Managed to work this out through my amazing procrastination. Now, I stand before you all with too much damn school work to do and not nearly enough time to do it all. At least, there's no time with that attitude! I'm not sure what else to say, other than after this next week, I plan on getting at least 3 chapters out to you all before my next semester begins. All goes well, I'll hopefully hit that mark and then some.

Hope you all enjoy and I'll see you at the bottom!

The light turned green and the bow-wearing driver accelerated down the fairly lit street, now barely two blocks from the school. She and her passenger agreed on going passed the incident scene that left their school on lockdown the day before. Ruby wanted to for curiosities sake, but Blake was interested in seeing if the house had any damage to it. There had been reports of the police breaching the house and both wanted to see if that was true. The drove passed the usual turnoff and down the block, where a quick right turn on the next light will give them their target house, which sat on the corner of the block.

"It's coming up." Ruby said, keeping her eyes locked on the buildings that passed her window, easily leaning into her seat. Blake slowed the car as the traffic light turned red, eager craning her neck to peer out of the passenger side window and see a house with two boarded up windows and yellow warning tap surrounding the property. "Wow, they didn't do too bad, did they?"

Blake shook her head, agreeing with her friend, "Nah, minimal damage." Being in the turn lane, she glanced out of her side window and saw nobody coming, giving her a chance to turn on red and look at the front of the house, where even in the early morning light (or lack thereof) the duo was still able to see the front door and large window beside it boarded up, a smudge in the porch. "Woah!"

"How did that happen?" Ruby inquired honestly, her face lighting up with excitement and wonder at the damage.

"They probably charged in with flashbangs and stunners, maybe even smoked them out."

"Wow. I'm almost surprised at the lack of damage." The driver nodded in agreement, finally driving on, speeding up to the proper limit that the signs allowed. Technically it was a residential area, so thirty was the fastest Blake could do. "Well, that's a good way to start the day, huh?"

"Admiring a damaged house where two sex-crazed psycho's kept us on lockdown and shut down the block for four hours?" Blake asked with a grin, raising her brow at her passenger, who refused to shrink at the pressure.

"Yeah! Better their house than mine."

"Your house is an apartment on the third floor of that complex, Ruby…" Blake quipped as she turned into the parking lot, immediately driving to as close to the door as possible. There was only a handful of cars there now, but the only spaces taken were the ones that were restricted for instructors. Still, her eyes locked onto a familiar gold Grand Prix sitting in the space. She raised her brow as Ruby rubbed the back of her head, not paying attention to her surroundings.

"Well… You're not wrong, actually."

"Uh-huh." The driver responded with a smirk, turning off the car and unbuckling her seatbelt. "Come on, you little freeloader, let's go to class."

"A little early for class, isn't it?"

"Oh, don't even give me that." Blake fired back immediately, her grin turned to an incredulous expression, "You're always complaining about getting here early enough! Well, it's seven o'clock, we're at school. For why so early, I don't know." She finally jumped out of her car, as did Ruby and reached for her bag in the back seat as the sun began to illuminate the early October sky. Her passenger, who threw her own backpack around her shoulders (having it sitting with her in the front seat) was standing beside her driver and ready to go, cocking her head to the side with a raised right brow.

"I'll have you know that we're here so early because we forgot to go shopping yesterday and I don't have breakfast stuff at my place, thank you very much."

"Oh? We?" Blake countered with a raised brow of her own, "Who's 'we'? You and Neo?"

Wha-? No. My family?"

Blake stopped in front of the door and easily stared into her friend's silver eyes, seeing the desperation within her look and knowing that this was the best time to push. "Really? Family? You mean the one that I have yet to hear let alone see?"

"What are you saying, Blake? Are you eavesdropping on us?"

Amber eyes closed as their owner shook her head easily, "Nope." She easily replied, popping the 'P' at the end, "I'm just curious to know where your parents are? After all, a fifteen-year-old can't be living all on her own for so long like that. It could be dangerous."

Quickly, Ruby intervened and stopped her neighbor from continuing with a frustrated look in her eyes. "I hear what you're saying but understand that the situation can get kinda wacky from time to time. Sometimes they can't make it home and that's okay."

"So they don't come right home from work?"

"N-no, no they don't!" Despite the slight stutter, she continued, "They have a friend's house closer to their work than our apartment is."

"So they've been living with this friend for the last five or six days and not their daughter? Seems kinda negligent, don't you think?"

"No, for reasons that you wouldn't understand just yet." Ruby's harsh look quickly formed into a softer, more pleading gaze, "Listen, Blake… My home life is kinda…"

"A mess?" It wasn't meant as an insult, but Blake still kicked herself for saying it, despite Ruby's affirming nod.

"That's a good way to describe it. It can get kinda crazy sometimes, so… Just, please, I don't like to talk about it."

'Just how far will you go for this lie, little girl?'- "Okay, I understand." Blake nodded, her bow twitching slightly as a light breeze blew by, chilling the two. The one thing about Spring and Fall mornings on a coastal city like Vale was that you could never know if the temperature would stay the same, but also whenever a breeze came through it was always, always cool. There has never been a warm breeze so long as Ruby or Blake could remember in their time in Vale. "How about we go in before the wind picks up again? These skirts are going to be the death of me.

"I agree."

Ruby opened the door and allowed Blake to lead down the hall before quickly trying to catch up, all the while worried about how snoopy her neighbor is being. She's going to have to run this by Velvet and see what she should do, because despite an eerie feeling her, Ruby still had a feeling that she knew Blake from somewhere… It couldn't be the home; she'd be able to recognize her if she was from there. But those amber eyes…

"Alright, Blake," Ruby declared, "You've had a few days to get used to the school, so for now I'm going to have you show me where the rooms are." Blake quickly glanced behind her and smirked cockily, "I want to see what you know."

"Challenging me, are you?"

"Yes I am." Ruby easily replied as they walked passed their usual before-class hangout, "Since we're going for breakfast, I want you to show me where the cafeteria is."

"Hey, Ruby."

"Hey Yang." Off the corner of her eye she was able to see familiar blonde hair with a busty young woman laying on a couch. She slowly turned to face the familiar person, only to see familiar lilac eyes staring at a scroll. "Yang?" Ruby called, bringing the busty blonde's attention towards her. Yang blinked before smiling as Ruby checked the clock on her phone, "You're early… Like, really early. Why?"

"Nice to see you too." The lilac eyed teen quipped before answering the question as Blake stood by awkwardly, leaning against a corner wall, "Well, I got punked."

"What?"

"Well, my dad pulled a prank on me this morning, bursting through my door screaming 'Yang you're late! Yang you slept in! You gotta go, it's class time!' And being the gullible idiot that I am, I didn't bother to check the clock, quickly took a shower and ran out the door." Both of her friends smiled, Ruby hiding a small giggle as Yang explained further, waving her hands around theatrically, "I got halfway to school before I realized what time it was and said that I won't give him the satisfaction and just came here… So, I've been here for about ten minutes now."

Blake nodded with a smirk at the tale as Ruby leaned against the wall, "Wow. You're father sounds like quite the jokester."

"You don't know the half of it, honey. This just means that he's upped the battle, though." Yang rubbed her hands together sinisterly before glancing back at the young teen against the wall, "So, uh, since I had to run out the door so quickly, I never got to eat breakfast… Are you-?"

"Wanna come get some grub with us, Yang?"

"Please."

Ruby rolled her eyes and bobbed her head towards Blake, gesturing for the blonde to follow. "She's showing me what she's learned about the school so far."

"Oh! Just like I did for you on your first week?"

Once again, Ruby rolled her eyes as she bounced off the wall, following both Yang and Blake as they walked ahead, "Yes, Yang," She said with an annoyed tone, "I'm using your lesson on her. Thanks for the idea."

"Anything I can do to help." Yang threw her arms around both straps of her backpack as Blake led the way towards the cafeteria, the former throwing her arms behind her head as Ruby caught up to her taller friends. "So how was your days, girls?"

The amber-eyed teen shrugged while Ruby bobbed her head, "Busy." She simply said, gripping her own bag, "I'll be honest, I've head better."

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a busy day…" Both Yang and Blake locked eyes, the latter shrugging, easily showing that she wanted to push this. "All I know is that there's something wrong with the water, and it's not just our building. We thought the plumbing was faulty, but it turns out that the store owner's behind us were having some issues too."

Blake turned her head around with concern written on her face, still walking as she recognized the hall where the dining hall was located. "Anything I should know, considering I live there?"

"Uh, well… It's gonna take a while for the water to heat up? I dunno, I'll be honest." The red-themed teen shrugged, "They won't tell me the problem and I haven't faced anything, so I can't tell you. Sorry."

"They really like to keep their employees updated, don't they?"

"That's not fair, Yang." Ruby sighed dejectedly as the group approached the entrance to the dining hall, "They don't even know the problem. The cities supposed to come out tomorrow and look at it."

Blake opened the door and allowed her friends to walk in, her expression being unusually cocky and sarcastic, causing Yang to raise her eyebrows. "I wouldn't get too sure of yourself, if I were you. This place is bigger than you think." Amber eyes blinked as the blonde walked on, catching up to her red-jacket wearing friend, who wasn't waiting around for the slowpokes behind her. The raven-haired teen left behind had to hurry as her two companions got in line for the school's breakfast. Beacon's cafeteria had a wide assortment of dietary options for their students, but one was allowed only so much to deal with the thousand plus students that attended class.

Like many schools, as well, the academy had a program for their less fortunate students to make their meals more affordable, something that Ruby took part of- even if she wouldn't admit to it. It would just worry her friends more if they knew.

As the group walked in and grabbed their trays, Yang noticed a more silent mood out of the shorter teen in front of her. Normally, in the morning, she was up and ready to go, making jokes or at least more talkative, but today she seemed… Off. Had she been like this all day, or was she still worked up over Kari? Lord knows Yang was…

"What's wrong, Ruby?" She inquired honestly, picking up two halves of a waffle and a muffin packet, causing the silver-eyed teen to peer up at her friend who kept her gaze on the food in front of her. "You seem quiet."

Blake stood nearby, taking a carton of milk and rejoining her friends near a hot-light that was used to keep the food warm. Ruby picked up for small pancakes and a packet of syrup before acquiring the breakfast sausage, thanking the ladies behind the counter for making her meal. "It's nothing, Yang." She easily said, turning her attention back to the question. "I'm just kinda tired, is all. I had a late night."

"You, tired? No way."

"Like I said, I had a late night." The group approached the cash register with their school ID's in hand, something that Blake realized she still hadn't gotten yet. The school took her picture but she had still yet to receive the plastic with a barcode and her picture. They said it should be ready by now… Oh well, she was in the system so all she had to do was give her name. Ruby scanned her barcode and was given a pass, owing nothing for breakfast today but would have to pay her three-dollar fee for lunch later. Worth it. She stood by and waited for Yang and Blake, both of whom were taking their sweet time fishing money out of their pockets. "We got busy for work and I wasn't able to take a nap before everything got started."

The lilac-eyed teen nodded by her friends explanation, but didn't buy it. She glanced at Blake, who shook her head easily and whispered 'She's lying.'. Blake knew that Yang knew that Ruby was hiding something, but wondered just how much the blonde knew. How much did she want to know? It was clear she wanted to help, so how far was she willing to go? Then again, Blake had to ask herself if she was willing to blow her friends cover right now, given the warning that Velvet gave. She bit her tongue and left it where it lied, allowing Yang to take over with a small nod.

"So you missed some sleep and that's all?"

"Uh-huh."

"Oh my god, you are such a bad liar."

Silver eyes went wide as Yang went to find a seat, Blake chuckling. Ruby didn't realize she had a tell where she slightly cocked her head to the side- either side- and blinked twice. It wasn't easy to see, but once you witnessed it once it was hard to let it go. "How could you tell?" Blake caught up with her friends in the middle of the hall, taking an end seat of a table. Ruby sat at the end, facing a wall while Yang sat across from her, facing the kitchen. Blake decided to sit beside her neighbor, setting her tray down and picking up the plastic-ware while the interrogation continued.

"Come on, what's wrong?" Yang pushed as she took a bite of the waffle, "I promise you'll feel better about it."

"It's really none of your business, Yang."

"Ah, you say no, but your eyes say yes." Ruby sighed in annoyance, rubbing her face as Blake watched on. She wasn't going to intervene; she knew that Ruby had something she had to get off her chest and this was probably the best way to get it out. "Hey, Bu, how many times have you had something eating away at you, huh?"

"A few…" She grumbled as she looked away.

"And out of those times, how many times did I say 'Talk to me, you'll feel better'?"

"All of those times…"

"And did you-"

"I get it, Yang!" Ruby snapped, slamming her fists into the table, causing Blake to flinch, but Yang stayed steady. She was calling an angry bluff with the shorter flower before her, and her gamble might pay off. The angry glare in those silver eyes quickly wore off as Ruby unclenched her fists, her facial expression lightening up as she seemed to shrink in her seat. "It's… Kinda personal, is all."

Once again, Blake and Yang locked eyes, both nodding to each other. The former slid down closer to her neighbor as Yang reached out and grabbed her friend's hand, offering a familiar, caring gaze. "Well, I'm here for you, regardless."

Ruby carefully nodded as she thought of the words to use. She didn't want to be too obvious with this, but at the same time she did want to talk to someone about this and Yang wasn't one to easily judge. She always had something helpful to say while also keeping the mood from getting too low. The busty blonde just had a way with conversations like these…

"Well…" Ruby began with a heavy sigh, "I have this friend… Friends, actually, plural. They're a couple, both friends of mine." Lilac eyes stayed steadily glued to the teen as she awkwardly continued, "Well, they've started to have… Trouble with their marriage… Well, their relationship as a whole." She stuttered for a moment, pausing in her tracks. Yang carefully observed Ruby's eyes, noticing that the young teen had tears beginning to well. She gripped Ruby's hand tighter, hoping to jolt her back to the world. "They've started fighting and the last two or three times that they were yelling at each other it… Sounds as though that somehow or another I'm at fault."

"How so?" Yang quickly asked, trying to get her friend to elaborate more.

"Well, it's little things, you know? They ask me to leave and then they start yelling at each other, and some of the things they say just makes me think that I have something to do with it?"

She quickly dashed the tears away from her eyes, but not before having a caring arm be wrapped around her shoulders. Silver eyes quickly turned up to ensure that Yang was still seated in front of her, which she was. So who…? Turning her gaze to a body on her left, Ruby gazed into worried, caring amber eyes of her neighbor, quickly understanding that it was Blake that had gripped her into an embrace. Yang smiled as the duo before her locked eyes, seeing a glimmer in the shorter teen that she hadn't seen before. Yet, in her own mind, she considered the positive influence that Blake could give for her troubled friend.

Still, something had to be said now that the information had been revealed. Yang had to make sure that Ruby new something important; something that every child in this situation needed to know. With a deep sigh that mimicked Ruby's earlier, the blonde began: "Ruby… When married-couples have… Trouble, they'll find anything to blame and won't need any reason to fight. Literally the air between them is so tense that anything will set off a chain reaction and lead into another fight. So yes, something you could have done could set off a fight," Ruby blinked with surprise, but Yang continued quickly. "-but I don't think that you're the main cause of their problems. Trust me, you'd be facing a lot more hate than that.

Think of married couples fighting like me and my mom. I see her maybe twice a year, and whenever I do the air is so thick that you can cut it with a knife. Why? Because there's just so much animosity between us and anything that either of us say will be taken the wrong way. Sometimes people just have a moment, a day or even a sentence said that is taken the wrong way and, well… There's nothing you can do about it, after that."

The raven-haired teen blinked at the mention of Yang's mother, this being the first time she ever heard of it, but shook the thought away, telling herself to pursue it later. "But… What if-?"

"You didn't cause it, Ruby. Trust me. They wouldn't want to even talk to you if you were the problem for their marriage."

"It's true." Blake nodded, "People are very strange creatures."

"I get that, but something ju-"

"Ah-up-up-up! No." Yang called, holding up her free index finger and pointing it at her friend, "It doesn't matter, Ru. Right now, these two are going to town on each other and you're caught up in the mix. I get that they're your friends, whoever they are, but there's nothing that you can do to help them. You didn't cause this, but your presence might not make the situation any better."

"But… How will I do my job, then?"

"Oh, so it's your bosses, eh?"

"W-wait! I didn't-"

Blake began to chuckle, "Actually, yeah, you basically just gave it away." The brunette teen in her arms sighed before running her hands through her hair. "I didn't realize they were having such trouble. Then again, even last week when they were showing me the apartment, he seemed… A bit disgruntled."

"Yeah, I haven't given it much thought until yesterday, but now that I think about it, their playful little arguments are now just hateful tirades on both sides… I don't know what to do but I want to do something even though I know I can't!"

"Like I said." Yang jumped back in, "Keep your head down and try to avoid a dangerous situation. I know you can identify those, you're a smart girl. Plus, you know you can talk to me anytime about anything."

"Count me in, too." Blake affirmed with a nod, "In case you can't get a hold of Yang, I'll have your back."

Silver eyes glanced at both girls beside her before closing, their owner nodded in thanks. "That means a lot."

"No problem, kiddo."

"Also, nobody else knows about this… Please?" Both of the taller teens beside her nodded in silence, letting her know that they'll hold her secret. "Thanks."

The trio sat in their usual seats for their first class of the day: Science with Peach. The school had declared that the schedule will proceed without issue and that they'll use a snow day to compensate, leaving the students with seven cancelled days left. Seems like enough, but for a coastal city like Vale, not nearly so. Professor Peach had come in earlier than usual, which allowed the three girls to take the seats that they usually take. At least, Blake assumed that this was their usual spot, considering her first day of class.

The bow-wearing teen pondered a few things as Yang and Ruby traded notes from the last class, both preparing for a lab day that Peach had prepared and was now out fetching supplies for. For starters, she thought back to what Yang said about her mother. Clearly the two didn't have a good relationship, and given what she's heard so far, Yang favorited her father more than her mother. Now, Blake has yet to meet either, so she shouldn't judge yet.

Another point she pondered over was Ruby and her housing crisis, or her situation, as a whole. The raven-haired teen kicked herself for approaching the teen with red-streaks in her hair too early about this, but even Velvet said that the earlier the better. She was fine with Ruby's lapse in memory, but she was worried for her current position. She was caught in the middle of a failing relationship of two people she clearly looked up to.

Shaking herself free of these thoughts, Blake rejoined the conversation between the eerily similar, yet wildly different teens before her. "I'm telling you those notes are right, Yang." Ruby argued, "Remember, I'm the one who's awake in the morning."

Yang waved her off, rolling her eyes as she did so. "Yeah, yeah, all I'm saying is that I don't remember this part of the discussion."

Blake grinned and intervened as more students began to pour in, "Maybe it's because you weren't paying attention?"

"No help from the peanut gallery, please."

"Thank you, Blake." Ruby complimented, causing Blake to smile as Yang folded her arms in a pout. As she did, through the throng of students the blonde was able to make out the sight of a familiar couple: Jaune and Pyrrha. "Well, well, well," Ruby taunted as the duo approached, silver eyes locked on the blonde young man beside the athletic redhead. "Finally decided to drop the game and come to class?"

"Hey," Jaune whined, preparing his defense by raising his right hand, "I was here yesterday."

"Yeah, but yesterday isn't Monday." Yang quipped, easily.

"Alright, fine, I know what you're thinking and the timing of all of this was a bit obvious, but Mimi was actually sick on Saturday and then she got me sick." Ruby sarcastically nodded as Yang cocked her head, neither believing the story for a second, "You don't have to believe me, I know what's right."

"I talked to his mom yesterday." Pyrrha defended, "Turns out it's the truth."

"Thank you, Pyrrha. Now I don't wanna hear any more of this!"

Yang and Ruby eyed each other, both smirking and the former deciding to keep up the fun. "How easy is it for mom to lie and for the girlfriend to believe it? I wonder?"

"Yang!" The emerald-eyed athlete hollered, causing the blonde to giggle.

"I'm joking," The blonde easily waved off, "It's just too easy to mess with you two."

"Ha-ha." Jaune sarcastically deadpanned, turning his attention towards the bow-wearing young woman beside his girlfriend, "I don't believe we've met before." He said, extending his hand, "Jaune Arc."

Blake met the handshake with an oddly firm grip, surprising the young man, "Blake. Nice to meet you."

As Pyrrha and Jaune sat down, Yang turned her attention to the front of the class where a familiar face and a familiar foe walked in. Cinder and her crew eyed the blonde, but the leader of the group locked eyes with Ruby, causing a chill to run down her spine. Weiss was the last person in, she too glanced at the silver-eyed teen. "Just keep walkin'." Yang muttered to nobody in particular. "We don't need to cause a scene today."

The red-themed teen beside her noticed the murmurs of her friend and raised an eyebrow critically. She knew that Yang and Cinder had a bad history, but didn't know the story. Pyrrha would never tell it, either, saying that she felt guilty over it and she wasn't able to make sense of Nora's version of the tale. Now is probably a better time than ever, right? What could go wrong?

'Except getting yelled at again.'

She shook the negative thought away; Yang would never do that to her. With a slight nudge, Ruby easily gained Yang's attention, "I never got the story, Yang… Why don't we like those kids?"

"Aside for the fact that they're a bunch of-"

"I know, I know, the usual name calling," Ruby deadpanned, "But you seem to have a special hatred for them?"

Yang sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she exhaled slowly and put her right hand upon Ruby's head, softly, "It's a lot of drama and a long story and you don't need to know. I'll tell you when you're older."

"Don't give me that, Yang. I've been confronted by these guys a few times, now, I deserve to know why I should fight back if it doesn't concern me."

"Ru, you're my friend, that's why they're against you." Yang affirmed, "Listen, one of these days I'll let you know why there's so much bad blood between us, but until then let's just focus on class, okay?"

"I'm not letting this go, easily." Ruby begrudgingly huffed, causing Yang to smirk.

"I wouldn't expect you to." The class slowly began to fill, the group staying relatively silent except for the mushy talk from Pyrrha and Jaune, causing the group to shift awkwardly. They didn't usually care much for it, but sometimes it wasn't exactly welcome. Blake eyed the couple and wondered just how this fling happened, as the duo seemed to be complete opposites. Then again, looks can be deceiving; from what she's seen out of Pyrrha, she expected the athlete to have higher standards than him. Not that he wasn't anything less than desirable, but Blake just didn't see whatever Pyrrha saw.

Nora and Ren walked in just as the bell rang, taking the desk in front of Ruby and Yang and keeping quiet as the class began to get louder and louder. The shorter of the two turned back to the silver-eyed teen with a pleading look, causing Ruby to worry until she heard her friend's voice, "I'm really, really sorry about yesterday, Ruby. Honestly, I can't-"

"Don't worry about it, Nora." Ruby sighed with a small, forgiving smile, "I'm over it."

"Well I'm not!"

"It's no big deal, honest." She turned to the blonde beside her, seeking assistance, "Right, Yang? Help me out, here?"

"Oh no, I'm still mad about that."

"Why!? Why are you making a big deal about this?!"

"Because it's what she implied, Ru." Yang explained, "She basically said that your parents neglect you and don't feed you enough and then had the gall to insult your weight. You mean to tell me that you're not in the least bit upset?"

The brunette shook her head easily, sitting back in her chair. "No, because I don't want to make a big deal about it and still don't. If you don't mind I'd like to not talk about this anymore. Nora, your apology isn't needed but appreciated." She folded her arms, her entire expression saying that she was done talking about it, causing Yang and Nora to glance at each other and shrug. Blake watched carefully, examining how her neighbor handled these situations. Once upon a time, she wouldn't be able to defend herself properly without fear of repercussion, barely opting to speak. Now look at her! A hint of pride welled within Blake, despite the fact that she didn't do much to help in the long run.

Off of the corner of her amber eye, Blake noticed that Jaune and Pyrrha were doing something to paper. It wasn't long before she realized that it was a makeshift paper airplane, and a poorly made one at that. He chuckled and sent it flying across the room, causing a group across the aisle to catch it and send it back. Though, as most paper planes do, it went sideways and towards the door, where a familiar instructor was there to intercept it.

Professor Peach walked in and easily caught a paper airplane, crumpling the sheet up and throwing in the trash with an unamused sigh. "That was a crappy build, Jaune."

"Oh come on!" The blonde boy cried, "How did you know it was me?"

"Because you just told me." The instructor winked, letting him know that he just fell for her trap and causing him to deflate in his seat. His friends chuckled at his luck as Peach set down a stack of papers. "Alright, students, if you recall, we have a lab today." The class cheered and she smiled, ready to dash their dreams, "And I'm choosing your groups!" A collective wave of 'aww's' went about, the newly dejected students ready to give up on today. "If I left it up to you all you wouldn't get anything done."

"That's the point!" Yang yelled with a grin, to the classes enjoyment.

"Be that as it may, I'm the teacher so…" She turned to the blonde and blew a raspberry, turning to her computer and turning on a projector above the room, allowing the screen to warm up and appear on the board behind her. "I have a chart here and it'll show you who you're grouped with. Find your partner and get everything you need."

The screen loaded, revealing a list of names. It seemed to go in alphabetical order. Yang had searched for her name, but found it closer to the top, next to a Blake Belladonna. Turning to the bow-wearing teen beside her and nodding. Looks like it's you and I, hot stuff." Amber eyes simply blinked, their owner returning the nod. Blake turned towards the list and admired the pairings: Ren and Jaune were now grouped together, so were Cinder and Pyrrha, which caused her to worry- given what she knew about Cinder thus far. Though, it was the name further down the list that surprised her and Yang the most. Right next to Ruby's name was Weiss Schnee.

Both the heiress and the young teen locked eyes, the latter feeling another sense of dread as those icy-blue eyes once again seemed to pierce her soul. Still, she couldn't do much about it, now. Everyone in the class packed their things and met their would-be partners, trying to find an open space to sit and work on the project. For some reason, though, Yang couldn't help but worry for her young friend. Weiss was a hell of a worker, but she could have a bad attitude sometimes, which was more than enough cause for concern.

'Just gonna have to trust Ruby…'

"Alright, Blake," Yang began, "What do you know about momentum and energy transfer?"

"Other than the basics?"

"Gravity, right?" Blake nodded, pulling out the few notes she had. Luckily, she had paid attention during class on Monday, so that meant that she had everything that she would need for today's lab. Yang had grabbed the paper while she grabbed the supplies; A yard-stick, a penny, a quarter, a marble and small wooden block. "Let's see the questions, here… Huh…" Yang examined the sheet as her classmates began to proceed with the experiments. "Okay, so all we have to do is put the yard stick on an incline and time every object as it rolls down to the ground. Sounds simple enough."

"Okay." Blake picked up the stick and held it at a slight angle. They had five different angles to work with and they would have to make observations of the sort. "Ready when you are." She glanced up at Yang, expecting the blonde to be reading the sheet still, yet found her to be eyed an alabaster-themed heiress and red-themed friend across the room. "Yang, hello?"

"O-oh! Blake, yeah, sorry." She apologized awkwardly, "Just got a little distracted is all." She picked up the copper coin and flipped it towards her friend, who easily caught it and eyed the blonde curiously. "I'm good, honest! Let's get to work, now."

With a deep breath, Blake raised the yard stick off the ground slightly and set the coin flat, watching as it steadily slid down the flat surface. Yang had her phone out and was keeping the time as well as manning the paper while Blake committed the experiments. Peeking over her shoulder, she was able to see through her blonde hair and watch Weiss and Ruby carefully. The two were talking, the heiress having a familiar scowl on her face as the silver-eyed friend didn't seem to notice or mind, though for some reason seemed to shrink beneath the harsh gaze.

"Yang." Blake called, causing her partner to snap back to reality. "Got the time?"

"O-oh! Um…"

"You weren't paying attention, were you?"

"I-uh…" She stuttered, but realized that she had no other choice but to give in. "No, I wasn't."

Blake sighed and rolled her eyes, picking up the coin and preparing to redo the experiment, carefully trying to keep her hold over the stick steady. "She'll be fine, you know." She said easily, causing Yang to raise an eyebrow. "Ruby will be. She's a big girl, Yang, you gotta give her some space to grow."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The blonde replied with a pout, causing her friend to raise a brow with a deadpanned look.

"Yang, you're almost literally peeking over your shoulder to watch her. I cannot think of a better metaphor than this!" Yang's pout deepened for a moment, her arms crossed in front of her chest but she soon understood what Blake was saying and her look softened. Blake is probably looking out for Ruby, too, being her neighbor and all. She deserves an explanation.

With a deep sigh, Yang began, "You're right, Blake." Her voice was mildly defeated, but she still continued, "It's just that Ruby's like a younger sister, you know? She knows what she's doing and she's becoming a far better person than she was last year, I just can't help it, you know?" Blake sat by, staring up at her friend who sounded as sincere as possible as she glanced back towards the short duo across the room. "I just want to make sure that she's making the right choices. You're right, she is a big girl, but she's still a kid."

"we're all still kids, Yang."

"I get it. We all have a long way to go," Yang turned back towards her friend who sat on the ground, intently listening, "but I think that she might be able to help me get there as I help her."

Blake raised an eyebrow with interest, "Get you where?"

"You know," The blonde shrugged with a smile, "Adulthood."

"Why does she keep looking over here?" The alabaster teen said with an annoyed tone, balling her hands into fists as she locked eyes with a familiar busty blonde, who quickly turned away. Ruby noticed this and chuckled lightly as she set up the experiments. "What's so funny?"

"Both you and Yang." Ruby replied with a small grin, "She's being defensive and you're getting offended. I love the irony."

"And just what's the irony?" Weiss inquired with a harsh tone, causing Ruby to shake her head.

"Never mind. What do you want to do, record the time or actually do the experiment?"

"Oh, no, I'll do the experiment."

"Watch that tone, you…"

Weiss raised an eyebrow slyly, giving Ruby a sense of Déjà Vu. That was Yang's signature look, what was she doing with it? Still, there wasn't time to waste on that. The heiress picked up the yard stick and sat in her chair, glancing at the sheet once or twice to get an idea of the angles she would need. "Okay, so… We have five angles, right?" Ruby nodded, "But they can be whatever we want except for straight up of level with the ground, which makes sense."

"And I have to keep time on all of these materials-"

"Which would be the center of our hypothesis."

"Right, five objects, five angles and we don't even have graph paper."

Weiss raised an eyebrow curiously, sitting up in her seat, though she slightly leaned inward. "Does that really matter?"

Ruby shrugged, "Only if you want it to look nice." She continued to read the paper, flipping over to the backside to get an understanding of what she'll have to do. "Okay, here's a deal for you: I'll record the data, you answer the five questions on the back. Deal?"

"Deal." Weiss set up the experiment, the stick being up off the ground by a few inches while one side was down, creating a slight angle. "What do you think this is at?"

Ruby glanced down and picked up her pencil with her left hand. Weiss noticed this, but returned to the ruler quickly, "Twenty-degrees, easy."

"You're good at math, aren't you?"

"One of my specialties." The response was so easy that it caused the heiress to blink in surprise before setting the small coin down on the flat surface, but kept her finger on it.

"Is another specialty being a left-handed heathen?" Ruby went wide eyed in surprise and fear, worried that Weiss was about to let out a holy, verbal beatdown of epic proportions.

"Well, uh… Yeah, pretty much."

Weiss smirked, raising her left hand and wiggling her fingers around. "Join the club." Her partner's face lit up with relief, causing the heiress to worry. Did she accidentally scare the red-streaked teen? Has Ruby heard the heathen line before? Questions for later. "Ready?"

"Wait for it…" Ruby said with an elongated breath, waiting for the minute to reset. Weiss noticed this and set the ruler down, the sudden noise causing her partner to lose her concentration. "Something wrong?"

"Why do we need the clock? You should have a stopwatch on your scroll, right?"

The younger student blinked and blushed lightly before pulling out her flip phone from her pocket. "Y-yeah, uh, about that…" Weiss snatched the older device from her partner and examined it to great detail, deepening Ruby's blush. "I don't have a stopwatch on that, I don't think."

With a huff, Weiss tossed the device back to its owner and dug out her own scroll, pulling up a familiar screen, tapping a four-digit code and quickly opening an app with a clock on it. "Use this." She said, handing her scroll over. Ruby hesitantly accepted, admiring the outer skin the heiress had for the device, which had the Schnee family crest on the back. "If we want accurate measurements and estimations, we should use something that'll give precision accuracy." Weiss' tone was more sincere that it was bratty, which surprised Ruby. This one seemed to be helpful, even more productive than the others in her group.

"Wow, thanks, Weiss…" The brunette thanked, though the heiress barely acknowledged. "You're really nicer than your friends, you know?"

Icy blue eyes quickly turned to face the younger girl across the table, who sat back in stunned surprise. Surely Weiss didn't take offense at the compliment? Did she…?

"No, I'm not." Weiss replied with a harsh huff, "You've got it all wrong."

"How? If I was with Cinder or even Emerald and I showed them my phone then they'd probably make fun of me. You kept it to yourself-"

"How do you know that I even thought of anything bad, huh?"

"Well…" Ruby shrunk in her seat a little bit, the harsh gaze of the heiress finally getting to her, "It's all in the look people give, you know? It's all about reading someone's expression. I read yours and your face told me that you were thinking something- probably negative- but didn't say it. That's huge, Weiss, your friends wouldn't show that kind of… What's the word?"

"Restraint?"

"Yeah! See, you're much nicer and more helpful than they are!"

Blue eyes rolled as their owner couldn't help but smirk, but turned away to avoid eye contact and the appearance that she was thankful for the kind words. She shook her head visibly and sat back down in her seat, "Whatever." She said with a huff, though deep in her mind the heiress didn't mean it. "I think you're wrong, but whatever floats your boat."

"But I don't have a boat…" Ruby meekly said, her voice low enough so that her partner couldn't hear it.

"Let's get to work on this, huh?"

"I swear… that was… the easiest experiment I've ever… gotten to do." Yang said through the bites of her lunch. Beside her to her right and left was Pyrrha and Nora (respectively), the young chef able to get lunch off from the school restaurant. She burped lightly, covering her mouth as Ruby and Blake sat across, both mildly disgusted with the sheer display from the blonde. "Sorry."

"Chew your food, Yang." Pyrrha chided simply, not bothering to look at her friend, "Damn."

"Don't tell me what to do. You're not my mom."

"You're right." The red-haired athlete began with a small smirk, "Because I exist." The group went silent, all wide-eyed except for Blake, who was still confused by the mom thing. Pyrrha quickly realized what she had just done and turned back to face angry lilac eyes, "O-oh, oh god Yang I'm-!"

Her sentence was cut off as Ruby began to giggle. After a second or two, Nora began to chuckle too, then Blake- who gave a more awkward chuckle- then Yang and finally a horrified and nervous Pyrrha. The blonde slugged her friend in the arm before finally speaking, "You utter jerk!" The groups laughter went on for a few more seconds before finally petering out, everyone gaining their composure until Yang glanced at the shorter teen across from her.

"So how was working with the heir-bitch?"

Silver eyes rolled annoyedly at the unneeded insult towards her once-partner. "That's not fair, Yang." Ruby chided, taking a bite of her meal, "She was a lot nicer than you let me believe."

Pyrrha and Yang locked eyes, both with a quizzical look. Blake watched carefully as the blonde turned back, "How do you mean?"

"You made it sound like she was this vile, evil, heartless monster when in actuality she was very nice. She didn't argue too much and didn't insult us at all. In fact, the only time she said anything mean was when she saw you staring at us." Yang blushed, shrinking in her bench as her friend continued to chide her. "You know, Yang, I can have friends outside of you guys, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Ah-up-up-up! No." Blake smirked as she watched Ruby mimic Yang's earlier action. "I do believe that your ultimate goal is to prepare me for the real world, or something of the sorts. Aren't I supposed to be reaching out? Especially towards people who clearly want to be my friend?"

"Ruby." Pyrrha admonished, "Yang just wants you to be careful around people who she, and all of us-"

"-Except me."

"-Except for Blake, have had nothing but trouble with. It's okay, we just want to make sure that you're careful."

"I think Ruby has a point." Nora added, finishing her meal with a light burp, "We've been preparing her for this, training her to be a social butterfly-"

"Don't call me that, Nora."

"- We shouldn't stop her when she wants to start making new friends."

"Woah, woah, woah, hang on, I didn't say I wanted to make a new friend or anything." Ruby defended, "I just said why should I be mean to someone who hasn't been mean to me?"

"You're guilty by association to them, Ru," Yang warned, "Just be careful."

"And if you think about it, Yang, they're all guilty by just word of mouth to me."

"So, Weiss." Cinder began, her group staying mostly silent as they politely ate amongst themselves, "Still think you can help the brat?"

"With your current attitude, no way." The heiress easily fired back, "Thing is, she's a lot smarter than we thought. She is not to be underestimated."

"Are you sure it's not dumb luck?" Mercury inquired with a quizzical glance, causing Weiss to nod.

"She's a very bright minded person with a lot of promise for her future. And she's the perfect candidate, should everything go right." Icy-blue eyes glared harshly at the black-haired woman across the table from her, whose amber eyes stared back stoically, "But I need you to keep your distance, alright? She has a stigmatized view of you all, but not me. So, give me a chance on my own, and I'll have this little bet of ours won, got it?"

Cinder smirked devilishly with a nod, "You've got all the time you need, Weiss."

Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuuuuun!

Well that's new, huh? Very soon we might be seeing a bit more of Weiss. And just why is Yang so reluctant to tell the story about why she hates Weiss' group? Why is Yang still hovering over Ruby's shoulder, despite her saying how Ruby needs to essentially be more independent? Also, why is Ruby so insecure about the situation at home, and just what is Blake poking around for with her neighbor? What made Pyrrha have such a change of heart for Ruby and why the hell is Nora still on about the debacle with her mother? All valid questions, all to be answered... Sorry, most will be answered in the future. For now, it's just speculation at this point.

These next few chapters are going to be the defining point for this opening arc, too. It's going to be a huge info drop and we'll really get to know the characters by the time the next one begins.

Past that, though, how did you like it? Kind of a dry read, I feel like I'm repeating quite a bit here and there, but at least I'm expanding the character field a little bit, right? I wanna hear it from you, though, so go ahead and give me a review about how the story has been so far for you- whether or not you're hooked- and give me some of your theories for later on! Hit me with your best shot, I wanna hear 'em all!

That being said, it's time I return to a 48 hour candle-burning, rage-inducing, sleep-depriving marathon of book-work after book-work. Listen up, kids, when your college professor tells you "You can turn in these worksheets anytime", you tell him to shove it and DO THE DAMN WORKSHEET THE MOMENT YOU GET IT. Take it from me... It's not fun to do this all at once. Procrastination is no fun, ever.

This PSA brought to you by: A busy college student angry with his own laziness.

Until Next Time!