Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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May 22, 2026

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by David M Willis on April 10, 2012 at 12:01 am
  • 03 - The First Step Towards Recovery
└ Tags: jennifer

Discussion (163) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Sensedog
    Sensedog
    April 10, 2012 at 12:01 am | #

    YES. In. Your. FACE.

    • Bunk
      Bunk
      April 10, 2012 at 12:02 am | #

      Don’t you mean FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE?

      • Sensedog
        Sensedog
        April 10, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

        …What have I done? >_<

        <..>

        Ah, to hell with it.

        YES. In. Your. FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

        • Khrene Cleaver
          Khrene Cleaver
          April 10, 2012 at 2:05 am | #

          Yes, what have you done… with your penis…

          • Wertthelord
            Wertthelord
            April 10, 2012 at 3:05 am | #

            …For a nickle…

            • Tualha
              Tualha
              April 10, 2012 at 7:14 am | #

              …with someone’s mom…

              • Shippy McShipper
                Shippy McShipper
                April 10, 2012 at 10:42 am | #

                Mike’s? That would be sort of like a twist, no?

      • PedanticJerkass
        PedanticJerkass
        April 12, 2012 at 7:16 pm | #

        No.

  2. Jen Aside
    Jen Aside
    April 10, 2012 at 12:02 am | #

    HURTS DONUT

    • Tom
      Tom
      April 10, 2012 at 12:04 am | #

      Those are delicious.

      • Sensedog
        Sensedog
        April 10, 2012 at 12:21 am | #

        If anyone actually needed this, it was Billie.

        • AngryBamboo
          AngryBamboo
          April 10, 2012 at 1:59 am | #

          she had a BYline in the paper, and those cheerleaders made a BEEline away from her!

          HA-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-AHA!!!

          …im so sorry.

        • DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
          DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
          April 10, 2012 at 12:57 pm | #

          As she has yet to figure out, for someone who is concerned with social climbing in a University environment above all else, that treating your high school glory days like they matter anymore is one of the most consistent social taboos out there, especially since she tops herself by basing her whole identity on her high school cheerleader days as if they’re still here, when in reality she is simply a socially inept freshman suffering from alcoholism, fits in great at kegger scenes, and joined the college newspaper staff recently.

          That epiphany’s not going to come on it’s own, so yeah, I agree.

  3. Yotomoe
    Yotomoe
    April 10, 2012 at 12:03 am | #

    And in college they say…billy’s heart broke three times this day

    • BlueMario
      BlueMario
      April 10, 2012 at 2:50 pm | #

      You, sir win +1 internet and +5 nostalgia

  4. Daeva
    Daeva
    April 10, 2012 at 12:04 am | #

    And Billie’s face was stuck like that for the rest of the day.

    • MM
      MM
      April 10, 2012 at 12:45 am | #

      Day? She’ll be lucky if she gets that unstuck in less than a week.

      Though at least Walky’s over his broken phase so there won’t be two of them.

  5. fellixe
    fellixe
    April 10, 2012 at 12:04 am | #

    What’s the Y for? Billie’s middle name, but what is it?

    • David
      David M Willis
      April 10, 2012 at 12:04 am | #

      Yunru.

      • Blob Marley
        Blob Marley
        April 10, 2012 at 12:08 am | #

        I guess that’s the Japanese half…

        • David
          David M Willis
          April 10, 2012 at 12:13 am | #

          Chinese.

          • fellixe
            fellixe
            April 10, 2012 at 12:17 am | #

            Very cool. I thought there’d be a bunch of guesses to wade through. Good to know!

          • Blob Marley
            Blob Marley
            April 10, 2012 at 1:05 am | #

            That’s my luck. The time Willis responds to my comment is correcting me on getting the lore wrong. >.>

            • David
              David M Willis
              April 10, 2012 at 2:33 am | #

              I think instead of “is” you meant “he’s.” May also need to be a comma beforehand.

              • Random New Commenter
                Random New Commenter
                April 10, 2012 at 3:24 am | #

                I’d say lol, but I’m afraid of being called pedestrian.

                Many laughs were had.

                • WordPolice
                  WordPolice
                  April 15, 2012 at 7:38 pm | #

                  …Pedestrian? maybe you mean plebeian?

              • Zababcd
                Zababcd
                April 10, 2012 at 4:37 am | #

                I don’t think the comma is technically required, but it is usually used when a dependent clause precedes an independent clause.

              • Jim
                Jim
                April 10, 2012 at 6:49 am | #

                Just when I thought you couldn’t top Yunru… 😀

      • Ridureyu
        Ridureyu
        April 10, 2012 at 12:09 am | #

        No, yunru mom!

  6. Blob Marley
    Blob Marley
    April 10, 2012 at 12:04 am | #

    Ouch. I felt that one.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 2:51 am | #

      Billie really REALLY felt it.

  7. Gundi
    Gundi
    April 10, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

    Billie is such a NEEEEEERRRRRRRRRD. I bet she even goes to digibutter.nerr!

    • Splash*Boogie
      Splash*Boogie
      April 10, 2012 at 12:25 am | #

      Got the reference and love it. Have my internet.

      • Tioras
        Tioras
        April 10, 2012 at 9:22 am | #

        I *think* I got the reference…. can I guess?

  8. Wonder Wig
    Wonder Wig
    April 10, 2012 at 12:05 am | #

    I know this may be irrelevant … but I JUST NOW understood the title for this comic. O_O

  9. Ridureyu
    Ridureyu
    April 10, 2012 at 12:08 am | #

    Is Billie having a stroke?

    • Mkvenner
      Mkvenner
      April 10, 2012 at 12:10 am | #

      Hope springs eternal.

    • Rognik
      Rognik
      April 10, 2012 at 1:55 am | #

      More like a Blue Screen of Death. Reboot her, and she’ll be fine.

      • Kintrex
        Kintrex
        April 10, 2012 at 6:53 pm | #

        Just like a TV! All you have to do is swing your arm down at a 45° angle!

  10. Ryan
    Ryan
    April 10, 2012 at 12:09 am | #

    HA. Hahahahahaha!

  11. Bekah
    Bekah
    April 10, 2012 at 12:09 am | #

    I’m more interested in what the headline reads.

    • Bekah
      Bekah
      April 10, 2012 at 12:10 am | #

      Caped Avenger, maybe?

  12. The Sound Defense
    The Sound Defense
    April 10, 2012 at 12:10 am | #

    Scouter, burn level, etc.

  13. NCP19
    NCP19
    April 10, 2012 at 12:11 am | #

    Welp, now her brain’s broke. Too bad. She had a good run of college learning (all one week) and now it’s all over.

    • Yotomoe
      Yotomoe
      April 10, 2012 at 12:11 am | #

      for the rest of the comic billie will be a vegetable and characters will walk around her like a background object.

      • Historyman68
        Historyman68
        April 10, 2012 at 1:50 am | #

        There’s a pretty good gag in the webcomic Butternut Squash where that happens to one character. Um, I don’t really have much more to say about it. But it’s pretty funny.

        … And then I found five dollars?

  14. Chase
    Chase
    April 10, 2012 at 12:12 am | #

    Oh man, once they’ve been in college longer, those girls are in for one hell of a wake-up call.

    • Barf Ninjason
      Barf Ninjason
      April 10, 2012 at 1:10 am | #

      Yeah. My first thought was, “people don’t do that in college” but then I remembered that the kids right outta high school were still like that a little bit. Some of them.

      Although I guess it could be like an Animal House thing, the kind of wacky cartoon college where jocks are sent into a frothy rage by the presence of “NERRRRDS!!”

      • Pat
        Pat
        April 10, 2012 at 1:39 am | #

        People did that in high school?

        I kinda figured that girl knows who Billie is and was messing with her.

        • Plasma Mongoose
          Plasma Mongoose
          April 10, 2012 at 2:56 am | #

          I assume it must have but then again, I never went to an American Highschool.

      • LiamKav
        LiamKav
        April 10, 2012 at 9:45 am | #

        We are only, what, two weeks into the start of term, so there’s probably loads of people still hanging out in their old cliques.

  15. Kasamari
    Kasamari
    April 10, 2012 at 12:13 am | #

    NERD (^_^)

  16. Tunasammich
    Tunasammich
    April 10, 2012 at 12:13 am | #

    Embrace the nerd side, Billie. We have bacon

    • mechaqua
      mechaqua
      April 10, 2012 at 12:32 am | #

      and Joss Whedon and skittles.

    • Pat
      Pat
      April 10, 2012 at 1:40 am | #

      They told me there would be bacon.
      There is no bacon.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        April 10, 2012 at 2:38 am | #

        Bacon is over-rated anyhow.

        • Bill M.
          Bill M.
          April 10, 2012 at 12:05 pm | #

          You quit that blaspheming right now! Bacon is an orgy for the mouth.

          • RandomWebcomicsJunky
            RandomWebcomicsJunky
            April 10, 2012 at 1:26 pm | #

            You are incorrect, Bill M. – ORGIES are an orgy for the mouth.

            Bacon’s just fatty pig carcass.

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            April 10, 2012 at 5:20 pm | #

            I think I will stick with THE original white meat, not the ‘other white meat’ thank you very much. 😀

            • mechaqua
              mechaqua
              April 10, 2012 at 6:25 pm | #

              Racoon meat?

              • Plasma Mongoose
                Plasma Mongoose
                April 10, 2012 at 8:19 pm | #

                Raccoon meat is dark meat, I was talking about chicken/turkey.

        • Jackson
          Jackson
          April 10, 2012 at 7:13 pm | #

          I love bacon as much as the next guy, but I agree with you: it is overrated.

          • Plasma Mongoose
            Plasma Mongoose
            April 10, 2012 at 8:23 pm | #

            A webcomic link, must. resist. urge. to. archive-binge!

            • fatemaster1
              fatemaster1
              June 16, 2014 at 10:46 am | #

              Dammit, now I have to archive binge that one too! I’ve achive binging for three days already now and I’m still not done and now it’s going to take even longer thanks to yet another webcomic to archive binge!

              • fatemaster1
                fatemaster1
                June 16, 2014 at 10:47 am | #

                *I’ve been archive binging*

  17. Joebo
    Joebo
    April 10, 2012 at 12:17 am | #

    http://youtu.be/M6cb1wO17tA

  18. Uniqueantique
    Uniqueantique
    April 10, 2012 at 12:27 am | #

    Welcome to the ‘nerd side’ Billie, you pretentious cheerleading arsehole. Relax and enjoy it, as Tuna says-we have bacon.

  19. AliaPie
    AliaPie
    April 10, 2012 at 12:29 am | #

    It’s funny, I’ve never really herd the word “nerd” used as an insult outside TV/movies. Maybe I only hang out with nerdy people…

    • Buckybone
      Buckybone
      April 10, 2012 at 5:15 pm | #

      I used it when I was a self-hating nerd. I’m better now.

    • Mikehatesyou
      Mikehatesyou
      April 10, 2012 at 8:18 pm | #

      It isn’t used as an insult by anyone but stupid people. Everyone today has grown up with video games, toonami, and superhero movies. As a college student studying to be a high school teacher, I’ve hear more “popular” girls in today’s high schools talk about anime or video games like Mass Effect then the “nerds” I hung out with when I went to high school.

      Times are a changing, and TV/movies haven’t kept up. Or webcomics I suppose.

      • DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
        DudeMyDadOwnsADealership
        April 16, 2012 at 9:07 pm | #

        Neither has Billie. Either the “Dragons” square-danced at their senior prom or this is SO the case.

        • David
          David M Willis
          April 16, 2012 at 9:54 pm | #

          I think you’re missing the obvious reason “Dragons” is on Billie’s cheerleader outfit and various other high school paraphernalia.

  20. Valkeer
    Valkeer
    April 10, 2012 at 12:30 am | #

    That akward moment when you realize you’re not one of the “cool” kids anymore…

    • Bluebird
      Bluebird
      April 10, 2012 at 12:41 am | #

      Anymore? You mean I was, and I missed it? Damn!

    • Zababcd
      Zababcd
      April 10, 2012 at 7:08 pm | #

      Nonsense. I will always be one of the cool kids. Until I’m one of the cool adults. Then one of the cool senior citizens. Then one day I will die in epic fashion saving the world from several simultaneous threats including, but not limited to, alien invasion, robot apocalypse, and nuclear apocalypse. Then some kids will find my charred corpse and poke it with a stick, saying “Whoa. Cool.”

      No, I was never one of the cool kids either.

  21. Aegon01
    Aegon01
    April 10, 2012 at 12:31 am | #

    XD Awesome

  22. mechaqua
    mechaqua
    April 10, 2012 at 12:42 am | #

    *breath* NEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR *breath* RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD!
    *takes hit from inhaler*

    • Tristan J
      Tristan J
      April 10, 2012 at 1:12 am | #

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsPheErBj8

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        April 10, 2012 at 2:59 am | #

        You call those nerds? Now these are NERD!

        • Steven
          Steven
          April 10, 2012 at 6:44 pm | #

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8c_4UZdPJs

  23. TemplarKnight
    TemplarKnight
    April 10, 2012 at 12:45 am | #

    Somebody put Billie on Suicide Watch.

  24. Vabolo
    Vabolo
    April 10, 2012 at 12:45 am | #

    They used the N-word!

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 2:39 am | #

      OH NOES!

  25. mechaqua
    mechaqua
    April 10, 2012 at 12:46 am | #

    I have two words for those cheerleaders:

    BOILER UP!

  26. Jimmy
    Jimmy
    April 10, 2012 at 12:53 am | #

    I didn’t realize until I was in high school how terrible it was to be called a nerd. Although “loser” was used often enough to make me hurt many times.

  27. Ancestral Hamster
    Ancestral Hamster
    April 10, 2012 at 12:55 am | #

    Oooh! BURN!

  28. Ancestral Hamster
    Ancestral Hamster
    April 10, 2012 at 12:58 am | #

    Y’ know, the only way this could get better is Billie trying to convince the cheerleaders she is one of them (even showing them her high school uniform and pics) and they insist she could never have been a cheerleader because she’s too fat and ugly.

    “But, but … I have pictures!”
    “Photoshopped.”

  29. Darth Cariss
    Darth Cariss
    April 10, 2012 at 1:08 am | #

    Another good face. Nice work, Willis. That was pretty darn funny. Just as soon as I think I’ve seen the last funny face out of you, you come up with something else!

  30. Romanticide
    Romanticide
    April 10, 2012 at 1:13 am | #

    And the wheel of fortune has just made a spin.

  31. TPman
    TPman
    April 10, 2012 at 1:15 am | #

    Is this irony? I think this is irony.

    • Azumango
      Azumango
      April 10, 2012 at 1:19 am | #

      For once, yes. I’m fairly certain this can be correctly described as “ironic”

    • Pat
      Pat
      April 10, 2012 at 1:42 am | #

      Nobody is ever *really* sure that something is irony.

      It’s terribly ironic. I think.

    • Shade
      Shade
      April 10, 2012 at 5:26 am | #

      Hmmm closest meaning I can find is “an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.”

      So you could argue that to Billie personally, yes, yes it was. To us? Probably not.

      Funnily enough people calling something ironic when it’s not IS technically ironic.

      • Shippy McShipper
        Shippy McShipper
        April 10, 2012 at 10:47 am | #

        No, it is not, because we all EXPECT them to get it wrong.

        On the other hand, failing to call something genuinelly ironic ironic could arguably be ironic, but then no one notices.

      • MM
        MM
        April 10, 2012 at 1:20 pm | #

        That would make it dramatic irony.

        • JoeShep
          JoeShep
          April 10, 2012 at 4:51 pm | #

          “The use of words expressing something other than their literal intention – now that IS irony!”

          • Druid
            Druid
            April 10, 2012 at 6:06 pm | #

            “Thats not Ironic, its just coincidental!”

            • Andy
              Andy
              April 10, 2012 at 6:35 pm | #

              Ok. We all agree that the current situation is not totally ironic, it is odd in unexpected ways that defies normal circumstances. Everybody happy with that?

          • Shade
            Shade
            April 10, 2012 at 11:26 pm | #

            Well yes there is that defintion too, but we’re talking about an event here and that was the only defintion to be found regarding irony and events. Words it’s so much easier.

  32. ALostProphet
    ALostProphet
    April 10, 2012 at 1:22 am | #

    This is the part where Billie’s soul snaps like a Twix bar.

    • Historyman68
      Historyman68
      April 10, 2012 at 1:59 am | #

      A delicious soul.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        April 10, 2012 at 5:23 pm | #

        …filled with a biscuit plus a caramel filling.

  33. mischugenah
    mischugenah
    April 10, 2012 at 1:35 am | #

    I honestly never noticed this sort of behavior in people once I got into college. It seemed like either the behavior or the people who practiced it didn’t make it that far.

    • vlademir1
      vlademir1
      April 10, 2012 at 1:58 am | #

      Assuming you’re in the US, I’m going to guess you either went to some variation of private and/or small university. Speaking as someone who lives close enough to several universities to have had to deal with lots of students I’ve seen a lot of this from the freshmen among those in the greek system and sports, often with major chiding from their upperclassmen peers immediately afterward.

      Well not technically exactly like this, as I’ve rarely seen any serious nerd bashing and more often seen divides over the gender and sexuality issues and class and wealth issues that are major prevalent trends over the last twenty years in the US with the occasional religious and race issues mixed in.

      • CommentSpawn
        CommentSpawn
        April 10, 2012 at 2:42 am | #

        I’m in the U.S., in a huge (~40,000 students) public university, where you can get a full ride for athletics and I’ve never seen this type of behavior since entering college. To be fair, I spend most of my time with other nerds. It’s also worth noting that I’ve been called a nerd; it just wasn’t with the insulting intent that’s in this strip.

      • mischugenah
        mischugenah
        April 10, 2012 at 3:53 am | #

        No, I attended a major state university. I dunno, most people just didn’t seem to bother getting personally insulting anymore (tho I’m sure it happened in a few individual cases). I’m glad to hear the students you’ve witnessed being jerks got called out on it by the upperclassmen.

    • quietdevious1
      quietdevious1
      April 10, 2012 at 2:06 am | #

      Maybe it depends on how much emphasis the school puts on sports, and whether or not you can get a free ride based on your athletic ability.

    • Mikehatesyou
      Mikehatesyou
      April 10, 2012 at 8:11 pm | #

      I think this behavior doesn’t really exist. People like that obviously wouldn’t have friends. I don’t even think girls like the cheerleader exist in High School anymore since cheerleading usually isn’t done for the elitism as much as it is for “gee, this will look great on my college application/my mom made me do sign up cause she was a cheerleader.”

      Besides, calling someone a “nerd” hasn’t been an insult since 2003.

  34. The Aussie Bloke
    The Aussie Bloke
    April 10, 2012 at 1:43 am | #

    Welcome to the club, Billie. Get yourself comfortable. You’ll be here a looooooooooooong time.

    Watch out for the gamer geeks, though. Some of them seem to think females are a myth.

  35. NF
    NF
    April 10, 2012 at 1:55 am | #

    Do not want!

  36. Kernanator
    Kernanator
    April 10, 2012 at 1:57 am | #

    Sometimes I think the Billie Trauma Train has reached the end of its humor. But when something ironic like this happens, I stop caring and start laughing.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 2:47 am | #

      But you gotta hand it to her, she sure has a great caboose.

      • Mr. Morningstar
        Mr. Morningstar
        April 10, 2012 at 11:17 am | #

        she does doesnt she?

      • Kernanator
        Kernanator
        April 10, 2012 at 11:44 pm | #

        Choo-choo!

  37. Aizat
    Aizat
    April 10, 2012 at 1:58 am | #

    To quote Peter Stromare “Oh snap!”

  38. quietdevious1
    quietdevious1
    April 10, 2012 at 2:01 am | #

    I remember the day in university when I realized I was no longer one of the smartest people around. A girl who looked and acted like all the stupid people I knew in high school helped me with chemistry. My superiority complex has never recovered.

    I wonder if this feels the same?

    • KresyAntics
      KresyAntics
      April 10, 2012 at 1:45 pm | #

      Yea it sucks, there are now special group of 12 ‘models’ that are above 3.0 GPA most above 3.5 and are DDG, all of them.

      Cute girls can be smart when they “feel” like it benefits them. The case with Billie and these cheerleaders definately do not feel any benefit.

      • Steven
        Steven
        April 10, 2012 at 6:47 pm | #

        Nope. Sleeping with the professor/TA/grader.

      • agentksilver
        agentksilver
        April 10, 2012 at 11:00 pm | #

        As someone who is cute and booksmart, I am so incredibly insulted by comments like that. We work. Damn. Hard. We put up with the same shit everyone else puts up with. Cuteness accounts for nothing once you’re past nine. High cheekbones and arranging my hair correctly is a morning routine. An A on my history paper is an accomplishment. Beauty has given me exactly dick (okay three dicks over the course of five years), and other every cute girl I’ve met has done the same thing I have — wised up and worked their asses off for that A so they can land that government/nonprofit job.

        (I live near DC so everyone wants government/nonprofit work)

  39. Historyman68
    Historyman68
    April 10, 2012 at 2:08 am | #

    See, she calls other people nerds, but then someone else calls *her* a nerd!

    This has been “explaining the joke.” Thank you.

  40. Plasma Mongoose
    Plasma Mongoose
    April 10, 2012 at 2:48 am | #

    Face it Billie, they’re not your people anymore.

  41. DiDi
    DiDi
    April 10, 2012 at 4:04 am | #

    You know what I wanna know?

    If Billie is go gung ho about still wanting to be a cheerleader, why doesn’t she just try out?

    Or did she already do so and get rejected?

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 7:25 am | #

      She will need to give up all the booze and get fit if she wants any hope of becoming a cheerleader again but I believe that her days as a cheerleader are over.

  42. LiC
    LiC
    April 10, 2012 at 4:04 am | #

    Ah, delicious irony.

    Although, for some reason I thought that Billie was still doing cheerleading.

  43. C.
    C.
    April 10, 2012 at 4:20 am | #

    Despite the author’s noble intent to cut the email address, we can safely guess what the full address is.

    • Bill M.
      Bill M.
      April 10, 2012 at 12:11 pm | #

      Really? We’ve seen other e-mail addresses for characters there? Colleges can do lots of fiddling around with their domain names. My e-mail in college had the server they kept the e-mail on in addition to the college’s normal ending.

  44. Flimsyfishy
    Flimsyfishy
    April 10, 2012 at 6:25 am | #

    This moment will forever be etched in Billie’s memory. Also she really doesn’t have much to worry about seeing as if she was a cheerleader, she wouldn’t have a lot of things to cheer for.

  45. Kalan
    Kalan
    April 10, 2012 at 6:46 am | #

    Burnsauce, Billie!

  46. Maycroft
    Maycroft
    April 10, 2012 at 7:57 am | #

    How the powerful have fallen.

  47. Yuki
    Yuki
    April 10, 2012 at 8:05 am | #

    Raise your hand if you absolutely despise people like that cheerleader.

    And fall over laughing if you recognize that Billie’s getting exactly what she used to give.

  48. Tom T.
    Tom T.
    April 10, 2012 at 8:10 am | #

    No tags for the hot, mean cheerleaders? 🙁

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 5:36 pm | #

      Unless she shows up again and again, she won’t be given a title let alone a stereotypical cheerleader name like Bambi, Candi, Jessi, Monique, Muffy and so on.

  49. lordphulish
    lordphulish
    April 10, 2012 at 8:16 am | #

    My guess is she has some pre-marital hanky panky immediately to feel better.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 5:37 pm | #

      She tried getting some earlier, remember?

  50. Heavensrun
    Heavensrun
    April 10, 2012 at 10:22 am | #

    This is the part where Billie goes berserk.

    • Shippy McShipper
      Shippy McShipper
      April 10, 2012 at 10:53 am | #

      Cue the sniper rifles and clock towers.

      This place DOES have a clock tower, right?

    • StClair
      StClair
      April 10, 2012 at 12:13 pm | #

      Next strip: long shot(s) of the campus, with Billie’s scream.

      • Heavensrun
        Heavensrun
        April 10, 2012 at 8:57 pm | #

        (Thumbs up)

  51. chumpersonable
    chumpersonable
    April 10, 2012 at 10:57 am | #

    Billie.exe has experienced an error.
    Reboot and try again?

  52. OmegaDez
    OmegaDez
    April 10, 2012 at 11:23 am | #

    And the harsh truth hits her like a ton of bricks.
    A cheerleader cannot be an asian girl with glasses who hangs out with nerds.

    • ElGatoBlanco
      ElGatoBlanco
      April 10, 2012 at 11:31 am | #

      She would have nerdy fanboys all over her at every game.

      • Plasma Mongoose
        Plasma Mongoose
        April 10, 2012 at 5:39 pm | #

        and your grav gives your comment an extra depressing edge to it.

  53. TJ Baltimore
    TJ Baltimore
    April 10, 2012 at 11:49 am | #

    I feel kinda bad for Billie. Has anything worked out in her favor since starting college? She’s been quite rude to several characters, but to wake up and realize that your life peaked in high school–harsh (even though it’s the revenge of former high school nerds on their former aggressors everywhere).

    Also . . . she’s really not fat. Ruth is unnecessarily mean in calling Billie “Tubs”, “Lardo”, and “Thunder Thigh[s]”. Billie’s kinda curvy perhaps, but it looks nice on her, I think. I haven’t really seen any obese students here yet.

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 5:44 pm | #

      Then again, Billie is a bit pudgy, at least by Hollywood standards.

    • Andy
      Andy
      April 10, 2012 at 6:37 pm | #

      It is odd that there’s not been any obese students, what with this comic being set in the Midwest and all.

  54. ziggy78eog
    ziggy78eog
    April 10, 2012 at 12:28 pm | #

    Is that the cold, hard, slap, of reality I see across Billies face? Why yes, I think it is.

  55. BriGuy
    BriGuy
    April 10, 2012 at 12:56 pm | #

    *Turns towards the camera*

    Here’s where Billie goes berserk.

  56. Wilkie
    Wilkie
    April 10, 2012 at 1:30 pm | #

    Is it bad that I’m way more concerned with figuring out which building this is on the IU campus than what happened in the strip?

    • Wilkie
      Wilkie
      April 10, 2012 at 10:15 pm | #

      Oh it’s Ernie Pyle! I feel dumb…I work there. Carry on.

  57. Plan D
    Plan D
    April 10, 2012 at 4:08 pm | #

    I thought she was a cheerleader? Somebody remind me. Is this Ruth’s fault?

    • Plasma Mongoose
      Plasma Mongoose
      April 10, 2012 at 5:47 pm | #

      Unless Ruth told that cheerleader to insult Billie, I seriously doubt it.

    • Zababcd
      Zababcd
      April 10, 2012 at 6:03 pm | #

      Was a cheerleader once upon a time. Isn’t anymore, but wishes to retain associated social status. Thought she would be equally highly-regarded as a journalist.

  58. Robert in San Diego
    Robert in San Diego
    April 10, 2012 at 4:45 pm | #

    Rejection can be cruel.

  59. Eve
    Eve
    April 10, 2012 at 6:08 pm | #

    Wait why didn’t she try out for cheerleading again?

  60. Kernanator
    Kernanator
    April 10, 2012 at 11:46 pm | #

    THIS IS DELICIOUS IRONY, YOU MUST EAT IT.

  61. JasontheFuzz
    JasontheFuzz
    April 11, 2012 at 2:32 am | #

    I love finding amazing new comics, but it always sucks to come to the end of the archives and know I’ll only get a daily fix from then on. Such is the way of the webcomic.

    Anyway, I can only assume somebody made this same association (in the past thousands and thousands of comments under the strips), but Dumbing of Age reminds me of Questionable Content and Candi Comics. I’m dead serious about the second one. “Candi- A College Story” and “Dumbing of Age- a college webcomic”… what are the odds? They have fairly similar storylines too- although Candi has more sex. Just a little more, though.

  62. Charles RB
    Charles RB
    April 11, 2012 at 11:52 am | #

    *points* AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HA HA.

    AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HA HA.

    AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HA HA.

  63. Asuka L.S.
    Asuka L.S.
    April 12, 2012 at 9:33 am | #

    Anyone else hear the sound of shattering glass when they saw Billie’s expression in the last panel?

  64. newllend
    newllend
    August 14, 2013 at 7:27 pm | #

    Wow,today has just ben off the wall funny as HELL!

  65. SgtNumnum
    SgtNumnum
    November 7, 2013 at 5:37 pm | #

    There goes her ego

  66. discountmusketeer
    discountmusketeer
    February 6, 2015 at 10:40 pm | #

    Yes, this is EXACTLY how college works. Like an 80’s high school movie.

    (it does not)

    • Rheios
      Rheios
      May 13, 2015 at 9:20 pm | #

      You do have a point. College was nice for me because it seemed like most people were either more open minded or just didn’t care enough to go out of their self-appointed schedules to be dicks. I mean plenty of exceptions but they wouldn’t be what I called the norm.

  67. Aisling
    Aisling
    May 28, 2015 at 4:21 pm | #

    I’ll take the nerdy asian girl over the stuckup toothpicks in skirts any day.

Who should be the default doodle for Book 14?

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Is there somewhere in this article where I could talk about the very real feeling of jealousy and how it can make even the nicest people into assholes? No, that’s not this article. It’s not this article because we’ve let appealing to white people’s comfort get in the way of progress to the point where our culture, democracy, and future is at stake. Appealing to white people’s comfort is how we got to where BIPOC and LGBT people are being erased from history all together because the dark history of this country makes white people uncomfortable.
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