A/N: And after several months, I finally find the time to start writing again. Hopefully, this'll be as fun of a story for you as it'll be for me :) Hope y'all will enjoy the first chapter of Melting Pot!

Jaune's eyes were almost glued onto the paper that Doctor Oobleck had just handed back. The numbers marked in red almost seemed to taunt him, whispering to him.

So close... yet so far!

"How did you do, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, too polite to look at his paper even when she was sitting right next to him. Her voice made Jaune flinch a little, before he tried to indiscreetly hide the sheet of paper.

"Oh, not too bad. I think I could've gotten a few more answers right, but—" Jaune cursed silently as the sheet feel from his hands, tumbling over itself before falling next to Pyrrha's feet. The girl, as helpful as she always was, leaned down to grab it, eyes widening as she inadvertently saw the marks on Jaune's paper.

"O-oh, well, I'm sure you'll definitely do better next time." She said reassuringly, her motherly aura exuding from her. Jaune plastered on a fake smile, laughing a little, head nodding in agreement as he hastily shoved the paper into his bag, sinking down into his seat.

It was another day in Beacon, and another day of suffering for Jaune. Who knew that faking his way into a prestigious school such as Beacon Academy would mean that he was grossly behind in studies that every other Huntsman and Huntress would know about? Even Ruby wasn't having as difficult a time as Jaune was. At least her dad and uncle were teachers, and she was only missing two years of schooling. On the flipside, Jaune was missing a whole lifetime of Huntsman academics!

As the bell rung, drowning out the machine-gun delivery that was Oobleck, Jaune sighed, standing up and pushing his chair out of the way, the other students around him doing the same. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, Jaune headed out, leaving Pyrrha behind him, her eyes trailing to follow him. Another girl was more obvious with her presence, springing onto his back with a cackle. Jaune stumbled for a second before his instincts, especially the ones dealing with Nora, kicked in, stabilizing the both of them.

"Ho, glorious leader!" Nora yelled, pointing to the sky. "Guess what time it is?" Jaune rolled his eyes, arms circling around her thighs, giving her a bit more purchase to prevent her from slipping off of his back.

"Lunch time?"

"Lunch time!" Nora squealed, kicking her legs wildly in excitement, making Jaune yelp in panic as the action was too wild for him to compensate for, causing him to slip and fall, letting go of the petite girl behind him. With her reactions, it was effortless to propel off of Jaune's back, landing on both feet. Jaune didn't have that luxury, his reactions only allowing him to land on his back.

Nora loomed over the dazed Jaune, eyebrow cocked as she looked at him with a questioning gaze. "Now what'd you do that for?" She asked, as if he had planned all along to slam his head against the ground.

"I guess I just wanted to lay down for a bit." Jaune gritted out, his aura swelling beneath him to heal the rising bump on the back of his head.

"Well, that's just silly, silly." Nora retorted, grabbing the blond by the shirt and lifting him up with entirely too much ease, propping him back onto his feet. "We have lunch to get to! Can't waste any time napping!" Jaune opened his mouth, ready to snipe at the girl in an effort to gain something out of this exchange, before pink eyes popped out beside her, Ren looking calmly at Jaune.

"Ready to go?" He asked. Jaune sighed, giving up and holding his tongue for now.

"Yeah, I'm starving anyways."

It wasn't much longer before Jaune found himself in the grand halls of the cafeteria, which was probably the biggest room in the Academy, which was saying something. Walls arched around him, the ceiling several dozen feet above him, the scent of food rolling over him in waves. Chatter also filled the air as team JNPR approached, the sounds of hundreds of teenagers filling the air, laughing and yelling at each other. The cafeteria was almost something of a meeting zone for everyone and anyone in Beacon, which meant that it needed to house the most bodies out of all the other locations. It also meant that the room was designed to be used as a way to pass on any messages that needed to get through the entire school, one of its walls dedicated to announcements and flyers, speakers mounted throughout the room as well.

Jaune couldn't help but smile a bit when he walked in.

Trays were placed in front of them as they got into line, menus laid out in front of them to browse through. It wasn't really necessary for the blond though, already knowing what he wanted to get. The cafeteria lady in front of him knew as well, nodding knowingly as she placed some chicken nuggets—shaped like dinosaurs of course, as there was no other way to each nuggets—on his plate, along with some other sides that weren't nearly as important as the nuggets. Jaune smiled his thank you before leaving the line, looking around for Team RWBY, who had already found a spot to sit at.

Settling down across from Ruby, Jaune smiled, greeting his sister team.

"What's up Ruby?" Jaune said, inspecting his nuggets, before tearing off the head of one.

"Nothing much!" The tiny girl chirped, crumbs spilling as her cookies escaped her mouth. She covered her lips with her hands in brief embarrassment as she swallowed, downing half her glass of milk. "I got a B- on Oobleck's test though!" She crowed, eyes lighting up in pride as she said so. Weiss shook her head at Ruby's boasting, fork pushing into some sort of meat, knife properly slicing into it as she took a small bite. Using a napkin to wipe the nonexistent crumbs or stains on her lips, Weiss set down her silverware.

"That is not something to brag about Ruby." Weiss said, pointing a finger at the wilting leader of RWBY. "A B- just means that there is plenty of room for improvement, which is something that we will be going through tonight. No leader of mine is going to be settling for such a meager score."

Ruby groaned, slouching in her seat as she did so. Weiss looked as if she was going to continue her lecture, but was rudely interrupted by a strong arm around her shoulders, Yang butting into the conversation.

"Aw, come on Weiss Cream, don't be like that. You gotta look at it from the other side of things."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, shrugging off the blonde's offending arm as the white-haired girl crossed her own. "And what is that?"

Yang grinned, eyes shining. "She's doing pretty awesome for someone who skipped two years." Weiss was forced nod, admitting that Yang was telling the truth. Ruby beamed at Yang's defense, happy to have a bit of leeway. "At least give her another week before you start judging her so harshly."

Weiss nodded thoughtfully in tandem with Ruby's crestfallen figure, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "That is true enough I suppose." At that point, the rest of Jaune's team had joined them, the three of them sitting around Jaune, settling their trays on the table as Nora started to dig into her pancakes, the other two taking their time to at least exchange pleasantries with team RWBY before cutting into their meal.

"So how'd you guys do on Oobleck's test?" Yang asked, biting into her turkey leg, tearing a hunk out of it.

"I did pretty well," Ren answered, eating some greens that Jaune wasn't really able to identify, a small smile appearing on the pink-eyed boy's face. "I'm glad that I was able to study the correct course materials."

"Psh, with the help of yours truly, of course." Nora quipped, finally having shoved the however-so-many pancakes that she had brought with her down her throat. "I'm sure that if it wasn't for my help, Ren would be so out of luck." Nora giggled, shoulder bumping the boy. "Right Renny?"

The boy nodded, in a way that made it obvious that none of that was actually true, and that he was only agreeing to humor the ginger. "Right." Nora bounced in happiness at the affirmation.

"How did you guys do?" Pyrrha asked, laying down her fork next to what looked like a balanced meal.

"B-!" Ruby exclaimed, beaming once again.

"Satisfactory." Weiss answered, nodding primly.

"Eh, could've been worse." Yang answered.

Blake nodded, barely answering as she flipped to the next page of her book.

Conversation about Oobleck's class should've ended there, if it wasn't the Yang's observant nature, if only because she smelt an opportunity to tease someone at the table. Grinning predatorily at the other blond, she leaned closer to him, a saccharine smile on her face.

"How'd you do Vomit Boy?" She asked innocently, a sweat drop forming underneath Jaune's collar.

"F-fine, why'd you ask?" He said nervously, stomach dropping as he saw the mischievous gleam in the brawler's eyes.

"Well, I was just wondering is all Jauney. I mean, you didn't answer my question the first time I asked." Yang continued, shrugging as she smiled devilishly at him.

"Pyrrha didn't answer either." Jaune said defensively, eyes hitting his plate as he tried to find an out of this conversation.

"We all know Pyrrha did well." Yang said dismissively, not one to let go once she latched onto something. "On the other hand, someone here seems a bit... nervous? Perhaps didn't do as well as some people expected him to?" Her voice lowered to a whisper, but was still somehow loud enough for everyone else to hear. "Embarrassed that Ruby's doing better than you?"

"That's not it!" Jaune denied, flushing as he found himself caught in Yang's web.

"Really?" Yang drawled, almost lounging as a victorious smirk appeared, knowing that she had caught him. "Is that true Pyrrha?" Jaune whipped head around to look at his partner, hoping that she would be able to see his pleading look. Unfortunately, she was already answering the question before he could react.

"He's... getting better." The red-head said, wincing as she saw Jaune's look, ducking her head down sheepishly. "Sorry." She squeaked out.

"Getting better?" Yang repeated, an eyebrow raising. "But not better already." Jaune wasn't really in the mood for anymore of the blonde's teasing, standing up abruptly, his tray in his hands.

"I don't think I'm hungry anymore. I'll see you guys later." The boy muttered, heading to one of the nearby trashcans, missing Pyrrha's outstretched hand, and Ruby's pursed lips.

Shoving the contents on his tray into the depths of the trashcan, Jaune shook his head in frustration, eyes closing briefly. Poorly worded as it was, Yang was right. He wasn't doing as well in his classes as he should be, and if he continued on this path, he would end up failing his classes. Maybe if he had another semester he would've been fine. No one denied that Jaune was a hard worker, studying tirelessly to try and keep himself on an even footing with the rest of the first-years. But even then, hard work and a grueling pace weren't entirely enough, not when there was so much information that he needed to digest at one time. He needed more time. Something that would let him last in the school for just a little longer, like a boost on his grades... like... extra... credit...

Jaune's eyes were glued onto those two words, printed in bold on the top of a loose flyer hanging from the announcements board. Tearing it from the push pin that it had been delicately attached to, Jaune's heart jumped as he found what was potentially a lifeline to his Huntsman career. Extra credit was a great idea, something that would get him over the line until the semester was over, where at that point, Jaune should be able to finally hold his own. A grin split his face as he read the flyer, the sheet gripped in both of his hands. This was the answer to his problems. From what he could glean, the school was short on staff on the food department, and needed a few extra hands to help prepare and set up all the food that was needed for the school. Nothing that Jaune wasn't willing to do, although to be honest, he would've been fine with cleaning the undersides of Bullheads if it meant that he was getting the extra credit that he needed.

Preparing food? Surely that wouldn't be too hard at all.