After gathering all of her books and stuffing them haphazardly into her bag, Ruby started a mad dash home. She lived just over a mile from the school but with her speed she was able to make it home in under five minutes. The Houses blurred past and Ruby's eyes slowly lost focus on the road in front of her as her thoughts began to drift back to her new friend.

Cinder is so cool, so mysterious. I can't wait to get to know her better. What should we do if we hang out?

I bet we could have lots of fun together.

No, bad brain. She's just a friend, besides who says she even swings that way.

I like how her hair swings. It's so dark and shiny, like a beautiful curtain of mystery.

I wouldn't mind pulling open that curtain.

OMG stop it.

Ruby shook her head to try and rid herself of the dirty thoughts. As they subsided she looked around and realized she had managed to run right past her house. Shaking her head at her own foolishness she turned herself around and began slowly walking, towards the lot, up the driveway, across the porch, through the front door. The heavy door swung open with a low creak.

Her house was a modest single floor ordeal. The front door opened to a short hallway with five doors lining its length, three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. She set her shoes and bag down by the front door and made her way to the end of the hall. The door opened at her beckoning and revealed a small kitchen dining room mix.

"Hey sweetheart, how was your day?" Ruby turned to see her Uncle Qrow sitting at the table with lots of paperwork spread out in front of him. Qrow was a tall, lean man. His face was long and pointed and his eyes were sharp and angled. "Fantastic!" Ruby replied, her face lighting with her shining smile. "Anything special happen I should know about?" Qrow asked, his face softening, Ruby's excitement being too contagious to withstand.

"Yeah, I met this girl, her name's Cinder, she just moved here, we have like the same schedule, we spent the whole day together talking, well I was the one doing most of the talking, she's pretty shy, I hope I can get her to open up, whenever she laughs she has this cute shy smile she does…" Ruby trailed off realizing her brain to mouth filter had seemed to malfunction. "Um, I mean she's cute when she, I mean she smiles and it's really cute, um, I have to go…emergency homework."

Ruby quickly turned to leave, her face rapidly changing color to match her namesake. "Hold on there," Qrow said. Ruby stopped and slowly turned back around to look at her uncle. "So this Cinder, tell me a little more about her." Qrow asked, his tone one of amusement.

Ruby suddenly became incredibly fascinated with her feet and how they glided across the smooth, white linoleum of the kitchen floor. "Well," Ruby began uncertainly, "she just moved here with her family. She has a little sister with pink and brown hair and they get along real well. Um, She didn't really say much else about herself." Silence hung in the room for a moment before a sing song voice could be heard from out in the hall.

"Ruby's got a crush~ Ruby's got a crush~" Ruby's face paled as her older sister Yang entered the kitchen. Yang was tall and very well built. She was very clearly an athlete with toned arms and legs as well as a strong, confident face. Her hair was long, thick, and golden and her eyes where stunning lilac orbs. Her ego was even bigger than the chest that contained it, which is saying quite a lot really. "So, who's this Cinder?" Yang teased. "I'm out for one day and you already have a girlfriend." Ruby's face again turned a vibrant red hue that could rival a tomato.

Crap, this isn't how this was supposed to happen. Why can't Yang ever just let me be.

"She's not my girlfriend! It's not like that! But she did invite me to come hangout at her house sometime," Ruby directed the latter half of the statement towards her uncle, her voice trailing off towards the end. Qrow thought about it for a moment before responding. "I don't know Ruby, I'm sure she's a nice girl but I don't know how I feel about you going to her house all by your self."

"I could go with her," Yang quickly offered. Ruby excitedly turned to Yang only to suddenly cower back after seeing the devious smile on the blonde's face. "I don't know." Ruby trailed off before being shushed by her sister. "Don't worry about. I don't mind one bit." Yang ended her sentence with a menacing wink before leaving the kitchen. Ruby's stomach twisted itself into a knot. Uh oh.

Ruby looked to Qrow who simply shrugged. "If you take Yang with you I guess it wouldn't be a problem, just make sure you call so I know when to expect you back. Ruby nodded excitedly and stepped over to the cupboards.

At least I can go over to her house. Let's see what we can find for dinner…


The walk home was a rather quiet journey. The sisters walked in silence, occasionally sharing a brief glance before again staring back at the road. The dull drone of cars passing lulled Cinder into thought. Cinder's mind was quickly filled with thoughts of Ruby, her new friend.

I can't believe I actually have a friend! She's so nice, so bubbly and full of energy. She's so interesting too, so smart, and funny. I can't wait to see her again… or her cute smile.

Wait what? Cute smile? Where'd that come from?

The idea floated around in Cinder's head. The more she thought about it the more she realized the implications of that one stray thought.

Do I, do I like her? Like, like like her? Oh no, why'd this of all things have to happen? Finally I make a friend and all I can think about is her beautiful smile?

Wait, beautiful? What is happening to me? Ahhhh!

Cinder's inner turmoil continued to boil away inside of her as she opened the front door and led Neo inside. The house looked just as they had left it. Mostly barren, void of any personal affects, just furniture. The sisters laid their stuff out in the living room and headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Unsurprisingly neither of their parents were home. They never were it seemed. But the sisters didn't mind, they had grown used to just having each other for company.

As they worked at slicing vegetables Cinder remembered that it wasn't just her first day of school. "Hey girly, how was your day?" Neo put down her knife and stared at the table. "That bad huh?" Cinder put her own knife down and raised a comforting hand to place on Neo's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?" Neo just sighed and shook her head slowly. "Hey, you know I'm always here for you, right? You ever need anything you know you can come to me, ok?" Neo's eyes met Cinder's, they had gotten most of their brilliant pink color back by this point. The sisters smiled at each other briefly before returning to the task at hand. Cinder was worried about her sister, but she knew that if Neo needed her help she would ask.

In no time at all they had finished preparing dinner and had sat down to eat. They knew not to wait up for their parents. They would be back late if they made it back at all. The two girls ate in silence, the only sound the clink of silverware on plates and the quiet drone of the television in the background.

"Hey Neo,"Cinder began. Neo looked up at her sister, a questioning look on her face. "Would you be ok if I invited that girl I met today over to the house?" Neo was visibly taken aback by the question, she wasn't so sure about letting a stranger into the house, but after some short deliberation she nodded her head. Cinder smiled at Neo and Neo returned it, albeit more reservedly.

The two set about their evening routines, getting the dishes cleaned, school supplies sorted, and pajamas on. Cinder whispered a quiet good bye to her sister before closing the door to her room and climbing into bed.

As she lay in bed searching for sleep her mind began to wander. After some brief searching it decided to focus on her young new friend. Cinder kept thinking about Ruby. She couldn't get the image of her perfect smile out of her head.

Perfect? Damn it. Stop thinking like that. There's no way she feels the same, I need to just be happy she wants to be friends at all. I can't afford to mess this up.

And it was with that thought that Cinder found a rather restless sleep.

A/N: So here's four. Not quite as long as I'd have liked but this chapter is mostly just setting up for what's to come...

As always I'm eager to hear what you think, feel free to say whatever you want.

Hope you enjoy.