Amethyst finished her largest stack of rocks yet. "Woo!" She shouted climbing to the top. "I'm king of the world!" She jumped into the air, turned into a ball and came crashing down, sending flying shards of boulders everywhere.
The kindergarten was littered with rocks from a hundred rock piles she had built, a hundred games she had come up with to entertain herself. She really liked a hockey type game where she hit rocks into the other holes that covered the walls, more points the higher the hole was.
She was getting good at not thinking about the others. Sure, every now and then it crossed her mind it would be more fun with an audience. But she wasn't planning on going back, not ever. She couldn't stop Pearl from coming over every now and then and trying to talk to her. Ask her if she wanted to come back home and tell her to stop destroying the kindergarten. But it was Amethyst's kindergarten, not Pearl's. Pearl could go back to whatever planet she came from and clean up her own kindergarten for all Amethyst cared.
She flew up the walls as a bird to make a line to mark her highest tower yet.
"And the next one will be even better." She said.
Summer was drawing to a close and Steven was horrified. "What do you mean you are going to SCHOOL?" He asked PeeDee.
"Everyone goes to school." PeeDee said calmly. "It's not a big deal."
"But I'm not!"
"Well maybe you should." PeeDee said. "All of the big kids go to school Steven,"
"Yeah, that's true," Steven looked over at the older kids who were building a raft with Ruby and Pearl. "Well…what do you do in school?" Steven asked.
"Lots of things Steven. Rolando says it's a government scheme to suck out your brain, but he's never right about anything. Dad says it's a room and there's desks and art and story time and lunch and recess and it's where you learn how to do everything!"
"I do art with Vidalia all the time." Steven pointed out.
"This is real art, Steven." PeeDee said. "It's very important. So is everything else. Like numbers. And reading. You should ask your dad and the gems if you can go to school."
"Okay." Steven ran across the beach. Pearl caught him by his collar as he neared the ocean. "Your life jacket. Steven."
"I want to go to school!" Steven said.
"What is school?" Pearl asked. Lifting him into her arms.
"It's a place where you have lots of stuff and learn things!"
"Oh, Steven, you want to learn?" Pearl beamed.
"I want to go to school!" He repeated.
"There's desks and art and story time and lunch!" PeeDee chipped in.
"You have most of that Steven." Pearl pointed out. "Oh, I know what will help you learn. We found this at the galaxy warp a few years ago."
She pulled a mirror out of her gem and handed it to him. "This will show you any part of gem history it's witness."
"Wow. I must be important to gem history."
"Steven, it's not even turned on."
Ruby laughed. "I mean. He is though. He has his mother's gem." She said, gesturing at Steven's stomach.
"See! I'm important!" Steven said triumphantly.
Pearl sighed exasperated. "Of course you're important Steven. But it's still not on."
"Hey, can we deal with the mirror later?" Sour Cream asked. "The raft is ready."
"Come on Steven, PeeDee, this is the coolest." Ruby said, handing him a life jacket.
"I was reading this book about this man who was stranded on an island and escaped by making a raft, and Buck suggested we make a raft and Ruby said we could!" Kiki said
"I've never built a raft before," Ruby said. "What do you think Steven?"
"I love it!" Steven said.
"It does seem unlikely any of you will be stuck on a desert island, but I would hate for any of you to be unprepared if it does happen." Pearl said.
The older kids laughed. "That's what makes you the best, Pearl." Jenny said.
Steven finished fastening his life jacket. "Don't you guys need a life jacket?" He asked the gems.
"We don't need to breathe, Steven." Pearl reminded him, lifting him and PeeDee onto the raft. She placed them at the center and the older kids and gems all took paddles and pushed out to sea.
Steven held tightly to the mirror as they rowed around the coast, the waves lapped over the sides and the older kids and Ruby laughed as the water hit them. They hugged the coastline and as they finished rounding the bend to beach city, they saw Greg walking out of the Big Donut. Steven waved to him with one hand and watched as his father's jaw dropped. Running towards them on the beach.
"Shoot" Jenny muttered as the gems started to steer back to shore.
"What are you guys doing!" Greg shouted as they got off.
"We built a raft!" Ruby said.
"You can't just build a raft without asking any of us." Greg said, "What if something happened?"
"They were completely safe. They have life jackets." Pearl pointed out. "And it was the children's idea."
"Don't tell our dad that!" The twins said at the same time.
Greg looked at the twins and around at the rest of the kids like he was thinking. "Anywho," he said. "I bought Cookie Cats for lunch." He held out a bag he had gotten from the Big Donut and the children descended like piranhas.
Rolondo, who never hung out with them, appeared to ask for one having hurried over from the fry shop. Greg was happy to give him one, he'd gotten enough for everyone to have seconds, and the gems waved theirs off as expected.
Greg and the gems left the kids to eat their ice cream walking off a bit and seemed to be having a serious conversation. Steven didn't like it when Pearl's eyes narrowed at his dad like that.
When his dad waved his hands at the gems like they were stupid for not knowing something. No one ever treated Steven like he was stupid when he didn't know things. But the adults were always acting mad at the gems for not knowing things.
"So, is it a magic mirror?" Sour Cream asked, gesturing at the mirror Steven had all but forgotten about.
"Yeah, show us," PeeDee said.
Steven held out the mirror "yeah. It's magic. Pearl said it shows the past."
"Show Camelot." Kiki said.
The mirror did nothing.
"Pearl did say gem history." Steven said, worried all of a sudden it wouldn't work.
The kids glanced at each other. "I don't know anything about gem history." Jenny said.
"Let's ask the mirror." Buck said. "Mirror. Show us your favorite part of gem history."
The mirror flickered. Suddenly showing a field of rainbow-colored spaceships.
"Woah!" Rolando said. "It's alive!"