Final Bell

Cordelia sat at her desk and watched the clock - the minute hand making its way to 3:00 pm agonisingly slowly. Up front Mrs. Macready, her homeroom teacher, was talking away - big step, changes coming, try your hardest yadda yadda yadda. Cordy wasn't listening - she was just focused on that hand, thunking its way towards the 12.

When it got there … everything was going to change. Goodbye Junior High hello Sunnydale High School. OK so she'd only be a freshman - but she was willing to put in the work, do whatever it took to climb that ladder until she was everything she ever wanted to be: head cheerleader, homecoming queen, prom queen, the most popular girl in all the school and adored by every varsity male as far as the eye could see. It was her calling.

She'd learn to drive - and daddy would get her a car, with customised plates and leather interiors. She'd go out partying. And she'd get a boyfriend - a star footballer … like Daryl Epps. Maybe they'd go all the way. She flushed and bit her lip, just at the thought, lowering her eyes in case anyone could look in them and see what she was thinking.

She couldn't stop the smile crossing her face though, or the squirmy feeling in her tummy as she imagined being old enough, grown up enough to … you know … do it. She'd played spin the bottle plenty, and been groped over her top by a couple of guys. She played seven minutes of heaven at Aura's birthday party … surely it was gonna get to a point where the next step was, you know, inevitable.

Not right away - she didn't want to get a reputation for herself. She didn't want guys thinking she was easy … or give reasons for other girls to talk maliciously about her behind her back. But she also didn't want guys to think she was a prude. It would take careful timing, deliberate calculations. Get the boy first - make sure he wasn't a dud - go steady … and then be one of the first girls in her year to … you know, do it. She felt herself smile again.

She wouldn't be the first girl - that girl would get a reputation for herself - and Cordy wasn't going to lie to herself, she would be doing a lot of the gossiping about what a tramp that girl was. But then a little while later, it would be her time to dip her toe into the pool of sexual experience. So she had something to hold over all the other girls: that she was a woman.

But there was so much to do before she got there. She needed to be a cheerleader. Come hell or high water or the forces of darkness - she would be on that squad, as soon as a place opened up. And she needed to get herself a gang - select only the coolest girls from the other middle schools and set themselves up as the only show in town. She'd need to find a way to properly identify the girls cool enough to be her friends. Maybe she should set some sort of test? Maybe a written one? Check out their feelings on vamp nail polish and James Spader.

'Remember to always put your best foot forward, think carefully before you act…' Mrs. Macready's voice cut into her thoughts. 'As you get older the expectations on you become higher - but the pressures become more real. And I don't mean the pressure of maintaining a good GPA - though that is important too. I mean peer pressure. Alcohol, partying, having boyfriends and girlfriends … always use your best judgement and always speak to a teacher if you are being made to feel uncomfortable or think you're being led astray.'

Cordy rolled her eyes. Jeez - could the bell just not ring already? She looked around the room, nobody else was listening to the teacher either, by the look of it - well, apart from that Rosenberg freak. She snorted. Well, there was one girl who definitely didn't have the coolness factor to hang with Cordy's new group. Her and her loser friends could stay well away.

Talking of loser friends: Xander Harris was scratching little pictures of Spiderman into his pencil case with his compass. What a freak. The boys at high school were gonna be so much cooler. Dorks like Harris would be shoved in their lockers and beaten up behind the bike shed. But Cordelia would be hanging with boys that had mystery, boys that had - what was the word she wanted again? … oh yeah - cars.

She'd have to go shopping, before class started again in the fall, and she'd have to talk her daddy into letting her take his credit card. She was gonna need some real cute new outfits if she was gonna be the Queen Bee. She smiled to herself - the Queen C. She was gonna have to dress to impress. Her Junior High outfits were so last minute. She was going to need a whole new wardrobe, a serious makeover to ensure that she didn't turn up for her first day at Sunnydale High with last month's hair.

If she didn't get that first day right, the whole four years would be a wash out - a waste of time. People had long memories, the impression she made on her very first day would be crucial - it would set in stone her place in the hierarchy for the rest of her school career. Nothing could jeopardise that. Nothing could be left to chance.

'I hope you'll always look back on your days at Junior High with fondness,' Mrs. Macready said, 'and I wish you the best of luck for your futures. I know you'll make us all proud.'

Thunk the minute hand hit the twelve. BBBBBRRRRrrriinnng - the bell rang out through the classrooms and down the halls. School was out. Summer was here. 'Finally the nightmare ends!' Cordelia cried in celebration, throwing her things into her backpack and shoving her chair under her desk. She thrust her way through the sea of her classmates, throwing people out of her way and then fought her way through the swarm of kids in the hall.

This was the last time she'd see this hall, the last time she'd leave through that door - she couldn't wait to get out. She pushed her way out into the sunshine and took a deep breath. 'Classic!' she was a high school student now. It was official - or nearly official. Just three months and then the best and most important four years of her life would start. And she would rule the school … with an iron fist.

'Harmony, hey!' she stood on the steps, out front, and waved to her best friend - who had been stuck in homeroom in another part of the building.

'We did it, we did it, we did it,' Harmony threw her arms around Cordy's neck, squealing and grinning, and they jumped up and down in an excited hug. 'We got out of the hell that is junior high and now…'

'Now we are Freshman at Sunnydale High - yess! I can't wait!' Cordelia grinned back.

'We should so party tonight - Aura's brother has a fake id, he can totally get us some beer.'

'My parents are going out tonight - you could come over to mine!'

'Oh!' Harmony squealed again, 'it's like we're in high school already!'

'This is gonna be so awesome, Harmony, Sunnydale is not gonna know what hit it.'

They walked down the steps, stopping to sign yearbooks as they passed groups of friends hanging out. Then they sat on the wall by the road to wait for their rides. 'When do you go to Europe?' Harmony asked.

'Beginning of next week - France.'

'What's in France?' Harmony asked, wrinkling her nose up.

'Jeez Harmony - only the best shops in all the world.'

'Really?'

'Yeah - my mom says it's like the home of fashion. Women would die just for a chance to go there.'

'Kinda defeats the point of going,' a voice cut through their conversation. Cordelia turned and arched an eyebrow at Xander Harris, 'excuse me?' she asked in her most withering voice.

He shrugged, 'I'm just saying, if you go someplace just to die … maybe there wasn't much point in going.'

'And when we want you to hone in on our private conversations - we'll ask. But we won't ever do that. Why? Because you're boring.'

'I'm just sayin'.'

'And where is your dad taking you on vacation this summer, Xander? … Your Uncle Rory's trailer park? When you can afford to go someplace cool - then you can talk to us. Until then - I believe the freaks and losers are hanging over there right now.' She pointed to where Jesse and Willow were hanging, and then she and Harmony laughed. Xander sloped off, looking dejected, and Cordelia snorted and rolled her eyes. 'What a dorkhead!'

'I hope he doesn't think, 'cause we were at middle school together, he can talk to us in public once we get to Sunnydale.'

'Oh he better not try it.'

A horn beeped and Harmony jumped down from the wall, 'my mom's here - see ya,' and she ran across the street and got into the car. Cordelia sat on the wall, alone for a moment, drumming her heels against the bricks and looking around. It was so good to be leaving all this behind, she was ready to blow this joint already. Onwards and upwards to bigger and brighter things.

Her mom's Mercedes pulled up and she jumped off the wall and got in. Her mom didn't even say 'hello', never mind ask how her last day had been - but Cordy didn't mind. Her mom and dad didn't ever speak to her that much. It was cool having parents that weren't all involved and overbearing like some kids' folks. They gave her money, took her on fancy vacations and pretty much let her do her own thing, what more could she want from parents?

Besides - not having to charitably talk to the older generation gave her time for her own thoughts. She smiled to herself as she watched the street flash by the window for the very last time. The next four years were going to be the best thing that ever happened to her. She just knew it.