Catch Your Wave

Summary: Essentially a one-shot fic I just need to get out of my head. Depending on how it is received, it may turn into something larger. Calli and her pals (known as the nerdiest of nerds of Sunnydale High) inadvertently find themselves thrown into the Scooby gang after helping out two members of the group. Set in AU season two, where Tara just moved to Sunnydale and is the new student at Sunnydale High.

…Hey girl I wanna catch your wave

Hey girl I wanna drift away with you

Hey girl you've got an undertow

Hey girl, Hey girl, don't wanna let you go…

"…don't wanna let you gooooo." Calli didn't care that she was singing out loud; it wasn't like she could hear herself anyway. She didn't care that she was doing it walking down the middle of the hallway. She didn't care about the stares she was receiving from her fellow classmates, 'If you can even call them that' she thought to herself. They had no idea who she was, and that's how she liked it. Unlike most of those that shared the same social status as herself, Calli didn't desire to fit in with the "in" crowd. She was a nerd, and not just any kind of nerd. She was an anime-lovin', video game playin', going to a convention and cos-playing kind of nerd…which meant she and her friends were at the bottom of the "food chain" so to speak.

"..I chase you around in memories…", as she was in the middle of the second verse of Click Five's "Catch Your Wave" she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, not bothering to take her ear phones off, she saw none other than her best bud Chris with a dopey look on his face. She recognized that look. It meant either one of two things: he'd just done something to piss off Cordelia and the Corvettes, or he'd just spied what he would call a "drool-worthy" girl to crush on.

"Dude, please tell me you didn't piss off Cordelia or Harmony again. I was beginning to enjoy the fact that they've found someone else to harass." By this she meant Buffy Summers. Some way, some how, the new girl had managed to get on Cordelia's bad side in record breaking time. Not that she really cared, like she'd just said, she was enjoying being able to walk down the hallway in relative peace.

Chris sighed and rolled his eyes, and amazingly he managed to do it with the same dopey look still on his face. He ran a hand through his purple, spiked hair before jerking his head to the left. "There's another new girl, and she's definitely drool-worthy! Even you, "Miss Cool and Nonchalant" would find her drool-worthy!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she exclaimed. Yes, she liked girls. She was proud of the fact that she was a lesbian. She just didn't go around ogling every single female in Sunnydale High that happened to have a spectacular rack and pretty face. And as for the cool and nonchalant thing, well, she couldn't help that she was. She didn't see the point in worrying about what everyone else thought. She liked relying on herself. What was on wrong with that?

"Nothin' dude. I'm just messing with you. Now c'mon, you HAVE to see what I'm talking about!" and with that he grabbed the pendant that was hanging from the collar around Calli's neck, leading her like she was a stubborn puppy on a leash.

"Dude, I can walk on my…" before she could even finish her sentence Chris came to a halt and let go of the pendant. She followed his gaze to the blonde standing outside Principal Flutie's office. She was leaning against the wall, holding a couple of books held tight to her chest. Her hair fell to her shoulders, blonde highlights mixing in with dark brown hair in the most interesting way. She couldn't see much of the girl's face due to the fact that she was looking down at her feet. She wore a pair of khaki cargo's that clung to her hips slightly, a baseball t-shirt that just hinted at the curves that lay beneath, and a pair of sneakers. Yeah, this girl had the punk look down. And from Calli's perspective, she wore it nicely. "Wow…" was all she could say in response. For once in their entire high school career, she had to give Chris some credit.

"Uh-huh, who da' man!" he laughed and smacked Calli on the shoulder, knocking her out of the daze she'd been in. He could tell from the look on his friend's face that she was smitten, or at least on her way to being smitten.

She couldn't help but put on a goofy grin of her own. He was right. The girl was just…damn. "Yeah, yeah, I have to admit you really out did yourself." She paused for a second to look at the girl again, before turning back to Chris. "I wonder who she is…"

"I dunno. Why don't we go find out?" he smirked.

She shrugged her shoulders, trying to seem like going to talk to the girl wasn't such a big deal. However, before she had a chance to say anything, the bell sounded for first period. "Damn it!"

"Haha! C'mon, let's get to class before we end up getting detention or somethin'. It'd suck to not be able to go out trick or treating…or well, it'd suck to not be able to show off our costumes. You're still going as Dante from 'Devil May Cry 3', right?" he questioned as they walked towards their first period class…Chemistry.

Sighing to herself, she nodded her head, still trying to figure out why she had let him convince her to go as Dante. Why couldn't she have gone as some yaoi-bait character like Squall or hell, even worse, Sion Barzahd from "The Bouncer."?

"Cool! We're so going to rule. We can even mock sword fight!" he grinned. He could tell that Calli wasn't all that excited about actually doing something on Halloween, but he was bound and determined to make her have fun this year. Because really, you only get to do this kind of thing once a year!

Calli laughed at her friends antics. "Now THAT sounds like fun! You know I'm better with swords than you right?" It was true, they would often spend their weekends sparring with mock swords made out of wood.

"Only because you're so damn short and fast!" he huffed.

"Hey, I can't help it that you're tall. Blame it on your parents!" she laughed and pinched his cheek before hurrying into the classroom.

God, she hated this class. There weren't enough students qualified to take Advanced English, so the school board had took it off the curriculum for the year. Calli, Chris, and a few others had to suffer because of this. Looking around, she was able to surmise which ones were affected by this simply by counting the number of students that were doing working on assignments for other classes. She didn't dare count the ones that were sleeping…especially since they wore letterman jackets. One thing she did find odd was the absence of Willlow. That girl never missed class! Sure, she didn't know her on a personal level, but there was the occasion that Willow, Chris, and she would group together in some of their classes.

Turning her attention back to the chemistry homework she was working on she missed Willow walking in. However, she couldn't ignore the incessant tapping of her shoulder coming from her left, meaning Chris was probably passing her a note or something. Before she could even turn her head completely to look at him, Mrs. Dill had cleared her throat to get the class' complete attention.

"Look who it is!" she heard Chris whisper. Looking up through the bangs that fell in neat little clumps in front of her eyes, her eyes widened when she saw the new girl standing up there with Willow. Calli couldn't help but gasp when she was finally able to see the girls face. She could tell she had blue eyes, and most definitely a pair of lips that just begged to be kissed, sucked, and nibbled…She shook her head to clear the thoughts that were most definitely taking a turn to the naughty side.

Chris chuckled at the expression on Calli's face. Oh yeah, she was smitten with the girl already. He certainly couldn't blame her. He was crushing just as hard. He knew then that there would be some competition between the two of them, unless the girl just so happened to be gay.

"Class, this is Tara Maclay. She's new here so I want you to make her feel welcome." Mrs. Dill pointed to the empty seat next to Calli, "You can take the empty seat next to Calli dear."

"Thank you…" she said quietly before making her way towards the back.

"Oh boy…" Calli whispered. 'Don't spaz out. C'mon, you're the cool one. You do NOT spaz out in front of pretty girls, damn it!' Calli took a deep breath in an attempt to keep her cool. It didn't help, especially when the girl turned her back towards her to shrug off her book sack, giving Calli and up close and personal view of the most beautiful rear she'd ever seen. 'Okay, now you can spaz.' she said to herself. She could feel herself waviing goodbye to her dignity as it flew out the window. As if things couldn't get worse, she vaguely registered Mrs. Dill telling her to share her book with Tara until she could get one of her own.

'Someone must've decided this was going to be "hey, let's pick on Calli day!" she surmised. In an attempt to seem like it didn't get to her, she turned and gave Tara a small smile before scooting her desk next to hers. She felt the tiniest of blushes creep across her cheeks and neck as Tara returned the smile. 'God she's pretty.' Oh yeah, she was definitely smitten.

As Mrs. Dill continued with her lesson, she watched Tara turn her attention to the front. Before she went back to the homework she was working on, she looked over at Chris and saw the smirk on his face. Yeah, she knew that he saw how she'd lost her composure, and she knew that he wouldn't let her live it down. So, in retaliation, she stuck her tongue out at him. Her moment of victory was short lived though when she felt an arm brush against her own. Blushing as she felt the little tingles running up and down her arm, she turned to see Tara looking down at where are arm was. What did surprise her though was the blush that was also there. 'Hmm…interesting.' She didn't push her luck though. Grinning slightly she nudged Tara's arm and motioned towards the book, then to her chemistry assignment.

Tara nodded, realizing the girl meant for her to use the text for the duration of the class (since she obviously wasn't using it). She tore a strip of paper from her notebook and quickly scribbled "thanks" before shyly handing it to her. She had to admit that so far the people here in Sunnydale seemed nice. First there was the quirky girl, Willow, that'd given her a quick tour before showing her to their class. Tara never knew that someone could say so much in just one sentence (granted it was one long, continuous sentence.) Just how the girl managed to say all that without taking a breath, Tara didn't have a clue.

And then there was the girl next to her. Tara had noticed the tingles she'd gotten when she'd brushed her arm against Calli's by mistake. Yeah, she was instantly attracted to her. How could she not be? Tara thought she looked adorable in her slightly baggy blue jeans that puddle around the Vans at her feet. The small anime t-shirt that hugged her upper body only helped Tara notice her chest. Then there was the dog collar she wore with the pendant dangling from the chain connected to it. And just how did she get her hair to stay up like that? It wasn't short by any means, and she knew that if it were to hang limply it would reach down past the girl's ears. 'She has hair that defies the laws of gravity!' She giggled quietly at her thoughts. 'And her eyes…beautiful green.'

She was brought out of her revelry when she felt the girl nudge her again. She took in the smile she was given as Calli handed her back the note with "You're welcome" written underneath her "Thank you". 'She has a pretty smile too…oh god, stop it! You don't even know her, and besides, why would she be attracted to plain old me!'

Tara shyly returned Calli's smile before turning her attention back towards the front. It was moot however, for she couldn't find in her heart to pay attention. Her thoughts were racing. She went to thinking about how adorable Calli was, to her mother's reason for moving them here, to her father who'd just been sent to prison. This made her frown. Her life back in Texas wasn't one she wanted to remember. As early as she could remember, her family had always been dysfunctional. Her mother was an exception. She was the most kind, loving, and gentle person ever in Tara's opinion. It was too bad her father didn't realize this. Subject to constant physical and mental abuse, Tara's mother had tolerated it for years…until one night he took it too far and her mother ended up in the hospital. Tara couldn't imagine what would've happened if her uncle hadn't of walked in to stop her father.

He'd been arrested and sent to prison, a real relief for Tara and her mother. In an attempt to start over and find solice from the life they had always known, they'd relocated. So now here she was, living in Sunnydale, California in a house they'd rented from her mother's sister, Jenny Calendar (who just so happened to teach a computer course here at the school.) Smiling slightly to herself she leaned back in her seat and thought that, for once, everything was going to be okay.

Class had just ended and Calli was putting up her books when she felt Tara nudge her. Turning to look at the beautiful blonde, she couldn't help but feel the butterflies that'd made their way into her stomach. For the first time she was able to really get a look at Tara's eyes, and she could feel herself want to turn into a puddle of well…Calli, at her feet.

"Here's your b-book b-back." Tara stammered slightly. She had to admit, Calli had the most intense stare she'd ever seen on someone. She didn't know if she wanted to turn tail and run, or melt at the girl's feet.

Calli didn't miss the stutter, and wondered what had made the girl so painfully shy. "Don't worry about it. You don't need it for the assignment?" she motioned towards the chalkboard up front with their homework for the night written on it.

"N-no, I'll get m-my books at lunch." Tara looked down as she replied and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Cool. Um, if you want, I could…" she didn't get the chance to finish as Willow came over and interrupted.

"Hey Tara, I see you've met Calli!" Willow smiled and gave Calli a small wave before continuing to whisk the shy blonde off to their next class.

"…Oooh, and she gets shot down." Chris emphasized this point with a sound mimicking that of a crashing plain. He couldn't help but pick at his best friend for losing her cool in front of the new girl. And he had to give Tara props, because it wasn't very often that someone made Calli lose her cool, much less actually blush!

"Bite me, dork!" and Calli emphasized her point by punching him hard in the shoulder. For someone who was only five foot five inches tall and maybe 110 pounds, she was in no way weak. And the 'Ouch' she received from Chris made her smile as she left the classroom.

"Tara! Over here!" she paused to turn and see who was calling her. She was surprised to see Willow calling her over to a bench where she was sitting…with other people. Feeling that this was an opportunity to actually make some friends, something she'd never really had, she steeled herself and walked over. Besides, the redhead had been nothing but nice to her since they'd been introduced this morning.

"Hey! I want to introduce you to my friends!" Willow gestured to the empty spot next to her, and waited before Tara was seated before continuing. "This is Buffy…"she pointed to the small blonde in pastel across from her, "this goofy looking guy right here is Xander…" he grinned and waved in response, "and this is Oz, my boyfriend!" she exclaimed and gave the spiky, multi-colored hair young man next to her a hug.

"Hi everyone." She smiled and waved shyly, and relaxed when she received smiles in return. She was surprised even more when Xander had suggested that join them for the "extravaganza that was trick-or-treating" tonight.

"I don't know Xand, I'm sure Tara doesn't want to share in our misery." Buffy noticed the confused look on Tara's face and decided to explain their situation to the shy blonde. "Flutie corralled us into volunteering to take some kids trick-or-treating."

"Oh…actually, I d-don't really have a-anything else p-planned." She stuttered slightly, still shocked at how fast they'd offered her a chance to hang out with them.

"Great! Then it's settled." Willow beamed. "You want to go costume shopping with me and Buff after school?"

"S-sure…" she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before continuing. "I'd love to." She looked down at her watch and decided it'd be a good idea to head to the library to get her books. However, she did like the idea of sharing with Calli again. Looking up, she immediately noticed the anime-style hair sticking out from the group of students that were gathered in the quad. 'She certainly does stand out from the rest of them…' she smiled as she thought this. She studied the girl for a moment. She seemed to be having an enthusiastic conversation with the purple haired guy next to her.

"Tara…Tara?" Willow looked over to where she was staring and saw Calli and Chris sitting in their usual spot, then back to Tara, wondering why she was so interested in what they were doing. "Tara?" she waved her hand in front of the girl's face, finally getting her attention.

"Y-yes?" Tara stammered, afraid that Willow might've caught on as to why she was staring. She'd been alienated at her last school for being gay, she didn't want the same thing to happen here.

"I was just wondering if you wanted me to show you where the library was," Willow grinned, "but your mind seemed to be elsewhere." 'More like on a certain someone' Willow made sure to ask the girl about this later on, whenever Tara was more comfortable.

"Um…sure. W-would you mind showing me right now?" she asked hesitantly.

"Nope, it's not a problem. Let's go." Willow stood up and gathered her things together before saying goodbye to her friends.

Tara did the same, and glanced back in Calli's direction so she could get one more look at the girl before leaving, and was surprised when she saw that Calli was watching her. It surprised Tara even more when the girl didn't look away, and instead continued to meet her gaze…with a smile! Blushing, Tara broke eye contact to tell the others goodbye before following Willow out of the quad. She couldn't understand why this girl was causing such feelings inside her. 'Oh don't lie to yourself, you know why. You like her, you think she's a hottie…' and Tara decided that she really wanted to get to know this girl. She seemed friendly enough, if maybe a little cocky, and 'maybe we could be more than friends?' she grinned at the idea.

"Dude, I think you might stand a chance…" Chris stated in utter amazement. He'd noticed the way Tara had been looking in their direction earlier, and it certainly seemed as though the blonde was checking out his best friend.

Calli grinned at her friend and wiggled her eyebrows in response. "What can I say, the ladies love me." Laughing she stood up and gathered her things for her next class. "I've got to go the library to work on some", she paused, "some research. You wanna come with?"

"You mean do I want to go with you to ogle Tara?" he received a nod as confirmation, and nodded enthusiastically in response. "Let's go!"

Tara sat at one of the few tables in the library, working on the English assignment Mrs. Dill had given them. She had a free period after lunch and figured she'd get started on her homework, that way she would be able to have it done in time to go hang out with Willow and the others. The redhead had made it a priority that Tara feel welcomed, and the blonde had to admit, she'd done a good job. What she found extraordinary was that it was only her first day and she'd managed to find herself a group of friends, and even more, she already had a crush on someone! 'Although I doubt anything would come of it except friendship..' She sighed quietly at the thought of Calli. In her opinion, the girl was gorgeous. And judging from her looks she seemed very confident and…feisty.

Looking up at the sound of the double doors being opened, Tara was shocked and at the same time elated to see none other than her new crush standing there with her hands on her hips and look of, what Tara figured, to be annoyance on her face. Her lips were moving, but since she was across the room Tara wasn't able to figure out what she was saying. She ducked her head to hide a smile. The girl was too adorable.

She heard footsteps coming in her direction, and as they got closer she could feel her heart beat faster. Tara didn't know what to do or where to look. Her confusion wasn't very long-lived because when she finally looked up Calli had already thrown her book case on the table and proceeded to take the seat across from Tara. She noted the slightly peeved look on the girl's face. "Um…i-is something wrong?" She asked in a shy voice.

"Huh? Oh no...I'm just pissed that my friend Chris bailed on me at the last minute." Calli sighed and ran a hand through her hair, causing it to become even more unruly and gravity-defying, which in turn caused the pretty blonde across from her to burst into a fit of giggles. Raising an eyebrow in question, she was honestly oblivious as to why Tara started laughing. "What'd I do?"

"Your hair…how do you get it to do that?" Tara asked. She'd truly never seen anything like it, the exception being in some video games and the little bit of anime she'd actually seen.

Calli smiled as she leaned back in the chair and propped her feet up on the side of the table. "I just run my hands through it in the morning" she paused, "with a little bit of mousse on them."

"And h-here I t-thought you had hair t-that defied the l-laws of gravity." Damn it, she was starting to get nervous. That was really the only time her stutter made itself known. God, of all the possible times for it to show up, it had to be when she was talking to someone she really wanted to get to know.

Calli seemed to pick up on this. Damn, she's really shy. How could I make her relax? She looked Tara in the eyes and smiled. "Hey, what are you doing this evening? You want to help Chris and I take some munchkins trick-or-treating?"

Tara's eyebrows shot up at this. Just how many poor Sunnydale High students did Principal Flutie recruit to do this? "Y-you have to do it t-to? I'd l-like to b-but Willow had already invited m-me t-to do it with them."

'And she gets shot doooown..' Calli mimicked Chris's words from earlier that day. And even though she really liked Willow and the others, well…she didn't like them very much at the moment. However, she didn't want to let Tara onto how disappointed she was. Instead she put on a smile and shrugged it off. "Well, I'm sure we'll end up meeting up somewhere. There aren't very many places that are very trick-or-treat friendly in this town. Well…maybe trick friendly, but definitely not treat friendly." She smiled when she heard Tara burst out in laughter, and she liked it. She wanted to hear it again, and again, and again.

After she'd stopped laughing Tara smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. She was starting to relax, finding it nice to be getting to know Calli. "So, who are you going as?" She had surprised herself by the lack of stutter in her question.

Calli sighed and slumped down in her seat. "Dante…from 'Devil May Cry 3'."

"But…doesn't he go shirtless in that one? I could have s-sworn that he did." She wasn't a serious gamer, but there were a few franchises that she liked to play.

"Yeah…"

Tara tilted her head to the side and tried to picture the young woman in front of her in costume…and blushed profusely. She'd definitely have to er…bump, into the girl tonight.

"I'm not actually going to GO shirtless though. Frankly I would have preferred to go as Vergil…but Dante is the more feminine looking of the two brothers. Well…face wise anyway." She laughed at the look on Tara's face, knowing exactly what she was thinking about. "You know, if you want to see me without my shirt on, all you have to do is ask."

Calli's flirtatious comment only made Tara blush even harder than she was already. However, feeling a little more confident, she decided to flirt back and call Calli on it. "I just might take you up on that…" Tara looked around the library, then back to Calli. "We are alone afterall." Just to make it even better she wiggled her eyebrows and licked her lips.

And with that said Calli proceeded to embarrass herself by losing her balance and tipping her chair over backwards. "Oh shi…!" she exclaimed before landing on the floor with a loud thump.

"Oh god, are you okay!" she hadn't expected that kind of reaction. Tara quickly got up out of her seat to rush to the girl that was currently lying on the floor, laughing her ass off. Upon seeing that she wasn't hurt, Tara found her laughter to be infectious and started laughing herself. Yeah, she definitely wanted this girl to be more than a friend. Tara looked down at Calli lying there, and imagined what it would look like if she was lying down in Tara's bed sans clothes. Oh, you just had to go there, didn't you?

She shook those thoughts away and stood up at the sound of the bell, offering Calli her hand at the same time. "Come on, give me your hand."

Calli took the hand that Tara was holding out for her and pulled herself up. She was amazed at how soft Tara's hands where. And the tingles, that she had felt when their arms touched for just a brief moment in English that morning, were back. She looked down at their hands, then back up at Tara, and couldn't help but stare into those deep, beautiful, blue eyes. Calli was really having to fight down the urge to kiss those pouty lips, and if it wouldn't have been for Giles coming into the library and clearing his throat she really didn't think she could've held out much longer.

"Um…we should get going. Class, you know?" Calli smiled slightly and grabbed her book bag off the table and slung it over her shoulder.

Tara smiled in return. "Yeah…class." She paused and looked down at her feet, then back up at Calli. "Um…see you tonight, maybe?"

Calli nodded and, feeling more than a little brave, leaned over to give the shy blonde a quick kiss on the cheek and hoped to god that she hadn't misread the vibes she'd been getting. "You can count on it." She waited to see what Tara's reaction would be, and seeing that it had the desired affect, she winked at the pretty blonde and started walking towards the doors.

Tara felt like she could've turned back flips right there in the library. 'She kissed me!' was the only thought running through her mind as she exited the library and made her way to her next class. Actually, it was pretty much her only thought for the rest of the day. While sitting in her last class for the day, she couldn't help but smile to herself as she looked out the window. Yeah, she decided then that moving to Sunnydale had definitely been the best idea.

End Part 1.

Author's note: I really thought this was going to be a one-shot fic. However, I think it's going to end up being a very small multi-chaptered fic. Maybe something along the lines of five or six parts. Please let me know what you think and review!