"Wake up Hope," Aunt Cassie said in her usual cheery voice. "Time to start the day!" She pulled away the sheets to reveal Hope snuggling close to her rabbit. She was already dressed in a plaid skirt with a white blouse for her job at the library. "Come on...It's not going to be that bad."

Hope just groaned. "We are living in the worst house in town. It's that bad. For once in your life can't you be realistic and accept the fact that nothing is going to get better."She snatched the sheet from her aunt and rolled away. "If you want to be a fool, just go on without me.I'm 20 years old. I'm not your pet. "

Aunt Cassie stood silent. Then sighed. "Alright. I got word that there's a restaurant nearby." She placed cash by the bed. "I have to go but here's some money for you." She left. The creaking grew loud as she went down the stairs. When the door was closed, Hope slept a little while longer.

A few minutes later, Hope got up from her bed and changed to what she had originally worn on the day of arrival. A grey t-shirt with a nightingale on it and jeans. She put on her scarf, took the money and headed out the door. She was glad she could go alone. At least no one would bother her. She wrote down the address to make sure she didn't get lost.

She got far only two blocks before she found the restaurant she was looking for. The sign read: "Alic's Breakfast Place." It was small and resembled a 1950s diner. She was about to walk in when she swung the door and heard an "OW!" Self-conscious, Hope immediately looked down. "I'm so sorry! Are you-" she stopped. She was face to face with a little creature that was light blue and resembled an ice creature from a christmas its forehead was a light blue gem. "Ok?"

The little creature rubbed her head and got up. "Yes, I'm fine. I just wanted to see if my friend arrived. We were going to try some wonderful breakfast items together with the money Pearl gave us."

"Oh...Um...I guess I should move out of the way so you could look." Hope backed away from the door only to find another girl standing behind her. She was pink from head to toe and had a ballerina outfit. She had a scar on her right eye. She also had a round gemstone in the area where her navel is. "Oh Hello. You must be new here. Never seen a human like you around her before."

"Yeah," Hope said. She unconsciously placed her hand over her hidden gem. It was always itchy when she had placed her scarf over it, but she was used to it. "I just moved here with my aunt. M-my name's Hope."

The strange girl smiled. "My name's Volleyball and this is my friend Larimar." She gestured to the little ice creature behind Hope. "We were going to have breakfast together to learn some of the customs of humans such as eating. Would you please join us?"

"Actually, I-" Hope spoke. Trying to talk her way out of a social gathering. She hated those with a passion. It was always about boys and finding a dress for prom. She would rather be home alone or just wait for it to be over so she could go home.

Larimar grabbed her hand. "Come on! It'll be fun!" She pulled Hope in before she could protest and set her down on a nearby booth. Volleyball joined them and sat next to Larimar. They all began looking at their menus. "Oooh! There's so many nice choices here. I think I'll do an Ohm-lete."

Hope quickly looked into hers. Larimar was right. There were a lot of good choices. However, she better just stick to one serving of food. I'll just go with pancakes. They're cheaper. She tapped her foot quickly hoping that the waitress would come to take their order. Her heart was thundering in her chest. She just wanted to be out of there. She breathed out a sigh of relief when the waitress appeared and asked what they would like to drink.

"Apple Juice for me. Oh! Can I have an Ohm-lete please?" Larimar answered.

"Orange Juice. As for food, I would like to have some french toast with scrambled eggs, fruit and some sausages please." Volleyball said.

"Water for me. Pancakes without sugar or butter." Hope answered. She also wanted sausages, hash browns and an extra cheesy omelet. However, she didn't have a job yet and didn't want to bleed her aunt dry.

"Are you sure you don't want anything else?" Larimar said. Her face contorted with deep concern. "You seem like you want more than that."

"I would, but it seems too much for what I have right now." Hope said. Her cheeks turned bright red at that. Normally she would know better than to talk about money problems, but she was too hungry and nervous to think straight.

"If that's a problem, then we can help," Volleyball said. "What else would you like?"

Hope began to list the other food items she wanted for breakfast before she could stop herself. She blushed harder. Her mouth went dry and she had a hard time breathing. What now?! What do I say? Her thoughts spun around the times where she tried to speak like a normal person, but it would always end in disaster. When the waitress left, she took some slow, deep breaths to calm down.

"So," Volleyball asked. "When did you get here?"

"Yesterday. Had to clean up the house before officially moving in."

"What does your house look like?" Larimar asked.

"Not really impressive I can tell you that much. A real estate agent conned us."

Hope had managed to talk as she could before breakfast arrived. She found herself a little at peace with talking with these two. As far as she knew, both Volleyball and Larimar were attending classes at this place called Little Homeschool. They seem to get the hang of what they wanted to do with their lives. Must be nice. She thought bitterly. There was no way she would ever belong to a place like that. She wanted to be an artist but money was always blocking that desire. In all her life she was taught one thing: You must do a more successful business in order to get by in life because desire is meaningless. No one cares about you.

Her mood immediately changed when their orders arrived. Hope nearly drooled at the sight and smell of the food. She instinctively dug in. Enjoying the fluffy texture of the pancakes and the gooeyness of the American cheese. She had to drink some water to avoid burning her mouth. In her mind, it has been a long time since she had a big breakfast and it was when Aunt Cassie had a huge pay day. Hope laid against the soft cushion of the booth.

"Oohhh!" Larimar sighed as she sank in a chair. "That was so yummy! I hope I get a chance to learn how to make cupcakes for the children." She smiled with content.

"I can see why Amyphest enjoys it so much," Volleyball said. She wiped her lips of the grease from the sausages. She noticed the confused look on Hope's face. "She's one of the teachers at Little Homeschool. She helps gems like us learn how to have freetime."

Hope looked at them weird. "Gems? Soooo, sorry if I'm being rude, but...you guys aren't actually human?" Just as she said this a realization slowly clicked into her brain. Volleyball had called her human. If she was an actual person, she wouldn't have said would also explain why Larimar's mouth was able to move even though it was supposedly a costume. Oh my god! I just had breakfast with aliens!

"Yes." Larimar answered. "You could say that." When the check came, Larimar and Volleyball pulled out two large wads of cash. Hope pulled out hers. She was about to head out when Larimar said, "How about we show you around Beach City and Little Homeschool? We don't have to do any classes today."

Hope was about to say "no" when she looked at both Larimar and Volleyball. Aunt Cassie always told her not to be rude. Especially since they've helped out with breakfast. "Ok. But just for today."

"Yeah!" Larimar cheered. Volleyball smiled. Soon, the trio left the diner to explore the rest of Beach City. Unaware that a strange gem was hiding in the bushes. Two gems instead of one where an eye should be. "This should be interesting."

Hi everyone. Thank you for reading this. I put in a poll for this story for any pairings that you would like to see in Fragile Hope. It includes Jasper, Larimar, Volleyball, White Diamond, an OC (I'll introduce him later.), and Spinel. Let me know what you think.