At first, Bella reminded me of me. At first. She was moody, she didn't really like to talk to people. I heard she'd transferred to Sunnydale from the Pacific Northwest so you'd think the Vitamin D would've done her good, but when I saw her in the cafeteria, hunched over her chicken nuggets, she looked sickly and pale.

Xander leaned into my shoulder, whispering, "Do you think she's a vamp?"

I shook my head. "Nah. She couldn't be at school during the day if she was."

"I hear," Xander said, chewing in my ear and gesturing with his nugget, "that vamps are different in Seattle."

"What, like they wear flannel?" I pushed him away and concentrated on sculpting the jell-o into a series of smaller blobs.

"No. Like they can go out in daylight."

My spoon clattered on the tray and I quickly looked down as Bella, and everyone else on this side of the cafeteria looked at me. I cleared my throat. "That's not possible. Not without some kind of magic anyway."

I knew Bella and I didn't have much in common when she came into the library to check out a book. Giles about fell out of his chair, trying to help/distract her from the fact that the library was mostly a cover for our own research and training. "C-c-can I help you?" he stuttered. I rolled my eyes, but quickly slid the stake I'd been sharpening into my backpack under the table.

"I'm looking for a book…."

God help her if she said on vampires or on magic because she was already on my shit list.

"Wuthering Heights," she said.

"Oh-oh-oh," Giles choked. "Yes, of course, let me find it."
While Giles was putting in the bookshelves, I went to the checkout desk and held out my hand. "I'm Buffy."

Bella smiled (or tried to) and shook my head weakly. "I'm Bella."

"What brings you to Sunnydale?" I asked.

She looked down at her feet. "I'm staying with my aunt and uncle. I had some…problems with my dad."

I was back to feeling sympathetic, being as how me and my dad didn't exactly have a model relationship. "Gotcha. Say no more," I said. Giles returned with the book and scanned it.

"You wanna go to The Bronze this weekend? Some of my friends and I usually hang out there." I was still unsure about this girl, but I figured I should give her the benefit of the doubt and more recon before making my mind up.

"Sure," said Bella, putting Wuthering Heights in her backpack, "I'll be there."

"She's coming here?" Xander asked, yelling over the music.

I nodded. "Recon."

"Okay, okay." Xander ran his fingers through his hair. "Does my hair look all right?"

"It looks fine," Willow insisted, rolling her eyes. "How do you know this girl?" she asked me.

"I don't, really. But you know, every new kid has to get a slayer screening. That's like a rule or something."

"Hi." The quiet voice at my side was Bella.

"You must be Bella," Willow said, shoving Xander aside and offering her hand. "I'm Willow."

"Can I..uh…get you a drink?" Xander stumbled.

Bella looked around at us. I held up my cup, "Just coke for me."

I couldn't tell if she was relieved or disappointed. "I'll have the same," she said.

"Right-o." Xander sauntered to the bar.

Like clockwork, or at least Murphy's law, I felt the arm around my shoulders. "Angel," I said, feeling like the breath had been knocked out of me; I started sweating. Angel often had that effect on me, but I hadn't been prepared to see him when I'd invited Bella out.

Xander splashed a bit of his drinks on Willow when he came back. "Angel!" He squeaked. "Good to see you."

"You too, buddy."

"Angel," I said, laying my hand on top of his, "this is Bella."

Something passed between the two when they introduced themselves to each other. I didn't know what. Did they already know each other? Maybe Xander had been right about her being a vamp.

Angel took me aside by the arm and leaned his mouth close to my ear. "Look, I came because I've heard trouble is on its way."

"Here?"

Angel nodded. "We gotta get them," he nodded towards our friends, "out of here."

"Let me handle it."

I went back to the table. I looked at Willow and Xander and then at Bella. "Um, I can't explain, but I need you all to leave."

Willow and Xander understood.

"But I want to stay and help," Willow said.

"Get out of here, Will."

Bella's gaze kept moving between all of us. "What's going on?"

"I told you. I can't -"

The vampires burst into The Bronze through the front door, sneering and slobbering.

"Shit. Get her out of here!" I yelled, grabbing a stake out of my bag.

"What are those!?" Bella cried, staring open mouthed at the vampires.

"Well explain later," Willow said, grabbing her hand. "Let's get out of here."

"Go to the back exit, I'll cover you," I said, roundhouse kicking a vamp and staking him into dust. I breathed a small sigh of relief when they'd left the building, but continued to push through the wall of vamps with Angel at my side.

When we'd staked the last one, we found ourselves in an empty Bronze. Angel's face slowly shifted back to normal. I went behind the deserted bar, wiping my sweaty palms on my pants. "Care for a drink?" I asked.

Angel laughed. "Got any O positive?"

I felt the dread coming on when Bella approached me on the campus lawn during lunch. She sat down next to me and opened her lunchbag. "So…that was weird on Friday."

"Yep," I said, biting into my sandwich.

"That guy Angel, is he your boyfriend?"

"Um…yeah. Sort of. I guess so."

"And he and those guys with the wrinkly faces, they're vampires."

"So Willow and Xander told you."

Bella nodded. "Don't be mad at them."

"I'm not…" I stopped chewing. "You don't seem freaked out at all by this."

"My boyfriend's a vampire too."

I swallowed quickly and coughed. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah. He still lives in Forks, but he might come to visit me soon."

"You're human, right?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"For now." Her face had this dream look on it.

"What? You want to be one of those uggos?"

"I want to be with Edward forever. Being a vampire is the only way to do that."

I shook my head. "Look Bella, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I mean, no sunlight, no food…and living forever couldn't be that great either."

"The vampires I know are different," she said. "They can out in the sun."

"What?" This was bad. This was really bad. I didn't want any daywalkers on my turf, not when I had just gotten my grades up. I had to tell Giles. I stood up.

"What's wrong?" She stood to meet my gaze.

"Bella, you don't understand. Your boyfriend might be a nice guy but I don't want his friends coming around here or I'm going to have to stake them."

Something in her twitched. "No."

I raised my eyebrows. "I was the new girl once too. I can never fit in because of what I do, but you still have a chance. I suggest you take it."

Through clenched teeth, Bella only muttered, "I don't need to fit in if it means taking orders from you."

She walked off, leaving her lunch behind. I picked it up and stuffed it into my backpack. When you're a slayer, you need as many calories as you can get.