Omg this is so late! Sorry about this!
Chapter 5 - Awake
Pearl woke up and groaned, her head was pounding and her neck was stiff. She barely opened her eyes and winced at the light that greeted her. 'Where am I?' She got up slowly and painfully, holding her head as if it could fall off at any moment, she hissed and bit her lip but winced in the action of doing so. It felt like a really bad hangover and she actually thought for a moment that she got drunk at some point in the night before during the party and that everything was a terrible dream.
She started slow and laid back down, 'I'll get my bearings. Then I'll do something.' Pearl looked about and found herself lying on a burgundy couch, there were wires and Disks on the floor, she could make out the logo of a show on one of the boxes but she didn't want to strain herself and try to read the cover. She could faintly see in the corner of the room an art easel with a painting sitting on it, Pearl thought it looked like a picture of the country side, but she really couldn't tell from where she was.
All she knew that wherever she was, it wasn't Amethyst's place and it certainly wasn't outside. That left the question of where was she and who it was that dragged her here. Pearl's hands clenched slightly, 'Did someone see me? Do they know my secret? Not that it's difficult to notice that I'm a girl… I am pretty light.' She took a deep breath and calmed herself, her hat was still on her head and she could feel her phone in her jean pocket, the leather jacket that she was so proud of was even untouched judging by the fact that her pockets were still sealed.
Pearl let out a surprised gasp when she heard a door creak open and the sounds of someone walking into the room, she prepared herself to jump out at them and to run for the window as the nearest exit. It could have been a freak wanting to do strange and bizarre things for all she knew.
The figure walked to the window and Pearl slowly sat up, she could recognise the blue hair from anywhere. The girl opened the curtains slightly and she jumped when she finally noticed Pearl watching her curiously, nearly tripping up and falling on a disk case pile by the window. Pearl blushed slightly and tried not to stare or ogle at Lapis, she never expected the girl to expose so much skin and Pearl briefly wondered if she was bothered in any way by wearing such short shorts and her signature blue crop top.
"Y-You're awake!" The girl breathlessly chuckled but her face was full of worry as she came closer. "I- Uh… Found you passed out- This uh… This morning! and I um… I brought you here," Lapis fumbled about and nervously crossed her arms, Pearl let out a breath when she seen the bruise on her arm, no doubt a remainder from the mark Malachite left on her.
It was obvious that Lapis was lying, she must have come up with something on the spot with how she practically stood on her toes when she spoke. It was as if she wasn't truly grounded with what she was saying.
"Where am I?" Pearl asked, her voice now failing her. She tried to swallow and clear her throat only to cough, she likened it to how people sounded when they emphasised how thirsty they were in the desert.
"This is our place… Mine and Peridot's," Lapis explained, looking around nervously, "Y-You were rather close by when I found you."
Pearl brought her hand to her head, she really didn't want to press Lapis for some solid answers and her head ache grew worse just by thinking about bring it up. But the more thinking she done, the more worried she became until finally she paled as she remembered about her job interview today at the dance studio.
"What time is it?!" She whipped her head around and just had enough time to stop herself from using her regular voice. She winced at the whiplash she gave herself.
"It's 9 in the morning," Lapis tilted her head slightly, "is something wrong?"
Pearl sighed in relief, 'I still have time.' She pulled the blanket off her legs and stood up painfully.
"Whoa! Hold on there!" Lapis grabbed her arm before she nearly toppled over, she sat her down slowly, "let me go get you some painkillers, or maybe an ice pack. You did get a baseball bat to the-" She clasped her hands over her mouth and Pearl raised an eyebrow, "nothing! Nothing! Forget I said anything!"
Lapis ran off before Pearl had the chance to stop her and she hummed curiously. If Lapis's little slip up screamed anything it definitely had to have been that she saw what happened to her before she blacked out. That means that Lapis must have followed her and judging by the fact of how paranoid she was yesterday before she met Malachite it answered a lot of questions.
'She's suspicious of me' Pearl grimaced, well, not that there was anything that wasn't suspicious about her.
When Lapis came back Pearl noticed that she never once looked at her directly, she handed the glass of water and some pills expertly and stood back from her. Pearl raised an eyebrow at her again.
"You followed me last night didn't you?" She said finally as she finished drinking the water and pills.
"I… I…" Lapis continued on stubbornly, looking everywhere but Pearl. She was darkly looking at the floor now, like she had a problem with it or as if she had just seen something there that triggered her.
"I understand," Pearl sighed and put the glass down onto the nearby coffee table, Lapis looked at her skeptically, never fully turning towards her and strangely Pearl felt hurt by this gesture. "I am… Strange… To be around."
"No you're not," Lapis sighed, slumping slightly and relaxing her tense shoulders, "I'm the strange one, I was just over-reacting… I'm sorry."
"If it wasn't for you I would probably be dead in a ditch," Pearl sighed again, 'and you would have discovered where I live and probably that I'm a girl.' She forced a small smile, "so don't be sorry."
Lapis remained silent, but her arms dropped slightly and she had a small smile on her face, despite appearing to be a sad one.
Pearl finally stood up from the couch, much more slower than before. Her head was still pounding but she hoped that it would go away eventually, the painkillers would definitely help once they start working in a few minutes and an ice pack once she got back would be helpful.
"I need to go," Pearl said to her and Lapis nodded slightly, "Amethyst will probably be wondering where I am and if she never broke her leg I'm sure that she would have knocked down all the doors in Beach City." Lapis chuckled slightly and Pearl grinned, "I guess I'm thankful of her injury this one time."
Lapis's smile soon disappeared however and she once again refused to meet Pearl's eyes, "I'm sorry," she said and her bare feet shuffled about on the carpet, "I never wanted this to happen to you and I never knew that Malachite would do something like this."
"Hey, it's fine." Pearl tried to comfort her but the girl shook her head and huffed.
"No it's not!" Lapis finally burst, "you got hurt because of me and that's something that I can't stand!"
"I can handle it," Pearl tried again,
"I don't want you to handle it in the first place!" Lapis retorted, Pearl on reflex took a step back in surprise, "I never wanted you to get involved… I just…" She took a deep breath and collected herself, looking at Pearl sadly and never had the tall girl have to fight with herself like this to not give the girl before her a hug.
"GOOD MORNING!" The door opened and a somewhat obnoxious voice rang out as Peridot stepped in, she looked rather well rested and was dressed in strange alien shorts and a large green hoodie and by Lapis's confused expression Pearl could deduce that this wasn't normal behaviour.
"Morning Peridot," Lapis said glumly,
"Did I miss something or-?" Peridot glanced between them several times,
"No… Earl was just leaving, right?" Lapis looked to Pearl with and almost pleading face.
"Yes… Yes I was," Pearl replied just as glumly, "I'll tell Amethyst you said hi."
"You would?" Peridot gasped, "I mean, of course! Wouldn't want to keep you." She cleared her throat and blushed slightly.
Pearl nodded briskly and made her way to the front door, but she stopped before leaving and turned to Lapis one last time.
"You know what happened between me and Malachite," she began, "and because of that, you know that I'm in this with you." Lapis nodded sadly, "I won't rest until I get them behind bars or out of town, and neither should you." Pearl fixed her cap, "I'll see you two around."
She walked out and shut the door behind her. Pearl's slow stride eventually became a quick sprint as she ran for Amethyst's place, she already wasted enough time and her interview would start in less than an hour. Despite her promises and conversations with Lapis and Peridot, she was not prepared to give up the initial reason of why she was in Beach City and that meant her life as 'Pearl'.
—
Lapis sat onto the couch slowly and hugged herself, she felt her skin crawling again and she shuddered slightly. "I am such a screw up," she mumbled out.
"Huh?" Peridot glanced at her as she came back with a mug of coffee, Lapis always wondered how on earth she could stand all that caffeine… And how she managed to make it in literally seconds.
"Why am I such a screw up?" Lapis turned to her green room-mate near desperately,
"But you're not a screw up," She replied and sat down beside Lapis, "if anything, we both have a screw loose."
Lapis rolled her eyes and ignored the feeble attempt at a joke. "But I done the exact thing I swore never to do!" Lapis groaned, "Again."
"Yeah, but technically it's Earl's fault too," Peridot took a sip of her mug and tried to get herself comfortable, moving the couch pillows and wiggling constantly.
"Only because I made it his fault," Lapis sighed and buried her head into her lap,
"Okay, no offence but you need to stop that," Peridot frowned, she grumbled slightly and shifted her weight again, casting the couch pillow a glare.
"Stop what?" Lapis peeked at her curiously,
Peridot huffed once she found another position beside Lapis. "You can't keep saying that everything's your fault, because it's not," Peridot kept looking down into the muddy mixture with a relatively serious expression, "if anyone's at fault, it's Jasper."
"But I was the one that agreed to see her!" Lapis wrapped her arms around her knees, "I could have just said no."
"But you didn't know what she was going to do! And you thought that you could fix the problem!" Peridot grumbled, she expressively waved her arm and almost dropped her green alien mug, "listen, I know that you blame yourself a lot because of your past…" Lapis looked away and frowned bitterly into her knees, "but you need to accept that there's some things that you can't do anything about or change." Peridot gently touched Lapis's arm and the girl looked at her, Lapis's eyes had gotten much softer in slight surprise and a small smile was making itself known after Peridot awkwardly grinned at her, "so just promise me that you won't keep blaming yourself."
"Well…" Lapis grinned wider, "maybe I won't blame myself for everything…"
"Well… That's much better!" Peridot grinned and began drinking her coffee contentedly again.
Just when Lapis thought that peace had been restored, Peridot grumbled slightly and started to wiggle uncomfortably. Lapis turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her room-mates strange behaviour escalated to a ridiculous degree, 'she's been doing this the whole time, what's gotten in to her?' Just as she was about to ask what was wrong the smaller girl reached behind her and she took out a phone from the pillows.
They looked at it for what felt like an eternity before actually making any movement and recognition of what they just found. The phone was immaculate and that was a telling tale that it certainly wasn't Peridot's, who's screen was always cracked and chipped. It had a lovely floral phone case that certainly didn't scream Lapis either.
There was only one option left of who the phone belonged to and before Peridot could laugh Lapis took the phone, fearing that Peridot would break it if she accidentally dropped it.
"I never knew a guy like Earl has such a girly phone!" Peridot almost spilled her coffee, "maybe that's why you feel so strange about him!"
That was an amusing prospect, but when Lapis looked at the phone she shared a much different explanation and dread started to creep into her. She watched her reflection on the darkened screen go pale and her eyes go wide in shock.
"Or he has a girlfriend," Lapis nearly whispered out and Peridot instantly stopped laughing with reaction time as fast as a light switch. Lapis sighed slightly and lazily dropped her arm holding the phone beside her, she didn't even know if she liked Earl at first and now that she had these complicated feelings towards him it certainly doesn't help. All she could now think is that now she was potentially making him cheat in a stable relationship.
Something that she could have never imagined herself doing.
"W-well he MIGHT have one! You don't know if he's single or if he has a girlfriend!" Peridot tried and Lapis let out a loud groan, "…yeah it does point him to having a girlfriend doesn't it?" Peridot defeatedly added,
"Look, lets just go to Amethysts and give her the phone… Who knows? Maybe she'll answer why the phone is so girly." Lapis tutted, "It could even be her phone!"
"Um, no," Peridot instantly shot the idea down, "Amethyst's phone is not that pretty, I know that for a fact."
"Seriously?" Lapis said and raised an eyebrow, "just ask her out already, she's at home all day since she went to the hospital."
Peridot's face flared up a bright red, "M-maybe I will! I'll go with you even!" She stood up after gulping down her beverage quickly. "No better time than the present!"
Lapis laughed and rolled her eyes, "and I thought you didn't like her," she said sarcastically with a joking voice,
"Shush! The heart is a turbulent place!" Peridot blush went a deeper red, "and I've never said that in my life!"
"Oh really?"
"Well I'm sorry that she's better at video games than you!" Peridot crossed her arms and began tapping her foot angrily, she had a rather ferocious pout on her face, Lapis laughed at the display.
"Okay, okay casanova," Lapis snorted, "but don't you have a late shift today?"
"I'm pretty sure that they'll forgive me," Peridot grinned innocently, Lapis simply rolled her eyes.
Once they had calmed down and were preparing to leave, Lapis turned to Peridot with a request.
"Do you mind if I go to the front door alone?"
Her hands were clenched and she scuffed the floor slightly. Lapis hated to be like this, she tried to swallow the nervous bubble whenever she could around those 'Crystal Gems' she never wanted to seem weak by asking Peridot to accompany her everywhere. This was something that she had always hated about herself, the constant battle of 'who's better?' that she would have with Amethyst and any patrons in the bar. She wanted to seem menacing, unreasonable and above all, powerful. To Lapis's displeasure, it worked.
She couldn't walk down the street without one or two people giving her a strange or nervous look by how she carried herself. People knew that she was with Jasper, and people still think she is with Jasper to this day.
Peridot made Lapis seem weak. In a way, she liked that when she walked with her to work and she was treated like just another regular person minding her business. But never around that bar, never around them.
"Well…" Peridot hummed, "Sure, I do have something I want to do near there…"
"Oh?" Lapis raised an eyebrow as she opened the front door and followed her outside,
"I managed to find a dog in need of a home!" Peridot grinned, "well, she's more of a puppy and is a big softie."
"Really?" Lapis nearly chuckled in surprise as she locked the door behind them, "What's her name? What breed is she? Are you even sure it's a 'she'?"
"Her name is Pumpkin!" Peridot grinned as they began walking, "I can't remember her breed but when she grows up she'll be about as big as my hip and no, I'm not certain on the gender."
"That's a rather small non-binary dog then," Lapis grinned,
"Yes, well- HEY! Was that a height joke?!"
"You tell me half-pint,"
"I can still kick you in the shins you know?" Peridot scowled, she eyes her mischievously,
"Point taken," Lapis grinned, "now, lets go deliver this phone."
—
Pearl locked the door shut behind her and tried to catch her breath. She yanked off her cap and very nearly threw it to the ground in some repressed anger that she built up. Everything just seemed irritating to her as she realised of what she got herself into and the mess she made it out to be. Pearl slumped against the front door and she glanced at the small clock that she got to work, sighing in the process.
'I have plenty of time, the run was worth it.' She stood up straight and strode past the living room where she could see Amethyst sitting on the couch. She had her leg up on a pillow and was drinking a can of something, Pearl hoped that she would have the decency to at least throw it away once she was done. Despite being injured there are somethings that she ought to be able to do.
The tall girl tutted slightly, the place was really cleaning up well. She raised an eyebrow slightly, Amethyst couldn't have been the one to clean up the mess, well, at least not alone. Someone had to have been helping her unless it just magically disappeared, she wondered who this cleanly angel was and Pearl rolled her eyes when she seen the woman in the kitchen. Bismuth. 'Of course! How rude of me to forget her.'
She managed to slip by them without much word other than a wink that Amethyst gave her, Pearl groaned slightly, 'she's going to say something about this to Bismuth, I just know it.' Taking a deep breath, Pearl made her way to her room and took some fresh clothes and a towel before taking a quick shower. She had to get presentable for that interview, it was too important to her and it could literally change her life for the better.
Even if she didn't like the sponsors of the studio.
Pearl scowled as she washed the dirt off her body and felt the water soothe her back and her head. The diamond company is one of the biggest funders of the state and even though she had disagreements with them and what they do to their employees she knew that things change. The recent news that she has heard about them show that they've actually started giving better wages and donating a lot more to the arts, 'what a suspicious change of heart.'
But if they didn't change, well, she would never have been given an offer in the first place.
Pearl left the shower, dressed and prepared, she let out a small pleased tut once she seen herself in the mirror, she had missed her old clothes and even smiled slightly. She threw the dirty clothes in the Laundry, feeling as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her, but hung her cap and jacket on one of the pegs in her wardrobe.
She took a breath before entering the living room.
"Hey P!" Amethyst pointed her fingers at her and gave her a coquettish grin, "I think someone got lucky last night~!"
"What?" Bismuth chocked slightly and spluttered out some of her drink, "First off, Hi Pearl! How you doing? Keeping well? Long time no see!" Bismuth grinned, "Secondly, Pearl got a what?!"
Amethyst laughed, "the old Pearl we know and love is back!" She inquisitively brought a hand to her chin. Pearl just frowned and crossed her arms, "Where's your jacket?" Amethyst asked,
"The 'old Pearl' isn't back, sorry to burst your bubble," Pearl snapped,
Bismuth hummed, "you say that… But when you talk like that I'm getting mixed views."
Pearl straightened out her arms and huffed, she had just remembered Amethyst's earlier remark, "and nothing happened between us!"
"You and who?" Bismuth rubbed her head in confusion, "is anyone going to catch me up on what I missed? It's only been like two days and I feel like I've missed the end of the world!"
"Oh right!" Amethyst grinned and before Pearl could stop her- "Pearl got a date with Lapis!"
"THAT Lapis?" Bismuth raised an eyebrow, "the 'bad vibe' must be her type…"
"Hey!" Pearl blushed, but she didn't deny it.
"Yup! and the catch is, Lapis thinks she is a boy!"
Pearl blushed even more as Bismuth burst out laughing, she felt herself sink further and further into the ground and the large woman patted her knees and wiped tears from her eyes. Pearl soon recovered when she remembered the inviting ice pack to heal her aching head, Amethyst watched her curiously as she went into the kitchen and came back with some ice wrapped in a towel. Pearl sighed as she pressed it into the sore spot.
"Whoa, okay, what happened?" Amethyst lost her grin as Pearl slumped onto the couch beside her, Bismuth had already calmed down and watched the exchange curiously. Pearl remained silent to Amethyst chagrin, "Seriously," the purple girl continued pressing her, "seeing you come back with an ice pack is giving me major flash-backs, something must have happened and that's why you didn't come home last night."
Pearl scoffed out a grin, "since when did you become a super sleuth? Was it Garnet?"
"Just answer it," Amethyst rolled her eyes.
That was when Pearl made the best and the worst decision in her life. She opened her mouth and just began talking about everything that happened, how Peridot came by crying about Lapis, about Malachite, what happened with Lapis when she walked her home and finally what happened on her way back. Amethyst's and Bismuth's curious and interested expressions slowly morphed into that of a serious one, near the end of Pearl's long winded tale they had refused to look at anything other than the blonde. It was the most interested that Pearl had ever seen them, but that was probably not true, there were plenty of times where they became this determined. Pearl had just forgotten them.
"So then I woke up at Lapis and Peridot's place," Pearl sighed, the ice had melted slightly and she was getting uncomfortable with the feeling of water dripping down her neck so she removed the ice back from her now soothed head. "Lapis had seen what happened, she seen me with Malachite and she said she seen me get hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat. She was the one that dragged me to safety."
"You took a baseball bat to the head?! and you're fine with that?!" Bismuth huffed,
"No, I'm not fine with it," Pearl gritted her teeth, "and I'm lucky that I can even think straight," Pearl replied, 'even though it was never straight to begin with,' "the strength of the swing must have been dragged down by something, so I'm just going to assume that whoever done it was short."
"Dude, Imagine if it was Jasper," Amethyst paled, "your head would be a watermelon."
"Ugh, thanks for the unpleasant imagery," Bismuth cringed,
"Look, I don't want to talk about it anymore," Pearl stood up and walked over to the kitchen, leaving the ice pack in the sink, "I just want to clear my head before I leave for my job interview," Pearl said and looked at the small pile of junk left in the corner, she recognised it as the one she threw the knife into and she gulped.
"Cleaning?" Amethyst asked,
"Yes," Pearl tutted and she took the wheels out the pile, "do you even own a bike?"
"Heh, not anymore." Pearl didn't want to think to deeply about that.
"Let me help," Bismuth came over with a grin and picked up the wheels and a metal box that looked to be for tools, all of which were missing. "So you don't strain yourself."
"Thanks," Pearl replied and cast her a smile, she picked up some more cards and after stacking them she moved them to a small box that she used to manage Amethyst's hoard. This box contained Disks of different kinds, books, tapes and the odd gadget or toy.
Amethyst provided amusing commentary and sometimes she would even tell stories about some of the junk she wasn't willing to throw away. Some of it did in fact make Pearl laugh despite how revolting some of the stories were sometimes.
But their clean up halted when Pearl seen something long and shiny catch her attention. Prying it out carefully, she beamed when she recognised the hilt with her initial engraved in it.
"My old fencing rapier!" She exclaimed, it was slightly bent and the tip was broken as she continued to examine it. Pearl remembered defeating many people with it back when she was still in the tournaments and she was certain that she had lost it a long time ago.
"Yeah, I kept that," Amethyst cleared her throat as her face went red, "J-Just take it! It's yours and I didn't want to throw it away…"
"And Why~?" Bismuth asked with a grin,
Amethyst grumbled, "it reminded me of Pearl."
Pearl grinned and her eyes grew misty, she could feel the tears coming on. She went over to Amethyst who was still on the couch and hugged her, despite Amethyst fighting against it, she gave up and smiled as she hugged Pearl back. They laughed as Bismuth came over and hugged the both of them, being careful not to pressure Amethyst's cast as she lifted them slightly.
—
"Have I mentioned that I don't like how mysterious Earl is?" Peridot broke the silence as they walked up the hill, casually watching people and the scenery go by and liking the sea breeze ruffling their hair. The nice day was almost like a bandage for what happens during the night, people think that it'll get better due to how lovely it is and how many nice (if not naive) people that support Beach City, only for night to set and everything return to the way it was.
"I don't know…" Lapis hummed absently,
"Well, I don't," Peridot said bluntly, "I don't understand why being mysterious is a desirable trait, it feels like they don't trust you enough to tell you anything." Lapis looked over to her and watched her dramatically wave her arms. "I mean, it's like they're a stranger despite how well you think you know them!"
"I agree, I also don't like it," Lapis replied, "but I do feel like solving the mystery, trying to find his secret… Well, with respect to him of course!"
"You're starting to sound like a stalker," Peridot joked,
"Yes, hilarious joke Peridot," Lapis rolled her eyes and pouted, "but seriously, finding out about someone like Earl is interesting."
"I'll admit, he is someone that I've never met before… I thought that the mysterious vibe died out long ago once social media was invented." She cringed slightly, "everyone posting there nowadays… Even me…"
Lapis simply hummed and never responded, then a strange thought came to her, "am I mysterious?"
Peridot gave her a bemused look and narrowed her eyes, "yes, yes you are the definition of the 'mysterious girl' that you see in all those movies."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," Lapis glanced at her, "but what about me is mysterious? I'm just a person."
"I don't know anything about your family, others don't know about you and Jasper, and nearly everyone but a few didn't even know that you were in their gang." Peridot counted her fingers to emphasise her point and Lapis couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"I don't have a family," Lapis replied, "I was an orphan, just like Jasper… I can barely remember what it was like living at that age."
"You knew Jasper when you were kids?" Peridot raised an eyebrow, "I bet she was a bully."
"Sort of," Lapis replied bluntly, "well, yeah she was.. But she had a bad upbringing before I met her… We ran away from the orphanage though and just lived in the streets." 'I had to have learned how to climb and fight from somewhere.'
"Why on earth did you run away?!" Peridot gasped,
"Listen, I can barely remember why myself! But I know that it was Jaspers idea, I was young, didn't want to get beaten up… and that's what probably happened." Lapis huffed, "but when we were both desperate we began staying at the light-house."
Lapis looked to the building over-looking the city, it stood tall on the cliff and what used to be majestic and clean was now vandalised with graffiti and only gave a sense of dread emanated from it. The lighthouse was now practically Jasper's home as that's where the gang meets up in the night, she clenched her fists tighter and scowled.
"And she never left." Lapis spat out the words like poison,
"…W-We're here," Lapis seen the apartment from a distance and she relaxed slightly, Peridot cleared her throat "I-I'll get out your way." She took a step back, "maybe we can talk more later? After you give the phone and I go collect Pumpkin."
Lapis tilted her head slightly, "maybe."
—
The hug ended suddenly when the door knocked loudly, it was a forceful knock but it didn't seem to be in a particular hurry. Pearl looked at Bismuth and Amethyst curiously and tried to decipher if they knew that someone was coming over. Her thoughts went silent when the door knocked again and she jumped slightly.
"I'll go answer it," Pearl sighed, not like Amethyst or Bismuth could answer the door in the first place. Amethyst could barely walk in her cast and she could never let a guest like Bismuth open the door for her.
Pearl stood up and lightly walked over to the front door, she opened the door carefully, the hallway might have been tidy and clean by Amethyst's standards, but Pearl was still overly cautious of the pile of magazines and books that Amethyst probably read once and forgot about.
She hoped that it would have been Garnet so that she could talk about what happened last night without having to cover her voice and everything she does. Pearl even briefly wondered for how long she could keep the act up 'Maybe I can act like a guy forever,' she mused.
But fate had given her a different response.
Pearl froze when she came eye to eye with the girl in Blue, she watched Lapis's face look at her first in relief but then she slowly started to frown as her eyes looked over Pearl with confusion and the taller girl couldn't even say anything in her defence. She felt like she was a statue for Lapis to critique and her hands slowly began to shake.
"Earl?"
Thanks for reading! (as always!) The reviews I have are always so positive so thank you so much for being patient for this :) Let's hope that next week I'll post it on time! (Let's be real, probably not exactly next week! XD)
Till next time!
