En Garde! A RWBY White Rose Fanfiction

Chapter 26: Over-Worked

"Welp, guess we're partners now," Ruby said with a shrug, and Weiss groaned in response.

School naturally resumed as normal after the arcade excursion (save the fencing team practices Ruby had every other school day). Ruby and Weiss' shared English class had been assigned a partner project that Tuesday. And by a stroke of luck, Ruby and Weiss were picked from straws. The heiress was surprised teachers still did that, when they had modern technology at their fingertips.

Their assignment was to create a poster based on a historical figure in literature. There were no limitations, with the exception of making the project school-appropriate. The jocks in the back of the class snickered at hearing that rule.

"So, what should we do?" Ruby asked Weiss excitedly. "I think we should make it about that one guy who wrote about the kids with southern accents and they take a boat out to that island, then they're all naked..."

"You mean Mark Twain...?" Weiss asked hesitantly.

The brunette nodded vigorously.

Of course, Ruby remembered that part of Tom Sawyer. Skinny-dipping seemed outrageous to the innocent, modest fifteen-year-old. Lord of the Flies was the only other candidate, but Weiss guessed that Ruby was too dense to wrap her head around the deeper meaning in that book.

"Yes, we can make our project about him," Weiss agreed. "But we aren't mentioning the skinny-dipping. We have to keep it school-appropriate, remember?"

"Aww." Ruby drooped. "I still liked the book, though."

"Of course." Weiss started formulating a step-by-step process for completing the project, as was expected of an organized person.

Ruby, on the other hand, was thinking about the fencing tournament coming up next month. She felt like it was the moment she'd trained for ever since she picked up a rapier, even though that was just over half a year ago. Even when she and Weiss weren't training and there was no team practice after school, Ruby often took advantage of the open space in her backyard and practiced while Yang exercised in the garage with her blasting music.

Speaking of practice, all of the fencing from yesterday afternoon had Ruby exhausted. She tried her best to maintain her usual flow of energy, but she could feel herself burning out.

"Weiss," she yawned, "I wanna add lots of glitter to the poster... And maybe cut the border with that..." She yawned again. "That weird wavy scissor thing. It'll look so...cool..."

Just as I predicted. She's out like a light, Weiss thought to herself, chuckling quietly. The brunette's unkempt hair completely covered her forehead, while her arms cupped around her face on the desk. She'd fallen asleep so quickly that Weiss had no time to remind her of the research portion of the prompt.

She must be exhausted, Weiss thought with a smile. She's been working so hard. I honestly can't blame her. And so, rather than (attempting to) wake up her friend, the diligent heiress started working without her.

Her determination only lasted about five minutes.

•••

"Weiss...Weissss...Weiss!"

Grr, does she have any idea what time it is?! Weiss impulsively growled and slapped Ruby's hand away after having her shoulder shaken three times. When she lifted her head from her desk, Ruby gave her an apologetic look. "The bell rang a minute or so ago," she muttered. "I thought you'd wake up, but..."

"What?!" Weiss shot out of her desk, followed by a hearty laugh from the teacher. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?!" she almost shouted. She picked her backpack off the floor and threw the straps around her arms. "Out of my way," the heiress fumed. Ruby scooted away like an angry magnetic force was repelling her, and Weiss stormed out of the room in a flurry of anger and embarrassment.

"I knew that would happen," Ruby sighed. Then, she let out the laughter she'd been holding. Not until now did she know that Weiss snored, though it was soft and adorable. 

•••

Ruby sat in her room with her hand propping up her chin, staring blankly at her history homework. She wasn't thinking about what happened in 1874. Her thoughts were focused on something, or rather someone, else.

"Rubes!" Yang barged into the room with a burrito on a plate. "Dinner!"

"Hmm?" Ruby turned around and gave Yang a smile. "Thanks," she said as Yang put the plate on her desk.

"You ok?" her big sister inquired. "You're usually bouncing off the walls when I bring food in here."

"Yeah," Ruby sighed. "I'm just...thinking."

"About what? I got all day." Yang sat on the bed.

Ugh, that's not what I meant... Ruby complained to herself. "You know, the usual."

"That means fencing and Weiss," Yang concluded. "By the way, how was your first practice yesterday? I meant to ask."

"It was good," Ruby replied. She was still staring at her history textbook.

Yang got up and worriedly put her hand on her little sister's shoulder. "You sure you're okay, Rubes? You're staring off into space, and that isn't like you. ...Are those bags under your eyes? You look like a raccoon!"

"Rude!" Ruby interjected. "I'm just a little tired from gym class today. They had us run two kilometers."

The blonde knew better than to take that as an excuse, for Ruby had the energy to run ten kilometers, and then bench press for an hour. "That's a lame excuse," she argued.

"Just leave me alone," Ruby mumbled. She turned the page in her history book and half-heartedly pretended to start reading it. "I'm doing my homework."

"Fine, grouchy-puss," Yang responded and went to the door. "Lemme know if you need anything," she added before she left.

Ruby began absentmindedly skimming through the textbook and came upon a paragraph about how rapiers were commonly used in the Middle Ages. It got her adrenaline pumping again. The first round of the tournament began in three days. Ruby felt anything but prepared to go into school competition, even though she was elected team captain.

She glanced at her practice rapier, propped on the wall inside her open closet. She wanted to go over her posture for the millionth time, but she knew Yang would yell at her if she caught her practicing this late in the evening. The anxious brunette returned her focus to the history book and began writing answers full of history and the usual gibberish on her worksheet.

AN: needed a new chapter? I got ya covered. What will result from Ruby's overexertion? Find out in the next chapter. Dun dun dun...