Lapidot: Just Like This

Chapter seven: Killing Me Slowly

Peridot looked over at Lapis from her notes with a raised eyebrow. The girl's head had dropped down on the desk with a 'thunk' out of nowhere. Peridot was worried about her, after she had found out how stress affected Lapis, how could she not worry? Midterm exams had just suddenly popped up, no one had realized how fast the time was going and the pressure was unbearable for some. Lapis sat up and Peridot looked at the girl's tired face, she had sunken in panda eyes and a terrible posture. Peridot frowned to herself. She plucked up some courage and asked,

'Hey Lapis? Do you need a tutor or something?' Lapis looked at Peridot with mild surprise. Peridot couldn't fit tutoring her into her time, could she?  

'These exams are gonna be hard and they just popped up out of nowhere so if you want i could help you, not that i think you need it or anything just uh...' Lapis raised a hand to stop Peridot from rambling any further. 

'Thanks for the offer dude but- don't you have to study too?' Peridot shrugged and her mouth thinned into a line. 

'I have been studying all the time since i came here anyway. i don't really need to do much.' Lapis frowned at the short girl. 

'So that's what you've been doing when you couldn't go out... well, if you are offering to tutor me i guess i could use the help, i don't understand anything here at all.' Lapis gestured to her notes and test questions on Maths. Peridot smiled brightly 

'Great, Maths is easy.' Peridot pushed herself away from her desk on her wheelie chair. Peridot leaned over Lapis' desk, her hair brushed Lapis' chin so Lapis leaned back a bit. Peridot hummed while looking over the test questions, her face slowly fell into an expression of dismay. 

'I don't want to alarm you but... nearly all of your answers are wrong...' Lapis groaned and put her head on Peridot's shoulder. 

'I'm gonna dieee.' Peridot rolled her eyes to the ceiling with a scoff. 

'No, you're not going to die you clod. You just have to work hard, i'll help you alright?' Lapis gave a half-hearted nod and picked up her pen to scribble out all the answers she got wrong.

***

Peridot was proud of Lapis, they had been working for a couple of hours now and Lapis had improved so much already. Lapis was scribbling down answers in her spidery scrawl. She bit her lip slightly in concentration every time she paused to think, which Peridot thought was quite adorable. Lapis pushed her notebook over to Peridot for her to read it, she was practically beaming as she did. Peridot scanned over the answers while Lapis watched over her. Peridot looked at Lapis and the both grinned in unison. 

'So..?'

 'You have improved really fast, you may get an A at the most, that's a big deal.' Lapis punched Peridot's shoulder. 

'Dude, you saved my life.' Peridot rubbed her dead arm but her grin didn't leave her face. 

'Now all that's next is sleep deprivation and unsatisfying exams.' Lapis made a noise somewhere between a groan and a violent sigh, visibly deflating as she did. 

'I don't wanna... can't i just hang out with you or something...?' Peridot shook her head. 

'You have to do well, besides, i have to study too.' Lapis glared at her. 

'I thought you said you had already studied your ass off!' Peridot shrugged. 

'I have to get all A*s, i won't be happy until i do well...' Lapis continued to stare at Peridot, she was such an overachiever. But knowing the small girl well Lapis knew she had good reasons. From what Lapis had gathered Peridot had terrible anxiety and social skills, she had a problem with anticipating how people would judge her so she tried her hardest, and beat herself up over mistakes. Lapis ruffled Peridot's hair, knocking her glasses a bit. Peridot blew out a sigh of frustration. Lapis blew a raspberry in reply. 

'Welp, time to die a slow and painful death by studying.' Peridot got up. 

'Yeah, you're one your own now, i got an exam this week too.' Lapis placed her head on the desk with a thump and cursed under her breath.

***

Peridot closed her book with a sigh, confident that she had studied every last thing she needed for the test. Peridot lay back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. There was a sudden thump and Peridot nearly fell out of her chair like a startled cat, she looked for the source of the noise and saw Lapis. on the floor. out cold. 

'Heck Lapis.' Peridot thought about how tired she had looked, she must have not been getting any sleep to have just passed out like that. Peridot put her pen on the desk and got up to walk over to Lapis, she gave a groan when she realized she would have to move the girl, her sleeping on the floor was an obvious hazard. Peridot hunkered down and pushed Lapis onto her back. 

'Didn't think you could die of boredom.' Peridot chuckled at her own joke as she put Lapis' arm around her shoulder and got up. Picking Lapis up was one thing, struggling to the other side of the room was another, but she managed. Peridot lay the girl on the bed, resting her head gently on the pillow. Peridot sat down on the bed and looked at Lapis. Her breathing had slowed to an even pace and her mouth was slightly open, he hair was splayed over the pillow. Peridot thought she looked beautiful in the light. Peridot's face fell, she disliked how she was feeling, her stomach felt like it was doing gymnastics and her mind started to wander. 

'Oh hell.' Peridot got up and walked to her bed, not wanting to be close to Lapis. But she couldn't stop glancing across the room.