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Pearl found a very… strange human being sitting by the beach. He had purple skin and red horns popping out of his fiery red head of hair. He also had three eyes and fangs, which would have reminded Pearl of Sugilite if the young boy hadn’t been sulking in the sand. She suspected he might be a gem at first, perhaps even a fusion, but she didn’t recognise his class or cut. She couldn’t see a gem anywhere on his body.
“State your name and purpose!” Pearl said in a loud, confident voice as she brandished her spear. The young boy slowly turned his head to look at her, his expression not changing from the melancholic one he was wearing when Pearl first sighted him. “This beach is private.”
“Oh? Really?” Tom said in a monotone voice and sighed. He got up from his spot and put his hands in his pocket. “Sorry, I didn’t know. I’ll leave.”
Pearl frowned as she watched the young boy hunch his shoulders and walk away without a fuss. Usually human visitors, especially ones that looked mean-looking and dressed in torn and punkish clothing, liked to put up a fight when she said the beach was off limits to them but this one seemed so… docile despite its outward appearance. And sad…
She hesitated before shouting:
“Wait!”
“Don’t worry, I’m going, I’m going!”
“No, I-” Pearl bit her bottom lip, trying to think. She wasn’t very good at interacting with humans. Steven was her only real human friend, if you could count someone’s adopted child as your friend and she had only just made amends with Greg. Rose was always the one who had effortlessly charmed humans to do her bidding or negotiated with the human troublemakers. Trying to reach out to another lifeform was something very new and strange to her. “I’m sorry.”
However, Pearl did have experience with parenting with a young lifeform.
“This beach isn’t private. Well, it hasn’t been private for years.” Pearl admitted, her cheeks becoming flushed. “I just like to say that to scare the troublemakers away.”
The young boy glared at her and hunched his shoulders before she said the next thing:
“But you look like you just need someone to talk to.” Pearl smiled when she saw the boy relax his shoulders and look at her in awe. “I’ll take you to my favourite sitting spot! It’s where I sometimes take my Steven.”
The young boy with horns smiled back at her.
“She says they’re just friends but I don’t really believe it. They’re just so comfortable with each other and Marco doesn’t have my anger problems.” The boy sighed. “The more time I spend with them, the more I believe that I’m never gonna win Star back. And I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with that.”
Ugh. Love triangles. Pearl had been there.
“Well Tom, it seems to me like you are already okay with it.” Pearl said in her most reassuring tone. Tom raised an eyebrow at her, so Pearl went on to explain. “I know it’s hard when someone doesn’t love you back, but I think it’s nice that you and Star are still able to be friends. You’re being completely honest with her and if there’s a chance for something more, it’ll happen. Until then, try to think about how bad it would be if Star wasn’t in your life at all and it will make the pain bearable.”
Tom frowned and patted Pearl on the shoulder.
“You’ve got girl troubles too?”
Pearl laughed.
“I’m still trying to get over my girl troubles.” She said. “But I’m getting there.”
Tom left Beach City an hour later with a smile on his face and promised Pearl he would come back to go on a playdate with Steven, even though he said fourteen-year-old boys don’t go on ‘playdates,’ they ‘hang out.’ He waved goodbye and hopped into his flaming black carriage that floated off into the sunset…
Pearl’s suspicions were half-right. This Tom definitely wasn’t a normal human being, but that was okay. Tom seemed like he would make a nice new friend for Steven.