Jasper released a growl as she felt something poke the side of her stomach none-too-gently. She rolled over so that her stomach was covered, however the finger simply started to poke her back. Another growl erupted from her lips but this time the sound was more from frustration than anger. The quartz gem peeked one eye open and read the clock that the brat insisted he set up on the small table next to her couch. 9:45 A.M. Jasper had only received four hours of sleep without a night terror waking her, the longest since she managed to get once she left the hospital. The night terrors plagued her but Lion helped her, as much as it annoyed the quartz gem. Jasper found that she could go back to sleep after waking from a night terror faster every night and that she could sleep for longer periods of time before waking up roaring and screaming into Lion's mane. This gave her hope that one day she could have a fully restful night.

The same finger stabbed into her lower back and Jasper finally lifted her head to glare down at the hand raised to poke her again. For a moment, Jasper thought it was Dr. Maheswaranh coming to check up on her, but she realized the girl was far too small and young. She raked her brain to recall why the human looked so familiar. When she couldn't find the memory, she settled on hissing at the girl and at Lion who was sitting next to the mystery girl, staring at her with something akin to pride.

"Jasper, you really need to stop that," Pearl said. "It's rude and immature."

Jasper leaned up further and looked into the kitchen. Pearl was there, staring down at her with some leafy vegetable in one hand and a blender container in the other. Jasper hissed at her too but she got up into a sitting position on the couch, pushing away the blanket she was using. That was another thing that was new after being released from the bubble. Jasper could now feel cold and hot. She heard the human chuckle as the image of a crying cat in a spaceship flying away from an exploding planet was revealed.

"I didn't even know they made Cookie Cat merchandise," the human girl said.

"Cookie Cat?" Jasper asked, raising her arms high above her head to stretch them. She heard several satisfactory cracks in her joints and her claws extend to scratch at the air. Unfortunately, the crystal gems had plastic wrapped around the couch so Jasper could no longer dig her claws into the surface while stretching, lest the horrific screeching noise offended her sensitive ears.

"Um yeah, Cookie Cat is, or rather was, a type of ice cream sandwich," the human explained. "They weren't really that popular and were discontinued a few years back." She bent down and grabbed the blanket as if talking to a once-corrupted gem was the most normal thing to do in the room. She folded the blanket neatly and placed it on the coffee table.

Jasper watched the human girl and she finally recalled where she knew her. "I know you," she said. "You're that human that fused with the brat on the beach a few months back."

"And kicked your butt," the human girl added, earning a warning growl from the quartz gem. "My name is Connie by the way." Her eyes narrowed and her spine straightened in a show of strength. "You almost killed me."

The quartz gem raised an eyebrow and shrugged, a hand raising to cover a yawn. She watched as Lion climbed the stairs to lay on Steven's messy and empty bed. At least she didn't have to deal with the brat's insistent laughing, Jasper thought. "I have almost killed everyone in this temple," she stated matter-of-factly.

Connie cleared her throat, a look of disbelief crossing her features at how calm Jasper was. "Well, anyway, I'm here because of this." She reached into the backpack she brought with her and got out a book.

Jasper looked down at the presented book. It was blue with funky words on it but that was not what caught her attention. There was what appeared to be some sort of humanoid feline wearing a ridiculous drooping hat. Jasper took the book and studied the abomination. "What is this?" she asked with a disgusted sneer.

"It's a book," Connie said, tapping the cover once. "My mom told me that you couldn't read." She must have saw the confusion on Jasper's face because she explained a moment later. "My mom is your doctor. She took care of you."

The quartz gem looked at the human closer and could now see the resemblance between Dr. Maheswaranh and the runt. Jasper wondered for a moment if she was a gem that simply didn't have enough material to create a fully developed gem like Peridot but she realized that she didn't care. The runt was a runt, simple as that. She looked back at the book and opened it. The abomination was on nearly every page, along with two children and two … blue-haired creatures.

"I asked Pearl and my mother for permission and they agreed to let me teach you how to read," Connie finished when Jasper closed the book.

Jasper looked up at Connie and scoffed at her. She tossed the book onto the coffee table and laid back down, throwing an arm over her eyes to block the light streaming from the windows. "I am not going to learn from a human maggot." She could hear the Crystal Gem march over to her and felt a harsh prod on her chest. She raised her arm slightly to glare at Pearl.

"You will not call Connie a human maggot," Pearl said. She crossed her arms and nodded to the book laying forgotten on the table. "You need to learn how to read and Connie was nice enough to offer her services. The least you can do is show some gratitude and try to learn." She didn't even wait for Jasper to respond, she simply walked back and rummaged through the refrigerator to get various ingredients. "While you're reading, I will make you your smoothie."

Jasper grimaced at the thought of having to choke down whatever Pearl thought passed as a smoothie. She opened her mouth to retort that she couldn't be forced to drink anything the Crystal Gem made for her but instead she let lose a low hiss when she saw Connie sit down on the couch from the corner of her eye. A human runt was sitting on her couch. "Mine," she growled.

Connie looked as if she was about to take the easy road and get off the couch but after a moment she straightened her back again and reached out to grab the book. Her voice trembled at first but as Connie continued to talk, it became steadier and stronger. "If you aren't getting up, we will just have to share the couch while I'm here."

The quartz gem stared at the human girl. She was not even half her size and Jasper could easily shatter her from the face of this wretched planet. But, she still met her eyes with a will that said she wasn't going to back down from this. Jasper was impressed, she could definitely see the resemblance between the doctor and her creation. The runt most likely inherited her bravery when Dr. Maheswaranh created her. She glanced down at the book being clenched in Connie's hands, her knuckles bulging out from the tight grip. Jasper gave the barest of nods and Connie's hands immediately relaxed as a grin spread across her face.

"Don't worry, Jasper," Connie said. "Pearl told me that gems, even quartz gems, learn exceedingly fast so we only have to suffer each other's company for a few weeks." She handed Jasper the book and reached into the backpack to grab the other copy.

Jasper looked down at the cover and tilted her head. "What is that?" She pointed at the thing on the cover. It looked like a feline creature tried to fuse with a human, but it went horribly wrong. It didn't even have five fingers. "Is this… thing deformed?"

Connie glanced down at her own book and her lips quirked up into a smile. Soon, small chuckles escaped her as she answered. "No, that's one of the main characters." She reached over to point at the creature on Jasper's book. "His name is The Cat in the Hat. He looks like that because it's the author's art style."

"It's terrible," Jasper grunted. The quartz gem thumbed through the book and found more strange creatures drawn there. A whirling sound made Jasper look behind her and saw that Pearl was utilizing some sort of contraption. She witnessed the brat use it once or twice before and knew that the bigger foods went in it and some sort of liquid substance comes out. Jasper grimaced at the green color of the slush that the Crystal Gem was making, knowing she would have to consume it if she wanted to stay in this form.

"That looks very unappetizing," Connie said. Jasper looked back down at the human who shrugged. "Basic rule of thumb of food is that the more unappetizing something is, the healthier it is." She gestured back to the book. "Let's get started." Connie pointed at the words and read, "The Cat and the Hat. Okay, now you say it back."

Jasper glared down at her own book, the symbols meaning nothing to her. "This is stupid," she growled. "What can I possibly do if I even learned how to read. Jaspers were created to fight for and protect their Diamonds," the quartz gem trailed off in the end. She pushed her bangs out of her face and grimaced as one of her claws clicked against a horn. "Reading is useless for me."

Connie shook her head with a disappointed sigh. "Reading is not a useless skill, even for someone as physical as you." A finger tapped at the cover of the book. "Just get through this and I'll leave you to your couch."

A soft growl left Jasper's throat. "The Cat in the Hat," she grounded out, feeling ridiculous that she was allowing her time to be wasted with something as trivial as this. She could hear the gunk that Pearl had blended being slushed into a cup in the background and tried to prepare herself to swallow whatever abomination Pearl had made her.

Connie's mouth tilted up into another smile as she nodded. "Great," she said while pointing at one of the words on the cover. "Now, what is this word?"

"I have no fucking clue," Jasper said, her eyes going back to the cover.

"Don't swear in front of Connie," Pearl barked, marching over to the two on the couch with a glass full of the green gunk she created. The Crystal Gem handed Jasper the smoothie and frowned when the quartz gem sneered at the scent. "You have to drink it all, Jasper and don't complain."

Jasper took a sip of the gunk and gagged immediately after. She was tempted to throw it across the room or at least flush it down the toilet but Jasper knew that Pearl would simply make her another one, all the while squawking at her. Jasper forced herself to take another sip and placed the cup on the stand next to the alarm clock. She stared pointedly at Pearl who let out an annoyed breath before going back to the counter and sitting down on one of the stools to watch the two from the kitchen. The quartz gem rolled her eyes as she settled back on the couch with the stupid book. Jasper ignored the snickering from the human runt. She knew that not being able to read should mean nothing to her, absolutely nothing at all, but for some reason the fact that the human runt could read rather than her irritated the quartz gem. She was supposed to be the perfect quartz warrior and having a human being better at something than her was unacceptable. Jasper pointed at the word, "Cat," she said.

Connie shook her head. "Close, but the word is The." She pointed at the word after the one she said. "This is Cat." She opened the book and gestured for Jasper to do the same.

For three hours, quartz gem and human sat on the couch, reading the book painstakingly slow. Several times, Jasper gave in to her urge to snap her teeth at Connie when the human laughed as the warrior mispronounced a word or gagged at the taste of the smoothie, and immediately being nagged at by Pearl after for acting more like an animal than gem. But the two managed to get to the end of the story without a fight erupting or anything being broken. Jasper slammed the book shut when she finished the last page and tossed it back on the living room table. She reached out to take the cup only to find that it was empty.

"Thank the stars," Jasper muttered, unable to decide if she was more grateful that she finished the book or that she no longer had to drink the green gunk. She glanced down at the human and noticed that she looked out of place, apparently unsure of what to do now that the quartz finished the book. "You're still on my couch," Jasper growled, however it was less of a threat and more of a statement.

Connie more jumped off the couch than stood up from it. "Oh! Um, good job today," she said with an awkward grin. She placed her own copy of her book inside her backpack and shrugged it on. "I'll come back tomorrow with another book that we can work on."

Jasper grimaced at the words. "Another book?" she said with disdain laced in her voice.

"Going through one book doesn't mean you can read," Connie said. "Although, it's really amazing that you could read the last page by yourself, even if it took a few minutes."

Connie walked to the door before turning around and rushing over to the quartz gem. She quickly unzipped her backpack and rummaged around it for a few moments before she pulled out another book, this one much more thick than the last and without a drawing on the front. She gave it to Jasper and the gem flipped through some of the pages.

"There are no drawings," Jasper commented.

Another chuckle escaped Connie as she nodded. "That's because it's an actual novel." She gestured to the children's book on the table. "Think of it as a more advanced book. You can use it to practice when I'm not here." Connie reached over and tapped at the cover of the novel. "It's called Fangs of Love. I got it three days ago after Steven told me about the movie adaption but my mom said that it was too mature for me. Apparently, they toned down a lot of themes for the movie." Connie left after that and almost ran into Garnet who chose that moment to open the beach house door.

Garnet stepped aside so Connie could slip through before entering the beach house. She nodded in greeting to Jasper before walking over to the kitchen and writing something down on a sheet of paper. The fusion showed it to Pearl and the Crystal Gem read it with a deep frown.

Jasper looked at the novel and opened it to a random page. She could only make out a few of the words and the rest were still just scribbles. It took Jasper a few tries before she realized that she could not make sense of the sentences with the limited vocabulary she possessed. For some reason, the fact that she could not read the book irritated Jasper and she made it a goal to learn how to read the novel, if only to shove it in Pearl's face.

She placed the novel on the counter and turned her head at the sound of the temple door opening. Jasper caught sight of Pearl entering the temple, the paper wadded up in a clenched fist. She looked over to Garnet, wondering what the fusion could possibly have told Pearl to upset her so much. Garnet met her gaze and only gave her a thumbs up.

Jasper grumbled under her breath and grabbed her cup, once again realizing it was empty. She placed the cup back on the counter and laid down on the couch to resume sleeping, growling at how Connie's scent still lingered on her cushions. The gem made a mental note to have the reading sessions outside and away from her precious couch.