Notice Me, Ruby!

Chapter 1: A Teammate Abandoned

It was late in the afternoon at Beacon and one could hear the school's students inside their dorms spending time together. If you were close enough to one of the door's you could hear people talking and laughing together, as the different teams were enjoying their time together. This was very normal for the students of Beacon Academy.

However, this wasn't the case when it came to team RWBY. While most of the team's members were having fun together, this didn't include a certain redheaded team leader, who was alone in her team's dorm, crying. This had unfortunately become quite common for Ruby Rose, the leader of team RWBY.

When it came to Ruby, she had never had any real friends in her entire life. The closest thing to a real friend came from her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, and that was it. While she did have a couple of people that she was on friendly terms with, the scythe-wielder had never been an actual friend. No one ever really talked with her or invited her into any activities. Thanks to Ruby's shy personality and weird interests, such as her obsession with weapons, the young team leader was someone that other kids her age often avoided and gave weird looks. In fact, Ruby had been so unpopular that she became the perfect target for bullies. Had it not been for Yang to protect her, the redhead doesn't know what would have happened to her in the end.

Once Ruby had entered Beacon, she thought that things would change for her. While at first she had been skeptical about the idea of her making actual friends, those thoughts soon changed after team RWBY had been formed. Even if she did have a bit of a bad start with Weiss, the new team leader believed that she could finally get something that others had, real friends. And at first, it really seemed to be going like that. Not only had Ruby become friends with her teammates, Weiss and Blake, but she had made some other friends as well. These included team JNPR's members, Velvet and her team, along with Sun and Neptune. It seemed like she had finally made friends with other people.

Unfortunately for the young sniper, her hope of making friends was eventually crushed.

Some time ago, Ruby's teammates stopped spending time with her, deciding to go hang out with each other instead. At first, the redhead didn't mind it all that much. She was mature enough to understand that her teammates didn't want to spend all their time with her, and that her young age prevented her from taking part in activities the older girl liked to take part in from time to time. However, when Ruby started to only spend time with her teammates during classes and schoolwork, it became a problem. The young team leader felt completely alienated by her teammates, like she didn't belong with them at all. It actually got so bad that Ruby wondered when was the last time she even had a proper conversation with one of the older girls.

While the three older girls of the team listened to their leaders orders during assignments and combat practice, Ruby couldn't help but feel that they didn't really respect her as their leader. It felt more like the three girls were doing all of it out of obligation and not because they truly appreciated their youngest members work. In all honesty, Ruby wasn't sure if she could really consider herself even part of team RWBY anymore.

Upon being practically abandoned by her teammates, Ruby soon found out that she didn't even really have any actual friends even outside her team. Even if Velvet and her team were nice to her, she very rarely spoke to them, as they were often busy with their own work. Sun and Neptune were even less of friends to her, as they only ever seemed to bother interacting with her when Blake or Weiss were around. The lonely team leader wasn't of any interest to them at all. The only people Ruby could consider her real friends were the members of team JNPR, but even they didn't really spend any time with her. The other team was often spending time with the sniper's teammates on activities she wasn't invited into. There was also the fact that Ruby couldn't really bring herself to bother the members of JNPR too much, as she didn't want to become a nuisance to them. She was sure that they liked to spend time among their members as well, which was something she was certainly not welcome to join.

Every time Ruby would try to bring up these worries of her to her teammates, she would get completely ignored. The older girls would just tell her ''not to worry about such things'' and that they would talk later. The only problem was that later never came. The redhead might have as well been invisible to them.

Day after day, Ruby would spend practically no time with her teammates. No matter how many times she suggested activities they could all take part in as a team, her suggestions would get rejected and put on ''maybe later.'' The scythe-wielder had lost count of how many lonely nights she had spent all alone in her team's dorm, wondering if things would ever change for the better.

However, it was not too long ago that Ruby had finally learned what her teammates truly thought about her. One day, she had been walking down the halls of the school, when she suddenly heard her teammates talking among each other. The redhead decided to hide nearby and listen to the conversation, hoping to learn something about why the older girls seemed to want to avoid her. She even took out her Scroll to record the whole thing just in case.

''Hey, do you guys want to go to this new club that was opened recently?'' Yang asked her two teammates with excitement in her voice. ''I heard that they've got the best drinks there! Not to mention, a pretty famous DJ will be performing there!''

''Sounds fun. Count me in,'' Blake replied with a smile.

''Same here. Just don't let Ruby know about this. The last thing I need is to hear her childish whining again,'' Weiss said in an irritated voice. ''Ugh... Do you guys remember what she actually suggested for us to do last time? She wanted us to play video games and board games with her! What kind of a way is that to spend the night, when the whole city is out there with all sorts of possibilities?''

''You think that's bad? Try growing up with her,'' the blonde girl said with irritation in her voice as well. ''I can remember how she tried to drag me with her to all sorts of dumb things. Honestly, she can be such a brat sometimes.''

''I will never understand how you manage to keep calm around her,'' the raven-haired girl said with sympathy towards her partner. ''I haven't known her all that long, but even now I can tell that she is someone who will annoy you to no end.''

''Hey, at least you're not her partner. Unlike you two, I have to be practically glued to her in our assignments for school,'' the white-haired girl complained. ''Sometimes I wonder what Professor Ozpin was thinking, when he decided to accept Ruby here early.''

''Tell me about it. I mean, she is skilled and all, but she shouldn't have come here early,'' Yang said. ''I might care about her a lot, but Ruby is honestly a big brat most of the time. She should have been left to grow up a bit before accepting her here. And to think that she was actually chosen as our team leader.''

''Yeah, it's too big of a responsibility for her.''

''Someone else should have been made the leader.''

''Can't do anything about it now. I guess we just have to wait until the professors see just how unfit she is for the role.''

The three girl then walked away, never noticing the young team leader crying behind the corner nearby.

It had been about two days since Ruby heard her teammates badmouth her. During that time, she had actually listened to her recording a couple of times, just to make absolutely sure that she had heard them right. And every time she did this, she would end up in tears.

Having heard such words come from her teammates' mouths, the redhead now knew that she truly had no friends. No matter what she did, it would always end up like this with her all alone.

Having cried for long enough, Ruby got off her bed and went to the bathroom. She walked up to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror, seeing just how horrible she really looked. Her hair was a complete mess and her eyes were bloodshot from crying. The young team leader also had bags under her eyes along with tear stains. She had even lost a good amount of weight, as her sadness over her situation had taken away any appetite she could have.

''Is this it?'' Ruby asked herself while staring into the mirror. ''Is this all my life has in store for me? To be hated, despised and alone?''

The scythe-wielder leaned over the sink and gripped it with both hands. She thought back to the days she had been younger. How she would tell everyone with a big smile on her face how she was going to become the best Huntress in the whole world. Eventually, her thoughts brought her to her mother, whom she had made this promise especially.

Ruby suddenly punched the wall with all her might, causing her fist to bleed. Her eyes were now completely different from before. When earlier they were filled with nothing but sadness and grief, they now held a fire of determination behind them. Never before had the redhead had this look in her eyes before.

''If I am to be alone, then so be it! Who needs friends, when all they do is stab you in the back!?'' Ruby declared to herself. ''From now on, I shall fully devote myself to my studies and work to becoming a Huntress! I shall show my teammates and everyone else, just how wrong they are about me! I will become the best Huntress of this school!''

With her mind set, the young team leader went to grab her textbook, fully intent on immersing herself into her studies. Unfortunately, she forgot about her bleeding hand and let out a pained yelp upon trying to grab the book.

''Oh, right. I should probably do something about that first,'' Ruby said to herself as she went to get some medical supplies. ''Why did I even do that? Good thing no one saw it...''

Author's notes: This story is a bit special for me, as I have wanted to start this for a long time now. In fact, even before I started posting anything on this site, I had actually been writing this a bit. But now I have finally decided to actually start this story and rewrite it from the start.

This story might be a bit of an odd one, as it will be a mix of both drama and humor. While I know that we haven't exactly seen anything humorous just yet, there will be comedic stuff soon. I guess I kind of want this to be both of those things, so I can't help but mix the two genres together.

Also, some of may notice that this story is similar to ''Red And Pink'' by jin0uga. The thing is that this story was heavily inspired by that story. The biggest difference being that I want to take things more towards comedy. If you haven't checked out the story by jin0uga, I recommend doing it. It's pretty good.

Please tell me if you're interested in seeing more. I really hope you guys will enjoy this.

Until next time.

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.