Yang looked towards the clock in the room with dreary eyes as she began to filter out the talking around her. There were still 30 minutes left of the council meeting, 30 minutes until freedom and the opportunity to do something actually enjoyable. It was times like this where she regretted letting Weiss talk her into joining the council, sure there was free food at the meetings as Weiss said and Weiss did in fact help her with some assignments like she also promised. However, what the heiress didn't mention that these meetings would be this mind-numbingly monotonous and that all she really wanted from Yang was her support in any idea she had, regardless of Yang's actual opinion on the matter. It had only been about a month into Yang's 3rd year, but these twice-a-week council meetings where all Yang was expected to do was sit in silence, listen and sometimes say "I agree with Weiss," or "we should remember what Weiss mentioned earlier," or "Weiss brings up a good point," meant this year was already shaping up to be a snooze-fest. Weiss also didn't tell Yang that she actually asked Ruby and Blake to join the council before finally asking her. Ruby declined stating she would find it boring and Blake wanted nothing to do with the student council. Yang recalls their reactions when they found out Weiss persuaded her to join:
"You actually joined?" Blake asked, her tone a mixture of surprise and amusement.
"Yeah, I figured it'd be something different." Yang tried to defend herself.
"I don't know, Yang. There's not much variety to sitting silently in a room for an hour." Ruby retorted also appearing amused by her older sister's decision.
"Aw, come on, how bad can it be?" Yang replied.
All Ruby and Blake did in response was share a knowing look with one another.
"Yang!"
Yang's moment of reminiscing was interrupted by the person responsible for her current feeling of tedium, staring at her intensely with her steely blue eyes.
"Huh? ... Oh, sorry, I guess I was kind of distracted." Yang answered nonchalantly.
"Do you even know what we were talking about for the last 10 minutes?" Weiss interrogated, her face still looking at Yang with a fierce expression.
"It... Er..." Yang quickly looked around the room; all other council members besides the one questioning her seemed to be sharing her feeling towards their current situation- a state of complete apathy but this did not tell Yang what they were talking about. "It was something to do with food?" Yang guessed.
"No, Yang." Weiss answered flatly. "The health and safety concerns in the science laboratories have not got something to do with food unless you inadvertently eat some of the chemicals there which wouldn't surprise me because you don't seem to be able to pay attention to anything!"Weiss was now positively fuming.
"Hey that's not fair! I can pay attention to things." Yang finally found some energy and enthusiasm to her voice though it did not seem to affect any of the other council members; everyone maintained their uncaring expression except of course Weiss.
"Oh give me a break!" Weiss snorted. "You don't commit to anything before getting tired then moving on to something else whether it's this council, assignments or even in the middle of fights you seem to lose interest."
"Shut up." Yang stated bluntly now almost seething.
"Why should I? Is it just because you can't think of something you have actually spent a significant time caring about besides your hair?" Weiss now had an arrogant smirk on her face.
Yang stood up from her chair, now furiously staring back at her accuser. Weiss simply maintained her smug look. Unable to think of something to say, Yang let out a loud groan and sat back down in her chair. Weiss' smirk went wider upon seeing this before resuming the prior discussion:
"Now, as I was saying..."
Yang returned to tuning out the conversation around her though this time her thoughts were filled with frustration for the rest of the meeting. Upon the end of the council meeting, Yang immediately stood up and left the room, not bothering to wait for Weiss. Quickly walking back to the dorm with a large frown on her face, Yang entered her team's room before slamming the door shut, climbing up to her bed then lying down with a notable thud.
"So you had another fun-filled council meeting?" Ruby joked.
"Don't want to talk about it."
"I don't get why you don't just quit the council." Blake suggested.
"I need to give a reason to the staff for why I quit." Yang explained. "I don't think 'I find the meetings boring and my teammate there is infuriating' is a good reason plus Weiss is already angry enough with me as it is, I'm not sure if quitting and not fulfilling my part of the deal would be the best idea right now."
"Sure, but you can't keep this up for the rest of the year. Sooner or later, one of you is going to need to do something" Blake replied with some concern. "It's not good for you, Weiss or our team." Ruby simply nodded in agreement.
Yang let out a groan before finally admitting: "You're right. I'll talk to Weiss about it tomorrow; it should give us enough time to cool down."
Only a few moments later, Weiss entered the room as Ruby's face noticeably brightened upon seeing her partner. "Hey, Weiss. How did the council meeting go?"
"Hi, Ruby." Weiss returned the greeting politely enough though her tone quickly shifted: "The meeting went alright although someone wasn't paying attention like usual."
All Yang did was roll her eyes in response. Just stay calm Yang thought to herself. We're both at fault in this; just talk to her about it tomorrow then everything will be fine. Yang proceeded to keep telling this to herself throughout the rest of the evening as Team RWBY went about their typical activities of working on assignments, reading, lecturing someone on how to do things and being lectured by someone else on how to do things.
After a good night's sleep and going through the usual morning routine, Yang approached Weiss just before the beginning of morning classes:
"Weiss, can we talk?" Yang calmly asked.
"Sure."
"Listen about what happened at the council meeting. I—"
"Don't worry about it." Weiss interrupted.
"Huh?"
"You made a mistake and let things go to your head. It's okay; just try not to do it again."
"What?!" Yang yelled as Blake and Ruby awkwardly looked on in silence on the other side of the room. "You think it's all my fault?!" Yang felt her stress caused from yesterday's incident suddenly come flooding back to her.
"Well, it is. You're the one who didn't listen at the meeting, you're the one who shouted at me and you're the one who caused a scene at the meeting yesterday just like you're doing right now." Weiss surmised keeping a neutral expression on her face the whole time.
"You yelled at me first in the meeting!" Yang exclaimed.
"For good reason." Weiss countered. "You were not doing a single productive thing there and were unable to admit your own faults."
Yang looked at Weiss, her eyes wide and in utter disbelief from Weiss' last few words before bitterly saying: "I can't deal with this right now. Later." Yang stormed out of the room, deciding to make her way to class early.
Weiss turned to her other 2 teammates left in the room. Ruby sported a look of misery on her face, simply melancholic that this argument took place while Blake was giving the heiress a nasty glare.
"What?" Weiss asked defensively.
Blake did not give a verbal reply; she simply picked up her bag and left the room heading towards the same classroom as Yang. Spotting her partner alone in the classroom slouched in her chair; Blake smiled and sat down beside her.
Yang turned to face her partner. "How can she be so narrow-minded?"
"I'm not sure." Blake confessed. "Maybe she's going through a stressful situation as well, we just don't know about it."
"Maybe."
"I mean, you do have a tendency to get mad at people." Blake teased.
"Hey!" Yang sounded slightly offended though she was well aware her partner's statement was in jest.
"It is a part of your Semblance, Yang so it's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, out of the people we hang out with from the academy, the only person who I don't recall you ever getting that mad at is me." Blake said after some brief reflection.
"I could never stay mad at you for long, Blake." Yang quickly replied.
Blake suddenly felt the temperature in her cheeks rise along with the need to not look directly at her partner. After taking a second to regain a bit of composure, Blake tried to find a way to settle things: "Anyway, just try to forget about it, okay? I know what Weiss did wasn't right and she was a jerk but if we bring it up anymore it'll just cause more problems."
Yang carefully considered her options along with Blake's words then sighed. "Okay."
The argument with Weiss was not mentioned for the rest of the morning class as Yang once again began to feel her stress subside. With the class ending, Yang gathered her things along with Blake as they started to walk towards the main hall of the academy for the weekly assembly.
"Oh." Yang remembered. "I forgot to say it earlier but thanks for the advice."
Blake smiled. "Anytime, Yang."
Now returning Blake's smile and feeling her heart beat a little faster, Yang sat in one of the back rows of chairs next to Blake as they both watched other students begin to enter the hall.
Professor Glynda Goodwitch stood on the stage at the front of the hall waiting for all the students to sit down and finish their conversations before she began her speech:
"Good morning, students. I trust you have had enough time to settle back into things. While it is still only the start of the year, this does not make it any less important to remain focused and give one's full effort on their studies. This new year will be difficult but it will also present you all with a fresh start and more opportunities. Speaking of which, I would like to remind all 3rd and 4th year student council members that the form to sign up to run for Student Council President will be open from this morning to six days from now on Monday the 7th of October at 6pm. The members in the running will be announced during next week's assembly. If multiple people enter the running then the candidates will have one month to campaign and convince you all why you should vote for them as Student Council President. The voting polls for Student Council President will be open on Thursday November 7th from 9am-5pm. The winner will be announced the following day. Should only one student council member enter the running then that person will be announced as Student Council President in next week's assembly."
"What happens if no one signs up?!" A foolhardy student shouted from the crowd earning a few chuckles from his peers.
Ignoring this, Goodwitch continued with her speech hoping there would be no more rude interruptions.
After listening to another standard, not terribly interesting assembly, Yang began to make her way to her second class of the day but not without spotting a certain white-dressed teammate standing by a small desk next to a sign that read: "Student Council President Sign-Up Form". The heiress quickly wrote her name down on the previously blank form. Turning to face Yang's direction, Weiss' eyes narrowed and a devious smile formed on her face.
Crap.
Yang's positive attitude she just established from her earlier class had all but crumbled with the realisation that Weiss' extremely arrogant and insufferable behaviour towards her might not just be a temporary thing to deal with anymore but something she may have to cope with for the next two years.
Wait, just calm down. I don't know for sure if Weiss' arrogant attitude will stay as bad as it has been. Let's not jump to conclusions.
Yang continued to tell herself this throughout her next class and as she made her way to the lunch hall. Yang scanned the room, unable to find her friends among the large crowd until she was a white sleeve and pale hand rise above the crowd of heads.
"Hey, Yang! We're over here." Weiss called out. Yang made her way over to her friends. "I saved you a seat." The heiress added with an extra level of cheerfulness in her voice.
Yang smiled at Weiss' thoughtful act before taking the seat saved for her. See, I had nothing to worry about. Things are going to be—
"I was just mentioning how I'm looking forward to becoming Student Council President since it means people will actually have to listen to me."
Okay, it's worse. Yang's smile slowly faded as she attempted to listen to but eventually filtered out Weiss' least subtle act of passive-aggression yet. Maybe she just needs a day to get this out of her system. She'll be bragging less about it tomorrow.
Yang tried to convince herself of this possibility throughout the rest of the day while at the same time trying to avoid any of Weiss' smug activities. After a long day of assignments, training and internal debate on what to do about this, it had finally reached an appropriate time to get some shut eye. It appeared the rest of the team had long days too as they all settled into bed for an early sleep as well.
"Good night." Yang called out.
"Good night." Ruby and Blake replied simultaneously.
"Good night, fellow students." Weiss replied gracefully.
Yang gritted her teeth. Just give it to tomorrow. She won't be as bad tomorrow. Yang quietly sighed then eventually managed to get some sleep.
As the rays of sunlight made their way through the room's window, Yang let out a long yawn as she stretched and started to prepare for a new day. Yang was not given much time to think this over until she heard a familiar voice which has been the cause of much stress for the blonde brawler lately. Yang quickly turned her head to the direction of the voice to find Weiss talking to a mirror.
"Thank you for electing me as Student Council President. I'd also like to take the time to congratulate the other candidates on their campaigns although they were clearly inferior to my own campaign, they were admirable efforts nonetheless."
Yang buried her hands in her face. Okay maybe it'll take a few more days.
These last few scraps of hopeful thoughts Yang had did not prove to be correct as Weiss' ego only seemed to inflate further as the days progressed:
"No one else has even signed up to be in the running yet. I suppose the other council members think they don't have what it takes to fairly represent and be an inspirational figure for all students in the academy and in many cases I would agree with them."
By Monday, the ego of the heiress reached unfathomable scales, if it was to be represented in physical form Yang is certain it would easily overshadow the entire academy itself and even rival the size of some of the tallest mountains in all of Remnant. It appeared the rest of her teammates and friends were also using the same method as Yang in dealing with Weiss- don't call her out on her attitude because that will only lead to a heated argument and just hope her attitude gradually goes down over time. This tactic did not appear to be working:
"Now that I really think about it, I don't blame the other council members for not signing up; they would only be constantly embarrassed by facing me in the election." Weiss boasted to the rest of her friends at the food hall who all just continued to eat their lunches. While Yang maintained her apathetic expression, it was at this point that she decided that the time for sitting idly by was over, something needed to be done. Mulling over potential ideas during her afternoon classes, Yang failed to find a plan for payback which felt right:
I could hide all her clothes and assignments somewhere in the academy. No, that wouldn't work, she could probably buy and have all her new clothes delivered to her the next day with the amount of Lien she has. She also probably has dozens of backups for her assignments and if I get caught then that'll just drive the team further apart.
I could just quit the council. No, that'd screw me over more than anyone else at this point and it would just confirm her belief that I can't commit to anything.
Ooh, I could tell people what happened on May 24th. Nah, that's probably a bit too far.
Yang exited the academy gym, worn out from another long, tiring council meeting followed by another intense training session. The brawler started making her way back to her dorm but suddenly halted in her tracks as she once again caught sight of the sign-up form below the clock on the wall displaying the time as 5:55pm. Next to the form sat a bored 1st year student who Yang could only assume was there to collect the form as soon as it reached 6pm, fitting in with the Beacon staff's absurd level of importance they place on giving in assignments before deadlines. There was still only one name on the form. Yang sighed.
It looks like I'll be stuck with President Schnee for the next year or two.
Yang was honestly a little surprised Weiss wasn't there herself eagerly counting down the seconds on the clock then finally doing some celebratory dance as it reached 6pm. In fact, Yang had quite a vivid picture of Weiss jumping up and down with glee until a new idea suddenly entered her head.
Wait— No I can't, that'd be insane. I don't know anything about running a council and I'd just embarrass myself in the election.
Yang paused for a brief moment.
Well I could risk embarrassing myself for a chance to get some payback or I can do nothing and ensure Weiss gets her way and stays like this for the rest of my time at the academy.
Her mind made up, Yang quickly looked at the clock again now showing the time to be 5:57pm and walked on over to the desk with the form on. Now recognising the 1st year student to be a member of the council, Yang quickly signed her name on the form then turned around and resumed making her way towards her dorm before hearing the student call out to her:
"Of all the people who could sign up, you were probably the person I least expected." The student confessed.
Not slowing down her pace, Yang turned her head slightly and called back: "Someone made a mistake."