Room 1013

He's a Good Kid

"Dude, where the fuck have you been?!" Pidge slapped his arm as he joined them on their morning commute. Her skirt fluttered with the motion along with her hair.

He playfully cowered with dramatic hands, "Sorry! Sorry! I just had to do something."

Hunk leaned down a little to get into his face, "For two weeks?!"

Pidge crossed her arms and pouted, puffing her chest out. "You didn't even answer our texts!"

Lance pushed on their backs to get them to walk forward, continuing toward the school. "I know guys, I was just busy."

Pidge threw her hands up in frustration, "What the hell were you doing?!"

"Yeah," Hunk agreed, "where were you?"

Lance took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "Just-Just hear me out, okay?" He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his photos. He held it out to show them, "I was with him." They stared at the photo in shock and confusion. It was a SnapChat of Lance and Keith with dog ears. Keith was in a red sweater and looked at the camera with his sparkling eyes full of curiosity.

Pidge raised an eyebrow in disappointment, "Who the fuck is that?"

Lance brought the phone close to his chest to look a little longer, "His name is Keith. We were-well-we knew each other as kids."

"Really?" Hunk gave him a look of disbelief, "You've never said anything about him."

Pidge waved her hand to silence him, "Not important." She locked eyes with Lance, "Why were you with him? And why couldn't you tell us?"

"I just," Lance stuffed his phone back into his pocket, "I just needed to meet up with him. It's complicated."

"Sure," Pidge pulled open the glass front door of the school. "Just don't fail your exams."

"Yeah," Hunk raised a finger in agreement, "We have a study session tonight. No exceptions."

"But-"

Lance was cut off by Pidge. "No buts. You're coming. It's at my house."

Hunk waved to them as they separated, "See you then!"

Keith took a deep breath and set his phone down on his desk. He used the leg that wasn't tucked into his chest to swing his chair from side to side. Pulling his sleeves over his palms, he hugged his knee.

"How long are you going to look at it?"

Keith looked over to see his mother leaning against the doorframe. He gave her a half hearted smile, "Until he calls."

Krolia uncrossed her arms and walked over to him, leaning an arm on his desk. She reached over and picked up the phone with her fingers, "You've gotta do something else."

Keith playfully outstretched his arms, "No."

They shared a laugh as she stuffed it into her pocket. Her warm motherly eyes looked down on him. "Hey Keith?"

He raised his eyebrows in question as he retrieved a notebook from a desk drawer.

"What are you thinking?" She crossed her arms to relax, "You're hard to read."

He fingered through the pages and sighed. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it and sat back in his chair. His eyes stayed on the wall in front of him as a faint smile tugged at his lips. "I don't know. I guess," he looked down to fiddle with his sleeves, "I just wish he could've stayed longer."

Krolia's eyes lowered, "Well, he didn't leave forever."

"I know that," he scoffed. He raised his head, letting his eyes drift around the room. "He's just fun to be around."

"So you like him?"

He nodded, "Yeah, he's cool." His mouth curled into a smile, "I think we can be really good friends."

Krolia's smile returned. "So," she sat on the edge of his desk, "Tell me what you think of him. What did you guys do? Are you excited to see him?"

"Um," Keith scoffed and shook his head, "I guess I am excited to see him. I didn't think I ever would, I mean, it was so long ago." She turned his chair toward her and continued to swing it. "We just talked, really. Well, we watched movies too, but we talked through them. He's," his eyes looked to the side, "he's definitely interesting. Easy to talk to." He locked his smiling eyes on her's, "I wanna see him again."

"Yeah," she reached up to ruffle his hair, "He's a good kid." Her ring tapped the desk as she returned it. "I'm glad I got to meet the guy you have fawned over."

Keith slapped her arm, "I did not!"

She laughed and skipped out of the room, "You totally did!"