"This is horrible. Someone. Please kill me and put me out of my misery."
Yang groaned, letting her head thud onto the table dramatically from studying.
The only response she got was a chorus of giggles. Heartless monsters, the lot of them.
"It's not that bad, Yang."
Ruby managed to say between bursts of laughter.
"You're just being—"
She paused to snicker again.
"—So dramatic!"
Yang shot her sister a wounded look, though the effect was lessened by her exaggerated pout.
"Ruby Rose, my own flesh and blood, betraying me in my darkest hour. How could you?"
Weiss huffed, crossing her arms with a smirk.
"Oh, spare us the theatrics, you simple-minded brute. If you had taken me up on my generous offer to tutor you months ago, you wouldn't be in this predicament."
"Et tu, Weiss?"
Yang moaned, clutching her chest as if she'd been mortally wounded.
"Now I've truly been abandoned."
Blake, perched comfortably on the couch with a book in hand, glanced up with a sly grin.
"Don't mind her, Weiss. She's just trying to get out of studying. It's classic Yang."
Yang gasped, looking at Blake as if she'd just stabbed her in the back.
"Et tu Blake? The betrayal! The horror! The—"
"Yang, you're being ridiculous."
Pyrrha said with a kind chuckle, setting down her notes.
"The Mid-term exams are still a few days away. You'll do fine if you just focus a little."
"Exactly."
Weiss added.
"If you put half as much effort into your studies as you do into these overblown dramatics, you'd already be at the top of the class."
Yang groaned louder, letting her head drop back onto the table.
"You guys suck."
Ruby, still giggling, teased.
"Do we, Yang? Or are you just mad that we're right?"
"Mad? Me? Never!"
Yang shot back, then sighed.
"Okay, maybe a little. But this is so boring. I feel like my brain is melting."
"Maybe you should ask Velvet and Coco for help."
Ruby suggested brightly.
"They're a year ahead of us and offered to tutor you before, remember? Coco even said she'd help you set up a study schedule."
Yang groaned again.
"Yeah, no thanks. The last time I asked Coco for advice, she handed me a color-coded planner and started lecturing me on 'time management.' I'm not made for that level of organization."
Blake smirked.
"You could use it, though. That might actually help you stay on track."
"Yeah, yeah."
Yang let out a long, exaggerated groan, letting her head fall dramatically onto the table.
"Velvet and Cocoa? Ugh, don't get me wrong, they're great and all, but I don't think I can handle any more lectures about 'proper study habits' or 'effective time management.' Cocoa made me a color-coded schedule last time. A color-coded schedule, Ruby! I felt like I was training to be an Atlas soldier!"
Blake smirked from her spot on the couch, flipping a page in her book.
"Maybe you should follow that schedule instead of whining about it. Who knows, you might actually learn something."
Yang shot her a glare, though the corners of her lips twitched with amusement.
"Yeah, yeah, keep talking, bookworm. Just wait until I'm the one facing the combat practicals and you're stuck you're all begging me for tips, while you're overanalyzing dust formulas."
Blake shrugged, her smirk growing.
"I'll take that over failing a theory exam any day."
"You're going to need to pass the theory exam first."
Weiss shot back with a pointed look.
"Alright, alright. I'll think about it."
Yang muttered.
Weiss, seated primly across from Yang, set down her cup of tea with a soft clink.
"Honestly, Yang, if you spent half the energy you use complaining on actual studying, you'd already be ahead of the curve. It's not rocket science."
"Easy for you to say, Princess Brainiac."
Yang shot back.
"Some of us aren't born with a textbook glued to our hands."
Ruby, still giggling, chimed in.
"Hey, don't knock it! Weiss has a system. Maybe you should ask her to tutor you."
Weiss raised an eyebrow, a smug smile playing on her lips.
"Oh, I offered. But she refused, remember? Something about 'not wanting to spend her evenings listening to a nagging Schnee.'"
Yang winced, scratching the back of her neck.
"Okay, yeah, that might've been a little harsh..."
"A little?"
Weiss snapped, though her tone was more amused than angry.
Pyrrha, ever the peacekeeper, placed a gentle hand on Yang's shoulder.
"It's never too late to ask for help, Yang. And like Ruby said, Velvet and Cocoa are excellent tutors. They could give you a different perspective on the material."
Yang sighed, her dramatic frustration deflating into a resigned shrug.
"Fine, fine. I'll think about it. But if Cocoa tries to make me another one of those psycho schedules, I'm blaming all of you."
Ruby giggled again, giving Yang a thumbs-up.
"That's the spirit! And hey, if you survive this, maybe Weiss will even treat you to one of her fancy teas as a reward!"
Weiss scoffed, though the corners of her lips twitched upward.
"As if I'd waste my high-quality imports on someone who doesn't even appreciate them."
Yang smirked, her confidence returning.
"Oh, come on, Weiss. Deep down, I know you care. You'd miss me if I flunked out."
Weiss rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress the faintest hint of a smile.
"You wish, Xiao Long."
The room filled with laughter once more, Yang's earlier woes momentarily forgotten. Even as she begrudgingly considered asking Velvet and Cocoa for help, she couldn't deny that moments like these—bickering, teasing, and all—were what made the grind worthwhile. Almost.
As the laughter died down, Yang propped herself up on her elbows, giving the others a playfully irritated look.
"Alright, alright, enough with the teasing. But seriously, how do you guys do this? I mean, I get it, I'm not the brightest when it comes to books and stuff, but this is torture!"
Ruby patted her sister on the back, her face lighting up with a smile.
"It's all about balance, Yang! You've gotta focus, but you can't forget to have fun too! Think of this as just a little detour on the way to becoming a badass Huntsman."
Weiss, ever the scholar, adjusted her glasses and smirked.
"While Ruby's approach is... optimistic, there is something to be said about keeping your priorities straight. You need to find a way to study efficiently so you can still be a powerhouse in combat and in the classroom."
"Efficiency, huh?"
Yang mused, tapping her chin.
"Maybe I should start writing all my notes in rhyme. You know, like some kind of battle rap for studying."
Blake, who had been quietly observing the whole conversation, looked up from her book with a raised eyebrow.
"That... actually doesn't sound half bad. You could turn it into some kind of rhythm-based studying technique."
"Yeah!"
Ruby chimed in enthusiastically.
"Like, 'Yo, yo, check it, I'm Yang, and I'm here to say, I'm acing this test in a major way!'"
Everyone in the room burst into laughter again, Yang's earlier misery momentarily forgotten as they all enjoyed the spontaneous absurdity of it all. Even Weiss cracked a smile, though she quickly masked it with a haughty sniff.
Yang, her spirits lifted from the laughter, leaned back in her chair and gave Ruby an exaggerated, thoughtful look.
"You know, Ruby, that might actually work. Maybe I should try it tomorrow. I'll rap my way to an A!"
"Just don't rap during the actual exam, Yang."
Weiss advised dryly, though the teasing tone was clearly gone now.
"You might get a better grade than you think if you actually pay attention."
"Yeah, yeah."
Yang said, still grinning.
"But for now, I'm going to take a break. My brain needs to recover from all this studying."
She leaned back and stretched, then let out a dramatic sigh.
"You guys are lucky I even bother with this stuff."
"You love us, don't pretend you don't."
Ruby teased.
Yang rolled her eyes, but her smile remained.
"Fine, maybe a little bit."
With the stress of studying momentarily forgotten, they all sat back, chatting and laughing together, a reminder that no matter how tough things got, they could always rely on each other for a little bit of fun and support. Even if Yang would still grumble about exams until the very last second.