Kahlopatra

Kahlopatra is the femslash ship between Frida Kahlo and Cleopatra Smith from the Clone High fandom.

Season 2
LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN

Principal Scudworth, at the request of new superintendent Candide Sampson, creates an assembly bringing the previously frozen clones up to date on the fact that it is really 20 years in the future. Cleopatra learns that she has been replaced as student body president and most popular girl in school by Frida Kahlo. As Frida skates down the stairs of the auditorium to give a speech, Cleo stares at her in shock, confused as to how someone like Frida could have usurped her because of her looks, ones that don't fit Cleo's idea of what femininity looks like. She lightly heckles her during her speech because of her anger and frustration.

THE CROWN: JOANCOMING; IT'S A CLEO, CLEO, CLEO, CLEO WORLD

Homecoming is upon Clone High, and Candide finds a mysterious and magical crown from thousands of years prior. She has a plan to use it as the homecoming crown and then using it to mind control whichever clone is crowned Homecoming Queen. She brings up this idea with The Secret Board of Shadowy Figures and they agree to her proposition because they need a way to get into the minds of the clones to continue their mysterious Operation Spread Eagle. Candide and the Figures successfully also end up pinning any possible failure on Scudworth, which he obviously protests to.

At the actual homecoming assembly, JFK is crowned Homecoming King. Cleo is standing on stage expecting to win when Joan is called up from the audience to be told that she won for Homecoming Queen, when she wasn't even in the running. Cleo is devastated and runs off stage to cry in the bathroom when the audience heckles her with a rumor that Joan started about her to keep her from winning as Queen. Joan brings the crown she receives with her to the bathroom to find Cleo. The two argue and Joan tells Cleo that she didn't want to win anyway, and she tosses the crown into Cleo's hands. When Cleo puts it on, she is given the power of mind control and quickly starts making everyone in school act like her and serve her. Included in this group is Frida, who Cleo has painting her nails with Harriet. Frida tells Cleo under mind control that she is the most beautiful and fascinating person she's ever met.

SPRING BROKEN

The clones are on their way to their Spring Break at Arroyofest, a music festival taking place in the desert around the Arroyos, canals which frequently flood. The terrain the school bus is driving down is flimsy and next to a hill that has falling boulders, and a boulder falls and knocks the bus down a small canyon, wrecking it and stranding the clones and Scudworth, Butlertron and Candide in the desert with limited supplies and no cell phones to call for help. On the bus before the crash, Frida says that she likes one of the artists set to perform at Arroyofest, named Mila Brulee. Cleo hears her from the other side of the bus and says that she likes Mila Brulee too, and Frida tells her to come to sit with her so they can talk about it.

After the crash, the larger group splits into smaller groups for different goals; Cleo, Frida and Abe decide to just walk to Arroyofest, with Cleo and Frida bringing Abe along just because he's tall enough to support them on his shoulders when they do get the festival so they can see Mila Brulee better on stage. The three walk for a while in the heat, finally finding a wrecked car that Cleo proposes they find shade and rest in. As soon as they get into the car, Abe begins crying about how much he wishes Joan would be his friend again after their falling out in the previous episode. Cleo and Frida are annoyed, and they silently speak to each other in eyebrow language debating on leaving Abe behind. They agree to leave him to get to the festival in time for Mila Brulee's performance, and Frida tells Cleo how good she is at speaking in eyebrow language. Cleo is flattered. However, the three aren't separated for long because they are found by desert zombies and chased into a corner.

The clones eventually make it successfully to Arroyofest in time for Mila Brulee's performance. Frida and Cleo sit on Abe's shoulders as long as they can before he folds like an accordion and they speak in eyebrow language again. Frida suggests they manipulate one of the guards for backstage access to see Mila. Cleo asks how Frida knows her so well before they go, with Frida leading Cleo by holding her hand.

SEXY-ED

Frida tells Abe that he doesn't know how to talk to women, when Cleo comes up to her at her locker. Cleo says that she had fun with Frida at Arroyofest, and Frida's speech is jumbled as she's flustered. Abe says that he's never seen Frida so nervous, and playfully teases Frida that she has a crush on Cleo. Frida shushes him and insists that she doesn't, adding that she doesn't think Cleo is queer. She then turns back to face Cleo as she pulls out her lipstick and applies it sexually as she tells Frida that there's a French film about two 18th century countesses having a forbidden love that she wants to know if Frida will come see with her. Frida is nervous at the proposition and stupidly says that she's allergic to movies before running through the wall.

In the newly mandated sex-ed class, the teacher leaves the students to pair up for an assignment about a sperm entering an egg. Cleo looks at Frida at her desk and Frida is flustered again. The teens get up to choose their partners and Cleo comes up to Frida, asking if they could be partners. Frida freaks out and says she already has a partner in her backpack, before jumping inside and hiding in it. At lunch, the students are fed the common aphrodisiac food of oysters. Cleo and Frida sit together at the cafeteria eating a pile of oysters. Grabbing for the common pile between them, the two touch hands. Cleo remarks how she loves to eat oysters, mentioning that they are aphrodisiacs. Frida responds that she didn't know Cleo liked eating them, too, coded language implying that she didn't know that Cleo was also queer. Cleo then says that she used to think that her and Frida were diametrically opposed, but that she now thinks that they have a lot in common and that Cleo finds Frida one of the only people on campus that doesn't annoy her. Frida freezes up and runs off with another excuse that she has karate as Harriet and Confucius stop her to ask if her and Cleo want to go to the party they're having for couples to celebrate the two of them becoming a couple. Frida still runs off and Harriet suggests giving Frida the flier after her karate, but Cleo explains frustratingly that there is no karate and that Frida is just ignoring Cleo's advances.

At Harriet and Confucius's party, Cleo finds Frida standing alone on the balcony looking at the moon. Frida apologizes and says that she's taking up the whole balcony and begins to leave before Cleo asks how it's possible for Frida to not be attracted to her. The scene then suddenly turns into a dramatic black-and-white French film, where Frida explains in French that she is attracted to Cleo. Cleo asks in French why they're now speaking in French, and Frida tells her that it just feels right. Cleo asks Frida if she has feelings for her, and Frida says that she has so many, but that she was worried because she thought that girls like Cleo don't normally date girls like Frida. Cleo holds Frida's face and asks if by "girls like her" she meant talented, smart, and attractive girls. Frida asks if their romance will mess up their friendship, and Cleo assures Frida that she doesn't care about the lines between their friendship and a relationship. Frida tells Cleo that she has to paint her with her mouth, and they make out as the scene fades out.

CLONE ALONE

At the auditorium assembly to allow the clones to sign each other's yearbooks, Joan looks for one of the clones from the main group to sign hers. Unfortunately, she finds Frida and Cleopatra, as well as Harriet and Confucius, too busy making out to hear her. She asks Abe, but he is scared off by Topher's reminder of blackmailing him if he reveals his feelings for Joan. The janitor Glenn offers to sign Joan's yearbook, saying that she's a "lone wolf" like him. She tries to disagree as Candide gets the students' attention to start a musical number with Scudworth and Butlertron explaining college life. Candide ends by saying that there will be an entrance exam for the clones to get into "Clone High College" at lunch. The students run out hurriedly to prepare for the test.

At the lunch exam, Cleo and Frida sit next to each other, also with Harriet and Joan. Joan explains that she is worried that starting college will break the four of them up. Harriet assures her that they won't disband, calling them the "four amigas." Frida and Cleo join Harriet in soothing Joan's worries. It turns out that the entrance exam was just a ploy to get the clones all in one room, so that Candide can launch them in shuttles to an undisclosed location to participate in their real test, a "Death Maze." It is established that whoever gets to the end of the maze before time runs out will be enrolled in Clone High College. Holding hands, Frida and Cleo run with the other main clones to the gate to begin the maze. The cast ends up split into two groups that happen to be the boys, JFK, Confucius, Abe and Topher, and the girls, the four amigas.

Walking through the maze, Frida clings onto Cleo by wrapping her arms around her waist as they walk. Frida mentions to Harriet that she saw her dump Confucius at the gates for being too slow in getting into the maze. She applauds her conviction, but emphasizes that she could never do something similar to Cleo, who she calls "Clee Clee." Harriet tries assuring Frida that the breakup isn't affecting her in any way as they come across their first puzzle, a Scantron test bridge run by original series antagonist Scangrade. His first question to the girls is about what the basis of all strong female friendships is. Frida and Cleo hold each other as Cleo confidently answers that there is no such thing as a strong female friendship. She then corrects herself when the group is upset by her answer. Joan is able to figure out the correct answer, which allows all four amigas to pass to the next challenge.

The Secret Board of Shadowy Figures, with Candide and poorly disguised and uninvited Scudworth and Butlertron, watch the Death Maze in a sports bar-like location. The Figures soon become bored when the clones start working together instead of trying to sabotage and kill each other, and Candide decides to liven up the game a bit by activating the mind-controlled clones she had programmed in a previous episode, which include Topher and Marie Curie, who are both programmed to find clones nearby and try to kill them. Marie Curie finds the four amigas and uses brute strength to knock out Harriet and grab Joan and Cleo, pulling them towards a bottomless pit. The two both dangle on the edge, about to fall, as Frida comes to save them. She tries to pull them both up but only has the strength to rescue one of them. She chooses Cleo and pulls her safely back while letting Joan fall. Harriet runs up and cries against Cleo as Frida questions her choice. However, Joan doesn't die and she climbs her way back up out of the pit. From there, she gets upset at Frida for not choosing her to save over Cleo. Frida, wrapped back around Cleo again, explains that she couldn't have saved them both. She says that Cleo is the love of her life, and that Joan would have done the same for Abe or JFK if she were in Frida's position. Joan grows frustrated and believes she has been shut out of the group. She leaves on her own to win by herself. After Joan is gone, Cleo tells Frida that her arguing with Joan was hot.

Harriet, Frida and Cleo continue on their journey through the maze, traversing a dangerous tower. Cleo needs to stop after her ankle is hurting, while Harriet tells them that they need to keep moving before time runs out because she'll feel that she dumped Confucius for nothing if she doesn't make it to the end. Frida tells her to relax because Cleo needs her "mirror break." Harriet tells her that they'll never make it to college if they don't keep going, and Frida says that she doesn't see the point in college if she can't be there with the person she loves, hugging Cleo. Harriet watches the interaction and realizes that she made a mistake in breaking up with Confucius for the same reason. They then move forward into the maze to see that Confucius's fanny pack is laying in a pile of leaves. Harriet goes to retrieve it, but the pile of leaves is a trap that drops Harriet into a pit. Cleo says that it's just her and Frida as a swinging log pushes them both into the pit as well. Joan is hiding in a nearby bush and she is the one that both set up the traps and activated the one that knocked Frida and Cleo out of the competition. After being excluded from the four amigas, she fully becomes her "lone wolf" self and ferally knocks out everyone else in the competition to be the last one standing.

Joan wins the Death Maze competition, and Candide comes to greet her at the end and reveal Operation Spread Eagle to her, saying that she has shown herself to be worthy of the plan of being the next world leader. Candide tells her that all of the other clones are alive and well, but that they are in another room and about to have any memory of Joan completely erased. In the mind-wiping room, Frida and Cleo are sitting next to each other, chained to their desks. Joan fights back against Candide behind the scenes and tries to run to save her friends, but Candide starts the mind-wiping ray. Joan, Butlertron and Scudworth arrive at the room and shut down the ray, but the mind-wipe is over halfway complete. To bring back their memories of her, Joan plays them a DVD version of their yearbook. The photos in the DVD include Cleo and Frida riding on a purple dinosaur together and their first kiss. Unfortunately, Candide survives the beating she took from Joan and Scudworth and she limps in to show an alternate DVD, where Joan is seen rigging all the traps in the Death Maze. Frida and Cleo watch the clip of Joan creating and utilizing the log trap and gasp in anger.

Fanon
Kahlopatra has quickly grown to be a popular ship in the fanbase, despite the canonicity of the ship just recently being confirmed. With the ship being the second confirmed queer couple in Clone High history, the first one being JFK's foster dads (although there were rumors and hints from the writers of the original series which implied that Principal Scudworth and Butlertron were lovers), newer fans were drawn in instantly to the dynamic. Kahlopatra is the sixth most popular ship on the Clone High AO3 tag, also being the most popular ship for both character tags. The ship also boasts several works of fan art posted to Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Tiktok.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART

Trivia

 * The real life Frida Kahlo was rumored to be bisexual based on her close friendships and working relationships with other women artists in Mexico at the time.
 * The intro sequence for the second season features several events of foreshadowing for different relationships between characters. Included in those foreshadowing clips includes visuals of Frida and Cleo being torn from each other on the intro, perhaps foreshadowing an event in the upcoming third season.