We're Too Young to Be This Empty

[ I really sorry for taking forever to reply to you again! But thank you for being so understanding. And that works for me. I was thinking of skipping for Lydia too just until I have something for her to do ]

Liam sighed and nodded his head, "yea I guess. Sorry." He said honestly trying his very best to keep everything together. He did want to try and not let his anger get the best of him and totally rage. Plus well he also didn't want to make Stiles dislike him anymore than he probably already did. "Really?" He asked kind of shocked, biting his lip. It wasn't really what he'd thought they needed to talk to him about, it was better really. "Uh I'll ask Mia I guess later when I see her again but that uh sounds nice actually." He told them a little shocked still though that they'd actually invited him. Even if it was probably just because Lydia was trying to get them to give him a chance. At this point Liam would take anything he could to get on their good side so he didn't feel like such an outcast around them.

(Oh, don't worry! Take as long as you need, any time, haha! I usually occupy my free time with Netflix, anyways, so it's really no rush on anything. :) Yeah, we can probably skip to lunch or after school once these three part ways to go to class?)

"Even if your friend doesn't come along, you should," Scott told him, knowing that it would, hopefully, give Stiles a chance to get used to Liam being around. He, of course, didn't mention this, but even Stiles knew that it was what Scott was up to. "Yeah, one of us will pick you up when it's time," Stiles offered, figuring that he could at least try to get along with the kid. It wasn't necessarily Liam's fault that Stiles wasn't a big fan of him; it was just that Liam already had anger problems and to add being a werewolf into that meant things would be complicated and there was always the chance of Liam just losing it. Stiles wasn't a big fan of taking that chance, but he didn't have much of a choice. Scott wanted to help the kid and Scott was Stiles' best friend, so he supposed that he needed to start trying to help as well. "If it makes you feel any better, all of us are going to be there, since we're going to relax and occasionally try to break the next code."

[ thank you again for being so understanding! ]

At the end of the day Lydia was leaving her final class and walking to meet Stiles at his locker. This had actually become pretty normal. Really being around Stiles all the time had become pretty normal. Though since she'd lost Allison, then Aiden, she was kind of clinging onto Stiles because he helped fill the void created by losing the other two. And really the last thing she wanted was to lose him too. Really Lydia didn't want to lose anyone else. Another reason she was kind of clinging onto him. She didn't want to lose him, and well when they were alone together they could talk about all the crazy shit happening and possibly come up with something, which really at this point anything at all could be helpful.

---

"Sounds good I guess. Uh I should be getting to class now though." Liam replied before headed off to class. And the rest of the day flew by pretty quickly really then before he knew it it was time to head home. Though he wasn't sure if he was going straight home or not. Given that Mia was here now and she had kind of been his best friend for as long as he could remember he was kind of hoping they could find something to do and hang out, plus he supposed he should ask her about going to Lydia's lake house with him and everyone else over the weekend.

(You're welcome! Sorry this took a while! I just moved back over to my grandma's and I'm trying to get used to it again, haha.)

Stiles was beyond glad that school ended already. It was only eight hours, but it felt like most of the day had passed by before he could really grasp the concept of everything that was going on. As he got out of class, he didn't bother going to his locker, because he could already see Lydia at hers. Without thinking too much, he went straight to her, smiling slightly as he approached her. "How was your day?" he asked before leaning against the locker next to hers. "We invited Liam to your lake house and, in turn, invited his friend, who, by the way, isn't some scary assassin that's out to kill all of you." He wasn't sure if that was exactly something that she would even want to hear, but he supposed it was good news that he was at least trying to be nicer to Liam. Likely failing, but still trying.

---

Overall, Mia hadn't really enjoyed her first day. Having to be shown everywhere and still pretty much getting lost half the time drove her crazy. Plus, she only had two classes with her best friend and they hadn't really gotten to talk much throughout the day. It was a bummer, really, but she had dealt with it. It could have been worse, she supposed. With the day being over, though, she felt beyond relieved, and she grinned as she made her way to her locker, her eyes scanning in search for Liam. It didn't take her long to spot him and, after putting away what she knew she wouldn't need for whatever homework she had, she made her way over to him, quickly placing her hands over his eyes from behind. "Guess who!" she chimed quietly.

[ you're fine! ]

"Long." Lydia replied to Stiles smiling at him. She hated that school was still so hard for her to deal with. But honestly being here every day without Allison kind of made her think of Allison more which just made her sad really but there wasn't anything she could do about it. She just hoped that maybe soon it'd be a little bit easier to deal with. She did look away from her locker and over to Stiles though at the mention of him actually inviting Liam and his friend to her lake house that weekend. "Good." She said glad he'd actually listened to her this one time. "And it's good to know that his friend isn't going to try and kill us. That'd be such a bummer really." She adding not wanting to spend her weekend fighting some assassin. "We should make sure everyone can stay the night and then maybe we could head out there Friday and stay out there for the whole weekend." She said wanting nothing more than just one weekend with her friends to feel normal. At least for the most part. She knew they'd have to try and figure somethings out, but that was just a minor technicality.

---

"Mia hey." Liam said smiling and removing her hands from his eyes so he could see, then he turned to face her. "So how was your first day?" He asked her hoping that it went smoothly and that she'd at least enjoyed part of it. Of course either if she hadn't he knew she wasn't going anywhere. And honestly that was nice because it made him really happy to know that he'd have a really familiar face around, someone that understood everything going on in his life. And he did mean everything because well Mia clearly knew all about him being a werewolf and all that jazz so she'd fit into the new craziness of his life, but he'd also known her so long that she knew all about the personal and home stuff too. Which was the one thing he'd hated about being here. People didn't really know him, and they didn't understand why he got angry so easily. Mia did though, she also knew how to help calm him down and well he just knew he could always count on her.

(Okay~)

"Yeah, imagine being Liam and having a friend try to kill you," Stiles joked lightly, "Oh, wait. I've been there the first few times Scott faced a full moon." But, then, he hadn't had to worry about possibly having to actually kill Scott. If Liam's friend had been an assassin, they might have had to kill her - and he doubted that would have gone over well with Liam. Arching an eyebrow, he thought about her idea and nodded slightly. "Will there be enough room for all of us to stay the night there, though?" he asked, though he figured that there would be. Lydia's lake house was pretty big, after all, so it would probably be easy for each of them to just find somewhere to crash and just enjoy themselves. They all needed a way to relax and this seemed to be the best idea they had. "What time do you want all of us to meet up there?"

---

Mia grinned the moment Liam was facing her and she lifted her shoulders in a shrug upon hearing his question. "Boring," she answered after a moment before she glanced around for a moment. "I'm pretty sure I'll be getting lost at least a dozen times my first few days, even though I got pretty much escorted to every single class. We have even fewer classes together here than we did at our old school, too, which completely sucks." Not that that mattered too much. At least they were in the same school together again - something that she was rather glad for, due to the fact that Liam had always been her best friend. She could tell him anything (well, aside from her being a werewolf, but that wasn't a problem now) and she trusted him more than anybody. "Please tell me you're not going to completely ditch me right now."

Lydia sent Stiles a pointed look and sighed. "Sometimes you're too sarcastic for your own good." She told him shaking her head. "Of course there will be. We can either all sleep in the living room area around the fireplace. Or we can break into groups and take rooms. There's two rooms plus the living room which pretty sure there'll be plenty of room. Plus we have a kitchen and I'm pretty sure my mom is stocking the fridge today which mean's we'll have food to cook if we want or we can order pizza. We'll be fine." She told him knowing the only thing(s) that could really go wrong would be if assassins showed up, or if somehow they all started fighting and couldn't get along. But given how tight knit the group was without Liam she was sure that wouldn't be an issue. Or at least she'd make sure it wasn't an issue. "I don't know, whenever's fine with me really."

---

"Yea I wouldn't really say that this school's that much more exciting than our old one." Liam told her knowing it wasn't really. And he would've said it was different given there were werewolves and shit here, but apparently those were at his old school too he just hadn't known about them. "Having even fewer classes together does suck though." He said wishing that weren't the case, he wanted to be able to spend more time with Mia now that she was here, not less. Though he supposed he could still spend lots of time with her outside of classes. "What? Of course not." He said shaking his head. "We don't have cross country or Lacrosse today so we can totally hang out if you want. I do have something I need to run by you though." He said not sure how she'd take the invitation to hang out with them at Lydia's lake house that weekend but he'd find out.

Stiles grinned and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "Sarcasm is my best weapon," he joked lightly, though, maybe, it was a little true. It was at least fun, and it kept everybody around him on their toes, which was always a good thing. "Pizza would probably be the best choice, considering I'm not sure any of us can cook," he joked. Sure, he was sure somebody could cook if they actually had to, but he'd rather not take the chance of burning Lydia's family's lake house down just so that they could eat when they could just order something. "Or we could all bring snacks and microwaveable things up there?" he suggested, wondering if that would be easier. He wasn't entirely sure. But, he did want to make sure that Lydia didn't get stressed out with it all - and, really, it would probably be best to try to avoid making a mess of the lake house. "We could all meet there early, maybe? Or right after school on Friday?"

---

"Except our old school had Brett," Mia claimed - and, really, Brett was almost a bully, if that were the right word for it. He always seemed to have enjoyed making Liam angry and constantly caused problems for him. It wasn't as constant when Brett turned or when Mia turned, especially when it came that they were in the same pack, but it was still a problem. "It really does suck. I mean, I could use you entertaining me in half of my classes," she joked lightly, offering a smile up at him. It was true, too; Liam was probably the only person who could actually get her to pay attention in class. Hearing him assure her that he wasn't going to ditch her easily caused her to breathe a sigh of relief and she nodded. But, then, she arched an eyebrow. "Oh? What do you need to run by me?" she asked, tilting her head as she looked up at him.

Lydia rolled her eyes as she finished putting the books she wouldn't need into her locker and pulling the ones she would need out and slipping them into her bag. Then she closed her locker. "I've noticed." She told him biting her lip. "Just so you know I'm a good cook." She said realizing he'd said he didn't think any of them could cook. Yea the last couple years had been kind of insane for them and it wasn't like they'd really had the time to learn to cook, or anything honestly. Hell there'd been times Lydia had doubted herself when it came to what grade she might've made on a test because she had other things on her mind. And that wasn't something she'd ever worried about before. But luckily her grades hadn't slipped, and she'd learnt to cook when she was younger before everything insane started happening in this town. "Meeting right after school works for me." She added knowing she'd be headed over there right after school, if everyone else followed would be up to them she supposed.

---

"Yea I don't really miss him that much." Liam said laughing a little. Yea maybe the guy wasn't so bad anymore, and sure Mia was in his pack or whatever. But honestly the guy had kind of made school suck even more. He'd been a total jerk. And honestly Liam was glad he wasn't here at this school. "I'm sure you're classes won't be that bad without me. The people here are a lot nicer too so I'm sure you'll make other friends." He told her hoping she'd be able to fit in somewhere else and make at least one other friend. It'd be even better if those were the same friends as him so he wouldn't have to make more friends given he'd probably try and make friends with whoever she made friends with so he'd be able to hang out with her and them, but who knew what would happen there. "Oh uh well Lydia invited me and you to spend the weekend with her, Scott, Kira, and Stiles at her lake house. And I just wanted to see if you wanted to go." He said not even sure she'd want to go. But he had said he'd ask, so he was asking.

"Really?" Stiles asked, blinking as he looked down at her. He shouldn't have been surprised, though; Lydia seemed to be great at everything. That wasn't why he liked her so much, though - he liked her because he had always liked her, because he had always felt like he had some sort of connection to her. Knowing that she was so great at so many things just made her all the more perfect in his eyes and he wished she could understand or see that. Regardless, he nodded slightly. "Then, you can decide what to cook and I'll make sure to pick everything up. Just, you know, make sure to tell me before we all have to meet up after school on Friday, so that I can have time to pick it all up before we head up to your lake house." Maybe he was using this as an opportunity to get in Lydia's good graces - or, maybe he just wanted to impress her a bit. He wasn't sure, but it wasn't like it was the first time he tried to help get whatever she needed done. "We'll have to tell the others that we'll be meeting right after school, too."

---

"It's not like he's worth missing," Mia told him with a smile, unable to really help but to laugh along. Brett had definitely not been her favorite person. He was a jerk, that was for sure, but part of her understood why, given the fact that he was a werewolf. But that could also be her biased opinion because they were in the same pack. They weren't really friends, either way, though. "Make other friends? Have you met me? I'm pretty difficult to socialize with." She was still joking, of course. But, she was almost certain that it was partially true; she hadn't ever really bothered to try to make many friends. Liam had been her best friend and, really, her only friend until she became a werewolf. Even then, her only friends were just those in her pack. Hearing the invitation, though, she stared up at him. "Well, alright," she decided with a nod before smirking and nudging him, "Only if you promise not to get jealous if I make friends aside from you with members of your pack."

"Really." Lydia said shaking her head, she couldn't help but find it kind of adorable how often Stiles was surprised by her and her many hidden talents. "You know there's actually a lot you don't know about me." She told him closing her locker and smiling at him. There was a lot he didn't know about her though, things she kept mostly to herself. The only person other than her grandma that she'd ever really felt comfortable telling things to was Allison. After all Allison had been her best friend. And it wasn't like Jackson was the best boyfriend or anything. Hell she'd had to be pretend to be someone she wasn't just to get his attention. In a way she was happy he wasn't still a huge part of her life. "And I'll look at some recipes later and decide what to make and let you know."

---

Liam couldn't help but laugh at that one. "You couldn't be more right there." He told her pretty sure that even though Mia and Brett were in the same pack it didn't mean much. The guy was a jerk and honestly Liam wasn't sure if he'd ever actually be able to stand him. "I'm sure you can make friends with Scott and them. Stiles might be the hardest to befriend, he still doesn't even like me. And I don't know why really I mean it's not like I'm trying to hurt him or anything. Everyone else should be fine with you though." He told her pretty sure that before she could get on Stiles' good side he needed to be on Stiles' good side. And honestly he was hoping that he could maybe work on getting there over the weekend at the lake house with everyone. "I'm pretty sure the only reason they even invited us to go along with them though is because Lydia asked them to. But hey at least she's trying to include us." He said still not sure why Lydia was so nice to him.

"Oh? There's a lot I don't know about you?" Stiles repeated, tilting his head. He doubted that. Lydia had been the center of his attention for ages, so he had picked up on a lot about her. But, he supposed there was a lot that he didn't know about her just yet, which he was totally fine with - it gave him more to learn about her and he was all for it, if she gave him the opportunity to learn. "Alright. You can just shoot me a text when you decide." He grinned, because he was pretty sure that as soon as she sent the text, he'd go out in search of everything that she needed. He liked the idea of being able to help her, no matter how small the help was. And he was pretty sure that she knew that by now - or, at least, he hoped that she was, because he wanted her to know that she could always come to him for help. "Since we'll probably just be relaxing most of the time, should we bring movies, too?"

---

Mia grinned, then, and turned her attention fully to Liam, arching an eyebrow. "Well, I can't guarantee that they'll want to be friends with me any time soon. I mean, if that Stiles guy has a problem with you, I can't imagine I'd get along with him immediately," she said honestly, recalling how Liam had been worried about Scott not liking him because Stiles wasn't fond of him or something. He had rambled a lot earlier and it had been hard to keep up but she had gotten the gist of it. "But, let's not worry about them liking me just yet. We're going to get Stiles to like you first, because you need your pack," she told him before lifting her hand and ruffling his hair with a smirk. "And as long as you've got people trying to include you, then you're on the right path." She wasn't too worried about herself being included; she had her friend and she had her pack. As long as she had that, she'd be okay. But, Liam definitely needed his pack on his side and she wanted to help.

Lydia closed her locker then turned to look at Stiles and nodded her head. "Quite a bit actually." She told him knowing that after how long she'd been the center of attention, and how much Stiles already knew about her and had known about her for a while he probably didn't think that was possible. But it was. Lydia had kept so much to herself throughout her life that she was positive there were things he didn't know about her. And for once in her life she felt like she might've been okay with someone actually getting close enough to know the things about she kept to herself. "Will do." She told him knowing she'd go home and look for what she wanted to make then let him know. "Totally, maybe board games too." She said imaging how much fun it would be to have the whole group play board games for hours. Honestly she was looking forward to this weekend away more ever second she thought about it.

---

"I think that's why Lydia invited us." Liam told her rubbing his neck, "I mean I think she invited us so that we could hang out with them and to help get Stiles to like me more." He said knowing that so far Lydia was the only person on his side fully. Yea he could tell that Scott was warming up to him too, but he was more worried about Stiles than anything. After all Stiles was clearly friends with everyone, and even though Liam knew he wasn't the alpha of the pack or anything it was obvious that his opinion mattered to everyone. Really he just wanted the weekend to get there so he could head out to the lake house with everyone. Partly because well he'd never really felt included like this, because people didn't usually invite him to their lake houses, but he was also pretty excited because he hardly ever had plans with people who wanted to be around him so it was kind of a new feeling for him and he liked it. And even if Lydia and Mia were the only people who talked to him the whole time he'd still consider it one of the better weekends.