The Small Town: Senior Year

Man, we're gonna be considered adults.

There was intense knocking at the door. Keith didn't want to get up, but he knew Shiro wouldn't do it. He reluctantly pushed himself off his bed and walked the quick six steps up to the landing. The door knob jiggled frantically and Keith knew who it was in an instant.

"Where's Pidge?!" Lance yelled, as soon as the door was open. "She's not answering her phone and I have some huge shit for her."

Keith looked at him quizzically, not understanding. Pidge always answered her phone. He was also confused as to why Lance had come to his house first. As if reading Keith's mind, Lance answered his question.

"I assumed she was here. She doesn't answer her phone when she's playing video games or something, so this was my first guess. Clearly not. Come with me, you have to see it." Lance grabbed Keith's wrist and pulled him along. Keith shut the door behind him and followed grudgingly.

They walked up the stairs to the front porch and knocked on the door. Mrs. Holt, Pidge's mother, opened it. Before either boy could ask, she answered.

"In her shop." The boys ran off, throwing a quick wave and a thank you in her direction.

The door was open, and loud music blasted through Pidge's headphones. It looked the same in her shop as it always had. With the exception of a few devices or nick knacks on the shelves, and parts strewn in front of the girl.

Rover laid dead on the workbench in front of Pidge. The only thing out of place was Pidge herself. She was passed out. Her head was pillowed on her arms and soft snores escaped her lips.

Both Keith and Lance launched into taking photos to prove to Hunk that they were right; she hadn't slept in days.

The boys stopped short, however, when she started rambling.

"Get... fuck out o' my..." she breathed heavily. "...fuck your bees."

The two boys looked at each other. Lance sighed and whispered to Keith what was on both of their minds.

"Time to wake her up, I think."

Keith nodded in agreement.

Lance punched the code into the alarm, arming it, and did jumping jacks in front of it. The motion sensor detected him, and a blaring alarm rang.

"Get the fuck out of my shop!" Pidge yelled, pointing the end of a Hello Kitty baseball bat at them. She sighed and put it down when she realized who it was. Lance reentered the code, quickly shutting off the alarm.

She yawned and stretched, and then rubbed her eyes.

"What do you guys want?" she asked.

"Not sure," Keith answered. "But apparently Lance has some huge shit for you."

"Ew. I don't want Lance's shit."

"No no no! I'm talking about this." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a bunch of old photos. "My mom and I were cleaning out the old photo album shelf, and we found these."

They were pictures of a gigantic tree house. It was four stories high, and had a retractable ladder and a rope bridge, leading to another small hut in a neighboring tree. It was insanely large, and Keith was curious about the children playing in it.

"Oh my god!" Pidge exclaimed, picking up the photographs. "I forgot about this! Come on!"

She grabbed Lance's hand and the two started running. Keith followed quickly.

"Where are we going!?" he yelled to them.

"The motherfucking tree house!" Pidge yelled over her shoulder, jumping up in the air in excitement. Keith had never seen her like this.