The movie life

Chapter 3

"Thanks Ren," I said gratefully. "You saved me a bunch with this." Ren nodded and headed away.

To be honest, I actually didn't expect for things to work out this well. After messaging Pyrrha she got Ren to help me out. He came in, gave me a change of clothes and the towel.

Just like that.

Huh, weird. My life is usually messier than that. Not going to complain of course but I sort of expected someone unrelated to barge in. Then my face would turn red in embarrassment. Then we wouldn't be able to face each other without remembering the incident then that would lead to some other development.

Well that sort of cliché event only happens in stories anyway. This is real life, not some television show.

I arrived back on the stage with a smile on my face. Despite the clumsy start I've really been enjoying acting. Putting yourself in someone else's shoes and giving that character life. It was enthralling on a level I never experienced before. Fighting off Grimm doesn't even compare, well actually it's more fairer to say battling Grimm brings about a different excitement. Nevertheless, I can admit when the competition is over I'm going to miss these days.

I was the last one to arrive back. Ren and Nora were busy with some stage props. They were in charge of building them as well as stage effects. Nothing against Nora but I wouldn't really trust her with special effects. She'll probably make a smoke bomb strong enough to engulf the whole of Beacon. Good thing Ren is there to reign her in.

Ruby spotted my arrival and dashed her way with her semblance. A trail of wind and petals were left in her wake.

"Jaune! Just in time. Blake's ready to go so get up there and go act." Her sunshine enthusiasm will never cease to improve my mood. I gave her my confident smile #14, hopefully there won't be any other trouble.

Yang entered my field of view. I came to a sudden halt at what I saw.

Yang, noticing my staring, raised an eyebrow at me.

"You got something to say Jaune?" Her tone was friendly but I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that if I say the wrong thing about her hair she'll cheerfully stick my head through a wall.

"Uh, nice hair?" I honestly prefer the blonde to the black hair she's now sporting. Not that it's bad or anything but it's like eating sugar and then finding out it tastes completely bitter. The shock to my expectations just grounded my senses to a stop.

"Are you being sarcastic?"

I feel like I'm hanging on a cliff with one arm here.

"No! It's just...different. I mean, I reckon that blonde suits you more. Blonde goes well with your personality. Just seeing you with black hair, well it's strange."

"Strange?"

"Good strange" I replied quickly. "Very good strange, like best kind of strange."

She held her intense gaze and I could feel sweat forming on my forehead.

"Ah Jaune, I'm just kidding with you." She threw an arm around my shoulders. She's heavy.

Not that I'll admit that to her. I value my life after all.

"I prefer my awesome blonde hair as well, but you saw how convincing Ruby can be."

Yeah, no kidding. If this was some cliché high school show, she would have a fan club filled with her devoted followers. Actually that sounds more like Pyrrha. It's not obvious but I could tell the awe of the other students when she walks by. Now that I think about it, she probably does have a fan club back in Mistral. Maybe she has one in Vale as well.

We had to end our conversation after that. We got a movie to film.

Spoke (or thought?) too soon. As Blake got on the stage the double doors blasted open revealing Cardin and his crew behind him. A gust of wind blew into the room and their hair ruffled along with it.

He scanned through our group before his eyes settled on me.

"Jaune Arc!" Cardin voice echoed throughout the stage. "I challenge you!"

To a card game? Jokes aside, what did he mean by that? To a spar maybe? I've improved a lot thanks to Pyrrha but I'm not on the level where I could easily defeat him.

"To what!?" I echoed back.

He very slowly pointed at me. "You're the lead in a movie. I'm a lead in a movie. You might had bested me in that forest, but being a hunter isn't all about fighting. It's about charisma. It's about convincing the audience you're a step above the others. Jaune Arc, I will prove to you that I am superior to you in that aspect."

That was such a grandiose speech for something so small. Also just for the record, I'm way more charming than Cardin. Like, it's not even fair to compare us together. I have more than twice the amount of girls who are friends with me than he does with a tangible relationship with any girl, and that includes antagonistic ones.

"And how would we even compete? It's not like there's a universal protagonist scale we could use."

He shook his head. "Tut tut, Jaune I thought you were smarter than that. At the award ceremony there's going to be a winner on best leading actor. I think you see where I'm going with this."

"You want to see which of us gets that prize?"

"Preciously. Winner gets bragging rights!" Damn, I better win this. I don't think I could deal with Cardin's postulating his superiority for the rest of my school year "While I'm at it I might as well defeat your team's movie in the best picture award."

Ruby's pride insulted, she indignantly marched to the front of our group.

"No way is your team going to beat us!" She pointed directly in Cardin's face. "Team RWBY and JNPR are gonna rock the ceremony away."

"Ohoho, this one thinks she something else." Cardin nudged Russel in the side. Russel broke out into over-hyped laughter. I wonder if they practised that, there's no way someone can laugh that artificially without preparation.

"You'll see! Oh and I found out about your little sabotage in our scripts." Ruby smirked. So they were the ones responsible. Wait, what did Blake do to 'deal' with them?

"Hm? Fixed it already huh? No problem, we don't need to cheat to win. Especially if the director is a pint-sized squirt."

"Why you-"

"Don't worry about it Ruby." Blake voice rang clearly. She had a hand on Ruby's shoulder preventing her from moving forward. "I've already exacted the necessary punishment for thinking they could take advantage of us."

Cardin eyes widened then narrowed then widened again. Jeez, he must take eye exercises seriously.

Cardin gripped his hands tightly. "What did you do?"

"You'll find out." she answered in deathly tone. "Now leave. Unlike you we're actually busy with things."

Whoo, go Blake, that was badass.

Cardin sneered before retreating. He shot one last glare at me as he left. His teammates followed behind like trained robots.

"I can't take it anymore!" shouted Ruby. "Jaune, this has to be a masterpiece. There's no way I'm losing to him."

I raised both my hands up to prevent her from getting closer. "OK OK, I got it." Why is she picking on me?

She nodded quickly. "Good. Everybody into positions. We're going to nail this scene."

We all gave our agreement and soon the camera rolled on. Pyrrha wished me a good luck and I thanked her for it. Hmm, I should get her something nice.

She deserves it.

I turned to face Blake. Ren had already set the lights to grey scale. Last time she dispersed in a puff of smoke and said something about clones, hopefully we're going to get this down to a T. Right focus Jaune. Visualise the moment.

...

...

"Well you pegged me as the right guy then." I replied gruffly. "How did you know I took this case. Barely hours had gone past and here you are."

"...I have my ways."

"Well isn't that ominous." I stared into her wild yellow eyes. They say the eyes are a window to the soul and I couldn't agree more. This girl had too many emotions running in her eyes. Was it fear? Anticipation? Hatred? I wasn't sure and I didn't want to find out.

"I'm not going to drop this case. My next meal is riding on this."

"Your next meal?" She grit her teeth hard enough I could hear scraping. "Jaune, your life is at stake. Don't do this. This case has too many spiders in it, too many animals have sunk their teeth in."

I stopped to look at her, really look at her. I gazed at her form and she froze like a statue.

More importantly than her warning...

Where did I hear her voice before?

Somewhere deep in the locked up memories of mine, a creaky recollection stirred. I don't typically dwell in my past, too many bad memories, but this girl, whoever she is, evokes a strong nostalgia in me.

It was a feeling I deeply missed.

"Who are you?" I asked flatly. A simple three word question that held so much meaning to me if only because of these twisting emotions inside of me.

"No one important." she softly whispered. The gentle breeze caressed her bow and I felt the flutter of a spark in my heart.

"That bull!" Some dogs barked in the background but I paid it no heed. Not when this is happening. "There's no way that's true. I know you from somewhere. Somewhere important."

She smiled a sad smile. "It's fine if you don't remember. Just know that I care about you, and I'm telling you to drop this case."

I went over to reach her. To search that lost recollection.

And she jumped away out of my reach and out of my hands.

"Stay safe." she said.

I watched her retreating figure until she became indistinguishable from shadows.

"Just who are you?"

The freezing wind blew at me in response.

...

...

"Guys? You're not saying anything?" Was my performance bad? I put my all into this. I don't want to disappoint them.

"That was amazing!" "Good Job!" "We'll break their legs!"

All at once, they shouted their compliments. I couldn't help but flush over the praise.

Throughout my life I hadn't really ever been praised over anything. Too average in some areas or just downright horrible in others, well except dancing I guess. People never expected much from me. I'm too much of a Joe Schmoe even if I'm from the Arc family.

"Hmph, that wasn't too bad." Weiss complimented, actually complimented me.

I-I, damn I'm not going to cry.

Damn it I'm crying.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha's alarmed voice jerked my head up.

"It's nothing guys. Just I'm glad I met all of you."

We done some more filming after that. Needless to say, we had a blast and it wasn't until late at night we finished.

I was walking down the dimly lit hallway by myself. The others had already packed up and headed off to their dorms for some well deserved rest.

I glimpsed a figure ahead of me and it wasn't until she passed the dull lights that I recognised her.

"Velvet!" The second year startled and turned swiftly towards me.

"Oh Jaune. You surprised me. How are you?"

"Not too bad. We just had a good day filming for the movie competition. You wouldn't expect it from her but Ruby is surprising good at writing scripts. I was really shocked when she asked me for the lead role, but I gave it a try. I have to say it's a great feeling just standing there in front of a crowd capturing their interests."

"You're entering the competition? My team is doing so as well. I didn't want to play a role, but Coco brought me around to it."

Wonder what role Velvet is going to play. She seems the sort to play a supporting character so I guess she'll stick to that role. "Wow! What's you movie going to be about?"

Her bunny ears drooped and she leaned in. Her hand cupped over her mouth. "Sorry can't say." she whispered. "Top secret. Coco forbid everyone from mentioning it. Don't worry, you'll get your chance to see it at the award ceremony."

Fair enough, Ruby didn't want us to spill the beans for our movie either.

We made some more small talk, and she left when she realised how late it was.

I wonder how many other teams are entering the competition.

AN: So I finally decided what I'm going to do with this story. Each team will cover a genre in their movie. Jaune will be crime/mystery in film noir style. CRDL, CFVY, SSSN and Cinder's group will each have their own movie in their own genre. What the genre is for them? You'll have to wait for me to update to find out.