Camp Pining Hearts

Chapter 3

The sun was up (but just barely) when Peridot opened her eyes the next morning. She groaned and pulled the pillow out from under her head to smash it over her face in an attempt to will herself back to sleep. This was the fifth time she'd woken up since stomping to bed the night before, and frankly she felt she had enough to be frustrated about without adding sleep deprivation to the list.

After a few extra minutes, however, she gave the attempt up as a bad job and sat up. Peridot leaned forward to retrieve her glasses off the window ledge and then, as she placed them on her face, reached under her bed to grab at her handheld. With a glance around the room at the other fifteen (still sleeping) bodies, she turned the system on silent before opening up her game.

But Peridot was unfocused as she played. After a missed jump too many, she tossed the game aside and laid back on her pillow, staring at the metal slats above her.

Without a distraction, she was forced to think about the one thing to which she very rarely admitted: she might have, maybe, been wrong.

After the anger had subsided the night before, Peridot had tossed and turned thinking—more about Jasper than anything (or anyone) else. How disappointed Jasper would be in her once Lapis told her what Peridot had said. How, because of issues that she very begrudgingly conceded were not honestly Lapis's fault at all, she might've just forced an ultimatum on her best friend that she wasn't confident would work out in her favor.

Now deep in thought as she lay glowering into space, Peridot had to acknowledge that, for reasons beyond her immediate comprehension, Lapis was different. Jasper acted different around her, at least, in a way that Peridot would have to confess was an improvement. Jasper didn't strut in front of Lapis, but rather held her hand and walked by her side. And, as far as Peridot knew, Jasper hadn't yet beaten anyone to a pulp for even looking at her girlfriend, which had unfortunately been a pattern of hers in the past.

And although Peridot truly didn't think of Jasper in any way outside of a platonic nature, she was one of the most important people—if not the ultimate most important person—in her life. And with the internal strength equal to what she imagined it might be like for her to run a marathon without her prostheses, Peridot decided that what was important to Jasper was important to her, too.

Man, she mused. I should write this stuff down. I can use it in my fan fiction.

The kid in the bed above her shifted, which managed to drive her out of her own thoughts. Sitting up again, she dazedly glanced out the window. But upon seeing movement on the path outside, Peridot leaned her face closer to the glass and peered out of it more sharply.

Walking towards the Pink Cabin was—of course it was—Lapis. Her hair was dripping wet and she wore a swimsuit under Jasper's cargo jacket. Peridot also noticed that, swinging from the crook of her harm, Lapis carried a cloth grocery bag from which a folded, dry towel was peeking out.

When Peridot peeked back up at Lapis's face, she held back a gasp and ducked below the window ledge just enough that her eyes could still see out into the trees. Lapis had been staring right at the window. Or, no—Peridot's shoulders relaxed—Lapis hadn't seen her, but was merely glancing at the building as she walked. But the look that crossed the girl's face, one of obvious distaste, was unmistakable. Lapis walked down the path, around the corner, and out of sight.

Peridot's heart was still beating hard against her chest as she turned away from the window and leaned her back against the ledge. She was relieved that Lapis hadn't actually caught her spying, because that would just be one more thing for her to complain about to Jasper.