Buried (a Creek fic)

1. Dirt

The boy looked familiar to Craig, but he couldn't place a name to the face, though he was sure he had a class or two with him.

"Don't fucking say you're sorry!" Cartman yelled."You little asshole, I'm kicking your ass after school!"

The boy, who was clutching a dented coffee cup, looked horrified and as Craig's eyes loomed longer on his face, his name popped into his head. Tweek Tweak.

The bell rang out, signaling the start of class, but barely anyone moved. Instead, whispers broke out everywhere down the hallway and they watched as Cartman angrily stormed past Tweek, giving him a hard kick in the side as he did so. Craig blinked and tore his eyes away from the scene just as Kyle Broflovski, who had been standing next to Cartman, started to help Tweek up. Kyle might've been kind, but no one would be able to stop Cartman from beating the shit out of Tweek after school. Everyone knew that.

Everyone lost interest and began making their way to class, the sound of lockers slamming shut rustled through the hallway behind Craig as he fidgeted with his locker combination. The door swung open and he immediately reached for the bottle of aspirin that he kept on the top shelf, flicked open the bottle, and poured out the little tablets into the palm of his hand. He dumped more than necessary into his mouth and silently hoped that his headache would be over.

***

The way Craig's brain worked was different from other people's. Of course, no one pays attention in class, but instead of fantasizing about what he'd rather be doing if he wasn't stuck in his tedious classroom like everyone else did, he studied his classmates carefully. He wasn't sure why people fascinated him so much, but he knew that behind everyone's plastic demeanor, dark secrets lied.

For example, when he looked at Wendy Testaburger, he looked past the part of her that was eagerly raising her hand for the teacher to call on her and he saw other things. He knew that she wasn't happy with Stan Marsh, her longtime boyfriend. He knew that she only joined the cheerleading squad and the volleyball team because of Bebe. He even remembered overhearing her drunkenly confessing her love for her.

Craig blinked and pushed all thoughts about "the Wendy incident" (as he called it) out of his mind. A smile almost revealed itself on his lips as he thought about everything he knew about her. Scratch that - everything he knew about everyone.

He glanced at Jimmy Valmer, who was near the front of the class. Memories began fogging his mind as he recounted when he found out about Mr. and Mrs. Valmer's bad financial situation and how Jimmy used his comedy as a coping mechanism for it.

He looked all around the classroom and everyone his eyes landed on had secrets that he knew about. Even the teacher had dirty lies that he knew, like how she was banging one of the school janitors behind her husband's back.

Every face had a secret, every person had their baggage that they tried to keep to themselves, but Craig always found out, whether he tried to or not.

Suddenly, his eyes settled on an empty chair that wasn't usually empty. Then it clicked in his head; Tweek sits there.

Where the hell is he? Craig thought, looking around to see if Tweek was out of his seat to sharpen a pencil or something. Wait, did he even come into class in the first place?

He glanced up at the clock that hung inches above the door. Twenty minutes left of class.

Why do you care so much? He asked himself, though he knew deep down the reason why. There was something about Tweek that was just off, aside from how panicky he always was. There had to be more to him that Craig didn't know and there was no way in hell he'd be able to ignore the curiosity that was building up inside of him. He truly hated his mind sometimes. He hated how twisted his curiosity was and how -

"Mr. Tucker?" Craig's head shot up and he realized that the entire class and the teacher was staring at him.

"What?" he asked, his voice as disinterested as always.

"Do you know how many times I've tried to get your attention?" the teacher, Mrs. Clarke, asked, clearly annoyed.

"Is this a pop quiz or something?" he scoffed.

"How amusing," she retorted. "Next time, make sure to pay attention and keep your bad attitude out of my classroom."

Instinctively, Craig's hand shot up, his middle finger prominent. A few snickers rang out from the classroom and a very angry Mrs. Clarke said, "Detention - after school - my room."

Yeah, right, he thought. I'll definitely be skipping that.

For the rest of the class, Craig (unsurprisingly) didn't put effort into paying attention, though he did notice Mrs. Clarke glaring at him every so often, to which he smirked at. When the bell rang, Craig scooped up his books and was one of the first to leave the class.

Scanning the hallway, he watched as students filed out of classes and flooded the halls. Finally, he found who he was looking for and he began to approach the blonde boy that was opening up his locker.

"Butters," stated Craig, leaning against the wall of lockers as he faced the bubbly boy.

"Oh, hi, Craig!" Butters beamed, elated as always.

"I need your help with something," he said in a low voice.

Butters could sense the seriousness and urgency in his voice and he stopped rummaging through his locker to face Craig. "What is it?"

"You're friends with Tweek, right?"

"Well, sure! Tweek's one of my best friends. He and I always talk and - "

"Listen," Craig cut him off. "Can you tell me everything about him?"

"What do you mean?" Butters tilted his head, evidently confused.

Craig sighed, unsure of how to word his next sentence. I guess saying, "Tell me all of his secrets," isn't exactly a socially acceptable way of talking.

"Wait a second," Butters said slowly, piecing things together, which surprised Craig. "I know what you're doing and I'm not telling you anything personal about him."

Fuck.

"Butters, I know it seems weird but - "

Butters slammed his locker, making the headache in his head pound as a reminder that it was still there. Butters looked angry, which surprised Craig even more because it was so unlike him. "No, Craig. You know that I hate when people use me for bad things and..."

Craig stopped listening because that's all he needed to hear. He stepped closer to Butters and, being the taller of the two, he peered down at him. He saw Butters begin to tense up as his eyes bored into him. When he spoke, he leaned closer to him until his mouth was inches from his ear, "You're right. I do know that you hate that, remember? So if you tell Tweek - or anyone for that matter - that we had this conversation, I'll tell everyone about your little secret."

And with that, Craig turned and began walking towards his next class.

That was the thing about Craig. He needed to know everything about everyone because he liked to be in control. The more secrets he knew, the more ammunition he had, and the more dirt he had on everyone.

~~~

Well, I guess chapter one is done. This is my first story that I've published on here and though I doubt anyone will read this, please leave me a comment and a vote, so that I know at least someone likes it. Criticism is also appreciated.