Faith had some very strange dreams that night.
In the first one she was at a loud party trying to find some drinks for her friends, she kept finding all kinds of great things, she found so many bottles in fact, that she didn't know which one to take with her in the end. So she tried to carry them all back at once but found it was impossible.
The very best bottles kept slipping out of her fingers and rolling away over the floor. She tried to chase them at first but lost even more bottles on the way. So she just gave up and struggled back to where she thought her friends were sitting when Willow suddenly popped up taking over some of the bottles. "I'm sorry Faith but we won't need these anymore... The party's already over. See?"
Everything went quiet and Willow suddenly turned into Xander who was bent over a toilet retching loudly. "Please Faith" He spluttered "Hold my hair up... please..."
She said there was no need to hold his hair up, it was short enough, he would be fine. He looked up at her sadly and said "But I thought I was one of the girls?"
"You did say that Faith" Buffy had suddenly popped up behind her "But you wouldn't help him of course. You only use your friends for sex, don't you? You did it to him and you were going to do it to me. Admit it. You spiked my drink and everything."
Faith protested loudly, she hadn't put anything in Buffy's drink. And besides, it was Buffy who had kissed her. She wasn't to blame.
Buffy didn't respond however, she just flung her arms around Faith and started kissing her again. Faith thought it must be a trap and tried to get away but she had no control over own body. She just nibbled docile on Buffy's lower lip while she heard her moan Angel's name over and over again.
It was at this point that Faith woke up to find she had been nibbling on her own pillow. She made a face as she spit out some fluff and reached for her watch.
She groaned when she saw she had missed two classes already that day. Maybe she could still make it to Ancient Mythology?
She got out of bed expecting to find Buffy had already gone. But the blonde slayer was lying on her bed in the exact same position Faith had left her in last night.
Faith hesitated. Should she wake Buffy up? She didn't really want a confrontation this early...
She shrugged. She was going to have to face this at some point anyway and Buffy really shouldn't miss another class today.
She shook Buffy's shoulder calling out her name. Buffy moaned grumpily and threw her arm over her eyes "Whad izit Faith?"
"It's almost time for Ancient Mythology B, but if you want to sleep some more..."
But Buffy wrenched her eyes open and let them dart across the room in confusion. Her eyes widened when they fell on her alarm clock "Why didn't my alarm go off?" she jumped up to check if the machine was still working.
"I think you may have switched it off accidentally..."
"Fuck! Shit!"
She had never heard Buffy swear like that before. "Chill princess. You'll catch up. But you should hurry up if you still wanna make it to mythology today."
She didn't have to tell her twice. Buffy started moving across the room like a hurricane, grabbing stuff here and there, getting ready.
They showered and got dressed in a hurry. Meanwhile Faith kept a close eye on Buffy, to see if she was at all embarrassed about last night. But she didn't notice anything different in Buffy's behavior...
The first time Buffy mentioned anything about last night was when they were walking towards the class a little bit later.
"How and when did we get home last night anyway?" She screwed her eyes up as if she was in deep thought "I can't remember at all."
Faith studied her face carefully "You passed out. I kinda dragged you home."
"Oh... Thanks I guess." Buffy didn't seem bothered by anything else.
"Don't you... Do you remember much? From before you passed out?"
"The last thing I can recall was dancing with you. Why'd you ask? Did I do something stupid after that?" She looked up at Faith anxiously.
"eh... no... It's just... I had so much fun with you last night, it'd be a shame if you didn't remember."
Faith could tell that Buffy wasn't lying. She really didn't remember the kiss. And Faith wasn't sure if she was supposed to be relieved or sad about this.
"Don't worry, I'm really glad I hung out with you last night." She smiled "We should definitely do it again soon. But next time I'll try not to pass out."
And forget everything, Faith thought sadly.
…
Oz and Willow were already sitting down when they arrived. They apologized for having left early last night and asked them how the rest of the party had been. Faith just sat there awkwardly while Buffy recounted what she thought had happened.
"You really shouldn't have encouraged Buffy to drink that much, Faith." Willow whispered as professor Bacchus walked in "But I'm glad you stuck with her and made sure she was alright."
Faith really wished she wouldn't thank her. If Buffy hadn't passed out who knows how far she would have taken it? And this while Buffy probably had no idea where she was and who with. It didn't matter that Buffy had started it, Faith should have realized she had no idea what she was doing and stopped her.
When Bacchus cleared his throat, people stopped talking and looked up. "Welcome to the first class of Ancient Mythology everyone! I'm professor Bacchus."
He looked around the room and spotted Faith "Aha! Miss Lehane!" He bounced a little on his toes as he said her name "I see you are taking both of my classes! I feel very flattered indeed.".
Buffy giggled while Faith turned scarlet.
"In this class we will be discussing ancient myths and legends from all over the world. Of course, we won't be able to study every culture's myths in equal detail. Instead we will mostly be focusing on Egyptian, Greek and Norse mythology and maybe we'll finish of the year with some Celtic legends. I figured that today we could start things slow by discussing some of your interests. Are there perhaps any works that you are already familiar with?"
Most people in the room suddenly looked very uncomfortable, perhaps because many of them had picked this subject hoping for an easy pass and not out of actual interest.
As expected though Willow was the first to raise her hand "Well, There's the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer."
"Yes of course. They are perhaps the most important works in Greek mythology and we'll be discussing them in detail during this class. Have you ever read them?"
"er... no..." Willow admitted "But I've read about them."
"I've read them." Everyone in the room was now staring at Faith. Even Oz looked a little surprised.
"Have you now?" Professor Bacchus seemed most impressed by this piece of information.
"Well... it was just the abridged versions... not that big a deal I guess."
"I wouldn't say that miss Lehane. There aren't many people of your age who've read Homer's work. Might I ask why you took an interest in it?"
Faith shrugged "My grandfather loved collecting books like that, I just happened to read them."
"So what other books did you happen to read? Any particular favorites?"
Faith had to think about that for a while "There were a lot more about Greece. I remember I really liked one called 'Myths of Crete'. There were also some general ones about Egypt and Rome. But I..." she hesitated.
"Go on" he encouraged.
"Well... I'm not sure whether it's ancient mythology exactly. But I really like stories about king Arthur. I've read 'The Once and Future King' so many times that I've lost count."
"Oh my! So you're into Arthurian legend! That is indeed fascinating stuff. I take it you're also in professor Crawly's class then?"
Faith just looked confused.
"You're not? What a shame! It's his last year teaching even. Maybe you could still squeeze it into your schedule? For some extra credit?"
"I'm actually still a few credits short sir."
"All the better! I'll tell him about you. I'm sure he won't mind finding a free spot in his class for such a brilliant student!"
Faith colored again, he was really giving her too much credit.
…
"I never knew you read that much Faith!" Willow said amazed as they were all having dinner together in the cafeteria after class.
"I don't do anymore." She said honestly "It was a long time ago."
"But you still knew so much about it! All those Greek names and stuff..." Bacchus had taken his time interrogating Faith about the things she claimed to have read all the way through the rest of the class. It had been quite tiring.
"Good memory I guess..." Faith said uninterested while she made a pyramid with her mashed potatoes.
"D'you think they'd also let me join that Arthur class?" Buffy asked out of the blue.
Faith looked up at her "Would you even want to?"
Buffy shrugged "I liked the Disney movie..."
"Then I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have you." Faith mocked. Her cheek earned her some peas to the face.
Xander joined them halfway through dinner. Faith had already guessed it wouldn't take long before he started hanging out with them at campus.
Faith watched his behavior carefully like she had done with Buffy but didn't notice anything odd. Maybe Xander hadn't seen anything after all. Maybe it had all been just another fantasy...
She was still studying Xander intently when Buffy suddenly got up and left the table. Faith followed her with her eyes, Buffy was practically skipping as she went.
"Where's she-?" But her question was answered when she noticed Parker waiting a bit further up ahead. She rammed her fork into the last piece of meat on her plate with considerable force. She didn't understand what Buffy saw in this weakling.
"Where does she know him from anyways?" Xander informed as they all watched Buffy talking shyly with Parker.
"She met him here in the cafeteria actually. He's also in psych class with us." Willow answered.
"And what does she see in him?" Faith asked trying to keep her voice even.
"Well... He's handsome for starters. No offense baby." She added quickly.
"None taken." Oz replied with a nod.
"And she says he's sensitive and smart." Willow continued with a sweet smile.
"And you agree?" Xander helped out.
Willow made a face and shrugged "I haven't talked to him that much. He seems nice enough..."
At this point Buffy returned from her short chat with Parker so they quickly pretended they had been talking about something else.
"We're going out for drinks tomorrow!" Buffy said looking extremely pleased.
"Good for you Buffy!" Willow congratulated.
"I can't wait!" She said still smiling broadly but her smile immediately vanished when she noticed Faith's expression "What's up with you?".
"Stomach ache" Faith lied.