En Garde! A RWBY White Rose Fanfiction

Chapter 3: A Disaster

Ruby didn't get very far.
"Uf!" A single step around the corner led to a heavy impact (and momentary loss of consciousness). Ruby found herself on the floor with her history folder and notebook paper scattered across the smooth tile. She groaned and reached towards her folder but stopped when she saw a blob of white out of the corner of her eye. Of course, I had to run into someone. What a day this is already turning out to be.
"I'm so, so sorry about that," Ruby apologized.
No response.
She reached out and gathered together the stranger's binders as they stood up. "Um... Here," Ruby said as she offered the school supplies back to the stranger. They took them quickly, and Ruby went to pick up her folder without a second glance, trying to hide her complete and utter embarrassment. Within a couple of seconds, she was on her feet with a (somewhat) neat folder. She turned around and chuckled lightly. "Again, sorry about that. I'm Ru-..."
Standing in front of her was someone she thought she'd only meet in her dreams. She had literally just run smack into Vale's greatest fencer.
"...by." Ruby ended her sentence with a spike up in her tone as Weiss Schnee glared daggers at her. This was definitely going down in her memory as one of the most humiliating moments in her entire life.
Ruby took a step back, feeling her legs start to wobble. She looked really pissed, not like her innocent complexion on the cover of last month's Fencer's Weekly. Ruby squeaked again, "Sorry!" and quickly darted around Weiss before she could react. Ruby was pretty fast, so running was always her first option when it came to a situation like...that.
She ran like the devil was after her and made it to history class in record time. With adrenaline rushing through her veins, Ruby found the classroom door to be propped open and squeezed through the gap. She let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding in a sigh that made everyone in the room turn their heads towards her. The doorstop being moved and the door slamming behind her didn't help much, either. "S-sorry," she sputtered for what felt like the millionth time and scooted into the seat closest to her. The hood on her red jacket went up and over her head.
A second bell rang, announcing the start of class. Ruby seemed to shrink even smaller than she already was as her peers turned their attention away from her and towards the front. No one was there. Everyone (except Ruby, who was staring at her desk in shock) started to look around in confusion, but they didn't have to wait very long. A door on the other side of the room slowly opened. A blur whizzed into the classroom and came to an abrupt stop at a swivel chair. A slender man with a white collared shirt and messy green hair almost slammed his coffee mug on the desk and re-adjusted his gleaming spectacles.
The energetic (or just caffeine-loaded) teacher sprung back out of his seat and zipped to the front of the desk. "Good morning, class!" he exclaimed at a speed Ruby could barely follow, now that he had her attention.
He began to pace as he spoke. "As I'm sure you're all aware, this is your new history class. I'm Professor Oobleck, and I'll be your teacher for the remainder of the year UNLESS-" he paused and turned dramatically towards his audience "-I happen to be ill, on an important business trip, or, obviously, dead." The entire class wasn't really sure what to think at this point, and Oobleck didn't give them a chance to react as he started pacing again.
"Moving on to more important things, this is a course I'm sure all of you will find rigorous and challenging, so DO NOT underestimate the importance of history. In fact...YOU!" He was suddenly in front of the desk of a very flustered blond boy. "What is your name?" Professor Oobleck asked. "J-Jaune Arc, sir!" the student stuttered. "Very good. Mr. Arc, can you tell us exactly WHY we study history?" The class went quiet for a moment before Jaune said hesitantly, "Umm...for-" "TIME'S UP!" Oobleck interrupted him and moved on to another desk. Jaune looked down at his desk in embarrassment as a couple of boys nearby snickered.
Oobleck stopped at the seat of a pretty girl in the corner of the room. "MISS NIKOS!" he almost shouted. "As a student with an exceptional GPA, surely you must have the answer." The girl looked almost as disrupted as the other boy was, but she was able to collect herself. "I believe we study history in order to learn from the mistakes that others have made in the past." "VEEEERY GOOD!" Oobleck proclaimed. "I will repeat that so everyone can hear. Although it has been debated on, the objective of studying history is to learn about the past mistakes important people have made and how not to repeat them!"
Countless mistakes have been made by every human being that ever walked this Earth, and we historians are dubbed with the task of studying the mistakes that made a big impact on our world and made it part of what it is today." As he rushed back to his desk, Ruby could see quite a few disheartened students. Faith in humanity destroyed.
•••
History class continued just as the others had, only at an extremely rapid pace. Oobleck somehow kept talking and handing out papers, and Ruby was about ready to throw her twenty-page packet into the recycling bin when the bell rang. At least her history teacher had distracted her from...Oh my gosh. I just met one of the most important people ever, and I managed to do it in the most idiotic way possible.