Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to the all-sacred Buffyverse. I only own (if you can call thinking up while in a sugar and soda induced stupor ownership) the terrified girl and the lurching senior. It'll make sense in a minute, I promise.
A/N: This one-shot of a plot bunny has been bouncing around in my head for a while. Nothing really, but please read on just the same. And then leave a nice review (no flames, please!). The "terrified girl" is an OC I created with the help of OBAFU's guidelines.
Welcome to High School
After Giles finishes lecturing her on her technique in combat practice, Buffy opens her mouth to say something to the other Scoobies about the current Big Bad in town but abruptly snaps it shut again when a terrified girl bursts through the library doors and skids to a stop in front of Xander.
"Oh gods, he's after me," she gasps out. "Oh gods, help me, hide me, save me!" With that odd declaration, she dives behind Xander's chair and peeks over his shoulder, all the while quivering with fear.
Buffy furrows her brows in confusion before slowly studying the hysterical girl with a detached air. She has to be a freshman; no upperclassmen other than the Scoobies would be caught dead running into the library, even if their lives were in danger.
If she hadn't burst into the library like that, Buffy thought to herself, I doubt I would've ever noticed her. But, then, she's a freshman. And the only weird thing about her is her height, or, more accurately, her lack of it… well, short people will take over the world!
Xander, by now, has turned to look at the cowering, quivering girl crouched behind his chair. "Hi," he tells the girl, sticking out his hand along with a friendly smile. "I'm Xander."
Instead of returning the smile or shaking his hand, the unknown girl instead shakes her head and whimpers, shrinking further into herself. Xander shoots a look over at and Willow and Jenny Calendar, mouthing, "What's with her?" For an answer he receives only shrugs.
Buffy kneels next to the introverted girl, placing a gentle hand on her back and then frowning when the girl flinches away from her touch.
"¡No tocar!" the girl screeches abruptly, flinging herself out of position. She runs out of the library, screaming at the top of her lungs, "¡No tocar¡No tocar¡No tocar¡No tocar!" Then she runs back in, screaming in an equally loud voice, "No touchy! No touchy! No touchy!"
A senior of rather husky build lurches in after her, yelling, "Come back here, worm! We're not done with you yet!" He catches at her shirt and yanks her back until he can easily grip her by the forearm. The Scooby Gang watches in open-mouthed shock as the boy literally drags the wildly kicking and screaming girl back outside of the library. Just before the door shuts on the boy and his prize, he nods at the teens still gathered inside. "Thanks for holding her." And then he disappears down the hall.
After that little show, the Scoobies stare at each other in shock until a voice shatters the silence.
"Well," Xander says slowly, "that was weird. Even for the Hellmouth."
Buffy shook her head, jerking her thumb to the sign on the school's lawn. "Not during Fish Inish Week, Xand. Then nothing's too weird for the H.M.S. Hellmouth."
El Fin