Chapter 2

Stray Heart

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Crystalline blue eyes emerged from beneath pale eyelashes as a disgruntled Weiss Schnee awoke. She rolled into a sitting position on the corner of her bed and upon hitting the snooze button on her clock radio she let out a long sigh.

'Here we go again'

She thought dejected as she sluggishly stood and stumbled into the small bathroom, stripping she stepped into the tiny shower that dominated one third of the entire bathroom. Soon soothing hot water was washing over her pale form, rinsing away the last vestiges of drowsiness from her mind. As she went about washing her hair she began her morning ritual of going over her schedule for the day in her head.

Alright let's see…today is..Tuesday so that means no classes thankfully but I am meeting with Blake and Pyrrha in the student lounge this afternoon to go over the notes for Ethics, then I have a paper for Criminal Justice to complete and after that whatever's left of the day is mine to do with as I please

Her course for the day set firmly before her, Weiss finished her shower and after toweling herself off she proceeded to dress herself with the clothes that she had set aside the previous night, a comfortable sky blue sweater and dark blue jeans. Looking at herself in the semi steam covered mirror she deemed herself presentable enough to face the day and exited the room.

The sight that greeted the now fully awake heiress made her blood boil. The dorm looked like a bomb had gone off. The Albums of various rock musicians and electronic artists, the fact that such garbage could be called art in the first place infuriated Weiss to no end, littered the floor along with crumbled bits of paper with little notes scribbled on them. The epicenter of the disaster however was the red sheet covered bed that stood opposite of Weiss's pristine blue sheeted bed. The bed was covered with dirty laundry, some of it appearing several days old, and various wrappers from cookie packages.

Weiss was what one would call a little bit of a neat freak, she of course preferred to view it as simply wanting to live like a civilized and rational human being something that her human tornado of a roommate Ruby Rose didn't seem to understand.

Speaking of the red headed walking disaster, Weiss found it odd that Ruby was not yet back from her morning classes as she usually was by this time, not that she cared, because she didn't mind you, but still despite her roommates spastic tendencies Weiss had become accustomed to their usual back and forth before they went their separate ways.

Ruby Rose was unlike anyone Weiss had ever met and she was everything that she was taught never to be like, Ruby was loud, rude, had a bad attitude and her manner of dress was not at all befitting a young lady attending one of the most prestige's colleges in the country. Weiss usually was fairly good at keeping her opinions to herself however there was just something about the way Ruby regarded everything with such a childlike curiosity that infuriated her.

Then there was the most aggravating thing of all which was the noise that Ruby insisted on calling music. Weiss knew music, she had been brought up on some of the greatest composers of all time; Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninov, and what Ruby listened too sounded nothing like this. Weiss wasn't quite sure why someone would name themselves after a deceased rodent but the music itself was nonsensical and Weiss utterly refused to listen to it.

After taking a few calming breaths Weiss hurriedly gathered her books and notes then placing them in her bag she exited the dorm room. Checking her watch she saw that she was running just a bit and immediately quickened her pace towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

Stepping inside she quickly hit the button for the first floor, what followed was several long moments of the rickety old elevator groaning to life and shuddering as it began to descend the shaft towards the first floor.

As she waited Weiss found herself contemplating her dislike for Ruby and despite it all …Weiss found herself…jealous of the girl, because she was living the life she wished she could. Ruby lived a life where she made her own choices and had so much freedom. Coming from a family of wealth, Weiss never had the privilege of freedom, everything was decided by her parents for their own self images.

This angered Weiss, she just wanted for once in her life to experience her own freedom, to learn things on her own time, to discover the world on her own. And so she stood there in the elevator, angry, sad, and more than a little frustrated.

'C'mon…c'mon. I don't have time to deal with this right now' Weiss thought irritably as she began to tap her foot impatiently. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.

Weiss surged forward….and slammed right into someone. She fell to the ground entangled with the person, she opened her mouth to apologize, then stopped when her eyes fell upon the person that she had collided with and she felt her cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment and anger as she stared at the wincing Ruby Rose.

"'You Dolt! Why don't you watch where you're going!?"

Ruby winced at the sound of her voice then opening her eyes she gave Weiss a weak smile and laugh before saying

"Hehe…um Hey Weiss, how's it going?"

Weiss had to struggle to keep her voice level as she untangled herself from the redheaded punk and got back to her feet. She knew that it was irrational to be mad at Ruby for a simple accident such as this however this was just the icing on a very large cake grievances that Weiss had against Ruby.

"You are insufferable do you know that?" Weiss spat venomously as she dusted herself off and retrieved her bag from the floor "You are incredibly lucky that I am currently running late for an appointment Ruby but rest assured we will be having a discussion about watching where you are going when you walk when I return this evening." With that said Weiss began to stalk towards the main entrance of the dorm building. Halfway there she paused misstep and whirled to look at Ruby, who was still sitting on the floor looking downcast. Upon seeing Weiss turn around Ruby's eyes lit up with hope which was quickly dashed when she said,

"And please for the love of all that's holy clean up that pigsty or at the very least get rid of your dirty laundry."

Without another word Weiss turned on her heel and left Ruby sitting in the hall.

The student lounge was located in a building known as the Tivoli that stood near the center of the campus next to the sports field. The building had once been a brewery way back before the college had been built. After it had closed down Beacon had purchased it and converted the three story building into a place where many of the students could go to relax between classes if they didn't want to return to their dorms.

The upper floor was reserved for counseling and career services. The main floor was far larger than the first and housed the student bookstore, as well as a small bank, two computer labs and a small gas station like conveniences store. The bottom floor held the cafeteria as well as a game room where students could enjoy a recreational game of pool or a movie.

Weiss's destination happened to also be on this floor fifteen minutes after leaving the dorms she walked into the semi-crowded student lounge. She was able to locate Pyrrha with little difficulty due to her vibrant red hair and remarkable height.

Pyrrha was quick to wave her over to a small booth in the corner where she and Blake had already set up their own notes and seemed to be hard at work. Weiss walked over to them and offered an apologetic smile as she slid into the seat opposite the two girls.

"I am so sorry I'm late, I took my time getting ready this morning and ended up losing track of time." Weiss as she began to pull out her own materials.

Pyrrha gave Weiss an understanding smile as she brushed a stray strand of hair out of her emerald green eyes. The red head wore a cherry red sweatshirt with the words Beacon Academy imprinted in gold across her chest yet Weiss knew she was wearing several layers underneath that as she still hadn't gotten used to the cold in Northern Vytal.

"That's quite alright, Blake and I were just getting started so you haven't missed much." Pyrrha said in a voice as sweet as honey, then her eyes sparked with mischief as she continued "By the way who's the lucky girl?"

Weiss stared blankly at her for severaly moments not comprehending what she had said. Blake, who had been silently reading from a slim book up until this point. Saw her confusion and reaching into the pocket of her black leather jacket she produced a compact mirror which she opened and held out to Weiss.

Weiss took the mirror hesitantly and then after giving both the woman a questioning look she turned her eyes to the mirror. What she saw horrified her, right on her pale cheek in dark red lipstick was a semi smeared imprint of a pair of lips, Weiss immediately took a napkin and began to erase the mark. She then looked back up towards her companions and shook her head as a crimson blush began to form on her face.

"No…No its not what you think, I was on my way here and I ran into Ruby"

Pyrrha gave her a knowing smile at this and Blake began to chuckle, Weiss felt her face grow hotter in response to the implication she had just made.

"No! It's nothing like that I swear! I literally ran into Ruby as in collided with her just outside the elevator on my way here. It must have happened then I swear!" Weiss felt herself trailing off as her blush intensified tenfold at the small smiles her friends were giving her. Blake shot her a look of sympathy while Pyrrha rolled her eyes and reached across the table to pat Weiss's hand reassuringly before saying,

"Hey relax we are just teasing you. But speaking of your roommate, how are things going with her? Have you taken our advice yet?"

The question made Weiss grumble and sink into her seat. Blake's sympathetic look evaporated somewhat and was replaced with a stern no nonsense glare that Weiss had become all too accustomed to ever since bringing up her dislike for Ruby to her and Pyrrha.

"Weiss we talked about this, you of all people should know better than to judge someone without getting to know them first, I mean what would have happened if you never tried to get to know me because of these?" Blake paused to gesture to a pair of small cat ears that adorned her head which Weiss had gotten so used to that she barely acknowledged them even when they twitched at the loud noises made by the others in the student lounge.

"You should try and find a common ground with Ruby and get to know her better before judging her so harshly" Pyrrha said

Weiss bowed her head and sighed in defeat, as much as she was loath to admit it, Blake and Pyrrha were right. She should attempt to actually get to know the girl before she wrote her off completely.

"Ok, Ok you win. But what should I do? We've got nothing in common" Weiss muttered

Pyrrha gave Weiss her patented, you can do it! Smile before saying

"I'm sure you'll find something, just find something that you both like to do and start a conversation on it. Just keep an open mind and try not to belittle the things she likes, don't give me that look Weiss I know you too well, doing that will just push her away. If you need any more help Blake and I are here for you alight?" Weiss nodded and Pyrrha beamed at her before continuing "Anyway before we get too off topic we should really start going over these notes for Professor Long's class tomorrow"

With that conversation out of the way the three girls began to pour over the wonderful world of ethical theory, this week's topic being Utilitarianism. However as they talked and debated John Stuart Mills theories Weiss found her mind being repeatedly drawn to thinking of Ruby Rose

Something about that girl stood out to her, it was quite possible that she saw her as her own ticket to some sort of freedom. She just didn't know how to go about it, and so desperate for advice she finally arrived outside Pyrrha and Blake's door several weeks ago. At first she had scoffed at the advice they had given her.

"Find a common ground? With that dolt?" she had said indignantly. However now she was willing to give anything a try and as she thought a plan began to form inside her head, one that she thought for sure would accomplish her goal and for the rest of their study session together a small smile glued itself to Weiss's face.

Authors note: And with that we reach the end of chapter 2 ! Thank you so very much to every single one of you that has taken the time to read and either favorite or follow our story. We hope you have enjoyed our story thus far! Please take a moment and leave us a review, remember every review helps us make a more enjoyable story for you to read!

Phx199 and I would like to take a second and thank the following people for reviewing chapter 1 of our story!

Shikshiinjr – were so glad you enjoy Ruby's character, and as to what Weiss's persuasion is well..you'll just have to wait and see ;)

InfinityTempest-

Thank you so very much for your awesome reviews! Well that's it for us take care and until next time Blessed Be!