The next day, things didn't get any better between them like one might have hoped. Rather, in some ways, it got even worse than before. The following day, the day after that and so on and so on, Peridot did everything she could do just to avoid any sort of contact with one Lapis Lazuli. Keeping it to a minimum of required interactions in class. She'd come in just before the bell rang rather than early like she usually did, and as soon as the bell rang again, she was out the door and into the hall fast enough that even The Flash would have been impressed.

She rarely gave Lapis a chance to catch her before or after class, and on the days that Lapis did succeed in stopping her, Peridot would make excuse after excuse to get away. Even during her free period, she had become hard for the teacher to find and even harder to get more than a couple words of conversation in.

Her excuses were hardly believable, and with how fast she'd rush to get away compared to before; it was painfully obvious to both parties that she was avoiding Lapis like the plague. Neither of them liked this at all.

After spending the entire night away following her talk with Jasper and despite what the woman had said, Peridot had come to the decision that she couldn't, shouldn't, have these feelings for Lapis. She'd decided that the best way to solve this problem and save herself from the inevitable heartbreak and grief was to get rid of those feelings as quickly and thoroughly as she could. Avoiding the problem was the best thing she figured she could do. If she spent as little time as possible around Lapis, then this stupid crush would have to fade away. That was her line of thinking, at least.

Not that it was really making things any easier for anyone. For Lapis, all this did was eat her up inside with guilt and paranoia. Peridot was also drowning in a sea of anxiety herself, constantly torn between wanting to hang with Lapis again and trying to kill off her crush on her. With no end in sight to this ordeal, things were gradually getting worse for them.

The one thing that could be agreed on for the both of them was that this was awful.

It was killing her. The stress this was causing her was going to be the death of her. It was clear her plan to avoid Lapis wasn't bearing any results as of yet, but she hadn't any idea what else she could try. Her heart still picked up in pace whenever she saw the blue haired woman, and it hurt when she had to avoid her. Sometimes she'd catch a glimpse of hurt in those lovely blue eyes and she'd feel like she'd been stabbed in the gut.

A part of her just wished that she didn't have to avoid Lapis, that she never realized she had a crush on her. Things could still be normal between them and she could still hang out with her.

She couldn't sleep, she barely ate. She sure as Hell couldn't focus when she was in class. All Peridot wanted was for this to be done with, her feelings gone so everything could be normal again. So she could be normal again.

The blonde let out a quiet sigh to herself. She was having a hard time paying attention to the lecture her teacher was droning on about. Occasionally she could feel Pearl and Amethyst glance at her. Though she hadn't told them anything about what was going on, they'd been quick to pick up on her behavior. While neither said anything to her about it, it was clear they were growing concerned for her.

She was just glad they weren't asking questions. Peridot wasn't sure how she'd explain trying to get rid of a crush on her art teacher to them.

Once class was over, her free period before lunch would kick up and she'd be back to hiding from Lapis for two hours before she went to her next class. She hopes that Lapis wasn't going to catch her today, and would maybe start to ease up on trying to talk to her. But, she was somewhat doubtful. The woman had been growing more persistent these past couple of days and Peridot was growing worried that she'd find out where she had been hiding all this time.

She just had to be quick. It's not like Lapis would check the weight room without any reason too. She actively avoided that part of the school along with the gym and field. Never told Peridot why, but, she figured she ought to be safe from Lapis in there.

Quietly, Peridot rested her head on her desk, not even listening to the teacher at this point. God, she was such a coward. This could be done and over if she'd just go and talk to Lapis rather than hiding from her like this.

But, she was scared. Terrified, in fact. It would be too easy to screw up whatever friendship she had forged with Lapis by having a dumb crush on her and Lapis finding out. Not that she probably wasn't already with avoiding her. But, at least Lapis wouldn't hate her, or worse, think less of her for this like she was bound to do if Peridot came out and told her about these useless feelings. Lapis would do the responsible thing and ask Peridot to just cut ties with her, start treating her like a student rather than a friend or ask to have Peridot removed from her class to avoid any trouble. That would be worse than whatever outcome avoiding Lapis could produce.

The blonde must have spaced out, lost in her own thoughts and so deep in them that when the bell rang and signaled the end of class, Peridot nearly jumped right out of her skin. A few of the other students chuckled at the display, but most of them didn't pay her any mind as she hastily scrambled to stuff her books and notebooks into her bag and get out of the room as fast as she could.

Her two friends tried to call her over, but Peridot just gave Amethyst and Pearl a wave and an 'I'll talk to you later' as she rushed out of the classroom and into the packed halls. She couldn't waste any time, get out of the halls before Lapis could catch sight of her.

She didn't stop by her locker anymore during this break. At this point, she'd begun keeping her books for her next class in her bag. It saved her a couple of minutes so she could shove past some of the other students as she made her way to her hiding spot.

As the days of avoidance had turned into a week, and a week turned into two, Peridot found herself spending the two hours she usually spent with Lapis hanging around in the weight room. Sometimes Jasper was there, sometimes she wasn't and Peridot would be alone in there. During those times she would play a game on her phone or maybe play something on a portable console she brought.

When the Amazonian woman was there in the weight room the two would do light workouts just to pass the time. It started as Peridot watching Jasper work out, and eventually join her, then to being coached on simple exercises. They'd have small talk and Jasper would put her through a drastically less grueling workout compared to her gym classes. They never talked about Jaspers mysterious ex or Peridots unnamed crush.

A few gave out sharp remarks at being pushed about, but she ignored them. At the moment, the other students weren't really her concern. She wanted to get out of the halls. Right now the blonde was a sitting duck waiting to be snatched up.

Breaking through the thicker patches of students, Peridot stepped into a different hall away from the masses. There weren't that many students, just a couple that was more or less heading back to their next class. So far she hadn't seen the art teacher, so, so far so good. She wasn't that far now.

Before Peridot could take another step forward, a large, thick arm grabbed her by the shoulder stopping her in her path. She let out a startled squeak which was answered by a deep, amused laugh as the hand slowly let her go.

"Wow, you are pretty jumpy," Jasper pushed some of her white strands out of her face. She was clad in sweats, a bag over one of her broad shoulders with water and towels. "Are you on your way to the weight room?" she asked as though she didn't already know the answer to that question.

Peridot gave a small nod, "Yeah," she replied.

Jasper gave her a once over and raised a brow, "Still refusing to dress properly for this sort of thing, I see," she said, gesturing to the jeans, "But, whatever."

The two started walking down the hall, idle chatter from the other students filling the silence between the two.

Peridot waited until they turned a corner to speak up, glancing at the behemoth of a woman. Despite having spent so much time with her now during her periods of hiding, she was still quite a bit afraid of Jasper, the woman could easily snap her in two and she still had a bit of a temper. A lot of times, Peridot felt it was like walking on eggshells around her, who knew what would get her angry.

"What kind of exercise did you have in mind for us today?" she asked her.

Jasper shrugged in response, eyes staying focused in front of them as they walked, her strides so big and long that Peridot had to speed walk to keep up with her, "I figured we might work on some light endurance training. You could certainly use it, might let you last longer during gym."

Even though she said it would be 'light' training, Peridot still couldn't help the mild dread that filled her. Even the 'easy' stuff Jasper did with her was a bit intense. Maybe that was just because Peridot was out of shape.

"Well, we have two hours for that, so, hopefully, it has some rewards to it," Peridot added a bit lightly. A small chuckle was her response from the gym teacher.

"Consider it your reward when you're able to do a full pacer."

She grimaced at the mention of the activity. The pacers had always been her least favorite activity in the gym since she could remember- that and the pull-ups they had to do in front of everyone in the class. "I think I'll pass. I just got word from my doctor and I'll be sick when you make us do that," she had made her voice as monotone as she could and her expression completely blank. She was rewarded with a deep, full-bellied laugh and a rather sharp slap to the back.

"You're amusing, I'll give you that," Jasper shook her head as she spoke.

The bell had rung at this point, students would be in class, minus the handfuls that were in their free periods. The occasional light flickered above telling tale of a dying bulb as the two made their way down the hall. The two probably stuck out like sore thumbs, Peridot had to muse to herself.

The tallest teacher in the school strolling alongside one of the shortest students. The stark contrast was bound to turn a few heads, and they did get the occasional glance from students and teachers that were standing around or walking by. Well, Jasper did. Peridot doubted anyone really saw her when the gym teacher towered and blocked her from most anyone's line of sight.

Well, she did land in the crosshairs of one person, and she really wished she hadn't.

"Peridot?"

Both Peridot and Jasper came to a complete stop. Stepping out of one of the rooms was the very same woman that Peridot had been trying so desperately hard to avoid for those few weeks. The student swallowed a lump in her throat and did her best to avoid eye contact, she didn't notice Jasper tense up as well at the sight of Lapis.

The blue haired teacher took a step towards them. Her eyes on Peridot and only Peridot. But after a few moments, she let herself look to the towering companion and felt a heat boil inside her as she narrowed her eyes at Jasper. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't because she was looking at Jasper that she felt a bit of anger inside her, but because of how friendly Jasper was acting towards Peridot. She bit back the scowl that wanted the surface and instead smiled, looking back to the blonde.

"Peridot, I'm glad I ran into you," she said, taking another step towards them. "I had something I wanted to talk to you about. Can I get a minute with you, alone?" she added the last part, eyes flittering over to Jasper.

At the request, Peridot felt at a loss. "I, um," she mumbled, grabbing the strap of her bag and toying with the buttons on it warily. Could she outright refuse Lapis' request, in front of another teacher at that? She didn't want to spend time with Lapis alone, it was only going to make it harder to ignore her crush, let alone get rid of those feelings. Besides, she had a sinking feeling she knew why Lapis wanted to talk to her.

To ask and probe on why Peridot was avoiding her. If she did that, Peridot would end up fessing up whether she wanted to or not.

"Is it, um, urgent?" Peridot asked instead. Not daring to look Lapis in the face.

Lapis nodded, "Well, it's not going to end the world if we don't, but, I would like to get this out of the way right now so we don't have to worry about it later," she answered easily. It wasn't a lie, Lapis herself just wanted to get to the source of why her friend avoided her like the plague, so she could know what she did wrong and fix it as soon as possible.

Before either could say anything else, Jasper stepped up to the plate, "Sorry, Lazuli," she said curtly, hand on Peridots shoulder, "but, we were in the middle of something already. Can you save it for another day?" Before Lapis could respond, she turned to Peridot, "Why don't you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you in a minute. Okay?"

Not wanting to be there anymore, feeling anxiety clawing its way up her from the bowels of her soul, Peridot just nodded mutely and scurried down the hall to the weight room while Jasper stayed behind. Practically blocking Lapis from moving on.

When Jasper was sure that Peridot had left, she let her gaze harden on the shorter teacher, thick arms crossing over her chest as a frown took over her face.

Now, despite the stereotypes saying that all athletes were all brawn and no brain, she was by no means an idiot. She was a teacher after all, and she had still passed her own classes from high school to college with A's and B's. Looking at the scene that had just occurred, well, she'd have to be completely daft not to notice what was going on.

She could piece together the facts when they were laid out before her. Peridot had said her crush and she had gotten lunch together often. She had a feeling that Lapis hung around Peridot during lunch periods, would explain why she was never around during that hour.

Jasper was not an idiot.

"Jasper," Lapis' tone did nothing to hide the clear disdain she had facing her ex, "Can you move? I need to discuss some classwork with Peridot."

"Don't even try," Jasper cut in rather quickly, moving over to block Lapis' path when she tried to get by her. She could see plain as day that Lapis was lying, and she didn't like it one bit, "Since when did you start hanging around with children? Didn't know you were interested in the younger crowd now."

"This has nothing to do with you, back off."

Jasper felt her own temper start to boil, "In case you're forgetting, she's one of my students. It's part of my job to help keep her safe from monsters," Jasper curled her upper lip back as she stepped closer to Lapis, "Monsters. Like. You."

She could see she struck a nerve from the expression on Lapis face. A mixture of hurt, fear, and most dominant; anger.

Stepping back, Jasper crossed her arms over her chest, continuing to glower at Lapis, "I don't know what you plan to do with her, and frankly, I don't want to know," she was probably just going to toy around with the kid and toss her to the curb when she got bored. It was what Lapis always did, "but you need to back off. Peridot ain't like me; she can't take the abuse you like to inflict like I can."

Hands clenched in shaking fists and knuckles going white, it was a tremendous act of willpower that Lapis didn't bring her fist right into Jasper's awful face, "I'm not. A monster," she said in broken words between clenched teeth, "I actually tried to get better, am trying. Unlike you."

Jasper didn't buy it. After the numerous stitches and scars over the years, she got from Lapis' little tantrums, the numerous times she'd been locked out of their apartment during thunderstorms because Lapis was having a mood, after all the hospital trips… She didn't buy it for a second when Lapis said she was trying to change. Sure, she'd given the bluenette just as many beatings and hospital trips, but, she wasn't the one who started the violence that made up their relationship.

"And you really expect me to believe that?" Jasper asked, "The moment you get her in your claws, you're going to do exactly the same thing to her as you did to me; take everything out on her."

"No. I'm not," Lapis argued and then took a step forward, fists shaking even harder, nails digging in so deep that beads of blood started forming on her palms, "And where do you get off?! Huh?! You're no fucking angel here!" she snarled. It was a good thing that there weren't any teachers of students around to watch. She wanted to hit Jasper, so badly, oh so badly. But, if she did, Jasper would win.

Win what? What was she even trying to prove? That she was a better person since they'd broken up, right?

Was she really?

As though sensing the doubt that had begun bubbling up, Jasper snatched Lapis by the wrist and tugged her forward, "We don't need to change," she changed her approach, "You're never going to change, neither am I. Then shouldn't we just go back to how it was, you can hurt me to your heart's content and not worry about ever laying a scratch on Peridot because you were having a bad day!"

It was tempting. Lapis couldn't deny that it had always been tempting to go back to Jasper. What they had wasn't healthy, constantly abusing each other, but, they only ever hurt each other and no one else.

She shook her head and ripped her arm free, "No," Lapis spat, "I'm not like you." She took a few steps back from the Amazonian woman, "I'm a better person, I'm not going down that road ever again. So, just stay out of my life, and keep your nose out of my and Peridot's life. She's nothing to do with you."

She turned on her heel and stormed off, away from Jasper. To get as far from Jasper as she could. Lapis wasn't a monster, she was never going to be a monster again, Jasper was wrong. That's why she needed Peridot. The girl helped her feel like she was right.

Jasper growled as she watched Lapis go, and after a few minutes she turned and walked the other direction. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the weight room where Peridot was waiting anxiously, fingers digging into her pants as she perked her head up at Jaspers arrival.

The gym teacher took another breath, in and then slowly out as she made her way to Peridot. "Runt, there's something we need to talk about."