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After spending so much time in the ocean throughout her vacation, Gems hair had adopted some beachy curls instead of her normal messy waves. She had spent her summer in sunny California, getting a light tan, her body a lot thinner from working out and eating healthier. Her summer ‘glow up’ had definitely happened. She was hotter than ever. Her makeup routine she had perfected, finding she didn’t even need that much: a few swipes of mascara, bronzer on her cheeks and a dab of blush; lip gloss was necessary, of course.
Now it was the end of August, and she was packing her navy backpack she’d had since she was 11. She could get a new one every year if she wanted, but this one was too nostalgic to get rid of. The thought of going back to school was making her heart pulse faster than usual, but she hadn't seen her best friend, Pearl, in the months they’d been away; sure, they called and face-timed once, but it wasn’t the same. Pearl was like her lifeline, the girl she had relied on since 6th grade. As her best friend, she told Pearl everything, but over this recent summer they hadn’t had time to chat. Her other best friend is Grian; he’s a year younger but is so smart he may as well be in their school year, but Gem loves him nonetheless.
It’s late August; it was junior year, the year they’d been warned about before, where the tests get harder and the workload piles on, but it’ll be fine, right?
Her mom snaps her out of her anxious thoughts.
“Gem? I've got your shorts for school tomorrow, sweetheart. Her mom smiles at her and leaves after throwing the shorts on her bed before leaving with a little hop. Gem's mom, or Sara as she prefers, is Gem's best friend, apart from Grian and Pearl, obviously. They've only ever had each other, and that’s always been okay.
Gem smiles back and grabs them; they’re little denim shorts, they fold up at the bottom and have a little pattern on the back pockets. Her mum has always bought her the clothes she wants. However, due to the shortness of these, she was a little on edge, but Gem has convinced her to buy them.
In her closet she finds a sage-green vest top, it’s tight, but it’s the first day of school, so she’ll likely get away with it. She finishes packing her backpack with essentials, a pencil case, an emergency bag, a water bottle and binders. She flops on her bed, scrolling on Insta, liking her favourite singer's stories and recent posts. She rolled around for basically hours until she fell asleep with a random Sabrina Carpenter song playing.
//
She woke up at 6am. Did her makeup, a couple swipes of mascara, bronzer, blush and lip gloss. Her red curls down, she wore her outfit she’d picked out the previous night. The normal routine she had picked up over the summer, however, right now it was way earlier, and she cared a lot more about her appearance.
At 7:30 she sat in front of her mirror, attempting to tie her shoes and failing multiple times before she got it right. Her mom knocked on the door.
"Baby? Are you ready? It's time to leave," she asked before poking her head in, rolling her eyes at her daughter's attempt to tie her shoe.
“Yeah!” Gem said smiling, standing and grabbing her phone and backpack, following her mum to the car.
“Did you eat breakfast?” Her mom looked at her, slightly concerned but used to it.
"Nah, it’ll get something from school," Gem said as her mom started driving, sighing but not saying anything more, not needing to.
20 minutes passed; during that time, Gem: took a few sips of her water bottle; fidgeted; shook her leg; snapped her bracelet; fidgeted; looked in the mirror about 50 times; and fidgeted some more. Her mum was used to this; it was the first day of school, after all. What was Gem supposed to do? Feeling nervous was ‘normal’. Anyway, then she got diagnosed with anxiety, so fuck those doctors who told her it was normal. Gem nearly laughed at her own thoughts.
They stopped by the gates. Gems' mom reassured her for what was probably the 9th time.
“You’ll be fine, look! There’s Pearl and Grian! Go on!” She said, opening the window to wave at them, Gem sank into her seat more.
Pearl was sitting on an outdoor picnic table, taking in the last of the sun before the bell rang, drawing something which looked circular, whilst Grian ran up to the window.
“Hey Gems' mommmm." He said as he leant against the door of the car. Grian had a very obvious crush on Gem's mum.
"I told you to call me Sara!” And Gem's mom clearly didn’t notice.
Gem groaned and got out of the car, swinging her bag over her shoulder, not being able to stand Grian being weird with her mom. Sara continued to be oblivious to Grians obvious flirting, making him think he has the green light. This goes on a lot.
Pearl was drawing something in her sketchbook, clearly not noticing Gem walking up to her, when she heard footsteps; she nearly fell off the back of the seat for multiple reasons:
1: She didn’t know Gem was there.
2: She didn’t even recognise Gem.
3: Gem looked so fucking hot that if she were a man, she would’ve gotten a boner right there and then.
Pearl stumbled for words as Gem sat in front of her, giving her heart eyes.
Gem being as oblivious as her mother, smiled at her, making Pearl almost faint again.
Pearl could make another list of why she almost fainted, and she did:
1: her tan skin
2: her now perfect teeth
3: her slim but curvy body
4: her hair looked better than ever
5: her makeup routine that matched her face perfectly.
Pearl, being the person she is, still stumbled over her words, making a point of everything that she loved about Gem sitting in front of her right now in her head; she liked lists and making points of things, but sometimes it just happened, like right now. She had had a tiny crush on Gem before, but she just had a summer glow-up. Why was she so flustered?
"Hey?" Gem said, still smiling and waving her hand in front of Pearl's face, “I don’t look that good, do I?" Joking, obviously, but Pearl just nodded.
"No, you do look that good." She said before she could stop herself, “I mean, like, you had a glow-up over the summer." She said hiding her flushed cheeks. Gem just grinned wider.
“thanks!” She exclaimed, before bursting into a rant about her vacation. Gem felt comfortable around Pearl and often let her true self out around her, which Pearl didn’t mind, obviously, but Gem was very self-conscious about it. Pearl tried to listen, of course she did, but got lost staring at Gem's face.
"I was telling you about the turtles!!!" Gem complained as she realised she wasn't paying attention. With a moan, she continued, pausing when Grian returned.
"Oh wow, you look nice, Gem." He smiled and took a seat beside Pearl. He had also made improvements to his appearance, lightening the colour of his hair and somewhat altering his style. Gem and Pearl both disregarded his apparent attempt to impress someone.
Pearl, on the other hand, had the same appearance: jeans, a t-shirt, long, straight brown hair, and simply mascara.
“Thank you!” She gave Grian a smile.
The three quickly burst into conversation about their summers, Gems being the most eventful, per usual. Having the richest and most stable family comes with its positives.
Pearl looked at Gem like she was a goddess, she didn’t know why she was suddenly so attracted to her best friend, but she was falling down that pit fast, as soon as the bell rang she dashed off, confusing both grian and gem, however they chose to ignore it, thinking she just didn’t want to be late on the first day, it made sense, right?
She walked at a fast pace throughout the halls, her mind on Gem and only Gem. It was stupid to have a crush on your best friend, obviously. But something about the way she looked when she stood in front of her, her perfect smile, made her want to mark her anew. That’s gross, Pearl. Stop.
However, she was unable to halt her filthy thoughts. To relax down, she had to virtually pass out on a random bench in the hallway.
She truly likes Gem now, but obviously she should stop; it's improper to have lustful thoughts about your best friend. Just the way she speaks to her, the way a grin brightens her eyes. Pearl wanted more since it was so addictive.
It was going to be a long day, though, as she had to attend her first class when the second bell rang.
With a moan, Pearl got to her feet.
//