Chapter 2
"I'm here to enrol my sister" Buffy said as she talked to the Jan, the lady behind the front desk. Jan had pulled her grey hair into a high bun and she wore her glasses on the edge of her nose. "Ok, fill in this form, and she can start tomorrow" Jan said in a bored tone as she handed a piece of paper over the desk. Buffy grabbed it and took a look at it, taking a pen out of Jan's hand. "Ok" Buffy said as she went to sit in one of the chairs off to the side, taking Dawn with her.
"Name… Dawn Summers. How old are you?" Buffy began, the pen leaving black squiggles on the page. "I'm 15" Dawn replied in irritation "you should know that". "Oh, I do. I just feel like being annoying today" Buffy smiled as she continued the application, finishing it within a matter of seconds. "There, all done" she said with a smile as she brought the piece of paper and the pen back over to the front desk. "Here you go" Jan said as she handed over a timetable "she's going to need this". "Thank you" Buffy said as she turned and gave it to Dawn, "Better be off now" she walked towards the door with Dawn in tow.
"That wasn't too bad now" Buffy said as she made the way to Stefan's car, the keys in hand. He had said that he would go over to Elena's house after school, entrusting Buffy with the keys. "Stefan's car is sweet" Dawn said as she looked it over, "wonder how much it costed". "We couldn't afford anything like this anyways" Buffy said as she unlocked the doors. "I know, but still. Could you image if we did. It would be sooo cool!" Dawn replied as she slid into the front passenger seat. "Don't I wish I got paid for my job" Buffy said as she shut her door carefully and pushed the keys into the ignition. "We could be living the dream by now, considering how many… uh… things you killed" Dawn said as she pulled the zipper on her jacket up, the purple fabric getting caught for about a second. Buffy frowned "I know" as she put her foot on the accelerator and drove out of the schools parking lot.
"You know, I may need to be able to protect myself one day…" Dawn said, trying to resurrect an old topic. "Dawn…" Buffy sighed, turning her head slightly to take a look at her, "You know I'm not going to allow it. I CAN NOT lose you". "Yeah, well… think about how I felt two years ago" Dawn said, frustration seeping into her voice. Buffy frowned, "This conversation is over. I am NOT talking about it Dawn". "Fine" Dawn exhaled. "Fine" Buffy counted lamely as she turned her attention back to the road. "What if I get into trouble and no one could find me? What about then… You remember what happened with Harmony?" Dawn continued as she watched the houses pass by. "People did find you then Dawn, and drop the topic. We are back at the boarding house" Buffy said feeling exhausted. "Whatever…" Dawn said with disappointment as she waited for her sister to park the car.
"Buffy!" Clem called from the doorway, "want to play cards?" he asked as he held up a deck of cards and a handful of poker chips. "Not at this moment, you can teach Dawn… Without the chips" She said as she strode over to the stained glass door. "Aw, ok. Cards?" Clem replied as he turned to Dawn and held the deck up, tucking the poker chips into his pockets. "Sure" Dawn said cheerfully as she stepped away from the car and towards the door. Buffy smiled gloomily as she walked towards the kitchen.
"Wonder how Spikes going…" Buffy murmured as she opened the fridge, looking for something she could eat. "Who's Spike?" Someone said from behind Buffy, making her jump and hit her head. "Jesus bloody Christ!" she yelled as she spun around "don't sneak up on me like that!" Damon chuckled, "Jesus bloody Christ? Not Christian are you?" he asked. "Sorta, a very bad one at that" Buffy said as she calmed herself down. "How do you become a bad Christian? Didn't think it was possible" Damon mused as he rested against the bay. "Oh you know, believe in all the crap but don't follow the rules real well. Just the basics" Buffy said, trying to put on an 'it doesn't really matter' attitude.
"Right…" Damon said, sounding disinterested "You never answered my question". "What question?" Buffy asked innocently. "Oh you know, the one on who's Spike… he… or she… has quite an interesting name" Damon mused. "Oh… that question. Well, Spike is an old friend who… died" Buffy said reluctantly, hoping Damon wouldn't continue chasing this subject. "So… Spike was a good friend?" Damon asked, amusing himself with Buffy's reactions. "No, not really" Buffy said as she turned back towards the fridge, closing the door carefully, "nothing in there anyways" she muttered as she bent over to look into a cupboard. "God, I would die for a Twinkie" Buffy murmured as she moved a few boxes around. "Won't we all?" Willow said from behind Buffy as she opened the fridge, taking out several bottles of water.
Buffy laughed, "I'm guessing those are for the potentials" she inclined her head to the bottles in Willow's hands. "These?" Willow held the bottles up "Yeah, they've been getting their grove on keeping in shape". Buffy laughed, "At least their doing something proactive, all I've done since we've got here is unpack whatever I had and enrol Dawn into the local high school". "Hey, I've been their 'bag lady' I've been rushing around for them instead of doing what I want to do" Willow said. "How are you holding up by the way?" Buffy asked as she pulled out a box of Count Chocula "Mmm… at least there's something worth eating". Willow laughed, "I'm fine". "Good. That's real good" Buffy replied absentmindedly as she pulled a shallow bowl out of the cupboard.
"Better take these out then" Willow said as she walked out the door that lead to the backyard. "Ok, I'll just… poor me a bowl of cereal. Not that I wasn't doing that already" Buffy muttered as she pulled the milk out of the fridge, drowning the cereal in it.
"Hand those assignments in before your two weeks are up" Alaric called from the front of the classroom as he waited for the bell to ring, signalling that it was time to leave the school grounds for the day. The class echoed groans as they sat on the edge of their seats, waiting for the bell themselves. The silent clicks of the second hand moving echoed through the suspense that filled the room. The bell sounded with a high pitched squeal, the class letting out collective sighs as they stood up from their desks and made their escape.
"Elena, Stefan" Alaric called as he shuffled the papers that were sitting loosely on his desk. Elena frowned and changed her course to the teacher with Stefan in tow. "Yes?" she asked when she got there. "Who are those new people in town?" Alaric asked, not taking his eyes off the papers. "I've no idea completely but I'm pretty sure their just normal people. They turned up looking a little shabby though and they seem to like their martial arts. They haven't told us where they're from but their leader seems to be the blonde girl, Buffy" Stefan said, the words flowing from his mouth with ease. "Buffy? What a curious name" Alaric mused as he looked towards Stefan. "My exact thoughts…" Stefan said, his eyebrows pulling tightly together.
"It's weird don't you think? How they just show up out of nowhere and they seem to be very secretive and keep to themselves" Elena said as she looked towards the door, hoping no one would come through the door. "It's not that unusual for people to be secretive and keep to themselves when they are in new territory but it does seem unusual when you think about it. I heard one of them is starting up here tomorrow. It looks like they're going to be staying for a while" Alaric said as he placed all the papers in a desk draw and standing up from his seat. "Yes, the girl… what's her name? Dawn wasn't it?" Elena said as she shuffled through her memory for the right name. "Yes, her name was Dawn. They all seem safe enough though" Stefan said "we should probably wait to see if they are actually a real threat though. Newcomers usually are though. We should keep a close eye on them". "We should" Alaric said "Well, time to go" he signalled for Elena and Stefan to leave in front of him.
"Talk later" Elena said as she walked out of the classroom and took a sharp left, heading down the deserted hallway. Stefan followed, his boots hitting the lineal with heavily echoed thuds. "I hope Damon's not doing anything stupid" Stefan murmured as he fell instep beside Elena. "I won't be surprised if he did. I also wouldn't be surprised if he was lurking in the woods" Elena said as looked up towards Stefan. "Sounds like him don't it?" Stefan replied as they stepped out the schools front doors "Still up for dinner at yours?" Stefan asked, "Because I can always just run home". "Oh, I almost forgot. Yes, still up for dinner" She smiled as she stepped carefully down the stairs.
"Good" Stefan smiled as he opened the driver's door for Elena to get in, "It's your car so you can drive". Elena blushed, the red colour covering her pale cheeks. "Thank you" she mumbled as she slid into the seat. "My pleasure my queen" Stefan said as he bowed, a huge smile creeping onto his face. Elena giggled, "Whoa, that's not something I usually do" She said with surprise. Stefan laughed, "Don't start changing on me now" he murmured as he slid into the passenger seat, his smile widening to show his perfect teeth.