Oh hey, remember last year when I said I'd try to upload? Hahahaahahahahahahahaha yeah no that didn't happen. Oops

You knwo the disclaimer drill at this point. If I'm here, I don't own it. Duh.

Also~ I don't think I ever addressed one of the reviews I got that told me Pepperdine isn't a party school. I'm so sorry. Google can only take me so far, and I am British so I don't know a lot about your universities. I'm sorry. (I need to stop apologising- I'm turning into Pyrrha and I don't wanna die!)

Enjoy~~~

Weiss' hair was tied back into its usual ponytail. Her face was clean of makeup and her clothes were as presentable as she could make them after sleeping in them. Yang had dropped her back in her own neighbourhood on her motorbike, Bumblebee, dropping her a few streets over, and she'd called a taxi (to not arouse suspicion from the family.) As soon as Weiss was inside the unnecessarily oversize mansion, she ran to get a smart "serious student" outfit from her room. Her shoes clacked loudly on the marble floor, a world away from the soft carpeting of Yang and Ruby's living room.

Quickly jumping in the shower, she began scrubbing at her torso. Not bothering to shave, she jumped back out and pulled on a white silky blouse, grey tailored trousers, and her blue court shoes. Grabbing her matching blue bag from the shelf of her walk-in, she called her driver to meet her at the front door. "I'm already late, so if I'm a bit snippy, I' sorry," she ended the call with.

Tossing her blazer over her shoulders, she hurried along the house. Why was it so large? Why was her room so inconveniently located all the way over there? She cursed her father for needing to show off with how big the house was. And for clearly wanting her out of the way.

The car journey took- according to Weiss- way too long. Somehow they got caught in the worst possible traffic, even though it wasn't peak time. Damn California. The drive would take six hours anyway, and now it would take longer.

Seven hours later, Weiss was just about there. Bored out of her skull, but present. When she'd first woken up, she'd thought it was early noon. In reality it was around 7am. Who wakes up at 7am after being awake until like 4am? Especially when they'd been drinking. But here she was, present, makeup applied flawlessly in the car (they'd been stuck in traffic for a while there, so her eye makeup was flawless.) And Yang had been right about that greasy food helping her. She hadn't felt like throwing up yet.

She arrived at the campus at around 3pm. Though she wasn't sure she wanted to go here- too close to home, to be frank- she had to admit it was beautiful. Especially with the late November atmosphere. It looked like people were heading home for thanksgiving, as the campus was reasonably empty. She made her way to the meeting spot Winter had told her to head to.

Winter had attended UC Berkeley as an undergrad and had completed her postgrad at Stanford. She had always been the "good" sibling- perfect grades, prestigious colleges, internships and work experience to make her one of the most valuable players in the field- and she was only 25, at the top of her game. She was waiting a the steps, looking effortlessly chic with her hair pinned back and her charcoal skirt suit, talking to someone Weiss assumed to be either a parent of an applicant or someone who worked for the university.

As Weiss approached her sister, the man she had been talking to must have sensed Winter's shift in attitude as she gave Weiss a an smile (a sure sign she approved of Weiss actually making it. Otherwise, she would have looked off to the side and waited for Weiss to acknowledge her first). "Weiss, finally." She gave her a quick hug. "This-" she gestured to the man standing next to her- "Is Stefan Proudfoot. He's a research assistant here."

Weiss shook his hand. "What field of research?"

"I work in the law department," he smiled. He reminded Weiss of a teddy bear. Tall and cuddle looking, but you always have to remember what vicious creatures they're based off. If he was talking to Winter he probably wasn't as soft as he looked and acted. "I can't tell you exactly what research though. That's top secret." He laughed boomingly.

Weiss politely excused herself and headed over to the check-in area, where she got her visitors badge. The tour started around 4pm, so there was a little time to look around on her own. She didn't want to spend any more time with Winter than necessary. They were sisters, and she preferred her sister over the rest of the family, but… it was still difficult for her.

She took out her phone and watched the video again, volume muted. Maybe this time it wouldn't look so bad?

She wasn't so worried for her own reputation- her family would be disappointed, angry even, but they would cover it up. Her friends didn't have that same privilege though. She was wholly aware that she didn't have half of the problems they did. Sitting on the steps outside a building- the library, maybe?- she scrolled through her recent messages, snapchats and Instagram feed. It looked like the rest of the group had decided to spend the weekend together after she'd left. Snaps suggested they were out at some sort of lake, or river or something. It looked like fun. The seven of them were eating, laughing, playing cards against humanity. She smiled and shook her head at the dumb, inappropriate answers.

If only she was there instead of here, at a college she didn't care about, with people she knew she would never make proud.