Liam and Olivia made it home about the same time that night. Both were lost in thought as they entered the house - Liam through the front door, Olivia through the back - and both were startled when they smacked into each other in the kitchen.
"I talked to Scott."
"I talked to McKenna."
The twins stared at each other for a few moments. Olivia was wearing anger all over her face, while Liam was sporting a mix of concern and sadness.
"I told you that my pack could handle this," Olivia said, maneuvering around her brother. She grabbed peanut butter from the cabinet and jelly from the fridge, slamming them onto one of the counters a little harder than necessary. Liam grabbed out plates and knives, and the two went to work making PB&J sandwiches as they talked.
"I know, but I had to tell him," Liam replied, slathering a piece of bread with peanut butter. He placed it on one of the plates and began working on another slice, while Olivia finished the piece she was slathering with jelly and laid it on top of Liam's completed slice. "This concerns him, too."
"Only because you're a moron," she snapped, attacking her next slice with fervor. She accidentally stabbed a hole in the untoasted bread, but she elected to ignore it. "Why in the world would you ever tell Annaleigh that I was a werewolf?" Liam started to protest, but she ignored that, too. "No, I'm honestly curious. What made you think, 'Oh yeah, this human girl that my sister's only known for a month totally needs to know that Olivia got bitten by a rabid werewolf over the weekend and will now turn into a furry creature of the night every full moon'?"
"You know I'm not exactly a big fan of thinking," Liam admitted sheepishly, "It really did just slip out. She was freaking out, and I was freaking out, but it turns out that she was just freaking out about your outfit..." He finally took a moment to take in her clothes, and he wrinkled his nose at his sister. "What are you wearing? "
"It's leather, Liam," Olivia replied huffily, "Nothing to freak out about."
"Don't you usually wear -" he paused to think of the right words, "Polka dots? You're practically obsessed with them."
"Not that it's any of your business," she said, tone cold as she assembled another sandwich, "But I decided that I needed a new look to reflect my new life."
"Nothing is going to change that much, Liv," Liam protested, spearing his knife into the peanut butter jar and stepping towards his sister. "You can still go to school and hang out with your friends and live your life."
Olivia mirrored her twin, stashing her knife in the jelly and stepping towards him. She poked him in the chest with her pointer finger, hard, and he rocked back before righting himself. "Nothing is going to change except for the need to control my emotions so I don't start biting and attacking people, you mean? And there's also the fact that my entire life now revolves around the phases of the moon."
"Well, yeah, but think of the new community you've gotten out of it. You have Scott's pack, Satomi's pack, packs across the country, and the tons of other supernatural creatures that live in town."
Olivia huffed. "Not worth it. Not by a long shot." She grabbed a plate with several of the sandwiches they'd created and stormed out of the kitchen.
"So, that went well," Liam muttered sarcastically before viciously biting into a sandwich.
Olivia's phone rang in the middle of her wallowing. She picked it up and examined it, disinterested. It wasn't a number that she recognized, which could be good or bad. Either way, a phone call was the perfect way to get her out of her own head, at least for a bit. So she decided to answer.
"Hello?" she asked, still feeling a little hostile after her small blowout with Liam.
"Liv! Hi!" chirped the voice on the other end, and Olivia felt herself relaxing instantly. She recognized that cheerful tone. It was Nicolette.
"Hey, Nic, what's up?"
"So, Satomi and McKenna had sort of a crazy idea. But you should hear me out before you say anything..."
The next morning before school, Liam barreled into Scott's living room, where the rest of the pack was awaiting his arrival. "Nice of you to show up," Stiles said, and Liam shot him an annoyed look.
"Sorry. I was dealing with another Olivia blowup. I ate the last of her favorite cereal and she almost ripped out my throat." Stiles laughed, and Lydia smacked him into silence.
"You're dumb," Malia said, blunt as always, "You should know better than to upset a newly-minted were."
Scott sighed and nodded. "She's not wrong. Remember how you were after I bit you? You were almost ripping out throats on a daily basis."
Liam argued, "Yes, but that's because of my I.E.D. Liv doesn't have that. They tested her a ton of times."
"But female weres are typically more violent," Stiles chimed in, though he shrunk under the glares from Malia and Kira and Lydia, "Hey, remember Cora and Erica and Kali? They were crazy." The glares intensified and Stiles shut himself up once more.
"The point is," Scott said, trying to move over his best friend's faux pas, "You should try to avoid angering her as much as possible. Satomi probably hasn't had a chance to train her very much. She's going to be volatile for a bit. Just be careful."
"I know how to handle my own sister," Liam grumbled under his breath, hoping that no one would hear him over the sounds of them gathering their belongings. But of course everyone did, and Stiles treated him to a perfunctory slap on the back of his head in passing. Liam let out a startled bark, which had everyone laughing in seconds.
"Don't sass your elders," Stiles said, reprimanding the freshman, "We'll whoop you, youngster."
Olivia was wearing more leather when she arrived at school, though this time she was on the back of a high octane motorcycle when she appeared. Liam was waiting for her outside the front doors, chatting with Mason, and the duo treated her with slacked jaws as she pulled up.
She pulled the black helmet off her head, shaking out her blonde curls as she did so. The driver parked and pulled off their own helmet, revealing a mess of brown curls with blonde highlights. The two girls trotted up to where the boys were waiting. Olivia was sporting a smirk, and the other girl was grinning widely.
"This is my brother Liam, and his best friend Mason," Olivia drawled. Liam's smile was extremely tentative, while Mason's was pretty eager.
"Lovely to meet you," the other girl said, brusquely shaking their hands. "My name's Nicolette Evans."
Liam eyed Nicolette suspiciously. "And how exactly do you know my sister?" he asked accusingly, already having an idea, but still wanting to hear it from her.
"We have...mutual interests," Nicolette said eventually, after mulling the question over for a few seconds, "We met and just...clicked. Right, Liv?"
Olivia nodded, and she barely flinched as one of the front doors swung wide open. Annaleigh came stomping out, confrontation clearly on her mind. She stopped as soon as she saw the blonde girl in front of her, her scowl growing as she crossed her arms.
"And who is this, Olivia? Have you been holding out on me?" Nicolette interjected, practically purring as she eyed Annaleigh, who was now uncharacteristically blushing as she took in the new girl at her best friend's side.
"I'm Annaleigh, Olivia's best friend." Annaleigh stuck her hand out for a shake, and Nicolette grasped it easily.
"Well, I'm Nicolette. Lettie to you. And I am very single, and very ready to mingle." She punctuated the comment with a wink, and Olivia honest-to-goodness snorted.
"Um...well..." Annaleigh was clearly flustered, much to the amusement of those that knew her. "It's...um...nice to meet you?" She squeaked at the end of her statement, and Liam had to cough to cover his laughter.
"The pleasure is all mine." Lettie was officially purring her words, and Olivia had to elbow her in the side to get her to stop. Lettie was still appreciatively eyeing a blushing Annaleigh as the rest of the group's attention returned to the resident leather-clad blonde.
"So you're still rolling with this leather thing?" Mason asked conversationally, "I mean, it looks good on you, but I kind of miss your old clothes."
Olivia smiled bitterly. "I do, too. But it felt like time for a change." Mason shrugged in response, but Liam wasn't going to let his sister out of an inquisition that easily.
"So what's she doing here?" he asked, almost petulant as he jabbed a finger in Lettie's direction. Olivia shot him a look but said nothing.
"I just transferred from Devenford," Lettie explained, finally dragging her attention back to the conversation at hand, "My parents decided that it was time for a change, and I agreed." She smiled brightly.
"Well, welcome to Beacon Hills High," Mason said cheerfully. She thanked him before looping her arm through one of Olivia's.
"It was nice meeting all of you, but I think Liv needs to show me to the front office." Lettie dragged her friend inside before anyone else could say a word, but Olivia didn't seem to mind. She didn't give her friends or brother so much as a parting glance, too busy whispering and giggling with her new friend.
"That was weird, right?" Liam said, once the two girls were out of earshot.
"The only weird thing," Mason said as he slung his arm over Annaleigh's shoulder, "was Annaleigh blushing about that girl. I thought you were fearless and flirtatious."
"Bite me, Hewitt," Annaleigh responded, with only a hint of malice in her tone as she shrugged off the boy, "Did you see her? She was gorgeous. And she had to be a junior at the very least."
Liam snorted. "She's a freshman. I recognize her from Devenford now. She's best friends with Brett Talbot, also known as the guy that broke Liv's heart. Remember him?"
Annaleigh wrinkled her nose while Mason sighed fondly. "He was hot," Mason said, a dopey smile on his face. The other two freshmen sighed.
"Let's just go to class."
A/N: So I know I was supposed to update a billion years ago, practically, but I obviously didn't. At least I'm updating now? And I'll try to cut down on the time between updates.
Anyways, this is sort of a filler chapter but also it's kind of necessary to get to where we're going, so please bear with me.
Follow me on tumblr catgrant for Liv edits and lots of random fandom stuff.