Weiss wanted to be happy as she lay in her bed, wide awake, while Ruby slept soundly next to her. She wanted to enjoy it so bad but couldn't thanks to the looming due date at the end of the month. Last week, a single phone call from her mother and demand to leave this town and live with her again. It was a betrayal to the promise that Weiss didn't have to move again. She could have complained for days on end during that call but the decision was made. Because of that call, a part of Weiss' more... extreme…. feelings escaped from her head when Ruby randomly arrived at her house only two hours after it ended. Weiss wasn't having an easy time resisting but then Ruby had whispered in her ear, "Anything for you, Weiss." Her feelings finally flooded out of her. One's that she knew Ruby had returned but had rebuffed in favor of taking more time to just enjoy their friendship.

And now here they were. The school year was nearly over and trouble wanted to enter Weiss' life again. Ruby spent a night at her own house but then showed up the next day, packed up enough to spend the rest of the time they had left together before the end of the month. Weiss couldn't, and didn't want to, say no to her. Now it was night one of their last month and Weiss couldn't enjoy something as simple as sleeping next to Ruby. A restless night that made her think back to the beginning of the year and the first day she even noticed Ruby.

Second Month of the First School Semester

It was another day and another empty house as Weiss Schnee dropped her backpack at the door. No one could get mad at her leaving her things around if no one would show up to do it. Weiss guessed it was going to be a pretty normal and boring night. One filled with sitting at her desk and wasting her time on the internet. There wasn't anything better to do after all. Television was boring to her, her homework was finished before she left school, and it's not like there was anyone wanting to see or talk to her. Stop that. She thought to herself. There's no point in it.

She knew she was right about that. What was the point in feeling sorry for yourself if you rarely actually did anything to help your situation? Weiss sighed. Those thoughts were just going to keep happening no matter what apparently. She guessed that this is what happened when you're left alone with no one to talk to for days on end. Sure, there were others at school but they were just… around. They never bothered her because Weiss made a point to not talk with them. She didn't know them and Weiss was okay with that fact. All that was on her mind during those times was going home and getting away from them despite the fact that all that was waiting for her at home was just her lonely box of a room.

Not even the house cleaners were scheduled for today so it was just going to be a completely silent night for her. Weiss decided she was going to take advantage of the situation, like she always did anyway, and take over the master bathroom. Hopefully the large tub and a stream of mindless videos from her laptop could keep her distracted for another night.

That bath did not help her at all. Even as she walked off the bus to start the school morning she was yawning. She thought the bath would relax her enough to sleep but instead Weiss was up almost all night trying her best not to dread the next school day. The school itself wasn't bad but there were so many other people that it could be overwhelming.

Her point was even proven when she got slightly knocked to the side as a girl ran by. "Sorry!" She said quickly as she slowed down a bit to look at Weiss. Weiss just glared at her and the girl decided to keep going on her way. Her backpack was hopping up and down on her back along with the red hood of her hoodie. She was the perfect example of the exhausting people Weiss had to work to avoid all day. Thankfully, she knew where to avoid those kinds of people before classes, the library.

No one would bother her there as she studied or read through a book before classes started. There was even a group of soft chairs and a couch that students could sit at instead of a table and those hard plastic lumps the school tries to pass off as chairs. Weiss might have looked forward to the peaceful moments that reading provided if there hadn't been someone sitting in the chair that she usually occupied.

It was odd for this to happen. Since school started she had no problems walking in and taking that chair without anyone ever being there but now a girl with long black hair has taken it over. Weiss could do nothing but stand there looking at her as she tried to figure out this anomaly. Despite the girl's face being absolutely buried in her own book it didn't take long for her to notice Weiss looking at her.

"Something wrong?" The girl asked while peeking over her book.

Weiss had forgotten she was staring. "No!" She said, trying not to show her embarrassment.

The girl shot daggers at Weiss. "You were staring at me," she deadpanned.

Weiss was caught but she just doubled down. "As if!" Weiss said in a strong voice before turning away to leave. She couldn't believe the start to her day. Tired and now a confrontation with some random girl who took her chair. Sure, she could have just taken the other chair but after a moment like that she didn't want to be in the same room as that girl. She wanted to call the girl rude but even Weiss had to admit that she may have been in the wrong.

Just forget it, Weiss. She told herself. You can find somewhere else to read until class. At least, she hoped that she could.

Weiss was right, in a way, about finding that spot. Unfortunately, that spot was a short brick wall that did nothing to be comfortable. Hopefully her soreness wasn't too noticeable to her other classmates as she tried to readjust herself in this hard plastic seat. The desk that was attached didn't do much to help that task at all so she was stuck having to deal with it as class went on.

The start of Weiss' first class, Statistics, was just the teacher finishing up explaining the concept she started yesterday. While the teacher talked she also began handing out papers to the students that were at the front of the class. One by one they passed back the stack while taking one for their own. As their row's stack of papers reached Weiss she took a moment to look it over. A simple worksheet that Weiss doubted would take long for her to finish. Weiss took a paper for herself and reached back to hand the stack to the one person behind her. There was a quick mumble of thanks from whoever that was but Weiss paid it no attention as she began to push through question after question the paper challenged her with.

This subject was something Weiss didn't have much trouble understanding so she had managed to finish just over half of the questions on the worksheet before the teacher even finished her short lecture. As the teacher finished and told the class to start their own worksheets Weiss had just kept her head down and kept working without interruption instead. Until she heard some relatively loud rustling behind her. There was a groan that followed, and a second later a poke on her shoulder. It was so sudden to her that she couldn't help but turn around with a quick jerk to look at the person who poked her.

It was the girl from earlier who had pushed her. The sudden motion of Weiss turning around seemed to have made her nervous as she lifted her hands up like she was surrendering. "Sorry, sorry," she said quickly. "I just wanted to ask if I could borrow a pen or a pencil…"

Weiss gave her a quick look over. She had the same red hoodie from this morning, dark hair that looked like she dipped the ends in red hair dye and a nervous yet slightly goofy smile. Weiss decided she wasn't much of a problem and leaned over to her own backpack and pulled out one of her many backup pens and reached out to hand it over.

The girl quickly grabbed it. "Thanks Weiss! I'll give it back after class. I can get one from my sister later," she explained. Weiss almost didn't hear her as she was busy being surprised at the fact that the girl knew her name.

"It… it's fine. Just keep it," Weiss managed to say through her surprise and quickly turned back around to face her own work. The girl didn't respond and Weiss was glad for it as she was red faced at the fact that she didn't even know this girl's name herself despite being in the same class together for over a month. In fact, it just reminded her that she didn't even really know the names of most of her other classmates as well.

Weiss could only blame it on the fact that she had only moved here this year. That thought did nothing to help explain why this girl knew Weiss' name though. If Weiss thought about it logically, there could be many reasons for her to know. If anything, it was probably due to the many times the teacher called for attendance at the beginning of class. Weiss had never actually paid attention to it besides when her own name was called which she figured everyone did anyway. Maybe that wasn't the case after all.

All she could do was give her head a slight shake to hopefully push away the minor anxiety that this whole situation was causing her and get back to finishing her work. It wasn't too much of a distraction though as each question on her worksheet helped Weiss keep her mind calm and focused. It wasn't too long before the sheet was complete and waiting for the end of class to be turned in. Weiss sat back and pulled her book out to pass the rest of the time. She figured it was a suitable reward for something so mundane as finishing a math worksheet.

...Weiss felt her shoulder being shaken. She opened her eyes to see her book was still open to the same page she started on. That late night had apparently reared its ugly head. Her neck was stiff from letting her head hang for however long she was asleep. It even slightly hurt to lift her head but it let her see that the room was empty aside from their teacher sitting at her desk. Weiss turned to see who woke her up but all she saw was a red hood disappear through the door frame and out into the hall. She just huffed and went to gather her things to leave which in turn allowed her the chance to notice that the pen she gave away was laying on top of her bag.

There was a wonderful feeling of relief that flowed through Weiss' body as she managed to make it through the rest of the day without any other incidents. It was just a measly bus ride and she was literally home free. In fact, she already had her seat and was just waiting for the rest of the students to slowly pile on. The noise of people talking and laughing kept growing as each student arrived. Weiss wasn't really paying them any attention until her ears perked up at a familiar sound. She raised her eyes from her book and saw the girl with the hoodie just now getting on the bus as she talked excitedly with a tall, blond student.

As the girl got closer Weiss quickly shoved her eyes back down to her book but in the end it didn't stop her from being noticed.

"Thanks again for that pen, Weiss!" the girl chirped out at Weiss, stopping next to her.

Weiss' head quickly shot up to look at the girl. "Oh, it… it was nothing." Even Weiss was surprised at her ability to keep that sentence calm.

The two girls looked at each other for a few seconds. Weiss didn't know what was going on but the girl just had that same smile from this morning.

"Hey, you're holding up the line, Ruby!" The blond girl said loudly before giving the girl, Ruby, a small shove to move her along.

"Fine, Yang," the g… Ruby said. Weiss wanted to keep that name memorized. Ruby finally moved along, heading to the back with that Yang girl. After all of that the bus decided it was time to move on and get everyone back home.

Although, through all of the noise of the other people and the loud rumble of the bus Weiss could still hear Ruby's laugh coming from the back. Most likely that blond was a friend of hers which was an assumption based on just how much they kept talking and laughing.

Weiss actually felt a pang of jealousy at that realization. She was by herself, even in this bus seat. No one chose to sit with her despite doing nothing to keep someone from doing so. Granted, she wouldn't know what to do if that actually happened. This moment brought Weiss' plain and normal mood down back into where it was last night. Even as the bus stopped at her house, the small amount of relief at that moment did nothing for her. Instead, it was just a sigh as she lifted herself out of her seat and left.

Just like yesterday, entering her own home felt like it completely drained Weiss. It was almost like her life was on repeat every afternoon. Come in, drop her bag, distract herself for an hour or two, maybe eat a small meal or, in tonight's case, nibble a little bit on a snack, and an attempt at relaxing in a bath. In a way, she was relaxed but that didn't mean things didn't feel empty all around her. The bath only allowed her more time to remind herself over and over of that fact. Only now it was worse as her mind kept jumping back to her jealousy on the bus as she listened to Ruby laugh it up with her friends.

Weiss wanted that. So much that her chest felt like it was being put in a vice grip. Everyone made it seem so simple but stuff like that never came easy for her. Combine her terrible people skills with the new environment her parents forced on her when they moved here for her father's business. Not even her mother showed up after the first month of school. Weiss didn't even keep up with her old friends from her last school.

The vice grip only grew tighter. Weiss dipped lower into the water where maybe the warm water could relieve the pressure she felt… and hide the tears even though there was no one to hide them from.

Present

Weiss didn't want to go back to those terrible feelings. Not after finally getting what she had wanted. She didn't want to leave but she was having trouble even thinking straight enough to even brainstorm what she could do. Currently, all she could do was hold onto Ruby as long as the world would allow.

For now, she wanted to be happy with that.

For anyone who might not know everything that happened in-between chapters, Ruby's side of stuff that can explain the gaps is in my story "Experiencing Experiences." Unfortunately, I can't make a series group like other websites so I have to explain it here in the notes.