"Oh! Um! Sure." Ruby took the late pass from Mrs. Maheswaran and headed out the door with Sapphire, sighing. Both girls were silent for a moment. Ruby turned to face her, "So, uh, I-" Ruby accidentally bumped into Sapphire, who was directly behind her, stepping on her foot. "Ah! I'm s-so so sorry, I didn't know you were so close I-"
"No, no, it's fine," Sapphire gave a small smile. "Sorry I was standing too close. I'm Sapphire." Ruby blushed a little at Sapphire's smile- it was a pretty cute smile.
"I-it's okay! I'm Ruby." She smiled back at Sapphire, and there was an awkward silence. "So… the school!" Ruby smiled, trying to end the awkwardness. "Um, the library is over there near the entrance, and after that the rooms start. They look the same on pretty much every floor."
Ruby walked around the school with Sapphire, who was mostly silent aside from the occasional comment and "oh, okay."
They went through all the floors and almost 40 minutes later, finally finished the tour.
"And that's pretty much it! It's kinda a big school, but do you think you're okay for now?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, thank you. I… I overheard some of what Mrs. Maheswaran was saying to you." Sapphire said.
Ruby gave a crooked smile. "Your first day here and you're already interested in the drama?"
Sapphire blushed. "N-no, I didn't mean it like that!"
"Nehehe, I was just kidding!" Ruby giggled a bit, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be a jerk. What about it?"
"W-well, I heard what she was telling you. And I actually did see the video of the fight," she blushed again, "not that I like fights! My cousin was tagged in it, so it was on my newsfeed-"
"Peridot?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, how did you know?" Sapphire seemed a bit surprised.
"Uh, she told me you were her cousin when you walked into the room! Since none of us had ever seen you here before…"
"Oh, the first day of school and people are already talking about me?" Sapphire smirked a bit. It was Ruby's turn to blush and get embarrassed.
"Not like that! We were just curious about you! Since you're a new student and we've never seen you and-" she rambled for a bit until she noticed Sapphire was giggling.
"I was just kidding! I wanted to get you back." She grinned again.
"Haha… Well, you got me!" Ruby was still a little embarrassed, but giggled with Sapphire. The giggles eventually faded into another awkward silence. It was a few moments later that Sapphire spoke.
"I have to get to class now. I'm still figuring out this school...would it be okay if I gave you my number and you gave me yours, in case I get lost here?" Sapphire asked.
"Yeah! Here's mine," Ruby ripped a small piece of paper, wrote her number on it, and handed it to Sapphire.
"Thank you! And here's mine." Sapphire did the same, and gave the paper to Ruby. "I'll see you around, thank you for showing me around the school." Sapphire smiled warmly and turned to walk.
"You're welcome! See you!" Ruby smiled back and watched her go. She discreetly tried checking her out too, as she walked away. Everything about her was nice, Ruby decided. Then she realized- "Holy shit I got a cute girl's number on the first day of school." She whispered to herself and looked down and the tiny piece of paper Sapphire had given her. She quickly put the number into her phone and bounced excitedly. "I hope she gets lost so she'll text me," she thought as she giggled to herself. Yes, that was a horrible thing to think. But Ruby thought Sapphire was really cute, so it was okay in her mind.
Her joy was cut short when she remembered. "Oh shit. I have to go to the principal's office. Shit." She began running as fast as she could, realizing there were only a few minutes left to the period.
Just as the bell rang, Ruby ran into principal Diamond's office. She attempted to take a seat in the waiting area, but principal Diamond had already seen her enter in a rush.
"You," she dead panned Ruby, "over here." She motioned for Ruby to sit in front of her desk with her hand. "Close the door." Ruby gulped and closed the door.
"S-sorry, I-I was showing Sapphire… your niece! I was showing her around th-"
"No excuses." Ms. Diamond's voice was very serious, but also very annoyed. "It does not leave a very good impression when one is late. It also does not leave a very good impression when one makes excuses, rather than accepting their faults."
"I'm s-sorry…" Ruby shrank in her seat, eyes darting away from Ms. Diamond's piercing glare.
"I heard about your little incident over the summer. I will have you know-"
"That was Jasper's fault! She provoked me and hit me fir-" Ruby interrupted, but was then interrupted herself.
"Excuse me. I was not done speaking. And you should not have retaliated at all. This video is circulating the interwebs and tainting not only your name, but mine. This school's. This behavior is unacceptable." Ruby stared wide eyed at Ms. Diamond as the angry scolding continued, "I will have you know that Jasper is an excellent student. Not once has she ever misbehaved nor stepped out of line. How can I trust that what you're saying about her attacking you first is true, when you've already made a bad example for yourself- coming in late, acting like you do not even care about rules, making up excuses!"
"I-I've never done anything wrong… Why don't you talk to Jasper about it!" Ruby's voice squeaked as she talked, something that happened when she was emotional.
"Oh I will. And I'll let you know that if you take one more step out of line, you will be suspended. For now… I will let you know your current punishment after I have a word with Jasper." Ms. Diamond said with a scowl. "Now, go to class. You may leave." And she returned to the paperwork on her desk immediately after dismissing Ruby. Ruby slowly got out of the chair, her eyes welling up with tears as all she could repeat in her head were thoughts of how she hadn't started the fight, how she hadn't even gotten to tell her side of the story, how much trouble she was already in.
"Oh. And one more thing." Ms. Diamond spoke as Ruby was leaving the room. "I don't want you to be a bad influence on my daughter nor my niece. Make sure your contact with them is minimal. That is all."