The early morning light glistened on the water's surface. Clouds rolled over, briskly moving past the sun for only seconds. It was rather chilly today. Beach City was just waking up. The shops opened their doors, the seagulls flew over head, it was a typical morning day. But not for the Gems. Pearl had was folding clothes by Steven's bed, packing a suitcase full of Steven's clothes.
"Why can't we just take the warp pad?" Amethyst complained.
"Because." Pearl explained as she folded a pair of jeans, "The Homeward Gems have every warp pad's location marked, if we use one we could get ambushed."
"And why are we taking the bus?" Amethyst kept pouting, "Can't we just fly to California?"
"Well we could...if air fair didn't cost so much...besides! I always wanted to see how human infrastructure functioned on a public level, I hope it's just as nice as all those advertisements say they are."
The Crystal Gems had a very important job to do. They had recently received information on Homeward activity in parts of the United States, but part of this activity had bugged the warp pads. When ever they tried to use one, they would be brought into some desert, they would be able to teleport back home, but that was it. Steven was bouncing with excitement. He was happy that he would see the whole country. He had never even been out of Delaware, even leaving Beach City was stretch for him. The Gem missions were fun, but he had never been around Earth, never around the U.S. Now was his chance. He had packed his backpack full of things he thought he would need, a box of dental floss, a notebook, his DS, and a months supply of Cookie Cats. The Gems all decided it would be better to wear human clothes. Garnet wore her aviator jacket and jeans, with black converse. Pearl wore her wool sweater, with her yellow shorts underneath. Amethyst decided that she looked just fine in her clothes. Her normal black top would blend in well with the city.
"Is California like Beach City?" Steven asked as they walked outside, the Gems all shrugged.
"Before we go anywhere near the West Coast we have some work to do here." Garnet aid as hologram emerged from her palms, "One of the signals is coming from New York City." Steven hyped up. He was going to New York City! The greatest city in the world! He remembered watching the Thanksgiving parade, the Christmas tree lighting, and New Years Eve on television, but he had never been to NYC in real life. Pearl sped ahead, she was holding a paper that had a list of times. There would be a Bus passing by Beach City any minute now, it would make a stop, let off some tourists, and then continue on the old weary road to the nearest big town. Sure enough, they had made it with only seconds to spare. It was a Public Transit bus. Pearl peeked her head in, there were only a hand full of people, most of them asleep or face deep in their phones and newspapers. The four seats in the back were empty.
"Where is this bus heading?" Pearl politely asked.
"We're on our way to Delaware City." The old bus driver struggled to keep his eyes open. It was 6:30 in the morning.
"Is that near New York?"
"If you mean New Jersey then yes."
Pearl hopped on the bus and payed the fair for the Gems. keeping her distance from sleeping hobos that had mad their way on the bus. She sat down in the back row, right behind a business man who was buried in today's issue of The New York Times. Garnet followed nodding to the bus driver solemnly. The driver whispered a "You're tall" as she walked by. Amethyst and Steven ran to the back. They in to different window seats so they could get a view of the outside. Pearl read the paper over the man's shoulder. She read about things like Elections and some man in a hair piece arguing about politics. She was interested. The man seemed to be interested too. As he read he mumbled things, like "This is stupid..." or "Why would he say that?". Pearl's thirst for knowledge beckoned to her, she wanted to know more about this foul-mouthed hair-piece politician.
"Who is Trump?" she asked, the man turned around. His look almost confused, like she was supposed to know who Donald Trump was. The man asked if she was from around here with a cynical look on his face. Pearl nodded. The man shrugged and began to explain.
"He's one of the candidates for the GOP." Pearl still looked at him confused, "You know...I'm the greatest most classiest candidate eva'!" The man tried to do an impression. Pearl gave the man a blank stare. The two began to talk about politics and were instantly engaged in conversation. Garnet on the other hand, was still standing. The chair was too small for her and their was a homeless man sleeping in the 4 seats in the back. She walked to the front of the bus, where the driver steadily drove down the old road. They had just left Beach City and where journeying down the high way.
"Do you ever get tired of this." Garnet's voice seemingly woke the man from a daze.
"Yeah...but it's kinda ok." The man sat straight in his chair, "I mean I've done all the things I want to do, and I guess this fine if they keep paying me." Garnet smiled at the old man. She sat in the nearest seat to the front and looked out a window. "Thems' your friends?" The man turned briefly to the passengers. Garnet nodded and the man sat back in his chair. "That's nice, must be good to have company where you're goin'."
"We can speak for now." Garnet and the man began to speak about random things, nothing serious. Their conversation started with have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? and ended with And that's why I think I would make a good dictator. Amethyst and Steven still watched outside, the endless fields of grass had changed into cars passing on a near empty high way. Their endless gaze was broken by a man waking up from his rest. He was wearing a black hat with a ragged black sweatshirt and cargo shorts. He had a scratchy beard and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Oh...that was the weirdest trip ever." The man said as he cricked his back. Amethyst poked his shoulder.
"Yo bus dude, your shedding some green stuff." The man jumped and began picking up what looked like green tissue paper off the floor, jamming it into his pocket. He asked Steven and Amethyst if they were cops. They both shrugged no and the man let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks little dude and...Purple chick?" The man pulled out some of the green stuff, "What the hell stuff did I roll yo..."
"Nah. I'm always purple." Amethyst laughed.
"Damn, that must suck in high school."
"I don't go to school dude."
"Woah. You're livin' it up yo." The man rubbed his forehead, even if it was cold, he was still sweating a storm, "Hey, you guys know where I can find like a White Castle around here? I'm got a serious case of slider craving." The bus driver told the man they were going to stop in Delaware city. The man looked at him funny, "Bus driver aren't we in Florida?" The bus driver shook his head in disappointment. The man laughed it off and sank back into his chair, "Woah...I thought I was in Florida." He turned over to the business man who was talking to Pearl. "...Hey business guy when's the next flight to Tampa..." The man scoffed at him and told him to get a job. Pearl laughed at the remark and the two resumed their conversation about Bernie Sanders Vs. Hillary Clinton.
"Of course Pearl hangs out with the boring guy!" Amethyst laughed. Pearl blushed in embarrasement and excused Amethyst for her behavior. The man laughed and kept talking to her. Steven watched as the Gems easily blended in with the people around them. It was amazing how little effort it took them. He looked at himself.
Maybe this is why Mom and Dad... he thought to himself. It made sense, after all. it was like Humans and Gems could live on the same planet and not care about differences. Maybe the only problem was that one lived forever, and the other got about 80-90 years average. Steven sat back in his chair, he wanted to get some rest since he barely slept last night. He closed his eyes, he'll wake up in Delaware City.
New Story! 1st chapter. I'm planning to only cover the Gem's bus rides, since that is the theme of the story, maybe I'll do a second story about what they do in each city, leave a review and tell me how you like it so far! Thanks for reading!