A/N - Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter. Updates will be once every two weeks or so from here on out.

I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

Chapter One: Things Aren't Perfect

The sound of thirty pencils scratching on paper was the only sound that emanated from the classroom as Sunnydale High's fifth period senior Chemistry class finished their first test of the year. The packet, consisting of some forty odd questions, was giving most students trouble. Many had not progressed beyond the first page and time was nearly up. Only one girl was nearing completion, her cramped writing so thick that the white paper was barely discernible beneath her work.

"Ten more minutes," the teacher, a stout woman named Mrs. Parkins who was nearing the retirement age, called disinterestedly from her position at her desk.

Twenty-nine heads swung in unison to the clock, none of the test takers able to comprehend how so much time had passed. The only student who remained oblivious to the panic quickly overtaking the room was Willow Rosenberg.

She had just finished the second to last question and was, overall, rather pleased with herself. Every night this week she had studied rabidly, not even taking time off to hang out with her friends. All that hard work was paying off now, as she was fairly confident she had achieved an A.

Finishing the test with a flourish, she rose to hand it in. Several people eyed her as she walked between the rows. Xander, who she noticed had doodled elaborately on his test instead of actually working, gave her a sly thumbs up from his seat in the row next to her own.

She set the paper on Mrs. Parkins desk, that familiar thrill of finishing first creeping up her spine. Mrs. Parkins looked over and pointed silently to another assignment.

Willow picked it up, noticing the paper was green tinted, a sign it had come from the guidance office. Returning to her desk, she read over the top portion -

The Guidance Office would like to congratulate the class of 1999 for making it to their final year of high school. While many of you are preparing to move on in life, we are interested in gathering information about where our students will be in the coming years. In the space below, please write a short summary regarding your plans for the next year, particularly continuing education, employment, etc.

"Um, excuse me?" someone said impatiently. "You're blocking the way."

Willow looked up, startled to find one of her classmates standing right before her. Her cheeks colored as she realized she must have stopped walking while in the middle of the aisle and now no one could get through to hand in their tests.

"Oh!" She felt the blush consume her face and hastily dropped into her seat, not chancing a look up.

Zoning out while reading was a habit she had never been able to break. As a child, she had been teased mercilessly for it and while she was more careful about it in high school, slip ups were inevitable.

Shaking her head, she tried to push the embarrassing moment from her mind and focus. Her and school work were like ducklings and water, she just instinctively knew what to do. Re-reading the note on top, she picked up her favorite pencil - a purple striped thing Buffy had gotten her last year - and prepared to write all her aspirations for the next year.

…

Okay, why wasn't she writing anything yet?

Looking around the room, she noticed a good portion of the class had finished (read - given up) on the test and had moved on to the guidance form. There was much groaning and other sounds of discontent at the prospect of more work but no one seemed stuck.

Xander, one hand clasped in his unruly hair, was probably writing about how he was going to work at his uncle's construction site full time. Anya, on the other side of Xander, was most likely going into great detail about how she was going to open a store of some sort and become a business guru. Cordelia, three seats ahead, was going to college for something or other - Willow could never remember what.

And that was where her problem lay.

It seemed like everyone else knew exactly what they wanted to do, what college they wanted to attend or job they were going to apply for. But Willow did not know, not even a little bit.

Everyone always assumed that just because she was smart, college would be the inevitable path she would follow after high school but she was not so sure. She had to look beyond college, to her future career or lack thereof. What was the point of college if she had no idea what she actually wanted to do?

When the bell rang to signal the end of fifth period, she had still not written a single word.

"Pass the forms up if you're finished. Otherwise, hand it in tomorrow," Mrs. Parkins said and there was a flurry of movement as half the room rose and shuffled to the front.

Willow looked down at her unblemished paper and felt a rush of shame. Hastily, she shoved the form deep into her backpack. Shouldering her bag, she made a break for the door, not even bothering to wait for Xander like she usually did.

The halls of Sunnydale High were as congested as usual and more than once someone bigger shouldered past her to get to where they were going. Willow was not someone who got caught up in her own appearance but sometimes she wished she were just a few inches taller…

"Hey Willow! Wait up!" The crowd parted as if by magic as Xander came running up to her, though it was more likely everyone wanted to avoid being mistakenly elbowed by the clumsy boy. "You left Chem so fast I didn't even see you."

Xander had the opposite problem Willow did, the poor boy was far too tall. Every year seemed to bring another massive growth spurt that left him little time to adjust to the change in height. At six foot three inches, he showed little sign of stopping and Willow was beginning to seriously wonder if there were even clothes big enough to fix him anymore.

The constant growing had one positive outcome though - sports.

Two years ago, Xander had been known as simply a nerdy - and Willow had to admit, occasionally crass - nobody. Now, he was co-captain of the swim team and it was likely he would break a few school records in the spring when track started again. The nerdiness was still there of course but he was far more confident than she could ever remember him being. On the other hand, this now meant she could not outrun him anymore.

Stopping at her locker, she waited for him to approach. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about the test."

"Me too. This class is killing me." He leaned on the lockers beside her.

"Well maybe if you studied instead of spending your evenings at The Bronze you would have done better," she said teasingly.

It was an unspoken agreement between them - Willow would never seriously heckle Xander for having trouble in class so long as he never made fun of her for doing well.

"Actually, I did study. This morning… ten minutes before class started." He offered a goofy smile.

Replacing her chem books, she grabbed her textbook for AP Calculus and closed the locker. "You're hopeless." She shouldered him gently as they continued down the hall.

"Your lack of faith wounds me." He paused, looking over the crowd of heads. "And speaking of Faith…"

Faith Lehane would never be Willow's favorite person. There was too much bad blood between them from elementary school for them to make a serious go of friendship now but they managed to remain mostly civil, if a little wary.

"Have you seen Buffy?" The brunette asked without preamble as she slid up to them, flexible as the leather pants she often wore.

"Buffy had to switch her schedule again. She takes english fifth period now which is .

in the total opposite side of the school," Xander answered.

"That's great. Well when you see her again, can you tell her I can't drive her home. I'm taking off," Faith said impatiently.

"Er… you do know we have three more periods right?" Willow asked, careful to keep the comment neutral.

Narrowed eyes swung to take her in. "I know but Mr. Giles is looking for me again and I seriously don't need another counseling session." Her dark gaze bore no arguments.

Trying to stay friendly, Willow asked. "Should we tell Ryan if we see him?"

"Already knows. He's not happy I'm skipping but he understands," she said.

Ryan Byrd was Faith's most serious relationship to date. The two were as opposite as oil and water but somehow managed to compliment one another. Most men Faith had dated in the past had encouraged her wild behavior, leading to more and more serious issues as time went on. Ryan's more laid back approach to life soothed the fire that raged within Faith. Two years ago, there had not been a chance of her graduating. Now, she was even considering going on to a community college next year.

"We'll tell her," Xander promised. "And don't worry about taking off, I'll drive Buffy home for you."

Faith nodded, looking around warily as if she expected to be jumped. "Cool, see you guys later then."

As she disappeared back into the crowd, Willow and Xander continued on their way to lunch.

"Why does she keep skipping her sessions with Mr. Giles? He's just trying to help." Willow struggled to keep pace with Xander.

Xander shrugged. "You know Faith, sharing trauma is just not her thing."

"Oh! Speaking of Giles," Anya appeared out of nowhere, forcing her lithe frame between the two of them. "I have to see him… again."

Xander groaned and Willow resisted rolling her eyes at the blonde's statement. It seemed like every day this year Anya had had to go see the school psychologist. .

"Please tell me this isn't about Cordelia," Xander pleaded.

Anya rolled her eyes. "Of course it is!"

"What did she do now?" Willow asked as casually as she could manage.

Just about everyone in the school had some sort of issue with Cordelia Chase but nothing compared to the absolute hatred Anya felt for the brunette. Where it had stemmed from, no one knew. Willow had always suspected Anya was upset Cordelia had dated Xander two years ago - the blonde was certainly possessive about her boyfriend.

"She found the voodoo doll I hid in her backpack when she wasn't paying attention in English." Anya said proudly. "It looked just like her!"

Willow and Xander exchanged pained looks over Anya's head but did not comment further on the topic, too accustomed to the girl's peculiarities to try and question them anymore.

The three entered the cafeteria, a decent sized room filled with round tables. Most people were on the lunch line so it was easy to locate their other friends.

"Buffy!" Xander called excitedly, leading the way to a table by the windows where the blonde woman sat, accompanied by a boy with spiky orange hair.

Buffy looked up from the textbook she had been looking through and smiled. "Hey guys. How was the Chemistry test?"

"Lousy." Xander collapsed on the seat beside her, dragging Anya down with him. "What's for lunch?"

Anya sighed but her features had softened, as they often did when she was around Xander. "I believe we were given an inadequate amount of time," she said to Buffy.

Oz nodded. "I had Mrs. Parkins last year. Timing was not really her thing."

Buffy eyed him suspiciously. "Didn't you pass her class with an A?"

"Pass that class? Preposterous!" Xander said, throwing his hands in the air.

Oz shrugged. "I got lucky," he said modestly.

No one was really sure why Oz was repeating his Senior year. As far as anyone, Willow included, could tell, he had passed all his subjects last year. Not even Xander, one of his closest friends, knew the real reason.

As the conversation swapped to how likely Xander was to pass, Willow looked around the table. There were two empty chairs, one of which was obviously Faith's. The other however…

"Does anyone know where Ryan is?"

Buffy rolled her eyes good naturedly. "He stayed behind in Political Science again."

"How can he stand that class?" Xander groaned. "I took it last year and it nearly killed me. Most boring lectures ever."

Anya elbowed him. "Well I for one think understanding politics is good." At everyone's confused looks, she elaborated. "It's very important to know where our tax dollars are going. Money is an important resource."

Anya was the most economically aware teenager Willow had ever met. The girl hoarded money like a dragon with gold, rarely spending it on anything other than absolute necessities. That did not stop her from somehow having one of the largest closets of any of the Scooby members though.

Buffy was the first to change the direction of the conversation, knowing that once Anya got on the subject of money, it was near impossible to get in a word edgewise. "Hey where's Faith? She's my ride."

"She cut so I'm taking you home!" Xander said, looking impatiently to where the lunch line had waned to only a few people. "C'mon." He grabbed Anya's hand and jumped onto the end of the line.

Oz took this opportunity to drift off to one of the other tables, where a few more repeating seniors sat.

Willow sighed in relief, happy that nearly everyone was gone for a moment. She loved her friends but they were an excitable lot, especially when they were all together.

Buffy smiled knowingly. "So how was the Chem test actually?"

"It went well I think," she said, blushing slightly.

Talking about her academic conquests had never really appealed to her. Most of her friends fell into the 'underachieving' category. She knew most of the staff was baffled by the company she kept. They certainly were a motley crew, brought together by tragedy and anger.

"By well you mean excellent?" Buffy set aside her textbook and unwrapped her sandwich. It was messy, stuffed with all sorts of meats and cheeses, mayonnaise dripping out of the edges.

"I'm guessing Spike packed your lunch again?" Willow laughed, watching as Buffy tried to get the sandwich into a position where it did not threaten her clothes.

Giving up, the blonde took a massive bite. "Yeah. He can become quite motherly sometimes…"

Freshman year had been the first time Willow had encountered Buffy. The blonde had been on the cheerleading squad, dating a Junior from the soccer team, and hanging out with the 'in crowd'. To say the two had not hit it off would be a bit of an understatement. Willow had found Buffy to be completely absorbed in herself while Buffy thought Willow was just a teacher's pet.

All that had changed when Buffy's parents had divorced unexpectedly and Angel, her boyfriend, had unceremoniously dropped her. Sophomore year found Buffy acting out, culminating in a relationship with Spike, widely considered one of the wildest students Sunnydale had ever turned out.

Willow could still remember it like yesterday, the morning she had walked in on Buffy crying in the bathroom at the end of their Sophomore year. Despite never being friendly before, Willow had done her damndest to console the girl and had been the first to find out the news - Buffy was pregnant.

What could have ended in tragedy had not, much to everyone's surprise. Spike, upon finding out he would be a father, had scraped together enough effort to pass his Senior year and immediately began working. Buffy still lived with her mother but not a day went by where Spike would not come and see their now almost two year old daughter Dawn. The two of them intended to move in together after Buffy graduated, a day Willow knew, Spike was eagerly anticipating. He already practically lived with the Summers but very much wanted to make it official.

Ever since that day, Willow and Buffy had become all but inseparable, Xander automatically joining the group. The others had all filtered in from that point on. Spike's father, Rupert Giles, the school therapist, was sort of the glue that held the whole thing together. It was in his office Faith and Anya had first met, where Spike had loudly demanded that anyone who had a problem with him and Buffy could "piss off". It was where Xander had cried bitterly when he had lost his friend Jesse and Willow had found solace when the days seemed too bleak to continue.

The rest of lunch passed in typical banter filled fashion. Willow made plans to stop by Buffy's after school and visit for a bit, hardly audible over the noisy room. When the bell finally rang, everyone went their separate ways, Willow heading to her AP Calculus class.

She made it just in time, the late bell ringing as she crossed the threshold. The class was small, only nine other students, and she took her seat in the front, opening her textbook expectantly. A few practice problems were already written on the board and she wasted no time in taking a crack at them while the rest of the students talked.

She may be good at Chemistry but Calculus was her bread and butter. Most of her friends were terrible at any sort of mathematics - though Anya could do percentages off the top of head with scary accuracy. A math class was not required for Seniors who had completed Algebra 2 but she loved the challenge and the small class size was what she prefered anyway.

By the time Mr. Edwards was ready to begin the lesson, Willow had finished the three practice problems and gone over her homework again. But instead of starting the lesson, the overset man approached Willow's desk.

"Miss Rosenberg? Principal Synder wishes to see you in his office," he said.

Willow blinked. Her? See the principal? There was no universe in which such a request made even an iota of sense. Her mind replayed every wrongdoing her friends had been involved in during the past few days.

Faith had been caught smoking but that happened so often it had simply become a normal part of the school day. Spike had shown up unannounced to hang out with Buffy during school hours. He would have been arrested for trespassing if Mr. Giles had not intervened. Then there was the whole debacle in lunch yesterday where Anya had thrown a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Cordelia and gotten it in her hair.

But Willow herself had not actually been present for any of these - aside from the Spike thing - and she could not fathom why the incident would be brought up now.

"O-okay," she said softly, scooting out of her chair and walking towards the door uncertainly.

The halls were empty now, the space suddenly far more menacing than it had been not five minutes ago. Her footsteps echoed loudly on the tiled floor, each rustle of her pastel shirt discernable. Eyes followed her as she passed classroom after classroom and she resolved to walk quieter.

By the time she reached the office, she had worked herself into a fluster. The receptionist gestured her right in which was fortunate. She did not feel capable of speaking at the moment.

"Rosenberg." Synder said shortly as she entered the small office.

The room was terribly mundane. A few bookshelves served as the only splash of color against the white walls and flooring. Two stiff backed chairs were set before the massive desk, which housed only a computer and a stapler.

As Willow shuffled forwards, she realized there was another person in the room. She had not immediately noticed the girl, who was slouching so much her head barely rose above the back of her chair. She offered a tentative smile though, lips upturning just enough to call the expression friendly.

"He-hello. I'm-" she began in a very quiet voice.

Snyder plowed over her. "This is Tara MaClay. She's new and also your problem now."