nativity ☆ teen wolf

six

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Lydia walked through her mother's house, where she loved permanently versus her father's across town. In jeans and a loose long sleeve, she seemed much unlike herself.

Then again, she hadn't quite been herself in some time.

Through alpha werewolves and a psychotic English teacher, she'd been herself. In chaos caused by discovering her banshee powers, ancient ninja demons and a deadly fox, she was still Lydia.

However, now, she wasn't.

Lydia climbed the stairs up to her room, her bare feet sinking into the soft carpet. Running a hand through her hair absently, she opened the door to her bedroom with her hip. As she let out a sigh, she found her phone starting to ring in her back pocket.

The strawberry blonde pulled out her cell, answering the call from Hope. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey Lydia," Hope greeted over her home phone - she being the only teenager for miles without her own cell phone - with a happy voice. "Any chance I could talk you into going to the tree lighting ceremony downtown with me?"

Lydia took a seat at her vanity, her mood already of kilter. "Uh," her eyes drifted towards the collage on her wall, "i'm not sure if I'm feeling up to it."

"Oh," Hope's voice grew concerned, "is everything alright?"

Lydia ran a finger along a photo of her and Allison, it taken just before she'd left for Paris. "No, I'm okay, just not very Christmasy tonight."

It was a half truth, however, She wasn't okay, and it was causing her lack of holiday spirit.

For a month exactly, she'd not been okay.

For a month Allison Argent had been dead, and for that month Lydia hadn't been okay.

"Are you sure?" questioned Hope with slight doubt in her voice.

"I'm sure," Lydia lied with a fairly convincing tone. "I think I'll just stay in for the night, maybe go to bed early."

"I hope you feel better," said Hope sweetly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you," Lydia repeated. "Bye, Hope."

"Bye, Lydia."

Lydia drew the phone away from her ear, plucking a photo of Allison out of the collage and raising it to eye level as she set down her cell.

"I'm sorry, Al."

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"Someone's in a hurry," Scott barely caught Lydia at her locker at the end of school the next day, able to sense the banshee had been off the entire time. "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Lydia hurriedly said without meeting his gaze, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Gripping her keys, her knuckles began to tinge white. "I just have places to be."

Scott quirked an eyebrow, grabbing Lydia's arm to keep her from darting off. "Hey, what's going on, Lyds?"

"Nothing, I just need to go pick up Hope-"

"Miss Martin," Principal Taylor surfaced, motioning for her across the hall.

She'd forgotten the meeting.

Lydia softly swore, still at Scott's side. "We're supposed to talk college." She checked the time on her phone, agitated. "I won't have time to get Granger."

"I'll pick her up," offered Scott as a solution.

"I-" Lydia caved, unable to do everything at once, "okay, she's at the studio on the same street as Derek's place kind of near Stella's." She quickly pulled out a pen and scribbled four numbers on Scott's palm. "She gets done in fifteen, so you might be a little early." Beginning to head towards the principal, she glanced back and thanked Scott over her shoulder.