Summary: Yang and Blake have been in love with each other since the moment they met, but neither could ever reveal their feelings. But now that they're entering their senior year and all the talk is on colleges and plans for the future, their friends aren't sure they can just sit by and watch as they lose each other for good. High School AU. Bumblby, WhiteRose, Arkos

Author's Note: Got this one out kind of just in the nick of time! Shoutout to my beta for helping me pull it through right at the wire and as always thanks everyone for all the awesome feedback, it never fails to motivate me when I see the comments from all of you! I did want to give an update, I have a lot on my plate right now and might have to push the next chapter back a week. Hopefully it's just a one time thing, at worst it could affect Ch. 34 as well as 33, but my schedule clears up considerably after Dec. 15th so the slower releases won't last any longer than that. Anyways, here's the chapter, hope you like it!


Chapter 32: Saving A Friend

Weiss steps into her Calculus class and finds that she can't quite control the anxiety boiling over inside.

While everyone else had spent yesterday's snow day getting some much needed rest, she had been stuck with the unfortunate task of trying to get ahold of her father to talk about looking into helping out with Blake's problem with Adam.

It had taken hours of sending texts and leaving messages with his secretary, even resorting to sending a couple emails when she was feeling particularly desperate, and in the end, it had taken until just before breakfast this morning for him to call her back, all just to give her an earful about disturbing him on such a busy day.

And of course that hadn't exactly helped in convincing her already difficult father into helping her, which in the end really only ended up earning her about an hour and a half of lecturing about how she isn't putting enough effort into school at a time when all of the universities in the country have her under a microscope.

By the time she'd finally hung up she'd been left nearly on the verge of tears, at a complete loss for how she could possibly break the news to Blake that her father had decided that this was a problem simply not worth his time.

Which is why it feels so daunting stepping into the classroom now.

Of course she can't exactly say something right before class starts, the past day or so really highlighted exactly how much of an impact it has on Blake just mentioning Adam's name. But at the same time, she's not sure how much longer she can hold on to this crippling guilt that… she'd let Blake down.

And sure, she'd been desperate that night, looking for any way to stop the endless flow of tears from her best friend, but at the end of the day she'd made a promise.

A promise to fix everything, that after a simple phone call to her father they would at the very least have an idea of how to move forward.

But here she is a day later, nervously fiddling with her pencil and trying to cope with the heartbreaking fact that… she has absolutely nothing.

A couple people trickle into the classroom over the next few minutes, each one causing heart to stop for just a second until she finally spots Blake slowly walking in, one hand tightly clutching the strap of her messenger bag and head hung low to let her hair fall in front of her in front of her face.

It takes a moment for Blake to see her, but the second she does, both of them freeze, eyes locked on each other's with neither of them knowing what to do.

And it gets way past the point where she starts to panic.

What should she do?

Should she just go up and talk to her?

No. Despite Weiss's best efforts to convince her otherwise, Blake had been adamant that she keep her distance in any public setting just in case Adam had someone watching them and that definitely included school.

But then the decision is pretty much made for her when the girl tears her eyes away, biting down on her lip as she walks past and sits down in the back of the room, about as far away from Weiss's seat as she can manage.

Calculus ends up going by fairly uneventfully, not that anything else could ever really happen with how hard Professor Goodwitch drills them on Reimann sums.

But then the bell rings. And before she even gets the chance to slip her textbook into her bag, Blake is already rushing out the door.

"What was that all about?" Pyrrha asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Pyrrha says, hastily swinging her bag up onto her shoulders. "Why was Blake sitting in the back on her own? Why did she jump every time someone so much as dropped a pencil? Weiss when I was handing out the worksheets she wouldn't even look at me."

"I…" Weiss trails off.

Of course she wants to tell Pyrrha, hell she pretty much wants to tell everyone. But she'd sworn to Blake that she'd keep everything a secret until they could be sure of everyone's safety, and after how disastrous things had turned out with her dad, she figures that she should at least keep one of her promises.

"It's complicated." Weiss says, stepping out into the crowded hallway.

"Complicated?" Pyrrha answers incredulously, "Weiss, if there's something going on I might be able to help."

"Look Pyrrha, I promise it's nothing." She lies. "It's just that me and Blake got into another fight the other night and it seems she's still upset about it."

"Oh."

Weiss does her best to contain a deep sigh of relief, albeit feeling a little guilty that Pyrrha seems to trust her so thoroughly.

"She's really leaving, isn't she?" Pyrrha says slowly, her voice strained and hollow.

"Yeah." Weiss sighs.

"I… I have to say that… I really thought that we had a really good chance of getting those two together."

She doesn't get much of a chance to respond before they spot Yang shuffling out of her Math class, shoulders slumped and eyes glued to the ground.

She shares a quick look with Pyrrha, not even needing to ask to know that they're both wondering the exact same thing.

Did something else happen with Blake?

Without so much as a word between them they quickly catch up to the blonde and Pyrrha gives her a playful nudge on the shoulder in a clear attempt to cheer her up.

Yang jumps at the sudden contact, snapping her head up in surprise before relaxing with a quiet, "Oh. Hey guys."

"Yang?" Pyrrha answers gently, "is everything okay?"

The blonde doesn't respond right away, instead reaching into her backpack to pull out a packet of papers that she weakly presses into Pyrrha's hands.

Weiss quickly steps up next to Pyrrha as the two of them scan the paper, eyebrows furrowed as she recognizes it as a test. She's just starting to wonder why this would have her so upset when her eyes jump up to the top to see a large "D-" written in bright red ink.

They share another quick look, concern mixed with just a bit of relief as they pick up the pace and catch up to her.

"Yang…" Weiss says. "Is this…"

"The test I took last week." Yang confirms quietly, "I guess… with everything going on recently I've been… a little unfocused."

"Well maybe you can talk to your teacher?" Pyrrha suggests, "ask about some extra credit or something?"

"I just did. He said that he won't give me any extra assignments and that my only option is to do better on the semester final next week."

"Well I'm sure with just a little bit of studying you'll do fine."

"No I won't!" Yang snaps, "I need an "A" on the last test just to barely pass this semester! And if I don't… I might have to retake the entire class and…"

"Okay okay," Weiss interrupts gently, "here, Pyrrha and I took this class last year, I can help you study during our free period for the next few days."

"Yeah," Pyrrha says, "and if you want I can stop by the diner after track when it's a little less busy. I think I still have some of my old assignments from last year that we can go over."

"Are you guys sure?" Yang asks, "I mean I know how busy both of you are already and…"

"Hey," Pyrrha interrupts, "I told you that we're here for you. All of us. Just let us help."

She sees a bit of hesitation flicker in the girl's violet eyes, a kind of trepidation that she's all too familiar with, before Yang finally cracks a smile, tears starting to well up in her eyes as she flies forward to pull both of them in for a hug.

"I love you guys so much!" Yang cries.

"Don't say that just yet." Pyrrha laughs, "you haven't experienced firsthand how intense Weiss can get when it comes to studying."

With that Yang bursts into a fit of giggles, "I've heard some stories over the years."

"Yeah but that's not the same as living through it yourself. There's a reason she isn't allowed to tutor Ruby anymore."

"Oh I was actually there for that!" Yang exclaims, "I think it was Weiss's first idea to try and get closer to Ruby and it ended up with them fighting for about a week."

"It… it was not that bad." Weiss stammers.

Yang raises any eyebrow. "Oh really? Then why did you spend two hundred dollars getting her that ridiculous cake like a week later?"

"I didn't… it wasn't…"

She trails off, knowing that arguing any further would probably be pointless.

But then she gets this realization that… this is the first time she's been able to joke back and forth with Yang like this in what feels like forever. And just that thought alone is enough to bring a small smile to her face even as her friends continue their relentless teasing.

When she and Yang get to the lunch room they find, unsurprisingly, that they're the last ones to arrive. They'd spent a little longer than intended going over Yang's past math tests, enough for them to be arriving in the cafeteria with barely twenty minutes left.

"Hey guys!" Nora greets enthusiastically, "how was studying?"

Weiss sees Yang casting a side eyed glance at her and Pyrrha as they take a seat on the bench.

"Does everyone know about this already?" Yang groans.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about Yang." Pyrrha answers, "everyone needs help from time to time. This is what friends are for."

"So how'd it go?" Ruby asks.

Weiss feels a small smile spread on her face as the blonde lets out a deep sigh. Initially she'd been a little worried about how productive their study session could really be with Yang's perpetual unwillingness to let others help her, but they'd actually gotten a lot done over the past hour, the blonde proving to be a surprisingly perceptive student.

"She did really well." Weiss says, sensing that Yang might be struggling for words a bit, "I don't even think we'll need the full week for her to ace the final."

"Man I wish I had your confidence." Yang grumbles, "I feel like I was barely able to keep up the entire time."

"Weiss does move fairly quickly." Pyrrha says, "Blake and I are usually left to fend for ourselves when she sets the pace."

She hears Yang's breath hitch next to her at the mention of Blake's name, the redhead's eyes going wide in realization just a second later as the table falls uncomfortably quiet.

"I… I'm sorry Yang," Pyrrha says quickly, "I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay," Yang answers unconvincingly, her eyes still glued to the sandwich in her hands, "you guys don't have to walk on eggshells with me."

She shoots a quick look across the table at Pyrrha, then to Ruby, unsurprisingly finding both of them wearing matching expressions of concern that don't disappear until Nora thankfully intervenes to grill Sun and Neptune about their plans for Winter Ball.

And that immediately sends Weiss into an altogether different kind of panic.

The dance was just over two weeks away now, and with their finals coming up right before, she's starting to wonder how on earth she can possibly find the time to ask Ruby.

Luckily she doesn't get much time to worry about it before her phone lights up on the table.

Almost immediately she can recognize the new messaging service that Blake had made her sign up for, something that was supposedly secure enough that Adam wouldn't be able to trace their calls using whatever tech wizard friends he might have.

She lets out a light huff as she snatches her phone off the table, mumbling an incoherent excuse to the others as she slides off the bench and hurries into the hall. It takes another minute or so for her to find a vacant classroom nearby, the whole time having to deal with the constant anxiety of her phone buzzing in her hand and knowing how badly Blake would react if she failed to answer in time.

"Hello?"

"Weiss."

The answer is hushed, whispered. Like Blake is hiding in a closet somewhere, expecting someone to throw the door open at any moment.

"Blake, where are you?"

"That's… not important." Blake answers quickly, "you said you had an update?"

Weiss nervously bites down on her lip. About halfway through helping Yang with her math test the gnawing feeling in the back of her mind had become too much for her and she'd finally made the split second decision to send Blake a text.

But now that she's actually here, she's starting to regret doing something so impulsive. At the very least she could've come up with some idea of how to break the news, but as unprepared as she is, she's not left with many options.

"Yes…" she says slowly, "I uh… I talked to my father…"

"And?"

"Well…"

She trails off, just like that her already weak conviction shattering in the wind.

"Weiss?" Blake says, voice already sounding more and more anxious.

"I…" Her voice breaks before she can even get another word out and tears start to well up in her eyes at the thought of her best friend suffering through this alone. "Look, why don't you just… tell me where you are and we can talk about this in person. I…"

"Weiss! Just tell me!" Blake shrieks, "can he help or not?"

Her breath catches in her chest as the first tear slowly drips onto her cheek. "He… he said that there's nothing he can do."

The line goes dead quiet.

She'd spent the entire day worrying about this very moment but somehow, the silence is more painful than she could have ever imagined.

"Blake…" Weiss chokes out, finally unable to take it any longer, "look I… I'm so sorry! I argued with him for so long but he just…"

"It's okay Weiss." Blake cuts in weakly, "none of this is your fault."

At that Weiss lets out another deep sigh. Somehow she would almost feel better if Blake yelled at her or something.

"So…" she says hesitantly, "what do we do now?"

There's another pause, enough to make Weiss wonder if they had gotten disconnected, until she finally hears the quiet sound of Blake's shaky, broken voice.

"Nothing."

She actually has to take a second to make sure she'd heard correctly, but in the end there's no mistaking the defeat in her friend's voice.

"What do you mean nothing?" Weiss asks, "I thought you said this guy was dangerous."

"He is."

"Then how can we just do nothing? What if he tries to…"

"It won't matter what he does." Blake interrupts, "as long… as long as you all stay away from me everything will be fine."

"What? No. Blake don't do this."

"This is for the best." Blake continues, voice already starting to crack, "this way… at least you'll all be safe."

"Blake. Stop! At the very least we're still in this together! We can figure something out!"

"Like what?"

"I…" Weiss trails off, "I'm not... completely sure, but…"

"Exactly. Look, we both have to go, the bell's about to ring."

"Wait! Blake!" Weiss shouts desperately, "don't hang up! I won't let him hurt you! We can keep you safe if you just…"

Before she can get any further the line goes dead with an infuriating click.

It takes a second for Weiss to really register that she just got hung up on, and once it hits her she lets out a frustrated groan, angrily running a hand through her hair as she's overcome by the sudden urge to hurl her phone across the room.

And for a second she really thinks about doing it, especially as the tears start welling up in her eyes again, until a voice chimes up from behind her and instantly turns her blood to ice.

"Um… Weiss?"

Her eyes go wide as she slowly turns around, refusing to acknowledge the voice in her head saying that she already knows who it is.

But at this point the only thing that could help would be to turn back time. Because the long waves of blonde hair and the violet eyes stretched wide in shock are pretty unmistakable.

"Yang…" she whispers, heart starting to race in sheer panic, "how… how much of that did you hear?"

The blonde's eyes narrow into an almost accusing glare.

"Enough."

Weiss flinches at the venom in Yang's voice.

"What's going on?" Yang continues, arms crossed menacingly in front of her chest.

"I… it's not what it sounded like…"

"Oh really? Because from what you just said it sounds like someone's trying to hurt Blake."

All of a sudden they're interrupted by the blaring sound of the bell ringing and Weiss's eyes flick up almost instinctively, only for Yang to take a step back and block the door.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on."

Her first instinct is to argue, make some point about how much she needs to get to class or… anything that will get her out without having to break her promise to stay silent, but the fire in Yang's eyes has her rooted to the spot.

She's not sure if it's just the intimidation from Yang's expression, the overwhelming stress she's been struggling with all day, or the sheer terror she's feeling from having gotten caught in another big lie, but before she knows it… she's spilling everything to her.

By the time Weiss is done, Yang's head is absolutely spinning.

She liked to think that she knew Blake better than anyone else, maybe even better than Weiss, but to think that this entire time she'd been hiding something this big and she didn't have a clue… she doesn't even know how to react.

"Yang." Weiss says finally, "say something!"

Her eyes flick back up in shock, having gotten so lost in her own panic that she'd almost forgotten Weiss was there.

It takes her a second to gather her thoughts up enough to actually speak, and even then it still comes out shaky and quiet.

"What… why didn't you call the police?"

"She made me promise not to!" Weiss shouts, "she kept saying that if we did that… it would only make him lash out at the rest of us harder."

"And you listened to her?"

"I didn't know what else to do!"

"Weiss…" Yang groans, bringing her hands up to cover her face, "you should have gone to someone! I mean we're not even in college yet and you two are trying to take down some kind of gang leader on your own? Are you crazy? I mean you didn't even tell her parents?"

"That was only because…" Weiss trails off, eyes going wide for a second before snapping her head away.

Yang can't really help suspiciously furrowing her eyebrows, something about her conviction just disappearing like that making it more than clear that there's still something Weiss isn't telling her.

"Because?"

She can see another wave of indecision wash over Weiss's face, eyes nervously darting back and forth as she desperately searches for an answer.

"Weiss." She says firmly.

"Okay." Weiss answers, "I… know it sounds ridiculous but… I did it for you…"

"What? What does that even..."

"Okay maybe that isn't entirely accurate," Weiss admits, "I mean… Blake and I fought for hours about how to handle this, and she said… a lot of things to convince me not to tell anybody, but what really did it was when I thought about what her parents would do once they found out."

"What? Like call the cops?" Yang says incredulously, "actually do something to fix this instead of…"

"Yang!" Weiss interrupts, "think about it. The last time this kind of thing happened, their whole family just left Menagerie. If they decide to move a second time, and with Blake going to college in Mistral… there's a very real chance that we might never see her again."

This one is enough to finally stun her into silence.

Because despite her attempts to maintain appearances, the past few weeks had been absolute hell for Yang. Just the idea that she wouldn't get to see Blake everyday had been hard enough to come to grips with, but she had tried to tell herself that they'd at least have their holidays together, maybe even some summer breaks where they'd both come home for a few months.

She had never once been able to accept the possibility that graduation could literally be the last time she saw Blake ever.

Just the thought alone had been enough to bring her to tears on more than one occasion.

And here it is again, confronting her when she's least prepared, only this time there's nothing she can do to escape it.


Author's Note: This is it. Yang finally knows what's been haunting Blake this entire time. The only question is: what will she do about it? Hate to leave the cliffhanger on the possible slower upload schedule but we'll have to wait till next chapter to see. Anyways, as always hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading!