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Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.
Taking Chances
Chapter 1. The New Girl
Blake loved mornings almost as much as she loved evenings.
Mainly, her appreciation for those particular times of day was tied to the silence and tranquility that came along with them.
In the evening hours, everyone on campus was drowsy and exhausted from their classes, hence the relative silence that came hand in hand with the mutual fatigue shared by the college students.
Similarly, in the morning, everything was placid, at least in the hours before the alarm clocks started going off, and the cell phones started buzzing.
The earliest classes Vale University offered began at 8AM sharp, and even the most studious of people never woke much earlier than 7:30.
Which was why it was Blake's pleasure to set her alarm for 7, simply so she could laze around in bed for a while before things started to get busy around the dorm rooms. She never ceased to enjoy savoring the calmness of the morning, no matter how rainy or sunny it might've been. She just really loved that silence, that peace and quiet she could relish before having to get out of bed for classes.
And of course, the weekend mornings were even better, because on those days, she could enjoy herself even longer without the stress or worry regarding having to wake up and make it to classes on time.
But she was only that lucky about half the time.
The other half, there was always a telltale sign that it was the weekend.
Or, more often than not, there were two signs.
Blake hadn't even opened her eyes yet this morning when she tried to roll over in her bed and discovered that she couldn't. Her Faunus ears flicked in mild irritation at the sounds of familiar, guttural snores.
Not again...
Heaving a sigh, she blinked herself awake to find a scene she already knew all too well.
The first thing she heard might've been Yang, but the first thing she saw was Ruby, curled up with her head tucked beneath Blake's chin. The youngest sister was still dozing peacefully, and immensely more quietly than her elder sister was.
Another loud snore right behind her ears caused Blake to jolt and stiffen, her nails inadvertently digging into Ruby's shoulders. The brunette moaned and started to stir, her eyebrows knit tightly together.
"Owie..."
Releasing a sigh, Blake loosened her hold on the girl and offered a raspy apology.
"Sorry. Your sister scared me."
"Uuu, Yaaaang..." Ruby whined. "Stop snoriiiiiing! Let Blake and me sleep a while longer!"
But her sister was still dead asleep and only continued to snore.
Blake flinched again as Yang shifted, consequently pushing all of her weight against the Faunus girl's back. The push meant that Ruby was given a good shove, which almost sent her reeling off the edge had it not been for Blake's quick thinking and tight hug to prevent it.
"Yang!" Ruby barked. "Wake uuuup!"
Blake wiggled herself a bit so she could lightly jab her elbow into the blonde girl's stomach. The snore she'd been in the middle of cut off halfway with a whimper and a groan.
"Ow... the heck was that for?"
"For almost pushing me off the bed and giving me a concussion!" Ruby cried.
"Huh? Oh..." Upon opening her eyes, Yang realized what kind of position the three of them were in, and just how advantageous her own was. "Sorry." She rolled over onto the more spacious side of the bed, then looped her arms around Blake's stomach to pull her back towards the middle. Ruby sighed with relief as she was moved back to a more solid spot on the mattress as well. Blake let her go and turned to lie on her back, glaring up at the ceiling.
"Why did you guys sneak in here again? I could've sworn I locked the door last night..."
"Gotta do better than that to keep us away!" Yang declared.
"That's right!" Ruby added. "Plus it's Saturday today, so what's the harm, right? Your bed is bigger than both of ours combined, Blake!"
"I know, I know..."
Blake had known the Rose-Xiao Long sisters for many years. They'd been friends back in high school, where she'd attended classes with Yang in the same year, and Ruby was a few grades below them.
Being neighbors at the time, they'd often spent their free time together, rode the same bus to school, and generally saw a lot of each other.
When Blake and Yang had graduated, they'd both been surprised to find that Ruby hadn't been far behind. She'd been allowed to skip a grade, and was now attending the same college as her older sister and best friend.
While Blake and Yang were sophomores in college now, Ruby was technically a freshman, but some impressive scores on previous years of testing had allowed her to reach the level equivalent of a sophomore as well.
Ruby and Yang had gotten a 2-person bedroom right next to Blake's single-bed room. The two separate rooms each had their own bathrooms, but shared a connecting door in between them, making them neighbors and nothing short of roommates.
Ruby and Yang had bunk beds, both of which were rather small.
Meanwhile, Blake had been given a king-sized bed and a room all to herself. She hadn't requested it to be this way or paid extra for such a blessing, but had simply been lucky enough to be on the generous receiving end of this fluke.
So naturally, her two best friends tended to share the spoils with her whenever they could.
Blake had never actually locked them out, not unless she'd had a particularly bad day and had specifically told them she wanted to be alone. They always respected her request during those times.
But any other time, they often ended up sneaking into Blake's room to share her luxurious bed.
Of course, Blake didn't let them do so for free. Once they all got out of bed, all three of them had to help make it neat again and take turns changing sheets and doing the laundry.
Today was Blake's turn to do the laundry, so she didn't waste too much time lounging around in bed. She soon sat up, running her hands through her unkempt hair (though it wasn't half as bad as Yang's) and stretched herself out. She carefully climbed over Ruby who then rolled over to shake her sister.
"Yang, come ooooon, we gotta get up so Blake can do the laundry!"
"Seriously, Yang. I've gotta get there early or else I'll be on line for an hour."
"All right, all right."
Yang grabbed her little sister into a bear hug, making Ruby squeal as she was suddenly brought to rest on top of her. Ruby started to tickle her as Yang sat herself up and smooched her little sister's forehead.
Together, they climbed out of Blake's bed and helped her strip the sheets and blankets off, then folded them up neatly into the laundry basket.
"Thanks, guys," Blake said, picking up the basket. "I'll go bring this down."
"Let us come with you!" Ruby chirped. "We can pick up breakfast on the way back!"
"Good idea," Yang said.
The three of them decided to freshen up a bit in their respective bathrooms and to change out of their sleepwear and into more casual, but less personal outfits.
Once they were all ready, the three of them left their rooms together, with Blake holding onto the laundry basket, and a sister at each of her sides.
As they walked down the halls of the dorm room, bound for the laundry room, the girls chatted idly about what they wanted to do today.
Ruby debated what to get for breakfast, Yang remembered she had an assignment she still needed to do, and Blake offered to help her out with it a bit, which earned her a grateful hug from the side that nearly caused her to drop the basket.
They'd only made it to the end of the hallway when the trio realized things were much livelier today than they typically were this early on a Saturday morning in the girls' dorm room. There were people - both human and Faunus - standing out in the hallway, chittering and murmuring. Some sounded excited, others not so much.
Blake couldn't help it when her ears perked and naturally picked up on what the others were saying.
"Did you hear about the new girl?"
"She's transferring in now? It's like... the middle of the semester, though! How is she gonna catch up?"
"I think she's a prodigy or something."
"Not a prodigy. Just rich as hell. Her daddy will probably pay for her to get all the credits she needs and graduate early."
It was clear that there was a new student on campus, and not everyone was thrilled about it.
Blake and the others paused for a moment, unable to fend off their curiosity.
"What's going on?" Ruby wondered. "A new girl?"
"Sounds like it," her sister mumbled. "Oh, hey, Pyrrha!" Yang called out when she spotted her good friend coming towards them down the hall. Blake peered over her basket of laundry and watched as the red-haired girl smiled kindly and went to Yang.
"Good morning, you three! Have you heard the news? Someone new just came in."
"Why's it such a big deal?" Yang wondered. "Is she famous?"
"Well, perhaps something like that," Pyrrha agreed. "She's Weiss Schnee."
Ruby, Blake, and Yang recognized the name instantly and were surprised to hear it.
"Weiss Schnee?" Blake parroted. "The girl whose father owns all those jewelry stores in town? Schnee Diamonds is a huge company."
"No wonder she can just jump into the semester halfway through," Yang said. "Guess she can afford it."
"I heard she's kinda mean..." Ruby fretted. "People say she yells a lot."
Pyrrha shrugged and tried to keep her expression neutral.
"Well, I've heard the rumors too, but I don't think it's very fair to write someone off before you get to know them."
Blake nodded right away.
"I agree. We should make our own judgements once we've given her a fair enough chance."
"Yeah, I hear that," Yang said. "If we run into her, we'll just say hi!"
"And hopefully she won't yell at us," Ruby mumbled.
"Well, don't give her a reason to," Yang advised.
They chatted a moment longer with Pyrrha, until Blake's arms started to tremble and she had to put the laundry basket down. Pyrrha quickly apologized for holding them back, wished them a good day, and then hurried off down the hall.
The trio continued making their way to the stairs, then headed down to the bottom floor where the laundry room was located. As Blake had expected, there was already a crowd of people that had gathered, and she heaved a sigh in knowing she'd have to wait her turn to get to the machines.
However, it was soon made clear that the bustling groups of girls weren't here just to do laundry.
Again, Blake's ears picked up on their whispers.
"That's her!"
"God, she looks so mean!"
"She's probably just like her dad..."
The final comment had been muttered by a fellow Faunus, which made it all too clear who they were talking about.
"Hey!" Yang said in a hushed voice. "I think that's the new girl Pyrrha told us about!"
"Where, where?" Ruby jumped up and down and followed the path of Yang's pointer finger.
Blake paused and did the same, peering through the familiar girls of their dorm room. She looked past the casual clothes and varying hair colors, her gaze naturally being drawn to the person who stood out the most.
Weiss Schnee may have been small in stature, but her presence was nothing short of grand.
She was wearing a formal-looking white dress lined with blue fabrics, along with fancy shoes and several pieces of jewelry, no doubt from her own family's line of production. Her dazzling white hair was tied into a neat, tight ponytail, and she held herself with confidence and poise, her posture erect and chin held high.
There were several older women who were clearly her maids clearing a path in front of her, all of whom were rolling large suitcases behind them.
If there was one way to cause a commotion at 8AM on a Saturday in the girl's dormitory, it was a famous girl making an entrance like this.
Blake had heard about how the Schnee family's discrimination against Faunus. It was rumored that they often chased Faunus customers out of their stores whilst shouting profanities at their backs, declaring that Faunus weren't deserving or wealthy enough to be able to afford their expensive jewels.
Blake knew she had every reason to get out of this girl's way, lest she get a law suit thrown in her face. Had she been a lesser girl, she might've dropped her laundry at Weiss' shoes and have her fall flat on her face due to an unfortunate accident.
But Blake didn't have the time or luxury to entertain either of those thoughts. Because as the infamous girl passed her by, all she could do was stare.
Rendered utterly speechless by Weiss' beauty, Blake could only gape as the white-haired girl strutted by. She quickly tried to make an effort at closing her mouth, or at the very least hide herself behind the basket of laundry she was carrying. Still, she couldn't stop herself from peeking over the top to watch the girl as she passed by.
N-No! Blake shook her head instantly. What am I thinking? I haven't even met her yet! I mean, sure she's gorgeous, but people say her personality isn't all that great.
But as far as the girl's physical appearance went, Blake knew she was smitten. Her clothes, her skin, her hair...
But none of those compared to her eyes.
It was likely an inadvertent movement, but Weiss ended up turning her face to the side just perfectly enough so that her gaze met Blake's, just for a second.
Blake got lost in them, two pools of wintery blue, a light pink scar running down her left cheek. Her eyes were narrowed, but Blake could tell the glare probably wasn't personally meant for her.
Weiss' expression was likely just stern due to the stress of having to move in and get herself situated here at such an inconvenient time.
Her intense gaze both captivated and startled Blake. A hot flash of nervousness shot through her chest just as Weiss turned away and continued forward behind her maids.
Someone must have bumped into Blake's shoulder then, because she stumbled gracelessly forward, and with a yelp, crashed into a pile of her own laundry. While the bed sheets had saved her from a particularly painful fall, she could still feel the edge of the basket digging into her ribs.
"Ow..."
Whatever mystified trance she'd been under had vanished along with Schnee's daughter, leaving Blake now in an unscrupulous tangle of hair and sheets.
Ruby and Yang were at her side in an instant.
"Blake! Are you okay?"
"Easy there!"
As Yang picked her friend up and helped smooth out her clothes, Ruby scooped all the laundry back into the basket. Blake shook herself off, unable to keep her eyes from straying back down the hall the way that white ponytail had gone-
"Hey, you listenin' to me?" Yang waved a hand in front of Blake's face, effectively blocking her view and forcing her to give the blonde girl her full attention.
"What? I mean, yeah. I'm fine."
"I'll bet you are." A knowing smirk spread across Yang's lips as she leaned in and husked into her friend's ear. "After all, nothin' feels better than those butterflies when you've just seen a pretty girl, huh?"
"Wh-What?" Blake took a step back, both incredulous and embarrassed that Yang had found her out already. So naturally, Blake denied it. "Yang, you're crazy."
"So are you. Crazy in love~"
"I am not!" Cheeks flaring and ears flattening, Blake grabbed the basket of laundry only to hurl a sheet over Yang's head. Yang laughed from beneath it as she freed herself.
"All right, all right. I'll keep my mouth shut, Miss Sensitive~"
"Yang-"
"You're too damn cute, Blake." The blonde girl winked at her before pointedly changing the subject. "Anyways, guess we should get all this laundry done now, huh?"
"Yeah!" Ruby piped. "Then we can get some breakfast! I'm starving now! I hope they have chocolate-chip muffins!"
"If they don't, then you can just get raisin," Yang teased.
"Eeeew! Don't even joke like that, Yang!"
As the sisters went off on their little squabble, Blake begrudgingly made her way to one of the free machines to start stuffing laundry inside. She was thankful that Yang had changed the subject quickly and hadn't said anything embarrassing loudly enough for anyone else to hear.
But Blake knew that if she ever found herself alone with Yang now that she'd be subjected to a lot of teasing.
How the hell did she even catch on? I only even looked at that girl for five seconds! I wasn't being that obvious, was I?
She tried to comfort herself with the thought that Yang was probably just abnormally perceptive as an older sister, and that no one else had realized how smitten Blake had been.
I'm just making a big deal out of this. It was probably nothing. I'm just hungry and tired, so seeing that new girl was a surprise to me, so naturally I stared at her.
And just because she's pretty doesn't mean I like her. There are a lot of girls on campus who I think are pretty. I'm not blind. It's not a crime to stare at someone who's obviously good-looking. I don't like her. I was just making an observation and appreciating how nice she looked. That's all.
And as Blake packed all of her laundry into the machine, she didn't really think about the copious amount of excuses she was making to herself in order to prove that she wasn't at all interested in the new girl.
A/N: Sorry about the lack of editing/spacing at the end there! I'd edited the document and saved it, but I guess the final save didn't go through before I posted it the first time. But rest assured it's fixed now!
Anyway, someone is in denial, oh my~ There will be at least 2 more chapters of this as the patron's reward for future months, so look forward to more!
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