Keith's converse squeaked against the hallway floor. He was slowly, and reluctantly, making his way to the guidance counsellor. Whilst he wasn't exactly sure of the reason he was called to go, he knew it was most likely for one of two reasons: He had, yet again, ran away from his foster parents and had stayed at Shiro's again, meaning the foster parents had called the school (this thought made him scoff, what could the school do?) Or, it was because the previous day he had stayed after school to finish up his art project so he wouldn't have as much to do in the next class, and in the process he had accidentally both trauma dumped and overshared to his art teacher who, by law, would've had to report everything.
He muttered to himself, not all that willing to go see the absolutely wonderful Mrs Morgan. It's not that she was a bitch, she was actually pretty nice, Keith just wasn't that keen of any and all types of therapists and counsellors. He had seen a numerous amount in the past 9 years since his father had died and even though Mrs Morgan was already on that list, he had tried his hardest to stay away from her for the majority of highschool. That was, however, harder to do when he kept ending up in hospital and even a psych ward for a couple of months sophomore year.
Mrs Morgan's door was in sight, the gold lettering of her name on the door not seeming all that welcoming to him. He held his breath up until the moment he knocked on the door and stood waiting awkwardly.
"Come in."
He sighed and opened the door, seeing Mrs Morgan give him a small smile as he made sure the door was shut and sat down, dropping his bag on the floor next to him.
"So, Keith, do you know why I called you here today ?"
"Uh, not really."
Keith looked down, not even attempting to look the women in the face. He could feel her eyes on him, waiting for him to look up until it was evident he wasn't going to.
"Okay, so, I've asked for you to come and see me today because I received an email this morning about you that has concerned me. You spoke to Mr O'Connell yesterday afternoon ?"
The boy nodded, refusing to talk.
"Okay so, here in the email it says you were having some negative thoughts and feelings ? He said you also spoke about your foster parents and how you couldn't 'wait to get out of that shithole' ? Is that what you said ?"
More silence. Keith knew that even if he did say something, anything, she would just ignore everything he said, or suggest some bullshit 'solution' that he'd probably had already tried.
"Keith," God, he wanted to slap her with the condescending tone she used. He didn't ask to be in her office. Infact, it was the thing last thing he would have expected to happen on a random ass Wednesday morning, "the thing I'm most concerned about is that you said about dropping out ? Your SAT's are in 7 months and you have a very good chance of getting a high score. You have a 3.8 GPA and a very good chance of getting into a good college. Why throw that away ?"
He sighed in annoyance. He didn't want to deal with this. He was supposed to be in English, writing essays about Shakespeare. Deciding he didn't want to deal with Mrs Morgan for any longer than he needed to, he mumbled under his breath.
"It's all bullshit anyways. Besides, I'm an orphan. I can't even afford college. There's no point of me even being in school. It's always 'Oh you have good grades !! You can get into an amazing college !!' but no one stops to think about if I even want to go, let alone if I can afford it. Sara and Andrew certainly aren't fucking paying for it. I mean, who even says I'll make it to to end of the year, let alone if I make it long enough to do the SAT's."
Without further explaining on his latest statement, Keith picked up his backpack and stormed out. How dare she. Talking to him about college. It was like she just wanted to remind Keith about his shortcomings and how, unlike the kids he shared classes with, he wouldn't be able to go to college. Yes, he had thought about it. He would go to The University of Texas at Austin, the same one Shiro currently studied at, and he would study either Art/Art studies or Social work.
Arriving at his locker, he punched it, letting the anger that was slowly bubbling up subside as he regretted his choice the second pain shot up from his knuckle. He gasped and shook his hand, as if that would do anything, and looked around to see if anyone saw that.
He thought he was safe, until he saw two Juniors walking from the direction of the library, now towards him, looking concerned. One of them was tall, certainly taller than him, and tan too. Kind of lanky, Keith thought. The other was shorter, Keith estimated around 5'1, and was paler with round glasses and orangey-brown hair.
"Are you okay ? That looked like it hurt."
"Yeah, no shit it hurt." Keith looked at his locker, avoiding eye contact. The taller of the two had spoken, he had gathered that much. They were also wearing a t-shirt. In the middle of October.
"Hey, I just asked a question. No need to be a bitch. Anyways, I'm Lance. Lance McClain. This is Pidge, They use They/Them pronouns. Fuck up and I'll kill you."
Now he, Lance, was starting a conversation. That was exactly what Keith needed.
"Cool. Why are you talking to me ?"
"Dude, you punched a locker. What's your name ? Before you ask why, I think Pidge's brother is friends with one of your friends so I thought we should atleast know eachothers names."
Keith took a closer look at Pidge, only now noticing the resemblance between them and Shiro's best friend Matthew Holt. He was tallish, similar hair and was studious. He studied astrosciences at college.
"Fine. I'm Keith. He/Him i guess. I need to go so I guess I'll see you around."
WIth that, he shut his locker and walked towards the office.
