Meet some friends of mine

Normality

Y/N's POV:
I walk home and catch myself smiling like an idiot. My heart feels so happy for Kyle. He's quickly become my best friend. And although I'll never own the title of his best friend, I couldn't care less. I feel lighter, free. I know he must feel even better. I wonder if it's too late to run back to Kenny and explain that yes, I was slightly heartbroken before but now I'm not so can we schedule a railing at your first convenience please and thank you. I laugh inwardly at myself. All jokes aside, I decide what Kenny might actually need is a friend. Me too.

Later, I'm back home sipping tea and catching up with everyone. Everyone consists of me, Cartman, Kyle, and surprisingly Stan. Butters is in the chat too but is AFK.
"Wait - hold on guys" says Cartman, taking off his headset but not muting his mic.
"Mom. Meeeerrm! I need you to clean my room. Heidi is coming over and I want it to look nice" he whines.
"If she cared how things looked she wouldn't be with him" Stan remarks, cracking Kyle and I up.
Cartman returns, breathing heavily down the mic.
"Sorry bout that guys, work shit" he says cooly.
I bite back another laugh. Someone has to be on his side if those two are gonna start ganging up on him again.
"So in the spirit of reunions, how come you guys stopped hanging out with Kenny? He's in my class and he seems like a cool guy" I remark casually, trying to hide my true intentions.
"Yeah, he was. Then he slept with Stans girlfriend and didn't even feel bad about it. It was totally weak" Cartman laments.
"For real?" I ask. If Cartman thinks something is wrong then you know you fucked up.
"I don't even remember who I was dating at the time, we weren't serious or anything. But he knew we were together and still fucked me over. He has no sense of loyalty" Stan confirms.
"Oh...  Didn't his mom die though? And this was all a while ago? Maybe he was just lashing out..." I say, trying to sound reasonable and unbiased but failing completely.
"Not an excuse to be a total asshole. I tried to say hey to him the other day and he just flipped me off" Kyle shrugs.
"Oh. Sounds like a dick then" I say, disappointed.
"Yep. Not worth it, find some other pretty boy. I hear Clyde's single" Cartman teases.
I blush. "I didn't mean it like that" I protest.
"Suuuure. Keep telling yourself that dude." He smirks.
They change topics but I keep mulling it over. Kenny is definitely bad news. I blindly trusted someone once again. Stupid stupid stupid. I'm suddenly relieved nothing happened between us and silently promise myself never to sleep with him.

The next day is Saturday and I have plans to meet up with the girls at the mall. We sip milkshakes and compare notes about Heidis party last week. It feels like a million years ago now.
"So how'd it go with Eric? You get lucky?" I ask with a cheeky wink
"It's going great! We decided to take things slow. I want to save myself for marriage" she declares.
If her tone wasn't so serious I'd think she was pulling my leg.
"And he's okay with that?" Red asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Totally. He's so supportive" she gushes.
"Definitely a keeper then" I decide, smiling back.
I debate immediately telling Stan and Kyle of this newfound discovery, knowing they'd relish the chance to roast Cartman for being the last in the group to lose his virginity.
I decide against it, they have enough ammo as it is. I thought I was totally cool with their relationship but sometimes seeing Kyle's face light up whilst talking about Stan is like salt in a wound. Of course I bite my tongue because I was the one who gave them the green light in the first place. All the more reason to hang out with my other friends and clear my head.

We trawl shops, loitering makeup counters and swatching 10 different shades of sparkly nude lipgloss just to end up buying none of them. It's nice being around girls for once.
We end up in a clothes shop and pick out outfits for each other. We all pile into one changing room, laughing in between trying on the things we chose for one another.
"Oh it doesn't fit, it won't go over my boobs" giggles Wendy, fighting with the zip on a dress I decided on for her.
"Humble brag!" I accuse jokingly. "I'll go get you one in the next size" I say, ducking out of the curtained room, leaving the rest of them giggling about something or another.
I pick my way across the shop floor, noticing a commotion at the checkout. It's a group of teenage girls who have been caught shoplifting. One of them tries to make a break for it and I secretly root for her. The security guard grabs her and marches her back towards the shop. I catch a glimpse of the girl, face like thunder, struggling against the burly man and recognise her as Kennys little sister. I ditch the dress on a random shelf and make my way towards the ruckus.
"Is there a problem here?" I ask the security man, innocently.
"No problem, ma'am. We're simply waiting for the police." He responds curtly.
"The police? Is that really necessary? They're middle-schoolers for Christ sakes" I say boldly. This is only just true, she'll be a freshman in a couple months.
"I was only going to call their parents but of course they all claim not to have any" he says, tutting.
The four girls look up at me scowling.
"Look, we can settle this. I'll pay for whatever they tried to take and you can tell the police they got away" I reason.
"They won't thank you for this you know, mother Theresa" he mocks, but loosens his grip on their shoulders nonetheless.
He declines my money but makes harrumphing noises at me.
"You're all banned" he warns sternly before letting them leave.
I tail after the girls.
"It's Karen, isn't it?" I ask. She looks slightly afraid but quickly covers it with a grimace.
"Oh um I'm a friend of your brothers" I bluff, trying to put her at ease.
"My brother doesn't have friends. Now fuck off" she shouts, and they all run off, laughing.

I head back towards the changing rooms, armed with excuses. To my surprise they're all still in there laughing, my absence gone unnoticed.