The next week had graciously passed, better than Weiss could've expected from the events that had occured the weekend before. Admittedly, a lot of things had changed for Weiss those next few days at school.
Weiss found herself openly communicating more with Yang. A question here, a question there — she had even found herself casually talking to Yang and Pyrrha at times with more expression behind her signing. A silent huff of what Weiss would consider laughter, or a wide smirk, could now be seen coming from her on occasion, a very welcome sight.
In this short amount of time, Weiss could feel herself growing. A feat that Weiss could've never imagined happening until now. In Atlas, Weiss had never been granted the opportunities to grow, to befriend, to be free. Now she was here, in Vale. There was no chain of command, no higher status quo, and she was starting to understand that.
No longer did she fear this thought of being controlled, of everything having to have a place. Here, things just were. While Weiss's inner demons still tackled and questioned her, things suddenly became easier. For this, she could only thank Yang. Yang, who Weiss had secretly considered her only friend.
She had thought back on Yang and their short talk about the incident. Yang wasn't angry. Pyrrha wasn't angry. Neptune wasn't angry. No one had faulted her for her mistakes. There was no yelling, no tears, no looks of disappointment. Yang had even told her that it was Neptune's mistake, and not hers. This statement itself was a question that Weiss had thought about, but it was a question to save for another time.
Everything for Weiss was changing, and for the better. Seventh period had also changed for Weiss. Neptune no longer harassed her with worn out pick-up lines, or awkward looks or winks. Neptune had now treated her as he had treated everyone else in the class. Though his personality was still a little too over-the-top in some manners that Weiss still couldn't quite place her finger on, but she had still considered that better than his treatment of her all those weeks prior.
The only thing that hadn't changed for seventh period was the trouble that Cardin had continuously caused. Even if Neptune had continued to stand up for her, she'd still reel away, ignoring every rude remark that Cardin had thrown at Weiss, and sometimes even at Neptune.
Life still wasn't easy in regards to how much attention she had garnered when in the sights of Cardin. It had seemed like Cardin had his own posse that would now show up after class. They targeted several students who looked like easy prey. Weiss was still one of them, and of course, Weiss hated every second of it.
Weiss had made it a habit to leave the school in a hurry, only giving small nods and acknowledging looks toward Yang who stood in the same spot near the bus lines everyday. She wouldn't tell Yang what was going on, why she was always in a hurry. Weiss might've considered her a friend, but it was far too soon to drop any sort of metaphorical bombs on Yang that might scare her away. How was Yang supposed to deal with a bully like Cardin, anyway?
Even at lunch, Weiss still hadn't joined the new gang. While she had told herself that slow and steady would be the way to go, joining a group of people in an entirely crowded room was still all too much for Weiss to handle. She had told Yang that she would try again when she was more comfortable, and yet more than two people was still entirely too much for Weiss.
Yang, on the other hand, kept a persistent watch on Weiss anytime she passed by. While Weiss had become a little more easygoing, open, and friendly… Yang knew that she had to do more. Know more. Ask more. And, hopefully, with time, Yang, too, would be able to share more about herself with Weiss — that was, if Weiss wanted to know about her, too.
During one certain lunch period in the passing weeks, Yang finally gained the insight that she'd been looking for into Weiss's seemingly erratic moods. Yang was seated with Blake, Sun, Pyrrha, and Jaune, who all had taken their usual seats at their table.
They had been silently watching as Cardin and his crew harassed a fellow student, Velvet. While Velvet's own friends stood up for her, there was a certain air of power and aggressiveness that Cardin held that kept everyone on edge about him. He needed to be knocked down a notch, and yet it seemed like nobody was willing to do such a thing.
"Ugh. Cardin. Gross," Neptune groaned as he leaned slightly to the left to get a better look at the big brute nearly starting a fight in the cafeteria.
Gritting her teeth at the spectacle before them, Blake huffed. "While I agree with that sentiment, shouldn't you be in class?" Blake now turned her attention to the blue-haired hooligan sitting in between her and Sun.
Sun patted Neptune on the back with a grin. "Who says a good ol' friend like Neptune can't hang out with us cool kids?"
Neptune waved off Blake's question with a shrug. "Class with Professor Peach is sooo boring. Besides, if I was there would you guys be able to document how cool of a kid I am?" He gave them all a goofy grin as he pointed his thumbs toward his chest.
Yang, completely oblivious to the conversation, was still honed in on Cardin and his lackies. Her head completely turned toward him, her eyes were burning with a glare that could probably frighten a bear. Not that Cardin noticed, but if he did, Yang would guarantee that she would become something for the jerk to worry about.
Shaking her head and returning to her lunch, she let out a frustrated grumble. "Cardin's such a dick!"
Neptune, being the fool that he was, took Yang's phrasing as an opportunity to make an ill-timed joke. "Well, you are what yo—Ow!"
Blake slapped him upside the head, her amber eyes narrowed in disgust. "Finish that sentence and I will end you." Neptune responded with a simple, brooding glare.
Yang sighed, too lost in her own thoughts to even notice her friends' outbursts before her. "He needs to be dealt with."
Everyone seemed to simultaneously nod, while Neptune began speaking once more. "The worst part is, he seems to get away with almost everything. Velvet's lucky to have Yatsuhashi, Coco, and Fox at lunch… but when it comes to class, people like me and Weiss have no chance whatsoever."
Yang's eyes immediately widened at the mention of the illusive girl, and for a moment everyone fell silent at their table. "Weiss?" she questioned, now suddenly more interested in Neptune than she'd been her entire life.
Neptune nodded, his expression vacant as he stole a fry off of Sun's tray. "Yeah. Seventh period is like literal hell. Cardin spends a lot of his time harassing Weiss, and it's not like I can do much about it. He turns right on me when I do." He twirled another fry between his fingers before biting into it. "Weiss leaves class almost every day looking like she's on the verge of tears. I've seen her coming out of the bathroom quite a few times, probably to wash her face or something, but it's always clear that she's upset."
Yang's eye twitched, as she had finally put two and two together. Weiss was almost always late to catch her bus. Her eyes always looked worn or tired by the end of the day. While Weiss had managed to acknowledge Yang at the bus stop every once in a while, there was always a look about her that Yang couldn't completely comprehend until now.
An audible huff could be heard from Yang. Cardin truly was rotten to the core. Of course he'd pick on the new girl, who just happened to be mute, and had trouble expressing herself in any manner. It wasn't like Weiss had many friends at the school, and she certainly wasn't in the position to defend herself. Neptune, bless his soul, tried helping, but he definitely wasn't the intimidating type, and everyone knew it. Weiss was easy prey for someone like Cardin.
Why hadn't Yang caught on sooner? Why didn't anyone do anything sooner? Yang definitely didn't blame Neptune for not mentioning anything, but that didn't stop her from blaming herself as she was adamant on protecting the new girl. What kind of friend was she, if at all, that she couldn't even protect her own friend?
So lost in her thoughts, Yang hadn't noticed she'd squeezed the life out of her juice box, which was now seeping out onto her hands and all over the table.
"Yang, you just murdered your apple juice," Blake muttered as she waved a hand in front of Yang's face.
Shaking herself back into reality, Yang cursed. "Shit." She shook her hands off and stood up to go grab extra napkins. She wiped the tables down along with her hands, and quickly threw away the rest of her lunch, which she had packed in a brown paper bag. Without a second thought, she reached for her backpack, and slung it over her shoulders, turning her full attention to Cardin.
He was now sitting down at his table with his posse of boys. They seemed to be laughing at something, or someone.
Yang felt a hand grab one of her one, and she quickly glanced back to find Blake's concerned gaze. "You're not going to do what I think you want to do, right?" she asked, now sharing the same suspicious expression as the rest of their group of friends.
Yang raised an eyebrow of her own, but her confusion quickly turned to realization as her eyes widened at her friends. "W-what? No. Not yet, at least. He'll get his all in due time. I'm going to go talk to Weiss."
"Ghost girl likes to talk to you, huh?" Sun playfully added.
Yang merely shook her head disapprovingly at the nickname. "I swear, if you call her that when she's with us, I will sock you. Only reason I'm not right now is because we're in public." Yang smirked, now pulling out her phone from her back pocket turning it in her hand to show off. "I texted Weiss asking where she was, and she texted me back, so now I'm off. Adieu, folks." She gave her friends a small smile and a two-finger salute as she bid them later.
"See ya' later, lover girl," Neptune's voice called out to Yang. Yang's head whipped back at Neptune's comment as she shot an extremely disapproving glare toward him, her head shaking in tandem.
Without watching where she had been going, she bumped into someone, taking her off-guard. "Shi—sorry," she stammered as she turned, only to freeze when she came face-to-face with Cardin.
He brushed his shoulder off and scowled. "Oh, of course, you're sorry. Maybe you should look at where you're going, you dumb bitch. You see this jacket? Worth more than your shitty family can afford."
Yang huffed and rolled her eyes, glancing back at her friends, who were now all standing and looking at her and Cardin in the middle of the cafeteria. It was as if the whole cafeteria had fallen silent.
"Whatever, Cardin, I don't have time for this." She knew better than to fall for his weak taunts, so she stepped to the side of him and walked off.
But not before he could return one last snide comment, loud enough for Yang to hear. "A dyke that no woman, not even her mother, could love. Talk about mommy issues. Fucking pathetic."
Yang froze a few feet past Cardin, her breathing hitched. Her fists clenched. She was just about ready to turn and give Cardin what he had rightfully deserved. But a buzz in her back pocket reminded her of her destination. It reminded her that someone was waiting for her. Someone far more important that Cardin.
So, she pressed forward.
Weiss sat in her original spot in the empty home economics room, no longer needing the change of rooms. She had since found contentment in her homey spot in this room. Now that they held each other's numbers, it made things a lot easier, as Yang had usually warned Weiss when she was coming.
Today, for example, Yang had asked where she was, and while Yang probably already knew where she was, Weiss liked that Yang always kept to the common courtesy of asking. And today, it seemed like Weiss would have a little visit from Yang, something she had come to welcome.
A few minutes had passed and the door opened, Weiss immediately turning to see Yang at the door.
Yang's face sported a small, unusually weak grin. "Hey, Weiss." Her tone was… different. It wasn't her usual cheery and happy go-lucky tone that Weiss had gotten used to. Weiss could tell that Yang was clearly trying to put up an untroubled front. Yang approached Weiss, now seating herself beside her.
Weiss quickly began to sign, wanting to get to the bottom of her friend's strange behavior. 'Hey Yang, is everything…' She hesitated to sign the next few words. Did she have the privilege to pry and ask Yang what was wrong? She had to ask. Weiss had considered Yang her friend. And friends cared for one another. 'Is everything alright?'
Yang seemed to stumble over her words, incoherent sounds leaving her mouth which were quickly replaced by a very obviously-fake grin. "W-what? Yeah, I'm totally fine." She seemed to wave it off completely as she nervously scratched the back of her head.
Weiss didn't want to persist on the subject, she wasn't as gungho as Yang, but that certainly didn't mean she didn't care for Yang. So, she simply nodded, knowing that whatever was going on in Yang's mind was affecting her negatively.
"Anyway, I wanted to ask… Do you wanna have a sleepover? I know it's kind of silly, two teenage girls having a dumb sleepover, but I swear it'll be a good time. We can watch movies and… oh! I was hoping you'd teach me some more sign language. That'd be cool and fun, too, right?" Yang, in her normal tone, seemed to babble on as she usually had with Weiss. "It'll be just me and you… Well, my sister will be home and maybe my dad, too, but they won't bother us too much if you're afraid it's too many people"
Weiss suppressed a chuckle and waited for Yang to finish her excitable babbling. Weiss had never been to a sleepover, as she had never been allowed to do anything that was considered fun. But that was then, and this was now. Everything was different, everything was better.
She smiled at Yang, now nodding and signing, her mouth silently mimicking her hand movements. 'Yeah, I'll go. Sounds like a lot of fun.'
Yang's grin seemed to be genuine, now. Whatever that had been on Yang's mind had been completely taken away by Weiss's own affirmation. Weiss's heart momentarily skipped a beat. She had the ability to bring out Yang's real smile? Now that… that was something else.
Whenever Yang had smiled at Weiss, there was something about Yang's smile that made Weiss feel… weak. Weiss never wanted to see Yang's smile fade. Whatever Yang's previous negative feeling was, Weiss decided that she would eventually get to the bottom of it. But for now, she enjoyed the brightness of Yang's smile, and the fact that she had been the one to bring it on.
Yang nodded. "How about tonight? It is a Friday, and I know it's short notice, but I'm not Yang Xiao Long if I'm not a little spontaneous." She winked, finally seeming to be back to her old self.
Weiss nodded again, signing and mouthing, 'Don't worry. It's not like I have anything else planned. I'll walk to your house and I'll be there around six, if that's okay?' She paused and thought about if she was missing anything else. 'Do I need to bring anything?'
Yang listened and tried signing along as she spoke. "You can bring extra clothes. PJs. Everything else, I will provide." Yang ended with a thumb's up. She pulled out her phone, now checking the time. "I'll see you tonight… oh, and at the bus stop." She stood up, now exiting the classroom as lunch was almost over. Yang left with her usual wave and grin at the door. Weiss, now smiling back at her, waved a hearty goodbye.
The rest of Weiss's day had gone about as well as one might think it would with Cardin in her final class. Surprisingly, Weiss was in high spirits even as Cardin had 'accidentally' pushed her into another student while walking out of the class. Even if she had stumbled, she had a sunny smile to look forward to. Someone who would ease her day.
She passed by a brightly-smiling Yang who had always caught her attention. A blush seemed to creep along Yang's face as Blake had seemed to remark something that Weiss couldn't hear.
Yang had glanced over at Weiss, and Weiss now couldn't help but let a small blush overtake her. But why? It didn't matter for now. She had to go home and get ready.
Weiss knocked on the door of the Xiao Long home. She swallowed down her usual nerves, telling herself to not be worried. It was just Yang… and her sister and father. Weiss's momentary curiosity had her questioning about Yang's mother. She shook the thought away. With her backpack snuggly on her back, she rocked back and forth on her heels as she waited for someone to open the door.
She heard footsteps coming from the otherside of the door. She stood still now, patiently waiting for Yang.
As the door opened, she smiled, but the smile was quickly replaced by a look of confusion.
Weiss was met with a toothy grin coming from an unfamiliar face. Baby blue eyes meeting… glimmering silver? The girl was a few inches taller than her, her hair was short and black with tints of red. Did… she live here, too? Yang did mention a sister. But this girl looked nothing like Yang.
"WEISS!" she exclaimed loudly while nearly tackling her with a hug. "You're hereeeee! It's so good to meet you!"