Weiss was used to getting up early, it came with the life of a singer, normally she got up early to do her exercises or do a vocal test. Now though she woke up to the quiet of a bedroom she still did not fully recognize, yet was her own. Her only responsibility now was to make sure she ate breakfast before she went to school, the first normal school she had gone to since she was ten.
Checking her clock to make sure it was still before six she pulled herself out of her queen-sized bed, smaller than the bed she had back in Atlas but much comfier in her opinion. Grabbing a brush from her night stand she gently stroked her long white hair, untangling the few knots that had formed in her sleep, getting it back to its usual silken straight style. Satisfied her hair looked presentable after ten minutes of brushing she left her room and headed to the kitchen where she was greeted with the smell of cooking food.
Winter was already in her officer uniform, because she was always ready before Weiss got up no matter how early, and was eying a frying pan when Weiss sat down.
"Good morning Winter," Weiss said, sitting straight and proper as she addressed her sister.
"Good morning, breakfast should be ready momentarily and there is coffee set aside for you," Winter replied.
Weiss nodded in thanks and poured herself a cup and sat back down, it was a new routine for her since she moved in with her sister in Vale. Not having to rush off to do something first thing in the morning, and getting to see the sister that until recently she only saw a few times a year. She was glad she had taken the break, a hand reached up to rub the still fresh scar around her left eye, no matter what had caused it.
A plate with eggs and two strips of bacon slid into view and Winter sat down across from her with an identical plate. "Today is your first day at Beacon, I hope that it goes well for you sister."
"Thank you Winter," Weiss replied, "I was wondering, is there no chance you can drive me today?"
Winter sighed. "Unfortunately, I cannot, as said yesterday I have been assigned a new case and I cannot be late, the perpetrators have been a persistent thorn in our side, a serial robber has been hitting several stores around the city."
"Then you should not be late," Weiss said with resignation. "I will be fine then, and I will call you when class is finished."
The rest of breakfast was over small talk on them still catching up with each other after so long apart, Winter asking if Weiss' scar still hurt, and plans for going out to dinner when Winter got out early. Once breakfast was finished Weiss changed into a simple pair of jeans, new but not too expensive, a white blouse, and the bolero jacket Winter had gotten for her as a birthday present last year. Tying her hair back into a ponytail she took one final check in the mirror on her make-up before grabbing her new backpack and out the door, giving a final wave to Winter as her sister drove off in her cop-car.
The early morning fall weather was cool but not nearly as cold as it got in Atlas, so Weiss felt fine as she waited at the bus stop. She had been educated mostly by tutors the last seven years and before then she was always driven by Klein when she went to school, so she had never actually been on a bus. From what she had read about them though, they did not paint a picture of a pleasant experience. But it was one she could tolerate, probably.
The big yellow bus appeared around the corner and pulled to a stop; the driver was not what she was expecting from what she read. Instead of an overweight bored looking man there was a pleasant dark skinned older woman sat at the wheel with a thick pair of glasses.
"Well, you getting on or what?" The woman asked, waving Weiss on.
"Right, of course," Weiss said hurrying on.
The inside was more what she had heard, the seats seemed packed full of students, chatting amongst themselves, or clutching their bags and sleeping the way to school. Weiss shimmed down the aisle and nearly fell when the bus lurched to a start.
"Make some room for her," The driver called back.
"Um, you can sit here," A boy said, scooting and opening a space next to him. He looked like a freshman from his age and wouldn't look Weiss in the eyes as she sat down.
Weiss immediately noticed the lack of seatbelts and nearly fell into the seats in front of her as the bus started rolling down the street, some of the sleeping students rousing before falling back asleep.
"Yeah, she likes doing a little jolt to get started," The boy said. "I don't recognize you before, you new around here?"
"Yes, I am," Weiss said, gripping her tightly so it didn't fall on the floor, which she could tell was filthy.
"Well, welcome, name's Oscar," The boy held out his hand.
Weiss eyes it for a second before shaking but she didn't give her name.
"Think you'll enjoy it here, it's a pretty nice school," Oscar said sitting back.
"I've heard, it is also the school closest to where my sister lives, so it was the best choice for me," Weiss said.
"Ah, living with your sister then?"
"I am."
The bus jolted and rumbled along, seeming to hit every bump in the road as it went, it was certainly the roughest ride Weiss had ever been on. By the time it finally came to a stop the sun had fully risen and the students who had been sleeping were awake and talking to those around them. Weiss, after her brief talk with Oscar, had kept to herself and observed how the other students acted.
"Alright here we are, make sure to grab your stuff otherwise it's mine!" The driver laughed as students filed out of the bus, Weiss keeping to the sides until most had left. "So, enjoy your first ride?" The driver asked as Weiss reached the doors.
"It was certainly different from anything I've been on before," Weiss said, she looked at the driver and her nametag. "Thank you for the drive, Ms. Calavera."
"Any time dear, no git before you're late!"
Getting her first look at Beacon it was certainly larger than the school she remembered going to as a child, to be fair was primary school while this was a full-on high school. But even from her first glance it was a rather large school, five separate buildings close together in a large circular shape with a large common area where hundreds of teenagers milled about. The center most building was taller than the rest with an actual clock built into it like a clock tower.
"Okay, now what," Weiss wondered aloud, according to the schedule she had read, it would be another half-hour before classes started. Perhaps she could use the time to start on one of the goals she had set out for when she enrolled at Beacon, to make a friend.
Weiss, as far as she could remember, had never had a friend before even as a young child, the closest people in her life were Winter and Klein and while she loved both dearly, she couldn't exactly call them friends, even she knew that would be rather sad. So she wanted to use the move to public school in the hopes she could actually make a friend for once. The problem was she had no idea how to do that.
She had a few acquaintances from her singing career but those had just been people she worked with on occasion, and she had mostly kept to herself around them per her father's request, so she had no idea how to actually approach someone. Looking around she could see most of the teens had gathered together into their own little social groups so there was no chance of talking to any of them. The few she saw that were alone were either working on some last-minute assignment or were reading to themselves. She doubted either would enjoy getting interrupted by talking to her.
"Maybe I should just wait until class starts and try talking to someone there, seems more likely to work," She muttered to herself.
With a resigned huff Weiss went to look for some quiet place to sit and look at her scroll until class started. She could see some benches under the shade of a few trees near the building that looked promising.
"Ah, look out!" Someone suddenly shouted behind her, Weiss barely had time to turn around before someone flopped into her, knocking her to the ground, followed swiftly by loud laughter nearby.
Weiss looked up at the sky, laying on her back and feeling a heavy pressure on her from whoever had fallen on top of her. "Get off of me," She groaned.
"Er, I'm trying, just going to be a minute, sorry," The person who fell on her, who Weiss figured was a girl, said.
"What are you talking abou-oh," Weiss stopped as she pushed herself into a sitting position and got a good look at the person who had crashed into her, and why she couldn't get up.
She looked around Weiss' age, maybe a little younger it was hard to tell, with short dark-red hair in a messy style, slightly tanned skin, and bright gray eyes that seemed to almost sparkle in the light. She wore a black shirt under a red hooded jacket, red sweatpants, and black shoes, laying on its side not far from them was a simple red-and-black wheelchair with a matching discarded backpack next to it; she certainly had a color theme. The girl was trying to push herself off of Weiss but was having difficulty doing so without pushing down on her.
"Here, let me help," Weiss said reaching down.
"I've got it!" The girl insisted and pushed with her right arm, rolling off Weiss.
"At least let me help you with your chair," Weiss lifted the wheelchair back up, the girl looked at it with a huff.
"Do you need help getting back in?" Weiss asked.
"I can do it myself, just a little embarrassing," The girl said.
"Then just let me help," Weiss suggested, the girl thought it over for a second before inclining her head in permission. Weiss reached under the girl's arms and pulled her off the ground and towards the chair, she was heavier than expected and ended up doing most of the work of getting into the chair properly while Weiss held her in place.
"Er thanks, and sorry about that," The girl said sheepishly with a blush as Weiss handed the girl's bag back to her.
"Just be careful where you are going," Weiss said simply, she was a little peeved about being run over but it wasn't like she could go insulting the other girl.
"I didn't really have control over where I was going," The girl looked down.
"What are you talking about?"
The girl didn't respond, pointing around behind her, Weiss looked and saw four large teenage boys laughing to themselves. It took Weiss all of two seconds to piece together what the girl meant, and her ire rose and she stomped her way over to the smug looking boys.
"Were you the ones responsible for what just happened?" Weiss demanded.
The apparent leader of the group, who was larger and more idiotic looking than the rest, shrugged. "Just helping the poor cripple move faster, not our fault if she couldn't control herself."
His three goons chuckled at his words.
"That was incredibly reckless of you, not to mention you pushed her in my direction knocking me over."
"Well, you're fine now aren't you new girl, maybe you should just learn to be more careful, she's always rolling around without looking. All she can do since she can't run anymore, so best to learn about her now so you can avoid her."
He actually seemed proud of his comment, the sheer stupidity and insensitivity only made Weiss angrier. "I see, so it is funny to push around a girl with a disability then, I guess chivalry must really be dead then. But then I doubt you have enough intelligence to understand the concept if you find such antics funny."
That stopped them laughing. "Excuse me?" The leader grumbled.
"I said you were clearly not intelligent, and perhaps hard of hearing if you didn't catch that, perhaps you should get that check out instead of picking on a girl half your size who can't walk."
"Listen here you-" He started only to be cut off by a hand from Weiss
"I don't have time to listen to what you have to say, just consider your actions and I expect an apology once you've learned to string together words of actual remorse, now I must go before class starts," With that she walked off leaving the boy sputtering in anger.
"Sorry again about running into you," The girl said as Weiss walked back to her, "I tried to stop but just ended up falling out on top of you,"
"It is fine really, I hope that is not a daily problem for you," she said looking back at the boys.
"No, normally my sister is around, and they leave me alone, but she had to check on a friend and I wanted to get to class early. I hope she doesn't start a fight with Cardin when she hears about this."
"Hmm, while I don't think fighting is the best way to deal with him, there should be some punishment for his actions."
"Yeah, I'll tell a teacher about it when I see one, don't worry. What's your name by the way? I haven't seen you before."
Weiss hesitated for a moment before answering. "It's Weiss," the name didn't get any reaction out of the girl.
"Well, hi Weiss, my name's Ruby, it's nice to meet you."