I'm... What?
AN: This story, at the present, is supposed to be a oneshot, but I'm not sure if I'll feel satisfied with it being only one chapter, so it may turn into a full story.
Summary: Takes place with teenage characters all the way around, other than the adults, obviously. Dawn and Buffy are actually TWIN sisters. No supernaturality of any kind. I've got one word for you: Fuffy! Near the beginning of Faith and Buffy's relationship, Faith makes a startling discovery about herself, and is hesitant to talk to Buffy about it, afraid it'll change how Buffy feels about her. I can already tell this is going to take more than one chapter, so just ignore the AN above. Hope you enjoy!
(Buffy's POV)
My name is Buffy Summers. I live in the small town of Sunnydale, California. My twin sister, Dawn, and I are both sixteen years old, and our parents just recently went through a pretty bad divorce. Other than our birthday, we have nothingin common. I'm tan, she's pale. I'm blonde, she's a brunette. I'm more of an athlete, in fact, I'm actually a gymnast. Dawn... well... let's just say, she's not exactly way up there on the popularity ladder.
One more difference... Dawn? She's into guys... I'm not. I'm gay. I've been openly gay since I was thirteen. I've had a grand total of one girlfriend since then, and it lasted a grand total of twenty-nine days, seven hours, ten minutes and twenty-three seconds. Then, I realized she was insane, so I broke it off with her. I guess the fact that she was LITERALLY counting every second we'd been together was a bit of a hint to that fact.
We used to live in Los Angeles, California, but because of the divorce, and the fact that my mom won the custody battle, we now live in Sunnydale. The move was terrible. I had lots of friends to say goodbye to. There were tears. Lots of tears. And Dawn just sat in the car the whole time, sulking because none of her FRIEND, not plural, came to say goodbye.
But, the living in Sunnydale part didn't turn out to be so bad. But I'll get to that.
...
The first day of school. Ugh, this was just bound to be "fun". I'm the new girl at school, so almost everyone is goingto be analyzing me to see where I fit in with the social chain. Sure enough, a girl named Cordelia Chase approached me and Dawn just as we walked in the door.
"Hi! I'm Cordelia! You two must be new here, right?" She asked, waayyy too peppy. She didn't give us a chance to answer. "Great, so, let me just show you around the campus!" I shrugged. At least she seemed nice. Be an opportunity to make some friends, at least. Dawn just rolled her eyes and walked away.
"Okay." I agreed.
"Great, so up the hall is Principal Wood's office." [AN: I never liked Principal Snyder, but Wood was pretty cool, so I'm sticking with him.] "There are the classrooms." She pointed down a few hallways. Cordelia spent almost an entire hour showing me around the campus before the morning bell rang, signifying that it was time for everyone to head to class.
"Hmm..." Cordy, she said I could call her that. Cordy groaned. "All that took a lot out of me. I need a drink." She said, and walked over to a water fountain with a redheaded girl bending over to take a drink.
"Move!" Cordy exclaimed. The girl flinched and backed away quickly, then turned and ran, like she was scared.
"What was that about? Something happen between you two?" I ask Cordy.
"Yeah, she came in and started invading my school." She said with a smirk. "Loser." She muttered under her breath.
Oh, great. She's a bitch.
"Oh. So... you're that kind of girl, huh?" I ask her. She turned slowly towards me.
"Excuse me?" Everyone within earshot stared at us, even the redheaded girl.
"You're the type of girl who thinks she's better than everyone else just because you're attractive, and becauseyou've got daddy's money behind you. You're a bitch." Everyone gasped when I said the "b-word".
"What did you call me?" Cordy said angrily.
"A bitch. And judging by the way that girl kind of slunk away like a frightened animal when you said move, I'm guessing you're the Head Bitch at this school, huh?"
We heard a lot of "ooohs" and whistles fromthe gathering crowd. One guy, standing next to the redheaded girl, brought out a video camera, like Cordy and I were about to tear each other's clothes off in some kind of cat fight. The redhead rolled her eyes and grabbed his camera, putting it back in his bag.
"Okay, Buffy, you've just made your worst enemy." Cordy said with a fake smile. "I will make your time here at this school a living hell from now until graduation day!" she whispered. After she left, the crowd dispersed and I had to hurry to catch up to the redheaded girl.
"Hey!" I said, tapping her on the shoulder. She flinched when she saw me there.
"Oh... h-h-hi." She stammered.
"You okay?" I asked her.
"Um... y-y-y-yeah?"
"Is that an answer or a question?"
"Come on,Will, she's trying to be nice!" the camera guy from earlier said, patting her on the back.
"Um... I... I'm f-fine." the girl said.
"I'm Buffy." I said, holding out my hand.
"W-Willow." She replied, shaking my hand slightly.
"So is Cordelia always this big of a bitch, or was that just a mistake?"
Willow snickered a bit, but didn't say anything.
"A little of both." The guy said. He took my hand and shook it before I even offered it. "I'm Harris. Xander Harris." He said with a smile, then made a finger gun and stored it in its "holster", his pocket.
"Summers. Buffy Summers." I replied, doing the same thing with my hand. His eyes went wide.
"You know James Bond?!"
"Well, I've heard of him. Never watched any of the movies, but I used to know a kid who was obsessed with them."
"Oh." he looked disappointed. Willow rolled her eyes. She looked like she was warming up to me bit by bit.
"So... This is Sunnydale High, huh?" I said out loud, looking around.
"Yup. Both the best and worst place on Earth to be. Well, mainly the worst. But it gets much better around here whenever Cordy gets cut down to size for the day." Xander said with a grin just as my eye caught on this small group of tough-guy types. All of them wore either dark jeans or leather pants, and either a black leather vest over a white or gray shirt, or a black leather jacket. Most of them were guys, but the one at the front was female. Very female.
She went all out. She was wearing tight leather pants tucked into black combat boots, a black leather jacket over a read v-neck shirt that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, leather gloves like you see bikers wearing in the movies, a chain around her neck, and very dark sunglasses. Another chain was hanging from a couple of belt loops.
"Oh that's Faith." Xander said, noticing my stare. Faith, of course, also noticed my stare when she turned her head to look at us after hearing her name. She smirked, then turned back around and kept walking without a second glance, though I swear she started swinging her hips a little more as she walked away. "She's the one that usually cuts Cordy down to size."
"Faith?" I whispered very subtly.
"Yeah. That's her name." Xander confirmed.
I barely heard him.I was too busy staring at the luscious backside of a very attractive girl in a leather jacket.
"So, Willow!" Xander said, trying to keep from falling into an awkward silence.
"Yeah?" Willow asked him, perking up when he talked to her. I turned my attention back to them.
"You going to the Bronze tonight? First day of school means no homework, right?"
"Oh. Yeah. Um... I guess I could go, you know, if you really want me to." It was obvious that Willow had feelings for him, and desparately wanted him to return those feelings.
"Oh, sure, Will! You know, we haven't hung outthere in a while. I'm kind of itching to get out of the house, you know?"
"Yeah." Willow smiled widely.
"Hey, Buff, can I call you Buff?" Xander asked, turning back to me again. "I kind of shorten all my friends' names, you know?"
"Oh, sure." I agree. Well, making two friends on the first day. Maybe this won't be so bad, after all.
"Great! So, you coming to the Bronze tonight?" He asked, and Willow's smile kind of faded. I didn't feel like it was because she didn't like me, it was just because she was hoping it would be just her and Xander.
"Um... nah. I'm supposed to help my mom finish unpacking. We just moved here." I said, a sideways glance throw towards Willow, and her eyes totally said "Thank you."
"Ah, bummer." He said.
"Well, we'd probably better get to class." Willow said. "The bell will be ringing soon, and I don't want to make a bad impression with the teacher on the first day." She said, and Xander smirked.
"Well, probably right."
"What's your first class, Buffy?" Willow asked.
"Um... Biology." I said, looking at my schedule.
"Oh cool!" She said. Obviously, she was warming up to me quite a bit. "Me too!" She said, and we started walking away, with her leading the way, of course.
"I've got History!" Xander shouted down the hall to us. "In case you were... nevermind!"
...
When we got to the classroom, I couldn't believe my eyes. I now knew three people in the same class as me. Well, technically, I only knew two of them,but I recognized the third. Of course, Willow was one. Dawn was the other. Apparently, she had Biology first period, too.
But the third person... When she saw me staring at her again, she smirked, and I know that my blush made my face as red as her hair.
I quickly took my seat near the front of the room so I wouldn't have to look at her, and Willow approved of my choice in seats. Apparently, she was one of the academically-high-standing, likes-to-sit-at-the-front-of-the-class-to-impress-the-teacher types of girls. It always amused me.
"Great!" The teacher said, sounding as chipper as Willow was now coming across to me. "So, why don't we all take the time to get to know each other better. When I call your name, stand up and tell us something about yourself. For example, I am Mrs. Jarvis, no jokes please. And I really, really like the frog dissection part of this class. Good. Now... Tony barnett!" She call a name, and some kid stood up and said his name and gave a fact about himself.I did what most everyone does when this "event" comes around. I zoned out, because no one really wants to know what you have to say. Except when it comes to my turn, then everyone always perks up. I always like to surprize people. It's fun.
Finally, Mrs. Jarvis called Faith's name.
"Faith Lehane." Faith sighed and just sat up in her seat. She didn't stand up, just sat up.
"Yeah, whatever." She said, almost lazily. "I'm Faith and I like to screw girls." I flinched when she said that. That's what I was going to say! Maybe not those exact words, but the message was the same!
But what really got me was the sudden realization the she was gay. And my breath caught.
Several wolf whistles were heard from around the room. I chanced a look. She was smirking and holdingher hands out all cocky, like she was inviting more whistles. I saw several girls scowling at her around the room. I'm assuming they were the girls Faith "screwed". Either that or uptight bitches who thinks gays are disgusting.
The room quieted down and Mrs. Jarvis read off the list again. I felt bad, but I even ignored Willow's ramble when her name was called. I was distracted by the feeling of Faith's eyes on the back of my head, like she was sizing up the new girl for a potential screw.
Then, it was my turn. I was so deep in my thoughts that Mrs. Jarvis had to call my name three times, or so Willow told me later.
"Oh, um... I'm Buffy Summers and..." I looked at Faith, who was staring back at me expectantly, like she already knew what I was about to say. "And yes, this is my natural hair color." I said. I don't know why, but I had the sudden urge to defy Faith's voiceless command to come out. Like if I actually informed everyone that I'm gay, then they'd think I had the hots for Faith, and was just copying her to get her attention.
Faith raised an eyebrow in slight surprize when I avoided what she obviously already knew, then her eyes went to my hair, and nodded, like she was approving of my hair color.
"Dawn Summers." The teacher called once I sat down.
That one caught Faith by surprize. I could tell she was thinking "Wait, she has a sister?"
Dawn stood up like it was an inconvenience.
"I'm Dawn Summers, and unlike my sister, Buffy," she shot a sideways glance towards me, and I glared back at her, "I'm not gay." That got Faith to smile a bit. I think she was actually a bitdisappointed, like she thought maybe she'd been wrong about me, but with Dawn's confession, she was now certain she had me all figured out.
...
The rest of the day was basically spent with me hanging our with Xander or Willow in class, or with both of them if they both had the same class as me, as well as avoiding Faith.
Then, Willow and Xander decided to walk home with me and Dawn, mainly because they didn't want to go home, but also because they heard there might be the presence of sugar at the table waiting for Dawn and me.
"So what's Faith's deal?" I asked them. Dawn was walking about ten feet ahead of us. She was still mad at me for splitting Mom and Dad up, because it was my fault.
"What do you mean?" Xander asked. Willow grinned knowingly.
"Looks like our new friend here has a crush on the resident bad girl." Willow said. I blushed.
"What? No!" I denied.
"Wait, Buffy's gay?" Xander asked.
"Yes! She's gay! Get over it!" Dawn shouted.
Willow and Xander flinched slightly, startled, but quickly returned to the topic of my orientation.
"Oh, come on, Buffy, you know it's true." Willow teased. "You were staring at her all through Biology."
"What?!" I shrieked. "I was trying not to stare!" Then, I realized I'd fallen into her trap.
"Gotcha!" Willow said. Xander was off in daydreamland, obviously thinking about me and Faith together.
"Okay, fine. So... there might be the presence of some... attraction to Faith." I admit.
Willow's face got serious all of a sudden. "Okay, well... Just promise you won't, you know... try and get into a relationship with her."
"What?" I asked. "Why not? She taken?" I tease. "Besides, who said anything about a relationship?"
"Okay, good." Willow said.
"Wait, why shouldn't I try and get into a relationship with her?" I asked Willow. Xander snapped out of his fantasy in time to answer.
"Let's just say she's been around and leave it at that."
"What? Come on, I need more than that." I say.
"Well..." Willow started. "She, um... She likes to get into... She likes to sleep around. She, um... She's... I think the term for Faith is "emotionally unavailable." She spends a lot of time getting to know a girl, and she's really good at making them feel special, like they're the only one that matters to her, then she finally gets into their pants, and she ditches them after she's done with them. It's like a game to her. See how many girls she can get to fall in love with her. She even turned a few straight girls gay, but they went back to the straight-and-narrow, if you know what I mean, once she was done with them."
"Yeah." Xander said with a scowl and a sideways glance towards Willow, who looked like she was in tears.
"Wait..." I stop and I look Willow in the eyes. "Willow, did... Did she do that to you?" I ask quietly.
"No." Willow said. "Not her... It... It was someone else. A guy. His... His name was... His name was Parker." She said, and the tears that had been welling up in her eyes fell down her cheeks.
"He was nice and charming. Hell, even I liked him. he was a good friend for a while." Xander said. "He got real close to Will, and... And she just gave herself to him. All of herself. And he just went and ignored her right after. Said it was just a night of fun."
"Gave herself... you mean...?"
"Yup." Willow said angrily. "I was a virgin. And I let him take me. All of me." She wiped her eyes and tried to laugh it off, but that's not something that one jokes about. "Anyway, my point is, Faith is just like Parker was. She likes to stand up for people, because she's had it kind of rough, but that's where the chivalry ends. Occasionally, she'll cut Cordelia down when she's picking on some girl, and Faith'll make it her mission to get into that girl's pants. And she always succeeds. And the girl's heart is almost always broken. A couple of the girls Faith's slept with are just like her, they just like to have fun, but most of them... They end up either dropping out or moving away."
"Ouch." I said, and I felt sick for Willow.
"Yeah, it's pretty harsh." Willow agreed, just as we were walking up the steps to my house.
...
"Hey, girls, how was school today?" Mom asked me and she noticed Willow and Xander with me.
"And who're your friends?" She noticed Willow's red face and realized she'd been crying. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Mrs. Summers." Willow said.
"Mom, this is Willow and Xander." I said, glancing over at Willow to make sure she was okay.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you." Mom said to both of them. "Willow, are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, Mrs. Summers. Just a bit emotional today. First day of school and all." Willow deflected like a pro.
"Oh, I see. Well, please, call me Joyce. Mrs. Summers is my ex-mother-in-law." Mom smiled. "Well, kids, snacks are in the kitchen, help yourself, Dawn, I need to speak with you." Mom looked angrily at Dawn, who sighed and put down the brownie she'd picked up.
"Uh-oh." I said when my mom and Dawn were gone.
"What?" Xander asked.
"Apparently, the school's already called mom. I wonder what Dawn stole today?"
"What do you mean?" Willow asked, glad the conversation wasn't on her anymore.
"Dawn's a kleptomaniac. Ever since my parents started to split up, she's been stealing things to get their attention, and now she just can't stop."
"Oh." Xander and Willow said at the same time.
"So, tell me about Faith." I said again. Willow and Xander groaned.
"Okay, I was wrong about you having a crush on her. It's an obsession!" Willow teased.
"Well, I can't help it if you guys won't really tell me anything. I don't care if she sleeps around. I didn't say I was looking to date her or anything. I just want to know about her. You know, know what to watch out for in case she sets her sights on me."
Willow sighed."What do you want to know?"
"Well... I mean... is she fake?"
"What?" Willow asked.
"No, she's all natural. No plastic what-so-ever." Xander replied, and Willow and I raise an eyebrow at him. "What? You asked if she was fake."
"How do you know if she's had plastic surgery?" Willow asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Xander asked. "I have a gift. I can tell when someone's been plasticked."
"Really?" Willow asked, like "Mm-hmm. Right."
"Okay, I figured out how to tell when Cordy got that nose job, remember?"
"Anyway..." I said. "Back to the original subject. I don't mean has she had plastic surgery or anything. I mean, is she fake? She's not one of those rich kids who acts poor just so she can say she's struggled, is she?"
"Oh, no. Trust me, she's struggled. It's one of the only two things I respect about her." Willow said. "I mean, I'm not going to go into any details or anything, you'll have to ask her yourself, if you're really interested, but she's got it rough."
"Yeah. Willow's right about that." Xander agreed, shoving another of my mom's brownies into his mouth. Oh, I didn't mean that like that. I meant a literal brownie! Oh, very, very bad mental image! Very bad brain!
"Okay." I'll accept that. For now. "So... I mean, how well do you guys even really know her? I mean, she might just have some issues or something. Maybe all those times she's broken girls' hearts, she was just testing them or something, seeing if they cared enough about her to fight for her. Maybe she doesn't want to take a chance on someone who's not willing to fight for her."
"Buffy, you're reaching." Willow said. "It's obvious you like her, Buffy, but trust us. Let her go. She's not the relationship type."
I sighed. "Fine. I guess." I admit, I'm disappointed.
Two hours later, Willow and Xander head home. Another three hours after that, and I'm crawling into bed and falling asleep.
And dreaming about a certain dark-haired girl in a leather jacket.
...
I woke up the next morning and had an epiphamy... epiphany... epi... well, however the hell it's spelled, I had one! I can't stop thinking about Faith ever since I saw her the previous morning. And I decide I'm not going to let the rumors about Faith discourage me. I'm just going to have to find out for myself what she's like. And that means getting to know her.
So, now I'm standing with Willow and Xander outside the doors, still thirty minutes to go before the first morning bell rings.
We're talking about nothing in particular when I see Faith and her gang walk over to the front steps. Most of them lean up against the side of the building while others sit down on the steps. Faith is just standing there, talking about something with the group. Something about how she threw some rich kid into a dumpster for poking fun at her jacket. The other "tough guys" burst into laughter at that, and Faith notices me staring at her again. She slaps one of her friends in the chest and says she'll be right back.
I turn back to Willow and Xander quickly, who noticed my staring as well. And Faith walks right up to me and taps me on the shoulder.
"Hey, Blondie." She says, and I turn to face her.
"It's Buffy." I correct her, purposely putting some attitude into my voice, like I'm mad that she threw someone in a dumpster, though I've got to admit, I do like her jacket.
She whistles, like she's commenting on my attitude, but can see right through it.
"What's up with the stare fest, huh?" She asks, and even through her sunglasses, I can see her eyes laughing at me, though she's very good at keeping it from reaching her mouth. Her lips. The big, plump red lips that I suddenly find myself staring at. And she doesn't fail to notice.
"Hey, Blondie, my eyes are up here." She sayd, growling, but I can still see the humor in her eyes.
"It's Buffy." I correct again.
"Right, sorry, whatever. So, Buffy, you mind tellin' me what you're starin' at me for over there? And why you kept starin' at me all day yesterday?" She knows why. She knows she's hot. And she know's that anyone who's even remotely attracted to girls seriously has the hots for her.
I figure that she's probably the type of person who appreciates directness instead of beating around the bush, so if I'm going to have any chance of proving Willow and Xander wrong, I'm going to have to play the tough girl act, too.
"So what, a girl can't appreciate a good view?" I ask, taunting her, and I can feel Willow and Xander tense up. Meanwhile, I see the corner of Faith's mouth twitch slightly, amused.
"Well, I guess a good view is always appreciated." Faith agrees.
"You know, I might look better if you'd take off those sunglasses." Faith's mouth twitches again.
"You got balls, girl." She says, but she takes off her sunglasses anyway, and I'm amazed by the deep chocolate brown irises. I'm dumbstruck. I don't know if I can talk. She smiles slightly. "What do you know? Looks like you're right. The view is better without shades." She says, then she puts her sunglasses back on and walks back over to her friends, swinging her hips as she walks away.
"Well... Looks like you're on her radar now, Buff." Xander says grudingly.
"Looks like..." I mutter in agreement. Damn. She's so sexy, even with the sunglasses hiding her eyes, but when I see her without them, up close... She's not just sexy... She's stunning.