I Think I Like You

Chapter 16: Comfort

I wake up to a blaring noise coming from my phone. Not bothering to look at it, I lazily roll over in my bed to press the snooze button.

I'm usually a morning person, even on the weekends, but last night I stayed up late planning for the science festival. Weiss had already sent me an itinerary she'd made, but there had been a few more things I wanted to squeeze into the short trip.

The blaring sound occurs again and I blindly press my phone a few times to silence it, groaning all the while.

Last night, after reading a few of the activities Weiss had planned out for us, I'd gotten super excited and went on a sort of 'information spree' if you will. This convention is going to have everything from dissection tables and microscope exhibits to 3D printers and self-driving cars.

Mr. Oobleck had made it sound more like a chore to go, but after reading some of the stuff they have to offer, I'm actually kind of excited.

Once again, the beeping takes me out of my thoughts and I grimace as I sink myself lower under my covers. Reluctantly, I reach over and grab my phone off my nightstand, yanking the charger out as I do so.

My eyes widen at the warning on the screen.

"Oh, no. Weiss is gonna be pissed."

I fling the covers off my body and swing my legs over the bed, which almost makes me lose balance. Rushing across my room to the closet, I begin fumbling to put my clothes on. I was told not to wear anything to heavy, since we'll be walking around so much, so I opt for my usual T-shirt and some jeans.

After I'm dressed, I pack the last few items I need into my overnight bag and slip it on over my red shirt.

As I quickly pad down the stairs, trying not to wake anyone who might not be up, I'm surprised to already hear voices coming from the kitchen.

When I reach the archway, I peek my head around the corner and, to my surprise, both my Uncle and my sister are already awake and eating breakfast.

"Morning, kiddo. Quit staring and come eat before it gets cold." My Uncle says in his usual gravely voice.

No matter how appetizing a four-stack of pancakes looks, I know that if I'm any later than I already am, Weiss might actually have a cow.

"Sorry, Uncle Qrow. I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."

Yang looks at me and takes a big bite of her pancakes. She raises her eyebrows as a smirk grows on her face.

"Weiss is gonna put you through the ringer, eh sis?"

I glare at her, even though she's, like always, right.

"No, I just can't miss the bus. It'll be leaving soon, I think."

"That's a shame, you'd probably like it if she did."

My sister shrugs smugly and forks some more pancake into her mouth. I feel my face burn and I grip my backpack straps tighter.

Yang found out about my relationship with Weiss just the other week, and yet she's already teased me about it enough that I want to crawl under a rock and die most of the time she's around. She's never gone too overboard, but just enough to where I'm either thoroughly embarrassed or mortified.

It gets the worst when we're in the club room, when both Weiss and I are forced to feign ignorance to her jeering. I know it's all in good fun, well, for her, but it makes me nervous nonetheless.

"Quit staring into space, kid." My Uncle calls my attention back to him. "I'm sure you can spare five minutes for your family and a healthy breakfast before you go."

I anxiously look towards the door and then towards the incredibly tempting pancakes sitting on the table. I feel my mouth practically salivate at the delicious looking breakfast food.

Oh, what the hell.

I jog over to the counter and eagerly start cutting into the fluffy pancakes.

"This trip of yours," Qrow starts as I quickly shovel mouthfuls of food down my throat. "It's an overnight stay, yeah? And where is it again?"

I nod and lick some syrup that was dribbling down my finger.

"It's at the downtown Civic Center, a few hours away." I say through the food in my mouth.

"And you're staying with that friend of yours…"

"Weiss."

I can feel Yang snicker next to me and I elbow her in the ribs, causing her to grunt.

"Right, Weiss. And what's the, uh, convention called again?"

I groan and wipe my mouth off with a napkin.

"Uncle Qrow, I already told you all of this, like, five times."

He holds his hands up in mock surrender and grabs my, now empty, plate from my spot at the counter, taking it over to the sink to wash it.

"Geez, alright. Just making sure I know where you're running off to, so when your dad comes home and sees you're missing, at least I'll have an alibi."

I ball up my napkin and throw it at the back of my Uncle's head; he easily side-steps it, causing it to fly right past him and hit the window sill as he continues chuckling at me. I playfully stick my tongue out at him, jumping down from my stool and jogging over to the archway that leads to the front door.

I'm about to go put on my shoes and grab my bike, when Yang calls out to me from the kitchen.

"Wait, sis! I'm going to drive you, okay?" Yang walks over to her hook by the fridge to grab her keys. "It's foggy out, and I don't want you hurling yourself down another hill on accident."

I squint my eyes at my sister.

"That happened once, okay? Stop bringing it up."

Yang waves me off and easily slips past me, heading for the front door.

"Yeah, Yeah. Just go get your helmet."

As Yang pulls up to the school on bumblebee, I see a huge black and white charter bus waiting in the parking lot.

There's a group of about fifty or so kids waiting by the bus, and a few adults standing around and chatting. They all have on either a backpack or some small suitcase of sorts and they all looked super excited to get going.

Seeing the other students only serves in making me more eager, and as Yang parks by a curb I put both my hands on the side of my helmet to tug it off.

"Easy there, Tiger." Yang says, turning around on her seat to help undo the buckle for me. "We got here with plenty of time to spare. There's no need for you to rush."

I finally pop the suffocating helmet off my head and quickly get off the bike, having to scooch back a little bit before putting my leg over the side. I take a second to smooth my shirt out and fix my backpack into a more comfortable position.

"Thanks for driving me, Yang. I'm gonna go sign in now."

I step my foot up onto the curb, about to start walking towards the crowd of people, when Yang grabs onto the back of my backpack, causing me to come to a halt.

"Not so fast, sis." She says, making me reluctantly look back at her. "As the older sister, I feel like it's my obligation to say this - but just because you're sharing a room with Weiss doesn't mean you're allowed do anything, understood?"

I feel my cheeks flame and I rip myself from Yang's grip, taking the opportunity to give her a half-hearted glare.

"I wasn't planning on doing anything, alright?"

My sister chuckles and straps the helmet I was just previously wearing onto her head.

"Whatever you say, Rubes." Her voice is muffled by the helmet. "Just don't think I forgot about what I saw last week. I'm just trying to save you the embarrassment when the pres inevitably rejects your attempts to-"

"Bye, Yang!" I call, swiftly walking away.

She scoffs behind me, and I ignore it in the hopes my face won't get any redder.

I hear her motorcycle engine sputter to life in a loud, borderline obnoxious, way and the sound fades as she pulls out of the drop-off area. I'm left standing by myself on the outskirts of the group of people that I assume must all be here for the trip.

I fidget with my backpack strap and bounce back and forth on my feet. I debate on if I should call or text Weiss but, of course, as soon as that thought comes across my mind, I spot a speck of white among the crowd.

Maneuvering my way closer to the bus, where I saw the familiar flash of color, I eventually find who I'm looking for.

Weiss stands near a small group of teachers, holding a clipboard and impatiently scanning the group of people standing around.

She's wearing a super cute button-down blouse with little polka-dots on it, and she also has on her usual white backpack that has her initials stitched into the front pocket. However, what really catches my attention is the fact that Weiss is wearing shorts.

I realize I've never seen Weiss in shorts before; I've only ever seen her wear skirts and stockings.

It was no secret to myself that I'm really attracted to Weiss's legs and I can already feel myself getting distracted by them. After a moment of admitted ogling, I force myself to look away from her.

"Ruby!" I turn my head back around to see Weiss briskly making her way over to me. "Where on earth have you been? It's almost time to start loading up the bus. I was starting to get worried you had forgotten about the trip."

I meekly scratch my head and offer Weiss a shrug.

"Well, I might have, accidentally, slept in a little." I say, making Weiss roll her eyes. "How could I have forgotten about the trip, though? I'm so excited that we finally get to spend some time together!"

Weiss just lets out an annoyed huff of air and makes a mark on her clipboard with her pen. I find my eyes wondering downwards again, only snapping them back up when Weiss looks over to squint at me.

"Is red the only color you own?" She asks, pointing at my shirt with her pen. "And did you even bother to brush your hair this morning? You look like you were sleeping upside down."

Weiss sets her clipboard to the side and motions for me to bend forward. I do as she says, and I feel her start patting down my tousled hair.

"Mmm." I hum in contentment. "Thanks, Weiss."

She grunts, continuing to smooth down a cowlick forming on the back of my head.

"Whatever. Just take better care of yourself."

I nod as she pulls her hands away. I feel myself missing her touch already, but I don't worry about it too much, knowing that we'll be spending the next two days together.

I notice one of the teachers has started calling everyone to the front to form a line at the bus. Weiss grabs her clipboard and motions for me to follow her as she quickly walks it over to the teacher who had just spoken.

"I need to give the chaperones the attendance sheet, so we'll probably be getting on first. Do you have everything you need?" Weiss turns her head in question.

I blithely nod and pat my backpack strap, letting her know I already have everything we'll need for the next two days in it.

We finish making our way over to the man that's still calling for people to line up; once we get closer, I recognize him as one of the freshmen science teachers. He takes the clipboard from Weiss and thanks her.

"Much appreciated, Miss Schnee. You two can go ahead and get on, I'll finish roll call from here."

As we make our way onto the broad and heavy looking charter bus, Weiss points to our seats, which are close to the back of the huge vehicle. We make our way over to them and Weiss lets me step into the seats before she does, so I have the window seat.

As I sit down I shove my bag under the chair in front of me while restlessly bouncing on my own. Weiss sits down by me and shoots me a glare, in turn causing me to visibly still as I give her an apologetic grin.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited, y'know? I was barely able to sleep last night." I admit.

"From the looks of it, I would more hastily assume you had consumed a heinous amount of sugar before getting here."

I grin at this. It's almost as though Weiss knows me to well.

"Well, I did have pancakes this morning." I giggle.

Weiss shakes her head at me and returns to situating herself.

Slowly but surely, the bus starts filling up with students. I notice most of the kids I've seen are underclassmen with a few chaperones and teachers mixed in, Mr. Oobleck included.

After going over some safety rules, and the somewhat irritated driver going over some of her own rules, we start making our way out of the parking lot and onto the road.

I text my Uncle to tell him we're on our way and then take a glance over at Weiss, who's pulled out her laptop and was typing something on it. It looks like a spreadsheet or something, making me frown as I lean in to get a closer look.

"What are you… Are you doing homework while we're on a fieldtrip?" I ask incredulously.

Weiss uses one of her hands to shove my face away from the screen.

"It's for Music Fest. I'm going to outline the event on the drive, we do have a few hours, after all."

"Weiss, That's months away! Why don't we spend the time watching Netflix or something? This trip is supposed to be fun, not full of work."

Weiss continues typing away, only when she's finished with her sentence does she glance over at me.

"This is something that needs to be done. If you don't want to do work that's fine, but just don't bother me with whatever you do."

She goes back to typing and I feel a pout forming on my face. I let out a grunt as we pass over a speed bump and look out the window to see we're close to getting on the interstate.

I take to watching Weiss type away for a while, switching between her and the passing scenery. Eventually I get bored and I take out my earbuds to play some music. I offer one of the buds to Weiss, but she shakes her head.

As I listen to the music, I feel my fatigue catch up to me from not sleeping all night, and I find myself slowly leaning against the window as I drift off.

"Ruby…"

Someone shakes my shoulder, making me grumble and try to shrug them off.

"Ruby… get up…"

Just five more minutes, five more minutes will be fine…

"You dunce… we're here!"

Here?

I blink my eyes open slowly, being greeted by a concerned looking Weiss leaning over me.

"Huh!?" I say, looking around frantically to try and gain my bearings.

"You fell asleep on the way here. One of the teachers is already getting our room keys, so we need to go line up outside."

We're already here? It felt like I'd only been asleep for a few minutes.

I blink my eyes a few times and rub them with the backs of my hands as I turn to look out the window.

What I see makes my jaw almost drop.

I knew the festival was being held at a Civic Center, but I never expected it to be a four-story building with a grand entrance and huge courtyard.

The building itself was fairly modern, with gigantic glass windows lining the different floors and smooth marble pillars that surrounded the huge entrance. The courtyard was full of lush trees and benches that surround some of the grassier areas that had people sitting in groups or working on projects.

There seems to be people with all sorts of uniforms and casual clothing just walking and chatting excitedly. Most of the people had pins and lanyards on with, what I'm guessing to be, the festival symbol on them. The symbol looks like an atom with a lizard wearing a pair of goggles in front of it, and the sight makes an even wider grin appear on my face.

The most eye-catching aspect of the whole building was a huge fountain that was in front of the entrance. From where the bus is parked, it's hard for me to get a good view and I feel Weiss tugging on my sleeve, trying to get me to leave the vehicle with the rest of our group.

I grab my bag from under the seat in front of me and eagerly follow Weiss out of the charter bus.

I shield my eyes as we exit and as soon as we reach the ground I feel something being placed over my head and around my neck. Looking down, I recognize it's a lanyard, similar to the ones I saw other people wearing.

"Welcome to the annual Science and Engineering Festival, Ruby! I'm so glad you decided to join us!"

Mr. Oobleck grins at me and I thank him for the lanyard, now noticing that Weiss, and about everyone else who's gotten off the bus, has one on as well. I turn mine over to see that it has our names and our school names printed onto it.

My teacher reaches into a separate bag he's holding and hands us both flimsy looking caps that match the lanyards.

"There! Now you two match!" He says gleefully.

Weiss eyes the cap distastefully and reaches around to stuff it into her backpack.

I take another glance around, to look at what must be hundreds of people, and that's not even including the people already inside the ginormous building. There are banners and music that can be heard from what sounds like many different directions. It's all very overwhelming.

And from here, I can get a better view of the fountain. It's huge with different levels, rocks adorning the sides, and many different water sources merging together into its center pool.

There are tons of kids standing around it, taking pictures together and making silly poses. An urge rises in me of wanting to take lots of pictures with Weiss as well, but now doesn't seem to be the time.

A tap on my shoulder turns me back around to see Mr. Oobleck, handing me what looks like a small paper envelope.

I take it and turn it questioningly in my hands.

"What's this for?"

"Were you even listening, Ruby?" Weiss snatches the folder from my hand and pulls out a small card. "It's our room key. We need to go check in before we're allowed into the festival."

"Ah, Miss Schnee is quite right. The hotel is around the backside of the Civic Center, we'll be heading over as a group momentarily. Once all that nonsense is taken care of, your lanyards will act as a pass into the festival, and you're free to check out whatever you like."

One of the teachers calls out to Mr. Oobleck and he excuses himself to walk over to the rest of the chaperones.

I cheekily turn to Weiss, who's just finished shoving the cap into her bag.

"Oh? You don't want to match?" I ask, pulling my own cap over my head.

Weiss raises an eyebrow at me leans over to pull the bill of the head-wear up, brushing my bangs to the side underneath it.

"Hmph. It might not be the most fashionable article of clothing, but at least you can't see your awful bedhead."

The teachers call all the students standing around the bus to start following them to the hotel we'll be staying in. I find it in my best interest to keep pestering Weiss, seeing as she's somewhat humoring me.

"C'mon you can't fool me, I know you wanna wear yours too." I say as we start following the line of students.

"As if." Weiss waves me off.

"You don't want to match with me? You'd be so cute in it, though!"

I see the tips of Weiss's ears turn a slight shade of pink and she turns to me with a skeptical expression.

"You think so?"

"Definitely!" I merrily nod my head.

I continue teasing Weiss until we make it to our hotel behind the Festival, absolutely loving her slightly out of character bashfulness.

The teachers stop all of us in the lobby, and once all the students seem to quiet down, they give us some simple instructions: boys on one floor, girls on another, and there's to be no visiting any other room besides your own. For an overnight trip, it almost seems like the rules were a bit too thorough, but everyone nods and grumbles all the same.

I end up following Weiss, who leads us to our room.

The hotel itself is nothing special. It's one of the layouts where there's a huge empty space in the middle full of chairs and greenery, and the rooms surround the outside of the open area, with railings you could look over into it.

As we enter the elevator with a few other students, I lean over to tap Weiss on the shoulder. When she turns to me, I jump, landing hard enough to make the elevator shake a little bit. I grin, but Weiss doesn't find it as funny as I do. She elbows one of my arms and apologizes to some of the other students in the elevator, who are laughing along with me.

This starts a series of people jumping, trying to get the elevator to cease up, and giggling when they succeed. Weiss grips one of the handles along the wall, shooting me a death glare that I promptly try to ignore.

Once we exit, we follow along the lengthy hallway, Weiss looking at the door numbers and me looking over the railing to the ground floor.

Eventually, Weiss finds the right number and slides the room key into the door, pushing it open after hearing the satisfying click.

After taking a moment to look over her shoulder at the room, I push past her and eagerly enter.

"Wow… It's so big!" I exclaim, running over to one of the two beds and flopping onto it.

The sheets match the rest of the beige colored room and were super soft and fluffy, reminding me of my own bed back home. I roll onto my back, my backpack propping me up a little, and I watch Weiss survey the room. She eyes it carefully before walking over to the window and pulling the curtains aside.

"I guess it will do for an overnight trip. On the bright side, we have a wonderful view of a Denny's parking lot."

"Oh, come on, Weiss." I say, sliding myself off the side of the bed. "I get that it's small, but it's way nicer than what I was initially expecting. How are you not excited?"

Weiss shrugs and walks over to the other bed to set her bag down. She opens it and starts rummaging through it.

"Who says I'm not excited? I don't have to literally be jumping on elevators to show that kind of thing you know."

I groan at Weiss's reasoning and flop back down onto my bed. I can tell Weiss is about to chew me out for how misbehaved I've been acting, but a knock on our door makes us both pause.

Weiss walks over to it, looking out the small peephole before opening the heavy door. I roll over to the end of my bed, so I can see who it is.

Mr. Oobleck stands cheerfully outside of our room, handing Weiss a pamphlet by the looks of it.

"Here is your official festival schedule, girls! This lists all the shows, exhibits, and activities that are being offered and where they can be found. I believe there is a map on it as well, yes?"

Weiss nods her head and politely thanks our teacher.

"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Oobleck. This will definitely come in handy."

"Weiss and I already made our own schedule!" I call from the room, waving at my teacher as well, so he notices my presence.

Mr. Oobleck doesn't seem fazed at all, in fact, he looks absolutely thrilled by the idea of us making our own itinerary.

"Splendid! You girls never cease to amaze me. Just keep in mind you're free to do whatever it is you'd like, just make sure you're at the hotel restaurant by eight o'clock sharp tonight. We'll be taking attendance and having dinner then."

"You got it, Mr. Oobleck!" My yelling causes Weiss to turn around and give me a disapproving look.

"Thanks again." She says, before waving and shutting the door.

Curious, I hold out my hand and motion for Weiss to hand me the pamphlet, but she ignores me and continues flipping through it. I rest my chin on my hands and make a whining sound.

"Weiss, we're not gonna need that, we already made our schedule. You got the one I sent you right?"

"Yes, I did." Weiss says, tossing the pamphlet onto her bed and rummaging through her bag once more.

"Are you good with it? I changed a few things…"

"I already told you we're not visiting the reptile house, no matter how well you try to sneak it in, but other than that it seems fine."

I pout as I reach over to where Weiss had haphazardly thrown the pamphlet, picking it up and rolling onto my back as I look through it.

Weiss takes out her purse from her bag and starts putting a few things in it; some of her makeup, a small coin pouch, and some other odds and ends.

"Do you think you can fit my wallet in there?" I ask, looking up from the pamphlet.

I hadn't thought about brining another bag to carry things with me into the festival, and if Weiss doesn't want to carry any of my stuff, I'm not going to make her. Surprisingly, Weiss holds out her hand and looks at me knowingly, almost like she was expecting me to say that.

"I'll hold one thing. Nothing else, understood?"

I obediently nod, sitting up and dragging my backpack to me across the bed. I take out my wallet and hand it to Weiss, who shoves it in before zipping the purse and placing it over her shoulder.

Weiss then walks over to a large mirror inside the small hallway that leads to the door, looking into the reflective surface to start primping her hair. I slide myself off my bed and make my way over to her.

I lean against the wall behind her, patiently waiting for her to be done. While I'm waiting, I open up the camera on my phone and stealthily raise it until I see both of our reflections in the mirror.

Weiss, not one to be easily fooled, turns her head, eyeing me questioningly.

"Say cheese!"

The flash goes off on my phone, momentarily blinding me and Weiss. She blinks a few times and gives me a look somewhere between annoyance and questioning.

"…Ruby, what on earth are you doing?"

"I wanted to take a picture! We don't have any photos of us, so I want to get some on our first trip together."

Weiss sighs and continues fixing her hair.

"I don't see why photos are necessary, but if it's that important to you, so be it."

I feel a smile grow on my face and I take a few more while Weiss works on her bangs. She's not looking at the camera at all, but at least she's in them.

Eventually getting bored, I walk back over to grab my souvenir cap off the bed, so that I'll be prepared as soon as Weiss is ready to head out. As I put it on, I notice Weiss's cap is sitting at the top of her bag, and a sneaky plan forms in my head.

Grabbing the head-wear, I make my way back behind Weiss. While she's distracted, I swiftly slip the cap on, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from Weiss.

"There! Now you don't have to worry about your hair!"

A proud grin makes its way onto my face, only to be replaced with regret moments later as Weiss gives me a thump to the forehead.

In the end, Weiss decides to wear the cap, claiming it would be too much of a hassle to redo her hair.

When we get to the Civic Center, I'm immediately reminded of how crowded this festival actually is. Weiss and I are forced to squeeze through a few people just to make our way into the line where the security is checking lanyards.

While we wait, I glance up at the huge banner hanging between some of the buildings marble pillars. It reads, 23 Annual Science and Engineering Festival, Welcome! I take out my phone to take a picture of it, only managing to get one good shot before Weiss drags me along with the line.

Once we make our way inside the building, I'm amazed by what I see, there are booths completely lining the huge carpeted room. I would easily compare it to the size of a football field, but instead of fake grass and metal benches, this field is full of exhibits, strange animals in cages, gigantic microscopes, and tables that were full of advanced looking computers and vehicle models.

It looks like something straight out of a mad house, but at the same time it was just plain awesome.

I excitedly reach into my pocket to pull out my phone, so I can look at my schedule.

As I pull it out, someone bumps into my shoulder, causing me to drop it. They give me an apology and pick it up, offering me another sorry as they hand it back to me. Unfazed, I thank them and continue to open up my phone to look at our schedule.

Only when I glance back up do I realize how crowded it really is in here. There are only small pathways big enough for a few people to walk through at a time, otherwise you're standing in a mass of people, like Weiss and I are now.

I look over at Weiss to see her trying to shrink away from people, but ultimately seeing as that's near impossible, she ends up being shoved around as roughly as I am. The distressed look on her face as she stares at the ground is enough to tell me how uncomfortable she is in the crowd.

A look of concern crosses my face and I reach over to place a hand on her arm.

"Are you alright, Weiss? We can go somewhere with less people if you want."

Weiss looks up from the floor with a grimace and feebly nods her head.

I give her an understanding look and a smile before looking around for somewhere to go.

"It might take me a minute to find somewhere with less people." Even as I speak I feel someone accidentally step on the back of my shoe. "Here, hold onto my arm so we don't get separated." I offer.

Weiss gladly accepts, grabbing onto my forearm with one hand. Her grip feels so fragile, yet I find it reassuring that she's putting this amount of trust in me.

I begin walking through the crowd, eyeing some interesting exhibits as we pass, but those can wait for later. After stepping my way around hundreds of students and teachers, muttering probably a dozen apologies as I do so, I manage to find a quiet corner near some empty stalls and tables.

I see an empty pair of chairs at one of the tables and make my way over to it, letting Weiss sit down in the one adjacent to mine. I turn my chair so that I'm facing hers and rub my hand on her back in soothing motions, they seem to calm her down the other times I've done it.

"What's wrong, Weiss? Are you having a panic attack? Do you have your medicine on you?" I hate barraging her with questions, but I figure it's better to ask while she's still lucid.

However, Weiss shakes her head and looks over at me.

"I'm not having an attack. I just… I'm not good with crowds like that."

I eye her questioningly, knowing that I've seen Weiss in crowds plenty of times. The student council party, the basketball game, Nora's party, even her father's banquets as she describes them being, they're all filled with people.

"Don't give me that look." Weiss says in a harsh tone, making me wince. "It's not like I'm not used to large crowds or anything, but being so… so close to that amount of people is just… it's a bit out of my comfort zone, I guess."

I take my hand off Weiss's back and stare begrudgingly at the mass of people meandering around to different booths. I want to figure out a way to make Weiss feel better and I feel the only way she'll take me seriously is if I can somehow relate to her.

"Comfort zones are comfortable because they're familiar, not because they're healthy, Weiss."

Weiss lets out a deep breath, almost akin to a sigh, but not quite. She changes her gaze to the crowd of people and watches as they pass.

"It doesn't matter. I can't help it either way. It's something out of my control."

"I think saying it's out of your control is a bit much..." I say, frowning. "I'm not saying that I want you to walk into a situation you're not comfortable in. If you would rather leave right now and sit in the hotel room the rest of the day then so be it. But you're stronger than that, Weiss. I know you are. It might be something that's difficult for you, but you can always change it, even if it's only something as small as being in a crowded room, you can change it. I know you can."

"I can't." Weiss hisses at me. "You don't think I've tried? I can't. I can't change it because I'm pathetic."

I feel like I'm getting nowhere with her. Not that I blame her, if I were in her shoes I would probably feel the same way.

Maybe I can't convince her to let it go for now… but maybe I can try a different tactic.

"How about this," I slowly say, grabbing her hand and placing it in mine.

I let them rest on the table, and I feel Weiss try to pull away.

"Let go. There are still people from our school here, someone could se-"

Instead of letting her pull away, like I normally would, I grip her hand tighter and look her straight in those piercing blue eyes.

"How about," I say, rolling our hands over slightly. "I hold onto you like this, and we can slowly make... this your comfort zone."

The more I speak the more I cringe at what I'm saying, but I hold my ground all the same.

Weiss just stares at our hands. At this point, she's stopped resisting and her gaze only flickers a few times to the large mass of people not to far away. Eventually, I feel her slowly lace her fingers with mine, giving me a small squeeze back.

"Ruby, this is... really dumb, actually. Dumb, but also really sweet. I… I think this will be okay."

I give her my most genuine smile yet and I lean over to give her a small peck on the cheek. She only lets a moment of surprise flash across her features before she looks towards the chattering crowd again.

Knowing the nervous look on her face all too well by now, I give her hand another reassuring squeeze.

"It's okay to be scared, Weiss. It just means you're about to do something really, really brave."

We decide to head up to the top floor first. It has the least amount of people and probably the more obscure exhibits. Weiss decides that we'll stick to everything on our schedule, however, doing it out of order couldn't hurt.

We take a few escalators to get to the top room, and Weiss holds my hand the whole way. Starting to feel my excitement return, I start yanking her along through the much more thinned out crowd as we reach the top floor.

This floor seems mostly dedicated to different technology. I see a lot of people playing various games and looking at all sorts of equipment that I don't even know how to describe. There's music being blared from multiple different directions and people that are chatting loudly, yelling occuring occasionally.

There's enough noises going on that every time Weiss and I chat, we have to lean into whoever's talking to hear.

The first thing we come across is a cool robotics booth. There are multiple rows of robots lined up along the side of it and it takes up a good amount of space. There's what looks to be a college student, wearing thin glasses and a gladiator shirt, running the booth, alongside some other college students.

Weiss and I are told about the inner workings of what goes into robots and after he's done giving us an explanation, we get to make our own miniature robots. I put a claw on mine and give it a circular head that I drew a face on. Weiss, not leaving much to creativity, makes her exactly like one of the examples he's shows us.

When we leave the booth, I reach over and lace Weiss's fingers with mine again; this time she seems much more willing to let me and actually looks over to give me a nervous smile. I feel my excitement grow, knowing Weiss is having as much fun as I am, and I start speeding up my pace to our next activity.

Weaving our way around a few tables and groups of people, we spot one of those makeshift escape rooms, the ones where people get clues and have to figure a way out in a certain period of time. When we see how long the line is for it, we both look at each other, in a way that suggests it will take too much time if we really wanted to do it.

"I mean, we can always go visit the insect house." I say, motioning my head to a small tent that hold various cages and tanks.

Weiss looks at the room disapprovingly before letting her eyes roam the rest of the area.

"How about that?" She asks, pointing to a sign above an open door. The sign says Room of Mirrors and I eagerly nod my head in approval.

"Wow, it's like one of those funhouses at the fair!" I exclaim as we walk in.

The room seems to be set up as a sort of maze and there's a few little kids making funny faces into the mirrors and some other students roaming through it.

Weiss and I go to the start sign and begin walking our way through. I take a few photos of us in the mirrors, and I think I actually get Weiss smiling in one of them.

There's a section that splits off into three pathways and we decide to go through different ones to see who could find the end faster. I pick the one to the left and Weiss picks the one in the middle.

After walking in circles for a few minutes I stumble back upon Weiss with her back turned to me, looking questioningly down two different paths.

I slowly make my way up to her and place my hands on her shoulder, leaning over to whisper in her ear.

"Boo."

Weiss yelps and, out of surprise, throws herself back against one of the mirrors.

"Ruby!? Don't do that! You about gave me a heart attack."

I go into a laughing fit, but apologize good-naturedly as we continue to find our way out together.

When we reach the end, which is right next to the start door, a lady in a festival shirt hands us both a pin for our prize. The pins have a picture of that lizard on it from the festival logo; I put mine on my lanyard and Weiss puts hers in her purse.

After that, we go down to the third floor and look at a few tables and exhibits there.

We do this cool physics experiment where we make a paperclip float on water. The older girl running the experiment had us first drop one in a jar and it immediately sank to the bottom, but then she had us put a small paper towel on top of the water before we set the paper clip in, and that time it floated.

The lady explained it's because the water molecules at the top of the water are denser than the rest, and that's why it's being held in place.

After we move on, Weiss starts complaining about how any person with two brain cells could've figured that out. I don't pay much mind to her complaints, knowing that if she's comfortable enough to do so, I shouldn't worry to much about her.

We look at a cool kaleidoscope table that lets you look at different patterns and designs, and after that we go to the neighboring microscope exhibit that lets you look at different kinds of cells.

I get a cool pin with an image of mitochondria wearing sunglasses on it and I place that on my lanyard as well. I make Weiss put hers on her hat and she only briefly complains before letting me do it anyways.

I make sure to get photos of each booth we visit and, admittedly, a lot of an unknowing Weiss, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

As we head down the escalator to the second floor, I bump Weiss's shoulder with mine to get her attention.

"Weiss, look over there!"

I point with our intertwined hands towards a tent labeled Reptile House.

"Absolutely not." Weiss deadpans.

"Oh, come on. Please? I heard they have a lizard that's supposed to look like the mascot in there, and they have some of those flashy colored frogs!"

Weiss rolls her eyes at me.

"Frogs are amphibians, Ruby. And don't bright colors usually mean they're poisonous?"

We reach the end of the elevator and I drag her around some groups of people, stopping at the edge of the tent.

"Pleaseee, Weiss?" I ask, pulling my puppy dog eyes on her.

Weiss's face scrunches up, and after a few seconds she lets out a long breath and shrugs.

"Oh, whatever. Don't expect me to touch anything, though."

I lean in and give her a quick kiss on the cheek, earning me a smack on my forearm that I blissfully ignore.

We go around to the different tanks; they have snakes, lizards, turtles, and even frogs in a separate section that's labeled as amphibians.

Most of the experience consists of me shoving my face up to the glass and trying to provoke the animals as Weiss reads off its information. After going around to most of the tanks we end up at one towards the end that's said to hold the festivals mascot lizard.

We have to wait for a few people to move out of the way until we're able to get a good look. There's a spiky looking lizard in it, basking under a heat lamp. It's about two feet long and its mouth is hanging slightly open.

Weiss looks over at the information sheet on the side of its cage.

"It's called a Bearded Dragon, they normally live in the desert and they eat live insects and mealworms." Weiss shivers at the thought.

I laugh and take out my phone, getting a quick a photo of it.

"Well at least now we've seen the face of the festival, right?"

"I suppose. Although it's already past seven, we need to hurry up if we want to see everything. Dinner's at eight tonight."

I pout and put my phone away as I reluctantly follow Weiss outside of the Reptile House.

We find a few more exhibits while walking around on this floor, and we even get to play around with some super powerful magnets at one of them.

I end up buying a set of cheap ones that make a cool noise when you throw them together. Weiss quickly gets tired of this and takes them from me, putting them in her purse and saying she'll give them back later.

By the time we reach the bottom floor again, the amount of people has really thinned out. Seeing as this makes Weiss visibly calmer, I reach over for her hand again.

We take our time on this floor, wanting to enjoy the last of what the festival has to offer, even though we also have some time tomorrow to look around.

As we walk, I notice a small table across the room. There's a middle-aged man sitting behind it and seemingly messing around with some petri dishes. I tug on Weiss's hand, motioning where I want to go and letting her fall into step beside me.

When we reach the table, it appears that the man is cleaning up, but when he sees us he gives an eager wave and motions us over.

"Hello, ladies! Is there anything you would like to know about the fascinating science of meteorology?"

I glance at Weiss briefly, who only offers me a shrug.

"I guess? I noticed you had some petri dishes and I was wondering what they were." I say.

The man lets out a jovial laugh and slaps his knee loudly.

"Well, why didn't you just say so? Pull up a chair, pull up a chair!" he excitedly waves us closer and motions to a few seats tucked under the front of his table.

We sit down, and he begins pulling out something from a cooler he has off to the side. Weiss and I glance at each other nervously, but I was to curious to turn back now.

The man pulls out a few clear plastic cups, a tin of shaving cream, a water bottle, and a pack of food coloring, setting it all down on the table in front of us.

"Now before I show you what's in the dishes, young lady, how about a little experiment, hmm?"

"Okay…" I say, slightly confused.

"First, we fill the cup halfway with water." The man explains.

Both Weiss and I take a moment to fill up our cups halfway and look back to the man for the next step.

"Then we fill the rest of the cup with shaving cream." He does it to his own, and both of us follow in suit. "Now I want you to put a few drops of food coloring on top of the shaving cream and watch as science runs its course!"

From the pack of colors, I pick out the red and Weiss picks the blue. We both put a few drops on top of the shaving cream, as the man told us, and I watch as the coloring slowly seeps through the thick substance and down into the cup.

The red appears to be falling from mine and into the water, forming little streaks of color in the cup.

"I don't get wh-"

"It's rain." Weiss says.

I look over at Weiss's cup and see the same thing occurring in hers, only this time the blue coloring makes it a lot more apparent as to what's being displayed.

"That's correct, ma'am." The man takes the blue coloring from Weiss and puts it into his own cup. "The shaving cream acts as a 'cloud' and the air pockets let the coloring seep through, giving the illusion of rain."

He gives another loud laugh and begins putting the materials away.

"But enough of that amateur experiment, take a look at this."

He reaches into the cooler and takes out a stack of the petri dishes. He puts the stack on the table and hands one to both of us. Upon closer inspection, I see a few small specs in the dish, and I squint my eyes at it, trying to make out what I'm seeing.

"It's a snowflake?" Weiss questions.

"Correct. They're quite easy to capture, actually. Just let one drop onto a piece of tape and poor glue over it before it gets the chance to melt. Just stick it into the freezer for a few hours and - bam! - You got yourself a small piece of science!"

Holding it closer to my face, I can see the outline of the flake. It's small, yet intricate, and I can't imagine how detailed it would look like if this guy had a microscope.

"Whoa," I say, holding mine over to Weiss so she can see. "Look how cool it is!"

The man chuckles again and leans forward to pick up one of the dishes for himself.

"Now you could like a snowflake just because it's pretty, but it doesn't take away from its beauty that it's sculpted by chance and physics. To me, that adds to the beauty." He says, twisting the specimen around in his hand. "I have to say, this whole 'we're all unique snowflakes' thing is pretty cheesy. It might be the most overused metaphor in the history of metaphors, so how about I give you a new one?"

I eagerly nod my head and Weiss looks to the man expectantly.

"Snowflakes are symmetrical, but they're not perfect. They're ordered, but they are created in disorder, and every random branch re-tells their history, that singular journey that they took to get here, and most of the time they're fleeting and temporary. Even if sometimes they don't look so unique on the outside, if we look on the inside, we can see that they're truly unique after all."

The man gives us an encouraging smile and I see Weiss looking thoughtfully at her specimen. I definitely agree with everything this man has told us so far, and this is no exception.

"You can keep those, I've been meaning to give them a good home." He says, putting the rest of the dishes away. "And you can also have these, I was saving them for tomorrow, but I think I'll just give 'em to you."

He takes out a set of bracelets from under the table, placing them down in front of us.

The band was made of multiple threads of string and they each have a snowflake charm on the end of them.

I pick one up and the way it catches the light in the huge dim room is actually stunning. It seems like too nice of an item for me to take, and I carefully set it back down on the table.

"Thanks for everything, sir, but I can't take these." I say.

"Nonsense, it's my last set, and I want you to have them." He says, pushing them back towards us. "I just hope you'll consider meteorology at some point in the future, we could use some kids like you."

Sitting at our table in the hotel's restaurant, I absentmindedly tug at the new bracelet on my wrist.

"I can't believe he gave these to us." I say in disbelief.

Across the table from me, Weiss looks up from her menu.

"He seemed like a nice man. Very passionate about his work." She says, eyeing her own bracelet. "But you do know when we get back to school we can't wear these, right?"

The thought makes me frown. I've had so much fun acting as I please around Weiss, the thought of having to go back to hiding our relationship again makes uneasiness rise in me.

"I guess… Maybe you could hide it under your blazer or something?" I suggest.

Weiss takes a sip of her water and shakes her head.

"I don't want to risk it, sorry."

She actually does sound apologetic and I gently kick her shoe with mine under the table. Weiss looks at me annoyedly and closes her menu.

"Enough about that. Did anything at the festival catch your interest as a possible career?" She asks.

I make a hmm sound as I rest my arms on the table and tilt my head to think.

"I mean, as cool as meteorology sounds, I'm not sure if I can see myself working in something like that…"

"Physics?" Weiss questions.

I make another indistinguishable noise and slowly lean down to rest my head on my arm, using my other hand to fidget with my bracelet.

"What about you?" I question, changing the subject. "What are you planning on doing when we get out of high school?"

Weiss takes another sip of water and swirls her straw around in the drink.

"I'll be attending Beacon University. A business degree will suit me just fine."

This is the first time I'm hearing about this, and I feel a small surge of irritation that I didn't know such an important thing about Weiss seep into my mind.

It's so unfair how Weiss already knows what she's planning on doing, and has it handed down to her nonetheless. I'm still here trying to figure out if I even want to do something in the subject I'm best in.

I let out a whine and look up to see Weiss's disapproving look.

"For what it's worth," She begins. "I don't think it's ever too late to decide what you want to be. I know you will eventually find a life you're proud of, and if you don't, I know you'll have the ability to start over."

I lean over and grab Weiss's hand with my own, looking up at her smugly.

"We're so sappy today, huh?"

Weiss doesn't respond, but I feel soft kick against my shoe under the table, causing me to grin and give her a light kick back.