𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐀 | 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐊𝐈

8. Excuses, Excuses

As I leave my car in the school parking lot, I spot a certain strawberry-blonde by the entrance of the school. I make my way over to her and she shoos away the people she's talking to as I approach before turning to me with a bright smile.

"Hey, Ava!"

Lydia's being very bizarre. After her revelation last night I headed home, and while I wanted to tell Stiles, Allison and Scott about it, I decided not to. Lydia can tell them herself. Anyways, her weirdness last night, now she's pretending like nothing happened. As if she didn't literally tell me she's seeing people. Who knows though, maybe she just wants to move past it and I'm not going to pressure her into talking about it.

"Hi, Lyds," I smile back. We walk into the hallway where students are prepping for the start of school. We reach Lydia's locker and she opens it up before looking into a small mirror and putting on a pink lipgloss. "So, did you finish the invitations?"

"Huh?" She asks, busy focusing on her makeup, "Oh, uh, I decided I'm not sending out any invites anymore." She replies, her eyes not leaving the mirror.

I frown, "Oh. Why not?"

Lydia put her lipgloss applicator back into the tube before turning to me and shrugging a shoulder. "My birthday's the biggest party of the year. People don't need to be reminded."

I lean against a nearby locker as I fold my arms and slightly narrowing my eyes, "Was the whole 'I need help with invitations' thing just an excuse so you could ask me about the other night?"

Lydia raises her eyebrows innocently, "Maybe."

I shake my head and open my mouth to reply, but a blonde girl comes bumbling over, "Lydia, hi!"

I take that as my cue to exit and leave Lydia and the girl alone.

As I walk through the school hallway, I can't get Lydia's bizarreness out of my head.

I notice Scott and Stiles hanging out by a locker and I go over to them.

Scott's the first to notice me, but instead of saying hi, he says, "Are you okay?"

Stiles spins around, to see who his best friend is talking to, and smiles when he sees me, "Hey, Ava."

"Hey," I smile back before replying to Scott, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I chuckle slightly.

"No, I didn't mean- I just-" Scott sighs and I snort. "You just looked like you were all up in your head as you walked over."

"Nah, it's nothing. Lydia was just being strange," I say before remembering her party, I should probably get the word around just in case. "Oh, by the way, her party's on the 29th. She isn't handing out the invitations that I spent hours helping her with, but you two did have one."

Scott immediately looks to Stiles, who just nods, "Cool, cool. Uh, are you going?"

I frown as I look at him like he's being ridiculous for even asking, "She's my best friend of course I'm going, silly!" I notice Stiles' cheeks go a light pink and I internally groan as I worry that I've embarrassed him so I quickly ask him the same question, "What about you?" I look to Scott as well, "And you?"

Stiles scratches the back of his head, "Yeah, I'll be there." Scott also makes a reply about attending Lydia's party before Lydia calls me back over to her.

SCOTT'S POV

Once Ava is out of hearing distance, I turn to Stiles, "Why aren't you doing your happy jumpy thing?"

He frowns, "Huh?"

"You got invited to Lydia's party, dummy!"

"Yeah. I know." Stiles looks at me weirdly, "I was there when Ava invited us."