The sun was high in the sky and flowers of vibrant colours came out of their hiding place in the lush, green bushes. The soft wind fluttering through thin air, a nice change from the icy gust just a month ago. The courtyard was finally alive with chatter, the kind that wasn't peering through clattering teeth or shivering hums. Eyes filled to the brim with wonder no longer blurred by the falling snow. Altea High was alive once again after hibernating in the winter months.
With the snow away and gone, the school was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming month. March was definitely something to look forward to for everyone within their walls. It meant that you could shed your winter jackets and stop wearing those goddamned leg-warmers under five layers of tights if you forgot to wash your dress pants. Then try to go on like your skirt totally wasn't the only thing stopping the horribly stretched out socks-and-pants hybrid from mopping the school floors. And they asked why Pidge hated winter. Aside from clothing inconveniences and grumpy school girls who had too much coffee for a day, March also meant spring and the ever so beautiful juniberry flowers. Flowers that their florist and biology teacher, Coleen Holt (also known as Pidge's mother), genetically modified in honour of the scholars who just so happen to start the school. But the final, and frankly most iconic, thing that March was bringing to the bustling hallways of Altea High was… a little silly if it didn't count as 50% of your yearly Science grades.
A Science Fair.
Ah yes. The stupid, you-will-forget-about-having-a-life-and-normal-heartbeat, stress-inducing excuse for social interactions. And why would the ever so technologically advanced Altea High still do an all-school, elementary level of pettiness project like a science fair? Because they fucking can, that's why. The Science Fair was infamous for making students lose their heads and proper sleep schedule. Pidge didn't mind the Science Fair, in fact, she actually enjoyed it. It was a chance to showcase her brilliant mind without being called a show-off. She didn't have a proper sleep schedule anyways. Her first project passed with flying colours and gained her a group of friends who aren't just her friends for the notes, most of the time. But hey, she was happy to help.
A blur swirled around Pidge, bringing her away from her thoughts and the calming music from her headphones. Oh, for fuck's sake. The blur moved into a frantic, Lance-shaped blob who was emitting an ear-piercing level of noise that wasn't humanly possible. Pidge rolled her eyes and swatted her friend's hand out of her short hair that had floofed up again when he latched his fingers onto it. From the crowd came the unmistakable shape of her other friend, Keith, also known as ass-crack with anger issues, but don't tell him that. And of course, the wide figure of a panicking Hunk was right behinde him, his hand holding a box of his secret recipe cookies. Pidge removed her headphones from her ears to beam at Hunk who smiled back nervously, darting his eyes between her and his arguing friend. Hunk, Lance and Keith were pushed together to do a Science fair project the year before because Lance and Hunk wanted a third person and Keith had no partner. Their project was a failure because Keith and Lance couldn't decide between Physics or Chemistry ("What would you know? Physics is definitely better!" "Uh-uh, no way Mullet-head. No wonder you've got no friends.") and Hunk is too nice to suggest they actually start their project. 24 hours and a mess of a scrapped together project latter and they were able to pull off a crappy project about icing sugar and corn syrup. Stumbling into class with loose ties, untied shoelaces, and half-buttoned shirts, they were given a serious scolding and a near rock bottom mark. They were also given to Pidge so she could mentor them. As time passed, their friendship blossom and all hard feelings were left behinde. To this day, they still laugh about their failure.
Now that Pidge thought about it, she was surprised she managed to ignore the three of them for as long as she did. Before the Science Fair, she only knew them as the Flirt, the Baker, and the Emo. I mean, who would've thought otherwise? When she first saw Lance, she saw a lanky boy with brown hair and twinkling blue eyes who just so happen to speak perfect Spanish. She was rather impressed by the amount of confidence he had, starting at a new school. Then came the pick-up lines. Oh boy. Lance McClain was always throwing winks left and right, the top two buttons of his shirt undone and a shit-eating grin plastered on his sun-kissed face. He soon became a face that filled up the hallway, another blurred background for Pidge.
She and Hunk Garrett had engineering classes together. They never talked except for the occasional hellos and goodbyes. You know, common formalities. Hunk was a boy with dark skin who always had a smile on his face. She saw him with Lance a few weeks into their semester. The two boys seemed to click well and would often wander to the kitchens during classes to steal cookies. How did she know this? Pidge caught them countless times as she looked through the security camera during her free periods. Know one needed to know that she hacked them. Hush.
Keith Kogane was there on a scholarship. He was not the smartest of students but he was adequate for the space program Daibazaal College had. Altea High was one of the few places whose graduates had over 70% of being accepted into said space program. He was also the adopted brother of Takashi Shirogane, a Senior at the school who just so happens to be every teachers' favourite student. You can see why many people didn't like Keith. They picked on with him whenever they passed in the hallway. At first, he was resentful but held back against doing anything. When 2nd term rolled around, he punched anyone who so much as look at him for more than 5 seconds. Turns out, the short, pale and dark-haired boy with the purple eyes could do much more than throwing a punch. Whoever found that out limped to their next class with a black eye and bloody nose. Hence why Pidge had been avoiding him the entire time.
"Pidge, what do you think? Pidge? Pidgeon? Earth to Katie…"
She blinked, the voice blew her thoughts away and the brown-eyed girl smacked her hand against Lance's forehead, "I told you. Do. Not. Call. Me. Katie."
Lance giggled.
She rolled her eyes. Katie was her real name and Pidge hated how blatantly feminine it was with a burning passion. She didn't have a problem with girly names but people seemed to be dead-set on 'Katie' being an idiot. When she started calling herself Pidge halfway through middle school, people started to pay attention to what she was actually saying and the teachers stop insisting on her growing out her hair. I mean, it's hers. Why the heck should those teachers give a fuck?
"Think about what?"
Lance huffed and crossed his arm, "The Science Fair, goddamnit. What should we do? I was thinking Chemistry but someone, I will not point fingers, with bad hair and bad attitude-"
A grumpy 'Fuck off, Lance' was heard in the background but Lance ignored it.
"-cannot comprehend why Chemistry is better than his shitty Physics."
"It is not shitty, it's math and calculations. Your cHEmIstrY involves us messing with chemicals that could KILL US!" Keith retorted with a scowl.
"Oh, what do you know, Mullet?"
"More than you do, that's for sure!"
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yes!"
Hunk offered Pidge her favourite peanut butter cookie. Despite being friends now, those two still descend into childish squabbles whenever they disagreed. Pidge wanted to crawl into a hole and live with robots for the rest of her life every single time the godforsaken fights broke out. And they weren't even allowed to chose what category they were doing this year! After their fiasco at the Science Fair last year, the school decided to assign a category to each group as to ensure they won't get another Kieth-Lance-Hunk-but-mostly-Keith-and-Lance-level-of-fucked-up project.
A sudden idea popped into Pidge's mind and she smirked. Keith and Lance had their faces so close together that their noses were touching. They were still to engrossed in arguing to see how the distant had dwindled to nothing between them. This was the perfect opportunity to mess with them. Steadying her breath, Pidge placed herself in between the boy and pulled out a small ruler. Time to be a bitch.
She inhales.
"Yo Keith, Lance," her voice dripped with smugness, "you're already this close. Might as well kiss."
Their reactions were priceless. Lance let out a dignified shriek and straightened his back lack a ramrod. After all, he had to lower himself to be nose-to-nose with shorter than average Keith. A pink colour flushed across his cheeks and onto his ears, his eyes were wide. He pushed himself away and stood stiff and awkward next to Keith. And Keith? Well, he paled (if that was even possible) than flushed within the same second Pidge had made her statement. And the deep red on his face was obvious against his paler complexion. Hunk was trying his absolute hardest not to burst into roaring laughter, unlike the young girl who was losing her shit on the ground beside him.
Lance was the first to recover, "W-what the fuck was THAT, Pidge?"
"Your face- pfft haha- it was priceless. Oh my quiznaking god!"
"You good Keith?" Hunk patted his friend's shoulder,
"No, no no no no," Keith gasped from the sudden change of heart rate, "You need to throw me out of a window for anything to be okay."
And Hunk completely loses it, doubling over as he wheezed and laughed. Pidge already had a smirk on her lips and a Ton of things to tease the boys on. Lance looked like he might burst into a million fireworks whenever Pidge caught his eyes. Keith, well Keith was still a blushing and stuttering mess.
The bell rang and they ran off to morning assembly. Pidge smiled as the wind brushes through her face and hair. They were the perfect band of misfits.
So...
You've actually read this horrible concept to the very end of its first chapter. I congratulate you. At first, I didn't really know if I should develop this idea any further. It was a plot bunny that was hopping around my head as I sob at 3 am the night before Science Fair. Truth be told, I'm surprised I have the energy to do anything at this point. I hope you liked this.
Leave suggestions on how to improve my writing because I am an emotional garbage fire.
Favourites would make my day.