The night went by in a painfully slow sequence. Ruby spent most of her late hours trying to fall asleep, reading under a dim lamp as all the lights in the neighborhood turned off. For a short moment, she considered sneaking upstairs to check if her sister would be asleep, but Ruby missed her window of opportunity once the clock ticked past two a.m. By then, even she knew better than to disturb Yang's session of beauty sleep.
Instead, she shut her eyes and counted down a herd of invisible, imaginary sheep. Once she did, eventually, fall into peaceful slumber, it was short, and absent of a single interesting dream.
She groaned once the morning alarm rang across the room, echoing loudly into the halls. Around seven fifteen, Ruby heard movement along the creaky hardwood floor.
"Hey, Rubes? Are you up?" Yang, equally drowsy, popped her head through the doorway. Seeing as Ruby was still huddling underneath her cozy sheets, the blonde rolled up the sides of her sleeves, and then dutifully flipped her younger sibling out of her bed.
"Wha- Hey!" Ruby whined, hugging herself as she tried to salvage some warmth.
"Breakfast," Yang announced briefly, and then exited with a prolonged yawn. Grumbling, Ruby crawled across the floor to the closet. Putting on a thick jacket over her pajamas, she followed her sister out into the kitchen.
They breezed through their morning meal, gobbling up two slices of white bread, half an apple, and a glass of heated milk (specifically for Ruby, who argued that she was still capable of more growth). Yang sipped on her juice box in mocking silence.
Afterwards, the two dressed speedily, though Yang barged in a couple times, consulting her little sister about her current state of fashion. Ruby, who did not care in the slightest, simply threw on her favorite red sweatshirt and raced out the front entrance, leaving Yang to deal with her own silly problems of which tube top to wear.
"Woah, it's pretty chilly today," Yang stated as she finally emerged, dressed in a mildly revealing outfit of her choice. Ruby rolled her eyes at the result, wondering if the new school she was going to carried no rules against dressing too thinly for the weather.
"Here, hold this for a sec!" The blonde shouted, stopping to tie her shoes. She threw something small and metal into the air; Ruby caught it with both hands, and noticed that they were her sister's car keys. A small bumblebee-shaped accessory dangled at the end of it.
Grinning, Ruby walked towards the matching vehicle, pressing the button to unlock the doors.
It was an exceptionally yellow truck, lying somewhere in between a dangerous mustard hue and a strikingly neon gold, as if it were unable to decide. Every inch of the car screamed that it belonged to Yang Xiao Long. Taiyang had tried to talk his daughter out of purchasing it, but it was a match made in heaven according to the vibrant blonde.
Ruby was sure that the truck must be an eyesore to those driving on the road. Of course, not that she was complaining – the very existence of a car meant that she would have a free ride to school everyday. It was one of the great advantages of having an older sibling who could drive. Even if the said driver had been responsible for several accidental crashes and speeding tickets in the past.
"You ready to go?" Yang asked, skipping steps as she ran down, onto the paved road of their uncle's garage.
"Yup," Ruby replied with another question, "Did you remember to lock the door?"
"Of course," scoffed Yang, as she narrowed her eyes. "And did you remember to pack all of your things? I'm not driving back just because you forgot your stupid pencil case or something."
"Yeah right. Like I would risk being late just for a few lousy pencils."
"You did once!" The blonde reminded her with a crooked grin. "Back when you were starting middle school. You made Dad go all the way back when you forgot to pack your new school supplies."
"That was years ago!" Ruby claimed in defense. "Oh, grow up."
Still wearing a teasing smile, a silenced Yang went around the hood and got behind the wheel. Following swiftly, Ruby jumped into the passenger seat. They threw their bags over their heads, tossing them safely onto the backseats of the car. Ruby buckled herself in, watching as Yang mirrored her action and adjusted the side view mirror.
"And by the way, Dad left us a message overnight," mentioned Yang as she started the engine. "He says he got off the plane all right and that he wishes you luck on your first day at school."
"Yay," said Ruby, sounding incredibly unenthusiastic. "That's just what I needed. More encouragement."
"Hey, at least he gave you that." Yang smirked. "All I got was a long lecture on how to drive safely and a death threat if he ever got called down to the Principal's office again."
"Wait. You got called down to the Principal's office?" Ruby laughed, being able to vividly imagine their father's reaction to such an event. "Geez, sis. What did you do?"
"Well, it was that one time." She shrugged. "And I sort of…may have pulled the fire alarm."
"Wow. And why'd you decide to do that?"
"Um… No reason." The blonde sighed, gazing out onto the big road as they drove out of the avenue. "Maybe we should talk about something else, other than the week of detention I got as punishment."
"Sure, sure." Ruby twiddled with her thumbs, watching the trees whoosh by as they moved along the street. "We can talk about…food?"
"Ruby." Yang passed her a disbelieving stare. "We just ate."
"I meant lunch," she added, "obviously."
"Oh. Well, it's just going to be cafeteria food. Don't get your hopes up." Yang grimaced. "Most of it tastes like cardboard boxes, but they do serve a pretty mean burrito on Wednesdays."
"Right…" She gave her sister a wishful smile. "Maybe we can split one later?"
"Um…" Yang hesitated as she stared on ahead, believing that less eye contact would reduce the awkwardness in general. "Ruby, you're going to be a freshman from now on. Don't you think you should, I don't know, start reaching out a bit more?"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember what we talked about yesterday?" Yang gave her a short sideways glance. "About making new friends?"
"…Oh."
There was a momentary silence, replacing the conversation as the blonde steered her attention back onto the road.
Ruby didn't blame her. She knew that Yang meant well when she kept throwing this advice in her face, making it sound like such a common and easy task when it wasn't.
"You'll be just fine," her sister said. That's how everybody addressed this issue whenever she opened up about her dire social insecurities. Little did anyone understand, striking a conversation was as hard as squeezing a watermelon out through one's nostril. Honestly, it was that much of a painful and difficult feat, Ruby liked to contend.
She spent a majority of her time trying to blend in with the crowd. When she was much younger, just starting elementary school, Ruby had ignored both her father and her sister's advice to take off the red cloak her mother had given to her as a birthday present. As a result, Ruby had been nothing less than conspicuous. It was only after people started calling her "Little Red Riding Hood" and boys started pulling on her precious cape that she stopped accessorizing to class. Even without her flamboyant costume wear, Ruby had reddish hair and big silver eyes - courtesy of her late mother, who, from memory, was also stunningly beautiful.
Ruby learned early that being the center of attention was a terrible experience. Most girls, like Yang, took it to their advantage, and rose quickly amidst the school's social ladder. However, Ruby hadn't inherited the same gene of people skills and exuberant confidence. The one time she had dealt with a large audience was at her fourth grade play, and she had such terrible stage fright that she hid backstage until her part was over. A lot had happened since then, but in terms of that personal aspect, Ruby supposed she really hadn't changed that much.
Feeling nervous already, Ruby stared out the window, absentmindedly touching her hair as she did so out of habit. A concerned blonde watched her from the corner of her eye.
"I'll tell you what," Yang finally said, facing Ruby at the next red light. "Why don't you try and socialize during your first few classes? And if you haven't made a ton of friends by lunchtime, I'll introduce you to my friends, okay?"
Her sister always did this; she always knew exactly what to say. Ruby smiled weakly, appreciating the offer immensely.
"Deal."
It was the first day of the fall semester. As tradition, there was a short orientation at the small school auditorium. Ruby received a class schedule and an agenda for the year, the latter which she would use for about a week, and then most probably misplace.
The students filed out in order, dismissed by their assigned homeroom teachers. Ruby did as she was told, standing by awkwardly as a few girls in her class chattered away, evidently having known each other since middle school. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, Ruby stuck by her schedule, busily making sure she wouldn't get lost in the halls filled with buzzing students. She located her first class with ease, as it was on the same floor of the same building.
The subject: World History. It was taught by Professor Oobleck, whose surname had been etched onto the door. Ruby scampered inside, being one of the last few students to enter. She avoided eye contact with most, and hurried towards an empty seat in the middle. Thankfully, she hadn't been stuck with the front row.
"Is this seat taken?" She asked meekly, whispering the question to a student who was sitting alone.
"No, not at all!" The girl, with vibrant orange hair, answered politely.
"Thanks," Ruby breathed happily, settling down quickly as the teacher began to speak.
"Alright, students! Welcome back to school! I hope all of you had a wonderful summer vacation? Yes? ...No? Well- I, myself, spent most of it hiking through the white desert. It was quite an unforgettable experience, and I do have a lot of pictures to share... But I wouldn't want to run off on another big tangent," Professor Oobleck stopped himself. He fixed his glasses, and then hopped off from his desk. "As you already know, I am Professor Oobleck, and I will be your history teacher for the rest of this semester."
"I'm sure we're all going to have a very interesting, very productive school year," he claimed with unwavering confidence. "Now, I could just as well turn on my projector and get started with our course, beginning with the early human civilizations-"
There was an audible moan, gaining in volume as it echoed around the classroom.
"…But since this is only our first day back, I believe we can all use a little time to get reacquainted with one another," he quickly sidetracked, having expected nothing less from his inspired group of students. "Of course, most of you are already familiar with one another from previous years. However, we've got a few new faces joining us this semester, and we wouldn't want any of them to feel excluded! So, here is what I would like to propose!"
He stopped his rapid pacing, stopping directly in front of his blackboard.
"I've prepared a series of activities we can brave through together," the teacher gleefully announced, clasping his hands together in visible excitement. "Everybody, please check inside your desks. You will all find a single sheet of paper waiting for you."
Following his instructions, Ruby looked into her own and pulled out a short survey.
"On it, you will find a variety of different questions," Professor Oobleck continued. "I want you to find a partner and try to go through as much of the list as possible for the next fifteen minutes. Whoever comes up with the most interesting response can pick what we can do next. How does that sound?"
Ruby sucked in a tiny breath, watching in trepidation as most of the students murmured in agreement to the proposal. It was a blatantly obvious answer: anything would be better than to start off the day with a lecture on ancient civilizations.
"Good!" Their teacher glanced at his watch. "Then, let us begin!"
Incidentally, "find a partner" was one of the most terrifying things a student could ever hear a teacher say on the first day. Add in the words "introvert" and "the new kid" into the mixture, and the completely ordinary situation rapidly turned into one of the biggest natural disasters an awkward teenager would ever have to face.
Gulping quietly, Ruby fidgeted in her seat, glancing around the room with shy caution, hearing the bustling movement of others, the sound of desks and chairs scratching against the floor, and ultimately the cacophony of loud voices, talking and conversing excitedly to each other.
It took a minute for Ruby to realize that the girl sitting next to her hadn't moved from her seat. Sucking a bit of nervous air, she gently tapped her neighbor on the shoulder.
"Um... Hi? Do you have a partner?" Ruby chewed on the inner sides of her cheeks. "Um, would you like to be my partner?"
"Hi! I'm Penny!" The girl must not have heard her initial question. Instead, she extended out a steady hand, and an amiable smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"Hey, Penny. I'm Ruby." She returned the gesture, with a feebler grin. "It's nice to meet you too. Sorry, I'm just, uh... I'm new here, so I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing..."
"It's all right!" Penny responded swiftly, much to Ruby's grand relief. "I am also new here. But I don't think there is any reason to worry. Everybody here seems wonderful!"
"Yeah? I guess so...?" Ruby laughed nervously. This girl did indeed act nice, though she sounded almost robotic in her speech. It was likely that the redhead was on the borderline of the same level of awkwardness as she was. If so, Penny sure had a knack for hiding her lack of confidence with a cheery greeting.
"Well then, do you want to try answering some of these questions with me?" Ruby decided to whip up the courage to ask.
"Oh, yes." Penny nodded happily. "We most certainly should try answering these questions. After all, that is what our teacher instructed! Would you like me to go first?"
"Uh, sure! Why not?"
"Question number one," she began to read. "What did you do over the summer break?"
"Well... Nothing interesting, I guess," Ruby recounted, in a painfully self-aware manner. "I think I just stayed home mostly... I hung out with my sister and my dad! We didn't go anywhere special this year. I mean- normally we do, but I don't know… This year, everybody seemed kind of busy so... Yeah."
"I see!" Penny, however, lightened up, appearing immensely intrigued by the generic story. "That must have been nice!"
"Er... Thanks?" By this point, it was hard to tell if the girl was being sincere about this or not. Shaking her head, Ruby drove her attention back onto her own parchment of paper. "Um, so what did you do over the break, Penny?"
"I stayed at home as well," the girl said shortly, bobbing her head to a happy rhythm of solidarity.
"...Oh." Ruby mimicked her action. "That's great."
Now, Penny didn't seem to be understanding the concept of ice breakers. She appeared much too determined to whiz through every question at a startling speed, acting as if her only prerogative were to reach the end of the survey. Fortunately, or unfortunately, their history teacher had provided them with a sizable assortment of random inquiries. Even when most of their fifteen minutes were up, they were still only halfway through the list.
"If you had to describe yourself using three words, what would they be?" Penny queried, not ready to take a break anytime soon.
"Uh, I don't know?" Ruby sighed. "Short? Well, I guess I'm not too short, I'm a bit below average. But that's not three words, is it? …Or maybe it is."
"I think you are of average size, Ruby," Penny remarked, then smiled, and then went onto the next question as if this matter needed no further discussion.
"Please tell me a unique aspect of yourself," she sprouted next.
Ruby pondered about this for a minute, wishing she could think of something more impressive than being able to stuff eight Oreos into her mouth at once. "I'm not sure. My sister always told me that it's really weird how I can eat so much sweets without ever getting sick. I don't know if you can call that unique or not..."
"Was that your answer?" Confused, Penny tried to verify.
"No? Not really... Um, I think I can come up with a better- hold on," she began to think aloud. "Well, I guess I kind of have these dreams that…usually have the tendency to come true?"
"Wow... Are you a fortune teller?" Penny looked genuinely surprised, making Ruby realize how stupid her previous statement must have sounded.
"What? No, no!" She immediately tried to explain herself in a panicky fashion. "They're just dreams that I have! It's just that they sometimes-"
"That's fifteen minutes!" Professor Oobleck intervened. "Everybody, please return to your original seats."
"We can continue this next time, friend!" Penny said cheerfully, tucking the paper away into the desk once they finished. Without a second thought, her bright green eyes snapped back onto the professor, who was sipping on his coffee from the front of the classroom.
"Right... Next time." Ruby sighed. She hoped that she hadn't made a complete fool of herself during their conversation. Yang had often told her before that she tried too hard to make a good first impression.
Thankfully, Penny didn't seem to mind when she stumbled and stuttered – perhaps she would be her best prospect for a new friend? After all, that was the exact word the girl had used! Ruby observed the redhead with a hopeful thought.
"Let's move on to our next activity…" She heard the professor say, and Ruby, feeling distracted, heard no more from that point on.
The rest of the hour passed by slowly. After hearing about a few of the student's answers, they ended up playing a little Pictionary, then a couple more games thought of by their teacher.
In less than a minute, the period was bound to end, and Ruby could feel a flow of relief filling her prematurely, comforted by the fact that she would no longer have to participate in the name game. Her memory failed her during the most inconvenient times.
And, of course, she had a much more important task to mull over in her mind.
"Just ask her which class she has next… It's not that hard! She's nice. She's…friendly! It's not like she's going to bite your head off. The worst thing she can say is say no." Ruby groaned inwardly, growing tired of her own anxious voice. "If Yang were here, what would she do? …She'd probably smile, and wink, and say all the right things… But no, that'd be flirting… But it's impossible to tell the difference with her sometimes..."
As soon as she finished wrestling with that thought, the bell rang shrilly across the room.
"Well, I believe that's all we have time for today, class!" Professor Oobleck promptly dismissed them. "Students, please remember to pick up the term syllabus from my desk as you head out the door. We will have regular classes starting from tomorrow. So, have a good day!"
"Hey, Penny!" Ruby piped up, raising her voice against the sudden movement of chairs. "Where…"
Her act of bravery was cut pitifully short. In vain, she noticed all her classmates flying out of their seats like buzzing bees. And Penny, whom Ruby had been rehearsing in her head to befriend, disappeared as quickly as she had rushed through the survey questions. Into the crowd of people she went, and Ruby, feeling utterly defeated with herself, took time to pack her unused notes and papers, and slugged out the backdoor.
