Welcome to Vale High - Chapter 4 (Patreon)
Content
In order to make it to her favorite part of the day, Yang had to survive a slog of classes and onslaught of ‘assigned reading’ that shouldn’t even exist on the first day of school. But, mercifully, the final bell finally rang, and school gave way to freedom. Well, freedom and boxing practice.
Her preferred choice of seating meant she was normally last out of the classroom, but she quickly joined the mad rush of students heading towards the exits. Relief and exhaustion were the two most prevalent emotions in the air, but Yang’s energy rose as soon as she grabbed her gym bag from her locker.
She was barely as tall as the top rope in a boxing ring when her dad signed her up for lessons, but it had been a constant piece of her life ever since. At first, she just thought it was fun to wear the padded gloves and punch at things - it was really ‘cool.’ What she didn’t realize at the time was how much the sport taught her about patience and discipline - how it enforced restraint and trained her to use her fists only in the ring, or when absolutely necessary.
These days, she looked forward to practice as a chance to hang out with friends, have some bouts, and get in a good workout.
After joining the throng of students heading through the main artery of school, she took a left and ducked into the locker room next to the gym instead of following everyone outside. And who was the first person she found inside the locker room, already dressed and ready for track practice?
Pyrrha Nikos, of course.
“What’d you do - run here??” Yang asked while tossing her gym bag on a bench.
“My last class is just down the hall.”
“Lucky!” Pulling out the workout clothes she’d packed this morning, Yang sent Pyrrha a quick grin. “Wait for me?”
“Sure,” Pyrrha replied, standing patiently by the doorway while Yang changed as fast as possible. By the time she pulled on a pair of sneakers and shoved her bag into an empty locker, the room was filling with the other students who had practices this afternoon.
Slamming the locker door shut, Yang gave Pyrrha a thumbs up before following her into the hall and to the gym.
“Day one complete.”
Satisfied with that accomplishment, Yang drew a big check mark in the air before shoving open one of the metal double doors leading into Vale High’s gymnasium.
Since Vale High valued sports nearly as much as academics, their gym was oversized - large enough to hold a basketball court and an additional side area that was used by other sports. Right now, it held the boxing ring and a badminton court. Because what high school didn’t have a badminton team?
Lots, it turned out. The team often had trouble finding opponents, which is why Yang might’ve gone over and tried her hand at the game once or twice. She sucked at it. Well, either she sucked or the team members were ridiculously good.
Basketball wasn’t in season right now, but that was impossible to tell with what looked like every tall girl in the school milling around the court. White knee pads and volleyball nets gave away the sport though, and several of the older players already had volleyballs out and were hitting back and forth. While Yang and Pyrrha made their way to the far side of the gym, they waved to several of the girls they knew from classes and general sports stuff.
“Yang!”
No sooner had Yang heard her name did a large weight unexpectedly land on her back, making her let out a grunt of effort while her legs buckled in surprise. Fortunately, she managed to lock her knees and keep herself from falling while an arm looped around her neck.
“We haven’t seen each other in for-everrrr!”
“Nora, we saw each other this morning!” she said, craning her neck to see her friend latched on for a ride to the other side of the gym.
“That’s practically forever,” Nora replied with a giggle. Shaking her head, Yang tried to resituate Nora while walking as if nothing was attached to her like a sloth - a very heavy sloth who wouldn’t quit moving.
“Is there a problem with your legs? Is that why you’re not walking?” Yang huffed while taking several heavy steps. She hadn’t thought that her workout would start so early…
“Yeah, they’re broken! Can’t walk until practice starts!”
Rolling her eyes, Yang was suddenly thankful that the gym wasn’t that big. Otherwise, she might collapse in the middle of the room, and that would be more than a little embarrassing.
“Looks like you have a new fan,” Pyrrha pointed out, smiling as she nodded off to their right. Turning towards the stands, Yang immediately spotted Blake walking up the steps of the bleachers.
Just seeing Blake made Yang’s heart beat faster. Or maybe that had something to do with carrying a not-so-pint-sized boxer across the gym…
“Who?” Nora asked, her arm briefly tightening around Yang’s windpipe while trying to get a better view.
“The girl with long, black hair.”
After spotting Blake - the only person in the stands with long, black hair - Nora gasped in Yang’s ear.
“The You-Crew has expanded!”
Chuckling, Yang shook her head at the ridiculous nickname Nora had given to the students who hung out in the gym after school. ‘Why You-Crew?’ Yang had asked. ‘Because they’re here for Y-O-U,’ was the giddy answer.
With Nora’s arm only partially cutting into her windpipe now, Yang watched Blake pick out a seat near the top of the bleachers. After unzipping her bag, she pulled out a notebook and looked like she was going to start on homework. Unfortunately (for Yang), she didn’t look up and didn’t seem to have any interest in what was happening on the gym floor below her.
Contrary to popular belief, people didn’t hang around to watch Yang practice - they had completely legitimate reasons to sit in the gym after school. Most of the time their parents couldn’t get them until later, so they hung out here while waiting - chatting or getting ahead on homework. Maybe one or two showed up to see Yang, but she honestly tried to avoid them as much as possible.
When they made it to the other side of the gym, Nora finally dropped off of Yang’s back while Pyrrha kept walking.
“Have a good practice!” she called out before heading outside, making sure to wave before disappearing beyond the set of double doors leading to the outdoor track.
“We’re gonna have an awesome practice, right?” Nora asked, following Yang to their little corner of the gym. “Like, we’ll skip right to fighting?”
“You know we have to warm up first.” Shooting a glance towards the bleachers, Yang barely caught sight of Blake before forcing her attention back to Nora. “And we need to wait for everyone else to get here.”
Predictably, Nora pouted at the reply. The only reason she came to practice was so she could swing her fists at things, and Yang was delaying her from swinging her fists at those things. Nevermind that they warmed up to prevent injuries - she wanted to fight now.
Yang didn’t understand how, of all people, she ended up being the voice of reason. But she knew Nora’s fighting style and knew Nora was one cold muscle away from being sidelined by a sprain. What was worse - Nora pouting now, or Nora having no way to release steam later?
That was one of the easiest answers in the history of easy answers. Why couldn’t they put questions like that on tests?
“Hey guys!”
Glancing over and finding a few more teammates joining them, Yang smiled.
“Hey,” she said, chuckling when Nora wrapped each of the three girls in a crushing hug - lifting their feet right off the floor in the process. While Nora struck up a happy conversation with their arriving team members, Yang’s attention drifted back to Blake.
Blake was reading now, but it looked like she was reading a regular book instead of a textbook. Was it for class or for fun? If it was just for fun, why was she reading it here instead of at home? Waiting for parents? Or some other reason?
All of those questions and more ran through Yang’s mind while she half-heartedly listened to Nora tell wild tales about what had happened to her in the couple of days they’d been apart. Normally Yang participated in the conversation a little more, but today she was just a bit distracted by the new girl sitting in the bleachers right above their practice.
Was it lame that she secretly hoped Blake would look up and catch her eyes?
“Good afternoon, ladies.”
Finally tearing her attention away, Yang grinned at the man walking over to them.
“Hey Coach!” she said while the others added their own greetings.
Coach Ironwood was a towering man - tall, but slim. He’d retired from fighting after some serious shoulder injuries but took up coaching as a way to pass on his knowledge. He was fair, but stern - at least, he pretended to be. Unfortunately (for him), he couldn’t say ‘no’ to any of them - a weakness each and every member of the team had already learned and exploited at least once.
“Alright,” he began in a calm voice. “I know this is the first day of school, but it isn’t the first day of practice. Our opening match is next week, and there’s a lot of preparation we need to do between now and then.”
The first match of the year was always exciting - their first opportunity to compete for real - but, in this case, also made Yang want to groan out loud. The scheduling gods hadn’t worked in her favor, and Vale High drew her least favorite school at the beginning of the year. At least they’d get it out of the way early and then she could enjoy the rest of the season…
While Coach Ironwood laid out some ground rules for the newest members of their team, Yang leaned towards Nora and whispered “Lots of newbies.”
“Wonder why they’re here,” Nora whispered back, poking Yang in the shoulder before pointing directly at her. When Yang made a grab for Nora’s finger, Nora hopped away and giggled. The sound made Yang smile, but she shook her head at Nora’s antics and took another look at their potential new teammates.
The returning members of the club had practiced and worked out together all summer, but the freshmen were only allowed to join once school started. The delayed start meant they were way behind in terms of training, but thankfully they weren’t expected to participate in any matches until the end of the year. That gave them plenty of time to learn the basics before going up against the new members from other schools.
New teammates, new students - there was lots of ‘new’ going on today.
As Yang’s eyes drifted around the gym, they once again landed on the girl reading by herself at the top of the bleachers. Maybe tomorrow Yang could ask Blake what she was reading...
“Yang!”
Her name was accompanied by a powerful jab to her right shoulder.
“Coach said it’s time to warm-up,” Nora told her, pulling Yang out of her distracted stupor to find her teammates waiting for her to lead their warm-ups.
“Right. Sorry,” she said, forcing a smile before setting off for the track at a quick jog.
Based on her years of experience, she was unofficially elected leader of their small boxing team. Not that she minded! She was used to helping out, which meant she normally found herself in charge of running drills and warm-ups.
“Three laps!” she called out, holding up three fingers while leading them around the track. The track team had just started practice, but they only used the four inner lanes for their warm-ups, allowing the other teams to utilize the outer lanes for the first half hour.
So as not to discourage the new girls - who probably weren’t fully prepared for the level of activity they’d just gotten themselves into - Yang kept the pace nice and easy. Slow enough that everyone would stick together, fast enough that they’d work up some level of sweat by the time three laps were done.
When they reached the far corner of the track, Yang smiled and waved when she found Ruby standing with a group of sprinters. Well, the other sprinters were standing - Ruby was jumping up and down in excitement. As usual, she was thrilled to be at practice, and Yang could tell that the infectious energy was already spreading to her teammates.
And then, as they rounded the bend, Yang spotted Pyrrha - who stood at one end of the field explaining something while a group of newcomers practically drooled over her. And Nora said that Yang had a fan club…
When Pyrrha caught Yang’s gaze, she smiled and waved. The small gesture directed everyone’s attention to Yang, who laughed and waved back.
Sometimes, she wished she was on the track team. Mostly because it would be fun to be on the same team with Ruby and Pyrrha. But Yang knew how much they ran...all they did was run...all the time...
Sure, there was a lot more to it than that, like maintaining the proper form and breathing technique, but still...she needed something a little more exciting. Jogging for warm-ups was more than enough running for her. Which is why, after finishing their three laps, she immediately led everyone inside and back to their corner of the gym.
“Ok, let’s stretch,” she said, directing the instruction mostly towards the new girls. The returning members already knew the drill and were going through the stretches they always did. Arms, legs, yadda yadda yadda - they’d gone through the same routine hundreds of times by now, enough times that they could finish it with their eyes closed.
Something was new about today, however. While Yang usually loved the stretching part of practice because they were allowed to chat at the same time, today she was...distracted. It didn’t help that her eyes wandered towards the top of the bleachers every couple of minutes.
She didn’t know why she kept glancing up there - Blake was always reading and not watching the boxing team.
Not that Blake had to watch their practice or anything! It was totally up to her what she wanted to do with her free time. But if Yang was the only one constantly trying to make eye contact, then this...whatever this was...was pretty one-sided.
Maybe she should just concentrate on practice…
“Switch,” she said, swinging her other arm around to stretch and smiling when the new girls followed her lead.
At least they weren’t asking a ton of stupid questions already. Technically, there were no stupid questions. Unofficially, there definitely were - and they always seemed to come up on the first day of practice. ‘Can I get hurt doing this?’ ‘Can I practice once a week instead of every day?’ And Yang’s personal favorite: ‘It’s not too difficult, right?’
“Alright,” she said, swinging her arms back and forth while rolling her neck. “Stretch anything else you need to before we start.”
As usual, most of the team took the time to relax and chat rather than continue stretching, which meant they were ready to go. And perfect timing too - Coach Ironwood was already walking back over to them.
“Ready, Coach!” Yang said, giving him a thumbs up.
“Good.” Nodding once, he turned to address the team as a whole. “We’ll start with the basics. Grab a partner and run through fifty jabs each side. No gloves. Newbies with returners.”
Before Nora groaned, Yang tagged the girl in the ribs and shook her head. Working on technical stuff like this was monotonous, which was why Nora hated it so much, but it made them better. Yang didn’t particularly like it either, but after years of going through ‘fifty jabs each side’ she’d learned to grin and bear it. Apparently, the method worked because now she could jab like a pro!
After looking around their small group, Yang did as instructed and picked one of the new girls to work with for this exercise.
“Hey,” she said, catching the attention of a slender girl with a light brown ponytail and light green eyes. “Wanna work together?”
When the girl nodded, Yang motioned her off to the side so they had more space. Everyone else paired off and picked their spot of the gym floor to work while Coach Ironwood walked around them to provide his expert guidance on a case-by-case basis.
“What’s your name?” Yang asked while they set up standing across from one another.
“Hannah.”
“Hey Hannah. I’m Yang.” When Yang extended one hand, Hannah shook it and smiled. “Have you ever boxed before?”
“No.”
“What made you interested in joining then?” Yang asked curiously.
“My friend won’t stop talking about how awesome it is,” Hannah answered, nodding towards the bleachers. “I thought I’d try it out and see if I can do it.”
Following the direction of Hannah’s nod, Yang caught the tail-end of a wave from one of the girls sitting with a group of friends only a couple of rows up. As soon as Yang looked their way, however, they started whispering excitedly amongst themselves.
“She’s part of the You-Crew?” Yang asked in dismay.
“What?”
“Uh, she’s here to watch you?” she fudged, turning away from the bleachers.
“Oh. Yeah, she said she wanted to watch practice.”
“You mean she wanted to watch you,” Yang teased, nudging Hannah’s arm and grinning when a faint blush appeared. “But she got you here, so let’s see whatcha got! Raise your fists.”
This was the best way to see someone’s natural instincts, and Hannah’s were...actually not too bad! Just needed a little tweaking...
“Ok, clench your fists like this -” Holding up one hand, Yang folded her fingers into a solid fist. “And tuck in your elbows…good!”
Satisfied that Hannah was catching on, Yang stood beside her to illustrate how to throw a proper jab.
“Now watch closely,” Yang instructed before running through one at half speed. “See the line my arm and shoulder make?”
She drew a horizontal line in the air before running through another example - her fist traveling along the same path. After watching closely, Hannah nodded.
“Good. It’s as easy as that - now you try!”
Standing off to the side, Yang watched Hannah try a slow jab that actually looked pretty darn good.
“Try to straighten out a little bit,” Yang suggested before throwing another jab at a faster pace and pointing out the spot where Hannah hitched her elbow. After watching Yang’s example, Hannah practiced one more time, then turned around with an inquisitive expression.
“Lookin’ good!” Yang said with a big smile. “How does it feel?”
“A little weird,” Hannah answered honestly, making Yang laugh.
“It will at first, but keep going - only forty-eight more!”
Scrunching her brow in concentration, Hannah stared straight ahead and began a series of jabs that looked moderately clean and tidy. It was challenging to perfect these moves at a slow pace, but it was another level of difficult to remember the positioning at full speed. The hope was that if they did a thousand perfect repetitions at half pace, they could do several nearly-perfect reps at full speed.
Noticing a small slip up, Yang stepped forward again.
“Make sure to keep up the proper form,” she instructed while re-forming Hannah’s hand into a fist. “We don’t need you breaking your hand.”
“What?” Hannah asked with wide eyes. “I could break my hand?”
Chuckling at the question, Yang pressed Hannah’s fingers into the proper fist. “Guessing your friend didn’t mention that boxing’s a little dangerous?”
“She just thinks it’s cool...”
“It is! But you’ve got to take it seriously, or you could get hurt. Alright?”
Nodding, Hannah resumed her practice with an air of determination. Making sure her form didn’t slip again, Yang watched closely for the next fifteen or so repetitions before her eyes drifted to the bleachers - only to catch someone looking back at her. Finally meeting Blake’s eyes, Yang smiled and sent up a small wave - a wave that Blake returned before turning back to her book.
Suddenly, Yang felt like she was standing on clouds or a trampoline or something. Everything was light and bouncy, and she couldn’t keep this goofy smile from appearing. Her teammates probably thought she was crazy - why was she smiling like that while watching some newbie boxers mess up their jabs?
But Blake was watching. At least, she was watching at that tiny little moment in time. But if she looked once, maybe she would again, right?
Feeling a tremendous amount of renewed energy, Yang watched the newcomers and found most of them getting the hang of the first drill. Then she noticed a rather-stationary Nora...who actually raised her hand to cover a yawn.
“Hey Jazz -” Yang said, catching the attention of one of the other returners nearby. “Can you keep an eye on her for a second?” she asked, pointing to Hannah and smiling when the girl looked her way. “She’s already a pro, but make sure she doesn’t relax her fist too much.”
“You got it.”
With a nod, Yang walked over and tapped Nora’s shoulder.
“We have to do the drill too.” As expected, Nora pouted, so Yang decided to sweeten the deal. “Come on - we’ll run through it with gloves.”
Using gloves meant they wouldn’t be punching air, which meant Nora was instantly on board.
“Ok!” Racing over to the pile of equipment nearby, Nora tossed Yang’s gloves over to her and then grabbed a pair of punching mitts.
“Wanna make it interesting?” Yang asked while pulling on her gloves, knowing that nothing held Nora’s attention better than a competition. “Let’s see who can finish fastest.”
“Yes! Only let’s do a hundred!” Thrilled by the timed-trial, Nora slipped on the mitts and held up her hands for Yang to punch into. “On your mark, Blondie!”
Glancing at the clock hung on the wall of the gym, Yang waited for the second hand to make a full circle before throwing the first blow - crisp and fast - into Nora’s waiting mitts. Because she already knew how to throw a damn-near-perfect jab, her focus of this exercise was being as fast and efficient as possible.
Alternating between hands so she could move even faster, she flew through the set - each successful jab landing in Nora’s mitts with a satisfying thump of success. The first fifty repetitions were a piece of cake - Yang hardly broke a sweat. The next fifty were...a little more difficult…and perspiration broke out on her brow while her arms grew tired and heavy.
“Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!” she exclaimed while popping one last jab and letting her arms fall like dead weights to her side. “Jeez, I’m beat already.”
“That was like two minutes!” After pulling off the mitts, Nora quickly switched gloves with Yang. “Bet I can do it in under two!”
“Whatever you say, Nora,” Yang replied with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t get too cocky now.”
Switching equipment, Yang held up the punching mitts and - out of the corner of her eye - happened to catch Blake watching them. Turning fully towards the girl and smiling, Yang missed Nora’s starting signal and let out a surprised “oomph” when a heavy fist pounded into her hands. The next one landed immediately after, forcing Yang a step back to cushion the blows.
It was probably important to focus on Nora instead of Blake right now. Otherwise, Nora might unintentionally level Yang in front of everyone, and that would be just a tad humiliating.
As expected, Nora took the contest seriously. Each jab rocketed into Yang’s hands with more power than necessary, but Nora was more concerned with being fast rather than efficient with her motions. As a result, her form loosened and started going all over the place.
“Tighten up, Nora,” Yang prodded her near the middle of the set. Nora heeded the instruction and tightened her motions, but maintaining proper form made her slower. And in a race against the clock, slower was not better.
From Nora’s furrowed brow, Yang could tell that the girl was struggling with which pursuit she wanted to follow more. Maintain good form and lose, or do everything possible to win?
“Keep it tight,” Yang reiterated when Nora started loosening up again. And this time, Nora did as Yang said - and focused on maintaining it through the rest of the repetitions.
“One hundred!” Nora cheered as she planted the last jab in Yang’s right mitt. “Time?”
Looking at the clock, Yang chuckled and shook her head.
“Two and a half minutes.” Noticing the way Nora’s bottom lip began to pout, Yang hurried onward. “But that was great, Nora. Your form on the last couple dozen was perfect!”
Reaching out and shaking Nora’s shoulder, Yang laughed when Nora finally smiled.
“I guess…” she hummed before losing her pout entirely. “They did feel really good!”
“See? That’s what happens. You can feel when they’re right.” When Nora nodded at the response, Yang picked up their equipment and motioned Nora back towards the rest of their team. “Come on, let’s see what Coach has for us next.”
As it turned out, Coach Ironwood showed them some grapple and dodge techniques next, but Yang had learned them all years ago. It was brand new to their rookies though and still worth practicing for some of the returners. For the most experienced amongst them, however, it was kind of like repeating freshman year...
“Yang, why don’t you spar with Nora?” Coach Ironwood suggested, gesturing to a rather bored Nora before returning his focus to the less-experienced fighters. Meanwhile, Nora broke into a huge grin at the idea.
“Just what I wanted!” she sang while skipping to the boxing ring that had gone unused so far this practice.
Happy to have something more exciting to do, Yang gladly followed and stepped through the ropes Nora held open for her.
“Remember what Coach said last week,” Yang warned. “Controlled mayhem.”
With that slightly-psychotic smile of hers, Nora shoved a hot pink mouthguard into her mouth.
“Cho gottit.”
Slipping her own guard into her mouth, Yang gloved up while Nora did the same. As soon as they were both ready, Yang tapped Nora’s gloves before bouncing back on her toes, adrenaline building while the reality of the fight set in. She liked this moment - the anticipation of a fight to come, knowing she’d have the opportunity to dodge and block the incoming blows while throwing a few of her own.
For a moment, there was a period of calm as they rocked on their toes in front of each other. It was the calm before the storm, however, because Nora quickly came out guns blazing - or, more accurately, fists flying. Left, right, uppercut, jab, jab - Yang dodged the blows she could while deflecting or absorbing the rest. Each fist that connected sent a tremor through her body that amplified her adrenaline.
Nora was a good fighter because she was unpredictable and strong.
Nora was a bad fighter because she was impatient and hated doing the little work needed to tactically win a fight. The less she got through to Yang, the more risks she would take - Yang only had to defend and wait her out. One of Yang’s strong suits happened to be defense, so it never took very long.
Today, Nora’s impatience showed itself in a long, winding hook loaded with power. If it connected, it would knock just about anyone out, but when Yang took a quick step backward the blow whooshed by her nose and threw Nora off balance instead. In that moment of weakness, Yang threw two quick jabs before quickly wrapping Nora in a headlock.
It wasn’t the most legal of moves, but Yang had learned the hard way that it was one of the only ways to get Nora to stop fighting. Anything less, and Nora would continue until someone actually knocked her down. Seeing as how this was just practice, Yang wasn’t willing to be the deliverer of such a blow.
“Gotcha,” she said through her guard, the word coming out slurred while Nora struggled in her arms.
After spending a few seconds trying to free herself, Nora eventually relaxed. As soon as that happened, Yang released her grip and pushed Nora a safe distance away. One time, Nora only pretended to give up...and then decked Yang as soon as she lowered her guard. She’d learned from that, too!
But Nora was still grinning - happy to fight and skip the ‘boring’ practice reps that would make her better.
“Again?” she asked.
When Yang nodded, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning towards the disturbance, she found that Blake had stood up and was slinging her bag over one shoulder. Next, she headed down the bleacher steps towards them.
Quickly gesturing that she needed a second, Yang spit out her mouth guard and jogged to the edge of the ring. By the time Blake reached the gym floor, Yang was standing at the edge of the ropes waiting for her.
“Hey are you interested in boxing?” Yang asked, if only to have something to say. The question made Blake pause and give another one of those smiles - the one that suggested she knew more than she was letting on.
“I’ve seen you fight. I don’t think I want to be on the receiving end of one of those punches.”
When Blake resumed walking, Yang followed her path from inside the ring.
“You’ve seen me fight? Where at?”
“School,” Blake replied, smiling while walking backward away. “Where else?”
The corner of the ring stopped Yang’s progress, otherwise she might’ve followed Blake all the way outside. Instead, she felt that silly grin return to her lips while watching Blake walk away.
She got the feeling that Blake was playing with her. And she didn’t know why she liked it so much.
“Who’s that?”
Glancing at Nora, Yang turned back just as Blake walked out of the gym and the door closed behind her.
“New girl. Her name’s Blake.”
“You guys know each other?”
“No - she must’ve seen me at a match though.”
Vale High competed against Menagerie every year, so it was possible that Blake saw one of the matches over there. Maybe the one last year? That was a good one...
“Huh…” Nora said, looking thoughtful for a half second before grinning. “She’s cute. When ya gonna ask her out?”
Turning around, Yang punched Nora in the shoulder - hard. Far harder than she’d ever hit anyone else, but Nora just laughed it off and bounced away.
“Come on, one more round!”
It was actually a couple of rounds later before Nora was finally forced to partake in some actual learning. And, before Yang knew it, they were cooling down and heading off to the locker room to change back into regular clothes. It was from there that the rest of her teammates dispersed their separate ways - everyone tired and ready to go home.
Before Yang could head home, however, she had to wait for Ruby to run in from track practice. And she literally meant run. A normal person would be tired after sprinting around a track for a couple of hours, but Ruby wasn’t. She whizzed through the doors wearing a pair of track pants and a track jacket while her backpack hung from one shoulder.
“Hey Yang!” she called out, only slowing her rapid pace to fall in step beside Yang. She’d made it clear several times that they were not running all the way home. No way.
“Hey Ruby! How was practice?” she asked, waving goodbye to Pyrrha and Jaune while heading towards the exit of the gym.
“Good! Got to run and stuff.”
“And classes?”
“Ugh...they’re teaching us trigonometry already Yang! It’s the first day! Why do I need to know trigonometry??”
“For...uh...math purposes?” Yang guessed when Ruby looked like she actually wanted an answer to that question. When Ruby let out a disgruntled huff of air, Yang chuckled and nudged her shoulder. “Anything exciting happen though? Not class-related?”
“I met a guy with a pet frog!”
“Really? That’s…”
‘Weird’ might be the usual answer, but Ruby loved weird. Ruby was weird.
“That’s cool,” Yang replied instead, smiling at how happy Ruby looked by the encounter.
“Yeah! His name’s Freddy, and I got to hold him!”
“We’re still talking about the frog, right?”
Thankfully, Ruby nodded.
“Freddy is the frog, Trevor is his owner. He brings Freddy everywhere! He was all slimy and stuck to my hand!”
“Freddy the Frog,” Yang repeated, shaking her head. “This school gets stranger every year.”
She and Ruby were alike in many ways, but one of their most important similarities was their willingness to befriend anyone and everyone. Why else would Weiss Schnee be sitting with them at lunch every day?
...that was one Yang wished Ruby could take back.
Actually, that wasn’t true. For as much grief as Weiss gave her, Yang enjoyed her company, in a way. And even though Weiss seemed to be annoyed by everyone’s existence besides Ruby’s...well, everyone got lonely sometimes.
“Did you meet anyone cool today?” Ruby asked in return.
“A freshman who’s basically a walking calculator. And then…” Trailing off, Yang grinned while the two of them walked outside together. “And then there’s the new girl - Blake.”
“The smart one?”
Yang’s smile grew when she remembered how Blake had fooled her into flirting like a prince.
“Yup. That’s the one.”
After heading down the steps and reaching the sidewalk, Yang wrapped her arm around Ruby’s shoulders and hugged her close. With the first day of school officially in the books, she couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.