A/N: wow, I haven't had to write one of these in a while, but in this instance I believe it's recommended and sort of required to a fault based on the material, so bear with me for this.
This upcoming story will include elements that some people may be uncomfortable with/disturbed by, and I must advise reader discretion in this instance, since I'd rather not be the cause of freak outs and break downs, including multiple forms of bullying, possible suicidal thoughts, and who knows what else.
I know that this is a pretty fine line to walk, and I hope that people understand that I'm not covering this topic lightly, or sugar-coating anything that people have to go through with this source material, so if you want to hate me for this, I understand.
With all that said, how about we finally get started.
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A groan escaped from the lump curled up under the blankets as the sun shone in through the nearby window, and despite her best attempts at getting back to sleep, 15-year old prodigy Ruby Rose found herself fully awake, and being forced to greet a new day.
The effort to pull herself out of bed appeared to be out of her reach at first glance, as she really didn't want to have to climb out of her warm cocoon and deal with the ever intensifying cold of the winter months that had been hammering Beacon academy, but she had classes to unfortunately attend later today, and even then she knew that if she didn't get up that her big sister would be coming over and making sure that she would be ready for the day whether the black-haired girl liked it or not.
Sighing aloud as she threw off her covers and all but forced herself to climb to a sitting position and throw her legs over the side of the bed, Ruby felt a shiver run through her body as her feet touched the cold hard wood floors of her dorm room, making the girl consider giving up and going back to bed. She had at least put in the effort to getting up, so the world couldn't ask for much more from her, right?
No such luck for the girl apparently, as her older sister chose that moment to burst into her room like a wildfire, her long blonde hair bouncing behind her as she stepped into the room like she owned the place, smiling that megawatt smile that could light up a room, but Ruby hid her dread of.
"Good morning my beautifully gifted baby sister!" Yang announced as loudly as she could manage, her smile getting bigger if possible as she noticed her so-called baby sister was actually already up for a change, and walked over to pull the half-asleep girl into a hug that the dark-haired girl was too tired to try and fight off.
Spinning the smaller girl around in her arms with a laugh, Yang was in an especially bright mood this morning as she finally set her baby sister back down on her bed before moving over to the girls closet and almost ripping it open as she started to look through the younger girls clothing for something the girl could wear today.
Lifting up a hand to cover her mouth as she yawned, Ruby allowed her sister to do as she pleased for now, since she knew fighting with the girl would take more energy than she had at the moment as her body moved lethargically while she did her best to wake up. Much as she would have preferred to get going for the day at her own pace, Yang meant well, and Ruby did at least appreciate the fact her sister was doting on her, considering she had seen plenty of other siblings that barely spent any time together.
"You should probably go for something warm today, since I heard from Blake-y that it's supposed to be especially cold, and you've got to wander all across campus to get to your different classes" She overheard Yang muttering to herself, though her mind barely registered the words as she watched the blonde pull out a dark green sweater and the younger girl's favourite black-and-red hoodie.
"Yang, I can get dressed by myself, I'm not a baby anymore" Ruby finally managed to complain loud enough for the fair-haired girl to overhear her, but it appeared that Yang chose to ignore Ruby's comment as she grabbed a pair of jeans and brought them over to lay on the bed next to the younger girl.
Ruby found herself absolutely mortified when Yang marched over to the girl's dressed and began digging through it in search of underwear for the teenager. She knew that her face was bright red as she watched Yang doing her own thing, and though she wanted to chastise the girl for it, she couldn't quite form the words as she spluttered incoherently on the bed.
"Geez little sister, don't you have any clothes with sex appeal?" Yang commented as she pulled out one of Ruby's many pair of plain black panties and turned to show it off to the younger girl "how are you ever going to get a guy if you don't show off what mom and dad gave ya!"
"I don't want to show off anything Yang" Ruby mumbled under her breath, looking away from the older girl and trying to will herself to calm down. The blonde obviously didn't catch what she had said, as she finally settled on the black pair that she had been looking at, along with a matching bra, and paraded them across the room back to Ruby's bed, where she set them down on top of the girl's other clothes.
"Get changed into those quick little sister, and we can go meet Blake at the coffee shop before your first class today so you can get your caffeine fix" Yang ordered the younger girl, and without missing a beat left the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving Ruby reeling from hurricane Yang after she tore about her room.
Resigning herself to doing as she was told, Ruby got up and started to undress. It didn't pay to try and argue with Yang about these things, and if she didn't do as told, Yang would just march back into the room and "help" Ruby go faster.
Sometimes the prodigy wished that she had simply decided to stay at her own grade level instead of going off to college with her older sister when she had to deal with things like this on a near-daily basis.
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There was a small smile on the dark-haired girl's face as she walked towards the building where her first class of the day was being held, a cup of coffee in her hand to fight off the cold and help her to wake up further, and feeling much more human after spending a bit of time together with both her older sister and Yang's best friend Blake.
Despite loving her sister dearly, Yang could still be a little bit much at times, which was why the addition of Blake being around made things a little bit easier for the dark-haired girl to process. While Yang was like a hurricane, Blake was much cooler, like a calm summer night, and had become quite proficient at keeping the blonde grounded.
Unfortunately the smile that had been on her face dropped off quickly when she noticed a group of older boys standing around outside of the arts building that she was supposed to be going to for her first class of the day, which meant that Ruby would have to have a very unpleasant meeting before she reached class, and could only hope that she would make it in time to avoid being late.
Sucking up as much of her courage as she could manage, Ruby marched forward with her head held high, and tried to keep her nerves off of her face as she approached team CRDL, some of the worst delinquents in the school and Ruby's bullies.
"Aw, look what we have here!" Cardin commented as she noticed the dark-haired girl approaching "a little baby is coming to finger paint in the wussy building!"
The rest of the boys laughed along with Cardin as though he had told the funniest joke ever, and Ruby had to resist rolling her eyes to avoid incurring their wrath. Hoping that perhaps today she would be able to get past them without a hard time, Ruby ducked her head as her confidence oozed out of her body and tried to shuffle past the group of four that were blocking the entrance to the arts building, but squeaked as she stopped when one of them grabbed onto her hood.
"Where do you think you're going Rosie? I don't think that we dismissed you yet" Cardin stated, and the other boys grinned as they surrounded her, leaving her few options for escape.
Releasing her hood, Ruby stumbled forward towards the thinnest boy, Lark, but barely managed to catch herself before she could run into his chest, and instead glared up at him as best she could.
"Aww look at the little bitch, she thinks that she's got a hope of intimidating us!" Lark told the others, making them all laugh again as the moved in closer around the girl.
Ruby almost shrieked when she felt one of the boys grab onto her bra strap through her clothes, but managed to hold herself back, biting her tongue to avoid giving them any more power over her.
"As I'm sure we've told you multiple times Rosie, this school isn't for babies like you, so why don't you run off home and stop making the rest of us look so bad in class" Cardin told the girl as she felt a tug on her bra strap that made her wince.
A smart remark hovered on the tip of her tongue, but Ruby just barely managed to hold herself back from digging herself in deeper by biting her lip, and tried to squirm away from whichever of the boys was holding onto her bra.
Jumping as the strap was released suddenly and snapped back against her skin painfully, the older boys laughed at her reaction "I don't even see how some brat like you managed to get into Beacon anyways " Russell told the girl "you don't seem as smart as all the teachers say, and I'm sure it had nothing to do with your dead mom."
"Maybe it was because of her mom" Dove replied with a smirk on his face "maybe just because she was friends with the headmaster they thought that they should let her bitch of a daughter into the school out of pity."
Despite wanting desperately to defend her mothers legacy and tell off the four boys, Ruby knew that it would only encourage the group, so she kept quiet and tried to let them have their fun with her, hoping that they would get bored eventually.
Believing that their taunts weren't getting to the younger girl, the group chose to change hears "geez Rosie, you are like the most un-girly girl in this school, why can't you be more like that Schnee chick, or Pyrrha, or your bombshell of a sister" Ruby couldn't tell who had said that, as she was now looking down at the ground in another vain attempt at getting the four boys to leave her alone.
"Have you seen her sister?" another of the boys replied "I bet that's why Rosie here is so boring, her sister got all of the hotness in their family."
"But don't worry Rosie" Cardin said in a fake-sounding soothing voice as he placed his hand on the younger girl's head "I bet if you ask real nice, and maybe agree to do their homework, some poor sod will agree to date you."
"Ha, yah right" the rest chimed in before the group began laughing. Ruby found herself thankful when the clock tower that oversaw the campus began to chime, gaining the attention of the four boys, who smirked before turning back to face the younger girl.
"Well looks like our time together is up for now Rosie, we have a class to get to as well, but don't worry, we'll come back to spend some time with you later" Cardin commented before one of them shoved her in the back, causing her to stumble and lose her footing, hitting the ground with a grunt of pain.
Laughing as they walked off, Ruby was left to hurry and grab her bag and run off into the arts building, hoping to be able to make it to class before any more time passed.
It appeared that luck was on her side, as she slipped into the room just before the teacher started the lecture, and he didn't say anything to her about nearly being late.
Sliding into her seat at the back of the room and ignoring the eyes that were on her, Ruby ducked her head as she withdrew the books she needed from her bag and opened them up on the desk as she tried to force the thoughts of the boys taunts from her mind and focus on class.
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It may have only been a little after noon, but Ruby was already feeling drained from the day she had been having so far. Between Yang crashing through her room like a whirlwind, the bullies harassing her, and the workload of a collage student being put onto a teenager, Ruby was sorely missing her warm bed, and wishing for the lecture to end so that she could go back to her dorm.
Unfortunately history was one of her least-favourite classes of the day, and worse, their teacher had told them at the beginning of the lesson that he planned to assign a project to the student sat the end of class, which would count for a large part of their final grade for the year.
Staring down the clock as it ticked slowly towards the end of the lesson, the only thought playing through Ruby's mind was the hope that whatever the teacher was planning to assign wasn't going to be a group project. That would just be adding insult to injury on this crappy day that she had been having.
"And finally class, as I said at the beginning of the lesson, I plan to assign you all a project which will count for 30% of your final grade, so I hope that you all will take it seriously" Professor Oobleck told the class before pausing to take a sip from the mug of coffee on his desk.
Ruby began to chant a mantra in her mind, hoping to tip the scales in her favour 'please not a group project, please not a group project'
"This will be a group project to research and present your findings on a major historical event of your choosing, and will be due before spring break" the professor finished, making Ruby wilt in her seat.
"I will be personally assigning the groups, as I'm sure most of you would just choose to work together with your friends" a few people looked away from the professor sheepishly as that had been exactly what they were thinking of doing "and I hope that you will be able to work together at the cost of such a large part of your grade being on the line."
There was some groaning around the room as people resigned themselves to dealing with others that they might not get along with or be able to work together with in class, but Ruby all but slumped in her seat and hung her head.
'I already can't relate to anyone in this class because of my age, now he expects me to be able to work together with a random group of people?' she whined to herself, already knowing that this was going to be a train-wreck.
"So you have to work together with a couple of people on a stupid little project for the next few months, big deal" Yang commented before taking a sip of her latte as she leaned back in her chair listening to Ruby's retelling of her day.
"You don't get it Yang, I don't even know how to talk to the rest of my class-mates, and they don't make any effort to talk to me. How are we supposed to communicate during this project if we can barely speak to one another?" Ruby argued back, trying to express the problems of this situation to her somewhat-dense older sister.
"I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it out to be Ruby" Blake tried to calm the girl down gently "All you need to do is try to get the project finished, and not think about the fact that you're working with complete strangers. Just focus on the work ahead of you, and it will be over before you know it."
"Easy for you to say, when you guys get projects all you have to do is work together, since you share most of your classes" Ruby mumbled angrily to her fellow dark-haired girl, who continued to smile despite catching Ruby's scathing comment.
"So who are you supposed to be working with anyways little sister?" Yang asked, bringing the topic back around to Ruby's story in an attempt to make her stop being so negative.
"Weiss Schnee and Velvet Scarletina" Ruby mumbled just loud enough for the two girls to hear her, making Yang wince and Blake try to be sympathetic.
"Velvet is nice enough, I'm sure that you'll be able to work together with her without any problems, all you need to do is try to get to know her" the black-haired girl tried to defend the somewhat shy brunette.
"Schnee might be a bit more of a problem" Yang chipped in "that girl has had a stick up her ass since day one, and I'm sure that she won't be exactly thrilled to work together with the school's latest prodigy, if your few interactions are anything to go by."
"Yang, that's exactly what you're not supposed to say to make your little sister feel better!" Blake chastised the blonde, who did look sheepish for what she'd said.
"Okay, okay, you're right, I shouldn't have said it like that, but come on Blake, even you know how much of a pain it is to work with Schnee, we've tried to get along with her before and look at how that's turned out" Yang pointed out to her best friend.
Ruby shrunk down further in her seat as she listened to the two talk together, now beginning to feel like a third wheel as they got into a debate about working together with Weiss.
Growing tired of being all but ignored, Ruby excused herself from the table and left with her cup of coffee, a little hurt that neither girl noticed her departure, and began to make her way back to her dorm room for now, in hopes of maybe taking a nap.
Unfortunately it seemed like the day wasn't quite finished kicking her when she was down, as Ruby stopped in the hallway outside of her dorm room when she noticed Weiss Schnee approaching her from the other end of the hall.
"Oh uh, hi Weiss," Ruby tried to be friendly with the older girl, remembering what Blake had suggested to her, but stopped when she noticed the stormy look on the fair-haired girl's face.
"I only came down to this part of the school to get a few things straight with you Rose" Weiss snapped once she was within hearing range of Ruby. "First of all, I have never gotten a mark below 90% on any of my tests or projects, and I expect the same excellency from this one, even if I have to be weighed down by you."
Without waiting for Ruby to get a word in the white-haired girl continued "secondly, this is strictly a work-relationship that we will have with one another. We are in no way friends, and I don't want to spend time 'hanging out' or 'bonding' like I'm sure you're expecting if your sister is anything to go by."
"Finally once this project is finished, I don't want to talk to you again unless it's about school-work, and we will return to not knowing one another and not associating with one another after we complete our presentation."
Ruby stood there frozen, trying to process everything that Weiss had told her, while the fair-haired girl waited for her to respond. Once it was clear that she wasn't going to say anything, Weiss chose to take it as confirmation, and marched off "I hope that I don't have to lecture you about this again, and if you do forget, I will ask professor Oobleck to reassign me to a different team that will. Good day Rose."
A few people who had unfortunately been within hearing range had caught Weiss's little lecture towards the school prodigy, and while most simply brushed it off and went about their days, a few continued to watch Ruby out of curiosity of what her response would be.
Biting her lip, Ruby finally came back to her senses after Weiss was out of sight, and turned to let herself into her dorm room without looking back over her shoulder. Slipping into her room, the few people who had been watching shrugged before returning to what they had been doing, and brushed it off as Ruby's own problem.
Safely in her own room, Ruby could feel tears pricking at her eyes after the harrowing day she had been through so far, and could only wonder what else life could heap onto her for the next half of it, but for now she walked over, took a seat on her bed, and curled up on top of it while trying to will away her own tears from falling and making her look like even more of a baby.
God life sucked sometimes.
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Okay, that was the first chapter, and pretty heavy at that.
A few things I feel I should say right here to avoid incurring anyone's wrath. I do not condone bullying in any form. Having been bullied myself when I was younger, and even now where I still feel a bit awkward in social interactions, I wouldn't think of agreeing with something that can and has ruined people's lives before.
Second this chapter and a few future chapters will be a bit heavy, but trust me, things will get better with time. I know this was kind of short, but I'm hoping that it will grow out as we keep going, but we'll wait and see.
Finally, to those of you reading this that have or are bullied, I'd like to offer a bit of advise that I should have taken back when I was your age. Tell someone about it, go to a teacher, your parents, maybe even the principal of your school if you can get in there. Trust me, it helps, and bottling it all up can have terrible consequences.
Anyways, too heavy now, I need to go listen to something perky for a bit. Until next time everyone, Ja Ne~!