A/N: As promised, we are back on track once again.
When the week started anew, a rather unusual weather anomaly had occurred that rained out some of the usual plans… literally. While not exactly a downpour or deluge, the precipitation was significant enough that regular outdoor activities and plans had to be called off and changed accordingly. Rain was not uncommon, but it was a might unseasonal for this time of year; it was far more common during spring, not the cusp of autumn transitioning into winter. Many school sports took place outdoors, only a certain few, such as gymnastics, volley ball, or karate, were held indoors; a day such as this would mean all chapters of Royal Woods High's sports club would have to gather indoors, which would, no doubt, make for a rather crowded gymnasium, and quite possibly disrupt some of the usual indoor activities. Perhaps this could lend itself to becoming a free day? Ruby certainly hoped so.
Instead of their usual trek out onto the playing field, she and Spencer took the alternate route that would lead them into the gymnasium, though as they walked down the corridor, Spencer cast a glance out a window into the dreary gray mist. Somehow, his mind had suddenly flashed back to reading class last year, in which they had watched a feature film adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night; his mind replayed the mental image of seeing renowned actor, Sir Ben Kingsley, in the role of jester Feste, as he departed Countess Olivia's estate whilst singing…
When that I was and a little tiny boy
with a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
A foolish thing was but a toy
for the rain it raineth every day
Ruby paused and turned to see Spencer now had something of a march going, as he continued to sing this poetic little song in route to the gymnasium.
But when I came to man's estate
with a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
'gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gates
for the rain it raineth every day
She could not help but smile a little; this was a side of Spencer she had not seen in quite some time, and truthfully, it was a side of his that she had rather missed.
But when I came alas to wive
with a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
by swaggering could never I thrive
for the rain it raineth every day
To her surprise, Spencer could actually carry a tune quite nicely, but as fate would have it, a certain trio of jocks also made their way down this exact corridor, and were a little stymied by the sight before them:
But when I came unto my beds
with a hey, ho, the wind and the rain
with toss-pots still had drunken heads
for the rain it raineth every day
Their chuckles immediately snapped Spencer out of his little re-enactment as he turned around and found Brandon, Carlton, and Horatio were now on the scene; they seemed greatly amused by what they had witnessed.
"What's all this?" Brandon asked.
"What's all what?" Spencer nervously responded.
"'Hey, ho, the wind and the rain'?" Carlton asked while he mimicked the little march Spencer had going.
"It's… just a… song I had stuck in my head… you know how it is…" Spencer stammered his excuse.
"What is that even from, anyway?" Horatio asked.
"Yeah, sounds like no song I've heard before," added Carlton.
Spencer nervously stroked the back of his head and explained, "I just… heard it… somewhere… don't remember where…"
Even though Ruby was, likewise, clueless as to the source from where this song came, just based on its lyrics, she seemed to have a good idea…
"Actually, doesn't that come from, like, Shakes—"
Before she could finish the question, Spencer brought his elbow back to nudge his girlfriend in the stomach to silence her from revealing any information that he felt could hurt his image; while he may not have intended to bring about any actual physical harm, he still underestimated his strength, as such a nudge was blunt enough that Ruby had to rub her tummy for relief. This whole scenario had gotten a little too weird as the other jocks continued on their way toward the gymnasium in quiet confusion, all the while Spencer wore a smile of innocence on his face in the hope to throw them off the mark; once they passed through the double-doored entrance and were out of their sight, Ruby had a few choice words for him.
"Dude, what was that for?!" She barked as she continued to rub her tummy.
Spencer answered her question with a question of his own: "You know what your problem is?"
"Excuse me?!" She responded. "What's my problem?!"
"Sometimes you talk too much," he said rather bluntly.
Ruby was beyond flabbergasted to hear this remark come out of her boyfriend's mouth; all she could do in response was repeatedly scoff at it. With nothing more to say about the matter, Spencer pressed onward and motioned for his girlfriend to follow.
Later still, the gymnasium was packed as the various sports club members were scattered about, whether they sat on the floor, or among the bleachers. Whatever ideas some of them, namely Ruby, may have had about the possibility that the inclement weather would be conducive to a free day would find themselves mistaken once Coach Rubiner stepped out into the center of the gymnasium and blew his whistle to grab everyone's attention for an announcement.
"Alright, everybody, listen up," he called out loud and clear. "Just because we're all going to be indoors for the duration of this rain, don't think that we're going to just goof off and lollygag… instead, we're going to participate in one of the greatest traditions of school athletics…"
The coach's dramatic pause had his students on the edge of their seats.
"Of course, I mean… dodgeball!"
Half of the gym responded with cheers of enthusiasm, the other half with groans of dread; Spencer fell into the former, Ruby fell into the latter. She could remember how much she hated this sport in middle school, as she was always such an easy target to be pelted with those red, rubber balls. To evenly split the students into two teams, Coach Rubiner made his way around the gym to assign each of them a one or a two, and because Spencer and Ruby sat right next to each other as the coach passed by them, they were assigned to opposing teams, much to her chagrin. After he finished assigning each student to the two teams, the coach stepped back into the center of the gymnasium.
"Alright… one's on this side," he said as he pointed to his left, "two's on this side…" he pointed to his right.
As the students began to line up on their respective sides of the gym, Spencer felt compelled to issue a fair warning to Ruby…
"Just so you know, I'm an animal when it comes to dodgeball," he said. "I'll try to go easy on you, but I can't promise you won't get caught in the crossfire when I start lettin' loose with the balls."
"Whatevs," she groaned as she reluctantly joined her fellow two's.
Shortly thereafter, the students were divided and aligned on opposite sides of the gym with a line of red, rubber balls in the center, while Coach Rubiner kept watch from the sidelines.
"Ready? Set?" He called out before he blew his whistle again.
In a flash, many students ran toward the center line to grab ahold of a dodgeball, while others chose to hang back, and soon, the red, rubber balls flew through the air, while the students among both teams ran around aimlessly to avoid being pelted by one; unfortunately for Ruby, within no time at all, such a ball had smacked her right on her head. She was out. One of the first ones to be benched, she was just glad to be out of the game… one of the greatest traditions of school athletics? More like one of school's most traumatizing methods of torture as far as she was concerned… the gymnasium looked like a warzone, with pint-sized soldiers ducking for cover from a hail of red and rubbery mortar fire, and she felt like a shell-shocked veteran experiencing a P.T.S.D. flashback to the dodgeball games she was subjected to in middle school.
Upon feeling a sticky resistance under her foot when she tried to cross her legs, she came to realize she had accidentally stepped in a wad of chewing gum; since she already had been benched out of the game, she made a trip into the girls' locker room, crumpled up some paper towels, dampened them under a running faucet, and tried to wash the gum off of the bottom of her shoe. She wasn't alone for too long before a certain tall, blonde golfer also stepped into the locker room, and over to a sink to refill her sports bottle with water to quench her thirst after she, too, had been benched out of the game.
"Hey, Ruby," said Lori when she saw the Indian girl at the sinks.
When Ruby looked up and saw the face of Luan's oldest sister in the mirror, she knew she had an obligation not to speak to her at the behest of a certain someone to whom she was supposed to be loyal, and responded with a quick and meaningless, "Hey."
Lori smirked at this rather rude response, and muttered, "Well, that's a fine how do you do…"
The obligation aside, Ruby really didn't want or mean to be rude, even though she clearly was.
"Sorry, Lori," she sighed. "But, Spencer says I'm not allowed to talk to you."
Lori was most confused to hear this as she questioned, "Spencer said you're not allowed to talk to me? Why are you not allowed to talk to me?"
"Pff, like I know?" Ruby responded… even though, she did know the reasons for not being allowed to talk to Lori, she knew Spencer would not want her to divulge that information, either.
Lori did have her suspicions, however, as she further questioned, "It wouldn't have anything to do with you guys being in theater, would it?"
Ruby's head snapped upward as she faced Lori's reflection with her eye nearly bulged out of their sockets.
"How do you know about that?" She asked.
Lori smirked as she explained, "I literally saw A Midsummer Night's Dream… though, our FAM was there mainly to see Luan as the fairy queen, but still…"
By this time, Ruby turned around to face Lori directly and practically pleaded with her, "Okay, you, like, can't let Spence know you know about that, okay? Because he will, like, totally freak!"
"Okay, okay," said Lori with a shrug of her shoulders and the slight raise of her hands. "But, why, though? Why is all of this a big issue with Spencer?"
"I don't know!" Ruby said in a sense of defeat. "Honestly, I think he's, like, embarrassed about the other guys knowing… even when we were still in theater, he, like, made up this weird story about spending every day after school taking care of his granny, and he wanted me to stick to that story, too."
Not only did Lori continue to look confused, she also looked quite perplexed to hear about this; she said, "Okay… that is literally kinda silly…"
"Tell me about it," groaned Ruby. "So, like, anyway, Spence says I can't talk to you since you're, like, Luan's sister, and since we were in theater with Luan, I guess he doesn't want you to, like, say anything that could expose any of his secrets, or somethin'."
"Well, that literally explains that, I guess…" said Lori, though she could see that for Spencer to burden Ruby with his insecurities was having a negative effect on her. "Still, no boyfriend should control his girlfriend's life with an iron fist like that… there is literally no way I would tolerate anything like that from my Boo-Boo Bear…"
Ruby had the most indescribable look on her face when she queried Lori about that last remark, "Your Boo-Boo Bear?"
Lori blushed lightly and explained, "My boyfriend, Bobby… I call him my Boo-Boo Bear…"
Ruby merely nodded in response.
"Still, as much as Bobby and I literally love each other, and we cannot stand being apart, especially since he moved to Great Lakes City, he still lets me live a life of my own…" continued Lori. "Bobby would never try to control every aspect of my life just for him, and I wouldn't even let him if he tried!"
"It's just… like… complicated, okay?" Ruby tried to say in her own defense.
"Ruby?" Another sudden voice from nowhere startled the Indian girl, until she realized that Tiffany had since stepped into the girl's locker room after being benched out of the game as well. "I couldn't help overhear your conversation…"
"Yeah, sorry…" said Ruby.
"No, it's okay; actually, I have been wanting to talk to you about that," confessed Tiffany. "Be honest, Rubes… sports aren't really your thing, are they?"
In the moment, it was brought back to the forefront of Ruby's mind these people practically lived and breathed sports, which made it abundantly clear to her that she did not fit in with this club; under ordinary circumstances, she would have just moved on to another social circle and not think twice about, though in this case, she was almost bound by Spencer to remain in this club. As Lori and Tiffany looked at her in anticipation for a response, she almost felt as though this had turned into an interrogation, which caused her to finally crack.
"Look… I've tried, okay?" She strained. "I've tried, like, really hard to get into this sports stuff, but I just can't get into it no matter how hard I try!"
"Whoa, take a chill pill, Ruby," said Lori.
"Yeah, it's no big deal," said Tiffany as she placed her hand onto the Indian girl's shoulder in an attempt to help calm her down. "So sports aren't your thing, nothing wrong with that. They weren't really my thing at first, either… honestly, I didn't really have much of a thing before…there just wasn't anything I really felt passionate about… then Brandon and I started dating, and he suggested I give sports a try, but only if I really wanted to… let me tell you, Rubes – I am not good at sports. Like, at all. I'm clumsy, I'm slow, I have no coordination…"
Ruby had to admit, she found it curious as to why Tiffany participated in no sports herself – even though she was a little on the short side like herself, she otherwise possessed a thin, yet athletic build, like most of the other girls in the club, including Lori; this provided her with an explanation not only as to why Tiffany was merely a groupie much like herself, but also why she, too, was benched out of the dodgeball game so soon.
Tiffany continued, "But, now, I love watching sports, especially whenever Brandon plays, because he is just so good at every sport… especially basketball, you should see him, he owns the top of the key!"
Although Lori smiled at how Tiffany praised her boyfriend's skills, Ruby just looked all the more confused, as she had no idea what she even meant by that last remark.
Lori added, "I joined the golf team just for something to do… I never really golfed much before, it just looked kinda fun without being too intense like other sports, but now, it's my biggest passion in life, aside from Bobby! If I could get accepted into Fairway, my life would literally be perfect!"
As she trudged over to one of the benches in front of the lockers with her shoe in hand, Ruby groaned, "Then why can't I get into sports? I've tried so hard to get into sports for Spencer!"
"Like I said, sports just aren't your thing, Rubes," reminded Tiffany. "And, it's no big deal; that really shouldn't matter to Spencer… I mean, it's all well and good that you want to get into the same things he's into, but, you really shouldn't have to try so hard… Brandon never pushed any of his sports on me…"
Lori walked over to take a seat next to Ruby and added, "And Bobby and I have a rule between ourselves: we're always open to trying new things that either of us are into, but if neither of us like what the other's into, that doesn't mean we still can't find other new things that literally both of us can enjoy."
"I get what you guys are saying," sighed Ruby as she slipped her shoe back onto her foot. "I just wanna, like, be the good, supportive girlfriend Spencer wants me to be."
"You are a good girlfriend, Rubes," insisted Tiffany as she also took a seat on the opposite side of the exasperated Indian girl. "But… if you want my opinion, I think Spencer's expecting more out of you than you're capable of giving…"
"Good point," agreed Lori. "A healthy relationship is a give-and-take process from both parties, but when it's literally just one party doing all the giving, and one party doing all the taking, that's literally not a healthy relationship."
Ruby sighed once more, "I gotta admit, I, like, miss the Spencer I got to know when we first started dating…"
"What was that Spencer like?" Tiffany asked.
"Different from other dudes, that's for sure," explained Ruby. "I mean, I've gone out on dates with other guys before, and they were all kinda, like, shallow, y'know? But, Spencer? He was different… unique… he was… funny, talented… he was… charming, cultured… but, that was theater club Spencer… sports club Spencer is… is…"
"Boorish? Controlling? Domineering?" Tiffany suggested.
"Accurate…" nodded Ruby. "Even before we got here today, and I started to say something about Shakespeare, I got an elbow to the stomach because, according to Spencer, I, like, talk too much."
Both Lori and Tiffany had a rather incredulous look on their faces.
"He literally hit you?!" An angry Lori snapped.
"No!" Ruby quickly insisted. "Naw, it was more like a, 'Shut up' kinda thing..." She demonstrated by quickly nudging Lori with her elbow, albeit with considerably less force than Spencer had on her stomach earlier.
"Well... that was still literally rude of him..." said Lori.
It became even more clear to both of these girls that Ruby's relationship with Spencer was in need of a lot of work... that is, assuming it could even be salvaged at this point.
"You really need to talk to him about all this," pressed Tiffany. "Be upfront and honest with him about how you feel…"
"Tiffany's right, Ruby," agreed Lori. "Open up the channels of communication with Spencer and speak your mind."
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be supportive of what he likes," added Tiffany. "But, it's gotta go both ways; he's gotta be willing to let you do what you like, and be supportive of you, too."
Ruby whole-heartedly agreed with that sentiment, since Spencer had been controlling almost every aspect of her life lately, but even so, she sighed yet again.
"If I can even get him to listen," she moaned. "I've tried talking to him a couple of times before about all this, but he always turns it back to, like, how he needs me to be there for, like, moral support, and that I'd be, like, leaving him hangin' otherwise."
Lori and Tiffany's faces further soured to hear this.
"Guilt-tripping you, huh?" Lori remarked.
"That's so messed up," said Tiffany. "You need to talk to him sooner than later."
Ruby nodded and agreed, "I'll ride it out till after the next game… I mean, it's only, like, one more game, right? I'll let him have his moment… but, then, we, like, seriously need to have a talk…"
Tiffany and Lori exchanged a look with each other – they could still admire that Ruby continually put Spencer ahead of herself, but they felt she also was making her own situation worse in doing so; she would need to be a little more assertive and stick up for herself – especially if she wants Spencer to listen to what she has to say.
"Oh, and listen…" she continued. "You guys won't mention any of this to Spence, will you?"
Lori began to wave her hands to assure her, "We never talked…"
"I'm good at keeping secrets," Tiffany nudged her friend - gently.
Ruby seemed satisfied with the outcome of this conversation that she had with Lori and Tiffany that she never had with them, but she did fully intend to give Spencer a piece of her mind after his next and final game of the season this Friday; there were definite changes that were going to have to be made with their arrangement – namely, allowing her to live her life and enjoy what she enjoys, because she has devoted almost every aspect of her life to him and his pursuits, especially since their departure from the theater club.
Spencer may not have known about the conversation Lori had with Ruby, but Luan came to learn about it when Lori had relayed said conversation to her younger sister at home later that evening to keep her apprised of the situation involving the former thespians which may have been of interest to her. Of course, Luan would also further relay all of this information the following day at school when she met up with a few of her fellow thespians for lunch in the cafeteria.
"Hey, guys," she said as she took her seat at their table with her paper bagged lunch.
"It is my lady, it is my love," Benny greeted the comedienne, in-character as Romeo, which garnered a goofy smile from her.
"Boy, you two are really getting into Romeo and Juliet, aren't you?" Lyberti asked playfully.
"Well, the play is this Friday..." said Benny.
"You guys are gonna be great, I can just feel it," gushed Shannon.
In as much as Luan was, likewise, excited about the upcoming play, there was another subject she had to address with them: "So, Lori shared some new gossip with me about Ruby and Spencer last night…"
The others did look intrigued to hear about this gossip… particularly Shannon.
"What kind of gossip?" The bespectacled brunette asked.
"Apparently, Spencer's become like a puppet master pulling Ruby's strings and controlling pretty much every aspect of her life: who she can hang out with, who she can talk to, what she can talk about..." explained Luan.
"Wow, really?" Benny asked in dismay.
"See, I knew this was all about Spencer," said Lyberti, who felt the gossip that Luan had shared was anything but new. "Honestly, he's got her wrapped around his little finger."
"Well, from what little Lori got from Ruby, she's not too happy about it…" explained Luan.
By this point, Lyberti had blushed a little upon the realization that she may have stuck her foot into her mouth.
"Well... okay..." she mumbled. "I mean... who could blame her, though?"
Shannon sadly sighed as cast a look across the cafeteria to the table where some of the jocks and jockettes from the school's sports club sat, with Ruby among them.
"You know… I wasn't sure if I was overthinking things…" Shannon began, "but… whenever I happen to look up and see Ruby… I do pick up on a vibe…"
"What kind of vibe?" Benny asked.
"Like she's miserable, but trying to mask it by putting up a front…" explained Shannon. "Maybe it wasn't just my imagination…"
The others also stole glances of Ruby from across the cafeteria and seemed to see what Shannon meant: while those at their table seemed to be blissfully engaged in conversation amongst themselves, it appeared Ruby just sat among them for the sake of being there – even when they saw her being pulled into a conversation, the look of contentment on her face seemed so insincere and self-induced, like she was wearing a mask, as Shannon had suggested.
"Hmm… maybe not…" agreed Lyberti.
"I mean, like I said before," Shannon continued, "I never really thought was Spencer a bad guy, or anything, but I always felt like he and Ruby rushed things when they first got together..."
"From the sounds of it, he may not exactly be a good guy, either…" said Luan."Lori said she and another girl tried talking Ruby into talking some sense into him, but they don't seem too sure she'll actually do it, like she's beating around the bush, or something…"
Shannon sighed again; unfortunately, this did not sound too out of character for a girl who was so committed to a relationship with a boyfriend, no matter how toxic it may seem to everybody else.
"That doesn't sound too surprising, either…" she lamented.
Luan turned her attention back to her fellow brunette and suggested, "Maybe you should try talking to her."
"Me?" Shannon asked in surprise.
"You're her bestie, aren't you?" Lyberti asked.
"Well… yeah…" nodded Shannon before she shrugged. "I mean, I was… I thought I was…"
"She might listen to reason if she hears it from you," surmised Luan.
"If she'll even listen to me," said Shannon. "I mean, we haven't even talked since she quit theater… to tell the truth, I'm not even sure if we really are still friends…"
The particular tone of the Jewish girl's voice conveyed a forlorn uncertainty was heard loud and clear by the others who sat with her, which was enough to tug at their heartstrings, and cause them to feel a little sympathy for her.
Lyberti placed her hands on Shannon's shoulders and gave her a gap-toothed grin, "At least you still got us!"
Luan also gave Shannon not only a brace-faced smile, but a pair of thumbs up as well; she said, "Yeah, you're always cool with us, Shans!"
This, too, brought about a small smile from Shannon… a smile that did not last too long, though, as she stole yet another look across the cafeteria and saw how Ruby looked akin to a shelter animal just wanting to be rescued by a potential new owner.
Benny, meanwhile, had lost focus on the conversation. It was not as though he cared nothing about Ruby and Spencer's present plight - after spending so many weeks trying to rehearse Romeo & Juliet with Luan, he was not quite as invested in the situation as others, such as Shannon, may have been. However, in hearing about how their relationship was evidently deteriorating, he became concerned about the possibility of his newfound romance with Luan ever reaching such a point... he certainly had hoped not, given that he didn't even have it in him to be controlling or manipulative over her, but even so, this conversation had stengthened his desire to see to it that he could be the best possible boyfriend a girl like Luan deserved to have; an actual, real-life romantic relationship may be new to him, and he knew it would not be all sunshines and rainbows, as often depicted in fiction, but he did not want to cross any lines or boundaries, or make any mistakes that would possibly push Luan away... especially not after what they had just previously went through with Luan having been so afraid to kiss him in Romeo & Juliet.
As Shannon sat alone in her bedroom later that evening, she was faced with internal conflict as she stared at her cell phone in her hands, of which she had already brought up red_ruby's contact, while her thumbs hovered over the digital keypad. Part of her insisted that she reach out to Ruby and let her know that she wants to help her if she is having any sort of problems with Spencer – Ruby might even appreciate the gesture and realize that Shannon still cares for her as a friend; another part of her could recall how headstrong and prideful Ruby could be at times, and knowing how some girls can become unhinged if anybody spoke poorly of their boyfriends, she very much feared a potential riff that could, indeed, sever their friendship if she perceived Shannon as talking smack about her boyfriend. By her very nature, Shannon was a non-confrontational person, and the very idea of possibly having a confrontation with the one person whom she thought of as her best friend made her ill with dread and grief. She swiped out of her messaging app and set her phone aside in defeat; in as much as she hated to see Ruby so miserable, she also, selfishly, did not want to say or do anything that she feared would only further push Ruby away from her.
At this point, all Shannon felt as though all she could do was hope and pray that Ruby would eventually open her eyes and see the same red flags that others have seen all of this time.
Haven't we all known people who are too blind to see what we clearly can? And even if we try to reason with them, they can't recognize that we have their best interests at heart? Lori and Tiffany may have done what they can to help Ruby, though Shannon's fears are very much warranted.
What could become of this? Well, we've got a lot going on in our following chapter; we shall soon see.