"First Impressions"

Willow stood beside Mr. Beckman's desk quickly trying to sort through the quizzes the class had passed forward as they headed out the door after the bell rang.

She ran through the list, only paying attention to the last names in the top, right-hand corners. Hammond, Harris...

Mr. Beckman was a stickler for being organized, something Willow could appreciate. He preferred to grade papers in alphabetical order. She was glad she could help out even though she'd seen some of the other students roll their eyes when she stopped to gather up the mass of papers and bring them to the teacher's desk.

She just hoped she would be done in enough time to copy her notes for Xander and Jesse before the kid she was supposed to tutor showed up.

Oz slid casually out of his desk as the bell rang. He supressed a yawn as he wandered out of the class and into the busy halls of Sunnydale High.

"Oz! Devon's looking for you, man." Jason came up beside Oz as he continued walking.

"What's up?" Oz asked.

"I dunno. He was heading for room 121." Jason lowered his voice conspiratorially, "He has to see some student tutor about failing math!" Jason was grinning as he shared this information.

Oz raised an eyebrow. Devon? Study with a tutor? "Never happen." He amended. Jason laughed and took off down the hall.

Oz sighed a little and turned around to head back the other way to the other side of the school in search of Devon.

He glanced around. He didn't spend much time in this part of the school. He nodded to a few kids he knew, but most of these students were strangers to him.

Holding his books at his side, he stopped just before colliding with a tall, dark haired boy who had stopped short and dropped his own books on the floor. The boy looked at Oz.

"Ever have one of those days where you're not sure you ever actually woke up from your debilitating nightmare?"

"Been there." Oz sympathized. The boy gave him a goofy grin.

As the boy stooped to pick up his books, he spoke again.

"I promised my buddy, Willow, I'd get to the library today. Don't wanna disappoint or she might not help me to not fail trig."

He finished gathering his books and stood up.

Willow. Oz thought. What a cool name. He wondered if the girl attached to such a unique name was as equally cool. If she was going to help this boy with his trig, Oz knew she must be pretty smart. He liked girls who were smart.

"The place where the books live, it's that way right?" The boy interrupted his thoughts while he pointed down the hall.

At Oz's puzzled look he added, "Now, you gotta understand, I've only been here since last year. So there's no real reason why I should know where it is. I can locate the important stuff. You know, lunch room, snack machines, comfy napping corners, girls' locker room. . ."

Oz smirked as the boy moved past him. "Funny guy." Oz said as he started back down the hall.

He was stopped once again when Larry stood in front of him. Larry was a big guy who was known as a bully. Even though he was just a sophomore, he seemed to command attention from nearly everyone. But Oz suspected the boy's actions hid an extreme insecurity about himself.

"Oz, dude, did you hear about the dead guy in that girl's locker?" He started. Oz stared.

"Yeah, this girl opened her locker and this dead dude just fell out on top of her." Oz gaped at him. That must have been an experience, he thought.

"There's a rumor going around that he turned down that new chick, Bunny or whatever, for a date and she was ticked. Maybe she doesn't take no for an answer." Larry shook his head with an evil grin spreading across his face. "Sounds like my kind of girl."

He leaned in closer to Oz and nudged him with his elbow.

"A girl like that's gotta be experienced. Bet she's good, if you know what I mean."

Oz decided he needed to get out of this conversation. "You're not making a subtle point, Larry. Gotta go." He moved around the bigger guy.

A dead boy in the girls' locker room? What kind of sick person would do something like that? It was an inhuman act. In fact, Oz could hardly believe a human being would do such a thing.

There were so many strange deaths and disappearences in Sunnydale. Oz didn't understand why, but he knew something was going on that most people knew nothing about. He didn't know what it was, either, but he knew Sunnydale wasn't your average town.

A new girl named Bunny? Weird name, Oz thought. He hadn't heard about any new girl, but, then, maybe she was in a different grade. Oz felt sorry for the girl. Brand new to Sunnydale High and already had rumors being spread about her.

Oz didn't listen to rumors. He got to know someone and decided for himself what kind of person they were. But he knew a lot of people didn't bother to do that.

Sighing, he spotted the room he was looking for just a little ways down the hall. Before he started walking towards it, a raised voice caught his attention.

He looked over to see he was standing in front of the library doors. Looking through the see-through window on one of the doors, he glimpsed a blond girl with an angry scowl on her face, talking to what must have been the librarian.

He couldn't hear their words, but judging by the loudness in their voices and the intensity of their expressions, Oz figured they were in a heated discussion.

He was fairly curious. He knew nobody went to the library unless they absolutely had to and stayed for as short a time as possible.

He would have doubted any student spent enough time there to become comfortable enough with the librarian to get into some sort of argument with him. Apparently, he was wrong.

He saw the girl turn and rush in his direction.

He remembered why he was here in the first place and started towards room 121. He heard the girl fly out of the library behind him.

He turned his head as he walked, and caught sight of the librarian hurrying out of the library with a frantic look on his face as he was trying to catch up with the blond. Hmm... Guess he's really cracking down on overdue books, Oz mused, before turning back around.

Finally, Willow thought triumphantly as she placed the list of the papers neatly onto the teacher's desk.

He'd already left the room and so Willow was alone. Just as she was prepared to sit down to wait for the kid she was supposed to tutor, the door opened and a dark-haired boy popped his head into the room.

"Hey, uh... Tell whoever that I can't do that tutor thing. Yeah, I got an appointment... Um... Dentist." With that he closed the door and left Willow, alone.

She stared after him for a moment. She was used to this sort of thing happening. Sighing, she gathered up her books and headed for the door.

Maybe she would copy the notes from class for Xander and Jesse before heading home so she could concentrate on her own homework before she went to the Bronze that evening. Jesse had suggested they all meet up there and the thought of spending time with Xander made her heart do little flips.

Of course, he really didn't look at her that way. She never asked if he liked her as more than a friend because she feared his answer. At least this way, she could fool herself into believing she stood a chance. In reality, Willow didn't believe any boy could ever be interested in her. She didn't think she was that pretty. She didn't think boys liked girls who were as smart as her or who rambled on like she did. It was hard to make friends, much less get a boyfriend. Any friends were nice, as far as Willow was concerned.

There was that new girl, Buffy, who was really nice and Willow hoped that she would show up at the Bronze. When she'd first seen the new girl, she was hanging with Cordelia. Deciding this meant that the new girl was already on a path to meanness, Willow was shocked when Buffy approached her and was not only nice, but seemed to want to be friends!

Willow wondered if Buffy was the kind of person that she'd get to be good friends with. She hadn't had a close girl friend in a long time. Her closest friends were all boys. Not that she minded. She really had fun with Xander and Jesse, but it sure would be nice to have a girl to talk about girl things with. She couldn't exactly talk about boys with boys.

Lost in her own thoughts, she paid no attention when she swung the door open with determination. She didn't notice the THUD sound that accompanied the door as it collided with another solid object on the other side.

Willow rushed off without looking back, unaware of having caused any disruption.

Oz felt a half-smile slide onto his face as he saw Devon open a door and tell the occupants of the room that he had an "appointment"

He'd seen Devon flirting with a girl with long blond hair and arranging to spend some time with her, instead of going to his tutoring session.

Devon didn't notice Oz as he let the door close back up and turned to the lockers and the girl leaning against them, smiling.

Oz was watching them as he headed in their direction. He figured Devon wanted him to do some kind of errand that would include the use of his van.

"So, Harm, how'd you like to go to a party tonight?" Devon asked the girl who was twirling a strand of hair around her finger. The girl had a vacant look on her face. It looked even more vacant than Devon's usually looked. Not that Oz cared one way or the other. He was just the observant type.

As Oz came close and was almost in front of room 121, he was too busy looking at Devon and the girl to notice the door he was getting ready to pass was opening again, at a rather rapid pace.

The next thing he knew, Oz felt something hard slam into him, making a special impact on his head. He fell backwards with a small groan, landing on the floor with a THUD.

He slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He glanced around, fully expecting to see an apologetic face staring down at him. Instead, he saw Devon approaching him.

He grabbed up his books and rubbed his forehead where the sharp pain was hitting him.

"Oz! Dude! That chick knocked you flat." He laughed. "I need something big to move equipment in. You'll help, right?" Devon asked while Oz climbed to his feet.

"Yeah. Sure."

Oz took one more glance around, searching for the 'chick' in question. He saw the back of a pretty auburn head of hair hurrying away. The girl, whoever she was, had either not noticed what she'd done, or didn't want to fess up.

There was a small welt forming above Oz's right eye.

Rubbing the welt while staring after the girl, he thought to himself. She sure knows how to make a first impression. Who is that girl?