Room 1013

Call Him

Lance stared out the window of the classroom with his head leaning on his elbow. He tried to focus, but the last place he wanted to be was at school. A hand tapped his shoulder, bringing him out of his trance. He turned around to face Pidge in the seat behind him. "What," he whispered.

"You missing your boyfriend?" Her eyes squinted as she flashed a teasing smile.

Lance dropped his arm across the top of her desk, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Sure," she crossed her arms. "When did you guys talk last?"

He raised his hand in emphasis, "That's the thing!"

"Shh!" Hunk leaned over to quiet them.

Lance lowered his voice and leaned forward, "We haven't talked since Monday."

Pidge gave him a judgmental head tilt. "Really? Two days?"

"That's a long time!"

"Shh!" Hunk held a finger to his lips.

"Sorry," Lance turned back to Pidge, "He hasn't called or answered my texts at all." His eyes fell to the floor, "I feel like something's wrong."

"Worry about it later," She tapped him and pointed up to the board, "We've got a pop quiz."

"Ah hell!" Lance turned around and dropped his hands on his desk.

Pidge skipped ahead of them on their walk home. Her shoes scraped against the sidewalk, "Fever at my house?" Her skirt swayed with the motion, tapping her thighs. The wind brushed her golden hair and wrapped around her legs.

Hunk high-fived her, "Yeah! I'm in!"

She held a hand up to Lance, "C'mon! Join us!"

Lance stared at her hand for a moment and sighed. "Pidge, I don't know."

"Oh my god! You never play with us anymore!" She tugged on his arm as she whined.

Lance felt bad about not playing video games with them. He had been so busy with Keith that he hadn't hung out with them as much. He fluffed her hair, "Just let me make a call, alright?"

"Fine," she pointed an authoritative finger at him, "Then you gotta come!"

Lance waved her off and let himself fall behind. He pulled out his phone and almost tapped on Keith's name before Krolia popped up on the screen. Lance quickly answered. "Krolia? How's it going?"

Hey Lance, her voice was lower than normal, as if she was nervous. It was somber and only brought worry to Lance's mind.

He slowed his walking down a little, "Is something wrong? I haven't heard from Keith in a while."

Um, Krolia hesitated, I think you should try calling him again.

"What's wrong?" Lance's face tensed up in worry, "What happened?"

Lance, Krolia dragged out her voice and sighed, Keith went to the doctor a few days ago and-" She let her voice trail off.

"Krolia?"

He didn't get good news.

Lance stopped in his tracks. His chest hurt and his hands shook. It took a minute to find his shaky voice, "What did he say?"

He could hear shuffling in the background, then a sigh. The treatment stopped working.

Lance's lungs brought in shaky breaths as his chest was being hit by a ton of bricks. He let his arm fall to his side as his eyes locked on the ground. This was something he had been afraid of. Pidge and Hunk turned around and said something, but he couldn't comprehend their words. He used all his strength and lifted the phone back to his ear. "What are they gonna do?"

Well, um, first they are prescribing a different medication. She chuckled, but it was more of a sob. Ah, I'm so sorry to call you like this.

"No, don't be." Lance tried all he could to keep his breathing steady. "I want to know." He let out a light chuckle, "I don't think Keith would've told me."

Yeah, she took a deep breath, Lance, do you know how leukemia progresses? Like how it works?

"A little bit." Pidge and Hunk had walked up to him. Pidge held his arm and played with his hand as Hunk patted his shoulder. Lance kept his eyes vacant, "I was curious after he told me."

Well, there are three phases of Keith's leukemia. The treatment he gets depends on what phase he's in and a few other things.

Lance jumped in before she could continue, "What phase is he in?"

Krolia hesitated, but quickly gained her composure. He's progressing into the Blast phase. The, um-the third one.

Lance bit his lip and shut his eyes tightly, "What does that mean?"

It means that the cancer is growing much faster than before. It also means that he's going to get pretty sick.

Lance shook his head and brought the phone to his chest. He took short, quick breaths to compose himself.

"What's going on?" Pidge kept her voice soft as she stroked the back of his hand.

Lance looked down at her and shook his head. "Give me a minute." He brought the phone back to his ear, "Krolia, I'm coming there."

Oh, you don't have to do that. Don't you have exams?

"I can study there. I have two weeks." He hung up before she could answer. His thumb tapped on his phone as he brought it to his chest.

"Lance?" Pidge lightly squeezed his arm.

He kept his eyes ahead to avoid looking at them. "There's something I haven't told you guys about Keith. Why I've been focusing on him more than you."

Pidge tilted her head and shot a look at Hunk, who leaned down to see his face, "What is it, buddy?"

Lance's eyes fell to the concrete, "He has cancer." He could feel their hands tense. "Chronic Myeloid Leukemia." He took a deep breath and looked at both of them, "And he's not doing well."

Pidge dropped her head, bringing the back of his fingers to her forehead. "You should've told us earlier." Lance put his phone back and pet her hair. She pushed him away, "Go to him! Didn't you say he was sick?"

Lance smiled, "Thank you, Pidge." He looked up at Hunk, who nodded. "Both of you." He skipped forward, "I'll be back soon!" He took off to his house, "Send me your notes!"