"Pink and green? Seriously?" She rolled her eyes. "Even a colorblind person would be offended."

"S-s-sorry." The freshman climbed back up the ladder to rip down what had taken an hour to hang.

"And you." Lydia said eyeing a girl holding a gigantic crystal star. "What do you think you're doing with that?"

"I was going to-"

She shook her head. "No, you weren't."

The girl's lips thinned as she put the star back into a dented cardboard box labeled decorations. Lydia scribbled on her clipboard without even looking at it. Damn did it feel good. She was mean. And fuck did it feel downright amazing to walk in a room and have people avoid making eye contact with you because they were intimidated, not because they thought you were crazy.

"Don't you think you're a little harsh?"

Danny. Lydia pressed her tongue against her cheek.

"What the hell is that?" Her eyes landed to whatever he was holding in his hand. "That is hideous."

"Relax. It's just a sample." He handed it to her.

Lydia let her fingers rake through the puke green fabric. Awful. So so so awful. "Can we burn it?"

Danny snorted. "At this rate we'll have nothing done by next Friday."

"Well, you asked for my assistance." Lydia shrugged. "I do throw the best parties, so I know what I'm doing."

He smiled. "That's debatable."

"Please." Lydia scoffed. "Don't think that mediocre pool party you and Jackson threw freshman year held a candle to anything I've done."

Danny chuckled. It felt good to make someone laugh, Lydia thought. He held up his hands in defeat, and Lydia gave him the smuggest smile she could muster up.

"Thanks for asking me to help, by the way." She gently elbowed his arm.

"Well, prom's supposed to be the best night of my life. I was motivated by my own selfish desires." Danny replied elbowing her back. "And lucky me I happen to know a girl who throws the best parties. So are you going?"

"You think I'd put all this effort into this if I weren't?"

She felt normal. For months it was difficult to remember what being normal was like. A 17-year-old girl should go out with her friends, have parties, go to dances, date, maybe even fall in love. When had she stopped doing that?

For the first time in what seemed like forever, she finally felt like she had control of something in her life. Prom would be nice. Prom would be remarkable. Prom would be free of death, she silently assured herself. And all the pain.

"Anyone ask you?" Danny wiggled his eyebrows and nodded his head toward the gymnasium door. "I'm sure someone wants to."

Lydia's eyes settled on Scott. Scott who was looking in. Scott who was staring at her. Scott who was pretending to study the decorations once he saw she spotted him.

"Please." Lydia answered. "In his dreams."

"Oh. His dreams?" Danny grinned and Lydia slapped him with her clipboard. "Ow."

"Shut up. He has a girlfriend."

"A girlfriend who is out of town." Danny rubbed his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you seen him sulking?" Danny asked. "I thought you two were friends."

Lydia shrugged before stealing another look at Scott. "I have more important things to do than to care about the love life of Scott McCall."

Danny snorted. "Uh-huh."

She smacked him with her clipboard again. "Shut up."

"He's a pretty good dancer." Danny said fluttering his eyelashes at her. She couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh really?"

He nodded. "We danced last year. I practically swooned."

"Well, I don't have time to swoon." Lydia tapped his chest with her pen. "I have a lot of pressure right now. I'm trying to make all our adolescent prom dreams come true."

"What if he asks you?" Danny reached for her pen. Lydia quickly pulled it behind her back.

"He won't."

"But what if he does?" His eyes swayed toward the door.

"It wouldn't be right. He has a girlfriend." And he was in love with my best friend. Lydia bit her lip. Allison was never far from her thoughts. Scott was always a constant reminder of what happened. She could have saved her. When she looked at him, sometimes it was all she could think.

"Besides, he'll probably want to take Stiles."

"We'll see." Danny smiled.

Lydia's eyes went back to the door. He was still standing there pretending that he hadn't noticed her. It was cute. He was cute, she thought holding in a giggle when she saw he was dressed in goofy gym clothes.

"He's a terrible actor." Danny said.

Lydia nodded. The way he stared at the ceiling directly above her tugged at her heart. Probably an awful liar too, she guessed. "I have to get back to my prom planning, Danny."

It was better if she just focused on putting on the prom. She didn't need to go with anyone, she thought looking away from Scott. For now, just this was enough.