Opal's Pov

"Wait!" Peridot called before I could take the laptop out of my room.

"Yeah?" Amethyst asked. We were video chatting with her so she could help us wish Pearl a happy birthday. I swear that with all the time and money I spent traveling between school and home I could've afforded to buy Amethyst's way to Beach City.

"Did you and Nikki appreciate the gift I sent you?" Amethyst smiled and played with some of her newly redyed hair.

"Yeah man, it's awesome!" Mom and Eric got pissed and said we couldn't do it, but we did it anyway."

"And?"

"And it looks great! Turn's out I'm not as bad at dying hair as I expected. But we had a little bit of the pink from Nikki's hair left so..." Peridot and I watched her questioningly.

"Amethyst," I asked. "Did you dye a cat or something?"

"Or something," Amethyst chuckled. "We dyed the tips of Izzie's hair." I gasped.

"Dude, isn't she like six?" Amethyst laughed.

"It's just the tips. And I knew better than to use the bleach, so it probably won't stay for very long. But she keeps shaking her head a little so we can see that it's there. Mom and Eric hate it, it's awesome." I smiled.

"Well that's great, but now we have to go watch Pearl blow out the candles, okay?" I grabbed the laptop again and Peridot and I brought Amethyst down to the dining room.

"Pearl! You will never guess what's on Opal's laptop screen!" Pearl looked up at me expectingly and smiled. Sardonyx, Ruby, Sapphire, and Yellen were there to help us celebrate her sixteenth birthday. God, I felt old. But I couldn't even begin to imagine how mom felt with a sixteen-year-old and a nineteen-year-old.

"Ooh! Let me just bring my camera in!" Mom said, rushing in from the kitchen with her camera and a lighter for the candles. She sat down next to Donyx. Grinning, I flipped the computer around so everyone could see Amethyst.

"Heyo!" Everyone smiled and said hi. "Happy birthday P Man!

"Thank you, Amethyst!" Pearl smiled brightly. "It's so nice to see you!"

"You too, Perogi."

"Alright, girls, enough chit-chat. Let's light these suckers!" Mom said, taking the cover off the cake. It was simple, a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and 'Happy Birthday Pearl' written in fancy light blue letters with small pink flowers around the edge.

"Aw man, I wish I could eat it!" Amethyst complained. We all laughed. There was probably only enough for everyone to have one piece, but it didn't really matter. Especially for Pearl. She didn't eat much. But Amethyst did remind me of something.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hm?"

"Is Dad coming over?" I asked.

"Yes, he's coming over for dinner, just the four of us." I nodded. Mom lit the lighter, causing Yellen to scoot her chair back quickly and shake the table a bit.

"Woah, you guys just went way out of focus. Did someone shake the table or something?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah, sorry Amethyst," Yellen said bashfully. Once again, Mom lit the lighter and the candles. We did the usual party stuff, awkwardly sing Happy Birthday, eat cake and talk loudly, Mom gave Pearl a bracelet and everyone else gave her their cards and simple gifts. It wasn't really much of a sweet sixteen, the only big thing she'd gotten was her learner's permit. She wouldn't be getting a car, mine was Mom's old car that took most of my money from my job at the consignment shop to get in shape again.

"So Opal, are you going to teach Pearl how to drive?" Mom joked. I laughed.

"From Richmond? Yeah, okay." Everyone chuckled.

"I could teach her." Everyone stopped laughing and looked at Sardonyx.

"Uh, dude? Don't you have to be eighteen to teach people how to drive?" Amethyst asked. Sardonyx shrugged it off, and we went back to laughing.

After Amethyst said goodbye and everyone left, I sat on the couch with Pearl.

"So, just us tonight?" I asked. Pearl nodded.

"Yes, why?" I shrugged.

"I dunno, it just seems weird that you didn't have a sleepover or something. There's like always someone spending the night here." Pearl shrugged.

"I didn't want to do anything too big. You didn't. You only had Sugilite over, so it was almost a regular night." I shook my head.

"What else would I have done? Thrown a huge party and invite the whole grade?"

"They would have come," Pearl said, matter-of-factly. "You were a lot more popular than I think you realize." I chuckled.

"Me?"

"Sardonyx says the table you sat at during lunch was always packed with people who wanted to sit with you," Parl said. "It must have been nice," She added quietly. I looked down, then realized what needed to be said.

"Pearl, why didn't you say anything to me about Jasper?" Pearl flinched and looked at me.

"How did you find out? O-only three people knew!" I sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Pearl. You know how important it is that you tell Mom and I immediately when something happens. We can't let things get as bad as they were before." I looked at her for a minute. "Are things as bad as they were before?" She shook her head.

"I'm sorry," SHe whispered. "I just didn't want to worry you." I smiled and ruffled her hair with my hand.

"Aw, kid. You always worry me." I put my arm around her and leaned back into the couch. "Have you told your therapist?" She shook her head.

"No."

"Will you?" She shook her head again.

"No." I sighed.

"Have you been taking your meds?" She hesitated. "Pearl?"

"Mom hasn't refilled them yet." I ruffled her hair again.

"Well, I'll be sure to get her on that." I poked her in the stomach. "If you start telling us everything." Pearl chuckled feebly.

"I'll try." I smiled and brushed her bangs out of her face.

"You know, you can hardly even tell the scar's there." She blushed and moved my hand.

"I'm going to go see if I can help with dinner," She said, standing. SHe left the room and left me alone, on the couch. Metaphor for my life.