[Peridot]

I was lying in bed, fully dressed, messing around in Minecraft and doing what I always do on a totally normal summer morning – when the doorbell rang from downstairs, startling me so I almost fell off my bed. Oh, right, Jasper must have invited someone over– WAIT A MINUTE! I stared disbelievingly at the clock. It was half past nine? Already? Oh no, I must have lost track of time! I had been supposed to go over to Lapis's house with my DS, but I forgot... she must have come over to ask where I was.

Jumping out of bed, I trotted out of my bedroom and down the stairs. Maybe if I hurried I could get to the door before Jasper – but no such luck. My tall stepsister was standing in the doorway and staring in disbelief at the blue-haired girl in the doorway.

"Peridot was supposed to come over to your house? No way."

"It's true," insisted Lapis. "Just ask her– look, she's there now," she added, evidently spotting me where I stood near the staircase. Jasper frowned and turned around, her amber-colored eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"It's... it's true, Jaz," I informed her nervously. "I mean, she invited me over, and... I agreed to come."

"Hmmph," Jasper grumbled. "Why did she invite you over in the first place? And why did she come here?"

"I invited her to play Pokémon with me, and I came here because she was supposed to come to my house half an hour ago," Lapis replied before I could say anything. Embarrassed by my lateness (I was usually punctual), I refused to meet Lapis's eyes. She was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and black shorts, and in her hand she held a sky-blue DS.

"Right," Jasper finally grunted. "So Dot, you going ov–?"

"–Actually," Lapis cut in, "I thought we could play at your house, since I'm already here." She looked at me half-pleadingly and half-amused, and I was torn. Never before had I had a guest over to my house of my own accord – a few times, someone had come over to work on a school project, but we had done nothing but schoolwork. On the other hand, we had just moved to a new place, so it was a good chance to kinda start over – and besides, she was already here.

"...alright," I agreed, nodding. "You can come in, Lapis,"

Jasper stared at me for a moment, then shrugged and slipped her flip-flops on. "Well," she said, stepping aside to let Lapis come in, "I'll be at the park. If there's an emergency or something, I have my phone." She liked to call herself the responsible one, although I think that's me; all the same, I'm sometimes grateful that she tries to be responsible, because I really probably would need her help if something bad happened.

Once Jasper had shut the door behind her, Lapis glanced around the entrance hall of my house, and then her gaze settled on me. After a moment, she lost her bewildered look and shot me a winning smile. I felt shivers go up my spine. "So," Lapis asked, "where's your DS?"

"Upstairs," I replied slowly. After an awkward moment during which I felt like sinking into the ground, I waved my hand vaguely up the stairs. "In my room. Uh, you can come up... but it's kinda messy."

"That's fine," Lapis told me as she followed me up the stairs. "My room's a mess too. Whenever mom comes home she asks me to clean it up, but I never do. Woah, this is your room?" Her eyes sparkled and when I nodded, she grinned. "It's awesome!"

I cast my gaze around my room, trying to see it from a new point of view. The walls were painted light green and the ground was covered in a wall-to-wall grass-colored carpet. My bed (green blanket and pillow, as well as a few stuffed animals) was under the window on the far wall, and my laptop (neon green case) was resting on the pillow. My desk was situated right next to the door and covered with little robot parts (I was working on building a robot for a tech experiment I was doing), and my dresser was next to my bed. Strewn across the floor were a bunch of stuffed creatures and random clothes. I didn't see anything special about it, aside from the color.

"Uh... thanks," I replied as I tossed a few clothes into the laundry bin next to the door of my room. I wished I had cleaned up beforehand, but it was too late now. I knelt and searched through the bottom drawer of my dresser, which was filled with not clothes, but electronics. "Here's my DS. Should we go to the living room?"

"Could we play here? Your room is cool," Lapis replied, still standing in the doorway.

"O–okay, I guess." Lapis walked across the room and sat down on my bed. Wow, hadn't she ever heard of asking permission before touching people's stuff? I came over and sat next to her, if only to make sure that she wouldn't touch my laptop – at least that's how I justified myself. Leaning against the wall, I pulled out my DS.

"Ready to play? I'm totally gonna win," Lapis smirked confidently. I just smiled to myself. That's what she thought.

Thirty-seven tries and twenty-three mini-tantrums later, Lapis finally accepted that I was going to beat her every time we battled.

"I still think you cheated," she grumbled.

"Lapis, you can't cheat at Pokémon."

"Hmmph," the girl grumbled. I couldn't see her expression, since I had resolved to keep from looking at her – it was too distracting. "Well fine, then, but can we, um, do something else? I mean like," she quickly added, "I've had enough of playing Pokémon but I don't really want to go home."

Okay, so maybe Lapis's presence was keeping her from playing her favorite games, and yes, I had to remember that this was not not not going to be a friendship or anything of the sort – but all the same, I couldn't really tell Lapis "no, you have to go home now", because I felt like that would be cruel. Besides, Lapis was giving me these big puppy-dog pleading eyes...

"Well, alright, then," I replied, trying to keep from sounding... anything other than totally calm. "What do you wanna do instead?"

"Like, watch a movie or something? Or just talk, like, I dunno," Lapis shrugged lazily and I found herself admiring the girl's casual air. How was Lapis so relaxed all the time? "Maybe we could play some game, I guess."

"Right," I answered, pulling my eyes away from Lapis and staring across the room. "So uh. Do you actually want to watch a movie? Because I have some good ones." I gestured across her room towards a shelf, and Lapis hesitated before nodding and hopping off my bed to go take a look.

"Ooh, let's watch this one," Lapis said suddenly, pulling out some random movie. Not even paying attention, I nodded and agreed. At that, Lapis snickered, but it wasn't until the movie started playing that I realized why.

"Lapis! This is literally Dora the Explorer, like, what the heck is up with that?"

Lapis snorted with laughter, her shoulders shaking. "I was testing to see how much attention you were paying," she managed to say through her giggles. "Obviously, not at all..." I wasn't quite sure whether to smile or frown; I settled on a relatively neutral expression. "...sorry, I shouldn't have teased you," Lapis apologized at last. "It's just... the look on your face... ahaha..." Her laughter was contagious, and soon I found myself smiling despite myself.

"It... okay," I told her at last once she stopped laughing so hard. Lapis was still grinning ear-to-ear, but I ignored it as I put on a (real, this time) movie. "Just don't do it again."

"No promises," Lapis smirked. "Now hush, the movie's starting."

Sighing, I nodded and turned towards the screen. There was a thought at the back of my mind that was nagging me. She's acting like my friend. I'm acting like her friend. It's... it's not all that bad. I mean, she's not doing anything wrong. Maybe I should try this friendship thing. Maybe.