Begin Again Chapter 2
Begin Again
by tenshinrtaiga
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS or 7th Heaven
Characters/Pairing: Martin/Ruthie, some Ruthie/others, Martin/others
Summary: Ruthie gets invited to a prestigious English boarding school and, in the wake of Sandy's pregnancy, decides to go. Three years later, a very different Ruthie Camden returns.
Ruthie looked around her dorm room in awe. To be perfectly honest, it was less of a dorm room and more of an apartment. The building was a tall skyscraper with over fifty floors. The lower floors were for first years consisting of quad rooms only. Ruthie’s dorm was on the eighth floor. The first room was a living area with a table and four chairs, a couch and two arm chairs. Along one wall was a kitchenette with cupboards, an electric cook top, microwave, sink and dish rack.
Already in the room was a tall, willowy Asian girl, curled up on the sofa reading a book. She immediately looked up the moment Willow and Ruthie walked in.
“Nǐ hǎo,” Willow greeted with a perky wave.
The girl smiled and waved back. “Hello,” she enunciated carefully.
Willow turned back to Ruthie. “Ruthie, this is Meilin, one of your dorm mates.” She turned to Meilin. “Méilín, zhè shì nǐ de xīn shìyǒu Ruthie.” (This is your new roommate Ruthie)
Meilin smiled, getting up from the couch to greet the new girl. “Nǐ hǎo.”
“Ni hao,” Ruthie tried back, her nose wrinkling a bit as she butchered the words slightly, but Meilin only grinned wider.
“Mandarin is tonal, similar to the difference between a question and an exclamation in English,” the black haired girl explained. Her words were spoken only a bit slow and were still crisply accented, but Ruthie understood her easily and was happy that there would (hopefully) be minimal communication issues. “I can teach you a little, if you want.”
Ruthie smiled back, attempting to ignore the wide grin spread across Willow’s face and the barely contained squeal of excitement. “Good! You’re getting along!” Willow laughed. “Are Amie and Rivkah here?”
Meilin nodded, tilting her head towards the door behind her on the left. “They’re in their room.”
Willow led Ruthie over and rapped her knuckles on the door. “Hey, it’s Willow. Your new dorm mate is here. Come on out.”
The door opened and two blonde girls came out, glancing over at Ruthie in assessment causing the petite brunette to shift awkwardly a bit.
“Bonjour,” the petite blonde on the right side with short, cropped pixie hair said, reaching a hand out to shake. “I am Amie,” she introduced in heavily accented French.
“Oh! Bonjour!” Ruthie grinned, finally happy for all those French classes she took in high school. “Je m’appelle Ruthie. Ravi de vous rencontrer.” (My name is Ruthie. Nice to meet you.)
“Vous aussi,” Amie grinned back, clearly happy.
“Amie,” Willow reprimanded lightly causing the girl to give a small sigh of annoyance.
“You too,” she corrected, practicing her English.
Everyone turned to the last girl, a tall, lean girl with long blonde hair plaited into a French braid, leaning against the doorway with a distinctly unimpressed look on her face. “Rivkah,” she introduced, her tone clearly bored. She pronounced the “k” in her name harshly, from the throat, cluing Ruthie into the fact that this girl was also from another corner of the world. She wondered if TSA purposely paired up girls from different areas of the world.
“Ruthie,” the brunette said, a bit awkwardly in the face of such a cold expression.
Willow gave a small sigh, clearly unsurprised by Rivkah’s “chattiness”. “Alright, why don’t you go ahead and get settled in?” she said to Ruthie, handing her a binder filled with papers to help the new student. “Here’s a map of our campus as well as a map of London. The girls will show you around, won’t you?” she threw over her shoulder. Amie and Meilin nodded but Rivkah just gave an annoyed sigh, rolling her eyes. Willow gave a disappointed shake of her head and left the four young girls on their own.
“So, this is my room?” Ruthie wondered pointing at the door on the right, assuming that she would be rooming with Meilin since Amie and Rivkah had both come out of the room on the left.
Amie and Meilin both shook their head no, however. “Meilin and I have that room. You’re with Rivkah on the left.”
Ruthie fought not to grimace at the news. Great. She was rooming with the one girl in her dorm room who hated her. Perfect.
Still, she made her way to the door, sidestepping the tall blonde. Inside was a decently sized room. The far left wall had a window with a bed pushed up underneath it, a bookshelf at the feet. Above the bed, squeezed between it and the wall, was a desk. The bedspread was a dark purple color and given the books and clothes strewn over it, it was safe to assume that it was Rivkah’s side of the room. On the right, tucked into the corner was a plain bed with TSA purple and gold sheets on it. Ruthie knew that these were the plain sheets given to every student until they could get their own set, if they even wanted to bother with new ones. At the foot of her bed was an empty bookshelf and a desk pushed against the wall next to that. Between Rivkah’s desk and Ruthie’s bed were a set of double French doors.
“Is that a balcony?” Ruthie gaped in surprise, heading straight for it. Opening the door, she stepped out into the windy London air, looking down at the street. “Wow,” she murmured, impressed. Turning back around, she stepped back inside and noticed two large standing wardrobes directly across from her, next to the door. The one wedged against the wall was open showcasing clothes already packed inside. Since that one was obviously Rivkah’s, that left the one on the left, closest to the door, as Ruthie’s.
Opening it, she noticed a full scale mirror on the back of one of the doors. Inside was a rack to hang her clothes and a couple sets of drawers on the floor to fold her clothes. On the back of the other wardrobe door held several hooks for belts and scarves and such. Tucked into the back, behind the drawers, was a small lock box safe that Willow had already informed her would only open to Ruthie’s specific room key.
She moved to her bed, lifting her suitcase on top and setting her duffel and purse on the ground. Unzipping her luggage, she withdrew her folded clothes and began storing them in her drawers. She didn’t have a lot, couldn’t take much on the plane, and she knew that she would have to do some shopping soon. Her parents had gotten her a credit card as well as a debit card before she left, just for this very occasion. She would need more clothes, hangers for said clothes, toiletries and more. Luckily, TSA had anticipated such needs and so Ruthie would have two days to settle in, buy her necessities and learn her way around before her first classes began on Wednesday.
Grabbing her tiny travel sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, she tucked them into her small shower caddy, along with her hairbrush and loofah. She was aware the most girls probably dreaded having to share a bathroom with God knew how many others, but living at the Camden house had left Ruthie fully prepared for this event, she thought with a giggle.
“Are you done yet?” a voice asked, startling Ruthie. To her left was Rivkah, leaning against Ruthie’s wardrobe, her arms crossed in front of her. “We’re heading to dinner,” she said simply, once she had the brunette’s attention. With no further words, the blonde turned on her heel and exited the room.
“Friendly,” Ruthie muttered sarcastically, but grabbed her jacket from where she’d tossed it over her bookshelf earlier and slipped it on, exiting the room.
Meilin and Amie stood by the main door, clearly waiting on her. They must have noticed the confused look on her face because Meilin gave her a worn smile. “Rivkah went to go catch the elevator,” she smiled.
“Is she always that…” Ruthie trailed off, unsure how to finish without being rude.
“Frigid?” Amie offered. “She is hard to warm up,” she petite blonde tried to explain.
Meilin nodded. “It took almost the entire first semester to get her to say more that two words to me at a time,” she said, clearly trying to sound helpful, though in truth, her words were anything but.
“Great,” Ruthie enthused sarcastically.
Amie gave her a confused smile before turning to look at her companion. “Je ne comprends pas.” (I don’t understand) Meilin just gave an equally confused shrug.
Ruthie gave a loud laugh, the first one since leaving home behind. “Oh, guys,” she said, throwing her arms around the two girls and dragging them out the door, “let me give you an introductory course to the beauty of sarcasm.”
“Oh!” the two girls chorused as they realized that Ruthie’s words earlier had not been meant to be taken seriously.
“Don’t worry. Stick with me and you will soon be able to recognize sarcasm in the English language at fifty feet,” Ruthie continued to tease as they made their way down the hall towards an impatient Rivkah.
“!מה לקח לך כל כך הרבה זמן,” (What took you so long!) she shouted angrily. “!פספסנו את המעלית הראשונה” (We missed the first elevator!)
Ruthie blinked at the rush of harsh words.
“סליחה” (Sorry) Amie replied, though her pronunciation was nowhere near as smooth as Rivkah’s. “We were talking.”
Rivkah sneered and made an uncomplimentary sound as the elevator doors opened.
They stepped in and traveled to the lobby. “So where is the cafeteria?” Ruthie wondered. She hadn’t had a chance to take a look at the map Willow had provided her in the binder.
“TSA owns several buildings within several blocks of each other,” Amie explained. “The cafeteria is two blocks down. Classes are in the building behind us.”
“We usually cut out back instead of walking around the block,” Meilin interjected slightly as the elevator bell rang and they all stepped out. The lobby floor was a shining white marble, the walls a pale purple color with the occasional gold accent; TSA colors.
The girls led Ruthie to the main desk. There was no one there at the moment, but there was a large binder splayed out. They each took turns signing themselves out, Rivkah huffing at the ‘annoyance’.
“You have your student card?” Meilin checked before leaving the building. Ruthie nodded in response. “Good. The cards are how you pay for your food and enter school buildings. Some outside restaurants and cafes accept them too. I think a convenience store too. But mostly it’s just for TSA use.”
“Hey, wait,” Amie exclaimed, a bright smile on her face. “We should show Ruthie around before heading to dinner.”
“Are you kidding me?” Rivkah asked in disbelief causing the petite blonde to frown.
“If you don’t want to, go ahead without us.” Amie pouted, slipping her arm through Ruthie’s and dragging her back around the building, slipping into a narrow alley. Ruthie could see Meilin following them and noticed that even Rivkah was following behind her as well, an upset scowl on her face however.
They came across a split pathway, two buildings on each side. “Sciences,” Amie said pointing to the building on the left, “humanitites,” were the building on the right. “Come on.” She tugged Ruthie again, pulling her into the science building. The inside had stark white walls, grey tile floors and a pale blue trim.
“Classes get mixed up, so there’s no way of knowing where one is. And they won’t be in the same location each year. But professor offices tend to be on the same floor or within one floor of their classes. Exceptions are the really popular classes. Those are held in the auditorium,” Meilin explained.
Amie made a small face. “Meilin’s a brain,” she confessed in a whisper like it was a secret.
“Do you like science?” Ruthie wondered, but the black haired girl made a pained face.
“Not even remotely. But my parents really want me to be a doctor.” Meilin frowned and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms in a way that reminded Ruthie of the tall blonde standing next to her. “They want me to be the…” She paused, grasping for a word, but not finding it. She turned to Rivkah. “What is the word that I am looking for?” the Asian asked.
“Stereotypical,” Rivkah replied in a bored tone.
“Yes. Stereotypical.” Meilin nodded resolutely. “They want me to be the stereotypical nice Asian girl who is very successful, marries well and leaves job to take care of my family.”
“But Meilin wants to be a politician,” Amie confided.
“No, not necessarily.” But Meilin was blushing hard, clearly indicating that she was lying. “I just want to work in government. I would be happy with any position.”
“I think I understand,” Ruthie said with a smile.
But Rivkah made a loud scoffing sound. “What would you know of hardship, American girl?” she sneered.
“Rivkah!” Amie and Meilin hissed in unison, horrified by their friend’s words.
“What?” she hissed back angrily before turning to the petite brunette. “I live in Jerusalem. Rockets go off all the time, nowhere is safe. I know fear and anger and hatred. I know hardship. And the minute I graduate TSA, I will return to my country and join the military, as is my country’s law. Tell me again how you understand hardship,” the tall blonde demanded.
Ruthie blinked in surprise at the girl’s hatred. She had no idea what she had done to deserve such vitriol. On the other hand, Rivkah was right. Compared to that, what did she know? “I didn’t say I knew hardship,” she admitted. “I have had a good life, a safe one. Nothing like what you’ve experienced.” Ruthie frowned. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have difficulties and that I don’t understand pain.” She turned to Meilin, ignoring Rivkah. “My father’s a reverend. I grew up being watched by an entire town. Everyone expects me to act the way a good preacher’s girl should. But I’m fifteen, almost sixteen. I should be able to do what I want, be who I want. My siblings all caved under the pressure to be perfect and each time they made a mistake, they had an entire town who knew about it and whispered about it and made sure my family never forgot. It’s part of the reason why I’m so glad to be at TSA; to get away from the pressures of my family. To figure out who I am and who I want to be.”
Meilin and Amie both smiled at her answer, making Ruthie glad that she had told them the truth instead of hiding her own issues. She was glad that they seemed ready to accept her. Rivkah, on the other hand, just sneered some more, turning on her heel and flouncing ahead, leaving the other three to catch up.
“I don’t have such problems,” Amie continued the conversation blithely. “I am who I am. Who else am I supposed to be?”
Meilin giggled and even Ruthie smiled at the tiny blonde. “How old are you?” the small brunette wondered.
Amie frowned. “I turned fifteen a few months ago. What does that have to do with anything?”
Ruthie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just think that it gets harder as you get older. Maybe we’ll all have this conversation again is four years and see if our answers are the same.”
The French girl was still frowning, unsure whether she liked that her answer was being singled out because of how young she was.
Seeing this, Ruthie hastened to assure the girl. “I’m fifteen too.” She stopped a minute in realization. “Oh. But I turn sixteen in a couple of days,” she said in surprise. With all the Martin baby drama and then TSA and packing up her life and moving… she had honestly forgotten her own birthday.
“Bon Anniversaire,” Amie said, her mood instantly lifted up. “I love birthdays!”
“Can we please just finish this?” Rivkah asked in exasperation. “I’m starving! If we’re not going to actually show her around, can we please just go to dinner? I am ten seconds away from eating my own arm.” She gave the girls an appraising look. “Or yours.”
As one, the three girls quickly sped up, none of them willing to take the chance that she was serious. They left the building through the front and turned right, using their cards to enter the humanities building. “This is pretty much the same as the science building,” Rivkah said briskly, taking over the tour as she quickly walked through the first floor. She clearly was in a rush and kept a quick pace, probably not trusting the others to get distracted again. The building had hardwood floors and cream walls; an entirely different feel than the previous building. “Your room number will obviously tell you the floor, same as with our forms. Room 608 is on the sixth floor. Odd rooms will all be on one side, even on the other.”
She quickly led the back outside using the front entrance. They walked down the block and crossed the street. In front of them was a large building. Where the others were all tall, this one was wide. They entered the room. “This is the gym. We do allow membership to outsiders, however, so watch what you do. There are areas sectioned off for things we can’t do in front of civilians, like weapons training.” This building was sleek and clean with straight lines and sharp edges. Whoever designed the place clearly wanted it to be ultra modern. “In the back there are two swimming pools. One is temperature controlled, but normal. The other simulates waves. There’s also a Jacuzzi for relaxing after a work out. Behind that are the showers, separated for boys and girls. Obviously, there tends to be more females since this is primarily for TSA use. Upstairs is where the actual gym equipment is. Third floor has classes like yoga and whatnot. Fourth floor is cordoned off for TSA use. That’s what I was talking about earlier.” Rivkah turned on her heel to face Ruthie. “And that’s it. Last is the cafeteria. Let’s go.” She quickly herded the three teens out the door and back down the block where they came from. Sneaking through the Humanities and Science building, they went around the dorms and were right back where they started. This time they crossed the street and headed up almost two full blocks before reaching a bright red brick building.
“Finally! Food!” Rivkah crowed, swiping her card to get in. Ruthie walked inside to find what was essentially a café.
“First floor is the Café,” Amie explained, leading the girl up the stairway, seemingly reading the brunette’s thoughts. “Upstairs is the actual dining hall. There’s also a small pub adjacent to the gym.”
The four girls opened the double doors, revealing a large dining area with dozens of large, round tables. Chairs were filled with chatting, young teenage girls.
There were hundreds of girls. Hundreds. “Welcome to The Slayer Academy,” Amie said cheerfully in the face of Ruthie’s awe.
~BTVS-7H~
Somehow, Ruthie had thought that TSA would be more interesting than her last high school, but no, school was still school, regardless of where it was. Of course now, in addition to her core classes like History and Math, she also had Demonology and Sword Fighting. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a free minute to do something that didn’t somehow involve school.
“Ugh,” Ruthie groaned, flopping back onto her bed, letting out a huge rush of air when her heavy bag landed on top of her. With a small sigh, she turned onto her side, staring at the blank wall contemplatively. When she first found out about vampires, this was not how she pictured things going.
Ruthie bit her lip hard, trying not to let her tears leak through. She had spent the last week a sobbing mess and quite frankly, she was rather hoping to be out of tears by now.
How could Martin do this to her? Okay, fine, so it wasn’t to her, but still. He had had sex. Pre-marital sex. With a virtual stranger! And now said stranger was knocked up with his child.
I hate me too.
Ruthie viciously shook her head. No. She had to ignore what he said. He couldn’t change things. He couldn’t go back in time and undo what he did. What did it matter that he regretted it? It didn’t mater. Nothing he said or did mattered because… because…
Ruthie let out a choked sob.
Because Sandy was pregnant!
Ruthie darted into the dark walkway between two houses. It was late and there was nobody out, but she didn’t want to risk someone seeing her. Not only had she snuck out of her house at two o’clock in the morning, but she was pretty much having a complete emotional breakdown in public.
Once she was far enough down the walkway, she shoved herself back against the house, and covered her mouth with her hand, stifling the sounds of her heart breaking over and over again as she slid down to the ground.
“What’s this I hear?” a man’s voice said from further up the walkway. Ruthie froze, her eyes wide as her hand automatically tightened further around her mouth, quieting herself even more. “Is someone crying?” the man’s voice chuckled.
Ruthie’s eyes darted to the open mouth of the walkway. She had gone far enough in that, should something happen, no one would see her. And she couldn’t see the man so she had no idea if he was far away enough for her to make a run for it.
Gathering her nerves, she removed her hand from her mouth, her hand shaking slightly. Leaning forward, she peered around a shrub that was obstructing her sight and promptly froze. Eyes trailing upward, she nearly whimpered as she found a man’s facing staring down at her.
“There you are, little girl.” The man grinned before suddenly his face changed; eyebrows becoming ridged, teeth becoming sharp and eyes turning yellow. He was a monster.
A startled scream escaped Ruthie mouth as she threw herself backward, scrambling to her feet, but before she could make a run for it, she felt a steel cold grip around her upper arm and was swiftly thrown into the house she had just been leaning against. Ruthie’s back screamed in pain as she crumpled to the ground once more.
“Now, now,” the monster tisked. “None of that.” He gripped her by the neck and hauled her up until her feet were dangling in the air, her lungs begging for air. The man opened his mouth wide, leaning in. Ruthie wasn’t sure what he was planning to do but she knew that whatever it was, she wasn’t going to like it.
With all her might, she reached up and shoved the man away from her. To her surprise, it worked, the man slamming into the side of the house opposite her. He, too, seemed surprised. For a second, the two of them merely stared at each other in shock, but Ruthie quickly regained her senses and let out a scream, running for the sidewalk. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it far before she was tackled to the ground, the man’s heavy weight on top of her. She let out another scream, squirming and bucking, trying to get him off of her.
“Shut up!” he hissed covering her mouth. That one second of lost concentration was enough for Ruthie to wedge her arm out from underneath her, slamming her elbow up into the side of his head.
He released her with a curse allowing Ruthie to scramble away. She felt something sharp in her hand and swung it around as a weapon, instinctively slamming the object into the man’s chest. Her eyes widened as she realized what she had just done. She just… she just… She just killed a man!
“Nice try, sweetie,” the man said, startling Ruthie, drawing her horrified gaze from the gaping wound to his smirking face as he pulled out the piece of sharp pipe. “But it has to be wood.”
He lunged at her and again, Ruthie moved instinctively, swinging her fist up into his face. He took a couple of steps back, whether from the force or merely surprise, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t bother to pause to find out, instead kicking out and catching him exactly on the wound that she had left him and forcing him back another few steps.
Whatever he was, he wasn’t human. He couldn’t be.
“What are you going to do?” he asked with an angry snarl. “You can’t kill me!”
Ruthie cocked her head to the side contemplatively before smiling, drawing a look of confusion from him. She looked to her right to find that she had brought them back to the shrub that she had been hiding from. He still looked confused for a moment before that look turned into realization.
“Wood, huh?” she asked, recalling what he had said earlier.
“Shit,” he muttered.
She smirked and reached down, snapping off one of the branches and holding it like a weapon. It was weird, she had never held a weapon before, but it felt comfortable in her hand; like it belonged there.
“Slayer?” he wondered, causing Ruthie to blink in confusion, but she didn’t let her confusion deter her, kicking out once again and catching him in the chest. She kicked out a third time, this time swinging her leg to catch him across the side of his face in a roundhouse. The momentum threw him against the house again and when he turned back to face her, she was already in front of him.
“Bye-bye, sweetie,” she sneered, shoving the stake into his chest and watching as he exploded into dust. She blinked in surprise before stumbling back a few steps, her back against the opposite house as she, once again, slid down. “Holy shit.”
On second thought, maybe being bored wasn’t such a bad thing.
Ruthie blinked, startled, when her phone rang. Her parents had taken to calling her every night since she’d left, although she had finally convinced them to lower it to once every other night. And Lucy texted almost every five seconds, as though she didn’t want Ruthie to miss a second of it. Ruthie was okay not knowing what her sister was up to every second of every day. Simon texted frequently as well, but at least he had the decency to make sure his updates were either important or humorous.
“Simon?” she said, picking up the phone. “What’s up?” Simon was really the only one she kept in touch with from back home. She devoured news from her hometown, but at the same time, she didn’t want to think about it, about them. Thinking about her family made her homesick and also made her think about…
She shook her head. She had decided when she boarded that plane not to think of him. Still, her eyes strayed to the picture on top of her bookshelf. There were images of her and her family, but the picture in the center was the one she had of her and Martin.
“Are you listening?” Simon asked into her ear.
Ruthie winced. She had to stop letting herself think of him! “Sorry, I was thinking. What were you saying?” she said, focusing back on her brother.
“Martin and Sandy are getting married,” Simon repeated, slower, wary of his sister’s reaction.
Everything in Ruthie’s world came to a screeching stop. “Oh?” she said mildly, her voice a bit higher than normal. “Good for them. Tell them I said congrats, okay?”
“Ruthie-” Simon spoke softly, but with a tone to his voice like he knew what she was really thinking, which he probably did. Sometimes it sucked having someone who knew her so well. Especially when that someone was her brother.
“Look, I have to get to class. Love you, bye.” She hung up the phone hastily. Blinking, Ruthie stared off into space. Martin. And Sandy. Are getting married. She heard the words, but it was like she couldn’t understand them. Martin. And Sandy. Are getting married.
Standing up, she went to her closet and dug through, throwing out shirt after shirt. She heard the door open, but didn’t bother to look up.
“What’s eating you?” Rivkah’s familiar biting voice wondered from behind.
“I need to go out,” Ruthie replied absentmindedly as she picked up a shirt and held it to her body, checking her reflection before tossing the shirt over her shoulder and searching again. “I’m dying in here,” she continued. She felt claustrophobic; like the walls were closing in on her and she needed to run away, breathe in fresh air; she needed to get out.
As if feeling genuinely trapped, she took in a stuttered breath. The more she thought about it, the more caged in she felt. Spotting blue sky, she ran to the balcony, throwing open the French doors. She gripped the railing tight as her upper half leaned over it, gasping in deep breaths. Her cheeks felt vaguely wet and Ruthie suddenly realized she was crying. Martin was marrying Sandy. They had a child together. They were going to be a family.
She let out a broken sob, turning around and crumpling to the floor, her back against the wrought iron. She had thought that she was getting better; that she was getting past this. But she wasn’t. She still loved Martin; loved him with everything that she had.
How could he do this to her?
She heard the click of the balcony doors open and buried her face in her knees, not wanting to face her roommate.
“Ruthie?” Amie asked. Apparently Rivkah had gotten back-up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing much,” she muttered into her knees. “The love of my life is marrying someone else. No big.”
There was an awkward silence as the other girls processed this. Then Ruthie felt a presence sit beside her on the ground. Peeking up, she saw Meilin. The girl gave her a tiny sympathetic smile and laid a hand on Ruthie’s foot, doing nothing else. Then, on Ruthie’s other side, was another presence. Turning her head, she saw Amie who also gave her a smile and placed a comforting hand on Ruthie’s elbow. Ruthie gave a wobbly smile at each of the girls. The last person still stood in front of the girls and was soon the focus of the three. None of the girls knew what Rivkah would do. Even she wasn’t heartless enough to be a bitch right now, but she wasn’t exactly the comforting type.
True to form, she shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny and the warm ‘feels’ going on. Finally, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Screw this shit, let’s get drunk,” she said decisively, cocking an expectant eyebrow.
The other three blinked at her in surprise. Amie and Meilin looked at Ruthie in askance. Ruthie had planned on going out, looking amazing and finding some extremely attractive guy to flirt with to try and make herself forget all about Martin Brewer.
But there was no reason why she had to be sober while she did this.
“Yeah.” She nodded, getting up. “Yeah, let’s get drunk!” she enthused, getting into the idea. “Let’s get dressed up, look super hot and just go out and have some fun.”
“Maybe break a few boys’ hearts,” Amie added coyly.
“More than a few,” Rivkah scoffed.
Meilin giggled. She was the shiest of them, but even she looked excited at the prospect of a girls night out. The four made their way back inside, splitting up to find some clothes. Once again, Ruthie was stuck looking inside her closet with nothing to wear.
“You dress like a nun,” Rivkah pointed out helpfully.
“I do not,” Ruthie replied in annoyance crossing her arms, but Rivkah just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Fine. You dress like a preacher’s daughter,” the blonde corrected with a smirk. Ruthie huffed but could hardly deny it seeing as how she was a preacher’s daughter.
“So what do you suggest?” Ruthie asked with a frown. She and Rivkah got along a lot better now than they did when Ruthie first moved in, but they still weren’t exactly best friends. Actually, she would barely even call them friends.
Rivkah looked surprised that Ruthie would ask her opinion. She took a second look at the brunette’s closet, humming as she thumbed through the racks. Spotting something stuffed in the back, she reached in and pulled a sporty cotton tee with the number 22 on it. “How attached are you to this shirt?” she wondered.
Ruthie looked at her in complete confusion. This wasn’t exactly the kind of shirt a girl would wear on a night out. “Not very,” she answered.
Rivkah gave her a smirk and pulled out a tight pair of jeans. “Give me five minutes,” she said, laying the shirt out on her desk. She grabbed a pair of scissors and, before Ruthie’s eyes, began cutting into the shirt.
“What are you doing?” Ruthie asked in surprise.
“Give me five minutes,” the blonde repeated, concentrating on her work. “Change into those pants,” she said, waving at the jeans she had pulled a second ago.
Ruthie did as told, keeping a cautious eye on Rivkah. Amie and Meilin walked back into the room. Meilin wore gold sandals, black pants and a shimmering gold top that hung off her shoulders and showed off her beautiful silken skin. Amie wore a tight purple mini dress and black high heel pumps.
“What’s going on?” Amie asked.
Before Ruthie could answer, Rivkah stood up and handed Ruthie the improved top. There were now cuts along the front stomach area, the back, the sides and down the short sleeves. “Put this on,” she demanded. Ruthie made to get another top to put underneath it, but the blonde stopped her. “No. Just this.” Hesitantly, Ruthie took off her shirt and replaced it with the ripped one. It was a bit loose and the tears showcased a lot of bronze skin, but were placed nowhere near anything that might show inappropriately, the 22 on her chest untouched. Ruthie blinked at her reflection in surprise. She looked sort of sporty, but in a hot way.
“Now, you just need shoes,” Amie muttered thoughtfully. “Actually, I have a pair…” She trailed off as she disappeared back into her dorm room. She and Ruthie had found out that they were close in size and that included the size of their feet. The petite blonde came back with a pair of black thick heeled boots with laces down the front, giving it a military style feel, which Ruthie put on. “You look cute in those. You should keep them,” Amie offered. While this occurred, Rivkah had changed into the clothes she had selected before Ruthie’s clothing dilemma distracted her. She wore a short jean skirt and a black one shoulder top with black velvet wedge booties.
“Alright, let’s get out of here,” the blonde said once she was finished, the girls heading out the door. Rivkah led the way to her favorite club. Rivkah herded them down the back and rapped at the back entrance. Meilin and Ruthie shared uncomfortable looks, but Amie was relaxed, having been there with Rivkah before.
A girl a few years older than them opened the door with a grin, letting them in. “Guys, this is Lexy. She graduated TSA a couple of years ago,” Rivakh introduced before leading the teens through the staff area and into the main nightclub. The lights were flashing in time with the pulsing House beat, blinding the girls until they could barely see. Rivkah grabbed Amie’s hand and led her upstairs, Meilin and Ruthie having no choice but to follow. Up on the second floor, there were lounge chairs paired together for small groups of friends. The girls claimed a corner and looked over the side, down at the dance floor. Soon, a waitress came up to them asking for their orders.
Taking the lead, Rivkah ordered martinis and a small appetizer to help soak up the alcohol as they went along.
“So tell us about this boy,” Amie demanded once they had everything.
Ruthie froze, a frown crossing her face at the reminder of why they were there.
“Nice one, babe.” Rivkah snickered. Even she knew that was a bad move and she was the least emotionally conscientious of the four.
Amie looked stricken so Ruthie sent her a wane smile. “It’s fine, I’m not upset. I just… don’t want to talk about it.” She took a sip of her drink, her nose scrunching slightly at her first alcoholic drink. It was… She took another sip. Definitely something to get used to.
“Okay, this is awkward,” Rivkah announced, breaking the tension. “Let’s go dance." She stood up and left, leaving the others no choice but to follow her. Once they were on the crowded dance floor, it was easy to lose themselves in the beat. The four kept within eyesight of each other, Rivkah and Amie dancing with each other, Meilin dancing alone for the most part, while Ruthie danced with every cute guy that looked her way. After long spurts of dancing, they would return to their seats to drink some more and nibble on appetizers to soak up their alcohol. Between their Slayer metabolism, the food, and the long periods of dancing in between drinks, the four girls were only on the light side of tipsy. At some point Amie and Rivkah abandoned the dance floor in favor of making out at their seats, leaving Meilin and Ruthie to fend for themselves.
“They make such a cute couple,” Ruthie murmured thoughtfully, swaying with Meilin to a slow song. It was late and even with their stamina, they were tired.
Meilin smiled, nodding. “Remember when Rivkah thought you had a thing for Amie?”
Ruthie let out a huff of laughter. She had only been at TSA a couple of weeks before, fed up with Rivkah’s hostility, she confronted the older girl. The two had a huge blow out in their living room but had managed to get everything resolved. It had turned out that Rivkah had thought that Ruthie’s friendliness with Amie was in actuality flirting. Ruthie quickly corrected the blonde before wondering in confusion why Rivkah would care if Ruthie was flirting. The brunette blushed bright red when she found out the Amie and Rivkah were dating. Suddenly, all the time those two spent in Amie’s dorm room ‘studying’ made sense. Ruthie and Rivkah got along a lot better after that, which was not to say that they were suddenly best friends… Mostly because the idea of Rivkah being friendly made a shiver of fear go down Ruthie’s spine. The only time Rivkah was nice was when she was up to no good.
Ruthie was startled out of her thoughts by a hand tapping her on her shoulder. She turned her head away from Meilin to face the stranger. “Hey,” a cute boy a few years older than her said with a grin. He had light blond hair tousled messily and warm brown eyes. His English accent made Ruthie’s stomach turn to mush. Despite living in London for six months now, a cute boy with an English accent was still enough to do her in every single time. “Can I interrupt?” the boy asked.
The brunette blinked looking at Meilin who looked back at her uncertainly. “Which one of us?” Meilin wondered, turning back to the boy.
The blond gave a laugh. “Sorry, I meant you,” he said looking at Ruthie. “I’d like to dance with you.”
Ruthie gave a smile, glancing at Meilin out of the corner of her eye. The other girl nodded in agreement, a smile on her lips as well. Ruthie let go of the Asian and turned to face the boy, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and allowing him to wraps his around her waist. “My name is Ruthie,” she introduced.
“Rhys,” he replied with a smirk. “You’re American?” he wondered. She nodded. “Are you here on vacation?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Boarding school.”
He grinned wider. “Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “Me too,” he leaned in with a whisper, like it was some sort of secret. “My family’s from Wales. Don’t tell any Brits.”
Ruthie giggled. She hadn’t been here long but even she knew about the British’s opinion on the Welsh, and vice versa really. “Your secret’s safe with me,” she promised with an amused grin. For the first time that night, she forgot all about Martin. She even forgot all about being a Slayer. Standing there, dancing with Rhys, she felt like a normal girl with no problems in the world.
by tenshinrtaiga
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS or 7th Heaven
Characters/Pairing: Martin/Ruthie, some Ruthie/others, Martin/others
Summary: Ruthie gets invited to a prestigious English boarding school and, in the wake of Sandy's pregnancy, decides to go. Three years later, a very different Ruthie Camden returns.
Ruthie looked around her dorm room in awe. To be perfectly honest, it was less of a dorm room and more of an apartment. The building was a tall skyscraper with over fifty floors. The lower floors were for first years consisting of quad rooms only. Ruthie’s dorm was on the eighth floor. The first room was a living area with a table and four chairs, a couch and two arm chairs. Along one wall was a kitchenette with cupboards, an electric cook top, microwave, sink and dish rack.
Already in the room was a tall, willowy Asian girl, curled up on the sofa reading a book. She immediately looked up the moment Willow and Ruthie walked in.
“Nǐ hǎo,” Willow greeted with a perky wave.
The girl smiled and waved back. “Hello,” she enunciated carefully.
Willow turned back to Ruthie. “Ruthie, this is Meilin, one of your dorm mates.” She turned to Meilin. “Méilín, zhè shì nǐ de xīn shìyǒu Ruthie.” (This is your new roommate Ruthie)
Meilin smiled, getting up from the couch to greet the new girl. “Nǐ hǎo.”
“Ni hao,” Ruthie tried back, her nose wrinkling a bit as she butchered the words slightly, but Meilin only grinned wider.
“Mandarin is tonal, similar to the difference between a question and an exclamation in English,” the black haired girl explained. Her words were spoken only a bit slow and were still crisply accented, but Ruthie understood her easily and was happy that there would (hopefully) be minimal communication issues. “I can teach you a little, if you want.”
Ruthie smiled back, attempting to ignore the wide grin spread across Willow’s face and the barely contained squeal of excitement. “Good! You’re getting along!” Willow laughed. “Are Amie and Rivkah here?”
Meilin nodded, tilting her head towards the door behind her on the left. “They’re in their room.”
Willow led Ruthie over and rapped her knuckles on the door. “Hey, it’s Willow. Your new dorm mate is here. Come on out.”
The door opened and two blonde girls came out, glancing over at Ruthie in assessment causing the petite brunette to shift awkwardly a bit.
“Bonjour,” the petite blonde on the right side with short, cropped pixie hair said, reaching a hand out to shake. “I am Amie,” she introduced in heavily accented French.
“Oh! Bonjour!” Ruthie grinned, finally happy for all those French classes she took in high school. “Je m’appelle Ruthie. Ravi de vous rencontrer.” (My name is Ruthie. Nice to meet you.)
“Vous aussi,” Amie grinned back, clearly happy.
“Amie,” Willow reprimanded lightly causing the girl to give a small sigh of annoyance.
“You too,” she corrected, practicing her English.
Everyone turned to the last girl, a tall, lean girl with long blonde hair plaited into a French braid, leaning against the doorway with a distinctly unimpressed look on her face. “Rivkah,” she introduced, her tone clearly bored. She pronounced the “k” in her name harshly, from the throat, cluing Ruthie into the fact that this girl was also from another corner of the world. She wondered if TSA purposely paired up girls from different areas of the world.
“Ruthie,” the brunette said, a bit awkwardly in the face of such a cold expression.
Willow gave a small sigh, clearly unsurprised by Rivkah’s “chattiness”. “Alright, why don’t you go ahead and get settled in?” she said to Ruthie, handing her a binder filled with papers to help the new student. “Here’s a map of our campus as well as a map of London. The girls will show you around, won’t you?” she threw over her shoulder. Amie and Meilin nodded but Rivkah just gave an annoyed sigh, rolling her eyes. Willow gave a disappointed shake of her head and left the four young girls on their own.
“So, this is my room?” Ruthie wondered pointing at the door on the right, assuming that she would be rooming with Meilin since Amie and Rivkah had both come out of the room on the left.
Amie and Meilin both shook their head no, however. “Meilin and I have that room. You’re with Rivkah on the left.”
Ruthie fought not to grimace at the news. Great. She was rooming with the one girl in her dorm room who hated her. Perfect.
Still, she made her way to the door, sidestepping the tall blonde. Inside was a decently sized room. The far left wall had a window with a bed pushed up underneath it, a bookshelf at the feet. Above the bed, squeezed between it and the wall, was a desk. The bedspread was a dark purple color and given the books and clothes strewn over it, it was safe to assume that it was Rivkah’s side of the room. On the right, tucked into the corner was a plain bed with TSA purple and gold sheets on it. Ruthie knew that these were the plain sheets given to every student until they could get their own set, if they even wanted to bother with new ones. At the foot of her bed was an empty bookshelf and a desk pushed against the wall next to that. Between Rivkah’s desk and Ruthie’s bed were a set of double French doors.
“Is that a balcony?” Ruthie gaped in surprise, heading straight for it. Opening the door, she stepped out into the windy London air, looking down at the street. “Wow,” she murmured, impressed. Turning back around, she stepped back inside and noticed two large standing wardrobes directly across from her, next to the door. The one wedged against the wall was open showcasing clothes already packed inside. Since that one was obviously Rivkah’s, that left the one on the left, closest to the door, as Ruthie’s.
Opening it, she noticed a full scale mirror on the back of one of the doors. Inside was a rack to hang her clothes and a couple sets of drawers on the floor to fold her clothes. On the back of the other wardrobe door held several hooks for belts and scarves and such. Tucked into the back, behind the drawers, was a small lock box safe that Willow had already informed her would only open to Ruthie’s specific room key.
She moved to her bed, lifting her suitcase on top and setting her duffel and purse on the ground. Unzipping her luggage, she withdrew her folded clothes and began storing them in her drawers. She didn’t have a lot, couldn’t take much on the plane, and she knew that she would have to do some shopping soon. Her parents had gotten her a credit card as well as a debit card before she left, just for this very occasion. She would need more clothes, hangers for said clothes, toiletries and more. Luckily, TSA had anticipated such needs and so Ruthie would have two days to settle in, buy her necessities and learn her way around before her first classes began on Wednesday.
Grabbing her tiny travel sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, she tucked them into her small shower caddy, along with her hairbrush and loofah. She was aware the most girls probably dreaded having to share a bathroom with God knew how many others, but living at the Camden house had left Ruthie fully prepared for this event, she thought with a giggle.
“Are you done yet?” a voice asked, startling Ruthie. To her left was Rivkah, leaning against Ruthie’s wardrobe, her arms crossed in front of her. “We’re heading to dinner,” she said simply, once she had the brunette’s attention. With no further words, the blonde turned on her heel and exited the room.
“Friendly,” Ruthie muttered sarcastically, but grabbed her jacket from where she’d tossed it over her bookshelf earlier and slipped it on, exiting the room.
Meilin and Amie stood by the main door, clearly waiting on her. They must have noticed the confused look on her face because Meilin gave her a worn smile. “Rivkah went to go catch the elevator,” she smiled.
“Is she always that…” Ruthie trailed off, unsure how to finish without being rude.
“Frigid?” Amie offered. “She is hard to warm up,” she petite blonde tried to explain.
Meilin nodded. “It took almost the entire first semester to get her to say more that two words to me at a time,” she said, clearly trying to sound helpful, though in truth, her words were anything but.
“Great,” Ruthie enthused sarcastically.
Amie gave her a confused smile before turning to look at her companion. “Je ne comprends pas.” (I don’t understand) Meilin just gave an equally confused shrug.
Ruthie gave a loud laugh, the first one since leaving home behind. “Oh, guys,” she said, throwing her arms around the two girls and dragging them out the door, “let me give you an introductory course to the beauty of sarcasm.”
“Oh!” the two girls chorused as they realized that Ruthie’s words earlier had not been meant to be taken seriously.
“Don’t worry. Stick with me and you will soon be able to recognize sarcasm in the English language at fifty feet,” Ruthie continued to tease as they made their way down the hall towards an impatient Rivkah.
“!מה לקח לך כל כך הרבה זמן,” (What took you so long!) she shouted angrily. “!פספסנו את המעלית הראשונה” (We missed the first elevator!)
Ruthie blinked at the rush of harsh words.
“סליחה” (Sorry) Amie replied, though her pronunciation was nowhere near as smooth as Rivkah’s. “We were talking.”
Rivkah sneered and made an uncomplimentary sound as the elevator doors opened.
They stepped in and traveled to the lobby. “So where is the cafeteria?” Ruthie wondered. She hadn’t had a chance to take a look at the map Willow had provided her in the binder.
“TSA owns several buildings within several blocks of each other,” Amie explained. “The cafeteria is two blocks down. Classes are in the building behind us.”
“We usually cut out back instead of walking around the block,” Meilin interjected slightly as the elevator bell rang and they all stepped out. The lobby floor was a shining white marble, the walls a pale purple color with the occasional gold accent; TSA colors.
The girls led Ruthie to the main desk. There was no one there at the moment, but there was a large binder splayed out. They each took turns signing themselves out, Rivkah huffing at the ‘annoyance’.
“You have your student card?” Meilin checked before leaving the building. Ruthie nodded in response. “Good. The cards are how you pay for your food and enter school buildings. Some outside restaurants and cafes accept them too. I think a convenience store too. But mostly it’s just for TSA use.”
“Hey, wait,” Amie exclaimed, a bright smile on her face. “We should show Ruthie around before heading to dinner.”
“Are you kidding me?” Rivkah asked in disbelief causing the petite blonde to frown.
“If you don’t want to, go ahead without us.” Amie pouted, slipping her arm through Ruthie’s and dragging her back around the building, slipping into a narrow alley. Ruthie could see Meilin following them and noticed that even Rivkah was following behind her as well, an upset scowl on her face however.
They came across a split pathway, two buildings on each side. “Sciences,” Amie said pointing to the building on the left, “humanitites,” were the building on the right. “Come on.” She tugged Ruthie again, pulling her into the science building. The inside had stark white walls, grey tile floors and a pale blue trim.
“Classes get mixed up, so there’s no way of knowing where one is. And they won’t be in the same location each year. But professor offices tend to be on the same floor or within one floor of their classes. Exceptions are the really popular classes. Those are held in the auditorium,” Meilin explained.
Amie made a small face. “Meilin’s a brain,” she confessed in a whisper like it was a secret.
“Do you like science?” Ruthie wondered, but the black haired girl made a pained face.
“Not even remotely. But my parents really want me to be a doctor.” Meilin frowned and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms in a way that reminded Ruthie of the tall blonde standing next to her. “They want me to be the…” She paused, grasping for a word, but not finding it. She turned to Rivkah. “What is the word that I am looking for?” the Asian asked.
“Stereotypical,” Rivkah replied in a bored tone.
“Yes. Stereotypical.” Meilin nodded resolutely. “They want me to be the stereotypical nice Asian girl who is very successful, marries well and leaves job to take care of my family.”
“But Meilin wants to be a politician,” Amie confided.
“No, not necessarily.” But Meilin was blushing hard, clearly indicating that she was lying. “I just want to work in government. I would be happy with any position.”
“I think I understand,” Ruthie said with a smile.
But Rivkah made a loud scoffing sound. “What would you know of hardship, American girl?” she sneered.
“Rivkah!” Amie and Meilin hissed in unison, horrified by their friend’s words.
“What?” she hissed back angrily before turning to the petite brunette. “I live in Jerusalem. Rockets go off all the time, nowhere is safe. I know fear and anger and hatred. I know hardship. And the minute I graduate TSA, I will return to my country and join the military, as is my country’s law. Tell me again how you understand hardship,” the tall blonde demanded.
Ruthie blinked in surprise at the girl’s hatred. She had no idea what she had done to deserve such vitriol. On the other hand, Rivkah was right. Compared to that, what did she know? “I didn’t say I knew hardship,” she admitted. “I have had a good life, a safe one. Nothing like what you’ve experienced.” Ruthie frowned. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have difficulties and that I don’t understand pain.” She turned to Meilin, ignoring Rivkah. “My father’s a reverend. I grew up being watched by an entire town. Everyone expects me to act the way a good preacher’s girl should. But I’m fifteen, almost sixteen. I should be able to do what I want, be who I want. My siblings all caved under the pressure to be perfect and each time they made a mistake, they had an entire town who knew about it and whispered about it and made sure my family never forgot. It’s part of the reason why I’m so glad to be at TSA; to get away from the pressures of my family. To figure out who I am and who I want to be.”
Meilin and Amie both smiled at her answer, making Ruthie glad that she had told them the truth instead of hiding her own issues. She was glad that they seemed ready to accept her. Rivkah, on the other hand, just sneered some more, turning on her heel and flouncing ahead, leaving the other three to catch up.
“I don’t have such problems,” Amie continued the conversation blithely. “I am who I am. Who else am I supposed to be?”
Meilin giggled and even Ruthie smiled at the tiny blonde. “How old are you?” the small brunette wondered.
Amie frowned. “I turned fifteen a few months ago. What does that have to do with anything?”
Ruthie shrugged. “I don’t know. I just think that it gets harder as you get older. Maybe we’ll all have this conversation again is four years and see if our answers are the same.”
The French girl was still frowning, unsure whether she liked that her answer was being singled out because of how young she was.
Seeing this, Ruthie hastened to assure the girl. “I’m fifteen too.” She stopped a minute in realization. “Oh. But I turn sixteen in a couple of days,” she said in surprise. With all the Martin baby drama and then TSA and packing up her life and moving… she had honestly forgotten her own birthday.
“Bon Anniversaire,” Amie said, her mood instantly lifted up. “I love birthdays!”
“Can we please just finish this?” Rivkah asked in exasperation. “I’m starving! If we’re not going to actually show her around, can we please just go to dinner? I am ten seconds away from eating my own arm.” She gave the girls an appraising look. “Or yours.”
As one, the three girls quickly sped up, none of them willing to take the chance that she was serious. They left the building through the front and turned right, using their cards to enter the humanities building. “This is pretty much the same as the science building,” Rivkah said briskly, taking over the tour as she quickly walked through the first floor. She clearly was in a rush and kept a quick pace, probably not trusting the others to get distracted again. The building had hardwood floors and cream walls; an entirely different feel than the previous building. “Your room number will obviously tell you the floor, same as with our forms. Room 608 is on the sixth floor. Odd rooms will all be on one side, even on the other.”
She quickly led the back outside using the front entrance. They walked down the block and crossed the street. In front of them was a large building. Where the others were all tall, this one was wide. They entered the room. “This is the gym. We do allow membership to outsiders, however, so watch what you do. There are areas sectioned off for things we can’t do in front of civilians, like weapons training.” This building was sleek and clean with straight lines and sharp edges. Whoever designed the place clearly wanted it to be ultra modern. “In the back there are two swimming pools. One is temperature controlled, but normal. The other simulates waves. There’s also a Jacuzzi for relaxing after a work out. Behind that are the showers, separated for boys and girls. Obviously, there tends to be more females since this is primarily for TSA use. Upstairs is where the actual gym equipment is. Third floor has classes like yoga and whatnot. Fourth floor is cordoned off for TSA use. That’s what I was talking about earlier.” Rivkah turned on her heel to face Ruthie. “And that’s it. Last is the cafeteria. Let’s go.” She quickly herded the three teens out the door and back down the block where they came from. Sneaking through the Humanities and Science building, they went around the dorms and were right back where they started. This time they crossed the street and headed up almost two full blocks before reaching a bright red brick building.
“Finally! Food!” Rivkah crowed, swiping her card to get in. Ruthie walked inside to find what was essentially a café.
“First floor is the Café,” Amie explained, leading the girl up the stairway, seemingly reading the brunette’s thoughts. “Upstairs is the actual dining hall. There’s also a small pub adjacent to the gym.”
The four girls opened the double doors, revealing a large dining area with dozens of large, round tables. Chairs were filled with chatting, young teenage girls.
There were hundreds of girls. Hundreds. “Welcome to The Slayer Academy,” Amie said cheerfully in the face of Ruthie’s awe.
~BTVS-7H~
Somehow, Ruthie had thought that TSA would be more interesting than her last high school, but no, school was still school, regardless of where it was. Of course now, in addition to her core classes like History and Math, she also had Demonology and Sword Fighting. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a free minute to do something that didn’t somehow involve school.
“Ugh,” Ruthie groaned, flopping back onto her bed, letting out a huge rush of air when her heavy bag landed on top of her. With a small sigh, she turned onto her side, staring at the blank wall contemplatively. When she first found out about vampires, this was not how she pictured things going.
Ruthie bit her lip hard, trying not to let her tears leak through. She had spent the last week a sobbing mess and quite frankly, she was rather hoping to be out of tears by now.
How could Martin do this to her? Okay, fine, so it wasn’t to her, but still. He had had sex. Pre-marital sex. With a virtual stranger! And now said stranger was knocked up with his child.
I hate me too.
Ruthie viciously shook her head. No. She had to ignore what he said. He couldn’t change things. He couldn’t go back in time and undo what he did. What did it matter that he regretted it? It didn’t mater. Nothing he said or did mattered because… because…
Ruthie let out a choked sob.
Because Sandy was pregnant!
Ruthie darted into the dark walkway between two houses. It was late and there was nobody out, but she didn’t want to risk someone seeing her. Not only had she snuck out of her house at two o’clock in the morning, but she was pretty much having a complete emotional breakdown in public.
Once she was far enough down the walkway, she shoved herself back against the house, and covered her mouth with her hand, stifling the sounds of her heart breaking over and over again as she slid down to the ground.
“What’s this I hear?” a man’s voice said from further up the walkway. Ruthie froze, her eyes wide as her hand automatically tightened further around her mouth, quieting herself even more. “Is someone crying?” the man’s voice chuckled.
Ruthie’s eyes darted to the open mouth of the walkway. She had gone far enough in that, should something happen, no one would see her. And she couldn’t see the man so she had no idea if he was far away enough for her to make a run for it.
Gathering her nerves, she removed her hand from her mouth, her hand shaking slightly. Leaning forward, she peered around a shrub that was obstructing her sight and promptly froze. Eyes trailing upward, she nearly whimpered as she found a man’s facing staring down at her.
“There you are, little girl.” The man grinned before suddenly his face changed; eyebrows becoming ridged, teeth becoming sharp and eyes turning yellow. He was a monster.
A startled scream escaped Ruthie mouth as she threw herself backward, scrambling to her feet, but before she could make a run for it, she felt a steel cold grip around her upper arm and was swiftly thrown into the house she had just been leaning against. Ruthie’s back screamed in pain as she crumpled to the ground once more.
“Now, now,” the monster tisked. “None of that.” He gripped her by the neck and hauled her up until her feet were dangling in the air, her lungs begging for air. The man opened his mouth wide, leaning in. Ruthie wasn’t sure what he was planning to do but she knew that whatever it was, she wasn’t going to like it.
With all her might, she reached up and shoved the man away from her. To her surprise, it worked, the man slamming into the side of the house opposite her. He, too, seemed surprised. For a second, the two of them merely stared at each other in shock, but Ruthie quickly regained her senses and let out a scream, running for the sidewalk. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it far before she was tackled to the ground, the man’s heavy weight on top of her. She let out another scream, squirming and bucking, trying to get him off of her.
“Shut up!” he hissed covering her mouth. That one second of lost concentration was enough for Ruthie to wedge her arm out from underneath her, slamming her elbow up into the side of his head.
He released her with a curse allowing Ruthie to scramble away. She felt something sharp in her hand and swung it around as a weapon, instinctively slamming the object into the man’s chest. Her eyes widened as she realized what she had just done. She just… she just… She just killed a man!
“Nice try, sweetie,” the man said, startling Ruthie, drawing her horrified gaze from the gaping wound to his smirking face as he pulled out the piece of sharp pipe. “But it has to be wood.”
He lunged at her and again, Ruthie moved instinctively, swinging her fist up into his face. He took a couple of steps back, whether from the force or merely surprise, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t bother to pause to find out, instead kicking out and catching him exactly on the wound that she had left him and forcing him back another few steps.
Whatever he was, he wasn’t human. He couldn’t be.
“What are you going to do?” he asked with an angry snarl. “You can’t kill me!”
Ruthie cocked her head to the side contemplatively before smiling, drawing a look of confusion from him. She looked to her right to find that she had brought them back to the shrub that she had been hiding from. He still looked confused for a moment before that look turned into realization.
“Wood, huh?” she asked, recalling what he had said earlier.
“Shit,” he muttered.
She smirked and reached down, snapping off one of the branches and holding it like a weapon. It was weird, she had never held a weapon before, but it felt comfortable in her hand; like it belonged there.
“Slayer?” he wondered, causing Ruthie to blink in confusion, but she didn’t let her confusion deter her, kicking out once again and catching him in the chest. She kicked out a third time, this time swinging her leg to catch him across the side of his face in a roundhouse. The momentum threw him against the house again and when he turned back to face her, she was already in front of him.
“Bye-bye, sweetie,” she sneered, shoving the stake into his chest and watching as he exploded into dust. She blinked in surprise before stumbling back a few steps, her back against the opposite house as she, once again, slid down. “Holy shit.”
On second thought, maybe being bored wasn’t such a bad thing.
Ruthie blinked, startled, when her phone rang. Her parents had taken to calling her every night since she’d left, although she had finally convinced them to lower it to once every other night. And Lucy texted almost every five seconds, as though she didn’t want Ruthie to miss a second of it. Ruthie was okay not knowing what her sister was up to every second of every day. Simon texted frequently as well, but at least he had the decency to make sure his updates were either important or humorous.
“Simon?” she said, picking up the phone. “What’s up?” Simon was really the only one she kept in touch with from back home. She devoured news from her hometown, but at the same time, she didn’t want to think about it, about them. Thinking about her family made her homesick and also made her think about…
She shook her head. She had decided when she boarded that plane not to think of him. Still, her eyes strayed to the picture on top of her bookshelf. There were images of her and her family, but the picture in the center was the one she had of her and Martin.
“Are you listening?” Simon asked into her ear.
Ruthie winced. She had to stop letting herself think of him! “Sorry, I was thinking. What were you saying?” she said, focusing back on her brother.
“Martin and Sandy are getting married,” Simon repeated, slower, wary of his sister’s reaction.
Everything in Ruthie’s world came to a screeching stop. “Oh?” she said mildly, her voice a bit higher than normal. “Good for them. Tell them I said congrats, okay?”
“Ruthie-” Simon spoke softly, but with a tone to his voice like he knew what she was really thinking, which he probably did. Sometimes it sucked having someone who knew her so well. Especially when that someone was her brother.
“Look, I have to get to class. Love you, bye.” She hung up the phone hastily. Blinking, Ruthie stared off into space. Martin. And Sandy. Are getting married. She heard the words, but it was like she couldn’t understand them. Martin. And Sandy. Are getting married.
Standing up, she went to her closet and dug through, throwing out shirt after shirt. She heard the door open, but didn’t bother to look up.
“What’s eating you?” Rivkah’s familiar biting voice wondered from behind.
“I need to go out,” Ruthie replied absentmindedly as she picked up a shirt and held it to her body, checking her reflection before tossing the shirt over her shoulder and searching again. “I’m dying in here,” she continued. She felt claustrophobic; like the walls were closing in on her and she needed to run away, breathe in fresh air; she needed to get out.
As if feeling genuinely trapped, she took in a stuttered breath. The more she thought about it, the more caged in she felt. Spotting blue sky, she ran to the balcony, throwing open the French doors. She gripped the railing tight as her upper half leaned over it, gasping in deep breaths. Her cheeks felt vaguely wet and Ruthie suddenly realized she was crying. Martin was marrying Sandy. They had a child together. They were going to be a family.
She let out a broken sob, turning around and crumpling to the floor, her back against the wrought iron. She had thought that she was getting better; that she was getting past this. But she wasn’t. She still loved Martin; loved him with everything that she had.
How could he do this to her?
She heard the click of the balcony doors open and buried her face in her knees, not wanting to face her roommate.
“Ruthie?” Amie asked. Apparently Rivkah had gotten back-up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing much,” she muttered into her knees. “The love of my life is marrying someone else. No big.”
There was an awkward silence as the other girls processed this. Then Ruthie felt a presence sit beside her on the ground. Peeking up, she saw Meilin. The girl gave her a tiny sympathetic smile and laid a hand on Ruthie’s foot, doing nothing else. Then, on Ruthie’s other side, was another presence. Turning her head, she saw Amie who also gave her a smile and placed a comforting hand on Ruthie’s elbow. Ruthie gave a wobbly smile at each of the girls. The last person still stood in front of the girls and was soon the focus of the three. None of the girls knew what Rivkah would do. Even she wasn’t heartless enough to be a bitch right now, but she wasn’t exactly the comforting type.
True to form, she shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny and the warm ‘feels’ going on. Finally, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Screw this shit, let’s get drunk,” she said decisively, cocking an expectant eyebrow.
The other three blinked at her in surprise. Amie and Meilin looked at Ruthie in askance. Ruthie had planned on going out, looking amazing and finding some extremely attractive guy to flirt with to try and make herself forget all about Martin Brewer.
But there was no reason why she had to be sober while she did this.
“Yeah.” She nodded, getting up. “Yeah, let’s get drunk!” she enthused, getting into the idea. “Let’s get dressed up, look super hot and just go out and have some fun.”
“Maybe break a few boys’ hearts,” Amie added coyly.
“More than a few,” Rivkah scoffed.
Meilin giggled. She was the shiest of them, but even she looked excited at the prospect of a girls night out. The four made their way back inside, splitting up to find some clothes. Once again, Ruthie was stuck looking inside her closet with nothing to wear.
“You dress like a nun,” Rivkah pointed out helpfully.
“I do not,” Ruthie replied in annoyance crossing her arms, but Rivkah just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Fine. You dress like a preacher’s daughter,” the blonde corrected with a smirk. Ruthie huffed but could hardly deny it seeing as how she was a preacher’s daughter.
“So what do you suggest?” Ruthie asked with a frown. She and Rivkah got along a lot better now than they did when Ruthie first moved in, but they still weren’t exactly best friends. Actually, she would barely even call them friends.
Rivkah looked surprised that Ruthie would ask her opinion. She took a second look at the brunette’s closet, humming as she thumbed through the racks. Spotting something stuffed in the back, she reached in and pulled a sporty cotton tee with the number 22 on it. “How attached are you to this shirt?” she wondered.
Ruthie looked at her in complete confusion. This wasn’t exactly the kind of shirt a girl would wear on a night out. “Not very,” she answered.
Rivkah gave her a smirk and pulled out a tight pair of jeans. “Give me five minutes,” she said, laying the shirt out on her desk. She grabbed a pair of scissors and, before Ruthie’s eyes, began cutting into the shirt.
“What are you doing?” Ruthie asked in surprise.
“Give me five minutes,” the blonde repeated, concentrating on her work. “Change into those pants,” she said, waving at the jeans she had pulled a second ago.
Ruthie did as told, keeping a cautious eye on Rivkah. Amie and Meilin walked back into the room. Meilin wore gold sandals, black pants and a shimmering gold top that hung off her shoulders and showed off her beautiful silken skin. Amie wore a tight purple mini dress and black high heel pumps.
“What’s going on?” Amie asked.
Before Ruthie could answer, Rivkah stood up and handed Ruthie the improved top. There were now cuts along the front stomach area, the back, the sides and down the short sleeves. “Put this on,” she demanded. Ruthie made to get another top to put underneath it, but the blonde stopped her. “No. Just this.” Hesitantly, Ruthie took off her shirt and replaced it with the ripped one. It was a bit loose and the tears showcased a lot of bronze skin, but were placed nowhere near anything that might show inappropriately, the 22 on her chest untouched. Ruthie blinked at her reflection in surprise. She looked sort of sporty, but in a hot way.
“Now, you just need shoes,” Amie muttered thoughtfully. “Actually, I have a pair…” She trailed off as she disappeared back into her dorm room. She and Ruthie had found out that they were close in size and that included the size of their feet. The petite blonde came back with a pair of black thick heeled boots with laces down the front, giving it a military style feel, which Ruthie put on. “You look cute in those. You should keep them,” Amie offered. While this occurred, Rivkah had changed into the clothes she had selected before Ruthie’s clothing dilemma distracted her. She wore a short jean skirt and a black one shoulder top with black velvet wedge booties.
“Alright, let’s get out of here,” the blonde said once she was finished, the girls heading out the door. Rivkah led the way to her favorite club. Rivkah herded them down the back and rapped at the back entrance. Meilin and Ruthie shared uncomfortable looks, but Amie was relaxed, having been there with Rivkah before.
A girl a few years older than them opened the door with a grin, letting them in. “Guys, this is Lexy. She graduated TSA a couple of years ago,” Rivakh introduced before leading the teens through the staff area and into the main nightclub. The lights were flashing in time with the pulsing House beat, blinding the girls until they could barely see. Rivkah grabbed Amie’s hand and led her upstairs, Meilin and Ruthie having no choice but to follow. Up on the second floor, there were lounge chairs paired together for small groups of friends. The girls claimed a corner and looked over the side, down at the dance floor. Soon, a waitress came up to them asking for their orders.
Taking the lead, Rivkah ordered martinis and a small appetizer to help soak up the alcohol as they went along.
“So tell us about this boy,” Amie demanded once they had everything.
Ruthie froze, a frown crossing her face at the reminder of why they were there.
“Nice one, babe.” Rivkah snickered. Even she knew that was a bad move and she was the least emotionally conscientious of the four.
Amie looked stricken so Ruthie sent her a wane smile. “It’s fine, I’m not upset. I just… don’t want to talk about it.” She took a sip of her drink, her nose scrunching slightly at her first alcoholic drink. It was… She took another sip. Definitely something to get used to.
“Okay, this is awkward,” Rivkah announced, breaking the tension. “Let’s go dance." She stood up and left, leaving the others no choice but to follow her. Once they were on the crowded dance floor, it was easy to lose themselves in the beat. The four kept within eyesight of each other, Rivkah and Amie dancing with each other, Meilin dancing alone for the most part, while Ruthie danced with every cute guy that looked her way. After long spurts of dancing, they would return to their seats to drink some more and nibble on appetizers to soak up their alcohol. Between their Slayer metabolism, the food, and the long periods of dancing in between drinks, the four girls were only on the light side of tipsy. At some point Amie and Rivkah abandoned the dance floor in favor of making out at their seats, leaving Meilin and Ruthie to fend for themselves.
“They make such a cute couple,” Ruthie murmured thoughtfully, swaying with Meilin to a slow song. It was late and even with their stamina, they were tired.
Meilin smiled, nodding. “Remember when Rivkah thought you had a thing for Amie?”
Ruthie let out a huff of laughter. She had only been at TSA a couple of weeks before, fed up with Rivkah’s hostility, she confronted the older girl. The two had a huge blow out in their living room but had managed to get everything resolved. It had turned out that Rivkah had thought that Ruthie’s friendliness with Amie was in actuality flirting. Ruthie quickly corrected the blonde before wondering in confusion why Rivkah would care if Ruthie was flirting. The brunette blushed bright red when she found out the Amie and Rivkah were dating. Suddenly, all the time those two spent in Amie’s dorm room ‘studying’ made sense. Ruthie and Rivkah got along a lot better after that, which was not to say that they were suddenly best friends… Mostly because the idea of Rivkah being friendly made a shiver of fear go down Ruthie’s spine. The only time Rivkah was nice was when she was up to no good.
Ruthie was startled out of her thoughts by a hand tapping her on her shoulder. She turned her head away from Meilin to face the stranger. “Hey,” a cute boy a few years older than her said with a grin. He had light blond hair tousled messily and warm brown eyes. His English accent made Ruthie’s stomach turn to mush. Despite living in London for six months now, a cute boy with an English accent was still enough to do her in every single time. “Can I interrupt?” the boy asked.
The brunette blinked looking at Meilin who looked back at her uncertainly. “Which one of us?” Meilin wondered, turning back to the boy.
The blond gave a laugh. “Sorry, I meant you,” he said looking at Ruthie. “I’d like to dance with you.”
Ruthie gave a smile, glancing at Meilin out of the corner of her eye. The other girl nodded in agreement, a smile on her lips as well. Ruthie let go of the Asian and turned to face the boy, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and allowing him to wraps his around her waist. “My name is Ruthie,” she introduced.
“Rhys,” he replied with a smirk. “You’re American?” he wondered. She nodded. “Are you here on vacation?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Boarding school.”
He grinned wider. “Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “Me too,” he leaned in with a whisper, like it was some sort of secret. “My family’s from Wales. Don’t tell any Brits.”
Ruthie giggled. She hadn’t been here long but even she knew about the British’s opinion on the Welsh, and vice versa really. “Your secret’s safe with me,” she promised with an amused grin. For the first time that night, she forgot all about Martin. She even forgot all about being a Slayer. Standing there, dancing with Rhys, she felt like a normal girl with no problems in the world.