Knee Socks and Booty Shorts Don't Mix

Chapter Five: Reptilian Elite?

Practice was short, but despite that fact, many things occurred. Not all of the time was particularly, well, enjoyable, for everyone there. Keith and Lance bickered and fought to no end, constantly trying to one-up the other. It was hilarious to watch for the most part, but after a while it got a tad bit old.

For Shiro and Pidge, it was a good change of pace; to see Keith rilled up and doing something for a change was awesome. Sure, it wasn't the best way to get Keith out of his shell, but it was, in the very least, something.

Keith surly wasn't having a good time; he had been verbally beaten up and actually had a physical bruise on the side of his abdomen now, from where Lance had jabbed him with his painfully bony elbow.

Despite having practice today, he still had no idea what he was doing in this game. He would have looked up videos of basketball and tutorials, but come on, do you really expect him to not be too lazy to do that? To add to his troubles, a game was on Friday. That was tomorrow.

He had already accepted the game would be a failure on a grand scale, but it seemed his team had not. This would only serve to put pressure on Keith to perform, and that he could not do. Why again had Willbrug thought this would be a good idea? Oh, right, because he's a tortuous bastard.

Keith exited the gym, Pidge following behind him. They were dressed back in their street clothes, and were planning on hanging out at Keith's when they got home. Shiro had decided to go with Allura and Coran to see some movie or whatever, so the two teens took advantage of the situation.

"Keith!" Came an almost overly excited call.

Keith's eyes widened as he recognized the voice, turning around to face the female from before practice. Her odd smile was still in place and she shoved what seemed to be a phone into her back pocket. Pidge gave Keith a questioning look, asking if he knew this girl.

"Can you follow me now?" She inquired, disregarding Pidge's presence.

Keith's eyebrows furrowed and he frowned. What did this girl want? And had she really been waiting out here for nearly two hours? Keith was a bit worried; this was not normal.

"Uhh... I'm sorry, but, I have to get... home... and I don't really feel comfortable following a stranger..." Keith responded awkwardly, glancing back and forth between the girl and Pidge.

"But I'm not a stranger, silly." The girl supplied giddily, giggling a bit.

"I... I don't think I've ever met you before..." Keith shook his head, beyond confused.

"Hey, I'm sorry to break up your weird reunion but Keith and I gotta go, we've got some things to do." Pidge interjected, noticing Keith's confused and tense aura.

Pidge grabbed for Keith's hand and began to walk away. The girl was left stuttering angrily at Pidge's interruption, acting like a child who was denied something at a candy shop. Keith followed obediently as Pidge led the way, who promptly quickened their pace.

When they were a safe distance away, and completely out of sight, Pidge slowed down. They looked to Keith and leaned up a bit to speak.

"Who was that?" Came the question Keith had been expecting.

"I don't know, she approached me before practice and when I said I wouldn't follow her the first time and told her I had somewhere to be she said she'd just wait for me. Looks like she actually waited." Keith replied.

"That's pretty strange. You've never seen her in your life before?" Pidge shook their head, trying to think.

"No, I haven't." Keith frowned, thinking back a bit.

"Well, if she shows back up then we'll do something. Maybe this was just a onetime thing?" Pidge offered unsurely.

"Probably. Let's just get home." Keith shook his head again, not really wanting to think about it.

Pidge agreed and they continued their walk home.

                                 ---

They made it to Keith's house with no further hitches, and for that both were happy. When the two entered, the simple conversation they had going filled the empty air.

"So what you're saying is you believe in the Reptilian Elite?" Pidge raised an eyebrow, questioning their friend, trying their hardest not to laugh.

"N-no, I don't believe in the Reptilian Elite, but something like that isn't completely implausible." Keith offered, visibly embarrassed as he walked to the couch and sat.

"Now, Keith, I know we both believe in some pretty out-there things but the Reptilian Elite? I thought you were better than that." The shorter playfully chastised.

"I don't believe in the Reptilian Elite!" Keith finally broke.

"Okay, okay, jeez. Can't you take a joke?" Pidge teased again.

Keith just rolled his eyes on reply, leaning over to look through the movies he had and grabbing the remote. Pidge plopped themselves down on the couch next to Keith; grabbing the fluffy blanket from the back of the couch and wrapping themselves in it.

"So, Netflix or no?" Keith asked.

"Netflix."

"Mkay, what do you wanna watch- Mothman Prophecies?" Keith glance back at Pidge.

"Sure,"

With that, the night went on, and the two stayed up far too late for a school night. They ended up falling asleep on the couch sometime around one a.m.

The next morning was hectic, Shiro hadn't come home to wake them up in the morning like they expected. It caused them to wake up two minutes before they needed to be in class. Pidge had to run home to change, regretting that they hadn't just left clothes at Keith's like they almost had many times.

Not five minutes later, the two were running side-by-side to school, not letting anything stop them. When they finally made it to the looming double doors, it was then seven minutes past the beginning of first period. It wasn't nearly as bad as the previous time Keith was late, but it was bad for Pidge, who despised getting to school late.

Entering the school, they were stopped by Principal Willbrug, who look beyond disappointed.

"Keith, I could expect this behavior from you, ignoring the fact that I am disappointed by it, but Katie, what happened? Has Keith brought you down with him? I'm very disappointed and I'm sure your family would be as well." The Principal frowned.

"I slept through my alarm and had Pidge wait for me." Keith cut in, trying to absolve Pidge from guilt.

"I hope this behavior does not continue, I must get back to my work, so this is only a warning, but if it happens-" Willbrug was cut off from his predictable speech by Keith speeding away with Pidge in toe.

"Yeah, yeah, it won't happen again." Was the flimsy excuse before the two students were gone and the school day for them began.