A/N:

Remember guys, your voice matters. If i'm not getting the go ahead, then i'm assuming that it got boring or you're not riding with it. If you want more, say you want more. If you like the pace i'm going in, tell me that. Because honestly, I can't read your minds. With that aside, Enjoy this chapter!

O08oo

Peridot was concerned this whole time that it was going to be awkward, or somebody is going to be brave enough to kidnap her. It's just like a taxi, but with a different name. She was reluctant to try Pick Me-Up because you have no idea who's in that car. Later on, she realised that the same applies to taxies so she gave it a go. To her surprise, it wasn't that bad. In fact it was way better than a taxi. As much as she enjoyed the service, it didn't stop her mom from making some "minor" changes.

*Flashback: Morning*

With earbuds in her ears, she left her room and proceeded downstairs nodding her head to the beat of the music.

"There ain't nobody as bomb as me

I'm as calm as the breeze

I'm the bee's knees, his legs, and his arms

I'm a superstar, boy I'm ready for-"

"Peridot."

"Daddy, why you think the only thing I got on is my pajamas?"

"PERIDOT!" reacting to the undeniable sound of her mother, she quickly pulled out her earbuds and responded in a dumbfounded tone.

"Huh?" she found her mother sitting at the breakfast table, but there was someone else standing next to her.

"Breakfast is ready." Ella said. Peridot slowed her pace walking towards the two, Ella looked at her, then the man standing next to her.

"This is Tahitan, our new butler." Tahitan then gave a slight bow to her.

"Good morning M'lady."

"Hello..." she just waved back and sat down at the table. She looks at her plate that's decorated with food. There's bacon, eggs, and pancakes with a glass of orange juice. Wasting no time, she grabbed a fork and attacked the bacon.

On her third strip of bacon, Tahitan excused himself and headed in the kitchen. Peridot swallowed hard and looked at her mother.

"Mom? Why is there a butler?"

"Why are you asking me such a trivial question?"

"Gee I don't know. It's totally not because a random butler appeared in the dining room... Why didn't you tell me you were getting one?"

"I didn't think I needed to." Ella said. Peridot just looks at her.

"Mom… Why do we have a butler?" she said. Ella sighed.

"Your uncle couldn't stand the thought of his older sister out and about from the kingdom without some sort of way to be taken care of." Peridot turned wide eyed.

"Uncle Beryl? How did he find us?"

"Honey, I don't want to talk about it. I'll handle that matter later."

"Uh, okay. But what are we going to do about him?" They both glanced at Tahitan cleaning the kitchen.

"I don't know. I have no idea where he came from, he just gave me a letter from Beryl and just went straight to work." They continued to stare. "Although, he is pretty versatile." Peridot shrugged.

"Ehh, I'll give him that." Tahitan is a couple of inches taller than the gamer, his hair gelled to slick back. Contrasting his copper skin are hazel eyes that makes him look like a feline of some sort. He continued working on the dishes, oblivious to the intense stare from Peridot.

After a few minutes of examining him, she sighed and drank the rest of the orange juice.

Checking the time on her phone, she need to head out now if she's going to make it to school on time. She grabbed her backpack and headed towards the door.

"Miss Dia! May I ask where you're headed?" Peridot turned to Tahitan and gave him a confused look, like it wasn't obvious of where she's going.

"I'm going to school Tai"

"Tahitan"

"Yeah whatever." she then proceeded to open the front door.

"Wait! Allow me to drive you!" he said hastily as he took off his apron and dried his hands.

*End Flashback*

O08oo

'Oh my god!' Peridot thought as she groaned in the back seat of a Rolls Royce. The last thing she wanted is unnecessary attention and this car is the opposite of low key. 'Where did they even get this car? It wasn't in the driveway yesterday.' While she was sulking in the backseat, she did take a look at the interior of the vehicle, and to be honest, it was well made; smells nice too. Eventually her attention went to her phone, texting Jasper about school.

Peridot: What class you got 1st period?

(Jasper) Jazzy: Geometry DX u?

Peridot: English

Jazzy: Which teacher?

Peridot: idk i forgot

Jazzy: ._. Useless as always

Peridot: hey! I had a lot on my mind that day

Jazzy: oh? What was it?

Peridot: I saw steven yesterday

Jazzy: who?

Peridot: he's a friend from when i used to live here

Jazzy: So it's a boy :3

Peridot: ?

Jazzy: Forget it ;)

Moments later, she hears familiar instruments playing from the speaker. It caused her to look up from her phone and stare at Tahitan in surprise.

"You like this song? I heard you singing it when you were coming down the stairs." Peridot's face turned beet red.

"Oh, you heard that?" Tahitan chuckled. Peridot gingerly rubbed her arm, still embarrassed about the situation. "Is it strange? To like music like that?" Tahitan eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

"Why do you say that?" Tahitan said. Peridot look at the back of his head with a scowl.

"Uh… I'm the daughter of Ella Dia." she said.

"I'm aware. Your point?" Peridot sat silent, not sure on how to respond to that question. Tahitan sighed. "Look, you can listen to whatever you want to. Don't let me or anybody else tell you otherwise." Her mother always taught her proper etiquette so she looks presentable to her elders. It's been like that all her life, but this butler says that it's okay to be informal? Well she can't say that she's super surprised, although it still warranted a reaction. He's alright, for the time being.

She looks out the window to see a familiar traffic light coming up. 'Oh no' Eyes were following the car, wondering who's inside. It dawned her that the car getting close to a stop and now her heart is knocking on her chest.

"We're here miss." He said.

"Yeah." She replied. And as if on cue, Tahitan got out the car and trekked over to her side. Peridot followed his figure through the window wide eyed.

"No no no no no no no no." she whispered. She took the deepest breaths she ever took and waited for her butler to open the door. "Zala calme" she said. Her demeanor changed as the door opened; stepping out and thanking Tahitan, she made her way to campus. All eyes are on her every direction she looked, but still she walked. She felt confident, determined, sure. All of that dwindled when someone actually walked up to her, trying to get her attention.

"Hey sweetie!" a boy said. He had short, curly, blonde hair and and a very welcoming smile. She shrunk.

"Hi…" she said. She walking a little faster in the building and the strange boy is keeping up with her.

"Some entrance back there! Everyone is talking about how did a rich girl like you end up here. But I was the only one that had the balls to actually talk to you." Peridot chuckled nervously. "Oh my bad! I'm Mark, and you are?"

"P-Peridot."

"Peridot… I see you don't talk much eh? That's alright. Hey! You want to meet my friends?"

"Uh- I don- don't know if I-"

"Aww come on… they won't bite, I promise."

"But-"

"Hey!" a familiar voice came from behind them. They both turned to see Jazzy walking up to them.

"Mark, can you go bother someone else? I don't think she's interested in humoring you this early in the morning."

"Listen beef jerky, I saw her first so go deadlift a table or something." Jasper got irritated by that comment.

"You said what now?" Jasper said, cracking her fingers. She stepped in between them, grabbing his head and aggressively, and moved him out the way. He stumbled and hit the floor earning some laughs from onlookers. Embarrassed, he got up and yelled at Jasper who was walking away with Peridot.

"WELL I'M GLAD I'M NOT A PROTEIN LOVING, ZEBRA LOOKING FREAK LIKE YOU!" The students who heard this, vocalized their shock and some of them were actually trying to instigate, yet Jasper paid no mind and just kept walking where they can sit and away from the scene. Jasper has her head resting on her hand, being quiet; Peridot became worried.

"Jazzy, Are you okay?" Peridot asked. Jasper turned to her and gave her an indifferent look.

"Hm? Oh you're talking about what happened earlier? Stuff like that happens on a regular."

"That doesn't make it okay!" The gamer protested. Jasper merely shrugged.

"I'm used to it. No biggie." Even if she said that, she can't help but feel bad for her. Jasper suddenly stretched and yawned following with a few lip smacks to verify that she is indeed still tired.

Peridot doesn't know what happened the time when she wasn't here, but she can't just sit idly by and let her get treated like this. She's one of her close friends; even back then, Jasper used to stick up for her. Maybe it's in her nature to protect people, or just maybe protective of her.

She hears snaps and sees Jasper's hand waving in front of Peridot's face.

"Hey, you good?"

"Yeah… Jazzy, what are you doing this weekend?" Jasper looks up in thought.

"Probably going to help my mom with cleaning the garage, that place is long overdue of a good clean. And she's is going to hire a few people to clean too. Other than that, I don't think I have anything planned."

"Oh, cool… because I was wondering if we can do that sleepover thing on Friday?"

"Yeah! For sure!" Moments later, the bell for first period rang. "I'll text you okay?

"Alright!" Peridot said as she heads for English.

O08oo

"Meh… Honestly, I'm not that excited for Monster Trucks. I don't know, something about the name doesn't sound appealing." Peridot explained.

"I'm with blondie on this one. It's bad enough that you have these weird octo-slug looking things driving your car, the name is so generic too." Amethyst added.

"Blondie?"

"It's probably fake too."

"Excuse me?!" Peridot feeling this unexplained hostility from this girl she just met, almost made her regret sitting here.

"So yeah, ain't nothin' special about that movie." Amethyst dismissed her completely and Peridot is starting to become irritated. Though she did find time to eat between being mad and listening to Steven.

"Aww come on guys. Just give it a chance, it might actually be good." Steven said. Peridot was about halfway done with her turkey sandwich, but looked at Steven quizzically. Peridot sighed.

"Honestly Steven, I get your optimism but still. It looks like another run-of-the-mill movie about misunderstood creatures and how mankind are evil towards nature. Nothing we haven't seen before. Question is, are you still going to watch it?"

Steven rested his head on his hand, pressed his lips together, and started to drum his fingers on the table with a scowl. Both girls were waiting for Steven's answer.

The longer Peridot looked, the more focused she got on his face, picking apart everything that changed about him. The way his cheeks get when he's frustrated, the way his eyes look like two pools of chocolate, and his jawline is more defined. For Peridot, this is the time when she really got a good look at Steven. He got tall, well, taller than her at least. He's a pretty large guy too. She knows that he's seventeen, maybe it's one of those growth spurt things. Her focus is moving to his eyes again, just to see those chocolate pools staring right back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh?" she said.

"I said, you're right. I shouldn't waste my time on a movie that would most likely have a bland plotline." Steven said.

"That's my boy"

"Yeah whatever." he said in a dismissive tone. Peridot's eyes grew wide and her hands was shaking a little. She turned to Amethyst but all she did was shrug. Peridot frowned.

"Hey." she started. "I'm sorry for being a buzzkill, if you really wanted to watch the movie, you can. You don't have to listen to me." Steven turned to look at her once more..

"Huh? Oh… I'm not mad or anything." Peridot blinked.

"... You're not?" Steven smiled.

"Haha nope. I was thinking about what you said and I get what you're saying."

"Ohh… Oops" she said with a red face. All Steven did was laugh and Peridot rolled her eyes. Amethyst then noticed that there were low voices and eyes focused on their table. She raised an eyebrow. "What's their deal?"

"Huh?" Steven turned around to see multiple people look at them. It's at this part where Peridot's heart started to increase in speed, not entirely used to being the center of attention. But honestly, can they be anymore obvious? She looked down at her juice can and dragged it a little to see the water that was made by the condensation of her drink. She spoke up.

"I'm sorry guys, I think I'm the reason why they're staring." she said. Steven turned his head, even more confused.

"Wait, why?" he asked. She gave a nervous chuckle.

"Well my butler kind of drove me to school in a Rolls Royce and a guy named Mark started talking to me and Jazzy embarrassed him and and-"

"Butler?" Steven asked.

"Rolls Royce?" Amethyst added "Hold on a minute… ARE YOU GUYS DONE?! JEEZ IT'S LIKE YOU GUYS FORGOT THAT STARING IS RUDE, SO MOVE ALONG. NOTHING TO SEE HERE!" she yelled. One after another, everyone went on about their business leaving a more calm Peridot.

"Okay blondie, let's backtrack… you came to school in a expensive car with a butler…"

"Yeah… but it's not like I wanted to. He insisted on driving me here!"

"Your mom sure knows how to keep it discreet" Steven interrupted. Peridot looks at him with relief 'Finally! Someone who gets it!'

"Tell me about it! It's like she doesn't know what 'low key' is." she said. Both laughed while Amethyst spectates them, not getting the full picture of what's going on. It was at this point where she's not interested in whatever Steven's old friend have to say and just killed time on her phone.

When the bell indicating lunch ended rang, all three got up to bid their goodbyes.

"I'll see you later Amy" Steven said.

"'Kay Steven, peace."

"Bye Amethyst." Peridot said. Amethyst looked at her for a moment, giving her the ol' quick read and just walked away, leaving an offended Peridot and a confused Steven. Peridot looked down in defeat.

"Oh… okay." she uttered. Seeing this, Steven placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up. I don't know why she's acting like that either. I'll talk to her when I see her okay?"

"Yeah." She responded.

"It's going to be fine. Trust me." Peridot smiled. She missed him so much.

O08oo

For Peridot, she's heading to World History. She's starting to get the hang of the twists and turns of the school and actually didn't get lost this time! She steps in and was greeted by a nearly empty classroom, courtesy of classmates loitering out in the hallways. After making her way to her desk, she greeted her teacher and complimented the blouse she's wearing. She finally made it to her seat near the window, with a sigh, she pulls out her phone and started browsing. It then came to her that she didn't ask for Steven's phone number. She wonders how weird it would sound to ask for his number. Well he is her best friend so it's normal to ask to keep in contact with each other. Maybe she'll ask tomorrow.

"Yo Dorito" Jasper called. Getting closer to the gamer, she extended a fist in front of her earning a smirk from Peridot who connected with a fist of her own. Sitting down, she brought out an apple and started eating.

"Didn't have lunch yet?" Peridot asked. She shook her head.

"Nah I just took this from the lunch ladies, they were really nice about it too." she said as she continued to eat. Peridot is guessing that she just stole the apple and used her size to be intimidating, or she must've been close with one of them.

For some reason, Peridot is kind of questioning how her friend is eating the apple, her question was answered when she eats the rest of the apple, leaving only the stem.

"What the- are you a freaking horse?"

"What? You don't don't eat the apple whole?" Jasper asked. Peridot cringed.

"No!" Jasper laughed, clearly seeing the confusion on the gamer's face.

"You're missing out."

"I'd rather step on a lego than eating a whole apple."

"Then" she corrected.

"I can't stand you." Peridot announced.