A/N: Hey, it's Blue. Last chapter was short so I wanted to give you guys another chapter. Also I wanted to stress that this is a prequel, guys. That being said, it doesn't mean it's going to be predictable. Yes, you know the end result, but it's the journey that matters. I hope you like this one, let me know what you think. Enjoy the Roses!

Chapter 2: The Grade Skipper, Ruby Rose

The next morning started as any typical day in her household. Her father and her sister had already left for the day, her brother got ready and ate his food in his room. Her mother? She was probably also in her room, but with a bottle of wine rather than a plate of food.

Weiss was the only one who ate her food at the long dining table. The long, distant table that they hardly used anyways. Soft clanking filled the room and echoed in the large, spacious room.

"Good morning, Weiss." A kind voice greeted from behind her. She didn't need to look to know who it was. A smile spread across her face. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did, Klein, thank you." Weiss told her butler. Klein Seiben, the butler of the Schnee family since as long as she could remember. The man was the warmest part of this house. He tried his best to thaw the household out, but Weiss seemed to be the only one affected by it. He also never called her 'Miss Schnee'. It was always just 'Weiss', and she loved him for that.

"I'm glad, you seemed rather distracted last night. And you came back much later than usual."

"Yes, I've had some things on my mind. School subjects, homework, my duties to the headmaster. But the walk home helped me clear them up marginally."

Klein frowned and Weiss swore his had shifted to a crimson hue.

"Is he still making you walk home?" The loyal butler questioned.

"Only for a few more days, it's alright Klein. At least I still get a car ride to school."

"Hmm, It's still not right if you ask me."

"My father isn't exactly the kind of man who asks for people's opinions, Klein."

"A valid point." He told her, retrieving her empty plate. "And what does the Headmaster have you doing now?"

"There's a new student, he wants me to help her adjust to the academy."

"Oh! A new friend?"

"Not a friend, Klein. I'm simply assisting Headmaster Ironwood."

Klein looked deep into Weiss' ice blue eyes, the way he did whenever he had something important to tell her. His lip jutted out a bit in a slight pout.

"Please, my little snowflake, try and make friends?" He asked. "And stop pushing the ones you had away."

"The one I had."

"I'm sure she still cares about you, even if you've been ignoring her."

"Well she should stop that and make other friends. Like that Neon girl. I'm sure they would get along swimmingly."

"Weiss! Stop that!" Klein scolded, his voice raising in volume. "You deserve friendship and you deserve love."

"I know." She lied. "I really should be going to school, I think the car is here."

"Weiss."

"Thank you for breakfast, Klein. It was delicious, as always."

XxXxX

The metal door of her locker closed thirty minutes before the bell that marked the start of her first class. She was always on time to her classes, if not early. As always, she adjusted the notebooks, binders, and text books in her messenger bag. But unlike everyday, she saw a figure at the end of the hallway waving at her in a very exaggerated manner.

Ruby Rose, the new student that she was task with looking after, was now mildly jogging in the hall towards her. She only stopped when she accidentally bumped into another student's shoulder (which was often).

"Oops, sorry! Excuse me! Coming through." Weiss heard the younger girl say as soon as she was within earshot. "Weiss! Hey!"

"Hello, Ruby."

The energetic girl beamed at Weiss, gripping the straps on her backpack and bouncing. How was this girl always so full of energy? Just watching her made Weiss tired.

"You ready for a great day of school?" Ruby asked. "Or... At least an ok day of school with some great friends."

"School isn't about friendship, it's about education. Learning." Weiss said, moving past the new student to head to class. She knew the girl was following her there, her boots weren't exactly silent.

"Sure it is! We gotta learn together, right?"

"I learn better on my own." The icy heiress retorted. "Friends slow you down with idle chit chat and drama."

"You gotta have some friends, right?"

Weiss stopped where she was and turned around to look the girl in her eyes. In her captivating silver eyes that sparkled with hope and-

Her eyes. She made simple eye-contact.

"Your first class of the day is Shop, correct?" Weiss snapped.

"Uh, yeah?"

"You're going the wrong way then."

In response, Ruby planted two hands on her head as her silver eyes grew wide with realization and fear.

"Oh cheese it! I totally forgot!" Ruby exclaimed, walking backwards. "Uuuuh, we'll talk later, ok?"

"Goodbye, Ruby." The ivory-haired girl said, watching her frantically run off in the opposite direction, pulling a crumpled map out of her pocket. She smiled as she left, happy for the moment of peace and quiet. A moment without her incessant questions and rambling.

But now... It was rather quiet, even with the hustle and bustle of students getting ready to attend their classes.

So what? Weiss was used to the silence. And even when she had Blake around, the girl mostly had her nose in a book. She didn't have to have an annoying puppy following her around, yapping in her ear.

Weiss always did want a dog though...

No. Ruby Rose was not some sort of retriever, she was definitely not adorable. She just had to put up with her until she got used to the school and made her own friends.

XxXxX

"Hey, Weiss!" Ruby chirped. Weiss looked up from the notes she had been looking over when she walked into the second class of the day, the first class they shared together. Pre-calculus. A joke of a class, but a required one. The name of the class itself was enough of a lie. No calculus was taught, just things that would help them lead up to solving real proofs. The kind of proofs that Weiss had already been teaching herself.

She wasn't worried about this class at all, and Ruby didn't seem too worried either. Miss I-Skipped-Two-Grades had probably already learned this long ago.

And they called her the overachiever.

"Hello again, Ruby."

"How was art class?" She ask, taking the seat next to her. Of course she did.

"It was fine." Weiss answered coolly. "Did you find your Shop Class?"

"Yup! I actually had to go outside for it though, who knew? It was in this sort of shed like building. Isn't that cool? This school has... Like... Everything!"

"That's nice."

"Sooo." Ruby drew out, giving Weiss her full attention. Weiss had just resumed reading her notes halfway through her ramblings. "Is this class hard?"

Cold blue eyes shot over to the red-head. This girl was the one who skipped two grades, not Weiss. Perhaps she was just trying to make conversation. Might as well humor her.

"It's incredibly simple." Weiss told her. "I'm sure you would be able to handle it, even if we were taking regular calculus. That's for next year."

"Oh! Ok cool! Cause math is noooot my strong suit."

"And what is your strong suit?" Weiss asked, actually curious.

"I like to build things! That's why Shop Class is so cool!"

"Uh, huh..." She said, her eyes narrowing. Was this girl for real? Was she just playing herself down? She had to be. Humble or two-faced, Weiss didn't know yet, but she would get to the bottom of it. Hopefully today.

"What's your strong suit? What classes do you enjoy?" Ruby inquired, her silver eyes practically sparkling. In a completely normal, not adorable, kind of way. In a way that definitely did not make Weiss feel special at all.

The blood was rushing to her cheeks because she wasn't prepared for that question.

Yes, that was it.

"I suppose I enjoy mathematics." Weiss answered honestly. "It makes sense. There is only one path, the right one. One answer."

"Hmm." The red-head vocalized.

"What?"

"Oh nothing! I just think it's interesting." Ruby quickly explained.

"You do?"

"I mean, yeah! You're totally right, and that's something to take comfort in." She said. "But, that doesn't reflect life, does it?"

"I... I beg your pardon?"

"Well, there are choices in our lives. If you think about it like math, sure we were given an equation, but there are many ways to solve it. And, maybe the answers change based on which way we solve it."

"That's... not how math works." Weiss informed her.

"Hmmm." Ruby said, taking a moment to think. "Maybe not, but life does. We chose the answer to our own equation. It just depends on how many steps you take to get there that determines if we get the answer we want."

Weiss' jaw dropped at that. But Ruby, she just smiled and pulled a notebook out of her backpack. Like nothing had happened.

This girl.

Just who was this girl?

She didn't know Weiss, she didn't know anything about her other than the surface level pieces of information she had given her. But somehow, this girl... Saw through her. She just said she liked math. MATH. It wasn't as if she asked for her thoughts on the world.

That was right, she didn't ask for her opinion on the subject! She never asked for her to hyper analyze it! How dare she talk to her, Weiss Schnee, like that.

No one would ever say anything like that to a Schnee.

Maybe... That wasn't a bad thing.

"Weiss?"

"Huh?" Weiss responded with the utmost grace and poise.

"I think class is starting soon."

"Oh!" Weiss said, scrambling to pick up her pen and bringing her attention to the front of the room.

She couldn't quite pay attention fully that class. Her gaze kept flicking over to the girl who had skipped two grades. The odd new girl that was strangely insightful.

XxXxX

"Uuuum... 25?" Ruby timidly answered. The professor sighed and shook her head. This was not the first time she had done this today.

"No, Miss Rose, no." Professor Peach told her. "Perhaps Miss Schnee can give us the correct answer?"

"The answer is 48.37, ma'am." The heiress dutifully answered.

"Right, Miss Schnee." She regarded warmly. Yet, when she glanced over at Ruby, that warmth disappeared in an instant. "Miss Rose, I realize you are new, but I expected more from you."

"S-sorry, Professor." Ruby said. Before the professor could say more, the bell rang and every single student in that classroom packed up their notebooks and writing utensils.

"You're homework is on page 143 of the text book, please have it done by next class!" She shouted over the rustling of students leaving.

Including Weiss, who picked up her items as fast as possible and left the room.

Well, it seemed Ruby wasn't lying about math not being her 'strong suit'. She proved this by answering every single question incorrectly. It was astounding, really. Ruby Rose, the girl who was so smart she skipped two grades, couldn't solved these math equations.

"Guess I should brush up on my math." Ruby said, catching up to Weiss.

"Yes, it appears so." Weiss commented, picking up the pace. She didn't know why, they were going to the same place and she wouldn't be late. But perhaps she could give Ruby the hint that she didn't do friendship.

"But you were great! You answered so many questions!"

"Students should strive to answer as much as they can. Unless, of course, they don't know the answer."

"Ehehe, yeah." Ruby said, scratching the back of her head. "Sooooo... Onto the next class?"

"That was the plan, yes."

"Awesome!"

As they went from class to class, Weiss began to wonder how this girl skipped two grades. She was utterly... Average. Sure, she answered some questions correctly. But more often than not, she was nervous and wrong. It was... kind of sad.

How did she get in this school though? How did she skip those grades? Before she simply wanted the girl to leave her alone, but now she wanted to know what was going on with her.

She wasn't stupid, a stupid person wouldn't be as insightful as her. But she wasn't as book smart as Weiss was led to believe.

Now it was time for lunch, time to figure this girl out.

"Ooooh, this food! It's so fancy!" She commented, sitting down next to Weiss. Try as she might, Weiss couldn't ignore the stares they were garnering. Weiss Schnee didn't sit with people at lunch anymore. The only person she ate with was Blake, but she was sick and... Weiss was trying to close that door.

No use in dragging others down.

"Yes, they do provide nice food for us." Weiss said, picking at her sandwich. She expected Ruby to stuff her face with food (it seemed within her character), but she was actually doing something similar to Weiss. Just picking at it, not eating too much.

"Sooooo Weiss." Ruby started. "You were like... Mad smart back there!"

"Yes, one would think that I was the one who skipped two grades."

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed, laughing. The ivory-haired girl's heart skipped a beat at the sound. It was so sweet and melodic, like a song.

And for a second, Weiss wished she could listen to that song for hours.

But only for a second.

"How did you skip two grades? You don't seem to be at the same level as the others." Weiss said, going straight for the kill.

"Oh yeeeeeah." Said Ruby. "I come from Vale, and we learn things a bit different there. The classes aren't as tough."

Weiss supposed that made sense. Atlas schools, especially the private ones, were known to be quite rigorous. The heiress shuddered at the thought of attending a Vale school. Who knows where she would be if she hadn't received the education she had.

Maybe she would have a different family. One that ate dinners together, played games, laughed. Laughter was something that the Schnee household sorely lacked...

Just hopes, useless hopes.

"Then you'll have to work harder if you want to stay here." Weiss said, taking a sip of her milk.

"Yeah." Ruby sighed, looking in deep thought. Then her head popped up and she looked over to Weiss. "Oh! I know! Maybe you could tutor me!"

"Tutor you?" Weiss asked incredulously. The grade-skipper was asking her for help. Oh this was too much. She couldn't believe she was actually jealous of her, just this morning.

"Yeah! It'll be fun too!" Ruby exclaimed. Again, looking like an excited puppy. "What do ya say?"

"I'm not sure, I am pretty busy."

"But you have that study hall with me, right?"

"I told you, I assist Headmaster Ironwood during that."

"I'm sure he'll understand if you want to use your study hall to... Hmmm, I don't know... Study?" Ruby told her, giggling at the end.

"Perhaps..."

"Aw come on, Weissyyy."

"Do not call me that."

"Please, Weiss?" Ruby pleaded, puffing up her bottom lip and widening her silver eyes.

How did they sparkle like that?

"I guess I could shift some things around to help you catch up. Just until you get your bearings." Weiss found herself caving. This girl. What was with this girl? How did she get Weiss to just... Do these things.

"Yaaay!" Ruby exclaimed a bit too loudly (more people were staring, she was sure of it) and draped her arms around Weiss in a hug. The heiress stiffened at the contact. It didn't last very long though, Ruby rapidly pulled away. "Oh gosh, I am so sooo sorry. I should have asked first before hugging you. Ugh, dumb Ruby.

The redhead slapped her hand on her forehead a couple times. And Weiss found that she was... Smiling?

"I don't really hug. Please ask first."

"No problem, Weissy."

"No."

"Sorry, Weiss." Ruby giggled.

Weiss didn't keep up with modern day music as much, but she was pretty sure that her laugh was her new favorite song.

XxXxX

"Uuuuuugh, I forgot how hard school was!" Ruby complained, flopping to the cloud ground. Her sister laughed and sat cross-legged next to her.

"You could just borrow the knowledge, you know, make things a little bit easier on yourself?"

"No, if I did, it would look really suspicious." Ruby explained. She sat up and propped her head up with her hand, her elbow resting on her kneecap. "Besides, it's gotten me an in!"

"Oh? Do tell, sis."

"She is gonna tutor me. Which means more time together, which means more time to help her turn this around. Oh boy does she need help." The angel with the silver-tipped wings said. "She is soooo resistant to making friends or letting anyone in. I had to... Um... Uh, nevermind."

"Ruby?" Yang asked in a sisterly tone.

"I-It's nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

"Alright." She sighed. "I maaay have turned up my angelic charm?"

"Ruby!"

"What? I was desperate!"

"Come on, Rubes. You know how dangerous that can be."

She did. The angelic charm was what they used to put their charges at ease. To soothe them and make them put their trust in them. Typically, they used it in lower doses, an unnoticeable thing. Most people just assumed they were easy to talk to or something along those lines. However, the more one used, the higher the chance that their charge would start to... Feel things for them.

Which was not good.

"I know! But the lower one wasn't helping with her. I'll try and slowly lower it to a normal level." She defended. "She won't get infatuated, I swear."

Yang was lucky, she never had to use her angelic charm. She was genuinely easy to be around, to talk to.

"I trust you, Rubes." Yang said, messing up her sister's hair. "Just don't want to see you get stuck in a sticky situation. Those only turn out two ways, you know."

Yes. Either they had to wipe the angel from the charges mind, or the angel fell in love as well and got clipped.

Clipped angels. The abandoned ones who left their duties. Sometimes, it was simply because they got a taste of mortal life again and wanted more. The other angels told them they were tempted in by the sins. Wrath, greed, envy, sloth, pride, gluttony, and the most common one, Lust.

Ruby knew better though. Not many angels fell because of lustful desires. No, those weren't strong enough. They left because they fell in love. Love, something Ruby saw from a distance, but never truly felt (not romantically, at least). And she never would. It was a bit sad, but she had accepted this fact long ago.

The angel, Ruby Rose, would never fall in love. There was simply no way it could happen.

And she was ok with that.

She told herself she was ok with that.

"Yeah. Yeah I know."

XxXxX

Weiss got home a bit later than usual. She took a longer route home that day, wishing for more alone time to clear her head. Of course she had a copious amount of alone time at home, but there was something different about walking home. The fresh air, the breeze made her feel free. Like she could sprout wings and fly away. She could fly away to a place where no one knew her name.

But it was only a breeze, and she would always be Weiss Schnee.

And she would be to her house soon.

The ivory-haired heiress also took this time to ponder the new girl. Ruby Rose. She was an... interesting one, that was for sure. Bright and bubbly, not typically the people she spent time with, if she spent time with anyone at all. And now she was roped into teaching the girl. Just her luck.

She supposed it wouldn't be so bad if she heard her laugh again, or saw those silver eyes, or received another hug-

"What am I thinking?" Weiss snapped at herself. She couldn't have friends, she simply couldn't.

No one cared. She didn't need anyone. She was a Schnee, what didn't she have that her money couldn't buy?

Everything that really mattered. Weiss thought. With a sigh, she walked into her estate. She was somewhat grateful that Klein wasn't there to ask her how her day went, if she made a new friend. She didn't want to explain again why she didn't need them.

When Weiss entered her room, she sluggishly slipped her phone out of her pocket, a habitual action of hers. Surprisingly, it read that there were two notifications. She took a seat at her desk and checked to see what they were.

Two missed calls.

Both from Blake Belladonna.

Weiss stared at the screen for a moment, debating on whether she should hit the 'call back' button or not. Part of her really wanted to. Part of her wanted to call her back and talk to her about something, anything. But she didn't. She locked her phone, set it on the table and brought out the homework that Professor peach assigned, so she could get it done a day later.

She felt bad. She felt bad about pushing her friend away. About yelling at her so harshly. Yet, she knew that it was for her own good. Being friends with a Schnee would cause her more problems than it was worth.

She would have to make sure that Ruby knew that as well.