Play Pretend | South Park Style

Part 3

I was at my locker, trying to forget the embarrassing talk me and Kyle had yesterday...However, a part of me wanted to know why he didn't want me to continue. Didn't he almost force me to talk about what was bothering me? I sighed and shut my locker, looking to the side I was startled by the taller ginger-curly-haired boy standing right next to me.

"Jesus... You scared the shit out of me!" I catch my breath. Kyle sighed and decided to speak up. "Uhm, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was just tired...Let's forget about it, yeah?"

I hesitate, unsure of how to respond. "Okay...Sure. No problem." I finally say with a forced smile, but I think I'm making it clear that I'm hurt by his dismissal.

"Alright..." A silence grew between us, I was about to walk away until Kyle broke the silence. "What subject do you have next?" He asks.

It's good that he asked because I forgot what subject I had next. I quickly took out my schedule from my bag and checked, "Uh, I have a history with Mr. Mackey next period." I answer, trying to sound somewhat normal.

"Cool, I got P.E." Kyle said, not sounding very excited about it.

I'd chuckle lightly "Damn, that must suck."

"Shit! Speaking about P.E. I forgot my shorts. Can I borrow yours?" Kyle asks.

Raising an eyebrow, I respond. "Uh, Sure I guess..." I say hesitantly, opening my locker again and pulling out my baggy white shorts from the locker.

"Thanks, I'll give them back when I'm done," Kyle says, smiling awkwardly.

I nod, still looking slightly uneasy but trying to pretend everything is normal. "No problem. See you later?"

"Yeah, see you later!" Kyle says, walking away from me.

I watched him walk away, feeling relieved that the tension had passed but a part of me was also disappointed that our friendship still felt strained. Suddenly, I got an idea. What if I just followed P.E. with Kyle? That way I might be able to talk to him about yesterday.

_______________

I headed over to the high school's gymnasium. Once I arrived I went into the boy's locker room and got changed into another shirt and Stan his shorts that I had borrowed.

When I had the clothes on, I immediately felt uncomfortable as the shorts were tighter than I thought. "Fuck...Just great." I sigh in frustration.

I completely forgot that I grew taller than Stan over the years so we didn't have the same size of clothes anymore. Well, I didn't have anything else and I wasn't going to wear my jeans...That's just unhygienic. I head into the gymnasium and join the rest of my class for warm-ups.

I tried keeping my breathing in control while jogging. I usually jogged during warm-ups not just because I do the same during basketball practice but also because it was easy and weirdly relaxing for me. The only annoying thing about it was that my hair bounced every time I took a step forward, it got into my face.

As I jog, I suddenly see a familiar figure in the corner of my eye. I got a strange mix of emotions - like I knew the person. I stopped and turned my head. I was right, I knew the person. It was Stan, what was he doing here? Didn't he have history class? I wondered out of curiosity. 

He walked over to the benches, sat down, grabbed his water bottle and drank from it. I ended up doing the same after a few minutes, I felt myself getting dehydrated from jogging.

________________

P.E. ended after an hour of playing volleyball. I headed over to the boy's locker rooms and stepped into the showers, turning one of them on by pressing those buttons. The water was surprisingly cold, I hissed at the feeling. After a minute I got used to it and exhaled deeply, letting the cold water remove the sweat from my body.

Once I felt clean enough, I stepped out and dried myself off with a white clean towel and got changed into my casual clothes.

I didn't even bother to ask Stan what he was doing in the gymnasium, he wasn't even paying much attention. All I knew was that he was acting weird.

Checking my schedule, I saw that I had chemistry next so I immediately took my bag and made my way to the classroom. I still felt a strange mixture of emotions going through me, and I wasn't sure if it was because of Stan or not.

At class, I sat down in my usual seat, at the window in the back of the classroom. 

Stan walks into the classroom, trying to act normal. He takes a seat in the middle of the room and pulls out his textbook. 

Weird, he usually sits next to me... Seriously, what is wrong with him? I pull out my phone and text him.

Kyle: "Dude, why didn't you sit next to me?"

I heard Stan receive my text and he grimaced. He knows I saw him receive my text, so he can't just ignore me. I waited impatiently for a reply from stan, nervously tapping my finger on my desk while I waited.

After a few moments, Stan types back, his fingers trembling slightly.

Stan: . . .T y p i n g . . .

I notice that Stan is typing, and I can't stop looking at the dots that appeared on the screen. I'd bite my lip in annoyance at how long Stan was taking to type.

*Bing!*

Stan finally sends the message, it felt like a weight has been lifted off my chest. 

I was about to read the message until my phone got snatched out of my hands by the teacher. "Kyle Broflovski, what gives you the right to text during class young man?"

"Sorry. Sir. It was something important..." Was it something important? Fuck, I don't even know anymore.

"You could've asked me if it was that important to disturb my class. You will have your phone back at the end of the lesson." The teacher said.

Stan tried not to laugh at my predicament. He was probably laughing at my dumb, made-up lie.

"Stan, do you find this funny?" The teacher asked, looking furiously at Stan now.

Stan shakes his head, trying to contrite. He knew he had no business laughing at my situation, like come on, I just got my phone taken away from me.