Tu, 5/8

Tuesday, May 9th/ Morning.

When I wake up, it is unbearably warm in my room. I'm sweaty and sticky, and all my bed covers have been discarded to the floor.

Also, I somehow got naked overnight.

The door bursts open and Yang pops in. "Ruby, are you awa…?" She stops in place as she sees me. With a yelp, I roll off my bed away from the door and fall behind it, hastily picking up a blanket to cover myself and peeking over the edge. Yang has an amused smirk. "Did I interrupt something?"

My face burns with embarrassment. I pick a pillow and throw it at her, which she swiftly dodges. "What is it?" I ask her, with no lack of anger in my tone.

"Oh, don't be so ashamed. I sleep naked too," she winks.. She then drops that shit-eating smile and starts explaining. "Seriously though. The AC… kinda short-circuited last night and busted up a fuse, and we blacked out overnight."

I glance over at my alarm clock and see that the display is blinking. "Damn. What time is it then?"

"We're good, but we gotta move fast if we want to get school on time. Dad's already fixed the power, but he doesn't want to run anything for a while, so no hot water this morning." She suddenly smirks again. "We could shower together, though."

Another pillow goes flying and nails her in the face. I rush up and close the door. "You go first. I… I'll clean up my room a little first," I fumble to say through the door. I can clearly hear Yang's snickering down the hallway.

I wipe a hand across my face and pick up my pajamas, covers and get ready to head for the bathroom.

Tuesday, May 9th/ After School.

Thankfully, Yang was graceful enough to stop teasing me for the rest of the day. Not that she had many opportunities today anyway, since we both have practice with our teams. However, since it is too hot to do our normal training, track practice conforms on stretching and aerobic exercises, and even then Coach Port decides to dismiss everyone early. No one wants to linger on the field any longer, so everybody heads off to the showers and go home.

After taking a shower, I head for the gate when I find Velvet standing near the door to the field and staring at it with a nervous frown. I decide to walk over to her. "Hey Velv. What's going on?"

She gives a startled yelp at first, but calms down after seeing me. "Oh, hi Ruby. I was just… um…" She fidgets with her hair as she speaks before blurting. "Looking for my cellphone! I think I dropped it somewhere."

I look at her hands, and see that she's clutching a smartphone in them. I point to it. "Um, Velvet?"

She looks at it and her eyes open comically wide. "Oh, bloody… Welp, I found it." She laughs nervously, which slowly becomes an awkward chuckle.

I raise an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?" I ask her.

She sighs. "No, I…" She trails off, unsure of what to say. Finally she takes a big breath and speaks again. "I'm tired of being so awkward all the time." She confesses.

"Whenever I'm around people, I'm afraid of what they might think or say, and I always get so nervous because of that that I end up tripping over my own feet or blurting out some nonsense."

"But you aren't awkward all the time," I counter. "The other day you were joking and laughing with us at the cafeteria."

"Yes, but yesterday with Ms. Schnee I was so nervous I didn't say a word, remember?" she points out.

I recall yesterday's afternoon. I can't really remember whether her claim is true or not. "Honestly, yeah. You kinda fell back to the background," I offer sheepishly.

"That's what I'm tired of," Velvet begins, raising her voice." I'm tired of not being worth a second look. I want people to stop noticing me getting flustered and nervous and instead…" She pauses momentarily. "And instead…" She trails off again, her voice lowering to its usual tone and poking her fingers together. "I don't know what else, actually."

"I see…" I say looking back at the field. "So, you wanted to join track team?"

"… Something like that," she admits. "I thought that by joining a team I'd be able to show people what I'm capable of." She blushes a deep crimson. "But then I saw the women's uniform and… well, y'know."

I suddenly become self conscious of that fact. I cough into my hand. "Yeah, well… it could be worse."

"I then started thinking of how embarrassed I'd be, and then what would happen next and… I just couldn't bring myself to it." She bows her head and lets out a deep sigh. "Gosh, I'm hopeless."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," I tell her while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Your plan of joining a club is actually a good idea."

"But there aren't many sport clubs that are still letting people join. And I'm still not confident about joining any of those." She explains.

"Still, it is a good idea," I reiterate. "Tell you what. I'll help you find something that'll help you stand out more. Sound good?"

Velvet looks up, surprised. "Really? I- I couldn't ask you to do something like that for me."

"I figured you wouldn't. That's why I'm offering it." I stretch my hand to her. "What do you say?"

Velvet fidgets a little more before taking my hand. "Sure, let's do that." She takes on a relieved smile. "Thank you."

We talk a little more before I get a text from Yang.

YANG: Hey, were d1 with practice. Didja go home alrdy?

I reply back and say goodbye to Velvet before heading for the bus stop. I meet with Yang and wait for a bus that isn't too crowded to arrive.

Tuesday, May 9th/ Evening.

When we arrive home, dad is passed out on the couch with an electric fan at full blast on top of the coffee table. We manage to wake him up without incident and he reveals that the AC is a goner. "I don't think I can repair it this time. Half the pieces are hard to come by, so it'd be better to buy a new one." He lets out a defeated breath. "Sorry about that, girls."

"It's not your fault," I comfort him.

Yang pulls at the neck of her shirt. "Yeah, it still sucks though."

We make simple ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner and watch some TV with the fan on. The weather report says that the heatwave isn't letting up until next weekend.

We all decide to have a full bowl of ice cream for dessert tonight.

Thankfully, there are other two similar fans for our rooms, which dad already brought up from the basement. It isn't air conditioned, but at least the heat will be easier to handle. I change into loose pajamas and make a point of locking my door.

It takes some time for sleep to arrive.

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