Running With the Wolves
"The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives." - Sansa Stark: Game of Thrones
Chapter 9
Oscar was tired all day at school, so much so that he had even fallen asleep in a few of his classes much to his chagrin. He wasn't able to sleep at all over the weekend as he kept having nightmares. They weren't very vivid, at least not enough that he could clearly remember what happened in those dreams but he did remember that he was in a forest and he saw hulking wolves fighting and ripping each other to shreds. Even now, just thinking about it was enough to send shivers down his mind as the thought drudged back the sound of their howls in his dreams.
"Oscar, are you even listening?" The sound of Jaune's voice was enough to stop him from almost planting his face into his cheesy potatoes.
"Yes," Oscar said sheepishly. He honestly had no clue what they were talking about. Judging by the look of disgust on Jaune's face, he knew Oscar was lying as well.
"We were talking about dates to homecoming and taking bets on homecoming king and queen." The urgency in Jaune's voice about the topic made Oscar question his priorities. Oscar had forgotten about the dance, to begin with, he was more focused on midterms for the first semester than how he was going to be standing around awkwardly at a punch bowl while he watched half of the student body get wasted and the other half as high as a kite. At least that is what Oscar had seen about dances in movies and read about in books. He wasn't really sure what they were really like though.
Oscar wouldn't lie though, the idea of maybe dancing with Ruby like in all of those cheesy romance films that Jaune's sisters had made him watch over the years was enough to maybe talk Oscar into going. But, judging from Ruby's disdain for parties, he didn't think she would end up going to the dance anyway.
"I still say Weiss has a good chance at being homecoming queen." The interjection from Ren was enough to yank Oscar from the pleasant fantasy and stop himself from almost dumping his milk into his green beans.
"Don't get me wrong Weiss is definitely amazing," Jaune commented getting a little stupid grin on his face. "But that doesn't change the fact that Pyrrha is the star of the volleyball team. Student body president always gets beaten out by the star athlete."
"Maybe, but Pyrrha doesn't exactly socialize much with the others in school outside of us. Weiss does at least talk to everyone." Ren countered and Oscar rolled his eyes a little. A popularity contest wasn't exactly an idea he was fond of.
"Oh, and Sun defiantly socializes with everyone," Jaune countered with a pout. "If their names aren't Sage, Scarlet, Neptune, Blake, or Ilia he doesn't really talk to them."
"Yes, but would you vote for Neptune?"
"No, he's a lady's man and always flirting with all the girls and not leaving any for the rest of us."
"My point exactly," Ren stated as he shoved a bite of food in his mouth. Oscar couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the bickering.
"What's so funny? Got a problem with our reasons?" Jaune sounded way too defensive for such a mundane topic. Oscar guessed that Weiss had already turned him down, again, for the fourth year in a row. How Pyrrha managed to not strangle him or move on was beyond Oscar.
"No, it's just entertaining."
"Fine then who do you think will be homecoming king and queen?"
"Well if I had to choose from our senior class…" Oscar paused and let his eyes scan the cafeteria, observing all of those around him. "Then my money is on Yang Xiao Long and Cardin Winchester."
Jaune actually spits his milk out all over Ren's face.
"Why those two?" Jaune said as he was coughing and Ren was whipping the milk off his face with a napkin.
"Yang has a very fun and bright personality. She might not get the vote of the popular kids but she is well liked by the people who make up a majority of the school, plus she's still newer which makes her shiny—something that stands out in a smaller town like ours. Cardin because he's a bully and everyone would be too scared not to vote for him with the way he's campaigning."
Oscar knew they couldn't argue with him on that. Cardin had a weird obsession with being homecoming king, and he was still pissed at losing out to Sun as Prom king their Junior year.
"He makes a good point," Ren noted and Jaune pouted.
"Where are the girls anyway?" Oscar asked as he attempted to find where Pyrrha and Nora were.
"Nora mentioned something about them having lunch outside for a change," Ren commented as he took another bite of his food a little more forcefully this time. "I offered for us to join them but they said they were going to be talking about homecoming stuff with some others."
"Bummer," was all Oscar managed to say before they began talking about dates and how Ren should just ask Nora out already instead of waiting on her to make the first move since they knew they were going to the dance together like they did every year.
…
"Every year it's like Clockwork! When is he going to realize I'm not interested?" Ilia was listening to Weiss complain as she ate her orange and wondered when Weiss was going to realize that they didn't care. It was weird enough that Weiss was sitting with them and not hold up in the art room working on some fundraiser for the school or homework in the library. Ilia didn't mind Weiss, she was actually fun when she wasn't complaining about everything. However, she just wasn't in the mood to entertain Blake's friend.
"I don't know when you finally ask Neptune to the dance instead of flying solo?" Blake teased as she took a bite of her tuna salad from home with a smirk on her face.
"I'll do that when you finally ask Sun," Weiss stammered and she blushed but Blake just smiled wider in response.
"I'll have you know on Friday after school Sun asked me to homecoming and we're going together," Blake defended herself, almost purring with satisfaction.
"But still as friends," Ilia added which was enough to make her friends fragile confidence crumble.
"Only cause I asked to go as friends," Blake mumbled as she began to focus more on eating her food again.
"What about you Ilia? Any girl caught your eyes?" Weiss asked the question but it was enough to make Ilia roll her eyes in response. She could see Yang walking outside with her younger sister in tow but didn't pay too much mind to it.
"No, I'm going to fly solo, like I have every year," Ilia stated as she popped a slice of orange into her mouth.
"You're lucky, guys are a complicated mess," Weiss whined as she let her head fall to the table dramatically.
"Not really, I find girls to be just as much of a mess," Ilia defended as she could see outside where Yang and Ruby were seated under a tree and throwing what looked like grapes into each other's mouths.
"Where are Sun and Neptune anyway, don't they usually eat with you two?" Weiss asked as she took a sip of some coffee she had packed in a thermos for lunch.
"They said they were going to eat outside with some other friends today," Blake stated with a shrug, having not given it much thought.
"Weird," was all Ilia said before she finished off the rest of her orange.
…
"Guys, I know Qrow gave you homecoming to still be social since it's a new moon that night but you still shouldn't go crazy," Ruby tried to warn only to be completely ignored by everyone around her.
"Come on Ruby, I know you want to go with Oscar," Yang teased as she and Nora continued to throw food at each other.
"That isn't true," Ruby protested and prayed she wasn't blushing. "He's just a good friend is all."
"Sure, he is," Yang teased as she drew out the syllables even after she was hit with a grape from Nora that she missed.
"What about you guys, who are you going with?" Ruby interjected hoping to pull the focus off of herself even if it was just for a bit.
"Well, Ren and I always go together… not like together together, but still together." Nora explained which got a few looks of confusion from everyone. Pyrrha just chuckled in response.
"It's just what they do," Pyrrha explained with a smile at her friend's antics. "I just planned to wait and see who asked me."
"I already got Blake to say yes," Sun stated with a triumphant smile.
"Careful, or I'll steal your date," Yang laughed but something in her eyes told Sun that she wasn't joking.
"I'm going to fly solo, can't let one lady hold me down you know," Neptune said as he looked at his nails, attempting to sound smooth.
"He can't dance so he doesn't want to embarrass himself, especially in front of Weiss," Sun explained to which Neptune began to sputter out protests. Ruby found herself giggling along with everyone else but turned her head around to see something strange.
Ozpin, one of her favorite teachers since moving here, was looking right at them. And not in the monitoring the outside like teachers did sometimes way, no he was only looking at them. He calmly sipped his coffee and nodded to Ruby. It was unsettling.
She nodded back and went back to the conversations with her friends. Something told her that there was something going on that was bigger then any of them had anticipated.
BRK: Hey guys, remember when this story was supposed to be a romance and not an actual story with RWBY characters instead of original characters... yeah me either. Anyway, thank you so much for the love and support so far! See you next week, later gators!
