"I'm just glad we had the summer to settle in before Ruby starts school," Blake was saying. "I was worried you wouldn't be able to find a job to pay tuition."
"Oh ye of little faith," Yang said with a smile. "You underestimate my power. So now I'm employed, Ruby's registered for school—Ruby?" She turned around to look in the backseat, where Ruby kept the company of several grocery store plastic bags. But Ruby's face was glued to the window. At the entrance to the Walmart supercenter, there was a massive SUV gleaming white in the Georgia sun. A man got out of the passenger's side door and walked around to the backseat, opening the door, and a princess stepped out.
Ruby blinked. Okay, maybe not a real princess, but with her creamy pale skin, long white hair, white sundress—she was just really white. But not in the lifeless corpse way. She was white like whole milk, or vanilla ice cream. Ruby had never really seen a huge number of white people in the Bay Area. Most of her classmates were at least part Asian like her, or Latino. But here was a white person. A really white person. A surprisingly attractive really white person. The princess checked a silver watch hanging off her wrist and walked into the store.
"Earth to Ruby? What are you looking at?" Ruby's head whipped around, and a little drool hit Yang in the face. "Hey, what the fuck? You didn't have to spit on me." But Ruby couldn't hear. This was a small town. Somehow, she'd see that girl again.
"Class, meet Ms. Ruby Rose. She is a freshman who just moved here from San Bernardino, California." The teacher, a lobster-complected man named Mr. Jarvis, gestured broadly to the classroom, arm flab jiggling cheerfully, and beamed at Ruby.
"Wow, talk about bad taste," muttered someone in the back of the room, to general titters. Ruby looked out. There were more black people in this room than she'd ever met out in the Bay Area, a lot of spotty white kids, and a few people who were genuinely beautiful. Everyone's clothing put hers to shame. The private school style, she supposed.
"Ruby's schedule is as follows." Mr. Jarvis read off Ruby's classes. "Whose schedule is closest to this? Weiss?" Ruby looked out and saw the student the teacher had named. It was her. The princess. She looked a tad stricken, all things considered.
"Yes, ma'am." A voice to match the angels.
"Please accompany Ms. Rose to her classes for the day. Welcome her to our academy with full Beacon pride. Now, for today's lesson, please take out a sheet of notebook paper..." Ruby took a seat next to Weiss and dropped her Swiss Army backpack on the ground, producing the supplies Mr. Jarvis asked for.
"Hey, Weiss. I'm Ruby," she whispered. Weiss ignored her. She paused and took notes. Something about Ponce de Leon? "Hey!"
"I am trying to pay attention," Weiss said out of the side of her mouth. Ruby kept her silence after that until the bell rang to announce the next period. Then she shoved her spiral notebook back into her bag and a steady stream of verbiage came out of her mouth, seemingly without her control.
"Hi! I'm Ruby. What's it like here? I just arrived so I'm kinda nervous. What do people do for fun? Does it rain often? Does it snow here? I've never actually been to the East Coast before, it was such a long drive even though to be honest I slept through most of it and—"
"Ruby!" Weiss said. "Listen. I know you're a freshman, and I know you're pretty smart if you're in sophomore level classes. I know I was told to show you around. But that only means that you're going to follow me around until your big, fifteen-year old brain figures out the way. So stop talking to me about your life. I. Don't. Care." They made it to the next class—Algebra Two with Mrs. Freeman. "Now, please, shut up and let me attend the classes I am here for in peace." The floor tiles were white, speckled with blue and green flecks of some sort of paint. Ruby's black flats and tights loomed in her vision. She went to her desk.
It wasn't until the last bell rang that Ruby realized that this school wouldn't have buses. It was a private school, and Yang wouldn't get off of work until six o'clock...in three hours. She was fucked.
"Hey, Weiss?" she asked, following her out of the classroom. Weiss turned to her in aggravation.
"What?" she asked. "What could you possibly want from me at the end of the school day?" Weiss folded her arms, a sure sign that she didn't want to be listening even if she technically was by dint of having ears.
"Is there somewhere I can go for a while? I won't be able to get home for a few hours at least so I'm kind of stuck here." Weiss closed her eyes, appealing to higher powers for patience.
"Yes. I've got to stop by my locker first," Weiss said, and lead Ruby up a few flights of stairs until she reached it. Weiss had a bottom locker, which Ruby was surprised by despite herself, and from it Weiss produced a long sports bag. Weiss hadn't struck Ruby as an athletic type, but she supposed there was a first for everything. "Come on, let's go to the gym. Fencing practice starts in five."
"Fencing? What's fencing?" Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Just come on, you dolt." Ruby scurried after Weiss' back and into a locker room, where Weiss mechanically stripped. No one else was in the locker room, so it looked like Weiss was late. Ruby caught herself staring at Weiss thighs and turned to read the numbers off of the lockers behind her. Weiss set off for the gym without her, and Ruby barely squeezed her way through the door before it closed.
A bunch of people in the same white clothes as Weiss were sitting in a circle around someone standing up. A dark brown guy with light eyes and an easy smile, he looked up at the two girls and gestured to the circle.
"Hey, Weiss. And you, too, newcomer. Take a seat, we're just getting started." He turned to the assembled students. "Look, I know last year was rough. It was hard on all of us when Winter graduated, and I'll be the first to say that filling her shoes as Captain was a challenge I wasn't quite ready for. But this year, we're older and wiser. Weiss, the best of our freshmen from last year, is now all grown up and ready to lead JV. And this year we're hungry. So let's get to practice!" A few people cheered and split up into pairs, leaving the captain, Weiss, and Ruby, who was looking around the room.
"Wait, fencing is the sword thing? I know how to do that!" Ruby couldn't resist a few excited hops into the air.
"Oh, really?" asked the captain, with interest.
"Don't listen to her, Sage," Weiss said. "She's new here." Sage raised an eyebrow.
"So were you, once. If this girl says she knows how to fence, let's have her fence. What do you use, friend?" He extended a hand to shake, and Ruby pumped it fiercely.
"My name's Ruby!" Ruby said. "And I learned with epeé." Weiss's mouth fell open. "Do I need one of your white...uh... outfits?"
"Yeah, go get one of Weiss's spares," Sage said. "When you get back, Weiss will practice with you." He looked at Weiss as if to say, "See? What did I tell you about being nice to strangers?"
Ruby went to the locker room and grabbed one of Weiss uniforms. It was crisp and smelled freshly laundered, but the slight scent of leftover sweat and what was probably Weiss's perfume lingered. It was delicious, but Ruby forced herself to focus, pushing down the weird thoughts she kept having about Weiss. She took an epeé from the bottom of Weiss' bag and ran back into the practice room. Putting on a mask, she turned to face Weiss. Sage nodded.
"Start whenever you two are ready. Or...I guess...en garde..prêt...allez!" Weiss lunged immediately. Ruby retreated and went back to en garde. Weiss advanced slowly, on the attack again. Every time she attacked, Ruby either backed away or parried, but didn't go on the attack. Then she looked down at her epeé, switched it into her left hand, and lunged.
Everything changed. People stopped practicing to watch Ruby and Weiss, gathering around to watch their exchanges. Sage began to smile, watching Ruby go from stiff to loose and dart in towards Weiss again and again, pressing her back until making one final step and lunge. She missed by a hair, Weiss' epeé beating hers away and scoring a touch. They both tore off their helmets as soon as Weiss scored. Ruby's hair was plastered to her head, and she pushed it back from her forehead, her grin alive with a wickedness she shared with her teacher.
"Again?" she asked. Weiss nodded, and they put their helmets back on. Sage watched them line up, then clapped twice to get the spectators' attention.
"Show's over!" he said to the other students. "Go back to practicing!"
After the practice was over and everyone had hit the showers, Sage was waiting for Weiss in the hallway outside the girls' locker room. She tried to get past him, but he advanced on her anyway, smiling like the devil.
"So. Your new best friend is on the team now, right?" Weiss closed her eyes. The team needed Ruby. She sure as hell didn't, but the team did. Winter would never forgive her if Weiss didn't lead the team to victory this year.
"Sure," she sighed just as Ruby came out, hair still wet from her shower. "Ruby...hi. Let's go to the front of the school. I have a car waiting for me." Ruby scurried behind her, quickly returning Sage's cheery wave before catching up to Weiss.
"Hey, Yang is probably still at work," she began, but Weiss waved a hand at her.
"Don't worry," Weiss said. "I'll drive you home." They passed a display case full of trophies, gleaming behind glass. Winter was responsible for every little golden fencer in that case. And Weiss wanted some for herself. "You'll be joining the fencing team, right? I don't want to like...pressure you, but JV could really use your talent, and if you practice more you could easily be varsity by the end of the year. Besides, I can guarantee rides home, as much as you need them." By the time she stopped talking, Weiss knew by Ruby's smile that she'd promised too much.
"Seems fun! Plus, if you give me rides home, I won't have to worry about Yang getting off work in time. What days do you stay after school?" She pushed the double doors at the entrance of the school open for Weiss, who had stopped in front of them and waited.
"All of them," Weiss said. The white Escalade from the grocery store was parked outside, and they climbed in the backseat, Weiss first and Ruby second. A black cat sitting in the bushes by the entrance got up, and Ruby almost left the car to pet it, but Weiss asked for her address so she had to let it go.
The driver pulled away, and Ruby watched the area blur past her. They pulled into Ruby's driveway, which was a lot like Blake's old one: set deep behind a treeline. The name "Taurus" was still painted in red on the door from whoever the last owner was. The house was small—three bedrooms, two baths, a tiny kitchen—but it was brick, and more importantly, Blake's by inheritance. Weiss didn't seem impressed, but Ruby thanked her for the ride and went in.
There was a note from Blake on the counter. It said, 'Out of town on business. Call Yang ASAP. Eat whatever you want. -Blake'. Ruby grabbed her cell phone, one of three shitty prepaids they all shared the cost of minutes for, and put in Yang's number. Yang picked up on the second ring, and the sounds of heavy machinery preceded her voice.
"Hey, Ruby! God, I was worried sick. I'm really sorry for forgetting about the ride situation, I—"
"Don't worry!" Ruby chirped. "I made a friend and she's going to give me rides home from school. And I don't think she's the type to miss. But in case she ever does, I'll make a few more friends to pick up the slack." Yang paused.
"Okay." Ruby pumped a fist. Sisters were much cooler about things like this than dads.
"Talk to you later, Yang!"
"Yeah. Love you, lil sis." Yang always ended phone calls like that. She was worried that the last thing she ever said to a loved one would be, well, anything else. Ruby didn't share her anxiety, but she was never one to shy away from affection.
"I love you, too!" She hung up and went to the freezer. Lining it were frozen pizzas and about ten Hungry Man frozen dinners. "Aw, yes!" she said, and reached for a box.
