New friends

Chapter 3

Katie left to find Matt. She found him hitting it off with Allura. She had on a pink, white and blue dress which went perfectly with her long, silver hair. Usually Katie would be salty at how stunning she was, but she was so happy that she didn't even care. "Maybe I'm better with people than I thought before." she thought to herself with a sense of accomplishment. "I guess Matt was right. I just had to give them a chance. Maybe it runs in the family." She laughed a bit.

She headed over and boldly introduced herself. Matt and Allura had been dating for some time now, but they'd never officially met. Allura turned out to be amazing. She was like the older sister she never knew she had! This comforted Katie knowing that her brother was in such good care.

The three talked for a while until Katie wanted to take a short rest. She excused herself as the two kept talking and she made her way to a couch. She sat down by herself with some punch and took out her phone to check the time. It was already 11:48! Time had flew so quickly talking to all those new people.

She was lost in thought when she felt the couch dip and she looked over to see another guy sitting next to her. Not uncomfortably close, but not far enough to be awkward. He had a buzz cut that was black and a puff of grown-out white in the front. He was very muscular and tall, almost twice her tiny size. He wore a letterman jacket but you could definitely see abs even though his shirt wasn't tight. He had kind grey eyes and smiled sweetly at her. The most noticeable thing though was his almost completely metal prosthetic right arm. It looked really advanced. Then she recognized him. It was Shiro! One of the most popular seniors in the whole Garrison! She was shocked that of all places he would sit next to a lowly freshmen nerd.

"Hi" He said kindly. "H-H-Hi" she stuttered suddenly really nervous. He introduced himself. "I'm Takashi, but everyone calls me Shiro." "I'm Katie." was all she managed and looked down for a sip of punch. He was really good looking she thought in the back of her mind. "I know. You're Matt's little sister." He said knowingly. She almost spit out her drink. "Oh my god. HE KNOWS MY NAME!! HOW COULD SOMEONE SO POPULAR AND RELEVANT KNOW I EXIST!!" She was in so much shock. "He told me you came in here so I just came to say 'hi'" he explained. "Matt's told me you're quite the technician." He complimented. She blushed so hard. "Hehe yeah I'm okay I guess." She said. "I see you around school all the time, but I never said hi because you always seem busy..." he trailed off slightly. "And I never see you because you're always mobbed by the popular crowd." She said jokingly as they laughed. They made small talk for a bit when he said "You're a pretty cool person Katie. I'll see you around." He left with a wink. "HOLY CRAP HE WINKED AT ME!!" She thought. She blushed so hard and he got up to talk to his other friends.

Katie went to the bathroom to hyperventilate. She was so confused! The first three times she talked to strangers she was completely fine, and that was when she initiated two of the three conversations! How come when Shiro, someone who already knew her and initiated he conversation himself, spoke to her, she felt like she could barely breath? She pondered this for a long time before coming to the scary realization that she was crushing on him. Badly. "This is crazy! He'd never go after a freshmen! He's super popular and you just got excited about talking to three people!" She told herself, but she couldn't stop her heart from falling for him. "Did that wink mean something? Was he dropping a hint? No, no. He was probably just kidding around.." she thought. She thought about when he winked at her and could feel herself getting hotter by the second. She thought of his big muscles and kind face. It made her all warm inside. She cleared her head by splashing water in her face and collected herself. She took another deep breath before rejoining the fun outside.

She decided to find Matt again to tell him about her grand adventure of talking to all the new people! She was so excited. She felt so proud of herself. She ran around looking for him and found him on the back porch with- "woah!" She thought surprised. "That's everyone I've talked to tonight! All together!" She approached slowly slightly nervous to talk to everyone at once. Matt turned around and saw her. He pulled her into the small circle smiling "Everyone! Meet Katie, my little sister." He said. Everyone laughed. He looked so confused. "We've already met." Lance said. "Me too." Hunk and Keith said in unison. "We already spoke as well." Shiro said. Katie blushed when they made eye contact. "Oh! Well that was easy!" Matt said and they all laughed together.

They all hung out for the rest of the night and Katie surprisingly had a fantastic time! She found out that Keith and Shiro were neighbors who were childhood friends. Then they met Lance, then Hunk, and finally Allura. Matt entered the picture when he started dating Allura. Hunk had a girlfriend named Shay too, but she couldn't make it tonight.

As the group was on the subject, Katie couldn't help but wonder if Shiro had a girlfriend. Who was she kidding? He probably did. He had so many girls after him. As she was thinking this Matt asked "Yo Shiro! Are you dating anyone?" He replied "Nope, I haven't found her yet." Katie had never felt so happy as she exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. Lance surprisingly wasn't with anyone considering how much of a flirt he was. Katie figured the flirting when they met was all gone now that they had actually gotten to know each other as friends as they continued talking throughout the night. Kieth also wasn't seeing anyone at the moment.

Then it was her turn. "What about you Katie? See any cute guys yet?" Lance wiggles his eyebrows. "U-Uh n-no hehe. I'm not dating anyone." She awkwardly looked down at her feet. She always thought she wasn't very pretty. Her self-esteem was pretty low so she always looked at her feet. She dressed for comfort, not for guys; she never liked showing off. Her hair was a boring brown that was wavy and stopped at her lower back. She had a decent chest and was somewhat curvy, but it was usually hidden under sweatshirts. The point was, she didn't dress to impress. In high school that meant not getting noticed by any guys and dying in the friend zone. On top of all this she was a complete nerd that was into programming and math instead of fashion and makeup. She was literally on the opposite side of the popularity spectrum from Allura.

"That's okay. There's no rush." Kieth said comfortingly. She smiled a bit. "I think I'm destined to die alone with my cat." She joked trying to cover the awkwardness that had settled among them. "I'm sure you'll find someone when the time comes." Shiro said putting his hand on her shoulder. She tensed up at his touch and gave the group a weak smile.

The room filled with a popular song and the tension was broken as they joined the rest of the party to dance. Approaching 1:00 am teens started drinking more. Thats when it started getting intense. The whole group seemed like the type to drink responsibly even thought they were all technically underage. Then there was Lance. Shiro was slowly sipping wine with Matt and Allura. Hunk continued drinking fruit punch with Katie. Kieth was taking shots like nothing and Lance was stumbling after a single glass. Katie had never tried alcohol before, but she was totally fine with it. She and Hunk still had a great time sober and there was no pressure otherwise.