The next day, the group of friends were walking outside. Girls turning to give smiles towards" Rolo.
"Hi, Rolo."
"Hey," Rolo replied with a wink and a smile.
"Rolo," a girl called with a shy wave.
"Hey, what's up?" Rolo asked with a wave back.
"Why do you torture them? Just pick someone to take to Cotillion already," Matt said with a roll of his eyes.
"I'm going solo. That way, I can dance with all of them" Rolo replied with a cheeky smile.
"Ah! You're the expert," Matt said to which Keith and Acxa rolled their eyes from behind the pair of boys. "Um, Rolo... if you were gonna ask someone, what's the best way to go?" Matt asked as the group stopped to the side beside the stairs.
"Listen, all you got to do... is look like me," Rolo said with as he placed a hand on Matt's shoulder with a smile.
"Oh, ha-ha," Matt replied with an annoyed roll of his eyes.
"Keith!" Romelle called out as she jogged up to the light magenta-haired teen. Keith turned to find Romelle holding an IPad in her hands.
"Hey, Romelle," Matt said with a smile.
"Hey," Romelle replied back with a smile.
"I was wondering...uh... if you liked the... carrot cake last night," Matt said as he became lost in Romelle's violet eyes.
"I had the pumpkin pie," Romelle answered with a forced smile as she could see Matt's mistake.
"Oh, cool. Um, uh-" Matt started to say but was pulled away by Rolo as Pidge and her sister Rebecca walked up.
"I have an opening for a fitting at 3:00. Who wants it?" Acxa asked as she stepped up to the trio of girls with Keith beside her.
"Me!" Rebecca called out before turning to her sister and Romelle. "Sorry girls," Rebecca said with a smile. Pidge rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Like I care," Pidge said to which Acxa gave her a smile and turned to Romelle.
"I'll take you later," Acxa said as she pulled Rebecca to the side to talk about the fitting details.
"Keith?" Romelle asked, stopping Keith as he went to step away.
"Yeah?" Keith asked as he turned back to Romelle.
"I hate to keep bugging you, but the decorating committee needs more answers. So, as much as I hate to, um... you know, um…"
"Bug me?" Keith finished with a teasing smile.
"Right," Romelle said with a nod of her head.
"Yeah, Romelle, I would love to. I just have to get to class," Keith said as he went to step away again but Romelle pulled him back and unlocked the tablet in her hand.
"You know, just nod if you like it," Romelle said with a smile.
"Okay," Keith said with a quiet sigh.
"Chair swags. Entry banner. Twinkle lights. Napkin design. Table bunting. And you still haven't picked the party favors yet," Romelle said as she swiped through different slide options. Keith nodding his head not really paying attention.
"Honestly, Romelle, whatever you think-"
"I mean, we can do chains, key charms, pen toppers. I kind of love the pen toppers, but, I mean, we can do all three," Romelle went to continue but stopped in slight fear when Keith's eyes flash yellow.
"I say pen toppers," Keith said with a smile as his eyes went back to normal.
"Yeah?" Romelle asked with a smile.
"Yeah," Keith said with a nod of his head.
"You won't regret it," Romelle said with a smile.
"Okay," Keith said as Rebecca and Acxa walked back over.
"I can hardly wait to see what your wedding will look like!" Rebecca said with a smile to which Pidge rolled her eyes.
"Me, too," Keith said not really paying attention until he realized what Rebecca said.
"Wait! What?!" Keith exclaimed with wide eyes.
"The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged to be engaged to be engaged," Romelle explained with a smile.
"I knew it!" Acxa exclaimed with a smile.
"Well, everyone knows it," Pidge said with a roll of her eyes.
"I didn't know it! How come nobody told me that? Is my entire life just planned out in front of me-"
"Hi, Keith," Lance said as he walked up behind Keith and wrapped an arm around his waist. Keith trailed off as he gave Lance a smile.
"Hi, Lance," Acxa, Romelle, and Rebecca, said with a smile.
"Hey Hunk," Pidge said giving the boy beside Lance a smile and a wave. The boy was shorter than Lance and had tan skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes.
"Hey Pidge," Hunk replied with a smile.
"Welcome back from Arus and homeschooling Hunk," Rebecca said with a smile to which Hunk nodded.
"Glad to be back."
"Oh, oh. Quick moment," Romelle said as he pulled Lance to the side.
"Uh…" Lance said as Romelle unlocked her tablet once again.
"All right, they're almost finished with the surprise for Keith's big night. Queen Hira, your mother Queen Allura," Romelle said as she swiped through the stained glass portraits Lance had planned for the special night. "But the one you designed for Keith is my favorite," Romelle said as she swiped to the last one.
"Make sure his eyes are violet," Lance said as he turned back to Keith as he turned with a smile. "Uh... see you later."
"Okay," Keith said as he headed off with Acxa, his smile fading a little bit.
"Which violet should they use?" Romelle asked as she pulled out three samples of violet glass.
"Uh…" Lance said as he looked through all the options before settling on one that exactly matched his eyes. "This one," Lance said with a smile.
"Perfect," Romelle said with a smile.
"Do you think we could add flecks of gold? Keith's eyes flash yellow sometimes," Lance asked as Romelle shoved the glass samples back into her purse. She shivered when Lance mentioned Keith's eyes flashing yellow as she remembered earlier.
"I mean I can ask and I'll let you know," Romele said with a smile.
"Sound good," Lance said with a nod. "Now I have a meeting to get to."
"What about peacock feathers?" Lotor asked as Acxa started pinned the fake fur onto the dark blue cape on his shoulders. "Yeah, I bet you nobody's gonna have those at Cotillion."
"Lotor, when I look at you, all I can think of is... "king" all over you," Acxa said with a smile. "And fake fur... Uh-huh. ...fake fur says it all."
"Loud and clear," Narti said with a roll of her eyes as she typed on her laptop just as Rolo walked in dressed in his training uniform.
"Amphitheater in five!" Rolo called out as he leaned against the doorway, his bag draped over his shoulder.
"Why did the coach make him captain instead of me? I'm obviously better. "King Lotor," though. I do rather like that. You know who else would like that?" Rolo asked as Acxa continued to pin the fur onto the edge of the cape.
"Who?"
"Nyma," Lotor said with a sigh.
"She would," Acxa said with a nod of her head.
"Lotor, let's go," Rolo called out with a roll of his eyes.
"I'm coming. Yeah," Lotor said as he passed the cape to Acxa and grabbed his bag and following Rolo out of the room.
"Not a lot of there there," Acxa and Narti said in unison and then proceed to burst into laughter.
"Someone's obviously having some trouble dealing with his break-up with Nyma," Acxa said as she laid the cape down on the table to be pinned later.
"So I've been doing the numbers," Narti said as she typed some stuff on her laptop.
"Yeah?" Acxa asked as she leaned down onto her shoulders to glance at the laptop,
"And after we collect from all the girls for their gowns and Lotor's cape…"
"Wow!" Acxa exclaimed with wide eyes. "No wonder people work. What am I gonna do with all this money?" Acxa wondered out loud with a smile.
"I think in the next few years, you could buy that castle you always wanted. That way, you wouldn't need a prince or princess," Narti said with a smile.
"You're right, I don't. Because I have you," Acxa said as she kissed her cheek gently with a smile.
An hour later, the bell rang and Keith ran to his locker, he had daydreamed a little in class and was now running a little bit behind. He opened his locker and went to grab his books.
"Hi, Keith," Lance said as he walked up beside Keith, said boy jumped and turned to face his boyfriend.
"Hi," Keith replied with a smile.
"I have a little surprise for you," Lance said with a smile.
"Again? Wow. That's like every day now," Keith replied with a soft chuckle.
"Or every other day. The even dates. Because you're... even more perfect than I thought," Lance said smiling at his own joke.
"That is me. I am perfect," Keith said with a laugh as he went along with Lance's joke.
"Come on, let me spoil you. You didn't have a lot growing up," Lance said, his smile fading remembering Keith tell him about his childhood and what it was like on the Isle.
"We managed," Keith said as he grabbed his binder and textbook out of his locker, Lance following his hand into his locker.
"Hey, didn't you donate that to the museum?" Lance asked as he took notice of Keith's spellbook in his locker. Keith quickly closed his locker and turned back to Lance.
"Is that still in there?" Keith asked with a nervous smile. "Um, I got to get to class. I really don't want to be late."
"No. You come this way," Lance said as he laced their arms together. "First off... Ta-da!" Lance exclaimed as he dragged Keith the other way. Keith gasped in surprise as he saw what his surprise was.
"What?!" Keith exclaimed. In front of him was a scooter.
"You like it?" Lance asked as Keith walked up to it.
"Lance... does an ogre like cheese puffs? This is amazing and it's red," Keith said as he examined the large scooter in front of him which had a black bow on the front of it. "I didn't get you anything," Keith said with a frown as he turned back to Lance.
"You're taking me on a picnic with all my favorite foods, remember?" Lance said as he leaned against the lockers behind him.
"No, that's Thursday," Keith said with a shake of his head.
"It is Thursday," Lance said with a chuckle.
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is," Lance said as he dug into his jacket pocket to pull out his phone.
"No, it's not."
"It is," Lance said as he showed Keith his phone screen to show his boyfriend that it was indeed Thursday.
"I knew that," Keith said with a smile as Lance put it phone away.
"I mean, if you don't have it, that's fine," Lance said as he wrapped an arm around Keith's waist.
"No, no, no. I was fully messing with you. I knew it was Thursday. I just have one more thing to go bake, and then I am all yours," Keith said as he gently kissed Lance's cheek.
"Well, what about class?" Lance asked as he pointed to a classroom to emphasize his point.
"He multitasks," Keith said with a smile as he brushed his bangs out of his face.
"He dabbles," Lance called out as Keith headed back towards his dorm room.
"He dabbles," Keith repeated with a laugh.
"You're the best!" Lance called out with a smile.
"That's me!" Keith called back as he waved to his boyfriend.
"All right, boys. Let's line it up. Matt, you're with me. Let's go," Rolo said as the team members picked up their swords and got into their line ups with partners.
"Yeah," Matt said with a nod as he got on the other side opposite of Rolo.
"Assembler. Salute. Lower the point. Masks down. En garde," as the boys pulled their masks on and placed their swords in position, the practice began. "Keep your center!" Rolo called out as he grabbed Matt's arm and spun him down the center of the line towards the training circle. The other team members moving out of the way as he did so.
"Whoa!" Matt called out as he almost lost his balance and fell over.
"Eyes on your opponent!" Rolo called out as he slid up behind Matt. Matt turned and their swords clashed. "Up and over," Rolo instructed to which Matt jumped on the blue and gold blocks and jumped over Rolo.
All of a sudden someone from the side jumped into the practice ring. They were dressed in the training uniform and held a sword in their hand. Rolo and the stranger clashed swords before Rolo pulled off his mask and tossed it to Matt.
"Get him, Rolo!" Matt called out to which a few other students called out as well.
The students watched on as Rolo and the stranger continued to fight. Both dodging sliced at each other and both clashing swords.
"Watch out, Rolo," Matt said as the stranger backflipped away and continued to fight after. The next thing Rolo knew, the stranger knocked his sword out of his hand and into their own.
"Rolo, what happened?" Matt asked as Rolo now had to dodge two swords being slashed at him. Rolo kicked his sword back into his hand and that is when the stranger pulled off their mask to reveal who was underneath it.
"It's Pidge!" Romelle exclaimed from above. Romelle and the crowd clapped as they recognized the girl who held the sword and who had just beaten Rolo.
"Not bad," Rolo said with a smile as Pidge tucked the mask under her arm.
"You should put me on the team," Pidge replied with a smirk.
"Hey, w-what?! No, no, no. We'll- We'll be the laughing stock of the league," Lotor said as he walked up and placed a hand on Rolo's shoulder. "A-And what's gonna happen next? We'll have girls playing tourney? Come on, guys."
"So?" Rolo said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"So? Uh, so, have you not read the rule book? Section 2, paragraph 3, 11-4. "A team will be comprised of a captain and eight men." Hmm? Why don't you read the rule book?" Lotor said as he pulled out a rule book and flipped to a page showing it to both Rolo and Pidge.
"Okay, yeah, but you're down a man! I mean, since Lance had to leave to do all that king stuff," Pidge pointed out shoving the rule book out of her face and back towards Lotor.
"Exactly. We're down a man," Lotor said with an unempathetic shrug of his shoulders.
"Come one Rolo," Pidge said turning back to the captain.
"I'm sorry. Coach trusts me. I'm not gonna stay captain if I just throw out the rule book," Rolo said with a sympathetic smile and a soft shake of his head.
"If my mother thought that way, she would have lost the war," Pidge said she sent a glare to Rolo and Lotor before shaking her head and walking away
"Rule book!" Lotor called out as the short haired girl left the practice room.
"All right, guys. Practice is over. Let's go," Rolo announced as he started to leave, as did the other team members.
Except for Matt.
He noticed Romelle starting to leave and hopped onto one of the border blocks.
"Romelle! Romelle, hey. Hey," Matt called out catching the blonde cheerleaders attention.
"Hey, Matt, what's up?" Romelle asked as she turned back to face the teen.
"Uh... Not much. You?" Matt replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Way too much," Romelle said with a sigh. "We were gonna go with the blue and gold banners for Cotillion, but now we can't find the right shade of blue."
"Oh, yeah, no, that's a- that's a bummer. Um, speaking of Cotillion-"
"I know, right? It's all anybody is talking about. Cotillion 24/7," Romelle said with a roll of her eyes.
"I-"
"It's like they've never been to one before."
"Uh...I haven't, actually," Matt said softly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh," Romelle said with wide eyes realizing how awkward the situation had become now. "I always end up serving punch with my mom anyway," Romelle said as she played with the ends of her hair. "This year, I got stuck on the decorating committee because Nyma went off to a spa vacation with her mother and grandmother," Romelle said with a roll of her eyes.
"Romelle, maybe we should just-"
"Skip the whole thing? I really, really wish I could. It's so nice to have a friend who's on the same wavelength," Romelle said with a smile as she air punched Matt's arm.
"Oh, you got me," Matt said as he pretended to be hit by the punch.
"I got to go. Great practice, though," Romelle said as her phone started to ring.
"Yeah," Matt said with a soft smile.
"See ya," Romelle said as she answered her phone and walked away. "Hey Mom.."
Matt sighed and stepped off the block, only to find Bae Bae behind him staring at him with a look which made Matt roll his eyes.
"It wasn't the right time, all right?"