A Girl Like You (Lapidot College/Human AU Fanfic) [HIATUS...?]

Chapter 3

After Peridot had a few moments to calm down, she realized what she had just done to Lapis, someone who could have listened to Peridot's bottled-up sadness.  "She probably hates me now," Peridot said quietly, her voice choking in between the words.  Peridot ran back to her dorm, not sure what she would do when she got there.

"I hope she isn't hurt," Lapis said to Amethyst, sipping an energy drink.  "Eh, don't worry about it," Amethyst said casually.  "I'm sure she's fine.  Everyone cries once in a while.  She's probably stressed out about school."  "Yeah, and she started crying during lunch when I started joking around with her.  She's probably just really emotional."  Lapis said, attempting to comfort herself after the not-so-recent incident.  "Do you know what dorm number she is?  I'd like to go see if she's okay," Lapis said cautiously, making sure that no one thought that she was gay or something stupid like that.  "Nah.  I think Jasper does though.  Pretty sure they're in the same dorm."  Amethyst said, shrugging her shoulders as she dropped her empty energy drink can on the floor, then crushing it with her foot.  Lapis's eyes widened in horror.  "Wait, are you serious?"  Amethyst picked up the crushed can from the floor, getting ready to shoot it into the nearest trash can.  "Yea- SCORE!" Amethyst yelled as she made it into the trash can.  "Why would you care?"  Lapis ignored the question.  "I... gotta go."  She said, running off in the opposite direction of Amethyst.

"Do you know which room Peridot or Jasper is in?" Lapis asked for what felt like the one-hundredth time.  The lady shook her head no, and Lapis kept moving on.  There were less and less people in the college as the sky became darker.  "I can't let Peridot suffer in the same room as Jasper.  She feels threatened by me, what does she think about Jasper?  I... I can't let her be alone in there!  Finally, she found Yellow diamond, the Calculus II and Astronomy teacher.  "Do you know which room Peridot or Jasper is in?"  Lapis asked, out of breath from running.  Good thing she did too, because Yellow diamond was getting ready to leave.  "I think Peridot was in dorm 278.  I'm not so sure about Jasper though."  Lapis immediately felt a rush of relief go through her body.  Finally, after so many asks, she found someone who knew what room Peridot was in.  After exiting the room, Lapis turned on her phone to check the time.  "8:46?!"  Lapis exclaimed, staring at her phone.  "Jasper might be torturing Peridot right now, I have to run!"

Peridot was silently doing her Calculus II homework when she heard a loud knock on the door.  Peridot ignored it.  "Jasper can just use her stupid keys.  Bet she forgot them."  The knock repeated and got louder.  "I'm COMING, geez..." Peridot growled, going over to open the door for 'Jasper'.  "I'm not giving you my key-" Peridot said while opening the door, then stopped when she saw Lapis.  "What... are you doing in here?"  "Where's... Jasper...?" Lapis huffed, obviously out of breath.  "She hasn't come back to the dorm yet.  Good bye."  Peridot said with no emotion, starting to close the door.  "Wait!"  Lapis said, keeping the door open.  "I... came to give you company!"  She said.  "What?  That's not what I came for.  What am I saying?  I should just leave now." Lapis thought, but showed no sign of leaving.  There was a long hesitation until Peridot opened the door wider.  "Fine." She growled, obviously in a grumpy mood.  "But you may not, no, will not bother me on my home work."  Peridot went back to her Calculus II homework, ignoring Lapis.  "So... you have a nice dorm." Lapis said, looking around.  Peridot took a deep breath, and without looking at Lapis, said, "What did I just say about bothering me?" "Right.  Sorry."  Lapis said quickly, but had the urge to talk more. 

"Maybe," She said a few minutes later.  "You could take a break from all that homework and show me what that does?"  Lapis suggested, pointing to a small circular robot with four disconnected legs.  Peridot inhaled deeply again, glancing at what Lapis was pointing at.  When she saw what was on the pointer side of Lapis's finger, Peridot immediately brightened up.  "Oh, that?  It's just something I've been working on.  It can walk, well, kind of levitate off of it's four legs.  It can walk anywhere - even on soft surfaces, see?"  Peridot said, trying to hide the excitement she had with explaining something that she liked to someone for the first time.  She placed the robot on her bunk, and turned it on.  The robot sprung to life and quickly started crawling.  Crawling to the wall.  "No, no no, NO, NO!" Peridot yelled as it slammed itself into the wall, cracking the robot as some mint colored liquid started to ooze out.  Peridot quickly climbed up to her bed, holding up the robot.  "It was working so well..." Peridot said, with a hint of guilt in her voice.  "It's fine," Lapis said, half-jokingly.  "I'm sure everyone would have liked it."  "Like who?"  Peridot snapped at Lapis, wiping some of the liquid onto her sleeve.  "Well..." Lapis said thinking.  "Like... your parents!  I'm sure they're happy of your creation.  If you showed them yet, of course."  Lapis's words stabbed Peridot in the heart, bringing back the horrible thoughts that had haunted her earlier.  When Peridot was silent, Lapis tilted her head to look at Peridot more closely. 

"I'm sorry, did you hear me?"  Lapis said quietly, seeing Peridot's eyes stare down into the bed with a saddened expression.  "Yeah... I, um..."  Peridot choked back some tears and tried to avoid eye contact with Lapis.  "M-Maybe you should leave."  "Why?  What did I say wrong?"  "Nothing.  A thought just came into my mind.  I should get back to homework.  As she stood up to go down the ladder, she was attacked by a ton of mixed emotions and fell onto the bed.  "Oh, geez, please no..."  Peridot murmured, a tear escaping her eye.  "Is something wrong?  I ca-" "No, just leave!" Peridot interrupted her, turning away from her.  Lapis refused to leave.  "No.  I want to make you feel better.  If Jasper comes, she might bully you.  Then your parents-"  "Don't... bring up my parents."  Peridot said in a low voice.  "Why?  Do you not love them?"  At this, Peridot completely broke down, curling up similar to the way she did in the hallway that Lapis had found her in.  Lapis got close to Peridot, caressing her back as she got down to Peridot's level and started speaking quietly.  "Peridot, you can tell me what's wrong.  I've only known you for a day, and I know your a nice person.  So please, tell me."  Lapis was answered by a repetitive amount of sobs, until Peridot started talking quietly. 

"D-Do you ha-hate me?"  Peridot asked, choking out words.  Lapis reassured her by saying, "No, Peridot.  I don't hate you."  This didn't change Peridot's emotional state though, and might have even made it worse.  After some time, Peridot started speaking again.  "M-My p-parents died in a c-car crash..." Peridot gasped, trying to not cry and talk at the same time.  "I-I don't th-think they l-love me..."  Lapis was about to speak but Peridot kept talking. "I g-grew up w-without friends, b-but so m-many enemies, and th-they always t-told me that n-no one l-like me... th-that everyone h-hated m-me..."  "That isn't true, Peri," Lapis said reassuringly.  "I... I like you, and I'm sure a few other students do to.  No one hates you though."  Peridot kept shaking, but it soon died down into a quiet slumber.  Lapis was going to go, but stopped.  Jasper wasn't here yet, and Peridot might need protection in the morning.  Lapis was planning on staying up until Jasper came back but ended up accidentally sleeping as well.