Chapter Text
Reaching up above the door, Allura grabbed the key off the sill. It was Friday and Allura was looking for Coran. He was missing, and she really needed to talk to him. Her mom had sent her to find him, and it had something to do with a family dinner of sorts. Right now though, he was nowhere in his house it seemed. Also, he had left the Rube Goldberg machines running and now there was dog food everywhere.
Allura also was over to test out the new amplifier she had helped him build a couple of weeks ago. There wasn't really a good power source when the project had been finished but he had managed to acquire one for Allura. She flipped the switch to start up the amp and turned every single dial as far as it would go. Picking up her guitar, she plugged in the adapter for it, and turned the settings up to ten as well. Fretting the neck board, she strummed the strings.
It was just a simple c chord, but Allura was flung backwards as the surround and cone of the amp shattered from the force. Papers flew everywhere and a bookshelf toppled over on top of her. The phone rang impossibly loud as she managed to pull herself up out of the mess. Grabbing the phone, she picked up the call.
“Hello?” She said, holding the receiver to her ear.
“Why, hello Allura! Did you get a chance to test out the amp yet? I was doing some tweaks on it recently and it might still need to be adjusted,” he said, his Scottish accent thick.
“Well, no, but you left all your machines running.” She told him, but was nearly drowned out as every clock in the apartment rang out, signifying it was 8 o’clock.
“Oh, those are my clocks! It means they're running perfectly, going off at 8:25!” He said, and Allura nearly dropped the phone.
“8:25! I'm going to be late!” She cried out, nearly hanging up, but was stopped when she heard Coran immediately start talking.
“Allura, can you meet the VI team at the Two Pines Mall at 1:15? They're running a big test and asked me if you would help.” He said.
“Just to clarify, you mean 1:15 am?” She asked, and he confirmed it.
“Alright, cool, but I gotta run! Why did you set the clocks like that?” She asked, as she set the phone back into the cradle. She booked it out the door, almost forgetting to turn off the machine. She sat her skateboard onto the ground, and hopped on, riding down the street. Grabbing the back of a pickup truck, she tailgated off the back of it, and then caught the back of another car. She got to school ten minutes before the bell rang for second period and began to run up the stairs, when Lance stopped her.
“Don't go that way. Sendak’s looking for you, you know. If you get caught again, it’ll be your-”
“My fourth tardy, I know. Trust me, we won't get caught, Lance. Besides, you're tardy too.” She said, poking him in the side. Lance groaned, and ducked out of the way before she could poke him again.
They made their way through the hallway, but then Lance dropped a huge book in the floor. They both looked up and there was Sendak, storming down the hallway.
“Gomez, McFly! You are both very late. Do you know what time it is? It is 8:35, and McFly, this is your 4th tardy this month!”
“Dude, I know. Besides, Coran had all his clocks set to go off at 8:25.” She said, shrugging her shoulders. Allura had gotten to the point where she had stopped caring about what Sendack said. He was annoying.
“Now, McFly, you shouldn't be hanging out with Coran and the rest of Vol Industries. You'll get into trouble. It's making you slack off.” He said, and Allura couldn't help but feel a little crushed. She wasn't slacking off, she just didn't particularly care for much of anything besides science. It was interesting, and she was learning more at VI anyways.
“Well, I guess I better get to class then, huh? Like you said, this is my 4th tardy. Don't wanna make it my fifth one.” She replied, taking the yellow slip from his hand. Walking off, Allura headed over to her locker, Lance right on her heels. The lock clicked open when she spun the combination.
“So did you hear the news from Coran?” Lance asked as Allura slammed her locker door shut. Holding her books to her chest, she turned around and looked at Lance.
“Of course I heard it. He told me. I have no clue what’s going on though. Do you you?” Allura asked, as they began to walk to class.
“Well, I don't know too much, but it has something to do with a car,” he said, following Allura into class. They walked in, setting down their tardy slips on the desk at the front of the room.
“Ah, glad to see you two finally joined us. We're currently on page 369.” The teacher said, glaring at Allura slightly. She swore Haggar was out to get her, but it was probably just paranoia. Couldn't be too sure, especially not with the accident that killed her father a year ago.
Allura’s eyes landed on the back of Nyma’s hair. It was braided into two nice and even plaits, and her hair looked really nice today, and it was very blonde, as usual. Even though Nyma worked for Vol Industries, she had worked for Galra Tech around the time Allura’s Dad had been killed. There was something odd about her, it seemed.
“Allura, could you read the first paragraph?” Haggar asked, and Allura looked up. What page were they on? She quickly flipped through to 369, and began to read the first paragraph. The whole class, save a few, snickered.
“Allura, you need to pay attention. We are on page 370 now.” She said, before asking Nyma to read aloud. She spoke every word almost perfectly. Stupid, perfect, beautiful Nyma.
***
There was no way Allura was going to be able to comprehend this physics problem, despite Lance explaining it to her. He was the one with the VI internship anyways. They sat next to each other, pouring over the homework, and Allura just wanted to crumple up the paper and toss it in the garbage.
“Physics is bullshit.” She said, huffing as she dropped her head on the table. Her head popped back up off the table, as Allura clutched her nose in pain. A little bit of blood dribbled out onto her palm.
“I'm gonna go to the bathroom and take care of this.” She said to Lance, trying to staunch the blood flow. Getting up, she quickly went to the bathroom, and pushed the door open with one hand.
Pinching her nose, she tried to stop the bleeding, but it just kept on coming in crimson trickles, staining the toilet paper. It wasn't helping, and she was starting to get pissed off. She had left half her lunch uneaten and Allura was hungry.
The door opened, and Allura turned and saw familiar blonde hair. It was Nyma. She took one look at Allura and immediately grabbed another piece of toilet paper. She handed it to Allura, and she took it from Nyma.
“I used to have really intense nose bleeds, so try tipping your head forwards. It usually helps.” Nyma said. Allura nodded, and took the new toilet paper piece, pinched her nose, and tipped her head forwards. By this point, Nyma was gone.
The bleeding stopped, and Allura tossed the tissue paper in the trash, and then washed her hands immediately afterwards. There was still some blood on her hands, and it washed off, turning the water in the sink pink.
She made her way back to the cafeteria, and sat down. Immediately the bell rang and Allura swore.
“I couldn't finish my lunch, Lance!” She complained as they walked to their 6th period. She clutched her books to her chest, one arm keeping them from falling, the other gesturing wildly. Allura was very angry.
She was so angry, she bumped into Nyma, her anger having taken all her focus away from her surroundings. Books flew everywhere and it took Allura a second to process the sudden change.
"What the hell. Who did I-" Allura knelt down, fuming quietly and planning to pick up her books, but she and Nyma bumped heads answering Allura's question about who she ran into.
“Hey, that was my bad,” she said, reaching to grab papers for Allura. Their hands brushed, and Allura’s heart lurched to a stop, and began to beat again, working twice as hard. Oh god. She looked up, their eyes met. Nyma’s eyes were the deepest blue Allura had ever seen. She scrambled to grab the rest of the books, breaking eye contact. This was too much, and Allura was way too gay.
“That was really gay of you,” Lance whispered, nudging Allura in the arm. She didn't look him in the eyes, but lightly swatted his arm.
“God, Lance, shut up.” She said, rolling her eyes. They walked into the classroom and Allura was super thankful the day was almost over. She was getting nervous thinking about the fact that her band, Space Invaders, was auditioning to play for the homecoming dance. Her leg bounced as the class began, her anxiety revving up as the class went on.
With a buzz of the bell, Allura breathed out a sigh of relief, grabbed her stuff, and then grabbed Lance’s arm, and they took off. Running down to the gym, Allura burst in, her guitar case in her hands, and dashed up the stage stairs. The rest of the band filed in, and they worked on setting up.
Keith strummed a few chords, trying to get his bass in tune. Hunk was working on trying to get his drum set up and working. Lance was next to him, putting together the pieces, his guitar sitting on the amp behind them. Pidge was setting up the keyboard, so she could tickle the ivories. Allura set up the microphone, her guitar slung around her back. She tapped the mike, and made sure it was working.
“Alright, so we’re Space Invaders!” She announced, and then immediately went into the audition song. The sounds of the instruments merged into a melody of sounds, but it was cut short by the sound of a crackling bullhorn.
“Thank you! I think we’ve heard enough! You guys are just too dang loud.” The teacher said, and Allura’s face dropped. Well this was just lovely.