Welcome to Vale High - Ch. 2 (Patreon)

Two quick knocks hit the bedroom door before footsteps tumbled downstairs without waiting for a response.  Rolling her eyes at Ruby’s antsiness, Yang tossed some random school supplies into a bag before slinging it over one shoulder and finally leaving her room behind.

“Yang!”

“I’m coming!” she yelled back while walking downstairs to where Ruby was impatiently waiting.  As usual, Yang played it cool in the face of Ruby’s restlessness. “Jeez, what’s the rush? School’s not going anywhere.”

“It’s the first day!” Ruby huffed back at her.  “I don’t wanna be late!” 

Rolling her eyes again, Yang rustled Ruby’s mess of brunette hair and earned a loud grumble in reply.  “But I thought you liked running to school!” she teased.

After Ruby fixed her hair, she smiled - but it wasn’t a sweet and innocent smile.  No, it was a mischievous smile.

“Fine, good luck keeping up with me!”

From her grin, Ruby knew she had Yang there.  It had been years since she’d beaten Ruby in a race to the mailbox - no way she could keep up with Ruby all the way to school, even if it was only a few blocks away.  Fair or not, Ruby could fly when she wanted to.

But the threat was hollow, so Yang laughed while walking to their pile of shoes and pulling out the pair she wanted to wear today.  They walked to school together every day unless one of them was sick - that was the rule! And it was still the rule even if it meant that one of them (usually Yang) made both of them late.

While Ruby shuffled her feet and huffed again, Yang slowly put on her shoes and - only when she felt she’d teased her sister long enough - stood up.

“Ok, think I’m ready,” she said, ignoring Ruby’s eye roll while opening the front door.

“Bye Dad!” Ruby called towards the dining room.

“Wait!  Waitwaitwait just a second.”

The two of them froze - one of Ruby’s feet already stuck out the front door - and turned back to their dad when he appeared in the entryway.

“No one leaves this house without giving their old man a hug.”

Yang playfully groaned at the request.  

“But we’re gonna be lateeee!” she whined, earning a punch in the shoulder from Ruby before they walked over and let their dad wrap them in a big, smashing hug.  Holding them tightly, he kissed each of them on the forehead before letting go. 

“Have a great first day.”

“Thanks, Dad!” 

“See ya later, old man,” Yang teased before she and Ruby ran out of the house and jumped off the front porch like they’d been doing for years.

“Why’re you always so slow??” Ruby complained when they reached the sidewalk.

“Why are you always so fast?” Yang retorted, taking long strides so they could make it to school on time.

“I only look fast because you’re so slow!” Ruby replied, breaking out that trademark smile when Yang laughed and wrapped her sister in a sideways hug.

They didn’t live far from their high school - just a few blocks of neighborhood streets and a few restaurants sprinkled in between.  They lived close enough that there was no point in driving, plus they liked walking to school together!  It was something they’d done ever since they were little.

Of course, it sucked when it rained.  Those were the days when walking to school seemed like the worst idea in the world.  

But today there was no rain to be found. And, despite Ruby’s pseudo-freakout, they had plenty of time to make it to school.  They just needed to walk fast.

When the towering building came into view, with its blacktop parking lot and grassy lawns already crawling with students, Yang sighed.

“I miss summer vacation already…”

“We haven’t even gone inside yet!”

“Yeah but...classes and homework and learning...bleh.”  Her gripe made Ruby giggle while they jogged across a side street and onto school’s main grounds.

“At least it’s a short week, right?” Ruby pointed out.  “Only three days, then we’re done!”

“Right,” Yang replied with a nod.  “Which means we should skip this week and come back Monday.”

“But if you don’t go to school, you won’t get to see your friends.”

Ruby had a good point there.  If all of Yang’s friends were at school...and she wanted to spend time with those friends...then she needed to be at school too.  Unless she convinced them to skip school with her - that was a better solution!  Or she could get new friends. Either/or.

“Plus, who’ll beat up the bullies if you’re home watching TV?” Ruby added, sending Yang a big grin.

Shaking her head and smiling, Yang nudged Ruby’s shoulder while the two of them joined the crowd of kids heading up the front steps and into the building.  

This was the start of Yang’s last year - just one more year, and she was done!  Done with school and off to...more school, most likely…

And thankfully, she hadn’t fought any bullies in a long time.  Years, at least. Well, there was that one time at the beginning of high school…but that was the last of it. Now, just the threat of a fight was enough to make the bullies run.  

At least she hadn’t become one of the best boxers in the state for nothing...

“Maybe I’m retired,” she said while climbing the front steps to the series of doors leading inside.

“You can’t retire until you’ve scoped out the freshmen!”

Sighing in pretend exasperation, Yang stopped just inside the doors and looked around.  

The entryway to their school was pretty big - a two-story tall open space that ran through the building, separating the classrooms from the gymnasiums, cafeteria, dance rooms, band rooms, etc., etc., etc.  Basically, classrooms, library, and the office on the left - everything else on the right.

Contrary to what Ruby tried to make everyone believe this morning, they’d arrived with plenty of time to make it to homeroom before the bell.  How did Yang know this? Because the entryway was brimming with students - their excited voices echoing off the walls and linoleum floor while that ‘back to school’ vibe filled the air.

“Isn’t it about time I passed the torch to you?” Yang asked, turning away from the other high schoolers and meeting Ruby’s eyes.  “I won’t be here next year, after all.”

“Sure!  But first, you’ve gotta teach me the ropes.”  Not missing a beat, Ruby bounced on her tiptoes and shot a few quick jabs Yang’s way.  

Laughing while she deflected Ruby’s playful blows with the palm of one hand, Yang looked around the entryway and sighed for real this time.  She had one full year left, which felt like forever but also like no time at all. Might as well make the best of it.

“Plans today?” she asked Ruby, following the crowd away from the front doors and deeper into the school - leaving freedom and midday naps behind.

“Big plans!  I’m avoiding all homework and rejecting any attempt at teaching.”

“That’s my sister!” Yang replied with a laugh, raising one hand to give Ruby a high-five for recalling their yearly mantra.  “I’ll see you later then?”

“You bet.  Bye Yang!” Ruby replied before racing towards her homeroom with a grin and a wave thrown over her shoulder.

Remaining in place, Yang watched several people wave to Ruby on her way through the halls - each person earning a beaming smile in return.  Satisfied that Ruby was just fine, Yang finally turned towards her homeroom and set off.  

Since she’d been here for the past three years, she was familiar with most of the other students in some way, shape, or form.  She made it her mission to know everyone on some level, that way she could have a conversation with them if needed - whether it was just a friendly chat or something a little...firmer.  

Smiling to herself, she set off towards homeroom at a quick walk.  Waving to a few classmates from last year, she already felt like she was back at home.  Familiar building, familiar faces, familiar feeling of wanting to be here yet not wanting to be here at the same time.

“Yang!” 

Pausing at the sound of her name, she turned and found none other than Nora Valkyrie running past, raising a hand that Yang slapped for a high-five.  “We’re practicing today, right?”

“Definitely.  I’ll see you after school!” Yang called out to the girl, who was already hustling away.  When Nora stuck one thumb up in the air to signal her acceptance, Yang grinned again.

Ruby was right.  School was pretty fun because there were a lot of fun people here.  That didn’t mean Yang wouldn’t rather sit at home watching some good ol’ daytime television, but...it wasn’t so horrible here.

Heading up to the second floor, Yang waved to a few more people before noticing a younger girl staring at a piece of folded-up paper.  Knowing that today was the first day of school, and knowing that there was an entire group of out-of-place and potentially lost students, Yang walked over and tapped the girl’s shoulder.

“Hey!” she said after drawing the girl’s eyes.  “How’s it going?”

“Uh, it’s...going fine.”

When the girl moved the paper out of view and shuffled her feet, Yang flashed a non-judgmental smile.  Leaning a little closer, she lowered her voice and asked, “Can I help you find your class?”

Whether intended or not, the girl’s expression filled with relief at the offer.

“I guess,” she answered with a shrug, maintaining the ‘cool-kid’ freshman energy.  “I mean, if you have time.”

“I have plenty of time.”  When Yang gestured towards the class schedule, the girl willingly handed it over.  After reading the entire thing and finding the homeroom, Yang handed it back with another smile.  “You’re pretty close! It’s right down the hall. Come on; I’ll show you.”

Walking away, she nodded for the girl to follow.

“This one’s hard to find because it’s between halls,” she explained while approaching a section of the building where the hallways intersected with each other.  “I don’t think they labeled it right, but once you know that, you’ll never lose it again!”

Waving towards the door that matched the homeroom number, Yang leaned against the wall and grinned while the girl looked between her schedule and the label before smiling.

“Thank you…”

“Hey, no problem.  Happy to help.” Pushing away from the wall, Yang headed back the way they came, but not without sending the wayward student another smile.  “Have a great first day!”

With a small wave, Yang walked away and breathed a small sigh of relief.

Today was exciting but, for one group of students, nerve-wracking.  That same group was more vulnerable today than any other.  

The freshmen.  They were starting a new school, in a new building, with new teachers, and - in a lot of cases - with new classmates.  Boil it all down, and it meant no friends or friendly faces to turn to for help when they couldn’t find their misnumbered homeroom.  

Yang couldn’t help them all, but at least she got one of them to class on time!

“Good morning, Yang.”

The familiar voice froze her in her tracks, and her smile grew while she turned around to find none other than Pyrrha Nikos walking up to her.  

As usual, Pyrrha was the model of poise amongst the crowd of scatterbrained students.  

Seriously - her posture was ridiculously good.  It made the rest of them look like hunchbacks.  

“Good morning, Pyrrha!” Yang replied.  “Ready for class?”

“Yes, but are you ready is the better question.”

“Pretty sure I got everything this year!”  While they turned and headed to class together, Yang gestured towards her backpack and smiled.  “If you’re that worried, you could’ve come over this morning and helped me pack.”

The suggestion made Pyrrha laugh - a light, happy sound that chimed through the air like a piece of music.  Both of them knew that Yang had delayed getting ready for school until the last possible second - that’s how she showed up last year without anything to write with.  Fortunately, borrowing pens was easy, but Pyrrha refused to let her live that one down.

“Like you’d accept my help…” Pyrrha teased while they squeezed past a group of juniors loitering in the middle of the hall.  “Last time I tried to do that, you ended up less prepared than you normally are.”

Chuckling at the memory, Yang wrapped an arm around Pyrrha’s shoulders and earned another smile as they walked to class.  The two of them had homeroom together this year - and there was no better way to start the day than with one of her closest friends by her side.  

As an added bonus, they lucked out and got assigned to Mr. Oobleck’s homeroom – a science teacher who was just a little eccentric. He was best known for creating a floor-eating acid during class that melted through the floor to the classroom below.  The fire department got called, and everyone was sent home in case the stuff devoured the entire school. It was awesome...

“I’m surprised you made it on time,” Pyrrha commented as they approached their classroom. 

“No way Ruby let me be late,” Yang replied with a shake of her head.  “I don’t know who taught that girl to enjoy school so much. Certainly wasn’t me.”

While Pyrrha laughed at the joke, the two of them walked into homeroom and glanced around.  There was no sign of Mr. Oobleck, but several other students were already milling around claiming seats.

“Left side?” Pyrrha asked.

“You know it!”

Yang had a theory, which no one else seemed to believe, that sitting on the left side of the classroom meant less attention from the teacher.  It had to do with every student’s subliminal thoughts wanting to leave, which drew most of the teacher’s attention towards the seats closer to the door.  To her, it was genius. To others...not so much.

Genius or not, she sat on the left-hand side of the classroom whenever possible.  Fortunately, there were still two open desks side-by-side in the back left - perfect for her and Pyrrha.

“I’m guessing you want the seat furthest away from the teacher?”

“You know me too well!” Yang said while dropping her bag on the desk in the back corner of the room, and Pyrrha claimed the one to her right.  “Hopefully he doesn’t assign seats. That’d be lame.”

“Yangggg Xiao Long.”

Turning towards another familiar voice, Yang smiled, folded her arms over her chest, and leaned against the desk while another classmate approached her. 

“Can’t believe I have the goddess herself in my homeroom,” the boy said, flashing a charming grin while sauntering up to her.  “Might I say you’re looking particularly ravishing today?”

“Give it up, Neptune,” Yang replied, shaking her head and sharing an amused smile with Pyrrha.  “It still ain’t happening.”

Huffing out a breath of air, Neptune smiled at her reply - his pearly whites practically glowing under the fluorescent lights.  “Well, I said I’d try every year, didn’t I? So my mission is complete...for now.” 

“Shouldn’t that mean you’re done for good?” Yang asked, raising a brow.  “I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on repeating this year.”

“Technically, January starts a new year.  I have one more shot at convincing you that we -”  Stepping closer, Neptune gestured between them and lowered his voice to what he must consider to be a sultry whisper.  “Are destined to be together.”

Rolling her eyes, Yang playfully pushed Neptune’s shoulder away while he grinned like a fool.

“Great.  Can’t wait,” she replied with a light scoff.  

“Until then,” he finished with a theatrical bow.  After nearly touching his nose to her desk, he walked back to one of his buddies and sat on top of a desk - all without so much as a dent in his smile.

This was turning out to be quite the beginning to senior year.  Sharing the same homeroom with Pyrrha and Neptune.  If Yang had to guess, this morning’s overtures were just the tip of the iceberg on his never-ending quest to get her to agree to a date.

“Ever give him a chance?” Pyrrha whispered while pulling a notebook from her bag.

“Never,” Yang answered, shaking her head at Neptune’s antics.  He was a great guy and completely harmless, but...that was basically it.  There was no excitement there - just cheesy lines and even cheesier jokes.

Unzipping her bag and pulling out an unused notebook from last year, she dropped it on her desk and scanned the room to see who else was trapped in this small cube with her for the next fifteen minutes.  Lots of familiar faces and - 

Unexpectedly, her eyes locked onto someone unfamiliar sitting in the midst of the people she’d gone to school with for the past few years.

“Hey, who’s that?” she asked, lowering her voice and nudging Pyrrha’s elbow.  Yang then nodded towards the front of the classroom, where the unknown student sat in the first row near the door.

With long waves of jet black hair, the girl didn’t seem to notice much else happening around her.  Which made sense seeing as how she currently had her nose stuck in a book.

“Must be new,” Pyrrha replied with a shrug, clearly not thinking it was as big of a deal as Yang did.

But it was a big deal to get new students!  So Yang tossed her bag on the floor by her desk and beckoned Pyrrha to follow her to the front of the class.  After weaving through the rows of desks, she waved one hand to draw the girl’s attention away from the book. 

“Hey, don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”  Reaching out to shake the girl’s hand, Yang smiled. “I’m Yang.”

Calmly sticking a bookmark between the pages and letting the book fall shut, the girl smiled warmly.

“I know who you are,” she replied while shaking Yang’s hand.  “I’m Blake.”

“Your reputation precedes you,” Pyrrha joked, patting Yang’s shoulder and smiling at Blake.  “Pyrrha Nikos. It’s nice to meet you, Blake. Welcome to Vale High.”

“And don’t believe everything you hear about me!” Yang added, tearing her eyes away from the new girl for about a half second before she felt compelled to look back.  “Unless you’ve heard good things. You can believe all the good things cuz those are totally true.”

When Blake laughed at the joke, her amber eyes laughed right along with her - sparkling with more amusement than the comment seemed to deserve.  The sight filled Yang’s chest with the unexpected feeling of warmth and butterflies, and made her grin like a pretty big idiot.

“Well…” Blake replied, allowing the word trail off while Yang clung to it.  “They say you flirt like a prince. Is that true?”

Yang burst out laughing at the unexpected response.  

“A prince?” she asked.  “What does that even mean??”

Clearly trying to suppress a smile, Blake shrugged and said, “I was hoping you could show me.”

“A prince?” Yang repeated, turning to Pyrrha and receiving a shrug but no help.  Grinning, Yang turned back to Blake and decided to give it a go anyway. Because why not?  She could totally flirt like a prince if she wanted to.

“Excuse me, my fair princess,” she directed towards Blake, lowering her voice slightly and struggling not to smile while she held out one hand with the palm facing up.  “If you would be so kind as to offer me your hand…” When her concentration broke, she smiled and felt a laugh bubbling up while Blake dutifully placed one hand on top of Yang’s palm.  Gently lifting Blake’s hand, Yang dipped her head to place a quick kiss to the back of it, barely brushing her lips against soft skin while her cheeks instantly caught fire. But she was too far down the rabbit hole to back out now.

Raising her gaze, she found amber eyes dancing with delight at what she just did. 

“A fairer hand I hath never seen,” she whispered - a feeble attempt to convey ‘you have soft skin’ as a prince might do.  

Giving up because she royally sucked at this, and also because it was embarrassing as heck, she laughed along with Pyrrha and Blake, even though that fluttering feeling was still in her chest. 

“They don’t really say that about me, do they?” Yang asked when their laughter subsided.  Still smiling, Blake shook her head.

“Actually, no.  They don’t. But they say you’re willing to try anything - I wanted to see if that was true.”

When Blake gave Yang a satisfied smile, her jaw fell open in shock.  

Did that mean...was she just duped into doing that??  

“Looks like you’ve met your match,” Pyrrha laughed while Yang stared at the new girl in shock.  Blake just looked back with a small, pleased smile - as if she couldn’t wait to hear what Yang said next.

Grinning at the happy turn of events, Yang had just opened her mouth to respond when Mr. Oobleck stumbled through the door carrying a haphazard stack of papers in his arms.  

“Good morning, students!” he shouted at them before unceremoniously dumping the pile on his desk.  After briefly sorting through them, he gave up and wrote his name across the board. 

Taking that as their cue that class was about to begin, Pyrrha nudged Yang’s shoulder so they could make their way back to their seats.  The last thing Yang wanted to do was walk away right now.  She’d much rather stay and continue what had turned out to be an enjoyable conversation, but with the teacher here...

“I’ll be keeping an eye on you,” she joked, playfully narrowing her eyes and pointing two fingers towards Blake.

“I hope you do,” Blake replied with that same pleased smile set in place.

Another bubble of surprise appeared in Yang’s chest at the unexpected answer.  But, after giving Blake one last curious grin, Yang followed Pyrrha to the seats they’d chosen earlier.

“Wow, she’s pretty,” she whispered to Pyrrha while they sat down.  Pyrrha’s response was to laugh that musical laugh of hers before quieting down when Mr. Oobleck began speaking.

“Alright students listen up,” Mr. Oobleck shot at them in his rapid-fire voice.  “Welcome to the first day of school. I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the year.”  Looking at his desk and shuffling the disorganized papers in all directions, he grabbed one and held it up.

“It looks like we have a new student joining us from...Menagerie.  Miss Belladonna - where are you?”

Yang’s eyes immediately returned to Blake when she calmly raised her hand in response to his question.  When Mr. Oobleck found her, he spared a quick nod in her direction.

“Ah, there you are!  Welcome!”

While Mr. Oobleck moved on to locker assignments, Yang watched Blake instead of listening to what he had to say.  From her seat on the left side of the class, she could only see Blake’s side, but that was more than enough.  

‘Pretty’ was one word that could describe her new classmate.  Beautiful, witty, funny…wow, they lucked out with the transfer students this year.  Who knew that Menagerie was hoarding such a gem for themselves? Maybe Yang should’ve transferred there...

Flinching when something bounced off the side of her head, Yang looked down and found a small ball of paper lying on top of her desk.  Turning to her right in confusion, she found Pyrrha giving her a pointed look. 

‘You’re staring,’ Pyrrha mouthed before nodding towards the front row of seats - where Blake was sitting.

‘No I’m not,’ Yang mouthed back with attitude before flicking the paper at her friend and turning forward.  But as soon as she was facing the front of the class, her eyes drifted towards the right side of the room once again.

Ok, maybe she was staring just a little bit.  It wasn’t entirely her fault though! They didn’t get transfer students very often, so anyone new was worthy of an extra amount of interest.  And Blake already proved herself worthy of an extra, extra amount of interest.

Last year, they got maybe three transfer students total.  The year before that, none. It was far more common for students to leave than new ones to come in. That probably had something to do with Vale High’s rigorous academics.  It was a pretty prestigious school, typically only admitting those with excellent academic records, wealthy families, or other scholastic achievements.

It had been unexpected for someone like Yang to get in, what with her history of...well, she liked to call it ‘standing up for the little guy.’  Other people liked to call it ‘fighting’ or straight up ‘brawling,’ but she hadn’t done anything like that in a long time. And she never hit anyone who hadn’t deserved it!

Besides her checkered disciplinary history, her grades were solid to average.  But it wasn’t grades that got her and Ruby in. Ever since they were little, they’d excelled in sports - Yang in boxing and Ruby in track and field.  Seeing as how the athletic teams at Vale High competed at a high level, their acceptance a little less surprising.

Plus, Yang nailed the entrance interview.  The teacher in charge of her evaluation liked her so much, he didn’t ask a single question about the written warnings she’d received in the past.  Instead, they spent the entire time talking about various professional boxers and hypothesizing who could beat who in different types of fights.

Once Yang was accepted, there hadn’t been much discussion about whether or not she would go.  It was a great school with top-notch academics and a good reputation. Dad was thrilled, and even more so when Ruby was recruited in the midst of middle school.  

That was a pretty busy time in their lives.  They switched schools and moved so they’d be closer - into a bigger house, too.  Yang remembered being nervous, but everything turned out alright, even though the schoolwork could be tough.  Tough as in there was an entire level of classes she wouldn’t sign up for unless she wanted to spend the rest of her life studying.  In which case, Vale High was the best place she could be!

A loud bell jolted her from her thoughts and back to the classroom.  Looking around while everyone gathered their belongings and rushed towards their next class, Yang began to do the same.  The notebook lying on top of her desk was still empty as she flipped it closed and stuffed it back into her bag - guess she’d try to take notes tomorrow.

“Did I miss anything important?” she asked Pyrrha as they stood up.

“Besides all of homeroom?  Nope,” Pyrrha responded with a shake of her head.  “I don’t know how you can tune everything out like that.”

“Years of practice, Pyrrha.  Years of practice.”

When the two of them reached the hall, Yang stopped and sighed.  They had separate class schedules for most of the day so would head in different directions now.

“So I guess I’ll see you…” 

Yang trailed off when she spotted Blake walking through the crowds away from them.  Somehow, it was impossibly easy to pick the new girl out from the groups of students surrounding her.  It was the way she walked or...something.

“Look at you!” Pyrrha said, playfully shoving Yang’s shoulder.  “You’re practically drooling!” 

“Am not!” Yang denied, wiping the back of one hand across her mouth just in case.

“Admit it - she tricked you, and now you’re hooked,” Pyrrha teased, smiling when Yang’s brow furrowed.

Her first instinct was to deny, but...that’s exactly what happened, wasn’t it?  Introducing herself to a new student was supposed to be about as vanilla as it could get.  They’d be all out of sorts being in a new building surrounded by new people, and Yang could swoop in and offer a friendly face to get them through the day.

At least, that’s how it usually went.  Blake just threw that entire idea on its head by flipping the tables and playing a joke on Yang instead.  And now Yang was staring after Blake in the halls - unable to tear her eyes away.  

But there was something about Blake’s energy that Yang was incredibly attracted to - and they’d only spoken for a few minutes.

“I’ll see you at lunch?” she asked Pyrrha instead, ignoring the grin and heading towards her next class with a wave.

Leaving Pyrrha behind, Yang was free to scan the hallway while she walked - smiling at people she knew or recognized and throwing in some waves or high fives when appropriate.  Making eye contact was important - she made a lot of eye contact to let people know that she saw them.  

It might look like she was searching for the people she knew but, in reality, she was looking for the opposite - anyone who looked like they might need a morale boost or show of support.  They were usually easy to pick out - a lot of the time, they trained their eyes on the floor or hugged their books to their chest like a shield. They wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone else in the hall and walked quickly, like their next classroom was a safe zone and the hallway was covered in lava.

It was a stark contrast to her least favorite people - the loud and boisterous ones.  Their laughs cut through the din of voices, and their jeers added an unfavorable undertone to what could be a happy place.

Ruby told Yang once that if she were a mean person, she’d be a good bully because of how easily she found the people most susceptible to it.  And by ‘good bully,’ Ruby most likely meant incredibly effective at ruining people’s days.

Yang didn’t know exactly how it worked, but it felt like she had some sort of radar to pick out both the bullies and the bullied.  By now, she’d done it for so long that it didn’t take any extra effort on her part - her senses just passively searched for people who might be in need of a little friendship during the day.  In her experience, she found that one of the easiest ways to combat a bully was by befriending the people they went after. Everyone wanted an easy target - it wasn’t as easy if someone else was paying attention.

And, for better or worse, people seemed to pay attention to Yang.  She’d always been a pretty popular person, so other people usually wanted her to like them.  If she was nice to someone, other people seemed more likely to be nice to them too. Or at least, they might strike up a conversation on their own.

Spotting a small girl with mousy hair and glasses directed to the floor, Yang flounced over and fell into step beside her.

“Hey there!” she called out.  The girl actually stopped walking at Yang’s sudden presence, turning and staring up at her in surprise.  “I’m Yang,” she continued undaunted, sticking one hand out for the girl to shake. “Are you a first year?”

Her guess was based on the girl’s size and how young the features of her face were.  And she was apparently right based on the miniscule nod she received in return.

“Yes.”

“Well, welcome to Vale High!” Yang said before gesturing in the direction the girl had already been walking.  “Is your class this way?”

A single nod was her only response this time.

“Cool!  Then we’re heading the same way.”  When Yang started walking, she tried to make it obvious that the girl should follow, which she hesitantly did.  Seeing a friend from her math class last year, Yang smiled and held up a hand when they passed him.

“So what’s your name?” she asked, understanding that their entire walk would be silent if she didn’t strike up a conversation.

“Violet.”

“That’s a pretty name.”  Smiling at the young girl walking by her side, Yang gestured towards her eyes.  “Obviously, I’m partial to the color.”

“It’s my grandmother’s name.”

“So it’s got some history attached to it!  What class are you headed to?”

“Calculus.”

This time, it was Yang’s turn to do a double take.

“Calculus?  In your first year??”

“They let me test into it...”

“Holy crap…” Yang muttered before smiling at Violet.  “Well, that’s…”

Yang’s train of thought trailed off when she spotted Blake standing in the hallway up ahead of them, reaching into one of the lockers and pulling out a heavy book.  

“Awesome,” Yang finished in a half sigh, grinning when Blake glanced over and saw them.

“You know, I haven’t taken calc yet and I’m in my last year!” Yang added, trying her best to walk nonchalantly past Blake.  Feeling amber eyes on her, she turned at the last second and caught another small smile that instantly made her grin. After waving, she forced herself to look away - again, reminding herself to walk normally.

But damn if there wasn’t something about that girl…

“Vale High needs smart students like you!” Yang concluded, stopping outside the classroom she knew held the calculus class and turning towards Violet.  “You’re the reason everyone thinks so highly of us. So keep it up, yeah?”

When Violet smiled, the happy emotion made it all the way to her eyes.  It was that smile that made Yang grin and turn to leave - her between-classes mission a success.

“It was nice to meet you!” she called back with a friendly wave.  When she threw a glance over one shoulder, she found Violet smiling at her but - beyond that - Blake’s eyes still tracking her away.

While her heart rate sped up from the look, Yang turned and walked to her next class in a happy daze.  

The day wasn’t even an hour old, and she’d already met a certifiable math whiz and a girl who challenged the definition of what it meant to make someone feel butterflies.  

Today was a lot more exciting than she’d expected it to be.