Chapter 14

The Lesson

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great holiday season! Here is chapter 14.

Please review and special thanks to Serena Summers and superemmy09 for reviewing!

Pearl was walking up to Garnets front door, feeling like death had come up and smacked her in the face. Worst Saturday ever. Thought Pearl. She could barely even remember Friday. No, all of her thoughts kept going back to Thursday, the day she had declared as the day that had forever ruined her life. She should just run away right now. But that would not be fair to Garnet. I couldn't just let her fail school! How awful of a person could I be to do that? Just the worst! No, I have to help her. I'm still a good person. Still, Pearls thoughts were still wandering back to Thursday.

"Will you go to Homecoming with me Garnet?" Sapphire asked, looking rather nervous.

"Yes." Garnet responded, who looked slightly more happy than normal.

"Great! Can't wait!" Sapphire squealed. She then turned around and went off, squealing to her friends. That also happened to be the time that Garnet noticed Pearl. Pearl nearly screamed then, wanting to cry, go to her friends and die all at once.

"Hey Pearl. Can I help you with something?" Garnet asked the now sweating gem.

Pearl looked around, trying to find some kind of excuse. Seeing none, she looked back at Garnet and said "Oh! Well, I was just wondering if we are still on for Sundays lesson?"

"Actually, can we move that to Saturday? Something came up Sunday."

"Sure. That's fine. Same time?" Pearl wondered, trying not to break down.

Garnet looked at the the nerdy gem "Yeah, that'll be great. Hey are you ok? You look sick."

"Me? Sick? I'm fine. Hey, look at the time, I gotta go." Then Pearl turned around and made a mad dash to her friends.

"Well, this sucks." Peridot said, holding a weeping Pearl in her arms.

"Yeah. Had I known Sapphire was going to pull something like that, I would have told you." Jet replied. The dark gem looked really sad. Pearl was a good friend and she just watched her get her heart crushed.

"But she kissed me." Pearl murmured.

"I know. We will figure all that out later." Peridot whispered back, stroking Pearls hair, "Come on Pearl. Let's go home."

Pearl wiped back a few tears and knocked on the door. After a couple of moments, Pearl heard some feet shuffling towards the door. The large door swung open and there stood Garnet, as beautiful as ever. Or as beautiful as one could get wearing black sweats and a tank top could get. Feeling her heart start to race, Pearl managed to get out a weak "Hello."

"Hey. Great day huh?" Garnet responded, looking out side, at another beautiful day.

"It sure is." Pearl replied, starting to get some of her confidence back. Garnet motioned with her hand, "Come on in, then."

Walking into the athletic gems house, Pearl started to make for the stairs, when Garnets hand reached out and stopped her. Looking over at Garnet, the taller gem asked "It's such a nice day. Want to study outside?"

"Um, sure. I'd love to." Pearl said. Soon she was following Garnet to their back yard.

"So just find a place to sit and I'll be right back. I need to grab my things." Garnet said, running back inside the house. Pearl sighed, then turned around to look at the backyard. Gasping, Pearl could not believe what she was seeing. Garnet's backyard was gorgeous. Standing on a large stone tiled patio with a another layer perched over her- allowing for shade - and in front of her was a large in ground pool, equipped with a little tiki bar and slide. Pearl all of a sudden became aware of just how luxurious Garnet's life was. Looking at a glass table to her right, Pearl sat her stuff down and sat in the matching chair that went along with it. Garnet came back as Pearl was pulling out her books and other supplies. Grabbing a chair, Garnet pulled up next to her fellow gem.

"Ok so today I thought we start off with history." Pearl told Garnet, opening up her book to the proper chapter. "So, can you tell me who started the Great Gem Movement of 1523 shard time?" Pearl asked, getting into her teacher mode. Even though she was still heartbroken, that would not stop her inner nerd from coming out and teaching her pupil. Groaning, Garnet struggled to produce an answer. Unlike her friend, school, well, to put it simply…..sucked.

"Umm...was it Diaspore?" Garnet guessed. Pearl shook her head. "No. It was Aquamarine. She led the movement for gem expansion and exploring the stars."

"Oh yeah. That was my second guess." Garnet shrugged. And so Pearl kept asking questions and while Garnet got some of them right, most ended up being wrong. Of course Garnet was being Garnet and wasn't stressing as much as she should've been. The monotone gem usually managed to find a way through. Pearl, on the other hand, was getting more and more frustrated with Garnets lack of trying and spaced out attitude.

"Was it 1783?" Garnet asked.

"No it wasn't. 1873." Pearl corrected. Staring at Garnet, she then added, "I told you to study Garnet. What happened? Why are you answering all of these wrong?"

"I did study." Garnet said with no emotion.

"For how long, might I ask?"

"Not very."

"Listen Garnet, you are going to fail if you don't try. And then you will make me look bad since I'm the one who taught you. I will not be made a laughing stock." Pearl seethed.

"I'm sorry Pearl." Garnet said, looking away. "I'll try harder for next time."

"Good!" Pearl snapped. Seeing Garnet flinch, she then asked in a calm voice "What were you doing all week that got you to not study?"

Garnet took a moment, gathering her thoughts. Finally deciding on what to say, she looked at Pearl and said "Not much. Basketball, a party, that night out with you and your friends." Garnet paused. "And thinking about you."