"A boarding school? What's that?"
Steven and Connie were sitting on a beach, the summer sun shining as brightly as it could. The Crystal Gems were all on a dangerous mission of some sort, but allowed the boy to hang out with his friend for the day while they were gone.
"Well, like public schools, they teach everything they usually teach, like history, math, English, and science, and like private schools, they have a couple extra classes, like foreign languages from far off countries and advanced classes for the usual subjects, only unlike those schools, you sleep at the boarding school. My parents are having me spend a school year there as a test to see if there's more progress than my old school," Connie explained.
"But you can come back to Beach City on the weekends right?" Steven asked, hopeful he might have a chance to see his friend during the school year.
"Actually, the boarding school I'm going to is really far from Beach City. It's at least a three hour drive," Connie answered. "So I don't know if I'll be able to come by on weekends. But there are school breaks in the fall, winter, and spring, so I might be able to come back then."
"Great, when's fall break?" Steven asked, excitedly.
"On the same week as Thanksgiving," Connie replied.
"Thanksgiving…" Steven groaned. "But that's a whole three months from now."
"Well, we could email each other so we can tell each other what's going on where we are...though, nothing exciting really happens at school," Connie suggested. "And I think the teachers and principal only allow students to email their family."
"You could say I'm family," Steven pondered. "You could say I'm your cousin Steven 10 times removed!"
"Um, I don't think that'll convince the staff at the school, but it was a good idea," Connie responded with a smile.
"If only there was a way for us to hang out for fall and you to learn stuff at school at the same time," Steven sighed, looking down at the sand, saddened that he wouldn't see his friend for a while. Then, the little boy's eyes lit up into stars and he exclaimed, "Wait! I think I have another idea!"
"What?" Connie asked, curious to hear this next plot.
"How about I ask my dad and the Crystal Gems to sign me up to the boarding school you go to?" Steven proposed happily.
"Well, it could work, but boarding school is very expensive. I'm not sure if your dad and the gems would be able to cover the costs for it," Connie warned her friend.
"But I can at least try, right? I know we'll figure something out," Steven said, starting to run back to his house to see if the Crystal Gems had returned. "I'll tell you how it turned out tomorrow!"
Later that evening, Steven had called Greg over to the house and had him, along with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, seated at the counter.
"I'm glad you all showed up for this important family meeting. The subject tonight will be involving this brochure," Steven greeted, placing a piece of paper on the table for everyone to see. On the top in big and bold print, it read Rebecca Sugar Elementary Boarding school.
"A flyer for a boarding school? Where'd you get that?" Greg asked, not recalling seeing them set out anywhere in town.
"Connie got it for me. She's going there this September, and due to this, she won't be able to come to Beach City as often as she used to. I was wondering if you'd let me go for a year," Steven explained.
"Steven, tuition for this school is around $1000 a month! I don't know if we'll be able to afford it," Greg admitted.
"But I'll be able to learn about science, math, and other smart stuff. Pearl always encourages me to learn new things," Steven stated.
"While that is true, there really wouldn't be much of a point of you learning all this human stuff. Some of it would never even apply to our missions, let alone in real life," Pearl explained. "Besides, you can already read, write, add and subtract, and that's pretty much the only knowledge you need to know."
"But I'd do practice work on it every day and improve my skills," Steven countered.
"But if you go to school, you wouldn't be able to come on missions with us anymore. What if we finally catch Peridot or find Malachite while you're gone?" Amethyst asked.
"But what if Jasper tries to hurt me again? I might be safe at the school. It's three hours away," Steven stated.
"Three hours! If it takes you that long to get home, you'll miss your dinner! And it'll be past your bedtime!" Pearl gasped.
"Connie says in boarding school, you stay in these dorm rooms at the school. And I'll have my three important meals of the day there," Steven explained.
"You actually live in the school? But who will help you with your homework? Wash your clothes?" Pearl worried.
"I'm sure I could do my own laundry, and I could ask a teacher or another student for help on my homework," Steven assured the Gem.
"True, but the issue about the tuition is still a problem. There's no way we'll be able to save 1000 dollars before September. We might need money for other things like food, band-aids, and to replace anything that gets broken," Pearl noted.
"Then I guess my plan to go to school with Connie really won't work out, huh?" Steven sighed. "I guess I'll just have to wait until November to see her again." And with that, the little boy trudged up the stairs to his room.
"I know, how about I enroll you into the public school Connie went to. This boarding school her parents are sending her is only just for a year as a test right?" Greg offered, following his son as Pearl and Amethyst went to their rooms, leaving Garnet in the kitchen.
The tall Gem tapped on her chin, trying to figure out what to do about Steven's dilemma of being without Connie for a few months. The two kids could just communicate on the phone or on the computer, but it wouldn't be the same as being actually there for each other.
Then, there was a floorboard shaking crash. "Amethyst! Was that from your room?" Garnet heard Pearl holler.
"How do you know it was my room? It could've been Garnet," Amethyst retorted.
"Amethyst, you're the only Gem in this temple whose room is cluttered with so much junk! Do you ever plan on getting rid of any of it?" Pearl shouted.
"Hey, it's my stuff! I decide what to do with it!" Amethyst argued.
Garnet rolled her three eyes; Amethyst was a bit of what humans would call a "hoarder". She'd find some random stuff and then store it into her room, whether she needed it or not. One of her junk piles reached so high it touched the ceiling!
A lot of the things were just things humans threw away, such as broken kitchen appliances and furniture, but she did come across a lot of Earth-grown minerals, crystals, and artifacts, which to be honest, was pretty cool.
Then, Garnet's eyes lit up. The Gem went into Amethyst's room, where the purple Gem was relaxing on an old sofa set on top of many others miscellaneous items into a perfect tower. "Amethyst," the dark red Crystal Gem said, quickly getting the short Gem's attention.
"What's up, Garnet?" Amethyst greeted her friend.
"You wouldn't happen to have that stash of artifacts, crystals and other valuable items in your room, would you?" Garnet asked.
"Oh yeah, I do. Man, that pile's packed! It's bigger than the house! Why do you ask?" Amethyst stated proudly.
"I think I may know a quick way to get the money for Steven's boarding school tuition."
A few days later, Steven met up with Connie again on the beach, who hadn't been able to come by the last few days due to her parents taking her shopping for school supplies and uniforms, which proved to be very stressful.
Steven had broken the news to his friend that he wouldn't be able to go to school with her, in which Connie responded, "That's too bad. But you're also kind of lucky. You wouldn't have to deal with the boredom of looking at nothing but pencil and notebooks on sale in stores for back-to-school shopping, or the stress of trying on a bunch of clothes that are the same to see which ones fit."
"Why did you have to go shopping for clothes?" Steven asked curiously.
"Well, there's a dress code at the school that involves having to wear a uniform. It's kind of time-consuming," Connie explained.
"You mean I wouldn't be able to wear my favorite shirts and sandals? Boarding school really is complicated!" Steven cried.
"Hey Steven!" a familiar voice hollered.
Steven looked over to his house to see Jamie the mailman standing at the bottom of the slope to his house.
"Jamie!" Steven shouted, running over to his friend with Connie following close behind.
"Hey, Steven, it's been a while," Jamie greeted the kid.
"So, what's in the mail today?" Steven asked.
"Not much, just this letter for a school called Rebecca Sugar Elementary," Jamie stated, pulling out a thing envelope.
"What!" Steven gasped, taking the letter and looking at the address. It was addressed to him, alright! And also his dad and the Crystal Gems.
"But, I thought you said you wouldn't be able to go?" Connie said, confused about the message.
"I have to show this to everybody! See ya later, Jamie! Come on, Connie!" Steven exclaimed, running up to his home.
Steven burst through the door, shouting, "Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst! I got a letter from the school I wanted to go to for some reason!"
"Oh, so it arrived," Garnet said, walking over to the young Crystal Gem and taking the letter.
"Did you guys...enroll me? How? I thought we didn't have the money to do it," Steven asked.
"Well, we looked through Amethyst's room and took all the things that were very valuable, looked for some good places to sell everything, and end up having more than enough to send you to school," Pearl explained.
"Really? Wow Amethyst, I didn't think you'd do that for me!" Steven said, amazed.
"Well, I didn't really need all the rocks and stuff we sold," Amethyst admitted.
"You don't need a lot of stuff in that room, Amethyst. I found about 20 broken toasters in that room," Pearl told the purple Gem.
"We wouldn't have been able to get rid of the broken stuff anyway. Who'd want a broken toaster?" Amethyst said.
"Does my dad know about this?" Steven inquired.
"We told him last night, but we also told him to keep it secret from you until we got the letter," Garnet explained. "You know, as a surprise."
"Wow! This is great! Now me and Connie can hang out at the school now! And I'll get to know what back-to-school shopping is like!" Steven exclaimed excitedly.
"Actually, there's no need to go shopping for everything you need. Like I said, we had more than enough to enroll you into that school for a year, so we used as much as their was left over to buy you the supplies you'd need and enough uniforms to last for two weeks," Pearl stated. "By the way, I recommend washing a load of your clothes on weekends so they'll be fresh every Monday, and also when you're wearing your second week's worth of uniforms, wash the ones you wore on the first week of school, and if you need help, call me and I'll sneak into the school and help you when nobody's around-."
"Steven will be just fine on his own Pearl. I know he can handle everything," Garnet interrupted the Gem. "Now Steven, going to school is a big responsibility, so you're going to have to do as good as you can in your classes, otherwise, you're going to risk getting in trouble with your teachers."
"I'll do my best! I won't let you down," Steven assured his friends. "Boy, I can't wait to go to the school! If all the students live there, I bet it's huge!"
A week later, Steven woke up to his early alarm of 4:30, so that he, his dad, and the Crystal Gems would get a good start to go on their way to Steven's school. The boy was already in his new uniform, which was just a white button-up shirt, some plain khakis, a dark green blazer, plain white socks, and black loafers.
He had his other uniforms packed up in one suitcase, a few t-shirts, jeans, and his usual sandals to wear on weekends in another, and all his school supplies and necessities such as soap and toothpaste in a third bad. There was also this strange paper bag that Pearl was clutching shut in her lap to keep Steven from taking a peek inside.
"What's in the bag," the boy finally asked after several failed attempts to get a look inside.
"You'll see when we get there," Garnet told the young half-Gem, who became even more curious.
Finally, the van arrived at the school building, where several other cars were pulling up into the parking lot and getting their kids into the building.
"Wow," Greg mentioned, looking at all the vehicles. "Looks like a lot of rich kids go here."
"How can you tell?" Steven asked his dad.
"I can see three Ferraris, a Mercedes, and a limo in the parking lot," Greg pointed out.
"Cool, a Ferrari! I hear they're really fast cars," Amethyst exclaimed.
"Amethyst, don't even think about it," Garnet told the purple Gem.
"About what?" Amethyst asked.
"You were going to sneak away and steal the car for a joy ride," Garnet stated.
"What! No I wasn't!" Amethyst argued. Then, after a few seconds, she laughed and admitted, "Okay, maybe I was a little."
"Amethyst, this is Steven's first day of school. What other people think about him will depend on us, since we're his caretakers. If we do something wrong, they'll think he's a troublemaker too," Pearl scolded the Gem.
"Fine, I'll behave. Sheesh," Amethyst gave in.
After Greg located a place to park, everyone got out of the van and went up the steps to the building. Along the way, Steven noticed a few students giving them a few weird looks, mostly annoyed. "Um, Dad, why are people staring?" the kid asked Greg.
"Don't let that bother you. Kids always give each other weird looks on the first day at a new school. It's probably because they've never seen you before. Remember, this is your first year here," Greg advised his son.
Steven nodded, but still felt a little nervous.
Once inside, Steven was taken to the principal's office to meet most of the chief staff, like the principals, secretaries, counselors and such, then, the group found his room.
Outside the door, Steven faced his family and said sadly, "Well, I guess this is my room."
"Yeah, looks like it is. Remember, if you ever need someone to talk to, just call us," Greg told his son.
"Yes, just what I was about to say; if you're homesick, call us; if you're actually sick, call us; if you get hurt in some way, call us; if you need help on homework, call us; and if anyone ever picks on you-" Pearl started to state until Garnet interrupted, "Call me." Then, the red Gem clamped her fists together, summoning her gauntlets.
"Garnet, I don't think it'll be necessary to use violence to deal with bullying. You could get arrested," Pearl told the Gem, whose gauntlets vanished.
"So, what was in the bag you've been carrying around?" Steven asked, hoping to finally get his answer.
"It's a bit of a parting gift we threw together. Take a look," Pearl explained, handing the boy the bag.
Steven looked inside to see a two picture frames, three plushy objects, and something wrapped in paper. "Wow," Steven said, removing the frames. Inside one images was a picture of the Crystal Gems and him in a group picture, and the other was the old one of Greg and Rose.
"Dad, isn't this your picture?" Steven asked his father, holding up the image for him to see.
"Yeah, it is, but I thought maybe you'd want it for your dorm room, you know, so you could think of me, and your mother," Greg stated.
"Okay, I'll take extra-good care of it," Steven vowed, holding the picture close to his heart.
Then, he looked into the bag some more and pulled out the three plush objects, which turned out to be plush doll replicas of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. "Wow, these are cool. When'd you make these?" he asked the Crystal Gems.
"Well, at first, we tried to make them individually, but Amethyst's turned out sloppy and Garnet got a little frustrated with sewing, so in the end, I had to make them," Pearl explained.
"Gosh Pearl, aren't you worried that Steven would be made fun of for having dolls," Greg concerned.
"There's nothing wrong with a boy keeping a few dolls in his room. Besides, we made them so Steven will know we're always looking out for him," Pearl stated.
"What's the thing wrapped in paper?" Steven asked, pulling out the last gift. He unwrapped it to reveal that it was a star-shaped pin with a few rhinestones on it; a red one in the bottom left point, a blue one in the bottom right, a purple one in the top left, a pearl one in the top right, and a pink on at the very top. In the center in bubble print read "Steven Universe".
"It's for you to pin to your blazer, to remind you that you are a Crystal Gem," Garnet stated.
"Wow, it's so cool-looking. Thanks for making this for me," Steven said, his eyes glowing as he pinned it to his coat.
After Steven dropped off his bags in his room, he and his family went back out front to say their final goodbyes.
"Well, Steven, looks like this is goodbye, but remember, it's not permanent. You'll come by on Autumn break, won't you?" Greg asked his son.
"Well, if you can get Lion to come over here and get me, I could get home faster so I can have more fun on vacation," Steven suggested.
"Sounds like a plan, and remember, Steven; we love you and care about you," Greg said. "So if you ever feel down, try to think about that."
"Thanks Dad," Steven said, giving his father a hug.
Steven then went over to the Crystal Gems, "Are you sure you'll be okay on missions?" he asked, concerned for his friends' safety.
"Don't worry, Steven, we're strong. We'll do our best to be careful," Garnet told the half-gem.
"And if we ever find Peridot and/or Malachite, we'll let you know as soon as we can," Pearl stated. "And if you want to know what happened on our latest mission, just give us a call once you're done with your homework."
"And try to relax on the weekends. I don't want you to turn into one of those school geeks," Amethyst told the boy.
"I'll do my best to try to be me," Steven saluted the purple Gem, then gave all the Gems a hug.
Once they parted, Steven went back inside the school, waving his family goodbye.
"There he goes," Pearl said, tears starting to flood her eyes. After a few seconds, Pearl cried out, "MY LITTLE BABY IS ALL GROWN UP!"
"Pearl! Seriously! Could you not wait until we got into the car!" Amethyst shouted, annoyed. "You're making a scene!"
"Let's just get to the van," Garnet said, dragging Pearl back to the vehicle with Amethyst and Greg following close behind.
Well, this is the first chapter. I hope you like it! Just so you know, in order for the plot to actually play out, Steven and Connie have to be outside of Beach City, specifically far enough to not notice what's going on in town.
Basically, in the next chapter, Steven explores his school...and makes a new friend! :)
What will be in store for him on his first day of boarding school? Find out in the next chapter of Rescue from Homeworld!
Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar
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