Anything for You 1

Stan's POV

I hadn't been home from my summer trip for half an hour before Kenny burst into the house. Before I could brag about my tan he began to yell.

"Stan! Dude, you won't believe what happened!"

"What? What?"

"Cartman went fucking psycho. He shot Maz Kanett. He's in prison!"

"What?! Who's Maz Kanett? Is he dead?"

"He's in Hell's Pass. Cartman shot him in the head but he didn't die. They're not sure he's gonna wake up at all. Jesus, Stan. You don't remember Maz? He was the head of the sixth graders back in the day. The one who wore a green shirt with his face on it."

"Holy shit! Him? He just got back from graduating boarding school, didn't he? What happened?"

"That's the crazy thing, Stan. Nobody knows. All we know is that Cartman did it behind the high school in the greenhouse then called 911. He just said, 'We got in a fight and I shot him', and let the cops take him away. I sweet talked a chick cop into telling me some shit. She said that when they got there Cartman had set the gun on fire right near by. She thinks he tried to cover something up, but it doesn't make sense since he confessed right away to shooting him."

I shook my head. It was hard to listen to the details when the basic concept burned into my mind. Cartman shot somebody. Asshole Cartman who I thought was mostly all talk actually popped somebody. I felt like I might be able to relate to those kids who were exposed to school shootings, but not really. I wasn't even there. "When did this happen?"

"A week ago," Kenny replied. I nodded and he went on. "Let's go to Kyle's."

Kyle barely had to answer the door as Kenny barged in with me at his heel. I looked at Kyle. "Jesus, man. I can't believe this happened."

"Hey Stan," Kyle said morosely, "How was California?"

"Uh," I said, somewhat confused, "It was good." I looked over my friend, noting how tired he seemed. Being the most sensitive of our circle of friends, I knew the shooting must have taken a lot out of him. It must be hard for someone who always sees the best in people.

"I watched the news report again on YouTube," said Kenny, "Cartman's mug shot looked so fucking scary. He looked totally whacked. I think we should go visit him and ask him what the hell's happening. I woulda gone earlier, but I thought it would be better with the three of us."

"Yeah, I'm totally curious," I said. I looked at Kyle. "You wanna go now?"

Kyle shrugged.

"Aren't you a little curious?" I asked.

Kenny grabbed Kyle's coat and hat and shoved them at him. "You're not getting out of this, pansy. We friends gotta deal with shit together."

The walk to the prison was somewhat of a long hike, though we were all used to walking everywhere. I glanced once in a while at Kyle who kept his eyes on the ground. In his excitement Kenny had paced far ahead of us, regularly whining as he stood and waited for us to hurry up. For a moment when he was especially far from us I walked closer to Kyle.

I waited patiently as we walked for Kyle to talk to me. Finally he looked at me with a heartbreakingly sad smile. "I'm glad you're back, Stan."

At the Penitentiary they wanded us and took some things. Kenny lost his Swiss army knife and I lost the chain to my wallet.

"You'll get these back when you leave," said the guard as he led us into a long concrete hall with booths along one side. We pulled up three chairs and Kenny and I sat. Kyle stood off to the side, biting his nail.

"Sit down, friend," I said with a grin.
Kyle glanced at me, catching on immediately. "Don't call me 'friend', guy."

"Don't call him 'guy', buddy," Kenny interjected.

I glared at Kenny. "I'm not your buddy, friend."

"He's not your 'friend', guy." Kyle said.

"Don't call me 'guy', buddy." I answered.

Kenny whacked me to get my attention and the smiles left our face as Cartman sat down across from us. A shiver ran down me to see Cartman in orange. It was just like in the movies. It was so bizarre.

I took the phone and Cartman took his.

"Sit your ass down, Kyle," Kenny said, patting the empty seat. Kyle reluctantly sat down and I looked back at Cartman.

Cartman asked me how California was which really pissed me off. "What the fuck is going on?" I said.

Cartman warned me that the guards didn't like us to fight.

"Well?" I asked.

Cartman relayed the same information Kenny had provided and I rolled my eyes.

"What did you guys fight about? Jesus, what the hell could you possibly fight about?"

Cartman gave me some dumb answer and asked to talk to Kyle. I wished I could punch him for being such a douche. He could at least have given me something. I handed Kyle the phone and he took it reluctantly. They stared at each other for a bit and I immediately felt excluded. Cartman glanced at me and turned the phone so I couldn't read his lips. It wasn't like I was an expert, but still. He pissed me off.

Cartman spoke first.

"Not so great," Kyle replied emotionlessly. "Cartman, I-"

But Cartman cut him off and Kyle nodded. They stared at each other with an odd sort of glare before Kyle spoke again.

"You're a good person."

Cartman looked angry then, nearly getting out of his seat to lean closer as he yelled something at Kyle. I could hear the jumbled sound of his angry voice through the mouth piece.

"I'm sorry," Kyle mumbled, and then with more feeling he said, "I'm really, really sorry."

Cartman's anger broke and he sat back, a look of sorrow on his face that I wasn't accustomed to seeing on him. It was too honest an emotion. He spoke calmly to Kyle.

"Why aren't you telling anyone what happened?" Kyle replied.

Cartman responded.

"I know. But what's going to happen to you?" Kyle asked.

Cartman spoke for a while and Kyle nodded. Cartman's face was so expressionless that I turned to Kyle, and was surprised to see how much of a wreck he looked. He continued to nod, biting his lip and squinting like he was going to cry. Despite my best friend's gentle nature, I had seen Kyle cry about as many times as I had which wasn't many. I couldn't believe after all the shit we had gone through, something like the fat ass going to prison would set him off.

"Cartman…" Kyle said miserably, but he cut him off. Kyle nodded and handed me the phone.

"Are you ok, Dude?" Kenny said as Kyle pushed back his chair and left. Kenny followed him, probably trying to get him to spill the other side of the conversation. I turned to Cartman.

"Tell me what's going on," I demanded.

Cartman smiled humorlessly. "You know, Stan, a lot of really bad things happened to the Jews through history."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"What do you think I'm talking about, fucktard? Who am I talking about?"

I glanced at the door where Kyle had left and Cartman nodded. "But-"

Cartman put his hand up to silence me, his eyes staring apathetically and his mouth in a thin line. "Just be there for him."

TBC. Please review!