Elizabeth Summers, better known to her friends and family as Buffy, tossed and turned in her bed. It was 2am and she had class in the morning, but she couldn't seem to sleep. She sighed as she turned over once more and then sat up in bed. She looked over to her twin sister's side of the room. Faith was sound asleep as usual—she never seemed to have trouble sleeping. Buffy finally picked up the remote that was on her nightstand and turned on their TV. As she did, Faith turned over, sleepy-eyed.

"B, what are you doing? It's 2 in the morning?" Faith asked as she looked at her alarm clock.

"Can't sleep" Buffy said plainly, flipping through the channels.

"Well then go downstairs and watch TV, you know I can't sleep with it on" Faith complained, turning back over in bed and pulling the covers over her head. Buffy sighed and flicked the TV off.

"Fine" she pouted and got up, slipping her feet into her slippers before going over to the door and opening it.

"Are you okay?" Faith asked, turning back to face her. Buffy's boyfriend had recently broken up with her—for the tenth time this year—and Buffy was really down about it.

"Yeah" was all Buffy said before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her, careful not to wake her mother and younger sister. Faith sighed and rolled back over once again. She knew her sister wasn't fine, but it was way too late and she was way too tired to talk about Parker now. After laying there for a couple more minutes the guilt got the best of her and she sighed.

"Shit" Faith muttered to herself and got out of bed to go check on Buffy.

Faith walked downstairs to find her sister sitting in the kitchen, twirling a straw in the glass of soda she had poured.

"Buffy"

"What are you doing up? I thought you went back to sleep."

"I can to check on you" Faith told her.

"I'm fine."

"Who do you think you're talking to? I'm your sister, your twin sister. We've been together from the womb and I know you better than that, you can't lie to me."

"I don't wanna talk about it, Fai" Buffy said quietly, trying to hold back tears.

"Well, maybe talking is exactly what you need to do" Faith told her. Buffy looked up at the brunette. Her eyes were glistening as she kept the tears at bay.

"What do you want me to say? I'm a dumbass. I knew damn well if I took Parker back for the millionth time he'd end up cheating on me or breaking up with me again like he always does when he gets bored…it's my fault for falling for his bullshit again" Buffy said, anger and hurt growing in her voice. Faith went over and sat next to her sister.

"Buffy, shut up." Buffy looked at her, surprised.

"What? You just told me to talk to you and now you're telling me to shut up?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "No, I mean stop blaming yourself for the shitty things that asshole does. He's the one who makes his choices, not anyone else. Yes, I admit, you're at fault for not telling him to go fuck himself the last time he asked you back, but that's it. None of this is your fault, B, and I'm tired of hearing you talk about yourself that way. What happened to you? You used to be so confident and independent."

Buffy's mouth quivered and Faith could tell she was going to cry. She reached over and pulled her into a hug as Buffy began to sob.

"shhh, it's gonna be okay" Faith said quietly, holding her sister and stroking her hair. Buffy got a hold of herself, pulling away from Faith and wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Ugh, you're right, Fai, you're right! I'm not gonna sit here and feel sad while Parker's out fucking god knows who and not feeling a damn thing" Buffy stated, anger still growing.

"Yes, I am right, as always" Faith smiled. Buffy smiled back at her sister, she really was always right about these things, and she always seemed to know what to say to make Buffy feel better, even if it was just a little bit. "Come on, let's go watch some TV." Buffy and Faith got up and Faith put her arm around Buffy as they walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Joyce walked downstairs to make coffee for herself and breakfast for her daughters as she did every morning. As she reached the bottom and went to enter the kitchen, she saw Buffy and Faith, sitting up asleep on the couch, Faith's head on Buffy's shoulder. She walked into the living room to wake them so they weren't late for school.

"Girls? Girls, wake up" Joyce told them and they both opened their eyes, adjusting them to the bright sunlight that shined through the living room window behind the couch.

"What time is it?" Buffy asked as both girls stretched.

"Time to get up for school" Joyce told them. "How'd you fall asleep down here, I saw you go to bed last night?"

"Long, Parker-filled story, ma, don't ask" Faith told her as she got up to remove the enormous wedgie that had happened during her uncomfortable sleep on the sofa.

"You're not back with him again, are you, sweetie?" Joyce looked at Buffy with concern. She had seen her daughter's heart break way too many times over this boy in her opinion. The mama lion in her really wanted to remove the part of him that made him a "man", but she tried to stay out of her teenage daughters' affairs as best as she could.

"God no" Buffy told her and she silently sighed with relief.

"Good" Joyce breathed. "I'm gonna make breakfast, you girls better get ready for school. And make sure Dawnie's awake, will you?"

"Sure thing, mom" Buffy said as both girls ran up to their room to get dressed.

After checking to make sure their little sister was awake and getting ready as well, Buffy joined Faith in their bedroom to choose her outfit for the day. As Buffy pulled out a pair of sweats, Faith rolled her eyes and sighed at her sister.

"B, come on, wear something hot like you used to. If you really want Parker to see how over him, you are and how much you're moving on you need to look like the old Buffy."

Buffy contemplated her sister's remark before deciding she was right. For the past couple of weeks, Buffy didn't feel like wearing anything but sweats and sneakers, but she usually dressed—as Faith put it—"hot". She put the sweats back in the dresser drawer and went to her closet, flipping through her better clothes. After searching for a minute she settled on a dark-washed pair of skinny jeans, a pink fitted halter-top that showed off her boobs and tiny frame and her cute little brown hooded leather jacket. After getting dressed she straightened her hair and put her bangs up in a poof with some bobby pins.

"Girls, hurry up or you're going to be late" Joyce called from upstairs. Faith was putting on some lipstick and Buffy was finishing her eyeliner.

"Coming, mom" Faith called back and then turned back to look herself over in their mirror. She had on a pair of red leather pants and a black and red tank top that had 'The Deadhand' on the front. She took her black leather jacket out of the closet and picked up her purse and books.

"Ready, B?"

"Yep." Buffy gathered her things as well and the two girls made their way downstairs to where their mother and Dawn were already eating breakfast.

"Hurry and eat girls, you're running late and you have to take Dawn to school today" Joyce told them. "I have to be at the gallery early today." Joyce grabbed her coffee cup and kissed her daughters goodbye before excusing herself and leaving.

After everyone was done eating their breakfast they piled into Buffy and Faith's car and began to drive, first to Dawn's middle school and then to their high school.

"Would you leave the radio alone, Dawn" Buffy said from the passenger seat as Dawn leaned up to change the station.

"I hate this station" Dawn complained.

"Our car our music choice, kid" Faith told her and Dawn rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a kid. I'm only four years younger than the two of you" Dawn whined, crossing her arms over her chest in the backseat.

"Twelve is still a kid. You're not even a teenager yet" Buffy told her.

"I'll be thirteen in six months" Dawn protested.

"And we'll be seventeen in three months, what's the point?" Faith asked, looking at her little sister in the rearview mirror.

"My point is that I'm almost a teenager" Dawn said. Buffy and Faith looked at each other, smirking at the preteen. They loved teasing Dawn about being a kid because they knew how much it bugged her. Soon Faith stopped in front of Dawn's school and she jumped out of the backseat, giving a quick 'see ya' before dashing inside. Unlike her two older sisters, Dawn loved school because she loved to learn. Buffy and Faith only liked school because they were popular, it was good socialization for them. They weren't terrible students, but they weren't exactly good students either. Buffy's grades had fallen in the past couple of months because Parker had convinced her to skip class with her quite often. She wasn't failing, but she knew if she wasn't careful, she easily could be. That would not go over with her mother so she knew that she had to work on getting her grades back up to at least where they used to be.

Once Dawn was dropped off Faith headed to their school. It only took three minutes to get there because, Sunnydale being such a small town, everything was pretty close. After finding a parking spot, Buffy and Faith gathered their things and headed into the school to find their finds at their usual table.

"Hey, guys" Buffy greeted the six people at the table. Around the table sat Willow, her girlfriend, Tara, Xander and his girlfriend, Anya and Angel and his girlfriend, Cordelia. Faith had been the only single one in the group for a while, but now that Parker had ended things again, Buffy was single too.

"Hey" Willow greeted them with a smile.

"What's up, how are you, Buff?" Xander asked.

"I'm fine, why?" Buffy asked, totally forgetting he was referring to Parker and how he broke up with her—again. She quickly realized what he meant. "Oh, Xand, I'm fine about Parker."

"Really?" Anya asked, skeptical. "You seemed really bummed about it just yesterday. I was telling Xander during sex last night that we should set you up to get your mind off of being so sad and boring."

"An!" Xander scolded. He had told her dozens of times to stop bringing up their sex life, but Anya was a bit strange and always said what she was thinking. The girl had no filter.

"What?" Anya asked defensively, but Xander's look clued her in to what she did wrong. "Oh, right, I'm not supposed to talk about the orgasm parts of our relationship, no matter how mind blowing they are."

"That's right, so stop talking about it…Mind blowing, really?" Anya smiled and he smiled a bit too, feeling proud of himself.

"And I'm not boring" Buffy protested. "I may have been sad, but I'm not anymore, okay."

"Okay, good" Tara said, feeling an argument coming on and trying to change the subject.

"Are we Bronzing tonight?" Willow asked.

"Of course, it's Friday" Faith told her. Buffy and Faith sat down as Buffy saw Parker pass her with his arm around some girl. She tried to pretend she didn't notice him, but the look on her face said otherwise.

"Don't let him get to you" Cordelia told her.

"Yeah, he's just trying to make you feel bad" Willow added.

"I know, I know" Buffy said, but it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than agreeing with her friends. "I'll see you guys later. I have to stop by the front office before class."

"Okay, see you in first period" Willow said. She had most of her classes with at least one of her friends. First period she had with Willow and Tara.

"You got it." With that Buffy walked off to the front office. She had to pick up a work permit so she could get a job. As she entered turned the corner she collided with someone, knocking her backward on to her butt.

"What the crap?" Buffy asked, stunned.

"Oh, jeez, sorry, luv" she heard a deep English accent of a man say and offer his hand to help her up. "You okay?"

Buffy dusted herself off, a little annoyed. "I'm fine." She finally looked up to see a bleached blonde guy standing in front of her. Holy shit, she thought.

"Sorry again, I was trying to find my way around this bleeding place and wasn't watching where I was going" the English guy said to her.

"Obviously" she joked and she smirked at her.

"I'm Spike."

"Your parents named you Spike?" she asked, this time only half joking. He chuckled.

"No, it's just a nickname. My real name is William, but no one calls me that, except my pops who insists on it" he told her.

"Well, I'm Buffy."

Spike raised an eyebrow at her. "Your parents named you Buffy?" This time it was she who chuckled.

"No, they named me Elizabeth, Buffy's also a nickname" she stated.

"So, Buffy, now that we're the best of friends do you wanna show a bloke where the front office is?" Spike asked her, helping her gather her books that were till sprawled on the floor.

"Sure, I was going there anyway."

"Lucky me then" he smirked at her and she blushed a little.

"Follow me" she said and began walking toward the front office.