Rats of Reality
Chapter 2:
Penny Polendina was a quirky girl; everything about her was strange, from her lopsided bow to her lopsided grin. Even her brain was a little lopsided. She wore her carrot colored hair in curls and her bright emerald colored eyes scanned the room in front of her excitedly and curiously. Every person she laid her eyes on was a potential friend, seeing as she had never really had a friend before- she was unaccustomed to those kinds of things. And despite Ruby Rose's hate of judging a book by its cover, she had a feeling that Penny was quite strange.
Apparently Penny was homeschooled, and once an opening had appeared in the class- her father had her immediately enrolled. Ruby felt like her only reason of animosity towards the girl was because the opening that the freckly girl had now filled was previously Yang's spot. Ruby had been bummed that her sister was no longer in Beacon's top class, and though that was by no means Penny's fault– Ruby blamed her slightly for it.
The ginger stood at the front of the classroom, grinning childishly as the teacher, Mr. Ooblek, introduced her to the class. "This here is Penny Polendina. She will be joining us today here at Beacon, so I hope you make her school experience a good one." Ooblek continued on rambling and Ruby tuned out. At least until the green haired teacher said Ruby's name, "Ms. Polendina, you can sit next to Ruby Rose over there by the door."
Ruby's stomach flipped. Would she really have to sit next to the one person that managed to weird her out before she even met them?
Penny sat down quirkily in Yang's old, empty desk and smiled at Ruby- her braces flashing. "I hope we can be good friends Ruby Rose!"
Shit.
The remedial course only had one teacher, and while Yang knew that Ms. Salem was bound to have enough knowledge to be a teacher, she was still unsure if the woman was actually good at teaching. The entire class seemed to respect her and follow her directions, but there weren't many directions to follow. Because of this whole "only one class" deal, apparently Ms. Salem would teach whatever she wanted for however long she wanted. That meant that rather than ending English with the pop quiz, she continued to ramble halfheartedly about the book.
Some students listened and took notes, since they probably weren't going to actually read the book. Some people were actually interested. Yang was one of those people; in her previous high leveled English courses, the books were all the same, holding family friendly messages or were written like a hundred years ago. This book had an interesting storyline, apparently they had just started but it intrigued her. It was about a serial killer who would cut up prostitutes and use their body parts to make dolls. It hadn't progressed very far apparently, but the subject matter was dark and dreary. The way Ms. Salem described it was like a character study rather than a horror- and Yang guessed that with the way she explained the main guy that the majority of the students related to him emotionally. They were all lowlifes in Yang's perspective.
Blake had gone back to the book she was reading before, but didn't refrain from throwing Yang a glance every few moments.
After what was basically a three hour English class, the lunch bell rang, and Yang was quite relieved to be out of the musky classroom. Unfortunately she didn't share a lunch with her old classmates and her friends anymore, and would either have to sit with one of her new classmates or sit alone; she prefered the former. And thus she waited outside the classroom for Blake, who was currently asking Ms. Salem something.
Blake seemed normal enough, and Yang felt the most comfortable around her. Maybe it was because she came to her aid at the beginning of class, or it was because she was the only one Yang had conversed with. Eventually the black haired girl walked out of the classroom, golden eyes flashing with mystery.
Yang strode as casually as humanly possible to Blake's side, "Hey Blake, I was wondering if I could possibly sit with you at lunch... All my friends have second lunch and I don't really want to sit alone."
Blake looked suprised by that question, shocked that Yang would want her company. "Sure, but I hope you don't mind sitting with cinders group." Blake said, nodding slightly.
"Who are they?" Yang asked as they turned corner. "The couple from before and the older girl who was smoking." Blake replied.
"Oh," Yang really didn't want to be subjected to that but she didn't have much of a choice. "You're friends with them?"
"Sort of, we sit together at lunch but I mostly read or something. I never hang with them outside of school. At least–" it looked like she was about to say something else but she cut herself off. "Anyways, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you joining us."
Yang nodded hesitantly as they entered the cafeteria. There weren't as many people in first lunch as in second lunch, but it was louder. Much louder. Blake strode calmly through the masses with Yang awkwardly following her. Anyone who knew Yang would question this behavior, since Yang was the headstrong and firey type.
"Normally we eat outside but it was rainy today." Blake said, as if apologizing for the other students who were making a racket. They eventually got to a half empty table where "Cinder's group" was sitting.
"Hey guys, the new girl, Yang, will be sitting with us today. If that's okay?"
They all nodded at Blake and smiled at Yang but they were quite engrossed of their conversion so they didn't say anything. They were very caught up in what they were saying.
"I'm just saying," the sliver haired guy started "that if a cupcake without icing can pass as a muffin, then I don't get why it can't work the other way around! If you show someone a cupcake without icing, they'll say it's a muffin. Because it is."
His green haired girlfriend face palmed. "Just because they look similar doesn't mean they are the same thing! They're made differently!"
"I don't think so. They typically are made with different flavors and specific items in them, but I think they're made the same way!"
"You think? Wow that's breaking news!"
"Fuck you!"
As their argument grew more and more heated, the other girl at the table, presumably Cinder, looked at Yang apologetically "I'm quite sorry- they always argue about petty things," she looked over at Blake curiously "though I am interested in the answer. Perhaps you can enlighten us Blake?"
Blake raised her eyebrows, eyes not leaving the words in her book "I'm sorry, what was the question again?"
'Mercury' rolled his eyes "if you put icing on a muffin, would that make it a cupcake?" She nodded and thought for a moment, they all looked at her expectantly, Yang was curious as well.
"Long answer: muffins tend to be coarser and less airy. They also have a different baking process, since you typically combine wet and dry ingredients separately then mix those together. Cupcakes, or cake in general, take more groups and careful stirring. The entire chemistry is quite different." she turned the page "Short answer? No."
The green haired girl (Emerald?) smirked triumphantly as Cinder patted Mercury on the back as he banged his head against the table. It was stupid but Yang found herself laughing harder than she had in a long time.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
AN: so yeah my Penny has braces because its hella cute! Anyhow, Mercury and Emerald will be pretty major characters because they are my favorites. I've planned out this whole fic and I hope to finish it so please stick around!