Dear Rabbit

Chapter 20

"Look who it is! My favourite redhead!" I called out across the car park, hastening towards Allison and Lydia by the front doors of the school. I nearly got hit by a car on the way because of my eagerness, but really that wasn't especially new.

"I'm the only redhead you know, besides you're just glad I'm back so that you don't fail math." I finally caught up to them saying a quick hello to Allison. Lydia turned to me, a perfectly pristine eyebrow raised, looking at her I wouldn't have thought she was the same person as yesterday...but then it wasn't like Lydia to come to school looking like she'd been dragged through a hedge. In her mind her appearance, her reputation was a carefully balanced and planned event, a tactic at her disposal...it was both intimidating and admirable.

"That and the fact that it's good to see you back to normal. I did miss you, Lyd...Study period was kind of lonely yesterday without you!" It was. You try being stuck inside a library all on your own, pawing through pages of books and wishing that you could at least talk to somebody. But only Lydia had my study period and none of our other friends were going to skip class...okay that's a lie, but I wasn't going to ask them to. I knew Stiles would in a heartbeat, Scott not so much, mainly because he wasn't doing so well on the grade front. Scott wasn't stupid, but he'd just been really disorganised and I guess distracted to get his grades so low.

"Good to see I have such an impact on your life." She rolled her eyes at me as we stood outside the doors. I was itching to start moving today, I was filled with the need to do something...which, considering how lazy I am, was quite a surprise. But then spending time with Stiles meant you couldn't stop moving, maybe his energy was rubbing off on me.

"You have an impact on everyone's life, you're the Lydia Martin!" I saw a tiny little smile twitching at the corner of her mouth and I considered my mission accomplished. Lydia probably never would admit to caring about me, but I knew she did in her own way...otherwise she wouldn't spend time around me, she wasn't someone who just tolerated people. She either liked you or she didn't. Each position had different effects on where you stood.

"She has a point, Lyd!"

I smiled at Allison before gesturing to the set of double doors in front of us, "Thank you, Alley, now are we going in...or?" It seemed as if Lydia steeled herself, I could completely understand why. People were going to be gossiping about what happened to her and Dori for a while until something better turned up. Lydia was used to attention, but the attention she usually got was awe and adoration rather than sneaky little gossip and nasty words. It wasn't a scenario she was used to...but Lydia was pretty good at adapting to social changes.

Her shoulders were set and she looked almost like she was going into battle as I followed her and Allison into the school. I thought she was going to stop for a moment, but her shoulders squared and she kept moving, head held high. It was a time where I genuinely believed Lydia was a Warrior Queen or something close to it. She held herself so tall despite her height and looked down on everyone no matter their size or station. She was Lydia Martin.

"I'll see you in class, I need to stop by my locker first!" I waved the two of them off and scurried down the corridor, I knew Dori was in today if Lydia was, I just hadn't seen her yet. Presumably she was off glaring at Jackass or even finding a way to woo Lydia officially. Now that Lydia was back on her feet I had no doubt that Dori might actually ask the girl out. She was terrified about doing it, but she was also so frustrated that she'd completely ignore whatever fear she had. Better to find out whether she was liked or not, than to pine in secret...or at least that was her way of thinking. Personally I'd rather pine in secret or just live in denial to avoid embarrassment and rejection. It made life easier.

Tuesday's despite what everyone seemed to think were no easier than Monday's in fact they might be worse because there was the inevitability of the rest of the week and the reminder of the day before. Although turning up to my locker and seeing my two favourite teenage boys standing around it was an uplifting point of my day...even if there'd been some weirdness yesterday thanks to Dori's comments.