Thanks for all the supportive comments from those of you who commented! I was honestly going to post this solely on AO3 because of the massive amounts on SU fanfic that immediately buried mine and because nobody seemed to like it at first. But you guys left such nice comments, I felt like I should keep cross posting, because why not?
Stars in a Constellation
2: something like destiny (or maybe just bad luck)
"Amethyst…"
Amethyst groaned and batted at the hand that shook her from her blissful state of half-sleep.
"Come on, Amethyst, you're going to be late."
"So?" she mumbled, though with sleep fogging her brain and her unwillingness to so much as extend the energy to fully open her mouth, it came out more like, "Shho?"
Sadie rolled her eyes and gave Amethyst another firm shake, using both hands this time, and then yanked the covers off of her. "So it's the first day, Amethyst. At least wait until you've gone to one of each of your classes before you start cutting them.
Her roommate gave a loud groan of protest, but slowly dragged herself upright into a sitting position. Over the (ridiculously short) weekend, the two had become fairly good friends, and Sadie, who, despite being sweet and kind, would tolerate no bullshit when it came down to it, especially when it came to something important like her friends' education. As easygoing as Amethyst was, this made for a fairly good match, and they'd easily settled into their own sort of routine.
Still, Amethyst was not a morning person, and while she wasn't actually mad at her roommate, she was certainly grumpy. "Aren't you chipper?" she grumbled, glaring at the blonde from under her mess of white-blonde hair. And, given its length and natural fluffiness, it was quite the impressive mess, indeed.
Sadie, who was already in the process of applying a minimal amount of makeup, just smiled at Amethyst from the mirror in her closet. "You'll thank me later!" she said simply as Amethyst dangled an experimental foot from the bed before pretty much toppling the rest of the way out.
"Yeah, yeah, not likely," Amethyst replied, grabbing a change of clothes from her own closet and heading for their shared shower. As messy of a person as she was, she still liked her body to be clean at the very least. On her way to the en suite, she paused at the counter just outside the door, glancing at her reflection in the mirror that was attached to the wall behind it.
She had never been one for being overly conscious of her appearance, but today, she found herself watching her reflection with an uncharacteristically scrutinizing eye. Possibly because it was the first day of the rest of her life (or, more likely, because of the ever-looming shadow that was the possibility of running into Pearl), she found herself running a chubby hand over the skin of her face. She'd always had reasonably good luck when it came to her skin—she'd never had a breakout of acne or anything like that—but that being said, it was never perfect, either. Not that she owned any correctional makeup, of course…
She looked away from the mirror. She didn't like looking at herself for too long—it tended to make the faults she saw in herself swim up to the surface and come out in her reflection. And it wasn't as if anything she did would be able to hide anything from Pearl's sharp, bird-like gaze if she wanted to see.
Not that Pearl had ever made Amethyst feel inferior…at least not as far as her looks went. Amethyst almost wished she had. Maybe then she wouldn't be standing here like an idiot wondering what someone who'd never look her way would think of her looks.
The first half of the day went by pretty easily…or maybe it was just that Amethyst was still half asleep so it passed by in more or less a blur.
Whatever the case, Amethyst was wide awake by lunchtime. Unfortunately, Sadie had a class around this time, so Amethyst was left to her own devices as far as finding someone to sit with. Being Amethyst, however, finding someone to eat with a lunch had been one of the famous traumas she had always been spared. Unafraid of socializing and too laid-back (and too much of a tease) to bully, nobody had ever even tried.
Food tray in hand, she scanned the dining hall, only for her eyes to come to a halt on a small, hunched figure eating by themselves at a (relatively) secluded table near the windows. A mischievous smirk formed on her otherwise deceptively innocent, lightly freckled face, and she made a beeline for the lone figure.
"Yo, Peridork!"
"Gah!" Peridot nearly jumped out of her skin as Amethyst dropped her tray (needlessly loudly) on the table and plopped down into the seat directly across from her.
"You sure make a lot of interesting noises, you know?"
Peridot huffed, cheeks flushing. Amethyst glanced at her setup with a raised eyebrow.
"Yikes," she said, eyeing the serious-looking textbook spread out in front of the girl. "Homework already?"
"I'm reading ahead," Peridot corrected, straightening her glasses.
Amethyst stared at her for a moment before busting out laughing. "Oh, my god," she wheezed, wiping her eyes. "You are such a nerd."
Peridot narrowed her eyes, though her flushed cheeks somewhat lessened the intended effect. "And I suppose you haven't started on anything yet?" she asked, pointedly.
"Nope," Amethyst replied, popping the 'P' as she dug into her cheeseburger. "Pretty sure I was half asleep through most of the morning, actually. Hey, this is pretty good. You know, for school food."
Peridot was staring at her, wide-eyed, like she was some sort of alien life form that just made absolutely no sense. Finally, apparently giving up on trying to make sense of Amethyst, she turned to her own food.
Following her gaze, Amethyst chuckled. "That's your lunch?" she asked, eyeing the bag of cool ranch Doritos and the accompanying Pepsi in amusement.
"Like a cheeseburger is any healthier," Peridot volleyed back.
Amethyst held up her hands in surrender. "Hey, no judgement, yo," she said. "Just, you know, that's not gonna get you very far. Although I guess you do kinda seem like the type to live off snacks."
Huffing again, Peridot chose not to respond, instead popping open her bag of chips and stealthily surveying Amethyst out of the corner of her eye. She didn't think she was being bullied, though it was always a little hard for her to tell. She supposed that was part of what made it so easy for the kids back in high school. Still, Amethyst seemed good-natured enough and while Peridot was a little uncomfortable with the constant teasing, she supposed she could try to get used to it.
There was a silence between the two that lasted for a whole ten seconds before Amethyst spoke again.
"Your roommate ever show up?"
Peridot felt a small wave of relief course through her at this. This kind of socialization, she could handle (probably). "Yes, though I haven't spoken to her," she said. "Her stuff just kind of…appeared…when I came back from the shower. And she wasn't there when I went to bed." This hadn't boded well for Peridot. She really didn't want some crazy, drug-addled party girl for a roommate. And then there had been that morning… "Then when I woke up this morning, she was in the other bed." It had scared Peridot half to death, especially when she thought that someone had entered the room and she hadn't even woken up…but she kept this to herself. "She was still asleep when I left."
"Oooh, mysterious," Amethyst replied, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.
"Hardly," Peridot replied, stiltedly. "I just hope she doesn't turn out to be one of those crazy 'party girls' I keep hearing about." She used air quotes when saying the words 'party girl'. "I don't want anything interfering with my studying."
"You mean like fun?" Amethyst asked dryly, though her eyes were twinkling in amusement. This girl was so like Pearl in some ways, yet so completely different…it was pretty refreshing, to be honest. Plus she was pretty sure a lot of the similarities might be simply because Peridot was still pretty uncomfortable with her. Despite sounding a bit cynical, Peridot didn't seem to have much of a concept of social awareness or, indeed, people as a whole. It was strangely cute. "Maybe you should talk to her. You know, get to know her?"
This idea seemed to fluster Peridot, who made a show of clearing her throat and subsequently choking on a Dorito she'd forgotten was in her mouth. "I- I don't think that's really necessary," she fumbled, revealing more emotion than Amethyst had seen from her so far. "I mean, roommates don't have to have anything to do with each other."
"Well…I guess not," Amethyst replied. "But don't you think it'd be more fun if you guys were friends?"
Peridot's flush darkened, and Amethyst felt an unexpected stab of pity for the girl. Despite all her clowning around and teasing, Amethyst was quite perceptive when it came to other people, and it was all but obvious by this point that Peridot hadn't had many (if any) friends before now— from how she reacted so shocked whenever Amethyst acted friendly toward her to how lacking her social skills were.
"I…I guess…," Peridot replied, her entire tone changing to one of hesitance. Amethyst got the sudden, inexplicable feeling that this was exactly how it would feel if she were convincing a child to try a new food. Peridot was staring down at her hands, apparently unconsciously snapping a Dorito to crumbs between her fingers. "You—you don't think she'll be…"
The unspoken 'mean' came across to Amethyst loud and clear. "I don't know," she said, honestly. She'd never been one for making promises she wasn't sure she'd keep. It saved a lot of pain in the end. "I don't think so," she added when Peridot's unexpectedly vulnerable expression fell. She glanced at the screen of her phone. "Tell you what," she said, gathering her tray in her hands, "if she is, you tell me, and I'll take care of her for you."
She winked at Peridot as she stood, tray in hand, to head off to her next class, missing the blush that the action had painted onto the other girl's skin.
As prepared as Amethyst had been—as aware of the possibility as she'd come—it turned out that she may as well not have bothered.
Amethyst froze in place, unaware of the grumblings of those students who'd been right behind her and had to swerve at the last minute.
She was different—taller than before, and she'd filled out just enough to be less gangly and more graceful (if that was possible), and an elegant baby-pink undercut styled into a softly curling, feminine mohawk had replaced the always impeccable peach bob-cut.
But there was no mistaking that uniquely beautiful face, delicate features and eyes that sparkled with the prospect of school and learning. (Or, indeed, that prim, uncomfortably rigid and needlessly pretty posture.)
It was Pearl.
In Amethyst's fucking sociology course.
It took me a RIDICULOUS amount of time to describe Pearl's hair. Like, how the hell am I supposed to get the exact image of how her hair looks across to readers without sounding like I'm describing it word-for-word? Hopefully I got the picture across well enough. I still don't like the word 'mohawk' for a female, unless I'm explicitly describing an actual mohawk. But apparently that's how it's described. So yeah.
I don't like this chapter. I had a hard time writing out Amethyst and Peridot's interaction and I'm not sure if I've made the right decision as far as laying the basework for Peridot and her roommate. I really hope you guys enjoyed it, though, or at the very least that it wasn't horrible. Like I said, I hate these setup chapters. Hopefully from the next chapter on it will go more smoothly. Please leave a review, even if you, like me, think it kind of sucked, haha.