A/N: I am well aware of how frustrating it has been that it has taken so long to get to this point - as I've mentioned before, even I had no idea that the story was going to end up going on for this long. The thing of it is, it wasn't just the building up to this point that we had to get through, but also, we needed to explore some probable context for Ruby seemingly dropping out of the theater club so nonchalantly with Spencer in "Stage Plight," yet being back in theater without Spencer, as well as their heated exchange in "Deep Cuts."

Also, if you haven't quite figured it out, this was also meant to illustrate the stark contrast between Ruby's relationships with Spencer and Shannon. With Spencer, they both rushed into things while barely knowing each other for the sake of status and appearances, and as a result, this was partly why their relationship crashed and burned. With Shannon, their initial friendship gradually evolved into a deeper connection over a period of time, laying down a more solid foundation for a stronger and more meaningful relationship.

All of this, plus the numerous new and unexpected plot elements that have developed during my and Albertson's consultation over these past several months that were not present in the original plans, are the reasons why this story has gone on for as long as it has. I apologize if this has been too long for some of you - I've tried my level best to keep this story within a more reasonable length, but sometimes, things don't go as planned. Fret not, for little by little, we are nearing the end of this saga; after this, just four more chapters remain.

Okay, so let us see what life is like for our two lovebirds as they begin this new chapter in their lives together.

Have you heard?

About Ruby?

Looks like she's hooked up with somebody else already.

That was quick.

That girl really gets around, doesn't she?

Wonder what dude she's going out with this time.

It's not a guy…

She hooked up with a girl?

Ruby's into pussy?

Damn!

That was among some of the gossip that floated around the lockers of Royal Woods High the following Monday, since former cool girl Ruby Patel was spotted that morning walking down the corridors and holding hands with a freckle-faced, bespectacled brunette who some students recognized as Hermia from A Midsummer Night's Dream, but many others were unaware even existed… and that look on their faces; that twinkle in their eyes, that giddy smile of theirs, the rosy glow in their cheeks… one need not be a straight-A student to figure out that such a look could only mean one thing… love. The strange thing to some students was that the bespectacled brunette seemed out of Ruby's league… some would assume that, perhaps, Ruby had lowered her standards after her very public breakup with Spencer Banks had sort of cast her out of higher social circles… she did mention that she used to be in theater before she and Spencer dropped out last semester, maybe this new girlfriend of hers was a fellow thespian. Heh… thespian… yeah, even Luan Loud would have taken issue with such an obviously distasteful pun. Under ordinary circumstances, Ruby herself would have taken issue with being the topic of schoolwide gossip… for once, she didn't even care… because it was true: she and Shannon Tannenbaum are going out with each other, and they do love each… they've loved each other long before they even realized it… and for either one of them, that was all that mattered; they were perfectly happy and content with one another.

Even in the cafeteria, they always had lunch together, that was hardly anything new… except that now, other students continually stole glances over at them to satisfy their noisiness. Still, there was an obvious difference about the two of them sitting together, as even their fellow thespians took their seats at the same table; Luan, Benny, Lyberti, and Leo all possessed knowing smiles on their faces, which harkened Shannon back to one of the points she made to Ruby during their romantic rendezvous a few nights prior…

"Thanks, guys…" she croaked and blushed like mad.

"Don't mention it!" Luan playfully shrugged.

"We're so happy for you two," gushed Lyberti.

"This is totally the happiest I've ever been in, like… forever!" Ruby said before she offered Shannon another loving glance, which caused her new girlfriend to blush and demure. "I had no idea Shannon, like, felt the same way about me like I do her…"

"Yeah, same here…" Shannon mumbled.

"I think we had a pretty good idea," suggested Luan with a sly look on her face.

"Yeah, it was kinda obvious to us," added Lyberti while Leo nodded in agreement.

"You two bring out the best in each other," agreed Benny.

"Like you and Luan do?" Shannon asked.

Now it was Benny and Luan, who demurred and blushed over such an observation brought to their attention, but they had to agree, there was something about the other who seemed to possess a capability of bringing out the best in each of them.

Just about the only student in the entire school who seemed rather oblivious to the new development was the one student who had nothing to even gain from such, and that was Spencer Banks. When they dated, Spencer kept Ruby on something of a short leash, though ever since their nasty breakup, he never bothered to keep any kind of tabs on her or her life; after all, he was too controlling of her, anyway – so she said. Nevertheless, even those within the sports club had caught wind of the rumor mill, and as they had their lunch at another table across the cafeteria, they itched to get his reaction to the gossip.

"You seem pretty cool about everything, Spence…" Carlton was the first to speak up.

"About how baseball season is shaping up?" Spencer asked, since that was among the numerous talking points that he and his teammates were involved within the sports club, as the Rocket Squirrels' disappointing winter basketball season was down to their final game, and their spring baseball season was on their horizon.

"Come on, hombre; you know what we mean…" Horatio nudged.

"Yeah, not sure I'm following…" said a puzzled Spencer before he took a huge bite out of his rather stacked ham sandwich.

"You haven't noticed Ruby lately?" Brandon prodded.

The burly jock could have spat out a mouthful of ham over the mentioning of that name, but instead, he swallowed and rolled his eyes with disdain.

"What's to notice?" He mulled.

"You don't see who she's with?" Brandon then pointed out.

Reluctantly, Spencer stole a glance at the table where his ex-girlfriend sat. He recognized the others whom she sat among, like Lyberti, the girl with the amazing voice who loved to sing; Leo, the quiet boy who didn't talk much; Luan, the loud girl (in more ways than one) who made jokes about everything; and Benny, the boy with whom he acted alongside in A Midsummer Night's Dream. To see his ex-girlfriend sat among them again did make him feel just a trifle irked… did this mean that Ruby was back in theater, even though she dropped out with him last semester? How could this be? If that was the case, that was all the more reason for him to sever ties with her.

"Aw, just those lame-o drama geeks, so what?" He asked with a shrug.

Admittedly, he did actually rather like these kids when he used to be in theater… not that he would let onto that around his peers. As a matter of fact, even after Ruby spilled the beans about his being in the theater club for part of the previous semester, it took all of his powers of persuasion to convince his fellow jocks that it was actually she who had persuaded him into enrolling in the class with her, and that he only did so out of reluctance for her – far from the truth, but it was better than confessing that he had enrolled in theater out of his own interest; his masculinity had already been challenged and questioned enough.

"What about the one with the glasses?" Sophia pressed.

Spencer took another look and noticed of whom they spoke.

"Yeah, Shannon, I think she's Ruby's bestie," he casually shrugged.

Snickers promptly erupted from most of the others who sat around him; he may have possessed a physically burly build, but certainly he wasn't so mentally thick that he could not see what everybody else saw.

"Right! Bestie!" Sophia snorted.

By now, Spencer's confusion had elevated to the point of aggravation; just what, exactly, were the others even giving him the business about, anyway?

"What's up with you guys?" He asked with his brow furrowed. "What gives?"

"Take a good look at Ruby with her bestie; you'll see," Brittany pressed further.

Spencer failed to see what the point to all of this was, but just as reluctantly, he stole another glance at Ruby sitting next to Shannon. At first, he still saw nothing out of the ordinary: they ate lunch; conversed with one another, giggled… a lot… they seemed to do more giggling than anything. There also seemed to be a certain look on their faces: a twinkle in their eyes, giddiness in their smile, and a rosy glow in their cheeks. They seemed to also be quite… touchy-feely with each other as well… a touch of a hand, a touch on the arm, a boop on the nose, even the occasional one leaning onto the other in a manner that come across as rather… lovey-dovey.

"Oh… wow…" was all Spencer could mumble when it began to dawn on him that what he witnessed between his ex-girlfriend and her bestie went far beyond just friendship.

"Guess Ruby's into another kind of pussy…" quipped Carlton to the snickers of the other jocks and cheerleaders.

That innuendo flew over Spencer's head, but that may have actually been for the best, as he was still far too stunned to see his ex-girlfriend had not only moved onto somebody else following their breakup, but that said somebody else was a girl… and her best friend to boot… even he had to confess that, in his mind, it felt as though he was living through a plot device straight out of a modern romantic comedy; it was so unreal.

Still, the idea that Ruby now dated her best friend since her breakup with Spencer had brought about amusement to some within the sports club, particularly the cheerleaders who used to include her within their little clique, along with other girlfriends and groupies. When the regular school day had concluded for the afternoon, Ruby once again walked the halls holding hands with Shannon as they made their way towards an exit. Along the way, Brittany and Sophia trekked down the corridor in the opposite direction toward the gymnasium for cheering practice, while Tiffany had tagged along with them to watch her boyfriend, Brandon, train for this Friday's final game of the Rocket Squirrels' basketball season – it was one of his best sports. Just as these groups of girls happened upon each other, one of the cheerleaders chose that moment to throw some shade toward one of their former groupies:

"Hey, Rubes," greeted Brittany. "Out walkin' your dog?"

While the two cheerleaders broke into a fit of laughter, Tiffany, on the other hand, was not at all amused with such a remark.

"Really?" The little redhead retorted. "That was uncalled for."

Ruby became livid over such a distasteful comment, which she saw had clearly stung the insecure brunette. Ruby had always been protective of Shannon, even when they were just friends, and this was no exception, as she began to throw some verbal punches in retaliation to defend her honor.

"So, that's what Shannon is? My dog?" Ruby barked.

Brittany and Sophia suddenly stopped laughing; they knew their remark could get a reaction out of her, but neither they, nor Tiffany, expected the speech that followed.

"Let me show you something…" continued Ruby as she began to show off her girlfriend, starting with her lustrous brown mane. "You see this hair? This is all natural! She doesn't need to, like, use a bunch of different products to get such fab volume I only wish I had!"

Brittany and Sophia exchanged looks with one another; painfully aware that they, indeed, used a wide array of different styling products in their hair to get it to look the way they wanted.

Ruby continued, as she pointed out Shannon's face, which only caused her to blush: "You see this face? Not one speck of makeup or anything, and she, like, doesn't need it, cause, just like her hair, this is all natural!"

Again, Brittany and Sophia exchanged another look with one another – a look that seemed a might more self-conscious. They both applied a lot of makeup to their faces. In their minds, they needed to. They were cheerleaders, after all; they needed to project a specific, eye-grabbing image.

Still, Ruby continued, as she moved onto the rest of Shannon's body; the bashful Jewish girl could only continue to blush even redder as Ruby brought attention to her physique: "You see this body? That's all her! No enhancing or anything! She doesn't have to do any stuffing!"

That was a hit below the belt. Brittany and Sophia could only cringe in embarrassment – neither of them thought it was that obvious that they stuffed their bras in an attempt to make their assets look bigger and perkier than they really were.

Ruby finished her soliloquy with one final sick burn: "So, if my girlfriend is a dog, then she's a beautiful dog, unlike you ugly cats!"

The other girls were gob smacked by that closing remark.

"Wow… that was uncalled for, too…" said Tiffany before she turned toward the cheerleaders to offer up a piece of her own mind as well. "But, you guys had it coming…"

With nothing more to say, Ruby took Shannon by her arm and continued on their way towards the nearest exit, while they left behind the two cheerleaders who stung from the shame heaped upon them by their former groupie (and even one of their current groupies siding with her). Shannon, meanwhile, was unsure if she agreed that Ruby's previous outburst was the right thing to do.

"Um… was all that really necessary, Ruby?" She asked as they stepped through a double-doored exit out into the school yard.

"Was it necessary for them to call you a dog?" Ruby rebutted.

"Not really…" mumbled Shannon. "But… you kind of just did, too…"

"I said you were a beautiful dog compared to those ugly cats," insisted Ruby. "And, I was, like, making a point!"

Maybe so, but Shannon got to thinking about some of the words that were exchanged back inside the hall…

"Well… maybe they have a point…"

A dumbfounded Ruby suddenly stopped short and turned to face Shannon.

"Say what?"

Shannon began to meekly stroke the back of her head as she said, "I mean… you're so beautiful, Ruby… you deserve to go out with somebody really good-looking…"

It was not just the cheerleaders' remarks, but Shannon's lack of self-esteem had long influenced her low opinion of herself; the bespectacled, freckle-faced Jew with the never-ending tangle of wavy curls thought of herself as a homely, unappealing girl, and figured somebody like her was not worthy of having an exotic beauty like Ruby as her significant other. Ruby, however, while having never been attracted to anyone of her own sex before, saw Shannon as the prettiest girl she had ever laid eyes on, and had to disagree with her sentiment.

"You are really good-looking, Shans!" She argued. "Did you literally not hear, like, a single word I just said about you?!"

"Well, yeah, but…" Shannon trailed of.

"But, what?" Ruby asked. "You thought I only said that stuff to make you feel better?"

"Well…" mumbled Shannon as she continued to stroke her head.

Ruby looked somewhat offended as she further asked, "You really think I'm that shallow?"

It was then that Shannon had reminded Ruby of something they had discussed several weeks back when she and Spencer broke up: "Well, you did say that your relationship goals were status and appearances…"

Neither of which she believed she could help Ruby maintain.

"I…" Ruby began to continue the argument, until she realized that her girlfriend had further opened her eyes to not only the error of her ways in the past, but also to what it was that she had right in front of her. With a sigh, she responded, "You're right… I did… but… not anymore… I don't give a rat's patootie about any of that stuff anymore… all those weeks we were separated made me realize how much I, like, missed hanging out with you more than anything…"

Ruby took hold of Shannon's hands and gently and lovingly squeezed them.

"What we have means more to me now than status or rep or anything like that ever did before…"

Shannon's eyes shimmered as a tiny little smile appeared on her rosy face.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," she apologized. "I know you better than that to think you're shallow and insincere…"

"Forget it," said Ruby before she reached a hand out and began to caress one of Shannon's pink-tinted freckled cheeks. "Just keep being your totally awesome, super talented, sweet and charming self, cause I, like, couldn't ask for anything more in a perfect girlfriend!"

That was one of the things that had endeared Ruby to Shannon throughout their relationship, and one of the things that not only made it clear that she was her true best friend, but also made her feel like an honorary sister: Ruby made Shannon feel valued and appreciated – more so than any other friend or peer she had in her life. Shannon threw her arms around Ruby and embraced her tightly in appreciation of her appreciation towards her and being her true self; Ruby was just as much of a perfect girlfriend. Ruby also wasted no time in returning the gesture as she too wrapped her arms around Shannon, and could have cared less what others may have had to say or think if they saw them. When the bespectacled brunette saw from a distance her mother's car pull into the school's parking lot, she reluctantly pulled away from the Indian girl with a sigh; she wasn't ready for this moment to be over, but she knew it had to come to an end.

"I've gotta go…" muttered Shannon.

"See you tomorrow, girlfriend," Ruby bade in farewell to her departing beloved.

"Same time, same station," quipped Shannon as she made her way toward the parking lot and her ride home.

Tiffany found herself wondering why Ruby's new girlfriend seemed familiar to her, even though she did not know who she was, that was until the following afternoon when she had stepped into her algebra class; there she was, toward the back of the room, the bespectacled and freckle-faced brunette whom Ruby was now dating. Although Shannon was an average student at best, numbers were something that she was not very good with, and as such, she tucked herself away toward the back of the class as much as possible to reduce the likelihood of being called upon by the teacher to answer a question among the rest of the class – how embarrassing that would be. In all of these months, Tiffany had barely even noticed this girl because she was so quiet and unassuming, but now that she knew who she was, she smiled and decided to take the desk in front of her that day.

"Shannon, is it?" She asked.

"Huh?" Shannon responded as she looked up at the redheaded girl in the blue t-shirt and red gym shorts who sat before her.

"Your name is Shannon?" The redhead asked again.

"Yeah…" nodded Shannon.

"I'm Tiffany," the girl introduced herself. "I was Ruby's friend in sports club…"

"Ohh…" Shannon nodded again; she recognized this girl from yesterday when she was with the two cheerleaders who had made such an unflattering remark about her.

Tiffany attempted to mollify that, as she explained, "Hey, listen, don't put any stock in what Brittany and Sophia said about you yesterday… I mean, they're cheerleaders, after all, you know how superficial they can be; everything's always about absolute perfection with them…"

"Maybe…" said an unsure Shannon; she did not know any cheerleaders, so she could not speak from knowledge or experience.

"I mean, I know we don't really know each other, but you seem really nice," continued Tiffany. "I'm just so glad to finally see Ruby happy again… she was getting really miserable in sports club in the end…"

"Yeah… I could kind of tell," admitted Shannon. "Even from afar…"

"It was especially getting really bad with how Spencer was treating her like a show-and-tell object," added Tiffany.

To hear his name brought up in conversation, morbid curiosity began to take over Shannon's mind as she asked, "Does he know? About us, I mean?"

"He does now," answered Tiffany.

Shannon looked a might uncomfortable over what that possibly could lead to now that her girlfriend's ex knew about their newfound romance.

"How… did he take it?" She further asked.

"I think he's just stunned," said Tiffany with a shrug. "But, I really don't think he cares either way… after they broke up, he pretty much washed his hands of Ruby, so to speak."

To hear that had brought Shannon some relief; she was concerned that she might have been faced with a common scenario depicted in romantic fiction that involved crazed and jealous exes who were out to seek revenge – that became one less thing for her to worry about. In the meantime, Tiffany figured as long as she was conversing with Ruby's new girlfriend, they should become better acquainted with one another, as she asked more about her.

"So, Spencer mentioned something about you and Ruby being besties from drama," said Tiffany. "Is that how you met?"

"Yeah," said Shannon with a smile. "We were often partnered up for theater exercises, and we somehow drifted towards each other…"

"That's really nice," said Tiffany with a smile of her own.

"Yeah…" nodded Shannon, though her smile began to show some slack. "Although, sometimes, I still wonder…"

When Shannon trailed off, this further triggered Tiffany's curiosity, as she asked, "What?"

"Oh, nothing…" Shannon waved it off. "It's nothing…"

"I'm good at keeping secrets," said Tiffany with a wink. "Just ask Ruby, she'll tell you."

Despite Shannon's weakness at judging character, and the fact that she barely knew Tiffany, she could sense that the redheaded sports fan was a trustworthy person – and if she was such a good friend of Ruby's, perhaps she was somebody who she could confide in with her thoughts and feelings.

"Well... sometimes, I can't help but wonder why Ruby even wanted to be friends with somebody like me in the first place…" confessed Shannon. "I mean, I really don't think we're even in the same league… no sports pun intended…"

"Beats me," shrugged Tiffany while she also had a chuckle over that last remark. At that moment, a thought had occurred to her: "Maybe she saw something in you that clicked with her?"

"I don't know about that…" Shannon also shrugged.

"You never know…" said Tiffany before she had another little chuckle. "You know, it wasn't hard to figure out sports weren't really Ruby's thing, but honestly, I don't think I would've ever guessed theater was one of Ruby's things, either…"

Shannon was unable to resist a smirk as she agreed, "I thought the same thing when I first met her… actually, when I first met her, she struck me as one of those vapid and shallow clique-y kinds of girls, like in the movies…"

"I can see that…" Tiffany reluctantly agreed; Ruby's obvious valley girl demeanor certainly played a factor in emitting such a perception of her.

"But, she actually had a lot of hidden talent she learned how to use to her full potential… she really has quite a gift for acting…" continued Shannon.

"Really? I'll have to check her out sometime…" said an intrigued Tiffany.

To think on it further had made Shannon realize, "You know, I think I learned with her more than anyone not to judge a book by its cover…"

That got Tiffany to thinking a little more about it also as yet another thought had occurred to her: "You know what? I think you just answered your own question."

"What's that?" Shannon asked.

"Maybe Ruby didn't judge you by your cover," suggested Tiffany.

"Maybe…" shrugged Shannon.

"I hope the cover you two are discussing is covering today's lesson," bellowed the bearded and bespectacled Mr. Marshall, their algebra teacher, who clearly felt the two girls' off-topic conversation had distracted them from the class.

Shannon and Tiffany quieted down and gave their teacher their full and undivided attention… but not before they both made mocking faces behind his back.

Yet another Friday afternoon had arrived, and with it came the weekly meeting of Royal Woods High's theater club; it came as little surprise that Shannon and Ruby were now a couple, particularly among the veteran thespians who had been in the class with them since the beginning of the school year, but as Luan, Benny, Lyberti, and Leo had suggested previously, it became rather obvious to the others that something more than just friendship was blossoming between the two of them (as if their spontaneously random tickle fights, or wandering hands weren't enough of clues) – especially to a certain ginger-haired, freckle-faced, green-clad girl who happened past them with her arms locked with a certain Asian boy in neatly pressed clothing.

"Why am I not surprised you two are a couple now?" Amy asked.

It was still difficult for Ruby to even fathom that Amy was no longer the bitch she once was, and almost instinctively took her remark to be made in a rather condescending manner. Lucky for all of them, Shannon quickly tightened her grip on Ruby's hand and jumped into the conversation before the Indian girl had a chance to respond in such a manner that she may regret.

"Well, you know our chemistry has always been undeniable," said Shannon.

"Just like ours," said Rex, much to Amy's pleasure.

"You said it, Rexie!" Amy agreed before she pointed out a personal observation. "Boy, seems like there's been a lot of hooks up around here… is this a drama club, or a dating club?"

"Well, you were the one who mentioned that on-stage romances have a tendency to spill over off stage," Shannon reminded Amy.

"That's show-biz," quoth the ginger.

It was actually true, though… aside from Amy and Rex already being a couple upon enrolling in theater, Ruby had hooked up with Spencer for a time, Benny and Luan became a couple while working on Romeo & Juliet, and now, Ruby and Shannon were a couple (the jury was still out on whether anything may eventually progress between Lyberti and Leo).

"Guess we need to go pair up with our partners for whatever exercises Mrs. B.'s gonna have us do this week," said Amy as she and Rex reluctantly parted ways to meet up with their assigned partners. As she started across the stage, Amy passed one more comment along to the other two girls, "You guys are really lucky you still get to partner with each other."

The fact that Mrs. Bernardo considered Ruby a new enrollee on a technicality, it really did work out well that Shannon was the veteran thespian their drama teacher had partnered her with for their weekly exercises. Even with the brief amount of time she spent in theater before she dropped out the previous semester, she still had Shannon to thank for helping her sharpen the acting talent she did possess; the thought of which prompted her to loving lean her head against Shannon's, as she wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulder and pulled her into a partial embrace.

Before long, the drama students were greeted with yet another grand entrance from Mrs. Bernardo, who appeared to be particularly excited as she addressed her thespians with some big news…

"It took ALL of my powers of persuasion, but I was FINALLY able to get the green light for a MOST ambitious project never before attempted by high school dramatics…" she explained with a little extra pep in her usual flair. "A full six-hour production of HAMLET!"

Had Mrs. Bernardo finally lost her mind? Even some of the more seasoned thespians thought that this was absolutely bonkers… other Shakespearean plays were long enough in their entirety, which was one reason why their class had done shortened, abridged versions, but an entire play that would take six hours to perform? Ambitious was not exactly the word they would use to describe such a project.

"Six hours? You have, like, gotta be kidding!" Ruby contested.

"How are we supposed to keep going through an entire play for six hours straight?" Amy asked.

"Six hours total…" explained Mrs. Bernardo. "Four hours for the play and two one-hour intermissions to give you much-needed breaks in-between."

"Still, that seems like an awful long time for a play," contested Lyberti. "We really worked our butts off doing two plays last semester, and those weren't nearly as long!"

Mrs. Bernardo stepped further into center stage to better address her thespians: "Do you know that in show business, it takes hours and hours of draining and demanding work to make the shows, the movies, the musicals, the plays we all enjoy? If you think six hours is a lot, some thespians work as many as fourteen, fifteen, even SIXTEEN hours each and every single day! That, dear children, is not just work… that is DEDICAAATIOOONNN!"

"But, we're just kids!" Lyberti rebutted.

"Kids, who may, one day, have bright and promising careers in show business ahead of them!" Mrs. Bernardo exclaimed with rather animated gestures and mannerisms. "Remember what I've said: the world of theatrics is not all glitz and glamor… it also requires a certain amount of grit and determination… and, if you want to ensure that you maintain a stable career in your future, you're going to have to really work at it… it's a competitive, dog-eat-dog world, show business… many will enter, few will win… when opportunity comes a-knocking, you have to get your foot in that door!"

Some of the thespians who did have aspirations of a show business career in their future – namely Luan, Benny, and Shannon – took Mrs. Bernardo's lecture to heart; Luan, in particular, could relate to what she had to say, as she threw in her opinion on the matter.

"Mrs. B.'s right," she said. "Even I know that entertaining people isn't all fun and games, there's a lot of hard work that goes into it, and you have to be able to stand out from the crowd to get people to notice you."

Shannon was the next to chime in with, "Yeah, and there's so many people out there who would give their souls for an opportunity to follow their dreams, but opportunities don't always come their way."

Even though Ruby still found it ludicrous that a bunch of high school students could pull off a six-hour play, she was aware that anything worth having a passion for takes a lot of long hours of work to be the best that you can be.

"I mean, I, like, know for a fact a lot of professional athletes train up to, like, twelve hours a day for their sports," she added. "I guess working on a six-hour play is, like, small potatoes compared to that…"

"This would be a magnificent learning experience for you," said Mrs. Bernardo. "You have all worked so splendidly together in this class so far… I have the utmost confidence that you can pull together once again for an even bigger production… if you can handle Hamlet, you can handle ANYTHING!"

"Let's do it!" Luan exclaimed.

"Count me in!" Benny added.

"Me, too!" Shannon also added.

Gradually, other thespians chimed in, albeit many of them only out of reluctance, especially those who had initially enrolled in this elective for no other reason than just because it sounded like fun, and they did not expect there to be much work involved.

It was settled then: a six-hour Hamlet would be the theater club's next production; it certainly would not be easy, especially since, unbeknownst to anyone in the club at the moment, a blip was on the horizon.

If you know your Loud House canon, then the close of this chapter should make it clear that we will begin revisiting the events of "Deep Cuts."

Tiffany wasn't originally in this chapter, since it had been drafted before she grew into a supporting character in our story, and not only that, but her scene with Shannon in their algebra class was written to replace an entirely different scenario that you are better off not knowing anything about, because it was rather silly and stupid. Also, there are a couple of things that Tiffany mentions in this chapter that foreshadow things to come, but I am not about to spoil any of this for you; you'll see for yourselves soon enough.

On another interesting note, throughout this story, I have sort of played up Ruby's looks, while downplaying Shannon's (as discussed in this chapter), however, based on what very little I've seen out there in the way of fandom discussions of these characters, it would seem that the general consensus is just the opposite; fans consider Shannon the cute/pretty one... I suppose it helps that she actually has more of a character to her than Ruby - though, that obviously is not saying much at all, given how so very minor they both are.

Lastly, it has been brought to my attention that today is Angelwings2002's birthday, so here's to wishing her a happy birthday; consider this week's new chapter our gift to you on your special day!