A/N: This chapter has an optional song accompaniment for those of you who are interested. If you are, go to (You)Tube and look up "Ukulele weeps" by James Shimabukuro and hit play when the song comes up in the chapter. You'll know that it's the right video if it has over 15 million views.
Enjoy!
X
-Weiss-
The house was perfectly warm, but Weiss felt her insides chill just the slightest amount at Olive's question. In hindsight she should've been prepared for his sisters to be curious about any relationship between herself and Jaune, but right at that moment she was caught a bit off-guard. To her right, she saw that Jaune had almost resigned himself to this fate, so she decided to do the same for the moment. "We... met each other at Beacon. We're classmates, although we don't have any classes together this year."
Sapphire raised an eyebrow. "Just classmates? Really."
"Yes, really."
Olive leaned back in her seat, wearing a grin that was not unlike a predator knowing it had its prey trapped. "Then why does your name sound sooo familiar?"
Jaune seemed prepared for that question and jumped to answer it. "It's her last name on the electricity bill, you know? The Schnee Electric Company."
"Oh, Jaune." Weiss felt her toes curl from the sugar-coated words Olive was spilling. "We all figured that bit out in a heartbeat, but you know as well as we do that's not what I meant. Lavender, will you help me remember how that song went?"
Lavender rose from her chair, dramatically clearing her throat before beginning to sing. "Weiss Schneeee, will you accompany meeee-"
Jaune practically jumped up from his chair. "OKAY! Okay! This is her, just... please don't bring that song up again."
For Weiss's part, the admittedly bad tune came with a sense of nostalgia, tinged with no small amount of shame. It reminded her of when she was convinced that Jaune was the kind of guy who only wanted to be with her for her money and influence. After coming to grips with him being Crescent, as well as his actions ever since finding her in the rain, she knew that he was not at all the type of boy to do that.
'Actually,' she mused, 'since he isn't some miscreant, I wonder why Jaune was so persistent with getting my attention last year?'
A question for later.
Her attention returned to the present just in time, because Sapphire had turned to look at her and was asking, "So I get that you aren't actually going out with big bro here, but what did you think of that song when he wrote and sang it for you?"
There was no point in denying what happened, but she made sure to at least keep her tone gentle. "I was less than impressed and rejected him."
"Ow!" Jaune made an exaggerated gesture out of holding his chest like he'd been shot. The Arc girls giggled a bit, which was soon followed by Jaune himself having a brief laugh. "It really was awful, wasn't it? I'm so sorry for putting you through that."
Weiss waved the apology away. "As you said before, it's in the past. There's no use dwelling on it."
Jade, who had remained silent up to this point, pulled out a notebook and began writing something down. Once she was finished, she said, "It is rather humorous how things come around. First Jaune crushes on you, then he starts bragging about that Crystal girl. After that he has a quote 'not-date' with Yang, and now we've taken you in as a guest."
"Don't forget," added Lavender, "that he's going to the dance with that Pyrrha girl. Jaune's going places in his romantic life."
The sudden influx of information surprised Weiss, causing her to look at Jaune and ask, rather inelegantly, "You've had a date with Yang?"
"It wasn't a date," he answered as he finally sat back down in his chair. "I was feeling down after I had a bad Saturday, and Yang took me to play some video games to cheer me up."
The mood around the table rapidly shifted to the grim side, and Olive looked Jaune dead in the eyes as she said, "You're sugar-coating it again. Say it properly: that Crystal bitch stood you up."
Weiss felt herself flinch from the sheer venom of the word, particularly so since they were talking about her.
"Olive." Jaune's tone was clear; he was issuing a warning. "I know that all of you are angry for my sake, but don't go badmouthing my friend so casually, especially with a guest here."
"Your friend? So you're really just willing to forgive her for abandoning you without a word?" Sapphire scoffed. "Today's Wednesday, so it's been... four whole days now? Has she messaged you at all?"
"That's not the point-"
"That's exactly the point," interrupted Jade. Unlike the others she had yet to raise her voice; however, that only added to the ice in her words. "You were wronged by her, and it's our job as your sisters to look out for you."
Jaune opened his mouth to retort, but instead opted to take a couple deep breaths and slow himself down. The fact that all of this tension was directly her fault was beginning to eat Weiss alive. "Look, you girls want the best for me; never doubt that I love you all so much for that. But it's my life, okay? Let me live it."
Plum stood up, causing everybody present to look at her in expectation; instead of speaking, however, she turned on her heel and walked out of the dining room. Olive took a deep breath of her own, although it didn't seem to calm her down much. Maybe the girl is naturally tense? "Fine, but we're allowed to have opinions of our own. The Arcs stick together, and as your sisters we aren't about to let somebody walk all over you."
"I know. Thank you." Jaune looked at Weiss and sighed. "I'm sorry you got caught up in that. We shouldn't have let our emotions run so high."
"A-all is forgiven. Let us shift to happier topics, shall we?" She felt pretty unsettled, and for multiple reasons now. Foremost was the fact that she'd been the cause of a major argument between Jaune and his sisters, but also the sheer hatred in his sisters voices as they talked about her...
As things stood right then, Crystal was not welcome in the Arc home. Her job of apologizing to Jaune had just become exponentially harder.
Wait, what was she supposed to be doing? Oh, happier topic. Right. "So, Lavender said that you're going to the dance with Pyrrha?"
Jaune's expression relaxed into something a bit more comfortable. "Yeah, she asked me to be her escort on Monday. Thank goodness my suit from last year still fits."
"Not to interrupt," said Plum as she did just that while sticking her head in around the doorway, "but there's a person named Klein here for Weiss. You all were so loud that only I heard him knocking on the door."
"Oh! Thank you, Plum." Rising from her chair, she made her way to the front door as the dance conversation continued behind her. As promised, Klein was standing in the entryway with two suitcases beside him, but Weiss ignored her belongings in favor of bringing the older man into a light hug.
Klein was surprised for only a moment before returning the gesture, his lips shifting into a smile as he pulled away. "I'm so glad that you're safe, Miss Schnee. I was so worried when you walked out into the storm like that."
"I know you were, and I apologize for causing you concern. I wasn't thinking, and..." Her voice drifted off, not quite sure how to continue the thought.
Klein shook his head. "As long as you're well, that's all that matters my dear. Now, as you instructed, I brought you two days worth of daily wear and school uniforms, as well as your books of course. And here-"
He reached into his jacket pocket, bringing out her phone and handing it over. "The charger is in one of the cases. It's likely a good thing that you left it, as being in the pouring rain might've ruined it."
"That's certainly true," she replied as she absentmindly entered her password. A brief moment later, she was looking at the messages she'd received on Beaconbook; messages that, as Sapphire correctly guessed, she still hadn't responded to. That would have to be corrected. "Thank you again, Klein."
"Ah, so you must be our new houseguest."
A new voice grabbed both of their attention, causing Weiss to turn to see who it was. An older woman was in the hallway, and when Weiss met her eyes she gave a motherly smile. The woman had wiry brown hair, but far more attention grabbing was how thin she was; as if a light breeze could knock her over. Her eyes were bright and attentive, however, so whatever has caused her to be so frail-looking must be purely physical. "I'm Juniper Arc. It's a pleasure to meet you both."
Weiss bowed her head a bit. "I am Weiss Schnee, and this man is Klein, a butler in my family's estate. Thank you so much for allowing me into your home."
Klein gave a considerably more pronounced bow. "Allow me extend my gratitude as well, Mrs. Arc."
The woman gave a light laugh. "There's no need to be so formal, but I accept your thanks regardless. If I may ask, how long are you expecting to need a place here?"
She felt her face fall a little. "I... I hope to be out of your home in a day or two, but I must confess that the problem at home probably won't be resolved. You see, I-"
Juniper gently raised a hand to cut her off. "While I don't know your story, I'm not so cruel as to make you explain yourself after what must've been a trying day. You may have the room for as little or as long as you need, but if it extends beyond this weekend I'm likely to give you a chore or two to do around the house. Take this time to figure out what you want to do."
"I see. Thank you again." It was a more generous offer than she'd expected, but it lined up with Vermilion's explanation of the Arc family's hospitality. She could only thank Oum for being able to find refuge with them.
Klein pulled out a pocket watch to check the time. "I need to head back to the estate now, but don't be afraid to call me again if you need me Ms. Schnee."
"I know, Klein. It was good to see you tonight." They shared another hug before he departed, and as he walked out to the car Weiss noticed that the rain had finally let up completely. It seemed fitting, in a way.
Mrs. Arc walked her to the guest bedroom, which was on the first floor and down the hall from the master bedroom. Weiss took a few moments to separate her belongings, and before long she had her clothes in the closet and her phone plugged in. Glancing at the open door to ensure that she was alone, she opened the Beaconbook app and composed a new message to Crescent. To Jaune.
Crystal: Crescent, first and foremost I am sorry. Sorry for leaving you with nary a clue as to what was happening in my life. What I did was inexcusable, no matter what my circumstances were.I regret to say that I cannot tell you in detail what has transpired since we last spoke, but I can tell you that I am okay now. Not great, but okay. I hope this message finds you well. Good night, and I hope you can still call me friend.
As she hit the send button and put her phone away, there was a light knock on the open door. Olive was standing there with a smile on her face and her arms crossed. "Sorry to bother you, Weiss, but we need your input on something."
"What is it?"
"This Pyrrha girl, how does she act around Jaune in school? Jaune seems convinced that there's nothing genuinely romantic between them and that they're just going as friends, but the way he described her behavior seems a little suspect."
"I'll tell you everything I've seen and know, but just to be clear: are you going to hold this over his head?"
"Maybe." Olive's smile turned smirk told the full story, and Weiss felt a small, mischievous grin appear at the thought of getting to tease Jaune a little bit. After all, what are friends for if not for teasing each other from time to time?
"So here's the deal..."
-Yang-
Stretching her arms over her head as she sat up in bed, she felt a satisfying pop in the small of her back that made her grin to herself. It was Thursday morning, and time for her pretty little butt to get up. Getting her Beacon uniform on took less than two minutes; getting her hair properly brushed took half an hour. Sure it was difficult, especially on days with high humidity, but it was always worth it to look her best and turn heads.
Especially a certain blonde's head.
Yang shook the thought out of her head with haste. She wasn't trying to impress Jaune, she told herself; she just wants to look good and be a good friend to him. That was why she'd set Pyrrha up with him, after all. Everyone would be happy this way.
Her fair mood now spoiled a little by her traitorous mind, she made her way downstairs to eat breakfast. Ruby was there ahead of her, as usual, and when she unceremoniously plopped a cereal bowl onto the table her little sister slid her the milk. "Morning, Yang. You seem a little down."
"Just a rough sleep, is all. So, Ruby, is today the day you let me drive you to school on Bumblebee?"
She rolled her eyes. "Only if you've magically gotten a sidecar in the last twenty-four hours. I love you, sis, but I don't trust your driving when I'm having to hold onto you for dear life."
"Suit yourself. Just don't miss the bus." They'd had this conversation any number of times, but Yang was conpelled by some strange older sister sense of duty to help Ruby look cooler around the school.
Sidecars are not cool. At all.
Yang wound up leaving the house earlier than she strictly needed to, and part of her wasn't quite sure why she did that. Maybe it was to get a chance to talk to some friends before class started. Thankfully the school was relatively close to her house, so she didn't have much time to contemplate the real reason she left when she did.
When she pulled into the school parking lot and cut off the engine, her eyes automatically scanned the area for a particular green truck and she was rewarded by the sight of said truck and a tall head of blonde hair across the lot. Retrieving her bag from her bike, she unconsciously set her pace to match the timing of Jaune nearing the school doors, his figure popping in and out between the cars as she walked. As her feet stepped onto the sidewalk, she began to raise her hand in a greeting when she witnessed something that shouldn't be true. Something that couldn't be happening.
Jaune was walking alongside Weiss, and they were happily chatting away with each other. He said something that Yang couldn't hear from where she was, but Weiss started to laugh before suddenly holding a hand to her nose. Jaune reached into a box he had attached to his bookbag and pulled out a Kleenex, which Weiss seemed grateful to accept.
What... How... Huh?!
That was the moment that Jaune noticed her presence and waved at her with a smile as he approached. "Morning, Yang. How's it going?"
Her brain took a second to reboot, but reboot it did and she put on her go-to friendly smile as she fell into step with them. "All's good on my end. Am I safe in assuming that Weiss is a little sick right now?"
"Juuust a little bit," he teased. "She decided to play outside in the rain yesterday and her body's now paying the price."
"Vewey funny," Weiss countered as she blew into the tissue. Nose seemingly cleared a little, she continued, "How did you not get sick, anyways?"
"Easy, I wasn't soaking wet like you were."
The light sense of companionship wasn't being faked. These two had, seemingly over night, gone from the rejected and rejectee to tissue-sharing friends. Once again: how? What in Remnant could have happened to spark this?
Her eyes met Weiss's, causing the latter to stiffen a bit before she continued to walk. In that action alone Yang could detect some level of guilt... or was it fear? Hell, it could be both. Weiss had every reason to feel awful about everything that happened, and Yang still felt no remorse for threatening the girl. Despite both of those things, however, here they were; pretending that nothing had happened that Monday morning.
That begged the question: what should she do? Was Jaune aware of everything, or was he still in the dark? What should she do now that his precious, little Crystal was daring to approach him in person?
As she separated from the two at her locker and promised to see them at lunch, she took a moment to compose herself. She could tell that she wasn't thinking with all six engine cylinders, but there was a simmering layer of anger pervading her thoughts.
She needed more information. Details on how they'd gotten buddy-buddy, and what Weiss was thinking she was doing that was remotely okay.
As their class schedule would have it, any questions for the white-haired miss had to wait until lunch at the earliest. The bell for lunch rang, and Yang darted through the halls to reach the cafeteria; unfortunately, many other students had the same idea, resulting in her nearly knocking a few people over as a stampede of hungry students made their way through the halls. Once she was done with the lunch line, she walked to what was practically their designated table and surveyed the scene.
Pyrrha was next to Jaune as always, and Weiss was sitting directly across from him. Jaune's other side was occupied by Nora (with Ren sitting next to her, naturally) and the spots beside Weiss were filled by Ruby and Blake, meaning she couldn't even slip the heiress look or note if she tried. Resigning herself to not getting any answers, she re-equipped her smile and sat down opposite Ren. "So everybody beat me here today. Did I miss anything fun?"
"Nah," answered Nora. "But it's good to have the gang all here!"
"I agree," followed Pyrrha with a smile. "It feels right for us all to be seated together."
She wanted to disagree, but that wasn't a good time to start an argument. Before she could offer a stock line of agreement, Nora jumped from her seat and pointed a finger at Jaune. "I forgot to tell you! I need you to come to the band room right after classes let out."
Beat. "Nora, what did you sign me up for?"
Nora had the grace to look sheepish. "Weeell, you seeee... there's this freshmen guitar player that's being made to play the ukulele for a song in the spring, but he's already whining and acting all 'oh, the ukulele is a toy guitar, and anyone who plays it looks like a sissy, and wah wah wah.' So I made a bet with him that I knew a guy who could make the ukulele look and sound amazing: you!"
Jaune put his fork down and covered his face with his other hand. "Really, Nora?"
"Sorry! But if you swing by and blow him out of the water, he's agreed to play it without any complaining. Ms. Autumn agreed to let you perform for everybody before practice today, so can you please, please, pleeeease do it?"
"I don't know..." He looked pretty uncertain about it. "I've got a song that could work, but I'm out of practice on the uku."
Pyrrha perked up next to him. "You've actually played the ukulele?"
"Sophomore year, and it was just for the one band song and a different song I learned off of the internet."
Yang's curiosity was peaked, partially because she was of the "ukuleles are weird" camp, too. But if it's Jaune playing... "Hey, if you're about to school some freshmen, then I wanna watch the show live."
Jaune raised an eyebrow, but Weiss followed up with, "I must admit that I'm interested as well, Jaune, but-" -sniffle, tissue- "I'd hate for you to be late to your work shift."
He shook his head. "Sis always schedules my shifts to give me some time between school and work, so there's almost never a problem there. I just don't like being told that I'm doing this kinda at the last minute; I could screw it up, and then the band's stuck with some upstart freshman all year."
Nora grimaced at more or less being called out, but it was Yang herself who spoke up. "Jaune, you're an amazing guitar player. I've got no doubt that you'll rock that little mini-guitar today."
Jaune met her eyes, and she gave him a thumbs up of approval. Pyrrha had a complicated expression on her face, however, and that was when Yang realized that she'd just stolen a prime opportunity for the redhead to look even better in Jaune's eyes. Whoops. Still, it seemed to have inspired him, because he nodded back to her and said, "Fine, Nora, I'll do it. And if it goes like you need it to, I'm gonna charge you a fee."
"Deal!" Nora threw both of her hands up in glee while Ren smiled and shook his head. Next to her Ruby grumbled something about having to miss the show because she takes the bus, so Yang just pat her on the head and reoffered the bike ride, which was refused once again.
Once lunch was done and the bell rang to return to class, Yang tried to hang back to talk to Weiss; however, Blake seemed to have the same idea, and Yang could only watch as Belladonna grabbed the Schnee by the shoulder and whispered something. She couldn't make out any of the words, but Blake's face made it apparent that she was concerned about whatever it was. After a moment, Weiss whispered something back that seemed to lessen Blake's worry, and they shared a brief, yet warm, smile before going their separate ways.
It looked like she was going to have to wait a little longer to get her answers.
-Pyrrha-
Pyrrha felt that this week couldn't possibly get any better.
After all, how could she not be on cloud nine? She was actually going to the dance with Jaune this Saturday! Sure, they weren't 'together-together' for it; but this was a solid step in the right direction, and she could only thank Yang for giving her that little oomph she needed to ask him out.
As she sat down in Professor Port's class, she tuned out what would no doubt be another well-intentioned but dull story and freely allowed her mind to wander to the past...
As a young child living in Vale, she'd always loved playing in the neighborhood park. She would test how quickly she could maneuver through the jungle gym bars, or how high and far she could jump off of the swings. In some ways she was a thrill seeker; but rather than it being about the supposed thrills, it was about testing herself. Feeling out her limits, and then smashing them however she could.
This attitude wasn't without its costs. Other girls her age preferred playing in the sand, or playing house, or with dolls. Those weren't bad things, of course, but it never felt like she was accomplishing anything when she did those activities, and she inevitably wound up feeling bored. Thus, she turned to the local boys for companionship.
That, naturally, came with its own share of problems. They hit it off great at first, due to her being more than willing to run and shove with the lot of them, and they had a blast. It turns out, however, that while boys love it when you play along with them, they're considerably less enthusiastic about you being better than them. Ultimately, the band of boys would disperse when she arrived, leaving her to fly solo numerous times.
Truly, children are such difficult creatures.
But one afternoon, when she went to the park determined to set a personal record for "distance jump off of the swing", she discovered that both swings were already taken by a pair of siblings: a young blonde boy about her age, and his older sister. The boy was happily going back and forth at his own pace, while the girl was simply using the swing as a seat, looking bored as she stared off into the distance.
Sensing that the older girl wasn't actually there to play, Pyrrha walked up to them and asked, "Excuse me, may I use that swing?"
"Knock yourself out, kid." The girl hopped off and walked away, leaving the two younger ones alone. As she placed herself in the now empty swing, she met the eyes of the boy and gave him a polite smile. He returned it, adding a little hand wave before going at his own pace once more.
Focusing her mind, she zeroed in on the point in the sand that she knew to be her personal record. Kicking off with her feet, it only took a few swings for her to reach her full momentum. She began silently counting down to her launch.
Three... two... one... Now!
Releasing just before the apex of her forward swing, she sailed through the air with her feet held tightly together and her hands out wide. She hit the ground with a heavy thump, but maintained her posture as she absorbed the force of the blow by bending her knees like the athletes she saw on T.v. She glanced at the ground.
She was just shy of her record. Darn it!
"That. was. AWESOME!"
The exclamation made her jump, and she turned around to see that the boy had stopped and was openly gawking at her. "How did you do that?! I've never even made half of that on a jump!"
She preened a bit at the earnest praise, happy that she'd managed to impress someone even if she hadn't actually broken a record. "Would you like me to show you?"
"Please!" It was single word from a boy she'd never met before, but to her (and in hindsight, her admittedly friendless mind) it seemed to hold so much power. She spent the next ten to fifteen minutes coaching him, explaining how to build speed quickly and at what points in her swing she could get the best jumps. He listened as if he were a sponge absorbing her water of knowledge, and she enjoyed every moment of his enthusiastic expressions.
A voice eventually called out to them, belonging to the older girl from earlier. "It's time to go, squirt. Say goodbye to red and let's get home."
"Aww." The boy seemed bummed out for a second, but he soon bounced back and asked, "Hey, will you be here on Friday?"
"I think so," Pyrrha replied. "You want to play again then?"
"Yeah! It's been fun, uh..." He tilted his head in confusion. "What's your name?"
She giggled a little bit. "I'm Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos."
He stuck a hand out, which she shook happily. "It was nice to meet you, Pyrrha, and my name's Jaune!"
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell for the next class rang, and Pyrrha realized with a start that she'd blissfully reminisced throughout the entire class. Thankfully the homework reading was written on the board, so she mentally filed the info away and proceeded to her next class. She chastised herself to be more careful in the future.
Once the final dismissal bell rang for the day, she unloaded all of her unnecessary school books in her locker and powerwalked to the band room, unwilling to miss even a moment of Jaune performing. She technically had practice that day, but she was already prepared to lie and say that she needed to talk to one of her other teachers for an assignment.
When she moved back to Vale from Mistral, she had been happy to learn that Jaune had taken quite happily to a hobby of music playing in the band (for his first two years of high school, at least); but her athletic schedule always seemed to interfere with being able to listen to him, so today would be the first legitimate chance she had to be an audience member.
Upon entering through the double doors of the band room, she discovered that seemingly all of the band were already in their seats and chatting away or warming up their instruments. Weiss was having a conversation with the director while Yang gabbed away with Nora by the drum set. Ren was nearby, neither talking nor holding an instrument; Nora once called him a roadie. She duly noted that there was a boy with an electric guitar sitting by an amplifier; his brown hair was gelled up into a wall of sorts at the front of his hairline, and he had his arms crosssed as he waited for something. There was a ukulele sitting along the wall next to him, so she deduced that this was the boy that Nora made the bet with.
Where was Jaune-
"Sorry I'm late, took longer than I should've to finish a test."
Speak of the devil, she thought with amusement as he walked in. He set his bookbag along the wall as some of the band members greeted him warmly, asking him what he'd been up to since he left. Pyrrha knew that Jaune had to quit the band to make time for work, which always saddened her to think that he had to stop doing what he loved so he could help support his family.
Jaune finished with his pleasantries and walked to grab the ukulele in question, smiling at her as he passed. "Hey, Pyrrha. Glad you could make it."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," she returned warmly. Now wasn't the time to appeal to him, so she continued with, "I think that boy over there is the reason you're here."
"I agree." Jaune's smile shifted into an amused smirk as he approached his destination. "You must be the little troublemaker that brought me out of retirement."
The freshmen scoffed. "And you must be the so-called 'ukulele god.' The name's Cobalt."
"I'm Jaune, but... Ukulele god?" He looked over at Nora. "Just how much did you hype me up?"
"A lot, Jaune-Jaune. A lot."
Everyone present laughed as Jaune facepalmed; it was so Nora of her that they couldn't help but enjoy the scene. Before the conversation could derail any further, Ms. Autumn called out to Cobalt and said, "The deal was that if Jaune here can impress you, you'll play the ukulele without any more complaints. If he succeeds but you still complain, I will dock your grade down the line. Are we agreed?"
Cobalt spread his hands in a taunt. "Show me what you've got, Music Man."
Jaune gently grabbed the ukulele and began tuning it by ear, talking to the room at large as he did so. "The older band students know the story, but I'll share it for those of you who don't know it. Last year, while I was still in the band, Ms. Autumn had me play the ukulele just like Cobalt here. I was fine with doing it, but I had no idea what a good ukulele player actually sounded like, you know?"
To Pyrrha, it felt so strange to see Jaune in his element. He's always affable and friendly, but he just seemed so at home with the shockingly small instrument. Jaune was still talking, "So I go online to find some examples of good players, and I find this video of a guy from Vacuo who was just amazing. After listening to it a few times I said to myself 'I need to learn this song,' so here we are. I'm playing that man's ukulele arrangement of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.' Here we go."
Jaune's fingers began picking through the individual strings, and it took only a few seconds worth of an apparent warm-up for him to begin start playing an extremely soothing piece. Pyrrha began to imagine herself relaxing on the beaches of Vacuo as he shifted back and forth between plucking and strumming, emphasizing the volume of the latter while the former wowed her with his precision. She wasn't well-versed in any musical arts, so she simply let the soft tones wash over her.
Suddenly, Jaune began focusing almost exclusively on strumming, his body lightly bobbing up and down as he began playing faster and louder. What surprised her was that despite the increase in intensity, the notes never lost their crispness, each string discernible on its own without detracting from the whole. Cobalt, who seemed to have been only mildly impressed with the first section, was leaning forward with an expression of awe.
At the song's loudest it didn't seem too technically difficult, but by that point Jaune already had the room in his grasp. After some nearly frantic strumming at the climax of the piece Jaune brought the volume down and went to picking each string with a different finger on each, but the sheer speed of his playing took several more moments to wind down. The song ended with soft tones almost identical to the beginning of it, her dear musician allowing the tension in his shoulders to roll away as it came to a close.
Once the final note faded away, every soul present, even Cobalt and the director herself, rose to give him a standing ovation. Jaune accepted it with a bow, almost blushing when a student shouted out "You've still got it, man!"
Once the applause finished, Jaune handed the ukulele to Cobalt with both hands. "Does that encourage you to play it next semester?"
Cobalt's hands were almost trembling as he accepted it. "Y-yeah, man. Holy crap that was amazing!"
"Well, thank you very-"
The younger boy wasn't done gushing, however. "I mean it was phenomenal! Like-like, couldn't you go professional with that?!"
It was a subtle change to most, but Pyrrha noticed that he seemed almost sad. "I wish I could, man."
The song had been a true experience for her, being able to see the man she cared for so happy for a few fleeting moments. She knew that she would be forever glad she stayed to watch him that day.
Ms. Autumn then called the band to attention, which was the cue for the outsiders to leave. As Yang, Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha herself walked into the hallway, she took that moment to bid farewell. "I need to head to practice now, but I'm so glad that I got to watch you perform, Jaune. Will you text me when you get out of work?"
He smiled that glorious smile of his. "Sure thing, Pyrrha. You ready to go, Weiss?"
"Indeed I am. We'll see the two of you tomorrow; farewell." Weiss and Jaune waved goodbye to the two left behind, leaving Pyrrha to blink several times in confusion. Since when did those two start commuting to and from school together?
She turned to ask Yang that very question, but was greeted with the sight of Yang giving Weiss's back a small, yet pronounced, glare.
What in Remnant was going on here?
X
Is it freshmen or freshman when referring to it as a singular year? I can never remember.
Thanks to re-reading my story up to this point, I discovered that I forgot to retcon several of the Arc children names. Oops! Sorry for any confusion.
On a funnier note, while writing this chapter I was contemplating creating an AO3 account; so, I went to the website and discovered that they're having spam problems and thus have stopped account creations for a while. Oops again!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll catch you later, and have a nice day!