A person could read over the same passage only so many times before all the words within started to lose meaning. Weiss leaned over her textbooks and notes, rubbing her temples as she once again poured over the mechanics of an elimination reaction in organic compounds. Or was it substitution? She could barely keep track at that point. It was something about charged ions changing their orientation on a carbon chain – that much was certain – but there were all these rules and exceptions to those rules and all sorts of-

"Argh!"

The heiress kicked away from the desk and glided across the dimly-lit library in a rolling chair, letting herself spin whichever way as she ran her fingers through her uncharacteristically messy hair. No amount of energizing coffee, no genre of focusing music, no kind of rigorous self-discipline could take the edge off how dull her studies were. Sure, compared to most other students at Beacon, Weiss had a much stronger grasp on chemistry and consistently scored in the top 10 percent on her exams, but that was all to be expected. After all, Weiss Schnee was in line to take over Schnee Tech once her father finally decided to retire, and no CEO worth their salt would ever consider leading their company without a high level of knowledge in all the disciplines under them. How could she make informed decisions for the corporation if she could not even figure out what the lowest intern working in the labs might be doing wrong? No, if this pint-sized girl were ever to be taken seriously in the business world, she had an obligation to continue her heavy academic load. Nevertheless, that sort of motivation could only push her so far. All those formulas and charts and lengthy tables about when to use one equation or another meant absolutely nothing to her at times, and it took a lot of patience for her to drill that information into her head. Weiss felt far more at home with reading a historical text or writing a paper on the evolution of Valean economics over the centuries, something, anything that engaged her critical and analytic mind – but alas, for that night, she was condemned to repetitive exercises from her chemistry book.

Ruby, on the other hand, seemed to be having a much better time with her studies. Sitting across from her stressed roommate, she held her laptop on her stomach while leaning back in her chair (notthe kind with wheels – she almost went to the hospital the last time she tried that), legs kicked up on the table, rocking back and forth to her music. Her oversized headphones were by far the brunette's most prized possession, allowing her to jump into her own world whenever she wanted to. At the moment, she seemed to be in a very happy place, as she rocked her head side to side while humming the tune with a serene smile. Dust, I wish I was a journalism major so all I had to do was read newspapers and write an editorial every now and again, Weiss thought with a small amount of bitterness. Still, I have my path, and she has hers – and mine is the one with the larger paycheck, isn't it? Regardless of what the heiress told herself, she couldn't help envy how peaceful that girl seemed. Ruby seemed to have noticed Weiss staring at her and raised her head to meet the pair of icy blue eyes.

"What'shup?" the chipper girl asked, nibbling on the eraser of her pencil.

"Oh, nothing," Weiss answered tiredly, "just zoning out."

"You've been doing a lot of that lately."

"Well, maybe you would understand why if you would take a look at my current assignment. I assure you that it's just as exciting as it sounds."

"Nooooooope," Ruby said, popping the "p" at the end, "I took my one required science course last semester, and it suuuucked. You can keep that… witchcraft to yourself."

"As long as you get why I've been so out of sorts recently."

"Got a big exam coming up soon or something?"

"This Friday, actually. Which means for the next…" Weiss craned her neck to check the time, "60 hours or so, I'm going to be holed up in this place."

"Weiss, that sounds terrible! Don't you have things to do, like, uh… classes and food and stuff?"

The heiress let out a humorless laugh. "Don't worry, my hyperactive companion, I won't be missing anything that important – it's just that in all my free time, I'll likely be holed up in here, like I am right now."

"What about going to the gym? Are you going to miss that too?"

The weary girl paused for a moment as if just remembering her new hobby before continuing. "Oh, that? Well… I told my trainer about this exam and that I had to skip a few days so I could focus on my studies. She told me not to worry, as my academic success should take priority over everything else. She's pretty reasonable, you know?"

Ruby frowned and sat up straight in her chair. "You're not wrong, but… well, just look at yourself. You're gonna drain all your energy if you keep up this kind of work ethic, just like you've been all year. Going to the gym was all about you getting a release for all that stress you're building up – it's even been working, too! I mean, yeah, you look super beat whenever you come back from there, but you still seem, like, content and stuff, happy almost. I just don't want you to start making excuses not to go, you know? First it'll start with this exam, and then you'll find something else to do in the meantime to prevent you from going, and, well, then you'll just stop going altogether. What then? You're going to go right back to square one and be all stressed out again, and… I just don't want you to lose something that's been this good to you."

Weiss dared not look directly into the pleading eyes of her roommate, choosing instead to look down at her textbook. In all honesty, she really didn't mind going to Gold's a few times every week. Sure, she could do without the soreness that always greeted her in the morning following a workout, but the heiress couldn't deny the rush she got when she was exercising. She pushed herself every time she was there, making sure to complete every set with proper form, testing herself with heavier and heavier weights – it was just like the kind of training she would do for school, but without all the pressure she was accustomed to. Weiss had Yang to thank for that, of course; the woman always drove her to improve her performance, but somehow she knew when it was time to take a break. Not only that, but she never criticized Weiss whenever she messed up, something that her overbearing parents were always so sure to point out. No, instead, the blonde would simply encourage her to work out the mistakes when she could, never rushing her. It was just so… comforting to be around the blonde. It doesn't hurt that she has such a voluptuous bosom and as-

"Weiss, are you blushing?"

"N-no, it just… it just got really warm all of a sudden," Weiss replied, pulling on her collar for added effect. It seemed to satisfy Ruby's curiosity.

"Huh, weird, I feel fine. Anyway, if you're not going to go work out, you should at least take a break and, I don't know, chill out for a while, unwind from all that work you're doing."

Weiss tilted her head back and pondered on what her roommate suggested for a moment. "I suppose I could stop studying the evening before the exam. I've heard that people tend to perform better on tests when they don't do any last minute cramming, but I never figured to try it out. It could work." She ended her thought with a shrug.

"Yay! So, whatcha gonna do?"

"I… I don't know. I could read a book or something, maybe go for a walk around campus with some music."

"Oh, come on, that's so boring! You need to, like, do stuff with friends or whatever. How about Coco? Neptune? Ren and Nora? That study group of yours?"

Weiss tensed slightly before letting out a sigh. "Ren and Nora are nice enough, but they're always so involved with each other, and I would rather not be a third wheel. I do get along well with the people in the Chem group, though I don't really see them outside of our usual study sessions. Coco's just as busy as I am, so I rarely ever see her to begin with, and Neptune…"

"Oh, right! Sorry, I forget sometimes," the brunette said, scratching the back of her neck in embarrassment. "But still, there's got to be someone who you can hang out with for a few hours, right?"

"I noticed that you haven't suggested yourself yet. Not trying to get me off your hands, are you?"

"Ah, see..." Ruby continued nervously, "I would love to have some roommate bonding time, but tomorrow night is my date with Jaune."

"That's right, you've been harping all about it for the past week," Weiss said with a slight pang of disappointment. While she's a bit much at times, Ruby would have been perfect. "You're surprisingly calm, given how excited you've been."

Ruby pointed to her headphones. "Music! Still, my tummy is butterflies right now." Right after she finished speaking, her scroll went off, vibrating on the table. "Oh Dust, oh Dust, oh Dust, it's Jaune! I'm gonna have more butterflies again. Hold on, Weiss, I'll be right back!" The crimson girl zoomed out of the library with uncanny speed, leaving Weiss alone with her thoughts.

Who else is there for me, really? I mean, if nothing else, I can always just watch movies online or browse Facebook or something. Just like always. The heiress frowned at the thought. She had gone through most of her years in school without making many lasting connections with people. It wasn't that she hated being around people – in fact, Weiss saw herself as a very social person. She knew how to navigate all the social circles at Beacon, who to be seen with and who to avoid, and how to make small talk that made it seem like she cared. Nevertheless, there was never any substance in those relationships; Weiss had no one to support her when she was down, no one to make her feel at ease with the stressful world she lived in. Ruby came close, but she already had old friends from high school whom she constantly hung out with, and Weiss could hardly bring herself to cling onto her roommate's happiness. There was also her family, but she could find more cheerfulness in an iceberg.

You're forgetting someone, a little voice from somewhere inside her head chimed in.

Oh really? And who would that be? Weiss humored the voice, if only sardonically. When you're under so much constant pressure, it's only natural to develop a separate psyche to converse with.

Oh, no one special, of course. Just a certain hot, muscly blonde with whom you've been spending so much time over the past two weeks.

Weiss froze. Yang?! Are you kidding me? She's my trainer and I'm her trainee – that's all there is to our relationship.

You know you can't lie to your own mind, right? I know what you think of her every time you see that body, you naughty, naughty girl.

SHUT UP! Anyway, that's beside the point. We have a professional relationship, and it would hardly be fitting for me to ask her to be friends with me. I don't even know anything about her except that she's very excited about fitness and outgoing and optimistic and cheerful – pretty much the polar opposite of me.

And you want that.

Weiss rubbed her temples, already starting to get weary of this mental debate. You're not wrong, but…

But what? You have nothing to lose. Worst case, she says that she can't spend an evening with you, and you can continue your "professional relationship" or whatever. On the other hand, you could have a fun, relaxing night with a new friend. Who knows, she might even be open to more.

The heiress took a deep breath. Fine, we'll see if this works out. She reached into her handbag and pulled out her scroll, flicking through the names until she found "Yang Xiao Long" right at the bottom of the list. Weiss hesitated for a moment with her finger over the call button, anxious about what might happen, what Yang might think of her for asking this sort of thing. Before she could psych herself out, though, the nervous girl pressed the button and held the phone to her ear. Part of her almost wanted the call to go straight to the voicemail, so she could at least say that she tried without actually having to go through with this crazy idea. It would be sad, of course, for it to not work out but at least that way, Weiss was guaranteed not to deal with anything embarrassing. After a little less than a minute, she heard what she expected.

"We're sorry, but the number you are trying to reach is not available right now. Press '1' now to leave a call-back number, or press '2' to leave a voice mes-"

Weiss hung up before the automated reply could finish and slumped a little in her chair. Well, what did I expect? She's a busy woman, she probably doesn't have the time to spend with one of her clients. At least I tried. While not thrilled with the outcome, she didn't get hung up on it, as there were still plenty of chemistry notes to pour through, and the heiress had wasted enough time worrying about Yang that could have been spent reviewing the special relation between alkynes and boron ions. How thrilling.

About half an hour passed by, and Weiss was getting into the groove of her studies. She breezed through page after page of notes at breakneck speed, never missing a single detail. She was about to start on the review exercises at the end of her textbook when her scroll rang. Nervously, she picked it up and her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it was Yang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Weiss! Sorry that I couldn't call sooner, I was busy with a client and all. What's up? I thought you said you couldn't work out before Friday because you had that exam thing."

"Yeah, that's still happening, so no gym for me just yet."

"Well, okay." Yang clearly didn't get what was going on. "What's on your mind, then?"

"Actually…" Weiss started kicking the floor under the chair, spinning herself around as she tried to formulate her words coherently. She was determined not to mess this up. "I was planning on taking the evening off tomorrow to cool down a bit before my test, and… I was wondering if you were, uhhh… free then." She waited uneasily in the silence that followed. Oh, Dust, here we go, she's going to think this is really weird! I knew this was a bad idea.

"Hmm… well, usually, I've got a client who comes in Thursday evenings around 6:30, but lately he's been skipping out, and quite frankly I'm tired of his shit. Aside from that, I'm pretty much open! You have something in mind to do?"

Uh oh. To be honest, Weiss didn't think she would get this far – she had been so worried about what might go wrong that she didn't even bother to consider what to do in case this plan worked out. Now that she was in this position, she had no idea what to suggest. "I… er… well..."

"Ooo, I know! We should see the midnight showing of 'Ten Little Roosters'! It's about a murder mystery that takes place in an ordinary office building with 10 people, 9 of which are guilty of some past crime and one of them is still out for blood! In the end, only one person can survive, but you don't know who it is! Plus, Michael Jones and Gavin Free are starring in it! It's gonna be super cool!"

"I know of Gavin, he's not a horrible actor, and the premise sounds interesting enough, but midnight is a bit late for me…"

"Ah, they just say midnight because it sounds cool. Actually, they're gonna show it at 11. When's your first class on Friday?"

"10 in the morning, and that's the class with the exam. I don't know if I'll have enou-"

"Perfect! You should be able to get enough sleep before your test, then." Weiss could practically hear the blonde beaming over the call. "Where do you want to meet up?"

"I'll…" The heiress was about to protest, but soon realized that there was no use arguing against someone with that kind of energy. Besides, this is what she wanted, right? "Just by the fountain in Aural Square. I think the closest theater to Beacon is around there, and since I'm going to go there on foot, I'd prefer that one."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you there at 10:30. Might be a little late, but we'll see, shouldn't be too bad. Alright, gotta get back to work – see you later!"

"See you soon."

Several minutes passed by without Weiss moving a muscle. She didn't touch her books or look through her notes. She didn't even move the scroll from her ear. In fact, the only thing that changed about her was a slowly growing patch of scarlet on her cheeks.

EDITORS: condor700 and Just_one_more_

Well, hello, hello, hello! Guess who's finally back? I apologize for taking so long with this one, but right as I came back from my break, I got slammed with assignments (thanks, professors, love you too). Also, my previous editor had to step away for a while because of personal reasons, and it took a while to get someone new. However, thanks to Just_one_more_ and condor700, I got the job done!

Before I bounce, I have a couple things to announce. First, I'm changing my update schedule from weekly to biweekly. Originally, I set up the weekly plan just so I could guarantee consistent output for this story and discipline myself to keep doing this, but now I realize that that kind of schedule is incredibly stressful, especially since I'm starting to head into the end of my semester soon. While this does slow down this project a bit, I can still ensure that the quality of writing will stay just as is! Secondly, I'm bumping up the rating of this story from T to M (sorry, my younger readers). Over the break, I did a LOT of planning and outlining of this story and realized that the way I'm taking it has some subject matter that would require the mature rating. Nothing dark, of course, just… touchy. Also, I get to swear more! Woohoo! (I not planning on overdoing it lol)

Alright, that's all for now – see you all in two weeks, and thank you so much for reading!