And then Amethyst's alarm rang. Amethyst yawned and rolled over. She hit stop on the alarm, then began getting ready. She wanted to leave extra time to go over her creative writing homework once more. Amethyst laughed quietly when she realized how Natasha-like that was.

"Amethyst?" Natasha called through the door as Amethyst was making her bed. She jumped, then turned around and opened the door for Natasha.

"Hey Natasha," she said cheerily. "Don't you have class?"

"We have a ten-minute break," she explained.

"Cool. Hey, you should take the rest of class off," Amethyst suggested, brightening. "We can look at each other's creative writing pieces!"

"What? No I can't," Natasha said, shocked. "How could you even suggest that?"

Amethyst shrugged. "You're good at math, I've seen that. And besides, it'll be fun! Can't you just skip once?"

"No," Natasha huffed, then stormed out of the room. Amethyst just finished laying out the sheets. She had learned a long time ago that it was better just to leave things like this alone.

Amethyst finished dressing, then sat down with her paper and read through it. She marked out some words with her pen, then rewrote it on a fresh sheet of paper. She finished around the time Natasha was getting out of her class and greeted her with a big, fake smile.

"Hi Natasha! Done with class?"

"Yeah," Natasha said awkwardly. Amethyst decided to put the morning's conversation behind them and change the topic.

"What do you have now?"

"History flashcards," Natasha told her without missing a beat. Amethyst paused, then said quietly, "Do you want help?"

Natasha bit her lip, then shook her head.

"No, I think I'll work better alone."

Amethyst tried not to feel hurt as she nodded and turned back to head to the kitchen. Mrs. Summerville was already there, sitting in front of a glowing laptop with a steaming cup of coffee. She jumped when Amethyst arrived and quickly closed her laptop.

"Sorry," Amethyst said hastily. "I can leave."

"No, no, it's fine!" Mrs. Summerville smiled thinly and stood up, putting her arm around Amethyst's shoulder and leading her to the counter. "Do you like pancakes? I just made some this morning."

"Oh, well, um, I don't really eat-"

"You don't eat pancakes? What about waffles? I can whip those up too."

"No, I don't like to-"

"Too sugary? What about some cereal? Or yogurt?"

"No, I can-"

"What about crackers? Although they're not very nutritious. Bad for the brain, you know? We have some granola bars that are healthy, if you want those instead. Or you can-"

"I think I can make breakfast myself!" Amethyst broke in, stepping away from Mrs. Summerville. She took a breath and continued. "Thank you for the suggestions, but I always make my own breakfast."

"Oh." Mrs. Summerville looked half-embarrassed and half-horrified, probably because she was scared that Amethyst would give her a bad reputation. "Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead, dear."

"Thank you," Amethyst said, opening the door of the shiny, high-tech fridge in the Summerville's kitchen and pulling out a couple of fruits, then grabbing a piece of bread, an avocado, and a banana from the island. She was almost through with eating her avocado toast-and-fruit combo when Natasha entered the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yup." Amethyst swung a beige messenger bag over her shoulder and grabbed her coat, then followed Natasha, who was following Mrs. Summerville into the garage.

"Natasha, you remember you have student council and volleyball after school today, right?" Mrs. Summerville asked as they drove to the bus station.

Natasha groaned.

"What if Prinicpal Carh lets me show Amethyst around for her to explore extra curricular options instead of volleyball?" Natasha tried. Mrs. Summerville sighed.

"Fine," she replied. "Amethyst, what are you interested in?"

"The arts," Natasha said for Amethyst. Amethyst coughed quietly and Natasha mouthed "sorry".

"Arts? Really?" They'd reached the bus stop by now and Mrs. Sumerville turned around in her seat to face Amethyst. "What in particular?"

"I was in the school play and choir in my old school," Amethyst offered. "And the art and photography club."

"That'll look great on your college applications," Mrs. Summerville assured her. Amethyst's heart dropped. Was everyone around here obsessed with their college applications and resume?

"Um, thanks," Amethyst said awkwardly. "Er, is there a play here?"

"Natasha?" Mrs. Summerville prompted.

"Yes," Natasha told Amethyst. "They do a fairytale mix-up every year."
"They do the same thing every year?" Amethyst asked in disbelief.

"I'm not sure," Natasha replied with a shrug. "I show up as part of the student council but I don't really watch it."

"Why not?" Amethyst questioned. "Is it bad?"

"No, well, I actually don't know," Natasha admitted. She turned to her mother. "We should get out now."

"Of course. Have a good day, Amethyst," Mrs. Summerville called as the girls got out of the car.

"I just figure that there's no point in actually watching the show when I can talk to people during intermission and spend the rest of my time sitting in the back of the theater during homework," Natasha continued as they waited on the sidewalk by the bus sign.

"You should watch it this year," Amethyst told her, then said excitedly, "You should do it this year!"

"Do it?" Natasha laughed. "I'm no actor!"

"What if your mother let you stop volleyball if you did the show?" Amethyst asked. Natasha considered it.

"Well...maybe. I do hate volleyball, but don't you have to spend so much extra time memorizing things for the show?

"Not if you get an ensemble role," Amethyst told her. "You'd get a good activity to put on your resume and you'd still have free time."

"So now you care about resumes?" Natasha shot back. She probably didn't mean for it to come out so harsh, but it hurt Amethyst anyways.

"Sorry," Natasha said quickly.

"It's okay," Amethyst said quietly, even though it clearly wasn't.

"No, really, I'm sorry," Natasha told her. Amethyst shook her head.

"It's fine," Amethyst insisted.

"Sure." Natasha looked down. Then their eyes met and they both laughed.

What do you think of Amethyst's habits? What about Natasha's homework obsession? Would Natasha make a good actor?

~ writesthetic