Sunnydale Pep Squad - We Help the Homeless

The new semester had started. Cordy was a Sophomore - no longer the very bottom of the food chain, no longer the lowest rung on the ladder. It was only gonna get better from here on on out, she was only gonna get more powerful. She had her mental checklist ready and she was taking no prisoners. This year would be her year!

Though there had been a slight setback when it was announced cheerleader tryouts would be postponed until the next semester. This wasn't right - she had a list! But now she was gonna be stuck waiting until after Christmas to achieve her most important goal.

But still, pep squad kept her busy for now. And by busy, she meant busy. It was taking up a lot of her energy. Ms. Calendar - the young, new agey computer science teacher who wandered round campus with her shades on - had organised for the school to hold a food drive, to collect non-perishables for the local homeless shelter - and somehow the pep squad had got stuck with the running of it.

Every lunch break and free period she found herself pinning up posters all over the school, or else confined to the unused geography classroom where they had set up a base of operations. She was drowning in cardboard boxes and tinned goods. For hours at a time. Without so much as a thank you. Even slaves got minimum wage! Though for some reason, Shovaunne had snorted when Cordy had said as much out loud, and looked really annoyed for a moment.

And no one else seemed to understand the system, she had to keep rearranging things so it made any kind of sane person sense.

'No! We're putting canned peaches in this box,' she snatched the offending item from Shovaunne and put it where she needed it.

'I was putting it in with the cans of pineapple chunks,' Shovaunne said, looking confused.

'Are you insane?' Cordelia asked her, she dropped it in a box she had marked with an 'R'. 'It can go in here with the meatballs and bagels.'

'Um - why?'

'Because they're round,' she explained - as if this was the most obvious answer in the world. 'Round foods go in this box. Chunks go in that one. You can put the pineapple in with the cheese and the croutons.'

'I was just gonna put fruit in with the fruit.'

Cordelia stopped what she was doing and turned back to stare at her friend. 'That's the stupidest system I ever heard. Here,' she passed a box marked 'A' over to her friend, 'put anything that's shaped like an animal in this box, you think you can handle that?'

'Got it.' Shovaunne looked less than convinced, but nevertheless she started loading it up with goldfish crackers.

Meanwhile, Cordelia was holding a tube of toothpaste in one hand and a pack of soap bars in the other, wondering how best to categorise them. 'All toiletries need to go in a box of their own, Cordelia,' Ms. Calendar told her, clacking into the room on her high heels and catching the girl looking very much like she was going to put the toothpaste with the tubes of tomato paste and the soap with the twinkies.

'But they're the wrong shape to go together!'

'They'll make the food taste of soap if you put them in with the edible stuff. All toiletries must be kept separately, got it?'

'Got it - God!' She snorted. 'It's supposed to be a food drive, why do we have soap anyway?'

'Homeless people need soap and toothpaste just as much as they need a box of lucky charms,' Ms. Calendar told her, sounding weary - she pulled the offending cereal box out of a cardboard box otherwise crammed with canned potatoes. 'Why are these in here anyway?'

'Oh - well they come in so many different shapes, I didn't know what to choose. So I just thought - you know - Lucky Charms are Irish, potatoes are Irish...'

'Oh - this is the Irish box. Got it…' she rooted through, 'I hope there's some whisky somewhere in here,' she muttered. Shovaunne - still over by the animal box - giggled. Cordelia frowned. It seemed like she was being made fun of somehow … and she didn't understand why. She'd done a really great job on this! No one had worked harder than her, it made her feel … proud. Now she could see all this stuff packed away and ready to go to some hopeless types she was suddenly really glad she'd done it. It gave her a sense of achievement. Her work here would make a difference. It felt good.

'Here we are, here we are - here's that Sunnydale spirit,' Mr Flutie came bumbling into the room, grinning broadly. 'You girls have done an excellent job,' he told the pep squad, 'I just know the shelter's going to be thrilled. Ms. Calendar this was a wonderful idea - reaching out - but not too close - to all those who need it.'

'Thanks, Bob,' Ms. Calendar smiled. 'My room mate's leaving town, headed overseas to study and she's worked very closely with the shelter this past year. I know they're gonna miss her - and doing this is the best farewell gift I can give her.'

'Well it's all nice that we can all help out and help each other.' He stood there for a moment longer, still smiling, and then his expression became uncomfortable and he turned on his heel and walked out.

'Your room mate's going overseas?' Shovaunne said to the computer science teacher, 'aren't you so jealous that you'll be stuck here in Sunnydale?'

'Sunnydale's not so bad - depends what you're into. It was this place that inspired my friend to go study.'

'What's she studying?'

There was a brief pause - only a fraction of a second - whilst a strange tremor passed over Ms. Calendar's face, and then it was gone. 'Anthropology,' she said. 'Sort of - she's going to Togo.'

'Do they have good beaches there?' Cordelia asked, rearranging a box someone had packed up with various canned vegetables. All the vegetables were different shapes! Corn in with the peas!

'It's … not necessarily what the place is known for.'

'Well - she can rest assured that we'll pick up the slack for her here,' she put the peas in with the meatballs and peaches. How hard was the concept of 'round' to grasp? 'We can have more food drives. It's been fun, helping the hopeless types.'

Ms. Calendar breathed a laugh, 'yes, Cordelia - I'm sure the fact that you're here to replace her will be a great comfort to Harri.'