| “ | All of them. I'm a bitch, Maeve. I'm a bitch to everyone. | ” |
| — Ruby to Maeve[src] |
Ruby Matthews is one of the main characters in Sex Education. She is portrayed by Mimi Keene. She is the former best friend of Olivia Hanan and Anwar Bakshi, and is the ex-girlfriend of Otis Milburn. She was the leader of The Untouchables.
In season 1, Ruby is introduced as a mean girl, known as the Queen Bee of Moordale Secondary as well as the tacit leader of the Untouchables clique, which consists of some of the most popular students in the school. Therefore, she spends most of her time bullying other students, especially if she and her friends consider them to be unpopular, or alike Maeve Wiley, come from poverty. Despite bullying Maeve, when the photo of Ruby's vagina is leaked to the whole school, she goes to Maeve and begs her for help in finding out who's the one that is blackmailing her. Maeve agrees, but even though she eventually helps Ruby out, she still remains mean towards her.
In season 2, Ruby has an unrequited crush on Rahim, a new French student at her school, until she finds out that he's gay. After a party, drunk Ruby has sex with Otis, which leads them to hook up all over the summer, eventually becoming a couple in season 3. She develops strong feelings for Otis, who, however, is unsure about his feelings for her, as he realizes he still can't get over Maeve. This eventually leads to their breakup, which breaks Ruby's heart. Ruby also takes part in ruining Hope's plan for changing Moordale Secondary into a sex-free campus, which, however, ends up with the closure of Moordale, which forces the students to look for new school alternatives to finish their education.
In season 4, Ruby starts attending Cavendish College, struggling with loneliness there, as Olivia and Anwar decided to go to a different school than her. Ruby is now a fish out of water at Cavendish and feels like she doesn't belong to the whole progressive college thing, where everyone's being nice to each other. Despite this, Ruby's trying her best to befriend the group of popular kids called the Coven, wanting to regain her role from Moordale Secondary. In spite of this, they don't let her in their group, perceiving Ruby as just a mean girl. Ruby also meets again her primary school bully, who also becomes Otis' rival sex therapist on campus, Sarah, who acts like she doesn't know Ruby. Hence Ruby decides to help Otis with his campaign and becomes his campaign manager, collecting all the unpleasant information about Sarah. Ruby also gets mad at Otis, who only approached her to be sure that she won't tell Maeve about the night they spent together, and ends the friendship with him. Despite this, thanks to Otis, Sarah apologizes to Ruby. Later, Ruby becomes Connor's campaign manager, which leads to him winning the election during the school fundraiser, during which Ruby stands up for Sarah and makes a speech, saying the college taught her to be actually nice. She's also approached by Otis, who still wants to be friends with her, but Ruby turns him down, as she has enough friends now; she's finally getting along with the Coven.
Early Life[]
When Ruby was a child, she had some problems with urinary incontinence, and because of this she used to get bullied by her peers. Ruby used to go to the primary school and be friends with Sarah Owen, with whom she later meets at Cavendish. Ruby describes primary school as hell, as she was bullied by her classmates, as they perceived her as a weird girl with weird parents, whose clothes were handmade by her mother. Then, Ruby went to a camp with her classmates, during which she wet the bed she was sleeping in. This was seen by Sarah, who told Ruby she wouldn't tell anyone about it, but eventually she revealed it to the rest of the girls while playing Never Have I Ever... just to impress them. Ruby's tough time ended right with primary school, after which she continued her education at Moordale Secondary, becoming the most popular girl at the school and the tactic leader of The Untouchables clique, created with Olivia Hanan and Anwar Bakshi. There, she also started bullying other less popular students, especially the ones coming from poverty, like Maeve Wiley.
Throughout the Series[]
Season 1[]
Ruby is a member of The Untouchables clique with Anwar and Olivia, and they rule over the other students with an iron fist. She treats Aimee, who is trying to befriend the Untouchables, very harshly, and has little to no respect for Maeve. Following the death of her grandmother, she has a very brief relationship with Tom, to whom she sends a picture of her vagina. After the picture gets leaked to the whole school, Ruby asks Maeve and Otis for help, eventually discovering that it was Olivia who leaked the picture. Nevertheless, Ruby avoids humiliation as everyone claims that the vagina is theirs during school assembly. Despite Maeve's assistance, Ruby remains mean towards her, and she is shocked when Aimee decides to leave the Untouchables and keep her friendship with Maeve instead.
Season 2[]
In episode 2.6, when Eric tries inviting people to Otis' "small gathering", Ruby is initially averse to the invitation. However, upon realizing that Rahim would attend, Ruby quickly changes her mind. During the midst of the party, she is seen dancing inside the house. A drunken Otis approaches and gets down with her. It is revealed in episode 2.7, the two had consensual sex, but whether a contraceptive was used is in question. The morning after the party, Otis attends school and is in a chemistry class. It is at this time he hears Ruby outside, throwing pebbles at the window to draw his attention. Outside, Ruby discloses that she's actually "96.5" percent certain that a condom was used during their sex, which departs from her initial "99" percent certainty. During this episode, when Ruby was buying the morning after pill, it is revealed that her father has been suffering from multiple sclerosis and that was the reason she had a one-night stand with Otis. She also thanks Otis for caring and checking in on her, because Ruby states that most guys don't and both have a cheer.
Season 3[]
In the opening of season 3, it is revealed she has been having casual sex with Otis throughout the school summer holiday, which started at a fancy dress party after season 2, Otis was dressed as macaroni cheese while Ruby was dressed as Christina Aguilera. While Ruby initially threatens Otis to keep their affair private, he tells Eric which leads to Lily telling the whole school about their casual sex. In spite of this, Otis becomes more involved with Ruby and eventually asks if he could be her boyfriend to which she says yes. While initially mean to Otis, bossing him around and trying to change his behaviors and fashion sense, Ruby becomes kinder to him. Ruby dates Otis for some time and even takes him to her house which not even Anwar or Olivia had been to and introducing Otis to her dad. It is revealed that Ruby comes from a humble household which she is insecure about and is why she never invited anyone over. Later that night, Ruby calls Otis and tells him she loves him to which Otis replies, "That's nice." Ruby becomes very upset with Otis as she has never told anyone that she loves them and the two break up.
During the school trip to France, Ruby is still upset with Otis while Olivia and Anwar remain hostile towards him but she tells him she doesn't hate him. The trip finally culminates with Otis kissing Maeve while they were unintentionally left at a service station for a several hours. As the coach returns and approaches Otis and Maeve kissing, Ruby sees the two of them after they finished kissing and appears heartbroken once again.
Season 4[]
In the beginning of season 4, Ruby, alongside other former Moordale Secondary students, starts attending Cavendish College. Her friend group fell apart, as Olivia and Anwar decided to go to a different school than Ruby, which later leads to losing touch with both of them, as they found lots of new friends, unlike Ruby, who feels extremely lonely in the new school. She also meets her primary school bully, Sarah "O" Owen who then becomes Otis' rival therapist on campus, and Ruby decides to become Otis' campaign manager and to help him win the election. After a while of hesitation, Otis agrees and comes over to Ruby's to film a promotional video for his campaign. Then, Otis opens up to Ruby about his relationship with Maeve, and Ruby opens up to Otis about her loneliness and losing touch with Olivia and Anwar. The two decide to hang out and eventually, end up sleeping in one bed. Despite this, the two still remain friends, and Ruby starts interviewing other students to get some bad information that are bad for Sarah. Otis starts ignoring Ruby, as Maeve comes back to Moordale after getting the news about her mother overdosing. The other day Otis finally walks up to Ruby, wanting to make sure she won't tell Maeve about the night they spent together. This upsets Ruby, as she realizes Otis only approached her just for that. This leads her to end their friendship and also, to stop being his manager.
To get revenge on both Otis and Sarah, Ruby becomes Connor's new campaign manager, which leads him to winning the election. In the series finale, Ruby stands up for Sarah in front of the whole school after she was called names by all of them. Thanks to this, she finally gains respect from the school's popular kids. whereas Otis also approaches her, still wanting to be her friend, but Ruby rejects him, saying she's got enough friends now.
Relationships[]
Romances[]
Jackson Marchetti (flirted)[]
Ruby and Jackson used to flirt back in season 1. Ruby was satisfied with him becoming the head boy at Moordale Secondary, which increased his social status. The two were seen flirting shortly after Jackson was chosen to be the head boy. It is also possible that they hooked up after Jackson broke up with Maeve, as back then he was heartbroken and started sleeping with every girl at the school.
Tom Baker (one-week fling)[]
Ruby dated Tom Baker aka War-hammer Tom for a week. Before dumping him on the pretext that he smelled like crisps but more concretely, she didn't enjoy his company. Frustrated by this, he later sends her nude photo to Kyle who didn't believe that Tom had sex with Ruby.
Glen Jacobs (ex-boyfriend)[]
According to Tom Baker, Ruby dated Glen for some period of time, but after he wore the wrong socks to school she dumped him. Later confessed to Otis Milburn that he’d made up this story to withdraw suspicions from himself.
Rahim Harrak (former unrequited crush)[]
Ruby used to have a crush on Rahim just as soon as he arrived at Moordale, as he was quickly named the most handsome boy at school. She tried to be friendly with him or with people that she noticed he was talking to, like complimenting Eric's shirt as soon as he has done that or accepting the invitation to Otis' house party despite not wanting to go at first but then changed her mind as soon as she learned that Rahim would be there as well. On the other hand, she was extremely jealous of other girls talking to him, and didn't care much about her friends' needs, disregarding Anwar's protests to go on Ferris wheel with her in order to be closer to Rahim as it would ruin his hair. Ruby's infatuation presumably ended during Otis' house party during which she discovered that Rahim was gay and was in a relationship with Eric.
Otis Milburn (ex-boyfriend; former friend)[]
- Main article: Ruby and Otis
Otis and Ruby
During season 1, Otis and Ruby never interact except episode 5 during which he and Maeve help her identify the person who sent the whole school a compromising picture of herself. If their interactions in season 2 are once again almost non-existent, their relationship takes a most unexpected turn when, following Otis' destructive house party, After they can be seen dancing together, Otis wakes up in his bed with a hangover and Ruby by his side. She casually confirms to him that they had intercourse last night but that she cannot find the condom, which worries Otis greatly. She will later admit that she is not sure that their intercourse has been protected. The two then go to a pharmacy to get a morning-after pill. Ruby is reluctant at first to enter it, but Otis' arguments eventually convince her.
During the questionnaire to obtain the pill, Otis learns from Ruby's own mouth that her father has been suffering for one year from "multiple sclerosis" (MS), a disease affecting the central nervous system and which can lead to permanent physical incapacity in the patient and in the worst case, his death. After getting the pill, Otis worries about whether Ruby was consenting at the time of their intercourse, to which she answers yes, justifying this by her habit of sleeping with "nerdy boys" when she is sad, which gives her for a short time the feeling of being passionately loved. Otis reveals to her that this was his very first sexual intercourse and asks her about the level of his performance. Surprised, she replies that he was not great but not terrible either. Otis asks her if her father's illness is causing her sadness. She answers him yes but immediately diverts the subject of the conversation by accusing a lack of symmetry in her eyebrows after waxing them. Playing the game, Otis replies that he finds them very even. Ruby smiles at him and thanks him for accompanying him, adding that most boys are not as considerate as he is. Their arc for this season ends with Otis driving Ruby back on his bike.
Season 3 shows that they slept together and had casual sex many times throughout the summer holidays but Ruby wishes to keep it secret. Kyle finds out that Otis and Ruby were having sex while in the abandoned toilets and threatens that he would tell the school about their relationship unless he can be the new "Sex King". Ruby is initially bossy with Otis, making him feel uncomfortable as she tries to change his behaviours and fashion sense while Olivia and Anwar remain unfriendly towards him. However, Ruby becomes kinder later on. The whole school finds out when Otis tells Eric who then tells Adam 'by accident', which ends up with Adam telling Ola who tells Lily who then tells the whole school. Even though Ruby initially threatened Otis to keep it secret, when the school finds out they become closer and start dating officially. One night, Otis comes to Ruby's house and they become closer. Later that night, Ruby calls Otis telling him she loves him but with Maeve still on his mind, he doesn't say it back, upsetting Ruby and leading to her breaking up with him.
During the school trip to France, Otis is put into a group with The Untouchables, making the situation more uncomfortable. Olivia and Anwar remain hostile towards Otis while Ruby admits that she doesn't hate him but she is upset. Later in the trip, Ruby witnesses Otis and Maeve having an intimiate moment causing her to visibly distraught in sadness. While Otis and Eric are presenting the school video to the press, Hope tries to stop them but Ruby comes to their aid, fighting off Hope, allowing Otis and Eric to continue the video and leading to Hope's resignation from the school.
Despite this, Ruby still has strong feelings for Otis. After the two start attending Cavendish together, Ruby decides to help Otis with becoming the only and the best sex therapist on campus, also wanting to get revenge on her primary school bully, Sarah Owen, who is the other therapist. At first, Otis rejects Ruby's help, but after seeing O's promo video, he decides to take advantage of her offer. The two also decide to film a promo video and meet up at Ruby's house, to do it. After doing it, Ruby reveals to Otis that she actually lost touch with both Olivia and Anwar, as they made lots of new friends at their new school and don't have time to hang out with her anymore. That's why Otis decides to stay a bit longer at Ruby's and hang out with her to watch a movie. Eventually, the two end up sleeping in one bed. After waking up the next morning, Otis quickly leaves Ruby's room and goes home. Despite this, the two carry on with doing a campaign against O and Ruby becomes Otis' kind of manager. Suddenly, Maeve comes back to Moordale, after getting the news about her mother overdosing, which later causes her death. Then, Otis start ignoring Ruby's texts and doesn't go to school, as he wants to by Maeve's side. This makes Ruby mad at Otis, especially that there will be the election soon. Despite this, Ruby starts doing a survey with Cavendish students, asking them whether O treated them badly. She finally gets the information she was looking for from Aisha and PK. Despite this, Otis doesn't do well during a debate, as Sarah's allegations worsens his candidacy. A few days later, Otis meets Ruby in the street and asks her to do some more research to help him out. Ruby agrees, but then gets mad at Otis, as he only approaches her to make sure she won't tell Maeve about the night they spend together. Ruby ends their cooperation, telling Otis they are not friends at all, and starts crying.
A couple of days later, Ruby sees Otis with Maeve at the school, which makes her feel uncomfortable. The same day later, Ruby runs into Maeve in a corridor, and despite being mad at Otis, she doesn't tell her a thing about the other night with Otis. Ruby also starts being Connor's manager, who also wants to become the main sex therapist on campus. After all Ruby and Otis meet at Cavendish fundraiser, during which Otis apologizes to her and shows that he still wants to be friends. Despite this, Ruby informs him that she's got enough friends now and walks away, starting dancing with other students.
Family[]
Roland Matthews (father)[]
In episode 2.7, Ruby revealed that her father has been suffering from multiple sclerosis, which caused him to quit his job, and rely solely on her mother's payment. His sickness and stressful atmosphere at her home had a huge impact on her mental state. Ruby really loves her father and deeply cares about him, often helping him to get up from bed or even roll him a joint. However, due to her social status at school, Ruby is too embarrassed to even introduce him to her friends, as Otis was the first person who even came to her house.
Roland also helps Otis with filming his promo video out of Ruby's ask. The two also spend lots of time together, as at Cavendish Ruby doesn't have any friends and lost touch with Olivia and Anwar.
Her mother[]
In the past, Mrs. Matthews used to make clothes for Ruby, which was one of the reasons why she was bullied back then. Some years later, according to Ruby, the deterioration of her husband's health causes her a lot of stress. Her mother is so proud of her, who helps her with all the homework and sick Roland; for example Ruby cooks dinner for her father when Mrs. Matthews is at work.
Her late grandmother[]
The loss of her grandmother seems to have deeply affected Ruby. In episode 5, she uses this as an argument for dating Tom Baker for a week which, would correspond to her habit of sleeping with "nerdy boys" when she's sad.
Friends[]
Anwar Bakshi (former best friend)[]
Anwar is Ruby's best friend and a fellow member of the Untouchables clique. He seems to be her right-hand man, as Ruby is way nicer to him in comparison to Olivia. In season 1, Ruby and Anwar were the ones who kept Aimee Gibbs in the group (Olivia was so mean to her and did not fully accepted her being a part of the Untouchables). Although being besties, Ruby was also treating him badly sometimes. In season 2 she ignored his objections to get on the Ferris wheel as it would ruin his hair because she wanted to get closer to Rahim. In the same season, both of them were often seen hanging out alone, without Olivia. In season 3, when Anwar and Olivia find out about Ruby and Otis' affair, both of them were feeling embarrassed and shocked about Otis having casual sex, and then actually being a couple with Ruby, but with time they partially accepted her choice, and tried to be happy for her, but of course, still being rude to Otis. After the SRE class in episode 3.4, Anwar is frightened about a strange thing that appeared on his face, and tells Ruby and Olivia that he may die, which totally freaks them out, but later, after a small talk with Emily Sands they decide to visit a sex specialist, where he finds out that he's just allergic to strawberry flavoured condoms, and the bubble is going to disappear soon. In the last minutes of the same episode, Ruby breaks up with Otis and decides to invite Anwar and Olivia over for the first time. As soon as they arrived, they walked in to Ruby's room, sitting next to her from both sides, and then sharing a mutual hug, showing that in spite of being rude to others, they really care about each other and stick together really close. During the trip to France, in episode 3.5, he sits behind Ruby and Olivia on the bus, talking to them, and sometimes still comforting Ruby after being heartbroken. In episode 3.7, after Moordale students start to riot against Hope, he and Ruby are seen walking in the main hall, being shocked about the look of the place and a count of medias there.
In season 4, it's revealed that Anwar decided to go to a different school than Ruby, which led to losing contact with her, since he found new friends, and didn't have time for her anymore.
Olivia Hanan (former best friend)[]
Olivia is one of Ruby's best friends and a fellow member of the Untouchables clique. Despite being close friends, Ruby often mocked Olivia and made her insecure but she was too afraid to stand up for herself, so she decided to get her own back on Ruby by leaking pics of her unshaved vulva and anonymously threaten her to reveal her identity in front of the entire school. After Ruby found out that Olivia was doing this, she stopped talking to her until the school's plea where Ruby was verbally bullied by students who already found out that the photo was hers. However it stopped as soon as Olivia and then other girls decided to stand up for her by claiming that the said photo belongs to all of them, which fixed their friendship. While Ruby is still occasionally rude to her, Olivia doesn't seem to mind this. In season 3, when she finds out about Ruby and Otis' affair, she, just like Anwar, feels embarrassed and shocked about her friend's choice, but finally they decide to accept Ruby's new boyfriend, supporting her, but still being rude to Otis. After he breaks up with Ruby, Olivia and Anwar were supporting and comforting her and, what's more, Ruby invited them over for the first time ever. During school trip to France, Olivia was still comforting Ruby with Anwar, becoming very protective of her and hostile towards Otis during their trip to France. Ruby and Olivia were also sitting beside each other on the bus, doing a lot of things in the same moment: doing nails/make-up or later, coming back to Moordale, putting eye sleeping masks.
In season 4, it's revealed that Olivia decided to go to a different school than Ruby, which led to losing contact with her, since she found new friends, and don't have time for her anymore.
Adam Groff (friend)[]
At the beginning of the series, Ruby and Adam had zero contact, as their only connection was through Aimee who was then part of the Untouchables, and Adam's girlfriend. However, Ruby highly disliked Adam for being violent and dull-witted, and after he flashed on everybody in the cafeteria, she gave Aimee an order to break up with him as he was damaging their reputation. Things changed after Adam began dating Eric, and Ruby becoming Otis' girlfriend, as Otis and Eric decided to go on a double date together. At first, Ruby was disgusted and annoyed by Adam's poor manners and irrational conversations like mistaking her glucose intolerance for diabetes or asking if anyone is smelling their farts. After Ruby announced that Kim Kardashian is pregnant with another surrogate baby, Adam asked her if she doesn't think that it's weird how the second surrogate wasn't on the show, revealing that he enjoys watching the Kardashians with his mom. Soon after that Ruby warmed up to Adam, asking him questions about different Kardashian shows and suggesting to keep up in contact with each other.
Nick (friend)[]
Nick was dating Ruby's best friend, Anwar, and the two met thanks to him. Ruby and Nick are seen talking at Otis' party in episode 2.6.
Rivals[]
Hope Haddon (enemy)[]
For most of Hope's time at Moordale, she and Ruby didn't interact with each other. Despite that, Ruby disliked the changes Hope made and later took part in 'The Thing' organized by students to get rid of Hope. During the open day, when students started taking over, Hope stands up and goes to turn off the video, whereas Ruby goes after her to stop her. Eventually, the two end up having a fight, which Hope loses, after Ruby beat her rival with expensive perfume.
Sarah Owen (former enemy)[]
Ruby and Sarah met at camp in primary school, and at first, were friends. Everything changed after Sarah saw Ruby wetting the bed and later told the other girls that were bullying Ruby just to impress them, as Sarah, just like Ruby, was feeling lonely back then. Because of Sarah's behavior, Ruby would get called a "bed-wetter" until the end of primary school.
The two met again a couple of years later at Cavendish, where Sarah, known as ''O'', was running her sex therapy clinic, becoming Otis' rival therapist. Despite this, Sarah acted like she didn't know Ruby or what happened between them. Wanting to take revenge on Sarah, Ruby decided to help Otis with beating her. After Sarah lost all of her support at school, and Ruby stopped being Otis' campaign manager, Sarah, thanks to Otis' encouragement, finally apologizes to Ruby. During the school fundraiser, after Cavendish students wanted O to get off the stage, Ruby stood up for her and said that everyone deserved a second chance, gaining Sarah's respect.
Maeve Wiley (former enemy)[]
Due to Maeve's promiscuous reputation and being a social outcast, Ruby is always on the front line to torment her, either for being poor or straight up slut-shaming her. Despite this Maeve still managed to help Ruby on numerous occasions; she was often writing essays for her in exchange for money, which was revealed by Maeve in episode 2.1. When Ruby was threatened by a mysterious student who leaked her nudes, at first she tried to frame Maeve but then begged her to help her find out who did this, offering her extra money. Despite having objections, Maeve eventually decided to help her for free, as she knew exactly how it is to be slut-shamed on daily basis. When students became verbally tormenting Ruby during school's plea, Maeve was the second girl who stand up for her by claiming that the leaked photo was hers. However, Ruby didn't appear to be thankful for any of this and continued to bully her occasionally. Their association became eventually even tenser, as rumors began to resurface that Otis and Ruby were having casual sex, and then they decided to publicly announce their relationship. Maeve decided to act oblivious and move on with Isaac but after learning about him deleting Otis' message and circumstances following their trip to France, Otis and Maeve reconciled their relationship in front of Ruby's eyes. It's unknown what Ruby thinks about Maeve currently, but seeing Otis and Maeve after they kissed was visibly upsetting for her. A couple of months later, Ruby and Maeve meet again at Cavendish College, when Maeve comes there to enrol. Ruby sees her with Otis, which makes her feel extremely uncomfortable. Later the two bump into each other in a corridor and Ruby says hi to Maeve and expresses her condolences for her mother, probably wanting to normalize their tense relationship. However, Maeve is frigid to her, just like Ruby's been to Maeve for all those years; Maeve asks if "cock biters get a free pass when they have a dead mum" and leaves.
Aimee Gibbs (former enemy; former friend)[]
Aimee used to be Ruby's friend as a fellow member of the Untouchables clique, as she was invited to hang out with them probably due to being rich. However, despite being "friends", Ruby and others didn't treat her with respect, as they would often criticize her, and gate-crashing into her house without her permission. At first, Aimee was tolerating their antics, mostly due to her people-pleasing attitude, but because Ruby was often targeting Maeve, Aimee eventually renounced herself from the clique, which in return made her another target of their harassing.
Some time later, after the two started attending Cavendish and Ruby left all alone, she wanted to reconcile with Aimee. Ruby was waving at Aimee at the canteen. Aimee ignored her though, still remembering about all the horrible things Ruby's done to her and Maeve.
Personality[]
Ruby is portrayed as a stereotypical Queen Bee; snobbish, catty, and seemingly very self-confident. She has no qualms about being cruel to other students, including her friends; it eventually came back around for her as her best friend Olivia, being tired of her continuous critics, decided to leak pics of her unshaved vulva and threaten her to reveal her identity in front of the entire school. During that time, Ruby tried to appear as unbothered as possible when in truth she was very vulnerable, panicking so much that she decided to ask for help from the person whom she was bullying the most, Maeve. This may indicate that Ruby has issues with openly expressing her emotions and feelings in public, knowing well that showing any weaknesses may get her thrown from the position of the most popular girl in school.
It was later confirmed that this seemingly natural personality of hers is just a facade to keep others from hurting her, revealing more complexity to Ruby's character; being mean to nearly anyone and hiding her true emotions are ways of coping with stressful home life, particularly her father's medical condition, and social pressure that was put on her by the fact that she doesn't come from a wealthy family as everybody is claiming. When Otis asked her about her father's illness, although her body language briefly uncovers her concerns, she refuses to reveal her feelings further and immediately tries to divert the conversation by using disdain.
Ruby appears to have an unhealthy coping mechanism to fight with her unwell mental state; she often participates in superficial relationships with "nerdy" boys whom she doesn't love or is too embarrassed to even be in public with, as she yearns to be loved passionately by another person even if it's just for a short period of time, which only escalates her commitment issues. She also needs to be in total control of these relationships whether in suggesting having intercourse or ending the relationship, claiming that no one calls quits with her. Her relationship with Otis is a great example of this behavior until he stood up for himself and tries to convince Ruby to love him for who he truly is. By officially announcing their relationship, Ruby finally started opening-up, and eventually fell in love with him.
Appearances[]
| Episodes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total | |
| One | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | M | ✔ | - | ✔ | ✔ | 6 | |
| Two | ✔ | ✔ | - | - | - | ✔ | ✔ | - | 4 | |
| Three | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | - | ✔ | - | 6 | |
| Four | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | 8 | |
| Total | 24 | |||||||||
| Books | ||||||||||
| Sex Education: The Road Trip | Sex Education: A Guide to Life | |||||||||
| M | M | |||||||||
| ✔ = Appeared | M = Mentioned | |||||||||
| - = Did not appear | P = Pictured | |||||||||
Memorable Quotes[]
| “ | What a slag. | ” |
| — Ruby to the Untouchables about Maeve Wiley[src] |
| “ | Good. Because smoking is definitely not vegan. | ” |
| — Ruby to Aimee[src] |
| “ | I hate you. I'm going home. | ” |
| — Ruby to Olivia[src] |
| “ | Why is he talking to her? Do they like ugly noses in France? | ” |
| — Ruby seeing Rahim talking to some girl at school[src] |
| “ | If you tell anyone about this, I'll destroy your life | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis about their one-night stand[src] |
| “ | Okay, so... you know how I said I was 99 percent sure about the condom? It's more like 96.5. | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis[src] |
| “ | Look, I'm not having your pale, unusually long children, okay? | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis[src] |
| “ | No. Why do people keep asking me that? I'm not a slut. | ” |
| — Ruby to a pharmacist[src] |
| “ | It's his penis, he's paying for it. | ” |
| — Ruby to a pharmacist about Otis[src] |
| “ | Thank you for checking in. A lot of guys don't. | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis[src] |
| “ | I love you. | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis[src] |
| “ | Olivia, we just saw a woman pushing something a size of a watermelon out of her vagina. Nothing's okay. | ” |
| — Ruby to Olivia[src] |
| “ | Not now, Otis! I need to go and protect myself from your penis! | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis[src] |
| “ | What's that? Oh, just an ally coming through | ” |
| — Ruby to Aisha and Abbi[src] |
| “ | Oh, I'm not trying to get back with you, Otis. You're very arrogant sometimes | ” |
| — Ruby to Otis[src] |
| “ | Thank you for the advice. Now, let me give you some. Start preparing yourself to lose. When we were ten, you decided to make my life a living hell. And now, I promise you, I plan on doing the exact same thing to you. | ” |
| — Ruby to O[src] |
| “ | I've actually got enough friends now, Otis | ” |
| — Ruby's last line in the series[src] |
Trivia[]
- At Moordale Secondary, she was sticking with Olivia and Anwar all the time.
- She lives at 37 Carlton Close in Moordale.
- At Moordale Secondary she was considered by many to be the prettiest girl in school.
- When she feels anxious, she tries to avoid eye contact with anyone and starts nervously playing with her nails. If she’s got something in her arms (bag, keys), she starts twitching this item with her fingers.
- At Moordale Secondary she had a “Too glam to give a damn” sticker inside her locker.
- She calls Otis “OT” only if someone else is around. When they’re alone, she calls him by his normal name.
- She’s passionate about drawing.
- In high school, she was the first to get a car amongst her friends (episode 1).
- After Maeve, she is the second female character to have shared a moment of closeness with Otis before threatening him with reprisals if he told anyone about it (episode 2.7).
- She tells Otis she likes making out with nerdy boys when she's sad. This can be tied to how she also used to have a thing with Warhammer Tom, who is seen as a huge nerd.
- According to Ruby, she has misophonia and can't stand the sound of Otis chewing next to her. Misophonia is a disorder of decreased tolerance to specific sounds or their associated stimuli that has been characterized using different language and methodologies. Reactions to trigger sounds range from anger and annoyance to activating a fight-or-flight response. The condition is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity syndrome. Common triggers include oral sounds (e.g., loud breathing, chewing, swallowing), clicking sounds (e.g., keyboard tapping, finger tapping, windshield wipers), and sounds associated with movement (e.g., fidgeting). Oftentimes, hated sounds are repetitive in nature. One study found that around 80% of the sounds were related to the mouth (e.g., eating, slurping, chewing or popping gum, whispering, whistling) and around 60% were repetitive.[2]
- Her locker number at Moordale Secondary was 513.[2]
- She, like Adam, watches the Kardashians.
- If Ruby eats anything before 10 AM, she vomits.
- Ruby's phone number is 07700 900436.
- After Ruby lost touch with Olivia and Anwar, she hung a photo of her and them on a mirror in her room.
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Promotional Images[]
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.jpg "Sex Education Season 2 Promo Photos (21).jpg (1.29 MB)")
.jpg "Sex Education Season 2 Promo Photos (25).jpg (6.3 MB)")
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