"Ha, ha!" Keith chuckled, turning the chair around to grin confidently at the instructors. "Beat THAT!" He boasted, gesturing to the simulator around him. "Bet you can't."
"Kid has potential, I'll admit." Admiral Hofferson decided.
Keith ignored the fact that he was sitting right in front of them, able to listen at will.
"He stole your car, however." Commander Iverson pointed out. "And he doesn't seem to be able to hold still, much less wait to receive instructions."
"I know." Shiro admitted, staring down at Keith. Keith blinked back, worry squeezing his chest.
"It says that he has jaundice? And mutated DNA?" Commander Holt noted, studying the data-pad in front of him. "Won't that be a problem in flight?"
"I can take care of myself." Keith huffed. "It only affects me in-"
Half of the employees shot him an angry look, their eyebrows arched in a challenge.
Keith fell silent, though he throat burned to speak, his legs twitching as he did his best to remain still.
Shiro apologetically glanced at him, turning to the instructors. "It's very mild jaundice. It only acts up if his emotions reach an all-time high. And his mutated DNA, from what I've seen, actually helps him for the better, instead of holding him down. The only time he has a problem is with his potato allergy."
"Potato?" Admiral Holdo pursed her lips. "That's a problem. Potato is one of our most typically used products."
Keith couldn't hold back again. "What about just replacing them with peas or something?! I've read that they're the easiest vegetable to preserve with our modern technology and their small size! And, on the topic, we can store a greater quantity of peas in one place then we can with potatoes!"
"It is not YOUR place to speak! This is adult matters!" Iverson rose to his full height, peering down his nose at Keith, refusing to look him right in the eye.
"Wait." Admiral Adam rose from his seat, gazing at Keith. "The kid's got a good point. Why do we use potatoes when peas will do the job just as well, if not better? Also, Takashi is right. Keith's got potential. I believe he can be a great pilot one day, IF he can learn some self discipline."
"I always liked the genetically modified peas the Garrison is able to produce." Holt declared, smiling warmly.
"Hold up, nothing is decided yet!" Iverson snapped, standing akimbo as he glared at them.
"Don't you mean 'Holt' up?" Commander Boone, the youngest and newest graduate, asked, a smile brightening across his face.
Everyone blinked at him, half of them snarling at him with annoyance, the other half, including Holt himself, chuckling.
"What. Did. You. Say?!" Iverson growled, his face curling up in rage.
"Nothing, sir, sorry, sir." Boone murmured, ducking his head.
"Need I remind you that the reason you graduated wasn't for your humor, but because we needed more men in the medical field? Have you lost your resolve?!"
"No, sir. Sorry, sir." Boone apologized, his face trembling as he tried to contain a smile.
Iverson pulled away, still looking furious, and stared at Keith intently. "We will have to have a private counsel meeting to discuss this. Shirogane, do you have the files on Mr. Big-Talker here?" Iverson inquired, jerking his thumb towards Keith.
"Yessir." Shiro answered quickly, reaching into his saddle bag and pulling out a file, handing it to Iverson. Iverson snatched it away, and lead the other instructors out of the room.
"Hold tight, Keith." Shiro told him, patting his shoulder. "This won't take long, best case scenario."
"Yet it always does." Adam grumbled as he passed them.
"Yeah." Shiro admitted. "Yet it always does take a while. I'm afraid that, after today, Keith, everyone here will know every bit of information on your file."
"If this is what it takes to get in, I'm ready." Keith announced, grinning confidently up at Shiro.
"Attaboy." Shiro smiled, then turned to catch up with the other professors.
Keith stared after him as he left, biting the inside of his lip. "The worst they can say is no." He murmured as he watched the door behind Shiro close.
"They say plenty of bad things." A low voice said in his ear. 'No' is only the half of it."
"Gaah!" Keith yelped. Blinking in surprise. He found himself staring at the jerk, the bane of his youth, James Griffen. "Ugh. YOU."
"Me." James smirked, leaning with his arms crossed against the railing that led to the simulator. "So, wittle Keef is being gwaded to see if he can get into kindowarten?"
"This is supposed to be a momentous occasion of my life." Keith huffed. "Nobody's going to ruin this for me, not even you."
"I bet they don't know about you hijacking that school bus two months ago." James taunted.
"They know about Shiro's car, which was an even bigger public offense." Keith responded evenly. "I was at the public jail overnight for the car."
"That's going to look bad on your résumé." James taunted. "Want me to tell them about the bus, though? I mean, dude, there weren't even any keys. You hot-wired the entire rig!"
"I don't know why I talk to you." Keith huffed, turning to walk away.
"Um, cause I'm the only friend you've got?" James suggested.
"I think you forgot to take away the 'r'." Keith shot back, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Oh, REAL clever. You know, you're just a dumb kid, Keith. The only reason you exist is because your Dad thought it would be a good idea to have kids with a monster. That's why you're so weird!"
"Leave me alone, James." Keith hissed, stalking away grumpily. However, James refused to leave him alone, trailing after him. He continued to taunt him, until Keith whizzed around, snapping.
"Just leave me alone! It's none of your business what I do! Just go away!"
"Okay, you two. What's going on here?" A senior cadet marched up to them, sending Keith a curious look.
"Nothing! I was just talking to this kid here when suddenly he turns on me and shouts!" James frowned, his face strangely convincing.
"Really?" The cadet turned to Keith. "Is that how it went?"
"I've been asking him to go away for the past half-hour!" Keith snarled. "He should learn to buzz off!"
"No, you weren't! You just suddenly exploded on me!" James lied.
The cadet blinked at James, probably picking up on the fib. "Rookie, shouldn't you be at Lunch?"
"Yessir. I just saw my friend here and decided to say hi! Usually he isn't so moody." James huffed, glaring at Keith intently.
"Head off to lunch, Rookie." The cadet sighed in annoyance, standing to the side as James slunk past, giving Keith a griping look.
"Junior Cadets, an I right?" The cadet sighed, glancing at Keith. "My name's Matt. You…?"
"Keith." Keith shook his outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you. And thanks for getting James off my shoulders."
"No problem." Matt smiled. "Are you with the F&F Program?"
"What?"
"You know, Family & Friends? It's a day where the senior cadets can bring their family members to the Garrison."
"Yeah…no. Not part of that." Keith began to walk away, but Matt put a hand on his shoulder.
"Then why're you here? Are you a cadet?"
"No. Leave me alone."
"Hey. Are you the kid that all the instructors are talking about?"
"So what?"
"Um. Maybe it'd be best if you hung around the simulator. Maybe practice a little." Matt suggested. "'Cause if you aren't picked, you might as well have a day to remember."
Keith blinked at him, unsure if this rebellious kid should be trusted.
"Com'n, let's go. Hey, Eli!" Matt called over his shoulder, and a black-haired boy with glasses came over. "This kid is THAT kid. Let's help him get some fun out of the way, huh?"
"Oh." Eli nodded, smiling. "THAT kid."
"My name is KEITH, for your information." Keith huffed.
"Let's get over to the advanced simulator, okay? See what you can do."
"The ADVANCED simulator?!" Keith stared, his heartbeat speeding. "Who'll be the engineer? The communications officer?"
"Hey. Slow down." Matt soothed. "Eli is a communications officer, I'm a engineer. We're going to graduate next year. Let's see what you got, kid."
"Yeah! Maybe you'll skip a few years!"
"And castles fly." Keith grumbled.
"We'll see." Eli laughed, already leading the way to the simulator. Keith followed them, frowning at the back of their heads. What if he was chosen? What if this simple rebellious act ruined everything?
"No." He suddenly said, grinding his feet into the ground. "I'm not going."
"What?" Matt asked, turning around, surprise in his gaze.
"I mean, I like the idea of the advanced simulator, but…" Keith let his face sag. "I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not risking everything just for some dumb machine."
"Are you POSITIVE? This could be your one shot!" Eli gapped.
"I already told you two to leave me alone. Now I mean it." Keith snapped, matching away.
He felt the two boys' eyes burning into his scull, he could practically sense the way they stared at him, eyes wide in interest. Then he heard…clapping?