If Blake could've had it her way, she most definitely would have prefered to stay home with a good book, a cup of tea, and a blanket to keep her warm. Weiss Schnee, richest girl in the world and the school's queen bee, had invited her to a huge end of the year party that was being thrown her at the luxurious Schnee estate. Although Blake was grateful for the invitation, she had no real intentions of going. Parties weren't really her thing and she honestly saw no point in lounging around in someone else's house when she could be doing the exact same thing at her own house, with the added bonus of there being no large crowds of people in her house.
Unfortunately, Blake's mother had met up with Weiss' mom while she was out shopping and of course Weiss' mom had to bring up the party that Weiss was going to throw for the end of the year and of course, she had asked if Blake needed a ride considering her daughter had extended an invitation to her. Now Blake had to go because "friends don't invite you to their parties just for you to not end up going!" her mother had told her when Blake asked why she was being forced to go. So here she was, hiding in one of the corners of Weiss' mansion, watching awkwardly as other kids her age mingled and danced to the beat of the music playing from the speakers.
It wasn't like Blake hated Weiss. Sure they had a bit of a mutual hatred in the beginning of the school year but they had gotten over that and actually became pretty close. She just wasn't a party person. Weiss knew that of course but still invited her simply because it was a polite gesture, it wasn't like she thought Blake was actually going to show up or was anticipating her arrival with baited breath. She understood Blake's stance on parties and had learned not to be insulted when Blake turned down her invites.
Speaking of the ivory-haired socialite, Blake had attempted to greet her when she arrived but quickly noticed Weiss was busy entertaining the guests and making sure her little brother, Whitley, wasn't going around bothering the party-goers or just being a nuisance in general. In spite of how busy she was, Weiss happily mingled with her guests, exchanging pleasantries and engaging in small talks with her companions. She just seemed so alive in all the chaos.
Blake was a bit envious of Weiss in that regard. Whereas Blake was easily overwhelmed by crowds and large gatherings,Weiss strived in social events, even when she had to take on the role of a hostess. No matter what was going on, she kept her poise and grace. Some might even say that parties intensified all those attributes. Blake doubted that the white-haired beauty queen ever felt like a fish out of water whenever she went to parties. Or hosted them from the looks of it.
Before Blake could sink even further into her unintentional self-loathing,she was shaken from her thoughts by the feeling of a hand on a shoulder. She turned and saw her best friend and pest Sun Wukong, the muscular blonde haired boy gracing her with his trademark smile. Blake had to admit that she could see why most of the girls in school were smitten with him.
"Kitten! I didn't know you were coming! How's it going!" When they had first started hanging out, Blake had detested that nickname. Nowadays she rather liked it. After all, who wouldn't want to be a cat?
"Don't talk to me like that, Sun. Wouldn't want your fangirls to think we're a couple again." To anyone else, that might've sounded harsh, rude even, but luckily Sun was more aware of when Blake was joking than most people.
"Don't worry, they're actually kinda into it now. They even have a ship name for us! Black Sun! Doesn't that sound cool as shit!?" In an instant, Blake felt ten times more comfortable than she had been when she first arrived at the party, smiling as Sun went on about getting t-shirts with the name printed on it. Sun's positive energy and optimism was a great contrast to her own pessimism and negative attitude toward social events, and he always seemed to know just what to say to make her feel better. She was glad that she had someone to talk to in the sea of unfamiliar faces that surrounded her. After Sun had calmed down a bit, he continued, "So back to the topic at hand, how are you liking the party?" Sun's tone made it seem as though he was being genuine, but Blake had known Sun long enough to know that he was already aware of the answer.
"Uh…...it's great. I guess."
"You hate it here, don't you?" He deadpanned.
Blake winced. "I don't hate it. I just…..would rather be at home. Where it's just me. And my books. Alone." Don't get her wrong,Blake liked to go out but her version of going out involved a small group of people she actually knew and activities that didn't include dancing in front of strangers and talking to people whose names she could never remember even if she tried. "My mom made me come. I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do." With that, Blake shot Sun a look that she hoped conveyed how uncomfortable she was in this situation.
"First, tell Kali I said hi! Second, there's no use crying over spilled milk. I know you didn't want to come but you're here now! There's nothing else you can do outside of just going with the flow." Blake huffed, "Easy for you to say, you're "Mister Cool", you love parties. I've never known you to not like partying." Blake wasn't exaggerating, Sun's social media was flooded with pictures of him at multiples parties having the time of his life, tagged with multiple people. And even if she was the type to believe everything she saw online, Blake had enough first-hand experience of how wild Sun could get at parties whenever she was forced to pick him up when he allowed himself a little too much to drink.
Sun opened his mouth like he was going to argue but then closed it, more than likely realizing that what she said was most definitely true. So instead he looked to the ceiling clearly allowing himself to get lost in his thoughts. "Oh no." Blake griped inwardly. Now despite the consensus that Sun was an idiot, the blonde actually was pretty smart, he just didn't like using his head all that much. When asked about it, he said that thinking wasn't fun to him and he had a rule about not doing things he didn't find fun. When he did apply himself, the results were staggering to say the least. So knowing that he was using his brain to solve this situation, Blake knew that whatever it was would probably work but that she ultimately wouldn't like it.
Sure enough,when Sun was done he shot his raven-haired companion a look that meant that she was most likely screwed. "Since it's clear that I can't tell you how to have a good time. I'll make you." He pointed in Blake's direction, "You are forbidden from interacting with me for the rest of this party. Don't look at me, don't talk to me, don't even glare in my direction. If you try, I'll just ignore you and pretend you don't exist."
Blake was aghast, "Sun?! Why are being a jerk?!" She didn't want to admit it but she was suddenly gripped with the knowledge that she wouldn't have Sun to help her make it through this party. And that terrified her.
"I know you think I'm being mean but I'm trying to help you!" Angered, Blake tried to respond to that but Yang raised his hand to cut her off before she could get a chance, "Blake, you're my best friend and I hate how you don't get to let anyone else see how amazing you are. Everyone thinks you're some arrogant bitch who thinks she's better than people and I hate that I can't do anything to make them think otherwise! All I want is for at least one person at this party to go away knowing the real you not that biased personality they made up for you. Is that too much to ask?!"
Blake had prepared herself to go on a tirade but after hearing Sun's heartfelt explanation, she couldn't help but consider the information he had relayed to her. Blake knew about all the rumors spread about her but she honestly couldn't care less. She was used to people talking about her so it didn't hurt her as much. She was used it. It did hurt to see how strongly Sun felt about the rumors though. The boy always had a kind heart but seeing how he was crushed by how poorly his peers thought of her and hearing about his desire for everyone to see her that way Sun saw her made Blake wonder if she was really going to die if she spent one party fending for herself and making friends. At the very least, she should try. For Sun's sake.
"Fine. I'll leave you alone and make some friends. But if things get too weird I'm sitting by a wall until the party's over. Agreed?" With that, she extended her hand to Sun, who shook it with vigor, his gorgeous smile slowly easing his way back to his face.
"Agreed!"
-
This was a stupid idea.
30 minutes into their agreement, and Blake had managed to make not even one friend. It wasn't like she wasn't trying. Oh, she was trying. Fate just wanted to be a dick tonight apparently.
She had two different encounters for the night, each one more awkward than the first person she interacted with was a boy named Ren. They had math class together and Blake thought he didn't seem that bad so she decided to start a conversation. However, it was becoming painfully obvious that neither was very good at the whole "socializing" thing. Not to mention that he spent most of the time gazing in the direction of some couple nearby, his expression a mix between jealousy and sadness. Sensing the tension in the air, Blake excused herself, not that Ren had noticed, his attention still on the couple across the room.
Then there was Neptune, who Blake was surprised to see. Neptune was Sun's other best friend and she often saw them go the gym together. He was also Weiss' unofficial boyfriend. Unofficial because despite the fact that nearly everyone knew Weiss and Neptune were going steady, Neptune preferred to see himself as a free agent and he had a very bad habit of going after other girls, usually while on dates with had the misfortune of always being the one Weiss called whenever Neptune had decided to check out some girl who worked at whatever public establishment they went to on their dates,often having to combat exhaustion while trying to calm down the distraught girl on the other line. Usually, Weiss would ignore Neptune for about a week before the boy did something sweet and romantic to make up for whatever he had done and they were back together. However, their last breakup was a bit more intense than usual.
A week ago Blake got a call at 1 in the morning from an anguished Weiss who rehashed to her about finding Neptune making out with the girl from the snack stand when they went to see a drive-in movie. Furious, Weiss chewed him out and brought up the fact that his blatant cheating was a constant problem and she was getting sick of it. To make matters worse, the other girl told Weiss that she and Neptune had been dating for a couple of months with the girl mentioning that Neptune had told her he wasn't seeing anyone when they first met. Needless to say, Weiss had it with Neptune, and she broke up with him for good.
Then she had to be an unwilling witness to one of their fights the next day when, during a session of romantic comedy watching and ice cream eating to cheer up her friend, Neptune had turned up to Weiss' house (read:mansion) to explain himself, claiming that it was all just a huge misunderstanding and that he only had eyes for her. Let's just say that with the amount of expletives that came out of Weiss' mouth and her promise to shove things up his anus if he ever had the gall to approach her again, Blake didn't think she'd invite him to her party. She especially didn't think he would actually show up.
She considered ignoring him out of respect for Weiss but given that even bad company was company (and that Weiss was way too busy to pay attention to who she was talking to), she hung out with him for a while. Everything was going fine until he started to distance himself and act as though they weren't in the middle of a conversation. Blake was wondering what happened, when she caught a glimpse of white hair out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Weiss had made her way to this area of the party and was in deep conversation with a couple of girls from their class. Ah, now she understood. It seemed that Neptune was here to try and make amends and understandably Weiss catching him talking to another girl after everything that had happened wouldn't do him any favors. Deciding to have pity on the guy, she gave him a knowing look and walked off in another direction.
Blake was starting to lose faith in herself after a while. Granted, she knew that she wasn't going to automatically make a new friend and was mostly in it to please Sun but it seemed like every person here had more important issues to deal with than befriending the girl who usually never bothered to speak to anyone else. She really wanted to fulfill her promise to Sun but at this rate she was about to end up as friendless as she was before she came to the party.
"Hey, you okay? You look like someone told you your mom died." A concerned voice behind Blake snapped her out of yet another melancholy stupor.
She turned to make eye contact with the person who addressed her and had to remember to how to breath. The girl in front of Blake was breathtaking (no pun intended). She had long luxurious blonde hair that cascaded down her back, a curvaceous yet leanly muscular body, and an overall friendly look on her (very pretty) face. Realizing that she was spending an inordinate amount of time gawking at the blonde bombshell in front of her, Blake decided to engage in what she hoped would be intelligent conversation.
"Uh, I'm good…..ish." So intelligent, Blake thought bitterly. "I'm Blake Belladonna."
"Nice to meet ya, Blake! Name's Yang Xiao Long." If Blake had a drink, she would have done a spit take. This girl couldn't possibly be the Yang Xiao Long?
Even though this was the first time that Yang and Blake had ever met each other, Blake had heard a lot about her. From driving a motorcycle to school to picking fights with anyone who thought they had enough balls to take her to sneaking into nightclubs on a regular basis, Yang was pretty much the embodiment of the typical devil-may-care high school delinquent Blake had no intentions of associating with. When Blake had first heard about Yang and all the wild things she had done, she thought Yang was a troublemaker with no cause and took great lengths to avoid interacting with her.
However, Blake had to admit that Yang's current appearance and demeanor was a far cry from the mental image Blake had crafted of her inside of her head. When Blake thought about it, Yang reminded her of a protagonist from one of those animes that Sun would have her watching whenever he came over. All boundless optimism and positive energy. Deciding that the girl in front of her seemed harmless enough, Blake decided to give her a chance, "So, how's life?" At that, the blonde started to laugh and Blake briefly wondered if the other was mocking her.
"I'm sorry but you reminded me of my little sister for a second! You're almost as awkward around people as she is." Yang shook her head and shot Blake a friendly look that made her heart pound. Why did Yang have to be so pretty? Ignoring the heat growing in her cheeks, Blake shrugged her shoulders, "Well, it sounds like your sister has the right idea. I'm only here because my mother wanted me to come." In spite of herself, Blake felt as though she could be open around Yang. It had to be some big sister aura thing. Yang placed a sympathetic hand on Blake's shoulder. "Yeah, moms can be so pushy sometimes. My mom once made me go out on my bike to get groceries when I told her that it needed repairs. Then when I got into a crash-nothing too bad, mind you- my other mom yelled at me!" Blake laughed quietly but stopped when she realized something.
"You have two moms?"
Blake had nothing against same-sex parents but she had definitely heard some teachers complain that Yang took after her father. Yang chuckled a bit, "I have a mother and a stepmother. My mom and our dad are divorced but they still spend so much time together I just considered all three of them married!" This time both girls laughed and Blake felt her initial nervousness melt away.
The two girls had found a couch to sit on and continued to talk for the rest of the party. They talked about everything from ex-boyfriends (this was the first time she could talk about Adam without cringing in embarrassment), to hilarious dad moments (Blake laughed as Yang told her about how she had tricked her dad into going outside in a French maid costume), to just regular life shenanigans. They were having such a good time that they didn't even notice that the party had ended and everyone was leaving until Weiss came over and told them that if unless they wanted to help clean up, they needed to leave.
Both agreeing that cleaning up a huge mansion was far from a fun way to spend the rest of the night, the two girls got up from the couch and headed towards the exit. Blake looked back and noticed that Neptune was still hanging around the house, which meant that he either found a way to win Weiss back or simply waited until the party was over to save himself the embarrassment should their conversation take a rather sour turn. Either way, she hoped that she didn't have to expect a midnight phone call later on. She really needed her beauty sleep.
Finding themselves on Weiss' front lawn, Blake got a text from Sun. Apparently, he had spent the remainder of the party chilling out with a couple of his fellow gym rats and was currently waiting for her in his car so he could take her home. Knowing that school was over and it would likely be a couple of months before they saw each other again, Blake thought about asking for Yang's number but hesitated. Sure they were having fun now but what if it was only because Yang had no one else to talk to? Would they still have as much fun hanging out if it was outside a party setting? Not wanting to risk finding out and ruining her surprisingly good night, she decided against it.
"Thanks for the conversation. Soo, guess I'll see you around…..."
As she was starting to walk towards Sun's car, Yang pulled on her arm, causing Blake to yelp. Before she could complain, she felt Yang write something on her arm in what she hoped was a washable marker. When Yang let her go, sure enough, there were numbers along her arm ending with a heart in black ink. "Sorry about that," Yang walked over to her motorcycle and put on her helmet. "I wanted to give you my number so we could hang out more over the summer, if you want to of course."
Blake was speechless as Yang started her motorcycle and eased her way on to the street. " Well, this is my cue to leave.I'll see you around, babe!" With a wink, Yang lowered the visor on her helmet and sped off into night leaving Blake with a dazed expression and a flushed face, trying to comprehend the series of events that took place mere seconds ago.
For a moment, Blake just stared after Yang as she disappeared into the night. After finally coming to her senses and realizing that standing around on Weiss' lawn made her look like a jackass (and probably a creepy stalker as well), Blake made her way to Sun's car. The blonde was busy on his phone when she silently eased into the passenger's seat. When he was finished, he started the car, backed out of the driveway and began to make the journey to Blake's house.
"I noticed you hanging out with Yang all night. Did you have fun?" Sun inquired as they were cruising down the road. Pondering his question, Blake looked down to her arm where the numbers were still boldly inked on her skin, a reminder that everything that happened did indeed happen. Despite not even wanting to be there in the first place, she did feel grateful that her mom and best friend had pushed her to go the party and meet new people. After all, if it weren't for them, she would have never had made friends with Yang. Not that she'd admit that to them, though.
"I had an okay time."