Rekindling- Pico x Keith/BF

13- Where'd Your Love Go?

Me: well now ur just reading them late on purpose...
Read 11:03 am

Me: what do i need to do...pls i promise spoingus was just a phase 🥺🥺🥺
Read 11:07 am

Me: plssssss
Read 11:09 am

Me: 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Carrot head:....

Me: HELLO!! i assume u were very busy and couldn't respond 😊

Carrot head: ...Sure.

Me: 🥕🥕🥕

Carrot head: 🖕🤬🫐

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And so on it went.

Conveniently, it also worked as a great distraction from his impending doom in the form of Sarah's concert. Keith winced just thinking about it, teeth worrying at his lip as he put his phone back in his pocket. He still hadn't responded, not knowing quite how to refuse when she so clearly thought she was doing something sweet. Once he'd had the time to calm down and think about it, he really did understand that she only meant well, which made him feel worse about his misplaced anger. She'd always been naive, although he could never quite tell how much of it was an act and how much was genuine misunderstanding.

~~~~

Keith still remembered when Mom told him a new baby sister was nothing to worry about, that in time they'd learn to get along and things would be fine. Well. Now here he was, shiny new tennis shoes pulled too tight over low cut socks, gripping the straps of his backpack as he trudged into his new fifth grade classroom. They had been away from Philly for more than a year, Pico never called him, and Sarah still seemed leagues ahead of him. He was growing tired of trying to prove himself, falling into a rut where he didn't bother with schoolwork and let his grades drop willingly, instead playing ping pong on the hot pavement and reading comic books. His mother hadn't much liked that either.

Now, Keith was going to his last grade before middle school, and just a week in Sarah had already surpassed him. Apparently, she'd made artwork "amazing for her age" in Mrs. Panschere's craft class. It looked just like all the other kids finger paint projects to him, all misplaced splotches of yellow and red and green. He'd tried explaining to her that it looked the same as all the others, but his mother had scolded him when she began to cry and sent him to his room. So, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to have a very good school year already.

Still, Keith knew that even when you were having a bad day, you had to be polite. So he gave a big smile to his seat mate, Charlie with the big teeth and stringy hair, and hung up his coat and bag on the assigned hook. The room was already buzzing with what felt like a million kids, all of them already forming groups. Keith thought that was silly; why not have everyone just be one big friend group? When he'd said that to Pico, his friend had looked confused and asked if it couldn't just be the two of them. He'd always been like that. Keith sighed. It seemed he'd already been placed as one of the 'cool kids' since he used blue dye chalk on his hair last summer. He didn't really want to be cool. He wished he was smart instead. Or magic like Sarah, able to make just blobs of paint seem like a masterpiece to his parents.