As us seniors enter our final days of Red and Gold, it is safe to say that we’ve seen it all. Over the years, we have uncontrollably sobbed over an hour-long show, have done irreparable damage to our vocal chords, and we have crafted the ugliest finale costumes to exist from scratch.

And, every year, our friend group comes together out of spirited excitement only to be separated by the random team drawings. Regardless of our attempts to beg and plead with Ms. LaBonte ’09 to let us all be on one team, the division always prevails.

Now, the tension within the split friend group can get quite intense. Making our guy friends root for a certain team gets really personal and forcing yourself not to perform your dance or drill during hangouts gets really tempting. Loyal member of our friend group, CJ Trujillo ’23, stated, “Realizing how competitive the girls in our group are is quite impressive. My girlfriend is on Gold this year, and it’s hard to keep the camaraderie with the boys and their girlfriends who are rooting for the other team.”

Another friend group member, Lucas Reza ’23, added, “All the girls have been very back and forth about who’s going to win, yelling ‘Go Red’ or ‘Go Gold’ every time it is brought up. It is extreme to the point where they even forced us to start choosing sides.”

Ultimately, you can’t tell your best friend anything: you have to talk in code, and someone new becomes your go-to person all because they are on the same team as you. Our built-in best friend duo, Kathleen Martinez ’23 and Angie Sances ’23, have been separated almost every Red and Gold. Kathleen shared, “Angie is usually my ride and being that we are on different teams this year, she refuses to be my personal Uber. I even offered to pay her, and she still wouldn’t budge”

As we write this, Taylor Gomez ’23 and Joanna Ciudad ’23 are currently fighting over who came up with the idea to make matching shirts for their team. Taylor claimed, “It was totally our idea. We had the cuter idea, and Brynn’s mom has crazy Cricut talent. That is a win for the Golden Girls.” Joanna immediately responded, “No. It was definitely our idea. We planned this out at kickoff, it has been mentioned almost daily in our ‘Bleed Red’ group chat. Red all the way.”

In the end, this show is about the comradery and the love of sisterhood. No matter what, we will still (kinda) love each other, win or lose. Get ready to rumble Royals, Red and Gold is HERE!

Go RED! – Tori

Go GOLD! – Brynn