"I love you, Kyle." said Kenny as he embraced the smaller boy.
"I love you too, Kenny. I always have."

At first, Kenny smiled and leaned down, eager to seal their confession with a kiss, but then he noticed something wasn't quite right. He looked around nervously for a few seconds and, after realizing what it was, finished what he wanted to do.

"...I just wish you were real." said Kenny with tears in his eyes.
"What are you talking about?"
"This."

Kenny snapped his fingers and suddenly, he was back on his bed. It was just a dream. It was still very dark outside, so he stayed in his bed and cried softly until the first rays of sunlight bled through his window and onto his face.

"Time to get up... Although I guess I could stay here just a little longer..."

Kenny was still feeling disappointed due to his dream, which resulted in a lack of will to go to school. However, something else compelled him to go: he knew that he would get to be with Kyle. Of course, that didn't make it perfect, but at least it made it tolerable.

"Kenny! Get up!"

"Dammit, Kevin... Can't you give me a minute?"

"KENNY!"
"WHAT?"
"You have a field trip today, did you forget about that?"

"Yes."

"No! I just got... distracted."
"...Well, now you're not distracted anymore. Get your ass up and let's go."
"Wait downstairs. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"If you're not here in ten minutes, I'm leaving without you."
"...You're seriously giving me a time limit?"
"Go!"

Kenny reluctantly got up and, eight minutes later, he was in the car with his brother. Ever since Kevin got his driver's license he had been acting like an asshole about it, but Kenny didn't complain much about it. Even though the school was within walking distance of his house, being driven to school was a much better option. It got him there faster, which meant that he would be with Kyle sooner.

Once he got to school and saw Kyle, he started to remember why he shouldn't have gotten there so soon. As soon as their eyes met, everything froze. His heart was pounding in his chest, his blood was rushing in his ears and he felt himself blush, so he pulled on the strings of his parka to hide his face. When Kevin finally stopped the car, Kenny thanked him for the ride and walked slowly towards Kyle, trying not to seem too excited about it.

"Hey, Kenny."

Kenny nodded, acknowledging his friends' presence, but he didn't say anything.
Being around Kyle made him nervous and excited, and he knew it would become very clear once he opened his mouth. To keep his feelings a secret, he just stood in the background, following his friends around without saying anything. When he came up with this to hide his feelings, it seemed like a good idea, but nowadays he was so afraid to show any signs of his feelings that he barely spoke around Kyle.

"Why is the bus late?" asked Stan.
"The bus driver is dating Mr. Mackey, so they're probably in his office." replied Cartman.
"How the fuck do you know that?"
"I have connections..."
"You're just making it up, fatass."
"Shut up, Kyle!"
"Guys, the bus is here. Let's go."
"You know they're gonna make us write a report on this, right?"
"Who cares... Just write about how awesome it was and you'll get a C."

As they argued, the boys started moving slowly towards the bus. Kenny was trying to keep his distance from Kyle, but it wasn't working. To Kenny, it seemed as if the group moved in such a way that forced him and Kyle to be next to each other, and he couldn't keep his distance every single time it happened, since it would be very suspicious. However, he was the one who was drifting towards Kyle without even noticing it. Eventually he just gave up and tried to avoid thinking about it.

"This isn't even one of the bad days... But I shouldn't think about those. It might make things worse."

As soon as Kenny got on the bus, he started looking for an available seat as far away from Kyle as possible. When he finally found one, however, he ended up sitting next to Kyle anyway. Even though he knew that being close to Kyle always made him feel worse, he couldn't stay away. He wanted to stay close to Kyle.

"Why do I keep doing this to myself?"

Focusing too much on Kyle eventually made him think that they would never be together. After just a few seconds of thinking about that, Kenny had a very hard time holding back his tears. Yet he still couldn't stay away. Of course, he never actually did or said anything, but he was always in the background, staying as close to Kyle as possible, whilst trying to keep any hints that he liked him to a minimum. However, he wasn't aware of any of that. As far as he was concerned, he was just trying to keep his secret safe.

As usual, Kenny was the victim of an unusual set of circumstances and died during the field trip. Usually, he could deal with it, but his feelings for Kyle were pushing him over the edge. It was exhausting for him to keep lying to his friends about this. Yet he couldn't say anything. If he told them about his ability, they would send him to a psychiatrist, or worse – straight to the asylum. If he told them about his feelings, they would never stop mocking him, which would send him over the edge and would put him in an asylum anyway. He had no choice but to keep it a secret.

"Well, at least I didn't have to sit through all that... I guess I should start working on that essay now."

Kenny did as Stan suggested, even though he never actually saw the whole thing. He wrote that the field trip was interesting and that he had fun, smiling to himself as he did.

"The most interesting field trip ever... Just like every other field trip before this one... I should become a writer or something."

"Hey, bro. Isn't it kinda early?"

"For the weekend anyway. Usually you stay in bed until two."

"Yeah, I woke up a while ago."
"What are you working on?"
"Just a small report about the field trip."
"...I heard you left about halfway."
"Yeah, uh... I got bored."
"OK then... Well, good luck with that. I, on the other hand, am going out with my girlfriend."
"Could you be any more of a show-off?"
"Hey, I'm just being realistic here. I've got a girlfriend, and you don't."
"Good for you. Now go away."

Kevin turned around for a second, but after realizing that his brother wasn't telling him everything, he went back inside.

"What's wrong, Kenny? You know I'm not trying to make you feel bad, right?"
"I'm tired."
"You just woke up."
"I have a headache."
"And yet here you are, working instead of having fun or resting."

This exchange was making Kenny feel uneasy. He wanted to tell his brother the truth, but the thought of spending the rest of his life (or rather, lives) in an asylum held him back. However, it was obvious that his brother wasn't leaving without an answer... or without a very good reason.

"Don't you have a date?"
"Yeah... What time is it?"

Kenny glanced at the watch on his wrist, trying to hide it from his brother, and told him that it was almost noon.

"What?"
"Yeah. You'd better get going."
"Thanks, Kenny!"

"Still as gullible as ever... Well, back to work."

After a very long and boring 20 minutes, Kenny finally finished his report. He tried to come up with an excuse for his absence during most of the field trip, but he couldn't. There was just no way to explain the fact that he had suddenly "left"... without getting him into trouble.

"Trouble it is then."

A few days later, Kenny had already printed the report and was about to deliver it to his teacher. When the teacher asked why he had left, Kenny said the same thing he had told his brother. Obviously the teacher didn't take it well and sent him to the principal's office, where he got a very long speech about why he had screwed up, followed by an even more boring speech to try to "cheer him up". Afterward, Kenny was finally able to go back to his class.

After school, Kenny went home as quickly as he could, as usual, completely unaware that Kyle was following him from afar. Unlike the other kids in the class, the teacher and the principal, Kyle didn't believe his story about just having left the field trip because he was bored. Kenny wasn't the most responsible kid at the school, but he was trying very hard to get good grades. There was no way he'd just leave a field trip for something so stupid.
Once Kenny realized that he was being followed by Kyle, his heart sped up to the point that it felt like it was about to explode. When he was about to go inside, Kyle quickly ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Kenny's stomach felt like it was trying to turn itself inside out, but he managed suppressed the urge to throw up, although he still jumped a bit from the hug.

"Hey, Kenny."

"Just ignore him..."

"I just noticed that you haven't been acting like yourself lately... Is everything alright?"

"Ignore him..."

"Ken?"

"Don't say anything..."

"I-I'm fine, Kyle."

"Please stop hugging me."

As if he had read Kenny's mind, Kyle released his grip when Kenny finally answered his question.

"You know, you never were a good liar."
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you..." whispered Kenny.
"What?"
"It doesn't matter. Leave me alone."
"Come on, Kenny..."

Kenny slowly opened the door and went inside. Kyle sighed, thinking that Kenny wasn't even going to talk to him anymore. However...

"...Promise me two things."
"Sure. Anything."
"You can't tell anyone else."
"OK... What's the second thing?"
"After I tell you, you're going home."

Kyle thought about saying no because of the second requirement, but his curiosity was too great. He wanted to know what Kenny wanted to tell him.

"Maybe..."

"Alright. I promise."

Kenny led Kyle into his room and both boys sat down next to each other in silence for a long time, waiting for Kenny to finally reveal his big secret. Kenny glanced over at his friend a few times, who seemed very excited to hear what he had to say, almost to the point of desperation. It seemed as if he wasn't so much waiting for Kenny's answer, but rather waiting for him to say something specific. However, the blond boy wasn't very good at reading people, so he didn't see it and simply said what he promised to tell him.

"...I'm immortal, Kyle."

Kyle's expression immediately changed to one of disdain, since he thought that Kenny was lying to him.

"Kenny, if you don't want to tell me the truth, just say so."
"...I knew you wouldn't believe me."
"You told me the same thing when we were kids. It wasn't funny then and it isn't funny now."
"You know what? Fuck you. I've been dying nearly every week for eighteen years now. Do you know what that's like?"

Kyle stared at Kenny for a long time, wondering if he was actually telling the truth. The very idea seemed ridiculous, but one thing was certain – Kenny believed it. That didn't prove anything, but it was clear that he was suffering because of it. Realizing this, Kyle slowly put his hand on Kenny's head and gently patted it, trying to show his support.

"...What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to show you that I care."
"Does that mean you believe me? Or is this one of those 'I believe you believe it, but I still think you're insane' moments?"
"...It's one of those moments."
"Great. Well, you can go now."
"Why are you being such a dick?"

"Because I can't stand being around you... I love you too much."

"I just want to spend some time alone."
"...Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah."

"I probably won't be saying much, but whatever..."

After Kyle left, Kenny started thinking about the hug. Although he had thought to himself that he wanted Kyle to let go, he knew that it wasn't true, or at least not entirely. He wanted more than just a friendly hug. He wanted to fulfill the dream that he had been having for days now about confessing his love to Kyle and knowing that it was not one-sided. He wanted Kyle to love him.
Eventually his thoughts deviated and he started focusing on the negative side – the fact that Kyle would never see him as anything more than a good friend. A few minutes of focusing on that made him even more depressed, to the point that he started crying.
Kenny clutched his chest in pain, thinking that he was having a heart attack or something, but he soon realized that it was just his depression manifesting itself as physical pain. He had heard of stories about things like this happening, but he had never believed them... until now. The pain wasn't unbearable, but it frightened him so much that it made it seem a lot worse than it actually was.

"Why does it hurt so much? What's wrong with me?"