A/N: Just to clarify, Lotor is NOT evil in this AU.

How in the galaxy did Allura talk me into this? Pidge leaned on the metal railing of the fancy house's deck, regretting attending this ridiculous party. I NEVER go to parties! How did she do it? WHY AM I EVEN HERE?

They had come to the party after dinner, and it was now nearly eleven o'clock. Pidge had not even seen her friend for the past hour because of the magnitude of the fancy event. Despite her detestation of the large crowd of people, the nerdy girl had to admit that even she liked the stunning mansion decorated with lavish foods and party ornaments. Nearly the entire high school was there, which told Pidge that whoever had thrown the party must be extremely popular. Therefore, whoever threw the party will most likely be a jerk to me like most other popular people.

A sigh escaped her. She was a kind, caring, fun, and some might even say bubbly girl, and yet…she only had one real friend. One friend, who she constantly felt as if she were annoying her, despite Allura's many assurances that she was not. Pidge knew that Allura had first approached her because she had felt bad for her sitting all alone. I was not always alone…She inhaled sharply and shook her head. Don't think of Matt…not now! She allowed herself to relax at the soothing early spring breeze. Summer's only a few months away. Soon I won't have to deal with these stupid social events…but that also means that Allura…my only friend, will graduate.

Pidge used to have friends, when Matt was still around. But, ever since he and her dad had gone missing, she had drifted away from her old friendships, something that she regretted more than not studying for her chemistry midterm. Now, she could not seem to make any friends. She was unable to approach people and strike up a conversation in the way that she used to; people had to approach her in order for her to talk with them…even Allura.

"Not in the mood for What do You Mean?"

Pidge started and looked over to see a tall Galra boy lean back on his elbows on the railing. "What? Oh…" the sound of the Justin Bieber song drifted to her ears. "Not really."

"Hmm," was all he said. He allowed his eyes to drift lazily about the room inside of the massive glass doorway which he had just come through, observing all of the different people dancing. Pidge shifted, feeling obliged to say something in response. Stupid social conventions.

"Uh… what about you?"

The stranger glanced at her with a wry half smile. "Eh, I'm not really one to dance to this music. I prefer slower songs."

"So you only slow dance?"

He chuckled. "I assure you that, as much as I enjoy slow songs, I do more than just slow dance."

They both went silent; he watched the people inside while she observed him out of the corner of her eye. He was slim for a Galra, but by no means was he small, with long, silver locks of hair and the amber eyes typical of his race. Pidge had to admit despite herself that he was actually rather handsome.

"So…why are you out here?" he inquired, taking the girl slightly off guard.

"Oh, I uh…I'm not really a party girl. My kinda fun is sitting at home learning about kynurenine hydroxylase or reading a good fantasy book. I can't stand stuff like this." She jutted her chin at the indoors where people mingled. There was a slight bitterness in her voice that she did not bother to hide. "Everyone hanging out in their little cliques, and dancing with people. Not to mention it seems like the person who threw this party has got to be some loaded snob, considering the fanciness of everything. I bet he's a total jerk who uses his parent's money to pay for his lavish social 'shabangs'… ugh, I hate parties!" She exhaled, running her fingers through her poof of hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sure he's a great person, I just… I get extremely judgmental when I'm grumpy"

To her surprise, the boy was attempting (and failing) to cover up a snicker. "What made you come, then?" he managed to ask smoothly.

"My friend. She can be extremely persuasive sometimes." Pidge scoffed, gesturing to the dancers through the doorway. "Look at them. A bunch of people flopping about like idiots to music that they've heard a thousand times, in some rich snob's home, with fancy drinks and ridiculous clothing… it's just… stupid." She felt a twinge of guilt inside of her. She did not actually detest parties, only the fact that she never seemed to fit in at them, but she had developed the habit of covering this up with a judgmental façade.

A slight grin developed on the stranger's face as he stifled a laugh. Pidge narrowed her eyes at him. "What's so funny?"

"I just—HA ha! I—bah ha ha ha! I… the—ha—I was just uh, agreeing with you—ahem. Do you even know who threw the party?"

"…No."

"Oh, well… He's a complete 'rich boy'." The boy turned so that he was leaning forward on his elbows against the railing. "He's one of the top of his class with straight A's, and his dad is the head of the school, so he's got an 'in' on a lot of stuff…he doesn't need it though. He's also one of the best athletes in the school and he's drop-dead handsome so all the girls love him."

"Of course," she remarked, rolling her eyes.

"He's also extremely rich… as you already observed. His name's Lotor Emporrar."

"Ohhhhh. Principal Emporrar's son?"

"That's the one."

Pidge paused, mulling that over. "But, I actually heard he's really nice. I remember hearing about him carrying Clair Morgmin's backpack for her when she broke her leg… and he helps out the freshmen and other new kids a lot too. Of course I also heard that he's a total flirt and pretty much every girl in the school's got a mad crush on him."

The boy's lips twitched. "That sounds pretty accurate."

"Yeesh." Pidge wrinkled her nose and flopped backwards against the railing. "I wonder if he does all that good stuff just for the attention? With that many girls throwing themselves at him, even if he was nice once, it's probably all gone to his head."

"Probably," the Galra concurred. He ran a hand through his hair, giving her a sidelong look of amusement. "Aside from the fact of the host of this whole thing being a fig-head, what is it you don't enjoy about parties? Especially here. Everyone's friendly, there's no alcoholic drinking involved… what's not to like?" He turned his back to the railing once more and lounged against it, mischief gleaming in his eyes. "I bet you could go up to anyone here and strike up a conversation."

"I, Uh… ahem… I'm, uh, not really good at that sort of thing."

The boy's grin shifted into a playful smirk. "Well why's that? You could quite literally go up to someone and ask them what their favorite type of cereal is to start a conversation."

"Pffh! That's easy for you to say! You've got charm and good looks on your side. All I've got awkwardness and—" She stopped short. OH CRUD! I did not just say that out loud! THIS IS WHY I DON'T GO TO THESE QUIZNAKING PARTIES, ALLURA! I MAKE A COMPLETE IMBICIL OF MYSELF!

" 'Charm and good looks', hmm?" The Galra now wore a bold smirk and, to Pidge's dismay, he now had a completely cocky demeanor. She felt her face burning red hot as she tried to dig herself back out of her hole.

"Well-well I didn't me-I didn't- s-sure you're handsome, that's -that's just a fact, though! I'm not like-I'm not hitting on you or anything! Ugh! This is why I hate talking to people!" She leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. Darn you, Allura…

The boy chuckled. "Well, thank I you for the complement." There was a moment of silence before he shifted so that his body was facing Pidge, with his left elbow still on the railing. "You know, there are still opportunities to have fun around here other than people. I've been itching to explore this mansion all night. Care to join me?"

The girl considered his offer for a moment. If I don't go with him I'll just be stuck here all night. "Oh, what the heck! Why not?"

They both sat on a bench panting.

The two of them, along with a large number of other students, had spent the past twenty minutes or so playing Frisbee and trying their best to keep the plastic disk away from the manor's three overenthusiastic dogs, who had been all but running kids over in their wild attempts to steal the flying toy. The Galra boy had muddy paw prints all over his legs, and a grass stain from when one of the dogs had plowed right through his legs, sending him sprawling. But he didn't seem to mind the state of his clothes, as he grinned right along with the chortling Pidge.

The girl panted for breath, her face hurting from grinning so much. "That…that was…the most fun… I've had in… a long time!"

An I told you so grin spread across her companion's face. "I thought you might have fun." He spread his arms along the back of the bench, leaning his head back as he gratefully pulled in air. "Would you like a drink? I bet I could swallow a bucket of ice water right now."

"Yeah, I could definitely go for some H2O right now."

They made their way to a drink table, where they refreshed themselves and chattered about various subjects. Pidge eyed the impressive array of drinks and fancy glasses and shook her head. "Wow, I knew the principal was rich, but man! He's gotta be the richest person at the school! Makes you wonder how twisted his kid is, huh?"

The boy chuckled. "It sure does."

"Why would he waste so much money on a party?"

"Waste? Weren't you just having fun?"

"Well, yeah but, why use your money on a party when it could be used for other, even more fun stuff?"

"Well, I would assume in order to share all of his stuff." The boy swirled his glass, taking in the party scene around them. "Imagine having this entire mansion and no one to share it with. Now that would be depressing."

"I guess…" Pidge was still unsure as to whether or not she agreed that a party was a good idea. She had had more fun in the past half an hour than for the past six months combined, but she couldn't help but remain skeptical. As she chewed on her lip, thinking this over, the boy took another long sip from his glass and eyed her over the rim.

"You know…you never introduced yourself."

His remark took Pidge off guard, and she immediately tensed. She was a bit hesitant to tell him since she was well known as the nerd of her class. She had often been picked on by other students because people were jealous of her grades, and a few picked on her because of her nerdy personality. If I tell him he might turn out to be a total jerk, like everyone else…then again, I don't want to be hanging out with someone like that even if they're hiding it. "I'm Pidge Holt."

The boy nodded thoughtfully. "I think I've heard your name around school once or twice."

Pidge really didn't want him to dwell on that, so in an attempt to change the subject she fired back a question of her own. "What about you? What's your name?"

He blinked. "I—"

"Alright, Hunk," Pidge heard a familiar voice yell from behind her. "Douse me!"

She looked around to see Lance, a popular flirt from her class, stretching his arms out dramatically as he looked up at the starry sky. Nearby, another classmate, Keith, rolled his eyes. "Dude, is this really necessary?"

"Absolutely!" Lance closed his eyes, clearly going for dramatic flair. "Hunk, the sacrifice has been prepared!"

His big friend grinned and folded his hands in an exaggerated bow. "It has been an honor. Hey, Keith, lend me a hand!"

With another eye roll, the other boy joined Hunk as they grabbed one of the full ice water containers. Then, without further ado (and much giggling from the onlookers), they emptied its contents over Lance's head.

The boy let out a whoop as the chilly liquid came into contact with his skin, launching into a spontaneous war dance from the cold. Laughter broke out among the observers, and Hunk gave him a comforting back pat that almost knocked him over. "Congratulations, you have received the official dousing!"

Lance pulled a face at him and tried to wring out his drenched shirt. "Aw man! Now I have to ride home like this!"

Beside Pidge, the Galra boy chuckled and called over to Lance, "If that's so terrible, then you shouldn't have let them throw the water on you!"

Lance looked up and grinned. "I would never break the code. The rule is that the loser of a ninja tournament gets doused at the end of the party!"

"And has to give the winner a piggy-back-ride to the car," Hunk added, elbowing his friend in the ribs. "Bend down so that thy ninja master may mount."

Lance groaned but complied, crouching down so that his friend could climb aboard. Hunk puffed out his chest like a rooster and clambered aboard his soaking buddy, raising a hand over his head as Lance staggered upright. "Onward, my feeble steed!"

"I'm not feeble! You're fat!"

"Hold thy tongue, peasant! ONWARD!"

The two clowns trudged out of the room, trailed by a smirking Keith and a decent portion of the crowd. Pidge smirked after them, then yawned and glanced at the clock. Her eyes widened. "Oh, quiznak, it's way past when we were going to leave! I've got to find Allura. She's my ride home."

The Galra boy started. "Allura?!"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Of course I know her! Our fathers are best friends." He headed into the house, motioning her to follow. "Come on, I'm fairly certain she's in here."

"Pidge!" Allura waved at them from across the room. She was standing with her boyfriend, Shiro, along with a few other seniors, all chatting away. When her eyes fell on the Galra boy her smile broadened, and they exchanged a hug. Shiro exchanged a friendly handshake and bro shoulder slap with him while Allura turned to her sophomore friend with the enthusiastic energy Pidge always associated with the older girl. "Pidge are you ready to go? Father wanted me back before twelve, so we had better hurry."

"Sure thing!"

The Altean girl said goodbye to her friends, giving Shiro a quick peck before waving at the Galra boy one more time. "Thank you so much for the party, Lotor! I think it may have been your best one yet."

Pidge's companion waved back. "I agree, it has been lovely! Goodnight, Allura. I'll see you later, Pidge." He turned to go, flashing Pidge a devious grin, and she stared after him with her mouth open.

Wha—but—he—

"Pidge?" Allura tapped her shoulder with a puzzled expression. "Come on, let's go."

Unable to formulate a response, Pidge mutely followed Allura out to the car as her brain tried to process the past few minutes. As they started down the road, the older girl gave her a sidelong glance and remarked, "You're awfully quiet. Did you have a good time?"

Pidge stared dumbly at the road ahead.

"Pidge…are you alright?"

"…THAT WAS LOTOR?!"

Pidge's bellow made Allura jump so much that she nearly swerved off the road. "Pidge! Don't do that!" she gasped, "And yes, that was Lotor…why?"

"Wha…he—I…OH MY GOSH! Why the QUIZNAK did he do that?!"

"Do what?"

Pidge pulled her knees to her chest in the passenger seat, mumbling incoherently to herself while thumping her head against the window.

That's it! I am never showing my face at school again. I will become a hermit, and live in a secluded cave under the ocean where I will never have to see anyone again, so that I will not make an idiot of myself every time that I breathe.

Except I still have to go to school on Monday…

And he's gonna be there.

…Quiznak.

A/N: HUGE shout out to Foeseeker for helping me write and proofread this story. Thank you so much for reading; I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please leave a review!