Chapter Text
“Lapis!”
The shout almost made the poor girl piss herself. She jolted upright in her desk, suddenly staring straight into the face of her teacher – Opal.
It wasn’t a shout, really, just speaking in her normal voice, but a lot louder than usual. And Lapis was jumpy, and not actually much of a deep sleeper, either.
Usually, the tall teacher was rather calm in demeanor, managing to teach her class without really speaking all that much. Normally, she would let Lapis passing out during class every once in a while slide. But by now she had passed out during class every day for the past two weeks.
Apparently, Opal had had enough.
Scared only of Opal at first, and then mortified because of the faint giggles she could hear coming from Jasper and Sugilite’s direction, Lapis leaned back in her seat and ducked her head, biting her lip. Being embarrassed around them was always a million times worse than being embarrassed in front of basically anyone else.
“Er... Sorry.” She muttered. Her cheeks felt hot and her stomach felt all twisted up. She wouldn’t have minded messing up, if only she were in a classroom full of different people.
Opal backed away a little bit, expression unreadable. As always.
“I need to speak with you after class.” She said. More muffled laughter from Jasper and her friends. More blushing, more stomach churning.
“Y-yes, ma’am.”
…
Finally, after the bell and everyone else had left, Lapis approached Opal’s desk, head bowed.
“Yes, Opal?”
The woman was reading something on her computer. Without looking up, she began to type something in. Lapis had always noticed how graceful the quiet woman was, even while just doing usual things. She wasn’t really sure what Opal was planning on saying to her. How much trouble was she in? Was Opal writing up a report right now? Was she going to send it to the principle?
Opal had stopped typing, and seemed to be reading something again. Lapis held her breath.
She really didn’t need to draw stuff out for so long.
“You are failing most of your classes.”
Lapis felt the tension release from her shoulders. Opal must have her report card up. Or... something.
“Yes… I am…” She stuttered out.
That was such a lame thing to say. Why would she even say that?
“Well,” Opal said, “I’ve decided to get you a tutor. You need extra help.”
“What? Are you serious?” Lapis’ eyes widened. “What do you – who!?”
“Of course I am. You cannot remain in this school with a GPA like this. She will be another second year, like you, most likely.”
“Ugh.” Lapis groaned, putting her face in her hands. She didn’t want to have to deal with a total stranger. Her only friend was a first year, so even if she knew this tutor kid, they probably already hated her, thanks to Jasper. Or they would, once they got to know her.
“…Listen, Lapis.” Opal reached out to rest a gentle hand on the girl’s forearm. Surprised, she looked up.
“We’ve all been worried about you. I know how some of the girls here treat you, and then when your grades dropped, and I noticed you obviously haven’t been getting enough sleep... We all just want to make sure you’re okay.”
The genuine caring and concern in Opal’s eyes and voice shocked Lapis. They… noticed?
How?
They just yell at me, they just get mad when fall asleep or do poorly – but now she finally wants to know if I’m okay?
I’m not. I haven’t been all year. I’m better, but I’m still not. Why didn’t they bother checking up on me earlier? I live here, for god’s sakes. They saw me every day. They didn’t see what I did, but they saw me every day.
They could have been too late.
There’s no way they actually care. There’s no way.
“Lapis? Are you okay?”
She had been staring at Opal for at least thirty seconds now, fighting off her tears. Did this woman really care about her? Could she confide in her? Couldn’t she just, right now, let it all spill out? Just finally fucking talk about it?
“No, I’m fine.”
“Are you su–?”
“Yes.”
“…Alright. I’m always here for you, you know.”
Lapis didn’t respond, just stared straight ahead, her face blank. Her mind too.
“I don’t know what your relationship with your family is like, but I’ve noticed you don’t talk very much during and outside of class. I’ve only seen you with that Steven boy, and never when his other friends are around. I think, with the girl I have in mind, it will be a chance for both of you to make a new friend. I think this will really help you in more ways than one.”
Lapis’ thoughts from about the first sentence Opal uttered then and onward were basically just continuous screaming.
“I’ll arrange for you to meet in the library during your lunch period tomorrow. From then on, you will study together every day – for almost every class, I might add, and it may be a good idea to work in your dorms in the afternoons as well. I’ll email you the details in the morning.”
Lapis was still screaming internally, and although she would never want to do this in a million years, there wasn’t actually much she could do about it. Even though Opal wasn’t all that intimidating, she still didn’t want to make her angry. She didn’t want to make anybody angry.
“…for almost every class, I might add…”
Oh, Christ, she was definitely going to make this tutor mad. She has so much work to do helping her! And it sounds like Opal’s forcing her into it!
She is so going to hate me, Lapis thought. There’s no way I won’t be a huge burden to her. God dammit, I’m such a piece of shit, this is all my fault.
...
Beach City Academy, home of the Crystal Gems, is a private high school in which only brilliant students excelling in academics and/or athleticism are enrolled. Lapis was no longer excelling in academics, and although she was a great swimmer, the thought of joining the school’s swim team terrified her (mainly the fact that she could fail, and that Jasper and her goons were members, and that she could fail in front of Jasper and/or Jasper’s goons, etc.), so she made do with just being a volunteer lifeguard when the pool was being used for recreational activities.
So, Lapis was on the verge of being kicked out of her school.
Failure was one of Lapis’ worst fears, and although she really wanted to go home sometimes, going home a failure was not an option. She had to graduate this private school, then go to another fancy private school, and then get a very public, very high-paying job or her mother would call her useless more often than she usually did. Which was a lot. And she didn’t want to be useless. She wanted her mother to be proud of her.
“You’re going to the library? Hey, Connie works at the library!”
Lapis had just explained why she was taking her lunch to-go to her literal one-and-only pal, Steven. Usually the two of them sat together (because Steven would always call her over when she was alone), along with two of Steven’s other friends, Amethyst and Connie. They were both first-years, just like Steven. Amethyst intimidated Lapis with her loudness and the fact that she seemingly had no filter over what she said (she was kind of gross, too, always chewing with her mouth open), so she didn’t really talk to her much during lunch. Connie seemed nice, but her and Steven were so blatantly in love (were they dating? it almost felt like their relationship transcended romantic vs. platonic feelings entirely) that it was hard for her to talk to them while they were together because it felt like she was intruding.
“Yeah, but it’s more of a volunteer thing. They don’t pay me. They’re cheap.” She smiled, holding out her juice box to Steven.
“Apple juice?”
“Yes, please, Jam Bud!”
He took a sip, then turned back to Lapis. “Well, I’m going to miss eating with you, Lapis! Maybe we can hang out after class again sometime soon.”
“Um, yeah, I’d like that, Steven.” Lapis couldn’t help but smile shyly. Steven was the type of person to say exactly what someone needed to hear to feel cared for without having to even think about it. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to see him at all anymore without having lunch together.
“See you later.” Lapis said, turning towards the exit of the cafeteria, her tray in her hands, her bag over her shoulder.
“Bye, Water Witch!”
Lapis chuckled a little at the nickname. He started calling her that ever since they first became friends. He had approached her at the pool, one thing led to another, and then they were having multiple competitions including a violent splash-off and a race from one end of the pool to the other. Lapis was, unlike most would assume, extremely competitive and aggressive. Steven barely had a chance.
Lapis had won both.
Lapis had won both by a lot.
She was thinking back on then, those few good times she got to experience this year thanks to Steven, when she finally entered the library. She said a quiet hello to the usual librarian, Sapphire, who nodded in response, before looking around to find her tutor. Still reminiscing, she spotted the only other girl in the room, seated at a table, and began to walk towards her.
“Don’t get that on anything.” Sapphire said, in reference to the food she had brought.
“I won’t!” Lapis said, slowing in her pace towards her new tutor.
What was her name again…? Ugh, Lapis, you literally just read the email this morning! It starts with a P… Holy shit, how could I forget so easily? Come on, I know this…
Now standing beside her, Lapis really had to say something. “Uh…”
The girl looked up. Lapis was about to introduce herself, but first was struck by the girl’s appearance. She had these huge, forest green eyes. Her glasses just helped exaggerate her long eye lashes even more. Lapis could see faint dark freckles across the girl’s nose. She wore a long-sleeved sweater vest, the collar of the shirt underneath sticking out, a checkered blue and black skirt, as well as thigh-high black socks, fitting the criteria of the school’s dress-code. Her pale yellow hair was messy, made into a bun, but a lot of it was coming loose and it kind of made it look like a triangle standing on top of her head.
Then the girl’s name popped into Lapis’ mind.
Peridot.
All these things about this girl just had Lapis staring, at a loss for words. Until she realized how pissed off the girl actually looked. And how she was probably pissed off at her.
“Are you Lapis?” She asked. She had a raspy, grumpy voice.
“Um, y-yes, sorry.” Lapis replied, awkwardly pulling up a chair and sitting down. She began to get out her books, refusing to look at the girl again. She was still in a daze, she wasn’t sure if she could look at someone as aesthetically pleasing as this Peridot girl again yet so soon.
“It’s, uh, nice to meet you.” Lapis said, once she had everything in order.
“Yeah, sure,” Peridot said rather coldly, reaching for her own bag. “What do you want to start with first?”
“Um, algebra… I didn’t understand the second chapter at all, and it comes up a lot in the next ones.”
“Fine.” She muttered, grabbing the right book and glaring down at the pages as she flipped through them.
Despite her completely adorable appearance, Peridot seemed to be… kind of an asshole. Lapis couldn’t blame her, but it was still disappointing. The girl either disliked her, or was suffering from a horrible case of bitch-face. And bitch-voice. And… bitch-words.
It quickly became apparent that Opal was very wrong about them becoming friends. At least she wasn’t telling her she hated her directly, but the way she only said what was necessary to teach her, and how she never looked her in the eye, and her constant air of boredom and annoyance – it seemed as though Lapis was right.
She must have just thought Lapis was going to annoy her for the rest of the year. Or, at least until she gets her grades up.
Despite Lapis feeling as though she hadn’t wanted to get a tutor, in the back of her mind she guessed she still wished she could have at least gotten a friend. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could make it with only one other person to talk to. She had doubts this Peridot girl would ever warm up to her.