Chapter Text
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Pearl shows her dislike for a certain cop a number of different ways.
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Lips pursed together, expertly holding the stick of paper-wrapped tobacco in place as lungs expanded, drawing the sharp smoke into them. The chemicals steadily worked into the bloodstream to soothe frayed nerves. A stream of smoke was blown into the air as the lungs compressed and a portion of the thin lips opened to allow the white vapor to escape. Narrow shoulders moved up and down for a moment, scratching an itch in the area between her shoulder blades with the rough brick found on the side of the pizza shop. Satisfied for the moment, another long inhale took in the smoke yet again before expelling it two seconds later. An elbow bumped her in the side. Dull, light blue eyes glanced down at the shorter figure expectantly holding out their wide tan hand. Eyes rolled back as thin pale fingers reached into the inside breast pocket of her leather jacket to pull out her pack of cigarettes. She handed one down and made a quick count of how many she had left. 5. Enough to get through the day, hopefully. With a metallic clink and flick, the shorter lit their cigarette and took a long draw; leaning back on the brick building. No words were exchanged at the moment, the two just enjoyed the peace and their cigarettes.
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times! Get off my property!” A familiar upset male voice in the distance yelled. “I’m giving you five minutes before I call the cops you delinquents! My customers are scared away by you.”
“What customers,” Pearl scoffed more to herself than the pizza shop owner.
“Exactly! If you weren’t always here I’d get more business!”
The tall thin woman sneered. She hadn’t intended for him to hear, but oh well. Eyes looked out watching a couple of dead leaves blow by in the empty paved street.
“It’s only been like a half an hour and he’s already calling Jasper on us?” the short teen groaned.
Pearl shrugged, not caring and definitely not heeding the warning. It had been another ridiculously slow day at the mechanic shop. After finishing all the work her boss lined up for her, and waiting to see if anything else would come up, the strawberry blonde had simply left to hang out at one of her spots.
It didn’t take long for the cop car to arrive. Amethyst cursed and stomped out her cigarette, slouching even more. Pearl looked away and took another drag. A low voice spoke with Kofi’s higher agitated tone. That was odd, Jasper hardly ever asked for specifics on why Kofi was calling in, she always knew exactly why. The thin woman glanced around the corner towards the front of the pizza shop to see a cop conversing with Kofi. Cigarette smoke got caught in her throat for a second.
That’s not Jasper.
Pearl quickly coughed and took a swig from her water bottle to clear her throat before doing a double check. Tall, dark skinned, black curly hair contained in a tight bun at the base of her skull, standard police uniform, sunglasses covering the top half of her face, utility belt, wide hips, powerful thighs, and toned arms crossed under a round chest. Pearl lightly hit the back of her head against the brick and wondered how the fuck this was happening. The booted approach of their soon to be tormentor only made Pearl want to scream out in frustration, but she settled for a snarl.
“Excuse me, Miss…” the English accented voice trailed off.
The thin woman saw the officer standing off to their side in her peripherals, arms still crossed, and an ever so serious expression carved into her face. A heartbeat later the officer continued.
“Misses, I am here to ask you to leave peacefully, the shop owner Mr. Pizza has complained about both of you loitering on his property and disturbing his business.”
“Woah, you’re not Jasper, who the fuck are you?” Amethyst bust out, turning to face the unfamiliar cop.
“Officer Garnet Bailey. What is yours?”
“Amethyst Conductor of the Poop Train,” the teen smirked as she put her hands on her hips and puffed out her round chest.
“That’s an interesting last name. Any relation to Amethyst Perez, who was reported skipping class today? I’ve been told to be on the lookout for her.”
The teen swallowed nervously and paled slightly. “N-no, why?”
Officer Bailey hummed and pulled out a piece of paper from her breast pocket, Amethyst’s year book picture printed onto it in color.
“She looks a lot like you, down to the same eye and hair color.”
“WHAT!? Rude! That’s not me, I swear, I’m just another pesky delinquent like this old lady,” she continued to object, motioning towards Pearl.
Pearl made a tsk with her mouth. “I’ll remember that remark the next time you ask for something.”
“Aww, I was just teasing P!”
“Regardless, I’m going to take you back to school, there’s still two hours left, plenty of time for you to learn something,” the officer spoke as she glanced at her wrist watch. “As for you Miss-” she began turning towards the taller delinquent.
“Peeeaarrrl,” the pale woman deeply moaned as she arched her back off the brick, hands gripping at the building, and rolling her eyes back for a brief moment before returning to her previous posture with a smirk on her face.
Amethyst just stared at her with her mouth hanging open before letting out a guffaw. The dark cop visibly stiffened, the frown on her face deepening slightly. For a whole three seconds she made no response.
“I am well aware, Ms. Myers,” Officer Bailey’s voice was tight and controlled. “Now, please leave the area. I don’t want to issue you a fine or incarcerate you for the night.”
“Go fuck yourself, I don’t want to hang around this shit hole anymore anyways,” Pearl growled as she pushed off the building and walked away.
Amethyst watched her walk away before kicking one of the many cigarette butts lying around.
“Welp looks like I better start walking, don’t want to miss any more important school.”
“No need,” the dark cop spoke up. “I’ll give you a ride.”
The short teen’s ears perked up. “What?”
“I can give you a ride, though you’ll have to be in the back.”
“Really?” A wide grin spreading across Amethyst’s face.
“Yeah, it’ll be faster than you walking back, less time wasted, more learned.”
“Alright! Peri is gonna freak when she sees me show up in this, are you gonna cuff me too?”
“No,” the officer deadpanned as she opened the door to the back seat.
“Aww, why not?” she complained as she scampered over.
“Just get in.”
“Fiiine.”
Officer Garnet closed the door after reminding the plump teen to buckle up. The cop car pulled away and drove off towards the nearby high school.
Her mood had definitely taken a sour turn. Pearl aimlessly walked the streets for the rest of the day, burning through the last of her cigarettes before the sun was even going down. She rifled through her wallet, relieved that she had enough to buy more, and hopefully to last until Friday when she would get paid. Long flat feet eventually carried her towards the quiet streets of the residential areas of Beach City. Observant eyes noticed that a house that had previously been on sale for several months now had an unfamiliar car out front and a “SOLD” sticker covering the “FOR SALE” sign. She frowned, and then climbed up a large maple tree across the street from the house, curious of who finally bought it.
It wasn’t long until the figure from earlier emerged from the front door clad in a worn t-shirt, ripped jeans, old sneakers, and the same reflective, multicolored sunglasses with her afro out in its full squarish glory. Pearl scoffed, of course she would buy this house. It was perfect for her. A small two story house with a covered porch. Light pink paint with white trim, neat white picket fence and perfect lawn. It made her want to throw up. She turned her attention to the now crouched figure gripping the “FOR SALE” post at the base with bare hands. For a few seconds nothing happened until it was pulled out of the ground. Pearl’s lip twitched.
It probably wasn’t in too deep anyways.
With mild disinterest, she continued to watch the dark figure speak with both of her neighbors about something probably very boring or introducing herself and being all proper. The figure then retreated into the house as the sun was starting to make its way down towards the horizon. Pearl looked away, rotating on the sturdy branch she was laying on so she could stare at the beginning of the sunset. Her calculations estimated that she had about an hour and a half before the street lights would come on. The abrupt sound of wood being effortlessly splintered and broken nearly shocked her out of the tree. Pearl faced the house again only to see the new cop breaking down the white picket fence with a sledgehammer. Light eyes refused to turn away from the sight.
In minutes, trails of sweat glistened in the sunset on muscular arms and chiseled face as the figure continued to destroy the picket fence. The t-shirt was soon tossed to the side to reveal a white tank top and even more dark, toned skin. Pearl groaned as her eyes traced the hard lines of her deltoids, biceps, triceps, and the many forearm muscles. When the sledgehammer was pulled back for another swing she could see the tank top get pulled tightly over the myriad of powerful back muscles. Occasionally the dark figure’s lower abdomen, sides, and back could be seen when the white fabric would ride up. The thin woman licked her lips without thinking.
“Hot damn!” A voice sounded right next to her.
Pearl whirled around, almost losing her balance out of the tree for the second time that day. “What the fuck, Amethyst!” she hissed at the teen who had joined her in the tree.
“I see why you can’t pull your eyes away, just look at how those jeans hug that ass of hers. Damn, and those arms! Fuck…”
“Your commentary is not needed nor wanted,” Pearl growled.
“I’m just stating the obvious,” the tan teen shrugged.
“How’d you even find me here?”
“It wasn’t hard, I just asked a couple of squirrels.”
“Which ones?”
“Oh the one that lives a block away, she said she saw you slouching by a couple of hours ago. I was wondering why you were still here, but now I understand why,” her violet eyes going back towards the figure that was now using a shovel to remove the remains of the picket fence from the ground. “Try not to call out her name too loud tonight when you masturbate, ok?” Amethyst teased as she descended down the tree and walked off laughing.
The thin adult didn’t call out a response. The last thing she needed was for Garnet to hear her. A frown then carved itself onto her face as the realization hit her. She was stuck in this tree until the dark woman went back into her house. It was completely out of the question for her to be spotted spying on her. Pearl slumped back against the trunk, eyes already returning to watch the athletic figure work on her yard. There were worse things.
Flat, worn shoes stomped out yet another cigarette as she tuned out the obnoxious voice of Kofi Pizza yelling at her once again to leave his property or he would call the cops. Pearl rolled her eyes, she just got comfortable against the wall. Amethyst wasn’t with her today to share in the frustration and it only got worse when the new cop Officer Bailey was the one who responded instead of Jasper. She would have rather dealt with being yelled at by the huge buff woman with patches of white stripes on her tan skin, than deal with her.
“Ms. Myers,” the low voice began, disapproval laced in heavily.
Pearl turned and blew a long puff of smoke into the dark woman’s face. The only reaction was her round nose wrinkling in distaste.
“Ms. Myers,” Officer Garnet tried again, her voice strained.
“Fuck. Off,” the delinquent replied as she shoved her middle finger in the cop’s face.
She held it there as long as she could as she walked away. A huff of smoke was let out as the thin woman began walking towards her next area she liked to hang out at, not bothering to look back at the officer to see her reaction. Knowing Garnet, there would probably be none. Before she reached the Big Donut, her phone began to buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out, curious about who would be contacting her.
Boss :P- [Get back here, you've got work to do!]
The thin woman rolled her eyes and changed directions.
Pearl- [Coming]
Boss :P- [Eta?]
Pearl- [Whenever I feel like it]
Boss :P- [15 min if you want to keep your job]
She didn’t reply, she just groaned and started speed walking. Money was a necessity to maintain her apartment and buy cigarettes, and well, food.
“What up Officer G!” Amethyst shouted and offered the woman a high five the next day the officer was called to chase the two delinquents away from the fry shack.
“Just coming to offer you a ride back to school,” she partially smiled as she accepted the high five.
Pearl just groaned and rolled her eyes.
Great now she’s getting all chummy with Amethyst.
“Will you turn on your sirens this time?”
“No.”
“What about handcuffs?”
“No."
“Aww c’mon you’re no fun, people at school aren’t going to think it’s as cool anymore,” the stocky teen whined.
“Skipping and getting brought back by the police is not cool,” Garnet countered.
“But!”
“No, ‘buts’, get in, I’ll be back once I speak to Ms. Myers.”
“Get off the wall or I’m going to fine you and incarcerate you for a night,” Pearl mocked in a deep voice while puffing out her chest and folding her arms.
Amethyst bust up laughing. Officer Bailey didn’t join in.
“Fuck you,” the thin woman returned to her normal voice before flicking her cigarette butt at the officer.
“YOU WISH!” the short teen called from the cop car.
Pearl’s face turned scarlet and Garnet became visibly stiffer.
“OHHHHH, YOU SO WANNA!”
“Get in the car, Amethyst,” Garnet ordered.
“Yes Officer G!” she mock saluted before sliding in and continuing her laughter.
The dark woman turned to speak to Pearl again only to see the spot she was in earlier empty. Covered eyes quickly found the thin woman walking away in the direction of the beach. A heavy sigh was pushed past thick lips before she turned and got into the cop car.
“You can totally tell she’s been-”
“Amethyst, be respectful towards your elders,” the cop quickly cut her off.
“Aww, don’t tell me you’re going to get all boring on me now are you? It’s only been two weeks, you showed so much promise.”
“I mean it, it’s not kind to tease people about stuff like that.”
“Oh, c’mon Officer G, why not? It gets a great reaction out of her.”
“Expand your horizons, find other ways to tease her besides her intimate life.”
The teen groaned and slouched in the back. “Now you’re giving me homework?!”
“I wouldn’t have given it to you if you had stayed in school.”
“But then I would have gotten homework from school.”
“Well now you get the best of both worlds.”
“Ughhhhhh, I hate you,” came the drawn out whine.
Garnet simply chuckled.
Pearl stared at Amethyst in disbelief as the teen held a squirt top mayonnaise container in her hand, carefully aiming for her next victim as they sat high up in a tree.
“This is so elementary,” the pale woman rolled her eyes.
“Hey! It’s ingenious, they freak out and run away because who wants to stand around and look up to the bird that’ll probably poop on them again?” she impishly grinned.
“Absolutely, childish.”
“Your loss.”
A pink tongue hung out in concentration as the teen with silver colored, long hair aimed and then squeezed to send a few globs of mayonnaise down. Pearl shivered just at the squelching sound the fatty substance made as it was forced out of its container.
“Eughh!” came the cry below as the lanky male teen who worked at the doughnut shop jumped and flung off what he could of the white substance that came from above.
Once he was out of earshot Amethyst bust up laughing. Pearl just rolled her eyes and laid her stomach on the branch she was sitting on. It was entertaining at least. The next victim was a random middle school kid who ran off flailing his arms. He was followed by one of the Pizza twins who simply gasped and checked to make sure the boxes in her hands were free of the contaminant. Strawberry blonde eyebrows rose up as she spotted a certain someone walking in the path of the tree they were in.
“Give it to me,” she demanded.
“What why?” Amethyst protested.
“Because I want to try it.”
“But you said it was childish and elementary.”
“Yes, so just give it to me already.”
“Fine,” the stocky teen reluctantly surrendered the mayonnaise.
Pearl sat up, grabbed the container and aimed.
Just a couple more steps…
When her target was just a few feet from right below the pale woman squeezed with all her might on the container. A thick stream of the fatty substance rained from above splattering all over the dark cop.
“What the-!” Officer Garnet exclaimed as she quickly jumped back and flung some of the stuff off that had landed on her arms and hat.
Pearl could barely contain her glee. The officer swiped a sample of it and smelled it, sunglass covered eyes then turned up to look at the two high in the tree. Pearl let out her laughter as she shoved the bottle into Amethyst’s hands.
“It was her! I swear.” Amethyst shrieked.
Garnet frowned.
“Dude P, that’s rude, at least take the blame.”
“She already saw that I did it,” Pearl managed between laughs.
The silver haired blonde glared at her. “Oh SHIT! She’s coming up!” Violet eyes going as wide as dinner plates.
Pearl glanced down to see the cop already half way up the tree towards them.
“Oh shit…” she grimaced.
The two delinquents attempted to move and climb higher, but Officer Garnet was on top of them in seconds. Her fast hands snatched the mayonnaise from Amethyst and expertly closed the lid using a nearby branch.
“I’m confiscating this,” her low accented voice stated. “And you two are coming down the tree with me.” She began her decent back down. “And don’t make me wait!”
After sharing a panicked look, Pearl and Amethyst climbed down the tree. When they got to the bottom Officer Garnet was waiting, arms crossed and her weight shifted onto her left leg. The two stared at the ground, not willing to meet the heavy disapproving gaze being leveled at them from behind the officer’s reflective sunglasses.
“Is this really what you do?” came the scolding tone. “Find new ways to pester and impede everyone who is trying to go about their days as peacefully as possible? You’re better than this.”
Amethyst looked up to object only to notice that Garnet was speaking directly to Pearl.
“You’re 32 Pearl, is this really how you want to spend your life?”
“Fuck off,” Pearl growled.
“No, I’m not going to fuck off. You need to shape back up, I shouldn’t be chasing you from one spot to another babysitting you and asking you to play nice with all the other kids.”
“Don’t talk to me about growing up, Garnet. Not all of us live the charmed life you do.”
“You know better than to say that to me,” Officer Garnet stated darkly.
Pearl scoffed and began to walk away. The cop grabbed her wrist and stopped her escape.
“I’m not done.”
“Oh will you ever shut up?!” the thin woman snapped as she yanked her arm free.
Garnet frowned. “You’re better than this, you know it.” She turned to address Amethyst. “You’re better than this too. Next year you’ll be a senior and before you know it you will be on your own trying to provide for yourself. You have a good creative mind; you should put it to better use than pranks like this.”
“You told me to expand my horizons,” Amethyst threw her hands up in frustration.
“It’s a start, but try a different direction,” Officer Garnet stated with a slight smile. “Stay in school, learn, and stop encouraging Pearl’s adolescent behavior.”
“Excuse me?!? I’m older than you,” Pearl objected.
“And right now you’re acting like a bratty teenager instead of the adult you are.”
“I don’t have to listen to you.”
“I would if I were you. The next time you disturb the peace like this I’m taking you in, and for you Amethyst I will be calling your parents and having a long chat with them.”
Pearl scowled and looked away. Amethyst paled slightly. With that final statement Officer Garnet turned and left. The two delinquents began to slowly walk away, their Saturday fun spoiled for the time being. After a couple of minutes, the plump teen spoke up.
“So what’s your issue with her?”
“What do you mean?” Pearl said as she took a long drag from her cigarette.
“Like you’re never like this to Jasper, I get that she’s a new cop and everything, but it just seems a bit extreme. Don’t you think so?”
The pale woman snarled.
“Oh c’mon, it’s been a month and you still won’t tell me how she knew your last name, and how you two act so familiar with each other.”
Pearl slouched and frowned. “We have history.”
Amethyst’s eyes bulged out of her sockets. “WHAAAT?!”