After ninth period Faith rushes to her locker. She is so flustered that it takes her a few tries to open her locker, but eventually she does. As she glances into the mirror in her locker she realizes that there is a huge grin plastered on her face and she feels guilty. I shouldn't be this happy... not so soon…
She grabs her book bag and a few things she will need to do homework. Fixing her hair quickly, she closes her locker and leans against the wall attempting to look casual. Nick turns the corner and she notices that he walks a little faster when he sees her. With one last deep breath, she approaches him.
"Hey." She greets him.
"Hey." He answers back as he opens his locker. As he rummages through his books she looks at the pictures he has taped to the door of his locker. There's an autographed picture of the members of Greenday and a few other snap shots of his friends. She sees no pictures of him and anyone who might be his girlfriend. She is relieved.
"I'm supposed to talk to Coach Steuber, do you know where he is?" he asks.
"Yea, his office is by the boys locker room." He closes his locker and falls into step beside her.
"We should go out the front door and walk around back to the track, there's a door to the boys locker room from there and I'll wait outside." She explains.
"Any special reason we have to walk all the way around the school instead of just walking through the gym?" he wonders.
She laughs. "You don't wanna walk through the gym after ninth period." She warns him, "The junior varsity volleyball team practices in there and their aim sucks. The minute you walk through the gym doors you'll get hit."
The weather is beautiful and Faith enjoys the warm sun as they make the short walk around the school. When they reach the track she points out the door to the boys locker room. "I'll be waiting by the bleachers."
"Okay, I'll try to be quick."
When he disappears inside the school she makes her way over to the bleachers. Kicking a discarded coke can, she paces back and forth before finally deciding to sit. She takes the messenger bag off her shoulder and places it beside her and she leans backwards, resting on the bench behind her. She watches the track team as they warm up.
They do their stretches, holding each for thirty seconds. After a few minutes they finish and take their places on the track to do the next round of warm ups. At the coach's signal, they skip to the 100-yard line. Wow, that's embarrassing. At the next signal they do lunges. I'm so glad I never joined track. She watches them continue to practice and every once in a while has to laugh out loud.
She hears a door open and close and turns her head to see Nick exiting the boy's locker room.
"Take a look at the newest member of the lacrosse team." He says happily. She congratulates him and he reminds her of her promise to come to one of their games.
An hour later they find themselves walking along the boardwalk, enjoying the view of the water.
"I'm suddenly having flashbacks to American History class." Confused by his statement, she looks up at him in question. "You know, the Boston Tea Party. A couple of hundred years ago that was all happening right here."
"Oh." She knows vaguely of the Boston Tea Party. "I'm not good with history, too many dates and places to remember."
"Yea, but I like that class. Our teacher isn't so bad either. Although… why is there a pink carpet in the class room?"
"It's mauve, not pink." She tries to keep a straight face but fails miserably and laughs. "He is a very strange man."
"So there's no method to his madness?" he asks.
"Not as far as I know… but don't rely on me for information. School isn't my thing. I'm barely passing that class."
"I could tutor you." He suggests. She looks up at him and wants to say yes, but figures that tutoring wouldn't help her anyway.
"No, that's okay. But thanks for the offer. I'm not smart, but I've gotten over it." An uncomfortable silence looms over them. He wants to help, and she wants to be helped… but she thinks it's a bad idea. He doesn't need to know how stupid I am. She spots a small shop up ahead. "You wanna go get snack or something?" He nods, thankful for this detour from their conversation.
They enter the store and he follows her to the beverage aisle. She grabs a bottle of Snapple and then tells him she's going to look for chips. She stops where the chips should be but finds a display of sour candy instead. Okay, so where are the chips now? Not paying attention, she turns and walks straight into a woman.
"Oh, sorry." Faith apologizes as she walks around the woman.
"Faith?" She stops when the woman says her name. "Faith Matthews?"
A chill goes down Faith's spine. Who is this chick? Slowly she turns around to face her.
"Who wants to know?" she asks coolly. She looks the woman up and down, guessing that she's about 37. Bright red hair pulled into a bun, tweed pants suit with ugly shoes and an all-around arrogant demeanor.
"Oh, excuse me. Where are my manners? I'm Ashley Nelson. I am to be your watcher." She takes a step closer to Faith and reaches out to shake her hand. Faith recoils, stepping back and bumping into the display of chips she had been looking for.
"My watcher? What the hell are you talking about, lady?" Faith is confused. Is this her aunt from Kentucky that was supposed to come stay with her? She doesn't think so.
"I know you must be very confused but if you'll come with me I will explain everything, I'm afraid we didn't find you a soon as we had hoped to. Our resources have been a little on the tardy side lately, but I assure you that I am not here to harm you."
"I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what is going on. Who are you and how do you know me?" her voice is louder than she means it to be and the couple begins to attract the attention of other customers.
Stepping closer, Ms. Nelson says quietly, "Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil-"
"Whoa! I think you need to get your head checked out, okay? I can show you to the nearest doctor…" Faith begins to back away again. I knew something wasn't right… this lady is insane.
"No, Faith, you are the Slayer. You must believe me! The fate of the world rests in your hands!"
"You're insane! I'm not a slayer, I'm not a chosen one! I'm nothing special!"
Ms. Nelson pulls a piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to Faith. "Meet me here at 10 o'clock tonight. I will give you proof." And with that she leaves, the bell above the door indicating her exit.
Faith's head is spinning. Was it true? Was she a… a slayer? She feels a hand on her shoulder and spins around to find Nick looking at her worriedly.
"So… what's a slayer?"