Bodysnatchers

2

"Are you actually being serious about this?" Matt asks, his eyebrows raised.

Keith bites his lip. "Um, yeah. What do I do?"

"Wait," Matt says. "So tell me again. Lance McClain invited you to his party?"

"That's what I just-"

"No, no, no, you're not understanding what I need clarification on here. Lance McClain. Lance McClain, Invited you to his party?"

"Why are you asking like something's wrong with me?" Keith says, slightly begrudgingly.

"No offense, Keith," says Pidge. "But you're not exactly the kind of person who'd be- let's say- top of a popular guy's party invitation list?" Pidge says. "Or any guy's party list for that matter."

"Why not?" Keith protests. "And do people actually have invitation lists? I thought that was just a thing in coming-of-age movies-"

"Make that anyone's invitation list," Matt adds to Pidge's beforehand comment. "Since when does Lance McClain even know who you are, Keith?"

Keith blushes. "I kind of bumped into him after school and, I think I accidentally managed to give him the impression that I was... bad?"

Pidge blinks. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know, like edgy?" Keith tries to explain. "I think he's under the impression that I do drugs and get into fights and like, piss off people, and other things like that" Keith mumbles.

"The fuck would make him think that?" Matt snorts.

"Misunderstanding, and, uh, nerves on my part."

"It's partly true, I guess," Pidge says hastily. "I mean you are pretty edgy with your My Chemical Romance shirts. Being the king of emo over here, you could definitely pass for actually being edgy if, you know, you didn't speak."

"Fuck off Pidge, I haven't worn those shirts since freshman year, stop bullying me."

"Also I mean- you do piss people off, especially me, but... I'm assuming that he thinks that you do it on purpose and get a kick out of it, rather than knowing they just want to beat the shit out of you every other day, just because- well, because you're your emo self."

"Um. Yeah. Probably," Keith says.

"So Lance thinks you're bad? Like him and his friends?" Matt says. "You? Keith, have you ever even got into trouble at school? Even like- I don't know- a detention? For late homework or sleeping in class? Anything?"

Keith shifts uncomfortably. "Not since my parents died, no-"

"Yeah, good luck making conversation with Lance tomorrow night, then," Pidge tells him. "He'll be all like 'Wow, drugs, strippers, Juvie!' and you'll just be sitting there like 'Yeah, Lance, I'm totally bad, back in eighth grade my parents died so I listened to mcr. I'm pretty hardcore.'"

Keith rolls his eyes. He knows Pidge is right, the only thing that's 'bad' about him is that his parents have both passed, but even that hasn't affected the things he does in his spare time. He was a bad emo. He had never even thought about smoking, which is something every emo kid he wanted to be did.

Matt sighs. "Not just that, but isn't he on all kinds of drugs too? He has a god damned criminal record-"

"Maybe you shouldn't go?" Pidge suggests. "I mean, I'm all for you embarrassing yourself, but, no offense Keith it just- it doesn't really sound like your thing. And this would be a whole other level, that I'm pretty sure we all know you wouldn't be able to handle the backlash from if it were to blow up."