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36 - Another Lie

LANCE

Altea State University.

That was who they'd be playing against in the few upcoming weeks. From what Lance had heard, their team proved to be masterfully competent by the way they were known to bulldoze nearly all of the college team rankings and climb up the ladder themselves. They might as well rival against Lakers and be done with it.

But if Atlas High was chosen to play against them, then surely it was due to the fact that the former had also proven to be competent enough. Besides, Ryan Kinkade himself had pointed out that winning the interschool championship (in this case, againt a college team) would increase their chances of obtaining a scholarship.

Lance let the idea entertain him when he felt the agitation bubble up from the pit of his stomach. Despite the fact that the match still sat a couple of weeks away – two days after spring break – it had become a trial for him to sit still. Concentrating in class was nearly impossible when he knew he had practice in the following afternoon, and often Rachel would snap her fingers in his face to tether him back.

Besides this, Coach Kolivan had completely turned the knob of their training level so now they were in Extreme Mode. Apparently, Altea wasn't to be taken easy on. And Lance wouldn't risk it.

The only risk he'd be grazing his skin on was skipping his second flight simulation test; the advanced one; the one his dad had explicitly stated on the day before would earn him a scholarship offer from the Air Force.

The one that was held today.

Well Lance had made up his mind. The official memo – with a permission slip to leave school early – issued by the Air Force was tucked inside a folder in his bag, still neatly sealed. It might seem uncharacteristically imprudent of him not to hand it to Principal Iverson, but there's a first time for everything.

Besides, he was feeling reckless.

"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?" was the first thing Pidge asked him as he dropped onto the vacant seat across from her at lunch. On her side, Shay looked up from picking at the tomato slices in her hamburger, eyebrows raised.

And yes, he had prepared himself for this sort of question. "Somewhere where?" Indifference.

Now she looked uncertain, and Lance knew he'd earned five points for a successful lie. "I thought you had that ... flight test ..."

He had an answer for this as well. "It's tomorrow, darling,"

Another five points for the nod issuing from Pidge's head.

Hunk and Keith arrived a few minutes after, the latter squeezing Lance's shoulder before taking a seat beside him. While Pidge was lodging a complaint about being surrounded by couples, Lance took Keith's warm hand from under the table and twined their fingers.

Keith then surveyed him with furrowed eyebrows, as though he was noticing something different about the situation. "What?" asked Lance. "Something on my face?"

The boy shook his head. "I just – I thought you had a simulation test today,"

And look, it was different when someone whom he wasn't dating and was currently infatuated with asked the question. Telling the lie to Pidge was a piece of cake – even if a part of him argued that she wasn't an thickhead and might dig out the truth herself. But the fact remained rigid; with Keith, Lance found his jaw working, the cogs in his head turning.

Fortunately, Pidge saved him from the calamity of it all. "It's tomorrow, darling," she echoed Lance's answer.

"You know, which is pretty convenient," Shay inserted, having pulled herself out of her conversation with Hunk to nod at Lance. "Since Kolivan is holding another intense practice this afternoon."