Once their free period—well, skipped period in Ruby's case—was over, the three VK girls left their dorm room and made their way to their lockers. Ruby and Mal had their lockers next to one another, so after a quick stop at Evie's locker, they went to theirs. Their lockers had a lot of spray-painted art on them, curtesy of Mal.
"Girls, I've got to go, I'm going to be late," Evie said. Ruby nodded and Mal looked up from her bag to give a wave.
"Bye, E." Evie left and Ruby got the last of her books, slamming her locker closed.
"You don't seriously expect us to pay attention and do well in class, right?" Ruby muttered. Academics weren't really Ruby's thing, she preferred learning things through practice. Mal chuckled.
"Of course not. I know you hate it, so does Jay. I don't expect any of us to do well, just pretend till we've got the wand," Mal whispered. Ruby sighed in relief.
"Okay, good." Mal's lips twitched into a smile for a moment at how relieved Ruby had sounded, amused that it bothered her that much. She slammed her locker closed, just like Ruby had done earlier, and the two girls found Ben approaching them from behind it with that usual happy smile of his. Ruby's stomach twisted at that smile and she didn't understand why. Maybe it was just that nauseatingly happy.
"Hey."
"Hey." Both VK girls replied.
"How was your first day?" Ben asked, looking between the red and purple haired girls.
"Super." Mal said with sarcasm that Ruby didn't think Ben caught onto. Ben turned towards Ruby, who had remained silent. He raised an eyebrow. Ruby returned the gesture and kept quiet. Confused, Ben continued the conversation.
"Who made these?" He gestured towards the painted lockers.
"Mallie did. Did she violate any rules by painting them?" Ruby grinned as Mal smirked at the thought.
"No, no, it's fine," Ben reassured, unintentionally disappointing the two. "But you should really think about taking it off the lockers and into art class. I could sign you up." Ruby snorted at the very thought of Mal not spraying lockers and such.
Mal pursed her lips in thought, but Ruby knew her well enough to know that it was just an act. It was only when Jane passed them that Mal's mock-thinking look turned into a real one. Ruby could practically hear the cogs turning in her head. Mal turned back to Ben and answered,
"Way to take the fun out of it." She then turned on her heel and went after Jane. Ruby made a move to follow, but Ben stopped her before she could. Mal shot her a teasing smirk and left her behind to deal with the prince. Ruby inwardly groaned and turned to face Ben.
"Hey, Ruby, are you alright? I saw you walk out on the cheer try-outs."
"Well, it was more of a strut than walk, but yeah. Your point?"
"I was just worried. Thought maybe something was wrong. I mean, after last night, I..." Ben trailed off. Ruby raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"After last night what?" Ben shook his head and swallowed.
"Nothing. I was just worried that something was wrong."
"You mean aside from me being here?" Ruby scoffed. She turned on her heels after that and walked away.
Unfortunately for her, Ben had let her walk away once before after a conversation and he wasn't planning on making that mistake twice. He jogged to catch up with her quick strides and fell in step beside her. Ruby looked up and hazel green eyes met coffee brown ones. Ben frowned a bit.
"What did you mean by that?"
Ruby rolled her eyes at his denseness. "We don't belong here."
"How do you know? You've only been here a day and I somehow doubt you've really given this place a chance," Ben argued. Ruby glared. She halted in her tracks and got in the prince's face.
"Why give a chance to a place filled with people who don't give you a chance?" Ruby countered. That caused Ben's expression to fall and despite the strange ache in her chest, Ruby continued. "I've seen the way these Auradon kids look at me, Ben. I've seen how they look at the others. How they point and whisper. None of us are blind, Ben."
"They—They'll come through. They just have to get used to the idea," Ben tried defending.
"And how is that fair? How is it fair that we have to simply endure this discrimination? How is it fair that we're expected to adjust and accept everything, bite our tongues and stop from reacting like we normally would, while you lot can continue to point and stare at us like we're a different species? I didn't ask to come here, Ben," Ruby blurted the words that have been boiling to the surface ever since she heard she'd be going to Auradon.
Taking a short moment to catch her breath, Ruby noticed Ben's crestfallen expression at the realization that her words brought. Ruby knew that, contrary to most, Ben was nauseatingly sincere in his kindness. She had heard that he was the one to come up with the idea and judging from the guilt on his face, Ruby knew he was now blaming himself. She couldn't stand it.
"Oh, stop looking like that," She grumbled. Ruby wasn't sure what it was about the look on his face that made her feel so annoyed, but she knew she didn't like it.
"Look like what?"
"Like—like that." Ruby gestured to his face. "Like some kicked puppy or something. I don't know. But it's stupid."
Ruby really hated how she was terrible with words sometimes; some moments, like her rant earlier, she was fine telling things as they were, yet others she got tongue-tied and didn't know how to formulate what she thought. It annoyed her to no end.
Ben looked at her in wonder. He wasn't sure if he was interpreting it correctly, but he thought Ruby just said that she didn't like it when he looked upset. In her own way, of course. It made Ben curious. He wasn't sure if Ruby was even aware of it, but it made him realize something about the girl: Ruby, despite all the rough edges, did care, she just pretended not to most of the time and wasn't good at showing it when she tried. Ben had a feeling that she truly didn't know how to express herself, and it made him curious as to why that was. Of course, he'd never dare voice these thoughts to the temperamental redhead. He had the suspicion that she actually would have his head if he did.
The unlikely duo continued walking in silence. Ruby didn't even consider breaking it. Ben being silent meant she didn't have to keep up a conversation and she was completely fine with that. Meanwhile, Ben was buried too deep in his thoughts—which all centred around the girl walking next to him—to realize that the conversation had fallen silent.
The two of them rounded a corner, giving them a full view of all the sport fields. Ruby's eyes scanned over them in boredom until her eyes fell on a certain area that peaked her interest. She faltered in her steps and turned her whole body to face the area, her head tilting to the side slightly in curiosity.
Ben finally snapped out of his thoughts when he stopped hearing the clicking of her heels and missed her presence beside him. He frowned when he saw Ruby looking towards the sport fields. "Ruby?"
"What are those?" The princess asked, pointing at the area that had drawn her attention. Ben's eyes followed the direction in which she pointed as he joined her side.
"That? That's where the archery club goes for target practice." Ben informed her. Ruby grinned, her eyes lighting up. Ben noticed.
"Target practice?" She loved the sound of that. Ben nodded.
"Yeah. Do you want to check it out?"
Ruby smirked at the question and nodded, "Sure."
Ben led her towards the target practice area and found himself wondering what made Ruby so excited. The short walk took less than five minutes. Upon arriving, there was one student already there, practicing with a bow. The boy was their age and had muscled shoulders and arms from practicing archery so much. His hair was tousled and had a copper tint to it. He turned to face the two of them when he noticed their presence.
"Hey, Ricky, this is Ruby. Ruby, this is Richard Hood." Ben introduced. Ricky smiled and outstretched his hand to Ruby. Ruby blatantly ignored it and turned to the target he had just used. She hummed in approval of seeing all arrows crowded around the bulls-eye.
"Impressive. How many bulls-eyes out of ten?" She asked, measuring the boy up. A competitive glint shone in Ricky's eyes and he grinned proudly.
"About eight or nine." Ruby scoffed at that. Both Ben and Ricky raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What? You think you can do better?"
Ruby smirked, "I know I can."
"Go on then." Ricky challenged, stepping closer to intimidate the girl. Ruby didn't back down and actually stepped closer.
"You're on."
"Alright, you two. Take it down a notch." Ben stepped in between them, pushing them back a little. Ruby glanced up at Ben and shot him a smile—a shockingly real one in fact.
"Don't worry, Ben. I'll only humiliate your friend a little bit."
"Okay, that's it. Show me what you've got, little girl," Ricky challenged. Ruby smirked and stepped in front of an unused target. Ricky held out his bow and an arrow for her, at which Ruby shook her head.
"No need."
"Then how—" He started, but before he could finish his question, Ruby had retrieved a dagger from her boot, making both Ben and Ricky's eyes widen significantly.
Ruby had twirled the blade around and had thrown in at the target within a flash, hitting the target dead-centre. Her precision was extraordinary and both boys' jaws fell slack. Ruby's smug smile only widened at seeing this. She walked closer and patted Ricky's shoulder mockingly. She walked passed the two and towards her target to retrieve her precious blade.
"You'll catch flies, dearies," She called over her shoulder. She laughed. Oh, how she loved showing off.
Ben and Ricky shared a look when they recovered from their shock. Neither of them having expected the girl to draw a knife or to throw it this expertly.
"Dude, you didn't mention that she had a knife."
"I—I didn't know." Ben stammered. He stared after the redhead retrieving her dagger. He couldn't help but admire the confidence in which she walked. He couldn't help but admire a lot of things about the girl.
"I can tell you one thing, mate. Don't piss her off when you finally get the guts to ask that fiery lady out." Ricky smirked. Ben blinked in surprise and turned to the archer.
"What? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm with Audrey, remember?" Ben said, a bit too quickly in Ricky's opinion. Ricky hummed.
"Maybe you shouldn't be." Ben opened his mouth, but Ricky already held up his hands in defence. "I'm just saying dude. I've seen how you look at Audrey. You've never looked at her the way you were just looking at Ruby. And just between the two of us, I already like this one more than I like Audrey." Ben couldn't think of a response immediately, but when he did and opened his mouth, he was cut off.
"What are you two idiots talking about? Gossiping about how amazing I am?" Ruby grinned. Ricky laughed.
"You wish, Red. I bet I could do better than that."
"Bring it, dearie."
"Oh, you're on. Best out of ten wins."
"Alright, just don't throw a tantrum when you lose, Hood." Both Ruby and Ricky felt competitive, since this was about something they excelled in. They had something to prove and neither was backing down.
Ben watched on in amusement. He had a feeling that Ruby would be just fine with Ricky around to challenge her. He watched as both of them got into position in front of a target.
"I'll leave you two to it then. Don't hurt each other, okay?" Ben mused, stepping backwards to head back to the castle. He had to go get ready to help Carlos with practise.
"No promises." Ruby smirked. Ben chuckled and rolled his eyes. He faintly heard Ricky retort something, starting the banter between the two. Ben had a feeling that they would get along just fine.
And as Ruby was throwing her knifes, competing with an admittingly worthy opponent, and making jabs, she had to admit that she didn't dislike Auradon as much as she had done the day before.