Author's Notes: First written for 4chan's RWBY General. I own nothing, nor do I claim anything but satisfaction from this work.

"Coco! Time to get up!"

Coco lifted her head from her pillow and blinked slowly, caught in the moment between dreams and reality where she didn't entirely know which she would finally land in. She knew which one she'd rather be in, but her dad was insistent.

"Come on, it's a week day. Get up, get ready."

She grunted her acquiescence and her dad left her to the room. It was pitch black outside, but the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling burned her eyes. Her stomach growled menacingly and she sighed happily. Weekdays meant school and that meant school lunch. And it was...Thursday. Pizza. Yum.

Coco rolled off her cot and onto the floor and quickly hurried into the house's bathroom. It was dingy and cold, colored in a pale sickly green and dark mold they never quite managed to clean off. She quickly stripped down and stepped into the shower and turned it on, jumping as the ice cold water hit her. She scrubbed through the cold, teeth chattering, and thanked the gods it warmed by the time she got to her hair.

After shampooing she reached for her conditioner and groaned at its light weight. She squeezed and nothing came out. She shook it and tried again, and again nothing. Sighing she shut off the shower and threw the empty bottle in the garbage can. That stuff was expensive, she hated running out.

She toweled off quickly, the heat from the shower hadn't warmed the room much and she was shivering. Summer was so much nicer than Fall. Only six months to go before she can be warm again, she thought bitterly.

Coco wrapped the towel around her and hurried back into her room. If anything it was colder in there, but at least that's where her clothes were. She went through her closet picking and choosing and disregarding. She may not have much, she thought, but she made sure the selection here was fantastic.

Her dad was in the living room doing sit-ups when she finished and made her way into the kitchen for breakfast. Coco ignored him and checked the fridge. Empty.

"Dad," she called into the other room, "we're out of food."

"I thought we had eggs," he called back.

"That was dinner, remember?"

"Dammit. Don't we have some cereal or something?"

Coco went through the cabinets and found an almost empty box of cereal and poured herself a bowl. "We don't have any milk," she called.

"I'll get some tomorrow," she heard from the other room.

"What about today?"

"I get paid tomorrow."

She sighed and grabbed a spoon from the dishwasher and plopped down on the couch in front of the TV and started eating. Her dad finished his workout and went to get ready for work and heard him enter the bathroom.

"Are we out of conditioner?" he yelled.

"Yeah," she called back and returned to the TV. There weren't any cartoons on at this hour, just the news and infomercials. Of the two Coco liked the infomercials better. All the pretty clothes and jewelry for sale by happy, smiling people. Someday she's going to-

"Coco!"

Her dad was back, dressed in his perfectly pressed suit and strapping on a watch that cost more than they spent on food in a year. His hair was perfectly combed and the corner of a handkerchief stuck out of his breast pocket.

"How do I look?" he asked, as he always did in the morning.

"Like a million lien," she replied, smiling.

"Perfect." He grabbed her rucksack and guided her towards the door. "And remember, it doesn't matter who you are. If you look like a million lien..."

"People will treat you like a million lien," Coco finished.

"That's my girl."