A Beat in the Stars

18

Team Voltron was at the park together when we all saw Keith. We sat down around him, me to his right.

"Do you need anything?" Keith asked.

I gave him my signature McClain smirk, "Just thought we'd keep you company!" Everyone else nodded and agreed.

"Uuhh, oooookay????"Keith said and focused on his homework. 

"Why are you doing Chemistry? I thought you took that last year." I peered over Keith's shoulder, scooting a little closer so I could see.

"I'm in AP Chemistry 2 this year," Keith said, not even looking up.

"HEY WE JUST LEARNED THAT!!!!" I said, backing up so I wouldn't destroy Keith's ears.

"It's mainly review," Keith said and switched to AP Pre-Calc.

"Oh hey, I just learned that too. But my teacher said that was just something for the advanced students he brings in during study hall. Like me!" I said, pointing my thumb at my chest and giving him a big Cheshire grin. 

"That's great," Keith said, finishing up the last problem. He pulled out AP English 3, which I just stared in confusion. He wrote down jibberish. I finally fell silent.

"Soooooooo, who was practice?" I asked, bored of not saying or understanding anything.

"It was... a practice. You know exactly what you saw the other day..."

"Oh good to hear," Allura said.

"Except 10x worse," Keith finished.

"OH," Coran said.

"You know the usual before a competition," Keith added already on the last text.

"Really? You're not supposed to overwork yourself before a competition. You could end up all stiff and sore like I've been the past week. it's not fun to try and dance, trust me." I said everyone on my team seemed surprised by this news.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Allura asked.

"Becuase, it's something I deal with all the time. It's fine." Lance said, throwing it off as nothing.

"Who said that we were overworking?" Keith Interjected. "You should see what happens when the captain gets extremely pissed."

"Oh, is it really that bad?" Shay asked, Hunk nodding next to her.

Keith snorted in response. "let's just say never get on his bad side EVER." He put away his English stuff. "Well, I need to go and get to bed. Competition check-in at 5:00 a.m.got to leave at 4:30."

"You need a ride?" I piped up, wiggling my eyebrows. I picked up Keith's stuff and didn't wait for a reply. I used my slightly longer legs to keep ahead of him to the truck and put his stuff in the back before opening his door. I gave him a dramatic bow, chuckling. Keith rolled his eyes. He was still wearing his dance uniform and varsity jacket, so we were getting mean glares from people in the parking lot because we were on my side. He crossed his arms taking a step back.

"What's up?" I asked, stepping towards him. Keith lowered his head, His hands starting to shake causing him to grip his arms tighter.

"Hey, hey look at me. Don't think about them. They don't know you. They don't like the other school, that's all. We're rivals." I bent down and tried to look in his eyes. Keith let out a breath and nodded. I lead him over to the truck and helped him in, glaring at a few of the other people before I get in. I back out and start toward's Keith's house. Keith played with the edge of his sleeves, biting his lower lip. "Hey come on, don't do that. I'm gonna go over a bump, and you're not gonna have a lip anymore." Lance said in a playful tone, trying to cheer Keith up. Keith smiled a little. Encouraged, Lance kept going. "Imagine that, not having a bottom lip. Food falls out of your mouth, your mouth is always dry..." Lance smiled glancing over a Keith a few times.