The Skin Thief (10th Doctor x OC)

Chapter 1

Willow and Ruby walked out of the now empty classroom, which wasn't new to them. They were always the last ones to leave.

"Ew! More classes?" Willow wrinkled up her nose before laughing at Ruby's face.

"Some of us aren't here just because we conveniently felt like it, Willow," Ruby fiddled with her chipped pink nail polish. "Which by the way, I can't even believe."

Willow shrugged. "I can't believe that you're here to study Botany," she remarked. "Now that's beyond me."

Ruby hit her arm playfully. "The first day I met you, I asked why you were in the class. You said, and I quote, 'I don't know. I was bored, I got a train ticket and came here," Ruby giggled. "I think that takes the cake, don't you?" 

Willow pulled on the turtleneck of her black sweater. "Eh. I wanna go to Paris if that makes things better. Botany's weirder, unless you're planning to start a massively successful pot farm.... hey, I could work for you!"

They climbed down the four flights of stairs before they opened the large glass doors. A crisp breeze flew in the air, rustling Willow's curls.

"Alright Ruby, see you later," she said over her shoulder. 

"À toute à l'heure," Ruby responded.

Willow was on the verge of shooting back a snarky response, but Ruby was already walking to another building on the massive campus. Deciding it was for the best, Willow began her walk back to the townhouse.

She crossed a busy street before stopping in her tracks. A familiar whooshing noise filled her ears, making her heart catch in her chest. 

"Is that..." she thought before slowly turning around.  She blew out a sigh when she realized that it was just the sound of a couple passing cars. Willow's cheeks heated with embarrassment as she turned back around and trudged the rest of the way home.

 "I really gotta get out more," she said to herself as she climbed the steps to her home. 

The small brick townhouse had an assortment of vines and bushes creeping up the sides and front of the building, almost covering the massive three panel window that perched next to the white wooden door. Rusty and wiry black fencing was nailed on either side of the stairs. One leaned to the side, as if it was going to tumble down at any second. The place wasn't exactly A grade, but it wasn't terrible.

 As Willow grabbed her key from her backpack, something very odd happened. A whirring noise from a few streets away- similar to the one she heard from the street- sounded before a squirmish noise replaced it. All Willow could make out were small shadows dancing on the other complex's wall, and the shapes were misshapen and distorted. It was most definitely not human, unless someone was wearing a very realistic alien-esque costume. 

Yeah right. 

Willow sucked in a breath before snatching her key from her pack and jamming it in the keyhole as quickly as she could. She rushed inside and quietly shut the door behind her. 

"Am I going crazy?" Willow asked aloud. 

She was doing so well. She was practically over the Doctor, but now she was back to thinking that every car passing was the sound of the TARDIS. Willow went over to her desk. It was covered with small TARDIS drawings doodled on the sides of her incomplete French assignments. She grabbed the papers and balled them all up before stuffing them in the metal trash can beside her desk, which was filled with recently scrapped sketches of the blue box. So maybe she wasn't doing as well as she thought. 

Feeling bothered by this, Willow grabbed her phone and dialed Ruby. Her finger wavered when she remembered that Ruby was in class and would probably leave her on voicemail, so she pressed the contact with 'Mama' as the name. The phone dialed for about three seconds until her mom picked up the other end of the call.