AN: Trigger warning for child abuse and implied past self-harm. Also some underage drinking I guess. The date of this chapter is October 8th.

Malachite sat in the cafeteria with Rainbow, Sugilite, Sardonyx and Opal. She drummed her fingers on the recently washed grey table as she listened to them chatter around her, it had been days and those girls STILL couldn't get over the fact that she had the guts to try and pick a fight with Alexandrite.

"Sooo?" Asked Sardonyx as she sidled up to the white haired girl. "I heard you and Alex hugged, is it true?" She asked with a smug smirk, Opal was snickering beside her. Malachite's fingers curled in and she pounded her fist on the table, wishing it was the blonde's face.

"Just drop it already you dodos!" She snarled, and Sugilite started to laugh, the white haired teen whipped around to look at her. "What's so funny?"

The indigo haired girl's laughter turned to borderline cackling, "The fact that you don't deny it!" She howled with laughter as Malachite's face turned a soft shade of red.

"Oh shut up." She muttered.

Rainbow put a hand on her shoulder, "Mala it's fine, you know Sugi loves teasing." She reminded her with a calm, gentle voice. The tall girl nodded before grabbing her messenger bag and standing up.

"Nothing happened. Now drop it before I drop you." She hissed at her friends, most of which were still snickering and elbowing each other. Malachite rolled her eyes before heading to a water fountain and pulling her small bottle of medication out.

So Alexandrite had been right about the pills after all. They had been too strong... But how did Alexandrite know about medication like that? She didn't seem to be sick... But then again, not many people had guessed that Malachite herself was sick, and even fewer people knew about Jasper's ADHD.

Apparently her big sister had talked with their father the night she had gone to the beach, but he had been upset Jasper had called during work and hung up before she could even say goodbye. Malachite wanted him to come home so badly, she wanted to ask him so many questions, like what exactly his work was, how she and Jasper could help out with the money troubles...

And why he had cheated on his wife so many years ago. Why he had even started talking to the mistress that became her mother... And if he blamed her for her mother's death...

She took her medication and watched the people go by, people with normal families, people who didn't have to regret being born due to it tearing another family apart. People who didn't live with the knowledge that their birth was a crime. People who didn't have to worry about medication, people who didn't have memories of being bullied over little things like needing glasses or being chubby as a kid...

Malachite took a deep, shuddering breath, and went to class. She hated people.

POV SHIFT- Lapis Lazuli

She sat in the library, a few other teens sat near her, chattering away while she tried to relax in silence waiting for the bell to ring. And yes, she was reading manga, her papa had taught her how back when she was little.

Along with reading she was drawing in her sketchbook, a drawing of Peridot. Soft blonde hair, large, gentle blue-green eyes filled with innocence, yellow tinted glasses that were a bit too big for her face, that large hoodie that nearly swallowed her up with the sleeves almost covering her fingertips and an adorable smile that made her feel warm inside.

A boy was sitting next to her, his black hair was a mess as if he hadn't bothered to try and smooth it down and his dark green eyes had been locked onto the blue haired teen since she had sat down.

This was Jacob, the boy who'd had a weird crush on Lapis since the first day of school. He'd asked for her number countless times, asked her out on a date even more. She wasn't interested, flattered sure, but interested? Hell no. That hadn't stopped him though, Jacob was persistent. He'd been hitting on her and flirting with her past the point where most boys had given up. She looked up from her book when he tried to put an arm around her. "Hey Lapis-"

"No."

He raised his hands (and took his arm away, thank god, she didn't want to have to bite him) with a defensive look of fake innocence on his face. "Oh come on, you don't even know what I was going to say! I might have just been trying to be friendly." He almost shouted before realizing they were in a library. Lapis rolled her eyes, she had a few guesses, there was a Halloween dance coming up at the school at the end of the month.

All of a sudden Jacob pointed towards the door, Peridot had just walked in, the tiny girl was looking around curiously before typing in things on her phone, her bottom lip was a bit puffed out and instantly Lapis knew what she was doing. The little blonde was looking for her, and using her phone to keep track of places she'd already looked. Lapis watched as the dark haired boy looked at his friends and laughed. "Guys, it showed up, what do we do?"

One girl gave a cruel laugh. "Eww, what's it doing?" She asked with a disgustingly fake smile as she watched the little teen look around, growing more and more nervous when she couldn't find Lapis. The blue haired girl was starting to see red and she swore her blood was boiling, her nails were digging into the couch and if any of the teens had been looking at Lapis instead of teasing an innocent girl for being different they would have seen a dangerous look flash in her bright blue eyes. "What the fuck is wrong with it?"

"SHE'S looking for me. She's my best friend, she misses me and gets scared when I'm not around. Probably because assholes like you feel the need to constantly pick on her for no reason." Snarled Lapis as she stood up from her spot, leaving her manga forgotten on the scratchy wool couch.

Jacob gave her an incredulous look, he stood up and started to follow her, grabbing her hand to stop her from getting any further. "Lapis, don't tell me... You actually LIKE that little FREAK?" He said, loud and clear for all the other teens to hear, the group watched the two curiously now, one cocky and one about to fly into a murderous rage at those words.

She whirled around and pulled back her fist before slugging him in the face, breaking his nose and probably giving him a black eye. Lapis had knocked him flat on the ground. She watched him writhe in pain before wiping blood off of her hand on one girl's backpack. The one who'd made the rudest comment.

But it wasn't enough, this boy had to pay. She made sure he was looking her in the eyes before giving him a hard kick in the groin. She turned to address the others watching her. "If I catch ANY of you fuckers even THINKING something mean about Peridot I will have you humming soprano FOR A WEEK!" She screamed, not caring where she was, she marched straight up to Peridot, who Lapis hoped had only heard her final words to the arrogant group.

"Lapis? Are you okay?" She asked, looking nervous. Lapis relaxed before gently taking her hand and heading out of the library to their classroom.

"I'm fine Peri, I just don't like it when other kids, or hell even teachers think it's okay to hurt others just for being different." She explained, Peridot gave her hand a small squeeze.

The small girl sounded a bit sad. "I'm kind of used to it." Lapis let go of her hand before walking a bit ahead of her. She put a finger under the blonde girl's chin, tilting her head up slightly. It took Peridot a few seconds to look her in the eyes but Lapis had infinite patience with her.

The blue haired teen shook her head. "You shouldn't have to be... Peri tell me if someone's picking on you, okay? I'll deal with it." She smiled seeing the Greek teenager nod. "Especially if it's your sister, I'd love to give that dumb canary a reality check."

Peridot giggled softly, "You're going to get arrested one of these days." She joked, her mood seemed to be improving significantly as she sat at her desk. Lapis sat on top of it and gazed down at her, her heart swelling upon seeing that cat-like smile.

"Yep, and then you'll break me out and we'll be fugitives on the run. Peri and Lapis, taking on the world together!" Lapis announced loudly, making Peridot laugh.

Of course though, it had to be interrupted. Peridot's older sister, a whiny, bratty girl named Limone, cleared her throat, making an annoyed sound. "Hey idiot!" She called, and Peridot looked up as if Limone had called her name. "You forgot your lunch at home again you dumbass." She said with a smug smirk.

Peridot looked embarrassed, "I'm sorry." She said softly, but Limone's voice took on a sadistic tone as she continued. Peridot started to shrink in her seat.

"Damn, I wish I left it there." She said with an over-dramatic sigh, "You're lucky I didn't-"

She was cut off when Lapis whipped an eraser across the room at her, it hit the whiteboard with a hard smack and Limone yelped. "Hey!" The blonde girl squawked at Lapis, who simply gave a devilish smile. It didn't take much to make Limone cower in fear if Yella wasn't around.

"Damn, I missed." She said with a mischievous smirk. "Well I guess YOU'RE the lucky one, don't make me have to test it again."

TIME SKIP- Lunch

POV SHIFT- Caterina Syqua

She sat with her girlfriend at the crowded table, they would have gone outside to eat with the rest of the group but it was too windy to go outside. Cat had quietly hooked an arm around Aqua's waist, the green haired girl was listening to music, but it was far too loud. She wasn't going to let Aqua hurt herself in any possible way. The black haired girl pulled her earphones out. "What was that for?" Asked Aqua.

"Turn it down, or turn it off." She told her, Aqua shoved her phone back into her pocket. "I'm not letting you hurt yourself." She said strictly.

Pearl, who had been lazily flipping through a textbook, looked up at the couple. "Goodness, I've never heard you take that tone before, are you two arguing?" She asked, her pale blue eyes filled with concern.

Cat shook her head. "Oh god no, I just don't like it when she does things like that." The somewhat buff girl explained. "I love her too much to let her do bad things to herself." Pearl nodded in understanding. If you love someone, part of that love is making sure they see how there actions can lead to bad things.

Aqua wasn't very kind to her body. She stayed up late at night, often forgoing sleep with the excuse that she'd sleep during the day, she would run despite her asthma, she drank sometimes despite her body having a bit of a hard time processing alcohol, and not to mention the time when Cat had caught her bandaging her ankles after a long shower...

Cat would never get angry with her, she didn't have the heart for that. She never asked why her girlfriend was so keen on punishing herself for things, but she could at the very least try to curb her behaviours. "I'm not a child, you don't have to do those things." Aqua muttered, the dark haired girl simply shook her head and pulled her closer. "Now how am I supposed to stay awake?"

Rose had been sitting beside Aqua, she had been holding a coffee but hadn't taken a single sip. "I know using coffee to stay awake isn't the best option, but if you'd like you can take mine." Said Rose, and when Aqua gave her a look of disgust she quickly added, "I haven't drank from it, don't worry." The pink haired girl said gently before handing the Korean girl the cup, Aqua gave a thankful nod and started to drink.

Pearl looked at her crush (Cat may have been a bit stupid, but she was good at reading people's feelings) with confusion. "Rose, is something wrong?" She asked, clearly worried, but Rose shook her head with a soft laugh.

"No, I'm fine, just nervous that's all." She told the French girl, who still wasn't satisfied. When Pearl urged her to explain she continued. "I'm skipping next period to talk to Greg, I just hope Blanche or Azura don't find me."

Cat wanted to laugh. Blanche wasn't so bad when you got to know her, she was a rather nice woman, extremely strict sure, but she had a good heart. Cat didn't know anything about the somber vice principal though, other than that today she was the only one out of the three to have shown up today. Yella was said to be sick and Rosa still hadn't shown up, Cat had seen the pink haired woman during orientation day over the summer, she seemed so sweet, almost motherly. Rosa was the reason the school didn't a uniform.

Pearl looked upset. "You're going to talk with Greg? Why?" She asked, Rose gave a brilliant smile, completely unaware of how Pearl felt.

"He wanted to give me a ticket to his next concert, it's tomorrow!" She squealed happily, Cat's eyes widened, of course! She had forgotten! She was supposed to get Vidalia to help! She and the other teen were supposed to help Greg out with the show, but Cat remembered with a grimace that she had planned a date with her girlfriend, along with the fact that Vidalia was very much grounded. Apparently the blonde teenager had been... Doing things with a boy named Marty, which had led to her getting pregnant.

Safe to say, her parents were less than pleased.

Cat supposed she could find someone to help... She looked at the teens sitting around at the table. Pearl definitely wouldn't help, Ruby had plans with Sapphire after school, Peridot couldn't go out tonight for some reason, Rainbow and Amethyst though...? She'd ask.

"Hey Rainbow? Amethyst?" She gently called to them. The two teens had been chatting. They turned to look at her. All she needed was for someone to take Vidalia's place as drummer and someone to take her own place with the lighting. There was a tiny stage in the park where people could put on performances, all people needed to do was bring whatever they needed.

"Yeah dude?" Amethyst asked, curiosity flaring in her deep blue eyes. Rainbow just stared, Cat noticed she was looking a little somber lately.

Cat gave them a cheerful smile, trying to forget her error. "Greg needs some people to help out with his show in the park tomorrow, would you guys be up for it? We need someone for lights and effects, and somebody that can play drums." She explained, Rainbow grinned.

"I'm hanging out with Garnet at the park then, we could help! We could do things with the lights and I know Garnet can play a few instruments." She told Cat, and Amethyst looked ecstatic, she smacked her tiny hands onto the table, making Pearl jump.

"Amethyst-"

"Bet your sweet ass I'll be there! I love music!" The purple haired teen crowed loudly, the French girl beside her did not look happy. Cat could see a hint of jealousy flash in her eyes.

"Amethyst, you and I were going to be hanging out together tomorrow." She grumbled. Amethyst looked up at her and gave a soft smile as her cheeks turned pink.

"Well P... You and I can still hang out. You can watch me, and if I'm not playing I could sit with you." She told her, the peach haired teen looked a bit happier, although still upset.

"Promise? I hate being alone." She muttered, and Amethyst nodded with a smile full of love.

"I promise, P. I won't leave ya."

TIME SKIP- Next period

POV SHIFT- Peridot Diamond

She sighed as she walked through the halls, acutely aware of what had been said about her in the library this morning. It wasn't her fault she was different, it wasn't like she WANTED to be labelled as a freak or treated this way. Peridot had tried to be friendly in the early days, just like those movies taught her, but apparently it school did not work like the way it did in movies. Cheerleaders didn't gossip about each other and jocks could do well in school and not all nerds were picked on and despite her first thoughts Lapis Lazuli was NOT a delinquent.

The tiny blonde didn't know what she could call Lapis, she wasn't preppy but wasn't closed off enough to be labelled as emo. She was snarky and loved art, she could draw anything she wanted without fear of a teacher disliking her work. Peridot had even watched on the first day of school as Lapis stared Miss Diamond down and took a detention for wearing a shirt that read 'say hi if you're bi!'

Oh the first day of school, that had been... Eventful to say the very least.

Peridot had just been let out of the Basement after having been in there for four days, her stomach was growling and her clothes smelled badly but Miss Diamond had been generous enough to let Peridot have a piece of toast and a quick shower. It would be Peridot's first day of real school, for she had been home-schooled up until this point and the only things she knew about high school were what she had seen in movies.

It had come at the cost of not being driven to school like Limone was. But looking back Peridot supposed she was very lucky, for if she hadn't taken the quiet bus where nobody wanted to talk to weird tiny rich girl then she would not have been so desperate to run to her locker. She would not have smacked face first into Lapis Lazuli.

Lapis had also been running, she had been carrying quite a few books that day, and for some reason Peridot could remember clear as day that she had them all resting on her hip. Probably because if she hadn't the blonde would not have gone straight into her chest and put the two of them in a somewhat compromising position when Peridot had knocked her over by accident despite her small size.

The tiny blonde had squealed out a small string of about 10 apologies at once but the blue haired girl had simply dusted herself off, muttered an "I'm fine." And took off after collecting all but one book. Peridot watched her leave. Ripped jeans, dark hoodie, and a somewhat fierce look in her eyes right before Peridot had collided with her. This girl, according to the movies that the Greek teen had watched, was a delinquent.

She reached for the book that the mysterious girl had left behind with shaking hands and turned it over. It was small and a very icy shade of blue 'Lapis Lazuli' It read in darker blue marker, along with in small letters 'journal'.

Oh no. This was personal to that girl and if it fell into the wrong hands she would probably beat Peridot senseless. The book looked new, indicating she hadn't written much, and while Peridot understood how much invading someones privacy hurt (her sister kept trying to listen to her log) she needed a clue as to where this girl might be found, as her phone couldn't quite access all of the security cameras just yet.

She took a tiny peek inside and saw a few drawings, so this Lapis girl liked art! That was odd, Peridot had never seen someone like her in a movie liking that sort of thing. But no matter! Peridot would check around the art hall and in the classrooms a few times throughout the day!

As it turned out, she found Lapis during lunch as she walked timidly through the hallways. But here was the downside. Lapis had taken off her hoodie, revealing a blue, pink and purple shirt that read 'say hi if you're bi!' and Miss Diamond was FURIOUS with her for 'promoting such behaviour'. Peridot was far too scared to go near the two, she would get in a lot of trouble at home for interrupting Miss Diamond's work, not to mention Lapis might just kill her for embarrassing right in front of a vice principal.

So she would wait, and try her best to follow Lapis, too scared to actually talk to her in front of what could easily become a crowd of people excited to watch as the blue haired teen ripped her to shreds.

It soon became the end of the day. Peridot watched Lapis put her books in her locker, she had clearly been growing frustrated at the lack of her journal. Peridot still followed her, said book held close to her chest so there was no way it could get damaged. The Greek girl followed Lapis up to the art room and watched her walk in. Oh, so she had signed up for Art Club? This would be easier now, as there weren't many teens in it. She walked into the room and scanned it, looking for blue hair. It smelled of pastels, crayons, paper and of course, paint. "Hey." A blunt voice snapped. "I know you."

Peridot whirled around, and started to shake seeing Lapis staring directly into her soul. She had a sucker in her mouth with her socked feet up on the desk, she wasn't wearing much makeup, just some dark eyeliner and that was it. Nothing like Peridot's concealer, and obviously the two girls had different uses for their makeup. Lapis' made her haunting pale blue eyes seem more intimidating and Peridot's covered bruises.

Peridot could practically hear the stereotypical 'bad to the bone' type music as the blue haired girl wiggled a finger, gesturing for Peridot to come closer. "Whatcha got there?" She asked with an unamused voice and pointed to her journal, her light blue eyes seemed to be searching Peridot as if to find out if she was some sort of stalker creep. Which with all the following she kind of was by this point but that was different!

She held out the book she had held close all day with trembling hands. "Please don't eat me." She squeaked out, and blushed realizing what she'd said. What Peridot had MEANT to say was 'Please don't beat me.' But in all her nervousness her words had broken.

Lapis' once piercing gaze became one of amusement. "Look I'm not exactly fond of most people but I haven't resorted to cannibalism just yet." She muttered with a crooked smile before grabbing her journal. "You're that girl I smacked into... You didn't read any of this did you?" Asked Lapis, Peridot shook her head rapidly.

"Only the first page but that was just drawings because I wanted to try and find you!" She explained, her voice shaking. Lapis nodded and took the blue sucker out of her mouth. "I-I swear!"

"Okay. I believe you." Lapis muttered and relaxed back into her seat as she tossed the sucker into the trash can. Upon seeing Peridot's confused face she gave a soft snort. "I believed you from the start you dork, I was just joking around. You don't look like a person who would snoop. Lapis Lazuli by the way, but I'm guessing you already knew that." She told the tiny girl and held out a tan hand, longer and tougher looking and then Peridot's tiny pale ones. She took her hand cautiously and shook it. This supposed delinquent was being nicer to her than pretty much anyone at the school. Sure she'd seen some of the kids she had met during the summer, but they hadn't talked to her. "Nice to meet you."

"P-Peridot Diamond." She cursed internally for stuttering. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance." She said formally and Lapis gave a loud snort before falling into a tiny fit of giggles.

"Ah god, you don't have to act all prim and proper!" Lapis said with a smile. "Just be friendly, c'mon I don't bite." She said with a sly grin and for some reason Peridot could feel heat rising in her cheeks.

"W-well um, nice to meet you... Too. I should get going-" She cut herself off with a sharp squeal when a teen in the back had dropped things and made a loud crash. Peridot had flinched and started shaking all over again at the memory of every time she heard that sound at home, and the usual pain that came afterwards.

The tiny girl made her way towards the door without another word, she was embarrassed beyond words now. "Peridot?" She heard Lapis ask, and she jumped a little before slowly turning around. Lapis' bright blue eyes were filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

That had been the first time in all her life someone had ever bothered to ask that. She started to smile brilliantly. Lapis Lazuli was not a delinquent, she was a friend.

And now she was Peridot's best friend.

The two walked through the halls together, joined by Cat and Aqua. Cat was apparently looking for Greg, Aqua was joining her. Lapis had dragged Peridot away from her class. This would be the first time she'd ever be late. "Guys look, he's talking to Rose." Peridot heard Aqua mutter, the small group hid behind a corner of the wall to spy on the two.

They'd been rather friendly with each other ever since they'd met. Rose was fascinated with him. Peridot didn't quite get it.

The small group crouched down, not wanting to be seen by the two. Aqua was kneeling beside her, Cat sat behind the green haired girl and leaned on her, straining to hear. Peridot suddenly became very aware of a certain pretty blue haired girl's chest pressing into her back. "I can't really see, what are they saying?" She whispered, but Peridot's mouth simply opened and closed, no words coming out.

Rose was laughing, "Oh come on, history class isn't so bad!" She was smiling brightly, her warm brown eyes filled with joy. "Well, my teacher's nice anyway."

Greg shook his head. "Yeah, a few of them are, but mine just doesn't like me." He told her, Rose looked at him as if he'd grown two heads.

"Oh come on Greg, who wouldn't like you? You're nice, and very clever." The pink haired teen said with a gentle smile. Greg seemed to blush ever so slightly and he scratched the back of his neck.

"Ah, yeah, so I've heard. I think it's just because my music interfered with a little project." The brunette admitted, and Rose let out another short laugh. Peridot heard Cat chuckle before she softly whispered.

"I think he likes her."

The blonde could feel Lapis shift around, making her squeak. "Sorry Peri." She muttered before looking at Cat. "You think so? That'd be cute. I mean, he DID give her concert tickets for free, even if they were only a couple bucks."

Aqua shushed them. "I'm trying to listen." She hissed.

Greg appeared to be talking about his new song. "So I was talking to Rainbow, and I said to her 'Your username feels like a good song title, mind if I use it?' and then she said I could! So that's how I got the name for it!" He explained, Rose nodded. "And um... Actually, I have a small question for you."

Rose's eyes flickered with curiosity. "Yes? What is it, is something wrong?" The pink haired girl asked, a little worried.

"See um... I don't want to sing it alone... I was gonna have Vidalia sing but she's really grounded... I wanted to know if y-you would sing... With... Me?" Asked Greg, so nervous Peridot felt sympathy bubbling inside of her chest for this poor boy.

Rose gasped her eyes lighting up as she hugged him. "I would be honoured Greg!" She squealed with delight. Peridot backed up a little at the noise, straight into Lapis.

"Easy there." She murmured, her voice amused. Peridot shivered feeling her breath tickle the back of her neck. "Just relax Per-bear, I won't fall and hurt you. I promise."

Peridot frowned as a voice in her head whispered 'Oh no, maybe she won't hurt you, but when you get home you're screwed.'

TIME SKIP- End of the school day

POV SHIFT- Sapphire Hibernis

Sapphire sat with her girlfriend in the front foyer of the school, the two were waiting for Ruby's mom (or dad) to pick them up. Ruby had simply wanted to go to her home tonight without worrying about her car. The blue haired girl leaned on her shoulder as they sat on a cold blue metal bench, their fingers interlaced. She could hear Ruby mutter, "She's staring again."

The short girl looked around, as Ruby had not pointed to her, but Sapphire found her with ease. Azura Diamond, Sapphire's vice principal, was watching them. She had been since the first day of school, it wasn't like it was a creepy stare, just curious and sad. Was she studying her and Ruby? Yella may have been a known homophobe, but Azura didn't seem to mind.

Jasper had seen it a few days ago and jokingly said, "Maybe it's because you both have blue hair, she's watching you and thinking 'look, a younger me!'." While Sapphire had laughed a bit and nodded, Azura's gaze was too somber to be anything regarding a joke.

"I don't know what she wants, it looks like she wants to say something, but if I start to go up to her she just... Walks away." Sapphire explained, Ruby nodded and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Her girlfriend always knew how to make her feel better. It had been a little while since Malachite had gone missing, apparently her and Alex had a fight on the beach. The two tall teens had been chatting a bit lately, Sapphire had been watching them when they were close (okay so maybe Azura's watching them wasn't so bad and Sapphire was being a hypocrite, who knows?) and they seemed to be friendly.

She watched as the woman watching her and Ruby closed her eyes and looked down. Azura walked away looking as if she all of her energy had been sapped away...

The blue haired teen felt a hand on her arm, she jumped a little. "Easy Sapphire, it's okay." Ruby spoke calmly as not to startle her, she looked at the dark haired teen and gave a soft smile.

"I'm okay." She told her, and Ruby gave her a bright, beautiful grin in return. Two years ago Sapphire had been diagnosed with Anxiety, it had its good days, where she loved going outside and talking to her friends came naturally... But other days Ruby would have to hold her tightly and whisper reassuring words just to keep her somewhat calm, those days when going outside was basically asking her to jump off of a cliff. "I'm here."

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked, she nodded in response. Satisfied, her girlfriend led her outside. "Looks like it's going to rain soon." She muttered, Sapphire looked up at the sky, it was cloudy sure, but not dark enough that it would rain. But it was chilly and the wind was starting to pick up, she could see the pine trees that surrounded the school swaying in the quickening breeze. She huddled close to the brown haired girl and shivered.

"I'm cold..." She murmured, Ruby took off her jacket and wrapped it around Sapphire before putting a warm arm around her. The blue haired teen let out a blissful sigh and leaned into the other girl's side, taking in her scent. The smell of burnt wood.

Truth be told, Ruby was a tiny bit of a pyromaniac, she lit little fires to deal with her stress. She and Sapphire had a trick to keep it under control though, the two would gather some sticks and leaves that had fallen off of trees and take them to Ruby's house. They would sit in the backyard for hours talking watching the flames burn, and sometimes would even roast things over the fire. They had taken something that could be considered dangerous and had turned it into something nicer.

It didn't always go well though, Sapphire would never forget the look on Ruby's face when Navera, one of Ruby's little sisters, had tossed the entire bag of marshmallows into the fire. That had not gone well.

Ruby patted her shoulder. "C'mon Sapphire, my dad's here." She said and the short girl followed her into the large van.

Ruby's father was indeed in the front seat of the car. He was a tall man (which was odd because every one of his kids were short) from Ethiopia with short hair and brown eyes. He was kind, a little strange, and already considered Sapphire to be his daughter-in-law. "Hey guys, how are you?" He asked, and after climbing into a seat the blue haired girl answered.

"Good, how did the parents meeting go?" She responded and he cringed making the two teens snicker. "That bad?"

"Soccer moms frighten me." He told them, Ruby laughed.

The short girl gave her father a puzzled look, "Then shouldn't mom scare you?" She asked, her dad shook his head with a small smile.

"No... It's her mother I'm scared of." He explained, Sapphire nodded vigorously at the memory of meeting Ruby's grandmother. She was a strict, old-fashioned woman who very much disapproved of Ruby's father along with Ruby and Sapphire's relationship. The old bat was always trying to get Ruby to act more 'ladylike'.

She would be spending the weekend at Ruby's house, the blue haired girl couldn't stay in the big dorm all by herself, and the thought of going to her own house made her sick to her stomach. Her mother was there, the woman who hated Sapphire for reasons she wold never know, she pressured Sapphire more and more to constantly do better, she piled on strict rules and made the young girl feel absolutely horrible if she broke them.

But there was someone else in that house. Her stepfather... He would scream at her until she was in tears, picked on her for having a blind eye, made her do any chore he could think of, and if he thought she was complaining he would break something she owned...

Sapphire hugged Ruby tightly. Ruby's parents were so kind too her, they understood, and were deeply saddened by the fact that they could quite help.

Her girlfriend hugged her back, stroking her soft hair. "I'm here Sapphire, it was just a thought." She whispered. But what was Sapphire supposed to do when those thoughts were real?

POV SHIFT- Peridot Diamond- Bus ride home

She sat alone at the back of the bus, curled up and trying not to sniffle. She had faked a smile for most of the day, but now her mind decided it was the absolute PERFECT time to let all the things people said about her slip into her thoughts. The blonde shook her head, she had no place for such thoughts. She would be home soon, and Miss Diamond didn't like it when she cried.

The tiny girl pulled her backpack back up onto her shoulder and hopped off the bus when it reached her stop, not bothering to wave goodbye to anyone.

It had been said that Yella was sick today. That was a lie, she had other work to do, and was perfectly content with dumping it onto her twin sister, Peridot's aunt Azura.

She slipped into the house as quietly as possible but almost puked when the terrifyingly familiar arid scent of alcohol flooded her senses.

Miss Diamond had been drinking.

Peridot's heartbeat picked up as she slipped off her shoes as quietly as possible and made her way up the stairs, she didn't dare put any of her things down, the small girl would not make her presence known.

She quietly slipped her backpack under her tiny bed, along with her shoes. Her breath hitched when she heard someone walking around downstairs. The blonde quickly scrambled under the bed and stayed there, her hands clamped over her mouth as silent tears started to roll down her cheeks.

It was funny really, most children believed there was a monster under the bed. She was hiding under her bed from the monster in the house.

"Where are you, you worthless little bitch?" Miss Diamond hissed, and Peridot bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from sobbing. "I said COME OUT! How fucking stupid are you!?"

She was shaking, and almost passed out upon seeing her mother's feet in the hallway. "I heard the door open you waste of space. Now be good and do as you're fucking told!"

Peridot would stay under her bed, hidden away from Miss Diamond. She would not come out for food or water no matter how much her body ached for it. What had she done to deserve this? All she wanted was somebody who loved her, she had once begged Yella to pay attention, to act even for 5 minutes as if Peridot's life meant something.

"I'm kind of glad I can't find you. At least this way I don't have to look at that ugly little face."

TIME SKIP- 9:45 at night

Limone had come into her room and called for her. Peridot crawled out from under the bed, her eyes were red and puffy from crying, there were tears stains on her face and she was shaking like a leaf from lack of water. "We have to go meet with our aunts." She said, and Peridot was thankful that Limone had a least a shred of mercy in her as to not give away Peridot's hiding place.

She liked her aunts, they were nice to her, and Peridot had the feeling she was their favourite niece.

The drive to Diamond academy wasn't eventful. There was a slight breeze outside making the colourful leaves on all of the trees drift lazily to the ground. Miss Diamond appeared to have sobered up, but then again she was driving very slowly, as this road needed to be repaired.

Peridot watched with childish delight as the leaves fell, they would create piles that she and her friends could play in. She felt her small hands start to tap and pat her legs as she watched out the window at a whimsically colourful world that was Beach City.

"Peridot knock that off. Quiet Hands, now." Miss Diamond ordered, and the blonde let out a sot whimper as she forced her hands to be still in her lap. "Don't bitch and whine at me. You're lucky I don't have you in electroshock therapy."

She nodded as Yella pulled up to the school and parked. "Limone, you can come with me. Peridot, you may roam around. Do NOT stray far, and by that I mean out of school bounds. Be thankful I let you do this." The blonde woman growled and Peridot nodded again.

"Yes Miss Diamond, thank you so much." She murmured meekly.

The Greek teen wandered around the outside of the school in the dark, occasionally taking a glance up at the huge moon above. Eventually she found the back of the school and let out a gasp. "Lapis?"

The blue haired girl was sitting on the pavement, leaning against the wall with one of her legs bent upwards while the other just stuck there. She looked at Peridot and gave a lazy smile. "Well hello stranger, what are you doing here?" She asked. Peridot just gave a little shrug. "Cool. Me too." Lapis said nonchalantly and grabbed a dark brown bottle from the side Peridot couldn't see before taking a tiny sip.

It was beer. Peridot recognized it instantly. "You drink?" She asked, wide eyed.

"Only a really little bit. I still have to walk home, but I don't wanna right now." She explained before holding the bottle up to Peridot. "Want some?"

Peridot's first thought? 'I guess it would numb the pain for when I got home...' But she shook her head, she knew what that stuff did to you the next morning.

"Alright. That's fine, I don't really like it that much myself but it does feel nice after a long day of work." She told the blonde before patting the ground beside her. "Come sit Hoaloha."

She smiled at her nickname and sat beside Lapis, who was looking up at the night sky, lit up with stars and a silver moon. "God it's beautiful out here, isn't it?" She said without looking at Peridot.

But Peridot was looking at her. Lapis had beautifully peaceful bright blue eyes, which had been given a silver shone from the moonlight. Her dark blue hair fell softly around her face, framing it perfectly with soft fluffy bangs that moved gently in the breeze as though they were feathers. Her skin may have looked pale in the moonlight, but to Peridot it was still warm and perfect, with the few freckles on her cheeks looking like tiny stars, so wonderful yet out of reach... Just like Lapis herself...

"Yes, absolutely gorgeous."