I updated way faster than I thought I was going to – but the chapter's a little short (although this ridiculously long author's note adds a lot on, so it's probably the longest).

Alors, les mercis. Firstly, Brooke, thankyou very much for reviewing. You've made a very good point and, had I been sensible and not gone mad with shipper-ness, Buffy would have been way, way more pissed off. I'm kinda going for 'the anger comes from the outside' crap with this. Hope I managed to explain myself.

Redheadreader, you're back! Thankyou very very much, and yes that is how you spell fabulous. Either that or I've been getting it wrong for a very, very long time.

Uskohakuchan, my oldest and dearest reviewer, thankee once again, you have no idea what your frequent reviewing means to me, I always know I can count on you to review (that rhymes haha). And you made me laugh with the last one, Riley IS a fish! I don't think I'll kill him though… hmmm, tempting…

Redrider6612, thankyou for the thankyou for the thankyou… or something… your reviews are especially fantabulous because I know that if I did something shitty, you'd tell me. Interesting point with the love triangle, but I find it difficult to write too much Riley without making him either so stupid it's not funny, or a complete bastard. Having said that, I might have him develop a little crush on Buffy. Or something. By the way, I didn't manage to tell you quite how much I adore your fic 'The Secret'. It's what got me properly into Bones, seriously, I've been watching it non-stop ever since. Er… I probably should have said that in the review. Sorry! I'll review the sequel now!

And lastly, but not leastly in the slightest, thankyou a ginormous bunch to sapph89. Not only are you a brilliant writer yourself, but you took the time to review almost all of this (yay! Mucho reviews!), and that means an enormous bunch. I squealed so much when I was reading the reviews! You read into this a lot with the whole shop assistant-as-new-slayer thing… I'm afraid I'm not that clever. So well done!

My author's notes are just getting longer and longer, and more gushing every time with my thankyous. I should stop. But I won't. They make the chapters seem longer.

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Settling into college had been surprisingly easy for Buffy, and she was having a much better time than she thought she would. Occasionally, the amount of humans around her became dangerous, and the worry and want would flood back all over again, but Buffy was managing to maintain control. Just. The Scoobies made it no secret that they were glad she was spending more time away from Angel, and she resented this, but for now she let it slide. There was no point arguing for argument's sake when everything was still so raw between them.

Occasionally she wondered if Xander was jealous of her going to college – he seemed to be spending even less time with her since she had started – or if the change had bothered him far more than he made clear at first. Either way, she hadn't the mental energy to confront him about it and, like all her worries, she hoped time would alleviate this and he would come to terms with who she was now.

Shaking of her thoughts, Buffy wandered along the side of the canteen, looking disdainfully at the steaming heaps of food. Human food just didn't appeal to her anymore – it was like her taste buds had been weakened. She carried blood with her in a thermos that she kept close at all times – she couldn't risk someone opening it and finding what was inside. The smell of food was making her feel a little sick – her sense of smell, it seemed, had been heightened, which confused her as she thought that smell and taste were connected – so she walked off to where Willow was sitting, waiting for her.

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Forrest's gaze followed a smallish blonde girl in a pale pink sundress as she walked towards a table at the side of the canteen, and swung herself down next to a redhead. He nudged Riley, who grumbled a little.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to grade these papers." Riley sounded a little dazed.

"Don't you think she's hot?" He pointed at the girl, who was chatting animatedly with the redhead, and unscrewing the top of a silver thermos. Riley looked up for a moment, disinterested.

"Oh, yeah, that's Buffy Summers." He went back to his papers, seeming to be marking them a little faster and more determinedly. Then he looked up at Forrest again, as though trying to find the words for something he had difficulty describing. "Don't you think she's a little… peculiar?" Forrest laughed.

"No idea. Why don't we ask someone who'll know." He scanned the room quickly. "Oi, Trina! Over here." Trina McDonald smiled coyly and sauntered over. If there was gossip, she knew it before anyone else. She knew everything that anyone knew, and many things that no one knew. If you needed to know something about a person, from what music they liked to who they'd slept with over the last year, she was the one to ask.

"What's up, Forrest? Need to know about another girl?" She laughed loudly. Forrest grinned back.

"What do you know about Buffy Summers?" he asked, nodding towards where she was seated. Trina looked over and smirked.

"Ooh, she's weird!"

"Told you so." Riley didn't glance up from his papers, but he was smiling. Forrest looked back at Trina.

"Go on."

"She's anorexic, I'm pretty sure about that. 'Cause look," she gestured to Buffy again, who was sipping from the thermos, "she barely ever eats anything – she just always drinks from that. It's probably some sort of diet drink. Some slimfast, protein, hunger-killing somethingarather… I don't know what it is but it ain't got calories. She's pretty skinny… and pale. Bella thinks she might be ill, but I don't think so, she's pretty fast, and pretty strong, apparently she used to be a cheerleader but she got chucked off after about three seconds – threw someone into a wall." Trina continued to yak about unimportant things – Buffy had dated Scott Hope for a while, she got the 'Class Protector' award at Prom, she had gone for Homecoming Queen. Then, just when it seemed that all information about Buffy Summers had been squeezed dry, Trina let out something big. "And apparently, she has some boyfriend who's about 30 and a violent alcoholic." Forrest blinked. Trina was known for doing this – giving a heap of trivial information before dropping a bomb, so that it would seem all the more shocking.

"Really?" he asked, his eyebrows raised, "who told you that?" Trina sniffed loftily before replying.

"Some girl who was in her class at Sunnydale High. She said he was way older than her, has a drinking problem, and has been known to punch her, and people in general. She always has bruises, haven't you noticed?" She reached out and stole some food from Riley's plate. He was far too busy looking up in shock to notice. "Apparently he's really hot though – her boyfriend I mean. Is that all? I have a yoghurt to eat." Without waiting for a yes or no she walked off, leaving Forrest and Riley a little stumped.

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You like? Review plzkthnx!!!

I'm in a weird mood…