Chapter Four - Welcome To Beach City
"Steven?" Peridot asked a short time later. "People are looking at me."
"Hmm?" Steven looked around for a moment and realised she was right. People were nudging each other and whispering as they walked past, cell phones in hand. "Huh. That's weird."
"Is it my appearance?" she asked anxiously, glancing down at herself. "Should I have worn shirts? Everybody else is wearing shirts!"
"No, that's not it," Steven said dismissively. "People are used to stuff like that here. Amethyst comes into town all the time." He gasped as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "I'll bet it's because you were on TV!"
"I was?" Peridot said in surprise.
"Yeah, when you sent that message to Yellow Diamond from the communication hub," Steven explained. "It was on all the TV stations. You seemed really scared, I'll bet a lot of people were worried about you. You should smile at them and let them know you're OK."
"Oh." Peridot blinked and then smiled widely at a woman across the street, who smiled nervously back at her. "Hello, thank you for your concern, I am fine now!"
"Perfect," Steven said happily. "That should-"
"Steven!"
Steven turned around to see Ronaldo jogging towards them, a look of concern on his face. "Hi Ronaldo."
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Ronaldo asked urgently. His gaze flicked to Peridot for a moment. "Alone?"
"Uh, sure. Wait here, I'll be right back," he said to Peridot, and allowed Ronaldo to lead him back down the street. "What's the problem?"
"Steven, what are you doing with her?" Ronaldo demanded, pointing towards Peridot, who was beaming at Mr Smiley. "Don't you read my blog, Keep Beach City Weird? She's an android eco-terrorist! She's going to release all the animals from the zoo!"
"What?" Steven dragged his face away from Peridot and Mr Smiley, whose combined grins were beginning to make his own face ache. "No she's not, she's a Crystal Gem. And she saved the world last week."
Ronaldo looked disappointed. "Are you sure? I don't remember seeing her with them before."
"She's new," Steven explained, glancing back at her. "Ah, I'd better go," he said hastily, spotting Sour Cream approaching. "But if you could put on your blog that she's not an android terrorist or anything, that would be really helpful. Bye!"
"Be careful, Steven!" Ronaldo yelled after him. "Keep the koalas safe!"
"-your concern, I am fine now," Peridot finished.
Steven skidded to a halt beside her. "She saved the world last week!" he blurted out before Sour Cream could respond.
"I helped," Peridot corrected.
"I know, Buck told me." Sour Cream held his phone up for Steven to see.
"Ah! Why didn't I think of that?" Steven exclaimed, smacking a hand against his face. "Does Jenny know?"
Sour Cream nodded. "Yeah, he texted everyone."
As if on cue, Steven's phone bleeped and he pulled it out and read the message aloud. "Steven, bring your friend here ASAP and introduce us. Jenny. Aww, that's nice. We should do that."
They continued down Thayer Street, Peridot continuing to smile at everyone who glanced her way, and turned onto the beachfront. "Fish Stew Pizza is that way," Steven said, pointing to the right, "but we should swing by the Big Donut first so I can introduce you to Sadie and Lars."
Peridot had no objections to that, so Steven pushed open the door to the store and strode in "Sadie, Lars, say hello to my friend, Peridot!"
"Hi Steven, hi Peridot," Sadie greeted cheerfully.
Lars leaned over the counter for a closer look at the green gem. "You're Peridot? I thought you'd be taller."
Peridot's smile wavered slightly and Sadie nudged her co-worker. "Be nice to her, she saved the world last week."
"Wow, Buck really texted everyone," Steven commented. "Well, it was nice to see you both, but we have places to go and people to see."
"You don't want anything before you go?" Sadie asked.
"I have limited funding today," Steven said regretfully. "Maybe after we've finished shopping."
"Makes my job easier," Lars muttered.
Sadie ignored him and smiled kindly at Peridot. "What about you, Peridot? Would you like a donut? It's on the house," she added.
Peridot looked confused. "You're going to let me have the big donut?"
"She thinks you're offering her the donut sign on the roof," Steven explained as Sadie turned to him, equally confused. "On the house means you don't have to pay for it," he told Peridot.
"Ohhhh." Understanding dawned and Peridot nodded. "Yes, I would like a donut," she said over the sound of Lars's laughter.
"OK, which one do you want?" Sadie asked. "We have vanilla, chocolate, white chocolate and raspberry, key lime, lemon meringue, caramel crème, peanut butter, rocky road brownie bite… or maybe you'd just like a plain glazed one?" she finished, taking in Peridot's overwhelmed expression.
"A plain glazed one will suffice," Peridot decided. She waited while Sadie took a donut from the display case, popped it in a bag and handed it over to her. "Wow, thanks." Then she turned to Steven. "What do I do with it?"
Lars started laughing again even Sadie couldn't help chuckling. Steven sighed and turned his back on them. "It's food. You eat it."
"Oh." Peridot pulled a face and handed the bag to Steven. "Would you like my donut?"
"Are you sure?" Steven asked, already pulling the donut out of the bag. "Do you just want to try licking the glaze off at least?"
"No thank you," Peridot said hastily, taking a step backwards.
"This is your last chance," Steven warned her, raising the donut towards his mouth. "I'm eating it now. No backsies!" The donut was gone in three bites and he tossed the bag into the trash. "Maybe another time?"
"Perhaps," Peridot conceded.
"Well, we'd better get going." Steven waved to Sadie and Lars. "Bye guys! I'll be back!"
"Bye," Sadie waved back while Lars shrugged in their general direction. "See you soon."
Fish Stew Pizza was only three stores down and Steven pushed the door open with a cheery "hello!"
"Hi Steven," Jenny greeted, looking over the counter. "Aah, and this must be Peridot! Oh my gosh, you are so precious! Kiki, come and meet Peridot!" she yelled over her shoulder, missing the annoyed expression on Peridot's face.
"She means it in a good way," Steven whispered reassuringly as Kiki appeared behind her sister.
"Hi Peridot," Kiki said warmly. "Thank you for saving the world."
"It was a team effort," Peridot clarified.
"Can I take a selfie with you?" Jenny begged and she stepped around to the other side of the counter. "It'll be so cool!"
Peridot looked at Steven for help. "What's a selfie?"
"It's a photograph you take of yourself," Jenny cut in before Steven could answer. "It's your self-ie. Get it?" She held out her phone and flicked through some of the pictures. "Here's one of me… another one of me… me and Kiki… my nails, they were looking so good that day… oh, here's one of me and this really cool purple cat I saw walking down the street… me… oh, look at this one," she gasped, snatching her phone back for a moment and scrolling rapidly through the pictures. "It's me and the guy who plays Dr Adel Tulba in Under The Knife!"
"Let me see!" Steven cried and lunged for the phone, before gazing at the image with undisguised envy. "Wowwww."
"So, how about it?" Jenny asked again as she pried her phone out of Steven's fingers.
"Jenny, give the poor girl some space," Kiki scolded. "Would you like a slice of pizza, Peridot?"
"Yeah, have some pizza! Our treat!" Jenny exclaimed. "You earned it, girl."
Peridot hesitated, looking at Steven again. "It's food again," he told her. "But it's very different to donuts. You wanna try it?"
"No thank you. I don't think I'm ready to try eating human food just yet," she replied.
"Well, why don't you have a slice to go and then maybe you can try it later?" Kiki suggested.
There was a commotion behind the counter and suddenly Kofi appeared, looking outraged. "What are you doing? Are you giving pizza away for free!? How am I supposed to make a profit when you just give away the merchandise!?"
"Daddy, you're scaring the customers," Jenny scolded. "Ignore him," she said, turning back to Steven and Peridot, who'd both taken a hasty step backwards. "He's just mad 'cause someone stole his phone out of the car."
Steven cringed and began planning their escape as Kofi continued ranting. "I have to pay to fix the car window and replace my phone and you're giving away pizza? Why don't you just give away the money in the till at the same time!?"
"They saved the world last week, I'm giving them a free slice," Kiki said, calmly boxing up two slices of pizza and handing it to Steven. "You won't sell any pizza at all if the world ends."
"And I'm sure your phone will show up any minute," Steven tried to reassure the irate man. "Perhaps some kind citizen will find it and anonymously return it to you." Kofi narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him and Steven decided that was their cue to leave. "Well, we have a busy schedule today, so we have to go now, goodbye!"
"Bye," the twins chorused in unison. "Come again soon!"
xXx
It's my firm belief that as the mayor's son, Buck has the contact details for everyone in Beach City. Well, everyone except Ronaldo. I mean, Ronaldo changes his birthday every year so the government can't steal his identity, so it wouldn't surprise me if he changed phone numbers whenever Buck, who is actually linked to local government, gets a hold of it.
Also, all I could think of when they first mentioned "Under The Knife" was the DS games, so that's where Dr Adel Tulba is taken from. Gosh, I haven't played those games in ages. I think it's time for another playthrough!
ETA: Ahhh! I just watched last weeks episodes - Blue was camping and begged me not to watch them without her - so after that, I went and had a look at Peridot's official Twitter and she's had the exact same confusion about "on the house" as I wrote! XD I guess that's a good sign, right?
