Chapter 9

…Good Day, Sunshine…

The next day found the whole group assembled in the Library.

Jonathon had opted out of the Science Club in order to spend time with his friends from the hunting groups. Needless to say, this had pissed Warren and Andrew off enough that it had destroyed their friendship.

Amy sat at a totally different table than the others working ahead on her homework so that she would not fall behind in her classes. She appeared to be obsessed about it so everyone left her alone so that she could get it done.

Buffy and Willow sat at the main table, Oz not far away from his girl earphones on his head, as they talked and giggled in hushed voices. Blonde and red heads bent toward one another as though they had isolated themselves from the group.

Surprisingly, Faith was there. She sat on the floor leaning against the wall. She watched the blonde and the red head with a jealous eye and a frown on her face.

Both Immortals stood near the counter and watched the motley group of youngsters.

The only ones missing were Xander and Cordelia, the pair had not shown up for school today.

"So Myhnegon's Gauntlet is no more?" Adam asked as he looked over at Giles.

"The Living Flame worked nicely," the Watcher said as he wrote in his ledger.

"So everything turned out alright in the end?" the ancient asked as he looked over at the giggling teens in near disgust.

"Well, not completely okay, there seems to be a division in the group now with the advent of Buffy and Xander's argument."

"I noticed that," Adam said with a frown.

"I don't know how they'll fix this," Giles said as he cleaned his glasses.

"Everything should work out eventually," Adam said as he clapped his friend on the shoulder.

Just then, hand in hand, Xander and Cordelia strolled into the School Library. Surprisingly, the pair had been able to resist the call of the wild, and did not make love last night. Though, the young man had helped out, and they had had a lot of fun in the process of curbing their animal instincts.

Buffy's laughter died down and completely stopped when she spotted the young man and an angry expression stole onto her face.

Buffy stood up and walked over to stand in front of Xander, arms folded across her chest. "What are you doing here?" the Slayer demanded angrily.

Everyone's attentions were drawn to Xander and Buffy in concern.

"I'm here because I'm part of the group," the transgenic said as he automatically went on the defensive.

"You ratted me out to Giles, and beat the shit out of Angel," she said as she got up in his face not an easy task since he was almost foot taller than her. "That's not what I call a team player," the blonde said as she put her fists on her hips.

No longer easily intimidated, the dark haired young man folded his arms across his chest and looked down at her, an angry expression on his own face now that she was confronting him, "That's right, Slayer, I did… I was lookin' out for you and the others. There is no I in team, it's about the whole unit."

"Come on, Buffy," Willow said with a moue of worry on her lips as she touched the blonde on her shoulder.

Buffy shoved her arm off as she glared at the transgenic. "You don't belong here," she said as she pointed at Xander.

Willow frowned, more offended than anything as she went back to her chair.

The X5 laughed, "That's rich, Buffy," he said with a nod. His laughter stopped nearly instantly as that dead look stole into his eyes and he looked at her emotionlessly.

The Slayer was stunned by what she saw in his eyes. She could find no emotion, nothing to indicate what he was feeling.

He leveled a glare at her and said, "You can do what you want, but I'm gonna stay here and help my friends survive high school." His tone was very quiet, dangerous as he continued, "You're not the boss of me so you can't tell me what to do."

The young man prowled more than walked over to the counter, hopped up onto it and beat his feat together as he looked around at everyone.

"Just for the record," the female X5 said as she looked at Buffy with a frown on her face, "You need help." She walked over to Willow and sat down next to her offering an apology for the blonde and a hand of comfort to a sad friend.

Buffy raised her eyebrows as she watched everyone go back to what they were doing. She frowned as she saw Faith rise from the floor and move to sit next to Cordelia.

The transgenic turned and looked at the Slayer sitting next to her.

Faith looked at her for a long, silent moment. It was almost as though she were begging the other girl to like her.

Cordy smiled in a friendly manner then included her in their conversation. Faith reminded her of Sam, her clone; it was too close to home.

Buffy frowned deeply before she turned to the exit, "I'm outa here."