A/N: !WARNING! The following chapter contains depictions of literal toilet humor. I can't believe I would even have to include such a warning, given that the source material quite often indulges in such, however, I have learned the hard way that readers in this archive actually take issue with toilet humor depicted in fanfiction, so for those of you who do, read at your own discretion.

How would Ruby possibly spend the rest of her Friday afternoon and evening now that it was completely open and free? How did she spend her Fridays before she began attending Spencer's football games? She thought on it briefly before she remembered how she previously spent her Fridays… in theater club. Some of that time spent engaged in various exercises to improve skill in acting, connecting, and emoting; some of it spent rehearsing for A Midsummer Night's Dream… and all of that time spent with Shannon. Now, Ruby had been reminded of how much she had missed her best friend who she had not even spoken to since she and Spencer dropped out of theater… maybe, with this Friday open, they could hang out together for a while… then again, Shannon was most likely still at school rehearsing for Romeo & Juliet… Ruby then made a plan that later in the evening, when she was assured Shannon would most likely be home from school, she would text her to see how she was… or, better yet, maybe a video chat, so they could actually see each other as they communicate. The very idea gave Ruby a sense of anticipation for the evening, and as soon as dinner was over, she retreated back into her bedroom, grabbed her cell phone, and prepared to send an outgoing request for a video chat with her best friend… but just as she was about to tap Shannon's name from her contacts list, she received an incoming video chat request – and, curiously enough, from Tiffany. As far as Ruby knew, Tiffany had traveled with her family to attend the Rocket Squirrels' away game in Great Lakes City, but she could not think of any particular reason why she would be trying to get in touch with her at this time; curiously, she accepted the incoming request, and soon saw Tiffany's face on her screen.

"Hey, Rubes!" She greeted her.

"Hey, Tiff," Ruby returned the greeting. "What's up?"

"Spence felt bad about you not being able to see tonight's big game against G.L.C.," explained Tiffany. "He thought if somebody could live-stream it for you, you wouldn't have to miss it, so I volunteered!"

Ruby practically bit her tongue to hear this… even when these games were away, she couldn't seem to escape them; she so wanted to spend a little time with Shannon –even if that time was spent virtually- this was not at all how she expected to spend her Friday evening. She tried to come up with a polite way to decline Tiffany's offer…

"Oh, you, like, really don't have to do that, Tiff," she said. "I mean, your battery might, like, go dead or something, and…"

"Oh, it's no trouble," insisted Tiffany. "I brought a portable charger with me, and right now, my battery's at ninety-six percent, so we're good!"

"Awesome sauce…" said Ruby through another big and toothy fake smile that she had screwed onto her face.

From what she could see on her end, Tiffany had tapped to flip her phone's camera to capture the action out on the field, while she could also hear a man's voice over the cheers of the crowd.

"Your Great Lakes Lake Loons take on the Royal Woods Rocket Squirrels tonight. The Squirrels have four straight wins, will they maintain their lucky streak and ruffle the Loons' tail feathers, or will the Loons kick the Squirrels' bushy tails?"

Great Lakes City was a thriving metropolis in comparison to Royal Woods, which one Lola Loud has described as a Podunk town. As such, their high school had more of a budget to allow for an actual announcer to call the shots so that the crowd of spectators could hear blow-by-blow details of the game, as opposed to just a single referee declaring which team had scored a touchdown at the end of each play… not that any of these shots the announcer called were of any interest to Ruby; it all sounded like Greek to her.

"The kickoff is high and deep, and sends the Squirrels' number twenty-two back near the goal line."

Number twenty-two being Tiffany's boyfriend, Brandon; she could certainly be heard cheering his catch as he ran back down the field in the opposite direction for the return.

"Twenty-two, behind a convoy of R.W. Blockers, heads up near the right sideline…"

Tiffany's efforts to capture as much of the action out on the field as she could on her cell phone's camera would very much be admired by anybody who appreciated football, but Ruby had no interest in the game whatsoever, hence why she didn't even bother tagging along via any mode of transportation. Soon, she was sprawled across her bed, and her eyes merely glazed over her phone's screen, while Tiffany's steady hand panned along in whichever direction the players on the field ran with the ball; she also made especially sure that she kept Ruby apprised of how, exactly, Spencer was doing throughout the game, which was to say, not too good.

"Oof, Spence is getting his bushy tail thrashed out there tonight, huh, Rubes?" Tiffany asked as she recorded his failure to not only keep the opposition back, but also avoid a tackle as well.

"Yeah, totally sucks…" said Ruby, although a cell phone screen was not exactly ideal to watch a football game on, which made it difficult to even pick Spencer out on the field.

Not that it really mattered, though. Of course, being his girlfriend, Ruby still maintained her overall concern for Spencer's physical wellbeing whenever he played, but as he had proven time and again, he could always shake it off, brush it off, and walk it off. Besides, she wanted this night for herself, to take a break from football, and just live her own life for a change… so much for that. Even with the game being live-streamed for her to watch, Ruby paid almost no attention, and was unaware that this turned out to be yet another close game …

"Clock's winding down now in the fourth quarter, the Rocket Squirrels have trailed all night long, but are now within striking distance…

"Q.B. Sullivan heads back to pass, and… INCOMPLETE!"

By now, Ruby's grip on her phone had gradually slacked.

"Second down now, and there's the draw play! 5… 10… FIRST DOWN, SQUIRRELS!

"Rocket Squirrels will go for a field goal to win it…"

"FLY, ROCKET SQUIRRELS! FLY!" Tiffany could be heard cheering.

"Less than a minute to play… here's the snap… the kick… NO GOOD!

"The Squirrels' last-ditch effort falls short! Final score: Great Lakes City, 28; Royal Woods 27!"

The cheers for Great Lakes City's home team could be heard in the background, to be sure, but from where Tiffany was sitting, the disappointment in those who rooted for Royal Woods' visiting team seemed a little more overpowering.

"Dang it, we were so close!" Tiffany muttered. "Well, guess you really didn't too much after all, huh, Rubes?"

She realized she didn't receive any sort of response from the Indian girl on the other end of her screen, and in fact, when she looked down at the bottom corner of her screen, it looked blank.

"Rubes?"

She flipped back to video chat mode and was confused by what she saw – based on what appeared to be a solitary fan blade, and a vent cover, she guessed that what she looked at on the other end was a ceiling.

"You still there, Rubes?"

Rubes was, indeed, still there… her phone's camera ended up pointing at the ceiling in her room in her relaxed hand, because Ruby had fallen asleep; sprawled across her bed all of this time, boredom had set in to the point that it had sent her off into dream land.

This had turned out to be a particularly busy Monday at Royal Woods High, even one of the janitors felt a little overworked on this day as he, much to his disgust, had an emergency clean-up in a bathroom in one of the corridors that involved a lot of mopping... this was a janitor who was already chagrin with his form of employment, but this was a literal shit job. Often slovenly and derelict in his duties, not only did he spill more of the soiled water onto the floor as he wheel his mop bucket out into the hall, he also neglected to bring any yellow caution signs to alert passing students of the wet floor, which prompted him to have to retreat to the janitors' supply closet to retrieve some... without taking his mop bucket with him. At that moment, a certain green-clad, ginger-haired girl had made her way down the hall in destination of her next class, but a sight that her eyes fell upon had enraged her: down the hall was her boyfriend, and once again, he appeared to be flirting with yet another girl – a rather attractive young girl with long, sandy-colored hair, fair skin, a periwinkle blouse, and jeggings. Amy had grown increasingly put-out with Rex flirting with other girls anytime she happened to look up and see him, and had decided she would finally put her foot down as she stormed over to the scene for a confrontation.

"Yeah, I happen to be a serious actor," said Rex as he embellished his accomplishments that he had achieved in high school thus far. "I just recently finished my first production in which I was one of the romantic leads…"

"Wow, that's impressive," the charmed girl complimented.

"What's going on here?!" Amy demanded to know as she approached the two.

"Oh, hey, Amy!" Rex greeted her as though nothing was going on that shouldn't be going on.

"What are doing hitting on another floozy, Rex?" Amy asked.

"Floozy?!" The other girl asked, obviously insulted by such a remark. "Who do you think you are, anyway?"

"I happen to be Rex's girlfriend!" Amy exclaimed.

While still insulted by the previously unflattering remark, the other girl's attitude quickly shifted as she faced Rex once again to point out, "You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend."

"Oh, did I not?" Rex asked with a rather coy and cheeky grin on his face.

"Ugh. Creep," she scoffed before she turned and walked away from the Asian boy who neglected to share the knowledge that he already was in a relationship with somebody.

Meanwhile, he chuckled in goofy matter that succeeded in only further adding to Amy's anger.

"What are you laughing about, Rex?" She demanded to know.

"Nothing," he insisted, but Amy knew better than that.

"Nothing? Every time I look up, I see you hitting on another girl, and you're telling me that's nothing?" She barked.

"Of course," he said. "It's all just harmless fun!"

"Harmless fun? That's what you're calling it?" She barked.

"Sure," he replied before he started to point at her face. "And, this is always totally worth it."

Now, Amy was a little confused as she squinted her eyes and asked, "What's worth it?"

"Your reactions!" Rex exclaimed with another chuckle. "They are always priceless."

Whether or not Rex felt his little act of flirting with other girls just to get a reaction out of his girlfriend really was all just harmless fun from his perspective, it was anything but as far as Amy was concerned.

"Is our relationship just one big joke to you, Rex?" She asked.

"Of course not," he responded. "But…"

"But, nothing!" She interrupted. "I'm your girlfriend, Rex; if you're going to be hitting on other girls, then what's the point in us even being a couple?"

"Well…" he attempted to say, only to be interrupted again.

"If you think this is all fun and games, then maybe this isn't gonna work out between us…" as Amy continued her verbal tirade, she gradually backed away from Rex while completely oblivious as to what was about to happen if she did not pay attention to where she moved.

"Uh, Amy…?" Rex spoke up – he could clearly see what was about to happen and wanted to try to prevent it if he could.

"If you're not gonna take our relationship seriously, then this might as well be the end," she continued both in her tirade and her slow backward walking.

"Amy…?" Rex tried in vain to get his angry girlfriend's attention, to no avail.

"So you either stop flirting with other girls, or we're through!" Amy finished laying down the law.

As fate would have it, one of Amy's feet stepped onto a wet and slippery spot on the floor, and what happened next was a most unfortunate incident... depending on how you feel about it. As both of Amy's feet began to slip out from under her, she lost her balance, and the next thing she knew, she had fallen backwards into the janitor's mop bucket. Of course this just had to have happened within the view of every other student who happened to be in this corridor at that moment, and soon enough, it became an echo chamber of laughter as all of these other students found a significant amount of humor in Amy's mishap – made even more comical as they watched her desperately kick her feet and flail her arms in an attempt to extricate herself from the mop bucket; she very much looked like an overturned turtle that struggled to flip itself back onto its feet. Laughter is very contagious, and with the ample supply of it that went around in the hall, Rex found that his immune system had become compromised, as even he succumbed to it in spite of his honest and earnest efforts not to in regards to his girlfriend's misfortune. That hurt more than anything… it was bad enough to see all of these other faces laugh at her, but to see that even her own boyfriend laughed at her as well, she was beyond humiliated – she was mortified. She could not bear to look at those who shamed and ridiculed her as she squinted her eyes shut and sobbed uncontrollably… how could this possibly get any worse?

"Are you okay?"

Just then, she felt a hand grab her wrist and pull while another hand was placed onto her back and pushed.

Now back on her feet, Amy blinked away the tears that became flooded in her eyes, and was in for a shock when she discovered just who it was who had extended this act of benevolence toward her in the wake of her accident… a certain girl who possessed long and wavy brown hair, wore glasses upon her freckled face, and was dressed in an orange sweater and a short denim skirt. The laughter in the hall only continued to escalate now that everyone could see the seat of Amy's jeans were brown and wet, which very much made it appear as though she had publicly soiled herself – this may have been even worse than the sight of her flailing about helplessly in the mop bucket. The only other person in the corridor who did not laugh offered Amy a helpful suggestion…

"Why don't you run up to the office and call either of your parents to bring you some clean clothes?"

For once, Amy was not about to argue or debate with something that the same girl who had previously declared her her arch-nemesis had said; she ran down to the end of the corridor to a staircase that would take her up to the administration office on the top floor to act on the suggestion that Shannon had just extended to her.

The Rocket Squirrels were still stinging; even though they travelled to Great Lakes City with such high expectations of actually defeating the Lake Loons this season, the results turned out to be quite the opposite, as they discussed their loss over their lunch break.

"We were so close…" Brandon lamented as he drowned his sorrows in a bottle of Crocodilejuice.

"Close, but no cigar…" sighed Carlton while he kicked a meatball back and forth between his fingers on his lunch tray.

The Lake Loons were simply a stronger and more efficient team than the Rocket Squirrels, but even so, various members of the team felt they were responsible for their loss, and they began to punish themselves for it.

"It was my fault…" their quarterback said. "My calls were too predictable; they kept anticipating our plays…"

"Naw, it was my fault…" wide receiver, Brandon, insisted. "I just couldn't outrun those Loons; they must've had rocket cleats or somethin'…"

"It was def my fault… the pressure was too much; I had no concentration, I couldn't focus!" Spencer insisted before he sighed and turned to the Indian girl who sat next to him. "You did get to see the game, right?"

"Yeah, totally," nodded Ruby. "Tiff streamed it for me."

"Yep, I did," nodded the little redhead who sat next to Brandon. "Though, I wasn't sure if you saw the whole thing..."

The fact that she had lost contact with Ruby at some point during her streaming of the game did not go unnoticed.

"Yeah, uh... I guess we, like, had a bad connection, or something..." was Ruby's excuse to cover up the fact that she had fallen asleep.

Spencer sighed once again; he was certain that they might have stood a better chance at winning, or at the very least, he could have played a lot better if his little good-luck charm had been there in person.

"If only you were actually there, things could've gone so much better…"

Ruby found this to be quite an odd statement as she queried, "How would that, like, even made a diff?"

Spencer sort of danced around the question as he replied, "We could've used all the moral support we could get…"

Ruby smirked; the way these guys behaved over their loss, you would have thought they were mourning a fallen comrade, which seemed a might silly to her.

"Okay, so you guys like, lost a game…" she said. "Is that, like, the end of the world?"

All eyes just glared at her for such a seemingly clueless comment… did she not even understand just what a big deal it was for Royal Woods to go up against Great Lakes City year after year, and still fail to defeat them? Did she not even know just what a Titanic struggle it has always been for the Rocket Squirrels to triumph over the Lake Loons? With these reactions, all Ruby could do was just sit there with an uncomfortable look on her face; mayhap she should have just kept that comment to herself? Or, perhaps, she should have worded it a little differently.

After school had wrapped up for the afternoon, Ruby met up with Spencer once again as they made their way out onto the playing field, while she made such an earnest attempt to be the supportive girlfriend she strived to be by trying to lift his spirit.

"Hey, Spence…" she greeted him as she walked alongside him down the corridor towards the exit. "Look… I know you guys are, like, totally bummed about losing your game and all… but, look at all the other games you've won so far!"

"This is different, Rubes," said Spencer with a little irk in his voice. "Royal Woods has been competing against G.L.C. for years without being able to defeat them… this could've been our year to finally change that... and how cool it would've been for my first year on the team!"

"Okay, so it didn't happen this year," she responded. "There's always next year… isn't there an old saying that goes something, like, it's doesn't matter if you win or lose, but how you play the game'? You dudes play your hearts out every game… I know, I've been there watching you…"

That was true… and still, Spencer felt like if she had actually been there in Great Lakes City watching them, things would have gone quite differently during their away game. Either way, Ruby hoped that, for his sake, her little pep talk extended to him the moral support he claimed he always needed from her as she took hold of his hand while they continued out onto the field.

"Look, you may not have beat 'em this time, but, like, if you guys stick with it and keep training and practicing, maybe next year, you can finally claim victory over those looney birds," or whatever they were called, Ruby thought.

With another sigh, he had to suppose that she did have a point; even if their away game against Great Lakes City was still a major disappointment for them this year, that did not mean they could not still try harder again next year.

"Yeah… thanks, babe," he mumbled as he slung his arm around her shoulders again.

Ruby, on the other hand, still could not wait for football season to be over; just two more games ahead of them.

As the two reached the end of one wing of the school, down another wing, a sullen Shannon walked slowly toward a set of double doors that lead into the auditorium for that day's (attempted) Romeo & Juliet rehearsal, though suddenly, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Shannon!"

She, at first, thought it was actually Lyberti, but when she turned around to face her, it turned out to not be Lyberti, but rather, Amy – who had since changed into a fresh set of clothing after her accident earlier that afternoon. The explanation of her incident from earlier that afternoon had re-enforced the administration's feeling that this particular janitor was repeatedly unsatisfactory in his work, and that the future of his employment at Royal Woods High was nonexistent as a result of his being fired.

Shannon, meanwhile, was really in no mood for anything Amy probably wanted to fight about as she merely turned back into the direction of which she was originally headed and pressed on, though the ginger-haired girl ran after her.

"Shannon! Wait! Can we talk?" Amy asked as she caught up to the Jewish girl.

"I got nothing to say," said Shannon said in a rather curt manner to convey her wish to not speak with her.

"Well I do, I want to ask you something…" said Amy, and she made it sound rather urgent.

Reluctantly, Shannon exhaled through her nose before she turned to face Amy again, and reply, "What is it?"

Amy paused briefly before she asked, "Why were you so nice to me earlier?"

Shannon could not believe this; was Amy seriously confronting her about being nice? Was this really something to make a big deal out of?

"Do I really have to have a reason to be nice?" She strained while she resisted the urge to roll her eyes over all of this.

"No, you don't…" Amy shook her head. "But… with me, you do…"

Shannon threw her arms up in the air in a sense of defeat as she explained, "I saw what happened to you, and you obviously needed help, which nobody else in the hall seemed to be doing for you, so I just did… I didn't need a reason to do something like that."

"But… I just can't believe you would be nice to me… I mean… I haven't exactly been nice to you…" confessed Amy. "In fact, you're right… I have been a bitch to you…"

Shannon was certainly gob smacked, not only by Amy's newfound sense of humility, but also for the very fact that she actually owned up to the rotten attitude she had extended to her ever since the very first day of their school year when Shannon's only crime was to accidently bump into Amy in the hall and cause her to drop her books to the floor.

Indeed, unbelievable though it may have seemed, Amy was sincerely humbled by Shannon's random act of kindness towards her earlier in the day, and she knew not how to even respond to such given how poorly she had treated her for the past three months for such petty and insignificant reasons.

"I… I don't know what to say…" mumbled Amy as she stroked her arm.

"You don't have to say anything," said Shannon in an attempt to drop the subject; even if Amy did, finally, own up to her unjustified mistreatment towards her, this acknowledgement was still not enough to make up for it, as she turned and walked away.

"Shannon?" Amy asked as she caught up and stopped her again. "Look… I'm… sorry… for being such a bitch to you… and… thanks… for helping me…"

There it was. What Shannon really wanted. And something she never imagined she would ever hear come out of Amy's mouth. An apology. Coupled with her acknowledgement of her poor attitude in months past, Shannon was now satisfied that Amy had finally made amends with her. As for her own random act of kindness toward Amy? Shannon was not at all a braggart, nor did she boast about her good deeds.

"Don't mention it," said Shannon with a firm nod; she once again turned to continue her trek toward the auditorium, but Amy still had one last thing she wanted to address.

"Shannon?" Amy stopped the bespectacled brunette once more. With the extension of her hand, she asked, "Truce?"

A sensitive and tender-hearted girl as Shannon could have easily continued to carry a grudge over the mistreatment she had endured for months courtesy of Amy, but she not only realized that to hold onto a grudge was terribly unhealthy, she also knew that the righteous thing to do when somebody made an attempt to right the wrong they had done unto somebody else was to extend to them the forgiveness they sought. With a silent sigh through her nose and a cautiously small smile, Shannon took hold of Amy's hand and shook it.

"Truce."

At long last, a ceasefire had effectively brought a much-needed end to the war between Shannon Tannenbaum and Amy Reynolds, and in very much the same way that their feud had actually started: all with one simple little action. Did this mean that Shannon and Amy could possibly even become friends at this point? Only time would tell. But, in the moment, Shannon was just relieved that peace could finally be observed between she and Amy; in fact, even Amy had to admit that she, too, liked this newfound feeling of peace between she and Shannon, whether she actually said anything about it or not.

As it turns out, Amy and Lyberti are voiced by the same actor, which is why Shannon initially thought it was Lyberti who had called out to her, when it was really Amy. At least the two of them are at peace with one another now... If only more of this sort of thing could happen around the world.