A/N: This story takes place from Season Three onward and will contain spoils for the seasons. Also, this story contains an OC. If either of these pose a problem for you, then I suggest you read no farther than this.
For those who have continued reading, welcome. First thing you should know: I'm a huge Buffy fan, have been for several years. I have a habit of trying to watch the seasons once every year (preferably around Halloween); however, even with that said, I do tend to forget things. Still, I do hope I manage to not screw things up too badly, and I hope you enjoy the first chapter.
Buffy quickly turned down the light fixture aisle of the appliance store, heading after the horned demon that decided to make a run for it. She turned a corner, only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw that she had lost the demon. Buffy sighed, slamming her hands down at her side.
"Great… Now he's 'Mister Magician'…" she mumbled with a small pout.
Buffy turned around, going to head back down the aisle to return to the back door; however, before she managed to get three steps in, she heard something. She slowly looked look up, just in time for the demon from earlier to jump down from one of the high shelves. The demon knocked Buffy down to the ground, sitting on top of her as he tried clawing her, but he couldn't get close while Buffy kept the axe between them. Buffy kicked up her feet, kicking the demon away from her. She jumped to her feet, swinging the axe at the demon, but it ducked and swung a claw towards her. The ducking and dodging continued between both parties, none making a scratch on the other.
"Can't you just let me hit you?" Buffy asked with a small roll of her head as she swung the axe again. The demon raised its arms, blocking expertly, which made Buffy grumble again. "Look, you and I both know who's going to win this. So why not just-" Because of Buffy's rambles, she neglected to avoid the demon's attack in time and got her arm grazed by its claws. She jumped away next, looking to her scratched arm and newly ripped shirt. "You just ripped my shirt!" Buffy looked at the demon. "Do you have any idea how much this shirt cost?" The demon simply growled in reply.
Sick and tired of the fight continuing, Buffy threw the axe over her head, making the ceiling fan overhead fall. She was hoping to crush the demon with the light, but with it still spinning, it ended up shredding the demon to bits and sending his green blood everywhere. Buffy found her shirt ruined yet again.
"Ew!" Buffy whined, looking down at her dirtied clothes. "Not only did you rip my shirt, you got your green goop all over it!" Buffy slammed her hands down at her sides, pouting at the recent turn of events. She sighed, picking up her axe, and turning to head back to the exit.
"How'd it go?" Willow asked, turning around to see Buffy just walking out of the door of the appliance store covered in green ooze.
"Oh, terrific," Buffy said, sarcastically. "I just ruined my favorite shirt with demon guts and claws." Buffy sighed again. "Why were they even here anyway?"
"Giles said they liked glue," Xander said, with a cheeky smile and a shrug. Xander grave two 'thumbs up' and grinned widely. "Hey, you saved the world from a glue crisis. Congratulations!"
Buffy and Willow stared at Xander for a moment or two before turning their back to him and walked away, beginning to talk amongst themselves.
"Guys?" Xander called, but the two didn't reply. "Come on guys! It was funny! Will? Buffy?" Xander sighed and quickly ran after his friends, trying hard to get them to notice him again.
The next day Buffy arrived at Sunnydale High's library to see most of her friends were there. Willow sat in a chair, legs stretched out on Oz's lap as they talked to each other. It was like it was their own little world whenever they talked with each other. Giles, on the other hand, was putting away books in the cage, all the while Wesley was off somewhere else, out of sight. The only person they seemed to be missing was Xander, which was odd.
"Good morning everyone," Buffy sung as she skipped up to the tables. She dropped her bag on the ground and jumped on the table, sitting beside Xander.
"Morning, Buffy," Willow chimed with a small giggle when she broke away from her conversation with Oz. "Did you manage to get your shirt cleaned?"
Buffy frowned and shook her head. "Nope. Green goop doesn't come out with a good wash." She lifted her head when seeing Giles walk out of the cage, head buried in a book like usual. "Morning, Giles."
"Oh, Buffy," Giles said, startled at first. He balanced the books in his hands, trying his best not to drop them again, and replied to Buffy. "Good morning."
"What are all those for?" Buffy asked, putting his elbows on her knees. She looked to Giles, looking at the books he had just set down next to her. "Research?"
"Yes," Giles answered with a heavy sigh. He put his hand on his hip and used the other to take off his glasses. "Before I forget, Wesley was-"
"Buffy, there you are!" Speak of the devil and he comes. Wesley hurried down the steps, heading over to Buffy with a dented axe in his hands, showing it to the young slayer. "I wanted to ask: Do you recognize this?"
Buffy looked at the axe, tilting her head to the side with a shrug. "A broken axe?" Buffy pointed to the axe with a chuckle and amused smile. "You know, that sort of looks like the one I-" Buffy cut herself off when she realized the point Wesley was making. "Oh…"
"Oh?" Wesley repeated. "Is that all you have to say?" Wesley dropped the axe onto the table, putting his hands on his hips. "Do you know how hard it is to come by these? You can't keep throwing them around, breaking and denting them, all you want."
"To be fair," Buffy said sheepishly with a shrug, "I did save the world from a glue crisis…"
"Glue?" Wesley repeated, scowling in some confusion. "T-That's—"
"There's our favorite Vampire Slayer!" Xander said, walking into the Library and interrupting Wesley's wonderful speech of how to use weapons properly. Xander jumped into a chair, making himself comfortable, and paying no attention to Wesley who was now scowling at him. "Hey, anyone hear that we've gotten a new English teacher?"
"Really?" Buffy questioned, seeming rather surprised. "That sounds nice. Sort of."
"I heard about that from a few others students," Willow said, dropping h. "But I haven't seen her yet…"
"Neither have I," Oz said, shrugging. "A lot of people have been talking though."
"Well," Xander said, "apparently she's taking over our English class since our last teacher quit… I can't believe she decided to quit in the middle of the year…" Xander waved his hands over his head, brushing off that part and getting back on track. "Besides that, I overheard the jocks talking. They all said that she's quite the babe."
"Any woman with boobs and a butt is a 'babe' to them…" Buffy mumbled in disgust. She soon perked and smiled, looking over to Giles. "What about you, Giles? You must have seen her, or heard something. Care to tell us any interesting secrets?"
Giles shook his head, shrugging and beginning to head to his bookshelves in the cage to gather more books. "Sorry, but even I haven't seen her yet. I heard from Principal Snyder that we were receiving someone new, but I hadn't-" Giles cut himself off when he and others heard the Library doors open.
Everyone seemed a bit surprised to see a woman, probably in her mid-thirties, walk in. She had reddish-brown hair with light highlights that was tied back with a green ribbon with round, silver rimmed, glasses that sat right on her nose. She wore a dark green skirt, high on her waist and reaching to her knees, with a white blouse tucked in and a pair of black high heels and green ribbon under her collar to match.
"Wow," Buffy mumbled, looking to the woman's outfit. "Look who popped out of the 1940s..."
The woman looked up from the paper she had been staring at, freezing when seeing the group in front of her, all staring. It seems that she hadn't heard Buffy's comment about her clothing.
"Oh…" the woman mumbled, putting a hand to her chest, as if she made a mistake. "This isn't the Auditorium…is it?"
"No it isn't," Buffy said with a smile, swinging her legs and jumping off the table. "Unless the auditorium suddenly became a storage facility for books." Buffy pointed to her left with a small chuckle. "The Auditorium is the next building over."
The woman smiled, shoulders dropping in relief. "Oh, thank you very much." The woman looked down to the paper. "I don't think Principal Snyder made me a very good map... It's nice to have a helpful hand from students." The woman looked up, turning her feet slightly in order to leave. "I'm sorry for interrupting you all."
"Don't worry about it," Oz said calmly, waving a hand.
"Oh, wait a minute," Willow said, jumping up to her feet and walked forward. "Are you the new teacher we heard about? Because"-Willow motioned to the clothes the woman is wearing-"you look like a teacher. Well, what I mean is…uh…" Willow held out her hand cheerfully, ignoring her previous words. "I'm Willow Rosenberg."
The woman chuckled and shook Willow's hand. "Willow… Right… Principle Snyder mentioned you." The woman looked past and towards the others. "I presume these are the others he mentioned?"
"If by 'mention' you mean he complained about the group of 'troublemakers' that always hang out in the Library…" Xander said, shrugging his shoulders. He held up his thumbs, smiling brightly. "Then you presume correctly."
Giles rolled his eyes, putting the two books he had gotten under his arm, and stepped over towards the woman. He held out his hand, offering a handshake as he introduced himself. "I'm Rupert Giles, the Librarian."
The woman shook Giles's hand, smiling back at him. "Vivian Hallowell, the new English teacher."
Buffy stepped forward, one hand behind her back as she held the other out. "I'm Buffy Summers." After getting a handshake from the new teacher, Buffy turned to the side, motioning to the two boys sitting in chairs. "The one who made the joke is Xander, and the quiet one is Oz."
"Hey," Oz said, raising a hand for a wave.
Miss Hallowell bowed her head to them, and turned back to Buffy. "Buffy Summers…. Principle Snyder mentioned a lot about you."
Buffy's back tensed and it was noticeable in her shoulders. "Really?"
Miss Hallowell nodded her head, crossing her arms. "He told me you have a habit of skipping out on classes, and don't turn in your work." Miss Hallowell glanced to the rest of the crew briefly. "He also told me you and your friends tend to cause a lot of mischief."
"W-Well…" Buffy couldn't necessarily deny the claims, because most of it was true. Due to slayer duties, Buffy, most of the time, never gets the chance to finish homework or projects. But it's not like she did it intentionally.
Miss Hallowell chuckled. "Don't worry, none of that means a thing to me." Buffy's shoulders slackened in relief. "To me, those are claims without proof until it happens in my class." She smiled to the others. "So, for now, you all have good standing in my book."
The group was pleased with the teacher's kindness to them, and decided to change subjects before she changed her mind.
"You just move here, Miss Hallowell?" Xander asked, resting his elbows against his knees.
"Yes, I did," Miss Hallowell answered, putting her hands back at her sides. "Still moving in, actually." Miss Hallowell turned her head, looking to Wesley, who had quickly hidden the axe behind his back when she looked to him. "I don't believe I got your name…"
"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," the young watcher said, holding out a hand for a handshake, almost showing that axe once again.
"I don't believe Principle Snyder mentioned you," Miss Hallowell said, her eyebrows creasing as she tilted her head curiously.
"Oh, really?" Wesley said nervously. "I-I wouldn't expect him to. W-We rarely meet. I, uh…" Wesley smiled when he finally came up with an excuse. "I help Mr. Giles around the library occasionally."
Miss Hallowell smiled, oblivious to lie she had just been fed. "Oh, well, it's always good to have a helping hand around, right?" She looked to Giles, as if seeing he agreed. Giles merely smiled and played along with a nod of his head. He had to admit, it was a clever lie, but it wouldn't last for long.
The bell rang, causing the group to break from their conversation and look back.
"Oh, well," Miss Hallowell sighed, "that's my cue to get to class." She looked to the group, bowing her head to each other them. "It was a pleasure to meet you all." She looked to the teenagers. "And don't be late for class."
"Yes, Ma'am," Xander said with a weak salute.
"It was nice meeting you, Miss Hallowell," Willow said with a wave.
"If you need any help finding your way around campus, don't hesitate to ask," Oz said with his own smile.
"I'll keep that in mind," Miss Hallowell said. She then left, leaving the group to disperse on their own and get to their respected duties.