Season of the Witch

"Toby! Lydia!" Stiles waved, excitedly. "Funny seeing you two here!'

October shook her head, staring at him incredulously. He mouthed what, eyes wide. Lydia gave him a tight smile, patting his shoulder before walking out to the back yard. October swatted his head.

"Ow!" He glared at her. "W-what was that for?"

"For being stupid," October rolled her eyes. "How do you even survive?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you need to learn how to speak to women without making a complete fool of yourself."

"Toby! Uh, funny seeing you here," Greenberg waved at her.

October rose a brow and looked at Stiles. He gave her an Okay now I know what you mean look. October snorted and walked past Greenberg. Stiles stumbled, giving Greenburg a nod before following October out back. They both looked around, feeling a bit out of place. But, Stiles took it in stride. He kept his head held high.

October, on the other hand, kept her gaze on the ground. Stiles literally had to grab her by the arm to keep her from falling into the pool. She gave him an apologetic look. He shrugged and continued to pull her to Scott.

"Are you okay, Toby?" Stiles asked. "You seem really out of it."

October nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just a long day."

"Do you want to talk about it? I mean, i-if that's what you want?"

"No, Stiles. I'm good - really."

Scott rose a brow, but said nothing about it. October knew he was going to pull her away and ask her at some point. She gave him an aggravated glare - she didn't want to be bothered tonight. The other side of her family was dead and her crazy aunt was missing. She didn't need, or want, to tell anyone about that. She'd just go to the funeral, pay her respects, and go home. That shocked her a bit. She was finally calling Beacon Hills her home.

"Hey, Toby," Danny called while walking over. "Here's your sweater, I forgot it was in my car."

October took it from his hands. "Danny, the rave was two months ago. How are you now just giving it back?"

He shrugged and laughed. "I was busy."

"Thanks anyway," She shook her head and smiled.

"W-wait, wait," Stiles looked between the two, eyes narrowing. "She, as in a female, was your date to the rave?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Am I not date worthy?"

Stiles cleared his throat. "No, no! I mean, y-you are. I me-mean, uh. It's just… you and Danny! You and Danny."

October gave him a small smile before turning to speak to Danny. "I think you should go before Stiles has a mental breakdown."

The confused boy was still muttering to himself while the trio walked towards the edge of the party. Isaac was nowhere to be seen - not that October was too disappointed. Scott crossed his arms over him chest, looking across the crowd.

"You cut your hair," Scott stated. "Lydia? And, uh, have you seen Allison tonight?"

October bit her lip. "It was all her idea. But, I don't mind. I like it, actually. And, no. I haven't seen Allison in a while."

"He asked you to be his date," Stiles looked at her, utterly confused. "Why?"

"Why wouldn't he? I mean, look at me," She joked. "No, but really. I wasn't actually his date. He wanted me to be his wingman or something. I never really saw him that night. But, he did get lucky."

He gave her a look of awe. Scott laughed and shoved his shoulder. Stiles shook his head. October smirked and chuckled as well.

"Huh, I almost didn't recognize you," Isaac's lips were close to her ear. "But, I smelled your vanilla lotion from across the house. I kind of had trouble, but - "

October rolled her eyes and stepped away. "You do know that Peter was right this morning? Smelling people won't get you laid."

Stiles cleared his throat to keep from laughing. Isaac gave her a half smile. She smiled back. There was something about him that made him enticing. As if he knew, he placed an arm over her shoulders and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Her added four inches still didn't make her any taller compared to him. She felt her cheeks darken and her heart race. Isaac chuckled, vibrating October's body.

"There you are," Lydia grabbed her arm. "Someone's been eyeing you since we got here."

"Wait, what?" October stood her ground.

Lydia sighed, taking October's sweater and giving it to Stiles to hold. "Someone has been giving you looks. Now, let's go. He's a total hunk, sweetie."

She pulled on the dark-haired witch, harder this time. October stumbled before catching herself. She turned to see Stiles' mouth open, Scott's eye wide, and Isaac's eyes glowing slightly yellow. She faced forward and bumped into Lydia. The strawberry-blonde slightly glared, but did nothing about it. Jeez. What had Lydia more uptight than usual? Then, it hit her. Lydia was still trying to come to terms to the fact that her friend was a witch.

"Hey," Lydia batted her eyes and flipped some hair back. "I'm Lydia and this is Toby."

At the mention of her name, October waved and gave a sheepish smile. She had no clue how to flirt. No matter how many times she'd watch Lydia do it. She didn't know how to act sweet or how to act cute. October just talked to people. When it came to the art of flirting, Lydia was master.

"Toby," The boy with brown eyes smiled. "That's a unique name. Is it short for anything?"

She nodded. "Yeah, short for October."

His smile widened. "Were your parents hippies or something? Uh, the name's Dennis by the way."

October looked the boy over. He had his hair cut into a buzz cut. He wore a plain white shirt underneath a dark brown leather jacket. Dennis seemed nice enough, but there was something that seemed off. October have him a smile when he looked at her confused.

"Sorry, I'm pretty out of it tonight," She apologized.

He waved it off. "No problem. I know how you feel. Just found out my dad got laid off."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don’t be, it's not your fault."

October wrung her fingers together. She looked around, Lydia not in sight. Was this her plan? October thought it was going to have to deal with Isaac. As Dennis began talking about things she really didn't care about, she was thinking of a way to escape this torture.

"And that's the story of when my brother accidently had sex with a goat," Dennis finished.

October's head snapped toward his direction. "Your brother had sex with a… goat?"

"You weren't listening," He said. "I had to get your attention somehow. Is anything wrong?"

There was a lot wrong. "Yeah, actually. I'm not feeling so well. It's really hot in here, I'm gonna go outside."

She didn't wait for an answer. She just walked away. October found herself in the backyard again. This time she had trouble finding the boys. There were so many more people than before. When she found them, she noticed Isaac was gone. October tried not to look disappointed. It helped when she saw that Stiles had made her sweater into a hat and was wearing it proudly. She didn't know what to say, so she stuck to staring.

"What?" Stiles laughed and turned around. "O-oh, shit. Uh, um, Toby. This is not what it looks like."

"It kind of looks like you're wearing my sweater as a hat," She said.

"Well, then. It is what it looks like."

October laughed and snatched the thing off his head. He pouted, causing her to laugh harder. Stiles cracked a smile and gave her a side hug.

"So, Toby, are you gonna tell us what's wrong or do we have to guess?" Scott asked. "It's pretty obvious when you're upset."

"Can't you just accept that I'm tired?" She countered. "All I am is tired. Just trust me, okay?"

October wasn’t lying. She was tired - tired of losing family members, of having to lie, of a lack of sleep. She was absolutely tired of being tired. Scott nodded, but he didn't let it go. This wasn't going to be the last she heard of it.

"Oh, my God, Toby," Lydia had came back, drinks in hand. "Why'd you leave him?"

"He wasn't interesting," She answered truthfully. "I didn't get a good vibe from him either."

Lydia's eyes widened. "It-it's that type of thing, isn't it? Alright, I'll let you slide this time."

She gave her a cup and then left. She glanced at the amber substance in the cup. She wasn't really in the mood to drink. But, if she could forget about her day for the next few hours, she didn't mind. She sipped at the liquid. It burned the back of her throat.

"What was Lydia talking about?" Stiles got way to close to her face.

October shrugged. "I just know when guys are bad news. Just like Jackson, but there she is talking to him again."

The two stared at the other couple. She could feel Stiles' tension. It was making her a bit tense. She drank more. October turned away, grabbing Stiles' sleeve. She didn’t want him to hurt. It was already too late, of course. He was already going off in this speech to Scott. Scott was only half listening. Most of his attention was on October.

This afternoon Derek had told him to keep an eye out for October. He said to tell him if she was acting weird. Scott had wanted to call him and tell him how much of an idiot he was, but as he watched her now, he noticed how odd she was acting. She was more withdrawn and her eyes had bags under them. Her smile hadn't reached her eyes since they met up.

Even October's heartbeat seemed off. It was fluctuating between normal and anxiety driven. He didn't know what to make of it. Scott wanted to find a way to get her to tell him the truth than have to turn her in to Derek. There didn't seem to be anything that wrong with her. October seemed normal enough. Lydia was the one that was acting all types of strange.

"Are either of you even listening?" Stiles yelled.

October jumped the same time Scott did. They both apologized, but still didn't pay any attention to what Stiles was saying. October was in her own world. She really wanted to tell the two what she was, but she was afraid Scott was going to tell Allison. She was afraid she was going to have to leave town again. Finishing her cup, she went to grab another one. October wanted to forget so badly, it hurt.

"Hey, it's Toby, right?" Dennis came into her line of view.

Scott and Stiles tensed behind her. She nodded. October wanted nothing more than to blast his ass, but she refrained. Dennis reached out to touch her, causing October to flinch. She didn't want to be touched by him. Something screamed in the back of her head to get away from him.

"Is there something you needed?" October asked, trying to sound polite.

He nodded. "Yeah, I was just wondering if you'd like to get pizza sometime."

October tried not to laugh. "Uh, no. I'm sorry."

"Come on," He begged.

Scott stepped forward, putting a hand on October's shoulder. "She said no, dude."

"And who asked you?" Dennis rose a brow. "Come on, Toby. It'll be fun."

Dennis grabbed her arm roughly. October's temper flared. She had to control her anger before she lashed out. She took in a deep breath.

"Let her go," Scott sent daggers Dennis' way.

The other boy laughed. "Not until she agrees. Now, what do you say?"

October could feel her arm bruising from his grip. All she wanted to do was throw him across the room. But she was afraid. She was so very afraid. Scott stepped in front of her, staring Dennis down. Stiles tried to pull her back, but Dennis' grip hadn't lessened, causing more pain in October's part. She felt like her heart was going to explode in her chest. Angry tears pricked at her eyes.

One moment Dennis had a death grip on her arm, the next he was thrown to the ground. Because he was holding on to her and Stiles was as well, they all ended up falling. Her drink spilled all over the wooden floor. For a few seconds, she thought Scott had something to do with it, but when she looked up Isaac was there. Isaac's back was to October, but she could sense how angry he was. She could see how badly he wanted to kill the other boy.

Isaac grabbed Dennis by the collar of his shirt and began to pound his face in. October could hear the sick crunch of bone cracking. This entire incident had brought a crowd. Stiles still held her back, not allowing her to move. October had the power to knock him his hands off, but she didn’t have the energy for that. Scott wasn't sure if he wanted to be part of that.

Hot tears ran down her face when she spoke. "Isaac, please. Pl-please stop."

Isaac's fist stopped, mid swing. His blue eyes stared at her, confusion filling them. He sneered at Dennis before shoving himself up. Scott helped Stiles up while Isaac helped October. She wiped at her tears, angrily. She brushed past Isaac and left the house. She was only there for forty-five minutes and her night was ruined. Once outside, she realized she had no way home. October sighed and began to rub her temples.

"He said he wasn't going to call the cops," Stiles walked out with Scott and Isaac in tow. "But, I still feel like we should leave - in case anyone else decides to."

It felt like October's head was going to burst. She took a deep breath in. She could feel the boys staring at her while she paced. She didn't care how she looked at that moment. Everything was going downhill for her. First, she finds out her aunt is missing, two more family members are dead, she tells Lydia what she is, and now she feels like her life isn't going the way it should.

"Whoa, hey, hey," Stiles brought October into a hug. "It's okay now."

October shook her head and pushed him off. "No! It isn't okay! None of you understand!"

All the streetlights exploded down the street. She took a step back and rubbed at her eyes, not caring how horrid her makeup looked. She just wanted things to be okay - she didn't want to pretend they were going to be. Scott took a step forward, hand out as if that would calm her down. Cautiously, he took another one, but that sent her off. She didn't want them to have a pity party. She didn't want them to tell her things were going to be okay. Because things were not okay.

Someone's car windshield shattered as Scott stepped closer. Stiles rose a brow, looking around. He couldn't believe what the hell was happening. He couldn't even decipher what was happening. But, whatever it was, involved October somehow. Isaac pulled Scott back by his shoulder.

"Let me try," Isaac moved forward. "Toby, I want to take you to the depot, okay? We'll take care of you there. You won't be alone."

October looked up, eyes blurred from tears. "Why would you want to take care of me?"

"You're our friend. Why wouldn't we?"

She looked to her feet. Because she's a rotten liar. October shrugged as her face tightened. She didn’t deserve these people in her life. Fresh tears fell from her eyes. Another car window broke. The three boys looked at one another, not sure what to think of October.