Separate Lives Ch. 1

The horse stopped and collapsed, sending the nine-year-old tumbling to the ground. A moment later, a woman ran over to him and untied him and removed the blindfold from around his eyes. She looked at his torn clothes and asked him what had happened.

"Um," the boy thought about it before just deciding to say, "well, I chose not to vote in my school elections because it was between a giant douche and a turd sandwich."

"Huh?" She raised her eyebrow in confusion. Really? "A giant douche…and a…turd sandwich?"

"Yeah. We were voting on a new school mascot, and I didn't want to vote, so I got banished for it."

"You got banished…for not wanting to vote between two retarded mascot choices?"

"Yep."

She sighed and shook her head. "Where're you from?"

"South Park."

"Oh dear god." She rolled her eyes. "Well, you can stay with me. I'm a college student, so I'm rarely at the apartment, but I'll be glad to raise you." She smiled at him. "Besides, I think having a little brother around would be fun."

He smiled and nodded. "Okay."

…

"Marsh!" A black-haired teenager jumped and focused back in on reality. He was leaning against a gray counter, and was wearing a dark blue t-shirt under a dark red nylon vest and dark blue skinny jeans. On his direct left was a cash register, and to his right was the automatic sliding door exit under a large sign that said, "Thank You for Shopping at Lowe's."

Stan sighed and straightened back up into his a full stand. "Yes?"

"You were slacking off again," his boss, a cranky elderly man the cashiers all called The Battleaxe, scolded. "Do it one more time and I'll have to write you up!"

"Yes sir, Mr. Mendoza," Stan replied as enthusiastically as his acting ability would allow him.

Mendoza turned and walked down to the Lumber department to check on the other employees.

Stan sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned back to make sure no one was coming to check out at his station. He'd been remembering when he first came to live in Denver almost nine years ago. The woman who found him and has been all but raising him was named Christine Riley. She graduated from college five years ago and has been working in a Denver middle school ever since, though both she and Stan still lived in the same apartment from when he was in elementary school. They both wanted to move into a house, but with her as a teacher and him working part-time at Lowe's, it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, especially with his graduation fast approaching.

"Is this all you need?" He asked as a man came to check out at his cash register.

"Yes it is," he said with a small smile. He paid for the nails he bought and left quickly.

Stan looked at the clock and smiled. His shift was over in five minutes, and Mendoza was strict when it came to employees getting overtime. He always let everyone clock out three minutes early just to make sure no one got overtime.

"Hey," a pissed off sounding man said to Stan, "I'm ready to check out."

He sighed quietly and looked at the two men on the other side of the counter with a small smile. "Sorry about…that?" He looked at the man with the green hat, red-orange jacket, and loose blue jeans. Small tufts of red hair were sticking out of the bottom of the hat. "Kyle?"

He looked at Stan with a confused look. "What?"

"Are you Kyle Broflosky?"

"…Yeah…?" Kyle took a step back, behind the brown haired boy wearing a dark brown coat and baggy blue jeans.

"You know this asshole, babe?" The man asked as he narrowed his eyes.

Stan's eyes went wide at those words, especially when he realized who the other man was. "Clyde?!"

"Do we know you?"

Before they could run out, leaving the lamp, nails, and piece of plywood behind, Stan scanned them. "My name is Stan Marsh," realization crossed both their faces, "and Kyle, you were my best friend in elementary school."

"Stan?" Kyle leaped right up to the counter. "Is it really you?"

"Yeah dude."

"Wow," Clyde said with an impressed tone to his voice. "What've you been doing all these years?"

"Well, lucky for me, those PETA members never found me on that horse. Instead, a woman named Christine found me. She's been raising and supporting me all these years. She's actually a teacher at a middle school not far from here. I started working here a few months ago to help with the bills." Stan shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, though he was incredibly excited to see Kyle again.

"That's amazing Stan," Kyle said with a wide smile. "Hey, when does your shift end?"

"Actually," Stan looked at the clock, "Battleaxe Mendoza should be coming around to dismiss me any minute now." He smiled.

"Great!" Kyle looked over at Clyde. "Do we really have to go right back?"

Clyde shrugged. "No, and we could probably make up an excuse as to why we were late getting back. It didn't seem like Cartman and Kenny were in a rush to get things done."

"That's true…"

"Marsh," Mendoza said as he walked up, "get these two checked out and then get clocked out!"

"Sounds good to me boss." Stan hit a few buttons on the touch screen of the check out and told Clyde the total. As soon as he paid for it, Stan ran back to the break room and checked out. He threw his vest into a small locker and grabbed his dark brown jacket out of it, slipping into it as he ran back out of the break room to where he left Kyle and Clyde. "Let's go get dinner. Christine isn't expecting me home yet anyway."

"Okay." Kyle smiled. He grabbed Stan's wrist as Clyde grabbed his hand, lacing his fingers with the other boy's.

"Let's just walk over to Burger King," Stan said as the three boys walked out into the cold Colorado winter air, "it's cheap."

"So where does Christine think you are right now, Stan?" Kyle asked out of curiosity as the trio turned in the direction of the fast food restaurant.

"Over at my girlfriend, Marie's." Stan shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway, I'll just get home before she starts worrying."

"Girlfriend, huh?" Clyde chuckled.

"What?"

"How long have you been dating her?"

"Four years."

"About as long as Cartman and Kenny," Kyle noted.

"Cartman and Kenny?!" Stan stopped and stared at them with his mouth hanging open. "Really?!"

Kyle stopped and nodded at his friend. "Yeah, it's definitely one of the more…strange things that's happened since you were banished."

"I'd say…" Stan continued walking, leading his friends into the Burger King. "Any other couples that I should know about?"

"Just Craig and Tweek," Kyle said, "but who didn't see that coming…?"

"Yeah, it's been obvious ever since middle school," Clyde said.

"Well I didn't see it coming!" Stan said.

"Oh yeah, that's right." Kyle chuckled. "Well, here's something you should've seen coming: Butters is gay too."

"That I did imagine happening." Stan ordered something off the value menu and waited for Clyde and Kyle. "Well, how's everyone been?" He asked when they were done ordering.

"Well, with the exception of Kenny, good," Kyle said with a slightly sad tone.

"Kenny? What's wrong with him?"

"Cartman treats him like shit," Clyde sighed. "I don't understand why he hasn't left him yet."

"It's actually really sad to watch," Kyle said.

"Damn." Stan grabbed his tray and sat it down on a nearby table so that he could still talk with Clyde and Kyle while they waited for their food. "It would be sad to watch."

Once they got their food, they sat down across from Stan and talked on much lighter subjects for the next hour. When they were done, Clyde and Kyle left to go back to South Park and Stan went back to the apartment he shared with Christine. He couldn't wait to tell her, even though he knew that she'd ring his ass for ditching Marie.