Willow dropped Buffy off at her second class which was Chemistry.

"If you want me to walk you to your class after this then stand by the those lockers," Willow pointed toward the lockers near the door to her classroom. "And wait there for me when the period ends."

Buffy nodded her head. "Okay." Willow started to walk away when Buffy stopped her. "And thanks. For everything. For showing me to my class and being so friendly."

Willow smiled, "No problem. See you later."

After Willow headed toward her class Buffy walked into the class room. Half the students were already in the room and seated. She wasn't sure if there were assigned seats so she stood near the teachers desk and waited for the teacher to enter the room.

A couple of students were staring at Buffy as she just stood there. Buffy started getting uncomfortable and felt like everyone was talking about her.

More students filled the class room and took their seats. Buffy heard a couple of whispers.

"Who is that?"

"Why is she just standing there?"

Buffy tried to ignore them and bit on her lower lip from being so nervous. She prayed the teacher would come in any minute now.

A middle aged woman with short brown hair and pale skin walked into the class room. She was looking through a bunch of papers as she approached her desk. Without looking up she walked over to her chair and sat down. Buffy watched her and wondered if she knew she was there. The woman continued reading over the papers in her hand.

"Um, excuse me?" The woman didn't even look up, she kept reading with interest and barley acknowledged Buffy.

"Hmm?"

"Uh, I...I'm new here and..." The woman finally looked up and met Buffy's eyes.

"Buffy Summers?"

"Yes."

"I've been expecting you. I'm Mrs. Wheeler." Mrs. Wheeler stood up and looked towards the group of students. "Why don't you take a seat next to Cordelia." Mrs. Wheeler pointed at a girl with dark brown hair. Buffy looked at Cordelia then back at the teacher.

"Well, go on. She won't bite."

Buffy nodded her head and slowly walked over to Cordelia. She stood behind the chair next to Cordelia and pulled it out from under the table. Cordelia stopped talking to her friends and turned her head toward Buffy. Buffy sat in the chair as Cordelia's eyes burned into her. Buffy was too nervous and shy to confront Cordelia so she kept her eyes straight ahead.

"You are?"

Buffy finally turned her head toward Cordelia.

"Uh, B-Buffy."

"Buffy? You have a last name?"

"Summers."

"Buffy Summers. Nice name."

"Thanks."

Cordelia and her friends chuckled. Buffy realized they she was being sarcastic and felt embarrassed. Cordelia looked her up and down and tried hard not to laugh out loud.

"Interesting choice in clothes. You do realize it's like 90 degrees?"

Buffy looked down at her hoodie and tried hard not to cry. It was the last thing she needed to do in front of these people. Normally she wouldn't feel so vulnerable but considering what happened recently everything seemed to upset her. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be a very good school year.

Cordelia and her friends continued to make rude comments about Buffy but she ignored them and tried to focus on the lesson Mrs. Wheeler was teaching.

After second period was over Buffy stood next to the lockers Willow pointed at. She watched as students passed her and hurried to their next class. Buffy was looking through the crowd of people for Willow but someone else caught her eye.

Spike walked through the hall ways trying to get by the students so he could hurry to the parking lot, he didn't want be late for his class at the University. He started walking faster but stopped in his tracks when he saw the familiar blonde. He was about to walk over to her when Willow grabbed Buffy's arm and led her away.

Spike sighed and exited the building.

Willow entered the gym with Buffy at her side.

"We have this class together." Buffy smiled, relieved that Willow would be with her this period and thought the other students would leave her alone if she were with Willow.

At 2:25 the bell rang and school was out. Buffy picked up her books and headed out of the front door. Joyce waited in the car for Buffy. Buffy saw her mother waiting for her and jumped into the passengers seat.

"Hey, how was your first day?"

Buffy looked out the window. "Fine."

"So, what did you learn today?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? I send you to school so you can learn something. Come on, you had to have learned something." Joyce was being playful but Buffy wasn't in the mood.

"Mom, just...just leave me alone."

Joyce looked hurt but Buffy didn't notice because she was too preoccupied staring out of her window.

As Joyce was driving down the road to their new home she glanced at Buffy and noticed her sweater.

"Aren't you hot in that thing?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh...no."

"You sure 'cause it's very warm outsi..."

"Mom! I don't care if it's warm outside. I feel like wearing a sweater so I'm going to wear a sweater."

Joyce sighed, "Buffy, what's wrong? You aren't acting like yourself."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

Joyce pulled into the driveway and Buffy jumped out of the car. Joyce opened her door and caught up with Buffy.

"Buffy, I think we need to talk."

Buffy rolled her eyes again and headed towards the front door. Joyce grabbed her arm and spun her around. Buffy jerked her arm back and took a few steps backwards.

"Don't touch me! Never touch me again!" Tears fell down Buffy's cheeks and Joyce stared at her daughter in shock.

"Buffy..."

Buffy brought her hands to her face and wiped the tears away.

"I need to be alone."

Joyce watched as Buffy ran into the house and slammed the door shut. She sighed and leaned against the car.

Buffy stayed in her room the rest of the day. Joyce was downstairs cooking dinner and Dawn was in the dinning room doing her homework.

"You know, I can't believe they gave me homework on my first day!" Dawn shouted to her mother.

Joyce chuckled, "Homework is good for you. Keeps you busy and educates you."

"Whatever. Hey, where's Buffy?"

Joyce frowned. She knew something was going on with her but she won't open up to her. Maybe it was the whole moving away from home and leaving behind all your friends thing.

"She's upstairs. Why don't you go up there and tell her dinner is ready."

"Kay."

Dawn stood up and headed upstairs.

Buffy sat on her bed and was reading a Danielle Steel novel when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"What?"

"Dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry."

"Come on, you have to eat."

"Go away, Dawn."

"Fine. Whatever. Don't blame me if you starve to death."

Buffy rolled her eyes and continued reading.

Dawn walked down the stairs and headed into the kitchen. She came up behind Joyce and gave her a hug. Joyce kissed her on the forehead and brushed her hair behind her ears.

"Where's Buffy?"

"She's not coming. She said she's not hungry."

Joyce sighed and walked passed Dawn to the stairs.

Joyce reached Buffy's door and knocked.

"Dawn, I said GO AWAY!"

"Buffy it's me."

Buffy sighed and stood up, she walked over to her door and unlocked it. Joyce opened her door and Buffy crawled back on her bed.

"Buff, will you please talk to me? I need to know what's going on with you."

"Nothing is going on. I just...I had a bad day at school. Some girl was giving me a hard time and...mom, I'm sorry." Buffy only told her part of the truth.

"It's all right baby. Just promise me you won't take it out on everyone else the next time you have a bad day."

Buffy nodded her head. "Okay. I promise."

Joyce hugged her daughter then pulled away. "Come downstairs and eat."

Buffy reluctantly stood up and walked downstairs with Joyce. That night Buffy didn't eat anything and hid her food inside her napkin.

The next day Buffy walked into her first period and was greeted by Willow and Xander.

"Hey Buffy."

"Hi."

"Xander and I were wondering if you wanted to go to the Bronze with us tonight."

"The what?"

Willow chuckled, "The Bronze, it's a club a lot of teenagers go to."

"Oh, um...sure."

Willow and Xander smiled and spoke at the same time, "Great."

Willow and Xander looked at each other and laughed.

Buffy noticed the look in their eyes when they looked at each other and smiled.

"Are you two...uhh...you know?"

Xander spoke first. "No, no...no way." Willow looked at him, obviously hurt. "Not that there's anything wrong with Willow, it's just she's like a sister to me. I've known her all my life and it's weird...to think of her like that."

Willow looked down and Buffy felt sorry for her.

"Oh. I see."

They were interrupted when the familiar British accent tried to get their attention.

"I hope everyone completed their assignment."

Buffy leaned toward Willow and whispered. "I thought he was just a substitute."

"He is. Our teacher is out for a few weeks because he's getting surgery on his knee."

"Oh."

"You don't seem so thrilled about Spike being here. Why don't you like him?"

"It's not that I don't like him, I just..."

Spike noticed Buffy and Willow whispering to each other and spoke loudly. "Miss Rosenberg, would you like to go first?"

Willow turned her head towards Spike. "Huh?"

"Would you like to share your assignment first? Everyone is going to take a turn and share with everyone who they wrote about and why. So why don't you come up here and get it over with, pet."

A couple of the girls sighed happily when Spike said, 'pet'. They loved his British nicknames.

"Uh, sure." Willow walked to the front of the room and held a piece of paper in her hand.

"You don't have to read us what you wrote, just give us a brief summary and when you're done you can hand me your paper."

After Willow and few other people went to the front of the room Spike called on Buffy. Buffy became nervous and didn't want to share what she wrote so she made up an excuse.

"I, uh, I didn't do mine."

"That's all right. Yesterday was your first day but after today I expect you to complete all of your work."

A few minutes later the bell rang and Buffy stood up. Everyone except Buffy, Willow and Xander walked out of the classroom. As the three of them reached the front of the class room Spike stood in front of them.

"Miss Summers, I'd like to speak with you for a minute."

Buffy looked at Willow and Xander.

"We'll see you later Buff."

Xander took Willows hand and led her out of the class room.

"O-Okay."

Buffy turned back to Spike and waited for him to speak.

Spike pulled out a piece of paper from his desk drawer.

"Mr. Taylor, your regular English teacher has the new students fill out his form." He handed the paper to Buffy. "Just answer the questions and hand it in tomorrow or if I see you later today you can give it to me then." Buffy skimmed over the paper then looked back up at Spike.

"Okay."

Spike looked like he wanted to talk to her about something but he glanced at the clock and remembered he had another class to teach. A couple of students entered the class room and took a seat at their desks.

"Well, you better get to class." Buffy nodded then left the class room.

Buffy walked into her Chemistry class and took a seat. She pulled out the paper Spike handed her and read it. It had a bunch of questions about her, the purpose of the questions was to get to know her better. It asked questions like: Who do you live with? What is your favorite school subject? What are your goals for the future? Etc...

Buffy put the paper away when the teacher entered the room.

After school Buffy waited outside for her mother to pick her up. She never used to be late when picking Buffy up from school.

Buffy thought she might have fallen asleep so she entered the school and walked over to the pay phone. She dialed her number and waited for someone to pick up the phone. When the answer machine came on she hung and headed back outside. She figured her mom was on her way right now.

Twenty minutes later Buffy was the only student on the school campus. She impatiently crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground. She heard a car approach and expected to see her mother pull up. A car she hadn't seen before pulled up next to her and the person in the car rolled down the window.

Buffy's eyes widened when she saw the person in the car. She took a few steps back.

"Get in the car."

Buffy shook her head and started to run. The person jumped out of the car and chased her. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm. Buffy struggled and kept punching and kicking the person but the his grip just grew tighter. Buffy started to scream but he covered her mouth and threw her into the back seat of the car.

He hurried into the drivers seat and drove away.