"Fucking clods!"

Peridot's explanation for most problems in her life was that apt phrase; this situation was no different. She was tied to a chair and blindfolded in God knows where, muttering the words to her self over and over.

If only Pearl could have been the DD for Amethyst. If only Rhodinite had agreed to be the robotics' club fundraising chair. If only she hadn't given in to that teasing, frustrating blue haired temptresses' prodding then she wouldn't be in this situation.

"If not for those fucking clods!" she yelled, the echo of her words reverberating off the walls of wherever she was.

"Shut the hell up," came a raspy, terse response.

Peridot immediately clammed up for fear of what her captor might do if she continued. Peridot had lived through a lot of garbage and was gutsy enough to run her mouth to just about anyone, but even she knew the potential consequences of her current circumstances. The silence lasted what seemed to Peridot just a few moments before she felt a cellphone pressed to her ear.

"Talk," came the rough voice.

"What, exactly, do you want me to say?"

The phone pulled away as Peridot heard her captor's words.

"You heard her voice. Meet me at the abandoned warehouse on the far edge of the city. Don't be late, Lapis."

Peridot began to panic; she began rocking the chair back and forth, trying her best to break free of the bonds that kept her blind and restrained.

"Lapis, don't come! Just stay where you are, don't come here!"

"I said shut the hell up!"

Without anytime to think Peridot felt a fist connect with the side of her face. The chair fell to its side and Peridot's head connected with the cold concrete, hard.

Peridot didn't remember much after that, except for uttering one final quiet phrase before blacking out.

"Lapis."

6 Months Earlier

It was just another simple day on the campus of Central Beach City University. The oak and maple trees that populated the campus grounds had long since seen their leaves change color and fall as the steady march of time proceeded into early October. There were the random students pittering and pattering back and forth across campus, stressing and depressing as midterms crept up. Many began considering their alternate careers of freelance janitor and McDonald's drive-through operator should they utterly and complete blow the exams.

That, however, was not an issue of concern for the five-foot blonde girl exiting the engineering building. Peridot Berde had long been a straight A student and had no real concerns of failing. At this point her class grades were so high she could, in theory, miss the midterm completely and still pass. Not to suggest that she ever would though. The Redbull-derived bags under her eyes told a tale of someone who would rather see Paulette x Percy become canon than lose a decimal off her GPA.

Peridot made her way to the student parking lot wearing a set of thick rimmed green glasses, a green hoodie with the words 'I want to believe' plastered on the front, and a perpetual scowl. She had a long night of studying ahead and if sleep deprivation thought it was going to stop her it had another thing coming.

"Yo, P-dot!"

Peridot stopped and looked back just in time to see the short and stocky Amethyst Cortez bounding towards her in a pair of work out shorts and a tank top. The latina's hair tied into an oversized pony tail and face covered in sweat.

"Where've you been Peri, . . . I've been looking all over for you. . ." Amethyst stated between gasping breaths. "Man, you've move quick . . . for having short legs."

"I hardly see the relation to my stature and optimal travel velocity with relation to yours. You and I are of equitable height and therefore our approximate surface speeds should be at a comparable level."

"Blah, blah, blah. Can you ease up with the geek speak, turbo nerd, I've got something important to ask," Amethyst responded her breathing easing back to a normal level.

"Very well, proceed," Peridot said, a slight frustration tinging her voice.

"Coach gave us the rest of the week off for winning the first qualifying tournament and to study for midterms. The Famethyst and I are going to hit up The Barn later tonight, but we need a DD. Think you can lend your favorite Central Beach City University wrestling team a hand?"

A nervous and pleading smile spread over Amethyst's face as Peridot's went into a deadpan expression. This was going to be a tough sell. The only time Amethyst had ever had the Famethyst over to the house ended with Peridot cleaning melted marshmallow and chocolate out of her PC tower for a week.

"What about Pearl? Can't she take you and that haphazard cacophony of pebbles?"

"She's got a tutoring session with one of her students."

"Garnet?"

"Visiting her parents. She won't be back until tomorrow morning."

"Greg?"

"He's watching Steven."

"What about your friend, uh . . . Vladamir."

"Her name's Vidalia and she'd just end up drunk with us."

"What about you're teammate?. Certainly one of you could drive." Peridot stated, clearly growing desperate to avoid what was becoming an inevitability in her mind.

"Sharky's the same issue as Vidalia, Jay doesn't have a license, Carnelian hasn't had a night off in weeks, and Skinny agreed to buy the first round so we can't tell her no."

Amethyst went down the list ticking off name after name until every member of the wrestling team had an excuse for why they couldn't, or rather wouldn't, be the sober one that night. Peridot let out a defeated sigh as her shoulders slumped forward. She was many things,-small, angry, prone to cursing when idiot Hammond mains managed to knock her off the map,-but something she was not was a bad friend and there was no way she would refuse to be the designated driver if it meant her friend had the chance of being drunk behind the wheel.

"Fine I'll be th-" Peridot was cut off as Amethyst grabbed her in a crushing hug.

"Thank you Peri! I promise we'll be on our best behavior!"

"Doubtful, but thank you for the implied effort," Peridot responded, adjusting her glasses after having been released from Amethyst's death grip.

"Cross my heart," Amethyst stated drawing a pretend mark over her chest. "Pick us up at the athletics building tonight around 8pm, you won't regret it."

Amethyst jaunted off towards student cafeteria, likely to stuff down a full pizza and burrito by herself. While Peridot stood in resigned silence for a moment before walking over to her old beat up 2002 Honda Accord.

She plopped down in the driver's seat and sat in silence for a brief moment before doing the only thing she could; banging her head down on the steering wheel with one simple thought.

"This is going to be a long fucking night."

Author's Note

Thank you to everyone for reading and thank you to Jessaverant for beta reading before I upload. I'm going to try and be consistent with the updates on this story. Please drop a review with your thoughts and critiques. Hope you enjoy the story!