For the rest of the evening, Luna and Luan basically spent their time sulking in one another's company; they felt that after they both had been dumped by their respective sweethearts as a result of Lori's not-so-great master plan, the only one either of them could turn to was each other. As Luna sat slumped into her beanbag chair, Luan sat on the floor before her, with her head leaned back into her roommate's lap; the rocker fiddled with the comedienne's ponytail, while the comedienne fiddled with the bracelets around the rocker's wrist that rested across her chest. Not knowing what else to do, the purple-clad music lover did the one thing she could think to do...
Sing: "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen…"
"I know," the comedienne mumbled.
"Somebody knows the trouble I've seen…" Luna repeated with slightly altered lyrics.
It was then that the two heartbroken girls heard a soft tapping at their closed bedroom door, to which they both responded in unison, "Come in…"
The door was eased open and the face of a certain tall blonde sister poked through the opening to weakly address her little sisters, "Hey, guys…"
"Get out…" Luna and Luan responded in unison.
"Come on, guys, at least hear me out…" insisted Lori, as she grabbed and wheeled Luan's large jester chair over closer to her little sisters, to take a seat before them. "Look, I am literally, literally sorry things ended up getting ugly with you and your sweethearts, okay? I literally had no idea you guys were going to end up fighting for realsies… I didn't think any of you would have any reason to fight at all."
"Spare us your pity, dude," groaned Luna.
"Yeah, what a dumb plan!" Luan chimed in.
"I know! I know!" Lori strained. "Look, don't think I don't hate myself for how this has literally backfired the way it has… I just wanted Leni to understand she doesn't need to obsess over not being in a relationship, and that she doesn't need a boyfriend to complete her life…"
The two younger sisters just glared at Lori over her explanation before Luan countered, "Yeah, like your life wouldn't feel incomplete without your precious Boo-Boo Bear!"
Lori sighed, "Well, what do you guys want me to do? Break up with Bobby and even the score?"
Of course, Lori spoke a mere rhetoric; there was no way in heaven or on earth that she would ever bring herself to break up with her beloved Bobby - even for her sisters. Nevertheless, silence took over the room momentarily as Luna and Luan exchanged glances with each other before they both shook their heads.
"Naw… no sense in you joinin' the Lonely Hearts Club Band, dude…" Luna mumbled.
"Yeah, misery loves company, but three's a crowd," Luan added, sounding very much like a sad clown.
Lori sighed again; she knew her little sisters were miserable after what had happened. "There must be some way you guys can get back together with your baes."
"How?" Luan asked. "Benny now thinks I'm some shallow and superficial jerk because I made a big deal about him looking at a prettier girl in theater club."
"And Sam thinks I'm some conceited and selfish egomaniac who has to have everything her way or the highway," added Luna.
"She thinks you're Lola?!" Luan asked as she looked up at her big sister.
"Shut it!" Luna barked while the palm of her of hand bopped her in the middle of her forehead.
"Wow, this is literally worse than I thought…" moaned Lori.
"I know we were just supposed to pretend to fight, but I guess we pretended too good…" mused Luan.
"LIGHTBULB!" Was Luna's verbal indication that an idea had come into her head, though her sudden outburst startled the others in the room, as Lori jerked back into the chair while Luan sprang forward into an upright position. "Dude, that's bloody brilliant!"
"What are you talking about?" Luan asked.
"Sam knows we were supposed to just pretend to fight, and the Ben-meister knows you were supposed to just pretend to fight…" began Luna.
"Except we ended up not pretending, Luna," her roommate reminded her.
"Sure, we know that, but they don't know that for sure," deduced Luna. "It was all supposed to be an act, but maybe we were too convincing… so, maybe we can try to convince them the other way around!"
"Oh, you mean act like you guys were still just acting all along, and that you literally weren't even being serious?" Lori queried.
"Exactamundo!" Luna exclaimed.
"I don't know…" mumbled Luan. "You really think they'll buy this?"
"Well, it might actually work with you and the Ben-meister; you dudes are in an acting class, after all," pointed out Luna. "I don't know if I can convince Sammie or not, but it's worth a shot."
"I think it's a literally great idea!" Lori squealed in encouragement. "What have you got to lose?"
"I think you mean what else have we got to lose," Luan responded in snark.
"Keep on the sunny side," quoth the rocker. "Always on the sunny side."
When the new school week began, the two sisters intended to put their own counterplan into action as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Since neither of them share any other classes during the day with their respective (ex) sweethearts, perhaps they could discuss everything over lunch later that afternoon… or, so they hoped. When lunch period rolled around, the two sisters took their seats on opposite ends of a largely empty table, and hoped their respective sweethearts would come over and sit with them as they ordinarily would. Luan was the first to spot Benny leaving the lunch line with his tray of food, as he scoped the entire cafeteria; for a brief moment, it looked as if he spotted Luan, and was approaching her direction – the closer he walked over, the bigger her braced smile became… alas, that big braced smile quickly faded as she watched Benny walk right past her, and over to another table that was already being occupied by some of their fellow theater club thespians, such as Ruby, Shannon, and Juney. Luna would also soon find her hope diminished, too, as she then spotted Sam leave the lunch line with a tray of food as well; likewise, Sam walked right past their table, and instead made her way over to the opposite end of the cafeteria, where she joined her fellow bandmates, Sully and Mazzy. Luna's smile turned upside down into a frown as she and Luan cast hopeless glances at each other, just as Lori and Leni walked by before they went off to join their own circle of friends for lunch.
"Well?" Lori asked as she approached their table.
"I think we got our work cut out for us, brah," said Luna.
"Yeah, the tension's so thick you could cut it with a knife," added Luan.
"I don't think you'd be able to cut it with this one," said Leni, as she held up the knife that was always included in the packets of plastic dining ware the students got with their lunches. "It's not very sturdy."
The others just glared at Leni over her clueless remark.
"Well, we'll have to face 'em in our after school clubs," Luna pointed out. "Maybe we can try talkin' to 'em then."
"I hope I can be convincing…" mumbled Luan.
"Sure you can," assured Luna. "You're the best actor in the fam, man."
While a crooked smile formed across Luan's face, Lori and Leni parted ways to join their own friends for lunch; the oldest and tallest blonde took a seat at the table where some of her friends were already sitting, including Carol, Whitney, and Chaz.
"Hey, Lori!" Carol greeted her former-arch-nemesis-turned-B-F-F, while she noticed the troubled look that was being worn on the faces of she and her sisters. "What's going on with your sisters?"
"Yeah, they look like they missed out on the biggest sale of the season," added Whitney; she also noticed the distressed sisters from afar.
"It's a looong story," moaned Lori. "And it's all my fault too."
"Why? What happened?" Carol asked in concern.
"Well, Leni's been feeling sorry for herself about not having a bae in her life like me, Luna, and Luan," Lori began to explain. "And since Bobby doesn't live in Royal Woods anymore, I talked Luna and Luan into faking fights with their sweethearts in front of Leni to discourage her from obsessing over not having a sweetheart of her own… but they ended up fighting for realsies, so now they've been dumped by their sweethearts."
Carol and Whitney looked totally shocked over this revelation – as did Chaz, but for an entirely different reason.
"Wow, Lori…" said Carol. "Not cool!"
"Yeah, that was a totally lame plan," added Whitney.
"I know, that's why I'm hoping they can get this squared away so everything can go back to normal like they were before," said a guilt-ridden Lori.
While the subject of relationship woes prompted Carol and Whitney to reminisce with Lori about issues of boyfriends past, Chaz glanced over at another table where Leni was sitting, eating, and conversing with her own little group of friends, such as Miguel and Fiona, with an apologetic look of sympathy on his chubby, freckled face after learning of her predicament… something he began to internally punish himself for, as he believed that he was partly to blame for her present woes.
When the regular school day had wrapped up, the four Loud sisters strolled down one of the corridors of the main school building, each of them on their way to the different after school clubs they were active in, such as Lori's sports club, Leni's sewing club, Luna's music club, and Luan's theater club. They came to an intersecting hallway that lead to an exit where Lori would turn to depart out onto the playing field, but before she did, she felt the need to offer up some additional moral support to the two younger sisters in their group.
"Well, now's your golden opportunity…" said Lori.
"Yeah, I sure hope this works, brah…" said Luna in a forlorn tone.
"Well, good luck, you two!" Leni said, though the two show-business-aspiring sisters looked aghast at her words of encouragement.
"Dude! It's actually bad luck to wish someone good luck!" Luna explained.
"Yeah, that's why people in show biz say, 'Break a leg!' instead!" Luan added.
"But, I don't want either of you to break your legs, that'd be even worse than breaking your hearts!" Leni said in horror.
Before Luna and Luan could further argue with their ditzy blonde sister, Lori butted back into the conversation to prevent another dispute from arising: "Alright, let's just let it go, and concentrate on repairing some broken bonds, shall we?"
They reluctantly agreed as they pressed on in different directions; Lori hung a left and made her way through the exit that lead to the playing field, while Leni stepped through the door that was in the middle of these intersecting hallways, which was the classroom that served as the meeting place for her sewing club. Luna and Luan both swung a right down another wing; although Luna did not have far to go, since the music room was at the end of this particular wing, Luan would have to trek down at least two more corridors to reach the auditorium all the way on the other side of the school.
"Well, this ain't exactly the point of no return," Luna began, "but it beats walkin' down Lonely Street to Heartbreak Hotel."
"Break a leg," said Luan.
Luna resisted rolling her eyes, honestly unable to tell if Luan's comment was sincere or if she was trying to bring a little humorous levity to their situation given the discussion they just previously had with their clueless big sister. Nevertheless, Luna took a deep breath, held her head high, set her jaw firm, threw her chest out, placed an iron grip onto the door handle, and marched into the music room; one thing that could be said about the rocker was that when she needed to, she could put on a brave face and dive into a situation head-on. Luan, on the other hand, despite knowing how to deal with hecklers and critics, was still a little green in her social life otherwise; as she pressed on for the auditorium, she felt a similar sense of apprehension that she had experienced when faced with the prospect of having to kiss Benny in Romeo & Juliet. When she finally entered the auditorium, she found the curly-haired boy upon the empty stage among the other thespians who were casually chatting with each other or texting on their phones, which was indicative that their bombastic drama teacher, Mrs. Bernardo, had yet to arrive for today's gathering. With small beads of sweat forming upon her brow, the comedienne swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way across the stage to approach the apple of her eye.
"Um… hey… Benny…" Luan's voice cracked.
Benny looked up from the script page he was looking over, though he had a very uneasy look on his face as he responded, "Oh, hey, Luan…"
Luan began nervously stroking her arm, as she tried her hardest to build up the courage to confront Benny about the fight they previously had: "Look… about that fight we had the other day…"
Before Luan could continue, Benny immediately dove into the discussion: "Yeah, I really wanted to talk to you about that… so, did Leni buy it?"
The comedienne had been so focused on trying to explain her side to Benny that for him to suddenly bring up Leni seemingly out of the blue like this blindsided her. "Huh?"
"Our fight," continued Benny. "Did she buy it?"
The usually quick-witted girl was rather slow in picking up on what was being asked of her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean did Leni believe we were really fighting, and did it have the desired outcome Lori was hoping for?" Benny asked.
All Luan could do was nod her head slowly as she answered, "Oh, yeah, she believed it alright…"
Benny revealed a little half smile, as he continued, "So, was I really convincing? I've never had to stretch my acting abilities that far before, it really took a lot out of me!"
It finally began to dawn on Luan that she had worried and fretted over nothing; Benny took always took his acting very, very seriously, and it seemed as though that like what Luan was going to offer up as an explanation for what happened between them, he really was just putting on an act the entire time as well. She felt a wave of relief wash over her, as an awkward smile sprung across her face.
"Are you kidding me? You really are the best actor in our club! Heck, you even convinced me we were really fighting!" She exclaimed.
Benny's smile grew as he released a loud sigh of relief. "Phew! Thanks, Luan! I really didn't think I had what it takes to be a convincing heavy… you think maybe I should try out for some villainous roles in the future?"
"Oh, I think a handsome devil like you could pull it off!" Luan quipped, as she and Benny shared in a good-natured laugh with each other.
If Luan thought the trouble between she and Benny had vanished into thin air like a magic trick, Luna would not be so fortunate.
The purple-clad rocker stepped into the music room, and among the other students who were part of the music club, she spotted her bandmates huddled together in a corner – doing what, she was unsure of. But she marched over to where they were and greeted them in her traditional, carefree manner: "Yo! What up, dudes?"
The freckle-faced rocker was met with stone-faced stares that emitted icy vibes that were so cold, she could almost feel a shiver tingle up her spine.
"Soooo… what are we up to today?" She asked trying to break said ice, in more ways than one, while she nervously stroked her arm.
"'We'?" Sam asked. "Which 'we'? 'We,' as in Luna and the Moon Goats, or, 'we,' as in just the Moon Goats?"
"Ugh… the former?" Luna curiously pointed out.
"Hmph, well isn't that weird," muttered Sully.
"How so, dude?" Luna asked.
"We were under the impression that our ties were severed," continued Sully.
"Yeah, Sam told us all about your fight, and honestly, we think it's best we part ways," added Mazzy.
"WHOA! Let's backtrack here!" Luna exclaimed defensively. "Did Sam happen to mention to either of you dudes our fight was an act?!"
Sully and Mazzy were suddenly dumbfounded as they looked at Sam in confusion, though the irked look on her face remained.
"Oh, it started out as an act, until Luna showed her true colors," said Sam.
"What in the name of Cyndi Lauper are you bleetin' about?" Luna asked.
Sam arose to her feet, placed her fists onto her hips, and put Luna in her place. "I could tell by the tone of your voice, and how defensive you were, that you were not acting, you were serious."
Luna stood in silence for a moment and tried her hardest to gather her thoughts in her mind as quickly as she possibly could so as to not respond extemporaneously: "You… wow, so you really bought that?"
"Bought what?" Sam asked. "What were you even selling?"
"The act, brah!" Luna insisted, before she turned to Sully and Mazzy to further expound on what really happened. "See, our sis, Leni, is all buggered 'bout not havin' a bae, so our oldest sis, Lori, wanted me and Sam to fake a fight for her to see to get thoughts of romance outta her mind."
"Except Leni was nowhere to be seen," Sam told them.
Luna felt as though she had been slapped in the face – she got so caught up in the heat of the moment of fighting with Sam that she was not even aware that Leni was not present; however, Sam was also unaware that Leni did, indeed, witness their fight, only from one of the upper story windows… then again, Luna was also unaware of this fact, so that was an alibi should could not use to her advantage nor for Sam's benefit.
Sam resumed her side of the story to their bandmates: "And, when I was trying to have a civilized discussion with Luna about our band, that apparently bruised her fragile ego."
"Say what?" Luna asked; that last remark had struck a bad chord with her.
Sully and Mazzy nodded in agreement before they chimed in with their opinions.
"I mean, she's not wrong, Lunes; you do have a tendency to steal our thunder whenever we perform," said Sully.
"Yeah, and you never listen to any of our input," added Mazzy.
"It seems to have slipped your brainboxes this is my band and it's my music we jam out, and what's more…" Luna began before she immediately cut herself off when she realized she actually was letting her ego drive her train of thought on cruise control, as she saw the looks on her bandmates' faces further soured.
"See what I mean?" Sam asked them.
"We see your true colors shinin' through," said Mazzy.
"So, we might as well just go our separate ways," Sam told Luna. "You can break away and fly solo if you'd like; we'll just keep on rammin' and jammin' without you."
"Wait, dudes… it don't hafta be this way…" insisted Luna.
"Not anymore, it doesn't," said Sam as she sat back down with her fellow Moon Goats.
"Naw, I'm for real, dudes, come on, hear me out…" pleaded Luna. "I'm the one who chose you guys, 'cause you dudes are the best at what you do… and, I wanted the best of the best for the band…"
"Then use us to the best of our abilities!" Sam demanded. "We're not just some group of musicians, Luna; we're collaborators…"
"I'm hearin' ya loud and clear, dudes" said Luna with a firm nod.
"Well, that's a first…" mumbled Mazzy.
"Really, dude?!" Luna snapped at the wise crack.
"Look, Luna," Sam continued, "if you want us to remain a band, then treat us like a band!"
"Yeah, don't keep shootin' us down whenever we have suggestions on how we can make your music even better!" Mazzy added.
"And don't be such a spotlight hog whenever we jam," added Sully. "It's not like me or Mazzy can hop around the stage with our 'boards and drums!"
"You dudes are right," said Luna with another firm nod. "You win. From this moment on, you dudes are gonna be seein' a whole new Luna Loud… I mean, we're gonna be a whole new Moon Goats!"
The three other musicians exchanged looks with each other and nodded in agreement.
"Alright, Lunes… we'll take you back if you're serious," said Sam as she folded her arms in front of her chest.
"I never been more serious 'bout anything in my life!" Luna insisted.
At that moment, Mrs. Vaporciyan stepped into the music room to address the club members: "Alright, music club! Let's get back to rehearsing for the upcoming spring recital; why don't we start with some a capella from the glee choir?"
While the members of the glee choir stepped over to another part of the rather large room to take their rightful places in the lineup, Luna's bandmates decided to start setting up their instruments and other equipment for when it's their turn to play for their elderly music teacher, though as they arose from their seats to fetch their gear, Luna grabbed Sam by her elbow and stopped her for a moment.
"Wait, Sam… look… 'bout our brawl…" Luna began.
Sam pulled her elbow away from Luna's grip, clearly in no mood for discussing it any further. "Let's just drop it, Luna; I don't wanna talk about it anymore."
"But, I mean… we're cool, right? You and me?" Luna asked.
Sam paused for a moment to look into Luna's large, puppy-like eyes, though that serious look on her face remained as she sighed, "We'll talk about it later… let's just get everything set up so we'll be ready to play for Mrs. V…"
While Sam walked away to retrieve her bass guitar, Luna felt as though her hopes had been dashed against the sharp rocks at the bottom of the waterfall of cruel injustice.
About an hour later, Lori drove she and her fellow high school sisters en route to pick up their younger siblings from their own respective clubs at the elementary and middle schools before they headed home for the day. She began to inquire of the younger two sitting behind her of their attempts to smooth things over with their sweethearts.
"So, how did it go?" Lori asked while she darted her eyes between the road in front of her and the rearview mirror reflecting the faces of her younger sisters.
"You're not gonna believe this," Luan began, "but Benny was apparently just acting the whole time as well! He was actually worried if he was convincing, because he said he never had to act out a fight like that before."
"Are you kidding?" Lori asked with a tone that conveyed both relief and amusement.
"So, are you and Benny are back together then?" Leni turned around and asked from the front passenger seat.
"I guess we were never through to begin with!" Luan followed up with something of a laugh/sigh combination.
"This is literally amazing!" Lori squealed before she turned her attention to Luna. "How about you, Lunes?"
The freckle-faced rocker sighed, "I'm not so fortunate, dudes… Sam really did take the fight seriously, and she's still nursin' the wounds…"
"So, you and Sam didn't get back together?" Lori asked in concern.
Luna sat in silence for a moment before she relayed what Sam had told her: "She said we'd talk about it later…"
This was certainly news that was disappointing for the others to hear, as Lori tried to offer her little sister a dose of reassurance: "Well… if she really loves you, she'll give you a chance clear the air."
"And if she doesn't?" Luna asked in despair.
Lori sighed and she returned her attention to the road ahead of her. "Then… maybe she's not the one for you."
"That's what I'm afraid of…" muttered Luna as she hung her head.
"Keep on the sunny side," Luan echoed from earlier, as she placed her hands onto Luna's shoulders. "Always on the sunny side."
The rest of the ride to pick up other siblings seemed like it was going to be a rather sad and quiet one, but the silence within Vanzilla was suddenly broken when a notification tone coming from inside Leni's backpack took the driver and other passengers by surprise. The ditzy blonde grabbed her backpack and dug around in it, until she found and retrieved her cellphone; a look at the screen which contained a new text message she had just received nearly caused her to flip out.
"O-M-GOSH!" She squealed.
"What? What is it?" Lori asked; she wondered if she was going to need to pull over in response to some sort of a life-altering emergency.
"I just got a text from Chaz!" Leni exclaimed in absolute glee and delight.