"Ohhhh, mystery ghost girl." Blake looked past Yang, the glass pane still a clear barrier between Weiss and the gang. Yang glanced behind her and looked back towards Blake, Sun, and Jaune, who were all relaxing outside of the pool. Pyrrha, on the other hand, took full advantage of the pool as she lazily floated in the deep end.
Rolling her eyes, Yang answered, "You've seen her before. I think. But look, she's here and she's the new girl, let's just make her feel welcome here, okay?" Yang individually glanced at each of her friends, sans Pyrrha, who already knew Weiss.
A smirk rose upon Sun's face as Yang had finished speaking. He wasn't completely paying attention to Yang; in fact, he had been staring at Weiss, who had hesitantly opened the door in front of her.
Weiss had brought up her arm to shield her face from the suddenly-too-bright sun. The heat had hit her once more as she slowly brought down her arm. Her eyes glazed over at the pool, noticing Pyrrha emerging from underneath the clear water's depths. Pyrrha's hands ran over her own head, pushing back her wet hair and looking up toward one of the boys.
Weiss, too entranced with Pyrrha, had failed to notice the group heading behind her. "Hey, ghost girl!" a male voice loudly proclaimed, a light thwap could be heard as a follow-up sound. "Ow! Err, Weiss!"
Weiss nearly jumped; the boy was entirely too loud. Too sunny. She turned to face the group, a sudden blush overtaking her. They were all entirely too close and a little underdressed. Well, this was a pool party, after all. "I'm Sun!" The boy loudly proclaimed, hands on his hips while his abs seemed to glisten in the sun. How fitting.
Weiss stepped back from Sun. A dark-haired girl approached Sun, pulling him back by the shoulder to keep a respectable distance away from Weiss. "Sorry about him, I'm Blake by the way." Blake held a book in her grip, her finger shoved in between a set of pages to mark her spot. "Pleasure to finally meet you." Blake's free hand rested on her slender hip as she tilted her head curiously at Weiss.
Suddenly, Weiss felt another wave of uneasiness hit her as she watched Blake's amber colored eyes scan her up and down. Sizing her up, like some sort of prey. Weiss's hands fidgeted, grasping at each other. "We could've sworn you didn't exist!" The boy, Sun, had once more loudly proclaimed as he draped his arm over Blake's shoulder. Blake seemed to be in the process of rolling her eyes.
A loud groan could be heard coming from Yang as she took to Weiss's side. This wasn't what had caught Weiss's attention this time. With a quick head swivel, Weiss turned to look behind her in the direction she had just come from. The door had quickly opened and closed behind them.
Another blond boy emerged from indoors. He looked eerily like Sun, but with an even goofier look about him. He looked at the pool with cheesy grin, to which Pyrrha waved and swam towards him. He then turned to the group and waved at them, too. A sudden look of surprise momentarily overtook him as he noticed Weiss.
"I didn't think she'd actually come! Welcome Weiss, we're glad to have you at our little shindig." The boy paused, giving her a short nod. "Oh right. I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc! My lady loves the name." He winked and motioned back towards Pyrrha, who had just emerged from the pool.
Weiss stood there with wide eyes; this goofy-looking boy was dating her? There was definitely no such thing as a status quo here, and that suddenly terrified Weiss. It made everything so random and wild. That she now knew that there was nothing to expect except to expect the unexpected!
Yang had stood there silently, watching all the commotion between her friends. But her attention was mostly on Weiss and her reactions. It was hard to tell what Weiss was thinking, as her range of emotions were always long-distance stares, glares, and looks of confusion.
Though, there had been one quick emotion that Yang had caught that worried her. A look of fear, from Weiss. "Hey, Weiss," Yang gently said to her to grab her attention. She then moved her hands and arms to begin signing so only they could understand. "If you need anything or want to leave, just let me know, okay?"
Weiss shook her head. "I'm fine," she insisted. Weiss wanted to do this, hadn't she? She would tough it out. It was about time she tried to put herself out there. Even if she had an unwarranted amount of attention on her as the two tried to have their not-so-secret conversation. Even if this bubbling feeling of anxiety began to stir in her very being. So, Weiss swallowed it down, and let out a hefty, yet unheard breath.
Sun threw himself into the private conversation. "Yeah, what she said!" he stated as if he understood what they had said. Blake groaned, pulling Sun away from the two and back underneath an umbrella where it covered some seating for them. Now returning to her own pleasantries, Blake opened back up her book. "Heyyyy..." mumbled Sun as had been taken away from the new kid.
Pyrrha, now fully out of the pool with water dripping from her, approached Jaune, Yang, and Weiss. "Hello again!" Pyrrha gave a small wave. Weiss merely stood in awe before Pyrrha. She was gorgeous. Not that she hadn't been before the lack of clothes, it was just that… this … this was entirely too much!
Weiss felt a nudge against her arm, an unfamiliar touch as it had come from Jaune. "I know what you're thinking, how did a stud like me land a gorgeous gal like her. Well, it's all thanks to my dad. Ladies love the confidence!" Jaune confided in Weiss in an almost low whisper.
Weiss awkwardly stepped away from him, and moved herself closer to Yang. Weiss was entirely too close to the strange boy. Pyrrha chuckled as he overheard the one-sided conversation. "It was something like that."
Yang noted Weiss's movements away and put herself in between Jaune and Weiss as she jokingly commented, "Yeah, one half confidence the other half ignorance." Yang sported a mischievous grin.
Jaune looked like he had been struck down a notch. Pyrrha simply giggled at his expense.
Weiss merely stared at the trio wide-eyed. What sort of banter was this? Of course, it was nothing like Weiss had ever experienced, as this was her first time in this sort of situation. Was she… supposed to laugh? She had to admit, it was a little funny. But parts of her still remained out of place.
Another wave of anxiety hit her.
She didn't really belong there. As 'welcomed' as they had made her feel she would always be the outsider. The loner. The mute. No matter how hard she tried, her inner demons had always found a way back to her. She struggled to make sense of the lighthearted situation.
She wanted to partake in all of the comradery, but she couldn't. She just… couldn't.
Without a glance, Weiss walked away toward the pool and sat down to stick her legs in it. She needed to calm herself, away from the rest of them.
The trio quieted down and watched as Weiss left their presence. Jaune and Pyrrha shrugged, while Yang frowned. Sun sunbathed while Blake was too entranced in her book.
Weiss should've known better than to momentarily let her guard down. She eyed all the goers of the get-together, only to be more thrown-off as another trio had entered from the gate to the backyard.
One blue-haired nuisance she recognized as Neptune, followed by a short, yet excitable-looking redhead, and a stoic black-haired boy with a light pink streak running through his hair. "Look who I found!" Neptune stated excitedly before making direct eye contact with Weiss Schnee, who in turn looked completely horrified that he was here.
As soon as Weiss heard the short girl's annoying shrill voice, she looked away. "My children!" she joyously erupted as she tackled Pyrrha and Jaune.
"Nora, calm down, they're only two years younger. They're not your children," the black-haired boy calmly stated as he walked up to Pyrrha and Jaune, who were seemingly being crushed by the small girl.
"Hey Ren, Nora…" Yang greeted them, now pausing and looking at Neptune. "Waterboy." She eyed him up and down.
In return, Neptune playfully scowled. "Oh haha, just because it's a pool party you didn't think I would show up?"
"We dragged him here," Ren stated bluntly. "Well, Nora dragged him here."
Nora, finally releasing Jaune and Pyrrha from her death grip, turned to Neptune and Yang. "I told him I'd break his legs if he didn't come!" Hands on her hips in a wide stance, she grinned widely.
Blake groaned loudly in the back. "You guys are too loud."
Sun commented in, "Yeah, how am I supposed to think about glistening in the sun if you guys don't quiet down?" Causing a light snort to emit from Blake as she returned to her book.
Pyrrha and Jaune were dragged off to where Blake and Sun were with Nora and Ren at the reins of their crazy ship.
Meanwhile, Neptune and Yang turned to look at Weiss, who had all but observed what had just went on. Weiss, now noticing the two very apparent looks coming from Yang and Neptune, suddenly felt very small.
Was it the heat that had been starting to get to Weiss? She might not have been part of their shenanigans at all, but she could already tell she was pushing past her current limit for any sort of socialization. There were entirely too many people. A majority of which she didn't know. And one Neptune who made her slightly uneasier than the rest of them.
Then there was Yang. Yang provided… much more than any of them had. A feeling that Weiss could only describe as the smallest of comforts. While of course, Weiss hadn't completely trusted Yang, she knew that there was something with Yang that she could find respite in. Now turning away from their gaze, she stared pensively at her reflection in the water.
She wanted to be left alone.
In a quiet and low whisper, Neptune began, "I didn't know that she'd be here." He glanced over at Weiss before turning his full attention over to Yang. "She doesn't concede easily to my good looks and boyish charm." Without missing a beat, Yang pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I don't understand you. Gay guys aren't supposed to hit on girls," Yang stated in a low and matter-of-fact whisper.
Neptune looked mockingly offended. "And I thought ga—" A swift hand covered his mouth, muffling the rest of his words.
An intense glare came from Yang as her hand covered Neptune's mouth. "How many times am I going to have to do this today?!" She paused, scrunching her nose. "Ew, did you just lick me?" She removed her hand from Neptune's mouth.
"Bleh, bleh!" Neptune spat out. "What I was going to say is you guys are usually useless. Isn't that the saying? Or something like that?" He crossed his arms, looking down at Yang. "Besides, if she doesn't go for a stud like me then you might have a chance." He shrugged, then placed a finger on her chest.
Yang swiped at his finger, removing it from her chest. "We're not useless. We're just…" she paused, unable to find the right wording for the situation. Why were they talking about this now? "Wait, you think I'm hitting on Weiss?" Her tone lowered, her eyes now shooting daggers. "That is the complete opposite of what I'm doing. She's the new kid! I swear, I can't be friendly to one girl without you implying I have to have some kind of thing for her!" Yang stepped forward, she glanced to Weiss who had momentarily met eyes with her then looked away back at her own reflection in the water.
Weiss wondered what they were talking about. It was her, wasn't it? Was Neptune still trying to hit on her? Was Yang trying to keep that from happening? The two of them, Yang and Neptune, would ever so often glance at her continuously and Weiss couldn't help but notice. Another pang of anxiety hit her. Maybe being here was a bad idea.
"I'm not saying you have a thing for her." Neptune backed up, putting his hands up as if he were backing down. "All I'm just saying that we don't know what she likes… and we could. But first I need to take another whack at it." He began to back up, now doing a full one-eighty, and walking toward Weiss.
"Neptune, wai—" she reached out for him, but he was just out of reach. She lifted her hands in a motion as if she were pretending to strangle him from a distance. Yang glanced over to her group of friends who had seemingly watched some of their interactions.
Yang was afraid to go after Neptune. The whole situation she feared was about to get awkward. She knew she should've stopped him, but part of her curiosity of how Weiss would react to Neptune got the better of her. That, and she had failed to realize that Neptune was, to Weiss, a problem.
Blake put down her book and stared, mumbling, "The gays are at it again." She lifted her book to her face once more, ignoring everything around her.
Neptune took a seat next to Weiss at the pool. He hesitantly stuck his feet in along with her. He wasn't there to swim, he was there to be with friends and to help them as best as he could. "Soooo, Snow Angel. Now, I was wondering if me and you…" He leaned in closer.
Weiss leaned away from him, her nerves already being struck. She didn't want to hear what he had to say, but she stayed. Another dastardly habit that Weiss would have to break sooner or later.
"I was thinking, you and I could go out sometime. You don't have to say anything… you can just like… you know, text me or like write it down, y'know?" He grinned widely, now wrapping his arm around Weiss and pulling her in.
Weiss immediately felt sick at his touch. Don't touch me. Weiss quickly looked over at Yang, an internal scream for help. Yang watched and glared, it looked like she was on the verge of walking over there as one foot had stepped forward. Or was she judging Weiss? Weiss's stomach began to boil, she could feel the pit of her stomach begin to betray her. Her mind began to fill her with doubt and spite. She should have never come here.
Neptune continued, "We'd be like the hottest couple at Beacon." His hand on Weiss's shoulder began making soft circles on her arm. "Whattdya say, princess?"
Within almost an instant, Weiss removed Neptune's hand and threw him toward the pool with anxiety-and-adrenaline-filled strength. Her fight or flight instincts had just kicked in. But for Weiss, fight came first. As for Neptune, he fell into the pool, now flailing and sinking like a rock.
Weiss, still sitting, scooted backwards, and watched in horror of what she had just done.
A small glimpse of Neptune's head above water called out for help, his hand now grasping for something, anything. He sank once more.
"NEPTUNE!" Sun's voice loudly called. Everyone's attention was now on Neptune… and on Weiss.
Sun leapt into action, jumping into the pool, now swimming toward a limp Neptune.
Yang was in the process of walking up to Weiss, when Weiss immediately jolted past Yang and into the house. Her flight instinct had now taken hold.
Weiss looked around the house hesitantly looking for any escape. She wanted to hide. She looked down one of the hallways and looked for a restroom. Now finding one of the guest restrooms, she locked herself inside of it.
Lights turned off, she sat in the very far corner of the restroom. Her breathing was ragged as she sat in a fetal position. Her hands clutching her head, her eyes filled with silent tears. She silently rocked back and forth.
She knew she needed to calm down, but that was hard to do in an unfamiliar atmosphere. She only had one person she could truly escape to, and she wasn't there. But she could be.
Reaching into her back pocket, Weiss pulled out her phone. She sent one simple text containing the letters "SOS" to her older sister, Winter.
As she set her phone down to prop it up against the wall, it began to vibrate. Her sister's name appeared on the screen.
Winter.