The product got delayed first, since Butters grounding was scheduled to last for a few more days.

For a minute that first night, Butters thought he heard a female voice talk with his father and almost demand to see him- but he figured the isolation and boredom was already making him hear things earlier than usual.

Three more days passed before Butters was allowed to leave his room during non school hours. When he got back to his room, he was preparing for a nice little lie down session near Stark's Pond, away from everyone else as usual, but peaceful nonetheless. This time, before he left, he was less convinced he was hearing voices when he heard that female voice from downstairs. This time, footsteps were heard as well. Without any time to dial 911, he just sat on his bed and waited for whatever bully that impersinated a woman's voice to come and get it over with. It was probably Cartman, since he knew from his "Britany Spears" spying 8 years ago that he could really get a girl's voice downpat.

"Butters? May I come in?"

He didn't know Cartman sounded like a girl that well since then- he even got Wendy's voice down to a t.

"All right Eric, nice job doing a girl, can you just get the prank over with now, please? Before my dad comes in and blames me and grounds me again?" Before Butters could kick himself for giving Cartman the perfect idea to screw him with, the door opened and it was clear the visitor looked nothing like Cartman.

"I've bugged him enough already that he won't wanna interrupt, so don't worry."

After the shock of seeing someone other than the usual bullies in his room- heck, the shock of seeing a human girl in his room, period- settle down, Butters could finally talk without his old stutter coming back- somewhat.

"Wendy? T-That's not Craig in disguise, for real? I know Cartman couldn't disguise himself that good, but Craig's thin enough to pull it off! But y-you're not him?"

"Last time I checked, I didn't have a penis, so there you go." She closed the door before Butters could actually understand what that meant.

"Well...if you're really Wendy, what are you doing in my room and 100 feet near me? Isn't it a rule that girls can't get this close to me?"

"Probably, that's why I wanted to talk in private. I'd rather not make this public until I got finished, or else I couldn't get anything done."

"Done? Anything?" Butters got a good share of nervous knuckle rubbing in before Wendy tried to clear things up.

"After what happened last week...you kicking a guy in the balls cause he annoyed me...I guess that got me thinking.. Specificially about...what the heck did you do that for?"

"Didn't you say it was cause he was annoying you? Sounds like you figured it out already without having to ask me." Butters actually chuckled a bit at his own logic, which made Wendy think of a new tactic- speak in clear terms.

"You haven't fought back against anyone for years, why did you do it now for me? That one I don't know the answer to." Yet she still tried to answer it before he could anyway. "Do you have a secret crush on me from afar? Were you actually jealous Craig wanted to ask me out...cause you secretly like him? Did you come in prepared to beat up a lotta people?"

"No, I swear! Did, did the principal order you to ask me, I told him I wasn't gonna rebel against the bullying system no more, I swear again!"

"So why did you do it that time? You're already taking that crap with a smile and being all happy about it, why stop then?"

Suddenly, that seemed to be the statement that broke down his worry, and turned it to something resembling anger. But instead of verbal jabs, he just responded by going into his closet and pulling out what resembled a photo album. And the resemblance was purely intentional, as Wendy saw when Butters opened it to reveal many pictures- all of himself at various ages.

His baby years, early elementary school years, and moreso his fourth grade year was shown first. All photos of him smiling, either alone or with his family or in a class picture or with schoolmates who didn't seem that pleased to be in the picture. But in all of those, the bright smile that others would have found cute, but others found gay and wussy like, was there and very wide.

Right when Wendy figured that out, he turned the pages to show images of the next 8 years. As more and more came up, a common theme was becoming clear- the smile was still there, but the subtlest signs were there that it was forced. That it took some effort. That the clear, unconditional joy of the past years was fading away. That he wasn't smiling because he was happy and chipper- he only did it because it's required for a photo. These were hollow, by the numbers smiles, not the ones of a boy who loved being there and loved everything around him. This undercut Wendy's earlier point- which was now obviously Butters's point.

"I only smile all the time now cause if I don't, they win. They keep doing stuff to me cause I'm always happy- and I'm sure if I let them know they wrecked my happiness, they'd have one more reason to brag and say they won. Then I'd really never hear the end of it, and those times where I can relax in between pranks will be in big trouble. Those times are all I got left."

"So...you're a depressive emo kid now?"

"No no, I said I'd rather be a crying little pussy than a lame Goth kid, and obviously I'm still a crying pussy. But just on the inside now."

Butters turned once more to his closet and took some more weird items out. This time, the common denominator was that these were all items, games, toys, and brickabrack that 8 year olds would use, not any self respecting 16 year old.

"These are the last things left that made me happy back then. I gotta keep them around to make me happy and relaxed now...if I lose interest and don't have fun with them, then I really got nothing left that made me love life as much as I did then. Even now, I still kinda feel like I'm faking it. See, last week when I played with my Hello Kitty drawings, I-" At that point, Butters remembered he was actually talking about one of the most lame things imaginable, at least by the standards of regular people like Wendy. "Oh...well, go ahead and call me gay now. Do it quick, then I might have good memories of this stuff left in my head."

He took a last look at his belongings while they were still untainted. But strangely, 10 seconds went by and he didn't hear anything that would taint them.

"Hey...I remember those dolls. And that Hello Kitty video game. That's the only video game I played when I was younger- probably the only video game I've ever played! It was the only one on the shelves that didn't have killing or muscled up boys or sexism every two levels, so I had no choice."

"Well...my parents wouldn't let me buy any of the violent cool games, so I kinda had no choice too. But I fell in love with it in no time!"

"This really came in handy after some rough study sessions" Wendy remarked with a noticably nostalgic tone. "I didn't get all the way to the end until two weeks in, which might be a little sad for someone with my-"

"You got to the end of Hello Kitty Island Adventure?! Oh wow, I was two levels short when I was 12, I haven't been that good since!" Butters, once more forgetting he was in front of a fellow student, starting jumping up and down with excitement. "How'd you do it? I'm sure you can tell me in a way that isn't cheating!"

Since Butters didn't have any of the four new gaming systems that came out over the last eight years, they could play it rather easily with that very old, primative XBox. But Butters once again remembered how lame the rest of the world thought that was, and saw a look of confusion on Wendy's face. However, although there was the tinest trace of her expression seeming forced- eventually, the more she smiled as she took the game and headed to figure out how to put it in the ancient gaming system, it appeared more genuine.

And for someone not used to seeing someone around him look genuinely content, this was a red letter event.

Over the next hour, Wendy's teaching of the finer points of Hello Kitty Island Adventure were getting through. Once she demonstrated the tricks of getting past the island defenses, Butters put them into practice quite well. By his fourth effort, he got past his old record and was quite close to reaching the final round, but fell just short. Wendy figured she needed to play one more time to get him over the hump, so she went to doing just that. To the surprise of both, she was having fun doing it.

"Even after 4 years away from it, this island is still my bitch!"

"Oh jeez, the island's not that bad, the game creators filled it with all those flower hating Japan folk in the first place..." Unlike the first few times Butters made a clueless response, Wendy smiled at this one.

"Did you ever find anyone to play this with before?"

"Back when Tweek and Pip were around me, yeah. Once they ignored me to be best friends by themselves, I got good playing on my own."

"Butters...you always wanted to be friends with everyone back in elementary school. Are you still that eager to make friends now? After all that's happened?"

For the second time, she could tell she hit a nerve on him, one that really cut to his very core. But this time, he responded with actual words.

"I...I wish all of me still did. But there's a part of me that doesn't even wanna try anymore. I think the majority of me still wants to be friends with people and really try to have fun with 'em...but it's probably only 65 of me now. It used to be 100 before."

"My guess is if you started talking back to people and being rude more often, you'd be liked."

"I know...but if they'd only like me because I was a bad person, cause I'm not good or nice or friendly anymore, cause they think that stuff is for lame people...it's probably not worth being friends with fellas like that. The old 100 me wouldn't have cared about that, but now I do. Maybe that means I'm smarter now...but I don't like being that kinda smart."

For about the 10'th time, Butters figured that something he said would finally make Wendy remember she didn't hang around people like him. And once more, pleasent surprise met him instead.

"Well, if that's something you don't want them to have the satisfaction of knowing, they won't. Not from me."

"Really? How come? Everyone else woulda used that as blackmail or worse, why not you?"

"Butters, I'm no Republican or self hating Republican homosexual. I don't do that sort of thing. Okay, so I didn't bother to find out this stuff earlier...but when I see something unjust and prejudiced, I do take objection to it. Everyone knows that by now, and I make the rest of them see it clearly."

Everyone other than Butters knew this routine. The one where Wendy spoke out against injustice, but did more talking about herself and her enlightenment. But to their discredit, they were wrong in thinking she did it on purpose. Call it one of those unconsicious flaws where she meant every word, but didn't care how it came across. But for Butters, he still had enougn naivity left to believe she meant every word and she really was that great for saying so. So he hung on her every word as she went on.

"You know, everyone needs to feel relaxed and like a kid again, even me. You just hold onto that more than everyone else, that's your only crime. Okay, so they can say they have a case for thinking your lame...but I'm in the process of finding out just how good that case is. They've never questioned why they hate you, they just do it cause it's normal. I actually wanna see some evidence that you're that bad and awful...so far, I don't see it yet."

Again, she meant every word- or was throughly convinced in her heart that she did. That pesky subconsience may have thought different, she didn't know and didn't bother to know.

But without that subtext, nothing could stop Butters's glee at hearing someone say this to him- and someone who was a girl and in the upper cool classes at that. Before he could say this in words, he heard the familar sounds of his dad calling him for dinner. And once he did, that reminded Wendy she actually had to go to her own house to eat by now.

She quickly gathered herself up to go, but turned before she opened the door. "If I can...may I come over again sometime? I think we still have a lot to talk about."

"Well...come over and talk my head off anytime, then! I've got more than enough alone time to use up for that!"

After Wendy nodded and headed out, both were smiling for a good few minutes afterwards- each for different reasons...or so it would seem.

Every night, after he turned out the lights and before he went to sleep, Butters went under his blanket and used his flashlight to see as he played. Specifically, he played with very accurate cardboard like drawings of the other South Park young men. This was the one place where he could see themselves as truely one of them- although he hadn't felt like doing it in a while, he did now.

Mainly because his brand new cut out, cardboard Wendy was among this group for the first time. Since they had never really talked, Butters didn't feel that he needed to pretend to be her friend. But now, not only did he feel like, he began to put together thoughts that she might be a friend for real.

About 6 years had gone by since he could say he had one...could he really believe that he had a change to change that now, after all that had happened to prove him wrong?

He had enough fun talking to the fake Wendy that night, that he figured taking one more leap of faith might be worth it.

The next day, a good night's sleep and no lectures from his parents this morning put Butters in a happy mood. So much so, he actually felt brave enough to talk to Wendy in public, despite the gossip and remarks that might bring. He wanted to at least confirm what night she could come over again, and maybe share some Kitty game secrets he figured out overnight. But with all this thinking of good things, he forgot to actually carry out this plan while he was on the school bus. So, he revised his timeline and decided to see her in the halls before class.

After getting his stuff out of his locker, and filled with confidence since he didn't get put into it, he went over to find Wendy's locker. Instead of seeing her, he saw Bebe, Red, and Jordan nearby.

"Um...can any of you girls please tell me where Wendy is, please?" The girls turned and immediatly look stunned that someone like him was talking to them- and asking for Wendy, at that.

"What does that mean? What do you mean, you wanna talk to her? What would she wanna see you for?", asked Jordan, before she slapped her forehead and laughed. "No way! No freaking way...this is her new charity case now! Dear God, she is pathetic!"

Red joined in the laughter, though Bebe's was a little less loud and heartfelt. Butters still didn't know why they needed to laugh, though. "Why do you need to laugh, I don't get it."

"Jesus, haven't you been living on the same planet? Probably not, but still! She's gonna use you to make us look like knuckle dragging bigots and say how she's so much better than us, that bitch! I knew once she got done demonizing the rest of the town, she'd go to us next! And after the biting we've done to our tounges, she should be worshipping us! But that's probably sexist to her too!" Once Red's rant was done, Butters was more desperate to clear up this extra big confusion.

"Why are you insulting her like that? I thought she was your friend, I thought everyone liked her! I can see why, since it looks like she likes me now, that's why I wanted to see her!"

"You've probably heard this a billion times, but this is a billion and one. Grow up already!" Jordan snickered. "She doesn't care about you, or about anyone else but herself! She only pretends that she cares about oppressed, lower people to make herself look better, so she'll be called brilliant and a genius by everyone! She probably thinks she'll become President with that crap one day!"

"Yeah, like we'd vote for her. She has this raging temper for anyone who doesn't bow to her, she hardly talks to any of those 'victims' after she's done with them, and now she's just gonna use you to paint us as evil now!" Red finished, then decided to continue. "Of course, you've always been too ignorant to realize the truth about bullies like her, so I guess she wasn't smart in tricking you."

"B...Bullies? Like her", replied Butters, now at the end of his good mood.

"Duh, like killing a teacher and using Bebe to break up with Stan and then Token wasn't proof enough, right Bebe?", said Jordan to the still silent Bebe. All Bebe could do was nod her head briefly, though that still didn't mean she was comfortable with where this was going.

"That's right, Butters. So do yourself a favor, ask around about what people really think of your new friend and how we can't stand her. Then maybe you'll avoid looking like a stupid ass for the first time ever."

Jordan turned her back to Butters as he just started blankly, and a bit sadly. He finally dragged himself out of the scene, and after he did, Red and Jordan began to chuckle to themselves until Bebe finally spoke up.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?! What if Wendy heard you?! Hell, she'll find out anyway and then kill you!"

"You know what, it wouldn't be so bad if she did." answered Red. "Why the hell have we pretended to keep our real feelings about her secret anyway?"

"Because if you did tell her, she'd go ballistic and start a full blown civil war in here!" Bebe bluntly answered.

"See, you're her best friend and even you admit she's that unstable! And now she's gonna use that lame-o to make us look like jackasses, after all the covering up we've done! It's time she figured out the truth and how stupid she was that she didn't know earlier! Hell, she's probably just as oblivious as Butters, and that's pretty damm lame and stupid!"

"Well said, Red. If she's gonna kill us, then at this point, it's better to get it over with now than to hear her for much longer."

Seeing no more need to defend their position, Red and Jordan took their leave. Bebe watched them go, then saw Butters from far away, asking questions to some of the others. After they answered with a frown and then told him to go away, he looked especially down. Red and Jordan's version of the truth about Wendy seemed to be hitting home for him.

Still being Wendy's best friend put some kind of guilt on Bebe. And admittingly, when she whispered to her on the bus about her encounter with Butters the previous night, she did look a bit more sincere about it than usual. Perhaps there was the chance that she really did care about a poor person for deeper reasons than headline grabbing.

But once Red and Jordan got on their truth kick and told everyone not to hide their real feeling much longer, that probably wouldn't matter. However, maybe it was best in the long run for Wendy to know what people really thought of her and how much she wasn't Ms perfect and Ms ultra popular.

As Bebe headed to class and passed the office of the school newspaper where Wendy was, she started to pray that when Wendy found out, there wouldn't be that many bodies cluttering the halls.