The Crystal Diaries

Summer heat

I licked my lips, the lipstick almost gone in the summer heat.

My skirt stuck to my legs with sweat, and there was only one thing standing between myself and an icy sweet soda pop.

A dollar and fifty cents.

From behind me, a motorcycle parked on the roadside. I turned and saw Ruby taking off her helmet.

"Sapphire." She said, nodding in my direction as some more motorcycles pulled up behind her.

Amethyst pulled up. Jasper pulled up. The only thing that surprised me was Lapis sitting on the back of the cycle.

"Come on, Sapphire. You and I both would be in a heap of trouble if we started riding with the gems." My best friend Pearl said, pulling me into the soda shop.

"Pearl, I don't have any money!" I said quietly.

"Then why did you invite me out for sodas?"

Because I knew they'd be here.

I always longed for adventure. Something that sockhops and jukebox's just couldn't provide.

"Step aside, gals." Jasper pushed us behind her, and Ruby and Amethyst smirked as they cut ahead of us in line. Lapis had gone ahead to save them a table, our usual booth in the back.

"Hey Saph."

"Huh?" I turned ahead to see Ruby, still smirking with a hand on her hip, calling me by the name only Pearl used occasionally.

"Wanna share a soda?" Ruby asked. I hated to admit it, but Ruby was the Bee's Knees. We were both some of the only seniors to be mistaken for middle schoolers. Ruby had a calm, go with the flow, new age attitude. She could tell times were changing, even if others couldn't.

"I'd love to." Pearl grabbed my arm.

"Sapphire, your mother's gonna be off her rocker when she hears this!"

"She already is off her rocker. " Ruby played for the soda, and we drank it at a table near the Windows.

"Hey, maybe sometime we can go for a ride?" She asked as we finished our drink.

"I'd like that," I said. I pecked her cheek and walked home.

***

The wind whipped through my hair.  The spare helmet I wore whistled in my ear. My new leather jacket reflected the sunlight. Pearl still couldn't be convinced to cone for a ride, but at least she was more open to the idea of be friends with the Crystal Gems. Maybe even more than friends with Amethyst. Once again, I suffered from the summer heat. But never again would I not have enough money to buy a soda.