Stella's POV
We were laying in the grass in Peter's backyard. Louis had his arm around Ava. Peter was tracing swirls on the palm of my hand. We were cloud watching, trying to decide what the next move was.
"Are you guys gonna tell me what happened?" Peter asked.
"Walking target over there got held hostage." I said.
"You're gonna be a walking target too if you don't shut the fuck up." Ava threatened.
"I thought she already was a walking target." Louis pointed out.
"No I'm not!" I complained.
"Yes you are." All three of them said at the same time.
"I hate you all." I muttered. Peter kept tracing circles on my hand. A cloud slowly drifted its way over us.
"What am I going to do about Paul?" Ava asked.
"Ava, some people just are the way that they are. You can't fix everybody." Louis explained.
"I fixed those two." She shrugged. Peter's fingers stopped.
"Fixed us? What do you mean fixed us?" Peter asked. I winced.
"You know, like how they had to force you and Stella in a room with the least shy person on planet Earth so you'd bust out of your shell a little." Ava replied.
"There's nothing wrong with being in a shell." Peter commented.
"Well, I mean maybe not for you but look at Stella. She was so shy, she never spoke. And even when she started speaking it was with the stutter and because of me and you all that went away." Ava said.
"Ava stop talking." Louis whispered.
"Thank God for you Ava, without you we'd be nowhere." Peter said, this sarcastic bite to his tone. The thing was, I knew exactly what she was talking about. I wouldn't be anywhere without Ava. Without her dragging me through life I wouldn't have ever lived it. Who knows if I ever would've started talking, or gotten over my stutter, or made it through high school without being bullied into nothing? Without Ava, would I be friends with Peter? Without Ava would I have even left New York to meet Louis? Everything I was I owed to Ava, and that concept seemed to anger Peter, like he didn't agree. In his defense, despite being a very serious child, and a victim of bullying as we grew up, he always seemed to know exactly who he was. He was the kid who always insisted we entered science fairs, even though stupid kids would wreck our projects for us so much we had to start keeping them at school. He was the one who unapologetically wore the geekiest costumes to school on Halloween all the way up until 8th grade, just because that was who he was as a person, when after 2nd grade I was afraid to wear a costume anywhere ever. I needed Ava, but part of me believed that Peter might have turned out exactly the same even if the shooting star that was Ava Harper hadn't crashed into our lives the way she did.
"Peter, come on. Don't pick a fight with Ava, she just got the shit beat out of her." I complained. Peter sighed.
"Fine. I'm sorry you got the shit beat out of you, Ava." Peter apologized, then he held my hand, which wasn't quite as nice as him tracing circles on it but whatever.
"It's okay, I needed to be humbled." Ava replied.
"And I'm sorry about Christian." Peter offered.
"I don't want to talk about Christian!" Ava exclaimed. The four of us were quiet for a second before Ava started speaking again, about Christian.
"You know he gave me Lucky?" She asked.
"Lucky?" Peter asked.
"Her stuffed frog." I offered. "I thought you had Lucky since you were a baby."
