Buried (a Creek fic)

21. Lie

By the time Token's alarm went off, Craig was already dressed and sitting on Token's desk chair, while he slipped on his sneakers. As soon as the obnoxiously loud alarm began going off, other boy groaned and rolled over, swatting at his alarm clock in a groggy attempt at turning it off.

"Morning, sunshine," Craig tittered, leaning back in the chair with his schoolbag resting in his lap.

Token's head popped up and he squinted over at Craig, eyebrows dubiously crossed. "What the hell are you already doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep," he answered. "Plus, I wanted to get to school early."

"Jesus, did you hit your head on something last night?" Token asked dryly, plopping his head back down on his pillow. "That does not sound like you at all."

"I need to talk to a teacher about something," Craig lied, eyes aimed at the floor.

"You know, you used to be so good at lying," he remarked, pushing himself up into a sitting position. His shoulders rolled back and his neck tilted to the side, stretching the upper half of his body. Token stifled a yawn. "But now, you've gotten worse at it. Why do you really want to go early?"

"It's nothing," stated Craig, unable to think up an excuse. "I just - "

"It's Tweek, isn't it?" Token insinuated.

"No," he said, a little too defensively. "I - "

"Craig," Token asserted, raising his eyebrows with a small smile on his lips. "You can tell me the truth. I don't care if you want to see Tweek or not."

Craig sighed, combing a hand through his hair in thought. "I know, I just... I don't know. I'm used to pretending that I don't care about Tweek."

"Because of Clyde?"

God, this guy picks up on everything, thought Craig.

"Yeah, I think so," he guessed. "He doesn't want me hanging out with him."

"Why do you care what he thinks?" insisted Token.

"I don't know," he admitted.

"Well," stated Token, hopping out of bed, "you can hang out with whoever you choose, despite what Clyde wants. You know that, right?"

He paused, but then slowly nodded in response.

"Good." Token flashed him a supportive smile, before saying, "Shit, I should probably start getting ready," and with that, he ran out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Craig chuckled at the boy's sudden urgency and he pushed his bag off his lap, feeling it plop down next to his chair. He reached for his phone and lifted it out of his pocket to check the time, only to find that he had a notification. More specifically, he had an unread text.

The text only consisted of three words.

Wendy: Thank u Craig

He scrolled up and reread the texts he had sent her last night. Realization flooded over him, as he remembered what he had sent her the night before; the promise that he wouldn't tell the school about her and Bebe. It felt like a fifty pound weight that had been latched onto his chest was now free and he smiled to himself.

Maybe things were finally looking up. Maybe this meant he was finally going to change for the better.

***

The first thing Craig did when he walked through the front doors of the high school that morning with Token was immediately crane his neck to look for Tweek down the long hallway. Clique after clique, teacher after teacher, until he finally spotted Tweek. The blonde was leaning against his locker, gingerly holding a coffee cup up to his lips.