Her teeth ground together as she slammed the locker door, ignoring when it bounced back open, the sound echoing through the almost empty room. The few people still changing looked her way, surprised by the noise, surprised by her attitude.

She could care less.

She grabbed the tennis shoe she still had to put on and stomped out, into the gym, into the hell that was physical activity. Already a few of her classmates were helping their coach set up a net for volleyball. She would've cried from annoyance if she was alone.

Peridot sighed as she flopped against a wall, sliding till she was resting on the floor with her knees to her chest. She clutched the shoe tightly in both hands and rested her forehead against her knees, trying to take a deep breath. She knew this wasn't going to go well if she didn't calm down, and the coach already had an eye on her for her, for a lack of better words, hatred toward sports.

Not her fault she wasn't built for that stuff.

"Rabar! Get your butt out here, we're starting a game!" God how she hated that voice with every fiber of her being.

Peridot ground her teeth but pushed herself up using the wall, rolling her shoulders and slipping the shoe on before jogging lightly across the court. She just loved how Ms Mina seemed to single her out every single time where there were still people lounging around, hiding within the locker room or next to the bleachers to use their phones. If she even thought about such an action she was in for detention.

And that was definitely something her mother would freak over. So of course she had to suck it up and deal with the horror that came with this class. It didn't help that she didn't have friends here, either. There was this one guy she occasionally spoke to, Lars, but he had a habit of being a... well not so nice. So that wasn't a normal interaction.

"Serve," Ms Mina grunted, tossing Peridot the ball, hard. It hit her forearms and bounced off, rolling away into a group of girls just off to the side.

She groaned when she heard the coach huff, nearly just turned and walked away when one of the girls gave a disgusted noise before kicking her the ball again. She'd never hit anyone in her life, but people like that made it a hard decision.

Picking up the ball, she strolled over slowly to the line, making sure to take her time to anger the coach. Maybe that's why she was always singled out...

It took a moment to get everyone in place. It took a moment longer for the rules to be broadcasted (for the millionth time) and the game to start. Peridot didn't even really try when she served, mainly because she never made it over the net.

She was too short and hit too softly for such a thing to ever occur, even when she was angry.

Speaking of which, her mind began to drift back to the cause of her mood. Sure, she'd been expecting to hate that new chick, but Lapis just made it so easy to loathe her instead. It was immediate disliking, on a whole new level for Peridot.

She walked slowly, following Amethyst with a tight frown and rolling her eyes the entire time. It only took a moment to cross over to the window seats, and just as Amethyst had said, there was that new girl. All alone, texting or whatever on her phone.

As they approached, Peridot allowed her eyes to roam briefly. The girl was sitting cross legged, slouched, baggy jeans and a loose hoodie obscuring most of her features. But her skin was a nice color, naturally tanned by the sun, and her facial features were rather soft. She was actually pretty, adorable even as she screwed up her mouth tightly in thought.

It only made Peridot's frown increase, arms crossing defensively over her chest.

Before she could react she was being pushed down in the seat directly across from the girl, who neither looked up nor spoke. Amethyst flumped down next to Peridot and leaned back in her chair.

"Yo, how's it hanging?"

The girl took a moment to finish whatever she was doing; Peridot couldn't help watching those lithe fingers travel across the screen with utter ease. Then the screen went black and the girl's head snapped up, eyeing the two of them.

Eyeing Peridot.

"What?" There was that voice again. It was so dull and so bright at the same time, a contradiction in itself. Something in Peridot both hated and loved it at the same time.

Amethyst chuckled and leaned back forward, blowing the hair from her face. "I said, 'how's it hanging?'. What, you never heard that before?"

The girl blinked, and though Peridot was sure she was listening to every word Amethyst spoke, those cerulean orbs never left her. It was creepy in so many ways yet it also made a chill run up her spine. Unpleasant, yes, but also exhilarating. A roller coaster of feelings.

"No." It was so blunt and forward. No wonder no one wanted to hang out with this girl. The only reason Peridot stayed where she was at all was because she found she couldn't move.

She couldn't give up that gaze. That unblinking, terrifying gaze. That wonderful, mysterious gaze.

It seemed Amethyst hadn't really come prepared for that. Maybe she had heard some of the gossip and thought people were just exaggerating like they normally do. But judging from her classmates murmurs, Peridot was finding this girl to be exactly as she'd imagined.

And, in a way, more. A very scary way.

She swallowed, and those blue eyes followed the movement of her through. She fidgeted as the silence dwelled and those thin but pink lips twitched. She tried looking away and found she couldn't.

"What's your name?" Amethyst finally asked, and it was then that Peridot could see how even her friend was getting uncomfortable. This wasn't exactly the good idea it had been made out to be.

"Lapis."

That's really pretty, Peridot thought before she could stop herself. And then she was cursing herself, rolling her eyes at her own mind. It made Lapis smirk, she realized, and once more she tried looking away. Until that girl spoke, directly to her for the first time, and with more than one word.

"You look way too short for high school."

Peridot had never gone from confused to enraged so fast in her life. It was bad enough that she had to live every day knowing she had some sort of growth defect. It was another thing when someone, a complete stranger at that, had to just point it out.

Was it just that everyone here had no mental filter or something?

She ground her teeth, immediately standing up from the table, starting Amethyst who had actually chuckled up until that point. Lapis just kept looking at her with this bored expression, like whatever was happening was the least of her cares.

And maybe it was. But that didn't change the fact that Peridot not only didn't like this girl, but that she wanted to actually hit her. That was a line she rarely crossed but she was seriously considering it for a moment.

But then she realized that she was letting someone get under her skin. She was overreacting. And that just pissed her off even more.

She found herself walking away, Amethyst jumping up and calling for her, and Lapis still watching her. She could feel those eyes digging into her back. She refused to acknowledge them, though.

The ball hit her directly in the face, making her yelp and stagger back, tripping over her own two feet and hitting the floor hard. Even laying there momentarily dazed she could hear the laughter, piercing her eardrums. She blinked and simply stared up at the overhead lights for a long moment before a body was blocking them from her view.

"Rabar, you okay girl?" It was her coach, eyeing her with a smirk. Peridot knew she was probably one of the first to laugh before she'd come see if her student was okay.

She nodded, furrowing her brow and lifting up onto her elbows. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't see that coming."

The snickers that followed made her want to curl up somewhere and die. Sure, laugh all you want, she thought bitterly. She silently wished the worst upon all of them.

"Get up, we have a game to finish," Ms Mina informed her, and she listened to the retreating footsteps as the coach turned and ran after the ball.

She got up slowly, carefully, dusting off the backs of her shorts and straightening her top. She cracked her neck and, ignoring the still chuckling gaggle of girls, walked away. Even knowing there was no way the coach wasn't going to chew her out for it, she took the chance and headed back for the locker room.

She shrugged off the calling of her last name, pushed through the door into the room. She immediately headed for her locker, which still hung wide open as she'd left it.

Fuck it. It was nearly time to go, anyways. She'd endure however many laps Ms Mina decided to burden her with tomorrow. Today, she was so done. With everything.

It was just too much.

A/N: Hey! I just want to say thanks to everyone who's read and commented. It really means a lot.

Since most of the gems/characters in SU don't exactly have last names (and I'm the worst at naming) I'm using variations of the voice actor(ess)(e)s names. Just putting that out there.

Please, if you have any suggestions or opinions on my writing, you know what to do! Appraisal and criticism is welcome! Thanks! -Sara