On Tuesday evening, the two teens arrived at the sidewalk in front of Harmony's home, once again walking from Sunnydale High while casually chatting about anything and everything in the world. As they stood together, just as he had done yesterday, Xander stuck out his hand to say goodbye. An intent light in her eyes, Harmony ignored this and stepped to stand directly in front of the boy and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss directly on Xander's lips.

The young man totally froze, only his eyes widening and bulging as the kiss continued, with Harmony keeping her lips lightly pressed against his for a good half minute. Finally, the girl broke off the kiss and stepped back, smiling at the paralyzed boy. Harmony then turned and briskly strode up the walkway to the house, going up the stairs to enter the porch. Only then did she turn around to check on Xander.

The place where he had been in front of her home was empty, and Harmony looked up the sidewalk to see Xander weaving along and away from her house, his face blank even when he clipped his shoulder against an oak tree growing in its position between the sidewalk and the street curb, this accident sending him bouncing off diagonally across the sidewalk. The boy seemingly paid no attention to this, as he continued zigzagging on the sidewalk while walking away. In the growing dark, he soon disappeared, leaving Harmony softly giggling to herself. *Next time, tongue.*

At school on Wednesday, Harmony and Cordelia met again.

It was purely by accident. Early in the school day, Harmony learned her recent opponent had returned to the school, when the blonde overhead an excited student telling her friend about this. These gossipers had then noticed Harmony listening to them, and both had nervously edged away from her.

That reaction had happen often over the last few days. No one knew exactly how to treat the girl who had slapped the, well, not the most popular girl in school, but clearly the most influential. Plus what had happened right after, when she had told off the detested principal.

It all came down for the residents of Sunnydale High being forced in performing the most loathed task for teenagers. Making a decision. While the students' opinion of Harmony's actions included amusement, glee, awe, and simple lust (that dress had been really tight across her chest when she had swung her arm), it didn't mean they were going to vote for the blonde as class president. Most of the school population had good reason to dislike Cordelia Chase, yet she was not certainly going to take what had happened lying down (even if she had been knocked on her ass), and her revenge was going to be terrible and probably directed against everybody who had been there to witness her humiliation, instead of just one girl.

It was decided by virtually every student in the school to back off and see what would happen. A betting pool promptly sprang up, with most of the money being laid on another catfight taking place between the pair. For some reason, a lot of students suddenly started carrying pocket cameras and video recorders around the school, despite the fact that Sunnydale High didn't have a camera club.

Harmony herself was nervous about the whole thing. She certainly wasn't going to apologize to Cordelia, yet as her mother had warned her, there could be serious repercussions over the event. Maybe even legal trouble. It had been assault after all, and while both adversaries were minors, the Chase family could afford the best lawyers in the country to make someone pay dearly over what had been done.

It all meant that Harmony's stomach was once again turning over for most of the day, expecting Cordelia, along with an entire law firm in tow, to appear out of thin air at any moment, with the brunette doing her best to destroy her opponent. At this exact second right now during the period change, there was no sign of that rich girl, and the random movement of students in the school corridors had caused the hallway Harmony was walking through to be completely deserted for a few moments.

Harmony stopped to take a sip of water from a drinking fountain in its alcove in the hallway, hoping it would settle her stomach. As she finished drinking and started to straighten up from her bent-over position, the classroom door next to the fountain opened up, with someone coming out, moving with a quick stride. Both of the occupants of the hallway turned their heads at the same instant, mildly curious to see who the other was.

Cordelia Chase and Harmony Kendall, now both stock still, stared at each other from barely more than an arm's length apart.

Harmony's first thought was to look at her enemy's face, where she had slapped her. Incredibly, there was no damage of any kind there; no swelling, bruising, or marking at all. However, as Harmony kept her eyes directed at Cordelia's cheek, that part of the brunette's body suddenly turned bright red, except for a splotch of makeup skillfully applied earlier. This imperfection, about the size of a person's palm, now revealed itself in severe contrast with the rest of the reddened skin of the girl's features.

Now shifting her gaze to the rest of Cordelia's face, Harmony became petrified by the rage present there, along with other body signs of the brunette's wrath. As noted, except for the makeup Harmony now knew concealed bruising, Cordelia's entire face was as red as a tomato, except for thinned lips that were pure white from the blood being driving out by the pressure on these lips. The cords of Cordelia's neck stood out, her blazing eyes closed to narrow slits, and her hands curved into claws with the most exquisite nail polish covering the tops of the talons.

Harmony did the only thing she could think of, at the very last second before Cordelia would have lunged towards her. The blonde's right hand shot up into the space before them, stopping at eye level, and held its palm and fingers straight out. Ready for another slap.

Cordelia jerked to a halt, her breath exhaling in a whistling screech of balked fury. Now within arm's reach of each other, Harmony looked deep into the eyes of her foe, and saw….hesitation. Indecision. Uncertainty. The brunette knew she now faced someone who could do serious damage to her, and would do it if pushed.

Harmony watched as Cordelia's face writhed in disappointed anger, its ugliness shocking on such beautiful features, and then the brunette backed up a step and spun around, stalking off with a stiff body that wanted to lay waste to everything in sight at that moment.

In the next instant, the corridor was crowded again with students on their way to their classes, all ignorant of the confrontation they had just missed, with Harmony just standing there and shaking in her shoes.

The effects of her meeting with Cordelia kept Harmony subdued all day, including her walk home with Xander after detention. It may have also contributed to her next actions.

At the edge of the concrete walkway to her house, Xander came to a stop, not sure of what to expect. Harmony, on the other hand, suddenly came out of her funk, and she continued walking up the path, her hand shooting out to grab Xander's own hand and pulling him along.

"Hey, what---," blurted Xander, who had no idea what was going on. Harmony didn't answer him, marching steadily with the boy being dragged after her, until both of them had stepped up to the porch.

Once they were out of sight of the street and sidewalk passers-by in the darkness of the porch, Harmony finally let go of Xander's hand, turning to him and taking a step forward to throw her arms around the boy and bringing her face to his to plant a robust kiss.

A disbelieving Xander Harris just stood there for a few seconds, unable to react. Part of this had to do with the girl's tongue in his mouth. Anything he might do could turn out to be a calamity, and he really, really, didn't want to do anything wrong. He was having an absolutely wonderful time, and he didn't want it to end. Gathering up his courage, Xander lifted his arms and tentatively put them around Harmony, ready to yank them back at once if she showed any sign of offense.

The only thing Harmony did was to tighten her arms harder around Xander and say, "Mmmmmmm," through her busy mouth, making Xander's own mouth vibrate.

The boy wasn't totally stupid; he followed up on this permission by tightening his own arms around the warm, firm body of the girl. Xander's brain promptly broke out the champagne, paper hats, and noisemakers, particularly after Harmony shifted her body closer to his and pressed a certain part of her anatomy against his chest. *So that's what they feel like.*

The porch light turned on.