The next morning went much like it had on the first day. Jon drove, Mari pouted in the passenger seat, and Cammy sat in the backseat chattering (her current topic was the Scholastic Decathalon team that she'd easily secured a spot on). The three siblings arrived early again - only ten minutes this time - and still had to park in the farthest part of the parking lot. They made their way towards the school as a unit, but when they reached the front doors, the similarities to the day before ended. Jon was called to by a bunch of guys Mari assumed were the soccer team, Cammy practically skipped towards a shaded table where people crowded around three laptops, and Mari was left on her own. She didn't much care for the opinions of her new classmates, but she couldn't help missing her best friend as she looked at the conversing groups that freckled the school grounds.
The brunette was startled out of her thoughts by an arm looping around her own. She looked over and met the hazel eyes of the strawberry-blonde that had complimented her yesterday. Mari blinked in surprise, and the other girl quirked her lips up into a grin.
"I'm Lydia Martin. This is Kira Yukimura." The Asian girl from the day before popped up on Lydia's other side and gave a shy wave. "And you're Mari Lane, transfer student from Italy. You have a yummy twin brother that joined the soccer team and an adorkable younger sister that's fallen in with the Scholastic Decathalon team."
"How do you know all of this, exactly?" Mari wasn't sure whether to be confused or concerned, so she opted for both.
Lydia giggled, her grin turning into a sly smirk. "I have a gift. Consider us the welcoming committee. Welcome to Beacon Hills High."
"If you're the welcoming committee, then where were you yesterday?"
"We didn't know what - " Kira started to speak but Lydia's head whirled in her direction and she cut herself off.
"What Kira was going to say is that we didn't know there were any new kids until very late yesterday." Lydia's reply was smooth and sure. Mari was skeptical, though. She'd heard the gossip all day yesterday about the new kids. Surely it had reached every corner of the school.
But she made a split-second decision to go with the flow, at least for now. The two girls seemed nice enough, not dangerous as far as she could see, and it couldn't hurt to have a few friendly faces in town.
"Well, thank you for welcoming me. It's nice to meet both of you."
Lydia released Mari's arm and gave her a once-over. "You definitely have some style, but I'm not so sure about this goth-biker look you have going on." She tapped her nails against the binder she held to her chest. "But you're not completely hopeless. I can work with this."
"Um...thank you?" Mari really had no idea where the other girl was going with any of this. Kira didn't seem to, either, if the confused look on her face was anything to go by.
"You seem nice, but I can't be friends with just anyone," Lydia explained, hooking her arm around Mari's again and leading her into the building. "Anyone I'm friends with needs to have style. And you do. So we'll be fine."
Back home, Mari would've kept her distance from someone like Lydia, who was either the Queen Bee or a Queen Bee-wannabe. But she hadn't sussed out any other prospects for friends so far, so Lydia and Kira (who really hadn't said much) would have to do for now. Maybe they were actually much nicer than they seemed?
The warning bell rang, and Lydia dropped Mari's arm once again. "We have to get to class. But you're sitting with us at lunch, okay?" She began to saunter away, her arm now looped around Kira's. "Don't be late! We have lots to talk about!" she called over her shoulder before she and Kira turned a corner and disappeared.
All Mari could do was blink. A lot had happened in only a few minutes, and she needed some time to take it in. But that time would have to happen in her first period, because if she didn't get moving, she was going to be late.
"Welcome to Beacon Hills," she muttered to herself. She adjusted the straps of her bookbag before she began to navigate the crowded hallways. This town just got more interesting - and more odd - by the minute.
Kira and Lydia met Mari outside of her English class, the one she had right before lunch. They flanked the new girl and steered her towards the courtyard, where they claimed "their group" sat at lunch on sunny days. The two veteran students made a beeline toward a crowded rectangular table but Mari stopped a few yards back. She'd had lots of friends in Italy, sure, and she thought of herself as a fairly confident individual. But the group before her was large and clearly close-knit. She couldn't help but feel worried that she might not be accepted.
Lydia looked up and saw her standing behind, and so she impatiently waved Mari forward. The brunette took a deep breath to calm herself before she strutted towards the table. She figured that a strut was the most confident walk there was, and maybe they'd be more welcoming if she came off as confident?
When she was only a few feet away, the group seemed to collectively turn their heads to look at her. There were four guys and four girls (including Lydia and Kira). Most of the people she didn't know were scowling, but two of the boys were smiling almost angelically, which set her at ease a bit. One of the smiling boys, a brunet with a crooked jaw, stood and stuck out his hand.
"I'm Scott McCall. Welcome to Beacon Hills!" His tone was cheerful as she shifted her textbooks so she could shake his hand. His grip was strong and it was obvious to her that he was holding back some strength. If he didn't instantly remind her of a puppy, Mari might have been wary.
Scott sat back down and wrapped his arm around Kira's shoulder, the long-haired girl cuddling into his side. They were a cute couple, and she felt a twinge of jealousy as the site brought up some old memories. But she pushed the feelings down. Now was not the time.
Lydia named the rest of the group (most of them were too busy being grumpy to properly introduce themselves), and Mari found herself sitting between Lydia and the other smiling boy, a cheerful sophomore named Mason. Mason began asking her questions as the rest of the group began whispering to each other. She only gave him half of her attention, using the other half to try and figure out what the others were saying since it was probably about her.
"So how are you liking Beacon Hills?"
"It's okay, I suppose," Mari replied, "Some people have been pretty nice. Others have been rather rude." She shot this comment in the direction of the others at the table. On her right, Lydia sighed and snapped her fingers to get everyone's attention.
"I know your parents taught you better than that," Lydia reprimanded. Scott and Kira and a sophomore named Liam hung their heads. The other three (seniors named Cora and Malia and Stiles) still wore frowns, which only served to make Lydia sigh again.
"Mari is mine and Kira's new friend. It would serve you all well to make her feel welcome."
Stiles grumbled as Cora and Malia crossed their arms in unison, but they all wiped their scowls off their faces. Mari smiled gratefully at the strawberry-blonde, who smiled back before diverting her attention to something behind the brunette's head.
"Who do we have here?" asked a deep voice, and Mari spun around. The boy from lunch the day before was standing next to the table, eyeing her with an unreadable expression on his face. He wasn't as close to collapsing in on himself as he had previously been, and the change intrigued her.
"Isaac, this is Mari Lane, a transfer student from Italy," Lydia replied smoothly, "Mari, this is Isaac Lahey. He just returned from studying abroad in France."
Isaac smirked at her, and Mari felt her cheeks start to flush. She cursed herself. He was certainly attractive, but he looked like many other males she'd met in her seventeen years in Europe. Nothing to get riled up about, she chided herself, He's just a teenage boy. Nothing special at all.
"Pleasure to meet you," Isaac said, and Mari couldn't bring herself to do anything but nod. She was embarrassed by how awkward she was acting, but she couldn't seem to make herself stop. Her saving grace came in the form of her brother, who appeared in the courtyard with some of his team.
She stood abruptly, trying to gracefully step over the benchseat as she gathered her books. "Lovely to meet you all, but I really need to talk to my brother. Maybe I'll see you all tomorrow?" But she slipped away before anyone could answer. She made her way to her brother, ignoring the low whistles some of his friends released.
"Jon, I need the car after school. I'm Skyping with Liz and I don't want to make her wait too long. You know how hard it is for her to stay awake after 11."
"Sure, whatever." Jon dug his hand in his backpack and tossed the keys to her. She was thankful for quick reflexes when she caught them in a way that probably looked easy to bystanders. "The guys and I are going to get food after practice. You'll have to pick up Cammy, though. She said she'll be done at 5."
Mari nodded, dropping the keys into her back. "Thanks. I'll see you at home." She spun on her heel, unsure of where she was going as she walked away. All she knew was that she wanted to get out of the courtyard. Maybe she wasn't as ready for Beacon Hills High as she thought.
A/N: Dedicated to jo-harvelles and kingsman-alpha on tumblr for their support!
I've had this done for a while but I was hoping to get chapter 7 done before I published this one. That didn't happen, but here we are. I'm hoping to get chapter 7 written and published by Christmas. Fingers crossed!
P.S. I know Lydia is acting very season 1 but there's a reason for that, I swear. I'm not just mischaracterizing her for the hell of it.