Chapter 16: Make Him An Offer He Can't Refuse
Butters was already in his seat, his clarinet assembled on his lap, when the bell rang. Mrs. Visans was not in sight, but he stayed firmly locked in his seat. He was shaking from head to toe in anticipation for the meeting that would take place at lunch. He was actively counting down the seconds until his friends would discuss their new plan, worried at every moment that a phone call from the office would send him in to see his parents, ready to ground him.
While the others in his section dismissed this as typical Butters behavior, Annie did her best to see what was troubling him.
"Butters, are you all right?"
Butters answered, but didn't cease shaking. "No, no, no… I am going to be grounded for sure. I'm screwed."
Annie put her hand on Butters' shoulder. "It's all going to be okay. Just tell me what happened…"
"Stan let it slip to his parents that there's going to be a party this weekend. His parents told all of our parents, so, as soon as my mom and dad find out that the party is at our house, I'll be grounded."
"Oh, buddy…" Annie gave the trembling Butters a quick hug.
"Thanks, Annie," spoke Butters. He sighed. "I just kind of wish I hadn't gotten roped into this party business at all."
"Then you should just tell the guys to have it somewhere else. You don't have to be the one hosting-"
"But I do!" Butters protested. "I have to host the party! It's the only way that R- I mean, it's the only way that I prove my loyalty to the guys!"
"At the risk of your own mental health?" Annie frowned. "Butters, I think I'm going to have a word with all of them. They shouldn't be pushing you around like this…"
"No! Wait! Please don't!"
Butters' screams of protest fell upon deaf ears as Annie (unwisely) confronted Cartman.
She glared at him. "Cartman! You and your friends need to back off of Butters! All of the pressure of the party is really taking a toll on him."
Cartman narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me, bitch?"
Butters gulped. "Oh hamburgers, Eric's really going to chew her out now…"
Cartman roared. "That ungrateful douchebag over there VOLUNTEERED to do this! The rest of us are doing our damnedest to make sure it goes smoothly! We're the ones doing all the FUCKING work!" He slammed his music stand for emphasis.
Annie shrunk back upon hearing the eruption. Cartman raised his eyebrow, as if daring her to make the next move. Annie, knowing that nothing she could say or do could get through to him, returned to her seat next to Butters. Butters gave her a reassuring look, then sighed.
"I told you that you shouldn't have done that…"
Annie shook her head. "Butters, I see why it's hard for you to stand up for yourself since you have to deal with that fat asshole-"
"Annie, really-"
"Always telling you what to do-"
"It really is fine-"
"Who doesn't listen to you-"
"Annie, listen to me, please!" Butters protested. "It's not just that. I really want to host the party!"
Annie looked at him skeptically. "So you can 'show your loyalty to the guys?' They're manipulating you!"
Butters looked down in shame. "I lied to you. That's not the real reason why I'm hosting it."
"Then what's the real reason?"
Butters fidgeted with his hands, twirling his thumbs. "I don't want to tell you."
"Okay," said Annie. "You don't have to tell me."
"I feel like I owe it to you, though. I don't want you worrying about me and my stupid problems."
Annie frowned. "Your problems aren't stupid, Butters."
Annie reached out to hold Butters' hand to make him feel better. She blushed as she realized what she was doing and immediately brought her hand back. Butters was none the wiser.
Butters sighed in resignation and stared at the ground. "The truth is, I'm holding the party to… um… impress someone, someone I really care about."
Annie blushed once more, rubbing her arm nervously. Her heart rate increased rapidly and she was almost too overwhelmed to think.
"That's very... sweet of you, Butters."
Butters turned his head to face her, their eyes upon each other. "You think so? Well, thanks, Annie."
He sighed and looked ahead once more, staring directly at the French Horn section and, more specifically, the crimson haired lady whom he fancied. I just hope that Red likes it, he thought.
At that moment, there was a loud burst of sound as Mrs. Visans hastily battered open the door.
"Sorry I'm late, students," she said, throwing her briefcase haphazardly into her personal office. "Some days, you get out of the bathroom and you find the divorce papers are lying on the table."
From across the room, Bebe, Kyle, and Stan did the best they could to stifle their laughter, which admittedly had very little effect. Mrs. Visans ignored the muffled giggling as she started looking through her briefcase.
"Shit!" she exclaimed under her breath. "I left my sheet music in the car."
She turned to face the class of students.
"I'm sorry about this, but I need to go back to my vehicle. Just hang tight until I get back and we can start tuning!"
A small round of applause and soft cheers came from the students. Once again, Mrs. Visans paid no attention to this and was out of the door before any of them could make fun of her anymore.
Annie turned to Butters once again, hoping to talk some more with him, but found him conversing with Kevin Stoley about the new music. She sighed happily and let her mind wander to how she imagined the party would turn out.
In her head, she saw Butters and herself sitting together alone on his back porch having a nice heart to heart chat. She would reveal her feelings for him and he would finally understand everything. The tension between them would be gone and they would be together at last.
Annie smiled to herself, even though she knew that this was an unrealistic fantasy. She was snapped back to reality once again when Mrs. Visans burst through the band door once more with her missing sheet music, causing a small, but concentrated amount of groans from the saxophone section.
"Okay class, let's begin…"
"That's all I have for today, folks! Pack up your instruments and get out of here!"
Mrs. Visans' dismissal sent most of the class rushing to leave, embracing the end of yet another torturous class period. Most of the students congregated in their usual friend groups and before long, the classroom was nearly empty.
"I hope you're feeling better about the party, Butters," said Annie, who had just finished packing up her clarinet. "Remember, I'd be more than happy to help you set it up if you need me!"
Butters wore his typical clueless grin, lacking any sort of awareness to the deeper nature of her comments. "Sounds good, Annie! Bye!"
Butters went back to putting his instrument away as she walked out the door. He whistled and began singing his favorite Chicago song with a certain ruby-haired student on his mind.
"If you leave me now, you'll take away the biggest part of me…. Ooohh no baby please don't go… Ooohh no girl-"
"Butters!" shouted a voice behind him.
"Oh, hey Clyde!"
Clyde Donovan had bags under his eyes and his brown hair was much messier than usual. He looked as though he had done a lot of hard living in a very short amount of time. Butters, of course, took no notice to this at all and maintained his cheery demeanor.
Clyde stared straight at him. "Butters, I need your help."
"Well, what do you need help with?"
"Butters, take a look at me and tell me one thing. How do I look?"
Butters scanned him up and down. "Um, handsome?"
"No, damn it! I'm weary, I'm sad, I'm lonely! I didn't get any sleep last night." Clyde began weeping. "I thought I could get through it with some help from Mackey but once I got home, I just couldn't do it…"
Butters was thoroughly confused. "Get through what?"
Clyde did the best he could to speak in choked sobs. "Bebe broke up with me... two days ago. It was due to my anger problems. I got help from Mackey yesterday... and I'm meeting with him to work on controlling my temper, but I… still miss her so much."
"Oh Jeez! I'm sorry about that, Clyde."
Clyde wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I think I really loved her. In fact, I still do."
"Well, how exactly could I help you with that?" asked Butters.
"The party this weekend is the perfect chance to win her back… but I need some help from you to make it happen."
"In what way?"
Clyde leaned in closer, his voice raw and emotional. "I want to serenade Bebe. I want to win her back with a love song and I need you to play guitar."
"Me?!" Butters was shocked. "B-b-but… I haven't played guitar in a long time. There's no way I can learn a song in two days!"
"Don't worry, dude," Clyde replied. "We can rehearse after football today. I promise that you can learn it quickly. I'll play drums and sing; I just need you to play guitar."
Butters weighed his options for a second. "All right, I'll do it."
"Sweet!" exclaimed Clyde, incredibly grateful. "Thanks so much dude! If you want, you can pick out any song you want and I'll learn it so we can perform that at the party too!"
"Thank you for the offer, but I'm good," said Butters.
"Are you sure? Isn't there someone special that you'd like to serenade?" asked Clyde.
As if unlocking a subconscious part of the brain, those words sent Butters' imagination into overdrive. He responded without even thinking.
"Absolutely, let's do it!"
Clyde smiled. "Great! I can't wait! I've got the perfect song for my lady..."
A big grin was plastered on Butters' face. "Me too…"
