Night of the Drumsalogh
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and related characters and places are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and FOX. This story is written purely for fun and no profit is being made from it.
The cafeteria was noisy and crowded. Everywhere the kids of Sunnydale High shouted and talked and laughed. Buffy Summers looked around the cafeteria from her vantage point in the line for what passed as lunch. The choice appeared to be chicken fingers or meatloaf. At least Buffy thought it was meatloaf. If the smell was any indication it probably wasn't fit for human consumption. The chicken looked okay though, and the mashed potatoes seemed reasonably potato-y. Buffy made her way through the line and paid the cashier. She spotted her friends at their usual table and walked over to them. Buffy set her lunch tray at the round cafeteria table. Her friends Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris were there eating-- okay, Willow was eating; Xander was holding his chicken fingers in his hands and making them talk to each other.
"So, Mr. Chicken Finger..." Xander was saying, making the right one bob up and down as he spoke. Now the left, "Yes, Mi..." Xander quickly returned the talking food to his tray as Buffy came over.
"Buffy!" He squeaked and then cleared his throat. "I mean... Buffy. How's it going, Buffy? You look...what are you...chicken finger?" He held out one of the previous players in his chicken finger production.
"You're supposed to stop me when I do that." Xander whispered, leaning close to Willow. Buffy looked at Willow and rolled her eyes. She jerked her thumb in Xander's direction.
"How long has he been like this?"
"Oh, pretty much just since you came over." Willow said it with a grin on her face, but Buffy heard the undercurrent of disappointment in her voice. Willow and Xander had been friends since they were kids and however much Willow might protest, Buffy new she wanted more than that. The rescue from this potentially awkward and uncomfortable situation was ironically provided in the form of Cordelia Chase. Cordelia was the quintessential spoiled rich girl and the last person Buffy would ever have willingly divulged her secret to. But, through a curious twist of fate, they had been thrust together. Cordelia walked toward their table, her mini-me girlfriends in tow.
"Oh, look," she said stopping next to their table. "It's the table of the incredibly lame and socially awkward." Cordelia smiled down at them sweetly as she spoke. The mini-mes giggled behind her. Willow's face turned red and she looked down at her food. She poked at it with her fork and pretended not to notice Cordy and the others. Xander looked like he was going to say something, but words seemed to fail him. Buffy looked up at Cordelia and returned her sweet smile.
"Harsh coming from the herd of the morally ambiguous and intellectually stunted." Cordelia stopped smiling for a moment. Behind her the blond named Harmony looked like she was trying to figure out what was going on. Cordelia quickly recovered her composure and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Whatever." She said. They moved off to their own table. Xander was seething.
"I...nyuh. I had the perfect comeback, I'll have you know. Both sharp and witty." He looked down at the remnants of his lunch. Then he looked back up.
"So, Buffster." He began, "what big scary bad guys you got for us today?" He grinned and stuffed the last of the formerly talking chicken fingers in his mouth. Buffy shrugged.
"Actually it's been pretty dull. I even did homework last night." Willow and Xander both looked at her, feigning shock.
"The world must be ending." Xander said. They all laughed, but Buffy's smile quickly faded.
"It actually has me a little worried. Things are too quiet, you know? Like something's up."
"You talked to Giles?" Willow asked. Rupert Giles was the Sunnydale High School librarian and Buffy's Watcher. He was the book guy. He watched after them, trained Buffy, and had the singularly largest collection of occult books that Buffy had ever seen. Buffy shook her head.
"Nyah. Not yet. If it was something really bad Giles would have told us about it already." Willow held up her hand and pointed. Buffy's gaze followed Willow's finger and she saw Giles hurrying through the door, his tweed jacket slightly rumpled, with a stack of papers in his arms. He reached their table.
"Buffy, thank God." Giles wiggled a hand free and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "You need to come to the library right away. I must talk to you about..." A quelling look from Buffy brought Giles out of his thoughts. "Book fines." He finished.
"Right." Said Buffy. "I'm there." Giles looked to her companions.
"You two may as well come along. Willow, I'm going to need your help on this." Willow was a wiz with research, especially on the Internet, something Giles had never quite gotten up to. The three of them followed Giles out of the cafeteria, their unfinished lunches deserted on the table.