A/N: Now that we're finally finished revisiting the events of "Stage Plight," and considering that this chapter takes place on the last day of the semester, I'm going to say that we've reached the point in which we have completed season three's timeline, which means that the rest of the story will take place during season four.

It may have been a cold and cloudy early winter day, but that did nothing to put a damper on the spirits of those who eagerly waited for this day to be over, because as soon as that final bell would ring, then school would dismiss for winter break: two whole weeks of being able to enjoy the holiday season at home with family and loved ones; what child or teen would not look forward to such a period of festive freedom?

Out of the cafeteria came Luan, Benny, and Shannon after they had finished with their lunch period, and discussed the invitation that Lyberti had extended to them to come and listen to she and her mother sing in their church's praise team on the Sunday that Kwanzaa was to begin, but a sudden rush of other students broke up their conversation; said students raced out of the double-doored exit at the end of the corridor, which struck the three of them as rather curious.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Luan asked.

"I'd say they're anxious to get home for the holidays…" Benny began as he took a look at his wristwatch. "But, school doesn't end for another three hours…"

They stepped over to a nearby window to take a peak out into the school yard and see if there was any sort of indication of just what it was that pulled students out of the door with such speed and velocity.

"Whatever's going on, it sure is drawing a crowd…" Shannon pointed out.

"Should we check it out?" Benny asked.

"Let's go!" Luan exclaimed.

The three of them, likewise, made a beeline through the double doors to catch up with other students who gathered out in the school yard, where upon they could hear all kinds of commotion that was being raised. Stranger still, the three theater friends spotted a couple of their fellow thespians among the spectators who had gathered to watch; Shannon stepped over toward them to inquire about the spectacle that drew in this crowd.

"Amy, Rex, what's going on?" Shannon asked them.

"Ruby and Spencer are dukin' it out!" Rex exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's getting kinda nasty, too!" Amy added.

In an uncharacteristic impulse, Shannon shoved her way toward the front to get a better look of this quarrel for herself. In an opening of this crowd, she discovered that the angry couple was engaged in a rather heated altercation. As it turned out, Ruby had distanced herself from Spencer since the Rocket Squirrels' last football game – for the past couple of weeks, rather than eat lunch with he and his crew, she took to eating by herself out in the school yard, but finally, with this being the last day of the semester, he decided enough was enough; he wanted an explanation for her avoidance of him. Needless to say, it resulted in a big blow-up between the two of them that had turned into quite a spectacle for many students out in the school yard as they had gathered around to witness it for themselves.

"Would you look at this?!" Spencer asked as he took notice of a circle of eyes locked onto the two of them. "This is getting embarrassing!"

"I was willing to carry on a civilized convo," argued Ruby. "You're the one who turned this into a big scene with your belligerence."

"You're just lovin' it, aren't you?" He asked. "You always gotta be the center of attention!"

"Says the guy who, like, always has to have all eyes on him on and off the field!" She rebutted.

"Oh, like you pay any attention to what happens out on the field!" He snarked.

"Uh, yeah, I did!" She responded. "But after so many weeks of the same stuff, it got boring!"

"BORING?!" He snapped. "Football is NOT boring; it's a WAY OF LIFE!"

A few of his fellow sports club jocks and jockettes in the crowd voiced their agreement with the Gospel according to Spencer. Luan, meanwhile, could not help but chuckle a little on the inside, if only because Spencer's response to Ruby's remark brought back to her mind an occasion of her brother, Lincoln, giving this response, almost verbatim, to their sister, Lynn, after she had made a similar remark about comics being boring... then again, Lynn herself also once said the exact same thing about her own gym bag on one random occasion, as well.

"There's more to life than just football, or any kind of ball!" Ruby argued.

"Yeah, like what?" Spencer asked.

It was at that moment that Ruby had finally resorted to dropping an 'A' bomb on this situation, much to Spencer's horror…

"How about playing a sprite in the theater club?" She asked with her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised.

Almost immediately, murmurs erupted from the stunned crowd over this bombshell; Spencer Banks playing a sprite? In the school theater club? Now that that was all out in the open for everyone to hear, Spencer, understandably, began to panic – especially when he saw some of his peers gave him strange looks; after all, they had previously concluded that he must have been a sissy when they saw his name printed on a cast list for Romeo & Juliet several weeks ago… maybe that story about him rushing home after school to care for his granny really was as far-fetched as it seemed.

"I QUIT THE CLUB!" He yelled immediately in a desperate attempt to save face. "Besides… you quit, too!"

"Yeah, BECAUSE OF YOU!" She yelled.

Although some of the theater club thespians had their suspicions regarding the true nature of Ruby's departure from their class, this particular outburst of hers finally validated said suspicions.

"Yeah, and that's just about the only thing I even got out of this relationship!" Spencer argued back.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Ruby screamed. "I rearranged MY WHOLE LIFE because of you! I stopped hanging out with my friends and doing my own things! I sat out there in the cold on that bleacher every day watching you practice, and every Friday night watching you play!"

"Because that's what a good girlfriend does!" He still argued.

"So, what are you saying, that I'm, like, not a good girlfriend?" She asked. "Oh, yeah, that's right… you said I was your good-luck charm!"

"I… never said that!" He insisted in spite of the break in his voice and the sweat forming across his brow being indicative to the contrary.

"Oh, I heard you telling your teammates I was your good-luck charm and how you had me in your hip pocket," she continued, while he took notice of said teammates out in the crowd as they shrugged and nodded in response; there was no denying that he did, indeed, say such about her. "That's ALL I was to you… your little trophy to parade around! This was never about moral support; this was all about your macho image!"

Spencer tried to counter Ruby's argument, but all he could respond with were flustered stammers and stutters.

"F.Y.I. a good boyfriend lets his girlfriend TOTALLY LIVE HER OWN LIFE WITHOUT CONTROLLING HER!" She yelled.

Lori and Tiffany were among those from the sports club in the crowd who witnessed this fight, and to hear Ruby finally put Spencer in his place regarding his poor treatment of her was particularly satisfying to both of them. Just the same, some of the theater club thespians who were privy to this inside information were, likewise, very much satisfied that Ruby's eyes were finally opened to the red flags that were far more apparent to them… none more so than Shannon – she felt like this was an answer to her prayer.

Spencer, meanwhile, began to feel physically ill, not only from the circle of eyes glued to the fight that unfolded between he and Ruby, but that his own girlfriend had called his masculinity into question in front of this huge crowd of other students – including his peers who had previously questioned his masculinity in the first place. It became more than he was able to handle; he may have gone into this confrontation in fight mode, but he was now ready to do a complete one-eighty and take flight… but not without one last attempt to salvage his challenged image.

"You know what?" He continued. "Maybe we should just call it quits… maybe you're not good enough for me after all…"

"You're right, I'm not good enough for you…" agreed Ruby in a calm manner, before she finally shrieked, "I'm, like, TOTALLY TOO GOOD FOR YOU!"

Shannon could recall the night of A Midsummer Night's Dream, how Amy's grudge had gotten to a point that she had finally snapped and put Amy in her place after weeks of being an insufferable bitch to her, and that Ruby's reaction to such was to cheer, 'YOU GO, GIRL!' In the moment, she had mentally cheered the same to Ruby for finally putting Spencer in his place as well.

"Sure, go ahead and flatter yourself," said Spencer as he attempted to put on a brave face. "We're through here!"

"You're damn right we're through!" Ruby exclaimed.

A chorus of, 'Ooooh's' could be heard among the crowd… mainly because Ruby had dropped a dirty word on school grounds – which would have been a punishable infraction of conduct if any faculty member had heard... lucky for her, the school's flaky security guard had nodded off into a nap inside his golf cart; the jacket he was bundled up in gave him a toasty feeling on this chilly day, and his earmuffs adequately cancelled any outside noise... between this lazy security guard, a negligent janitor, and incompetent administration, this educational institution was in clear need of a faculty overhaul.

With their verbal sparring match concluded, Spencer and Ruby turned their backs on each other and stormed off into opposite directions as the crowd of spectators stepped aside to let them pass. Luan, Benny, and Shannon witnessed some of Spencer's fellow jocks run to catch up with him, no doubt to goad him for even juicier details as to what lead up to this big altercation that they had just witnessed; Ruby, however, didn't appear to have anybody in her corner since Spencer had pretty much isolated her from any other friends she had. Little did she know that her friends were still mightily impressed with what they had just witnessed.

"Wow, it's a good thing fists didn't start flying, otherwise, that would've provided me with a punchline!" Luan chuckled, even though the others –including Benny- felt that her quip was in questionable taste.

"I've never seen Ruby that angry before," marveled Shannon. "She was full of rage!"

"She had to have been bottling all of this up for a long time," deduced Benny.

After such a tremendously public blow-up like that, both Spencer and Ruby stung from their wounds, and for different reasons… as much as Spencer hated to admit it, his fragile male ego felt rather bruised after Ruby's remarks about the macho image he tried so hard to project of himself. While Ruby may have liked being the center of attention, it was never over anything like this: what started out as a private discussion between the two of them quickly escalated into a huge public display that was bound to be the subject of school gossip for quite some time – not exactly something either of them wanted; if only they hadn't let their anger get the better of them.

Shannon knew Ruby needed somebody to turn to, and when the school day had finally concluded to kick off winter break, she had a feeling that she knew exactly where she would have retreated to after the big spectacle that was made out of her fight with Spencer… a certain spot on the school grounds that was rather isolated from the rest of the world that did not draw a lot of attention from anybody alongside a long exterior wall that contained no windows or doors, sealed off with a chain link fence, and bordered by a hedgerow… although around this time of year, with a lack of foliage in the shrubbery, it was a little more open to the outside world. Still, Shannon did, indeed, find Ruby sitting behind the hedgerow, with her arms wrapped around her legs and her face buried into her knees… it was such a pitiful sight, and regardless of what happened or how it happened, Shannon's heart still bled for her wounded friend.

"I thought I'd find you here," she said as she slowly lowered herself to the ground next to Ruby.

When Ruby darted her eyes over to her side, they widened upon seeing the bespectacled brunette who took a seat next to her. Both of these girls had so longed to see the other again, though the circumstances that led up to this moment made for quite an awkward little reunion between them; they sat staring at one another, waiting for the other to speak first, during which time, their surroundings became all the more quiet while the number of students gradually dwindled as they departed for their winter break, with some of the younger students hopping onto buses or into their parents' cars, older students stepping into vehicles of their own, and some even walking to their after school destinations. Soon, just about all that could be heard were the faint winter breeze as it rustled through the bare branches of the sounding flora, and nearby traffic of early holiday travel.

Finally, after several moments of silent staring, Ruby spoke up: "I've missed you…"

"I've missed you, too…" said Shannon.

Both girls had so much they wanted to say, but where could they even begin? After a little more in the way of brief silence, Ruby resumed the conversation…

"Y'know… I saw Luan's backstage pic from Romeo & Juliet she posted on Instacram… I, like, totally wish I was there with you guys that night, instead of out there in the cold watching Spencer and those other dudes chasing a ball..."

Shannon nodded, "It was a lot of fun… after you guys quit the club, Mrs. Bernardo cast Benny and Luan as Romeo and Juliet… they were really good…"

"I'll bet…" mumbled Ruby; she thought back to how each of the times she and Spencer kissed, it was always a rather awkward experience that was not at all magical like the world of fiction depicted… if they had remained with Romeo & Juliet, their on-stage kiss probably would have been anything but romantic.

"Theater really wasn't the same after you quit…" confessed Shannon.

Ruby sighed, "I regret it… so much… and you, like, wanna know something?"

"What?" Shannon asked.

"I think even Spencer regretted it a little, too…" confessed Ruby. "But, like, I think he wanted his buddies to see that he wasn't some sissy or something…"

Shannon nodded, "I… kind of assumed that's what you meant by all of that macho image stuff you said back there…"

"That's all I was… just part of his macho image… just his little trophy…" lamented Ruby.

Shannon shook her head, "I mean… Spencer never really struck me as a bad guy or anything… but… I still had my doubts from the start that things would go well with how you two rushed into things so quickly…"

In hindsight, Ruby had to agree with Shannon's sentiment that she did, indeed, rush things too quickly, as she sighed again, "I was just… so ready to finally have a serious boyfriend…"

Shannon began to see a clearer picture of what Ruby was really aiming for.

"So… that's what your relationship goals really were?" She asked. "Status?"

Ruby gradually turned her head away again, as though she was somewhat ashamed to be faced with the hard truth that she had also essentially set herself up for the disappointment that came from being in a relationship where appearances and reputation took priority over connection.

"Maybe…" she mumbled. "But… to be fair… like… Spencer really did seem so different from other dudes I've had dates with… I thought he did, anyway…"

"He seemed like a nice guy in theater," agreed Shannon. "But… after you guys quit… little by little, we could see from afar the red flags that your guys' relationship was beginning to sour…"

"I wish you said something…" mumbled Ruby.

"I… wanted to…" confessed Shannon as her frown intensified. "But… I was kind of under the impression… we weren't friends anymore…"

As if Ruby didn't already feel bad about how Spencer treated her more like a trophy than a girlfriend, she felt even worse to hear Shannon confess that she was under the impression that their friendship was no more; it also added to the underlying guilt she had felt in that she had not been the B.F.F. that she knew she could have been to Shannon – that she should have been.

"I never wanted to stop being friends with you, Shans…" explained Ruby. "I'm totally sorry I made you feel that way… if Spencer didn't make me spend, like, all my time with him, I totally wanted to still hang with you, even if I'm not in theater anymore…"

"That's… why I never said anything…" continued Shannon. "I was… kind of afraid if I did, that'd only push you further away, because you might think I was talking trash about your boyfriend…"

Ruby eased her eyes shut and moaned, "I was so blind and foolish… I probably would've… and that'd be, like, so totally unfair to you…"

"Yeah… as much as I hated to see you suffer with Spencer… I also, selfishly, didn't want anything to happen between us…" continued Shannon. "Truth be told, Ruby… you're not only my best friend… you've also kind of felt like a sister to me…"

With a loud gasp, Ruby instantly shot her head up and faced the bespectacled brunette who sat next to her; the sudden movement of which took her by surprise.

"For realsies?" Ruby asked.

"Well… yeah…" Shannon nodded.

Finally, for the first time in weeks, a genuine smile spread across Ruby's face and a rather small giggle became trapped in her throat.

"Aww… I've totally, like, felt the same about you!" She confessed.

Shannon was even more surprised to hear this revelation: "Really?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah. I always wondered what it'd be like to have a sister… and, once we became besties… I kinda figured this is what it'd be like…"

Likewise, a big smile began to quiver across Shannon's freckled face to learn that her feeling that Ruby was like a sister to her was actually very mutual.

"I… never really made friends very well, especially since middle school…" continued Shannon. "Sure, there's Luan and Benny, and even some of the others in theater… but, I've never felt a connection with somebody like I have with you…"

Ruby's smile grew as she agreed, "Samesies… I think that's why I missed hanging with you so much… I missed that connection I never had with anyone else…"

At that moment, something amazing happened that left Ruby completely awestruck: there was a break in the cold, gray clouds in the sky above – not a big break; just enough to allow some rays of sunlight to filter through, and shine right behind Shannon's head. The edges of her wavy brown hair illuminated in the soft light of the sun filtering through a winter's sky made her look positively angelic – it was a sight that Ruby needed to see for her to know that despite the troubles she'd seen, things were going to be alright for her now with her best friend by her side again. It was then that Ruby acted on an impulse to throw her arms around Shannon, while Shannon, without hesitation, did just the same, thus they had pulled one another into a big hug – a big hug that felt long so overdue.

After another very brief moment of silence, Ruby spoke up again…

"Shans?"

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor?"

Shannon nodded, "Sure…"

"Next time I start to do something foolish I may regret later," Ruby continued, "do the sisterly thing and, like, clobber some sense into me, will ya?"

Shannon laughed, "Sure… I'll pummel you with some matzo balls, they can be a lot deadlier than dodgeballs!"

Ruby joined Shannon's little laugh fit over that amusing remark, though, truthfully, she probably would have preferred to be pelted by matzo balls over dodgeballs, anyway.

"Thanks, Shans… for, like, having my back…" said Ruby.

"That's what friends are for, Rubes…" said Shannon.

The two sat wrapped in each other's arms for quite some time, but this was happiest moment that either of them had experienced in several weeks, and it was one that they really did not want to end any time soon.

Eventually, Shannon came to realize that Ruby's hand had gradually begun to mindlessly caress its way up and down her leg; Ruby, meanwhile, also came to realize that Shannon's hand, likewise, had gradually begun to mindlessly caress its way up and down her back. Slowly they pulled away from each other with rather stunned looks on their faces, but to see the look on the other's face was enough to elicit something of an awkward giggle from each girl.

To be addressed by a sudden and unexpected voice then startled the two…

"So, what are you two lovebirds up to?"

The voice turned out to belong to a certain wooden dummy that sat upon the hand of a certain buck-toothed, ponytailed girl who was a mutual friend of theirs, and happened to notice that they were sitting on the ground along the edge of this outer wall due to the lack of foliage in the hedges before them diminishing their cover.

"Luan?!" Shannon and Ruby yelped in stereo.

"Ugh, Mr. C., I told you to keep your trap shut!" Luan scolded her wooden companion.

"Me?" Mr. Coconuts retorted. "You're the one who wanted to skulk over here and check out the scene!"

"You were spying on us?!" Ruby asked in a huff.

"No!" Luan insisted her innocence. "I mean, I saw you guys sitting over here, I just wanted to see if you were okay… y'know, after what happened earlier…"

"Of course, it couldn't hurt to lighten this darkened mood a little," added Mr. Coconuts.

Shannon sighed, "We're fine, Luan…"

"Yeah… I'll be okay…" nodded Ruby, although the fact that her previous fight was seen far and wide by other students returned to her mind did not do her any favors. "I'm just, like, really embarrassed by how totally public my spat with Spencer was…"

"Yeah, that was some pow-wow goin' on back there," remarked Mr. Coconuts. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see the action replay on the six o'clock news."

"Shut up, Mr. C.," said an annoyed Shannon and Ruby.

"Alright, Mr. C., that's enough out of you," barked Luan as she pulled the wooden dummy off of her hand and stuffed him into her backpack.

"That thing still seriously creeps me out…" whispered Ruby to Shannon, who responded with a knowing smirk.

"But, seriously, Rubes… just so you know, we got your back, and we're here for you if you need to unload on any of us…" said Luan on behalf of herself and the rest of the theater club who still supported Ruby.

"Yeah, she knows…" nodded Shannon.

"Yeah, I know…" parroted Ruby. She slowly arose to her feet, as did Shannon. "What's done is done… I guess I'll see, like, what the New Year has in store…"

"That's the spirit! A new year could bring a whole new outlook on life for ya!" Luan said.

Immediately afterwards, they heard a familiar horn which honked from the nearby parking lot; Luan saw that her fellow high school-aged sisters sat inside Vanzilla waiting for her to hop in so they could peel out and get their holiday started.

"Oop, looks like I'm holding up our winter break. See you guys later!"

"See you, Luan," Shannon called out as the comedienne skipped her way over to the parking lot to hop into the turquoise and white family wagon.

"Later," Ruby likewise called out.

The two girls who remained behind turned to face each other once again; both of them possessed hints of pink in their cheeks as they coincidentally began to give some thought to one of Luan's remarks.

"Lovebirds…" Ruby muttered with a snort of bemusement through her nose.

A similar noise also escaped from Shannon's nose before she added, "I told you Luan's got a weird sense of humor…"

Ruby chuckled, "Yeah… cause, like, y'know… we're just… friends, right?"

Shannon nodded, "Of course… just… friends… maybe a little closer than most…"

"Closer…" repeated Ruby.

"I mean… we are besties…" continued Shannon.

Ruby's awkward smile widened as she insisted, "Sisters…"

Shannon agreed, "Sisters…"

Besties and honorary sisters who happened to be holding onto each other's hand, which caused their pink cheeks to turn a little redder; both of them attempted to pull her hand away, but somehow, neither felt willing to let go, as though they wanted to hold on forever… but, forever would be out of the question, as another horn could be heard honking which startled the two. When they turned around, they noticed another car had pulled into the parking lot, and one that Shannon immediately recognized.

"Looks like my mom's here…" she said. "I guess I better go…"

"Yeah, guess so…" said Ruby.

Finally, they reluctantly pulled their hands away from one another as Ruby left Shannon with some parting words...

"So, listen… if we don't hear from each other till next semester… happy Hanukkah…"

"Thanks…" said Shannon with a widened smile. "I don't know what you celebrate… but, I hope you can still enjoy your holidays, too."

With that, the bespectacled brunette made her way over to the car that awaited her in the parking lot, while her best friend watched in gratitude. For Shannon, the fact that she and Ruby had reconciled their friendship and reconnected with one another was, without a doubt, the best gift she could have ever received for Hanukkah – or any time of the year, for that matter. For Ruby, she, likewise, felt in much better spirit; finally being able to reconnect with Shannon and have her back in her life had more than made up for the nasty breakup she had with Spencer.

I must confess that even I'm glad that all of this drama between Ruby and Spencer is finally over... for now, that is...

P.S. To all of the politicians who are calling for children's shows like Loud House, Owl House, and others to include advisories for, "Hyper-sexualized content" because of LGBT representation: fuck you.