Buried (a Creek fic)

7. Owe

Craig was very tempted to chuck his alarm clock out of his window as soon as it started wailing after striking 7:30am, the usual time he was supposed to roll out of bed and get ready for school. As he groggily hopped out of bed and to his closet for clothes, memories of last night started flooding back to him and he could tell that today was going to be another bad day.

Yesterday was more eventful than any other day had been in awhile and not in a good way. First off, he had pissed off one of the biggest bullies in South Park by preventing him from beating up Tweek. Secondly, he had broken out of his reputation of not caring about anyone by helping Tweek (which was sure to raise questions out of people today). Third, he had regrettably went off on Clyde. And to top it all off, his ex-friend had called him and now he was supposed to decide between meeting up with him to talk about "the Kenny incident" (as Craig called it) or to completely avoid him as much as possible. This day was doomed from the start.

After carelessly throwing on a new pair of clothes, his regular jacket, and hat, he trudged out of his bedroom door and began making his way downstairs. He heard dishes lightly clanking together from somewhere in the kitchen and as he entered, he found his father sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of black coffee and a newspaper in his hand, while his mother was pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Craig," his mom greeted automatically, without looking up at him.

"Morning," he muttered back, making a b-line for the refrigerator, where he retrieved an apple from.

"You were gone pretty late last night," she reminded him. "Where were you?"

"Out," Craig stated, his voice monotone.

"Craig," Mrs. Tucker rebuked, "I'm serious. I need to know where you are."

"Listen to your mom, Craig," added Mr. Tucker almost robotically, without looking up from his newspaper.

"Why? You never do," he mumbled, taking a bite out of the apple in his hand and coldly walking past them in the direction of the front door. He grabbed his school bag and slinged it over his shoulder carelessly.

"Craig!" his mother called after him, but he was already out the door.

The Tuesday morning sun blinded him, making him squint slightly as he began the tedious walk to the high school. The air chilled him, but not as much as it had the last time he had been outside, surrounded by the 2am darkness. His thoughts wandered to Stripe and he hoped that the kind dog was still in the alleyway. Maybe he'd stop there quickly before school started.

As if on cue, the yellow school bus lumbered noisily past him, the brakes suddenly screeching to a halt at the stop sign in front of him. He could faintly make out a few distinct faces through the grimy windows of the bus; one of which included Kenny, who seemed to be laughing at something with Stan, Kyle, and Cartman.

Something flickered inside of Craig, like a flame of anger. A part of him was surprised that Kenny was still regularly hanging out him them, but the majority of him was not.

They're all dicks, anyways, he thought; his mind spitting out these thoughts like they were venom. No wonder they're all still friends. They deserve each other.

As he watched the bus continue on its way to the high school, Craig felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. After pulling it out, he realized he had a new text message.

Clyde: sorry dude I just got your voicemail now. whats wrong?

Remembrance of the anxiety-driven voicemail he had left Clyde after talking to Kenny filled his head. A small, relieved smile flashed across Craig's face as he scanned the message. One thing that he loved about Clyde was his continuous, unwavering loyalty to Craig. He knew very well that he didn't at all deserve it, but it was still appreciated. Even after the awful things he had said the night before, Clyde was still willing to help him.