Hiss, Bang, Sizzle

"Okay so which season? It's between season one and season two" The blonde asked bending down in front of the T.V., her hands occupied with two larger boxes. The brunette looked up from her phone, raising an eyebrow.

"Seeeeeeeason one." The brunette spoke, looking back down at her phone before throwing it onto the bed. "Season two is too painful."

"But there's Spike." She said waving the box in her left hand, the other grinned slightly but shook her head all the same.

"Season one."

The blonde rolled her eyes, but put the other box down and opened up the first one, putting the dvd in, when it began playing, the blonde moved back and sat on the couch next to her friend. The two of them stared at the tv as the Pilot episode played. It wasn't until maybe halfway into it that they noticed something was wrong with the T.V. and the blonde got back up and moved over to it.

"It never usually does this." She said and she banged on the top of it, trying to see if it would stop flickering.

"What's up, with it?" The brunette asked as she stood.

The blonde shrugged her shoulders as she banged on it again, however the exact moment she did it the T.V. began to hiss and sparks began to fly from it. The girl's eyes widened and the two of them stepped back away from it, but not even a few seconds after they began retreating, a large bang was heard and a puff of black smoke erupted from in front of them clouding their vision.

Welcome to the Hellmouth

The pain erupted up the girl's back and she instantly sat up on the bed, she ran a hand through her blonde hair and gave a sigh, another one of those crazy dreams. Then again she'd rather be having them, than the ones her sister was having. About the vampires, even though she knew them to be true, it didn't make it any better. They were starting all over again. Half way through the term and it made her sigh.

"Girls?" A voice shouted and she looked towards the door.

"I'm up, Mom!" Her sister's voice called from the other room.

"Kay!"

"I'm up." She replied in a dull tone.

"Don't wanna be late for your first day!"

"No, not at all." Kay huffed slightly moving from her bed and grabbing her clothes.

The brunette lay on her back staring up at the ceiling, another strange dream, the same one as it always was. She didn't think it was possible but who knew? Maybe it was. She sat up and pulled herself out of the bed glancing towards the figure in the doorway, which had woke her up.

"You feeling okay, Frannie?"

"I'm good, dad. I'm up and gonna go meet Willow in about thirty minutes."

Her father gave her a smile and a nod before moving from the room. Frannie sighed, getting up and moving towards the bathroom.

Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

The car stopped outside the large school, and Kay's eyes traveled along all of the students and she had to bite back a sigh. She understood why her sister had burnt the gym down in the old school, she really did but to have to start a new school all over again, in the middle of the semester was almost a killer.

"Okay!" Their mother spoke and Kay looked to Buffy before rolling her eyes and getting out, Buffy following. "Have a good time. I know you'll both make friends right away, just think positive." Joyce gave them a thumbs up and both girls nodded at her. Kay turned to look at the school again. "And Buffy?" She asked, Kay glanced at her. "Try not to get kicked out?"

"I promise." Buffy spoke, Kay looked over at her and then the two looked at the school.

"Okay." Joyce said and she drove off.

"You ready?" Buffy asked and Kay nodded.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The two began walking towards the school, unaware of the boy who had smashed into the stair railing.

"God!" The boy huffed. A red headed girl and Frannie stepped up onto the stairs to look down at him. "I'm okay, I feel good."

Frannie rolled her eyes as Willow smiled at him as he stood up. "Why do you insist on using that death trap?" Frannie asked Xander and he looked over at them.

"Frannie! Willow, just the two people I very much wanted to see." He grinned.

"Oh really?" Willow asked.

"Doubt it."

The three of them began walking towards the school.

"Yeah. You know, I kinda had a problem with the math." Xander said.

"Uh, which part?" Willow asked.

"The math. Can you help me out tonight, Will, pleeeease be my study buddy."

"What's in it for me?" Willow asked.

"That'a girl." Frannie grinned and Willow smiled at her.

"A shiny nickel!" Xander said.

"Okay. Do you have Theories in Trig? You should check it out."

"Check it out?" Xander asked.

"In the library, you know? Where the books are." Frannie stated.

"Right, I'm there! See, I wanna change-"

"Hey, Hey!" A boy stopped in front of them.

"Hey Jesse, what's what?" Xander asked.

Willow and Frannie a few steps behind them. "Those two are idiots." Frannie muttered.

"But we love 'em." Willow said and Frannie grinned.

"Well duh."

"New girls!" Jesse told them.

"That's right, I saw 'em. Pretty much hotties." Xander said, Frannie leaned forward and smacked him on the back of the head.

"I heard about people transferring.." Willow mumbled.

"So tell!" Xander said and looked at Jesse, who gave him a blank stare.

"Tell what?"

"What's the sitch? What do ya know about 'em?" Xander asked.

"New girls!" Jesse replied.

"Well you're certainly a font of nothing" Xander huffed.

In the principal's office, both Kay and Buffy were seated in front of him, he had their school records and walked around the desk to his chair as he looked them over.

"Buffy and Kay Summers, sophmore's, late of Hemery High in Los Angeles. Interesting records, quite a career Buffy.." He sat down taking the record sheets and ripping them up. "Welcome to Sunnydale! A clean slate, that's what you both get here. What's past is past. We're not interested in what it says on a piece of paper, even if it says-" He stopped reading it. "Whoa."

"Mr. Flutie-" Buffy began.

"All the kids here are free to call me, Bob."

"But I bet they don't." Kay said and he looked over at her giving a shrug. He began reassembling the torn paper.

"I know my transcripts are a little...colorful." Buffy said.

"Heeeey. We're not caring about that. Do you think, uh, "Colorful" is the word?" he asked, taping the paper back up. "Not uh, dismal?"

"Wasn't that bad." Buffy said.

"You burned down the gym."

"I did, I really did, but...You're not seeing the big picture here, I mean that gym was full vampi-"

"Asbestos. It was full of asbestos." Kay corrected her.

"Yeah." Buffy nodded.

"Girls don't worry. Any other school they might say 'Watch your step', or 'we'll be watching you'...but that's just not the way here. We want to service your needs, and help you to respect our needs. And if your needs and our needs don't mesh." He said and he put the taped piece of paper back in Buffy's folder and slapped it shut. Buffy gave a thin nervous smile and the two of them were sent out of the office.

"Well that was fun." Buffy spoke and Kay glanced at her.

"Oh yeah, so much fun." Kay spoke and the two began walking. "I'm not sure about this place it gives me the creeps."

"Don't most schools?" Buffy asked opening up her bag.

"Yeah but-" She began as Buffy then barged into someone, the contents of her bag falling out onto the ground.

"Oh! Sorry!" Buffy called.

"That's okay."

Kay bent down to help her sister pick up her stuff, and as they were doing it, Xander appeared next to them and bent down to help.

"Can I have you?" He asked looking at Buffy.

"Oh thanks.." Buffy stated, oblivious, and Kay rolled her eyes.

"I don't know either of you, do I?" Xander asked.

"No. We're Knew." Kay deadpanned.

"I'm Buffy, this is my sister, Kay."

"Xander. Is me. Hi."

"Thanks." Buffy nodded and they all stood.

"Maybe I'll see you around. Maybe at school, since we all...go there..."

"Smooth." Kay smirked.

"Great. Nice to meet you." Buffy tugged on Kay's arm and the two of them hurried off.

"We all go to school.." Very suave, very not pathetic." Xander huffed and he looked down, and bent down to pick it up. "Oh, hey, you forgot your...stake." He looked up and over at them to see they were too far away to hear him.

"It's estimated that about 25 million people died in that one four year span. But the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe how? As an early form of germ warfare. The plague was first found in Asia, and a Kipchak army actually catapulted plague-infested corpses into a
Genoese trading post. Ingenious. If you look at the map on page 63 you can trace the spread of the disease…"

Buffy looked around as kids opened their books – noticing that she, nor her sister at the other side of the room have one. Though Kay didn't look too bothered. The girl next to her, leaned over towards Buffy.

"Here." She spoke and she moved her book in between them so that both of them could read it.

She moves her book over so Buffy can read off it as well. "Thanks." Buffy said.

When the class ended Cordelia glanced over at Kay, who payed no attention and waited by the door and she turned, introducing herself to Buffy.

Kids are piling up their books and leaving as the bell RINGS. Cordelia introduces herself:

"Hi, I'm Cordelia."

"I'm Buffy."

"If you're looking for a textbook of your very own, there's probably a few in the Library."

"Oh, great. Thanks. Where would that be?" Buffy asked.

"I'll show you."

The two walked towards the door and Buffy looked at her sister. "Coming?" Kay rolled her eyes in response but followed her anyway.

As the girls walk through the crowded hall, Cordelia spoke. "You two transferred from Hemery, right? In L.A.?"

"Yeah." Buffy nodded.

"Oh! I would kill to live in L.A. Being that close to that many shoes… Why'd you come here?"

"Because our Mom moved, is the reason. I mean we all moved. But our Mom wanted to." Buffy said.

"Well, you'll be okay here. If you hang with me and mine you'll be accepted in no time. Of course we do have to test your coolness factors. You're from L.A., so you can skip the written, but, let's see… Vamp nail polish."

"Over?" Buffy said.

"SO over. James Spader."

"He needs to call me."

"Gross." Kay muttered.

"Trendy but tasty. John Tesh." Cordelia said.

"The Devil?" Buffy asked it as more of a question than a statement.

"Well, that was pretty much a gimme, but you passed." Cordelia said and looked at Kay. "You don't say much."

"I don't say much." Kay said and moved past her.

They stopped at the water fountain, which was being used by Willow.

"Willow! Nice dress Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears." Cordelia said.

"Well my Mom picked it out." Willow replied, an apologetic tone. Kay tilted her head.

"No wonder you're such a guy-magnet. Are you done?" Cordelia asked.

"Will, you coming?" A voice called and Kay looked past her at the brunette, her eyes widening. Frannie however, never noticed her.

"Oh. Yeah!" Willow said and she moved back, leaving the three of them standing. Kay stared after her.

She vacated the fountain, Cordelia stepped up to it looking around at the blondes. "You wanna fit in here, the first rule is "know your losers". Once you can identify them all by sight, they're a lot easier to avoid."

"I think I know who to avoid." Kay spoke and she looked at her sister. "Have fun." And she walked off.

Kay had lost sight of the two girls until she noticed Willow and just as she was about to walk a hand grabbed her arm.

"Thanks for ditching me." Buffy spoke.

"I'm sorry but I don't do well with popular kids, that's your job." Kay spoke. Buffy sighed and the two of them looked back towards Willow. "Her, however, I could definitely be friends with."

Willow was carefully taking out her packed lunch as Buffy and Kay stopped beside her.

"Uh, hi. Willow, right?" Buffy asked.

"Why? I mean Hi. Did you want me to move?" Willow asked.

"Why don't we start with "hi, I'm Buffy." Buffy spoke.

"And I'm Kay." Kay smiled at her.

"And then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve you hanging out with me for a while." Buffy said.

But aren't you…guys hanging with Cordelia?"

Kay scoffed. "No."

"We can't do both?" Buffy asked.

"Not legally." Willow said.

"Look, I really want to get by here. New school… Cordelia's been really nice – to me, anyway – but I have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up." Buffy said and she leaned in towards Willow. "And my sister is really smart but she refuses to help."

"Hey!" Kay scoffed.

"Oh, I could totally help you out! If you have sixth period free we could meet in the library-"

"–or not. Or, you know, we could meet somewhere quieter. Louder. That place kind of gives me a wiggins." Buffy said. Her tone sounded strange and Kay looked her over.

"It has that effect on most kids. I love it, though. It's a great collection, and the new librarian's really cool."

"He's new?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, he just started. He was a curator of some British Museum. Or the British museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies and am I the single dullest person alive?" Willow asked.

"Definitely not." Kay grinned.

"Hey. Are you guys busy? Can we interrupt? We're interrupting." Xander said, and Kay looked up her eyes meeting with the brown haired girls. Who seemed to have the same reaction as she had.

"Hey." Buffy said.

"Hey there." Jesse spoke.

"Buffy, Kay, this is Jesse, and that's Xander. And that there is Frannie."

"Oh, me, Kay and Buffy go way back. Old friends, very close. Then there was that period of estrangement, I think we were both changing as people, but here we are and it's like old times, I'm quite moved." Xander said.

"Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?" Jesse asked.

"It's not you." Xander shook his head.

"It's nice to meeting you guys… I think." Buffy said.

"Yeah, no it definitely is." Kay said and she looked away from Frannie.

"Well, we wanted to welcome you, make you feel at home. Unless you have a scary home." Jesse said.

"And to return this." Xander said and he produced the stake. Buffy and Kay looked at each other before Buffy took it. "The only thing I can figure is that you're building a really little fence."

"Oh. No. That was for self defense. Everyone has them in L.A. Pepper spray is so passe, right?" Buffy nudged her sister.

"Yeah, people in L.A. are unbelievably scary."

"So. What do you like, what do you do for fun, what do you look for in a man… Let's hear it." Xander said to both of them.

"If you have any dark, painful secrets that we could publish…"

"Gee, everybody wants to know about us. How keen." Buffy said.

"Yeah it's great." Kay smirked.

"Well, not a lot happens in a one-Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You two are big news."

"We're not. Really."

"Are these people bothering you?" Cordelia asked, stopping behind Jesse.

"No but you're starting to bother me." Kay said through her teeth. But apparently, as always, the popular kid hadn't heard her.

"Oh! No."

"They're not hanging out with us." Willow said.

"Not at all." Frannie said, looking at the brunette with disdain.

"Yeah, actually we are hanging out with them. Or I am." Kay said.

"Hey Cordelia." Jesse smiled.

"Oh please." Cordelia said rolling her eyes. "I don't want to interrupt your downward mobility. I just thought I'd tell you that you won't be
meeting Coach Foster, the woman with chest hair, because gym has been canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."

Kay looked at her sister.

"What?" Buffy asked

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.

"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker." Cordelia said.

"How dead?" Kay asked.

"Way dead." Cordelia spoke.

"So not just a little dead then." Xander said.

"Don't you have an elsewhere to be?" Cordelia asked.

"If you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on –" Jesse began.

"How'd he die?" Buffy asked her.

"I don't know…"

"Well, were there any marks?"

"Morbid much? I didn't ask!"

"Uh, look, We gotta book. We'll see you guys later." Buffy spoke and she grabbed her sister's arm, the two of them taking off. Kay huffed, and she glanced back at the brunette known as Frannie. She was the girl that she was always with in her dreams, and she needed to know if she had them too.

Mr. Flutie closed the door quietly and he turned to see Buffy and Kay before him.

"Oh! Buffy, Kay! Uh, what do you want?"

"Um, is there a guy in there that's dead?" Buffy asked.

"Where did you hear that? Okay. Yes. But he's not a student! Not currently." Mr. Flutie said.

"How'd he die?" Kay asked.

"What?" He asked.

"She means – how could this have happened?" Buffy asked.

Well, that's for the police to determine when they get here. But this structure is safe, we have inspections, and I think there's no grounds for a lawsuit."

"Was there a lot of blood? Was there any blood?" Buffy asked him.

"I would think you two wouldn't want to involve yourself in this kind of thing."

"We don't. Could we just take a peek?" Buffy asked.

"Unless you already are involved…"

"Do we look like we're involved?" Kay asked.

"Never mind." Buffy said nudging her sister.

"Girls, I understand this is confusing. You're probably feeling a lot right now. You should share those feelings. With someone else."

Buffy smiled at him, pulling her sister with her and the two backed off away from him.

Buffy and Kay came around the side of the gym, luckily enough for Buffy there was a door to the locker room and she tried it.

"Locked?" Kay asked peeking around her shoulder.

"Yup." She said. "Keep a lookout."

Kay nodded as Buffy pulled the door open, the lock splintered, she nodded at Kay and then headed inside. A few moments later she was back out with a horrid look on her face.

"Vampire?"

"Vampire."

Buffy stalked off and Kay followed, looking around as they left the gym and headed towards a room. "Where we going?"

"Library. Guy tried to give me a book on vampires, so he knows."

Buffy strode in, Kay behind her with her attitude fully in check.

"Okay, what's the sitch?" Buffy asked him immediately and he looked from her to her sister.

"Sorry?"

"You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?"

He hesitated and looked towards Kay again. "I know about all this, so don't have a heart attack over it."

"Yes." He then said looking back at Buffy.

"Well, it's the weirdest thing. He's got two little holes in his neck and all his blood's been drained. Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, "Ooooh…."

"I was afraid of this."

"Well, I wasn't! It's our first day. I was afraid that I'd be behind in all the classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I'd have last month's hair. I didn't think there would be vampires on campus. And I don't care."

"Then why are you here?" Giles asked.

"He's got you there, Buff."

Buffy threw a pointed look at her sister. "To tell you that I don't care. Which I don't, and… have now told you. So bye."

She started towards the door and Kay crossed her arms, staring at Giles.

"Will he rise again?" He asked.

"Who?" Buffy asked.

"The boy."

"No." Buffy said. "He's just dead."

"Can you be sure?"

"No Buffy said it's this whole complicated deal, drinking the blood, feeding from the vampire, you know then I'd assume dying." Kay said and Giles looked towards her.

"Why are we still talking to you-" Buffy said and headed towards the door again.

"You have no idea what's going on, do you? Do you think it's coincidence, your coming here? That boy was just the beginning." Giles said and Kay raised her eyebrows as Buffy turned.

"Oh, why can't you leave me alone?" Buffy asked.

"Because you are the Slayer." Giles stated simply. "Into every generation a slayer is born. One girl, in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the –

"the strength and skill to hunt the vampires" Buffy finished with him and Kay looked towards her. "The stop the spread of their evil blah blah I've heard it, okay?"

"I don't understand this attitude. You've accepted your duty, you've slain vampires before-" Giles began.

"Well, I have both been there and done that. And I am moving on." Buffy asked.

"She wants to be normal. I tried telling her she's not normal. But I'm the younger one, I don't get listened too." Kay said and Buffy glared at her.

"What do either of you know about this town?"

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus" Buffy said.

"Dig a bit in the history of this place and you'll find there've been a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. I believe this area is a center of mystical energy. Things gravitate toward it that you might not find elsewhere." Giles said.

Kay would definitely do that.

"Like vampires." Buffy said and she grabbed her sister's arm and went to move. But Giles pulled a book from a shelf and handed it to her before he was piling more into her arms, her sister then taking them from her.

"Like werewolves. Zombies. Succubi, incubi… Everything you ever dreaded under your bed and told yourself couldn't be by the light of day." Giles stated.

"What, did you send away for the Time Life series?" Buffy asked.

"These books are pretty cool." Kay mumbled to herself.

"Uh, yes." He said.

"Did you get the free phone?" Buffy asked.

"The calendar."

"Cool" Buffy said and then shook her head. "Okay, first of all, I'm a vampire slayer. And secondly, I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you
kill them?"

"I'm a watcher. I haven't the skill." Giles said.

"Oh, come on. Stake through the heart, a little sunlight – it's like falling off a log." Buffy said.

"The slayer, slays. The watcher-"

"Watches?."

"Yes. No! He – he – trains her, he prepares her –" Giles stammered.

"Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? Losing all my friends? Having to spend all my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because it might 'endanger' them? Go ahead. Prepare me." Buffy said and she headed out, Kay slowly following, still carrying all the books.

Giles headed out after her, Buffy quicker than Kay did, for Kay to hear someone mumble a what, she turned frowning when she didn't see anyone. She turned and managed to head out of the library doors without actually dropping any the books just to catch the end of the conversation.

"Something is coming. Something is going to happen here soon." Giles said.

"Gee, can you vague that up for me…?"

"As far as I can tell, the signs point to a crucial mystical upheaval very soon – days, possibly less."

Frannie walked along the pathway, she was supposed to meet Willow at the bronze and hopefully she'd be there before her. She could feel someone following her, and she held her breath for a few moments before she stopped and turned coming face to face with an attractive older man, her body tense as he stopped in front of her.

"Can I help you?" She demanded.

"I don't know, that depends." He stated.

Her blue eyes narrowed at him and she crossed her arms. "On what? What do you want?"

"I thought you were someone else. But you shouldn't out here on your own at night."

"No? And why's that?"

"Just sayin' things go wrong this time of night."

"And what are you my Guardian Angel?"

The man laughed, which confused Frannie but she frowned. "Don't worry. I don't bite."

"I didn't say you did, but you saying you don't, makes me think that ya do bite." She stated humorlessly.

He smiled and walked past her, Frannie continued to face the opposite way. "Like I said, you should be careful."

"I'll keep that in mind." Frannie frowned and she turned to watch him leave to see he was already gone.