'Strange' was most certainly a word Avery could use to describe how he felt when he woke up.
Except he was relatively certain he wasn't awake yet because rather than lying down in his bed, he was standing up in a field surrounded by mountains. A sharp contrast to both the geographical location of Beach City and the hotel he thought for certain he was present in before he turned in early after his job acceptance.
'Funny' Avery thought, taking a look around his current area. 'This place looks pretty similar to…'
Avery would've finished that internal sentence with 'home', but his train of thought was interrupted when he saw said place of past residence appear in his field of vision.
'Okay… I take it its very safe to assume that this is a dream'
Regardless of what state of realism he was currently in, Avery decided to press onward towards the house in the distance.
Shabby wasn't a half bad descriptor for his former home. It wasn't completely ugly or appeared uninhabitable, but it definitely showed signs of wear and age in multiple places. The paint was peeling on several places, the concreate steps leading to the porch had many cracks, and from what Avery could recall the boards on said porch were loose and creaky in places.
'Just like I remember.' Thought Avery with a small nostalgic smile.
As he got closer to the house, Avery noticed two figures standing out of the front of it.
'Hey, is that… Margaret and Dad?'
Avery's assumptions were made correct, getting ever so slightly closer to see his father and sister smiling and waving at him.
Becoming somewhat elated (not having seen his family in some time, be it reality or dreams), Avery picked up his pace and continued towards his destination.
Suddenly, both his family and the house vanished.
Avery stopped walking, dumbfounded at what just happened. What perplexed him most about the disappearance was that it wasn't instantaneous. If Avery could describe it in any way it was like his house and family… disintegrated. As if they were a pile of dust blown away by a strong wind.
Alarmed and slightly disturbed, Avery looked around the field to see if he could find something, anything to distract him from what just happened.
Soon enough he did, though it was someone rather than something. Standing alone in the field's clearing, Avery saw him standing alone.
He was dressed in what Avery remembered as his usual attire: A white button up shirt with dark slacks and casual shoes, glasses perched atop his narrow nose. Behind said glasses laid a pair of dark eyes (fitting well with his spiked dark brown hair) that always seemed to brim with intensity. This time, however, the intensity seemed to be mixed with something else… sympathy, as far as Avery could tell.
After standing for what felt like several minutes in silence, wide-eyed and confused, Avery decided to address the extremely large ethereal elephant in the room.
"Kyle? What in the world are you doing-"
Before Avery could finish his statement, the man he was addressing vanished similarly to how his family and house did earlier.
"Wait, please don't go!" Avery said, reaching out in vain to try and grasp some fragment of his old friend.
It was too late, though. He was gone.
And it was after this vanishing act that all hell broke loose.
Suddenly, the sky darkened to a near jet black, light only bursting through when the clouds were torn by a savage bolt of lightning, followed by the almost explosive booming of thunder.
The mountains, or what Avery could see of them in the near darkness, appeared to be closing in around him. Avery wanted to move to try and find some way out, but his attempts were made fruitless as the ground itself seemed to hold him in place and suck him downward.
All of this was becoming far too much for Avery. The deafening and blinding effects of the storm, the mountains making everything extremely claustrophobic, and the ground which felt more like an abyss than anything made for a nightmarish combination.
'Nightmarish' Avery thought. 'That's right, this is just a nightmare. I just have to wake up'
…
'Just have to wake UP.' Thought Avery, this time more forcefully.
...
…
'Just… have to…'
Avery began to feel himself slipping, falling out of whatever reality he had imagined.
…
…
…
"Okay Steven, let's try this again." Pearl said, trying to not let her exasperation show.
Picking up a piece of chalk and pointing to the blackboard she recently acquired from the old public school, Pearl gestured towards the problem displayed and began to explain it for the umpteenth time.
"With the information we know about this triangle, what function should we use to solve it: Sine, Cosine, or Tangent?"
"U-u-uummm…" Steven stuttered helplessly. What did each function mean again? Also, what would the side next to the xbe labeled, opposite or adjacent? There were so many things buzzing around Steven's head and he didn't know what he should tackle first.
"Isn't it obvious, Pearl?" Steven said with a simultaneously confident yet nervous smile.
"Oh, is it now?" Pearl said in a deadpanned manner. "If it's so obvious, then tell me which it is."
"It's, uh… Sine, Cosine or Tangent, of course." Steven said, bracing for the worst.
"Ugh, Steven," Pearl said pleadingly, hands tangled in her peach hair. "Why is this so difficult for you? I can't teach you if I don't know what the problem is."
Steven felt a small pang of guilt, feeling he let his surrogate mother down. Regardless, he went on to explain what was troubling him so much.
"It's just that there's so much to deal with in these problems, and all these different functions swirl around in my head, and then I don't know what to do first, and because of that I can't tell what's what!"
Upon finishing his rant, Steven plopped his head face down on the table he was using as a makeshift desk, and while in this position said, words muffled by the wood: "I'm sorry Pearl. I guess I'm not smart enough."
"Oh Steven, don't say that." Pearl said consolingly, stroking the boy's dark hair. "I apologize if I'm trying too hard, but I just want to make sure you know the basic skills needed to get by on this planet."
"Then why can't I just go to the public school?"
Pearl sighed. "Steven, you know why I don't want you going there. I just don't think they could provide an effective learning environment for somebody who functions like you."
"Well… okay, if you think so." Steven said, finding his argument easily defused.
"Why don't we try solving that problem again? I think you're very close to getting it" Pearl said assuredly, though at the same time she knew what she said was somewhat false.
"And I think you both need a break." Said a voice from beyond the temple doors.
Said voice belonged to Garnet, striding into the room, finished with whatever particular Gem business she had partaken in.
"Steven, you've been cooped up in here all day, why don't you get some fresh air?" Garnet said
Steven looked to Pearl pleadingly, stars in his eyes and a smile on his face.
'Drat. My one true weakness.' Pearl thought humorously.
"Alright, go ahead." Pearl said with a sigh, smiling despite herself.
"Sweet! See ya Garnet, See ya Pearl!"
Just as Steven was about to run out the door, he stopped, turned around and rummaged for a piece of paper. Once he found one, he went back to his 'desk' and began to scribble down the problems written on the blackboard.
"What're you doing?" Asked Pearl.
"I'm gonna see if being outside helps me think any better, so I'm bringing the problems with me."
"Do you really think that's going to make any difference?"
Garnet walked up to Steven, ruffling his hair in encouragement.
"Couldn't hurt to try." She said.
Pearl shrugged in agreement, and with one last 'Buh-Bye' from Steven, he left.
Garnet surveyed the chalk writings on the blackboard. Turning to her pale friend who was absentmindedly cleaning the kitchen, she said:
"I think you might be trying too hard."
Pearl sighed. "As you've told me many times. I've also told you just as many times that-"
"You just want Steven to be prepared." Garnet finished. "I understand this, and I agree with you wanting to teach him. However," Garnet said whilst gesturing toward the blackboard. "I think the material you're trying to convey to him is a bit too advanced for someone his age."
"Maybe you're right." Said Pearl, looking down at Steven from the window she was near.
"I just wish there was some way I could get him to understand the information."
Luckily for Pearl, Steven was about to run into that something.
Or in this case, someone.
Steven was currently on the main road looking for something to occupy himself with while thinking over the problems he had so miserably attempted to solve earlier. He thought about calling Connie to see if she could help, but he remembered she had Violin practice. Steven was about to call it quits and just head over to the Fry Shop to get something to eat, but then he saw a certain dark haired individual he met yesterday sitting at the beach.
"Hey, Avery!" Steven called out, running towards the man in question.
Avery turned to the boy who addressed him and smiled. He could use a bit of cheer after the night he had.
"Hello again, Steven. How are you this afternoon?"
"Eh, I'm okay, I guess. What about you?" Steven's face suddenly turned worried "You don't look so good."
Steven was observant. Avery was looking rather pale (At least paler than he usually was) and had dark rings under his eyes.
"Oh, I just had a bit of a rough night, that's all."
"Why is that? Did your interview not go well?"
"Just the opposite, actually." Avery said, brightening up exponentially. "Turns out it wasn't an interview at all, it was a job acceptance."
"Oh, that's great! I guess you could say that…" Steven's hand proceeded to do a jazzy shake, as if presenting something. "Avery-thing went according to plan!"
Steven was half expecting silence after that remark, but instead he was treated to a laugh. Not a fake laugh like he received so many other times when he told a pun, but a legitimate one.
Avery responded "That was pretty awesome, I won't lie to you. Also, yes, I guess you could say that."
Both Avery and Steven shared a good laugh with that statement.
"Say, though," Avery continued "Where's this 'I guess' coming from, is everything all right?"
"Oh, I just can't seem to solve these problems that Pearl gave me."
"So Pearl's your teacher as well?"
"Sorta, a couple weeks ago she started homeschooling me. She keeps saying that 'she can teach better than any public school can'."
"I see. I think I'd have to agree with her."
"Really?"
"Well, this may just be personal bias, but I've never been the biggest fan of the academic environment. From what I've experienced, it quashes creativity and penalizes you heavily for thinking freely. Also, Pearl seems more than intelligent, so I'm guessing her saying that she can teach better is more than just conjecture."
Avery guessed that his phrasing was too complex, because upon looking back at Steven, he could see the boy's eyes were slightly glazed.
"… Too many big words?" Avery questioned.
"Kinda," Steven said with a slight giggle "But I got most of what you were saying."
Avery gave a half laugh in response.
"Fair enough. So, is there any chance you could show me some of these problems?"
Steven reached into his pocket and pulled out his piece of paper he wrote on earlier, handing it to Avery.
"Wow, Pearl certainly has high expectations of you if these are the problems she's giving you."
"I'll say."
Avery looked at the problems, wracking his brain on how Sine, Cosine, and Tangent worked, when he heard a noise from beside him.
*grumble*
Avery turned to Steven, a smirk painting his face. "Hungry, are we?"
Steven blushed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."
"Well, you can't think on an empty stomach, now can't you? Where are you wanting to eat it's on me… within reason."
"Really?" said Steven, beaming Avery on of his trademark smiles.
"Of course."
"Alright! How about the Fry Shop?"
"Fry Shop, huh? I've heard some good things about that place. Sure, why not?"
Both Steven and Avery got up, walking down the street towards their destination. They were about to continue their conversation from earlier, but were interrupted by loud voice coming from in front of the Fry Shop.
"C'mon, kid, how hard is it to make a stupid batch of Fry Bits!?"
"Amethyst, how many times do I have to tell you and Steven that the bits aren't an actual menu item?"
The exchange was going on between a golden haired boy around Steven's age and a…
'Purple woman?' Avery thought
"Hey Amethyst, Hey Peedee!" Steven said
"Hey Steven." The pair Steven addressed said in unison.
"Who's this?" The supposed Amethyst asked, looking at Avery.
"Oh, this is Avery. He's the guy that I talked to you about yesterday."
"Oh, yeah, that's right." Amethyst stuck out her hand "Nice to meet ya!"
Avery reciprocated the handshake "Nice to meet you too, I take it you're one of Steve-"
Avery's voice was cut short by Amethyst's exceedingly strong handshake, it practically shaking him around.
Amethyst's laughter was more than prevalent after that little escapade, and after it subsided she answered with:
"God, I love doing that! Also, if you're wondering if I'm one of Steven's mom's, I sorta am. I'm more like a big sister."
"I see." Avery said, trying to regain his balance "Goodness, you have a strong grip."
"Ha, I get that a lot. So, what're you two doin' here?"
"Avery was just gonna get me something here and then we were gonna talk about some of Pearl's schooling stuff."
"Ugh, that again? I swear, Pearl needs to lay off on that crap."
"Well," Avery interjected "I think that Pearl probably has the bar set too high, but I don't think Steven's schooling should be thrown out the window entirely."
"Oh, is that so?" Amethyst said with a devilish grin playing at her lips.
'What's she planning?' Avery thought worriedly.
Suddenly, Amethyst was engulfed in a flash of purple light, and a second later there stood... Avery. Except much more purple.
"Well, aren't I just a big smarty pants who already knows what's best for Steven?" Amethyst-Avery said in a mocking voice of the real Avery.
Said man was standing in utter shock and awe at the event that had just transpired.
"Aw no." Amethyst said, reverting back to her original shape. "I broke him, didn't I?"
"Quite the contrary, Madame that was spectacular! How did you do that!?"
"Wait, you thought that was… cool?"
"Of course I did! Who wouldn't?"
Amethyst was surprised. "A lot of people, actually. Most folks I try that on usually run away." Amethyst was smiling despite what she just said.
"Well, like I said to Pearl, I'm not most folks. Say, are you wanting anything? I'd be happy to pay."
"You for real?" Amethyst asked happily.
"Sure, as clichéd as this saying is, the more the merrier. That and you just showed me shapeshifting is possible so I think that deserves some kind of appreciation."
"SWEET!" Amethyst exclaimed. She was starting to like this guy.
"So," PeeDee addressed to the party "I'm guessing I don't need to ask you two," he said looking at Steven and Amethyst "But what'll it be?"
"BITS! BITS! BITS! BITS!" Steven and Amethyst chanted.
"What else did I expect?" said PeeDee, begrudgingly preparing these supposed 'bits'.
The boy looked away from his work for a moment to address Avery. "What about you, what're you having?"
"I'll just have a small order of fries." Said Avery, wanting to make sure the boy's workload was as light as possible.
"Comin' right up!"
After a couple minutes of waiting, their food was ready. Avery fished the necessary currency out of his wallet, and after paying for the pseudo-meal he, Steven, and Amethyst sat down at one of the several picnic-style tables dotting the outside of the Fry Shop.
"So," Avery started, pointing at one of the several messily draw triangles on Steven's sheet of paper. "You're learning about Sine, Cosine and Tangent?"
"Uh-huh." Said Steven. "I just wish I understood what they meant."
"Well, the words themselves you shouldn't pay much attention too, it's the functions that need to be worried about. Tell me, has Pearl told you about SOH CAH TOA?"
"SOH CAH… what?" Steven said confusedly.
"SOH CAH TOA. It's an acronym for 'Sine Opposite Hypotenuse, Cosine Adjacent Hypotenuse, and Tangent Opposite Adjacent." Avery said, writing down each word as he said them.
"This way, it's easy to remember what each function pertains too."
"Oooooh. I think I get it!" Steven said with a smile, comprehension dawning on his face
"That's good. Now," Avery pointed at a triangle on the paper "With this triangle, we know the length of the longest side, which is the…" Avery paused, looking at Steven expectedly.
Steven scoured his mind for all the terms Pearl taught him.
"The… Hypotenuse?"
"That's Right! We also know the length of the side right next to it, and that means that it's…"
"Hmmm… Adjacent?"
"Correct! Now, since we know those two sides, what function would we use?"
"It would be… Cosine, right?"
"Exactly!" Avery exclaimed, wearing an encouraging smile.
"I think I'm getting the hand of this!" Steven said triumphantly "Keep 'em coming!"
Keep them coming Avery did. He and Steven spent the next half hour or so going over the other problems, and while Steven made a tiny mistake here or there, he essentially got most of the other questions correct. Amethyst, meanwhile, was watching with mild interest, feeling the same amount of elation that Steven did when solving a problem.
"Wooo, I am on Fire!" Steven shouted.
"Those problems didn't stand a chay-unce!" Amethyst chimed in.
Gathering his paper and throwing away his leftover fry bits in a waste basket, Steven then rushed towards the beach house.
"Hey, where are you going?" Avery questioned.
"I'm gonna test this stuff out for real. Thank you so much, Avery!"
"Don't mention it!" the young man called after.
The next several moments were occupied with comfortable silence between Avery and Amethyst, until it was broken by the gem saying:
"Nice kid, isn't he?"
"That's the understatement of the century." Avery said with a small laugh. "I've never met a being filled with so much raw energy and happiness."
"That's Steven for ya. Doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, or what you do: He's happy to call you a friend."
"That's a good trait to have."
"You better believe it is." Amethyst said while standing up. "Well, I think I'm gonna head home myself. Nice meeting you, thanks for the bits."
"Nice meeting you as well."
With that, the purple woman went down the same trail as Steven to the beach house.
"Test me!" proclaimed Steven as he flung open the door.
Pearl and Garnet turned toward the boy, snapped out of the conversation they were currently having.
"Oh, so you're ready to go over the problems again?" Pearl said with a slight smile, eager to teach.
"No need," Steven said whilst getting in his makeshift desk. "Just give me the test!"
Pearl's face transformed into one of surprise and worry. "Are you sure, Steven? We've barely covered the material."
"Trust me, Pearl: I think I've got this." Steven said proudly.
"Well… if you insist."
Fishing through sheets of homeschooling she had ordered recently, Pearl found the test relating to the material she and Steven had been discussing.
Handing the sheet to Steven, the boy began to test his knowledge. For the next approximate twenty minutes, all that could be heard was the furious sound of pencil scribbling on paper and the occasional 'Hmmm" from Steven.
"I'm finished!" Steven exclaimed, arms skyward in celebration.
"Alright, let's see how you did." Pearl said, striding over towards Steven.
Taking the test from the boy, Pearl could hardly believe her eyes.
"Steven, this is fantastic! I mean, granted, problems 2 and 7 are incorrect, but other than that, they're all right! How did you learn this so fast?"
"SOH CAH TOA!"
"… Pardon?" Pearl said in confusion.
"It's an acronym that Avery taught me to remember those functions."
"Avery? You mean that man you met yesterday?"
"That's the one! We talked about this stuff over fry bits. He made things really easy to understand."
"I see…" Pearl said, blank faced.
"I know that face." Said Garnet "What're you planning?"
Garnet could barely say her piece before Pearl ran out the door saying "I'll be right back!"
The slender gem was currently heading down towards the beach, hoping to find a glimpse of the man she was searching for.
Sure enough, there he was, sitting on the beach where she last talked to him.
"Excuse me." She called out to him.
Avery turned to the voice, thinking for certain it was addressing him as he was the only one on the beach.
"Ah, Pearl! It's good to see you again."
"It's good to see you as well." Pearl said honestly. She recalled being pleasantly surprised when she first conversed with Avery.
"What can I help you with?" The man in question inquired.
"Would you be interested in being Steven's tutor?" Pearl asked suddenly.
"Come again?"
"I heard from Steven that you helped him with my homeschooling and it appeared to click so well with him. You also, in all honesty, would seem like a good influence on Steven. I think it's quite obvious that he's taken a shine to you and I think this would make for some good bonding between the two of you. I'm sorry for springing this upon you so suddenly, so please take all the time you need to answer."
Avery smiled at the gem before him. "There's no need for that. I'd be happy to."
"You would? Thank you so much!"
The two discussed the scheduling for the tutoring, shook each other's hands in agreement and went their separate ways.
As Avery started to head back to his car, he looked towards the horizon to see a gorgeous purple-pink sunset.
Avery smiled once again.
'Maybe moments like these could keep nightmares like last night's away… I can only hope, I suppose."
Good Morrow, people of Fanfiction! Sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, I just wanted to make sure those of you following me got something soon. Leave your reviews to tell me what I can improve!