It was a particularly exciting Friday afternoon at Royal Woods High – not only was it the theater club's first session for the new semester, it was also Ruby's first day back after she had regretfully dropped out during the previous semester. She gleefully placed her textbooks and other items into her locker while she also removed her backpack, of which she slipped over her shoulders – she just could not get over to the auditorium fast enough, and neither could the bespectacled brunette in the orange sweater who ran up alongside her.
"You ready?" Shannon asked.
"I was, like, born ready!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Come on!" Shannon squealed before she grabbed her friend by her wrist and ran off with her.
Lucky for the both of them, as the halls and corridors were nearly deserted of other students who had since left the building to catch their buses, or whatever other rides they may have had to transport them home, they could race over to the auditorium without much consequence; Ruby was so anxious to return to theater, but Shannon was even more anxious about the surprise she had orchestrated that awaited her. Finally, the two had made it to their destination on the other side of the main school building, but once they had entered the auditorium, Shannon stopped short before they could actually reach the stage, which Ruby found most puzzling.
"Hey, what's with the grinding halt?" Ruby asked.
"Wait right here for a sec…" Shannon instructed before she dashed out onto stage and left Ruby hanging in the wings.
She quickly motioned for her fellow veteran thespians into position: Lyberti was front and center, while Luan, Benny, Leo, Amy, Rex, and Parvana had lined up behind her; other thespians who were new to the club this semester were not exactly sure what was going on, but watched with great intrigue at the scene that unfolded before their eyes.
"You guys ready?" Shannon asked them, and after they vocally signaled their affirmation, she called out into the wings, "Okay, Rubes! We're ready for you!"
The maroon and green-clad girl curiously stepped out onto the stage, where her friends awaited her; on Shannon's cue, and with Lyberti in the lead, they performed an A Cappella rendition of the theme song from the obscure 1970's sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter:
Welcome back
your dreams were your ticket out
Welcome back
to that same old place that you laughed about
Well, the names have all changed since you've hung around
but, those dreams have remained and they've turned around
Who'd have thought they'd lead you
(Who'd have thought they'd lead you)
back here where we need you?
(Back here where we need you?)
While she playfully poked at Ruby, Shannon carried on a very brief solo – with a singing voice that sounded as though it had improved over the past few months.
Yeah, we tease her a lot, cause we got her on the spot
Welcome back!
The rest of the thespians followed with one final chorus that was full of harmony:
Welcome back!
Welcome back!
Welcome back!
Welcome back!
Welcome back!
Welcome back!
And finally, Shannon finished with one last brief little solo as she locked eyes with a humbled Ruby:
Welcome back!
Welcome back!
Welcome baaaaaaack!
Even if they did not comprehend just what this was all about, the other newer enrollees applauded the little number that they had just witnessed.
With a quiver of a smile and cheeks that started to live up to her namesake, Ruby was incredibly touched by this reception to what was certainly a triumphant return; despite the fact that she had floated through a number of social circles and cliques over the years, this was one where she truly felt genuinely accepted by her peers and belonged – indeed, it felt so good to be back.
"Thanks, guys," she choked. "I'm, like, so totally sorry I ditched you last semester… and, I def appreciate you all vouching for me to Mrs. B."
"Aww, come on, Rubes; bring it in!" Luan exclaimed.
The others broke away from their lineup and rushed over to Ruby whom they enveloped into a great big group hug, but none of them hugged her more tightly than Shannon did. The group hug was broken up when the thespians heard the voice of their drama teacher calling out to them as she made her way up onto the stage.
"YEESSS!" She exclaimed. "Now, this is a critical component of a good, solid cast… esprit de corps… camaraderieeee! Just like the immortal words of the Three Musketeers… 'All for one…'"
"And one for all!" The thespians chimed in unison.
"Ruby, my dear girl," continued Mrs. Bernardo as she approached the Indian girl whom she had allowed back into the club, "your fellow thespians… or, shall I say, your friends have certainly gone to bat for you… I admire the loyalty among the lot of you that's on full display here… I only hope that you won't make me regret how they influenced my decision to bring you back in this semester…"
"You won't regret this, Mrs. B… not like I did when I dropped out last semester," assured Ruby. "I am, like, totally sticking to it for keepsies!"
The other thespians showered their friend with pats on her back and shoulders.
A satisfied smile returned to Mrs. Bernardo's face as she addressed everyone on stage:
"Now then, we have some veterans amongst us in our class this semester, but we also have some newcomers as well, which means we'll be running through some refresher courses before we begin diving into our next production!"
"I've always found diving to be mighty refreshing, anyway!" Luan quipped, which elicited laughter from some of her peers. God, Mrs. Bernardo loved that girl.
"Thank you for your commentary, Luan! Getting back to business, I have decided to pair you up with partners: a veteran with a newcomer, to lead them down the path of enlightenment into the world of theatrics!"
Said veteran thespians had months to become familiar with their teacher's overly dramatic and rather flamboyant style, although some of the newcomers found it somewhat peculiar; clearly, this was a teacher who took her job and occupation rather seriously.
"Ruby, because you were not with us for much of the previous semester, I'm afraid I'm going to have to consider you a new enrollee who will have to endure the refresher courses…" explained Mrs. Bernardo before she took notice of whom stood by her side. "Perhaps Shannon could be your partner…"
"Fine with me!" Shannon exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm totally cool with that!" Ruby also exclaimed.
"EXCELLEEEENNNT!" Mrs. Bernardo cheered. "Now, as for the rest of you…"
While the drama teacher moved onto the other thespians to pair them with partners, Shannon and Ruby merely stood side by side and smiled at each other. As far as both of them were concerned, this arrangement could not have worked out any better; after all, during the time that Ruby did spend in theater the previous semester, Shannon had become something of a personal acting coach in helping her better hone her skills from memorizing lines, to dialing into character, to projecting emotions… who better to guide her through various theater exercise for this new semester?
At that moment, Lyberti stepped over to the bespectacled brunette to express her amazement and wonderment over her previous achievement.
"I knew you could do it," she squealed like a mentor proud of her protégé. "Didn't I tell you could sing?"
"Yeah…" mumbled a modest Shannon. "Thanks for coaching me along the way; maybe now I have what it takes to do musicals!"
"You always did, Shans, you just now know it yourself," said Lyberti with a wink before she turned her attention to the Indian girl standing by the brunette's side. "And welcome back, Ruby!"
"Thanks, Lyberti, glad to be back!" Ruby replied.
Just as Lyberti returned to the other side of the stage to see which new enrollee Mrs. Bernardo wanted to partner her with for their current semester, who else should have approached Shannon but a certain girl with ginger-colored hair and a green t-shirt.
"Hey, Shannon, your singing voice has gotten better; good job!" She said with a thumbs-up.
"Thanks, Amy!" Shannon gratefully responded.
"Welcome back, Rubes," said Amy with sincerity before she resumed her trek across the stage.
Ruby was left absolutely dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and gob smacked; she could not believe what she had witnessed.
"What just happened?!" She yelped.
"What?" Shannon asked as she returned her attention to Ruby.
"Amy's nice now?!" Ruby asked.
"I guess…" shrugged Shannon.
The expression of a blank stare and mouth hung open from Ruby screamed her disbelief; she had known Amy for almost four years, and other than Rex, not once had she ever seen the ginger-haired girl actually behave like a decent person around anybody – especially not her bespectacled best friend, whose life she had made a living hell in theater. What in the world could have happened to make her change so dramatically as this?
"Okay, do I, like, even want to know how that happened?" Ruby asked.
Not being a scandalmonger, Shannon really wanted to spare reopening an old wound of Amy's if at all possible… still, Ruby had been out of the loop, and she needed to be brought up to speed on this unbelievable turn of events.
"I just showed her a little kindness when nobody else would after a humiliating experience," was Shannon's simple response.
Ruby shook her head in disbelief and remarked, "Dang… you miss a little you miss a lot in this club…"
Shannon chuckled and gave Ruby another pat on the back as she added, "Well, the world must go on…"
"You wouldn't go on without me, would you?" Ruby quipped.
"Of course not," responded Shannon. "If I'm going, I'm taking you with me, Rubes!"
As the two laughed amongst themselves, Ruby found herself suddenly struck with a sense of wonderment about something… how did she never notice before what a cute smile Shannon had? She almost felt a compulsion to pull a grandmotherly move and reach out to pinch those freckled cheeks of hers, but that would have been just silly.
One morning the following week, Ruby had made her way down a corridor with her text books and notebooks tucked under her arm, and she soon came upon Shannon who stood by her open locker, but instead of doing any sort of activity that would make it evident that she was placing items into or removing out from her locker, she appeared to be staring up to the ceiling. Curious, Ruby stepped over to her friend and directed her attention to the ceiling above them to try and figure out just what it was that Shannon was looking at with her bespectacled eyes.
"Like, is the ceiling falling?" Ruby asked.
"No…" responded Shannon.
Whatever was going on here, Ruby was completely lost as she further inquired, "Then, what are we looking at?"
Shannon sighed, "My pencil…"
It was not apparent right away, as there were a number of pencils that dangled from the ceiling, the points of which had been driven into the polystyrene surface from students who had thrown them up like darts that were thrown into a dartboard, but there was one that dangled right above Shannon's head that she had her eyes locked onto.
The situation seemed amusing at best, but it also seemed a little unusual, as her friend pressed on with another question: "Okay, so, like, why is your pencil hanging from the ceiling?"
With slight annoyance in her voice, Shannon explained, "Luan pranked me again… I opened my locker and a bunch of rubber snakes popped out, and it startled me so much I ended up throwing my pencil into the ceiling… and it's my last one!"
Ruby had to take a moment to observe the scene for herself: indeed, there were a few rubber snakes, some of which still remained inside Shannon's locker, though most were scattered on the floor below, along with some school books that she had clearly dropped in her shock.
By now, Shannon turned to her friend and asked, "Do you have a pencil I can borrow?"
"I have an extra pen you could use, if you're cool with purple jelly…" suggested Ruby.
"A pen's no good... what if I make a mistake and can't erase it?" Shannon responded with a shake of her head before she returned her attention to her last pencil above her head. With another sigh, she said, "What am I going to do?"
Ruby was then suddenly struck with an idea: she grabbed onto Shannon's waist with as firm of a grip as she could and began to lift her off of the floor.
"What are you doing?" Shannon asked in confusion.
"Tryin' to help you get your pencil back…" explained Ruby as she continued to lift her friend closer and closer toward the ceiling.
As best as she could, the girl in the orange sweater extended her arm straight up to reach the pencil, though she was still but a few inches away from reaching her goal.
"Can you get me any higher?" She asked.
"I'm, like, tryin'…" said Ruby – even with her arms extended as straight up as they could possibly go, it was still not quite enough for Shannon to reach her pencil, so to further give her some extra added height, she elevated herself to the tips of her toes.
"Almost there… a little more…" said Shannon.
As Shannon's hand inched closer and closer to her pencil, Ruby found herself in a rather awkward position – and not just because she stood on her tiptoes while she held Shannon up into the air, but also because she found herself curiously staring at her best friend's backside and legs as they dangled right in front of her eyes; perhaps it was a sense of envy that her friend possessed more of a defined body shape than she did… but, it was almost as though she liked what she saw.
"Got it!" Shannon exclaimed as she finally wrapped her fingers around her pencil and waited for Ruby to return her to the floor. "Uh, Rubes? You can let me down now…"
"Oh, right…" said Ruby as she was snapped back to reality.
She also began to lose her grip on Shannon, and as such, the bespectacled brunette ended up sliding back down to the floor through her hands, though along the way down, she released a sound that could only be described as a combination of a piglet squealing and a little girl giggling, which Ruby found most unusual.
"Like, what was that?" She asked.
"Sorry, I'm really ticklish…" explained Shannon, as sliding down through Ruby's hands had created a tickling sensation for her.
It was then that a most evil look had taken over Ruby's face as she responded with a menacing-sounding, "Oh, really?"
Shannon just knew what this would entail as she quickly responded, "No! Ruby, no!"
Too late. In an instant, Ruby's fingers danced their way over Shannon's body in a bout of tickle torture, which, of course, caused the ticklish Jewish girl to laugh uncontrollably, in spite of her repeated pleas for her friend to stop.
"Ru-he-Ru-he-Ruby-Ruby-Rub-he-he-he! S-sto-ha-ha-op! I'm s-he-he-he-erious!"
It went without saying that the impromptu tickle fight that Ruby had subjected Shannon to began to draw attention from other students who passed through this particular hallway – including a couple of their fellow theater club thespians, such as Luan and Lyberti, who exchanged confused, yet amused glances with one another over this scene they had witnessed as they pressed onward for their next classes. Shannon had not only become wedged into her locker as she attempted to evade Ruby's dancing fingers, she had also begun to wheeze and even cough a little as she finally swatted Ruby's hands away from her.
"Ruby! Stop! I can't breathe!" She wheezed while her giggling began to subside. "I-I can't breathe…"
Finally, Ruby eased off as she watched Shannon struggle to catch her breath after all of it had nearly escaped from her bout of excessive laughter. Meanwhile, that evil look in the Indian girl's eyes remained, as she further continued to mess with her friend's head with something of a diabolical monologue…
"Now that I know what your greatest weakness is, I have total control over you, and there's nothing you can do about it… you are, like, totally powerless against me!"
As Shannon finally regained her composure, she found herself in awe over this little performance of Ruby's.
"Wow… that was really good…" she marveled. "We should do something like this for our next theater exercise…"
Since they had not even been discussing theater, for that comment to come from seemingly nowhere threw Ruby off.
"Huh? Like, what do you mean?"
Shannon began to explain what she had in mind: "Something like this…"
When the theater club met up for its weekly drama class later that Friday, Mrs. Bernardo intended to put her thespians through an exercise that the veteran students were already familiar with, including the two girls who had presently taken up presence in the center of the stage: this exercise had the drama students partner up – in this case, an older student with a newer student – and perform a brief little scene in an effort to not only establish a connection amongst each other as scene partners, but with their audience as well. Shannon stood with her hands clasped behind her back and appeared to put up a little struggle, as though to suggest she may have been tied up and was attempting to free herself from her bonds, whilst Ruby casually paced back and forth before her with that same evil look on her face again, until she stopped in her tracks and turned to face her.
"Give it up, Shannon; you're struggling in vain," said Ruby as she stared her prisoner down with ice in her eyes. "Now that I have you in my clutches, you are totally powerless against me."
"What do you want from me, Ruby?" Shannon asked in despair.
"I want all of your dirty little secrets…" demanded Ruby. "Everything you know I want to know, and don't even try to hold anything back!"
"S-s-suppose I refuse to talk?" Shannon asked.
"Oh, I have ways of making you talk…" said Ruby with a sneer as she stepped over took hold of Shannon's face within her hand, the pinching of her jaw caused her lips to contort into something of a duck face. As Ruby looked into Shannon's helpless face, the nightmare she had about her strung up like a living Christmas tree had suddenly rushed back into the front of her mind, which gave her an idea on how to press forward with this little skit as she pulled away from her prisoner and asked, "I suppose you've noticed you've been bound with live wire…"
This caught Shannon off of her guard... did Ruby actually just ad-lib? Because she did not remember this coming up in conversation while they planned this performance for their class. It amazed her how much Ruby had not only really gotten into this, but could also employ some improvisational skills as well as she kept the scene going by struggling to respond, "Well… yes… what are you…"
Just then, Ruby stepped away and began to pantomime, which further added to the mystique of their scene – even Shannon found herself genuinely confused by this; Ruby clearly went one step beyond with this exercise. As everyone watched, Ruby's pantomiming seemed to suggest that she was unravelling something that had previously been coiled – something she revealed to be a water hose as she began to further taunt her helpless prisoner…
"Perhaps a little hosing down would be, like, a totally shocking experience for you…"
The other thespians who sat out in the auditorium were completely captivated by this performance, especially Luan, who was personally quite impressed with Ruby's ability to not only crack a rather clever pun, but come across as so diabolical and evil at the same time.
Upon the realization of the type of torture she could be subjected to, the poor prisoner had finally cracked…
"Alright, alright! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Shannon cried out. "I'll tell you everything! Everything-everything-everything-everything…"
"THANK YOU!" Mrs. Bernardo called out to cut the scene.
The two girls immediately dropped their act and looked upon their drama teacher as she stepped over to critique their performances; she had a very, very serious look on her face that was difficult to read, mainly because there was so much she could say about how well this exercise had gone in her eyes.
"That was SIMPLY AMAZING!" She exclaimed. "The two of you work so well together, I can DEFINITELY sense the chemistry between you!"
Such praise prompted a most pleased look to be exchanged between the two as they shared a smile with one another.
"Shannon, you never cease to astound me with how well you project your emotions," continued Mrs. Bernardo. "But, Ruby… I just can NOT get over how much you have improved in this same area… projecting emotions seemed to be your weakness last semester, but this is like the difference between night and day! You clearly have been working your craft, and I am VERY PROUD of your efforts!"
"Like, thanks, Mrs. B!" Ruby exclaimed; she very much appreciated hearing such a positive response from her drama teacher as opposed to her more tactful and critical remarks from the previous semester when she was still green around the gills in her acting skills.
"You could very well be rather well-suited for heavy, villainous roles with performances like this!"
With that, Mrs. Bernardo had dismissed the two girls to call up another pair of thespians for the same exercise, and as the two departed the stage, Ruby wanted her personal mentor's honest opinion on her performance during their exercise.
"Have I really gotten that better?" Ruby asked.
"I'll say," said Shannon. "You legit scared me out there; I've never seen you act like that before!"
As Ruby chuckled, she also wrapped her arm around Shannon's shoulder and pulled her close to her in a one-armed hug.
"Now, you know I could never do anything to, like, harm a hair on your little head, right?" She asked.
There was no denying that as far as Shannon was concerned… there was also no denying that to be hugged by Ruby felt… nice… really nice…
There was also no denying the solid chemistry between these two; Mrs. Bernardo had certainly taken notice of this. Since the beginning of the school year, she was quick to pick up on the playfulness that existed between a pair like Benny and Luan, which had an influence on her decision to cast them not only as Oberon and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, but also Romeo and Juliet during their previous semester's productions, though it had also become clear to her that a very similar sense of playfulness existed between Shannon and Ruby as well – particularly upon the Indian girl's return to the club… perhaps she should brainstorm what sort of a future production could utilize this pair to their fullest potential and allow for their chemistry to really shine in front of an audience.
In the weeks to come, it wasn't exactly difficult for others to pick up on certain vibes from Shannon and Ruby, whether or not either of them was even aware of such. One such week, Mrs. Bernardo had her thespians pair up with their respective partners specifically for a one-on-one, peer-to-peer exercise: in this case, one thespian would attempt to broaden his or her acting range by briefly playing five random, yet specific types of roles, while their partner would critique their performances. In her hand, Shannon had a short list of roles and instructed Ruby to try each of them on for size, such as…
"How about this one… a police officer?" Shannon listed off.
"Alright, you, the jig is up," said Ruby as she approached Shannon closer and closer. "For too long now, I've been pursuing you to make you, like, pay your debt to society… now, there's way you're gonna get outta this one! You're under arrest for… your… string of jewelry store robberies!"
Ruby may have immersed herself a little too deeply into this particular role as she grabbed hold of Shannon, twirled her around, and forced her hands behind her back as though to slap imaginary handcuffs onto her wrists.
With a nervous chuckle, Shannon decided now would probably be a good moment to move onto the next role: "Um, how about a vampire?"
At first, Ruby did not seem to do much of anything; she just kept her firm grip onto Shannon, though she gradually began to pull her in closer and closer, all the while she had a most luring look on her face – it was almost as though she had attempted to seduce the Jewish girl. Finally, she tilted Shannon's head to the side so that she may brush away her thick and wavy hair to expose her neck – around which she continued to wear her yellow Montague scarf that she, apparently, had taken a fancy to. After Ruby pulled the scarf away from Shannon's neck, she emitted something of a low hissing sound before she gently planted the tips of her teeth onto the side of her friend's neck and playfully acted out the ritual of drinking her blood. Shannon could not help but giggle – not just because of her ticklish nature again, but because she probably enjoyed this a little more than she really needed to; Ruby seemed to enjoy herself as well, but as she got a little carried away, she actually accidentally bit Shannon's neck. The bespectacled brunette yelped loudly as the two pulled away from each other.
"O-M-G!" Ruby fretted. "I'm sorry, Shans! I got carried away!"
Shannon hissed in pain as she rubbed the bite on her neck.
"You okay?" Ruby asked in concern.
"Am I bleeding?" Shannon gritted through her teeth as she pulled her hand away.
Ruby examined her neck and answered, "Thankfully, no… but, that's, like, gonna leave a mark…"
It was true: although the skin had not been broken, a set of teeth prints were now embedded into the side of Shannon's otherwise flawless neck – it almost looked as though the otherwise modest Jewish girl was actually in possession of a hickey… at least she could cover it with her scarf. Still, Ruby could not apologize enough for her mistake…
"I'm really, really sorry, Shans…" she pleaded.
"It's okay…" Shannon choked as she wrapped her yellow scarf around her neck again, and then, to Ruby's surprise, began to laugh the incident off. "You know, Rubes? I don't think you realize just how deeply you immerse yourself into these roles… you truly have a gift for acting!"
Ruby lightly blushed, smiled, and responded, "Everything I know about acting I learned from, like, the best mentor ever…"
Likewise, Shannon blushed and smiled before the two of them succumbed to standing and staring at each other.
"So, like… what's next for us?" Ruby asked.
You forgot about Lyberti being Shannon's personal vocal coach, didn't you? Well, this was the big pay off, so that minor little plot thread has now been sewn shut.
Now, do you have your diabetes monitors ready? Because our fluff levels are only going to continue to elevate from this point onward - in fact, fluff levels will be so astronomically high, you'll think we've hitched a ride on a sugar truck.