Keith honest to God wished it was still summer.

Sure, he hated the overwhelming heat and the constant sunburn, but he hated school more.

The raven had always been a bit of a troublemaker in school, though he was quiet. Perhaps that's what kept him from being caught.

It also, unfortunately, kept him from having many friends.
Sure, he knew a few people here and there, but it wasn't like he had his own circle or group chat or anything.

Just the occassional wave in the hall and text asking for someone's notes. He often wondered if he should consider himself to be friends with these people.

He only thing worse than having to get up for school that morning was learning that the 'gas station boy' was probably just a tourist. After all, it had been nearly a week, and there hadn't been a single reply to the post he'd made.
He'd spent the last few nights simply refreshing the page repeatedly, as if that would make a difference.

Shiro gave the male a 'good luck' pat on the shoulder, before practically pushing him out of the car and rushing off.
He probably had a date with Allura.

Keith sighed, heading inside in the sane sluggish manner as many of the other students, a couple of people excitedly chatting in the grass.
He just didn't understand how they could be so...chipper this early in the goddamn morning.

The raven made his way to the gym for the usual beginning of the year pep rally. They only had a team of about five cheerleaders, so it wasn't all the principal had made it out to be on the school blog.

Keith set his backpack beside him on the bleachers, pulling his hair up into the mini ponytail he'd opted to sport rather than his usual mullet. He hated to admit it, but that's what it was.
The male was just too lazy to drag himself to a hairdresser and get it cut.

It was nearly half an hour before the remaining students finally filtered in and took a seat. Then another hour as the principal rambled on about an 'exciting new year' and all that. The cheerleaders, as usual, sucked. It was a wonder the tiny football team got any sort of encouragement for hearing the stupid cheers they came up with.

The principal finally dismissed everyone, and Keith hurried to get down the bleachers and to his first period.

However, nearly halfway down the steps, he tripped, and thought for sure he was going to break something or die.

But a hand caught him, chuckling and saying something like ' wow, people fall for me way too easily'.

When he looked up, it was that beautiful boy again, but he didn't seem to notice Keith, too busy talking to two others in front of him.
Both of which obviously not amused by his awful pun.

The raven was shoved around for a bit when he simply stood and watched them go, perplexed that male really did live around here.

Cheeks flushed, he soon rushed after them, determined to get the boy's name and maybe even his number, knowing he'd most likely just get a name and a disgusted look on the other's face.

However, the tanned male and his friends were already gone, easily disappearing into the crowd.

Keith was on edge the entire rest of he day, hoping that the male would be in one of his classes. He wasn't.
For such a small school, it really was hard to find this guy.

However, the male's friends from before were in many of his classes, but he found it....hard to approach them. He hadn't done this kind of thing in a while, and ended up just giving up and heading to his next class in defeat.

By the end of the day, he was exhausted, too tired to care that Shiro had forgotten to pick him up.
He didn't blame him, it was only the first day.
This had happened last year too, when they'd first met.

So, Keith called and texted a few times, before finally getting in touch with Shiro. The older male was quick to apologize, calling him in a panic and assuring him he was already on his way.

Keith would have walked to save him the trouble, but it was a bit of a walk from Calipatria to Bombay Beach, and he was already tired and hot.

He sat on the sidewalk while he waited, jumping when a truck rumbled by, blasting loud music in rapid Spanish.

That wasn't all.

There was slightly off-key, excited singing as well, about half a beat ahead of the music.

When Keith looked up to see what the hell kind of person he was being forced to listen to, he recognized the male from the gas station and his friends immediately.

If only his voice was as beautiful as he was. They had stopped at the stop sign at the end of the road, and Keith rushed to gather up is things and hurry after them, huffing and puffing as he tried to get there before they drove off.

He was still a bit away when they turned left and disappeared down the road, still singing.

Keith groaned, practically collapsing on the ground as he struggled to regain his breath. Despite looking rather lean, he really was out of shape.
Even swimming didn't seem to help, and he finally gave in and blamed it on slow metabolism. He wasn't fat, for sure, but he did have a bit of chub around his stomach and thighs. He didn't mind, of course, not really caring about his appearance all that much.

Besides, who the hell would want to cuddle with a muscly guy? Their stomachs were like fucking rocks.

Shiro finally picked him up, apologizing as Keith tossed his backpack in the back seat and got in. The raven just shook his head, telling him it was fine.

After all, he had to tell Shiro all about seeing the beautiful boy again.

*****

" goddamnit, Pidge, you're way too good at this!" Lance cursed, practically throwing his card at the brunet sitting across from him, " you're cheating and I know it!"

The other just rolled her eyes, placing Lance's card on the discard pile and playing her own card.

" you're just being a baby cause you always get schooled by sophomore~"
She laughed, before getting serious again, " your move, Lancelot".

The Cuban was reeling at this point, " wh-what did you just call me!? That's it, I'm getting serious now!"

He continued to play, ranting as he went, " there's no way I'm losing to a midget like you!"

" Uno " Pidge smirked, tossing a draw two cards onto the pile, " just give up, Lance "

That made Lance even more frustrated, and of course he began cursing and shouting up a storm, half of it in rapid Spanish and the other half just a shit storm of curse words.

" guys! Be a little quieter, this is a bar, not a casino " Hunk warned, setting down the food they'd ordered, " and Pidge, go easy on him. The poor guy got rejected, again ".

Lance just scoffed at that, already stuffing a bit of food in his mouth as he drew two cards from the deck.

" it was only the first time with her! I haven't asked everyone out!" He retorted through a mouthful of mozzarella stick.

" I'm surprised you haven't asked out your entire graduating class. Or have you just lost count of all the rejections ?" Pidge chuckled, setting down her last card and declaring herself the winner with a swig of the soda Hunk had brought to the table. She'd opted to keep her dignity and drink Dr. Pepper instead of beer. Besides, she was only fifteen, she really didn't need to go home drunk.

" I haven't! there's still plenty of fish in the sea, I just have to find the right one!" He declared, already stuffing another mozza stick in his mouth.

" whatever. Keep dreaming, lover boy "The brunet before him teased, taking a bite of her own meal of hot wings.

Hunk suddenly sat in the booth next to Lance, wiping his hands on his apron.

" so, did you see that mullet guy today? Not every white person is a tourist, you know " He pointed out, taking both a hot wing and a mozzarella stick, " there's still that one percent of Asian kids that go to our school, you know. Maybe that's him? Though, I guess we don't know for sure that he's Asian. Maybe he's half and half or something "

" first of all, aren't you supposed to be on food duty tonight? second of all, he was sunburnt enough to be a tourist, okay? no one with skin that pale lives in California..." Lance retorted.

" I don't know, have you looked at Pidge lately?" He joked, easily winning a glare from their tiny friend.

" and I'm on my break. Dad isn't here to stop me today, so I'm taking full advantage of the requirement of a minimum of one fifteen minute break"

Lance scoffed, " Pidge doesn't count. she's literally an alien".

This meaningless argument continued for the remainder of Hunk's break, before the two others forced him to get back to work before starting another game of cards.

They'd all opted out of homework for the night, since it was only their first day, and soon headed home after Hunk's shift ended.