It felt like a very long last three periods before the school day was over. Most of the children were either walking home or being driven home. However, a handful of students, including a frustrated Kyle, had to stay after school for an hour and a half for tutoring. The only positive result of having those extra hours is that the young red head didn't have to sit near Stan on the bus ride home. Meanwhile, after a ten minute ride, Stanley was dropped off in front of his own house as he slugged his way out of the yellow bus, feeling very penitent over what had just occurred. Kyle was like the brother the raven haired boy never had, and he had defiled that bond with one of the stupidest mistakes he had ever made. Now that was damaged, but in the back of his head, Stan kept telling himself, 'This isn't the end. I can fix it, but how?' he asked himself in despair. Finally, he made to his home and walked in the door. As he knew, both his parents were home, but they were probably both upstairs. Poor Stanley was so depressed about the situation, that he was sulked on the couch and leaned his arm and head on the couch's right arm rest, not even acknowledging that his sister was sitting on the other side of the couch watching Twilight . Shelly, on the hand, did acknowledge her annoying little brother's entrance and was somewhat suspicious of it.

"What's your problem, Turd?" she asked with a rude spit from her braces. It's not really that she cared if Stan was alright, but his depressive state was killing the mode of her movie

The boy in the red poof ball hat signed and sat up in his seat. Without turning to look his bully in the face, he somberly explained the situation, "I got a bunch of peewee hockey kids injured the other day." he sighed, "Included my friend Kyle's little brother, and he's being punished for my mistake."

"Well. sucks to be you right now." she replied with spit in her mouth, seemingly uncaring about her little brother's problems With a sorrowful expression, Stan continued to explain the situation

"What makes it even worse is now he broke off our friendship, and I have no idea how I'm gonna fix this." he concluded on the verge of tears, hiding his facing into his knees.

Shelly pondered Stan's situation, and decided to do something about his feelings "Doesn't seem like you give that much of a crap." she bluntly responded, much to her little brother's disgust.

The black haired boy bolted his head up to his ass of a sister. How dare she imply that he doesn't regret backstabbing his best friend? What does know about their relationship or even the situation. In anger, he sat up and pointed an infuriated finger at her "What the hell are you talking about? What about all that made you think that I don't care about what I did?!"

She kept a monotone yet sarcastic expression as she explained her thought process, "Well, you said your little turd friend is still grounded for something you did."

"Yeah?" Stanley tilted his head, willing to listen to where his sister was going with this

"If you care so much about your friendship, Turd, than why is he being grounded when you're not?" she asked with a condescending voice fused with curiosity.

What Shelly had told him hit the raven haired kid like a fist on the head. In a way, she was right; their parents don't know the whole story, and that's why the wrong kid was currently being grounded. This probably wouldn't help Ike, but what Stan was going to do had to show Kyle that he was sorry for betraying him. "You're right." he muttered to himself, "I know how to make it up to Kyle." he added in a more comprehensible tone. He stood up from the couch, and nearly bounced with energy over his energy. Stanley certainly wasn't look to the result it will reap, but the boy in the red poof ball hat was ecstatic that he now had an idea to save his longstanding friendship "Ha ha, my friendship's not over! I just need to get grounded!" he jumped with joy as he rushed towards the stairs

"Where are you going?!" asked Shelly who was startled by her brother's sudden leap of energy In joy, he turned around and replied, "To find mom and dad! I'm gonna get grounded!" he cheered as he rushed upstairs to talk to his parents. After sitting in silence for a moment, the angry teenager went back to back to watching her cheesy romance movie "Serves you right, turd."

(ONE HOUR LATER)

Once after school tutoring ended, the depressed red haired boy sluggishly made his way home, not feeling in the mood to deal with his enraged mother and father. His parents explained very clearly that as soon as he got home all this week, he was to march straight to his room and quietly stay in there all night. Finally, so to speak, he made it home, entered the house and made his way upstairs. However, half way up the stairs, he heard his dad call his name.

"Kyle?"

The young stopped and called in an assumed response, "I know, I know! I'm going to my room!" then he was halted by another voice "No, Bubbela, we need to see you, sweetie!" called Shiela from a direction that sounded like the dining room. The green hatted boy stopped in his tracks. He widened his eyes in curiosity over the tone of Shiela's voice. She didn't sound like the angry hurricane she was over the weekend. On top of that, usually when a child is called into another room, it meant they were in some sort of trouble, but her calm voice said otherwise. With one eyebrow raised, he made his way into the dining room where was met with quite the surprise. Not only was he met with his parents, but he was met a certain Marsh child and parents sitting between him.

"Stan?" he gasped under his breath as he stepped further into the room, "Wait, what's going on?" he asked, not having the foggiest idea what was about to happen

Gerald was the first to speak as he explained, "Kyle, your friend came over a little ago and explained to us what happened at Ike's hockey game."

"He what?" the young Jew widened his eyes in shock as he turned to look at Stanley. Evidently, the black haired boy wasn't as enthusiastic about being punished as he displayed before, or was that part of the plan; looking guilty and full and of shame so his parent wouldn't catch on that he was just taking the heat off of his friend

"He told us that he was the one who insisted Ike play on his team and let him get hurt after he promised you wouldn't." Shiela continued as he gestured over to the boy in the red poof ball hat

Kyle froze. "No way," he thought, " Stan's probably just trying to look good for brownie points or something." he said to himself. He glared at Stanley, only to have those theories shot back at him with a wink. Stan was indicating this was all part of his plan

Thus, he decided to play along, "Um, uh yeah," the hatted kid stuttered "I didn't want Ike to play, but Stan gave me his word Ike would be fine." he replied as he folded his arms in discomfort

"That's what I thought," Sharon said sternly, "Stanley, is there you'd like to say to Kyle and his family?" she turned and glared to her son

Now in the spotlight, Stanley gulped and meekly replied "Mr. and Mrs. Broflovski, please understand that I never meant to hurt any of these kids, essentially Ike. He seemed to really enjoy playing ice hockey, but I had no right making that decision behind your back." he begged for forgiveness in a genuine tone of humility. "but please, don't punish Kyle for my mistake."

After the Broflovskis stared at each other for a moment, Gerald continued the conversation with a frown. "Well, Randy, I'll give him this; that's a quite a boy you've got there, being able to admit to such a big mistake.

"Yes, especially with him being so prepared for receiving his proper consequences." added Shiela

"Well, Shiela, thank you for taking the time to hear Stanley out, and know that he's certainly going to be punished for his reckless decisions." Mrs. Marsh explained with a calmer expression

"That being said," Randy began speaking specifically to Stan "you've been through a lot lately, Son, and you did admit your mistake in a very adult way. So we're only going to ground for four days, do you understand?"

"Loud and clear, but does this mean Kyle's not grounded anymore?" the black haired boy hastily asked

"Stan..." Kyle quietly announced. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Stan wasn't faking any of this. He was genuinely trying to take away Kyle's punishment and carry on with it himself

"Yes." Shiela announced, "Kyle, as of now, you are no longer grounded. We're so sorry we didn't listen to your side of the story." he told her only biological son.

"Once again, I'm so sorry for all the trouble Stanley's caused your family, Shiela." Sharon said again, sounding somewhat embarrassed

"Well, I suppose it's okay." the red haired woman replied hesitantly "Considering Ike is healing faster than expected, he should be out of the hospital faster than expected . Thank you for clearing this mess for us."

"You're welcome." replied Randy, standing up. "Now, Stanley, let's go home. You've got some grounding time to do."

"Yes sir." the black haired boy complied to his father's wishes. With that, the Marshs stood up from the table, and made their way out the door. As they were walking, Stanley silently stared at his green hatted friend as he walked past him, giving a subtle nod under his expression of sadness. As they left the house, Kyle just stood in that same position with a shocked look on his face. Wondering what in the world Stan just did for him.

(STAN'S ROOM)

Once the Marshs were home, the parents followed their son straight to his room, and sat him on the bed "Well, Stanley, I hope you understand the danger you put those boys in." Sharon scolded with her arms around her chest

"More than you'd think." Stan replied as he held his arms between his chin and knees.

"Alright, son, you're going to stay in here for the rest of the week and we'll bring up your dinner in a little while. Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Good. See you in a little while, son. Thank you for handling this so well." with that, Randy and Sharon closed the door and left their son only to think about what he's done.

Stan sighed out loud and laid on his bed, facing the ceiling. He certainly wasn't happy about being grounded, but what made it worse is that he had no idea if the plan worked. Despite getting Kyle ungrounded, that didn't necessarily mean that the red haired Jew would forgive him. Without his phone that he wasn't allowed to use, he'd have no way of seeing the fruits of his labor until the very next day at school. Or would he?

Out of nowhere, he suddenly heard a strange thump near the window. Stanley widened his eyes and sat up by his arms. With one risen eyebrow, he crawled over to the window, and opened it to find his Jewish friend, Kyle, standing under the window by a ladder. Stan gasped as Kyle gave him an awkward grin.

"Kyle?" he backed away as he pulled Kyle into the bedroom and onto his bed

"Hey, Stan." Kyle replied rubbing the back of his head modestly "I borrowed a ladder from Cartman and made my way over here." he explained quickly

"Wait, I'm grounded, how did you get your parent to let you come over here?" he asked, tilting his head in curiosity

The young red head rolled his eyes to the bottom of his face, and bit his lip, remembering how he escaped his home

(FLASHBACK; KYLE'S POINT OF VIEW)

I was pacing the floor in the living room, trying to think of my next course of action. I can't believe Stan just did that, after everything I did to him today. I needed to talk to him somehow and find out what he was thinking. However, I couldn't just call him by phone, he most likely had his taken away. This was my plan; I needed to get Butters on the phone, pretend that he needed help with his homework, and I'd go to Stan's house while my parents thought I was at Butters' house. However, I couldn't just call Butters myself, my parents would be suspicious. What was I to do? As luck would have it, the phone began to ring. In an impulse, I leaped onto the couch and grabbed the nearest phone sitting on the little table.

"I got it!" I exclaimed. My plan was now in motion, all I had to do was pretend to talk to Butters so he could get out of the house and over to Stan's house "Uh, um.. hello?" I asked

"Oh, someone answered. Thank God." the mysterious man on the other line "Listen, kid, my name is Jamie, and I'm stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Mexico!" the weird guy explained. However, I didn't bare any mind to what he was saying because I was making sure my parents could hear what I was saying

"Oh! What's that, Butters? You need me to come over right now to help you with your homework?" I casually announced, seeing that my mom and dad were smiling at me from the dining room hallway.

"W-w-what?" the guy stuttered, "Kid, you don't understand; my phone's about to die and this is the only call I can make!" he exclaimed in terror

"Ok, Butters, I'll be right over!" I proclaimed mellow dramatically in order to sell it to my watching parents.

"Wait, wait, wait don't hang up, the vultures are coming! Don't hang-" it was too late. I hung up the phone and hastily grabbed my book bag and made my way to the door.

"You're going to Butters' house, kiddo?" asked my dad, walking into the living room

"Um, yeah, I'll be back later!" with that, I rushed out of the house and made my way to Stan's house, and that's how I got here

(END OF FLASHBACK; NO ONE'S POINT OF VIEW)

Kyle bit his lip and quickly responded to Stan's question, "That's not important. I came over because I needed to talk to you about what you just did." he explained giving the boy in the red poof ball hat a serious glare "Why'd you tell our parents what happened?"

Stan sigh heavily as he dragged himself to sit on the edge of the bed "I thought about how I was gonna make this up to me since you didn't accept my apology, but if you're still pissed off at me, I get it. But I was hoping I could at least make things easier on your end by getting grounded in your place." he described the thought process of his sacrifice with folded hands.

Kyle stared at his sorrowful buddy for a moment, he was stunned that Stan would take that bullet for him, despite the huge fight they had just hours prior, "You did that for me?" he asked in surprise as he sat next to Stanley, "Even after I was such as ass to you today?"

"Of course, you were right during that fight." Stan turned his head in response "I screwed you over when I promised to keep your little brother safe. All because I've seen too many gay sports movies." they chuckled lightly unison. "I mean, you shouldn't have to be in trouble for my bonehead moves." he added, knocking on the side of his own head

After being lost in thought, Kyle looked up from his lap and solemnly told the raven head, "...Dude, that is one of the coolest things anyone's done for me."

"Well, don't thank me." Stan replied, cutting the red head off, "I was only trying to fix my screw up. I don't expect you to forgive me for this, even if Ike is healing better expected." he added with that same somber expression.

Once he had his thoughts together, the young Jew calmly replied, "Well, this doesn't fix everything caused by that hockey game," the raven head cringed at that statement, fearing that his plan has failed, "but it's defiantly a start." Kyle continued on as Stan bolted his head up to Kyle, with eyes filled with hope. "What you just did helped me remember that you've always got my back. The fact that you admitted that mistake in front of both our parents? That took balls, dude. That took mad balls." he finished his small speech with a fist bump to the raven head's shoulder

Stanley was even more overwhelmed by his emotions than he was before. He turned his body a full ninety degrees to face the green hatted boy and sniffed his tears away "So,.. so we're cool?"

Kyle turned the same way Stan did and looked him straight in the eye with a smile "Yeah, Stan, we're cool." with that, the two boys embraced each other in a genuine hug that secured that their friendship would make a slow, but full recovery. Stanley actually had to cry for a minute or so. He did it, he did what he to save the relationship with his best friend in the world. It felt like a hole in his spirit was patched up and Kyle was the one being in the world who could fill the empty chip in his soul. After a minute of that embrace, Kyle pulled himself free and pulled his backpack off of his back.

The young Jew pulled a laptop out of his bag as well as a mysterious DVD case "Ya know, I've got time before my dad wants e home." he explained, "How about we watch a quick movie."

Stanley jumped off the bed to stand next to Kyle, "Aw, that sounds great. What movie did you bring over?" the raven haired fourth grader asked in curiosity.

The orange coated boy pulled out the DVD cover out in plain view, and much to Stan's dread, he saw what the movie was "Miracle." Kyle replied

This caused Stan to stare at his orange coated friend with a blank yet angry expression, and Kyle stared back with a very devilish grin "Gotcha!" he laughed aloud as he opened the Miracle cover to reveal a Terrence and Philip the Movie DVD

With that, the boys had a good laugh, started watching the movie, and sat close to each, both extremely content that they could be friends once more

(THE END)

Alright, that's all she wrote. Leave an honest review and tell if you thought this was a good ending to a modest story

(I DO NOT OWN SOUTH PARK)