five warning signs

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         EVANORA BRUSHED THROUGH HER HAIR AS COLLEEN STOOD IN THE DOORWAY OF HER ROOM WITH HER ARMS CROSSED. Of course, as she always did, Evanora ignored the whitelighter in favor of humming and fixing her hair to look perfect for her night out. Well, that made it sound like she was clubbing when in reality she was just going to a football game to watch Brian play, Diana cheer, and sit really close to Tommy and Maggie to warm herself up.

The displeasure of the whitelighter was known, seeing as her feeling practically clouded up the air in the room, but Evanora did not comment on it or even acknowledge the almost disappointed look that Colleen was giving her. Even Colleen was not going to break her spirit. She was rebuilding her life, as Colleen had practically ordered her to do, so the woman had no right being mad at her for going out on a Friday night instead of training.

She applied a little more gloss to her lips after finishing with her hair, smiling at herself in the mirror. Colleen fidgeted for a second before breaking the silence between them. "I don't like you going out," she voiced her already obvious opinion, "This is valuable time we could have training and helping you grow as a witch just in case of a demon attack."

Evanora sighed, shutting her eyes before calming herself and looking at the whitelighter. "Look, Colleen, I'm not just a witch, I'm also a teenage girl. And teenage girls go to football games with their friends, they don't spend their Friday nights training."

"But you're not just a teenage girl," Colleen pointed out, "And witches train to protect themselves against demons. Especially those who have already had a member fall victim to an attack."

There was a pang in her heart, not just for her mother's death but because of the guilt that Colleen was trying to make her feel. To make her feel like the football game was pointless and she was being reckless and that she was going to end up with the same fate as her mother all because of this one night she wanted to have fun and just be Evanora Hathaway the Teenager and not Evanora Hathaway the Teenage Witch.

"Well, I already agreed to go out, so it's not like I can back out now," Evanora looked away from her and back to herself in the mirror, but as she looked to see the sad sight of her eyes, she looked down to ignore it, "And it keeps up appearances. Weren't you the one who said that we needed to blend into this town? Well, this is how I do that."

"Don't go twisting my words," Colleen shook her head, stepping into the room and Evanora tensed, "Normal teenagers can decide to stay at home because they aren't feeling well."

"But I feel fine," Evanora smiled brightly at her, but it was only her mouth that reflected happiness as the rest of her was numb. She was tired of having this argument with Colleen, "So I'm going out and I won't be home until late and it's going to be fine because you're still going to wake me up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow so that I can exhaust myself training because, apparently, that's what whitelighters are for."

Colleen huffed. "You say that with such distain. I'm your protector, I'm just trying to do my job."

"Yeah, because I'm just a job to you, not a person," Evanora grumbled, hating that her heart felt pain because the whole reason Colleen was here was because the Elders forced her to, not because she wanted to. They weren't friends, they were just a witch and a whitelighter forced together.

"I didn't say that," Colleen defended herself, "But it is apart of my job description to protect you, and sometimes I'm not there. So I'm trying to train you so that when I'm not there, you won't die."

Evanora stood up, going to grab her jacket. She didn't want to think about dying, or the possibility that one day she's going to have to fight. That wasn't her. She was fine because she was in this sucky Halloweentown and she had Colleen and Marisol, even if she didn't want the woman's help. No one was going to come after her and she wasn't going to die.

No one was going to burn this witch.

"Please, I doubt any demon wants to come around here. There's nothing for them," she brushed the comment off easily, a smile on her face to try and convince Colleen that she believed the words that came out of her mouth, "So I'm fine and I can have this one night to hang out with my friends because that's what I want and I'm not going to put a halt to my life just because I need a little training."

"Well, if it kills you, don't blame me," Colleen said harshly and Evanora visibly recoiled from her, causing her to soften, "That was too far. I'm sorry."

She shook it off. It wasn't worth it getting worked up over the whiterlighter's words. "Whatever, it's fine."

"No, that was too far," Colleen insisted with the shake of her head, "Look, I know that I'm harsh on you, but I shouldn't have said that. That was going too far."

Evanora stared at her. She never thought she'd live to see the day that Colleen Fellows – the self-righteous I know everything whitelighter – apologized to her. "Okay, yeah, it was too far. Whatever," she still shook it off, not really wanting to accept or reject it.

"But you also went too far with what you said to Elder Vera," Colleen told and Evanora groaned. Of course there couldn't be a little redemption and good character from Colleen, she always had to make herself the good person when compared to Evanora. I might have had a mistake, but you made a bigger one so who's worse?

"I don't wanna talk about that," Evanora said, "And she said to call her Marisol, not Elder Vera."

Colleen was visibly displeased with her attempt to evade the topic. "You can't go around angering the Elders all because you don't like them. They are powerful and you don't wanna cross them."

"Yeah? Well maybe I want to. Maybe I wanna see what the good ol' Elders will do to a little witch like me. I'll be an example for everyone about what the Elders are really like," Evanora said in defiance.

That wasn't her plan at all. She wasn't angering Marisol just to see how the Elders would react. But when she looked at Colleen who was telling her off for her actions again, scolding her and berating her, the words just came out. And the scandalous look that crossed Colleen's features made it all worth it.

"You don't know what you're saying," Colleen shook her head.

"Of course I know what I'm saying," Evanora disagreed, "The Elders are corrupted and don't really care and if them killing me means that everyone else knows and can protect themselves, so be it."

Colleen stared at her. "Demons will murder you, the Elders will keep you chained up and torture you or wipe your memories – maybe even throw you in Tartarus if they're feeling generous. Don't anger them."

Then, she turned her heel, and walked out of the room, an aura of anger still clouding her. Evanora huffed to herself. Yeah, like the Elders would really harm her. They were evil and had no sympathy for humans or other witches, but they wouldn't throw someone in Tartarus or torture someone. That was too far; too sadistic. That wasn't the Elders. That wasn't her mother.

But she didn't dwell on it as she looked in the mirror for one last time to make sure she looked immaculate before leaving her room and going through the front door without any goodbye to Colleen. The whitelighter didn't deserve it right now.

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EVANORA HELD HERSELF TIGHTER AS HER TEETH CHATTERED BECAUSE OF THE COLD WIND HITTING HER FACE. Tommy rubbed his own hands together for extra warmth, but Maggie looked almost untouched by the cold. Or if she was, she didn't show it.

She looked perfect. A hat with a little ball of puff on top, a leather jacket and baby pink scarf on with a matching outfit; she looked stunning. It was no question why she was turning heads left and right and why when Evanora met up with them at McDonald's beforehand that she lost the ability to form words for a minute at the sight of her and her kind smile.

Fuck. She was so gay.

Maggie cheered loudly beside them for their team, and Brian looked up at her but she ignored him.

("They're still not together but I think they'll get back together this weekend. They always do," Tommy whispered to her.)

(Evanora ignored the pang in her chest at the thought of Maggie getting back together with Brian even though it wasn't like she even had a chance with Maggie in the first place.)

Diana looked exactly in her element down there near the field shooting cheers with the rest of the cheerleaders up at the audience. Tommy took pictures of the game and of the cheerleaders, the spectators, and of Maggie and Evanora together.

"How many of these photos do you even add to your profile?" Evanora asked, a little louder than the level she would normally speak at because of the amount of yelling going on.

Tommy shrugged. "It depends. Not much, especially cause I already have a lot of football pics, but I still like to take them incase there's some better than the ones I already have. And it's an excuse for me to come."

"You wouldn't go anyway?" Evanora raised an eyebrow. It seemed like they had always done this.

Tommy smiled at her and leaned in. "I don't want them to know that I actually like football, so this is my excuse," he whispered to her, "But I'm pretty sure Maggie knows already. She always knows stuff like that."

Evanora hummed, peering at the Vera girl for a second. Evanora always had a connection to water before her ability officially manifested, and always had a love for the beach or the pool. This could be her own special ability manifesting.

She also shuffled the tiniest bit away from Maggie because she did not want the girl under any circumstance to know about her budding crush. It wasn't like it would even matter, the girl had Brian and they were the on-and-off again couple who only went after each other. Maggie would never look at her, so it didn't matter.

But then Evanora turned back to Tommy and winked. "Your secret's safe with me," she giggled and he smiled at her for a second.

"Thanks," he told her before taking another picture of the cheerleaders with Diana in center frame. "I try to get a lot of Diana. She likes to post them on Insta and everything after the game."

"Right," she nodded.

"You ever been to a football game before this?" Tommy asked her and she shrugged.

"I mean, I went once in freshman year, but never again. Football wasn't really a big thing where I'm from and, well, I didn't know any of the football players or cheerleaders," Evanora explained.

Tommy hummed and nodded, "Well, everyone's either a football player or cheerleader or a friend of one. It's rare to not see most every student here. Not like Hilltown has a lot of clubs or anything for them."

"Which is kinda disappointing, not gonna lie," Evanora told him and watched as he sent her a surprised look.

"Didn't know you were a lawbreaker," he said.

"Oh, shut up," Evanora rolled her eyes, "Of course you did."

He shrugged but didn't give a verbal answer to her. She decided that she had won that conversation.

"Ugh, Diana's doing great. Did you see her kick? It was to high," Maggie cheered for her friend.

"I think I missed it," Evanora told her sadly but Maggie just shook it off.

"I'm sure she'll do it again soon so you can see it. She's super flexible like that," Maggie complimented the girl, an easy and bright smile on her face which she always had. "God, I love coming to the games. Diana's always great and Brian..."

She trailed off when she mentioned her ex before clearing her throat. "Brian's always a star," Maggie finished, "It should not be that hard to say his name. I mean, he's Brian. We're still friends and everything."

"You just broke up with him," Tommy mentioned, "That's still hard. I mean, unless you're thinking of getting back with him...?"

Maggie shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted, "I mean, I love Brian, I do, but I guess I just don't think there's a future for us. He wants to do football and be a mechanic like his dad, and I...well, I don't know, I guess I just don't want that."

"Doesn't mean that you can't date him until graduation," Evanora shrugged, because she was trying to be a friend to Maggie and not rejoice that she didn't seem to want to get back with Brian.

Maggie looked at her and shrugged. "I guess, that's what I was gonna do but Mel says that I shouldn't be with someone just because. I should be with someone because I really like them and can see it going somewhere. I don't see that with Brian and I don't wanna keep leading him on. I think we're done for a while."

"Does Brian know that?" Tommy asked.

"Well, I did break up with him..." Maggie trailed off as if it were obvious.

Tommy shook his head. "You always break up with him, or he breaks up with you, and then by next week you're back together with him. He probably thinks it's just another one of those breaks and then y'all will be back and better than ever until the next time."

Maggie shrugged. "Huh, I guess we do break up a lot," she mulled it over, "I'll let him know this weekend. I mean, he's a great friend and I don't wanna lose him, though."

"You don't know, he might understand," Evanora tried, because Brian did seem nice.

"Thanks," Maggie smiled at her, "I guess I just thought because I'm done with him, he would somehow be able to read my mind and know that I don't think we'll be getting back together. Whatever, it's fine, I can tell him."

"Alright," Tommy nodded before making a noise and quickly raising his camera to get a picture. Evanora smiled at him because the face he made when he looked at the photo was adorable.

She looked back to the game and Maggie yelled something else and the conversation was forgotten, but she didn't mind. She had two of her friends beside her and two others out on the field doing what they loved. She was just Evanora the Teenager. This was definitely better than having to defend herself from an imaginary demon that Colleen created.