AN: I don't own Buffy The Vampire Slayer, or any of the characters, they belong to Joss Whedon. I just own Nikki and Rea.
Nikki's POV.
I let out a soft sigh, as I pulled my headphones off. "We're here!" My step-mother, Zara, proclaimed happily, as we stopped outside the place that she and my father had called home for the past few months. "Brilliant." I commented through gritted teeth, studying the stereotypical suburban house. "Oh come on, Nik. You could look a little cheerier." Zara encouraged me, as I put on a fake smile. "That's more like it!" She exclaimed, getting out of the car and pulling my suitcase with her. I really didn't want to be here, with my sport addicted father and hyper step-mother, but things weren't that much better with my mother either. That's why I was here.
Well, that's what my mother had said, anyway.
I stepped out of the car, which Zara promptly locked behind me. Picking up my suitcase once again, she flashed me another nauseating smile. "I'll be inside. Come and join me and your father, when you're ready." She spoke, and I softly nodded as she walked inside with my stuff. I placed my hands in my pockets, as I noticed someone stood on the street corner. Someone I recognised. I smiled at them, as they approached me quickly, their long coat shaking with each step they took. It was a young woman, only a few years older than me, with red hair that stopped at her neckline and dark slightly cynical looking blue eyes. This was Rea, my Mentor of the past 7 months and the sole friend I had in this world. "Nik." Rea greeted, with a soft nod. "Rea." I replied, as she pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged her back, as her presence had always been strangely comforting to me, and I needed all the reassurance I could get right now. "So, kiddo, what do you think?" She questioned, pulling away from me slightly. I shrugged my shoulders. "It's dull." I commented, as Rea let out a faint chuckle.
"Oh believe me, you won't be saying that for long." She answered. "This town is home to a Hellmouth. There's all sorts of Supernatural things here." I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and she let out another laugh. "I knew that'd get your attention!" She exclaimed, ruffling my dark hair. I pulled away from her, attempting to flatten back out my hair. "What are you doing here, anyway? We're a long way from Alaska." I inquired, and my Mentor shrugged her shoulders. "You're my best student. Wherever you go, I go. Even if it requires changing countries." She answered, putting her hands back in her pockets. "You start school tomorrow, don't you? Sunnydale High, right?" I nodded in response.
"Why do you want to know?" I questioned, tilting my head slightly.
"Never you mind. Just... there's someone there who might be able to help you." Rea replied. "Look for the Librarian, alright?" I sighed.
"Rea, please don't do this again. Stop with all the riddles. Why do I have to go see some Librarian?" I questioned, placing my hands on my hips. Rea bit her lip, and stayed silent for a moment. "Well?" I encouraged, and she let out a soft noise of annoyance.
"Nik, skip the lecture." She instructed. "Just find him, alright? Listen, I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow, kid. Look after yourself, alright?"
"Do you have to go?" I asked. "I don't want to be left with super perky Zara." Rea softly sighed, pulling me into another hug.
"I'm sorry, Nikki. But, things will get better. I promise." She assured me, lightly kissing the top of my head. I scoffed.
"Have you got a crystal ball or something?" I questioned doubtfully, as she let go of me.
"Something like that." She answered, a faint smirk appearing on her face. "See you around, Nik." And with that, she turned her back and proceeded to walk away from me. I watched her go until she had disappeared from my sight, at which point I turned to look back at the house.
Well, I guess it was technically my home now.
When I reached school the following morning, I got lost within moments. The school itself was huge! Especially compared to my last school, which just consisted of two small blocks and a canteen. This place was like a maze! I turned a corner, and entered through a set of double doors, and entered a large room full of books. So, this was the library? Before I got a chance to study my surroundings, I was disturbed by a man. Visually, he looked only slightly older than Rea, with brown hair and large round glasses that made his dark green eyes more noticeable. He adjusted his glasses slightly, studying my physical appearance. I probably didn't make the best first impression, dressed in a scruffy t-shirt and jeans, I'll be honest. "Can I help you?" The man inquired in a British accent. Nervously, I ran a hand through my hair and awkwardly smiled at him. "I'm new here. Sorry, I got a bit lost, and stumbled in here. I have no idea where I'm going, I'll be honest." I admitted. I had no idea why this guy was making me so nervous. In my life, I'd faced many things from my worst nightmares, and yet a guy with a British accent frightened me? What on Earth was going on? I attempted to remove those thoughts from my mind, as the man took a few steps towards me. "Oh, I see." The man replied. "Well, this is the library, as you may have guessed. Where do you want to go?"
"I'm looking for the Principal's office." I answered, and the man nodded.
"Alright, you leave here, go down the hall, and it's the second door on your right." He instructed, and I gratefully smiled at him.
"Thank you very much, Mr..." I trailed off, as the man answered,
"Giles. I'm the school librarian." Almost immediately, Rea's words from yesterday entered my mind. But, why did she want me to meet this guy? He's just a librarian, surely? "Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Nicola Reed." A brief look of recognition came over his face, as he studied me once again. "Pleasure." He replied. "If you ever need to take out a book, you know where to come." I nodded once again, adjusting my bag strap and glancing at my watch. "Anyway, I'd better get going. Thank you for your help, Mr Giles." I stated, going to leave the library, as he called after me, "You're very welcome, Miss Reed. Come back anytime, I'm always willing to help with directions." I flashed him one last smile, before leaving. Well, I liked him.
I had no idea why Rea wanted me to get to know him, but I could almost sense that everything wasn't quite as it seemed. When Rea was involved, nothing ever was.
This was only the beginning. Well, so much for a normal life, I guess.
Before I managed to reach the Principal's office, I managed to crash into somebody, literally inches from the library. It was a girl, about my age with long brown hair and kind dark brown eyes. "Oh!" She said, as I brushed myself down. "I'm sorry." I shook my head, attempting to reassure her. "Don't worry about it, it was my fault." I answered. "I wasn't looking where I was going. It's kinda overwhelming."
"Oh, are you new?" The girl inquired, and I nodded.
"I just transferred from Alaska." I explained. "I'm Nicola Reed," I added, offering her my hand. The girl took it, giving me an awkward smile.
"I'm Willow Rosenberg." She replied. "Nice to meet you. Do you have an idea where you're going?" I nodded in response.
"Yeah, I'm looking for the Principal's office! The librarian told me that it's up here?" Willow nodded, as I adjusted the bag on my back. It was then that I noticed the significant lack of students in this hallway. "Where is everyone?" I asked Willow, and she replied,
"At the cheerleading try-outs. That's where my friends are." Oh, so this school had cheerleaders? Brilliant. I'm sure we'd get on fabulously. Especially if they lived up to the 'mean girl' stereotype. "Oh, alright then. Where are these try-outs?" I questioned, as the pair of us began to walk slowly. "In the auditorium. Are you thinking of trying out?" I let out a chuckle, and shook my head.
"No, it's not really my scene. I just figured I'd try and make some friends, you know? I'm here for a few months, I may as well try." Willow nodded as if she understood, and said, "Well, you can come and join us if you want! I'm sure Buffy and Xander would like to meet you." I tilted my head slightly, which caused her to continue, "They're my friends." Oh. Well, I doubt this girl would want to be friends with me. People with their own social circles tended to avoid me. I was too geeky for cool people, and too awkward for nerdy people. "Don't look quite so worried." Willow commented. "They're both really nice." I nodded once again, placing my hands in my pockets. "Come on, I'll introduce you." Nervousness took over me, as I shyly nodded at her, and followed her down the hallway to the large auditorium. Surprisingly, there were so many people here for the try-outs! I was slightly overwhelmed by the sudden amount of people surrounding me, and was grateful that I had Willow there. At least I knew who she was. She led me over to two people, one boy and one girl. The boy was much taller than me with dark eyes and dark hair, similar to Willow. He greeted me and Willow with a bright smile, as Willow stood beside him. Presumably, this was Xander. The girl had light blonde hair and bright green eyes, and greeted me with a nod. "Hi." She greeted. "Who's this?"
"I'm Nicola." I replied, offering the girl, who I guessed was Buffy, my hand. "But most call me Nikki. I'm new here." Buffy gave me a slight smile, taking my hand. "Oh, I know what that feels like. I was the new girl myself a few weeks ago! Where did you transfer from?" She inquired. "Alaska." I replied, with a grateful smile. I was glad that Buffy and Willow were being nice to me. "What about you?"
"LA." She answered. "So, are you trying out?" I shook my head, noticing that they were beginning to clear the floor space.
"It's not really my sort of thing. Are you?" Buffy nodded, as Xander took this moment to interrupt, preventing Buffy from saying anything else.
"Hi. I'm Xander Harris, nice to meet you." He commented, with a slight smirk, which caused my nervousness to come back. I doubt he was flirting with me, but as I gathered with the librarian from earlier, I don't get on too well with members of the opposite gender. I always tend to say something wrong. "Hi." I answered. "I'm Nikki. Nice to meet you, Xander." I turned, just in time to see that the floor was entirely clear. Try-outs were about to begin.
One of the cheerleaders called a girl called Amber onto the floor to go first, which Buffy didn't seem too happy with. The dark haired girl on Buffy's right seemed even more unhappy, going as far as turning her back on Amber. "Who's she?" I asked Willow, gesturing to the dark haired girl. "Oh, that's Cordelia." She answered. "She's not very nice." I raised an eyebrow, but before I could ask anything else, Amber began her routine. She was actually really good. I think. I don't really know a lot about cheerleading, so to me, it just looked like she was jumping around with her hands in the air. Finally, after a few seconds of prancing around, she picked up two golden sets of pompoms, and began using them. I folded my arms across my chest, as I noticed something. It looked like she was being surrounded by smoke? Was she on fire? I looked around at the people around me, but only Willow seemed to have noticed. "That girl is on fire!" She commented, as Cordelia rolled her eyes.
"Enough of the hyperbole." She commented, as I shook my head.
"No, she's literally on fire!" I exclaimed, as Amber's hands burst into flame. People around me began to scream as I instinctively ran towards her and pushed her to the floor hoping that would put out the fire. When that didn't extinguish the flame, I tried to think of something else, as quickly as I could. The screams continued, as Buffy appeared by my side, and wrapped Amber in some material. The flames quickly devoured the material, but thankfully, died out soon after. I let out a sigh of relief, as Buffy attempted to calm down the clearly terrified Amber. "There's no way that was normal." I mumbled to myself, as my brain quickly made a link. But I quickly discouraged it.
There was no way that a teenager would be using witchcraft at cheerleading try-outs. Right?
AN: And I'm going to end it there! Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! I'd really like to know what you think, since this is my first Buffy story and I'm very nervous about it. If you're going to hate, please don't be too harsh. I can accept constructive criticism, but I won't tolerate being mean for the sake of being mean. Anyway, please let me know what you thought, and I'll see you in the next one!