Meet Stacy Collins, Chrissy’s best friend and fellow cheerleader.
She’s considered the second prettiest girl in her (graduating) class, as well as the prettiest girl in band class. Although she’s a cheerleader and one of the pretty and popular girls at school, Stacy is actually a very shy and awkward 15-year-old girl with a sweet, soft-spoken personality. She, just like her best friend, (Chrissy Bennett~the lovable “Alpha Chick”), has always been sought after by many boys, including the older ones. However, Stacy never showed any interest in those boys because she did not think they would treat her the way she wanted to be treated (like a human being instead of a girl who has a pretty face, silky blonde hair, and a thick, curvy hourglass figure). Instead, she only has her eyes set on Simon, whom she’s had a huge crush on since they were in the 7th grade, even before and after he became Sousaphone Simon. But, she’s too shy to approach him, not knowing that he secretly likes her as well.
Whenever they try to interact with each other, things just get a bit awkward between them. Simon stutters and breaks out in a cold sweat, and Stacy nervously giggles as she plays with a lock of her hair. Eventually, the young, awkward couple attended a few middle school dances together, and Simon and Stacy were named “The Cutest Couple” for their 8th grade superlative and voted “prom king and queen” at their 8th grade formal. During their freshman year of High School, Simon and Stacy’s mutual feelings towards each other persisted, despite the obstacles they encountered. Their peers, including Simon’s close friends and Stacy’s three best friends (Chrissy, Margot, and Aaron), have been secretly rooting for the band geek (Simon) and the blonde cheerleader (Stacy) to get together at some point. During homecoming season, Simon asked Stacy to their school’s annual homecoming dance and she said yes.
Stacy is well-acquainted with the Disrespectoids because she thinks they’re a group of amazing people who are accepting of others no matter who they are, what they look like, or where they’re from. Some of them are students from Stacy’s old middle school, while Simon (the oldest and tallest member of the group, and Stacy’s crush) attends the same high school as her. Stacy was very forgiving towards Simon for sneaking up on his rival Susie to sabotage her (Susie’s) tuba by dropping his Capri Sun pouch into it. This act transformed him into Sousaphone Simon as punishment for disrespecting the pouch.
The first time Stacy saw Simon in his Disrespectoid form was on the day he disrespected the Capri Sun pouch after Stan (the band leader) put him in second place behind his rival Susie (another tuba player in the school’s marching band). Stacy was at cheerleading practice with Chrissy and Aaron (one of Chrissy’s two other best friends) when she heard a loud clanging sound and running footsteps across the school’s gym. Stacy, believing that it might have been Simon, excused herself from cheerleading practice to go check out what the issue was. She ran into a couple of Simon’s bandmates (both of whom are his closest friends) outside of the school’s bathroom. They told her that Simon was a little freaked out about his prank on Susie that went terribly wrong.
After Simon was able to calm down from having a panic attack over the results of his disrespect towards the pouch during band practice, he came out of the bathroom. Simon was horrified when he ran into Stacy, not wanting his crush to see him like that. Stacy was shocked to see Simon with his neck being freakishly long and taking on the shape of a sousaphone, but her response to his new appearance blind-sided Simon. Stacy did not care about Simon’s physical appearance nor about his father’s legacy as the former tuba player at their school’s marching band. She truly likes him for who he is and doesn’t mind if he’s a band geek, mutated or not. As she approached him, she gently stroked Simon’s metallic brass neck. Anxious, Simon could feel his heart pounding from his chest all the way up through his long horn neck during this encounter, but he was relieved to find out that Stacy was accepting of him, regardless of whether or not he is one of the Disrespectoids.
