Chapter Two
"Lapis! Get your lazy butt out of bed right now!" grunted Malachite, storming into Lapis's room uninvited. "Do I need to drag you?"
Lapis quietly sighed and stuck a foot out of bed, to show Malachite she was getting up. When her older sister left, however, she pulled the foot back under the covers. A yawn broke its way through her lips. She tried to stretch her cramped arms, but they had nowhere to go. Her room was tiny, having been an unusually large closet before Lapis was born. Big for a closet, undersized for a bedroom. There was about enough room in the former closet to squish in a miniature bed that Lapis had outgrown years ago, a bar to hang her clothes on, and a small drawer where she kept her phone, its charger, a few candy bars and a picture of her mother. As long as no one ever bothered to slide open the door to her closet-room, she was satisfied.
Unfortunately, Malachite came in often, mostly just to taunt Lapis about something. Sometimes she would want Lapis to do her some complicated favor that usually involved beating up a smaller kid that had offended Malachite somehow. Lapis always wanted to say no, but was afraid of what Malachite would do if she refused.
She pulled herself out of bed and promptly stepped on a pile of pushpins, no doubt put there by her sister. Wincing as she yanked a green pin out of her foot, she silently cursed Malachite. She turned in the limited space of the closet-room and grabbed a clean blue crop top and skirt. Quickly changing, she laid her pajamas on the bed and grabbed a chocolate bar out of the bedside drawer for breakfast. She grabbed the huge pile of books and binders and stuffed them messily into her ocean blue and white spotted backpack.
"Come on, sis! Let's go!" shouted Malachite, waiting for Lapis at the front door. Lapis lifted the backpack onto her back and threw open the closet-room door. She walked out into the living room and to the front door, where her sister was standing, backpack on.
"OK, nerd, let's go." grunted Malachite, slapping Lapis on the back. Lapis frowned and walked out the open door.
"So, I may have... accidentally left some pins in your closet. Have you seen them?" asked Malachite, smiling slyly.
"I stepped on them." mumbled Lapis angrily.
"What was that?" Malachite said, holding her hand to her ear and giving a fake innocent grin.
"I said, I STEPPED ON THEM!" screeched Lapis, losing her calm completely. When Malachite glared at her, she quickly looked to the ground.
"Don't talk to me like that. You should learn to respect your elders, Lapis." Malachite said softly and icily. "I really wonder how such a cool person like me got such an awful sister like you."
They reached the town's SuperMart, which carried everything from fresh food to video games.
"Hey, this is where we bought your crib." said Malachite. They were silent for a minute.
"You were a mistake, you know that?" Malachite growled.
"I know. There's no need to tell me again." Lapis said quietly.
Lapis's birth had been a complete surprise to her family. Her parents had been happy with their one first child, Malachite. When Lapis came along, they hadn't had enough money to support the growing family. The closet was cleaned out and transformed into a room for the new baby, and Lapis's closet-room was created. After about a year, their mother had decided she'd had enough of the too-small house and irritating family, so she packed her bags and took off for Allnattopolis.
She was distracted from her train of thought as she heard a loud yelp come from her left. She glanced over and saw a short girl with a large triangle of blond hair fall over and land flat on her stomach on the sidewalk. Malachite chuckled.
"Ha. That clumsy nerd. Let's go, Lapis."
Lapis stared at the girl struggling on the ground. The girl's brother apparently didn't realize she needed help, as he was busying himself by picking up her dropped papers.
"Lapis, let's go." Malachite said gruffly, tugging on her sister's arm.
Lapis, in a moment of decision, yanked her arm free of Malachite's grip and dashed forward to assist the girl.
"Hey, do you need help?" she shouted to the triangle-haired girl, who was trying in vain to stand up. The girl looked up, and immediately blushed when she saw Lapis standing over her. Lapis stopped down in an attempt to seem more friendly.
"Would you like help off the ground?" asked Lapis, extending a hand. The girl took it gratefully and pulled herself off the ground. She continued to grasp Lapis's hand as she dusted off her front. All of a sudden, she glanced over, noticed she was still clutching Lapis's arm, and whipped her hand away hastily. She kept brushing over her shirt, dusting off the dirt particles stuck to her. She winced as she touched her side.
"Yeah, you might have a bruise there. You fell pretty hard." Lapis informed. She bent down and picked up the girl's fallen backpack charm, a little green alien. She smiled as she handed it back.
"Thanks so much for helping me! I'm Peridot, by the way. What's your name?" said the girl excitedly.
"I'm Lapis Lazuli. My friends call me Lapis." she answered, leaving out the part that she didn't really have any friends. She reached down to flatten her rumpled skirt.
"Can we be..." Peridot hesitated. "Friends?" She twisted the alien charm around in her fingers.
"Of course! You're now the only person I know here, besides my sister, Malachite. And she's..." Lapis trailed off, trying to think of a decent way to put it. "Not the nicest." she finally added in a whisper.
"Oh, me too! The only people I know are my foster brother, Peedee, and my older cousin, Jasper. Jasper and Malachite sound pretty similar, actually." Peridot replied.
"Lapis! You'd better get over here before I make you!" shouted Malachite from a ways away.
"That'll be Malachite." sighed Lapis sadly. "Well, I have to go, but I'll see you at school. Hopefully we have some classes together!" She waved as she walked back to her sister, looking forward to seeing her new friend again.
"Don't hang out with losers like that. It'll ruin what little reputation you still have!" advised Malachite as they set off for school.
"Aw, she's not so bad. She seems nice." defended Lapis.
A/N: So, second chapter! First off, I apologize for some repeated dialogue, but I wanted to tell that part of the story from Lapis's point of view as well as Peridot's. Second, I would like to respond to some of the reviews you guys left.
Guest: Thank you, I'm glad you like it. And by the way, maybe think about getting an account and logging on as opposed to reviewing as a guest; that way I can get to know you better!
FanMic: It's nice to know you enjoy what I've written so far. The answers to your questions:
1. Yes, the fusions will be separate characters. I tried to make some of the fusions related to their counterparts (ex. Malachite is Lapis's sister), but fusions such as Opal, Sugilite, and Sardonyx are their own characters, too.
2. Instead of them all keeping their in-show skin colors, some of the gems with more unusual skin colors will have more natural skin. However, some of them will have different skin tones. And, even though I am changing some of their skin colors, all the hair colors will remain the same.
3. Yes, the Crystal Gems will eventually come in (I've planned for them to be introduced in Chapter 3.) The reason they aren't in it yet is that I chose to write the first two chapters from Peridot and Lapis's points of view. Chapter 3 is going to be from the Crystal Gem's point of view (mostly Steven.) Although the story's point of view remains third person throughout the entire thing, it occasionally switches back and forth from who the chapter is mainly about. I did it this way so you could see the points of view of many different characters.
As for the fact that this is the first Steven Universe High School AU you came across, I'm glad you chose to read this one. The idea for this story was actually inspired off lots of High School AUs I had read prior to writing this. Thanks for your well wishes, I hope you have fun reading the rest of the story!
Also, thanks so much to those who followed and/or favorited this story. It means a lot to me! Happy reading! :)