Chapter 1- A Day In the Life of Lydia Martin
Lydia brushed her long locks in the mirror and then proceeded to weave them into a thick plait around her head. She applied some shimmery eye shadow and some liner and a bit of blush to make her pale complexion a little rosier. She eyed herself critically in the mirror before shaking her head at her shallowness. She retrieved her oversized purse which doubled as her school bag and hurried from her room.
She grabbed a protein bar off the table and the cash her mother had left her for lunch. Not that she'd use it, but she took it none the less. She exited her pristine house and noted the dull gray sky overhead and the heaviness of the air. Rain for sure. She doubled back and grabbed her cheerful pink umbrella from the coat rack before making her way to her little car.
She paused at the sound of an approaching car, her heart quickening at the sound but when a pickup passed by her driveway her fizzling hope left her feeling even emptier than she had been.
Some small part of her still held out hope that he would have picked her up. Swung by just to see if she was okay and offer her ride to school so she wouldn't be driving in heels. He'd always used to admonish her for driving in her dangerously high shoes. What she wouldn't give for him to care enough to yell at her now. It had been three months since Allison had died. Three months since her world had been torn apart and she still didn't feel that it would ever right itself. If she was honest with herself things had been different since Allison had arrived more than a year ago causing a chain reaction of events which had derailed her perfectly laid plans.
Stiles had wormed his way into her life over time. She certainly hadn't planned on it. He was best friends with Scott who had fallen head over heels in love with Allison the moment she'd arrived in Beacon Hills. His dogged pursuit of Allison had won her over almost immediately and the two began a whirlwind romance. And wherever Scott went Stiles was usually not a half step behind.
Lydia smiled as she remembered meeting Allison. They had hit it off the first day when Lydia had taken the new girl under her wing. She'd called Lydia out right from the beginning, telling her she was smarter than she was letting on. Lydia had giving her a knowing smirk and the two giggled like little girls with a secret, she'd decided immediately that she liked Allison's gall.
Allison had thought that Stiles was a sweet guy, even if he was a bit spastic, and would be good for Lydia who had a reputation for dating jerks and bad boys. But she and Jackson were still having an on again moment so she had always brushed off the awkward boy's advances.
Stiles didn't push her or beg her to give him the time of day. Instead he offered what he could, his friendship. He helped Lydia when she'd had a flat on the side of the road in the pouring rain and Jackson had refused to answer. He offered her his coat while she sat freezing on the bleachers watching Jackson play lacrosse. He'd listened to her cry in her car one night when it was apparent that Jackson was moving on. Never once had he asked for anything in return.
Even when Allison and Scott had hit a rough patch and called it quits Stiles's loyalty to her never wavered. She had come to realize he was smart, his intelligence equally matched her own. The two were lab partners and often studied long into the night with each other quietly by the others side. He was also unflinchingly himself, being around him allowed herself to slowly drop her façade of the ice queen who cared more about fashion than world views. She started to let people see the real Lydia and let the walls around her down a little. She had a close circle of friends that she valued for the first time she could remember in a long time. People she could depend on, not just someone to gossip with at lunch or during class.
She was glad she had changed but also part of her was angry. If she hadn't allowed people in it might not have hurt so bad when they left. Left, it was easier to say left. She drifted back to reality as she pulled her compact car into the school lot and eased it in to a free space. Automatically her eyes scanned the lot for his blue Jeep. Her heart fluttered in her chest when she spotted it. Her veins ran like ice when she spotted its driver casually leaning over to kiss the passenger.
Falling in love with Stiles, that hadn't been part of her plan either, she wanted to scream in frustration. Of course she would have fallen for him the moment Malia had waltzed into school and given him the time of day. He'd always been there for her, he'd always been available. Now Lydia had been sidelined and it hurt. But she vowed that no one would ever know it. She was Lydia Martin. She ruled the school. Senior class president, home coming queen, and valedictorian, she recited her titles like a mantra as she held her head high and strutted up the walk to the school without a second glance to the blue Jeep or its occupants.
Lydia had been reapplying her lip gloss at her locker all the while trying to ignore the murmurings of the people around her when Scott's reflection popped up behind her in the small mirror. She gave him a soft smile before finishing and gathering her things.
"McCall." She greeted.
"Lydia." Scott replied back. He glanced at her over and his smile faltered. "How are you doing?"
She sighed at his concern. "I'm okay Scott. I should be asking you that you know." Barrow, the man arrested for the robbery and death of Allison Argent was officially on trial. Today marked the opening remarks and she knew he was a tense as she was. Her father, a prominent politician up for reelection had vowed that this case would set the course for how crime was going to be handled in Beacon County under his tenure. This case was his meal ticket with the voters. She had wrongfully hoped in the beginning he'd been drawn to the case and been so passionate about it because it had been Allison, that he'd been doing it for his daughter. She hadn't seen him in weeks.
Scott's smile slipped back into place and Lydia had to wonder how much of it was genuine and how much was just so people would think he was fine and quit pestering him. He and Allison had moved on to other people but she knew that they had both cared about each other more than anything. Her loss had leveled him completely for a while.
"Scott!" Kira called and they paused to wait for the petite girl with the dark hair that was trying to squeeze past the growing crowd of students to catch up with them. Lydia smiled warmly at the girl. Kira and Scott had been on the road to dating when Allison had died. Kira had pulled everything to a screeching halt but slowly they had picked back up again. Kira had confided in Lydia on several occasions about her worries that she was not Allison and was just a weak substitute in Scott's eyes. Though talking about Allison with her hurt it also felt good to just talk, to be needed again, to have her opinion matter to someone.
Lydia noted the easy way Scott's fingers threaded between Kira's. The smile on his face seemed more genuine than it had moments before. Lydia felt genuinely happy for the both of them, even if it did make her feel a little lonely.
"Stiles please…" Lydia's ears perked as she heard his name. Malia had her arm draped around his hip as they walked ahead of them. Lydia slowed her pace next to Scott and Kira trying to remain out of site. She didn't have anything against Malia. If she hadn't been dating Stiles she and Lydia probably would have been good friends. She just didn't like to be around when the two of them were on full display.
Kira gave Lydia a knowing glance and sad smile. Lydia had never admitted her feelings about Stiles to anyone, she'd just come to terms with them herself, but somehow Lydia had a feeling Kira knew. Perhaps her brush with unrequited love had made it easier to recognize in Lydia. Lydia smiled back at Kira and tried to make herself as small as possible. The hall was crowded so she couldn't simply slip past without being noticed so she simply allowed herself to fall in step behind them.
"No Malia. I told you I can't skip Chemistry. Harris is already after me as it is. I'll get detention for sure." Stiles argued with her.
"Please I don't want to go to Math." She whined incessantly. Malia didn't value academics and merely skated by in her classes.
Stiles just let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head. Malia turned and stuck out her lip as they reached the classroom door stopping in front of it causing a minor traffic jam. Kira and Scott didn't seem to mind as they paused to talk. Lydia just hung back awkwardly and pulled her phone and shot out a text. Lydia was glad that Stiles was putting his foot down at least. She hated to see him throw away his grades on her.
"Though you are adorable when you make that face the answer is still no." He leaned in capturing her bottom lip with his. Malia quickly deepened the kiss and things quickly became heated. Mr. Harris appeared outside his door to greet his students and cleared his throat causing the pair to break apart.
"See you later." Malia mouthed as she slipped her hand from Stiles's grasp and left down the hall her hips swinging side to side. Stiles waved to her awkwardly the other hand going to rub his neck nervously. His face was still red as he made his way into the classroom and noticed Scott behind him. The two started talking before taking their seats. Stiles slid into the lab desk behind Scott and Lydia's heart pounded as she sat daintily on the stool next to him crossing one leg over the other. She gave him a small smile and proceeded to busy herself with her phone as the rest of the students filed in.
1 Text Message alert appeared on her screen and she clicked it. It was from Aiden. Her latest on again off again boyfriend if she could call him that and that was using the term loosely.
Got word of a job in Seattle, headed out this morning. Sorry I missed you. I'll call you if I'm back in town.
Lydia slammed her phone down a little harshly causing several pairs of eyes to turn to her, including Stiles's whiskey colored ones. While she knew Aiden was a guitarist and had been looking for a new band she hadn't expected such an abrupt departure on his part. Granted they had a symbiotic relationship where they used each other equally she didn't like being caught off guard.
"Everything okay?" Stiles leaned over closer to her and whispered.
"Fine." She forced with a fake smile hitched back in place. "Absolutely perfect."
Stiles looked like he was ready to rebuke but Harris glared at him and began his morning lecture. Lydia tried to force herself to pay attention to the notes Harris was putting on the board even though she'd already read this material weeks ago and knew it like the back of her hand. She just kept pretending she didn't see the furtive glances that Stiles and Scott kept shooting her way, pretended that she didn't feel good that Stiles was at least noticing her again for a change.
Harris completed his lecture and started in on their weekly lab assignment. "Each lab group is being assigned a different hypothesis. It will be your responsibility to test the hypothesis with an experiment of your own design. You will need to note your process along with its pros and cons in a three page paper." Students started grumbling as they received their individual assignments but Harris continued to drone over them. "This will be due Monday."
"But Mr. Harris that's not even a week! There's a lacrosse game on Saturday!" Greenburg had exclaimed loudly.
"Keep it up and I'll have it due before then." Mr. Harris responded with a steely glare.
Stiles slumped in his seat. He was on the lacrosse team too. Coach Finstock was particularly uptight about the upcoming match because it was against their rivals from the town adjacent to Beacon Hills. Practices were grueling lately and would only get worse. Lydia knew he wouldn't get out until well after dark every night and he'd be exhausted.
Lydia glanced at Kira and Scott. Both were on the lacrosse team so their time was even more limited. Even Lydia, who believed that academics should come before anything else, thought Mr. Harris was being particularly harsh.
The bell chimed loudly and the students began picking up their belongings and rushing out the door. "So, maybe we can get together tonight and make a plan so we can get this going?" Stiles asked her as he stood.
She nodded without speaking and made her way quietly from the room. She probably would just end up doing the project for the both of them. Malia was greedy with what little time Stiles did have left over after lacrosse. Lydia strutted back to her locker all the while compartmentalizing the crap that had already happened that morning; she'd process it another time. She was glad that she had art class next so she wouldn't have to keep up an exhausting façade of being perfectly fine.
She'd just settled onto her stool in front of her partially finished canvas when a text ping came over her phone. Stiles's goofy moniker flashed and she couldn't stop herself from smiling.
"Let's meet at your place tonight for that project if that's okay?"
"Okay." She quickly sent back.
"Great! I'll text you as soon as I'm done with practice!" She giggled a little at his need to use so many exclamation points. God she missed him. Maybe this project would be a good thing. A time to be with him, be a team again. Or maybe it was be a disaster and slow torture. Both options were plausible.