Well, we're finally here, almost at the half point of what is quickly becoming my favorite story that I've ever worked on. I'm always happy whenever it's time for me to update this story because I get closer and closer to the scenes that I really want to write, such as this one. Steven's a fun character to write for and I hope I get to make more stories with him in the future. As stated before, this is the chapter I've been wanting to write since Day 1 of this fanfic and I do believe that Steven is the kind of kid who would react this way because, well, he's Steven. How else would he react? Anyway, glad people are enjoying the story and I hope you have fun reading this one!

The Girl in the Green and White Dress

Saturday, the day of the Boardwalk Parade. The alarm clock rang 9am as it usually did and Steven awoke immediately. From there, it was a direct repeat of the past couple days when he rose out of bed to help his father with the float. Shower; check, change; check, burrito; check. He was indeed ready to go.

"Guys, I'm ready to go now!" Steven shouted as he was heading out the front door, hoping that the Gems would hear him and looking forward to seeing this as much as he was.

"Guys?" He called out again, no response. Silence filled the air, something he immediately noticed as soon as he stopped moving.

They must be out on that mission, he thought. His went lowered as he turned around to face the door. Something caught his eyes however on his left side. It was a note neatly folded and standing idly. Steven picked it up and read what was on it.

Steven,

We apologize for not being able to join you

as the situation has gotten a bit worse as our

search for the amulet continues. We urge you not

to worry as we will be completely alright. However,

we are taking the time to let you know that we love

you and your mother would be proud of you. Have fun

at the parade and we shall see you when you get home.

Signed,

The Crystal Gems

Garnet Amethyst Pearl

Steven's smile came back as well as a single tear forming on his right eye. He usually doesn't hear stuff that sentimental from them, usually it's because they're always on missions or busy with other things involving their missions or they simply just don't understand him half the time. Pearl is usually one who mothers him all the time and makes sure he's safe, even if it's from the slightest things possible. Amethyst always plays with him, roughhouses with him, shows him cool stuff from their missions, even if they were a tad bit dangerous, and is the closest he's ever had to the coolest big sister ever. As for Garnet, apart from all the morals and ethics she teaches him about himself and anything else, he didn't know much about her. There were times where she never said much, other times where she would lose her temper at the other Gems in front of Steven, unintentional of course, and then there were the times where she could be a total sweetheart to him. Those were the times he appreciated the most because he got to know her a bit more than any of the other times, not as a Gem however, but as a mother. Would his mom have been the same? He didn't know, but he always wanted to. Maybe one day. Anyway, he places the letter in his back pocket and exited the house.

The Boardwalk was getting lively as the citizens started making their way towards it slowly filling it up. There were venders, balloons, popcorn, cotton candy, the usual. Steven could see the crowd a-growing and it was to stretch from here to Shellpoint, the town literally next door to Beach City, about a mile away. In fact, some of them might have been from there, because they didn't look recognizable to him. Then again, he didn't know everybody in Beach City, something he'd have to put on a to do list at some point.

Steven looked at his invisible watch on his right arm, invisible because he didn't really have one and thought maybe he had some time to kill before joining his dad and the others, so he made his way down through the sort of but not really maddening crowd .His father had his getup so he would have to change when he got there, definitely looking forward to wearing it again and showing it off. His eyes scanned the public, maybe it was gonna be a lot bigger than last year's, it was certainly looking so to him. He occasionally went to Shellpoint, mostly with his dad, so he didn't know everyone there, or anyone for that matter. Still, it would be nice to see someone from there be a customer to everything this town had to offer, it'd be like exploring new territory. Steven made his way onto the front behind the rope separating the crowd from the streets and got a good view of the crowd on the other side. This is how he always saw the parade, as an onlooker. He had this all pictured in his head but here he was now actually getting the much big picture of what was to come. His head turned to the right and slowly panned its way to the left imagining his float approaching and making its down the boardwalk and...and...

He noticed something, on the other side of the street, far left. A glow. Not a very bright glow, but it was pink. It looked...it looked like a glow bracelet, a pink one, and it also looked a little too big for the hand it was on, very petite and delicate. Steven moved sideways making his way through a few people, saying excuse me a lot as he tried to get a closer look. The hand the bracelet belonged to was to a girl, a brown-colored skin girl with puffy hair that went down to her waist. She had a green and white dress on complete with a green bow tie and a blue sash around her waist, along with salmon-colored boots. She also wore glasses with pink lenses and the eyes in which those glasses were seeing through were looking elsewhere. If it wasn't one side, it was in the opposite direction. Was she lost? There wasn't a smile on her, was something wrong? She seemed uncertain, why was that? Also, who was she? He'd never seen her before. Was she new? Was she from here, or maybe Shellpoint? So many questions and yet not knowing where to start. He didn't even have a word for how she was. Pretty however came up, for he'd never seen anyone like her before. Could he go up to her? Did he have time? What would he say? What would he do? What would he-

"Steven!" A familiar voiced called out from behind him catching him off guard. He turned around.

"Dad!"

"Where've you been? We've been waiting for you."

"Just right here seeing the crowd."

"Well, you'll be seeing the crowd from a much better perspective, remember?" He scruffed his son's hair making him chuckle.

"Now come on, we gotta get you ready."

He held his son's hand and started walking in the opposite direction. Steven turned around to see if he could still see her. He could, just tiny glimpses of her.

Steven was ready. He had the jumpsuit on, his hair coated in suds, and he had his behind seated on the sponge bed atop the vehicle. There weren't any seat belts on it but he tested it a lot with his dad the day before barely going 10-15 mph and he was fine.

"You ready?!" his dad shouted from below.

"Ready when you are!" Steven replied.

"Scared?"

"Are you kidding?"

And with that, Greg started the van. Simultaneously, everyone else did. First, the marching band started playing and steadily began marching, and then...

"Here we go!"

Greg put the van in drive and slowly started moving right behind the other vehicles, the ones behind him followed. The moment they turned left, that was when the parade commenced. Every business was there in float form; you had Lars and Sadie's donut car promoting the Big Donut, the Pizza family's Pizza-mobile for Fish Stew Pizza, the Frymans' fry-mobile in the shape of a basket of fries for their business, along with their unhappy son Peedee walking along the float in the Frybo suit, and plenty of other floats promoting their stuff before finally getting to the car wash-mobile. Steven was so giddy, he couldn't even move. Stars were in his eyes and he held his giggles in with his hands. He couldn't believe he was up here. The people were looking at him and Steven at them not knowing what to do or where to start, that is until a soap sud nearly fell on Steven's eye. He wiped it however before it could damage his good eye.

"Everything okay up there?" Greg shouted from inside the vehicle.

"Yeah!" replied Steven.

"Then what are you waiting for? The crowd is awaiting your welcome! Start waving!"

Oh yeah, Steven thought. He took a deep breath and raised his right arm, rotating his hand left and right like a fan. Before he could smile however, he tried to keep a pattern in his head of when to turn his head and which hand to wave, so he counted to five, first out loud, then in his head. Now it was able to come out. He tried to keep the suds out of his face as much as he could, wishing his dad could've gave him a small towel or something, but he wasn't going to let that bother him now for he had a job to do.

They were turning towards the Boardwalk and the sight overwhelmed the boy as he saw in front of him an entire array of people on each side of the street as it stretched all the way down. For Steven, it was his moment in the sun. People were literally looking up to him as he waved hello to them. Kids were happy, adults were happy, dogs were happy, and he was doing this. It was exactly how he pictured it, right to the marching band playing up front, adding the soundtrack to his moment. It was almost like a dream. Maybe more people would come up to him and tell him how awesome he looked or how cool the van looked. It'd definitely be something he'd be looking for...

There she was again, the girl in the green and white dress, right as Steven turned his head to the right. His smile got a bit bigger but his waving stayed at the appropriate speed same. He noticed she was getting off her cell phone and looked up at the oncoming float...and the boy on top of said float.

Time slowed down for Steven as they both locked eyes, everyone but her disappearing in sight, his heart skipping a few beats. He noticed once again the lack of smile and wondered why was that. Perhaps it had something to do with that phone call she just got. Could there be some way he could help? Maybe he could talk to her. Maybe. The thought of cheering this one girl up made him feel confident in himself and it was something he would be looking forward to once the parade ended. He continued waving in her direction, hoping maybe a response from this pretty girl. Her mouth steadily formed something resembling a smile and her right hand let go of the rope for a moment for her to wave back timidly at the nice boy on the float.

She's waving at me, she's waving at me! His heart went crazy, bells went off in his mind and he was fifty kinds of happy inside, even if his face was only showing one of those kinds.

"Steven! Steven!" the crowd on the other side of him was calling out his attention immediately snapping Steven out of it. Oh, right. His head turned back to the left and waved at all the good people he missed. Maybe I can get another wave at her before she disappears, he thought. Just one more. With that his head went to the right again towards her direc-

She was gone.

Where'd she go? Then he saw it, and his eyes went big.

The bracelet!

The bracelet she had on was lying on the sidewalk. He gasped and turned his head around attempting to spot her, wherever she'd gone. Then he did the unthinkable...he got up and ran to the end using the cloth as support as he tried to get down from the van.

"Steven, what are you doing?!" Greg shouted having heard the footsteps from atop his vehicle. Then he did the unthinkable...he braked...hard.

The tires skid and Steven let go of the cloth, the sponge catching his fall, popping a few balloons in the process, but bouncing him onto the pavement.

The float right behind Steven's was Mr. Smiley's. He screamed as soon as he saw the kid and braked hard as well, nearly colliding with him.

Steven opened his eyes and gasped, the bracelet. He lifted himself back up and ran into its direction. The shocked crowd made room for him as he dodged the rope and picked up the fallen hand piece. His eyes and head scanned and panned all around in panic, hoping for something, anything resembling the girl in the green dress. He stopped scanning as his eyes spotted the center alley and ran in that direction. He heard his name being called behind him but he paid no mind to it. Right now, he was on a mission.

As he reached the end, his head continued to whirl in opposite directions. Then he saw something; a girl on a bike, the same girl! She was already on it, pedaling to her destination.

"Hey, wait!" Steven called out, trying to run after her. However, since this was the first time his stubby legs actually tried running more than he usually does, which is never, they gave out, slowing him down.

"Wait!" he panted, but it was too late. She already had a head start.

Steven sat across from Mayor Dewey's office still donning the jumpsuit and the suds in his hair dry and crusty. He could hear loud gibberish coming from inside the office as he looked down on the floor playing with his hands not knowing what to think. Speaking of which, what was he thinking? He just wanted to do the right thing...for someone he's never even met. A lot of questions went through his mind; how mad was Mayor Dewey? How mad was everyone else? Was his dad mad at him? Would he ground him? Can he ground him? Most importantly, who was that girl? Would he ever see her again? She seemed like a nice person, at least he hoped she was nice and not just pretending. Nah, she couldn't have been. She waved at him, which meant a lot to him. She was probably lonely. Poor girl, and now she was gone. He looked down at the ground and sighed.

After a while, the door to the office opened and a down looking Greg exited.

"Dad, I'm so sorry." Steven said trying to look up at his father.

"It's okay, Steven." sighed Greg. "Why don't you go on home? I'll take care of this."

Tears nearly came out of Steven's eyes as he heard those words. He didn't want to leave his father with his burden, but he didn't want to argue with him either. He got off of his seat and let his father sit down, then slowly made his way to the front door.

"It was a girl, wasn't it?"

Steven froze just as his hand was barely touching the doorknob. He turned around to see his father, shock covering his face.

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"Oh, come on, Steven. No one jumps out of a moving parade float for just anybody!" Greg conjured up the best smile he could, hoping this somewhat newfound revelation would get something out of his son.

"She dropped something." Steven said, still looking at the ground. "I tried to give it back to her."

"Did you?"

"No."

Greg lifted his palm. "Do you mind?"

Steven looked up and saw his dad, not knowing what to think of his curiosity. After a few seconds on uncertainty, he walked towards him, hand in pocket and pulled out the glowing pink bracelet, handing it to his father.

Greg studied the hand piece, rather admiring it. A chuckle escaped him, much to Steven's surprise.

"She must be quite an interesting gal in order for you to do all this for her." he said. "Between you and me, I'd keep this safe in the freezer so it'll last longer. Just in case." Greg winked and placed the bracelet back in Steven's hand. "I hope you find her."

Steven smiled, letting one of the tears fall from his eyes. "Thanks Dad."

"I'll see you later, okay kiddo?"

Steven nodded, then turned around and exited the building.

Steven got home and stumbled inside. He was tired but he still felt a bit happy at the fact that he wasn't gonna be torn apart. Well, not by his dad however. What did the town think of him? Would they understand? He hoped. He knew Lars and Sadie would be understanding. Well, mostly Sadie. Should he tell the gems? Eh, maybe. They wouldn't understand. He'd just say that he had a good time and entertained everyone with his good charms and stuff. Anyway, he took off the jumpsuit, washed off the dry suds in his hair, and got into some fresh layers of the usual wearing. Before he went back downstairs however, he went into the jumpsuit pocket and pulled out the bracelet, thankfully still glowing. He beamed with it as he glanced at it, and sighed.

"One day."

He went down the stairs, not keeping his eyes off of the hand piece. He thought about what his dad said about keeping it in the freezer. Would that work? Only one way to find out. He ran into the kitchen, heading straight for the refrigerator. He opened the freezer and put it as far as he could in the back but still keeping it visible. He glanced at it once last time before closing it, the smile on his face not going away any time soon.

"See you later."

A/N: Just one more chapter and then it's on to Connie's side of the story. Also, I'll be adding some changes to a couple of the chapters; both stuff I forgot to add for continuity as well as a brand new song written by a friend of mine who will most definitely be getting credited so be on the lookout for that if you wish to reread this at some point. :)

Anyway, onwards and upwards!