Notice Me, Ruby!
Chapter 6: Testing Time (Part 1)
It had been a few days since the "Deathstalker incident" with team RWBY and things had taken a turn for the worse. While the incident thanks to some miracle hadn't made it's way to the news, it had made it's way to Beacon. Or more specifically, Beacon's staff. To say the least, the professors at the school had not been pleased with what had happened. Since Huntsmen and Huntresses are supposed to be essentially the heroes of the people, the actions of the four students were seen as very unacceptable. After all, what person would trust protectors, who ran around the middle of the city like maniacs, with one of them carrying parts of Grimm? All four members of the team were given detention for their behavior, along with a stern lecture from Ozpin himself.
However, while the three older girls had expected their lecture to be very harsh and hurtful, it hadn't been all that bad. Ozpin had simply told the three girls that he was very disappointed by their actions and that he wanted them to start bettering their behavior for the sake of their careers as Huntresses. Ruby, on the other hand, was given a private lecture, which was most likely because of her position as her team's leader. Whatever was said to the redhead must have been harsh, as she came back from the office with tears in her eyes. Before any of the three older girls could go and comfort the younger girl, Ruby had given them the most furious glare they had ever seen, before disappearing in a cloud of rose petals.
Since they were worried about what had happened to their team leader, the WBY had gone to ask about what could have possibly happened between her and Ozpin. While Glynda and a lot of the other professors stayed silent, as they believed it was not something they should talk about, Port had decided to tell the three girls what must have happened. It turned out that due to her position as a team leader, Ruby was being held up against a much stricter and higher standard than others. While her teammates might have gotten away with a very simple lecture and some detention, the lecture aimed at the redhead must have broken her heart.
Knowing that they were the ones at fault for what their team leader had gone through, the WBY were wrecked with guilt and they just wanted to apologize and make things right between themselves and Ruby again. Unfortunately, that was very difficult, as the redhead was once again avoiding her teammates. It was just like when they had accused her of being a spy.
With the three girls being unable to really interact with Ruby, they were left with no real good opportunities to patch things up and hopefully get back their old team leader that they loved. They had even tried baking some cookies for Ruby as a means of taking at least a small step towards the right direction, only to find the cookies having been left untouched. Since they couldn't really do anything, the three girls could only give the redhead some space and hope that she would calm down with time.
Now that they weren't actively chasing after Ruby in the hopes of getting her back the way she used to be, the WBY could focus more on their schoolwork. However, only Weiss was excited about this opportunity, as neither Yang or Blake felt like studying at all. Their hearts were still being heavily weighed down by what they had recently put Ruby through.
"Would you two mind and try to liven up a little?" Weiss asked her two teammates as they entered Peach's class. "I know that you're worried over what happened with Ruby, but you shouldn't think about that right now. We are about to get our tests from last week! And I don't know about you two, but I'm excited to see how well I did."
"That doesn't really excite me, ice queen," Yang replied in a grumpy tone. "Despite everything we have done, we have made no progress when it comes to Ruby. How am I supposed to get excited over a piece of paper, while I'm still bothered by what's going on with Rubes?"
"Look, I know that you're worried over her, but you need to focus on other things in life as well!" the heiress said. "You both came to this school to become Huntresses, correct? Because of that, you should also worry about reaching that goal! Our grades here can greatly affect our future careers as Huntresses!"
Weiss suddenly felt her blood run cold, as her two teammates glared at her. They were not pleased with how the white-haired girl didn't seem to be bothered by her partner's situation at all.
"How typical Schnee behavior," Blake said with venom dripping from her voice. "She puts her career above her friend. I guess it was stupid of us to expect anything better from her."
The cat faunus' words struck the heiress' heart. If there was one thing she hated, it was to be reminded of her family's less than perfect reputation.
"Hey now, I'm not saying that I'm not worried over our whole thing with Ruby or anything. What I am saying is that we also have other responsibilities to think of. We especially should think about them now, when we don't have our hands full with worrying about Ruby," Weiss explained.
The two girls seemed to at least somewhat understand their teammate's logic, as they seemed to calm down a bit. However, they were still clearly upset, which honestly worried Weiss. With everything that had happened lately, along with her crashing Yang's motorcycle, she really didn't need to upset her teammates anymore. She hoped that the two girls either calmed down or she figured out a way to ease things up between herself and them. God only knew what Yang would do to the heiress, if she were to anger her any further.
Soon the three girls were sitting in classroom, waiting for Peach to return their tests to them. While the WBY were sitting side by side, their team leader was sitting the opposite side of them. It was clear that Ruby wanted as much distance between herself and her teammates, which was the reason why she chose to sit so far away from the three older girls. It broke Yang's heart to see how much of a gap had formed between herself and Ruby. Had anyone ever told her that the redhead would one day actively try to avoid her, she wouldn't have even considered it possible. Now that impossibility had not only become possible, but an actual reality. The blonde honestly felt like crying the more she thought about how things had changed.
Once all the students in the class were seated, Professor Peach grabbed the tests of her students and stood up in front of the class. The teacher had a bright smile on her face, like something really good had just happened.
"Alright, class, I am sure that you are all very eager to find out how well you performed in our last test, but there is something I want to tell you all," Peach said. "As usual, there were some very good results among you, as well as ones that were not so good. However, there was one student among you, who not only outdid themselves, but the whole class. This one student did something I have seen only very rarely and managed to achieve a perfect score!"
Some of the students began whispering among each other, wondering who this student could possibly be. Beacon was such a tough school that getting a perfect score on any test was practically impossible.
"Wow. A perfect score on the test? Now that's something," Yang said. "I was honestly struggling through that whole thing. Any idea who could have pulled that off?"
"Don't ask me. I doubt I got anywhere near that," Blake answered.
"Isn't it obvious who the most likely ones for such a feat are?" Weiss asked her two teammates with a cocky smirk on her face. "The person who did something like that has to be either me or Pyrrha. There's no way it could be anyone else."
The other two girls frowned at their white-haired teammate, not liking her attitude at all.
"Weiss, would you mind and stop it with the ego?" Blake asked with a frustrated sigh. "Besides, what makes you say that it has to be either you or Pyrrha?"
"Because, unlike you two, I have actually been keeping up with my studies," Weiss answered. "Not to mention, I have natural talent as a scholar, which has helped me pass every test so far with ease. Pyrrha is also an obvious candidate for this, as she didn't become The Champion Of Mistral for nothing. However, I believe that today you will all witness how skillful I truly am."
"Seriously, Weiss, tone down the ego a bit," Yang said, just as frustrated with the heiress as her partner was. "I'm personally willing to bet that it isn't you. I bet you my lunch on it."
"Deal," Weiss said, agreeing to the blonde's bet.
Meanwhile, Professor Peach was watching her students talk among each other with a smile on her face. She had hoped to get her students excited by telling them about this, as it could possibly motivate them to work harder on their studies as well.
"Alright, settle down now," Peach called out to the students, silencing the room. "Now, I'm sure that you are all eager to hear just who this student is."
Weiss was making some last minute fixes on her uniform in order to look as good as possible, causing both Yang and Blake to roll their eyes at her.
"I am proud to say that the student who got a perfect score on the test was none other than Ruby Rose!" the professor declared happily, causing almost all of her students to go wide-eyed. "Ms. Rose could you come down here?"
The rest of the class watched with surprised expressions as the youngest student in the class got up from her seat and calmly made her way to the teacher. However, the ones who were most surprised were the WBY, who couldn't believe what they had just heard. They knew that Ruby was smart, but they would have never expected her to be able to do something like this.
While a lot of people would have expected the redhead to be running to the professor in glee, they were surprised by the fact that Ruby didn't do anything like that. She didn't even have a big grin on her face as she got her paper from Peach.
"That was some great work, Ms. Rose," Peach said with a proud smile. "I sincerely hope that you will keep up this work."
"Thank you, professor," Ruby said with a small bow. "I will work hard to achieve similar results in the future."
The younger team returned to her seat and looked at her test with a small proud smile. Unknown to her, her teammates were staring at her in shock, especially Weiss. The heiress' face was pale and her eyes were as wide as possible with on of them twitching. She couldn't believe that her partner had just beaten her. It was unbelievable.
"Hey, Weiss?" Yang called out to the white-haired girl, getting her attention. "I'll have a big bacon burger with large fries and a soda, along with a good serving of "I told you so". Hope you remember that."
After being reminded of her bet with the blonde girl, Weiss' shock was soon replaced by anger and rage. She was glaring at Ruby, who had no idea of the murderous look her partner was giving her.
Once the class had ended, the students began to make their way out of the room. While some of the students looked happy and relieved over their test results, others were looked more like the world was going to end. Out of all the students in the class, Ruby was among one of the last ones to leave, as she didn't want to get caught in the mass of students trying to leave the room at the same time. Instead, the redhead was taking her time to put away her supplies and getting ready for the next class.
Seeing that the younger girl wouldn't be leaving soon, her teammates decided to go and talk to her. Yang and Blake wanted to congratulate Ruby on her success and hopefully begin to fix the damaged relationship they had with the scythe-wielder. They were even thinking of asking Ruby to help them assist them in their studies, thus allowing them more opportunities to make things right again.
However, Weiss had a different goal in mind. She wanted to know how Ruby of all people had managed to top everyone else in the class, especially herself. And the white-haired girl wasn't going to be nice about it either. She was willing to do everything she could to get the truth out of her partner, no matter what it took.
Pushing her other two teammates out of the way, Weiss stomped her way over to Ruby, who heard her loud footsteps and looked up at the fuming heiress.
"You! I want an explanation right now!" Weiss yelled at the younger girl while pointing an accusing finger at her. "What did you do!?"
"Excuse me?" Ruby said with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't play dumb with me!" the white-haired girl shouted. By now, some of the students were staring at the two girls, along with Yang and Blake. Even Professor Peach had stopped to observe what was going on between the two teammates. "How did you of all people get a perfect score on the test!?"
"It's called studying, Weiss. Ever heard of it?" the redhead answered sarcastically. "What did you expect I did?"
"Don't lie to me! Before this test, you never even got close to a perfect score! How do you expect me to believe that you suddenly made such a big change!?" Weiss continued to yell angrily. "Honestly, I'm more willing to believe that you cheated, instead of thinking that YOU made such a big effort in your studies to get a perfect score!"
The whole room went completely silent over the heiress' accusation. The idea of someone actually cheating in one of Beacon's tests was honestly ridiculous. Not only would cheating be punished so harshly that most students wouldn't even think of it, the teachers were all veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses. There was no way that they couldn't catch their students attempting to cheat.
Everyone in the room held their breaths as they waited for Ruby to respond. They expected her to cry, to deny the accusation or to get angry and possibly violent. However, no one expected what actually happened.
"Are you done?" Ruby asked in an indifferent voice with a blank expression on her face. It was like she didn't care about being accused of cheating at all.
"What did you just-!?"
"I asked if you were done. As in, are you done with blaming me for your shortcomings?" the redhead explained. "Honestly, I'm not even surprised that you reacted this way. After all, you are in my team, so I know exactly how you act."
"And just what do you mean by that!?" Weiss asked angrily.
"Every time something goes wrong, it's always somebody else's fault," Ruby answered. "The cafeteria didn't have your favorite lunch? The staff are incompetent idiots, who should have prepared better. Team RWBY isn't the top ranking team? The fault is on your teammates. And now, you didn't get the best test result, so either I cheated or there's something wrong with how the tests were graded. In your mind, nobody else is perfect, except yourself. So if something goes wrong, the fault has to be on somebody else."
"How dare you say something like that!?" the heiress yelled, as her face was turning red from anger.
"Because it's the truth. You might want to look into it a bit more," the young team leader said as she started to walk towards the exit. "It might help you."
Enraged by the way she had been talked to, Weiss tried to grab Ruby's shoulder in an attempt at stopping her. However, the heiress was in for a surprise, as the scythe-wielder threw the older girl over her shoulder and slammed her to the floor. Weiss could only groan in pain as her partner stood over her.
"Watch it, princess," Ruby said in such a cold tone that her partner actually shivered. "I might let your insults slide, but touch me again and I'll show you just how skilled I am."
After threatening the white-haired girl, the redhead made her way out of the classroom. The other students actually stepped out of her way, not wanting to get on her bad side.
Weiss was struggling to get up, as the shock from her impact to the floor had left her quite dizzy. She heard someone walk up to her and thought that it was either Blake or Yang coming to help her. Instead, it was Professor Peach, who stared down at the heiress with a look that was a mix of both anger and disappointment.
"You should take Ms. Rose's advice, Ms. Schnee," the teacher said coldly. "I have personally witnessed many people that thought too highly of themselves and all of their fates were less than glorious in the end. It would be in your best interest not to let that happen to you. You should also know that I could put you in detention for making very severe accusations towards Ms. Rose, along with possibly trying to attack her, or at least tell Professor Ozpin about them. However, I feel that it wouldn't do justice to the fact that Ms. Rose did her best not to get into a fight with you. Not to mention, I feel that throw she gave you was more than enough of a punishment."
With her small lecture given, Peach walked away from Weiss and left the classroom, leaving the white-haired girl on the floor. Once the teacher had left, it was the turn for Yang and Blake to walk up to their teammate. Weiss felt her blood run cold upon seeing the glares her two teammates were giving her.
"Since neither Ruby or the professor wanted to deal with you, I guess it falls on us," Yang said while glaring at the heiress with red eyes and cracking her knuckles. "No need to worry, though. We won't be gentle."
Despite Weiss begging for mercy, her two teammates dragged her to a nearby restroom in order to give her their punishment.
Some time later, Yang and Blake walked out of the restroom after "dealing" with Weiss. Both girls were still upset over what had happened, but had calmed down at least somewhat. It was surprising how much some violent retribution could calm a person's anger.
"As satisfying as that was, it still leaves us with a bit of a problem," Blake said. "Ruby was already very distant to us to begin with, but I fear that Weiss might have made things even harder for us now. What are going to do in order to patch things up between us and Ruby? I doubt she'll be willing to listen to us anymore, no matter what."
"No need to worry. Even if ice queen caused some big time damage that has made things difficult, I've got an idea," Yang replied. "It's a bit mean, but desperate times call for desperate measures."
"...Why do I get the feeling I am not going to like this?"
Author's notes: This chapter fell towards a bit more drama, but I promise that I'll be going back to comedy after this. I kind of wrote this chapter in a way that felt right, so it ended up becoming like this. Hope you guys aren't too bothered by it.
In my original version for this chapter that I wrote before I started posting stuff here, Weiss' reaction to being bested by Ruby was something that was practically only quickly mentioned. However, I wanted to make it into an actual scene with more of an impact, as I felt that it would have been better. And I might be the only one to think this way, but I personally liked how calmly yet savagely Ruby pretty much ripped a new one to Weiss.
When it comes to Ruby getting treated more harshly for what happened in the last chapter, I thought about how the situation could have looked to Ozpin. While he might understand why Ruby got so angered by her teammates, he would most likely think that she should have handled it better as a leader, such as simply turning off her Scroll. The way he sees it, Ruby didn't live up to her position as a leader and put a bad image on his school. Also, things like this do happen in real life. I was personally bullied most of my school life, yet my bullies were very rarely punished at all. Instead, they would have to "apologize" to me while I had to do the same to them. At one point, I was even sent to a camp to help deal with my issues. Life's not fair.
Two more things before I end this. First, Weiss will still be around and will have a part in this story, so you don't need to worry about her. And second, people were asking about the relationship between Ruby and Yang. In this story, they are not related at all. Neither Qrow or Taiyang is Ruby's father in this story. I know I haven't gotten into the Yang/Ruby stuff yet, but I plan to do it later.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.