"So… This 'school'... Why do you have to waste your time going to it? There's tons of things that I bet you'd rather be doing."

"No way, Peridot! School's totally awesome! They have a library, like the one Connie took me to, and a cafeteria and a big huge field… Uh, look, Pearl got a map for me."

Steven reached into his cheeseburger backpack and rummaged through all the school supplies his dad had bought him. Greg and the Gems all wanted to make sure that Steven was completely prepared for his first day, and so his backpack was overloaded with a lot of stuff that seemed pretty useless.

"Okay, here's the map." He pulled out a small slip of paper. "It's Beach City Junior High! Apparently it's one of the few middle schools in the area. It's not too big, but look at all the stuff they've got!"

"What an original name..." Peridot muttered, snatching the map from him. She scrutinized it. "What's an… Auditorium? Do you learn about hearing things there?"

"It's like a big huge room where they do announcements!" Steven explained. "I went on the school tour with Pearl and I got to see it. School starts tomorrow, and I'm super excited!"

"What's the point of this 'school' anyway? All these buildings and… classrooms. Why're there so many of them?"

"Well, school is a place people go to learn about the world! It prepares them for being adults! But some adults go to school, too, and that's called college."

"Pfft." Peridot handed the map back to him and went over to his bag. "That's incredibly inefficient. And look how stuffed your bag is? Do humans really need all these tools just to learn? Unbelievable."

She started pulling things out of the backpack: a large binder filled with paper and dividers, several notebooks, several folders with interesting designs (Steven had let the Gems buy the ones they liked), a large pencil pouch filled with pencils and pens, another pencil pouch filled with markers and colored pencils, a mini-stapler, a ruler that was also a three-hole puncher, a Cookie Cat lunchbox, and a…

"What is this thing?" Peridot held up the strange device and pointing it at Steven. It was a strange sort of hinge with a pencil at one end and a sharp point at the other.

"Oh, that's a compass. It's for math."

"Compass? You can't tell directions with this! How much of this stuff do you actually need, anyway?"

"Well, that's not even all of it. The rest is at home cuz I couldn't fit it in my backpack."

Peridot snorted and started shoving things back in the bag. Steven helped her, trying to get everything organized again. This certainly was a lot of supplies, but he wanted to be prepared too. There was no telling what he would need. Actually there was, but Pearl believed the supply lists were insufficient.

"Don't you have schools back on Homeworld, Peridot?"

The green Gem almost burst into laughter and slapped Steven on the back. "Oh, you're hilarious, Steven!"

"Ow."

"Gems don't need school. Most of us are grown with the knowledge we need already implanted within us. No Gem needs to know more than what they need to know, you know. We also have the extensive data and library systems compiled by our researchers for the Diamonds, but those are... Ohmigosh, I can totally imagine it! Yellow Diamond… Attending school! Hahaha! And I would be the instructor! I would teach lessons on how to not be a clod! Ha!"

Steven finished packing and stood up, smiling as Peridot rolled around on the ground, laughing hysterically. "Well, that's cool, I guess. If I was born already knowing everything, then my life would be a lot easier."

"He, he, exactly! Why don't the humans just do that? I mean, I'm not privy to how humans are grown, but I'm sure that knowledge implementation wouldn't be that hard."

Steven rubbed his neck. "I dunno, Peri. I think some people would find that… Uh… Well, anything is possible with science, I guess. But school isn't just about learning! You go there to hang out with your friends at lunch and have fun! And in high school, there's clubs and dances and stuff!"

"Hmm… Well, I guess the social aspect of it would be useful… Maybe I could enroll in this 'school' too!"

Steven was about to say that that would be a wonderful idea when he was interrupted by Pearl, who had burst into the barn. "Steven! There you are. We need to get you ready for school tomorrow! Come on, let's go."

Peridot jumped up excitedly and ran over to Pearl. "Ooh! Could I come too? I wanna enroll in the 'school'!"

"No, no, Peridot. I don't think you'd quite fit in there… Besides, you're a Crystal Gem now, and you regrettably have to be available should we require your help."

"Regrettably? What do ya mean by-"

But Pearl was already walking away. "Come on, Steven! Time is of the essence!"

"O-Oh, okay. Bye, Peridot! Say hi to Lapis for me!" Steven waved innocently and ran after Pearl, leaving Peridot to silently fume in the barn. He thought of Peridot attending school with him and smirked. What if all the Gems enrolled? That would be totally amazing! But it probably would be a bad idea...


Steven nervously climbed out of the van and watched his dad pull away. This was it. He felt incredibly nervous seeing the crowds of children, but some of them looked familiar, so that was good. He saw Peedee running towards the other side of the school. Maybe he'd get some classes with him?

He made his way to the office. Connie said she'd be waiting for him there. The further Steven went, the more nervous he felt. Suppose the kids didn't like him? Well, he knew that he couldn't make friends with everybody. He had Connie, and maybe Peedee. What did it-

"Oof!" He had slammed into another kid, and the kid was sent sprawling. This was no time to get lost in thought!

"O-Oh, I'm sorry!" Steven leaned over and helped the boy up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The kid grumbled, pushing past him. "Watch where you're going, fatso."

Well, that was rude. Steven shook his head and entered the front office, where he immediately slammed into another- Oh, it was Connie.

"Steven!" She cried, hugging him tight. "You're really here! Oh, this is awesome!"

"Y-Yeah!" He returned the hug. "I'm really nervous though. And there's a lot of kids here…"

"Ah, don't worry about it. You'll be fine! Look, I got your schedule from the front desk. Here!" She shoved a piece of paper into Steven's hand and started jumping up and down excitedly. He unfolded the schedule…

"Looklooklooklook!" Connie's finger darted all over the page. "We have History and P.E. together!"

"Okay, okay!" Steven laughed. "Let me see it!"

Connie backed away and Steven finally analyzed his schedule. He had Art first, then History (with Connie), Pre-Algebra, Life Science, Language Arts, and P.E. (with Connie). Six classes...

"Aw, this looks like so much fun! Do you have Pre-Algebra too? We should be in all the same classes!"

"No, sadly. I had online classes and study sessions over the summer so I could get ahead. I'm in regular Algebra, and I have a few other higher classes as well." Connie showed Steven her schedule.

"Awww… Well, this is still pretty awesome. So when do we start? Has the bell rung yet?"

"Not yet, but come on! I'll take you to Ms. Gregory's class!" She grabbed his hand and ran through the office into the school proper. They went down several halls until Connie stopped at a corner classroom.

"This is Ms. Gregory's room. I don't take art, but I've met her a few times and she's really cool, and next is-" But before she could take off again, the bell rang.

"Oh! I gotta go! I'll meet you here after first period so we can go to History together, okay?"

"O-Okay." Steven felt immensely overwhelmed, and he barely responded as Connie hugged him again and took off, just as other kids started filling the halls. He steeled himself and entered the classroom.

It was a medium-sized room, with lots of long tables in bunches in the middle. Around the edges were cabinets and shelves filled with many, many art supplies, and some of the shelves were overflowing with random things: boxes of pencils, crusty paint jugs, posters, old art projects, and even- No, he couldn't sit here all day analyzing the room. It seemed pretty cozy though, even though it smelled like old paint.

Steven walked awkwardly over to the teacher's desk. Ms. Gregory was a tall, tan woman with long black hair that sort of reminded him of Connie. She smiled at him as he approached.

"Welcome! You look a bit lost, dear. Just go ahead and take a seat."

"Uhh, okay…" He looked around again and decided to sit at the table furthest from the front. Here, he could see the whole entire room, and he watched as more kids started filing in. They all sat down without question, talking to each other loudly and laughing. It was like they were all one big blob of friends… Like the Cluster. But Steven didn't want to feel left out. The closest kid was a girl sitting a few seats away from him.

"Um, hi there!" He called to her. She glanced up at him and frowned before turning away towards another kid. Why was everyone here so unfriendly? Well, it was their loss.

The bell rang again. Ms. Gregory stood up and clapped her hands. "Alright, kids, calm yourselves down. I gotta take role, okay?

The talking quieted slightly, and the teacher sat back down at her computer and started calling names. "Sierra Bailey?"

"Here!"

"Matt Burnett?"

"Here…"

The role-taking continued, and Steven wondered if there was anyone besides him with an interesting name. All the names she was calling seemed pretty ordinary; hopefully there would be someone else with an awesome name like Maheswaran or Universe.

"Cyan Shaw?"

"Right here!"

"Steven… Universe?"

Oh! That was him! Should he just say 'here', or raise his hand, or-

"Steven Universe!" She called again.

"H-Here!" He squeaked out. The other kids looked at him as Ms. Gregory finished taking attendance. Why were they staring? Wasn't Universe a cool last name? Most of the people in Beach City thought so. Steven couldn't help feeling a bit self-conscious.

"Alright. Welcome to the new school year, all of you. Now, the first few days are usually pretty chill, but you better get out of vacation mode quick, because I have a lot to teach you. Today, I want you to get some paper and draw something that represents yourself… Something totally you. I want to see how you draw and what you like. You gotta finish it by the end of the period. No horsing around…"

Everyone started getting up and going around the room, grabbing various supplies. Steven stayed at his desk, wondering what to draw. Something that was him… Well, he liked a lot of stuff, so…

He got up and went to the nearest shelf, grabbing some paper and crayons. He liked using crayons. Was that childish? Would the other kids laugh? He quickly put the crayons back and grabbed a box of colored pencils and opened it.

Right on top was a pink one. He grabbed it and smiled. He definitely knew what to draw now.


Ms. Gregory waited patiently as her students set their drawings on her desk and left the classroom. It was only the first period of the day, and she knew she'd be in for it. The kids seemed even wilder than they did last year.

The Universe boy was the last one out. She actually liked his last name, and he seemed pretty sweet. The boy came forward and set his drawing face-down on the desk.

"Thank you, Steven. See you tomorrow."

"Y-Yeah. See ya!" He smiled and ran out. The poor boy was so awkward and nervous, you'd think he'd never been in a school before! She grabbed his drawing and looked at it.

It was a very large, very pink circle with a pentagon in the middle, dividing the circle into five sections. She studied it closely. What was it supposed to be? The lines were perfectly straight, but the outside circle was a bit shaky. The pink shading was done pretty well, and there were sketches on the outside of… Well, they could be flowers, but she wasn't sure.

In the bottom corner was his name and… 'Rose Quartz'. Oh, it was a rock! How interesting. She'd met very few kids who liked rocks and gemstones. She set the paper back down on the pile and greeted her next class. Hopefully there would be even more interesting drawings. A lot of kids actually had some good talent.


Steven swung his feet excitedly. He was sitting in a desk right next to Connie! How awesome was that!? He had heard that Medieval History was boring, but he honestly liked hearing about knights and castles and whatever else Medieval History might be, and even if it was boring, he had Connie sitting right next to him!

"Mr. Milton is pretty strict, so you need to make sure to stay focused on your work, Steven." Connie seemed to know about almost all of the teachers at the school, and it was fun hearing about them. "And try not to get… You know…"

"What?"

"Well, I know Pearl has taught you a lot about history, and she was the one who was there, of course, so she's right. But the history books here say what they say, so don't try to correct the book or Mr. Milton. He gets really angry when people do that."

"Oh, I get it. Don't worry about it. It'll just be, like, seeing a different perspective of things! Garnet says it's always important to do that."

"Yeah, that's true… Oh, here he comes!

They settled down and started class. Steven was super excited. He loved history! He couldn't wait to see if the books mentioned Gems or anything related to them. The excitement of this prospect kept him happy the entire class, even though they barely did anything and Mr. Milton seemed like he didn't want to be there. Poor guy. Steven decided to be super nice to him, and waved goodbye as the class ended. "See ya later, Mr. Milton!"

The teacher didn't seem to appreciate it though.


In Pre-Algebra, he had to introduce himself to the class. Everyone else had done it. And now he was standing up, with the entire class's eyes on him. This wasn't hard. He introduced himself all the time!

"H-Hi! My name is, uh, Steven Universe. Yeah, and um-"

"Is that your real name?" A boy next to him asked.

"Uh, yeah, it is…"

The class murmured. "That's really cool!" The boy said. "What's your middle name?"

Oh, jeez. "Uh, it's Quartz. Steven Quartz Universe."

The math teacher, Mr. Stewart, would've shook his head at this, had it not been on the roster. Honestly, parents these days were naming their kids anything… He still shook his head. At least the boy seemed sensible.

"Well, anyways, I like watching T.V. and stuff, and uh… Um… One interesting fact about me…" There were a lot of interesting facts about him. Most of them couldn't be shared with the school, though

"Uh, this is my first time going to school? I guess that's interesting…"

The class started chattering again. "You mean you've never been to school before!?" A girl cried. "How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen…"

"Lucky…" The girl said. "I wish I never had to go to school." Most of the class murmured in agreement, and Steven felt relieved as the teacher calmed them down and moved on to the next student. Maybe being different wasn't so bad after all.


The rest of the day proceeded very well. People seemed to like him in Life Science, though a few kids had laughed at him when he tripped coming into the class. He sat with Connie at lunch and listened to all of her excited plans for the year while they shared food. The Gems had packed him a huge lunch, but he didn't mind because it was nice to share it with Connie. She introduced him to a few of her own friends, who were all super nice, and they had all pooled their own food, making an enormous lunch party sort of thing.

English was fun because they got to go to the library. It wasn't as big as the Buddy Buddwick library, but there were still a lot of books there. Steven couldn't wait to read them all, which he wanted to do even though his teacher said that was an 'unrealistic' goal. Apparently she was all about goals, even though she didn't have any of her own. How weird.

P.E. was alright. Steven didn't know why they called it 'Physical Education' if all they did was exercise and not really learn anything. It was still fun, almost like a less intense training session, and he had fun chasing Connie around the gym. In the end, he had had a satisfying first day, and only a few kids had laughed at him! He was glad there weren't any bullies or anything, and he couldn't wait to make more friends.


"-And that's how school went!" Steven finished, giving Suzie a big smile. She smiled back, feeling happy for him. She barely remembered her young school days, and it was refreshing to hear a kid be excited about school for once.

"So, you like it there?" She asked again.

"Yeah! I mean, most of the kids aren't even from Beach City, but it's still pretty cool, and no one was mean to me or anything, even though some kids laughed, but it's alright. I can't wait to go back tomorrow!"

Suzie smiled and wrote down some more notes. She was glad this seemed to be working out. Barbara and Tony might've had the right idea after all. She was still apprehensive about it though. Kids often made fun of strange or unusual people, as if they didn't deserve the same respect as everyone else. If someone saw Steven's Gem…

"Well, I'll be back at the end of the week to talk again, okay?" She stood up and gathered up her things. "I hope you have a good time. Make sure to stay on top of your work!"

"Yeah! Of course! See ya later, Miss Suzie!"

He walked her out of the house and watched her walk across the beach. He was proud that he had gotten through his first day, and hoped that he'd eventually overcome his shyness. He was usually open and friendly to everybody! There wasn't any reason to be afraid. The kids at school were kids, just like him. They weren't aliens, right?

Steven ran back inside, bouncing with excitement. He couldn't wait to go back.

How 'bout that new episode? Connie will totally suplex any bullies that come Steven's way.

I'm thinking of changing the summary since the story will focus more on school now, but I'm not sure if I should. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all the reviews!