Beecon University

Chapter 18

The drive from Beacon University to Patch was taking significantly longer than Blake had imagined. Of course, Yang had insisted they stop in a town off the highway and grab lunch, so that hadn't helped either. Yang, much to Blake's annoyance, had also insisted on paying for Blake's meal. Blake knew she wasn't going to be able to pay Yang or her father a penny back for anything they were doing for her this week, despite how much Blake felt like she was intruding. She had been told that Taiyang would be even more stubborn about her paying them back for anything than Yang was, which was disappointing, yet made sense. Yang had to get her stubbornness from somewhere, after all.

"Only about 10 minutes left," Yang commented, pulling Blake out of her thoughts. "Isn't too bad a ride, in my opinion."

"It got a lot better once we were past the capital,"

"Well, yeah. Patch is just a small town on the coast. Not many people go out this far. The route between BU and the capital is much more congested."

"Makes sense," Blake agreed, shrugging.

"You okay?" Yang was sure that something had to be on Blake's mind, considering her short replies.

Blake glanced over at her, tapping her fingers against her knees. "Just nervous, I guess."

"I'm telling you, Blake. Everything will be okay."

"I know," Blake sighed, "but that doesn't mean that I can stop my anxiety over it."

"I know, but it'll be over with soon. Meeting them, that is." Yang was interrupted by the sound of her phone, which rested in the cup holder between her and Blake, receiving a text. "Can you see who that is?"

"Sure." Happy about the distraction, Blake picked up the phone and tapped its screen to see the notification. "Text from Ruby."

"What's it say?"

"Ahem." Blake cleared her throat, preparing herself for her best impression of the hyperactive girl she had met over video call just a few weeks ago. "Yaaaaaaaaang! I'm so sorry! I totally forgot I had a date planned with Penny this afternoon and I'm going to be late for you coming home. I'll be home before dinner, I promise!"

"Wow," Yang laughed, "that was scarily accurate. Can you text her back for me? My passcode is one-seven-zero-zero."

Blake nodded, unlocking the phone. "What do you want me to say?"

"'No problem, Rubes. I'll see you soon.'" Yang paused for a moment. "Oh, and in parentheses, put 'Don't worry, I'm not texting and driving, Blake's texting for me.'"

Blake took a few moments to tap away on the phone. "Okay, sent." The message was immediately marked as read and a message was returned nearly instantly. "Wow, Ruby responds fast."

"She's really fast in general. She's the fastest runner on her track team and does softball in the spring. Still, she has endless energy." Yang shook her head with a laugh. "I don't understand where she gets all of it. What'd she respond with?"

Blake reentered her Ruby voice. "Thanks, Blake! I'll see you both soon!"

"Respond with a yellow heart emoji."

"Uh, okay." Blake did as she was told, a red heart popping up in reply. "She responded with-"

"A red heart?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, that's how we end a lot of conversations."

"God, that's adorable." Blake locked Yang's phone and placed it back in the cup holder. "You seem like a pretty good older sister."