Chapter Two
Room 101, Sunnydale High School.
Willow Rosenberg took
her usual route to class, avoiding as many people as she could before
settling into her chair in the back of room.
Next to her was
her best friend Xander Harris, who was doing what he did best,
checking out the new girls in school, but his eyes stopped when he
saw a beautiful blonde in the front row.
She was reading a book when Xander made his move, "Hi there, you must be new here.
I'm Xander; let me be the first to welcome you to Sunnydale High."
"Thanks, but I already know your name. Curious, last year you didn't say a word to me. I sat in front of you in three different classes and I don't think you even said hi." The blonde girl stood up and stared back at a terrified Xander, "Isn't it funny how even now you are still staring at the only new thing about me, my breasts!"
Lifting his eyes from the pretty girl's chest, Xander found the whole class was staring at him, "Um, no, no, I think you have me confused with someone else, sorry to bother you."
"Not so fast."
Said the blonde as she pulled Xander back to her, "Since you're
here, what did you want to ask me?"
"Oh, nothing really. I
was just wondering if you had the time. My watch is broke and I see
you have one right there, so yes, that's what I wanted to ask."
Xander said, letting out a sigh of relief at what he felt was a
brilliant recovery.
"Don't you at
least want to know my name?" she asked, her hands sliding up
Xander's arm.
"Um, no, I don't think I should. I think I
should get back to my desk very fast. It's almost time for school
to start." Xander turned and waved to the girl as he rushed back to
his seat.
Willow didn't wait for Xander to get too comfortable before poking him in the arm, "What the heck was that? How can you not know her name?"
"Oh god, not you
to?" Xander said as he put his head on his desk.
"Yes, me
to. My god Xander, we had lunch with her a lot last year. She's a
friend of Cordy's. Ring any bells?" Willow asked as she kept
raising her eyebrows until a light bulb went off in Xander's head.
"You mean that's Darla? No way." Xander looked back at the front of the class and then back to Willow, "Come on, look at her now? She's gorgeous. She looks like a model. You can't tell me I would have missed this before."
"She got some boobs Xander, that's about it. She was always pretty." Willow added as the teacher walked into the room.
Xander stood up and cleared his throat, "I'd just like to take a moment and apologize to Darla for forgetting her name. I feel terrible and want to make it up to her. So, I've decided to sing her a song to humble myself in her presence."
Darla was laughing her head off as were all the other kids in the class, but the Miss Finkerbud, was not near as enthused, "Xander Harris, you can take your song and sing it to the principle. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, stop interrupting my class."
"But, class hasn't even started Miss Fingerbutt." Xander said, purposely mispronouncing her name.
"It's Finkerbud and you know it Mr. Harris." The angry teacher said as she ushered Xander out of her class. "Get down to the principles office this instant."
Darla gave Xander a smile as he stumbled out of the class, making the stroll to the principle's office fun for a change.
Back in the crypt.The two injured slayers entered the room ready to fight to the death, but were surprised to find it empty but for another note on the floor in the middle of the room.
Buffy picked up and read it.
If you're reading this, I guess you made it through alive.
Enjoy this feeling while you can, for you will not survive.
This was merely a beginner's test, but it's nice to know what lies ahead.
One thing for sure, I shall predict, next time we meet you will be dead.
The Horde.
"Well, either our big bad wasn't here or he escaped somehow."
Faith said as she scanned the room.
"I don't think it was
here either, but he sure knew we were coming. There's no way he
could get all those idiotic poems/riddles made so far in advance.
Could he?" Buffy asked, just as she felt a breeze against the back
of her neck.
Faith felt it at the
same time and they both slowly turned to see and smell a colored gas
being pumped into the room from a small hole in the far wall.
Buffy took Faith's hand and they ran out of room, closed the door
behind them and stood with their backs against the wall staring back
at each other.
"It looks like our friend has one last surprise
for us." Faith said, stating the obvious.
They noticed the boxes in the corner, rushed over, opened them up and grabbed as many t-shirts as they could carry and put them under the door.
Having bought themselves a little more time, the two girls began searching the room for anything that would help them escape.
Scurrying around, they overturned every box in the room, pounded on the walls, tried to get through the locked door and generally exhausted every possible option, before they sat down beside the drum and took a break.
"This is not how I
want to die." Buffy said as she kicked the drum out of
frustration.
"We're not gonna die, at least not in this
dump." Faith gave the drum a kick for good measure and when she did
it began creaking deep inside.
Both girls stepped back as it began rumbling and then rocking from side to side and after a couple of minutes the top of the drum flew off. Once the drum had landed on the floor and stopped moving, the two girls walked up to where it used to be and looked down into the hole it had left.
To their delight, there was a light shining up through the bottom and without hesitation they climbed down the narrow hole, ending up somewhere deep under Sunnydale. With only one path to follow, they made their way through the zigzag path until they come upon a small stream of water running down the side of the west wall and then through a small crack in the east wall.
When they turned to
see where they'd come from they found the path was gone and nothing
but dirt and rock remained.
They focused on the stream of water
and with a little teamwork had found a way to reach the top of the
stream and as soon as they did a wall opened up and they crawled
through it, ending up on a rocky ledge overlooking Sunnydale.
It was a long and uncomfortable trek down the rocky hillside, but eventually the two girls made it down.
"Oh god, I've
never been so happy to see a bunch of houses in all my life." Faith
said as she looked out at the city in front of her.
"I know
what you mean." Buffy quickly agreed, "Right now I need to go
home and have a nice long shower."
"Lucky you." Faith said
with a sigh.
"Why's that? You
can't tell me you don't have a shower where you live?" Buffy
asked, curious to hear Faith's response.
"It's a long
story. It's not important at all." Faith said with a fake smile,
"You go get cleaned up. You earned it."
"Wait." Buffy
said as she grabbed Faith by the arm. "What's going on here?"
"It's nothing.
Don't worry about it." Faith said as she tried to reassure Buffy,
"I'm fine, really. I'm just tired is all."
"I don't
think so. Okay, why don't you come back to my place and we can get
cleaned up." Buffy said, taking Faith's hand so she couldn't
say no.
"But..."
"But nothing, you're coming, so you might as well enjoy the
walk." Buffy smiled as she started walking back to her house with
Faith by her side.
Deep in the pits of the
Hellmouth.
Spike was standing on
a large platform trying to get a very large mob of vamps to listen to
him.
"Alright you useless blokes, it's time to for action.
We've been in Sunnydale long enough and now we need to make our
move." Spike pulled a cloth up and off a canvas, revealing the
pictures of two pretty girls. "These two girls are the future."
"Hey Spike, those aren't the slayers, you got the pictures mixed
up." A vamp said, somewhere in the crowd.
"Who said that?" Spike asked loudly. "Who the hell said that? It doesn't matter, you're obviously a moron. The slayers are not the key to this plan. They are merely the pawns in the master plan." Spike then pointed back to the picture, "This is Joyce Summers and this is her daughter, Dawn Summers. They are how we control the slayers."
"I don't
understand." Yelled another voice in the crowd.
"Me either,
until we kill the slayers, they will still be on the loose and a
threat to all of us." Said another.
"Why do I get stuck
with all the bloody incompetent blokes?" Spike said and then turned
and staked the vamp beside him, "Now, if I have your attention, we
can move on."
The crowd became deathly quiet as Spike went
into great detail about his elaborate plan.
Back
at Sunnydale High.
Lunchtime at any high school
could be anything from a quiet boring meal to a massive food fight or
some form of humiliation, all depending on who you were.
In
Xander Harris' case, he was close to the inside of many cliques,
but never quite made it to the core. So, he usually had his lunch
with his best friend Willow, who had much the same problem fitting
in.
On this particular day Xander was in a very good mood and
was all smiles when he sat down beside Willow, "Greetings. Isn't
it a wonderful day?"
Willow looked at Xander as if he'd lost his mind, but since that happened a lot nothing he did phased her much, "Well, I guess it's as good a day as any. Why are you so happy?"
"Oh Willow dear, didn't you see my exit today? It was amazing. Darla smiled at me." Xander said brimming with pride and even a little bit of confidence. "And I don't mean those smiles where they laugh at me, nope, because I'm pretty good at picking those out by now. This one was a sweet genuine smile and I can't get it out of my head."
"I see." Willow
said with a nod, "So what happens next?"
"Oh, nothing is
going to happen, she'll forget she even looked at me and that's
fine. This moment should take me through to the end of the year."
Xander said as he opened up his lunch and began eating.
As he
took his first bite, Darla walked up to the table with Cordelia and
Harmony by her side, "Hello Xander."
Xander looked up and tried to smile, but had to finish chewing his food before he could even speak, "Hi there. Hi. Darla right? See, I remember. So, how's it going? You girls having fun?
"Oh you have no
idea the fun we have together." Darla said as she smiled at both
girls then looked back at Xander, "I wanted to talk to you, do you
mind if we sit down?
"Of course not, sit down. Eat. Drink.
Be merry." Xander muttered and then pushed Willow to the end of the
table, "Scoot over."
Willow shook her head
at Xander's barbaric behavior, but knew he'd be apologizing
later.
"Thanks." Darla said as she sat down across from
Xander, "I was just thinking about this morning and I couldn't
stop laughing at your performance today. It was really sweet what
you did." Darla was twirling her hair with her fingers and sliding
her tongue across her lips as she spoke, "Anyway, I was just
wondering if you wanted to go to a party on Friday. It's a big
college preview blast, I'd love to go with you."
"Me? For real?"
Xander asked with a look of shock and confusion on his face. "This
isn't some kind of joke is it? Cause if it is, just shoot me now
and save me the time."
"Oh Xander, you're such a kidder."
Darla smiled and put her hand on Xander's arm, "If you don't
want to go, that's okay."
"No, I didn't' say that. I just...well okay, I'd love to go with you anywhere. To the moon even. Well, if we had a way to get there. I don't think we could just rent a space shuttle..."
Darla put her finger
up against Xander's mouth, "Shhhh, sometimes you just need to
nod. There's something to be said for the strong, silent type.
You can pick me up at 8. Here's my address." She said as she
handed him a piece of paper.
"I'll be there." Xander said,
choosing to keep it short and sweet.
"Great, I look forward to
it." Darla smiled, got up from the table and then walked back over
to where she usually sits.
Cordelia sat
opposite Willow, studying the quirky redhead as she sipped her orange
juice, "So Willow, I was wondering what you were doing this
Friday?"
"What? Are you talking to me?" Willow asked as
she looked around the room.
"Yes, you are the only Willow
aren't you? Yes, you are. Now, back to my question, what are you
doing this Friday?" Cordy asked in a matter of fact way.
"I don't know, I guess I'll probably be studying or maybe I'll watch some TV or something. Why are you asking me and aren't you going to the party with Darla?" Willow said as she looked into Cordy's eyes to see if she'd been taken over by a demon or something.
"No, I won't be
going to that one. Anyway, I was just hoping you might want to come
over to my place." Cordy said with a sexy smile.
"Okay,
what's going on here? Do you want something?" Willow said
bluntly as she tried to stare Cordy into a confession of sorts.
"You're as
paranoid as Xander." Cordy shook her head in disgust as Willow's
suspicious mind, "What ulterior motive do you think I have?"
Willow tried to read Cordy, but just couldn't tell if she was
being sincere, "I have no idea what this is about, which is why I
asked what you wanted? Seriously Cordelia, it's not like you and I
hang out together, so something must've happened."
"You're right, but that's before, this is now. I'm not going to beg. If you don't want to come over, that's fine. I was just trying to be nice." Cordelia grabbed her purse and got to her feet.
"I'm sorry, everything is happening so fast." Willow said, shaking her head and trying to think at the same time, "First Xander gets asked on a date by Darla, now you want me to come to your house? You have to admit, that's a pretty big coincidence."
"That's fine, but
I don't have time for your insecurities. I thought this might be
fun, but I can see I was wrong. Have a nice lunch Willow."
Cordelia turned and walked back to the table with Darla.
Xander
was still in his own dreamland, but did notice Cordelia talking to
Willow, "So, what did she want? Help with her homework?"
"Oh god, I bet that's it. She wanted me to come over and do her science project. I'm so dumb. I actually thought she wanted to be friends." Willow shook her head and laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh.
"Hey there, just a second." Xander said as he watched Willow's smile turn to disappointment, "You went from zero to sixty without telling me what the middle part was about."
"You nailed it. Cordelia asked me to go to her house on Friday. I knew it was too good to be true and now I know why. Anyway, let's not talk about that." Willow said softly and then smiled as she changed the subject. "I guess you and Darla are really going out then?"
"I still can't
believe it and I'm prepared for this being a big joke, but if
there's a chance she actually likes me, I can't pass that up."
Xander said with a reserved smile.
"Well, I think she should
feel lucky to have you as her date. Once she gets to know you she'll
see what I see, a nice guy with a great sense of humor."
"Oh, don't call
me nice. Guys don't like nice." Xander said with a frown, "Oh
and by the way, you forgot to say how brutally handsome I am. But,
I'll let it go this time."
"Mighty big of ya." Willow
chuckled and then went back to finishing her lunch.
Outside Buffy's house.
Buffy and Faith arrived at Buffy's house completely wiped from the fighting and then the long, long walk back home.Inside, Buffy took Faith up to her bedroom and they both sat on the bed and quickly lay down on their backs. It didn't take long before they were both fast asleep.
Faith woke up first
and slowly got to her feet and stretched her muscles and then took a
look around Buffy's room.
She picked up a picture of Buffy and
Dawn with their mom and dad and couldn't help smile and envy what
that must be like.
Buffy got up to see
Faith staring at the picture and hopped to her feet and walked up
behind her, "That's from an eternity ago. Things were different
then."
"Different? How?" Faith asked as she turned to
face Buffy.
"I haven't seen my father in years. I get a post card here and there from some exotic city, a phone call about once a month, but he's always working." Buffy said as she took the picture from Faith and smiled at a time she'd almost forgotten. "Things just aren't the same now. I know something is going on, but my mom won't tell me. I'm almost afraid to ask. My mom just clams up when I mention my dad anymore. I have no idea what caused it, but we aren't the same happy family you see in the picture."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Faith turned and walked back over to the bed and sat down.
"No, it's not your fault. I love the picture because it's such a good memory." Buffy sat the picture back on her dresser and then went and sat down beside Faith, "I don't mean to pry, but how are things with your parent's?"
Faith tensed up at the question and once again got to her feet, "There's not much to tell really. I have no dad and my mom's not really a mom, so I pretty much live on my own now, but I like it."
"I'm sorry. That
must be hard." Buffy said, not really sure what to say.
"It's
fine."
Buffy walked back
over to Faith and touched her shoulder, "Hey, if you want, you
could stay here. We do have a spare bedroom. I'd love to have
you."
"No, I couldn't do that. It's too much. I don't
like owing people." Faith pulled away from Buffy and looked out her
window.
"I don't look at
this as you owing me. I want you to stay here. It's what friends
do for each other." Buffy said with a smile as she tried to change
Faith's sullen look.
"It's really nice of you to offer,
but I don't think I can accept."
"Oh well, I wonder how I
can get you to change your mind." Buffy said with a grin and then
walked into the bathroom.
Faith followed, her eyes opening wide as she saw the big beautiful shower and the large counter and sink, the huge cabinet for all the many accessories and she looked at Buffy, who was smiling back at her, "This is nice. Oh how I miss a good shower. You are making this hard B."
"B?" Buffy asked
with a grin, "Well B it is, but you have to stay. Whoever gives
out a nickname must grant the other a wish. My wish is for you to
stay here with me. We are slayers, we will be spending a lot of time
together, it even makes sense for that."
Faith was smiling for
the first time since they'd fought the last group of vamps and
after opening the shower curtain and looking inside, she turned to
Buffy, "Okay, you've gotta deal."
Buffy ran over and
gave Faith a big warm hug, "I'm so happy you said yes."
"Okay, no need to get all mushy on me." Faith smiled.
"That's not mushy, that's just being nice." Buffy explained
as she looked back into Faith's dark eyes.
"Are you going to
kiss me or let me have a shower?" Faith said with a laugh as the
two girls stood eye to eye for the longest time.
"Um, sorry, I
was just...yes, you can have the shower first. Just let me know what
you need." Buffy said as she pulled back from Faith.
"Thanks,
I won't take long. I'd suggest we share it, but maybe another
time." Faith said with a sexy grin.
Buffy smiled, but wasn't sure if Faith was joking around or serious, but she sure liked the idea. Her smile was still on her face when her eyes grew big and she turned and rushed back to the bathroom.
Even though she wanted to say something, as she stared at Faith's half-naked body, she couldn't for the life of her think of what it was. Not able to move or speak, she just stood there as Faith slipped out of her tight pants, taking in her sexy curves as Faith unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor.
Feeling her pulse racing and her temperature rising, Buffy took one last look at Faith's shapely round ass and started backing out of the bathroom.
Faith turned around and smiled at Buffy, "Hey, what can I do for ya."
Buffy was surprised, yet relieved, at Faith's calm reaction and she tried looking her in the eyes as she fought hard to think of why she was in the bathroom to begin with, "Um well, it's just that I was thinking...oh right, you don't have any clothes here."
"I guess you're
right." Faith said as she slid out of her panties, "Well, who
needs clothes, right?"
"I can see you don't, but it might
be a bit distracting at school. You know, for the boys." Buffy
said as she turned to the side.
"Oh yes, boys do seem to get all worked up at the sight of a naked girl. It's good you don't or this might be a bit awkward." Faith teased, and then walked up behind Buffy and reached over and pushed the bathroom door closed.
"Why did you do
that?"
"In case someone came home of course. I wouldn't
want your mom or sister to see me like this." Faith said as she
slid her breasts up against Buffy's back.
"I think I better
go. I have to go do something." Buffy said as she grabbed the
doorknob.
Faith stepped back and walked over to the shower, "Yes, it is getting a little warm in here isn't it? I'll get washed up and then I'll help you with your shower."
"What? No, no, no.
I don't need any help. It's just standing under water right, so
I can do that. Yep, I can." Buffy turned and walked out the door,
closed it behind her and let out the biggest smile ever.
End of Chapter Two.