Templeschool

18. Making Amends

No matter what Peridot did, Amethyst wouldn't pay her any attention. She tried naming earth items again, she tried waving, she tried smiling. Nothing worked. Even Twoie was more distant with her. When she talked to him, he gave minimal responses and then went back to whatever task she had set him on. Peridot was impressed when they arrived back, and she had discovered that he knew some basics of technological engineering. Apparently, a friend of his taught him how to do some electrical wiring and some other basics when he hung out with her. But when she praised him for being a quartz with brains, he had looked pained and didn't respond.

Pearl had called Twoie over for something, leaving the green gem alone with Steven. "I don't get it. Twoie is barely talking to me, and Amethyst won't even look at me. It's making me feel... smaller."

Steven stopped sorting nails into cans. "You feel bad! That's how you made them feel!"

Peridot scoffed and crossed her hands. "Who cares about how they feel. Who cares about any of you? You're all just rocks, muddy clumps beneath my gravity connectors." She stomped her feet into the ground.

Steven narrowed his eyes at her. "I get it if you still don't trust the gems, but you can't say that about Twoie and Amethyst. They're both doing their best to get along with you. Especially Twoie! He's done a lot for you, Peridot, and a lot of that got him hurt and distrusted by the gems."

He looked to see Pearl remark something to the others, which only got her a terse reply from Amethyst and a poorly hidden look of hurt from Twoie. "He cares about you. Probably the most out of all of us. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Peridot glowered as she stormed over to the drill head. Steven followed along and waited in silence for Twoie to return.

When the young man returned, waving as Pearl and Garnet walked off somewhere, he chatted quietly with Steven about farms and agriculture. Peridot huffed as she worked on the drill, grumbling when it wouldn't work the way she wanted it to. "Uh, are you okay up there?" Steven could tell that she was on a short fuse.

"It's fine. There's nothing wrong. Everything's fine." Right as she said that, the drill started up. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, stop!" She was flung from the control seat and thrown into Twoie. They both let out a groan when they hit the ground. The drill began spinning in place.

"The panel!" She coughed as Twoie helped her up. Steven timed his jump and managed to grab hold of the edge, but it was spinning too quickly for him to get into the seat. "Wait!" Peridot and Twoie started chasing after him.

Although the gem was too slow to catch up, Twoie managed to grab the edge and pull Steven and himself into the pilot's seat. He kept a tight grip on Steven and the chair. "Pull out the panel, Steven!" Twoie shouted.

"I'm gonna be sick!" Steven screamed as the drill spun right on course towards Amethyst, who had just turned the corner of the barn.

"AMETHYST!" Peridot slammed into her side, shoving them both out of the way as Steven pulled the whole control pad apart from the drill. The drill head came to a complete stop, and both Steven and Twoie looked green.

Steven dizzily shouted, "It's okay, everything's okay. It was just a drill! Ha-ha-ha-ugh." The two both slumped over the edge of the drill head.

"I d-don't think... I'll ever get used to spinning..." Twoie tried to take deep breaths to calm his queasiness. They slowly made their way back to the ground. The youngest was kneeling, and he chuckled as Twoie face-planted on the dirt. Twoie was unashamed to admit that he was content just lying there.

"Go check on them without me, Sunshine. I need some time to get reacquainted with the earth." Steven looked over at Peridot and Amethyst.

"-an accident, I swear!" Steven walked over to them.