Beach City's Lost Files

Chapter 2: The River

"Whoa, do you think they're a fan of his music?" Connie asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Yea! Pretty cool, right?" Steven asked, and did another high five with Connie.

"I still listen to his songs, even though they're really old," Connie said, staring off into the trees. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Look!" She pointed to a cluster of bushes, where a female deer stood, eating some tall grass.

Steven widened his eyes, too. It was pretty rare, finding animals like these in a place like this. It was beautiful- its eyes reflected the sunlight and its elegant legs held strong and secure. After a few moments, it was accompanied by a stag. Its build was bulkier than the female's, its horns protruding from its skull like tree branches.

"Do you think they're mates?" Connie asked.

Steven nodded. "Yea," he whispered, his voice dream-like.

They stopped paddling to watch the animals. If one were to take a picture, others would mistake it for a painting with light splashed here and there. The silence was peaceful and reassuring. If only it could be this way all the time.

Then, breaking the silence, they heard another canoe coming down the river bend. Both Connie and Steven turned to see Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. They seemed to be coping well. Garnet was at the back, Amethyst in the middle, and Pearl at the front.

Amethyst looked up and made eye contact with Steven. "Hey, Ste-Man! What's up?" She called loudly.

Steven turned back to see that the deer had fled. "Aww, come on, Amethyst! You scared away the deer!"

Pearl perked up. "You saw deer? Where were they?" She asked, and Steven pointed. But Amethyst just laughed.

"Sorry, Steven, I'm in a laughing mood after seeing the other team tip their canoe!" She burst into another laughing fit, making their canoe wobble.

When the two canoes were side-by-side and going down the river together, Connie asked, "What happened? How'd they tip the canoe?"

Garnet replied this time. "It was Jasper. She probably wanted a laugh from her teammate's faces."

Amethyst still laughed, but managed to say, "You should've seen the look on Peridot's face! She was horrified!"

At this point, Pearl could hardly hold in her laughter. "It... Wasn't funny, and Jasper should've known better!" She tried pulling a serious face, but failed miserably.

Garnet shrugged, a small smile on her face. "It was a little funny."

Connie didn't seem to find it very funny. "Isn't Peridot afraid of water?"

Amethyst broke out of her laughing fit. "Pfft, who cares? She's a total jerk and everyone knows it."

"Yea, I know," Connie sighed. She seemed bothered by the fact that the crystal gems were jumping to conclusions about Peridot already.

Steven, however, was bothered for a different reason. "Does anyone else find it weird how Lapis and Peridot get along, even though they're, like, complete opposites?"

No one spoke. It was a completely awkward silence, only broken by the occasional birdsong or paddle propelling the water.

Finally, Amethyst said, "Ummm, no. Opposites get along all the time. End of story."

Steven was still confused. It had been bothering him for awhile now. He was afraid that, since him and Connie were very different, they might someday realize that it's a problem.

As he pondered these thoughts, the crystal gems sped up ahead of them, leaving Steven and Connie in silence again. He tried focusing on paddling, but he kept messing up and accidentally steering the canoe towards the bank. Once or twice, he almost dropped his paddle in the water.