A/N: Here we are; we've finally reached that point in the story in which we revisit the events of "Deep Cuts," a rather polarizing episode that fans seem to either love or hate, with very little middle ground. But, I would say that this is the episode that has played the most significant role in launching the Shrauby ship... at least, for me, anyway.
There was soon to be a substantial amount of drama to be had at Royal Woods High, although not all of it was exclusive to the drama club. Quite the contrary – this drama was to have an impact on a number of the different extracurricular and elective clubs the school had to offer. It all started one random afternoon when a few of the music students –namely, the members of the Moon Goats- had made their way to the band room for their after school music club to get their jam on, and listen to a new track their leader, Luna Loud, had been working on, only to discover that the room was locked and had a note taped to its door from Principal Rivers that informed them of the club's cancelation due to cuts that had been made to the school's budget. That did not sit well with the band, as their protest that was orchestrated by Luna demonstrated; music club was their heart and soul. Yes, they had orchestrated a protest in an attempt to show Principal Rivers what a big mistake it would be for her to cut their music club, and after they were able to persuade her with a rockin' performance, she decided to find somewhere else to trim the budget.
Principal Rivers had then decided to cut the sports club instead, and the school athletes were not happy – especially Lori Loud, who had discovered a passion for golf, and had enrolled in the club during the previous semester to further improve her skills to help her get accepted into Fairway University after she graduates from high school. She knew that all of this was Luna's fault for staging that protest with her music club, and figured that two could play this game. After school on another day, another protest was orchestrated, this time led by Lori, as she and many of the other school athletes and cheerleaders demonstrated how much that sports meant to them. To see how amazingly skilled and talented these students were, Principal Rivers was, once again, easily persuaded to rescind her previous decision to cut the sports club, and see which of the other clubs she could ax to keep the rest of the school within its proposed budget.
"Oh, ye theater gods, WHY have you forsaken me yet again?!"
Another afternoon, Kate Bernardo stepped out of her office with a small cardboard box that she had filled with her personal effects now that was out of another job.
"I have dedicated my entire life to this craft... so the dinner theater circuit didn't pan out... but, when one door closes, another door opens... I took to this job like a well-rested duck takes to water, so that I may impart knowledge and wisdom onto a future generation of stars... and now, those stars may NEVER SHINE!"
The overly dramatic drama teacher dropped to her knees and spilled her box across the stage floor, before she shook her hands into the air and shouted to the heavens above...
"WHY MUST I BE FLUNG BACK INTO THE DARKENED ABYSS OF UNEMPLOYMENT?! I WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT!"
Mrs. Bernardo nearly went blind when a giant spotlight had unexpectedly shone down upon her; with another wail, she grabbed her burned eyes, but this temporary hindrance of her sense of vision had heightened her sense of hearing when she heard the voice of a faculty electrician call out to her from the control booth on the other side of the auditorium.
"Sorry about that, just checkin' the lights; routine maintenance!"
When school had concluded, Luan, Benny, Ruby, and Shannon had made their way to the auditorium for theater club; in the weeks prior, the theater students had been working like devils to put together what their drama teacher had described as being their most ambitious production yet: another Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet. As they chatted amongst themselves as they always did, Luan was blissfully unaware of something that was afoot when she tried to open one of the large double-doored entrances into the auditorium, only to discover it was locked.
"Hey, what gives?" Asked Mr. Coconuts, whom she had on hand. "This is no time for a door jam session; we didn't even bring any instruments with us!"
"There's a note on the door…" Benny pointed out.
As soon as Luan's eyes fell upon the note, she had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Oh… don't tell me…" she muttered as she pulled the note off of the door and read it aloud to some of her fellow thespians.
Due to recent budget cuts the theater club has been cancelled.
-Principal Rivers
"WHAT?!" The other three shrieked in horror.
"Principal Rivers, like, cut the theater club?!" Ruby asked.
"How could she do such a thing?!" Shannon asked.
"Oh, I know what this is all about…" Luan grumbled before she shook her fist into the air and yelled, "LOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Sure enough, at the Loud House, Lori was up in the bedroom she shared with Leni where she practiced her putts, when her little comedic sister kicked the door in and began to dress her down.
"Thanks a lot, Lori!" Luan barked as she stormed over to her oldest sister. "The theater club's getting cut, and it's all your fault!"
"What?!" Lori retorted. "How is that my fault?!"
Upon hearing the commotion from across the hall, Luna decided to investigate the matter and see what she could do to restore a little peace in the house.
"Whoa, dudes! What's with all the negative energy in here?" She asked as she poked her head into the room to intervene. "Everybody chill…"
Luan was having none of this as she turned on her roommate as well and continued to bark, "Don't tell me to chill, hippy! I'm not happy with you, either! Because of your little protests, Principal Rivers decided to cut the theater club, and we were just about to stage our six-hour Hamlet!"
The other two sisters were not exactly pleased with Luan's accusations – even if they were partly to blame for her club getting cut, they still were more concerned about the preservation efforts of their own clubs, which they both spelled out for her.
"I'm sorry about your club," responded a defensive Lori. "But, I just did what I had to do to save mine."
"Samesies…" responded an equally defensive Luna.
At that moment, who should make his presence be known than the brother who possessed hair on his head that was as white as snow, and a polo shirt that was as orange as a Nickelodeon logo, to apprise his sisters of the impending meal that had been prepared for the evening.
"Hey, guys; dinnertime! Tonight, Chef Lynn has prepared his signature spicy tuna casserooo…" Lincoln trailed off once he saw three angry sisters who stared him down with fire and ice in their eyes. "Ooookay, I'm just gonna go…"
With that, Lincoln fled the scene; no doubt that this was a situation that called for the Loud House's Sister Fight Protocol – an imperfect system for which the sisters should settle disputes on their own without any outside influence (especially from their only brother). As these three sisters continued to cast sinister glances at one another, it became clear to Luan what needed to be done…
"Well, we're not about to take this lying down!" She said before she lifted Mr. Coconuts into the air to quote an immortal saying to signify the battle would rage on. "We have not yet begun to fight!"
After dinner that evening, Luan retreated to the bedroom she shared with Luna and logged onto her personal laptop to call an emergency video conference with her fellow thespians from the school's theater club; one by one, she eventually could see their faces appear in little grids across her monitor, and as soon as she was assured that everybody was logged online, she began to lay down her battle plan for the rest of them.
"Okay, guys…" she addressed them. "We've got our work cut out for us – we're gonna have to convince Principal Rivers she can't cut our theater club!"
"But, how?" Benny asked.
"I've got a plan," said Luan. "We'll need to meet up after school tomorrow to give Principal Rivers a performance she'll never forget!"
Some of the other thespians felt a little blindsided by this as they voiced their concerns to their apparent self-elected ring-leader.
"Tomorrow?" Ruby asked. "That, like, doesn't give us much time to prepare!"
"Yeah, how are we supposed to learn and memorize our lines on such short notice?" Lyberti asked.
"Don't worry about it; I'll do all the talking and cue the rest of you, just make sure you show up in the schoolyard by four o'clock."
The following afternoon, a small wooden stage had been erected out in the schoolyard, positioned right where Principal Rivers could see from her office window. Behind a curtain, Luan paced back and forth with Mr. Coconuts as she waited for the rest of fellow thespians to arrive, which they gradually began to do after the final bell rang. Among the thespians who had R.S.V.P.'d were Benny, Ruby, Shannon, Lyberti, and Roger – one of that semester's new enrollees; others had either forgotten about the arrangement, or felt that this impromptu performance was a pointless venture. Nevertheless, Luan felt she had enough to help her pull this off.
"Okay, we need to show Principal Rivers how cutting theater cuts our freedom of expression," exclaimed Luan. "Think of the school as being like a desert, and theater is what sustains us!"
"So, what do you want us to do?" Benny was the first to ask.
Luan approached Benny with a smile on her face and responded, "My dear Benjamin, you are a pillar of strength, solidity, and solidarity… as such, I want you to be our cactus."
Benny looked confused, "Huh?"
Luan then approached Lyberti and Lori and Leni's friend, Roger, who had enrolled in theater as his elective for the current semester – Lyberti was the veteran thespian to whom Mrs. Bernardo partnered Roger with as his mentor; unlike Lyberti's quiet and soft-spoken B.F.F., Leo, Roger was more of a charismatic and outgoing thespian who really excelled in his exercises with Lyberti, and as such, had influenced Luan's decision for the parts she was about to assign to them:
"You guys are free-spirited, like birds in flight, so you're going to be a pair of buzzards."
Lyberti and Roger looked just as puzzled by the casting decision before Luan finally moved onto Shannon and Ruby.
"And as for you two, you are going to be starving artists…" Luan told them, before she had Mr. Coconuts chime in with: "Literally! Starved for self-expression and creativity!"
"Does any of this make any sense to you?" Shannon asked Ruby.
"Like, none of it," replied Ruby.
"As long as we get our message across to Principal Rivers, we'll be fine," reassured Luan. "Now, everybody into wardrobe, and we'll do a quick run-through!"
"What wardrobe?" Lyberti asked. "We can't even get into the auditorium to get to any wardrobe."
"That's why I had to bring some of my own for you guys," said Luan, as she pointed over to the other side of the stage where a rack was assembled which contained a cactus costume, vulture costumes, tattered white tunics, and ancient sandals – all of which were from random Funny Business, Inc. gigs. She then added through Mr. Coconuts, "Not exactly dress-for-success, but you guys can make the best of it."
Unfortunately, to have no dressing rooms was just a tad awkward for the thespians, but they tried to make the best of it; it was a little more difficult for Benny, Lyberti, and Roger, given that they had more elaborate costumes to wear, while Shannon and Ruby had much simpler wardrobe. Ruby was able to change out of the outfit that she wore and into her tunic and sandals with relative ease, but Shannon, however, dealt with a bit of a struggle as she tried to get her head of thick and wavy hair through the neck hole of her tunic. To catch a glimpse of Shannon in her bra while she struggled with her wardrobe, Ruby was all the more envious of her girlfriend's physique compared to her own, but she was also fascinated by the sight of Shannon's exposed bare midriff, which only continued to amaze her that she could find attraction in a girl, as well as bring back a certain urge to want to hold Shannon that she could no longer resist as she reached out and began to embrace her from behind. Instinctively, Shannon's immediate assumption was that somebody was trying to molest her, and with one good yank, she finally managed to get her head through the neck hole of her tunic, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that Ruby was the culprit of the spontaneous little cuddle. Instead of being put off, she found herself enticed and a little excited by Ruby's touch; nervous, but excited.
"Where'd this come from?" She asked. "Not that I'm complaining..."
Ruby certainly wasn't complaining either; she very much enjoyed what she felt in her hands.
"Your skin's, like, so soft..." she marveled. "You gotta tell me how you got it that way..."
"That's my secret..." teased Shannon.
The two girls gazed into each other's eyes and were lost for any further words; they soon found themselves leaning in closer to each other, as though were driven by some sort of a spell or invisible force.
Just then, Luan made her way through their backstage to direct her fellow thespians into where they needed to be and what they needed to do.
"Okay, everybody into positiooo..." just then she saw Ruby with her arms wrapped around a still partially undressed Shannon as their faces were mere centimeters apart. "WHHOOOA! Sorry! I didn't see anything!"
The other two were snapped back to reality, after all, they still had a task at hand at trying to persuade Principal Rivers to change her mind about cutting their theater club. Finally, Shannon finished pulling her tunic down the rest of her body, while Ruby lamented how their moment had been killed, and vowed that next time, it would not be interrupted again.
About five minutes later, Principal Rivers was still in her office where she tried to filter her way through massive amounts of paperwork piled atop her desk, but in the midst of applying her signature to various and sundry forms and requisitions, she heard a rather theatrical-sounding voice from outside her window…
"Ladies and gents, please take your seats, it's almost show time!"
"Showtime?" Principal Rivers seemed to be rather intrigued by this as she wheeled her chair over to the open window that overlooked the schoolyard below, where she found one of her pupils, Luan Loud, out on a makeshift stage, with a wooden ventriloquist dummy in hand.
Now that she had her principal's attention, Luan kicked off the performance: "Thank you, thank you; we now present A World without Theater Club…"
The curtain parted, and on center stage before a painted desert backdrop stood Benny, who not only wore a cactus costume, but a confused look on his face as well. From stage left, a moaning Ruby weakly trudged into the scene in her tattered white tunic and old sandals, as Luan narrated the scene for their principal's viewing pleasure:
"So thirsty for self-expression…"
From stage right, a moaning Shannon also weakly skulked her way into the scene, likewise in a tattered tunic and old sandals, while Mr. Coconuts carried on with the narration:
"So hungry for creativity…"
At that moment, the principal's assistant, Oliver, stepped into the office to discuss further school matters with his superior, but was not at all pleased to see what had unfolded before him.
"PRINCIPAL RIVERS!" He snapped.
The principal clutched onto the window sill and fought back the tears that the emotionally taxing play had brought her. He ran over and attempted to pry his principal away, though she resisted as she continued to cling to the window sill. Still, her assistant was determined to not let her emotions get the better of her yet again.
"No you don't! You already made up your mind!" He reminded her.
Although he successfully pulled the chair away, he was not as successful at prying Principal Rivers away from the window as she continued to watch the play that was being performed to influence her decision. On the stage below, the two desert-dwelling girls continued to moan and began to swoon as Benny continued to watch on in silent confusion, while Luan continued with the narration:
"So deprived of joy…"
"Why even go on, Toots?" Mr. Coconuts finished.
And with that as their cue, Shannon finally expired and dropped to the stage floor below, while Ruby followed suit as she dropped to the floor and landed partly atop of Shannon – because of that, she decided to sneak in the slightest little bit of a cuddle. Benny was the next to expire as he, too, dropped to the stage floor, although his stiff cactus costume helped prop him up somewhat. The final cue was for Lyberti and Roger, both of whom entered from opposite sides of the stage in their vulture costumes, as they squawked and flapped around the freshly dead meat that they soon would feast upon.
The play concluded and the curtain closed, as Luan found herself showered with roses being tossed by Principal Rivers from her window; it certainly appeared that the outcome of the play had the desired effect the thespian wanted as the principal sung praises of what she had just seen.
"Oh, bravo! Bravo! So moving! Your passion has changed my mind – the theater club is here to stay!" Principal Rivers announced.
As Oliver picked himself up off the floor, he was more annoyed than ever; this was the third time his superior was far too easily persuaded into changing her mind about a decision that she was not at all firm in sticking to – he began to wonder just how this woman even got into the position of being placed in charge of a school to begin with.
Down below behind the curtain, Lyberti and Roger helped Shannon and Ruby to their feet just as Luan dashed through the parting in the curtain in jubilation.
"We did it, you guys!" She squealed. "We changed her mind; Principal Rivers is keeping the theater club!"
The other thespians cheered over their victory; Lyberti and Roger had even remained in-character and continued to happily squawk and flap around the stage, while Ruby and Shannon grabbed ahold of one another and bounced up and down in elation – they stopped when they realized how silly they looked, but after a quick little snicker, they didn't even care, and grabbed each other again for another joyful, celebratory bounce.
Benny, meanwhile, remained on the stage floor, unable to make it back to his feet again.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," he assured them. "I don't need any help here."
Moments later, the other thespians had finished changing out of the wardrobe Luan had provided for them, and were back into their normal, everyday clothing. Satisfied with their victory, Luan suggested to her fellow thespians that they celebrate at her dad's restaurant – a suggestion they were all onboard for, as they merrily followed their brace-faced leader and left the stage behind… along with Benny.
"Yeah, you still don't need to worry about me," Benny continued to insist (even though it appeared he had no choice). "I can manage to get this costume off myself! No trouble!"
The following day, Lori, Luna, and Luan trekked down the corridor on their way to their first period classes, certainly in much better spirits now that each of their respective clubs had been saved thanks to the little protests that they had orchestrated to influence their principal's decision. They may have won the battle, but unfortunately, the war was still to rage on as they passed Principal Rivers's office and overheard Oliver informing his superior that time was running out.
"I'm sorry, Principal Rivers, but the final budget is due Monday! You've got to cut one of our three most expensive clubs: theater, music, or sports!"
This brought about a collective gasp from the sisters as they peered into their principal's office where they found her curled up on the floor in the fetal position while she fretted over having to make such a drastic decision.
"But, which one?" She strained. "Oh, why is being a principal so hard?"
Oliver was still firm in his insistence as he pressed, "You have to choose!"
Just like that, the happy faces quickly soured as the Loud sisters were angered all over again; with this ultimatum that stared Principal Rivers in the face, they each knew one of their clubs would have to be the loser to the other two, and none of them were willing to give up without a fight.
Later that afternoon, the other thespians had met up in the reopened auditorium again now that their club had been reinstated; Benny still tried to maneuver around inside his stiff cactus costume that nobody seemed to be willing to help him get out of.
"Yeah, don't mind me anybody, I wouldn't want to seem like a prick…" Benny quipped with more than a little annoyance.
It was then that Luan ran into the auditorium to inform her fellow thespians of the unfortunate news: "Guys! Guys! Our club is still on the chopping block!"
To hear this news, the other thespians gasped at the bombshell that was dropped on them.
"But, how?!" Benny asked. "I thought we changed Principal Rivers's mind!"
"We did, but now she has no other choice but to cut one of our clubs to meet the new budget requirements by Monday!" Luan informed them before she began to pace across the stage and address her fellow drama students as though she had assumed the role of a sergeant who drilled her cadets. "For too long, it's the arts that have always suffered at the hands of the educational system!"
"Yeah!" The other thespians responded in unified solidarity.
"They think it's all just fun and games, but we work just as hard at our craft as the athletes do their sports, or the musicians do their music…" continued Luan.
"Girl, you are preachin' to the choir!" Lyberti exclaimed as she raised her hands into the air.
"Enough is enough!" Luan barked as she stomped her foot in her turn to face the others as she concluded her rally. "Our voices and self-expression shall not be silenced! Our creativity shall not be diminished! We're not going down without a fight! It's time to upstage those turkeys!"
With fists pumped into the air, the thespians were in it to win it, as they chanted, "THEATER!"
It was not just the theater club, the other two clubs were determined to not let theirs get the ax in the school's final budget proposal, either; in the band room, Luna, likewise, rallied her fellow musicians in support of their cause:
"Someone has to be the loser, and it's not gonna be us!" She proclaimed.
"MUSIC!" Her bandmates chanted with their fists pumped into the air.
Out on the playing field, Lori, likewise, had whipped up the sports club into a riotous frenzy:
"Those other clubs are so going down!" She proclaimed.
"SPORTS!" Her fellow athletes chanted with their fists pumped into the air.
Much to her horror and his annoyance, Principal Rivers and Oliver could see out of their office window that the protests had resumed, and this time, all three of the clubs were out in the schoolyard to protest their potential cuts, as angry students picketed their signs and carried their voices over the crowd with chants of "SAVE OUR MUSIC!", "SAVE OUR SPORTS!", "SAVE OUR THEATER!"
Amongst all of the picketing, Spencer stood alongside the protesting sports club and spun a basketball on the tip of his finger, though he was no Harlem Globetrotter, as the ball had zipped off of his finger, flew across the schoolyard, and knocked Mr. Coconuts out of Luan's hand; from there, that seemed to have set off a chain reaction of chaos. To not only see this other club that he had convinced himself to quit, but also that his ex-girlfriend had enrolled back into after she had previously quit with him, further added to Spencer's outrage; he was not about to let this perceived duplicity go unpunished.
"Hey! Why are you drama kids even here? The only thing your plays are good for is putting people to sleep!" He said in a menacing manner, while the rest of the sports club followed with taunting, "Ooooh!"s.
Really? To say that to hear her ex-boyfriend's callous remark had struck a raw nerve within Ruby would be a rather gross understatement – she was absolutely livid, and chose to fight fire with fire.
"Wanna know what puts me to sleep? Watching you, like, pointlessly chase a ball around all day!" She shot back while the rest of the theater club also followed with taunting, "Ohhhh!"s.
"WHAT?!" Spencer snapped at his ex-girlfriend's comeback.
The heated exchange of words opened a forbidden can of peas like a hole poked into a dike, as the music club soon dove into the treacherous waters.
"Yeah, and when was the last time you guys even won a game?" Moon Goats drummer, Mazzy, threw into the mix. Unfortunately, she did have a point: not only did the Rocket Squirrels lose the last few games of their football season, their basketball season did not go so well, nor did their baseball season shape up, either. However, Mazzy's remark only served to add more fuel to the raging fire.
Lori was the next to shoot back with, "Well, maybe we would be able to concentrate better if it wasn't for all that racket coming from the band room!"
"That does it! You guys are goin' down!" Luna blasted a chord on her purple AXE plugged into her Sterrett amplifiers, which signaled that this fireball had finally exploded like a bomb.
Flared tempers fueled some students' impulses for a knock-down, drag-out brawl – including Spencer, who bolted straight toward Ruby; in that moment, he no longer saw his ex-girlfriend, let alone a girl, he charged at her like an opposing player who he was going to sack. Other students, however, were horrified by what was about to go down – including Lori, who panicked when she saw angry music and drama students begin to charge at her fellow athletes.
"DON'T WORRY! I'LL PROTECT YOU, SPORTS CLUB!" She cried as she hopped into a golf cart and attempted to cut the other clubs off at the pass, but unfortunately, her adrenaline was racing as well, and one good acceleration on the gas pedal resulted in her accidentally crashing straight into a large pin of dodgeballs.
What followed was something of a domino effect of mishaps: as red rubber balls showered the students in the schoolyard, many of whom were knocked to the ground from taking a hit to the head (and in Benny's case, getting caught in the quills of his cactus costume that he still wore), Luan ended up landing atop one that she tried her best to maintain her balance on as it rolled aimlessly under her feet, but instead sent her into a crash right on top of Sully's keyboard, which resulted in an incredibly loud blast of mangled keys and excessive feedback that emitted from the amplifiers with such force that it sent Lori's golf cart into reverse, and right into the acorn statue in the center of the yard. Everyone within view gasped as the foundation started to crumble, and the statue cracked loose from its perch, rolled down the walkway, and crashed right into the double-doored entrance/exit of the school building right below the upper office window.
All went quiet after the students witnessed the copious amount of damage that was caused by their reckless behavior; Principal Rivers and Oliver each produced an old-fashioned adding machine to total up the amount of funds it would cost to repair said damage, and it looked grim… very grim.
"Principal Rivers, you know what to do…" said Oliver.
The principal winced in agony as she stressed, "I can't…"
"You must!" Oliver insisted.
With a heavy heart, Principal Rivers addressed the students below:
"There's only one way to cover all this damage, guys… I'm going to have to cut all the school clubs," she announced to another loud, collective gasp from her students. "Cooking club, origami club, squirrel feeding club… everything."
The thought of losing their own clubs was bad enough, but for all of these other clubs, in which some of their friends belonged, to meet the chopping block because of how far out of line their protests had gotten brought a sense of guilt to the Loud sisters as they accepted the responsibility for the destruction their actions had caused.
"Principal Rivers, forget our three clubs; we got what we deserved," Lori called out to their administrator. "But, you can't cut the rest of them; this is literally our fault, not theirs!"
Even if the principal still went ahead with cutting those three specific clubs, to keep the rest of them would still leave the rest of the school with no extra funds to cover the cost for all the damage that resulted from the protests having gotten so out of hand.
"But, how else am I gonna pay for the repairs?" Principal Rivers asked.
This was, indeed, a predicament, and one that prompted the Loud sisters to put on their thinking caps; how could they raise enough funds to not only cover the cost to repair all of the damage, but also ensure that their friends' clubs don't get cut as well?
Raise funds? That seemed to inspire something of a lightbulb moment for the three.
There we have it. Much like Shannon and Amy's feud that was fueled by the entire A Midsummer Night's Dream drama gave us context to Shannon's passing remark about Amy being her arch-nemesis in the episode "Stage Plight," all of these previous chapters with Spencer and Ruby's relationship flushing down the crapper have been to give us context as to why the two dropped out of Romeo & Juliet so nonchalantly in "Stage Plight," yet have this incredibly heated exchange as shown in "Deep Cuts," in which Ruby is also back in theater with no explanation. Of course, the easy (and lazy) solution to all of this is simple: the Loud House writers aren't even consistent with their own show.
As I mentioned at the top of the chapter, this is the episode that eventually gave me my initial inkling that there could very well be shipping potential between Ruby and Shannon, most of which stems from that little detail of Ruby resting her hand onto Shannon's head when they pretend to drop dead in their little performance... it's such a tiny and insignificant detail that probably nobody else has even paid attention to, but it stood out to me during repeat viewings, as does the fact that throughout the rest of the episode, the two of them can be seen standing right next to each other, or within very close proximity of each other in crowd scenes. Even if none of this is meant to imply any sort of romance between them, it still doesn't mean they can't still possibly be canon besties, however, since not only do we see them together again in "Feast or Family," but also an animatic for "Stage Plight" shows some deleted shots where they very happily stand close together on stage before Mrs. Bernardo kicks off rehearsals for Romeo & Juliet. Hey, at least this ship holds a little more water than Luaggie.
Speaking of repeat viewings of this episode (sorry, Albertson), upon doing such as I was proofreading this chapter prior to our consultation phase, it has occurred to me that I have made a rather crucial mistake with this story. As you know, I had previously, "Converted" the male cheerleaders from this episode into Spencer's fellow jocks, and also gave them names and personalities (Brandon, Carlton, and Horatio) for the sake of giving him some peers to drive his character arc throughout this story... at the same time, I also did the same with the pair of female cheerleaders (Brittany and Sophia; Tiffany is the only true OC in this story)... however, during my most recent rewatch, I realized I overlooked a detail in that those two female cheerleaders actually are not cheerleaders at all, they are gymnasts. That would certainly account for their acrobatic moves while forming a human pyramid with the male cheerleaders during their protest for Principal Rivers, but I suppose they, too, ended up being converts in this story, albeit unintentional ones. But, hey: fess up when you mess up.
As you probably have figured out, our following chapter will be opening with the fund-rager... but, unfortunately, not all of the drama is going to end there…