The entire school day, Olivia was a mess of nerves. It wasn't that Lydia was scary - well, she was, as Olivia had no working knowledge of the redhead - but the blonde had no idea what they were supposed to be talking about. There were a few ideas percolating in her brain but none of them felt solid. But likely the talk would be about Liam. Not her favorite topic of conversation at the moment, but maybe she could get some information from Lydia about being new to the supernatural world. How did the older girl fit into this, anyway?

Annaleigh and Lettie could easily read her anxiety, but she refused to open up on the matter. The other two girls were thankfully a great distraction for one another. Their flirting was cryptic and blatant and already driving her nuts. But she's a little too self-involved right now to interfere, especially when she locks eyes with Alex in classes and the hallways and has to pretend like she hasn't seen a thing. It's infuriating.

The end of the day comes too quickly yet not quickly enough. Lydia texted her around lunch time to meet in the parking lot after school. Olivia waited in a fairly visible spot for the other girl to appear. All the while, she had to avoid meeting the eyes of confused upperclassmen like Scott and Stiles and Malia. Had Lydia not told them about the meeting? It was nice to see that at least one member of the McCall pack had a sense of discretion in them.

Lydia flounced up to Olivia after a few moments, a knowing smirk on her face and car keys jangling in her hand. "I'll give you a ride to my place. My mom won't be home for a while so it will be safe to talk. And I didn't want you getting cold feet before I could pick your brain."

Pick my brain? What could she want to know that Olivia could actually provide her with? Since their first contact, she'd been listening more carefully to rumors surrounding the redhead. People were saying she was a genius that hadn't flourished until the disappearance of her ex-boyfriend last year. They'd fought all the time and Lydia had been the perfect bubble-headed lacrosse girlfriend for so long. But apparently she'd maintained an over perfect GPA her entire high school career, and now she was being fought over by some top-tier college. Olivia was, in a word, jealous.

"Sure," she mumbled as she followed Lydia to her car. It was small and cute, nothing like Stiles' Jeep and certainly a lot safer. If only the other girl had been involved in taking Liam to the hospital... "So what are we talking about?"

The redhead flapped a hand to silence her. All in all, the short drive to Lydia's house was fairly quiet, although both girls sang along to the songs on the radio. And then they arrived. Olivia nervously walked up to the front door, trailing after Lydia while wondering why she'd talked herself into this. Hadn't she told herself just a few days ago that keeping away from the whole McCall pack was a good idea? This was such a stupid plan. Yet she followed the redhead inside and copied when her shoes came off.

Lydia pulled a tray of meats and cheeses out of the fridge, quickly adding crackers and fruit and placing it on the kitchen's island. The two took seats and Olivia already had food shoved in her mouth when Lydia decided to speak. "So you don't trust the boys. You think Liam's betrayed you. A boy asked you out and you turned him down because you don't trust yourself."

Olivia wrinkled her nose and swallowed. "Conjecture. Didn't take you for the guessing type."

"Hardly conjecture," Lydia declared with another flippant hand wave, "You're not as hard to read as you think, freshman. And your friends aren't as quiet as they think."

Mentally she cursed her friends, but physically? Olivia kept her face straight as possible while assembling another cracker sandwich. "Your opinion is your opinion. What do you care about any of that?"

"Scott and Stiles are idiots. Huge idiots. But they have pretty good hearts, especially Scott. He's about the purest person any of us will ever meet. You're making a mistake by not trusting them." A snort escaped the blonde. Lydia raised an eyebrow. "Liam wanted to tell you. It was the first thing he asked when he agreed to let us teach him. He wanted to bring you into the fold, have you as a human pack mate like Stiles. We didn't know if we could trust you, so Scott forbid it."

"Of course he did. I'm not surprised. Probably hated how mad I got when the terrible twosome fucked up my brother's arm."

The redhead chuckled. "Actually, he respected that. He's been surrounded by strong women for his entire life. We were all worried that you'd go to your parents, though, having heard of your goody-goody nature."

Well...Olivia had to agree that she used to be a brown-noser before the bite. And she would have gone to her parents. They were far and away the smartest people she knew. Surely they would have had some idea of what to do. Now, though, she was keeping the secret too. Now it affected her and so many other people that were just trying to live safely and secretly in this weird town. "I suppose that's fair."

"We're not as new to this as you think. I'm sure you've heard about our...adventures the past two years." Olivia had. The McCall pack's history was one of the first things recounted to her by Satomi's pack. It was why she was so pleased she'd chosen to belong with the older Alpha. She trusted experience above most qualities. "There's been a lot of trouble. But most everyone has lived through it."

"Didn't three of your own pack members die? One of them by Stiles' hand?" Yes, she'd heard of Erica and Boyd and Allison. Secrets weren't as well kept in Beacon Hills as one might expect. "And Scott allied himself with hunters multiple times. Doesn't sound well thought-out to me."

Lydia's face froze. "You don't know anything about Allison," she growled, a cracker crumbling in her hands. The dust fell to the hardwood and a Pomeranian sprinted in to lap at the particles. It was a cute dog. Super cute, actually. In other circumstances, Olivia would have scooped it up for a snuggle. But honestly it kind of seemed like Lydia was going to attack her at any moment.

"Sorry." Was she? Allison was someone dead and gone, someone Olivia had never met. But clearly she was important if Lydia was anything to go by. So, yes, she was sorry. "I'm just saying...it's not a great track record."

"You're not here to join Scott's pack." Was it a question or statement falling from Lydia's lips? Maybe a bit of both. The blonde just nodded her head. It was difficult to decide what to say next. But the redhead had that covered. "We can still be friendly if you don't keep pissing me off. A banshee is the kind of person you want in your corner. Especially in this town, and with your pack as big as it is."

A banshee. McKenna hadn't said anything about that, but maybe she didn't know. One point for the McCall pack. "I've read about banshees. They're pretty rare. Don't the powers usually stay dormant?"

Lydia nodded perfunctorily. "I was bitten by a rogue Alpha, an enemy of the pack. My body had to heal me however it could, so my powers woke up. They're a bitch, but," she tossed her hair, "I'm amazing. You shouldn't have a hard time with your powers either, if Liam's bragging is anywhere near true. So why did you turn down the boy? I hear he's one of your grade's finest."

It was kind of scary how much Lydia seemed to know and Olivia was quick to blush, so that much was probably clear to the other girl. "How do you know everything?" She hadn't meant to blurt the question out. But lately, her mouth and her conscious brain didn't seem to be communicating well.

"I'm still popular, contrary to popular belief. I ask people to find things out and they do." A hair toss punctuated the statement. Olivia loved her blonde hair but was almost eager to dye it red at this moment. The power that Lydia possessed, even without being a banshee, must be intoxicating. How did she stand it? She has a genius-level IQ, reminded the voice in her head.

She nodded with slightly pursed lips. This was a weird conversation. "Was that all you wanted to talk about then?" Couldn't this have been done over a phone call? Certainly Lydia didn't need to be face-to-face to wield all the power in a situation.

Lydia shrugged. "Was that all you wanted to talk about, Olivia? I can't imagine you accepted my invitation for no reason."

A good observance. Being surprised by the redhead was getting old fast. "Well...I kind of wanted to check on Liam." They didn't talk much now, mostly because every time Olivia saw her brother, she nearly throttled him for abandoning him. "And having heard some talk of your experiences...I figured you'd know how to help me figure out being abandoned?" Even though she hadn't heard about Lydia's werewolf attack and subsequent banshee powers, she'd certainly heard about Lydia's ex being a lizardy puppet for evil a while ago. And then he'd up and left town with no notice.

"I'm sure it can feel like abandonment," the other girl said, voice suddenly soft as she rested a hand on Olivia's knee, "Liam wouldn't have left if it hadn't been necessary. Scott had been abandoned by a psychopathic bitch and we needed all the help we could get. It was our pack versus her and an army of mythical warriors. Not the easiest fight."

Well, Liam hadn't exactly elaborated on the subject before. (Although, to be fair, she hadn't really given him the chance.) But Olivia still stood firm in her stance. "That's all fine, but he didn't even notice I was missing for almost a whole day. And he told my newly-minted best friend that I'm a werewolf? How am I supposed to feel like I can trust him anymore?"

"That's...a fair point." It was easy to see that the admission was hard on Lydia; she didn't seem the kind of person that handled being wrong well. "Have you tried bringing these things up to him?"

A scoff came out while Olivia reached for more food. "'Course I have," she mumbled through a mouthful of crackers, "But my werewolf side wants to throttle him for screwing over his original pack." Was that how she thought of her family? Were they a pack? They were a family, and if that wasn't the truest pack? But that did exclude found families which was something she adored in the media. Hm. "The point being that he broke my heart. He's my twin; that's the last thing he should ever be doing."

A humming Lydia daintly arranged a cracker sandwich for herself before thoughtfully chewing on it. She swallowed and wiped her face with a napkin before eventually speaking. "That's understandable. Of course, I have no siblings of my own, but I've seen the familial nonsense that werewolfism can...complicate." Her mouth twisted slightly at the oversimplification but she still managed to look beautiful. "But your brother talks about you incessantly. He's been researching in the Hale family archives since you turned, trying to find precedence for why you two belong in the same pack. I even overheard him talking to Scott about the possibility of Liam swearing allegiance to Satomi's pack. He's trying to repent, Olivia. The very least you can do is give him a chance, isn't it?"

"Well.." Damn Lydia for being so compelling. "Fine. I'll talk to him. Whatever. And I'll consider considering that Scott and Stiles aren't the worst people in the world. I'm not making any promises, though. They fucked up Liam in a major way and, technically, it's their fault that I'm a werewolf now too. That's a lot to answer for regarding two freshmen they barely know."

"Yes, yes, whatever," Lydia said, waving her hand in the air for the third time today, "I've talked to you. My responsibilities are done for the moment. Will you be needing a ride home?"

Over so soon? What a complete turn. "Um...not if it's going to put you out?" was Olivia's hesitant response. The redhead's caring persona was completely replaced with the aloof one so often seen strutting the halls of the high school. It was even more intimidating that the other girl had been this entire weirdly deep conversation. Not a fan of the personality flip-flop. Does she do this with her friends, too?

"It'll give me something to do. I'll help you with your math homework. Are you capable of writing in the car or do we need to stay here until it's done? I've seen your Devenford transcript. Your math grade certainly leaves something to be desired, doesn't it?"

Olivia spluttered in shock. "You saw what?"

Lydia? Well, she could only smirk. "You'll be amazed to see what I can get into if I'm interested. We might actually have fun together."

to: brobro

hey, we need to talk

to: baking queen

LIV THNK FUK

to: brobro

you're really not going to spell the words out? you're just missing one letter in two thirds of your sentence

to: baking queen

no time. 2 busy tranin. join?

to: brobro

i have my own regimen. i'll see you at home soon.

to: baking queen

K! I'L TEL SCOT 2 CUT SHROT

to: brobro

tell him to teach you to text, too

to: baking queen

hes waayy wores

to: brobro

you can't even spell 'worse'?

to: baking queen

piky piky. c u in 30 sis!

to: brobro

i'll see you then.

A/N: Welp. We're back! It only took about 1.5 years but we're back and I have sort of conquered the scene that was giving me writer's block. (Lydia is my kryptonite.) I'm about a third of the way through the next chapter and we've changed up Olivia's faceclaim to Sabrina Carpenter so the vibe is real and I hope you'll stay with me.

Reviews are fuel so feel free to leave one! I love you all.