A/N: Happy LGBTQ History Month, dear readers! I do want to say that I have been absolutely blown away by the overwhelmingly positive reception to not only this story, but also the impending Sharuby ship - I was not at all expecting the explosion of support I had received on Twitter, and I would really like to thank everybody for such; it does give me a little extra boost of confidence that, perhaps, this story could very well work in reaching some readers.

From opposite directions came two young girls: one was an orange-clad Jewish girl with thick, wavy brown hair and large glasses adorned on her freckled face, who looked awfully distraught; the other was a maroon-glad Indian girl whose black hair was worn in a long braid, but whatever mood she may have been in seemed rather difficult to discern – especially when the two happened to cross paths.

"Hey, Shannon," greeted the Indian girl.

"H-hey, Ruby…" responded the Jewish girl with a sniffle.

"Like, is something wrong?" Ruby asked rather flatly.

Shannon hung her head and exhaled a loud, sad sigh, before she finally explained, "My cat… my cat… died…"

"Oh, that's awful," responded Ruby in a rather emotionless voice. "Like, what happened?"

"She… she wandered out into the street, and… and got run over by a car…" sobbed Shannon.

"Gosh, I'm, like, totally sorry, Shannon…" said Ruby, although she did not sound particularly sympathetic or sincere.

Just then, a tall, dark-haired, middle aged woman circled around the two girls; as she placed a hand on each of their shoulders, Mrs. Bernardo addressed the other pupils who sat in the first row of the auditorium to critique their performance.

"Alllllllright," she began. "Can anybody tell me why this didn't work?"

To hear their drama teacher say this, Shannon and Ruby exchanged dejected glances with one another; already, they felt like complete hacks at performance art. Meanwhile, most of the other thespians seemed a might clueless as to what it was, exactly, that made their brief little performance rather ineffective – nobody could put their finger on it. Except for Luan and Benny, that is. Luan was the first to speak up, as she could tell right away what one of the biggest problems was.

"I know!" The comedienne called out. "Shannon wasn't making eye-contact with Ruby."

"I wasn't?" Shannon asked; she was not even aware of this little gaffe.

Mrs. Bernardo nodded as she further critiqued her performance: "This is exactly what I was speaking of… the idea is to establish a connection… and communication is a crucial component of such! Remember: the eyes are the windows into our souls! If you don't invite anybody in, they will be left in the daaarrrk!"

All the while, Luan nodded along with Mrs. Bernardo's little lecture; being a comedienne and performing for people, she was well aware that in order for your audience to really engage with you, you have to establish a connection with them, and she always made sure whenever she was addressing an audience of spectators – whether at one of her comedy sets or birthday party gigs – that she made eye contact with as many of her spectators as she possibly could to ensure she engaged with them.

Mrs. Bernardo's little lecture also prompted Benny to speak up and address another little problem he had picked up on: "Also, Ruby wasn't really emoting."

Ruby appeared to be a little confused by this critique, but likewise, Mrs. Bernardo further elaborated on the point that he had brought up.

"No, no…" she told Ruby. "There was no feeeeeeeling in your responses… this is what I was also speaking of… one has to emote! Bring some feeling! Making eye-contact establishes the connection of communication between the two of you as thespians, but emotion is what establishes the connection of communication with your audience! If you want them to believe in you, they have to be able to feel what you're feeling!"

Ruby and Shannon glanced at each other once more, they both felt just a tad discouraged over seemingly failing in this acting exercise, but their teacher was ready to oblige them with a second chance.

"Let us try this again," instructed Mrs. Bernardo. "And, this time, why don't we try reversing the roles? Shannon, you seem to have an understanding of projecting emotions… so, Ruby, why don't you study her reactions as you share your tragic news with her? Meanwhile, I want you to think sad thoughts…"

With that, their drama teacher stepped aside once more and cued them to try their little performance again – this time, with the roles swapped. Already feeling just a tad disheartened over the critiques they had received, both girls ended up bringing some genuine awkwardness to their performance this time.

"Hey, Shannon…" croaked Ruby.

"Hey, Ruby…" responded Shannon, while she made sure she maintained eye-contact with her partner. "Is… something wrong?"

Ruby took Mrs. Bernardo's instructions to heart as she began to think of some sad thoughts, which did seem to have an effect on her follow-up: "Yeah… yeah, my cat… my cat died…"

The tips of Shannon's fingers met her lips as she gasped in shock, "Oh, that's awful! What happened?"

"She… wandered out into the street, and, like, got run over by a car…" Ruby struggled to say.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ruby…" said a sympathetic Shannon as she started to pet Ruby's back to console her.

Mrs. Bernardo nodded as she studied the two thespians' attempt to bring more sincerity to their exercise – she seemed a little more satisfied with their effort this time, which she let it be known:

"Very nice, that was better than the first one. Shannon, I really felt the empathy you were extending to Ruby over her tragedy… and, Ruby? I liked your uneasiness – it felt like your initial shock had not yet worn off, and you're emotionally conflicted on how you should be feeling."

That wasn't exactly what Ruby was going for, since her uneasiness was due in part to Mrs. Bernardo's earlier criticism, but she accepted her new critique in stride, as did Shannon. Now, it was time to move onto another pair of thespians to see how well they can do with their exercise, and since Mrs. Bernardo seemed rather impressed with their spot-on critiques, she decided to pull Benny and Luan up onto the stage next. Upon Ruby and Shannon's return to the front row of the auditorium, Benny and Luan took to the stage, starting on opposite sides, until they approached each other in center stage, as if they just happened to have bumped into each other on a brisk walk – and their intentions were to get their peers to laugh, as they began to exchange some words with one another…

"Hey, Luan!" Benny greeted the comedienne.

"Oh, hey, Benny!" Luan returned the greeting. "Fancy running into you! What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much; I was just on my way over to the ice cream parlor," explained Benny. "Would you care to join me in a cone?"

"I don't know," began Luan, as she paused just long enough to deliver a punchline: "Do you think we could both fit?"

Sure enough, laughter was the response to the punchline – not just from Benny, but from the other thespians who sat and watched them, as well as Mrs. Bernardo. The two continued…

"Perhaps we could do a bowl instead," suggested Benny, who likewise paused just long enough to deliver another punchline: "But I know what a waffler you are!"

This garnered another laugh from the rest of the club; the two were clearly on a roll, so they finally went in for a trifecta…

"Yeah, you're right," agreed Luan with a nod before she delivered the last punchline: "Why don't we just make like a banana and split?"

Not only did they receive another laugh from the other thespians, but by this point, Mrs. Bernardo was absolutely beaming – never before had she seen such remarkable talent from such young performers ever since she had become a drama teacher; she expressed her approval with a standing ovation.

"BRAVO! BRAVOOOOO!" She cheered. "You two are MAGNIFICEEENNNT! Your timing… your pacing… your delivery… EVERYTHING! You not only engaged with each other, but you certainly engaged with your audience as well! I can tell you two will be a pleasure to work with in our club this semester!"

Benny and Luan exchanged awkward smiles with one another, while their cheeks also tinged with redness from their drama teacher's flattery. As they exited the stage to return to their seats, Mrs. Bernardo was ready to move onto another pair for their exercise; all the while, Ruby quietly confided in Shannon…

"I thought I'd be, like, totally better at this…" she confessed.

"I thought you did better the second time," assured Shannon.

Ruby shrugged, "But, you're totally good at this. I thought you were gonna, like, actually start crying the first time…"

"Well… I've always wanted to be a performer…" Shannon confessed. "I… used to put on little shows and plays for my parents when I was little, where I'd reenact some of my favorite movie scenes…"

"Aww, that's cute," said Ruby. "Maybe you could give me some pointers."

It seemed rather strange for Shannon to have a peer of hers seek her for guidance in an area of which she possessed knowledge – usually, she found the case was the other way around, such as her seeking guidance from Luan on any number of her talents: juggling, riding a unicycle, pantomime. Ruby did seem to really want to learn how to better hone any potential acting talent she had; perhaps Shannon could just help her nurture it enough to flourish.

"Yeah, sure…" she nodded meekly. "Yeah."

They found their side conversation interrupted when they suddenly heard a strong and resonant voice belt out song up on stage; by this time, Lyberti and Leo performed a small bit in which he was a record producer who had just discovered fresh new talent…

I'm like a bird I only fly away
I don't know where my soul is
I don't know where my home is

And baby all I need for you to know

I'm like a bird I only fly away
I don't know where my soul is
I don't know where my home is

Everybody within the auditorium was stunned into silence, including Mrs. Bernardo, whose jaw hung agape; whatever she was specifically looking for in this exercise had completely escaped her altogether as Lyberti's singing had stunned her.

"My… dear… girl…" she mumbled. "Your voice is… POSITIVELY ANGEELLLLIC!"

Indeed, everybody was truly blown away by the set of pipes the girl up on stage possessed; if this were a singing competition show, they definitely would have buzzed her as the winner.

"Dang, that girl can sing!" Ruby remarked.

"What a voice!" Shannon had to agree.

This performance had brought back awkward memories for Shannon of when she had enrolled in Royal Woods Middle's glee club during the first half of sixth grade, and how she did not do particularly well in it… if only she could sing like that, she lamented to herself.

Maybe she could.

When the theater club met up the following week, Shannon had arrived early on this particular day, but she was not the first one who was in attendance for that week's class; she could hear that same strong and resonant voice singing out into the emptied auditorium, as Lyberti, who casually paced about the stage, sang a song in a language that was unfamiliar to the bespectacled girl who listened.

Mokili mayi ya bwatu yo
Ozwi lelo lobi okoki pe kozanga
Bokimaki mbangu mbangu yo
Tala lelo osuki se na nzela

Sala keba yo yo
Sala keba yo yo
Sala keba yo yo
Sala keba yo moninga na ngaaaaaaa

Once Lyberti paused in her singing, Shannon instinctively clapped, which startled the singer to discover that she was not alone in the auditorium as she had believed. Realizing her little gaffe in startling the singer, the embarrassed brunette stopped clapping.

"Oh, sorry, Lyberti…" she croaked. "I… I was captivated by your singing; you have such an amazing voice."

Lyberti may have felt a little awkward at first, but to hear this compliment from her fellow thespian, she felt far more flattered as she smiled, "Aw, thanks, Shannon! I just love to sing! My mom and I sing at home all the time."

"What was that song you were singing, anyway?" A curious Shannon asked.

"It's an old Congolese motivational song my mom taught me," explained Lyberti. "Sala Keba means, 'be careful.'"

"I wish I could sing like that," lamented Shannon once more.

"Aw, anyone can sing, Shannon," said Lyberti.

"I didn't do so well in sixth grade glee club," said Shannon. "Just ask Luan, she was in the club, too."

"That's just silly!" Lyberti said as she waved it off. "Sing something for me."

Now it was Shannon who felt awkward being asked to sing when she held no confidence in any kind of singing voice she may possess, but she complied with what was requested of her as, in a rather strained voice, she attempted to sing the opening number from one of her favorite musicals…

We're rats
We're rats
We're furry and forlorn

We live in sewers
Love in sewers
And our hearts are torn

We laugh
We cry
We sing in harmony

I love her
But, I love him
And darn it, he loves meeeee

We're rats, rats, rats, rats, raaaaaats

"That sounds more like a rat drowning in a sewer!" Another voice snarked as Shannon and Lyberti noticed Amy had arrived, her arm locked with Rex's.

"That wasn't very nice, Amy!" Lyberti barked as her fists met her hips.

"Hey, I thought handling constructive criticism was part of being a performer," rebutted Amy.

"She's not wrong, you know," added Rex in a manner that made him sound rather like a yes-man, much to his girlfriend's satisfaction, as she smiled and rested her head against his neck.

"Constructive criticism is one thing," Lyberti argued, "that was just a mean-spirited crack!"

"Pfft, whatev," muttered Amy with an eye roll before she addressed her boyfriend. "Come on, Rex, let's go work on our chemistry…"

"You lead, I'll follow," said Rex, whose arm was still locked with the catty ginger girl by his side.

As the pair casually strolled across the stage, Shannon's face continued to redden even more from Amy's less than tactful critique of her attempt to sing.

Lyberti did her best to try to help nurse the wounds: "It really wasn't that bad, Shannon… in fact, I've figured out what your problem is…"

"What's that?" Shannon asked.

"You're singing from your throat," Lyberti pointed out. "You want to sing from your diaphragm; you have to be able to breathe properly while you sing so you don't run out of air or strain your voice."

"That's… easier said than done…" said Shannon as she stroked her arm.

"It just takes practice, like anything else," said Lyberti, before she made an offer: "Maybe I can help coach you!"

"Really?" Shannon asked while her hand continually slid up and down her arm. "Gosh, thanks, Lyberti."

What a great club this was; with the obvious exception of Amy, Shannon began to feel rather comfortable around these other students, who seemed really open to connecting with their fellow thespians; especially the maroon-clad Indian girl who had also just arrived.

"Like, if it isn't my new friend the Christmas tree!" Ruby greeted Shannon.

"Hey, Ruby," responded Shannon with a slight chuckle over that humorous remark regarding her surname.

"Hello from the other siiiiiiiiide!" Lyberti greeted Ruby in song, which, once again, left Shannon and Ruby stunned.

"Dang, girl, you can sing!" Ruby complimented.

Lyberti continued to smile, as she lamented, "I hope maybe we get to put on a musical in this club; that'd be so much fun!"

"I know, right? If not Rats, maybe something like The Phantom of the Opera…" the musical-loving Shannon gave another earnest attempt at singing:

And in this labyrinth
Where night is bliiiiiiiind
The phaaaannnntom of opera is heeerrrreeee
Inside my miiiiiiiind

Both Lyberti and Ruby offered encouraging smiles, but the one sour apple in the room had to further spoil it for the rest of the bunch, as Amy began to howl like an upset dog being forced into seeing a veterinarian when it would rather not. As before, Shannon could have practically shrunken like a violet over Amy's heckling, though Lyberti and Ruby shot nasty glances at the ginger-haired girl and the Asian boy who snickered at her side.

"Ignore her," insisted Lyberti as she turned back to Shannon. "I still think you have potential; with a little help, you could have a singing voice like Grey Griffin!"

Shannon nervously chuckled, "I don't know about that…"

"Don't you think, Ruby?" Lyberti asked to get a second opinion.

"Totally!" The Indian girl agreed. "You kinda sound a lot like her already."

"I don't know about that, either," Shannon modestly repeated.

Shortly thereafter, the current remaining members of the theater club –Luan, Benny, and Leo- had arrived into the auditorium, and after yet another grand and dramatic entrance from their grand and dramatic teacher, that week's session had gotten underway. Mrs. Bernardo wanted to further train her thespians in establishing connections; this time, by having them participate exercises in which their very actions would engage their audience. Like the previous week, she had the thespians partner up with one another, and this time, Shannon more readily agreed to partner up with Ruby, though the exercise that their teacher directed them through seemed quite odd to them at first: while the other thespians sat in the front row of the auditorium, she had the two girls stand on opposite sides of the stage; on one side, Ruby stood next to a small table that had an empty glass atop its surface; on the other side, Mrs. Bernardo stood with Shannon next to another such table, this one had a pitcher of water atop its surface.

"Alright, Ruby?" Mrs. Bernardo called out across the stage. "Would you be so kind as to bring that glass over to Shannon, please?"

"Like, okay…" said Ruby as she complied with the directions: she grabbed the empty glass, walked it across the stage over to the bespectacled brunette, and handed it to her. "Like, here you go…"

"Thanks…" said Shannon.

"Very well," nodded Mrs. Bernardo. "You may return to your previous position, Ruby…"

With a shrug, the Indian girl walked back to where she originally started from – she failed to see what the point of this exercise was at first, as did the other thespians who watched in silent curiosity, but Mrs. Bernardo was about to bring a sense of suspense to their exercise. She filled Shannon's glass with water all the way to the rim, much to her confusion; after which, she stepped over to the opposite side of the stage where Ruby stood, and called out…

"Alright, Shannon? I want you to bring that glass back over to here to Ruby… but you cannot spill even a single drop, because if you do, then everybody in your village shall PERRRRIIIISH!"

A chorus of intimidated 'ohhh's could be heard throughout the auditorium; now Shannon felt a tremendous sense of pressure on her as she cautiously began to step over to the opposite side of the stage; what seemed like an incredibly simple task now suddenly felt like a perilous risk, and everybody was greatly concerned about the outcome. With each uneasy step, she could hear soft gasps and other exclamations of fear from those out in the auditorium, and they grew in both volume and intensity each time her burdened hand trembled. Occasional glances she stole of her fellow thespians showed them on the edge of their seats in suspense, some with their eyes widened and jaws dropped; when she looked across the stage, even Ruby wore a look of terror on her face as she bit her bottom lip in distress. About halfway across the stage, Amy decided to bring more thrills into the exercise; she turned her head away from everybody and faked a cough – a cough so loud that it alarmed Shannon and caused her shaky hand to fumble with the glass, which resulted in splashes of water spilling below onto the stage floor, much to the horror of the other thespians who quite practically screamed in terror. The orange-clad girl was petrified over the mishap, but Mrs. Bernardo was quite satisfied with the results – the mess aside; she stepped over to where Shannon stood frozen to explain the point she wanted to make…

"Now, which version of this scene was more engaging?" She asked. "Notice how more reactions from the audience were elicited when an obstacle presented the scene with conflict? What's interesting about carrying an empty glass across a stage? Nothing. The interest is in the intrigue of seeing someone trying to fight against the odds to accomplish their task – that's how you engage and connect with your audience!"

Feeling awkward about spilling the water, Shannon meekly handed the partially filled glass to her drama teacher, who still praised the two girls for doing well in this exercise.

"Thank you, Shannon," she said as she took the glass. "And Ruby, you both did very well!"

A small round of applause came from the other thespians as Shannon resumed her trek across the stage to where she and Ruby exited together; one of them clearly suspicious of something that had just happened a moment ago…

"Amy did that on purpose, didn't she?" Shannon whispered to Ruby.

"You know she did!" Ruby whispered back.

In spite of Amy's rotten attitude, and that she seemingly had Rex wrapped around her little finger, Shannon had come to really enjoy theater club, as well as the other thespians she got to mingle with, and not just her old friends, Luan and Benny. Lyberti was really friendly and incredibly talented; Leo seemed like a nice guy, albeit rather quiet and didn't talk very much. And, of course, there was Ruby, she was certainly a rather interesting person: an outgoing social butterfly, she did not exactly come across as the kind of student who would want to enroll in such a club that consisted of rather quirky kids, but she did seem to genuinely be interested in honing acting skills.

Over the weekend, Shannon lounged around in her bedroom which itself looked like a miniature theater: posters from a variety of different features and musicals adorned her walls; shelves and cases were filled beyond capacity of DVD's of her favorite flicks, as well as the literature of some of history's greatest playwrights and storytellers, and a collection of Broadway memorabilia… clearly, this young girl knew what she wanted to do with her life. While she sat at her desk and connected with her social media friends on her laptop, she saw she had received three new friend requests since yesterday: Lyberti Minter, Leo Bardonaro, and Ruby Patel. With a broad smile across her freckled face, Shannon happily accepted their requests – it had not been this easy to make new friends since elementary school. After browsing through their profiles, she could see that Lyberti and Leo both were very much like her: while they did not possess a large number of friends, let alone mutuals, clearly they were artsy kinds of kids like her, and their social circles seemed to reflect their friends held similar interests. Ruby, on the other hand, was an entirely different story: she had hundreds of friends, and very little on her profile seemed to indicate much of an interest in theater, drama, or acting – in fact, she seemed like the epitome of a cliquish teenaged valley girl; Shannon usually tried her best to not judge a book by its cover, but if this served as any sort of an impression of who Ruby Patel was, she would have concluded that she was definitely one of those 'popular girls' who always have to have the world revolve around them – just like in so many of those coming-of-age movies she has seen.

This especially came as a surprise the following Monday when Shannon had grabbed a seat at an empty table in the cafeteria to eat lunch… or try to, anyway – if there was one thing that could be said about school cafeteria food is that it made Kosher food seem all the more appealing in comparison. This was actually very common for her, especially since middle school: she usually found whatever table that was empty to sit and eat her lunch in peaceful solitude, though that was about to change when she heard a voice address her…

"Hey, girl, hey," said the Indian girl who carried a tray of food over toward her table. "This table open?"

"Huh? Oh, sure, you can sit if you want…" mumbled a rather surprised Shannon. "Unless you'd rather sit at a table with some of the cool kids…"

"What, you're not cool?" Ruby asked before she happily began to eat her rather generously portioned lunch; in stark contrast, she found school cafeteria food was a lot easier to consume than Indian food.

"I… not… really…?" Shannon mumbled, much to Ruby's amusement.

At Royal Woods High, the various different classes had their lunch periods scheduled in fifteen-minute increments to cut down on over crowdedness in the cafeteria, though sometimes, these various classes would have their lunch periods shifted without notice, and this appeared to be the case with Ruby – it was actually the first time Shannon had even noticed her in the cafeteria during the same time as her own current lunch period… and, it would seem Ruby's class was not the only one whose lunch period had been shifted, as a certain buck-toothed and ponytailed comedienne approached their table as well.

"This place is a mess," she quipped with a big laugh as she took a seat across from the two. "Get it?"

"You mean like a mess hall?" Shannon asked.

"And it's just plain messy!" Luan added.

Ruby chuckled, "Clever!"

This was the first time Luan had eaten lunch with somebody other than one of her older sisters. This was also her first year of high school, and being somewhat unfamiliar with the environment at first, she felt more comfortable sitting with somebody she already knew intimately. Only Leni was ever too happy to have her join she and her friends for lunch; she very much enjoyed including her little sister in her social circle, and while some of Leni's friends, like Fiona and Miguel, did at least find Luan to be an adorable, quirky little sister, they also found her incessant cracking of jokes and puns at the drop of a hat rather tiresome after a while. As for Lori and Luna? The oldest blonde did not appreciate how her immature little sister annoyed she and her friends all throughout their lunch period; and while the rocker was particularly fond of her closest sister, her mates, likewise, had little tolerance for her juvenile humor.

Before any of them could resume any conversation, another, more boyish-sounding voice addressed their table…

"Mind if I join you, ladies?"

Luan was particularly excited to see Benny in the cafeteria at the same time as well, as she quickly offered the seat next to her and exclaimed, "Please do! The more the merrier, am I right?"

Ruby then turned to Shannon and remarked, "Looks like we've got our own cool table now, huh?"

Shannon smiled in bemusement as she agreed, "Yeah… I guess so…"

Maybe high school wasn't going to be so bad after all; she could get used to this.

I apologize for a rather long and uneventful chapter (and, unfortunately, the next chapter isn't going to be much different), but, as you will eventually see, there are some little plot threads that we need to build upon. Hopefully, though, we'll start to really get the ball rolling by chapter four... and it'll probably only continue to snowball from there.