can show his mom that he really does care.
Once the spaghetti and salad are done, Eric and his mom sit down to eat.
"How come your friends haven't come over to play recently? They used to come over almost every day."
"Stan, Kahl, and Kinny?" Eric asks to which she nods.
"Kinny still comes over. I've always fucking hated Kahl and Stan just... he's kind of a bummer to hang out with." Eric explains.
"How so?" Mom asks.
"He's so down in the dumps all the time. We've tried to cheer him up, but he just doesn't want to be happy."
His mom frowns. "That's a terrible way to live."
Eric chuckles. "Yeah, but his dumb ass chose to be a little bitch about everything." He says while rolling his eyes.
"Eric, language." His mom scowls.
"Sorry."
"Maybe you should reach out to him again? Try to help?"
"I'd rather not waste my time. He's a pain to be around and I honestly wouldn't care if he stopped hanging out with me and Kinny entirely." Eric says, putting his finished plate into the sink.
"It sucks that you all aren't friends anymore. You were inseparable as kids." His mom says before he exits the room.
Eric pauses, thinking about how easily everything changed. Sophomore year ruined everything for all of them.
"Yeah, I just don't think there is any going back." He tells her.
She looks at him with a sad expression before returning to her meal. Eric heads up the steps and into his room. He lays down on his bed, checking his phone to see a message from the student council.

Students!! The student council is hosting a Breast Cancer awareness meeting after school tomorrow. Show up to offer donations and enjoy refreshments!

Eric tosses his phone to the side before standing to change into his pajamas. Wendy is always hosting dumb stuff like this and the teachers and parents love her for it. Her perfect straight A's help her gain popularity points as well. She acts so damn perfect all the time and it pisses Eric off.

The following day of school seems to drag on forever. Eric hadn't slept much the night before, being woken by some stupid ass nightmare. He couldn't remember much from it besides waking up in tears like he's been doing since he was 8. He's been prescribed medicine to help keep him asleep but nothing ever worked. When he was younger he would've gone to sleep in his mom's bed, but now he just lays in bed, crying about it. He'd never admit to how pathetic that made him feel, or the fact that it happened at all in the first place. His nightmares are the only reason he doesn't allow himself to fall asleep in class, despite how much he wants to.
After what feels like years, the last bell of the day rings. Eric sees a group of probably 20 girls rush into the classroom across from him with much more coming through sporadically afterwords.
With a sigh, he makes his way into the classroom. As soon as he enters, every girl looks at him like he's the nastiest thing they've ever seen.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Nicole asks, standing in front of him to block him from going any farther into the classroom.
"I'm here to support breast cancer awareness, obviously." He responds, slipping a twenty into the donations box to prove it.
Nicole looks at him suspiciously before letting him walk in and take a seat. He sits in the only available seat which is, of course, right in front.
A few minutes later, Wendy walks in and stands in front of the class. Ex-elementary-school-Principal now Middle-school-principal Victoria is with her for some reason.
Wendy smiles and clasps her hands annoyingly together as she begins to address the room. "Thank you, everyone, for coming to support tonight. All the money here will be given to-"
She stops mid-sentence as her eyes fall on Eric sitting in front of her. He silently begs she won't acknowledge him any further and just move on, but of course, she doesn't. Why would she? She can never mind her own fucking business. Damn girls.
"Cartman, get out. Now." She demands, pointing angrily to the door.
"What? Why?!" He says, his hands held up defensively. "I donated!"
"I don't give a crap what you gave! You're obviously only here to make snarky, misogynistic comments. Don't act like you actually care about breast cancer."
"How do you know I don't care?" He scowls back at her.
"Oh shut up, Eric. We all know you're just gonna talk about how our boobs are killing us and how women suck." Anne's voice says from a few seats behind him.
He turns to face her. "Well, it seems like you're the one saying that, Anne." He turns back towards Wendy. "I have every right to be here and you have no reason to kick me out."
"You don't even care about breast cancer! Or girls!" Wendy argues. "Just get out, and stop tormenting us."
Eric stands up. "I was just sitting here peacefully until you decided to start yelling at me! I also happen to be the only boy here, so are you being sexist, Wendy?"
"God, Eric, do you have to make everything so goddamn difficult?!" Wendy rolls her eyes. "I know for a fact you don't care about this meeting. You don't understand what it's like to have breast cancer or know someone who's suffering from it!"
"Maybe I do!" Eric responds.
"Like I'm going to believe that. You've never suffered a day in your life, cartman."
"I have! And I do happen to know someone, actually. She almost died!" Cartman says, becoming more and more frustrated with her.
"Yeah right, who?"
"That's none of your business."
"Then I don't believe it! You've made fun of breast cancer relentlessly. I kicked your ass for it, remember? You'd think you learn, but no! God! Im not gonna just forget all the horrible shit you said and did!"
"That was before my mom got it and almost fucking died!" Eric yells back.
The room goes dead silent and he realizes what he said. God fucking dammit, why couldn't he just get over it and leave? Why did he have to let everything get to him?
"Is that true?" Wendy finally asks, looking guilty.
"Why fucking else would I be here?" He mutters before grabbing his bag and leaving the class. Why did he even bother showing up? He knew this would happen.
"Eric, wait!" Wendy stops him, standing in the doorway of the class. "I didn't know, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have been so rude... I..." she stammers for the correct words to say but she's still baffled by what he blurted out.
"It's fine. I gave my donations so I did what I needed to." He shrugs her off and exits out the front doors.
He hated that tears burned his eyes as he walked home, but his mom flooded his mind. He was so horrible to her, and Wendy and every other girl back in elementary without knowing even half of how terrible this shit truly was. He still hated Wendy and most of the girls, but did he have to be such a dick?
He still wasn't the best person. He'd always be a piece of shit asshole because that's just how he is, but he used to be so much worse and he'd never get back every horrible thing he did. He wished he could just start over. Even if he was terrible to everyone else, could he have at least been nice to his mom?