Song: Happy Pills by Weathers
"Hey Sharon! Do you know where all of my beer went?"
"I don't know! Why are you looking for it now anyway? It's 7 in the morning!"
"...That's irrelevant!"
"Stan, do you know what happened to your father's alcohol?"
"No, Mom."
That was a lie.
Stan often stole beer, whiskey, or vodka from his father. Other times, he simply found his own way. He had his good choice of "friends" after all. But, this time, he clearly decided to steal some beer. Two cans and two bottles. That should be just about enough to last the entire day, at least.
In his school bag, he had the bottles in separate brown paper bags. He never knew when he'd need to take a swig at school, really.
So he took it.
Just in case.
In his bag as well, he had the cans, making it so that he could sneak them and hide them in his car.
Slipping on his hat, Stan shrugged his bag over his shoulder and headed downstairs. He took his car keys off of the hook by the door.
"Bye Mom, bye Dad." He said simply before leaving.
The keys jingled in Stan's hand as he started his car. He was not in the mood to go to school, to say the least. Hell, just a couple weeks ago, his elementary school classmate died in the same hotel room he was sleeping in. It wasn't a comforting thought; the fact that everyone around him was dying was completely and utterly depressing. Hell, which one of his friends would die next, Kenny?
Stan ignored the heat down on him due him wearing a hoodie, and got into his car. The Jeep wasn't too new or grand, but it brought him to and from places, so that was all he could ever ask for.
He stepped into the navy blue vehicle in front of him and put the keys in the ignition.
Another day of getting drunk between classes.
After hiding away the cans of beer in his car, Stan drove off to school. On occasion, at a stoplight, he would take a few sips from an opened beer can. He knew for a fact that it wasn't safe at all to drink while driving, but quite frankly, he couldn't care less. Whatever would happen couldn't be too bad.
Being as conspicuous as possible, he finished the alcohol right there in the parking lot. Stan didn't really care if any other students noticed he was tipsy during school. What were they gonna do about it?
What they always did.
Absolutely fuckin nothing.
Stan opened the car door and got out, grabbing his bag on the way. He made sure to lock the car doors as well before he finally walked up to the school.
How fun. What another good day of learning useless shit that he wouldn't use in his future.
If he even had much of a future left.
The school felt so empty to Stan. All except for one of his true friends was dead, and he only really had his girlfriend. That was about it.
Many of the people he recognized from elementary school were now dead. Hell, one of them died in the same room as him. This wasn't anything he could take in easily.
Stan walked straight to his first period class where he sat next to Kenny. The blond had his parka hoodie up over his head and was staring off into space. His eyes looked bloodshot.
"Kenny?" Stan tried to get his attention as he set down his bag.
No response.
"Dude," He shook his friend's shoulder. "Are you high?"
Inhaling, Kenny slowly looked over at him. He laughed a bit, deliriously. He was definitely high.
"I... May or may not have been smoking a bit on the bus..." He mumbled and giggled under the orange parka.
"God, again?" Stan sighed.
"Well you're not a clean slate either my dude," Kenny started, eyeing him, "You drank some of the good shit, huh?"
"Not so loud, dude." Stan mumbled.
"Ah, hell, sorry."
The pair was soon silenced by the bell and the teacher now starting class. Stan didn't particularly pay attention during this lesson. He was now thinking...
Did he forget to do something today?
Homework, lunch money, textbook, beer...
His pills.
It's not that the medication helped Stan all that much, really, but they made him not want to kill himself. Plus, it gave him the care to make an effort to pay attention to his girlfriend.
Oh well.
Guess he'll just have to go without them today.
The periods that passed by felt like endless days. It was soon finally Stan's lunch period. He wasn't necessarily hungry or anything, he just needed some time away from class.
He only got so many drink breaks during this time, after all.
After just drinking some water in the cafeteria for 10 minutes, Stan looked at Kenny. At this point, the weed was starting to die down.
"You wanna go to the abandoned bathroom?" Stan asked quietly enough so nobody else could hear.
"Yeah, why not."
The twosome stood up and started to walk out of the cafeteria. Before they could, however, Wendy stood in front of Stan, blocking his path.
"Hi Stan," Wendy started to say. She had a gift bag in her hand. "Happy anniversary." This hit him like a ton of bricks.
Today was their three year anniversary.
And he didn't have a gift for her.
"Oh, hey sweetie, happy anniversary..." Stan was a tad panicked, and this was noticeable.
Wendy paused.
"...Did you forget about it...?"
"What? No no no, of course I didn't forget," Stan said quickly, "I just left your gift at home. I was... Uh, hoping to see you after school."
"Oh, really...?" Wendy was pretty smart, and didn't know if she believed this completely.
"Yeah, I think it'll be more..." Stan paused. "...Romantic that way."
"Oh, I mean you are right..."
"Yeah, so it'd be cool if you could come over later."
"Well, okay, I can do that." Wendy smiled. "Oh, do you want your gift now, or do you want me to hold onto it?"
"I can take it now." Stan smiled a tad.
A part of him felt like an asshole, forgetting such an occasion. He didn't even have anything for her. Now, he was lying right to her face. But the other part of him...
Just didn't seem to care.
"Alright, here," She handed him the bag. "I really hope you like them."
Stan looked past the blue and red tissue paper and inside saw four things: a card in an envelope, a hat, a shirt, and a phone case.
Stan decided to look at the red-packaged card later.
The hat was a bit different than his everyday hat; it was made of a different, different fabric, and instead was red and black.
"You should try it on! I figured that it'd really suit you, and you could save it for winter." Wendy smiled up at him.
Smiling slightly, Stan took off his normal hat, exposing his jet black hair. He put on the new hat. It did suit him pretty well. It did, however, almost make him look goth again.
"Oh, it looks so good on you!" Wendy said. "Now look at everything else!"
The shirt at the bottom of the bag was folded neatly. Upon unfolding it, he saw that it was blue near the top, and faded out to black near the middle and bottom.
Finally, beside all of this, there was the phone case.
It was a collage of cool-colored hearts, and a picture of the two in the center.
"I had to get it custom made, so I really hope you actually like it." Wendy looked up at her boyfriend with anticipation filled in her eyes.
"I do, I really like it. I like everything you got me." He smiled. "Thank you sweetie."
"You're welcome. I love you, Stan."
"Love you too."
