Chapter Text
Dirty clothes, bags of chips and some Starbucks cups block my way as I shove open my dorm’s door. Another normal day wasted at Infinite Academy, travelling back home to Dorm #1984.
“C’mon! C’mon!” I shout, pushing. The door “creaks”.
“For goodness sake, Lance!” someone shouts. I turn.
“Allura,” I say. I toss my book bag aside and lean against the door. Her beautiful nut brown skin and white hair never fails to catch my eye, just as much as her serious demeanor. I fold my arms and lean against the door.
Allura, with her hair tied up in a bun, approaches me. In her arms, a cage of mice.
I point. Laugh. “You still hanging out with those mice? They have names yet?”
The mice sniff around the cage and squeak. Allura sighs. “Factually speaking, yes, they do. Platt, Chulatt, Plachu and Chuchule.”
I snort. “Cute.”
Allura turns up her nose. “As I was saying─” She grabs the collar of my shirt and tugs on it.
“Woah, woah, now! Didn’t think you wanted a slice of Lance this early!”
“─what is that god awful smell?”
“Uh. I don’t smell anything.”
She tugs again. The mice jump in the cage.
“You know, Zarkon isn’t going to approve of this misbehavior.” She scowls. Her hands tremble, face wrestling with hundreds of chaotic emotions. If you ever attended Infinite Academy you’d know Allura has the most deep-seated hatred toward Headmaster Zarkon.
“H…hey, you okay, Allura?”
She gasps and pushes back. “I’m fine. Fine.”
“I know you hate Zarkon as much as the next guy, but─”
“As much as the next guy?”
“Oh no.”
Allura marches toward me. “That bastard took everything I’ve ever held dear to my heart!” Her expressions grew cold. “I’m forced to live at this academy because of him.”
“Hey, I…I’m sorry, ‘kay?” I chuckle, awkward.
Allura, in the most graceful of fashions clears her throat. She whispers, “I just don’t want you to end up being his next victim, Lance.”
I throw my book bag over my shoulder. “You talk about ‘im like he’s some emperor that conquered almost all the known universes!” I wiggle my fingers for extra dramatic effect.
Allura pouts her lip. “Mock me, sure, but know he isn’t someone to be trusted.” She points to my dorm. “Now clean up this bloody room before you get expelled for being such a pig.”
I shrug. “Yeah, yeah, Mom.” I twist the doorknob. “Why are you even at the guys’ dormitory? Isn’t it, I dunno, forbidden?”
Allura blows a piece of hair out of her eyes. “I’m part of the academy’s mentorship. My duties called me here.”
I roll my eyes.
“And Lance─”
“Yes, princess?”
Allura smiles. “Life at this academy may get crazy sometimes, but know if you stick around the right people you’ll find your way.”
“What are you talk─ oh, hell no! What did Coran tell you?”
Allura perks up and skips away, whistling.
I hate how everyone always leaves me out of the loop like I'm some immature baboon. I sigh and shove at the door again. It juts open. Shit!
“Ah!” I fall forward into a basket of laundry. Peeking from the sweaty shirts, something stale looms under my nose. I choke up, my throat scratchy.
The light from outside shimmers over my desk where family photos scatter notepads, torn up, covered in stale coffee. I stand. Little by little, tripping over shoes, swimming gear and old books I make my way to the desk. The computer hums beside me. I stare down at the torn up photographs. My eyes well.
“I just want to go home…home…” I mumble. Woozy, I grab the photo of my big, happy family and a box of cigarettes. My shaky hand reaches for the lighter on my desk. It drops into the laundry heap.
“Damn it.” I bend down.
The dormitory’s door ‘creaks’ open.
“Fuck off!” someone shouts.
The door slams.
Eyes wide, I bump my head on the desk.
A dreaded scream blares in my ears.
“WHAT THE HELL? Of course they’d put me in a freakin’ dump.”
I stay stiff. Hands trembling.
“Wait,” the voice said. FLOOP. FLUB. CRUSH. The figure’s footsteps trudge against the mountain of laundry. A shadow falls over me.
“Lance?”
I shudder. Gasp.
“You live in this dump?”
I turn. And if fate played the small violin, summoning this bastard at my time of an emotional breakdown, it was just as cruel as Headmaster Zarkon.
I jump to my feet, hiding the picture and cigarettes behind my back. Keith stood there, hands on his hips, wearing a scowl.
I grin. “You stalkin’ me now, Mullet?”
“What?”
“STAL─KING?” I slur.
Keith looks around. “No. My dorm’s infested with mice after I took a break from this hellhole so I have to hang here now.”
On his back, three huge bags. He sighs, sweating from the room’s smothering heat.
I shove the cigarettes and picture into my back pocket.
“Well you’re not staying here. This place is run by me and Hunk. Dorm for two, Mullet!”
Keith tosses his bags on the bed, almost falling over. He raises a brow. “Dorms are made for four students, dipshit.”
“So what, you’re just gonna waltz in here?”
He scratches his chin. “Already happened.”
“You can’t be serious?”
Keith looks outside. Students rush round, almost shouting.
“Are you even listening to me?”
“There’s something going on at this school,” he mumbles.
“What?”
He turns. Looks at me. “You feel it too, don’t you?”
“Feel what?”
“Like we’re trapped in a freakin’ cage.”
I gasp. The sounds outside fade away.
Every year Infinite Academy scouted the most talented students who would bring merit to its lineage. Pidge had her tinkering skills, Hunk had his charisma and science, even Mullet had his combat and martial art skills. A bit of advice, never get into a fist fight with the guy. But me…why was I here?
Our class ranks were separated not by age, but by skill. Commander Iverson made that clear to me back when we took our entrance exams. He’s the leisure center’s professor, who’s only called Commander or “sir”, and my class rank’s moderator. While Pidge and Hunk made it into the same ranks, I, of course, was alone, with a bunch of, well, let’s just say they weren’t somebodies.
Knees scraped up and elbows bruised I climb up a rope, and dangle there. With each lift of my arms, I feel my heart giving out. Sweat rolls down my nose. I reach for the bell at the top. My feet slip.
“Ah!” I cling to a rope knot and hang on for dear life. I look down. My class hadn’t even acknowledged me.
“McClain!” Commander Iverson shouts, gruff and low.
I wrap my legs around the rope and swing back and forth. “Sir!”
“What the hell do you think you’re doin’? Huh?” He scratches his beard and yanks on the rope.
I reach for the knots, miss. With one leap I fall backward onto a blue, tatty mat. I cough. The commander stands inches away from me.
“Hey, gimme a break will ya?” I look up at him. “I almost made it!”
He pulls at my arm, almost snapping it.
“Ow! Ow! OW!”
“ALMOST is NOT good enough!”
I scowl. “Sir, with ALL do respect, I’m not training to be in combat. This is a school, not a garrison!”
Commander Iverson drops me and turns. “Don’t underestimate what the future can hold. You don’t know when this school will be under attack.”
I stand. “Oh, and you do?”
He scoffs. “Climb the rope again, ungrateful li’l bitch.”
I spit. “Whatever.”
A haze fills my mind. The students around me whisper, laughing, minding their own business like a bunch of normal teenagers. Peering through the fog I see Mullet arguing with one of the professors, Samuel Holt, head scientist or something. Looks like not even he could escape the clutches of this academy.
I head over to the outside sinks and kick the rusty pipes. I turn the knobs. Water jets out and douses my head with a cool shower. I stare down into a shimmering pool of my reflection and notice someone else stood behind me. Hunk.
I grin. “Hey, Hunk.”
Hunk, bends over. Panting, he raises a finger. I turn.
“Need a sec?”
He leans over the sink and drowns himself in the cool water. “Damnit this is hard.”
“Yeah, Iverscum treats us like we’re some kind of cadets. Frig that.” I grab a towel and throw it over my neck.
Hunk gasps. He looks like he’s about to vomit. “Drop it Lance.”
I shrug.
Hunks crouches and throws a towel over his head. “Sorry I didn’t tell you about Keith dorming with us.”
“So it’s official?”
He nods.
“Greaaat.”
“He’s a cool guy. A three time dropout, sure, but he’s smart enough to be considered a mentor to students struggling with their studies.”
I roll my eyes. “Thinks he’s better than everyone here. And what kind of shitty mullet is that anyway? Dude looks like he’s a rock band groupie from the ‘80s.”
“Hang on.” Hunk chuckles and looks up at me. “No way. Is it true?”
“If you’re talking about his mullet, then yeah. Thing looks like it’s a jellyfish or something.”
“No, no. We’re not talking fashion here.”
Arms folded, I raise a brow. “Then what are talking about?”
“He’s your soon-to-be mentor isn’t he?”
I push back against the sink, stubbing my toe. “What are you talking about?”
Hunk points at my face. “Your expression gives it away.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Even if he is my so-called mentor this doesn’t mean I’m going to let an emo dude like him teach me about space and Shakespeare.”
“You’ll love Romeo and Juli─”
“Hunk! Focus.” I sigh and look up at the hazy skies. “How’s a dropout going to teach me anyway?”
“Believe it or not, the guy knows his stuff.”
“And you know about this crap how?”
Hunk laughs. “Pidge knew you’d be picked sooner or later, dude.”
I sigh. “Why couldn’t it have been a cute girl instead?”
I look down at my feet. A mouse runs over my toe. I gasp. Looking up I see hundreds of mice scurrying around the field.
“What the hell?” I mumble.
Hunk jumps to his feet. He squints. Points. “Look.”
I peer through the fog. Allura rushes round the field with her cage of mice. Coran close behind her.
“Allura!” he shouts. He holds her back. “You mustn’t disturb the science labs anymore, it’s upsetting the students.”
I hide behind the sink with Hunk who scurries behind me.
“Lance, we shouldn’t be eavesdropping.”
“Shh.”
I listen. Allura’s face is cringed and sickly. Coran’s brows furrow with concern.
“Allura.”
“You don’t understand. Using these poor creatures as experiments is just as bad as killing them.”
“But freeing them on public grounds? Please, Allura, think about this. Activism is not something you should show here.”
Allura sighs and hugs her cage of mice. “It isn’t about that. I know there’s something bigger going on at this school. The mice are just…they’re just the start of it.”
Coran puts his arm around Allura and pats her back. They disappear behind the building where more mice scurry from.
Hunk and I exchange a glance.
“Know what I’m thinkin’?”
“No, Lance, please stop.”
I grin. “Looks like we have to uncover a mystery at this school.”
Hunk sighs. “Even if I try to stop you, you’ll just do it anyway.”
“Boys!” Iverscum shouts.
We bump our heads on the sink. He marches over to us. Keith, seized by his big, veiny hands.
I scowl. “Yes?”
“Who the hell said you can take breaks?”
I point to Hunk.
“Oh, c’mon man!” Hunk shouts.
I shrug.
Iverscum yanks us by our uniforms and grunts. He whacks us behind our heads. “And no hanging out with other class ranks.”
“Yes, sir,” we groan.
He whacks us again.
We straighten our positions. “Yes, sir!”
“Don’t make me have to tell you again.”
I look at the bruised up Keith who had twigs and leaves sticking out of his hair. He smells like gravel and wet grass. “What happened to you, Mullet?”
Keith doesn’t look at me.
“Oh, this shit?” Iverscum drags him forward. “Thinks it’s funny to smoke on property grounds.”
“Okay.” Keith mumbles.
Iverscum spits. “What was that cadet?”
Keith whips his arm back.
“Wait,” I say, “If Mullet did smoke why’d he be all beat up like that?”
“Excuse me?” Iverscum grumbles.
Keith looks at me, glaring.
Iverscum pushes his way into my private space. “Oh? Any evidence to back that up, McClain?”
“Uh?”
Hunk clears his throat and pats Keith and my back. “What Lance means is why would Keith do something like that after being expelled?”
“Once a rebel always a rebel, Garret.”
“On the contrary, sir, that isn’t true. Not with Keith anyway.”
Keith looks up at Hunk. “What?”
Hunk flashes a grin. “He’s dorming with me now. I’d never let one of my dorm mates smoke. I have a very well-known non-smoking rule when it comes to my dorm.”
Iverscum sighs. He scratches his head. “Just get back to class before I write you up a paper for being teacher’s pet, Garrett.”
“Ah! Yes, sir!” Hunk looks back at me and jogs off to his class.
Iverscum turns and chews on a toothpick. “And you two?”
I freeze. Keith folds his arms. “Yes?”
“I hear you’ll be studying together. This true?”
I look back at Keith. He nods.
Iverscum laughs. “You’ll need a lot of happy pills after the first week, trust me.” He walks away.
I sigh. Keith’s stare carves a hole into my back. “What are you looking at, Mullet?”
“We start Monday,” he says.
Without even looking at him, I shrug. “I know.”
We went our separate ways into the sea of conformity.