School was supposed to be easy for her. She had pretty much everything going for her to get her through the rough and tumble days of high school. Her looks were impeccable, befitting the beauty and power that her family was known for. How many boys had she turned down just in the last year alone? Enough that she hadn't bothered counting. Her grades were at the top of her class. Top of all the classes, in fact. No one in the school could come close to touching her intellect. The looks, the brains, the connections. Being the daughter of rich parents certainly had its perks, both in social status and future clout. When an annoying, pompous younger brother was one's only real issue, then there really wasn't anything to complain about.
However, she wasn't any normal heiress. She was Weiss god damn Schnee, and she could find something to complain about within the absolute best situations. When she'd started high school, she'd been so sure that there'd be no complications. Any issues could be taken care of with the Three B's: bought, bullied, brushed aside. That's how her older sister had explained it when she was younger. The physical part of bullying was usually a bit beneath her, to be honest. If she needed to be involved in a physical altercation, then she'd just call the family bodyguard to deal with it. That's why they paid him.
She was circumventing the issue with all these thoughts about how great her life was otherwise. Honestly, she wished that she could just ignore it until it went away on its own. Unfortunately, she was beginning to realize what she was feeling wasn't really interested in going away. In fact, it seemed to be strengthening rather than weakening, as she had hoped. As usual, this was all the fault of someone else. Specifically, it was the fault of a girl with a blind eye to fashion.
Like most of her fellow popular girls, she liked to find time to make fun of the students beneath her. It was kind of a popular clique tradition. Of course, in her mind, everyone was beneath her, but that was besides the point. She'd never felt guilty about this before. Her entire life, she'd been raised to believe that she was born for great things, and that her family lineage was above all others. If she had to get her kicks from putting a few people down every so often, who was really going to mind? Well, besides the people she was putting down, but who cared what they thought?
Feeling guilty had to be a legitimate reason to complain. That was a feeling that she was never supposed to feel. It was bad, it felt gross, and she didn't like it. Again, that fashion faux pas girl's fault. If she wasn't going to the same school as her, then she wouldn't be having these issues. She'd be perfectly content living her regular pampered life, as she deserved. There would be no guilty feelings, and no... Well, there'd be no other feelings. Did she really have to say it? Ugh, fine! She was feeling romantic feelings. It was a high school crush, and she didn't like it one bit.
Like every teenage drama she'd been forced to sit through back when Winter was a teen, it was about a girl. A girl named Ruby. She had jet black hair with haphazard red tips, like she had no knowledge of how to dye them. There was a surprising brightness to her eyes, at least whenever her hair wasn't covering them. She was too shy to have such lively features, though. As far as she and anybody in her little group knew, she wasn't very outgoing or assertive. She always seemed to be wrapped up in herself or her own world, never really branching out to make friends with anyone. The only thing she hated about that was that she was into this girl enough to know these random things about her.
Okay, so maybe she felt a touch guilty that she had been mean to the girl she was now crushing on. All her friends were the same way, though, so that made it better... Right? Or, well, maybe it didn't make it better, but it made it okay, at least. If everyone was doing it, then it was popular, and being involved in what was popular was a good business decision. She wasn't a sheep, though, if anyone was thinking that. If anything, the others were the sheep, and she was the shepherd. No, wait, then that meant she was the ringleader in the teasing... It wasn't her fault, okay?! No one better be thinking that! Especially not herself.
Since Ruby had come up as a freshman last year, she'd been the subject of teasing and belittlement. Maybe Weiss had been a part of that too. It all focused on her fashion, as she'd commented on earlier. Either she didn't care much for proper attire, or was completely clueless. The clothing she'd wear to school were no better than rags, with oversized sleeves and neon-colored tape covering a multitude of holes in her jeans. It looked like she was always wearing her older sister's ratty hand-me-downs, which was such a baffling concept to her that she could scarcely believe it. There was no way she'd be caught dead wearing her sister's old clothes. They wouldn't fit, and she'd look like... like a nerd or something, and no Schnee was a nerd. Except for Whitley, whom she would call a nerd whenever she was frustrated with him. Which was often.
She couldn't remember who was the one to come up with the nickname Rag Doll. Maybe it was Coco. That's what they called her, though: Rag Doll. At least, they did when her oafish older sister wasn't around. That was one of two people Ruby hung out with: the other being that clumsy boy who was always in remedial class. The Blonde Buffoons, as they called them. They were really good at assigning nicknames to other students, honestly. Ah, anyway, those were the only two people she'd ever seen Ruby hang around with: the Blonde Buffoons.
Of course, one of those buffoons happened to have a great right hook. Yang, Ruby's sister... She was a fighter. A troublemaker was the term that her father had bestowed upon her, and Weiss started using it in turn. She was in detention quite often because she was always getting into fights. Of course, they were always because someone had provoked her, or because she was protecting Ruby. She couldn't be such an overbearing protector forever, though. Besides, she ought to get thicker skin. One doesn't make it in the harsh realities of the world without one.
That was a lot of tangential thoughts for something as supposedly simple as a high school crush. She needed to get her head on straight, or she was going to have a tough year. What would her friends think if they found out she had a crush on the poor, hand-me-down sophomore? She'd certainly lose a significant amount of status, and that wouldn't do. What would her father think if she ended her senior year a loser? It wouldn't be acceptable, that was for sure. She had to be just as successful at graduation as Winter, if not more so.
Walking through the halls one day, a month into the school year, she knew that it was just mind over matter. If she didn't let this crush consume her, then she'd be fine. She was starting the year off right, anyway: good grades, good status. It was all going to end just as it should: with her being the queen. There was nothing to worry about. She was as golden as her credit card.
Noticing Ruby walking towards her, head down, she relished the opportunity to establish her social dominance. She'd prove to herself that she wasn't feeling anything but disdain for the girl. Her conviction was strong, and she was ready to push past these unnecessary feelings. It was the only thing holding her back from a regular school year. Now all they had to do was pass each other, she'd say something appropriately biting, and then all would be right with the world.
Ruby lifted her head, eyes widening when she saw Weiss heading her way. There was no time to turn around, though: they were both heading on a collision course for belittlement. Her head dropped again, seemingly resigned to her fate. That made Weiss feel weird, but she did her best to ignore it. She wasn't going to let any feelings of guilt dissuade her. That wasn't the Schnee way. She walked right towards Ruby, and as they passed each other, she spoke out confidently, in her regular acerbic tone, "Looking cute there, Rag Doll."
"What?" Yeah, wait, what? Both of them stopped on a dime, turning to face each other. Ruby's eyes were wide, a hint of a blush forming on her cheeks. Maybe her tone hadn't been as rough as she thought. She found herself just staring at Ruby, too confused to either be embarrassed or to respond at all. This was a mistake, one that she'd only realize was one way too late. Staring into Ruby's eyes, she found herself getting lost in those glimmering pools of mercury. It was an intense feeling, one that she had never felt before. She couldn't even place a name to it. Not that she was thinking clearly enough at the moment to do it anyway.
"What?" She said it as much to herself as she did to Ruby. Had she been hypnotized or something? Was this girl the devil? Or an angel... No, definitely a devil. She shook her head vigorously, her dazed expression snapping back to one more angry. Yes, she was mad now, and it obviously was Ruby's fault. She wouldn't be feeling so warm and weird inside if it wasn't for her. These feelings weren't what she ordered, and she wanted to return them immediately.
"Did... Did you just call me cute?"
"What? No! No. I didn't say that. I said you were... ugly. And a blight on society too." She crossed her arms, staring Ruby down while trying her best not to waver. This was the first time she noticed that Ruby was almost as tall as her. Weiss was even wearing heels at the moment, so if she was barefoot, then... then Ruby would be taller than her. Cute and taller than her? That was a completely acceptable reason to be rude to someone. How dare they not walk with their knees bent to make her feel better about her lack of a growth spurt. Now she was really mad.
"Uh, I don't think you said that many syllables." Rather than being cowed, Ruby seemed slightly more relaxed. She was even smiling slightly, which was unacceptable. Nobody smiled in front of Weiss unless it was forced, and this didn't look very forced. She was even more mad now. This was exactly what she needed. Having a reason - however stupid it was - to be mad at Ruby would do wonders for squashing that unneeded crush like the bug it was.
"Well, it looks like you can't count either." She was on fire today. Turning on her heel, she sent one last barb across the bow before she began to walk away. "You need to learn your place here, Rose. I'm always going to be better than you, no matter how beautiful your eyes are." She walked away with her head held high, unaware of Ruby resuming her previous open-mouthed shock. It didn't hit her until about halfway down the hall, but she was able to hold it together until she'd turned the corner. Then, once she was out of sight, she slammed her back against the lockers and clutched the front of her shirt with wide, dismayed eyes.
"What the hell did I just say?!"
For the next two days, she felt horribly conflicted. The feelings she had started to feel for Ruby were getting stronger, and she was failing miserably at containing them. Ever since she'd stared so deeply into Ruby's eyes, her heart had completely betrayed her by wanting to be with the girl so badly. Even her brain had been crossing traitorous lines, making her think of the silver-eyed girl in very endearing ways, rather than in the belittling ways that it should've been. Why couldn't things be more like junior year, when she could make fun of Ruby without catching feels? This was so unacceptable.
The guilt got to a point where she looked up 'How to stop crushing on cute girls', but it was all for naught. It seemed that this lovesick affliction was as close to incurable as one could get. She was diseased, and it made her sick. This couldn't happen to her. She couldn't fall for a loser girl. Not in her final year of high school. She was so close to getting out unscathed, and now this was throwing every wrench in the toolbox into her plans. What was she going to do?
In case of emergency, she had to break the glass of her pride and admit that she needed advice. There was only one person she could go to for advice when it came to social interactions, because she wouldn't dare mention it to her other friends, and she certainly wouldn't bring it up with her family. Within the popularity pyramid of the school, there was one girl who was high enough to even match yours truly. However, she seemed to have a distaste for verbally abusing the students that were beneath her. She had a real dumb moral compass, but Weiss stuck with her because one shouldn't cut out a friend if their popularity was still strong. And maybe also because she was the only person in the entire world that Weiss felt comfortable speaking to about important, secretive information, such as matters of the heart.
Waking up early wasn't her idea of a good time. She already was forced to wake up early so that she could make herself presentable for school, which was also early. Now she had to make herself wake up even earlier than that, because she needed to get to school with enough time to speak with Pyrrha. Being very athletics-focused, she would often go to school early in order to jog or practice some random sport. Dumb jock stuff. Not everyone was as dedicated to the craft as her, which meant it would be easy to get her alone. Then she could give Weiss the advice she needed.
She first checked the track, where she would do her early morning jog, but it was empty. Who would even wake up early to do something as exhausting as exercise? Pyrrha was a weird one, that's for sure. Well, if she wasn't at the track, then she would likely be in the gym. Playing basketball, lifting weights, whatever she had taken out of the storage closet. Since she was a good-enough student - and a star athlete, of course - nobody complained about her raiding the equipment on her own time.
The gym was empty, though. She stood in the entrance, frowning as the door closed behind her. Where the hell else could she be if not there? She had seen Pyrrha's car in the parking lot, so she had to be here somewhere. Ugh, this was a waste of her time. Fishing out her phone, she went to her small amount of contacts and called Pyrrha. She held the phone up to her ear and started to pace back and forth while she waited for her call to be answered.
As soon as the call was picked up, Weiss was hurriedly whispering into her phone before Pyrrha could even speak. "Pyrrha! Where are you? I need to talk to you right away. It's an emergency!"
"Uh, Weiss! I, uh..." She seemed to have pulled the phone away from herself, but Weiss could still hear a faint giggling. "Sorry, I'm in the bathroom right now. Uh, could you call back in a bit?" She was about to raise her voice, letting Pyrrha know that any delay was absolutely not acceptable, and how she hadn't gotten up this early to be blown off. Nobody denied Weiss Schnee like this. At least, she was about to, but then she heard a very faint voice. One that sounded like Pyrrha saying "Stop it!" in a playful tone. It was coming from the locker room.
"Alright." Without even giving a proper goodbye, she hung up her phone and put it away. As quietly as she could, she sneaked over to the locker rooms and walked inside. There was no doors to the lockers: instead, it was just an entrance, then a short hallway before one reached the lockers themselves. She had thought before that it wasn't very private, but there wasn't much an unlocked door would do to stop people from entering anyway. It certainly wouldn't have stopped her right then.
She stood in place and held her breath to avoid making any noise. There wasn't anyone at the entrance, but she could still hear something. It was on the other side of the lockers, and it sounded like kissing. Some pretty heavy kissing, perhaps. Her eyebrows shot right up as she let her breath out quietly. Pyrrha was in here having a morning makeout session? That was surprising. She hadn't been told that Pyrrha was dating someone, and she was supposed to know everything in this school. Not being clued in on this secret love affair annoyed her.
Slowly she walked towards the other side of the lockers, the anticipation beginning to get to her. Maybe she could have a little fun with this. She'd surprise the two lovebirds, make sure they were properly embarrassed, then laugh about it and kick the other person out of the room so that she could talk with Pyrrha privately. There'd be some teasing, and of course a firm talk about how there could be no secrets kept from her. Ever.
She had expected to surprise Pyrrha and her secret lover, but she ended up being the one surprised. Sitting on the bench together, consumed in each other's lips too much to notice the world around them, were Pyrrha and... Jaune?! That complete moron that hung around Ruby? There was no way. What was happening right before her eyes couldn't be real. Pyrrha would never stoop so low, would she? She had been so sure that she had some degree of standards.
"What the hell is this?!" Her shocked shriek broke the two of them out of their lust-induced reverie. Two pairs of eyes snapped onto her, with Jaune shouting out in turn and nearly falling right off the bench.
"Christ!" Pyrrha, for her part, remained relatively stationary. There was a growing blush on her face, though, and she suddenly found herself unable to look in Weiss's direction. "Oh, uh, Weiss! Hey! You're, uh... You're up pretty early, huh?"
"No no, none of that! Pyrrha, I can't believe this! You're kissing Jaune?! Jaune! Do you even realize who he is?!" Pyrrha finally looked up at Weiss, then between her and an also-embarrassed Jaune. She then looked back at Weiss with a sheepish smile.
"Intimately." Weiss gagged, having decided they'd wasted enough time here. She stomped over to the two of them, grabbing Jaune by the arm and yanking him onto his feet. Glaring at him, she pointed at the exit and demanded he leave immediately. He looked wide-eyed at Pyrrha, who wasn't really sure how to respond. It didn't take him long to run out, though, too intimidated by the Ice Queen to even consider standing his ground. "I'll, I'll see you after class, Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled after him, then turned to look at Weiss with a frown. "Come on, Weiss. We weren't even done yet."
"Well now you are. We have more important things to talk about than how you're slumming around with the riff-raff." She sat herself down next to Pyrrha, leaving no room for arguments. "Now, I need your help. How do I get rid of romantic feelings for someone?"
"... Huh?" Pyrrha was left speechless, staring at Weiss in disbelief. This was become something of a trend lately, and Weiss didn't like it. What was so difficult about her request anyway? Pyrrha was supposed to be high on the social intelligence meter here. "You... want to get rid of romantic feelings for someone? I... Why would you..." She blinked, as if realizing she was trying to argue the logic of feelings with Weiss. "Who exactly are you feeling this way about anyway?"
"That's irrelevant. I don't see how this is a tough question for you. I came to you because you're the only person I could go to with this, and you're being rather unhelpful right now." Pyrrha blinked again, then found herself smiling warmly. Weiss really had a difficult time understanding that even she had normal emotions, just like the regular folks. "I don't like how you're smiling right now. Just answer the question, dammit."
"Weiss, why do you like this person? Romantically, I mean." The two of them had been friends long enough that Pyrrha knew more of Weiss's quirks than anyone. She knew getting a real, emotionally honest answer out of her would be difficult, but she had to try and get something to work with. That's what friends did, even if sometimes it felt like she was the only person in their friend group who understood that.
"I don't like them romantically at all!" It had been less than a minute since Weiss had asked how to get rid of romantic feelings, and now she was saying she didn't like this person romantically. She would say this was going to be an uphill battle, but it was more like they already started at the top of the hill, and Weiss was buying more hill for Pyrrha to climb. "I just can't stop thinking about them and their stupid, ugly outfits and their big, beautiful eyes, and it's very annoying. How do I stop that?"
"You've never had these kind of feelings before, have you?" She had a pretty strong idea that this was the first time that Weiss had ever had a crush on someone. Otherwise they would've likely had this conversation before. Honestly, she shouldn't have been surprised that this was happening. It was bound to have happened eventually. She got the feeling that Weiss had a certain idea about how her first love would come about, and this was obviously not it. It was making her real curious as to who it was.
"No, and I'd prefer to never have them again. That's why you're supposed to be helping me." Weiss was starting to get frustrated. Well, more frustrated than previously. She had been positive that Pyrrha would help her, but she was just asking silly questions instead. Why was any of this necessary to answer her question? There had to be a catch-all solution to the insidious virus that was Ruby Rose. "Do you just not have an answer for me or what?"
"Weiss, I'm going to say something that you're not going to agree with, but you need to hear this. As your friend, it's important that you really think about what I'm going to say. Is that okay?" Weiss quirked an eyebrow, but she nodded stiffly, folding her arms. She would listen, but she had a feeling this wouldn't involve the solution she was seeking. "Whoever this person you're feeling this way about is, I think you should ask them out on a date."
"No."
"See, I don't feel you really thought about it-"
"I asked you for help on getting rid of these feelings, not giving into them! For someone who's really popular, you sure don't understand anything about the status that we hold here." She jumped to her feet, beginning to pace back and forth again. Her hands curled into fists, then unfurled repeatedly as she moved around. "Our status here is very fragile. Anything could tip the delicate balance we have and drop us right into loserdom! Do you want to spend the rest of the school year hanging out with people like Jaune?"
"Well, I was kissing him a minute ago-"
"And I'll never be able to purge my mind of that sight. Look, I can't date this person. It would ruin my reputation, and I don't even like them that much. It doesn't matter that they're really, really cute. I don't care one single bit. I can't stand feeling so damn guilty about making fun of them." Oh wait, she wasn't supposed to say that part. Both of their eyes widened at the same time. "I don't like them, dammit!"
"Weiss..." Pyrrha sighed and stood up as well, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you keep trying to push these feelings aside, it's only going to make things worse for you. Why can't you just admit that you like this person?" Weiss gulped, suddenly becoming the one who was unable to look at Pyrrha. There were so many reasons these feelings couldn't exist: why a relationship with Ruby wouldn't work. Her social standing would crumble beneath her feet, and her parents would never accept that she was dating someone of such low status. Worse than all of that, though, was one simple, nagging thought. Something she could only now allow herself to put into words. She'd spent over a year teasing and bullying Ruby with her friends. If she was going to now turn around and say she wanted to date her, then she'd have to admit that what she had done had been wrong. She... She didn't know how to admit that.
"What am I even supposed to do, Pyrrha? I don't understand these stupid feelings and I hate them." She wanted to kick the bench in frustration, but she valued her poor foot's health over a moment of petulant catharsis. "I just want them to go away." To her chagrin, she knew that she sounded like a child. It just all came out without her consent. She was frustrated and hated feeling like something was out of her control. It wasn't something she was all that familiar with.
"You're not going to like it, but what I said before still stands. You should go talk to them. Even if you don't want to ask them out, you can at least get to know them a bit better. I'm sure they'd be happy to spend some time with the school's biggest queen." They both laughed at that, though Weiss still slapped Pyrrha's arm just to keep up appearances.
"You're right: I don't like that. I guess... I guess that I have no choice. I need time, though. To think about what I need to do." Honestly, it was just an excuse to try and put more space between this crazy idea that Pyrrha had presented her with. She was clinging to the hope that, if she just gave it a little more time, then she'd be able to get past these feelings like she wanted to.
"Alright. Take the time if you need it." Pyrrha squeezed her shoulder, a serious look now on her face. "But remember, you never know what could happen if you take too long to make a decision. You might end up losing your chance." She'd lose her chance? Like... Like Ruby would start dating someone else? Hah, unlikely. Who would bother dating someone so shy and cute? Who just happened to have a really pretty smile... That didn't sound as ridiculous as she had hoped it would.
She left the locker room more unsure of herself than she ever had before. What was she getting herself into?