She was... pretty.
That was the first thing that popped into Ruby's mind. She had snow white hair, tied off into a ponytail that fell down to her hips. Her eyes were light blue, the kind of light blue that was the colour of a glacier, or a frozen lake. There was a recently healed over scar running down the length of her left eye, and the expression on her face was severe, but strangely innocent and vulnerable. Her clothes were expensive, the kind of expensive that belonged on celebrities, not in a high school in mid-west Remnant.
Faintly, Ruby wondered if she actually was famous.
Weiss Schnee stood in front of the the class, her posture impeccable, her hands clasped in front of her like she was a step away from doing a little curtsie. She screamed 'fancy' in every facet. She was the kind of girl Ruby would be downright afraid to approach, for fear of getting her filthy casual peasant stink on her. Ruby felt a little less adequate in her hoodie and jeans.
"Miss Schnee, would you like to say a few words to introduce yourself to the class?" Mr. Ozpin stepped to the side as gestured for her to present herself. Weiss Schnee nodded respectfully, then scanned the class. Her face was neutral, but it was a kind of artificial neutrality. The blank, normal face you'd put on when you're in front of a crowd of strangers. There was something more to it when she looked at Weiss, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
She cleared her throat. "Hello. My name is Weiss, and I'm honoured to be in Beacon High, to learn alongside you all for the next two years," she paused, scanning the room again. Her smile seemed plastered on. After a moment, she just bowed her head again, prompting Mr. Ozpin to take over.
"Well said, now let's get you on with the learning, hm?" now it was his turn to scan the room, though only briefly, as he'd seen his target the moment he'd step foot in the room. "Ah, Miss Rose, would you be so kind as to escort Miss Schnee around today? I'm sure she'd appreciate it, especially from someone with a more... unique perspective. Wouldn't you agree?" he looked at Ruby expectantly, something close to a mischievous glint in his eyes. Ruby paused for a moment, a little bit more than surprised with the request.
"Oh! Um, yes, sir. I can show Weiss around," Ruby gave the principal a tight-lipped smile, and barely made eye-contact with the ivory-haired girl in question. She swept some hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. "You can sit here, uh, I guess," she gestured to the empty seat on her left.
"Actually, sir," Weiss cut in. "I was hoping to be shown around by her," she gestured towards the back of the class, where sat Pyrrha Nikos, who raised her brows in mild surprise. Pyrrha was the nicest person Ruby knew at Beacon, and very possibly the nicest person on the face of the planet. She was a three time Olympic and Youth Olympic medalist for shooting. She was in local cereal commercials. Now Pyrrha was some degree of famous. Ruby quirked her brow.
"Oh!" Pyrrha smiled wide, the perfect picture of polite and accommodating. "I'd be happy to."
Weiss looked at Ozpin with a smile, and he conceded after a brief pause.
"Very well, I do wish to make your transition here into Beacon as comfortable as possible," he placed both hands on his cane and nodded. "Well, if that's settled, then I shall take my leave. Be well, students," he nodded to Mr. Port as he walked out of the classroom, cane clanking with each step.
Weiss walked towards the back of the class, taking the next empty seat next to Pyrrha. The scent of her perfume wafted towards Ruby as she walked past. It reminded her of the biting chill outside.
Okay. Well. That was a little bit embarrassing, huh? Ruby wrinkled her nose, looking to Blake and Yang, who gave her sympathetic smiles. Yang patted Ruby's hand. The younger girl shrugged, blowing a wisp of hair out of her eyes. She craned her neck a little to look back, catching a glimpse of Weiss already in a conversation with Pyrrha, both of them wearing smiles on their faces.
Their eyes met for a brief moment. Ruby didn't break away for some reason. Weiss held her gaze, and something strange pierced in Ruby's chest as they looked at each other. She suddenly felt reprimanded, like she ought to have been sheepish for some reason. Ruby felt her cheeks blush a little as she whipped her head back around.
Alright. So. Cool. The first new outsider for Ruby to potentially bond with and in 5 minutes she was already melding into the social scene here. Cool cool cool.
Ruby didn't stop thinking about Weiss the entire class.
Scratch that, Ruby actually didn't stop thinking about Weiss the whole day. It was strange, to say the least. She reasoned it was because Weiss was about the most interesting thing to happen to Beacon since, like, ever. Not to say that her days in high school were boring. Far from it. Something new tended to happen almost every day. Food fights, or regular boring fights, or some new prank Yang schemed up, or some other scheme of sorts.
But Weiss, she was fancy. She wore expensive clothes and came from a high class family and boarding school all the way in Atlas, and now she was in Vale, in Beacon High. She'd gone from the pent house apartment to the middle of suburbia. There was a reason for it, too. A mysterious one nobody had figured out yet. It was intriguing and Weiss, just the presence of Weiss, the fact that she existed and she was here signalled some larger story. And that was interesting.
So, yeah. An interesting mystery happening at Beacon. That was what Ruby had been thinking about all day. That was all.
Ruby peered out the library window. Snow was starting to drift down again. She stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets as she sat around waiting. Blake and Yang had chemistry for last period, and that meant they had to trek from the entire opposite end of school to their lockers, then they could all ride to Blake's place. So she had some time to kill. And that meant milling around the library, running her hands over familiar book spines, pulling out books that she was particularly fond of or looked interesting, mentally adding it to the list of books she needed to read when she had time.
Ruby wasn't the most dedicated reader. No, she couldn't claim something like that when she lived in such proximity to Blake, who was practically a machine when it came to books. She did love her few genres that she stuck to. The kinds of books that were adventures, that had the kind of happy endings that existed nowhere else. Heroes and journeys and the obstacles they faced, and the necessity for a satisfying conclusion. Those were her books. Mom had had loads of those books. She loved reading them during bed time, or on a slow, quiet day. She and Yang would huddle under a blanket, they would draw the curtains and turn the lights off, leaving only a single lamp facing an armchair for their mother to read.
Ruby pulled out a book, flipping through at random and relishing the smell and feel of it. Happier times.
Her phone buzzed, and it was Yang and Blake heading towards the car. She put the book back with a wistful sigh, stuffing her hands back in her jacket pockets as she began walking out of the library towards the parking lot on auto-pilot. Her gaze was forward, but her mind was elsewhere, though she successfully managed to dodge and weave through the crowd in school.
Until she didn't.
She stumbled backwards with a grunt, barely managing to keep her balance, sticking her arms out and waving as she threatened to fall over. She shook her head, bringing herself out of the shock of colliding with someone. The other party wasn't as fortunate as her, ending up on her rear on the floor.
Also, the other party was Weiss Schnee. Weiss, with her perfect hair and makeup, and her nice clothes, had let out a little yelp as they collided, falling onto the floor. She nursed the point of collision on her head as she looked up at Ruby, the most menacing, unpleasant scowl on her face. Ruby almost immediately shrank in fear and embarrassment.
"Omigosh, I'm so sorry!" Ruby held her hands out and gasped. Her mind was racing with a million variations of the thought 'oh crap'. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't see you, it was my fault, I'm so sorry!"
She crouched down, placing a hand over the one Weiss had on her head, and the other on her shoulder. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need help, c'mon," she attempted to hoist Weiss up gently, and was promptly and brusquely shoo'd off, Weiss almost shoving her away.
"You," the annoyance in those blue eyes gathered up and solidified, pointing squarely at Ruby. "Dolt!"
Weiss got up herself, quickly, though no less graceful than she'd ever been thus far. "Would you watch where you're going! What, is walking and being aware of your surroundings too difficult a multi-task?" She patted herself off, wiping snow and dirt off her impeccable outfit.
Ruby shrank further into herself. Weiss' scowl was ever present as she appraised Ruby fully. She thought for a moment, eyes still locked with Ruby. Then, as if she decided it wasn't really worth the effort, she simply stomped off with a huff. Ruby thought she could hear some muttered curses coming from behind her, but she dared not look back, lest she get turned to stone.
Well, more so than she was now.
Ruby blushed a deep red. Her throat and chest constricted tight, mortified beyond all belief.
Had she. Really. Just done that? Just assaulted the new girl? Like it was her first day in prison and she wanted to gain respect from the yard? She palmed her face, groaning deep and long.
"Yeesh, what's up her butt?" Yang's voice came from ahead of her. Ruby looked up to see her and Blake standing there, both looking at Weiss' retreating figure. Blake held a deep scowl, her jaw shifting slightly and her bow twitching with the repressed desire to flatten her ears against her head. Yang just looked on in disapproval, shaking her head.
"You uh- caught that, huh?" Ruby sighed. Of course they did. Probably a bunch of other people did, too. And everyone was going to know by tomorrow that the new-new girl just gave the old-new girl a whole public dressing down. Coolio.
"Just the tail end of it," Yang pouted a little bit in sympathy before wrapping her baby sister up in an embrace. "'sokay Rubes."
Ruby, if asked later, didn't whimper at all. Not even a little bit.
"C'mon," Blake placed a hand on her shoulder. "Bad movies and junk food at home- that'll cheer you up," she smiled in that soft, understated way she did. It sounded like a solid offer. Ruby sniffled only a slight amount and nodded. Yang gave her a smile. It was easy to see sometimes why the blonde was so enamoured with her. They walked off towards the car.
Bad movies, junk food, and a good support system. Foolproof plan to get through high school. Ruby sighed inwardly. Hopefully this wouldn't come back up to bite her in the ass too hard later on. Maybe it was just a one-off. A one time incident. And everything going forward would be totally normal and cool.
Yeah.