A/N: Let us take a moment to congratulate Mr. Albertson on his new job offer; now, he will be, as Huey Lewis and the News once reported, Workin' for a Livin'! While this will probably affect the update frequency of our story (or lack thereof), we doubt it will be too impactful, considering how irregular the updates have been since we started... at least the next few chapters have been drafted in advance (thanks in part to the source material providing more to work with at this point in the story), so there's no need to worry about the story falling into hiatus any time soon... believe me, as a reader myself, I know there is nothing more frustrating than investing in a story that ends up abandoned.

For a number of the drama students, the following Monday morning was a totally new experience as they roamed the halls of Royal Woods High, for they suddenly found themselves garnering much attention whenever they were spotted – it was as though having been in last Friday night's play had suddenly catapulted them into celebrity status. Shannon, in particular, found it quite perplexing how so many other students whom she didn't even know were suddenly calling her Hermia whenever she made her way from one class to another. While Hermia may have been considered a rebellious girl for her time, Shannon herself was still a little on the socially awkward side, which is why she found it incredibly odd that some boys would approach her and try to ask her out based solely on her performance in the play; being overwhelmed with her newfound fame, she would politely decline these offers that she never had been extended before. It was all just so weird to suddenly be somebody in school after weeks of being a nobody… even her own friends couldn't help but get in on the fun…

"Oh, my gosh; the Shannon Tannenbaum?!" Luan asked as she happened to pass Shannon in the hall during a class change. "You were great in A Midsummer Night's Dream! Can I have your autograph?!"

"If you want an autograph, they're twenty bucks each," quipped Shannon.

"Well!" Luan huffed haughtily.

Being a clown, comedienne, and an entertainer in general, Luan Loud had gotten used to such recognition and attention, even if she did receive less of it as years passed since others had gotten accustomed to her public persona. Even so, she also was not immune to a new burst of recognition from her involvement in the school play, as another student likewise approached her while in the hall.

"Hey, aren't you the ass fairy?" This student asked.

Such an absurd question broke Luan into what was probably her biggest and most hysterical fit of laughter ever – even Shannon was unable to help herself from laughing over this most ludicrous greeting.

"Yep, that's me," said Luan proudly. "I always did like me a good piece of ass!"

Now it was Shannon who succumbed to a fit of hysterical laughter; generally speaking, Luan's comedy was mostly clean, even if she may have veered into slightly risqué or tongue-in-cheek material on occasion, that had to have been the naughtiest joke she ever heard Luan utter, and to hear such a naughty joke come from her mouth had left Shannon in stitches.

Other thespians, however, were not quite as pleased with their newfound fame, such as Spencer… it made for some incredibly awkward encounters throughout the day, especially as he and his fellow jocks were headed over to the gymnasium for physical education at one point during the day, and the burly boy in the number seven jersey found himself randomly approached by a rather wimpy-looking geek.

"Hey, Puck," greeted said geek. "Think you could spare some of your love juice?"

Spencer nearly swallowed his face when asked this, while the looks on his fellow jocks' faces might as well have screamed, 'What the hell?'

"There's this girl I've been trying to impress for weeks, and she still doesn't know I'm alive," the geek continued to explain in a rather playful manner. "Maybe you could give her some of that love juice so she'll fall in love with me when she wakes up."

The other jocks just glared at Spencer in total and absolute cluelessness; Spencer, meanwhile, unsure of what to do or say had responded in the only way he could think to…

"Buzz off!" He huffed.

The little geek snickered and scurried away, leaving the jocks no less confused than they already were.

"Okay... what just happened?" Carlton asked.

"What was that all about?" Brandon also asked.

"Aye, que pasa?" Horatio also asked.

"I… have… no… idea…" lied a red-faced Spencer; to say that he didn't expect to be recognized by other random students after the play would be something of an understatement.

"What is all that 'love juice' stuff about?" Brandon asked with a most twisted look on his face.

"How… would I know?" Spencer asked with a shrug.

"You must know something, your face is red and you're sweating…" Brandon pointed out.

"I'm just… anticipating workin' up a good sweat in gym class today, is all…" Spencer said in an attempt to save face.

As the jocks made their way toward the gymnasium, Carlton could not help but wonder if this kid they had just encountered may have had some other issues he needed to deal with.

"I don't know; sounds like this guy spends a little too much time on Rule34 or something," he surmised.

"Maybe it's the only kind of action he'll ever see in his life," added Horatio with a chuckle.

"Yeah, probably," Spencer added with a forced chuckle in an attempt to keep up his charade, while he also hoped that this sort of encounter wasn't going to become more common in the days to come, let alone, if any of his fellow jocks from the sports club caught wind of him having been in the school play.

The one thespian who most enjoyed the surge in attention was Ruby; even if hers was a rather small part that gave her very little to do in the play, the Indian girl in the bright red unitard and fairy wings had certainly stood out for many a student who saw the play, and just about anywhere she went in the school that day, be it her classes, or in the halls during class changes, she was recognized by somebody somewhere. To feel like a big-shot celebrity in school became something of an addictive high for the girl who loved to be the center of attention, and if she garnered this much attention with just one small little role, imagine what it would be like if she played a major role, or maybe even a lead in the next play? The very idea had Ruby seeing stars.

Needless to say, these girls had some interesting topics to discuss when they had gotten together for lunch that afternoon.

"Hey, bestie," greeted Ruby as she took a seat next to Shannon at their usual table.

"Hey, can you believe it?" Shannon asked. "I've actually been getting recognized today."

"Me, too!" Ruby exclaimed. "Isn't it totally awesome?"

"Feels a little weird to me," confessed Shannon.

"Weird?" Ruby was a little astounded. "Girl, I am diggin' it! And I only had a small role, you were, like, practically a star; you must have people stopping you everywhere!"

Shannon nodded, "Yeah, but it's still weird… I mean, nobody's ever really known I existed before…"

Surprisingly, Ruby nodded understandingly; even though she said nothing, Shannon could almost suspect that Ruby may actually have once known what that was like… which, seemed a little odd, considering what a cool and popular girl she is.

Still, Ruby continued, "Well, they know you do now, you're becoming one of the glitterati!"

Shannon chuckled, "I think you're more glitterati material than me… in fact, you and Spencer could be like the Hollywood Power Couple of Royal Woods High."

Ruby shrugged a little and said, "Yeah, but, I dunno, I don't think Spence wants people to know he's in theater club for some reason…"

"Really? Why?" Shannon asked.

Ruby shrugged again, "I dunno… he made up this wild story to his sports buddies about, like, going home to his granny after school every day to, like, give her foot massages or somethin'… he didn't want them to know he was in the play, and even had me pretend to go along with him so they wouldn't suspect he was, like, lyin' or anything… I think was able to help convince them, though…"

"I see…" responded Shannon.

Ruby shrugged and added, "Besides, I think Amy would probably want that status for her and Rex."

Shannon grimaced at the very mention of her arch-nemesis; she responded, "Ugh… I don't even want to hear that name uttered ever again!"

However, she was about to hear it again when a certain bespectacled African-American girl and her short and stout B.F.F. made their way over to their table, as Lyberti and Leo experienced a change in their lunch schedules.

"Room for two more?" Lyberti asked.

"The more the merrier!" Ruby said as she invited the two to sit.

As the two took their seats on the opposite side of the table, Lyberti was still impressed with a certain feat of Shannon's from last Friday night, as she told her, "That was amazing how you told Amy off, Shannon!"

The usually quiet Leo nodded in agreement; it truly was a sight to behold.

"I wish I took video so we all could see it again," lamented Ruby. "Then we could post it on social media and totally, like, roast and humiliate Amy!"

Although Lyberti and Leo seemed to agree as they nodded once again, Shannon, to their surprise, was against such an idea.

"That seems a unnecessarily harsh…" she said.

"Are you kidding?" Lyberti asked. "After all she's put you through?"

"It'd be like a nice big dose of karma, and like they say, you are what you eat, if you catch my drift…" added Ruby as she nudged Shannon's side with her elbow.

Still, Shannon shrugged and said, "Well, it would feel rather satisfying to see her put in her place… but, I don't know, I still think humiliating her would be going too far… I mean, we all have to take responsibility for our own actions…"

This left the others a tad speechless.

"Whoa… that's, like, totally deep…" said Ruby.

Unfortunately, the situation with Amy seemed to have proven to Shannon that pacifism, while ideal, was not always very effective; Amy may have finally pushed her buttons, and hopefully after the big blow-up a couple of nights ago, this would finally put some much-desired distance between them, but, she was still a turn-the-other-cheek kind of woman by her very nature otherwise.

When school had concluded for the day, the star-struck Ruby meandered down a particular corridor to catch up with Spencer while he pulled his backpack from his locker to head for home, and since she still felt a little playful, she decided to approach and address him in an equal manner…

"Hey, Puck!" She greeted him.

Again with being addressed as Puck in the halls? This started to wear on the jock as he slammed his locker shut and snapped, "Beat it, will ya!?"

Both of their eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets over this strong reaction; Spencer's face flushed with embarrassment over the gaffe he realized he had made, while Ruby looked incredibly insulted to be greeted this way by her boyfriend.

"Dude…!" She snapped.

"Oop, sorry, babe!" Spencer apologized. "I didn't know it was you, I thought it was somebody else!"

"Really?" Ruby asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yeah… people have been calling me Puck all day," confessed Spencer.

"I mean, you were Puck in the play," said Ruby. "And you were a totally amazing Puck at that! Embrace it, my dude!"

"Let's just go, shall we?" Spencer asked as he wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders and began to walk out of the building with her.

She still knew not what to make of his peculiar behavior, but one thing she had to admit was that it was rather off-putting.

"Dude, what is with you?" Ruby asked.

"What?" He responded. "Nothing, what do you mean?"

"You're, like, acting so totally weird today…" she pointed out.

"No, I'm not…" he argued as he continued to escort the both of them out of the building. "Just… keep walking…"

Still, Ruby wanted some answers, or at least an explanation for all of this, as she further prodded, "Seriously, Spence, what's up? Why are you trying to be all, like, mysterioso?"

Once they had made it past the school property and he could see that nobody else appeared to be watching and/or following them, Spencer was finally able to let his guard down a little and explain, "I just wanted to avoid anyone else stopping me in the halls and calling me Puck – it's been happening all day…"

This seemed incredibly ridiculous to Ruby; she countered, "Why, though? You were so good as Puck, didn't you enjoy it?"

"Of course I did! It was a great role, and I had a lot of fun with it!" He insisted, but then gradually soured a little. "It's just… brought me a lot of unwanted attention today is all…"

This still seemed a little ridiculous to the Indian girl who responded: "Dude, ba-da-ba-ba-ba; I'm lovin' it! I totally feel like I've been at a red carpet premiere all day, and I just had a small role!"

"Yeah… but, you really stood out," he said with a wink. "Not that Lyberti and Parvana weren't good fairies, too, but you do have a certain… Je ne sais quoi…"

There was that phrase again: the one that Ruby thought was Spanish, and knew not what it even meant, other than she knew people tended to use it whenever they described something or someone that possessed a certain quality that made them rather appealing… which was exactly what she had thought of him, as she had previously explained to Shannon.

Her head soon met his shoulder as she told him, "The feeling is totally, like, mutual, my guy…"

With a smile, Spencer once again wrapped his arm around Ruby's shoulders as they continue their walk home from school.

The cultured jock did, indeed, enjoy performing in the school play – it was something that he could finally scratch off of his figurative bucket list, and now that the play was finally over, perhaps he could return to the sports club fulltime… especially after a day like today, in which some of the unwanted attention he had garnered from other students in the halls who had seen him in the play brought about a close call of his fellow sports club jocks discovering his true secret as to why he had dropped out of football training; he was certainly ready to get back into the game. At the same time, however, he knew that the theater club had one other play to put together before the end of the semester, and as Mrs. Bernardo had explained, since they had just completed a Shakespearean comedy, their next play would be a Shakespearean tragedy; morbid curiosity did make Spencer wonder which of the Bard's tragedies they would possibly be doing in the club… Othello? Hamlet? Macbeth? Maybe even…

"THESPIANS ASSEMBLE!" Mrs. Bernardo proclaimed when the theater club had convened as per their usual schedule that Friday after school.

After the previous play had gone over so well, there was a stronger sense of energy among the thespians as they gathered around to hear what their drama teacher had to say… there was, however, but one minor, yet noteworthy difference: not only had Shannon continued to avoid Amy like the plague, but now, Amy had returned the sentiment, and it was clearly for the betterment of the whole club, as the negative energy that was shared between these two particular girls was something none of the others needed nor wanted to continue to put up with.

Once she saw that she had her students' attention, Mrs. Bernardo continued to address them: "First of all, allow me a moment to say again, I was very much impressed with your performances in our production last week; you all came together to work like a well-oiled machine… I feel MORE than confident that all of you will do SPLENDIDLY in our next production for this semester…"

Had the thespians been sitting down, they would have certainly been on the edges of their seats to learn of what their next production would be.

"As you may recall our itinerary for this semester is to recreate the works of Shakespeare, and since we have just completed one of his comedies, we shall now focus our energies on one of his TRAAAAAGEDIIIEEESS…" Mrs. Bernardo continued in her flamboyant flare while pressing the back of her fist into her forehead in a fittingly tragic fashion. "As is common practice for high school dramatics, our next production will be… Romeo & Juliet!"

Now this was a story that Ruby was actually familiar with, and this time, she hoped she would have a more substantial role in the play… namely, Juliet… with Spencer as her Romeo… who, at that moment, happen to feel an elbow tap into his side, as he faced the Indian girl who stood by his side to see her slip him a playful little wink; he knew just what it was she had insinuated.

As was the procedure the previous time, Mrs. Bernardo then went around the stage and began to pass out copies of their abridged script to each of her drama students, as she reminded them: "Take the time during the next week to familiarize yourselves with the text, and next Friday, auditions will be held…"

"Well, I already know which role I'll be auditioning for," said Ruby as she took the script that was handed to her. "How about you, Spence?"

The bashful jock could only respond with a coy smile and a goofy little chuckle… the idea of playing Romeo opposite his girlfriend as Juliet did sound very appealing, however, that sense of dread returned to his mind – the longer he stuck with theater club, the longer he ran the risk of any of his fellow sports club members discovering what he's really been up to in ditching football season… and with that in mind, he also realized that if he kept this up as well, he would end up missing out on football season altogether, since another play would, undoubtedly, take the rest of the semester to complete; he really did not want to miss out on playing one of his favorite sports.

Ruby, meanwhile, had every intention to impress the heck out of Mrs. Bernardo with her Juliet audition… but, she still felt she needed some help in improving her skills as an actress, and knew there was one person she could turn to for such help, because not only was she clearly one of the best actresses in the club, she was also her best friend…

"D'ya think you could give me some pointers to, like, help prepare me for my audition?" She asked as she turned to Shannon.

It still felt a little strange for Shannon to have the shoe on the other foot in somebody else seek guidance from her, but in this case, she was still more than willing to oblige Ruby such a favor.

"Of course I'll help!" She happily responded.

As a matter of fact, she thought back to Ruby's story earlier in the week in which she helped Spencer sell a far-fetched alibi to his sporty buddies, and that she, apparently, was able to be convincing – such a thought lead Shannon to believe that Ruby may actually be a better actress than even she may realize, and had a pretty good idea of how she could put this to the test to see whether or not her hunch would be correct.

When the following Monday morning had arrived, Shannon casually strolled down one of the corridors of Royal Woods High to pass by Luan who had just placed her backpack into her locker where she also grabbed her textbook for her first period algebra class.

"Hey, Luan!" Shannon greeted the comedienne. "Are you going to audition for the play this week?"

"Oh, yeah," said Luan; she wasn't about to pass up another opportunity to spend more time with her crush, Benny, of which another school play would provide. "Are you going to try out for Juliet?"

As they made their way down the corridor, Shannon responded, "Oh, I don't think so… I mean, being Hermia was fun, but I think somebody else should have a fair chance at playing a romantic lead…"

Upon turning a corner into another wing of the school, the two discovered Ruby at her locker where she had absolutely flipped out.

"I've been robbed! I've been robbed!"

Curious, the two dashed over to see what Ruby carried on about.

"What's going on, Rubes?" Shannon asked.

"Someone broke into my locker, and, like, completely wiped it out!" Ruby shrieked as she showed the other two the inside of her now-emptied locker.

After they took a peek inside, Shannon almost immediately began to take Luan to task for this: "Alright, Luan, this isn't funny anymore."

"Huh?" Luan responded in shock. "What do you mean?"

"Luan, you did this?!" Ruby barked.

"What? No, I didn't!" Luan insisted. "I mean, I've pulled pranks like this before, but I didn't do this!"

"Then how do you explain this?!" Ruby demanded to know.

"Look, Ruby, this is all very simple… see, this is just a photographic insert made to look like the inside of an empty locker, but it's really…" Luan stuck her hand inside to remove what she believed would have been said photographic insert like she had slipped into Shannon's locker once before, only for her hand to go straight into the emptied locker like nothing. "… An empty locker…"

"Wow, you really upped your game, didn't you, Luan?" Shannon asked.

"Why would you do this to me, Luan?!" Ruby continued to bark.

"Look, guys, I don't know what's going on here, but I didn't do this!" The comedienne pleaded her innocence.

"Then who did?!" Ruby asked.

Luan turned toward the girl in the glasses in hopes that she would confess to this: "Shannon?"

Ruby snapped her head toward her best friend in utter shock that she would do such a thing as she shrieked, "Shannon?!"

"Don't look at me," said Shannon with the shake of her head. "This is Luan's calling card, not mine."

"But… I pulled this prank on you once before, I thought maybe you were the one pulling this on Ruby…" said Luan.

"So, what, this is some kind of joke?!" Ruby still barked. "Because this is, like, totally not funny!"

"Yes! I mean no! I mean… I don't even know what I mean!" Luan began to panic.

"Where's all my stuff?!" Ruby demanded to know. "My text books? My notebooks? My light-up and pom-pom purple gel pen? They're all gone!"

"I don't know!" Luan continued to plead her innocence. "I didn't take any of it!"

"How else could somebody get into my locker and take everything?! It's not like anybody knows my combination…" Ruby began before she slammed the door shut to point out that she had previous kept it locked, only for something to catch her eye. "Like, wait a minute… 207? This isn't my locker… my locker is 201…"

The three girls quickly stepped over to the locker numbered 201, which was still locked shut. Ruby furiously twisted the dial for her combination to open the lock, which she just as furiously removed from the latch to open her locker and find, much to her relief, that everything contained within was where they should be and undisturbed.

"Oh, thank Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva…" she mumbled as the palm of her hand met her forehead.

"See?" Luan said in a similar sense of relief. "I told you I didn't break into your locker!"

"Yeah, I know," nodded Ruby.

Now Luan was all the more confused; she asked, "Wait, if you knew, then why were you accusing me?"

"Shannon told me about the prank you pulled on her and asked me to help her get back at you for it," chuckled Ruby.

Luan snapped her head back toward the freckle-faced Jewish girl, a little perturbed, but still relieved nonetheless.

"Oh, so you were getting back at me?"

Shannon smirked, "Okay… I know it's been several weeks, but yes, I was partly getting back at you…"

Luan nervously chuckled; it wasn't very often that somebody pranked the prankster in retaliation - mainly because her extreme pranks usually left them in need of some serious psychological counseling, but she had to admit, Shannon really had her going there. "Well, good one, you actually got me!"

"But, it was also part of Ruby's exercise…" Shannon then added.

It was not just Luan who was confused by all of this, now Ruby was just as confused as well as she asked, "Like, what are you talking about? You just told me you wanted to pull this prank on Luan, and have me, like, go along with you and pretend to be all wigged out and stuff…"

Shannon turned to Luan and asked, "Luan, were you convinced that Ruby was upset?"

"Well, yeah!" Luan said. "I thought she was seriously convinced that I broke into her locker… and you weren't exactly helping…"

Shannon chuckled and apologized to both of them, "Sorry… but, I wanted to help Ruby realize she's a much better actress than she gives herself credit for."

"Huh?" Ruby responded. "Oh, so, you mean this was, like, an acting exercise?"

"And you didn't even think about it, did you?" Shannon asked.

"Well, no, I didn't even know!" Ruby said.

"It's like I told you, Rubes: acting is like playing pretend… if you could really convince Luan that you were upset about your locker being robbed, or even Spencer's friends about taking care of his granny, then you're clearly a better actress than you realize!"

Ruby just stood there in stunned silence for a brief moment before she finally responded, "Whoa… you just totally, like, blew my mind!"

"That's a really good point, Shans…" agreed Luan. "It's like whenever I play make believe with my siblings – in a way, we're assuming roles without really thinking about it."

"See, Rubes?" Shannon turned to the Indian girl again. "If you can stay in that mindset as you're assuming a role, you could so nail any part you audition for!"

"Girl, I knew you were the perfect one to learn from!" Ruby exclaimed. "Now, do you have any pointers to help me, like, memorize lines?"

A ring of the bell served as a signal that class was now in session and that these three girls who were still out in the hall were tardy for their first period of the day.

"Maybe later…" Shannon said as she, Ruby, and Luan scrambled to get to their first period classes as quickly as possible.

Have you been checking out Albertson's latest offering, Nightmare on Franklin Avenue? If not, you really should; not only are strange and otherworldly occurrences taking place in their little corner of Michigan, but, to my pleasant surprise, it also, apparently, shares a universe with this story as well.