Author's Note: Hello, beautiful people, once again. It took me a few days and lots of edits, but I was able to finish chapter 2. For those of you who wanted more dialogue, you'll be happy to know that there will be plenty :) A few things to mention, feel free to skip:

1) being the occasionally-forgetful person that I am, I realized that I subconsciously slipped a few contemporary references in the story. Basically, I forgot that the setting still took place in Remnant. Anyway, I wasn't sure if I should take out all of these references (I liked how some were integrated), so I just kind of kept them in there. It will seem a little out of place, but who knows: maybe Remnant actually has such a thing as "cinnamon rolls" or "The Thinker" statue.

2) I'd like to apologize for not being more explicitly clear as to what Blake's gender 'situation' is in the 1st chapter... Although I guess it added some sort of suspense. It'll most definitely be discussed in the future.

3) I was never aware of this, but apparently (and I kid you not), Blake has two sets of ears.
... I don't know why, maybe Monty Oum thought it would make her look less, strange, I suppose. Not that it's a bad design flaw, it's just a bit odd.
But you can go look for yourself, if you like: she has two human ears, and two cat ears.
Anyway, I bring this up in case if there's any confusion about it, because I do mention these human ears once or twice. But you have to admit; it does raise a few questions. I mean, which ears are the functional ones? Do both function? Does she have some kind of doubled hearing?

Anyways, enough about what I have to say. Enjoy the chapter!


Just as the two exited the classroom and out into the large main hallway, Blake was suddenly trying to get as far away from Weiss as possible.

The roar of all the teenagers in the school were filling her ears, but it sounded quiet from the sound of her panicked heartbeat. As the cluster of students flooded the Beacon Academy halls, Weiss tugged desperately on Blake's arm, who was pulling away, trying to disappear into the crowd. Why was he running away from her now?

"Blake, stop! What are you doing?!" Weiss was attempting to wrap both of her arms around Blake's one arm, to hold her, or him, or whatever Blake's gender was now, down. Blake was headed for an entirely different direction, shoving on Weiss' hands so she would release.

"Let go of me—!" Blake snapped.

Weiss felt a small part of her cringe; she'd hardly ever seen Blake get so upset. The only time she'd ever seen Blake get this nasty was when a group of boys their age were mishandling the library books by throwing them back and forth like they were playing catch. Weiss could remember it so clearly; the way his hair had bristled like every one of his hairs was on end, the corner of his lip pulled up in contempt, the gentle flame in his eyes now a roaring inferno. When the boys refused to put down the books (one asshole stomped on one), Blake's fist had shot so quickly that Weiss hadn't even seen it coming.

They had left in fear, one with a bloody mouth and a broken tooth, scattering from the library and they never showed again.

Would Blake get as upset as he had that day, but with her instead?

"Why are you doing this, Blake?!" Weiss demanded. The fear in her voice was becoming more and more prominent with every word.

Blake yanked his arm away from Weiss violently, her hands unable to firmly grasp it as it slipped away. Weiss stood in shock, while Blake stood beside her, scowling while rubbing at his arm. Several people walked around them, watching both for a short moment like they were crazy.

"Blake, I just want to talk to y—"

"Just don't," he interrupted. His voice sounded angry, almost enraged, but his eyes were glued to the ground. He wouldn't return any of her perplexed expressions. It was almost as if he was reluctant to look at her. "Just stay away from me."

And without another word, Blake disappeared, leaving Weiss alone in the hall, surrounded by peers who wouldn't understand the emotional impact of what had just happened.


For the first three months of school, Blake acted like Weiss didn't exist. Whenever she walked past, he turned his head away to look at a clock. Whenever she tried to make eye contact with him, he took out his scroll and examined his Aura levels. Whenever she tried to talk to him, he rushed away as quickly as possible, power walking to the nearest door. And each time he did; Weiss almost imagined it; he looked guilty.

At this point, Weiss was devastated. Her heart was sinking faster than a heavy anchor in the ocean. There was a turmoil going on in her head, a hurricane of emotions that she couldn't seem to stop. First of all, she was confused. Deeply confused. What was Blake's actual gender? Why had he presented himself to her as a boy, when now, he seemed to be a girl? What had happened between that summer and now? She had so many questions that she wanted answered, but she couldn't get the answers she wanted.

And second of all, she was hurt. Hurt that Blake wasn't telling her what was wrong, hurt that Blake was ignoring her, hurt that Blake wasn't trusting her with the truth, after all they had been through. Was it the kiss? Maybe everything going on was her fault. Maybe that kiss had proved to Blake that she was no longer worth entrusting his secrets to. Maybe the kiss had made him nervous. Maybe he just didn't want to make things awkward between them. Maybe he didn't like her.

Maybe he hated her.

Late at night, Weiss would sob softly into her wet pillow, wishing she had never kissed Blake on the last day of summer.


It was only in Weiss' PT and Dueling class that she thought she might have a chance at getting the answers she needed.

It was early in the morning in December, her very first class of the day, that Weiss met the outgoing Yang Xiao Long. They had been assigned to sit next to each other for the new seating chart, and Weiss discovered that her new table partner was actually pretty cool.

The first thing she noticed about Yang Xiao Long was what kind of appearance she made; she confirmed it to be a memorable one, as her chromosomes seemed to line up very nicely. Put bluntly, the girl was drop-dead gorgeous. Someone had told Weiss that she looked like one of those girls who belonged in Carls Jr. commercials, dressed in a skimpy outfit and sexually chomping down on a big burger while spotlights accentuated the size of her breasts. Not only was her chest probably a D cup, but she also had fabulous thick blond hair, stunning lilac eyes, and a contagious smile to compliment it.

Weiss expected Yang to give a scowl of disdain when she came over to sit beside her, like most pretty girls, but she was disproven when the girl went in for a nice hand shake instead.

"Nice to meet ya, Weiss," she said warmly. "I like how straight your hair is, it looks so soft. Do you have any tips for me?" She held a lock of hair in her hand, pointing at its' ends.

Her cheeky grin was hard to ignore.

Weiss smiled, crossing her arms. "Clever girl," she murmured. "How do you get your hair so blond? Every time I try to color my hair, it just washes out like shampoo. I think I might just dye."

The look on Yang's face made Weiss feel triumphant.

"I haven't even known you for 20 seconds and I like you already."

"Thanks, same to you. And sorry for not answering your question yet. Blame my shear rudeness."

Yang looked like she was gonna choke up. "Weiss Schnee, you are the best!"

Over time, the two eventually became good buds, helping each other with assignments and teaming up for partner projects. Weiss felt odd, that someone as cool and confident as Yang was even talking to her at all. The fact that she seemed to view her as a complete equal made her blush. How was Yang so different from the typical beauty? She was a living example of how looks weren't everything, and how not all people are just one stereotype. The fact that she was admiring someone who glorified puns made her laugh, either way.

Weiss had also never thought too much about the people Yang hung out with. She figured she had loads of friends, mostly carefree, spontaneous, fun individuals like herself.

But then she caught her on her scroll one day before class.

She had a call. Yang waved a quick hello to Weiss before bringing the device to her ear.

"Yellooo… Oh, hey Blake!"

… Blake?

Weiss' head jolted to the side.

"Yeah, yeah… Wait, what?! … Shit, I'm so sorry, I forgot about that. Are you feeling okay? … Well, alright. I'll talk to you after school, OK? … Alright-y. Bye."

Yang put her scroll back into her blazer pocket and sat down next to Weiss, letting out a big sigh. She seemed tired and irritable after the short call. "Man, what a shitty way to start the day." She turned to Weiss, furrowing a brow in concern. "Weiss, are you okay?"

Weiss blinked. "U-Uh, yeah, I'm good."

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Oh, no, definitely not a ghost. More like an angel, actually."

Yang laughed. "An angel?" She shook her head in disbelief, before speaking again. "Are you trying to flirt with me, Weiss? Or are you just winging it?"

"Shut up!" Weiss slapped Yang's arm, smiling again. She had a good reason to. She now finally knew someone with connections to the one whose attention she was trying to get.


"So who's Blake?" Weiss asked one day randomly during class. She figured that Yang wouldn't get too much onto her case if she tried to play it casual. And she was dying to know more about someone who wasn't letting her get very close.

"What are you, my mom?" Yang grinned. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, just curious. I've heard that name around before."

Yang leaned on her fist. "You have?"

"Yeah." Weiss came up with a random excuse on the spot. "Just some dirty gossip and the what not, you know?"

She snorted. "Dirty gossip? You never struck me as the type, Weiss."

She smiled, embarrassed. "Well, maybe just this once I'm making an exception."

"Well, okay. But first—" Her smile melted away. In seconds, she looked stern and serious. It reminded Weiss of how people would change their facial expressions magically by lowering their hand over their face, but this time without any sort of hand. It was the sort of transformation that happened immediately. "Tell me what you've heard about Blake in this 'dirty gossip'."

She raised an eyebrow. What direction had this conversation turned to? "Um… I heard she was… experimenting, or something…" Was she giving away too much already by saying 'experimenting'?

"What do you mean experimenting?" Yang asked. Her tone sounded awfully dry. Weiss felt her hand twitch. This wasn't like her.

"I guess… experimenting… sexually…?"

"Oh." She paused, as if this answer hadn't been what she was expecting. "Okay." She readjusted herself. "That's not so bad, actually." She stiffened. "Not as bad as I thought, at least," she muttered quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Wait a minute, then." She raised an eyebrow, a snarky look on her face. A little bit of her smile was returning. "Why are you interested in a girl who's experimenting sexually, huh, Weiss?"

Weiss' cheeks turned pink faster than a speeding bullet. How was she supposed to respond to this? And more importantly, had Yang finally clarified Blake's official gender? Did that make Blake a girl?

"You're not gay, are you, Weiss?"

Great, now she had her trapped in a corner. Weiss was about to panic. Was she gonna throw her identity on the line for the sake of some person she was trying to get in touch with again? From what she knew by experience, she had never really expressed much attraction to girls. She maybe had had some simple girl crushes, but that was the most of her exploration in girls as potential lovers. In most cases, she probably wouldn't lie about her sexuality. Not that it was ultra important to her, but she knew that lying about personal information could cause a lot of unforeseen problems. There weren't that many people out there who Weiss would sacrifice her 'straightness' for.

But maybe it was all worth it. Blake wasn't just some person. Blake was Blake. The beautiful, handsome black-haired boy with the prettiest amber eyes and an unhealthy yet compassionate obsession with books. Weiss loved Blake. He, or she, was the best thing to have ever happened to her out of all of her summers. Yes, it was worth it.

"No, I am."

"Wait. Really?"

"Yeah. I'm gay."

"Oh my god, I didn't actually think I was right." Yang was grinning like an idiot, as if she had won some kind of grand prize for guessing someone's sexuality right. "I'll be honest with you, honey; my gaydar was going off like sirens the first day I saw you."

Weiss laughed. Had it really? That was amusing to hear. Considering the guy she liked turned out to be a girl, maybe it wasn't so much of a lie. "Well darn, I guess you caught me," she joked.

"That's hilarious," Yang giggled. "So then does that mean that you've got a crush on Blake?"

Oh god, her face was most definitely red now. "H-Hold on a minute," she protested. What Yang had said wasn't exactly untrue. But it wasn't a fact that she wanted Yang to know about it either.

"Ooooooooooooo, Weiss!" Yang smirked sleazily, raising both eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I totally could've hooked the two of you up yesterday."

"I-It's not that!" Weiss practically smacked the table with both hands. A few people turned around to the noise. "Look, there's just not that many people in this school like me. I don't hear that much about an LGBT crowd around here… And I heard recently that someone named Blake was experimenting, so I've just been interested to learn about… her, I guess."

Yang narrowed her eyes. "Sooo… you're just stalking her?"

"I-It's not stalking!"

Now more people were listening. Weiss noticed that two people sitting in front of them, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, had just started paying attention. Well, Nora was; Ren was studying a lesson that Ms. Goodwitch had given them last class. Nora stared at Weiss wide-eyed, excitably, her mouth shaped like an O. "Omigod, Weiss! I didn't know you were gay!" She leapt out of her seat and hopped on to Weiss and Yang's table, putting her hands together. "Have you had a coming out party yet?! You should totally throw one! I loooove parties… Will there be cake?"

Yang snickered. "She probably threw a party already, Nora. I doubt Weiss just decided to come out right now."

Weiss laughed nervously.

"What?! Well, you should have another one, just so the school knows that you bat for the other team, if you know what I mean." Nora grinned.

Ms. Goodwitch entered the classroom, setting her bag down on the floor next to her desk. "Class is starting, people!" she shouted. "And Nora, get off the table!"

While the teacher talked on and on, Weiss thought more and more about what a big decision she had just made. Now she was posing as a gay student; fantastic. Every time she would look in the mirror from here on out, it would be like someone had just written the word "GAY" in red sharpie on her forehead. She imagined the future, getting labeled as one of Beacon Academy's token lesbians. It wasn't a horrible future, even if it wasn't correct. But she found herself worrying about getting bullied for it. Hopefully this school wasn't homophobic… And if it was, she had basically just signed herself up for jail. If the entire school did find out that she was a lesbian, all she was hoping for was no verbal or physical discrimination, and no derogatory slurs getting spray-painted on her locker.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Yang poked her lightly on the arm.

"I know this might be a bad time to say this to you," she whispered, "and I really really do hate to break this to you. But Blake's not actually gay."

Weiss wasn't really sure how to react to this because she hardly knew about Blake's situation in the first place. When she had met Blake as a guy, he had seemed somewhat flirty with her. And when she kissed him, he had kissed back. Hell, he had even given her a quick peck on the cheek before getting out of the library. But now, Weiss met Blake again, but this time as a girl. What did any of this really say about Blake's sexuality? Was Blake a heterosexual boy dressing as a homosexual girl (who apparently wasn't homosexual)? Was Blake a homosexual girl who had dressed as a guy during the summer (and if she wasn't gay, then why had she kissed her)? There were too many questions unanswered, and at the moment, the only expression Weiss could think of wearing on her face was some sort of half-assed attempt at disappointment.

"Oh," she whispered back.

"Well, okay, that's not entirely the case," Yang murmured. "It's just—a really complicated situation right now. Blake is attracted to girls, but not in the way you think. I can't tell you what she's going through in detail, but that's all I can say to you."

What…? She felt lost.

"Are you saying she's still in the closet…?" Weiss asked.

Yang stiffened. "Well, she is. But it's not really about her sexuality."

After class, Yang gave Weiss a quick goodbye, which was kind of like saying 'I don't want you to ask anymore questions so I'm just gonna dash before you ask me anything' without saying anything, and left the classroom, leaving a confused Weiss behind. Nora approached her from the side. "So, do lesbians have this gay mating dance that they use to seduce the other lesbians?" she asked. "I know that guys have this straight mating dance they use to get the girls, where they take their shirts off and thrust their hips like monkeys. Do gay people have a similar shtick going on?"


A week later, Weiss was visited while standing at her, thankfully not-defiled, locker, by two girls.

"Hey," one said, her tone relaxed.

They both seemed like pretty average girls for the Beacon Academy crowd. Both were a bit tall, brown-haired, and brown-eyed, but one had her hair cropped short with red tips on her right fringe, while the other had grown it out long and cut bangs across her forehead. The short-haired girl looked like one of those high-fashion-shoppers who wore ordinary pants that were not regularly priced, and her shoes definitely did not look like they were bought from a thrift store. Her eyes could barely be seen behind the thick black sunglasses that covered them, and a matching cap was on her head. She had a confident atmosphere to her, looking like a celebrity paired with her expensive couture.

The long-haired girl, meanwhile, wasn't even human: her long brown bunny ears were no secret as they stuck out from the top of her head. She had seen her getting bullied by assholes who tugged on her ears and made fun of her for being a Faunus. She briefly thought of Blake, but pushed the thought away. She was rather cute, and innocent-looking, and she brought an unnatural maternal instinct to Weiss that she had never thought of before: it was weird. Her outfit was somewhat more modest, and looked more combat-ready, functional. Her stance was less open, however: while her posture was nice, she looked like she wanted to hunch over and curl up into a ball. Not very talkative, she figured. She held a clipboard in her crossed arms.

"Uh, hi," Weiss responded, still holding her books in her arms.

"You must be Weiss Schnee, right?" the short-haired girl continued.

"Yeah, that's me."

The girl smiled. "Nice to meet you, Weiss," she said. "My name's Coco Adel, and this is Velvet Scarlatina. We're here to talk to you about this new club we're trying to start."

Some kind of recruiters, Weiss thought. "Cool. What's this club about?"

"Well, it's gonna be a GSA," Coco responded.

"A what?"

"Velvet, you explain it better than me." Coco nudged Velvet with her elbow. She almost flinched.

"A-um, a G-GSA stands for gay-straight alliance. A-According to recent studies, researchers have found that schools that are more open and accepting of LGBTQ individuals improves the chances of success of those students, more bonds and friendships between straight students and queer students, and overall a better sense of school community. Many queer students today often feel alone or different, but t-that's because they don't know any other fellow students that are like them…" Velvet quieted.

Well this was a good sign. Beacon Academy appeared to be accepting enough of gay students to the point that they wanted to make a club for them. Weiss secretly sighed with relief.

"Oh, that's pretty cool," Weiss noted. "So, are you guys just spreading the news about it or something?"

Coco laughed. It almost sounded nervous. "I guess you could say that's one part of our mission, but that's not entirely the reason why we're here."

"Oh. Then, why are you here?"

"Here's the thing, Weiss. The creators of the future gay-straight alliance, including us, really want this club to be legitimate. It's one of our number one priorities. We want the club to be a safe place for regular LGBTQ students to socialize and make friends, a nice place to use for comfort or reassurance, and the like. And to get those things, we need a certain something. Actually, more like a certain someone."

"Someone?" Weiss asked. "What kind of person do you need?"

"Velvet, you want to tell her?" Coco asked.

Velvet hesitated, the red in her cheeks becoming more apparent.

"W-We need a gay student to join."

Oh.

Now Weiss knew why these girls were approaching her in the first place.

Did the GSA they wanted to create so badly not have any actual gay people joining?

"Ah. I see."

The tension in the air had turned awkward.

"Soooooo… How do I sign up?"

Coco seemed to perk up a little. "You're going to sign up? Awesome! You can sign right here." Without hesitating a second, she took the clipboard out of Velvet's hands and placed it right on top of the stack of books Weiss was carrying.

"Uh, can you give me a s—"

"Let's just take those big, heavy books out of your hands," she said quickly, pulling one half of the stack from out of Weiss' hands, while Velvet took the other.

Reluctantly, Weiss took the attached pen into one hand and tentatively wrote her name and email on the page. She exchanged the clipboard for her books from Coco and Velvet.

"Anyway, thanks a ton, Weiss! We'll look forward to having you over once we get the club established. Have a good day!" And the two walked a way, a little spring in their steps, probably happy about their accomplishment of getting a queer student to sign up for their gay-straight alliance.


A few days later, Mr. Port made an announcement to the class.

"Today, we're going to start on our new project! And good news, folks; it's a partner project!"

Surprisingly, everyone in the classroom seemed joyful. Weiss rolled her eyes. She had always found herself looking down on partner projects. She preferred working alone on projects: dealing with a partner could get complicated and occasionally irritating. And everyone always got so excited when one was announced, because now they could just pick their friends and hardly do any good work together.

"However, don't immediately think that you all can just choose your partners," Mr. Port interrupted. "Imagine that. Students irresponsibly choosing their own groups. That would be simply disastrous!" His hearty laugh probably sounded more evil than jovial. "For this case, I will be the one choosing the groups. But don't worry, I'll be taking careful consideration to make good, balanced partners."

The class groaned. Meanwhile, this was a relief to Weiss. She didn't have a lot of friends in her Grimm Studies class. As long as she was assigned a smart partner, then the whole project would be no huge deal.

"I'm going to be setting up the partners today during class. In the mean time, I'd like you all to complete a few readings of our class textbook, and I'll also be passing out the project's steps and rules so you'll understand its parameters." He wrote a couple of page numbers on the board. "Make sure to do the mentioned exercises as well; on college-ruled notebook paper, not a random scrap, if you please!"

Weiss could hear the mumbles of disappointment being shared around the classroom. She was tempted to smirk. Ignoring everyone else's grumbling, she decided to turn her attention to the reading assignment, and opened up her textbook to the pages listed in front of her.

As she read, took notes, and answered questions about the physiology of Boarbatusks, Weiss wondered if Blake was also unhappy about having to work in partners. Blake had always struck her as the independent type; all of his favorite activities had been activities that were better done alone. He liked reading while slouched in a comfy chair, sometimes with noise-canceling headphones to block out the sounds of the outside world. He liked baking cookies, especially an interesting kind called 'cinnamon roll sugar cookies', which were regular sugar ones designed to look like cinnamon rolls. He liked drawing his favorite fictional characters from the books he read: although he always modestly claimed that he wasn't that good. All of the mentioned sports he had played weren't team sports. Maybe he was good with partners; although shy, he was still cooperative, from what she knew about him.

After completing the exercises, she examined the project details that had been passed around the classroom across the long desks. The project was titled "Grimm Species Partner Research Paper". Students were to be grouped into pairs and were required to put extensive online and offline research into an assigned species of Grimm. They would have to gather and cite their sources, and write a sophisticated paper about the monster, including imbedded diagrams and images. Weiss silently shrugged to herself. It seemed like an easy project, for the most part. The only concern that could make it difficult was the whole partner thing.

When she finished reading the paper, Weiss took a quick peek to the right to see how Blake was doing. He still looked as feminine and girly since the first day of school, his thick black waves almost forming a curtain to cover his profile. It had made Weiss realize how androgynous his face really was. He could've looked masculine or feminine, if he was dressed properly for each gender. She examined Blake's face when he pushed a lock of hair behind his human-like ear. He still wore a signature purple smoky eye, but different from usual, there was silver shimmery eyeshadow on the inner lid. Liquid black eyeliner swept precisely near his lash line and flicked out like a wing. His lashes were thick from a black mascara. Completely flawless application.

Her jaw completely dropped when Blake unexpectedly turned her way.

Blake's eyes enlarged when he saw Weiss looking at him, and his gaze shot away, back to his textbook, lips pursed. Weiss felt her face fall. Once Blake made it clear that he wasn't going to give her any sign of recognition, she brought her eyes back down to her work, blinking hard to keep the tears away. When one came out of her eye, she rubbed it as fast as she could. For her, when one tear trickled, more and more trickled until she couldn't stop.

"Alright, class, I hope you've finished the readings and the questions," Mr. Port said aloud, thankfully interrupting her thoughts and keeping her from crying. "The exercises that weren't finished today are now homework, which will be due… tomorrow, yes, because for the rest of class, we will be focusing on getting a head start on the project. Is everybody clear?"

"Yes," the class muttered.

"I've finished setting up the partners," Mr. Port continued. "I was very selective about who should work with who. Heck, it reminded me of the good ol' days when we had to get paired up into squad groups in the military when we were going out to war. A light memory from a dark time, if you know what I mean…" He went off track for a few minutes, just as he always did when getting into a lecture.

"Anyway, the partnering was partially paired by class grade ratio, but also paired by who I thought would work best with who. I'm hoping to see how well these groups work out, and I'm excited to get started on this project! It's an old favorite of mine, after all."

Weiss quietly listened as Mr. Port started naming off the groups. She wasn't surprised about a certain few of them. Timid yet fairly smart Jaune Arc was paired with loud but dumb school bully Cardin Winchester; it didn't help that Mr. Port had no idea that Jaune was getting picked on by Cardin. Powerful and intelligent Pyrrha Nikos was paired with the equally just as loud and dumb school bully Russel Thrush. Weiss wasn't liking the pattern; she herself tried really hard in school, and she didn't want to end up with someone who didn't carry their own weight like the assholes who spent all of their time making fun of their peers.

"Blake Belladonna."

"Yes?" Blake asked. Something about his voice sounded really tense, like he was nervous about who he was put in a group with.

"You'll be working with Weiss Schnee."

Had the teacher just said her name?

… Wait.

What?

What?!

Without realizing it, the two awkwardly turned to face each other from where they sat, but with open mouths. Was this seriously even happening?! Weiss could feel her feelings tearing off into two parts: one that was jumping with joy that she now had an excuse to talk to Blake, the other rolling up and curling into ball with worry about having to actually talk to Blake. She blinked a few times, almost pinched herself to see if this was real. Their eyes were locked, like they had forgotten they could choose to look away. Blake's lower lip quivered slightly. Weiss felt hers do the same. They only glanced away when the teacher started talking again.

"Okay, now that I've listed off all the groups, we are now going to start working on the project!" Mr. Port announced. "The first thing we're going to do is assign which species each group is going to do. Since we're only focusing on 8 species of Grimm, one eighth of the groups will each do a different kind of monster."

As he kept naming off which group was going to do which species, as well as a story about how he got into a short battle with a Nevermore, Weiss sat still in her spot, feeling practically incredulous. What had the chances been of the two getting in the same group? She had been really confident that the two wouldn't have ended up together. Mr. Port's way of pairing up people was by putting the smart people with the not-as-smart people, and the sort-of-smart people with the sort-of-smart people, so the results would always be balanced. Weiss wasn't exactly aware of what Blake's grade was in the class, but she was certain that Blake wasn't so dumb to be placed in the 'not-as-smart' portion. Blake was probably one of the smartest people she knew. He wasn't fond of studying unless if the lesson was in some sort of book format, and Grimm Studies revolved around several encyclopedic textbooks. He would've swallowed all the information he needed within a few days, if her estimation was correct.

"Blake and Weiss, your project will be about Ursai."

Ursai? Weiss was so nervous about this whole project that she had almost forgotten that the bear-like Grimm existed. Wait, did they look like bears? Maybe they were actually like dogs. Or were they like cats? Just like Blake's cat ears… Weiss shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She had to stop thinking so wildly. But how could she, this was a project she was going to be working on with Blake! Blake of all people! How was she even supposed to keep calm?

"And, that's all we really need to talk about for now, folks! I want all group members to find each other, get acquainted with one another, and start dividing up the work and preparing for the project. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," the class muttered.

"Okay, guys, let's, as your generation says, 'get this show on the road'! Everyone get with their groups and start working!"

In a few seconds, the class erupted into minimal noise, as people started grabbing chairs and pulling up a seat next to their group partners, some making small introductions as they hadn't met yet. Was Weiss going to be doing that with Blake? Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, almost in her throat. Admittedly, she was terrified. The tension between the two of them would be horrendous. They both were at fault for something: Weiss had kissed Blake by surprise while thinking he was a boy when he was really a girl, and Blake had ignored Weiss for three-in-a-half months and refused to speak to her about the truth.

Weiss stood up slowly from her seat, only to find Blake already standing right next to her, his chair by his side. He blushed fiercely, clutching his books and pencil case even tighter in his arms. "I-I-I thought we c-could sit at your s-spot," he stuttered.

Weiss suddenly had to remind herself to not only breathe, but also to switch pronouns. Even if she didn't know what was really going on behind Blake's gender, Blake was clearly presenting himself as a girl at the moment, for unknown reasons. Even if Blake had been forever locked in her mind as male, she would make herself understand that Blake, for the time being, was female. Weiss would have to stop referring to him as a 'he', and start as a 'she'.

And not only that, but they didn't really have time to be worrying about personal problems. They had a project to work on. An important part of their grade.

"O-Oh," Weiss responded stupidly. "O-Okay. Cool."

The two sat down, Blake sitting a few inches away from Weiss, as if still trying to keep the distance. A tiny part of Weiss was growing frustrated with her, but she refused to let it out now.

"S-Sooooo… Ursai."

"Ursai," Blake repeated.

There was a silence between the two of them.

"D-Do you want to start finding different researching platforms?" Weiss asked. "I have a computer at home. I-I can look for websites to use."

"Y-Yeah," Blake said quickly. "I can go visit the… library."

Oh god, she mentioned the library. Weiss swallowed the lump in her throat, noticing that Blake was also feeling weird about having to bring it up. "G-Great."

Another silence. Weiss was beginning to feel self-conscious. She checked the clock behind her. They had another four long minutes until class ended. The room was still buzzing with activity from the talking students around them. She tried thinking of something to say. But she didn't know what to say. Would she bring up the book she had last heard that Blake was reading? Would she ask her how school was going? Tell her that she looked beautiful in makeup? That she looked just as beautiful as a boy? Shit, but how could she say that?

How could she say anything?

"I-I guess I'll see you tomorrow…" Blake murmured. She arose from her seat slowly. Weiss looked at the clock again. Only another two minutes. Everyone else was starting to gather their things. She looked at her scattered papers. She should start gathering her stuff too.

"O-Okay. I'll see you tomorrow…" Weiss pulled a small smile. She was even more shocked when Blake did the same.

The bell rang as Weiss shoved her materials into her backpack, the embarrassment of their pitiful interaction slowly beginning to kill her.


The next day, Weiss walked down the hallways, arms crossed and breath shaky. Her next class was the infamous Grimm Studies. She hadn't slept much that night, mainly from all the worry about how she was going to talk to Blake the next day. She had scarfed down two dinners, binge-watched a TV series she had always wanted to start until 2AM, and only started her homework by 3 o'clock. Because of this, Weiss wasn't feeling too fantastic that morning.

Thankfully, there were two things keeping her awake that day: the first one was the pills that her mother took to cope with her occasional bouts of insomnia. The second one was the anxiety of what she was going to say to Blake once she got to their shared class.

She made it there before the bell rang, and found out that Blake had too. Perfect.

Because Weiss had not only watched that TV show for several hours, but had also multi-tasked by preparing a little speech to say to Blake when they came across each other in class to discuss the project. It was something that Weiss had put a lot of thought into, because the whole issue about their 'summer friendship', so to say, had been bugging her for hours.

Heaving a big sigh to ready herself for what came next, Weiss approached Blake.

She was sitting down, her cheek leaning on her fist, her eyes glued to a novel. Different from her usual hairstyle, her black hair was pinned to the side, a French braid going down from her right temple to the back of her head near the nape of her neck, her locks all resting together on her left shoulder. Her makeup was also different: gold sparkly inner lids, with a light pink shade in the center and a deep burgundy smoked out on the outer V of her eye. The similar pattern also underneath her lower lash line, so her eye looked like it was framed by color. Her black liquid eyeliner lined her entire eye, aside from the nice flick. Even her lips looked like they had gotten some treatment, as they seemed to be painted a nude color with a glossy finish.

How was Blake so beautiful? Weiss bit her lip. Wow, she was even attracted to her when she looked like a girl. Not only attracted, but also envious of her hair and makeup skills.

"Blake."

She turned, looking up from her book, and seemed surprised immediately to find out that Weiss was talking to her. Without breaking eye contact, she slipped a piece of paper into her book and closed it. "H-Hi, Weiss," she said nervously.

Weiss realized she had forgotten to say hi herself. "Oh, sorry about that; um, hi. Anyway, I really need to talk to you, Blake."

Blake blinked. Now she knew what was up. She hesitated, before responding. "Uh, okay." She reluctantly got out of her chair, standing up to face her. Weiss almost faltered a moment. Her pretty amber eyes glimmered like shiny pools under moonlight.

"Look, there's a lot that I want to say to you, and there's a lot that I want to ask you, but I don't want there to be awkward tension between the two of us anymore. I know that I ruined everything that we had built up over the summer, and obviously there are probably some other things that I don't understand. But, I don't want the things that we did over the summer, no matter how amazing, to hold us back from having a better relationship with one another right now."

Blake stared at her. "O-Okay."

"What I'm trying to say, Blake, is that I want us to forget what happened over the summer. Just, completely wipe it away like none of it came to be. Is it okay if we just act like it ever happened? The past is ruining our interaction, and, I know that I made some bad mistakes; and I'm sorry about that. I really am. So… Can we move on from what we did over those last two months and just—start over?"

Blake paused. Weiss swallowed down her fear, worried that she would get a negative response. Had the speech not been enough to convince Blake?

"You're right."

Oh my god she actually agrees with me.

"Weiss, I—I've been really horrible to you lately," Blake began. Weiss' heart broke in seconds. She sounded so sad. "And I—I'm so, so sorry. I've been so awful—" Her voice almost caught. "And I would really love it if we could restart." She smiled. "I really would."

Weiss hadn't even been prepared for a response like that. She returned the smile with her own. "Thank you, so much. So, so much. Shall we just decide that everything over the summer never happened?"

"And these last three months," Blake added.

Weiss was screaming with happiness on the inside. "We're meeting for the first time, okay?"

"Okay," Blake murmured softly.

She let out a relaxed sigh. "So, I guess I should introduce myself." She held out her hand. "Hi, my name is Weiss Schnee. I don't believe I've met you yet."

Blake's lips stretched, revealing the gorgeous, glowing grin that Weiss had loved so much. "Nice to meet you, Weiss. My name is Blake Belladonna." And she put her hand out, grasping hers. The tingles shut up into her arm. They shook on it. "Nice to meet you," Weiss repeated, her face warm with relief.

The bell rang. They let go of each others hands. "Okay, we have a project to work on," Weiss said affirmatively.

Blake pulled a list of encyclopedias out of her folder. "Don't worry about the offline sources: I did my homework," she told her.

"So did I." Weiss showed a similar sheet of paper covered in website URLs.

"Awesome," Blake murmured, a smile still on her face. "'Good thing my partner does her homework too."

Weiss laughed, about to pass around behind her so she could get to her seat. But she stopped herself. "Oh, and Blake?"

Blake turned her away, her hand on her chair. "What's up?"

"You look really pretty today."

Blake blushed, the pink of her cheeks accentuating the dark blend of her bronzer, set underneath her cheekbones. But an eyebrow raised, a cheeky smile showing again. Sexy. "You don't look too bad yourself, cutie."

Weiss almost died. She couldn't tell whose face was redder; hers or Blake's.


So that was it! Liked it? Didn't like it? Feel free to leave me a review on what you think, any feedback or advice, questions, etc... I don't know when chapter 3 will come out, but hopefully soon. I hope you all have a fantastic day, and also thanks for reading!