186

Hiding
Posted on June 6, 2013 by David M Willis

186 thoughts on “Hiding”

  1. piemanpie24

    Billie is the true superhero in the Dumbiverse.

    1. NerdHerder

      BILLIE’S AMAZI-GIRL!

      Her whole newspaper thing is just a cover. Just look at how mild-mannered she is.

      1. Yotomoe

        So she’s like spiderman? Taking candid pictures of herself saving the day?

        1. NerdHerder

          Exactly, but in this case J. Jonah Jameson is a lesbian who hit on her.

        2. Yotomoe

          Are you reading this, Holywood!? THIS is how you bring back a franchise!

        3. GoldStarz

          I need fanart of this STAT!

        4. Scott

          If it exists, there’s porn of it.

        5. Gordon Blvd

          Yotomoe – soooooooooooooooooooooooo +1!!!!

        6. Rex Hondo

          Is “saving the day” what we’re calling masturbating now?

          Or were we not going there yet and I’m a filthy, filthy person?

        7. Mr. Random

          Both. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

  2. Buckybone

    Hiding…in the closet.

    You trying to tell us something, Willis?

    1. CG86

      They will come out together.

    2. Lamachine

      Actually, they’re in the bathroom…

      1. Buckybone

        Water closet. Sure, let’s go with that.

        1. n0z3k1ll3r

          That’s like being in the closet together. Only more wet.

        2. Felix Kütt

          it’s a closet involving water sports?!! err, sorry…

    3. David

      Dammit, I specifically put them in the bathroom and not the closet so nobody would make these dumb jokes!

      1. AsimovSideburns

        You thought you could stop the internet, Willis? Ah, the hubris of man.

        Every “Damn You, Willis!” shall haunt your dreams as you realize that you cannot stop us from making closet jokes, no matter HOW hard you try!

        MUAHAHAHAHA!

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Willis: DAMN YOU COMMENTERS!

      3. Tan

        http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/water_closet

        1. David

          I’m not illiterate.

        2. Just for kix

          That’s what she said.

          …

          Am I using it wrong again?

        3. Led

          THAT’s what she said!

        4. das-g

          Am I using it wrong again?

          No.

      4. Hotsauce

        They’re going to come out of the water closet?

      5. Roborat

        You don’t know your forum very well then sir.

  3. AgentKeen

    Well, that explains a bit…

    1. Skull025

      That she’s helping Ruth because she knows what it’s like to lose doing her favourite thing due to alcohol?

      1. AgentKeen

        That, and why she’s been trying to cling to/regain her cheerleader identity.

        1. Axel

          …without just becoming a cheerleader again.

      2. showler

        I’d guess she didn’t lose her cheerleader identity.

        But only due to someone else covering for her. Maybe stuffing her in a bathroom.

  4. HK-A6A7

    I have to ask:
    What is a D.U.I.? Can I eat it?

    1. Aras Pabedinskas

      Driving under the influence. It means she got caught drunk driving.

    2. Lamachine

      Drinking Under Influence. And yes, why not?

      1. BigCheese

        Drinking Under Influence sounds like the most cruel crime to put on the books….

    3. Sensedog

      “Driving Under the Influence”. It can apply to alcohol or other drugs, depending on the area in question where the subject is pulled over by the police.

      1. xain

        and she’s in a bathroom not a car so how is a D.U.I relevent to the situation

        1. Yotomoe

          Billie probably GOT a DUI which is why she wasn’t a cheerleader anymore. She’s saying that to say that you don’t wanna get caught drinking.

        2. HK-A6A7

          Or puking on a Saturday/Sunday morning.
          I was going back home when I got sick, after I finished, a cop arrives and start to test me to see if I was drunk or not.

        3. xain

          That would explain why her alcoholism was in her record when she got here

        4. Kernanator

          Oh wow, hadn’t thought of that.

        5. AgentKeen

          Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot about that tidbit… this explains that, too.

      2. Aras Pabedinskas

        Well given that this is most probably a story about Billie, I don’t think the cheerleader was driving high. Maybe doing a high kick, but not high.

    4. Yotomoe

      Driving under the influence.
      I just wanted to continue the chain.

      1. xain

        No its Drinking Under Inebriated you can’t be a cheerleader unless you’ve had a few

    5. Wonder Wig

      Dumbing Uf Iage

    6. HK-A6A7

      It means Driver Unider Influence.
      …
      Wait, what?

    7. Rex Hondo

      Dildos Upset Iguanas.

      Billie was really drunk.

      1. Tenn

        Damn those sexually inhibited iguanas. Why do they have to make such a big deal out of a woman forgetting her toys in plain view? It doesn’t matter if she was using them at the time, it’s her home, her toys, her sexuality, and the iguanas could just leave if that was too much for them.

    8. TheBenenator

      Nope, but you can eat whatever does it. It may be frowned upon in most societies, however.

  5. LordSega

    Shouldn’t it be M.I.P. not D.U.I?

    1. Gears

      Only if she was in current possession. If its all gone, or she’s on the way home from a party, then there is no possession, only intoxication.

      1. Jalathas

        Nah, it’s still “in possession” if it’s inside of you. She presumably got both.

  6. xain

    Billie who are you kidding you may have been a cheerleader in high school but really you arn’t one anymore

    1. C.

      This may have been in high school.

      1. xain

        I hope not because it would not be as comfortable with the situations willis throws at us if everyone was jailbait

        1. Yotomoe

          …Th-The DUI was in highschool. DOA is definitely in college.

        2. C.

          It would have to be, because we’ve only covered less than a month in story time.

      2. SUGauthor

        And even if it didn’t, Being a cheerleader is a major part of her identity, even now. It doesn’t matter if other people don’t view her as a cheerleader, to herself, she’ll always be one.

        1. begbert2

          And if you think that’s pathetic now, come back when she’s turning forty and has a teenage daughter.

    2. Tenn

      I think you need to re-read the last panel.

    3. Kernanator

      Yes. And the last panel heavily implies that hadn’t been one for some time before she graduated.

  7. broughtlight

    Traumatic Back-story? How Surprising!

    1. LS

      No, I’m sure it’ll turn out to be something non-traumatizing. Willis wouldn’t do that to us.

      1. TPman

        Not that losing your cheerleader status is particularly setting traumatizing.

        1. Marisa Mockery

          Depends on how important it is to you, I think. And how you lose it. Quitting the team’s one thing. Losing it because you did something stupid….that’s another.

        2. nothri

          “Not that losing your cheerleader status is particularly setting traumatizing.”

          Well, this might be true on the surface. But look at what we know about Billie. She’s made mention of being a cheerleader a *lot*, and was willing to risk breaking into the apartment of the big scary TA girl to get back a uniform that doesn’t even fit anymore. Now look at how she acts around people- she has made huge pains to distant herself from people she considers “nerds” and the like, even though recent storylines show she isn’t *uncaring* towards people she knows (this one being just the latest example).

          So what am I getting at? Status is important to Billie, but not in the sense that she will shun or mistreat those “beneath” her (though she admittedly can be kind of a bongo even at the best of times). More like what people think of *her* is the important part. She validates her self-esteem based on what everyone else thinks. And clearly the way she defined herself and got all that validation was by being a cheerleader.

          So, don’t think of it as a DUI costing her being a cheerleader. Think of it as a DUI costing her social standing, her sense of self-worth, her identity, everything.

        3. Nk

          +1.

          I know people who are like that, and the loss of status that comes from being booted off the team is traumatic. Yes, basing your self-worth off of the value you believe others put on your achievements is shallow, but it’s a bit like being a child actor. I was a cheerleader in High School… I’m not one, anymore. What the hell do I do now?

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          TPman, cheerleading may be unimportant to us, but central to Billie’s identity, so central that she still holds on tightly to it even after she has finished highschool.

  8. Yotomoe

    THIS ISN’T FUNNY AT ALL, BILLIE. BOOO!

    1. Aras Pabedinskas

      HEY! THAT’S NOT NICE!

    2. SUGauthor

      Billie heard Joyce mention hat Drunks find everything hilarious and decided to test it out.

      1. slicedtoad

        wait, Billie is taking drunk advice from Joyce? wut

        1. Totz the Plaid

          Don’t you remember “Joyce Brown, Queen of the Drunks”?

        2. xKiv

          Hihi … hic!

    3. TPman

      Maybe it’s set up for a really good punchline next strip?

      1. Yotomoe

        “and boy are my arms tired!”

        1. Aras Pabedinskas

          THAT’S ISN’T FUNNY AT ALL, YOTOMOE. BOO!

        2. Totz the Plaid

          Hey… you need the FULL joke for it to be hilarious, Aras! Maybe there’s a middle section Billie hasn’t gotten to yet! (Also, you’re not drunk, so that’s part of it.)

  9. C.

    I love the way Ruth doesn’t have punctuation while she is sobering up.

  10. Kernanator

    Wait, what does that have to do with any-

    Oh.

    Ohhhhhhhhhhh.

    Well, this puts a slightly different spin on some of Billie’s actions.

    1. AgentKeen

      I don’t remember Billie spin-

      Ohhhhhhh.

  11. Sporky

    “Billie, I think I hate your stories.”

    1. Yotomoe

      “and also your face.”

      1. Josh

        I think it’s because you’re fat.

  12. shoeboxjeddy

    This could be the beginning of an… acceptable friendship. Hopefully Ruth doesn’t forget what happened and revert to type. Or revert to type out of embarrassment.

    1. begbert2

      She’ll revert to type out of sobering up. She’s just a moody drunk.

    2. Wack'd

      So, is Billie Rick or Louis in this scenario?

      1. Notebooked

        I googled that out of confusion, and all I got was “the story of a man who taught his cat to use instant messaging”.

        1. Wack'd

          Go watch Casablanca.

  13. Atcote

    You know, if all these people just wore hats while drunk to stop the bubbles getting out, they’d probably get away with their drunken shenanigans/misdemeanors/felonies.

    1. Aras Pabedinskas

      All the sudden I have this image of these hats catching the bubbles and lifting them up like a hot air balloon. Imagine: FLYING DRUNK PEOPLE! It’d be like the laziest ballet ever.

      1. Yotomoe

        Also it’d be terrifying when we get to the inevitable FALLING DRUNK PEOPLE.

        1. Aras Pabedinskas

          Well they would fall when the bubbles stop, so it would probably be falling tipsy/hungover people.

        2. Mo

          They’d be HUNGOVER lampposts and electrical wires, amirite?

        3. Jessie

          This is my favorite thing today.

        4. AgentKeen

          It’s like an adult version of that fizzy soda scene from Willy Wonka.

          Erm, well, adult beverage version… Not sure I want to think about the ‘adult’ version of it.

        5. Drazisil

          Yay! Fizzy Lifting Drinks. The reason Charlie almost lost the game.

        6. AgentKeen

          …And of course my brain took ‘Fizzy Lifting Drinks’ and ‘adult version of that scene’ to come up with that being the name you’d give to a carbonated liquid version of Viagra. -facepalms-

        7. Tenn

          I don’t want to think about the “adult” version of anything involving Willy Wonka.

          Oops, too late.

          AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

        8. Notebooked

          Willy Wanker and the Cockolate Factory.

          I weep for the synapses that died coming up with that.

        9. Andrusi

          It might be the “adult” version. Depends on how drunk they got.

    2. nothri

      What? All those bubbles collecting in the hat are probably highly volatile! I’d rather be drunk than caught in a gas explosion!

      1. Jacob

        Pretty sure that by already being gas, their volatility means nothing.

        Volatile [vol-uh-tl or -til]: evaporating rapidly; passing off readily in the form of vapor

        I think you meant flammable.

        1. Jalathas

          Alternate definition:

          tending or threatening to break out into open violence; explosive

          But then, since it was on the line directly under the one you quoted, I’m sure you knew that.

        2. JustDucky

          Which definition applies depends on what you are modifying. In chemistry, it means what Jacob said it means. He was being pedantic (and what nothri meant was clear enough) but he wasn’t wrong.

          volatile (ˈvɒləˌtaɪl)

          — adj
          1. (of a substance) capable of readily changing from a solid or liquid form to a vapour; having a high vapour pressure and a low boiling point
          2. (of persons) disposed to caprice or inconstancy; fickle; mercurial
          3. (of circumstances) liable to sudden, unpredictable, or explosive change

  14. xain

    Ruth i can’t let them find you where else where else would I get my booze and lesbian boosts of self esteem

    1. begbert2

      Billie apparently can get her lesbian boosts of self-esteem from any woman.

    2. Logician

      I read that as lesbian boots of self esteem, which needs illustrating. Pity I can’t draw.

      1. Rex Hondo

        Lesbian Boots of Self Esteem
        Class Restriction: Amazon

  15. Uniqueantique

    Billie apparently considered being a cheerleader the highlight of her life. On the other side, I’ve met a few guys in their 30s who still re-live their high school running back days as big stuff. We all have our delusions I guess.
    Maybe, if Billie lost her cheerleading and self esteem and all that with the D.U.I., she can see what Ruth is headed for and is trying to stop it. That would maybe explain why she is there at all, after what Ruth did to her. Could be a mistake covering for her, if Ruth doesn’t get help she’s gonna drink herself to death.
    And I hope to Hell Mr. W. , that you never ‘ship’ these two.

  16. Z3tto

    I know this isn’t a real emergency and all, but firefighters probably would check the bathrooms to make sure no one’s passed out on the toilet or whatever.

    1. begbert2

      Depends if they first do a quick pass through the building and determine there’s no fire. I’d imagine that they’re a lot less through on the way down if that happens.

      (I have no idea how firefighters do their work.)

      1. Rex Hondo

        Well, if DOA operates under porn rules, the firemen would definitely find the two barely legal college girls, explain just how much trouble they could be in, and work out an “arrangement.”

  17. ArkhamTexan

    Well, Ruth’s not wrong.

  18. mike

    So…this totally ends with the fire department busting in on them while they’re making out right?

    1. Rex Hondo

      Right after Ruth threw up?

      eeeeewwwwwwwww.

      1. Scott

        I concur.

  19. Romanticide

    Well this explains a lot of Billie current situation… and is really, really sad in hindsight.

  20. Plasma Mongoose

    I didn’t know that you could lose your cheerleading licence the same way you lose your driver’s licence.

    1. Seraph

      Not as such, but many coaches will throw people out who they feel dishonor the team. This isn’t limited to crime, either – think of all the pregnant cheerleaders who’ve been thrown off squads.

      It’s also possible that Billie’s drinking was interfering with her performance as a cheerleader, and the D.U.I. was the final straw. True, her drinking problems have probably gotten worse since she was booted from the team (i.e. lost her primary reason to keep the drinking under control), but you don’t just wake up one day as an alcoholic.

      1. partinobodycular

        “many coaches will throw people out who they feel dishonor the team.”

        Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole squad! Dishonor on you, dishonor on your mascot-!

        1. John

          At least they didn’t require seppuku.

  21. nothri

    This is usually the time when I’d say something suggestive about two skantily clad girls hiding in an enclosed space together. But character development is taking place, which makes me more interested in just commenting on the story and characters and stuff. My one kryptonite. I’m sorry Joe Avatar of the suggestively raised eyebrow ™. I have failed you this night.

  22. nalem

    … is it bad I want them to make up… all sexy like? 🙁

    1. ninja_jesus

      No I am hoping for this too.

    2. Kernanator

      I don’t know whether it’s bad or not. But at the very least, you are not alone.

    3. bunivasal

      Yes. It’s terrible, and you should feel bad.

    4. begbert2

      I don’t know that it’s bad, but Ruth should really wash out her mouth first. And hopefully sober up first because informed consent and all. And Billie also has a lapful of vomit that’s probably soaked through by now.

      So, it’s okay if they make up sexy, as long as they do it later.

      1. StClair

        All of this.

  23. Scott

    I think it’s kinda neat from a writerly standpoint that Ruth’s sentences don’t end with periods right now. It’s a nice touch that implies that her sentences are just sort of blending together and petering out instead of definitively finishing.

    From one writer to another, nice touch Willis!

    1. Scott

      Also, her question has no question mark which makes me think of sleepy/drunk people who ask questions that sound like statements.

  24. Link

    I’m ashamed. 74 comments and not one about how Billie’s totally cupping a full-on arm feel right now.

    1. Kernanator

      They learned their lesson from a couple days ago.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Just when you thought it was safe to make sexual innuendos again…

  25. gangler

    Will shoving the bottles under the bed do any good? The room seems to be pretty much soaked in booze. It was leaking out the front door, with Ruth and her Booze all the way at the other side of the room. I imagine when the firefighters step in the room and the carpet starts making squishy noises they’ll know that something’s up.

    Though now that I think of it I’m not really sure why they’d care. They’re firefighters. They’re here to do their job, not narc on college students.

    1. Josh

      I’m pretty sure that that was just some being split as she tried to get into her room in a drunken state.

    2. Seraph

      If they had any reason to connect Billie and Ruth to the alarm-pulling, they might be pissed enough to report it: “We don’t have time to be dealing with drunken pranks from your damn students. Deal with it.”

  26. Dr. Zeus

    Does Walky’s comment from the start of the series seem mean-spirited to anyone else in retrospect?

    1. begbert2

      That this is an AU and not a sequel and the characters may be a bit different? No, not particularly. Or perhaps you were talking about something else?

      1. Dr. Zeus

        I was referring to the third strip of DoA, specifically the “reputation” comment.

    2. John

      I had observed that DoA Walky seems to be rather more of a dick than Walkyverse Walky. I guess that’s what not being abducted by aliens does to you?

    3. Seraph

      A bit. Until this point, it was possible that she was simply known as a lush, and that she’d been able to conceal the true depth of her drinking problem (or that a high schooler might not take it as seriously as it deserves), in which case Walky’s remarks might have been just a bit of ribbing. If Billie had a DUI, though, there’s no way he could not know it was serious, and his remarks become genuine hostility.

      I can’t help but wonder if there’s an old bitterness there. Billie has been very vehement that she and Walky are not in the same social circle…moreso than you would expect if he was just a nerd from the old hometown. Perhaps they were friends once (as they were in the Walkyverse), but she cut ties when she had a chance to become popular.

    4. John

      Hmm. Of course, there’s also Walky’s comment that they don’t release the names of minors involved in crimes. Billie didn’t know that Sal had been holding up liquor stores; it’s possible Walky didn’t actually know that Billie’d been busted for DUI, and was just giving her shit about the, y’know, drinking like a fish.

      1. Seraph

        Good point. You’d think word would get around, but if Billie didn’t know about the robberies, there’s enough plot cover to pull it off. If in fact the DUI and the reason Billie “left” the cheer squad were kept hushed, that brings Walky’s remarks at the beginning back around to simple bustin’ chops…or at least, that would be how he intended it.

        Still, until Jossed, I hold to the “Friends When Younger” hypothesis.

      2. Dr. Zeus

        … I will admit that that thought had not even crossed my mind.

    5. Rex Hondo

      Possibly, but it’s not as if it isn’t her own damn fault anyway.

  27. OhNoUDiNt

    Sexy. Time.

  28. Robert

    for the german reader – whats an D.U.I. ?

    Thanks

    1. Os

      driving under influence [of drugs or alcohol]

      billie apparently has past experience

    2. Tyler

      It stands for Driving Under the Influence, and means she was driving while drunk.

    3. Nocxbot

      DUI =driving under the influence = drunk driving, in this case.

    4. Alexander

      Driving under influence (of alcohol or other drug)

    5. Aububuh

      Driving Under the Influence. Driving drunk.

      1. Kamino Neko

        Also called DWI – Driving While Intoxicated. I’m not sure just which jurisdictions use which (checking, apparently some use both, what Billie did being a DWI, DUI referring to other drugs), but both are in use, and it’s mostly a location thing.

      2. Charles RB

        And isn’t THAT a brand new bit of information, that Billie was kicked out of cheerleading in high school? That there’s a second layer to her constant “BLAH BLAH I’M A CHEERLEADER” talk

        1. begbert2

          Yeah – among other things it explains how she’s so good at the whole “I’m still a chearleader (even though I’m obviously not)” thing: she’s had practice.

      3. Bill

        I just wonder if it was the DUI or the fact that in order to be DUI she had to be breaking the rule against underage drinking first.  Either one would get her booted off the cheerleading squad.

    6. David

      You guys need to start a barbershop quartet.

  29. bunivasal

    My first prediction was that Billie would kiss Ruth when the fire department busts in, hoping to use the shock of lady-make-outs to distract and confuse the emergency responders.

    But that’s way too sitcommy to follow on the heels of “This character is an embattled alcoholic struggling with serious emotional problems.”

    1. Doom Shepherd

      Also, Ruth just threw up. Kissing? EWW.

      1. Doom Shepherd

        Perfect avatar for that statement.

      2. bunivasal

        See, that was the idea: not a kiss as an emotional connection but as a terrified ruse.

  30. Plasma Mongoose

    Will Billie get busted for this?

    1. Aras Pabedinskas

      Will Ruth overcome her emotional problems? Find out next time, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

      1. Mal

        Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na… GRANDMA!

        Er, wait….

  31. Intie

    That’s whyt I’m asking. Why is she helping her. Apart from verbal abuse she even harassed her sexually.

    1. Demaro2011

      Ever hear of the expression “this is something I would not wish on my worst enemy?”

      Sometimes, it is not a cliche.

    2. Pjotroos

      The way I see it, she broke in because – abuse or not – she didn’t want Ruth to die, and she’s hiding her now, because the whole alcohol issue is hitting pretty close to home. In other words, she’s helping her because she’s decent human being 🙂

      1. Crumplepunch

        Despite some claims.

      2. Seraph

        *Waves hello to Crumplepunch*

        On her way to becoming one, anyway. It’s a very good start, but it may be a while before she can change her head around enough to think of people as people instead of props to her status.

        Once she does that, we still have to see what she does about the people she’s wronged in the past. Fortunately, Walky is right here as a representative.

        1. Notebooked

          I’m not sure about ‘representative’. Witness, maybe? It depends on how severe the wrongs were, of course, but Walky doesn’t seem too bothered about it.

        2. Seraph

          Walky does seem to have a brass hide, it’s true. Either that, or he’s completely oblivious. I seem to remember a confrontation where Billie was giving Walky a rather nasty lecture on how people of her social class didn’t interact with people of his…and then he wandered away in a Dorothy-trance.

          It’s just that none of the Goth kids are here.

        3. Notebooked

          My money’s on the brass hide. His sarcastic streak shows he knows what ‘cutting’ is. Plus, he does seem to consider slobbishness, nerdery, dorkishness and so on a point of identity and pride — Billie insulting him with any of those things wouldn’t even dent him.

          In a shocking twist, Sal turns out to be one of the former goth kids.

        4. Logician

          I kind of get the impression she’s one of those people who divide everyone into “important” (her social superior) and “unimportant” (her social inferior). She considers Ruth important, so she acts decently to her, in the hope of decent treatment in return. Walky, however, she considers unimportant, so she treats him badly because she doesn’t care how he acts towards her.

  32. cesarastudillo

    …aaand some months from now, Ruth learns Billie got on a car while drunk, so she gets on other car after her, eventually acting with integrity… no regrets. Damn you Willis.

  33. Notebooked

    I know Billie is helping Ruth because she’s worried about her, but I can’t make up my mind about whether this worry is founded partially in guilt. Guilt that maybe her run-ins with Ruth made her emotional state worse, or because she considered checking up on her previously but didn’t and that may be why it’s gotten this far.

    Either way, this shows that she can be empathic, and now I’m wondering — has she actually hung out with anyone else? She went on that outing to the beach, but that was for Joyce and included Sal, which meant other people would get more attention than her. She might have gone along with it, but kept herself distant/isolated herself from the others. Then there was that party, but it seemed she went there for about the same reason — more for the event’s sake than for social contact.

    Walky’s the one who’s talked the most to her, and, right or wrong, she seems to have known him as “that annoying guy” for so long that she can’t think of him any other way. Walky’s an okay guy, but his gestures of kindness seem mostly to be getting people to laugh with jokes or silliness, and Billie just finds that embarassing.

    Ruth, who’s dominating and brash and holds a position of social power, may remind Billie of how she used to be back at high school. The revelation that she used to bully goth kids seals that further — she’s not a stranger to picking on those beneath her. Ruth does it to secure a reputation, and that’s one of the many reasons for why Billie could have done it.

    Ruth’s also the one person who’s hung out with her. The beach no one invited her along for, she just sorta came with — the party she invited herself along to. Plus, they were both pretty big, flashy occurrences, with lots of people along. Watching TV and drinking beer alongside someone is a much more intimate thing. (The hostile atmosphere may have invalidated this, though.)

    Long, rambly post, but the basic point is this: Billie may feel a lot closer to Ruth than it seems, and this may be because Ruth is closer to Billie personality-wise than anyone else at the school. (Possibly due to envy that they all seem to be doing better than her, thus placing themselves ‘above’ her? Billie finds Walky annoying but he’s so crazy confident there’s nothing she can do to make him less annoying, since there’s no way she can get to him — Sal’s the same, but with apathy instead — Sarah’s a misanthrope and as such has disassociated herself totally from the social scene that Billie cares so much about — Joyce, naïve though she is, keeps on keepin’ on.) Man, I don’t know, but I talk a lot about it.

    1. Notebooked

      oh my christ I need to set some sort of text limit

    2. Logician

      I kind of agree, but I’m not sure it’s guilt. As I said in reply to an earlier comment, I think it’s a status thing: she thinks of Ruth as important, i.e. worth hanging out with, and worth helping. Her going on endlessly about nerds makes me think she’s looking for people to despise.

      1. Notebooked

        Oh yep, I saw that, and that may definitely be it. That fits in with how she feels about Sal, too — Sal hasn’t done much for her (except get on Ruth’s case a few times, and she has her own reasons, the dislike of authority, for doing that), but Billie still wants to impress her. I guess it’s her reasons for classifying people as important/unimportant that interest me right now. Does it all hinge on their confidence or on how much power they have over people or on how much other people like them?

        ‘Looking for people to despise’ fits too — can’t be very high on the social ladder if there aren’t many rungs under you.

        1. Logician

          I think this is her big worry: in high school, she knew what the pecking order was, and she expected it to be just the same in college. But here, everything’s different: most people don’t care about footballers and cheerleaders, swots like Dorothy are respected, nobody treats Walky badly, and the ultra-cool Sal despises social conventions and won’t go to parties.

          I think Billie’s mainly confused because what’s the point of climbing the social ladder if nobody else cares about it?

  34. Blal

    Man, all that vom on Billies lap dried fast

    1. DrunkenGator

      From the looks of things, it mostly hit her shirt.

  35. Jay

    Wow O_o
    If I’d known cheerleaders were cool with keeping things on the DL I may have attempted to befriend one or two back in the day xD

  36. Neospector

    I decided Freshman year that regardless of how much peer pressure involved, I would not drink or smoke. This isn’t because I have high moral standards, nor do I tend to be the guy who it morally upheld all the time. It’s because I took my biology class Freshman year and they showed me two things:
    1) Smoker’s lungs
    2) A chart showing that one of the main side-effects of alcohol was breast enlargement in men (hair growth in women)

    Congratulations, drinkers and smokers, you’re future is hairy, lonely, and filled with moobs.

    1. Narf

      There’s a flaw in your reasoning.

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