Hello! I'm back again with another Pearlapis fic.

But before you actually get into the story I have a few things to mention!

1) This story is really long. So that means that I won't be posting often for this story! If you're familiar of me on AO3 it's the same over there and I don't have a schedule. (sorry) :(
2) This has been inspired by OldGregg55's story 'Double Dealing'! They came up with the idea of Pearl being mistaken as a boy first and I feel bad not mentioning them, although they've discontinued 'Double Dealing' I recommend go checking out their works! The idea may be the same, but the story is very much different.

So, enjoy! :)

Chapter 1 - The Worst Day

Today was going to be the worst day of Pearl's life.

She glanced nervously at her phone repeatedly, shuffled about awkwardly and tried not to meet anyones gaze as she walked down the sandy street. 'Beach City.' Pearl glanced at the sea, it glistened and the waves lazily rolled onto the rocks and shore. It briefly calmed her down. 'Filled with random people that somehow get by… It's been a long time.'

Pearl looked away and began to grow nervous, she never had a nervous disposition of any kind. In fact, she was one of the most confident individuals that you would have the pleasure to meet and never missed an opportunity to prove it. However, today was not a good day.

Today…

She was moving in with Amethyst…

It made her groaned in irritation just thinking about it. The short girl, that she was friends with since they were children, wasn't someone she was happy about staying with. She was loud, messy, obnoxious, irresponsible, and childish but Pearl deduced that the list of unpleasantries could go on and on.

Pearl kept whispering small positive and reassuring things to herself, such as 'It's not going to be for forever.' and 'I'm sure we can come to an agreement.' She doubted on those statements.

'Is this really the only option?' But Pearl sighed with some irritation. It was unavoidable. If she wanted to get that job and successfully make herself a dancing career Pearl needed to move in with Amethyst.

The tall girl made it to the small flat on the outskirts of the town, it looked pleasant from the outside but Pearl could only imagine the horrors that awaited her within the walls. Grabbing her luggage with bitter distain, Pearl walked up to the front door and knocked three times quickly followed by two knocks after a pause. It was an odd habit she had, just one of many to be exact.

She heard some tumblings inside followed by some cursing, 'the consequences of being an obsessive compulsive hoarder.' Pearl rolled her eyes.

Amethyst's hoard had worried her for years, she simply didn't understand how someone could live like that, survive like that. At any moment one of those piles she made could collapse and pin her or worse, certainly she is young and would manage, younger than Pearl even. But it didn't excuse the hazard that it possessed.

Not to forget the awful dust and grime that came with her questionable collections.

The door opened with a groan, it made her flinch and she wasn't one to flinch at small things. But it could not compare to the jump of fright she had when she was tackled into a hug.

"Wow! You're actually here!" Pearl looked down to the short girl.

All these years and her height is still the same.

Not to say that she never changed, Amethyst had much longer hair that was dyed in a much brighter lilac than she last remembered…

Nope, she really hadn't changed that much.

"I mean… Not that I never expected you won't arrive or anything…" She chuckled with a slight blush of embarrassment, Pearl raised an eyebrow surprisingly. 'It this what Amethyst thinks of me?' She winced at that and shook the thought out of her head.

"Oh, well. Long time no see?" Pearl smiled politely, she never had the heart to come clean at her disappointment of staying with Amethyst. Despite the disagreements, she was still first and foremost Amethyst's friend, family even with how they behaved back in their rebellious days.

However, Pearl could already see the messy piles of junk inside. She had to hold back a groan.

"Dude, it's been years!" Amethyst playfully punched her arm, "is that all you have to say?" she laughed at that and Pearl looked down to her feet with a small flustered blush feeling slightly guilty.

Amethyst suddenly widened her eyes in surprise "oh! You're gonna love this! Let me give you the tour!"

Pearl found herself caught by the younger girls arm and she was pulled into the dark, messy abyss that was the house that she would stay in for who knows how long. Looking back to the front door, the glow of the outside and fresh air got smaller and smaller.

In summary, she was not surprised with how it looked.

Junk was everywhere and piled up in the corners, some piles almost touched the ceiling: There were boxes piled on boxes, messy clothes and paper on the floor, a bicycle wheel? Some bottles of random carbonated drinks and fruit juice. In another pile, Pearl was surprised to say, she recognised as one of Amethyst's prized piles, the pile of tin cans of all kinds, indiscriminate to the contents. If she was slightly more artistic and creative than she already was, Pearl would say that it symbolised diversity and probably referenced their old gang of the 'Crystal Gems'. But like most 'works of art' and 'masterpieces' it was messy and crude, Pearl's sense of perfection just wanted to stack it neatly, preferably with glue so that it wouldn't fall over.

"This is it! The main junk room." Amethyst crossed her arms and looked into the dense forest of random metal pipes and old equipment.

"You mean the living room?" Pearl elaborated,

"Well, I wouldn't call it a 'living' room!" She chuckled, "Seriously, the about of dead spiders and stuff I find there makes it more like a 'dead' room. Like that room thing where you put dead stuff."

"Like a mortuary?"

"Yeah, what did I say?" Amethyst had continued their journey and began moving trash about to make a path clear enough for them to get through. The tall dancer hyperventilated when a stack of paper almost fell onto of them.

"Your sense of balance definitely has taken superhuman qualities…" Pearl commented as she passed by a pile where a ball perfectly supported a box filled with sports equipment.

"Aww. Thanks!" Amethyst blushed, 'It wasn't supposed to be a compliment.' Pearl gritted her teeth with a frown that Amethyst missed (or chose to miss.)

As Pearl continued being dragged by Amethyst deeper into her personal hell, she glanced round the house and made several more mental notes; piles of junk were everywhere, this was an undeniable fact, any sort of house plant she seen was wilting and dying and she could not accurately say how big some rooms were due to the excessive hoard. 'who needs that many cardboard boxes?'

As they cambered over several stacks of random objects and shuffled round others, Pearl had made the unpleasant discovery of the kitchen. The room was not only messy, but dirty and Pearl could tell that it was frequently visited by how clear it was in comparison to the entrance. Her blood went cold when she seen tissues on the cooker.

"Here's the life of the house! The kitchen!" Amethyst displayed it proudly,

"Amethyst, are you sure it's safe to put tissues there?" Pearl tightened her grip on her luggage,

"Not to worry, I never use it." Amethyst commented and they started walking away.

Pearl just kept breathing slowly, 'It's going to be okay,' she thought, 'There won't be any fires or accidents, everything will be fine.' The tall girl wondered what her room would be like, because if it was as messy as the kitchen she will have an anxiety attack of the worst kind. She wouldn't even mind paying an ungodly amount of money to a hotel just to not stay in a potentially insect infested house.

Her adventures halted when she reached a simple white door. Pearl held her breath.

"Ta~da!~" Amethyst proclaimed and swung the door open.

She was impressed. The room was quite big and no trash pile was seen, a simple bed, desk and drawers decorated it and she had a lovely view of the sea with soft light blue walls easing her worries. Although there was still cobwebs in the corners and there was dust on the furniture, the tall girl grumbled, but she would take what she could get.

"So? What'd ya think?" Amethyst gave her the slyest of grins, but there was a hint of nervousness in her eyes.

"Oh Amethyst, I can't believe that you done this!" Pearl gave her a small smile.

"Eh, I had some help." Amethyst winked, her posture change reminded Pearl of a balloon being deflated, "you-know-who and who-you-know are eager to meet you!"

Pearl rolled her eyes, of course Garnet and Bismuth helped her. If anything they probably realised the massive headache she would get if there wasn't at least one room that was tidy. She was excited to see them again and fondly smiled as the memories came flooding back.

"But you're probably going to clean the rest of the house huh?" Amethyst crossed her arms and gave a small grin,

"You know it," Pearl replied as she dropped her case near the bed, "I mean, who needs a box filled with cereal boxes? And the same cereal too!"

"You got me there," Amethyst hummed, "just don't touch anything that looks important." Pearl raised her eyebrow again, a small smile played on her face. With everything she had seen, nothing looked important, "wait, wait, wait," Amethyst cut herself off, "let me do it with you, at least then I know what you're doing." Pearl smile dropped, this new predicament was almost like being kept on a leash.

"Fine," she grumbled, "at least this room is tidy."

Pearl never knew that the phrase would become her mantra.

"I uh… Need to call Garnet and Bismuth," Amethyst scratched the back of her head, "I kinda got the time wrong and I wanted them to meet up with you… sooo~" Pearl grinned, of course this would happen to Amethyst of all people. She could just hear them now, particularly Garnet pushing up her shades with a 'I told you so,' attitude.

"Then I'll put my stuff away," Pearl said, "that'll give you some time to call them."

"Sure! I'll see ya!" Amethyst walked out and shut the door behind her, finally leaving the taller girl in the peace and tranquility of a (mostly) clean and tidy room.

Pearl started small and opened up her suitcase; putting clothes in the drawers, stationary and electronics into the desk, other objects such as her fencing equipment would remain in the bag that she had neatly put beside the dresser. It was a incredibly pleasant experience in comparison to the trip she had to get back to Beach City, that she had to admit, wasn't as Physically stressful as it was mentally.

Beach City was where she met all her friends and she knew many residents here despite not being particularly close with them.

It was also where she met Rose… and where she was dumped by Rose after she found the 'rock-star' Greg Universe.

Pearl hummed momentarily, 'I wonder how she is… Will she even remember me?' She wouldn't be surprised if she didn't, it almost seemed like Rose just never cared anymore. She shook her head and resumed her work.

Once she was finished with her belongings, Pearl sat on the bed and looked at the white door with a hint of dread. It was the same feeling someone would have if they were looking at a ticking time bomb, except perhaps not as dramatic. Pearl looked down at herself and scowled at the dust and grime that had gotten onto her clothes in that 'tour' that Amethyst gave her, she didn't even show her the bathroom and that was suspicious.

Pearl sighed, the bathroom was probably dyed permanently into a purple due to the hair dye and had a barely working shower. She stood up and patted the dust off her body, 'this can't go on… I need to do at least something!' going to the chest of drawers, Pearl pulled out an old plain T-shirt and some much more comfortable loose jeans. Her suit of armour against the darkness…

She threw them on (elegantly), put away her old clothes and then finally ventured once again into the wilderness that is Amethyst's 'home'. Technically it's no longer just her home now that Pearl has moved in, but as long as it's this messy Pearl will never acknowledge it as much as her house as it was Amethysts.

She shambled her way through junk and found herself in the kitchen, the core of her nightmare. A small note was sitting on the only counter that wasn't covered in empty food packages.

'Yo P!' It began and Pearl cringed, 'I'm away to go get the others! Then we're going to give you a SURPRISE! Also! I know that you're gonna clean stuff up, so I made a list of stuff I don't want you to touch!'

She sighed, 'This must have taken Amethyst a few weeks worth of thinking' Thought Pearl as she looked at the list and scrunched the note up.

The thought of a surprise made Pearl sigh tiredly, although she was happy that they cared about her and that Amethyst was doing things for her, she would much rather settle down first before any shenanigans…

Pearl developed a small grin.

Or at least clean the kitchen until she comes back.

—

Today was one of the worst days in Lapis's life.

It had been long, tiring, arduous, boring and so much more. She walked into the small flat, closed the door and groaned loudly as she dropped her heavy bag dramatically.

"WELCOME BACK!" She heard Peridot yell, she must have settled herself on the sofa like most days when she wasn't working.

Lapis dragged herself to the room, there was some background noise that belonged to a TV paving her way and wires were all over the floor. Her bag trailing behind her as if it was some sort of animal and face planted into the couch with a groan beside Peridot.

"Long day?" The Green girl asked and she paused the show, Lapis replied with a grumble, "I know that you believe that I am the smartest and greatest human being ever, but I don't talk couch grumble." She said sardonically. Lapis let out another groan before she righted herself and leaned back.

"I'm home!" She grumbled again, audible to her room-mate.

"I can see that," Peridot chuckled and offered Lapis a bottle of water. The girl took it a little too quickly and opened it hastily, gulping down big mouthfuls.

"Thanks," Lapis sighed, "I needed that…"

"So what happened? I mean, you're grumpy but not to this extent." Peridot placed a bowl of what had to have been Doritos before they had been split apart and crushed by the green girl,

"Well were do I begin?" Lapis sat up straighter, "today was the fist day of that swimming competition and some couch actually wrote my name down for it. Bastard. Then I had to go to work, late obviously, got lectured by my boss. Asshole. THEN I get this punk that tries some shit with me! What a dick." Lapis frowned and crossed her aching arms.

Peridot went quiet for a bit and awkwardly looked at her, "so about that competition…"

"Oh I won," Lapis grinned, "They don't call me the 'water witch' for nothing."

"Nice one Lazuli!" Peridot gave her a high-five.

Lapis looked at the screen in-front of them, an unfamiliar movie was paused and she curiously raised an eyebrow.

"What are you watching?" She asked,

"Oh, just the season special," Peridot grinned,

"Ugh, that winter one?"

"What? I like it!" Peridot huffed, "I mean, Paulette is insufferable all the time, but we actually get to see Percy and Pierre confess-!"

"Their friendship," Lapis grumbled, "total turn off. I stopped watching right after that disaster happened."

"No wonder you didn't recognise the movie at first," Peridot grumbled and Lapis gave her a blank stare. It was successful in making Peridot uncomfortable.

They un-paused the video and continued to watch. Lapis silently kept her commentary to herself, Peridot enjoyed it, so what? Even if she didn't agree with her Lapis respected her opinion, that was the least she could do.

Just as the familiar scene of Percy and Pierre facing down each other in the blizzard played, a buzz was heard in Lapis's jacket pocket. She pulled the device out, it was much more interesting that what was going on in the movie. She grit her teeth at who it was.

'Jasper.'

She just never quit her desperate pleas of rejoining her group of thugs and getting together again. This time she was begging her to come to the bar, Beach City's 'Crystal Gem', Lapis groaned and put the mobile away.

But something felt… Wrong. It was as if she was longing for something, wanting to go and see her again. Lapis paled when she noticed that she missed Jasper the first time, now she has all but gotten used to that longing feeling.

Lapis sighed and looked through her texts again, Jasper was so nice to her over the phone… Something told her to go, perhaps Jasper had changed? Even if it wasn't likely.

'Perhaps… I'll give her another chance…' Lapis slapped herself, 'NO. She hasn't changed! She never will! When will I stop being fooled?' Jasper was a horrible person, she beat anyone she didn't like and that included Lapis. The sole reason Jasper liked her was because she was the only one that was strong enough to stand up to her in the gang and a relationship isn't formed on hate. The bruises that Lapis received with her were proof of that.

She clenched her fingers around the phone, but sighed in defeat.

"OK." She sent back to the girl and she shoved the phone back into her pocket, as deep as it would go.

She missed her… She missed being with someone… She missed taking it all out on someone…

"That was Jasper wasn't it?" Peridot looked over at her with a small frown, "when will she just give up?"

"I agreed to see her…"

"WHAT?!" Peridot almost dropped the bowl of misshapen Doritos, "Lapis no! You know what'll happen, she'll start hurting you again and- and she doesn't respect your personal space!"

"I know." Lapis hugged her knees,

"Then… Why are you-?" Peridot stopped and sighed, "never-mind… I know…"

"It won't be until later tonight… I just want to tell her in person to leave me alone." Lapis stood up momentarily, when she came back she was holding a sketchbook and pencil. "I'll be fine."

Peridot nodded and continued to watch the movie as attentively and as vocally as before.

—

The tall girl patted down her shirt and jeans, they were covered in dust and grime. At least she changed into something she never cared about, mostly because she looked like a stick figure in an over-sized shirt.

Pearl was proud of her work; she destroyed the piles of tin cans, empty bottles and wrappers in a heart beat, preserved the random trading cards she found in the wreckage and thoroughly cleaned ever inch of the room (including the disastrous fridge).

By the time she satisfyingly tutted and put the last wrapper into the bag of trash the room had transformed. It was much larger and open when there wasn't mess everywhere, definitely far less suffocating.

However the list was proving to be the spawn of evil rather well… There was a collection of jars that was in the corner and those cardboard boxes still plagued the room, there was so much stuff left that Pearl wondered if she had done anything at all to the room in all.

At least she could walk in instead of climb in.

She had finished removing the black bags when Amethyst finally came back with some familiar faces. Garnet and Bismuth grinned after looking about in slight amusement at her work.

"Whoa!" Was Amethyst's first reaction to the clean space, "I didn't know this place even had corners."

Pearl rolled her eyes at that,

"If you cleaned up after yourself then this wouldn't be a problem wouldn't it?" She sharply replied,

"Let's not start on bad terms." Garnet grinned and put her hand onto Pearl's shoulder, "good to have you back Pearl."

"Yeah! We've missed you!" Bismuth came over, picked her up and gave her a bone crushing hug,

"It's good to be back!" Pearl grinned once she was put down,

"I bet you're curious about your surprise," Garnet smiled,

"That is if you weren't to distracted by the mess to actually read my note," Amethyst added with a small chuckle. "You'd better have!"

Pearl blushed slightly on instinct, "I read it."

"Oh good! We're going for a PART~AY!" Amethyst cheered and pushed Pearl towards the front door, ignoring her protests.

"You look great! What are you worried about?" Bismuth reassured Pearl, or at least tried to. "But this'll make you look even better~" She quickly placed a cap on Pearl's head, it was a long forgotten red hat that she once wore during the pranks that they committed on their poor unsuspecting victims.

"You kept this?" Pearl fondly sorted it,

"I just happened to have it on me." Bismuth winked.

They make their way to the local bar, it was at this moment that Pearl reconsidered ever wanting to get dressed and remembers that if it was anything like back in their teens then she would either be covered in alcohol dragging Amethyst home, or other disgusting substances dragging Amethyst home.

The bar was warm and the air was stuffy, it reeked of alcohol later in the day but is was all nostalgic to the tall girl. Pearl was surprised at how many people she recognised in the place and nearly all of them frightened her with a 'welcome back!' at some point.

Pearl sat down with the others and she was handed a drink by Sardonyx the now bartender of 'The Crystal Gem' of Beach City. The substance was bitter and stronger than Pearl remembered.

"We got everyone here!" Bismuth grinned,

"Took us forever!" Amethyst chuckled. "Hey, do you remember when Sardonyx wanted to be a show host?"

"I'm still a star darling!" Sardonyx replied with her signature laughed and Amethyst blushed slightly.

Pearl looked around the bar, despite knowing a good quarter of the crowd there was still so many people she didn't recognise what-so-ever. 'It really has been a long time.'

"So what is everyone getting up to nowadays?" Pearl asked,

"The usual," Garnet replied,

"We all got jobs. All grew up." Bismuth smiled, "Never left though, we'll probably stay here till the apocalypse." They laughed at that.

Pearl continued looking at the familiar faces, Smoky was now in high-school, 'If I didn't feel old before I do now.' Sugilite was rumoured to be an underground rapper, Alexandrite works in a restaurant apparently. But the more Pearl looked round, the more she noticed someone missing.

"Where is Rose?"

The table went deathly quiet and they all looked at her as if she was some sort of alien. They all looked at each other with pointing glares, nudging and poking each other until Garnet finally ended the silent battle.

"Pearl… I'm so sorry." She sighed and Pearl grew angry, had Rose not cared at all? Had she forgotten her that easily? But Garnet continued, "I don't know how to tell you this… But Rose isn't here anymore."

"W-what do you mean 'isn't here'? Where is she?" Pearl frowned,

"Pearl… Rose passed away a few months ago…"

She froze and her body tensed, Pearl didn't want to believe it and refused to listen to her. She glared at the table, drilling an invisible hole into it to try and block out what they were saying.

Pearl snapped out of it when Amethyst put her hand onto her forearm, she yanked it away and stood up suddenly.

"Pearl? Pearl!" They called when she left suddenly but she didn't look back. She needed some fresh air.

Pushing by several bar patrons she makes it out of the building and leans against the cold wall of the building watching the rain start to fall as the sun finally disappeared passed the horizon.

—

Lapis sighed as she got to the bar. It was always far too warm and stuffy for her liking and Jasper knew this. The nerve of her asking to meet here was slowly making Lapis more and more irritated by the second.

The Crystal Gem was an annoying bar that is run by an annoying group that'll seemingly do anything to just irritate her in every way possible. But Lapis sighed, she didn't know anyone in that bar until Peridot had introduced her to some girl named Amethyst and ever since then she was friendly with them most days.

It was an understanding, she would keep away from them and they would keep away from her.

To keep the peace.

The girl felt her heart in her throat when she seen the dark clad figure leaning on a small bench across from the bar, wild and untamed white blond hair cascaded down her back like a wild animal and a bottle was in her hands. Lapis got close enough to be heard, but stayed a good distance away from the woman.

She knew that at any moment Jasper could blow a fuse and start something, perhaps even get Peridot involved somehow. She already tried getting her to persuade Lapis to come back, with no success.

"Jasper." Lapis speaks up and narrows her eyes,

"Ah! Lapis!" She jumps but Lapis could tell she was faking it, "You shouldn't sneak up to someone like that."

"Oh please, you knew I was coming and you knew I was here." Lapis crossed her arms and widened her stance, "what do you want?"

"I want you to give me a chance," Jasper said softly, "I know we have our differences, but it's not the same without you!"

"No." Lapis shook her head, "we've been over with this already, and I've given you more than enough chances."

"But I'm different!" Lapis rolled her eyes, the amount of times that she used that excuse. "Please, once you left I finally understood! I knew how to handle you!"

"Excuse me?" Lapis felt anger bubble forth like boiling water, "handle me?!"

"Just let me prove it to you!" Jaspers eyes softened and looked at Lapis with such a pitiful expression that Lapis was almost swayed, but she shook her head in retaliation and the anger she held gushed.

"NO." Lapis looked away from her, "I don't need handling! I don't need someone like you!"

"Are you sure about that?" Jasper creeped closer and she abandoned her bottle of beer, "You need me. Because I'm the only one that understands you! The only one that tolerates you!"

"N-no!" Lapis faltered, she closed her eyes and tried to block her out.

"You know this Lapis!" Jasper grumbled, "you only bring people down, everyone you know get worse around you. But I don't!"

Lapis clenched her teeth and scrunched her face, she knew that Jasper was wrong… She wanted Jasper was wrong… She wondered if Jasper was right.

"Lapis…" Her voice was soft and she gently took her hand, Lapis gasped at how quickly she managed to close the distance between them.

Her hand was warm, rough and calloused, large and strong. She felt weak in her grasp, like a delicate flower.

"My bird… My poor broken bird…" Lapis shivered at the name.

'NO!'

Lapis slapped away Jaspers hand and glared at her. The soft expression on Jaspers face hardens and she scowls menacingly.

"I am not some sort of broken bird!" Lapis spat, "I don't want anything to do with you Jasper! Not a thing!"

Jaspers eyes gained a spark that Lapis recognised and she instantly paled, awaiting the fury that was about to be unleashed upon her.

"So you're going to cast me aside just like that?" Jasper spat, "after all I've done for you?!"

"You've done nothing for me." Lapis turned her back on the woman and prepared to leave but a large hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Jasper!"

"You always act like you're above me don't you?! But newsflash! You're nothing without me!" Lapis hissed as her arm was gripped tighter,

"Let me go Jasper!"

"What is it with you?!" Jasper growled, "I thought you liked it rough! You told me so!" Lapis started to shiver and she was slowly losing her confident facade. "You're cruel, using me, toying with me… Was I just some sort of joke to you?! Did I matter?!"

"N-no Jasper I-!" Lapis paled as the girl straightened and the size difference truly made her look like a threatening tyrant.

"Save it." Jasper growled, "it seems I need to remind you of your place. You. Are. Beneath. Me."

Lapis gasped in fear when Jasper tugged her towards the alley near the bar and violently threw her into the wall.

"J-Jasper stop!" She nearly begged as Jasper roughly pushed her into the wall.

"No." She growled and the light brown eyes seemed to glow a menacing Yellow.

—

Pearl tried to regain her composure, 'deep breaths, remember what you were taught.' She paced about awkwardly for a moment. it was impossible for Rose to be dead, she probably just never showed up and Garnet made something up.

She was always blunt and to the point…

The tall dancer refused to think about it, she refused to feel guilty about leaving because she refused to believe it.

"N-no Jasper! Stop!" Pearl glances up and looks around. The street was empty and yet she swore she heard a girl's voice-

"Jasper!"

Pearl jumped, she followed the voice and peeked round the corner. There she seen a large woman grabbing a much smaller girl's arm and shoving her into the wall, Pearl gasped as she seen the larger woman's hand start to hitch up the dainty blue dress the other was wearing.

She seen tears well in her eyes. The girl tried to fight back but she was pushed so roughly into the wall she got herself a nosebleed.

'I have to do something!'

Pearl looked around for anything to defend herself with, she even took out her phone to call the police but she huffed. The police in Beach City has been literally non-existent for years, they have to call them in from Ocean Town now.

She heard the girl whimper and she quickly went back on task, Pearl seen an empty glass bottle on the ground and she picked it up with a slight cringe.

She bravely stood in the middle of the alley and threw the bottle at the larger girl with the same deadly accuracy she had honed for years.

It bounded off her and the woman glared at her.

'Well… Shit.'

Pearl stayed deathly still, as if she was invisible if she never moved and nervously gulped. 'That movie was horribly inaccurate!'

Thankfully the woman growled and ran off the other way. Pearl let go a sigh of relief and she walked up slowly to the cowering girl. She did not expect to be hugged however. But the girl quickly pushes her away with a slight blush.

"T-thanks…" She pants and hold her nose, "you saved me there…" she looked at Pearl with a curious gaze, it slowly morphed into a rather strange one and Pearl felt awkward for just staying silent and staring at a stranger just because she's pretty.

Her cheeks grew warm and Pearl turned away.

"H-hey wait!" Pearl glanced back and the girl walked up to her, "I don't have anything to give you right now… But I can give you my number?" She phrased it as if it was a question. She pulled out her phone, a pretty blue phone cover adorned it and complemented her 'blue aesthetic'.

It really was as simple as exchanging numbers, but the news about Rose still was making itself known in Pearl's mind and now Pearl was exchanging numbers with some other cute girl and she just felt as guilty as it could get.

"What's your name?" She asked,

"Pearl…" She grumbled,

"Earl?" The girl repeats, "Well I'm Lapis, Lapis Lazuli." Pearl frowned slightly at the mistake and was about to correct her but the girl had already slipped by and out onto the street, "sorry! I need to go, but I'll call you! I swear!" she called back to her.

Pearl clenched the small note in her hand, a string of numbers written on the back of a receipt from a cafe. She grumbled and shoved the note into her jean pocket.

She knew what girls like that were like, they give you false hope and make promises they can't keep. There was no way that a pretty girl like Lapis would ever call her, especially now that she thought she was a boy!

Pearl groaned. She had enough drama for the day.

—

Lapis bit her lip, it tasted of bitter metal and anger. She clenched her fists as she opened the flat door and slammed in behind her, careful to to get any of the blood anywhere as she made her way to the bathroom. But if she could, she would have coloured everything red in spite, but she wasn't prepared in creating the set-up to a horror story nor did she want to stain anything.

"Lapis?" She heard Peridot follow behind her, "You okaa-aye!" She jumped back once she seen the red liquid in the sink and painted on Lapis. "What happened?! Did she-? Why am I asking? Of course she did! Are you-?"

"I'm fine Peridot," Lapis replied as she washed away everything that transpired, "I got away."

"How? Is she following you? Is she going to-?"

"I was saved by some boy," Lapis dried her face with a towel and shoved some cotton into her nose, "called himself Earl."

"Earl?" Peridot raised an eyebrow at her, "you sure you can trust him?"

"He scared Jasper away with a glass bottle, so I hope so." Lapis grumbled and walked out into the living room with Peridot in tow, "sorry, I'm just really irritated at what happened… I almost fell for her… Again."

"But you didn't right?" Peridot sat them down onto the couch,

"With what she tried to do… I wish I did…" Lapis clenched her fists and huffed angrily.

They stayed awkwardly silent for a moment, in a way, it was exactly what Lapis needed and she was thankful that Peridot wasn't asking her incessant questions that most others would do in that situation.

Lapis felt a tap on her shoulder after a moment and it was Peridot, holding out a cooled bottle of water.

"Thanks…" She smiled and took it off her, opening it and sipping it slowly.

"So… About this Earl guy." Peridot grinned, "hit or miss?"

"You've been hanging out with Amethyst too long," Lapis grumbled and took another sip of her water, "I promised that I'll repay him… Somehow. So I suppose a 'Hit'."

"What're you planning on doing?" Peridot asked with a grin,

"I have no clue," Lapis replied, "maybe a date? Boys like dates."

"From my experience, and many other girls experiences, boys like getting into your underwear more."

"Okay, stop. You're seriously not the Peri that I know," Lapis laughed, "and most girls are like that too!"

"Then what's to worry about?" Peridot hummed, "He's not Jasper."

Lapis paused, "I don't know… There's something… Off… About Earl. Like he's hiding something…"

"Oh, tall, dark and handsome? You've become a true stereotypical female." Lapis laughed and playfully punched Peridots shoulder, "and mysterious to boot, every girls dream!"

"Listen, I just want to repay him," Lapis smiled, "nothing more. Nothing less."

"Well… I heard that there's a Beach Party tomorrow night," Peridot hummed,

"Ugh, is it that Dewey guy?" Lapis groaned, "it's sad that people only like him because he's the mayors son. He's always so sweaty too."

"I know! But at least you can repay Earl quickly." Peridot stood up and looked through the collection of DVDs she had, then a mischievous idea came to Lapis's mind.

"Hey, you should come with!"

"What? No!" Peridot replied, "I have better uses of my time!"

"Come on Peri, I need a wing-woman incase I get ditched!" Peridot remained silent, "I'll marathon Camp Pining Hearts with you." Peridot looked back at her and narrowed her eyes, "I'll even watch those stupid specials."

"Hmm… Okay!" Peridot grinned and laughed a little too much like an evil villain.

"Now that we've got that settled…" Lapis looked at the time on her phone, '10:30' was written on the screen, "I think I'll call it an early night… I have work tomorrow again and I have to do an early shift."

"Well, I'll still be down here if you need me." Peridot looked back at her as she put a disk into the player, Lapis frowned when she discovered it to be a horror film.

"If you watch that you know that you're not going to get any sleep tonight…" Lapis warned her,

"Oh I know, I just don't want to go to bed tonight…" Peridot mumbled, "Anyway! Goodnight Lapis!"

"Goodnight…" She replied as she opened the door into her room and walked in.

It was a small room with dark blue walls and had a small window with some house plants and flowers decorating the ledge. Some boxes containing various electronics and paint equipment sat in the corner gathering dust. It was once Peridot's storage room way back when Lapis was still living with Jaspers gang, but when she left she had to get a place where Jasper wouldn't know about.

Lapis was always surprised at how caring Peridot was.

She wasn't used to it at first. All the attention and the pleasantries, Lapis cringed at her hostile behaviour. The glaring, the distrust, the passive aggressive to sometimes threatening remarks.

But when Jasper knocked on the door a few days when she left and Peridot covered for her, that was when Lapis realised what it was like to be normal again. That's when she remembered what it was like to trust again.

She sighed and lay down onto the soft covers of her bed, Peridot was really the best room-mate. Lapis pulled out her phone and looked at the new number in her contacts, 'Earl' was written on the screen a little ominously. Lapis really couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about him, but she had to learn how to trust people again. 'He saved me right? So he wouldn't be that bad right?' she hummed, obviously she wouldn't call or text him now. But it was still a little nerve-wreaking having a new number on her phone.

Lapis chuckled to herself, 'since when did I become so socially awkward?' She put the phone away and continued to look into the darkness. 'Definitely tomorrow…'

That took forever! Hope you enjoyed! I'll probably have the second chapter up soon... Probably...