Praise me, I actually uploaded the next chapter despite the extreme lack of motivation that I've been having for over a month. Please be kind.

Garnet pushed her way past Lapis, stopping in amazement as she took in the sights. Pearl ducked under Lapis's outstretched arm to join her. Her jaw dropped. The entire left side of the room was completely trashed.

"Lapis! What is this?" Pearl said, taking a step back.

"The brat destroyed my things and locked me to the bed!" Jasper growled, rattling her handcuffs.

"In that order," Garnet stated skeptically.

"No!" Lapis said. "No, not in that order! I told you, she started it! Now let me handle this!"

"What are you doing destroying her side of the room?" Pearl said, clearly quite stressed over the state of the mess.

"I'm looking for something. Once I find it, I'll let her go!" Lapis followed Garnet into the room. She got within a couple feet of Jasper for a second, and the larger girl lunged for her foot. Lapis jumped back, her eyes wide with fear. "I'll let you go when I find it! Where did you hide it?"

Jasper chuckled darkly, her laugh growing stronger. "You're too scared of me to find anything. Just give up and let me out."

"No!" Lapis shouted. "Pearl- I remember you! You have to help me, please! It's on her phone."

"And guess what?" Jasper said. "I burned it onto two different CDs. There's no way you're finding all of them."

"CDs, CDs, CDs-" Lapis ignored Garnet and Pearl and continued to rifle through Jasper's side of the room frantically.

Pearl spotted a phone sticking out of Jasper's pocket. "Lapis, her phone is on her."

Garnet grabbed the phone. "I'm assuming it's a video," she said, finding the video category and scrolling through it. "So tell me what it's about."

"No! Give me that!" Lapis lunged for the phone, and Garnet, being much, much taller, held it out of reach. "I demand that you give that to me," she growled. It would have been quite intimidating, but she was jumping for Garnet's hand like a little kid trying to get candy. Pearl stifled a giggle.

Lapis glared daggers at her.

Garnet continued to scroll through the phone until she came across what must have been Lapis's video, since she paled and tossed it over to Lapis.

"I need to find the CDs," Lapis said desperately.

"I don't know what you did to have Jasper on your back, but nobody deserves that," Garnet said. "I'm not with you, but I'm not against you. Let Jasper out, and I'll help you look."

"You're not going to find it," Jasper said. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to use it."

Garnet stepped up to Jasper, shoved her finger in her face and said menacingly, "You'd better not." Lapis fiddled with the handcuffs until they snapped off, then scrambled back. Jasper rubbed her wrists.

"You'd better not try this again, Lazuli," she said, grabbing a gym bag from beside her bed and stalking out the door.

"Get out," Lapis said to Pearl and Garnet, immediately getting back to her task.

"What was on the phone?" Pearl said, looking first at Lapis, then at Garnet.

"Lapis will tell you if she wants to tell you. Lapis, there's no way in hell I'm leaving you. I heard about you- Jasper may not be the best pea in the pod, but evidently you're no saint either. Pearl, go back to our room. Unpack, hang with Amethyst. I don't care, but give us a moment."

"Of course," Pearl said, backing out. As she passed the scribbled-over whiteboard, she wiped everything off it and rewrote "Jasper" and "Lapis" with the plain black marker from her own board. An orange mark remained near the edge, and she wiped it off carefully with her thumb.

"Amethyst?" she said, returning to her new dorm.

"I told you to get off my back! I'm in college now!" she said angrily. At first Pearl thought she was talking to her. Then she saw the phone in her hand. "You gave up the right to control my life when I left. You never-" she spun around, staring at Pearl like she had been caught in the act. "Shut UP!" Amethyst clicked the phone and slammed it down on the table. Then she glared at Pearl accusingly. "What? You've never had an argument?"

"No, I just- uh-"

"Where's Garnet?" Amethyst said.

"Helping Lapis with something. Do you want her, or-"

"No, no, I'm good," Amethyst said. She walked over to where the remainders of her cookies lay. "You sure you don't want one? They're really good."

"I don't… do… cookies," Pearl said nervously, glancing at the crumbs. "You can have them."

"Suit yourself," Amethyst said with a smile. "More for me. You want to come with me? I'm getting takeout."

"Already?" Pearl said.

"I walk to the place by the beach. Nice view, takes about half an hour to get there. If I'm not hungry by then, I can wait around, and then I eat by the beach. If you want, we can..."

"Actually, I was just going to the library," Pearl said quickly, flustered. "To, uh, study. I'll deal with food on my own. You have fun… eating… whatever it is you want to eat."

"Dude, school hasn't even started yet. I can tell you're going to be loads of fun," Amethyst said, rolling her eyes.

Pearl blushed. "Well, I was going to a renaissance fair the weekend after this one."

"The library?"

"I need to check my facts."

"Check your facts?"

"So I like history!" Pearl said defensively.

"Oh- Oh- you're a geek! You're such a geek! What are you wearing?"

"Well…" Pearl muttered. "For this particular one, I would wear a 1400s outfit suitable for someone of middle class."

"And pray thee, what would this entail?" Amethyst said sarcastically.

"V necklines, higher waists, fancy hats, gloves," Pearl said awkwardly. "But I highly doubt you actually want me to go into specifics."

"Yeah…" Amethyst said quietly. "Uh, have fun."

"You too!" Pearl said, grabbing a few books from her still unpacked bag and heading out. It was then that she realized she had no idea where the library was. "Idiot!" she said, smacking her forehead lightly with her books and leaning against the wall. Gods, why did I let her get me so flustered? I'm going to have to deal with this eventually.

Hey, at least she chose a good alibi. Eventually, after wandering around for a good few minutes, she found a map and made her way to the library. "I think I'm in love," she said with a gasp, looking up at the rows and rows and rows of books.

Leave a review about what you liked, or predictions or whatever. Next chapter we meet Sardonyx. I had way too much fun writing her lesbihonest

(the use of that word makes more sense in context)

hopefully I'll upload the next chapter sooner, since I'm already partway through it.