Unknown

Keith

He's so dumb, and he's so screwed, and why the hell did he think this was a good idea?

Firstly, the whole "secret admirer" thing is really fucking third grade. Practically notes-in-your-locker level immature. It's like making a big "Wanna be friends?" card with him and Lance drawn in crayon on the front and presenting it with only the disguise of a ski mask.

Secondly, he's still using his account as Unknown's. If somebody needs to message him, they're going to find out. Sure, he has the secret profile setting on, but not only can staff and faculty see it, they'll be forced to look into it if anyone suspects anything weird going on. What if Lance is creeped out? What if he reports the account and then Keith gets exposed for the stalker he is? What then?

As if this wasn't enough, Keith suddenly realizes that Pidge, one of Lance's best friends in the whole school, is a computer genius and his other best friend Hunk is already suspicious of Unknown. To reiterate: he's screwed.

Actually, now that he thinks about it, it might have actually been a better idea to stick something to Lance's locker. It's completely one-way, and there's virtually no way for anyone to know that it was him, aside from fingerprints or DNA testing. Messaging Lance had been an impulse decision, despite the hours he'd spent wondering what he should actually write. In the end, he'd just sent a few simple messages, half of which he regrets.

At least Lance hasn't reported or blocked him yet, which is a pretty good sign that he won't in the future, unless Keith seriously creeps him out. After the whole my name is keith scare earlier in the morning, he's become more and more nervous about getting caught. What will he do if the school board investigates? His dad and Sarah? What if the rest of the school finds out that he's stalking some boy he doesn't even know?

He'd waited exactly fifteen minutes before sneaking out of the Spanish classroom and typing a hurried response to Lance. Hopefully it's kind enough to make Lance feel better while showing that their short conversations had been a mistake and he should just ignore Keith--Unknown, that is--from here on out. But he still finds himself glancing at his phone every few minutes, waiting for the answer he hopes doesn't come. Despite the huge amounts of trouble he could get into, he doesn't want to feel like an outsider anymore. Talking with Lance could give him something to look forward to, and maybe it could still be a gateway into a real friendship.

"Keeeith!"

Whirling around (and almost knocking over an empty plastic cafeteria chair), Keith catches sight of Pidge, practically standing on the table and waving her arms frantically above her head. They lock eyes, and Pidge gestures for him to come over. Keith shakes his head, shrugging apologetically, and after a few more seconds of eye-conversation she pouts and sits back down.

Maybe if Lance wasn't there, he'd have jumped at the opportunity. Pidge is friendly and fun to hang out with, and from what he can tell, Hunk is as well, but he just knows that if he goes over he'll do something dumb in front of them all, and then he'll have to transfer schools and change his name and burn every piece of evidence that he'd ever gone to the Garrison. (Acxa would call him a drama queen, but whatever.) Besides, he doesn't trust himself to be around Lance or his friends so soon after the whole Unknown situation began.

No, it's much safer to just stay away from them and their perfect world, he figures. In a few years he'll be out of here anyway, and then it's not like it will even matter if he's made friends or not. Mostly he should just focus on his grades, see if he can get into college, all the good stuff. He doesn't really have a direction to go in after high school, but he's leaning towards astronomy or something to do with tech. Maybe cars, if he can't get into a good college.