CHAPTER 11

                                    

                                          
Songs:
Love Lost - Mattia Cupelli
Life - DYATHON
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A couple of weeks pass by and things at the school get a bit hectic, mostly because of Kenny's mysterious return. I keep a distance from him though. Just watching from afar. And from what I found out, he seemed pretty popular with a lot of people at school. A lot of them seemed happy to see him again, and of course the most common thing he was asked about, was where he was all that time. The others and him just told everyone else that he moved away to live with his grandparents for a bit, but ended up deciding to come back home. Although Butters told me he had to tell his siblings and parents that he ran away.
As the days continued to pass by, things gradually grew calm again at school. Kyle, Stan, Butters and Kenny would hang around one another a lot, along with Cartman too sometimes, who didn't seem to buy the whole 'Kenny just moving away' thing and kept on asking them about it. They would sometimes come up to me and ask me to join them or hangout, but I would always decline, saying I was busy. Although it mainly was because I wasn't sure how to act around Kenny, he would often just watch me or look at me when they did that. Then there was also Jason's very shocked and somewhat afraid reaction to seeing Kenny, but he didn't say anything to him, just kept his distance. Luckily he hasn't bothered me either and I hope it stays that way.
And so, today after school, as the sun is beginning to set. I find myself at my locker, opening it and putting some of my books and things away, getting ready to leave, after having spent a couple of hours in the library studying and doing some work on an upcoming project.
"Um, hello," a voice greets, a  very  familiar one.
I freeze and hesitantly glance around my locker door and find Kenny standing there. The setting sun's light is shining brightly against his back from down the hall. And I have to blink a few times to make sure I didn't just imagine seeing the figure of an angel standing in front of me. 
"...Hello," I say slowly.
"Sorry if this seems a bit strange, but the others, Stan, Kyle and Butters have been filling me in on what happened after I woke up that day, in that abandon apartment building," he tells me, "to be honest, I was very confused at first, but I did remember being taken away by a group and a ritual and stuff too. However, my memories stop there, the moment I entered that portal, I don't remember anything else. Everything's a blank until I had woken up in that room..." he trails off, his gaze drifting away as he does so.
I look back into my locker, "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because..." he starts, "the others had told me that you were mainly the one who had saved me, and that you were my friend."
"I was friends with the thing pretending to be you," I correct.
"I know, but even still..." I glance back at him and he's looking at me again, "thank you."
"For what?" I ask.
"For saving me," he laughs softly and I fall quiet, "look, I know you probably are avoiding me because of what happened to you. Heck, if the same had happened to me, I would probably do the same thing as you," his gaze drops again, "even looking at me, I probably remind you of painful things now, so I don't blame you if you turn this down but... I want to know you."
My chest tightens.
"...What?"
He looks back up at me.