I woke up with a massive headache, and I didn't even wanna open my eyes for like 13 minutes. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford to miss any more classes, so I forced my eyes open and hissed at the sudden brightness shining in from the window. Once my eyes adjusted, I checked the time on my phone, and it read 8:16 AM - I had 44 minutes until my first class started. I sat up in bed and immediately looked over to Lapis's side of the room.

She was typing on her phone, probably unaware that I was awake. Her hair was ruffled, and she had a gray cropped tank top and her same black short-shorts. By the looks of it, she hadn't even gotten ready for the day yet - which means she didn't go to her class? "Did you miss your class?" I asked in a horrible raspy morning voice, my head still pounding.

"I overslept. Too tired from last night's events. Shoulda reconsidered having a party on a school night." she replied, not looking up from her phone once. "Oh yeah...sorry..." I muttered, looking down at my blanket. "It's chill. How's your head?" she asked, with a little more concern in her voice this time. For some reason that change of tone in her voice lifted my heart up, and I brightened almost immediately. 

"Still hurts...but nothing I can't handle." I said, cracking my knuckles for the 'tough' effect. Okay that's a lie, this headache is actually killing me inside and out but she doesn't need to know that. "Surprising that you care..." I said in the most confident tone I could muster up. Lapis then looked up from her phone at me and then darted her eyes back and forth. Was that a small blush on her cheeks?!  "Just curious is all." she deadpanned, shutting off that concern in her voice. Well it was nice while it lasted.

"Are you gonna go to any of your classes today?" I asked, hopping off of the bed. "Probably not." she muttered, on her phone once again. "Didn't think so..." I replied, walking to the bathroom to take a shower.

....

"So, didja guys bang last night?" Amethyst asked suddenly, and I choked on my Arizona Tea I was previously drinking. The liquid went everywhere and I jumped up to grab some napkins to clean the mess up - of course Ame followed me. "Of course not! I wasn't that drunk..." I replied defensively, clearly blushing hard. "You can't fool me, Peri. I know you wanna do that stuff with her...you just gotta step up your game. Trust me." she said, watching me grab paper towels.

"The last time you told me to trust you Lapis went missing and didn't give a flying fuck about me." I muttered. "Well...did you guys do anything after she carried you home?" Amethyst asked, a little more care in her voice this time. "It was generally a blur, but from what I remember, all she did was put me down on my bed and she went to her bed and we both fell asleep...but I think we almost kissed on the roof...until you showed up." I claimed, glaring at Amethyst.

"Heh sorry dude. You'll get another chance. Trust me." "If you say that again I'm shoving this spork up your ass and bitch-slapping the shit out of you." I growled, holding up a spork from a cup near the paper towels. We walked back to our table and cleaned up the mess - and by we I meant me. "Oh by the way, we're heading to the lake after our classes. You wanna join us?" she asked.

"Eh...I'm not really a good swimmer." I replied. "Come onnn it'll fun! Me, you, Garnet, and Pearl! Get your mind offa last night." she explained. I replied with a 'hmph' and threw my now empty can in the trash. We walked out of the cafeteria together and we eventually went our separate ways - me to my dorm room and Amethyst to her next class. 

Once I arrived at my dorm,  I found Lapis's back turned to me as she was sitting at her desk. I walked a little closer and noticed that she was drawing something in her notebook. I guess she didn't notice that I was there, because she had earphones in and she didn't react to me coming in. The drawing was beautiful - it was a girl with a halter top tied on by a long ribbon. She also had a flowing skirt and these large wings made of water expanding from her back. Not only did the character look like Lapis herself, but she also looked...sad.

I didn't realize that I was watching her sketch the character for about 10 minutes until Lapis turned around and jumped. "JESUS!! Fuck, don't scare me like that..." she muttered, clutching her chest, pulling her earphones out. "Sorry! Sorry...I just...you're an amazing artist..." I said, blushing. Her stern expression softened, and she looked into my eyes for a minute. "Th-thanks..." she shook her head and quickly turned around, tearing away from eye contact.

I dropped my backpack in the corner and flopped back onto my bed with a groan. "Was that your last class?" Lapis asked, not looking up from her notebook. "Yeah...I'm exhausted...you got any plans for tonight? You seem to leave a lot during the night time..." I asked, looking up at her. "Actually not really. Whenever I leave, it's normally to chill on the roof of that shack..." Lapis replies, closing her notebook and sitting on her bed.

"Man I wish I had a spot to escape to...my friends are always inviting me everywhere...I tell them that I don't wanna go but they don't really gimme a choice..." I explained looking to the side. "Just don't show up. I wouldn't." she suggested, scrolling through her phone. "They'll find me and drag me along if I don't show up...trust me." I said. Lapis raised an eyebrow and looked at me for a minute.

"Where'd they invite you that seems so bad?" Lapis asked, not even sounding that interested. "Well...they invited me to the lake later, but I'm not that good of a swimmer..." I said, and I noticed that Lapis perked up at the words 'lake' and 'swimmer'. "You don't wanna go swimming? But swimming's so fun..." she said. An idea then popped into my head. "...I would go if someone went with me maybe..." I said, darting my eyes back and forth with a shit-eating grin.

Lapis pursed her lips and was silent for a moment. "I'll go with you..." she muttered with a sigh. "Really?!" my posture straightened and I smiled wide. "Yeah I guess...you're lucky I like swimming. Otherwise I would've told you to fuck off." she deadpanned. My eyes went wide at her sudden mood change. "Just kidding..." she muttered with a smirk. "But still...I don't really like hanging with big groups..." she said, crossing her arms.

"It's okay. That makes two of us!" I said enthusiastically, tilting my head. She scoffed and crossed her legs. "What time are we going?" she asked. "After their classes...so probably around 5..." I replied.

....

4: 47 PM

I put on a one-piece light green bathing suit and slipped on sweat pants and a plain white t-shirt over. "Lapis, you ready?" I asked. "Yeah..." she replied, typing something on her phone before shoving it in her back pocket. She had jean short-shorts, a light blue tank top, and flip-flops on. We left the dorm room and as we walked out the front doors, I put on my sunglasses and unlocked the car. 

The trip to the lake was silent for the most part, mostly because Lapis was on her phone and my mind was flooding with images of what Lapis possibly looked like in her bathing suit. Once we arrived at the lake, I already spotted Pearl setting up a blanket on the sand and Amethyst climbing a tree up on to a branch that seemed to have a rope hanging from it. We got out of the car, and Amethyst shouted from the tree. "PERIDOOOT! HIIII! GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT BRO!! OH HEY LAPIS!!!" she waved manically and took her shirt and pants off, leaving her in her black bathing suit. 

She gripped the rope hanging nearby, and jumped off of the branch, swinging across. "WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!" she howled, and she let go of the rope as she hovered over the lake. She landed in the body of water with a big splash, splashing Pearl. "Agh! Amethyst! You messed up my blanket!" Pearl squawked, balling her fists. Amethyst only responded with an obnoxious laugh. "C'mon guys!! The water's fine!!!" she shouted. 

Garnet then came out of nowhere with a popsicle in her hand, helping Pearl fix the blanket. A breeze came in and I wrapped my arms around myself, starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing. "It's freezing out here, guys. How could you stand swimming?! I'm surprised the lake hasn't frozen over yet..." I said. "C'mon Peri, fall doesn't start 'til September! Suck it up and jump in!" Amethyst yelled. 

"Amethyst it's Beach City...we have early summers...and early falls...so technically fall has already started for us..." I explained, but she didn't even seem to be listening. Lapis then laid out her towel, and dropped her phone down on it. She kicked her flip-flops off and started sliding her tank top off, along with her shorts. I blushed madly checking her out, trying to be as least obvious as possible. 

She literally had the most perfectly toned body, and she was wearing a dark blue bikini. She had a small tattoo on her lower right hip that read 'water witch' in cursive. I was practically drooling, but Lapis snapped me out of it as she asked me something. "Huh?! W-what?!" I asked, shaking my head. "I said are you swimming in your clothes or what?" Lapis asked sarcastically, looking me up and down. "Oh! Uh...no, heh..." I nervously pulled my shirt and sweatpants off, and took my glasses off as well.

I swore I saw Lapis give me a once-over and raise her eyebrows, mouth slightly open. I blushed hard. Did I have something on my face? Was there a stain on my bathing suit?  Did I have a wardrobe malfunction?! I looked down at myself for a moment, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Before I could ask Lapis, she was off climbing the tree already. "ALRIGHT LAPIS!!" Amethyst cheered from the water. 

"C'mon Peridot!" Lapis shouted from the tree. I nervously climbed, almost falling off at least four times. I eventually made it to the top, and I found Lapis standing there with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. "Took ya long enough." she joked, turning around and facing the rope. I shook a little, and Lapis looked back at me. "Hey...it's okay. You'll be fine." she said in her soothing voice, putting her hand on my shoulder for a few seconds. Suddenly, I didn't feel nervous anymore, and I smiled and took a deep breath.

The bluenette turned around again, and gripped the rope. "Seeya on the other side!" she told me, before jumping off and swinging on the rope. "Wooohoooo!!!" she let go of the rope and did a front-flip, dolphin-diving into the water. She was under water for almost a minute, then came up for air, slicking her hair back. "THAT WAS FUCKIN' AWESOME!!" Amethyst shouted, high-fiving Lapis. "Your turn, Peridot!" Lapis shouted, and my anxiousness kicked back in. Aw shit.

I slowly stepped closer to the edge, and I couldn't help but feel bile raise to my throat and I had to quickly swallow it back down. You can do this Peridot...you can do this, I kept repeating to myself, staring at the rope. My shaky hands wrapped around the cold rope carefully, and looked down at everyone one more time. Pearl had her hands folded together and she was watching attentively with a nervous smile. Garnet was just staring up at me behind her sunglasses with a thumbs up. Amethyst and Lapis stayed in the water, watching me. 

I finally jumped, and felt the strong breeze hit my body as I swung across Garnet and Pearl. "WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I screeched at the top of my lungs as I quickly picked up speed as the milliseconds went by. My stomach dropped and I kept my eyes closed tightly. As soon as I began to slow down, I prepared to let go. I almost held on for too long, because I felt like I started to swing backwards, so I let go and let myself fall. 

It felt like I was falling from a tower, when in reality I was falling like 25 feet. SMACK!! Pain shot through my whole body as I back-flopped into the water, and I heard everyone's cringed 'ooooo' when I sunk in slowly after hitting the surface. I was underwater, and I opened my eyes a little so I could see. Lapis and Amethyst's blurry bodies were the first things I saw, but I began to sink down to the bottom. I flailed my arms, trying to swim back up, but failed. 

My lungs ached from holding my breath so long, and I started to drift out of consciousness. As my eyes were closing, my mouth involuntarily opened, and water filled in and started rushing into my lungs. I coughed and saw bubbles everywhere, and I was almost positive that I was gonna drown. This is it...I'm gonna die...

That's when I felt two arms wrap around me and quickly pull me closer up to the surface again - and that's when I blacked out. I woke up and felt someone straddling me and two hands gripping my shoulders. "You're the lifeguard here...give her mouth-to-mouth..." I heard Amethyst's echoed voice. I also felt heavy breathing on my neck, and I blinked my eyes open with a groan. 

My eyes grew wide as I suddenly realized that Lapis was sitting on me and her face was literally inches away from mine. "She's awake." Lapis said to the others. "Are you okay?!" she asked in a strained voice. I didn't answer, just staring into her blue eyes in awe. "She's delusional." I heard Pearl deadpan. "I-I'm fine..." I muttered, feeling blood rush to my cheeks and my heartbeat speed up.

Lapis put her soft fingers on my neck to check my pulse, and then she got off of me - am I a creep for saying that I was disappointed when she got off? I shook my head and sat up, looking at everyone. "I'm fine guys..." I said, still blushing. "Excuse us for being worried, dude! You literally back-flopped into the water and almost drowned!" Amethyst shouted, throwing her arms up. I looked down at the ground, and shivered as a breeze came on.

Lapis dried herself off with a towel and then draped the towel over my shoulders. "Let's get outta here..." she muttered, putting her clothes on. "Hope ya feel better, Peri." Amethyst said, patting my back as I stood up. "Thanks..." I grumbled, following Lapis in embarrassment. "You don't need to be driving...I'll drive." Lapis said, taking the car keys out of my hand and twirling them in her finger.

We got into the car and she started it. After some silence, I decided to speak up. "Hey, uh...thanks for like...saving me and stuff...I appreciate it..." I muttered, looking over at her. "It was nothing..." she muttered, and she turned her face to the window, so I couldn't it. "...am I gonna have to keep helping you recover from near-death experiences every time I hang with you and your friends?" Lapis asked. "Uh heheh...sorry...I'm pretty prone to getting into a lot of accidents..." I admitted. My friends always knew me as the 'klutz' of the group, and I don't really blame them.

"I just wanna head to the dorm, and sleep for the rest of my life." Lapis mumbled, followed by a long sigh. "Me too..." I replied, and I looked out the window. Lapis saved me...she actually saved me...she was worried about me...man I wish I was out long enough for her to give me mouth to mouth...