Chapter 10: First Day Of School
'Sup groupies, it's your (probably) favorite author here, The Driagg. Now, going through the regular motions here before we start, I'm obligated to tell all of you that I don't own anything, like RWBY or any media I put in here. But, I'm sure you knew that already. With the normal, bland intro out of the way, let's roll!
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"This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory! ERUPTING! BURNING! FINGER!" Yang shouted as the burst of flame out of her fist roasted the piece of bread she was aiming at. She insisted on making breakfast for the rest of Team RWBY before they were to head off on their first assignment that Monday morning. However, Yang was having some trouble making the toast. Seeing the black, charred remains of the bread, Yang sighed and dumped it with the rest of her failed attempts.
Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were pretty damned hungry right now. Yang insisted on having the toast with the rest of what she made, which was just a bunch of scrambled eggs. By now, they had grown cold due to Yang's failure at a simple task.
"You know, you could just use the toaster right over there," a thoroughly annoyed Weiss said for the fifth time already.
"Where's the fun in that? Just be patient, I think I got it this time," Yang said over her shoulder.
As Yang continued to recite her mantra and burn innocent pieces of bread, Mr. Brass and Ms. Han walked into the kitchen.
"Okay, who lit something on fire?" Mr. Brass immediately asked. Team RWB simultaneously looked in Yang's direction.
Ms. Han, on the other hand, reached into the failure pile and bit into a piece of half-ashen toast. "Tastes fine to me. Maybe it needs some peanut butter!" she said with her mouth full. By now, nobody was surprised that she didn't mind eating burned food. Why wouldn't she?
As Ms. Han scrounged around the pantry for the spread, Mr. Brass walked over to the pan of eggs and served himself a plate. Yang shot him an annoyed glare, but didn't stop him. Yang was having enough problems making toast, she didn't need to argue with Mr. Brass right now.
Eating the eggs, Mr. Brass commented, "It's cold,". He shrugged and kept on eating. He just couldn't have a smoke for breakfast, after all.
"Hey, kiss the chef, don't put her down," Yang grumbled before trying to flash toast another piece of bread.
"Whatever. Anyway, all of you kids need to eat up. We're leaving in a bit, and we need you on your A-game today," Mr. Brass said to Team RWB.
"Yang isn't done cooking…" Ruby mumbled.
Wordlessly, Mr. Brass walked over to the pantry, pushed Ms. Han out of the way, and grabbed a box of toaster pastries. He then walked over to the table and tossed the box in the general direction of the team.
"Regards from the chef," Mr. Brass said dryly. Seeing no better option, Team RWB dug into the pastry box. An obscene number of insults were muttered under Yang's breath as she continued to incinerate bread. Nobody paid them any heed.
"Anyway, like I was saying, as soon as you're done here, get into your costumes. It'd be easier if you just wore them over there, instead of having to change," Mr. Brass explained.
"Right!" piped up Ms. Han, "And, be sure to go over your lines once more on the way over!". Then she spread some peanut butter on a piece of burnt bread and shoved the entire thing in her mouth.
"Yeah, sure," Bake absently replied.
"Of course," Weiss said.
Ruby settled for nodding, as she had about two packs of pastries hanging out of her mouth.
"Chew, Ruby," advised Weiss before taking a bite of her pastry.
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Later, after the team got ready, they climbed into the van. As the group pulled out of the driveway and down the street, Weiss had a simple question to ask.
"What school are we going to?" she questioned.
Ms. Han, who was in the front passenger seat, replied with, "Oh, Swaile Memorial Middle School. Why do you ask?".
"Well, I've never heard of it," Weiss said.
"I get it, I get it. Well, it isn't exactly in the types of neighborhood I would expect you to visit," Ms. Han drawled.
Now this made Weiss nervous. "Wh-what type of neighborhood?"
Mr. Brass decided to answer that question. "One that you would call 'economically disadvantaged'. It makes sense that we would go there first. After all, desperate people are more willing to do stupid stuff with dust,".
Weiss audibly gulped. She was going to the ghetto? No! No no no no no no no no no no NO! Did these people have any idea what type of hooligans lived there?! She could be stabbed! Or robbed! Or even worse! And it was hard to tell who was a fiend or not, since all of them wore suspicious clothing, like hoodies or sagging pants! She was being tossed into the fire here!
"Uh, Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby asked, noting Weiss' blank stare looking dead ahead. That, and the layer of sweat pouring down her forehead.
"I'm fine," answered Weiss, not leveling her gaze at Ruby. Her terror levels were reaching new heights right about now. With her luck she would be mugged or something.
Well, she would find out as soon as she got there.
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Swaile Memorial Middle School was located in one of the poorer parts of Vale City. It had a rather high rate of not only crime and low household incomes, but hosted a large population of Faunus people as well. It was only natural, as the Faunus still weren't as respected as Humans.
The Van of Infinite Charity pulled into the school's parking lot, and its passengers hopped out. Well, that statement applied less to Weiss, who shuffled nervously out of the van. Every minute she was here, the chances of her being robbed or worse increased in her mind.
"Well, we're off to the principal's office to let them know we're here," Mr. Brass said, gesturing to Ms. Han and himself. "You guys should go over to the auditorium to wait for us. It's on the other side of the school," Mr. Brass ordered.
As the older duo walked away, Team RWBY was left standing in the parking lot, alone.
"Well… let's go, I guess," Yang said. Nodding, Ruby pulled on her hood. It just felt natural for her to do so. However, as she turned to leave with Blake and Yang, Ruby noticed that Weiss was still standing nervously by the van.
Ruby put her hand on Weiss' shoulder and said, "Hey—" before being cut off by a scared Weiss.
All Weiss was able to see in her panic was the hood pulled over the person who grabbed her shoulder's head. "Oh god! A bloody hoodie!". She then yanked her wallet out of her pocket. "Just take it! Take all my lien! Just please, don't stab me!" Weiss cried in terror as she held out the wallet in front of her.
"Huh? I don't want your money," Ruby said, incredibly confused by Weiss' behavior.
Not noticing it was Ruby in her panic, Weiss said to the figure in front of her, "Th-that m-means… oh no!". She immediately covered her fully clothed chest. "If you touch me, I'll scream!" she threatened.
"Weiss, what are you saying?" Ruby asked, completely perplexed.
"How do you know my name?! Did you kidnap my family?!" Weiss screeched.
"Who are you even talking to?" Ruby said, looking around. Nobody else was in the parking lot. As she moved her head, the hood fell down, revealing Ruby's face.
Weiss was thoroughly embarrassed as she saw her error. In her panic, she had accused Ruby, her girlfriend, of robbery, assault, and kidnapping over the course of two minutes. Man, she was losing her mind being around here.
"I-I thought you were some… some hooligan!" Weiss cried as she saw Ruby's face.
"You honestly thought I was some criminal, eh?" noted Ruby. Weiss nodded in response, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Must be the hood," Ruby thought out loud.
"C-can we just go already? I don't feel safe out here," Weiss pleaded. Ruby nodded, and they made their way into the school.
Weiss kept close to Ruby as they walked through the halls. Just because she wasn't under assault in the parking lot, that didn't mean that it couldn't happen in here!
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Meanwhile, further into the school, Yang and Blake were walking together, taking in the sights. And these sights weren't very pretty. The best way to describe this school in one word would be dingy. The floors were an ugly shade of brown, and the lockers had grime on the edges, in addition to the graffiti scrawled on them.
"Well, I must admit this was exactly what I expected," Yang said, trying to read some of the graffiti as they passed the lockers. Huh, apparently you should call someone named Jolyne for a good time, according to one message written in marker.
"It's like what my old White Fang acquaintances said it was like," Blake noted in agreement.
"Small wonder they sent us here," Yang also said.
Blake replied, "No kidding,".
All that could be heard after that was the squeaking of the pair's shoes on linoleum as they made their way to the auditorium.
After a few more minutes of walking, they reached a double-door with the words AUDITORIUM stenciled above them. In a rather crude attempt at humor, someone tried to change the second 'I' with a 'C'. How mature of them.
Entering through the doors, Yang and Blake's low expectations were met in the manner they expected. It wasn't as much as an auditorium, as it was a multi-purpose room with dozens of rows of folding chairs set up. The stage at the front of the room was rather worn, and its age was showing quite badly. So much for education funding.
"Well, we're here. What now?" Yang asked.
Blake shrugged. "To the stage, I guess," suggested Blake.
Yang began to walk forward to the stage, only to jump back when a mouse scurried in front of her path. "Ass!" she swore. Blake giggled at the sight of Yang being surprised by a mouse.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up over there. If I wasn't here, I bet you would eat it," grumbled Yang.
"Whatever," Blake chuckled as she walked over to the stage as well.
Behind them, the doors swung open, and Weiss and Ruby joined them in the auditorium.
"How… rustic," Weiss said as she looked around. That was probably the most generous thing she could say about the room.
"What do you mean? It's a dump!" Ruby said. Weiss' elbow collided with Ruby's side.
"Don't be rude, Ruby. They might hear us," Weiss quickly said, nervously looking around. She honestly expected another hooded roughian to jump out at her at any moment. Instead, what she got was a roach crawling onto her shoe.
"EEK!" Weiss squeaked as she shook the bug off of her foot. This place was just getting worse and worse by the minute.
Immediately after the roach was kicked off of her footwear, Weiss tried to regain her composure. "H-how nice of them to respect natural wildlife," she said as her gaze frantically darted around.
"What's her deal?" Yang asked as she climbed up the stairs on the side of the stage.
"She thinks she's going to get mugged," Ruby explained.
"Think?! Look around, Ruby! It's- a wonderful educational center," Weiss said as she caught herself about to say an insult. Hopefully the hidden hoodies would accept her statement as goodwill. Weiss knew they were hiding, waiting for the moment to strike. They were pretty much impoverished ninjas.
"Come now Weiss, that's being disingenuous," Blake said from the stage.
"I'm not, I love the poor," Weiss quickly said. This time, Yang joined Blake in her now regular eye rolling.
"Whatever. Just come up here," offered Yang.
Ruby and Weiss did just that, and made their way up the stage. The now assembled Team RWBY looked over the sea of empty, worn chairs. In about an hour or so, they would be filled with students, whether they were willing to watch them or not. It made no difference to Team RWBY, as they had to perform regardless. The audience could ignore them all they pleased.
"I guess we wait now," Ruby suggested. With that, she walked towards the backstage area to wait for Mr. Brass and Ms. Han to show up. It was all they could really do, because they had left their scripts in the van.
Seeing no better option, Team WBY followed their leader backstage.
Their first performance was finally at hand now.
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Who's ready for a performance? I bet all of you readers are! Get ready for the impending train wreck/gift unto man! Just remember to stay tuned for the next installment, only available here for your viewing pleasure! And leave a friendly review for me down below! This is The Draigg, signing off for now!