"I don't want to be your friend, I never want to be your friend again!"
I loosened the hug I had on her, not believing her words. My only friend, the girl who had become such a staple of my life, the constant pillar of support that gave me the courage to face each day; she was leaving me.
She slipped out of my arms, turned and ran away, leaving me standing there. I tried to follow her but she was too fast, I quickly lost sight of her. But still I ran, hoping that I could capture a glimpse of my precious rose. But she wasn't there, she was gone, and I knew that I would never see her again...
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"Jaune, wake up! We're going on a date today remember?!" I gasped as I woke up, blinking in confusion at the excited voice of my girlfriend then grunting as she jumped on me to wake me up.
Blearily looking over to the clock that was lying beside my bed on the table, I saw that it was 8:30 in the morning. Normally I would be mad at my overly-excited girlfriend for waking me up so early, since our date wasn't supposed to be for another 4 hours, but after the dream I just had I could only feel relief. Sitting up, I threw my arms around Ruby, effectively stopping her from bouncing on me and causing her to squeak in embarrassment.
"Promise me something?" I asked the black-and-redhead who was blushing in my arms.
Even after a whole summer of dating, she still blushed like crazy if I did anything more than hold her hand. The first time I kissed Ruby after her rather dramatic confession, she looked like a tomato that would faint from the blood rushing to her head. Even now, my surprise hug was causing her cheeks to be dusted with a bright shade of red.
Seeing her nod to my question, I continued. "Promise me that you'll never leave me Ruby."
I didn't care that I was begging her, that it would make me look weak. I just couldn't imagine life without Ruby by my side, the nightmare I had making my fears seem all too real a possibility.
Ruby looked up at me with caring silver eyes... then she bonked me hard on the top of my head. "Gah! What the hell was that for! I was being serious!" I yelled, rolling around in my bed while clutching my head at the spot where her fist had met my cranium.
Ruby was giggling like crazy at my antics, having jumped off my bed before I started rolling around. I gave her a hurt puppy-eyed look that only served to make her burst out in peals of laughter, then she finally managed to calm herself down when I huffed and turned away in a fake pout. "Why would I ever leave you? You're my boyfriend and my best friend," she said while giving me a warm hug. Seeing my relieved smile, she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and blushed before running out of my room yelling, "Now hurry up and get dressed! I made pancakes for breakfast!"
I absently rubbed my cheek as I sat up, already feeling the goofy smile plastered across my face. Since I was already dressed in a plain black t-shirt and some dark blue basketball shorts, I just got out of bed and went into the bathroom, splashing some water on my face and washing out my mouth before heading downstairs. When I finally got to the kitchen, I saw Ruby putting some syrup on her stack of pancakes, a similar stack heaped on my plate at my usual seat. Sitting down, I grabbed my utensils then a thought suddenly crossed my mind. "Hey Ruby, when did you get here?"
She didn't even blink as she carved up her pancakes, "About 30 minutes ago."
"Which window did you use this time?" I asked with an exasperated sigh as I spread syrup on my own pancakes and quickly dug in. This was an old routine, so I wasn't really that annoyed. It still amazed me however that Ruby could so effortlessly break into my house by climbing in through the windows, even when they were shut.
Said redhead put the last of her pancakes into her mouth and swallowed, licking her lips happily. "Your parents', of course," she replied, patting her belly. "The tree is there."
I just shook my head as I reached over into a drawer and pulled out something, throwing it to the unsuspecting 14 year old. She caught it and peered at it in curiosity. "A key?" She asked me quizzically, holding up a black-and-red painted key.
I felt a dull flush creep up my neck and coughed awkwardly to clear the embarrassment. "I got it made for you the other day because I don't want you to break your neck climbing into my house everyday. Not that you should be here this early anyway," I replied, whispering the last part to myself.
Ruby disappeared from her seat in a blur, and the next thing I know she's squeezing me to death with her slender but incredibly strong frame, "Thank you! Thank you! You're the best boyfriend ever!" She gushed, carefully adding my housekeys to her keychain. The hyperactive girl bounced impatiently in her seat, barely letting me finish my pancakes before dragging me to the living room to watch some random movie.
Before Ruby could push me onto the couch to watch whatever movie she picked today, I excused myself and ran upstairs so I could get dressed beforehand for our date after the movie. I knew that if I had sat down with Ruby, she wouldn't let me up until the movie was over and she was sufficiently cuddled with. It was one of the quirks I figured out about my girlfriend. It was clear she could've cared less about watching the movies after the first few times we sat up all night watching mutiple movies in a row; what she really wanted to do was to cuddle with me, something I wouldn't have minded as much if I didn't ironically enough have much smaller bladder than my smaller girlfriend. It made for some tense moments on my side when I needed to go and Ruby still wanted to cuddle, but a suggestion to carry her into the toilet so I could do my business while she cuddled allowed me to escape, albeit not without some embarrassed punching from her.
I quickly threw on my outfit for the date, a bright blue shirt with my usual pair of jeans. Heading downstairs again, Ruby instantly pulled me onto the couch the moment she saw me, "Hurry up Jaune, you're gonna miss the movie!" I could only smile as she sat down on my lap and wrapped my arms around her, leaning back on my chest and making herself comfortable. I wrapped my arms tighter around her and rested my head on hers, basking in her presence. The first time this happened I was incredibly tense, worried I would accidentally do something to offend her, while Ruby was both blushing and stiff throughout the entire movie. Now, however, it was just a natural position for us to be in.
Eventually I got bored of the movie and decided to bring up a daunting subject, one I had been avoiding for quite a while, "So, school starts in a few days."
"Yep, then when this year is over I'll be in school with you!" Ruby chirped happily, snuggling deeper into my arms. I was used to the way she was slightly obsessed with certain things by this point. At least from what I know, I wasn't the thing she obsessed over the most... I was behind cookies and her moped, but above strawberries. This was lucky, since if I was any higher on the list she would be living here with me already. As of right now she was here at least 3 days every week, and she only toned it down from her original 7 because I told her that her family would start to worry and keep a closer eye on her if she was always gone all the time. The days we had dates though, she would arrive here before I woke up and stay for the night.
Back to her reply though, I couldn't help but feel a bit worried. "Aren't you nervous though?" I asked, recalling my own hellish experiences... then I realized that the only thing she had to deal with at school was just... school. Not a pack of the most popular girls in school making life miserable for her.
"Not really. Well the homework is going to suck, but you can help me with that," she said, poking my arm conspiratorially, "Riiight?"
I couldn't help but smile at her goofiness, "I could... but that would be cheating Rubes, and you know how I feel about that," I teased, giving her body a small squeeze.
"Pleeease? I'll let you have more cookies tomorrow, " she offered, as if that was supposed to change my mind somehow. Then she got an excited look, and hopped out of my lap and ran into the kitchen, "I need to make some cookies!"
I facepalmed, then gave an amused sigh while looking at the clock. We only had 30 minutes before we were supposed to go out, but knowing her she would be in the kitchen for the next 40 minutes at least. Then again, she had wanted to watch a movie, so we could always go later... or more likely just end up waiting for it to show up on Teethflix.
Getting up from the couch, I called into the kitchen as I walked in, "We ran out of chocolate chips to put in the cookies, the last batch you made cleaned me out Rubes." I hoped that this would be enough to make her forget about the cookies so we that could go out, but it was in vain.
"What? Okay! I'll run out on Crescent Rose and get some more, you stay here and prep the dough!" Ruby blurred out of the kitchen, and I heard the sound of Crescent Rose starting up and tearing down the street. With a sigh, I looked around the empty kitchen and spotted the ingredients for the cookie dough already laid out. Like I said, she cares more about cookies than me.
Oh well, I guess I'll just prepare the cookie dough like she said.
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It was the first time in three months that I was entering Beacon again. I sincerely hoped that my schedule wouldn't coincide with any of the four girls who ruined my first year of high school, but this hope was immediately ruined as soon as I walked into Cinder's class for homeroom, seeing that Weiss was one of the few people already in the room along with some other kids that I didn't recognize.
Cinder's room was a highly debated topic by the students, mostly because of the fact that she scorned traditional electrical lighting and instead used a multitude of candles that she replaced every few days. This led to fire extinguishers being placed around the walls along with two seperate fire alarms on either end of the classroom. The smoke detectors on the other hand had to be disabled as they had the tendency to keep triggering all day.
Surprisingly enough, a fire had never started up in Cinder's room. The candles she used were placed above the chalkboard in metal candle holders, spaced at regular intervals along the entirety of the classroom at that altitude. The desks were arranged in rows at the center of the classroom, far away from the walls and facing the chalkboard, with her own desk being behind the students desks and also facing the chalkboard.
Weiss was helping Cinder light the last of the candles with a long taper, so I quietly went to the back corner of the room and sat at one of the desks farthest away from Cinder's, hoping to avoid the attention from the Ice Queen of Beacon. By the time they were finished with the candles and Weiss had finally realized I was there, there were far too many people in the room for her to do anything besides glare at me.
Cinder stood in front of the class. "Okay class, now that the room is lit we can start. Today we'll be reviewing what you have forgotten last year from Geometry," she said as she pulled out a packet that looked thicker than the Geometry textbook. "You have one week to complete this assignment along with a partner who will be assigned to you. Failure to complete this on time will result in you being dropped back to your normal Math, which will result in an F for your first grading period," she finished as several of the students started sweating, including me.
One of the rules placed on me by my father was that if I ever got an F for my grades he would personally come back from his work trip just so he could punch me into the dirt. Realizing that my life was on the line, I paid careful attention to the partnering. The 7th name Cinder called was mine and I perked up. "Jaune Arc will be paired with... Weiss Schnee." As I groaned internally, Cinder was interrupted by an angry heiress who had raised her hand to cut her off.
"Ms. Falls, may I please request a different partner? I feel as if working with...him may cause me to receive a bad grade on the assignment," she said with an angered and disgusted tone.
Cinder apparently didn't care about her problems, as she simply fixed Weiss with a no-nonsense stare. "Ms. Schnee, I assure you that Mr. Arc will not be a hindrance to you. He did just as well as you last year, if not even better."
This was clearly a bad thing to say to the Snow Angel however. "I refuse to believe that this idiot could possibly do better than me. He probably can't even count his fingers without using a calculator," she snarled before storming out, leaving the entire class to turn their heads to me in disbelief. I shrunk inwardly, knowing I was already being labeled a target of the girls' abuse. This year was already shaping up to be worse than the previous year, especially if this kept up.
A loud clap from Cinder broke us out from our shock. "Enough! Mr. Arc, I don't care what issues you are having with Ms. Schnee, but if you are unable to work it out and complete your assignment on time then I am dropping both of you back to normal Math. Is that understood?"
I nodded dumbly, already hearing the whispers accusing me of holding Weiss back and plans to take revenge on her behalf if I caused her to be dropped back to normal Math. Apparently no one cared if she was the one to throw a tantrum and walk out of class, because after all she was one of their beloved Queens while I was less than a nobody. Likewise, even though Weiss was the one who refused to work with me, I would be the only one blamed by them if she caused us to be demoted to normal Math.
After a miserable first period, I made my way to Port's class. Weiss wasn't in it, but Blake was. Any hopes I had that it would be better were dashed when Blake spent most of the period glaring at me, something that our classmates quickly noticed, although Port himself seemed oblivious to it. That, along with the reaction Weiss gave to being partnered with me made a lot of people suspicious about what kind of person I was to have two of the most popular girls in our grade treat me with such clear hostility right from the start of the year.
As I was walking through the halls after the second period I could hear the hushed conversations that followed me and halted whenever I got too close.
"Weiss called him an idiot in 1st, but he's in all the advanced classes. Do you think he cheated to get into them?"
"I heard that he cheated on Pyrrha last year, and that's why they're all mad at him."
"When I tried asking Pyrrha about Jaune in 2nd she would only mutter something about him and some girl that's a few years younger than him. You don't think he's a..."
And with that, not even a full day had passed before a few words and some heated glares had turned into me being a cheater and whatever nasty titles they could come up with for me. It didn't matter that me and Pyrrha were never a thing, or that I had taken those tests fair and square in front of witnesses; no one asked or cared for my input, and so the rumors spread.
By the time the end of the day rolled around and I walked into Oobleck's room for 6th, I was met with the grinning face of Yang Xiao Long who was facing a small audience of our classmates and telling them how I was the worst kind of person. My heart sank. If this was anything to go by, then my first day of school was just the first day of what promised to be a horrible year.
