Opal's pov

"And your sister's been doing well! She went to a party last night!" I laughed.

"Pearl at a party? Yeah, I don't think so."

"Opal, I'm serious! She went to Peridot's sister's birthday party! I guess there were girls from another school there and everything!" Mom explained. She sounded so excited.

"Really? What time did she get home?"

"Sardonyx brought her home at nine thirty, but I could tell she was totally wiped out and wanted to come home sooner. She went straight to bed and slept until nine this morning! It was so relaxing to have a night to myself."

"I guess it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Nineteen years, baby." I laughed.

"You and I both know that's not true. I've gotten us out of your hair before. And if I haven't, Rainbow's parents totally have." Mom laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. God bless Lisa. She and I have got to get together soon. Do our divorcee stuff." I chuckled. "How's Rainbow doing, by the way?"

"Good," I lied. "Haven't seen much of her because she's busy studying for finals."

"You and I both know that's a lie Opal Lynn. Well, hopefully she really is busy studying for finals, like you should be-"

"Hey, you called me." I protested.

"Yeah, alright. But you and I both know she's not as good as you're trying to say. The wedding's in a couple of weeks, how is she?"

"Not good. She's in constant dread."

"And who wouldn't be? At least he had the decency to invite her."

"Hold on, I have a very vivid memory of you burning your invitation to Dad's wedding in the backyard."

"How the hell do you remember that?"

"I was a lot older than you think when you guys got divorced."

"Fine, whatever. Let's talk about another one of your friends. How's your roommate?" I rolled my eyes playfully and leaned back in my chair.

"Hey, Rhodonite, how are you? My mom wants to know." Rhodonite glanced up at me from her laptop.

"Oh, uh, I'm fine, I guess. Why, is she worried? Oh God, I've worried your mom!" I laughed.

"Don't worry, you're fine!" She sighed in relief and went back to her laptop. "She says she fine."

"That's nice," Mom said. "Now how's my favorite daughter? She doesn't call me gusta anymore. Did you break her heart?" I fought the overwhelming urge to sigh in frustration.

"Um, I wouldn't know. She doesn't call me much either. I guess she must be just as busy as I am."

"Well, what's she doing?" Shit. What was she doing?

"Jesus, I think she's still trying to get Amethyst away from her mom. I don't know."

"Well, call her. Then tell her to call me. I love you, okay?"

"I love you too. Wait, are you going to hang up? Don't hang up!"

"Oh? Well not anymore. What's up?"

"I wanted to ask if anything's happened with Pearl and Jasper."

"Oh!" There was a pause as I heard her cross the room before returning to her spot. "Okay, she's still upstairs. Yeah, no, she's doing okay I guess. I've got this app, on my phone? Yeah, it's also on hers. It alerts me every time she gets a text, that way I know if she's getting bullied and not telling me. She's not too happy about it."

"Woah, when did that happen?"

"A few days after you left. I talked to Yellow about it and she told me about it. The only person who's texted Pearl since is Sapphire. So yeah, there's that."

"Has she been talking to you?" I asked.

"No, not much. But... I guess any dialog is good, right? She and I talk at dinner. We'll, when we have dinner together. I've been working a lot more lately." I sighed.

"Oh, that can't be good. Is she alone much?"

"I guess she stays at the library a lot after school then catches a bus home. Poor kiddo, it's not like before when she had one of us at the house usually." I smiled.

"Well, hey, things will be different soon. I've got finals this week then I'll be coming home. I'll get my job at the thrift shop back and then I'll be home every afternoon and nights. No biggie."

"Aw, that's the spirit. Alright, get back to your studies. Love you." I smiled bigger.

"Love you too, Mom. See you soon." I hung up and leaned back with a sigh. "Christ, I need a coffee. Do you want anything?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine." Rhodonite said. I nodded, then grabbed my wallet and keys. "I'll go see if Rainbow wants to get coffee with me." I got up and left, grabbing an elevator down to Rainbow's floor.

It didn't occur to me until I opened the door that Rainbow was probably at work, seeing as I hadn't texted her before. My suspicions were basically confirmed when her roommate opened the door.

"What do you want?" She asked, looking like she'd just woken up.

"Oh, hey. Morgan, right?" She groggily nodded. "Is Rainbow here?"

"No, she's at work. Why?" I bit my lip.

"I was going to see if she wanted to go get coffee, but I guess she can't..." I suddenly got really self conscious. "Uh, do you want to go get coffee?" Morgan squinted at me.

"Are you like... Asking me out on a coffee date?"

"Oh, no! Not like that. I just meant like walking to the place down the street and getting coffee quickly before coming back. I'm studying and just needed a pick-me-up, you know?" I tried to chuckle, but she didn't look amused.

"There's always drugs if you're looking for a pick me up. Plus you and Rainbow go out for coffee a lot. You should get a coffee pot for your room." I looked at her. I couldn't tell if she was being serious or not. "Sure. Let me put a bra on."

Two minutes later Morgan and I were walking up the street together. It was the most time I'd ever spent with her and the only time Rainbow hadn't been there.

"So what's your whole deal?" She asked.

"Excuse me?" She shrugged.

"Y'know, what's your story or whatever? Like what's up with you and Rainbow?"

"Wow, I assumed you would already know. From what I've heard you already have very strong opinions on me," I said, unable to hold back. She snickered.

"Damn, and Rainbow described you like some goody two shoes." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, go ahead. What do you really want to know?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You're giving me an open floor?" I nodded.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Hmm... Okay then. Rainbow says you've got a girlfriend. But there's also a shit ton of romantic tension going on between you two. What's up with that?" I looked at her.

"Wow, you don't pull punches." I looked back at the sidewalk ahead. "Uh, yeah. There's really nothing between us. I mean some stuff happened last year. And there was one thing around Thanksgiving. But it was stupid, so it doesn't really count." Morgan looked at me and laughed. "What? What's so funny?"

"How much of a liar you are. If there's nothing going on between the two of you why are you all Rainbow can talk about? Why is she saving herself for you if you don't want her. You're more God damned trouble than you're worth, Opal Baroque." I stopped and looked at her.

"She's not saving herself for me. Don't think I don't know your game. Rainbow found an old account you had that was a fan account for her. Why try to hide your angle?" For a second, she looked almost worried. I'd broken her icy facade. But as soon as it was broken, she built it back up.

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. But I know that you're not helping Rainbow like you claim to be. You're hurting her. Maybe if she listened to someone who's actually concerned about her well-being instead of some girl who's leading her on she'd understand and forget about you." She spit at me and turned to walk back to the dorm.

"Excuse me? Did you just imply that I don't care about Rainbow? I've known her my whole life, we were practically sisters as kids! Rainbow is one of the most important people in my life, you don't get to tell her to cut me out of her life like that!" Morgan stopped walking and came back to me, grabbing the collar of my shirt.

"Listen up sweetheart, cause I'm only gonna say this once. Stay the fuck away from Rainbow. I just want what's best for her and it's not you. You may have known her for longer, but I'm the one who's been here for her the past few months. I'm the one who's been helping her get over you. So why don't you run back home to your little crybaby sister and let Rainbow get on with her life, okay?" She smirked. I slapped her across the face.