Light.
Pearl opened her eyes. She let out a great gasp, before sitting up and looking around.
White walls. Brown carpet. Her little desk propped up by her bed, stacked with papers. She breathed in, breathed out, and sagged back onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling.
That was awful.
Every hundred years or so, Pearl tried this 'sleep' she'd heard so much about, and every time it was a mistake. She was returning this bed. Sleep was a torture she'd leave to the humans.
Pearl wiped her eyes and reached for her phone. She checked the time - still quite early. She slid out of bed, stretched this way and that, and then crossed the room to her wardrobe.
Two human outfits hung on hangars inside, and on the door was a small mirror. Pearl spared a glance at her gemstone, where a deep cut yawned from edge to edge. It... well, it was what it was. She'd managed to take remarkably good care of her gemstone for the two thousand years it'd been cracked for, but it wasn't getting any better.
She turned away from the mirror and slipped a dress and jacket on, hiding her gemstone under the thick material. Then she walked over to her desk and sat down, where she began to straighten some of the messier piles.
There was a nametag on her desk: 'Ms Laelia', with a little apple after it. Pearl accidentally knocked it onto the floor, and she reached down to grab it.
Briefly, Pearl came face to face with the lowest drawer of her desk. The handle had a rather large padlock on it, and she shivered before quickly straightening up and replacing the name tag on her desk. She nudged it just so, and smiled at her neat desk. Everything was in its place.
Pearl sat there, working on some of the papers until an alarm went off on her phone; it was time to go. She grabbed a file and rose from her chair, then headed out the door.
Streetlights were still on when she walked outside, but the sky was a beautiful mix of clouds tinged with orange drifting across a dark blue sky. Summer was fast approaching, and every day it got a little brighter in the morning.
Pearl loved the seasons. Where passing strangers slouched and drew their coats a little tighter around their bodies, she walked with a spring in her step, gazing up at towering buildings as she passed them. She came to a little park on the bank of the Thames River and admired the yellow dandelions sprouting on the grass. It was all so beautiful – Pearl didn't deserve to live on a planet like this.
The park ended, and Pearl turned down another street, arriving at Rivercoast High School just as the sun began to peek out over the city's horizon.
Ms Laelia was ready to begin another day on Earth.
"And after the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror was crowned King of England. We still have a tapestry about the event – the Bayeux Tapestry, as you can see on this slide. It's actually an embroidery, but that won't be on your test, don't worry about it."
In the classroom, somebody at the back raised his hand. "Ms Laelia?"
"Yes, Daniel?"
"Why does the tapestry look so weird?" Several classmates began to giggle. "I mean, no, it looks weird! Middle Ages stuff always looks really awkward, with the faces and stuff. And their arms always look so fake. Am I the only one?"
Ms Laelia pursed her lips. "Rude. I'll have you know he worked hard on this."
"How do you know? You weren't there a thousand years ago."
"No, I suppose I wasn't." The bell rang, and she capped her marker. "Well, that concludes our lesson. Have a nice lunch, everyone! Remember 1066 and the three contenders for the throne!"
"Wait, three?"
"Yes, three. The test is tomorrow, Daniel."
"Wait, tomorrow?"
She chuckled. "I'm here during lunch if you have any questions."
"Oh, well, then I-I'd better stay here, then!"
"That sounds like a good idea." She walked over to her desk and sat down. "Come up to me for help."
As the last few people began to file out of the room, Ms Laelia logged in to her computer. The first thing she saw was the attendance sheet for all her students, and she spared a little smile before moving on to the latest assignment she had to grade.
Before becoming a teacher, Ms Laelia was always confused about why basic knowledge wasn't always so readily known to the humans around her - they had school, didn't they? But now that she was here, she could see that not every child had the same amount of interest in the Battle of Hastings as their peers.
Humans were all so different from each other. She found it fascinating.
"Hey, Ms Laelia?"
She looked up. "Yes?"
"Can you help me with something?" Daniel pointed at a passage in his textbook. "I'm just confused about this Harald guy- or, um, Harold? They keep switching it up."
Fascinating… but, Ms Laelia had to admit, a little more work than she had expected.
"Okay, let me start from the beginning-"
Two knocks at the door.
"Hello? Come in!"
The door opened. In came a rather short woman in a purple shirt balancing a stack of papers. "Pearl? I've got the permission slips from my class!"
"Oh? Oh, thank you!" Ms Laelia jumped up and quickly took them off her hands. "You're the best, Emily. Thanks for bringing them over so quickly."
"Aww, it's no problem. How's your day going?"
"Quite well! Yourself?"
"Eh."
"Something the matter?"
"I pulled my shoulder earlier today. Kind of hurts."
She cringed. "Ouch. I'm sorry to hear that. That's the worst kind of pain."
"It's okay. It'll pass." Emily looked over to the student sitting awkwardly at the back. "Oh, Danny! Hi there!"
He gave a little wave. "Hi… Mom."
"What's my little guy doing over here? Shouldn't you be at lunch with your friends?"
Daniel reddened. "Well, um-"
"Oh, he just came in for a little help."
"Are you having trouble in history, sweetie?" Emily put a hand on his arm. "You should have told me! What do you need? I'm not a history teacher, but I can totally get you a tutor. Or how about we meet with the principal, let him know-"
"Mom, I'm fine. It's fine." Now a deep beet red, Daniel picked up his bag. "I-I think I figured it out, anyway. My question."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! Everything's fine, I don't need help. I'm going to lunch."
"Oh, okay." Emily watched him head out the door. "Love you!"
Pearl made a face. "You know, I didn't get a chance to explain the difference between Harold and Harald. That will be an issue on the test tomorrow."
"He should have told me he was having problems!" She shook her head. "What if he fails tomorrow? He's going to feel awful. I need to do something."
Ms Laelia straightened a stack of papers. "Well, there's retakes at every lunch next week."
"No, no, he needs to pass! What if-" She snapped her fingers. "Oh! Pearl!"
"Yes?"
"What if you gave him a little extra help? You could- could you come over after school and give him some extra tutoring before the test? I'll pay you for your time, of course, and you can stay for dinner, too! How does that sound?"
"Oh, I don't know. I'm not very hungry."
"Then go home afterwards if you like; you're such a whiz at history there's no way it could take longer than an hour, tops."
Ms Laelia began to smile. "Well, that is true."
"Yeah!" Emily slung an arm around her shoulder, and that smile promptly disappeared. "And after we should totally- what the? What's on your shoulder?"
"That? I broke my collarbone once, and it healed strangely."
"Oh." She moved her hand rather quickly. "Oh. Um, where was I?"
Ms Laelia stepped back. "Look, Emily, I'm really sorry but I don't think I can make it. I had a test in another class, and I've got to get that in the books. If your son has any questions, he can definitely email them to me."
"Okay. I'll stop bugging you about it. Really wish you could come, though."
"I can't. Don't worry about it, though. With a little studying, he'll do fine on the test tomorrow."
Emily snorted. "Oh, he'll be studying - I'll make sure of that. Anyways, I guess I should be heading back to my class. See you later, Pearl."
"See you later."
Ms Laelia waved; as soon as the door shut, she moved her arm over and started rubbing her shoulder. That human could be so pushy sometimes. It was irritating.
Ah, well.
Pearl shrugged to herself, and pulled up her grade book again. She may have been lying about her shoulder, but the test was all too real.
She settled in, and lost herself in work for the rest of the hour.
Clouds had settled in by the end of the day, and Pearl started the walk home in a light drizzle. It was fine – Pearl wouldn't have stayed in England for two thousand years if she couldn't handle a little rain – but she walked a little more briskly than usual.
It was fine. Earth was beautiful. She should feel lucky every day for living on it, rain or shine. It was more than she deserved. More than-
Pearl pulled out her phone. She needed to check her emails. Oh, look, there was a question from Daniel already! She'd better answer that right away.
She was already in the park, so she sat herself down on one of the beautiful damp benches in the beautiful rain and began to read.
Dear Ms Laelia, it started. Nice and polite.
I have been looking over my study guide, and I'm having some trouble with certain sections-
"Excuse me?"
Pearl looked up. A little boy in a star shirt had wandered up to her. "Yes?"
"Could you take a picture of me and my family?" He pointed at two men standing under a tree. "We want a picture of all three of us!"
"Yeah," One of the men said in a thick American accent. "Make it quick, too. I'm getting soaked over here."
Ah, tourists. Pearl smiled. "Oh, I'd be happy to!"
"Alright, Schtu-ball. Should we do it over by the river?" The other man handed a camera to Pearl. "Thanks for doing this."
"Oh, it's no problem. Everybody get in frame!"
The three of them posed by the side of the river, smiling with their arms around each other. Pearl held up the camera.
"Say cheese!"
She took the picture.
"Thanks again. I appreciate it." The man took back his camera. "Hey, it looks good! Check it out, Steven!"
The little boy looked over his shoulder. "Whoa! It looks super good! Thank you!"
"You're welcome. So, are you three visiting London?"
"Yup!" Steven pointed at the man in the brown jacket. "My uncle Andy flew us here! He's a super awesome pilot."
"Really? Huh. I used to be a pilot."
Andy perked up at this. "You fly?"
"Not anymore, but I used to fly commercial airlines. It was nice."
"It was nice? Is that all you gotta say about that? What planes did ya fly? How long were you a pilot for?"
"Errr…"
"Andy, slow down! I think you're freaking her out." The other man put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. Andy's a little passionate about flying."
"Hey, it's not often I get to meet other pilots, Greg. I'm just asking some friendly questions." He turned back to Pearl. "What airline did ya used to fly for?"
"It was Pan Eu."
"Wait, Pan Eu? Are you sure?"
"Yes?" Pearl took a half-step back. "Why?"
"You look a little young to be someone who flew for Pan Eu. That airline closed back in the nineties."
Pearl didn't know how to answer that. The panic must have showed on her face, because Andy's eyebrows knitted together into one hard line.
"You're making this all up, aren't you?"
"Uncle Andy," Steven tugged on his jacket. "Let's just go. Let's get out of the rain."
Andy hesitated, then sighed and turned away. "Yeah, I suppose it don't matter. Just thought I was meeting another pilot, but I guess not. Let's go."
"Sorry about that. Thanks for the picture."
Greg picked up Steven, and his shirt slipped up. Something shone on his stomach, some kind of gemstone? She peered closer; it was bright and pink, with a hexagonal cut and cold fear stabbed at the very core of the being as she realized exactly who this was.
"Rose Quartz!" Pearl physically recoiled from her. Rose, in London? What was she doing here?! Oh, this was the end of the line- no, no no!
No. No, it wouldn't end like this. She risked a glance up.
"-are you?" Rose was saying. She was too close, far too close. "Hello?"
And Pearl acted. She grabbed Rose by the shoulders, picked her up and threw her into the river Thames. Then she turned tail and ran, shoving past Andy and Greg as they tried to grab her.
Out of the park. Down the streets, her footsteps squelching and splashing in the rain.
Away from Rose.