[BOOK 2] "𝙞 '𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝."
As Junior Year begins, lies are unravelled, truths are revealed, and no one ever expects an angel to set the world on fire.
A...
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AFTER Stiles pulled the fire alarm to empty the school of innocent students, it turned out that Barrow was actually nowhere to be found in the facility, knocking Lydia's confidence in herself and her abilities. Her and Stiles were quietly trying to work out more to the mystery, while Stiles was slowly pacing his room racking his mind, and Lydia sat on the edge of his bed, hardly moving a muscle.
"Stiles, can I ask you something?" the strawberry blonde broke the eery quietness, and Stiles spun around to face her from the other side of the room.
"Course," Stiles answered calmly.
"If you were to take a guess," Lydia said quietly and hesitantly, her voice laced in curiosity, "what do you think really happened to Aspen?"
Stiles wasn't expecting that question to come from Lydia's lips, so it took him off guard a bit. He had a couple of ideas, conspiracies— most of them were just his mind telling him these bizarre concoctions as a coping mechanism for the fact that the girl he was miserably in love with was gone, replaced with a shell of her former self.
Stiles let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he gathered his answer, while the Martin girl looked at him expectantly.
"I think..." Stiles began, "that being forced to leave the place she grew up, the place where all the people she loves are, most likely fucked her up in ways that would probably break her."
Lydia's face fell even more, as Stiles slowly sat down in his desk chair, fiddling with his fingers as a nervous habit as he continued.
"I think that I wouldn't blame her if she did exactly what her brother did," he carried on, "I wouldn't blame her if she buried all her pain as a way to cope, turning her into who she is today,"
"You really think that's all?" Lydia said doubtingly, "You just think she's— I don't know— wearing a mask?"
"Maybe..." Stiles said quietly under his breath, staring at his hands in his lap.
Another silence washed over them, the topic of Aspen glumming them. It was like no one could have a conversation about her anymore without immediately jumping to a state of grief, missing the girl she once was.
Stiles' mind began to spin, the cogs inside of his brain turning and clicking into place as he concocted other ideas. He contemplated whether he should voice the one suspicion he's had from the start, whether Lydia would understand where he's coming from or if she would just think he's insane.
"I do have another theory," he spoke up again, both of their heads snapping up to look at eachother solemnly, "It's kind of—I don't know—stupid, but..."
"I'm not sure there's anything that you could say right now that would sound stupid," Lydia said in full honesty, wanting to know what other theory Stiles thought of.
