Lapidot: Just Like This

Chapter two: Friendships and Anxietys

Peridot thought she had did quite well at meeting new people for once, Lapis' group of friends seemed to be quite accepting and interesting to talk to despite Garnet and Jasper being quite intimidating. Peridot was worried though, about how she would balance her work, extra-curricular activities plus hanging out with her new friends or even how she was supposed to start any sort of conversation with them. It was frustrating. Peridot shook her head and rid her mind of the thoughts so she could get back to her engineering project, she was told to design and create a lamp, everyone else in her class was doing something quite easy that would get them either As or Bs, but she was an overachiever, so she wanted to get an A* at the most. The thing is, nothing was coming to her head. Her frustration made her leg restless and she bit down onto her pen too hard, making ink spray out onto the page. Peridot stood up quickly and wasn't sure what to do she just spluttered, frustration boiling up. She tore all the papers in two with an angry noise. She stood there trying to calm down, the papers balled up in her fists and ink all over her hands, face and the desk. Just then Lapis came in, she showed a bit of shock but grimaced when she saw Peridot with ink all over her and looking tense.

'Care to explain what's up?' Peridot looked over her shoulder and her face just spelled anxiety when she saw Lapis, Lapis was laughing too. 

'Whats so funny...' Peridot asked with her eyes narrowed. 

'Oh nothing, but you're about as blue as my hair right now.' Lapis snorted and laughed, Peridot couldn't hold back her smile but, she was still dismayed at the fact she had gotten ink all over herself, she would have to take a shower and wash her favorite green sweater... it would probably come out turquoise now. Peridot sighed and she seemed to deflate, with her shoulders drooping and her back hunching forward. Lapis took pity on the girl and went to look for some wipes that she had put in her bedside table. Peridot meanwhile took off her sweater, she was wearing a black top with a single green space invader and 'PRESS START' printed on it. Lapis returned and gave Peridot the wipes, she stared at them like they were an alien.

'Shouldn't i take a shower...?' Lapis shrugged at Peridot. 

'Nah, it would be wasting water and those things are really good at scrubbing ink, so you should use them.' Peridot just nodded once and plodded into the bathroom, she was blushing terribly because of how mortified she was to have done something so silly in front of her roommate. Peridot took a wipe out of the packet and began vigorously scrubbing her face and neck. Lapis, meanwhile, had set all the papers and pens back onto Peridot's desk for her to deal with later. Lapis stretched and a satisfying crack sounded out, she returned to her own desk which was next to the door on the wall. Lapis took her bag with her and set it down with a thump, and sat herself down with an equally loud thump. Lapis rummaged through her bag, taking out bits and pieces she needed to do her work such as pencils, pens, markers, paints etc... She set her A3 sized sketch pad on her desk and it was off to sketching, normally she would probably put off an assignment to the last minute but she really didn't have anything interesting to do and she didn't feel up to reading. Lapis' assignment was for art and it was to make a piece that expressed yourself, your past experiences, the people in your life and whatever else you thought you could add to it so other students and teachers could know you better. Ideas had already flooded into her head so she needed to ink them out onto the paper as soon as possible. her pencil was sketching patterns and shapes, until it would become something bigger, she had no need for references. Lapis was interrupted by a brush of hair on her shoulder. she jumped and let out a squeak and so did Peridot behind her. Lapis stared at the girl and Peridot started muttering apologies, making Lapis roll her eyes. 

'Whatever i just need to concentrate.' Peridot stood silent for a moment before speaking. 

'Shouldn't you be doing... work assignments...?' Lapis frowned and glared daggers at Peridot. Peridot realized her mistake and started apologizing quietly again, making her way back to her desk. They returned to their work and didn't talk or get up even once until it was time to sleep.

***

The next day Peridot had stayed away from the dorm room as much as possible after lectures. making excuses for herself like she should explore campus, visit that coffee shop again, get some groceries in and whatever else came to her mind. But that wasn't why she was staying away from her room, it was because she had offended Lapis, Peridot kept thinking about how stupid she was to make that remark and it played over and over in her head. The last thing she wanted was for a possible friend to start hating her so she decided to give Lapis some space. Peridot was walking along a path on campus with her eyes fixed on the ground when she heard a shout, she looked up to see a UFO flying towards her at full speed and it crashed into her head, sending her back and knocking her into a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. A purple thing and a large orange blob with streaks of white through it were leaning over her now, which just made her more confused, they were speaking in some sort of alien language. she tried to say something but couldn't form proper words.

'Go 'way allen.' she was starting to come back to her senses and she saw the purple girl from the coffee shop and Jasper leaning over her. 

'Who's Allen?' Jasper asked, looking about as confused as Peridot.

The purple girl looked relieved. 'Damn, i thought you were dead, thank god.' Peridot sat up and adjusted her glasses, noticing that they were cracked, but she was just happy she was alive, though dismayed at being stared at like an animal in a zoo. 

'Good to see you Jasper and um... person.' she noticed Garnet behind them too looking disapproving and the pale woman also from the coffee shop looking panicked while holding Garnet's arm in a vice-like grip. Jasper hauled Peridot up from the ground and she brushed herself off. 

'You alright there? gave us a scare when you weren't replying.' Jasper said to her. 

The purple haired girl spoke again. 'Yeah we thought you went brain-dead or something!' The pale woman looked horrified.

'Amethyst you should be apologizing! you threw the Frisbee at her!' the girl, Amethyst, just shrugged and kicked the ground a bit. 

'No, no it's fine even if it was a major inconvenience, I wasn't looking where I was going' Jasper put a hefty pat on Peridot's shoulder. 

'Let us make it up to you, how about you hang with us for the rest of the day? And maybe we could replace those glasses of yours...' Peridot thought about it, and then thought about Lapis  and nodded vigorously, the group cheered a little at getting a new player for the game. Garnet retrieved the Frisbee and they returned to their game, which Peridot somewhat regretted agreeing to play as she got hit by the disc quite a lot but it was fun regardless, it was nice to have some acquaintances to save her from her problems but she knew she would have to face Lapis tomorrow.