"You didn't have to come along you know. I told you I can do this myself." Peridot stated, staring at the traffic ahead of her with an irritated look on her face.

"Yeah right. You know how many times you've wandered off without us lately? Did any of those time work out?" Jasper said, rolling down her window to get some cool air. "I swear, your dad should hire us as your babysitters or somethin'. We should get paid for this shit."

"Hey! I'm over 18! I'm a legal adult! I'm not a little kid! You didn't have to come and supervise me!"

Jasper scoffed, rolling her eyes and staring out the window. "Then why don't you fucking act like it."

Peridot scowled, opening her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Lapis, who was sitting in the backseat.

"I fucking swear Jasper, we'll drop you off on the side of the road if you don't quit it. Now."

Jasper frowned, letting out an angry huff before leaning closer to the window, letting the wind blow in her face and buffer her hearing.

She didn't want to listen to them anymore.

Peridot sighed, leaning a little further back in her seat, hands gripping and ungripping the steering wheel.

The car slowed and stopped at a red light.

. . .

Peridot sighed, hanging her head low and staring at her kneees. ". . . I'm sorry."

Lapis nodded, offering Peridot a little smile. "It's fine, Peridot. You're trying, and we'll fix this. It's why we're here. We care, even if Jasper isn't one to admit it."

Jasper groaned, leaning to the side until her head bumped against the car door. "We've been talking about you and Jaune for fucking days. Let's talk about something else."

Peridot rolled her eyes. "Okay, like what?"

"How about how good Lapis looks in that dress?"

Lapis glared at Jasper through the rear view mirror, to which Jasper grinned in response.

"What? I'm just sayin'. You look good today."

"And you look like something I pulled out of my shower drain."

Jasper raised an eyebrow, putting a hand on top of her head. "You saying I need a haircut?"

Lapis shrugged. "It couldn't hurt. That mop on your head goes all the way down to your lower back."

Jasper scoffed and crossed her arms. "Well maybe while I'm at the barbers, you could head to McDonald's or lift some weights. You're one of the boniest things I've ever seen, right behind that girl who works with Peridork."

"Her name is Pearl, and her body is fine." Peridot stated bitterly.

Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you get all defensive about her? You were talkin' to me and making fun of her last week."

Peridot furrowed her eyebrows, a look of discomfort on her face. "Well uh, maybe I was . . . wrong. She's nice, and er . . . I made a promise to look out for her, and the others. . . So just, don't bring it up again, okay?"

Jasper stared at Peridot for a moment before shaking her head, turning the other way.

"You're a real piece of work."

"Yes. I am."

. . . .

Peridot glanced out her window, staring at a random front lawn, where a group of little kids ran around a sprinkler, spraying eachother with water guns and eating melted popsicles.

Peridot smiled. "Hey, remember that time we brought water balloons to school?"

Jasper blinked, a small smile slipping onto her face. "Yeah. We pelted those kids on the playground. One of 'em fell off the monkey bars. Some kid snatched our stash, and pretty much the entire class ganged up on us."

Jasper smiled at Lapis through the rear view mirror. "I wish we knew ya back then, you would've destroyed those guys."

Lapis grinned, rolling her eyes. "I would've destroyed you too. Who the hell brings water balloons to school?"

"Someone who had a bone to pick, that's who." Jasper stated, nodding to Peridot with a smirk.

Peridot shrugged. "Some clod stole my crayons. The only reasonable reaction was to attack them with water. They get wet socks, and no one gets seriously hurt."

"Except for the monkey bar kid."

"Yeah, that was a mistake."

Lapis snorted, bursting into a fit of laughter. "Y-you guys are fucking weirdos."

"That's why we were friends." Peridot stated, giving Lapis a bright-eyed grin through the mirror. "And you, my fellow weirdo, are our friend too."

Jasper laughed. "Congrats. You get to hang out with us. We're the fucking worst."

"You might be the worst, but i'm perfectly acceptable." Peridot said, a smug grin on her face.

"Oh yeah? How about your height? Or your weird hair? Or your glasses?"

"All of those things are what makes me great." Peridot stated pridefully.

"What about that cringey drama camp show fanfic you wrote?" Lapis offered, grinning as Peridot's smile turned into a look of horror.

"It's called 'Camp Pining Hearts'! And I wrote that a year ago! My writing has improved immensely!"

Lapis shrugged, taking on a smug smile herself. "You still wrote it. It's still valid."

Peridot huffed turning the car to the right and pulling into a gas station.

"Whatever. I need to fill up my tank." Peridot said, mumbling as she unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car.

"Wait."

Peridot stuck her head back in the car, watching as Jasper fished around in her pockets, handing Peridot a torn and wrinkled $5 bill.

"Get me somethin'. I don't care what."

Peridot sighed and pocketed the money, turning back to look at Lapis.

"You want anything?"

Lapis shrugged her bag off her shoulder, pulling out her wallet and handing Peridot $3.

"Just some water or something."

Peridot nodded and grabbed the money, slipping out of the car and shutting the door. After a few minutes of fiddling with the gas pump and payment options, she headed inside the gas station, leaving Jasper and Lapis to themselves.

". . . So, what'do you think about all this?" Jasper asked, dropping her head back to rest on the seat.

Lapis shrugged. ". . . I thought we weren't gonna talk about it."

"We're not. I'm just askin' for thoughts."

Lapis rolled her eyes, leaning forward against the drivers chair, resting her arms on it.

"I'm ready for it to be over with."

Jasper nodded, glancing out the window to her side, watching as a few people maneuvered around their cars, going in and out of the station.

"Same here. I don't fuckin' get why she's head over heels for this bitch. Peridot's putty in her hands and it's making me sick."

Lapis nodded, staring straight ahead with a blank face.

" . . . You know we're just big hypocrites , right?"

"The hell do you mean?"

"You know how long Peridot's had to put up with our shit? With our messed up crushes? For God's sake you broke her nose over it, and she practically lets me do what ever the hell I want around her. It's about time she put us through hell over something like this."

Jasper sat in silence for a moment, shutting her eyes and huffing.

". . . I really, really hate to admit it, but you've got a point. We shouldn't be complaining this much."

Jasper lazily opened her eyes, watching through the glass windows as people moved around inside the station. She spotted Peridot, standing on her tip toes to get a bottle of water from one of the refrigerated shelves. Jasper snickered, tapping Lapis's head and pointing to Peridot.

"Look at shorty, she's gonna knock everything over like that."

Lapis bit back a laugh, smiling as Peridot stopped, staring dumbfounded at the bottle of water that was one shelf too high for her to reach. She grabbed a bottle of soda from a lower shelf and attempted to bat and poke at the water, trying to make it fall.

Jasper and Lapis laughed a little harder as two strangers inside stopped to stare at their friend. After a moment, it looked like one of them offered Peridot assistance, but she yelled at them, causing them to back off, and she continued swinging at the bottle.

After another few painfully hilarious seconds, Peridot managed to knock the bottle down, a huge grin on her face as she picked it up off the floor, grinning at the strangers and walking off victoriously.

Jasper and Lapis busted out laughing, taking a moment to compose themselves before talking again.

"Yo- you know. . . " Jasper said through her dying laughter "We- we've got, like, a minute left till she comes back. We could make out."

Lapis elbowed Jasper's shoulder. "In your fucking dreams."

"Heh, you know it." Jasper grinned, watching as Lapis's face went red, hitting Jasper again.

"Ow! What!? I'm just tellin' the truth. If I can't be with you then I can at least joke about it. At least give me that. You get to hang all over Peridot all the time. That's not fair."

Lapis ran a hand through her hair, letting out a huff. "Alright, I get that. You can keep joking. Whatever."

The driver's seat door opened up, and Peridot stuck her head back inside, passing out the items stuffed in her arms.

"Alright, here's an orange soda and some pretzels." She said, handing over the items to Jasper.

"And a water and some licorice." she said, handing over the items to Lapis.

Peridot dropped her snacks, a coca cola and some gummy bears, in the driver's seat, leaving for a moment to take out the gas pump and shut the fuel tank.

Jasper leaned back in her seat, staring at Lapis with a smirk. "Last chance before she comes back." she teased.

Lapis glanced out the window to Peridot, then back at Jasper. With one quick movement, Lapis pressed her lips up against the corner of Jasper's mouth, before she quickly got back in her seat, watching with a blank expression as Peridot got back in the car, shutting the door and grabbing her own snacks.

Peridot pulled a one dollar bill and some change out of her pocket, holding it out for Jasper while she buckled her seat belt.

"Here's your change back." she said, waiting for Jasper to take the money. After a few seconds, Peridot looked up to see Jasper staring at Lapis, wide-eyed and shocked.

Peridot raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth from Lapis to Jasper. ". . . Did I miss something?"

Lapis shook her head. "Nothing important."

Peridot stared at the two of them skeptically, but eventually dropped the money on Jasper's thigh, starting up the car and pulling out of the gas station.

Once Peridot turned her back, Lapis gave Jasper a wicked smirk, mouthing out a 'how's that for fair?' to her.

Jasper, after another moment of blank shock, finally let a small grin slip onto her face, turning back around in her seat and picking up her change.

The three of them were quiet the rest of the trip.

"Is this it?" Jasper asked, staring out the window. There were a few trees in the way, but the ocean was becoming more and more visible from where they were. A few little houses were beginning to dot up in the distance, the the town water tower was coming up.

"Yeah, I think so." Peridot said, driving up a little further until they were driving through the neighborhood. Lapis was first to point out the ferris wheel, discovering that the little town had it's own amusement park. Discussion of visiting it ensued, but was shot down, considering the lack of money the three of them had all together, which needed to be saved for food and gas. Off to the left, the three of them located the town's board walk, along with a parking lot behind one of the stores. Peridot parked the car, and the three of them stepped out, looking around the bright little town.

"So, what's you're plan?" Lapis asked, looking back at Peridot.

"Well i'm starving, i'mma get myself something to eat." Jasper said, looking around at the buildings surrounding them. "Think theres a donut place up ahead. Either that or we could grab some pizza."

Peridot waved her off. "You guys can go get food. I'm gonna start looking around for Jaune."

"That's a stupid idea." Jasper said.

"You wanna hang out and walk around with me for an hour?" Peridot asked sarcastically.

"Good point. Do what you want. Just come get us if you find her."

"Okay. I'll meet with you guys at the car when you're done."

Lapis nodded, walking alongside Jasper. "Alright, just call us if you need us."

"Yeah, we'll bring you somethin' back." Jasper called out.

Peridot watched as the two of them walked away, making her way in the opposite direction.

There were a lot of annoying things that Peridot could list off right now. The sunburn forming on her face, the sand stuck in her socks, the aimless walk around an unfamiliar town, and nearly getting run over by a bunch of kids.

"I'm so sorry!" The kid said, picking himself up off the ground and holding a hand out to Peridot. "Here, let me help you."

Peridot rubbed at her now skinned palms, trying to brush the sand and gravel off them. She had been turning the corner when two kids had run out from behind it, a boy with black curly hair, and a girl with long hair and glasses. They apologized profusely and helped Peridot to her feet, asking if she was alright.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Peridot stated, mildly irritated. It took her a few moments before she recognized the boy.

Steven. His name is Steven.

There were a couple of pictures of the kid online, when she was in the middle of finding Rose, and on Greg's online profiles. He had his own little accounts, but Peridot had ignored them. She didn't need to know about him.

"We're really sorry. We weren't looking where we were going. Are your hands okay?" The girl asked.

Peridot glanced down at her palms. A little scratched up, but not bleeding. She was fine.

"I have band aids with me if you nee-"

"No, it's fine. Thank you."

There was a moment of silence between them before Steven spoke up.

"My name's Steven! And this is Connie!" He said, gesturing to his friend, who shyly smiled back.

"Who are you?"

"Oh. Peridot. Nice to meet you."

"Are you a tourist? I haven't seen you around before."

"Uh, sorta. I'm just here looking for someone."

"Maybe we can help?" Connie offered. "It's the least we can do for knocking you over like that."

"Thanks, but it's fine. I really don't need any-"

"Nonsense! You're our friend now! We wanna help you!"

Peridot's expression became confused and uncomfortable. Connie let out a nervous laugh.

"L-let's not make her uncomfortable. It's fine, we can go."

"But I wanna help her first!" Steven insisted, looking back up to Peridot. "Who are you looking for? What do they look like?"

"Um. . . well." Peridot wanted to shut him down again, tell him it was fine and keep searching herself. But the kid just kept staring at her with big, starry eyes. He just seemed so friendly. He really wanted to help. . .

Peridot sighed, giving in to their offer. "She's really tall, short blonde hair, usually wears a yellow necklace, dresses kinda fancy."

Steven nodded at each detail, racking his brain for a match. "Um . . . Sadie has short blonde hair, but she's not really tall. . . um. . . "

Peridot waited impatiently, glancing around the area as the two kids thought and murmured to each other.

"Oh! Oh! I think we saw someone like her a little while ago! We were by um . . . uh . . . " Steven bumped his knuckes against his head, trying to get himself to remember.

"We were by Funland!" Connie chimed in, smiling as Steven's face lit up.

"Yeah! She was going into Funland! It's the amusement park over there!" Steven said, pointing in a certain direction. "Just look for the ferris wheel. It's super easy to spot."

Peridot nodded, looking back down at the kids, a little surprised at their helpfulness. "Wow, thanks for the help."

"No problem!" Steven said, running around Peridot, his hand in Connie's as they passed by her, waving.

"Bye Peridot! It was nice to meet you!" Steven called out.

"I hope you find who you're looking for!" Connie added.

And with that, the kids were gone, and Peridot headed off towards the ferris wheel.