Today is Monday, possibly the worst day of the week. And students are waking up to get ready for classes. Mr Blonde and scraggly woke up to the sound of the teams alarm. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to get the blurry feeling of waking up out of him. He looked around the room and saw his teammates still sleeping peacefully in their beds, dreaming about whatever comes into their minds. Jaune grabbed his towel and his uniform and then made his way to the bathroom.
After his shower he changed to his school uniform and got ready for classes. ugh classes thought Jaune. He would rather play instruments any day, all day and everyday, rather than writing notes and listening to boring lectures. His teammates woke up a few minutes after him and they also got ready for the day.
Once team JNPR finished getting ready for classes, they then waited for team RWBY to come out of their dorm room. Once team RWBY came out all ready and done for today's lessons something was off between Ruby and Weiss, they weren't talking about school or anything in particular. They avoided each other by eye contact and distance, Ruby at the front of the group while Weiss was at the back. Jaune noticed this and asked Yang about it.
"Yang what's going on? Ruby and Weiss don't seem to be talking very much" asked Jaune.
"They got into a heated argument last night about Ruby needs to pass this test or she'll fail as a leader or something" Yang responded.
"And then what happened?" Jaune said curiously.
"Well Ruby couldn't take it anymore and she cracked, jumping up and screaming and getting a little physical with Weiss. They're getting their test marks back today and Weiss wants to see Ruby's results" said Yang sadly.
"Oh... Well I hope Ruby passes" smiled Jaune.
Yang chuckled at Jaune's concern "Don't worry ladykiller, I know she'll pass"
The whole group walked to the point where they all had to separate for classes. Jaune and Pyrrha separated to go to Professor Goodwitch's class on Combat, Ren, Nora and Blake went to Professor Oobleck's class on Remnant History and Yang, Weiss and Ruby went to Professor Jones's Team communication skills and tactics.
Yang, Weiss and Ruby's walk to class was awkward and silent, Yang stood between Weiss and Ruby so she could break up it up when things start to go south. Yang wished she could do something, she hasn't been the best in the cheering up department. She sighed and continued walking to class with the awkward tension in the air.
"Hey Jaune!"
"Hi Jaune!"
"Heya Jaune!"
"Nice work Jaune!"
That was all that he could hear on his way to Professor Goodwitch's class. It was annoying but he was kinda glad he's been getting a lot of attention recently, if only they weren't saying hi to him every 10 seconds. Of course Jaune being Jaune, he politely waved to everyone that said hello to him, it was mostly women saying hi to be honest. Pyrrha stood next to him and felt a little left out. Not many people are recognizing her as four time Mistral world champion or top student at Sanctum.
'So this is what's it's like to be someone who isn't famous' Thought Pyrrha, her shoulders slouched depressingly and her head hung low.
Jaune noticed Pyrrha's depressed figure next to him so it was in his best interest to ask her or comfort her.
"Pyrrha what's wrong, you seem awfully depressed today?" Asked Jaune.
"Hmm... Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about stuff" said Pyrrha casually. Jaune respected her privacy, but he just wanted to know if she was okay.
"Pyrrha I'm here if you need me" Jaune smiled at Pyrrha and Pyrrha smiled back. Glad that her leader cares so much, but she couldn't help but feel something warm inside her. Her heart beated faster than it normally did, but simply didn't mind it.
"Thanks for your concern Jaune, but I'm totally fine" replied Pyrrha. Jaune smiled at her and they both continued walking to their Combat class.
It's been almost an hour into classes and the team communications skills and tactics class had 10 minutes to go till the end of the lesson. But the two huntresses still avoided each other, their gaze and hearing focused on professor Jones's speech and lectures. Professor Jones has an average height of 6 feet, around his twenties, has brown curly hair, wears glasses and also wears a suit. His full name though is Prof. Michael Jones.
"Does anyone know why you must make have effective communication skills with your fellow teammates" Asked Prof. Jones.
"Ooh, Ooh, I know! Pick me sir" Said a student at the far right of the class.
*sigh*"Yes Gavin, what's the answer" said Prof. Jones.
"You talk to them because they're your teammates" said Gavin.
"No Gavin that's not the answer! This is the reason why you failed the exam. Have you been studying at all?" Exclaimed the professor.
"S-Sort of... S-sir" cried Gavin.
"Oh my God... Do I have to sit with you and make you read the communications skills 101 booklet again!?" Retorted Professor Jones.
"M-maybe... S-sir" said Gavin sadly. Professor Jones growled angrily and tried to relieve his stress by rubbing his temples over and over again.
"Fine Gavin, I'll help you! But this is the last God damn time I'll ever help you with anything!" Insisted the professor.
Gavin's head perked up at the curly haired professor, his smile reaching from ear to ear and his confidence going up exponentially.
"Thanks Micoo~"
"Don't call me that..."
"But Micoo-"
"Gavin. Shut up" said Michael Jones. Gavin's head tilted downwards depressingly, upset that his Boy isn't acknowledging him anymore.
"Does anyone else know the answer?" replied the Professor. Yang raised her hand to answer the professors question.
"Yes Yang, tell us the answer to the question" replied Professor Jones.
"Communication in teams is vital for success because without communication you do not know what other people are thinking. You need to voice your problems, so they can be fixed. You need to voice your gratitude so you know your efforts are being appreciated and you need to voice encouragement. Basically without communication your team is gonna fail because you would not know what each other is thinking" answered Yang, but her answer was more focused on her two teammates rather than the teacher.
"Excellent answer Ms Xiao Long, that is exactly what you must do to ensure a fully operational team. Team Leaders trust your teammates, and Teammates must trust their leader" said Professor Jones.
"Did you hear that Gavin? that's was the answer I was looking for" retorted Prof. Jones.
"Yes M-Micoo- I mean, professor Jones"
The professor chuckled "No worries my boy, you'll learn sooner or later". Gavin perked up because his boy was now acknowledging him, his smile went wide and his happiness increased.
"Before you all leave, I must give back your test results" he said, and with that he flicked his hand and exam papers flew to the designated students. Ruby's paper landed on her desk and the exam mark was showing on the front in bright red pen. Her eyes widened and her breathing became faster. Weiss was happy with her results, she looked at Ruby and she noticed Ruby's eyes widen.
"Ruby, I wanna know your mark" she said sternly.
Ruby hesitantly handed it to her and Weiss snatched it. She looked at the mark and her eyes widened.
"Ruby, what's the meaning of this..."
After all classes have finished.
Pyrrha and Jaune arrived back to their dorm room after a sparring session at the training arenas.
"I'm so tired... And it's only Monday for goodness sakes!" exclaimed Pyrrha.
"Yeah I'm pretty tired too, Professor Goodwitch putting me up against a 7 foot big man really hurt my ribs and legs" said Jaune.
"Why, because he kept bear hugging you just for fun?" laughed Pyrrha.
"It wasn't fun! My airways felt like they were clogged because of that" replied Jaune.
"Well maybe next time you shouldn't go up against someone who is your biggest fan" giggled Pyrrha. Jaune let out a big 'hmph' and collapsed on his bed.
"Well I might as well start on the homework Professor Port gave us" said Pyrrha.
"You go on ahead, I might play guitar a bit outside to relieve the stress" replied Jaune. Pyrrha smiled at him and nodded in understanding. Jaune grabbed his guitar bag and went for the door, but not before Pyrrha saying something to him.
"Jaune when we said you're really good at what you do. We actually mean it" Smiled Pyrrha. Jaune chuckled and thanked Pyrrha on his way out.
Jaune never used stealth before, nor is he any good at it. But this time he really wished he was taught how to do stealth because trying to hide from people was a bit of a challenge. He just had to keep hidden from sight as long as possible until he gets to Beacon's courtyard. Hiding, running and dodging from Beacon's students were proving difficult. Especially when you're trying to hide from students who are Faunus.
After 10 minutes of trying to escape like a wanted convict, he finally managed to get out of Beacon's dormitory building and find a quiet place to play his Guitar, he decided to go to the gardens in front of Beacon Academy. He walked over to the area and found a bench which was surrounded by beautiful flowers and a tree overhead and a great view of the sunset. Unfortunately it was occupied by a girl with a red hood and small figure... Wait? Red hood?. Jaune recognised who it was and walked over to Ruby, whom was sobbing and using her hood as a tissue.
"Ruby, are you alright?" Asked Jaune, Ruby jumped and turned to face the person. She found it was Jaune with a guitar bag slung over his shoulder.
"O-oh H-hey Jaune, Y-yeah I'm alright" cried Ruby, He wasn't convinced and so he sat next to her. Eyes gazing at each other before breaking the contact.
"Ruby I'm not convinced, tell me what happened..." pleaded Jaune, Ruby was still sobbing on her hood and her tears starting to soak through the soft and warm fabric.
"I'm a-all g-good, you don't h-have to worry a-about me Jaune" sobbed Ruby.
"Ruby, I'm your friend I'm supposed to know..."
Ruby didn't answer.
"Is this about the argument you had last night with Weiss, something about not passing a test?" asked Jaune. Ruby quickly shifted her head to Jaune and looked at him with shock and tears running down her cheeks.
"P-please Jaune, d-don't take this on her. She's just trying to help me b-become b-better" she said "A-and i'm supposed t-to meet the requirements of being a team leader, if I can't do this... Then what good am I" she said depressingly.
"Ruby, you're 15, Ozpin chose you, That speaks volumes about who you are. So what, you may be a bit younger than us but you're better than half the first years at Beacon, and besides you got friends who can help you" Jaune smiled a comforting smile at Ruby and Ruby smiled back.
"Stay here and look after my guitar... I'm gonna speak to Weiss"
"J-Jaune... Please don't be too harsh on her" pleaded Ruby. Jaune didn't say anything and left to go find Weiss.
Yang and Blake sat on Blake's bed just being silent while Weiss was just sitting on her bed twiddling her thumbs together until a knock on the door startled her, she was worried it might be Ruby who knocked. Get this over and done with Weiss she thought.
"C-come in Ruby" she hesitantly asked. The door opened and she was surprised that it was Jaune who knocked on the door and not Ruby.
"Jaune? what do you need" Asked Blake.
"I came to speak with Weiss" His voice was sharp and stern. Weiss looked at him with a surprised face.
"Yes Jaune, what do you need?" she asked.
"It's about Ruby, and I need you to come with me" He growled.
She still sat on her bed twiddling her thumbs, obviously sorry about what she did to Ruby.
"I wasn't asking Weiss, I was commanding you" he said sternly. Weiss hesitantly got up and walked to the door.
"So what are you gonna do with them?" asked Yang.
"I'm going to fix this dispute" He said, and left with Weiss to the Gardens. The walk there was silent and awkward, but Jaune didn't care. Weiss hurt Ruby emotionally and that made a problem for team RWBY, Blake and Yang didn't know what to do so they tried to think of ways to fix this but to no avail.
They arrived at the Gardens a few minutes later and found Ruby looking at the sunset while resting the guitar on her lap, just casually plucking the strings.
"Ruby..." he said. Ruby shifted her head to Jaune and smiled, but that smile faded as she saw Weiss next to him. She scowled and returned to plucking the strings again. Weiss sat next to Ruby but not to close, not too far either. They were both nervous and Jaune could see it.
"Alright guys we should sit down and talk about this" Jaune said "So Ruby, why are you upset at Weiss?"
"Because she's a big stupid Jerk..." Said Ruby angrily.
"Ruby..."
"Fine, she thinks I failed in my test, WHICH I DIDN'T!" fumed Ruby.
"You did fail Ruby, you got an 78 out of 100, AN 78 out of 100!" Raged Weiss.
"Wait what?! An 78 out of 100?" said a confused Jaune.
"I know right! that's what I said to he-" but was cut off by Jaune.
"Weiss, stop right there! an 78 of out 100? Weiss that's pretty good for a 15 year old, I've seen people do worse than that. Heck I would still do worse than that if Pyrrha wasn't helping me"
"Yeah but she's a tea-"
"No Weiss not all people are like you, you may get higher than 90 on all your tests but that doesn't mean you need to hurt Ruby's feelings because she got lower than you. She's only 15 Weiss 15!?, I wonder how she'll do when she reaches our age. You gotta encourage her Weiss, you even said you'll be the best teammate she'll ever have"
"Yeah, but- she ne-. Ugh fine!... I'm sorry Ruby, I'll... be more encouraging next time" replied Weiss. Jaune looked to Ruby, hoping to give an apology back.
"Wha- what did I do?" asked Ruby.
"You lashed out and got a little physical at her"
"*sigh* Did Yang tell you" Jaune nodded. "Ok... Weiss, I'm sorry I lashed out at you... And also sorry for acting like an immature child" said Ruby, although those last words were a bit mumbled.
"Now that wasn't so hard now, was it?" both girls nodded their heads. "Great well you guys can go back to your dorm room now, I've got... Important business to attend to" said Jaune.
They didn't move from the bench and just smiled at Jaune.
"Oh sure... 'Important business to attend to' am I right Jaune?" giggled Ruby.
"Yeah, is that so hard to understand...?"
"Of course it is, you wanna be alone and sing where no one can bother you" smiled Weiss.
"W-well of c-course, I just... wanna have some time to myself..." mumbled Jaune.
Both girls giggled and looked at each other, they both smiled and had the same idea of what they were gonna say.
"Well... We were wondering... If we could stay and watch you perform" said Ruby hesitantly.
"Umm... Yeah s-sure" Jaune answered. They squealed like teenage girls and sat quietly, their eyes fixed on Jaune.
"What should I sing?" he answered to himself. Something happy, cheerful and heartwarming to lighten up the mood his conscience said.
"Alright I got it, are you guys ready?" Ruby and Weiss nodded excitedly. Jaune put the shoulder strap that was fixated on the guitar around his left shoulder. His right foot rested on the bench between Ruby and Weiss and the guitar rested on his right thigh. He warmed up his voice and stretched his hands and fingers, he fished a pick from his pocket and started strumming the chords to the song.
Simple plan - Summer paradise
My heart is sinking as I'm lifting up
up above the clouds away from you
And I can't believe I'm leaving
Oh I don't kno-kno-know what I'm gonna do.
But someday, I will find my way back
To where your name is written in the sand.
'Cause I remember every sunset
I remember every word you said
We were never gonna say goodbye
singing la da da da da
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh I'll be there in a heartbeat, Oh-oh.
My soul is broken
Streets are frozen
I can't stop these feelings melting through
And I'd give away a thousand days, oh
Just to have another one with you
Well real life can wait
We're crashing like waves
Playing in the sand
Holding your hand
yeah-yeah
Cause I remember every sunset
I remember every word you said
And we were never gonna say goodbye
Sing la-da-da-da-da
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
(yeah)
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
The promises that we made to about our friends
Thinking about it sunshine under trees
Summer time on the beach
Of fine we get closer under them trees
Baby girl you really got to me
It's 3 o'clock and were together and time doesn't leave
In a heartbeat girl sex on the beach
Don't stand your world ask me I am rich
Loving you girl, is the best part of me.
Someday
I will find my way back
To where your name
Is written in the sand.
Cause I remember every sunset
(well, I remember)
I remember every word you said.
We were never gonna say goodbye
(No-way)
Singing la-da-da-da-da.
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat.
And I remember where we first kissed
And how I didn't wanna leave your lips
And how I've never ever felt so high
(So high)
Sing la-da-da-da-da.
So Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
I'll be there in a heartbeat.
Jaune finished his performance in front of the girls and chuckled. It was always nice to perform in front of friends, especially when they accept you for what you do.
Ruby and Weiss were looking at him with lovestruck faces with their head rested on their hands and their elbows rested on their knees. Eyes gazed at the way he strummed the chords and sang those words perfectly, and the performance he made with a sunset in the behind him and the spot full of flowers with a tree overhead made it a lot more effective. You can almost say it was romantic and heartwarming. Their eyes dreamily stared and their hearts fluttered at Jaune even after the performance has ended.
"Umm guys... I finished" he said.
"Wow Jaune... you're so amazing!" Said Weiss dreamily. still in her lovestruck position.
"Thanks Weiss" he said smiling.
"Wow... you're cute when you performed too" said Ruby dreamily.
"Wait what? I'm wha-?" Jaune blushed at Ruby's choice of words.
"I gotta agree with Ruby, you are quite cute when you perform" Weiss said.
"I don't kn- I'm wha-... I c-can't be" stuttered Jaune.
"Oh yes you are my handsome and beloved musician" winked Weiss. Ruby giggled at Weiss's comment. Weiss looked at Ruby and Ruby turned her gaze to look at Weiss, they both nodded in understanding and they both got up to kiss Jaune's cheek at the same time. Jaune was flustered to say the least, his face was full of shock and his mouth agape.
"Hey Jaune~ are you gonna stand there... or are you gonna come with?" said Weiss in a flirtatious tone.
"I-I'm g-gonna..."
"We'll let you recover...from the shock" said Ruby and the two women walked back to their dorm rooms.
Jaune traced his fingers over his cheeks. How did he end up getting a kiss from two beautiful women, his mind pondered for a bit and his heart raced. But all he came up with in his mind was two simple words.
Wait...what?