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Pearl was simply too lost in thought to finish her lunch today (or any day because the food at this school was disgusting). But, her mind had been fixed on one thing for the last week, and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it.
“Yo, P.” snapped Amethyst, her best friend/frenemy,”You feelin’ alright? You haven’t said anything this whole lunch and normally you don’t shut the hell up.” Amethyst punctuated that statement by taking yet another bite of her sandwich and chewing a bit too loudly.
This outburst snapped the pale teen back to reality a bit too abruptly. With a quick jerk of her head, she turned her attention back to her friends, trying to brush off her listlessness.
“Oh yeah, I guess I just…zoned out back there.” Pearl muttered with a slight chuckle toward the end. She attempted to take even the smallest bite of her burger but failed miserably once the heinous taste assaulted her senses.
Pearl’s other best friend, Garnet, had taken notice of the change in the slender teen’s behavior since a certain occurrence took place less than a week ago. But what could have happened of any significance recently that would cause this, she thought eyeing around the lunchroom without intention. Until she unintentionally found a lead.
She turned her gaze towards a girl who had moved here just recently, Lapis Lazuli, as she was called. This girl sat at her table in complete solitude, it didn’t seem very voluntary though. She was enjoying a novel, hardly eating her terrible lunch. She wore a casual blue dress that flowed down to just above her calves, accompanied by a matching blue jacket. She seemed very well-read, studious, and feminine. She also knew for a fact that Lapis was in one of Pearl’s classes. What could Pearl’s infatuation with her possibly be? Then it all clicked.
Pearl has a crush on the new girl.
Is that it, Garnet thought, doubting herself slightly. It just had to be, she was almost never wrong about this sort of thing. She had just about predicted every active couple in this whole school with frightening accuracy. It was second nature to her. But she had to use tact in how she approached this issue. Without delay, she acted.
“Hey Pearl,” Garnet spoke in her trademark soft tone, trying to grab her attention,”Is something the matter? You know you can tell us. We won’t judge you.”
Shit, Pearl thought, is she onto me? Normally this kind of deadpan seriousness is reserved for when she knows something REALLY embarrassing about me. God, she knows! Oh God!
“Oh-uh, no,” Pearl laughed just a bit more forcefully than she should have,”Everything is fine, Garnet. You know, nothing of any concern.”
“Well, G, looks like another false alarm.” Amethyst mumbled with a mouth full of food, an action that disgusted Pearl to absolutely no end.
Garnet let out an inquisitive sigh and shifted towards Pearl, placing her hands on the smaller girl’s now trembling shoulders. This interaction flustered Pearl and certainly didn’t reassure her that her secret was hidden behind the vault she thought it was.
“Pearl,” Garnet breathed only low enough for the three of them to hear,”Do you…do you have a thing for the new girl?”
Amethyst could then be heard almost choking on the food she had been shoveling down. After nearly 10 seconds of agony, the shorter teen regained her composure. With eyes as wide as the Pacific Ocean, Amethyst blurted,”You have a crush on-“. A hand from Garnet was placed abruptly over her mouth to shut her up, and it sure did.
Pearl was against a wall, she knew that Garnet was never wrong about these things. The truth was pretty much out, best to just roll with it.
“Yes.” Pearl huffed shamefully, gaining a light blush to her features and visibly tensing up.
Garnet continued to pat the pale teen’s shoulders, trying her damnedest to reassure Pearl that everything was fine.
“Okay Pearl, when did this crush begin?” Garnet asked, hoping to get some insight on this.
“Well,” Pearl started meekly,”The first time I saw her in Psychology class I thought she actually pretty cute, but that was the extent of it. But over the last 4 days or so, I would look over and see her over there all alone and I just couldn’t help but sympathize with her. New schools are never easy to adjust to. I just don’t know how to approach her and talk to her.”
Amethyst butted in after ripping Garnet’s hand from her loud mouth,”Dude, all you have to do is go up to her and be all like ‘Hey Lapis, I’m Pearl, Let’s make out now!’” To which Amethyst punctuated with a series of exaggerated kissing noises.
Garnet rolled her eyes and gripped Pearl’s shoulders even more firmly, trying to still the shaking teen. “Don’t listen to her, all you have to do is go up to that table and just let it all come naturally. Give her the old ‘Pearl Charm’. Okay?”
Pearl looked back at Lapis, still immersed in her book, and couldn’t help but blush deeper. Garnet nudged her to try to reassert attention and return her back to reality.
“Okay?”
Pearl glanced back at the tallest of the group and gave a vigorous, but weary, nod of confirmation.
“That’s the spirit,” Garnet spoke,”Now go get ‘er, tiger!”
Pearl was befuddled,”Now?!?”
“No better time than the present right?”
She was right. Pearl gave a hefty sigh and worked up her resolve, there wasn’t a whole lot that kept her from doing this, other than her lack of things to say. But in an act of impulse, she strode towards Lapis’ table.
“Do you think she has a shot?” Amethyst asked slightly confused by the chain of events.
“Of course she does, Amethyst,” Garnet spoke confidently,”She just needs to be herself.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Amethyst said even more confused. “I mean what if Lapis isn’t even into girls?”
A look of flushed remorse surfaced on Garnet’s face. She hadn’t thought about that; it could be entirely possible. “Well, I…haven’t been wrong before. I’m sure that something will happen.”
“So you wanna go eavesdrop on her?” Amethyst asked slyly.
“No,” Garnet said simply while folding her arms, still glancing over toward Pearl. “I hope to God this works out for her.”
Amethyst let out a snide chuckle. “Five bucks says she’ll strike out.”
Garnet glanced back towards the brazen teen,”You’re on.”
Pearl had stopped halfway there. What if she tells me to go away, she thought, I don’t know if I could handle something like that right now. No Pearl, you want this to happen, don’t you? Of course! It’s no big deal, you can do this!
Maybe…
She had finally arrived at Lapis’ table, stomach twisting in knots, heat rising to the surface of her skin, palms too sweaty for comfort, just a scene of absolute nervousness. And unbeknownst to herself, she had begun to speak.
“H-hey, do you mind if I sit with you?” Pearl vocalized weakly.
It took a second, but this sudden divergence from silence snapped Lapis from her reading and just straight up befuddled the teen. Not once since she had moved to Beach City had someone talked to her of their own volition. Lapis had never been the best at making companions, a trait also shared by Pearl, except in the case of the former it was because of her demeanor. She always found dressing nice more important than dressing trendy or comfortable, an out-of-place opinion that was born from the last place Lapis had lived. Among other facets of her personality as well.
But she got herself back on track, at least long enough to acknowledge the shaky girl before her. “Be my guest,” Lapis said, with a sincere smile filling her face.
That little confirmation nearly made Pearl collapse on the spot. Lapis’ face was so soft, her smile welcoming, and the low tone in her voice could have calmed her down if she were on fire. If she wanted this whole thing to work out desperately before, oh boy, did she want it now. Wanted it with everything she was.
“Thank you,” Pearl spoke, trying to keep composure. She daintily sat down in the seat almost adjacent to Lapis. She knew that space was necessary in making acquaintance of someone she had just now formally spoken to.
Lapis continued to read her book, happily and unperturbed, almost as if Pearl wasn’t even there. It was clear she wasn’t going to instigate talking.
“So…” Pearl dragged in an attempt to strike up conversation,”I know we’ve never really talked, I mean we have seen each other around in Psychology, but I was wondering if you would want to maybe tell me about yourself or something. I noticed that you haven’t talked to a lot of people since you got here.”
Pearl immediately regretted what she had just said. Stupid, Pearl thought, why did you have to bring up her loneliness? The first sentence you say to her, and it’s an insult! Goddamn it all, can’t you do anything right?!?
Luckily Lapis wasn’t able to witness the Code Orange situation in Pearl’s head. She placed her book on the table staring down at her dress shoes, also blue (it was kind of her thing) and it seemed she was actually happy to oblige the paler teen’s curiosity.
“Oh, well I’m not really anything special,” Lapis began while raising her gaze from the floor,”I just moved here with my grandmother a couple of days ago. She owns that antiques shop downtown, you may know the one. I don’t really like going in there, all of those creepy murderer dolls she has and all that. I also don’t much care for those hand mirrors either, although I’m not really sure why.”
Pearl was genuinely interested. Every word out of Lapis’ mouth was a miniature poem in of itself. Pearl always knew that her own voice was very soft and fair, but
she would give up her ability to talk forever just to be able to hear those dulcet tones at least one other time in her lifetime.
“Surely there’s more to you than the fact that you just moved here. I want to know more about you.” Pearl said trying to dissuade her to open up more.
This seemed to be a bit of a task for Lapis who, like she said earlier, wasn’t really anything special. But she had to come up with something; this could be a possibility to make a new friend. And an oddly cute one at that. “Well, I guess you can tell by my dress that I’m pretty strict about my dress code; I try to look my best. I’m also a pretty avid reader, I must have read 12 whole novels since I’ve gotten here. I also have a kind of unhealthy obsession with the ocean. I guess you could say I’m a bit uninteresting and odd. Everyone else has.” Lapis’ expression took a more forlorn shade as she said those last few words. This sudden look of sadness on the teen’s soft face, made Pearl’s heart almost burst with empathy.
She too had known what it was like to be ignored by everyone else. In fact, until she met Amethyst and Garnet two years ago, she was just this lonely if not lonelier. She didn’t want Lapis to feel the same way too much longer.
“But enough about me,” Lapis spoke considerably more high in spirit,”Tell me about you, Pearl.”
Pearl was stunned at the fact that Lapis knew her name on the spot like that. Maybe all of this observing in Psychology was mutual.
“Well, like you, I also really enjoy reading. I’m a straight-A student and…well,” Pearl suddenly paused in a downtrodden sense.
Why did she stop, Lapis thought. A look of
concern made its way on to Lapis’ face. She wanted to know more about the only person who had ever decided to make her acquaintance. No matter how shameful Pearl felt it was to say.
“What were you going to say? You know you don’t have to censor yourself around me, I won’t judge you.”
The pale teen huffed out a weary sigh. How would she say this? What if she got the completely wrong impression of Lapis? Would this little confession make this relationship kaput before it even began? Oh well, here goes nothing.
“I’m…I’m a lesbian.”
Pearl tensed up, clearly awaiting some kind outraged or stunned reaction out of the other girl. But…no, that didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite happened.
The pale teen was gifted by a warm and genuine hand placed on her shoulder, much like the ones she seemed to always get from Garnet. But this seemed almost a million times more amazing.
“Thank you, Pearl,” Lapis said with the smile blending its way into her tone,”Thank you for making me feel like…I’m not the only one.”
Pearl let out an audible gasp, she couldn’t keep it contained if she had tried. “You mean you’re saying that-“
“I like girls too.” Lapis chuckled.
Pearl blushed deeply (and very noticeably) at the other girl. Is it really that simple, she thought, do I actually have a shot? Is she starting to feel less lonely…because of me?
“In fact,” the raven-haired girl started,”I haven’t really been able to talk to anyone because of that. All of these people have made me feel like an outcast because I don’t think the same as them. But then, out of nowhere, by almost divine luck, I meet someone else like…me.”
Pearl was in awe at the girl before her, who seemed to be on the brink of crying tears of joy. Tears of joy, tears of finally finding someone like her. A lot like the tears Pearl cried when she found friends in Garnet and Amethyst. This turned from awkward first encounter to life-changing milestone in the span of about 7 minutes.
“Pearl, I know it’s a bit sudden but,” Lapis paused trying to find the words,”would you like to be friends? But if you don’t want to, I understand.”
Pearl let out a kind laugh, proving that last part of Lapis’ statement to be completely out of the question. “Of course I would, Lapis, and maybe in time we could be a little bit more.”
It was the other teen’s turn to blush madly now. At this moment, both girls knew what it was like to feel a new chapter begin, and it was wonderful. Maybe even rapturous. Okay, a bit strong of a word choice, but it was definitely something.
“You know,” Pearl added,”I’m sure my other friends would be really happy to have another member in our little group. We aren’t the only two in the school, you know.”
Okay, this had to be a dream; potential for a first relationship AND getting accepted by more people like her. It just seemed all too good to be true.
“I would really like that Pearl. Thank you so much!”
The two girls pulled each other in for a warm hug, which seemed to be the first thing worth noting to Garnet and Amethyst, who had been watching them this entire time.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Amethyst uttered slightly surprised,”You really ARE never wrong, G.”
Garnet smirked back at the short teen giving an almost superior sounding chuckle. “Even when I’m not sure, I’m right.”
“So whattaya think this means exactly?”
“Well,” Garnet started,”It looks like our group may have added a new member and Pearl may had finally gotten the girl.”
“Yeah,” Amethyst chuckled,”That’s pretty cool.”
Garnet breathed out yet another superior chuckle,”It also means you owe me five dollars. So can I expect that soon?”
Amethyst grumbled stubbornly and reached into her jean pocket. A bet on Pearl being awkward and messing something up? It seemed like a sure thing.
Just not this time.