One by one, graded tests were handed back to each student.
Marked in red at the top corners were percentages. Almost every student received their long-awaited grade by this point. And finally, Ms. Goodwitch proudly lowered the tests to Ruby, and then to Yang.
"Ninety-five," Yang said for her friends to hear, which caused them to turn around in their chairs. "Looks like hard work paid off."
"I got a ninety-seven," Ruby said to compare grades and looked at her girlfriend. "What'd you get?"
"Same as Yang."
"So we all got A's!" Ruby cheered, then looked at Weiss. "You definitely got an A."
Quiet, Weiss sat in her seat as she watched the teacher.
The suspense gradually rose as Ms. Goodwitch headed toward her. When Weiss received the paper, she stuffed it into her backpack.
"Ice princess," Yang called endearingly, noting she hid the test. "What'd you get?"
From the question, Weiss internally scowled. She didn't want her friends or girlfriend to know her grade, but they wanted to compare. They gave her innocent smiles in anticipation of some good news. However, the last thing Weiss wanted to do was lie. She'd done that enough to these wonderful girls.
Not having much of a choice, Weiss reluctantly yanked out the paper and handed her girlfriend the graded quiz.
"You got a C?!" Yang almost yelped.
Weiss harshly whispered. "Don't announce it for the whole class to hear."
Interested, Blake swiped the grade test and mumbled as her cat ears stood stiffly. "A seventy-nine…"
Her words told Weiss that she indeed did calculate correctly. She knew every single answer and which questions to get wrong for that grade. While the faunus examined the test, Ruby and Yang wanted answers.
Ruby whispered to the side, where her friend sat. "What happened? I thought you read it?"
Not having an answer, Weiss only sighed. She really didn't want to lie to them.
Yang gazed down at the paper and noted one question that she knew her girlfriend should have gotten correct. "You literally quoted that paragraph to me and you got it wrong?"
"It's been a long week," came the immediate excuse.
Yang looked dumbfounded. "It's Monday."
"And it's been a long week," Weiss stood her ground and looked away.
From her reaction, Yang was beyond confused. She looked to Ruby, who shrugged, at a loss.
From the repeated phrase, Blake's cat ears flicked wildly.
That's what she said last time, Blake thought in suspicion. Back when she barely passed that math quiz.
She began to wonder if that was her friend's normal grades, but that was unlikely. The last time she heard, Yang said she could have a photographic memory. For some odd reason, her grades could be intentional.
But who would want to get Cs for grades? And on purpose? That's really strange.
Suspicious, Blake gazed to her right directly at Weiss, who stared the test in her grasp.
Wait a second...
Interest piqued, Blake performed a few calculations. She took the number of questions Weiss got right divided by the total number of questions. The answer totaled to an exact high C at seventy-nine percent.
Golden orbs whipped from the paper to that stoic poker face next to her.
The last thing Weiss needed was to stand out with her grades. She was here to blend in and live a normal life. Away from her father. Not stand out from the crowd and unintentionally become an honor student.
Typically, honor students received a shout-out in the directory or yearbook. Their names were published within the district at the very least. If her name was published, even if her last name was fake, there was a chance her father could find her faster.
The only solution was for her to receive aggressively average grades. She'd spent the entire semester so far, carefully calculating what grades on which tests she needed to stay average.
"Did you do this on purpose?" Blake finally asked.
It was slight, but azure pools widened. When Weiss spoke, her pitch rose a few octaves in surprise. "Pardon?"
She's caught off guard, Blake observed. I don't think she expected me to figure her out, much less ask.
Due to her surprise, Blake explained her reasoning. "You got six wrong for a high C. And you definitely knew the answers to a good chunk of these."
"Yeah," Yang agreed. "You really knew your stuff whenever I quizzed you."
Annoyed by their interrogation, Weiss grabbed her test. "Fine. I might not be the best at taking tests. Is that what you want to hear?"
She got defensive, Blake thought, watching her face warp to a scowl. Typically if people jump to being defensive, then they are innocent. Those are the statistics. Either she didn't plan this, or she did and wants to drop the conversation. Something in my gut tells me it's the ladder.
"Hey, no judgment," Yang put her hands up in surrender. "Blake can't handle coffee, Rubes can't handle sugar, you can't handle tests, people can't handle this," she gestured to her whole body. "We all have our flaws."
Annoyed, Ruby groaned. "Oh my god, shut up, Yang. I can have one cup."
From the change of conversation, Blake watched Weiss smile. She was probably grateful they moved on from the subject.
We know something haunts her, Blake thought, thinking about her estranged behavior in the past and the dyed hair. She tried to piece together the puzzle. Are her grades somehow linked? Is this another piece that can tell us something?
"... One cup," Yang elaborated to her sister. "Then you turn into this little twitching gremlin."
That pulled Blake out of her reverie. From the image, she almost giggled. She noticed her girlfriend was even more annoyed and attempted to ease her.
"The cutest twitching gremlin."
"That makes it so much better. Thank you, Blake. For that."
Lovingly, Blake held onto Ruby's cheek for only a moment. She didn't like public displays of affection. Especially not in a classroom. Ruby enjoyed her touch before she reluctantly leaned away.
In the front of the classroom, Ms. Goodwitch announced the good news.
"All of you passed. You leave me no choice but to bring you pizza tomorrow."
Cheers of victory erupted and could be heard down the hallway.
Like a rocket, the ball shot over the net.
Determined to return the ball to the other side, Pyrrha bumped it high in the air. Her forearms burned from the spike, which was lit by the blonde inferno.
"Nice save!" Ilia encouraged as she set the ball up for another spike.
When it was high, Blake rushed over and raised an arm to return it.
Not this time, Yang, Blake thought as she jumped. Today's the day I wipe that smirk off your face.
While Blake angled her body to make it look like the ball would dive toward Yang, she flicked her wrist to the side at the last possible moment. The ball narrowly dodged the unsuspecting Nora's arms and dropped to the side.
"Wha…" Nora mumbled as she stared at the rolling ball.
In defeat, Neo grabbed the ball and heaved a sigh.
Their team was almost speechless. From the impressive play, Yang looked dumbfounded. That was the final point of today's mock match.
"Nice spike, Blake! You fooled me!" Yang chirped.
Proudly, Pyrrha and Ilia gave her fist bumps.
"You finally put Yang in her place," Ilia commented, not loudly enough for the other team to hear.
"She scored on me all last week," Blake smirked. "It's about time."
"Your body language trickery was superb," Pyrrha praised. "If we all get good enough at that, we'll win every game. Even the upcoming one."
"I learned from the best, captain," Blake gave her a smile.
After the comment, the entire volleyball team gathered at the net since the practice was almost over. Briefly, Pyrrha glanced at the clock on the wall and then the whole team.
"Good job today, team. Neo, keep practicing that jump. You get higher every day, I see it. Nora, work on controlling your spikes. The power is there, but the direction can be improved. Ilia, you can be more aggressive at blocking. The ball won't bite you."
Yang saw this as her chance to tease her. "Suck it up and get hit in the face once in a while like the rest of us."
That earned a few laughs.
"Yang," Pyrrha began in a mischievous tone. "It'd be nice if you showed up to practice more often."
More laughs. She had that coming to her.
"I won't get another detention," Yang reassured them. "At least not for the rest of the semester. No promises on the next."
Pyrrha only breathed more air out of her nose than usual. "Blake, keep doing what you've been doing. I'd like to see more of those plays in the future."
When the constructive criticism was done, the team jogged into the locker room. Before Pyrrha could join the team, Yang grabbed her arm and they stayed by the net.
Now alone, Yang wiggled her brows. "Anything you wanna tell us, Pyr?"
It looked like Pyrrha took a moment to think. Like she was in trouble. "Tell you what?"
Blake glanced around and was satisfied that no one was there. "About you and Jaune. Is it a secret?"
From the revelation, Pyrrha blushed. "H-how did you…?"
"You sly minx," Yang teased and kept her voice low. "Me and Weiss were at the Tanglewild Gardens on Friday."
"O-oh," Pyrrha stammered.
"I'm glad you finally came to your senses," Yang said happily. "He's a great guy."
"He really is," Pyrrha agreed and whispered. Since they were in the gym, echo was easy. "We'd like to keep this to ourselves, at least for now. Word travels fast in this school."
"Definitely, I understand," Blake nodded in agreement. "Your secret's safe with us. Ruby and I aren't exactly hiding our relationship, but we don't flaunt it, either."
Last week, Blake told her team about her new relationship. So they were aware before most of the school. Meanwhile, Yang and Weiss didn't care who knew. It was actually a relief to get that out in the open so the boys would stop hitting on them.
Gradually, Ruby and Weiss walked over to the group after the tech club finished.
"What're we all whispery about?" Ruby asked, curious. From their poker faces, she knew and mumbled. "Ah, you and Jaune, right?"
Unamused, Pyrrha glared at Yang.
"We're the only people in this school that know," Yang retorted. "Look at it this way, if people find out, you know who to blame! Unless Jaune somehow lets it slip, which I can totally see him doing."
"Very true," Pyrrha had to agree and looked at the new arrivals. "How's your drone coming along? Penny told me you two are making the smallest one in the club."
"It's great!" Ruby chirped. "We decided to implement a tracker in case it gets lost when we fly it."
Weiss backed her up. "It's hard to see in general, much less spot in the air."
Confused, Pyrrha asked. "How does that even work?"
Weiss casually pulled out her phone. "It's connected to the radio controller transmitter, so even if we don't have our phones, we can still find the drone."
"That would suck to lose," Yang commented.
"Absolutely."
Standy dandy,
~Toto