''-And so Columbus discovered America.''
I sighed as I put my pencil down and leaned back in my chair.
It made a winy sound during my last movement, causing me to flinch, and then relax again.
My office chair was old and cheap, so studying was a bit harder than it should be.
I didn't want to bother my dad with my furniture-problems, though. He was having a hard time paying the rent, my school, saving money for me to go to college and to keep us both healthy with just one job.
He was a therapist, and that job took up all his time. I was alone often, not that I minded.
I was proud of my dad, and wanted to do whatever I could to help him.
Our apartment was on top of a small café, called ''The Flightless Bird''.
I had known the owner for as long as we lived there, and when I asked him whether I could work there, to support my dad financially, the man said I could do the dishes in the weekends. I had accepted it thankfully, and now worked there every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Sometimes my friends came around. My boss had never found it a problem, he knew them well too, and knew I didn't slack off. It was in my nature to work hard, and try to do a good job on everything.
I hadn't told my dad anything about my part-time job. He would definitely disapprove. Every time I started talking about anything that even sounded like ''I want to help you solve our financial problems'' he would smile, and say ''You're a teenager, son. You should make fun with your friends and worry about things like first kisses and rock bands for as long as you can''.
I wasn't just any teenager, though.
I was Pearl. And I was not going to let a person as good as he is do all the work. That was just not my style.

As I got up from my chair -ignoring my chair's complaints- I opened the window and let the cool breeze brush my skin.
I lived in a busy street. Everywhere I looked were people.
Ever since I was little, I loved to look at the people passing by. They were each completely different. It fascinated me.
In a few years it was like I knew them personally, even though I didn't know their names. I learned other things about them, like the old lady that lived across the street. She would always look outside her window, eyes focused on the sky. It was like she waited for somebody to come home. She would always sit on her flower-patterned arm chair, like she had nothing else to do. I always wondered what was the reason that she sat there, gazing at the sky like she knew there was something there, but didn't know where exactly.
And then, on a Sunday morning, my dad was reading the paper and had pointed at the picture of an old lady, ''Look, Pearl. This is Mrs. Stephens! She lived across the street, do you remember her? It's a wonderful lady, or so I heard. She has died last night, son.'' He had looked at me sternly, and then continued, ''You know, she was once a very, very happy and intelligent woman. Her husband was a pilot.
Then, her husband died in a plane-crash about twenty years ago. The doctors said she never once believed them, she has been waiting for him, certain that he would return home one day.''
I hadn't known what to say, then. I had never talked to her, but felt like I had lost a friend. When I went to her funeral, I was the only person there. The priest said her friends were gone for a long time already, that in the end she was all alone. I had tried desperately not to cry. She hadn't been a bad person, just heartbroken.
Love can make people do silly things.
Like my dad, he once lived with my mother. My dad had told me that she had never liked the idea of having children to begin with, but she changed her mind once she found out she was pregnant. And then, when I was about four months old, she just ran away. She ran away with the man that gave her painting courses! She had left, leaving behind only emptiness. Expecting my dad to take care of everything and start a life with that other man.

When I woke up the next morning, I noticed I had falling asleep with my head resting on the window-sill.
The alarm clock next to my bed showed a red-glowing '09:00 AM'.
Shit, had I forgotten to go to work at the 'Flightless Bird'?
I bit my lip. The boss was going to be pissed. He would get over it quickly, though; this was my first time ever not to show up.
I sneezed. It had been freezing this night.
I had probably caught a cold. When I fell asleep yesterday, it had been around four o'clock in the afternoon.
I hadn't realised I was that tired, even though I hadn't slept the night before. It was new year, and I had celebrated at Blue's home this year. It had been fun. The years before I had celebrated it with the employees and the owner of the restaurant. That had been fun, too. Those people were like a second family to me, but being with friends always had some kind of magical feeling. The party had been great. Blue had sung a few songs, and though she had found it quite scary at first, but recovered herself. After that we had started the countdown, and celebrated the start of the new year.
...For some reason though, when I saw Platina kiss Green, something snapped. I felt sick, and had to suppress the urge to smack that guy in the face. I dismissed it, though, and told myself it was because I was Platina's friend, and just very protective of her.

The morning and afternoon of Sunday passed without anything happening. My dad wasn't home, so I decided I'd just finish my homework and do some shopping so I could have dinner ready for when my dad came home. He'd be exhausted. The next day I woke up around 07:00 AM, took a shower, ate some cereal and went to school.
I always walked to school. My dad thought I always took the bus, but my school wasn't that far away from my house, about fifteen minutes of walking, and I wanted to save some money. I didn't show up late, if I left my house in time.
...Unfortunately, this wasn't the case today.
I started panting heavily as I splashed through the puddles and ran at a tempo that was very fast, even for me.
It had started raining last night, and still hadn't stopped. The clouds formed a thick blanket of grey in the sky, so thick that very few sunlight broke through. It was still very dark. As I ran to the other side of the street, avoiding some cars and ignoring the loud honking and yelling ('Watch where you're going!' 'You rotten kid!') I checked the time on my mobile phone. It was 8:24 am exactly. I had six minutes before I had to be in class.
As I continued running like crazy, a black limousine lowered speed. It now drove next to me.
Puzzled, I looked at the vehicle with a raised eyebrow. The window slowly opened, revealing a raven haired girl that was sipping from a light purple tea cup and looked at me, bored.
''So,'' She started, ''How are you?''
''Practically dead, how about you?'' I panted.
''I'm fine, see you at school.'' She said, giving me a small wave before the window closed again and the big car turned around the corner.
''Wait, Platina! Aren't you going to give me a ride?!'' I called after her, but she couldn't hear me.
I snarled, but then recovered and ran even faster. I looked at my mobile phone again.
It was 8:27 am. I now had three more minutes.
By the time I entered the class room I was wet through and panting like hell, but I had made it in time.

When I think about it, me being in class in time wasn't even something that was necessary, I just hated being too late.
When I entered the classroom, the teacher's desk was still empty.
Diamond waved at me from the back of the classroom with his right hand, while eating what was probably his sixteenth sandwich with his left and smiling his signature sheepish smile. I sat down on the chair beside him.
''What's up, bro? How was your weekend?'' He asked me.
''Well, fine. I spent a hella long time working on that essay for History.''
''What are you talking about?'' He asked me, blinking dumbfounded, ''What essay?''
''Don't tell me you forgot making it,'' I coughed, paused a while, and then continued, ''...again.''
''I can't help it! I was busy all weekend.''
''Right. Doing what exactly?'' I snorted.
''I- er... All kinds of things!''
I whacked him on the head, muttering, ''Don't make me laugh, Dia.''
The teacher had entered the classroom, struggling to keep standing with a gigantic pile of paperwork in his arms and dodging some paper planes that were flying around in the room. After he had put down the paperwork on the teacher's desk he tried motioning the class to calm down. He was ignored though.
After a few minutes of total chaos, Emerald opened his eyes. He had been napping with his head resting on his arms, and his arms in turn resting on his table.
''Uh oh...'' Was all that flashed through my head as Emerald slowly stood up from his seat.
He then turned around slowly, faced the classroom and shouted, ''SHUT UP!''
His voice was like a nuclear bomb, every student that had been standing fell over, and every single student dropped whatever they were holding before as they all fell silent.
''Thank you, Emerald.'' The teacher said.
Emerald just muttered something through his teeth, sat down again and continued his nap.
The rest of the class period everybody was silent, except for Blue -she was whispering to Red- the loud snores from Emerald and the teacher in front of the class, who seemed to be trying desperately to make the students listen to him instead of letting their thoughts drift off, like what was happening to me right now.

There wasn't any particular reason I thought of it right now, it might have been the weather or the cold that I was suffering from at the moment. I wasn't entirely sure.
My thoughts weren't with the rain or the way I had to cough and sneeze during every sentence, though.
I was thinking of what had happened about six years ago.

It was cold and wet. The two things I hated the most.
...After snakes, of course. I hated snakes.
And I hated my dad, too. Stupid dad.
He was stupid for making me go into the rain for groceries, he was stupid for being the reason I was cold right now, but he was mostly stupid for making mum go away. It was all his fault.
I was stomping through the puddles on the sidewalk of what I called 'shopping street'. It was a long street, so I had to walk about ten minutes before I reached a supermarket.
The sky was grey with clouds right now. Ugly clouds.
I sneezed.
I didn't like the looks of the gloomy sky, so I lifted my orange umbrella up a bit higher. This way I couldn't see the ugly clouds anymore. I smiled triumphantly to myself.
'Oh, the cleverness of me.'
After a few minutes of walking through the damp street I was yanked back a little. A big man tried pulling away my umbrella.
I tried holding it, but the force was too strong, causing me to let go and fall in a puddle.
''Ouch!'' I said.
When I got up and turned around, I noticed the big man was in fact the wind.
But no matter who it was, it would not get my umbrella!
I ran after it quickly, trying to keep dry by holding my arms above my head (which didn't work quite well).
I increased speed when I didn't seem to catch up with the orange umbrella.
It didn't help. I increased my speed even further, which truly was quite fast. People always told me I ran as fast as a cheetah, It made me proud.
At my current speed, though, I was unable to watch out for possible obstacles on the sidewalk.
I hadn't quite thought about that yet. Unfortunately, before I could lower my speed down for a bit, I tripped over a trashcan that was laying at its side. With a loud 'whack!' I fell down on the stone teals and rolled into a dark alley.

Moaning, I tried to get up. Unfortunately, my foot slipped on the damp ground, causing me to fall down again, face first.
I propped myself up on my arms and slowly got up. I brushed myself off, which was pretty useless since I was wearing my green raincoat and the fact that the rain would clean me up in no time.
When I looked at my knee I noticed I had scraped it pretty badly.
I sighed and was just about to leave the alley and continue my way to the supermarket without an umbrella, when I noticed a little girl sitting in front of me, leaning against the dirty wall.
I found it strange that she didn't think of helping me when I fell down like that.
''...Um... Hi.'' I said, taking a few steps in her direction, ''I'm Pearl, what's your name?''
She didn't say anything, just stared at the ground.
''Is something wrong? Do you need help?''
'Do not lose your temper, Pearl.'
She was silent for a long time, but when she seemed to notice I wasn't preparing to leave, she spoke, ''I'm not allowed to talk to the commoners.''
I blinked, first at her heavy French accent, and then at the realisation for what she had said, ''To the what?''
''The commoners.''
''What are commoners?''
''You are one. My daddy says I should only talk to people with a social standard, like us.''
''There's no need to be mean. My daddy says you shouldn't judge a book on it's cover.''
She blinked, ''I wasn't talking about books.''
I sighed. ''Look, do you want help, or not?''
''I do not.'' She stated, puffing her cheek out and looking away from me.
''But you're shivering.''
''I am not!'' She said, fists clenched on her light pink raincoat.
''Yes you are! I can see you shivering!''
''Don't be a pest.''
''I'm not! I'm only telling the truth!'' I took a deep breath, trying to calm down, ''Look, I am going home right now. You can come if you want.'' With that I turned around, leaving the alley.
I was now on the sidewalk again, walking into the direction of my house. I was walking very slowly, just in case.
In a few seconds I smiled. I heard a few splashes in puddles behind me, revealing the fact that the girl was running after me.
When she had finally caught up, she didn't say a thing to let me know she was there.
''Changed your mind?'' I asked her.
She was fidgeting the end of her raincoat uncomfortably, but then looked at me fiercely and said: ''No!''
I raised one of my eyebrows, as she furrowed hers.

When we arrived at my house, we were both soaking wet and ice cold.
My dad didn't open up the door, so I used the keys I had gotten myself.
When we entered the house, we were greeted by warm air stroking our bodies.
''Daddy?! I brought somebody!'' I yelled up the stairs, but nobody answered.
I sighed, and now turned to the raven haired girl beside me, chuckling at the look of disgust she wore when she looked around the hallway, ''You can remove your coat, I will get a few towels.''
With that I ran up the stairs, deciding I should look for some.
When I entered the living room, I noticed a letter hanging from the television, this is what it said:

''Hey Pearl,
I got an urgent call from my boss, I'm sorry but I have to leave.
The dinner is on the table, you can put it in the microwave if it's cold.
I'll be home around eleven.

Dad''

'Ugh, this is what happens every time.' I thought, biting my lip.
''Pearl?'' I heard a voice say from behind me.
When I turned around I saw the girl standing in the doorpost, wearing clothes that looked very expensive.
''Woah! You look so fancy!'' I noticed, but then recovered and said, ''I'm sorry, I'll get the towels.''

Ten minutes later we sat on the carpet in front of the chimney, warming ourselves by the fire.
We had talked for a bit, and she had told me that her father had told her she was to marry a complete stranger when she was a bit older, and that she had to move to another country. She hadn't taken that lightly. But, because she was very wealthy, she was very well-mannered and had learned not to be mean to her father. She had walked out of the room in silence instead, and decided to run away. ''Too bad I lost my bag...'' She ended her story.
I didn't say anything for a while, but then said, ''It must be horrible...''
She nodded.
''But... You shouldn't leave your family without telling them where you are.'' I paused for a while, ''My mum did that, and it hurts... very much.''
She was looking down at her boots.
''I don't understand why your family just decides what your future will be, though.'' I said.
She looked up at me, desperation visible in her eyes. ''They want to pass on wealthiness to the generations of our family that come after them, and to get that to happen they need my...'' She paused for a while, ''...époux... to be wealthy as well.''
''Aypoo? What's an aypoo?''
''No, silly! Époux! It means...''
''...Husband?''
''Yes!''
For the first time this evening, she was laughing. And before I knew it, I was joining her.
When we had stopped laughing, we were both silent for a while. Just looking at the flames in the chimney.
''...Platina.'' She said suddenly.
''-Eh?''
''Platina Berlitz. That's my name.''
I smiled. ''Ok, Platina. Let's be friends!''
''Yes!''
''But now you have to go back to your daddy. Leaving without telling somebody makes people sad.''
She nodded, ''Ok. I will go back.''

And she did.

I think this is the chapter that is written best. I dunno… I like writing Pearl. Our characters are kind of similar, I guess.
Well… Except for the fact that I don't have that much of a short temper and... well... I'm a girl. XD

Please review, it makes me update faster. ;D

~Lion3queen