I Think I Like You

Chapter 7: Confrontations

It's the Monday after the chalk-walk, and no matter how much I appreciated being able to skip an entire day of classes for the event, I don't think I had appreciated it enough.

I'm in my last period of the day - science. Normally, I actually quite like the subject, but today is different.

Today is presentation day.

Yep, the day that most kids would rather beat themselves over the head with a dead fish than stand up and talk about some scientist who discovered micro-organisms or the theory of relativity.

Most students fidget nervously at their desks or are sliding down into their seats in the hopes of not being the one called on next.

However, I'm not worried at all. I find this class to be particularly easy, and have already given my presentation early on last week.

I sit back and absentmindedly fiddle with the cuffs of my uniform jacket, only halfway paying attention to the presentations as they were being given.

I slowly scraped my sneakers back and forth across the floor and fixed my gaze on an empty seat a few rows over. That's normally where Weiss sits, but today she isn't here, which is odd because Weiss is always here.

When I first walked into class is when I noticed the empty desk. Personally, I've never seen Weiss miss a day of school, so the sight was a bit concerning. I had texted her earlier about her absence but she hasn't responded yet, which only makes me worry more.

After what happened on the day of the chalk-walk, I wouldn't be surprised if she had another panic attack completely out of the blue like that. The thought of that happening makes my breath hitch and my stomach clench up tightly.

I let out a low sigh and lean my elbows onto the table to rest my chin in my hands.

At this point, I'm tuned out from the presentations entirely and I can feel my eyelids starting to drooping as I start drifting off. I'm not sure how long it is that I take my little nap, but I get a pretty rude awakening.

Someone walks by my desk and kicks the edge of one of its legs, making my desk shake and my head drop off my hands. I swear, if they had used even the tiniest amount more of force, I would have banged my forehead against the table.

As I'm ineloquently jolted awake, I look up to see who the perpetrator is. Cardin Winchester. Your classic, high school asshat who practically gets off on being a dirt bag to everyone.

He continues to walk past me, and I see a smirk on his face while hearing a few of his friends, who sit a few rows behind me, chuckle. I just ignore them and roll my eyes. I might have some choice words for him, but I've learned it's generally better to not add more fuel to the fire.

Cardin reaches the front and slips his flash drive into the computer that the class is using for presentations. A folder pops up and he clicks a PowerPoint file that has a ton of random numbers and letters for a name. When he opens it up, there's a big picture of Isaac Newton and the title 'Laws of Gravitation'

He then proceeds to give a fairly decent presentation, but I find it laughable at how many spelling and contingency errors he'd made. After he finishes, most of the class claps politely, while some of the other students continue to stare at the floor or squirm in their desks.

I just continue to look irked, and mumble some of those 'choice words' I'd thought of earlier under my breath.

"What was that, Miss Rose?"

I jolt in my seat and whip my head to the front of the room where my science teacher, Mr. Oobleck, sits with a questioning eyebrow raised at me. Cardin looks over at me too, narrowing his eyes and looking miffed. I cast my gaze down and shrug to no one in particular.

"Nothing, sir…"

Mr. Oobleck takes a sip of his coffee and gave me a skeptical look.

"Please, Ruby. I'm sure a fellow student would love to hear some friendly criticism, especially from one of my best and most gifted students in the subject."

I shift my gaze back up and look between the two of them.

I'm mostly reluctant because, by the look Cardin's giving me right now, if I say something he doesn't like, I might be paying for it later. Not that I'm particularly scared of him, but he's known to use some… questionable tactics to get back at people. Oobleck just looks on at me with anticipation.

"Well…" I gulp, watching a few of the other students turn towards me. "you said Newton was born on January fourth, but if you look at the old Julien calendar that was used in England during the sixteen-hundreds, he was actually born..." I take a moment to calculate the numbers in my head. "Around December twenty-fifth."

I see Cardin's face scrunch up. Oobleck just nods, urging me to continue.

"Newton theorized white light was made of all colors of the spectrum, and that light was composed of particles. You said he theorized it was atoms, which isn't technically true. There's also plenty more uses for the laws he made than what you mentioned, like being able to predict where comets will land, the tides, and precession of the equinoxes."

I hear a few people chuckle as Oobleck raises his eyebrows towards Cardin, who I can see clenching his fists and giving me a death glare.

"Also, Cambridge," I say, pointing up to the projected PowerPoint. "is spelled with a d."

I can see Cardin bubbling in anger mixed with embarrassment. I give him a smug look and smirk at him. To be honest, it's pretty funny seeing him peeved off and storm back to his seat like he does; I rarely get to use my geekiness for something so satisfying.

Of course, my victory is short lived as the bell rings, signaling school's over for the day. People start chattering and packing up, most looking relieved they didn't have to present today.

Mr. Oobleck eyes the clock suspiciously, like he didn't believe the bell had just rung.

"Well, we'll have to finish presentations tomorrow! Thank you for your insight, Ruby. I'm sure we'll all be a lot more aware of watching out for those pesky little details in our work from now on. Have a good day everyone!"

I start packing up and watch Cardin yank out his flash drive from the port. He gruffly walks past my desk while mumbling something lowly, so that only I could hear.

"Watch yourself, Red."

I roll my eyes and stand up next to my desk, so I can put my things away. From what I've heard about Cardin, he's mostly all talk and no bite, but that doesn't stop people from trying their best to steer clear of him.

I take my phone out of my back pocket to check if Weiss has texted me back. She hasn't. I sigh, slipping my backpack onto my shoulders and starting to walk out of class.

Since it's Monday, we have a student council meeting. I'm not sure what happens when Weiss isn't here to run it, since that hasn't happened since I joined, but I'm hoping it'll be pretty laid back.

Just as I'm about to walk out the door, I hear someone call to me.

"Ah, Miss Rose, may I have a word with you before you go?"

I stop and turned around, causing some of the other students shuffling out to run into me.

I see Mr. Oobleck waving me over to his desk, while he takes another long, slow sip of hot coffee.

I know this would probably be about what happened earlier. I debate whether or not I should ignore him and follow the rest of the students out the door, but ultimately decide against it; instead, I choose to make an excuse.

"Actually, I have a meeting I need to go to. I can't be late so…"

I turn back around and try to slip out the door before he has time to respond, but I'm too late.

"Please, Ruby. This will only take a moment, I know you're very busy." He pleads.

I exhale a slow, defeated breath and plod over to his desk, avoiding the few remaining students making their way out.

"Yes, Mr. Oobleck?"

He grabs around his coffee mug and gave me a welcoming smile.

"A council meeting to get to, hmm? How is the council nowadays? I've heard you have been doing quite well."

I nod and give a proud grin.

"Yeah, it's been good, just busy."

"I've also heard that the first event you ran this year went quite well too."

"Yep, we raised a ton of money for the school, and we had the most participants out of any of the previous years."

Oobleck picks up his mug and takes another long sip of coffee. I scuff one of my shoes across the floor and look at the clock on the wall. It wouldn't actually be that bad to be late today, since Weiss isn't here to yell at me. Even so, I still want to get out of here as fast as possible.

"Was there something you needed?" I ask.

Mr. Oobleck's eyes widen and he sets down his mug on the table, then proceeding to start digging through his desk.

"Yes, my apologies… hmm, where is it?" He continued to dig through his desk drawers until he finds what he's looking for.

"Aha!"

He pulls out a yellow sheet of paper and handed it to me. It reads: 'USA Science and Engineering Festival!'.

I blink and tilt my head to the side questioningly before looking back up at my teacher.

"Ruby, you are one of my brightest students and I think it's clear that you enjoy the subject a great deal." I shrug, but Oobleck continues talking. "This festival is held fairly close to our town, but is too expensive for the school to pay for a yearly fieldtrip. So, each year I take a select group of students from my classes to go and experience the magic of science!"

He fixes his glasses on the bridge of his nose and rests his chin on his hands.

"I think you should really consider going. It's a great experience to learn about the different fields you can go into surrounding the subject, and I can really see you taking up a future in it."

I stare at the paper in my hands. I've never really thought about what I want to do in the future, and definitely not in something related to science. However, I am a senior, and that means I'll be going to college at the end of this year. So, maybe it isn't such a bad idea to go and see if something like this interests me.

"I guess I'll think about it." I say.

Mr. Oobleck gives me an approving nod, and sits up straighter in his chair.

"Now, this festival is a while off from now, but I want you to know that I think it would be splendid if you decide to come."

"I'll make sure to give it a lot of thought then. Thanks, Mr. Oobleck."

I gently fold the paper and slip it in my pocket. I start walking out, but when I grab the door I hear him call out to me.

"Please remember, Ruby." He gives me a knowing look. "Science is nothing more than trained and organized common sense. I trust that you have some."

I walk down the empty hallways of the school towards the student resource room. My little encounter in Oobleck's room had lasted about ten minutes, so there's no doubt I'm going to be late now.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone to check my messages: still no Weiss.

I groan and click on the little icon by her name. I don't have any pictures of Weiss, but I found a stock image of a little snowman and had put that as her picture. I would change it, but when I had shown it to Weiss she said it looked cute, so I opted to keep it instead.

I remember how cold and unapproachable I used to think she was, how out of my reach she seemed without me even realizing it. Now, I can't imagine her as anything other than dignified and elegant at everything she does, but with a shy and demure side as well.

I wish she would show the latter more often, but sometimes… I'm kind of glad she doesn't show that side of hers to everyone. It's something only I get to see; that humble, yet hesitant, smile that could turn me into a bumbling mess in the blink of an eye.

Just thinking about it makes me cover my face with my hands out of embarrassment and slam my head onto a nearby locker.

What the hell's wrong with me?

"Hey there, Little Red."

I freeze and slowly lift my gaze up from the locker to see none other than Cardin, giving me a smug look, and three of his lackeys standing behind him. I look them up and down and give them an annoyed huff.

"What do you want, Cardin?"

He takes a step towards me and crosses his arms.

"Y'know, I never really thought the nerdy ones would be my problem, seeing that they know they wouldn't stand a chance against me." He tsks at me with his tongue, and I feel myself stiffen. "Turns out I was wrong."

I look between the four boys, trying to get a read on whether or not I think they would actually do anything. I'm not quite sure, but if I keep them engaged long enough, maybe someone will come by eventually, forcing them to back off.

I look both ways down the double ended hallway and see no one, so I take a deep breath and stand straight up, staring Cardin right in the eyes.

"I'm surprised you put two and two together like that. Your brain must be feeling good as new, seeing that you never use it."

Cardin and a few of his other lackeys roll their eyes. Cardin steps towards me until we're a few feet apart and because of our height difference of about a foot, I'm forced to look up at him.

"Well aren't you just the cutest little shit."

I raise an eyebrow at him, trying to swallow a lump forming in my throat.

"Keep rolling your eyes, maybe you'll actually find a brain back there." I say.

I hear Cardin make a growling noise as he lunges at me, grabbing the strap of my backpack.

"Oh, I am so gonna end you," He pulls my bag's strap to get up in my face, forcing me to stand on my tiptoes. "that is, if you weren't going to already."

I hear a few of his useless friends laugh and I feel disgusted, but hold my ground.

"If I wanted to kill myself I'd climb your stupidly huge ego and jump your IQ."

He grits his teeth together in frustration, seeing as his words aren't getting to me, and grabs the other side of my bag to push me forcefully against the lockers, almost reminding me of some of the cheesy high school dramas Yang watches.

My head gets slammed against the cold metal and I try to ignore the sharp pain, but I'm pretty sure it's showing on my face.

"It's not really my thing to beat up scraggly kids like you, let alone a girl, but if you keep that up, I might just make an exception."

I take advantage of the position and head-butt him with as much force as I can muster. This makes his buddies gasp and causes Cardin to stagger back a few feet. He rubs his temple and I rub mine too, knowing I'll have a lasting headache for a few days.

"Y'know Cardin, two wrongs like that don't make a right. Take your parents for example."

While Cardin seethes and continues to hold his forehead, I take the opening to look around the hall. I still don't see any teachers or students and I silently hope that someone will walk by soon. I can't keep up the smart-ass comebacks for too much longer.

Cardin takes his hand off his forehead and turns his head to the side, making his neck give a menacing crack.

"You don't know jack-shit about me, short stack."

"Who says I'd want to?"

He starts rolling his eyes and then stops himself midway, probably remembering my earlier comment.

"Well, maybe if you saw things from my perspective, you would give a little more thought into what you're saying to me right now." He growls.

I scoff at him and shake my head.

"Yeah, I'd just love to see things from your point of view, to bad I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass."

I'm pretty sure that was the last straw for him. He motions at two of his buddies and they both walk around from behind him to stand next to him. I would've laughed at the cliché gesture, but in reality, I know how bad this might get.

Cardin walks towards me and grabs the front of my shirt again, slamming me back against the set of lockers.

"You think you're such hot shit, don't you?" he tightens his grip on the collar of my shirt, and pulled me closer to him - only to slam me right back against the lockers. I wince at the splitting headache I'm getting from being jostled around.

"You're a nobody. Some teacher's pet who doesn't know when to shut the hell up." He slams me against the locker again. "You're just some insignificant, miserable, kiss-up that wants to make me look bad, me!"

His friends laugh at this, way too hard in my opinion, and with the boost of confidence it gives him, Cardin leans down until he's right in my face.

"Got any last words, Red?"

I hold Cardin's gaze and squint my eyes at him.

"It must be difficult for you, exhausting your entire vocabulary in one sentence like that."

Cardin reels his arm back, like he's about to deck me, making me scrunch my face up, preparing for the impact.

But the hit doesn't come.

Instead, I see Cardin look up and turn his head to the side. For a second I'm confused, until I hear the faint sound of clacking down the hallway.

Someone's coming, thank god.

I hear Cardin curse under his breath and he drops his fist at his side. He makes an irritated grunt, and lets go of the front of my shirt. I give a sigh of relief and grab the collar of my shirt to smooth it out. All the clenching Cardin had done to it left a lot of wrinkles.

"You might've gotten lucky this time, but don't expect me to go easy on you in the future." Cardin says as he and his friends walk away.

The footsteps rounded the corner on the side of the hallway closest to me, just as Cardin and his crew disappear around the other end. It's a woman, who I recognize to also be the vice principal, Ms. Goodwitch. She gives me an up and down look as she walks closer and stops in front of me.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you how to do laundry?" She says, eyeing my messed up uniform.

I turn red and look at the ground, mumbling something hopefully coherent to an apology. Ms. Goodwitch just gives me a displeased look before continuing to make her way down the hall.

I take a moment and lean back against the set of lockers that I know all too well at this point, feeling mentally exhausted.

People like Cardin are just small and insecure and will do whatever it takes to make themselves seem big. I honestly just feel sorry for him - not that I'm any less pissed at him either - but sorry all the same.

I take a deep breath to calm myself down and turn my head to the side, which is when I see the clock on the other side of the hallway. Now I'm over thirty minutes late.

"Crap…"

I reach the student resource room and start to slowly turn the handle on the door. Of course, Weiss isn't going to be here, but I'm still late and I know she'll somehow figure that out, even when she's not present, and probably berate me about it later.

I open the door to see the rest of the council, of course, already here.

I expected Blake, or even Pyrrha, to have taken charge and gotten people to work, but that didn't seem to be the case. The members are all sitting at our big meeting table in the center of the room, mostly talking amongst themselves or playing on their phones; all except Blake, who's silently reading a book laid out on the table in front of her.

Yang turns around from where she's sitting and gives me a wave.

"Someone sure knows when to make an entrance. Where've you been, sis?"

I walk over to my seat and debate on telling them what had happened with Cardin. I figure it will only cause Yang to get angry, along with everyone else, so I decide I'll just keep it to myself for now.

"Oobleck wanted to keep me after class, sorry guys."

A half-truth is better than no truth I guess.

"You're just lucky the president isn't here," Nora says, looking up from her phone. "she would've spent the rest of the meeting yelling at you"

I nod knowingly and take my seat at the head of the table, setting my backpack down next to me.

"Where is Weiss by the way? I haven't heard from her all day." I ask.

Jaune, who's been talking with Pyrrha and Ren, looks up and shakes his head at me.

"I haven't heard from her either, none of us have."

The thought of Jaune trying to get in touch with Weiss irks me, but I shove the thought away and dig into my pocket to find my phone. I check my messages - still nothing.

I groan and drop my head onto the table.

"She's probably just sick or something." Blake says, without even looking up from her book.

"Yeah, She'll be fine! Cheer up, Ruby." Yang tries to give me a comforting smile, but it looks more like a grimace.

Nora looks up from her phone and her eyes widen.

"It wouldn't be fine if she missed my bonfire this weekend! Please tell me at least you're coming, Ruby!?"

I vaguely remember Velvet mentioning something about Nora throwing a party this weekend during the chalk-walk, but I'd almost completely forgotten about it. I don't know how I'd forgotten either, seeing as Weiss said she might go with me.

"Oh, uh… I was thinking about it."

Yang fist bumps the air, stands up in her chair, and slams one of her boots down on the table.

"Hell yeah, this bonfires gonna be lit!"

Pyrrha turns her head and gives a thoughtful look.

"I would sure hope the bonfires lit."

I hear Blake give a sigh as she uses one of her index fingers to turn a page in her book.

"Ruby, since you're the vice president why don't you grab Weiss's binder and see if there's anything we need to do."

I know that Weiss usually reads out of her council binder when figuring out what our plans are for the day, but I have no idea where she keeps it. I've always thought she just carried it around with her.

"Do you know where it is…?" I ask.

Blake, still not looking up from her book, points over to one of the many bookshelves on the far side of the room. I walk over and, after shuffling through books for a few minutes, find the white binder on one of the bottom shelves, it says: 'Property of Weiss Schnee, DO NOT TOUCH' in big, red letters.

I gulp, but pick it up and bring it back over to the head of the table anyways. It's my duty as vice president to take over for her when she isn't here; I've just never had to do it before. So, she won't get mad… right?

Well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

Everyone quiets down and turns their attention towards me. I give a nervous smile as I open the binder. It has pages full of dates and events, along with folders dedicated to different clubs and sponsors that our school has. It seems to be in a very particular order, but I can't quite find anything that is specific to today or any random work we could do.

Blake places a bookmark on the page she's reading and looks over at me.

"Look for today's date, on one of the tabs."

I look at where she tells me too and turn to what I think is the correct page, but it's blank. I feel myself start sweating, and look up at everyone patiently waiting on what I'm going to say. I don't like having so many eyes on me, even if they are people I consider to be friends; I don't know how Weiss deals with this all the time.

"I… uhmm…"

I look back up at all their expectant faces and feel myself start turning red. Thankfully, Ren makes a suggestion that saves me from the embarrassment.

"Why don't you go try calling Weiss? See if she knows what to do?"

I give him a grateful nod and step out into the hallway as fast as I can. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I reluctantly click on that cute little snowman icon, already fully expecting her not to pick up.

The phone rings for about twenty seconds until it went to voicemail. I decide I'll try one more time and if she doesn't pick up, then I'll just go back inside and cancel the meeting for today.

To my surprise, on the second ring, someone picks up.

"…Hello?"

I feel my eyes bulge out of shock and I almost gasp out loud.

"Weiss!?"

"…Yes?"

"Oh my god, Weiss!? Are you okay? You haven't answered me all day!?"

I hear some shuffling noises in the background and Weiss makes a groaning sound.

"I was… sleeping."

"...You were sleeping?"

"Yeah, I have a little cold is all-"

Just then, Weiss erupts into a loud coughing and hacking fit. My concern for her reached its limit and I press the phone closer to my ear.

"Don't worry, Weiss. I'm coming over right now!"

The coughing on the other end immediately starts slowing down and I hear Weiss rasp into the receiver.

"Wait, Ruby wha-"

I didn't give her a chance to answer. Instead, I shove my phone back into my pocket and burst back into the student council room. Everyone's heads fling my direction in surprise as I run over to get my backpack.

"Meetings cancelled! I gotta go, bye!"

I slip my bag on as I run as fast as I can back out of the clubroom, leaving stupefied council members in my wake. I run down the seemingly endless hallways and forcefully shove my way out the front doors of the school, heading for the bike rack.