Chapter Text
Detention sucked, Craig knew this well. It's not like he wasn't used to it after all these years. Back in elementary school, he had basically been the poster boy for detention. His smart mouth and the unfiltered commentary that came out of it followed him throughout middle school and into high school. The adults in his life had thought he would outgrow his snarky nature as he matured. They were wrong.
Having to stay after school was an awful punishment when he was a child, but by freshman year, Craig had figured out how to use the time to his advantage. Sometimes he'd use the time to get homework done so he could play video games all night. Sometimes he thought fuck that and used it as valuable napping time, also so he could play games all night.
It was a nap day when Craig was startled awake by something hitting his head.
"The fuck?" he said, jolting up in his seat.
The other students snickered while the teacher shushed louder than they were laughing.
Craig rolled his eyes and was about to put his head back down when he saw a folded up piece of paper on the floor. He bent over to pick it up, eyebrows scrunched.
Is this what hit me? What kind of fucking asshole threw this at me? he thought.
He looked at the sloppily folded paper and saw that it had his name on it. He unfolded the paper. Inside was a message.
'Hey dude.'
Craig was puzzled. There was no name, no nothing to inform him of who had sent the note. He turned around in his chair, trying to figure out who was lazy enough to send him a note this dull.
Two rows back and one column to the right sat Kenny McCormick. He waved at Craig and grinned. At least Craig assumed he was grinning. The guy still wore his oversized parka to school, even though it was a balmy seventy-two degrees in the building.
Craig rolled his eyes. All he wanted was to get some napping done. Why did Kenny have to ruin that simple dream? Sighing, he scribbled down a response and tossed it back.
‘This is stupid. You are stupid. Let me nap, fuckface.’
Kenny snorted. That was Craig for you. Not exactly Captain Fun of the SS Goodtimes. Still, he was a cool dude and Kenny had always liked him. They had hung out a lot when they were children, but they were never close. Kenny had always thought that was a shame.
‘That’s McFuckface, thank you very much! I’m bored and you’re the only person I know in here. So talk to me or I’ll keep throwing paper at your head.’
This time, Kenny’s aim was better. The folded up note flew over Craig’s shoulder and onto the desk in front of him.
Really? Boredom and proximity? Those were Kenny’s reasons for interrupting his me time? Craig groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. Fine. Craig would play along, but this note passing thing was annoying.
‘Why don’t you just send me a text then, like a normal person? Just take my number from the class group chat. We can play a game together or some shit.’
Craig looked over his shoulder and threw the note into Kenny’s backpack.
Kenny sighed. When would people in this town learn that his family was living below the poverty line? Had everyone forgotten or did they just not care anymore?
‘Can’t text. My dad stole my prepaid phone when he was drunk and dropped it down a storm drain. Besides, notes are more fun. And more dangerous. It’s easier to be caught this way. Oooh, we’re such badassess.’ Kenny drew a small doodle of a skateboarding rat wearing shades that was saying ‘I’m a cool dude’.’
As Craig was thinking up his reply to Kenny’s awful drawing, another note bounced off of his shoulder. Craig opened the paper to find a three by three grid. He looked behind him and narrowed his eyes at Kenny. Kenny nodded toward the new note.
He couldn't mean for them to play tic tac toe? No, it was too childish, even for a bored Kenny. Craig shook his head. It was super dumb, but what else was he going to do? Napping was out of the question at this point, so he decided to humor Kenny and put down an X in the center square.
'Bring it on, motherfucker,' he wrote next to the grid.