Chapter 10: Teacher's Pet Part 1

The vampire's attack caught the kids in the Bronze completely off guard. Even Buffy, wasn't ready. She tried to fight the monster, but he was too much for her. A girl screamed as the vampire threw Buffy onto the Bronze's red pool table. Then the undead creature got ready to pounce. Fear showed on the Slayer's face. She was helpless. Would this be the end?

"May I cut in?" Paige said as she grabbed the vampire from behind.

The vampire tried to go for Paige's throat, but she was ready for him. She slammed his head into the edge of the pool table, stood him up, and then gave him a blow to the stomach and a sock to the jaw that sent the creature of the night careening across the room.

Paige then went over to the pool table and helped Buffy up. She looked stunning in her low-cut red dress. "Are you all right?" Paige asked, staring into Buffy's deep blue eyes.

Those eyes stared back at Paige with gratitude—and longing. "Thanks to you," she said breathlessly, taking Paige's hand in hers. She looked down and said, "You hurt your hand."

Paige followed Buffy's gaze. She hadn't even noticed the pain.

"Will you still be able to—?" Buffy started asking before her voice caught.

Paige completed the question: "Finish my solo and then kiss you like you've never been kissed before?"

Buffy nodded, smitten as Paige smiled.

Paige noticed that the vampire was stirring, but she pretended not to while she headed back to the stage and her abandoned guitar. As she passed by an overturned table, she yanked off one of its legs, whirled, and threw it unerringly at the now-upright vampire, all in one smooth motion. The makeshift stake found its target. The vampire fell to the ground and crumbled to dust.

Buffy clasped her hands over her heart; tears started to form in her eyes.

Paige leaped back onto the stage, picked up the guitar, and proceeded to play the aforementioned solo.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sat straight up in bed as she looked around herself. It took a moment to realize where she was, in her room at the manor. She slowly got out of bed and moved to the window. As she stared out of it she thought of the dream and she wondered was she falling for someone ten years younger than she herself was.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige walked into the kitchen the next morning to find Phoebe sitting at the kitchen table. "Phoebe, do you remember when you told me to get that cross for Buffy?"

"Yeah," Phoebe said with a nod.

"Did you have a premonition?"

Phoebe sighed. She had yet to tell her sisters she had received one of her powers back. She had wanted to tell them at the right time, like when she knew she wouldn't fall back on the habit that got them stripped in the first place. "Erm …"

"So you did get one of your powers back," Paige said.

"Yes," Phoebe said. "Before you yell at me, let me explain. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't start abusing them again like I was last year."

"I understand that," Paige said. "Piper might not though. Anyways when you told me to get the Carolingian cross did you have a premonition?"

"I did," Phoebe said. "I saw you giving to her, and I saw her wearing it. I haven't seen anything beyond that. And I don't understand why I even had that premonition to begin with. I didn't touch anything, it just came."

"It sounds to me that your power, even when it was stripped may have advanced," Paige said.

"I guess."

"Phoebe, I'm going to tell you something. I think I may be falling for Buffy."

"She's," Phoebe started.

"Underage," Paige finished for Phoebe. "I know. I could go to jail if I acted on it before she turned eighteen and it was found out. But I can't seem to keep her out of my head and not because she is my charge, either. I had a dream last night centered around her."

"Was it …"

Paige shook her head. "No there was no removal of clothes. I was playing a guitar when a vampire attacked. I saved Buffy from this vampire and then went on to play a solo. I know if the dream had continued it might have led in that direction."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy listened to Dr. Gregory drone on and on about insects.

". . . ancestors were here long before we were. Their progeny will be here long after we are gone. The simple and ubiquitous ant."

Then Dr. Gregory shut the slide projector off and turned on the lights. He stared out at his students through his distance glasses. He walked down the middle aisle between the two rows of lab tables, he said, "Now, if you read the homework you should know the two ways that ants communicate. Ms. Summers?"

Buffy had a deer-in-headlights look as she looked at the teacher. "Ways that ants communicate . . ." she said, using the classic stall of repeating the question.

Dr. Gregory nodded.

"With other ants . . ." she added, extending the stall.

"From the homework," he repeated, "ants are communicating . . ."

Buffy glanced over at Willow over Dr. Gregory's shoulder. Willow was making gestures to indicate the answer. "Uhm, uh, touch—and, um—B.O.?"

Laughter spread throughout the class. Next to her, Mall said, "Thank God someone finally found the courage to mention that."

Ignoring him, Dr. Gregory said, "That would be touch and smell, Ms. Summers. Is there anything else Ms. Rosenberg would like to tell you?"

Just then the bell rang. Before it even finished, the sound of stools scraping linoleum could be heard as students got up and prepared to bolt to their next class. "All right, chapters six through eight by tomorrow, people," he called out over the din, then turned back to Buffy. "Can I see you for a moment?"

Again, Buffy got the deer-in-headlights look.

After a few moments, the class was empty, except for Dr. Gregory—who had no class to teach this period—and Buffy. As he gathered up the slides he needed to go through for his next class, he said to her, "I gather you had a few problems at your last school."

"Well, what teenager doesn't?"

"Cut school," he said, checking a couple of the slides to make sure they were the right set, "get in fights, burn down the gymnasium?" She seemed surprised that he knew all this, so he added, "Principal Flutie showed me your permanent record."

"Look, that fire," she said, stammering, "I mean, there were major extenuating circumstances. Actually, it's kind of funny."

He walked over to the closet to retrieve his reading glasses. "I can't wait to see what you're going to do here—"

"Destructo-girl, that's me," she said ruefully.

"But I suspect it's going to be great."

Buffy looked confused. "You mean 'great' in a bad way?"

Dr. Gregory smiled as he cleaned off his reading glasses with his tie. "You've got a first-rate mind and you can think on your feet. Imagine what you could accomplish if you actually did the—"

"The homework thing?"

"The homework thing," he repeated. "I understand you probably have a good excuse for not doing it. Amazingly enough, I don't care. I know you can excel in this class and so I expect no less. Is that clear?"

"Yeah," she said. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Be smart. And please don't listen to the principal or anyone else's negative opinion about you. Let's make them eat that permanent record. What do you say?"

Buffy gave him a genuine smile. "Okay. Thanks," she said.

Dr. Gregory returned the smile. "Chapters six through eight."

Nodding resolutely, Buffy left the room.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So," Dawn asked gravely having been filled in by Willow and Xander on what had happened. They had gone to the Bronze after Buffy and Dawn had returned from Magic School for their nightly lesson, "how'd it go after bio class?"

"Actually, it went pretty well," Buffy said. "Dr. Gregory didn't chew me out or anything. He was really cool." Sighing, she added, "But Flutie showed him my permanent record. Apparently, I fall somewhere between Charles Manson and a really bad person."

"And you can't tell Dr. Gregory what really happened at your old school?" Willow asked with a mock-innocent smile.

"I was fighting vampires? I'm thinking he might not believe me," Buffy said dryly.

Dawn laughed. "Yeah, he probably gets that excuse all the time."

"Here lies a problem," Cordelia announced as she came up to Buffy and Willow. "What used to be my table occupied by pitiful losers. Of course, we'll have to burn it." Then she smiled as she sat next to them. While Cordelia still tended to act like she always had, around Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander she had changed, especially around Xander since she now saw him as a total stud.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Xander wandered over to the couches near the coffee bar, but found only Blayne and one of his fellow football dorks, whose name Xander couldn't remember. If Blayne hadn't been Buffy's lab partner, he probably wouldn't have remembered his name, either.

"Seven," Blayne was saying. "Including Cheryl. I tell you though, her sister was looking to make it eight."

"Ooh, Cheryl's sister?" the other jock said, eyes wide. "The one in college?"

"Home for the holidays and looking for love. She's not my type, though. Girl's really gotta have something to go with me."

Without thinking, Xander said, "Something like a lobotomy?"

"Xander," Blayne sneered. "How many times have you scored?"

"Well . . ." Xander said hesitantly.

"It's just a question," Blayne said with an evil smile.

"Are we talking today or the whole week?" Xander asked, stalling. He was looking frantically around for Dawn, Cordelia, Buffy and Willow. Finally, he sighted them. "Ooh. Duty calls."

Quickly, he went over to where the four girls were talking. He said, "Babes!" loud enough for Blayne and his crony to hear as he put an arm around Cordelia.

"What are you doing?" Cordelia asked suddenly worried about his odd behavior.

"Work with me here," Xander said quickly. "Blayne had the nerve to question my manliness. I'm just gonna give him a visual."

Cordelia smiled and then turned to face him. "How's this?" she asked as she leaned in and she kissed him and then she felt him returning the kiss.

Xander turned and gave Blayne a thumbs-up when he and Cordelia broke the kiss. Blayne just shook his head.

"What is Paige doing here?" Buffy wondered as she headed for her Whitelighter. "Is something wrong?"

Paige looked at Buffy. "You look cold," she said as she took off her own jacket and put it on Buffy.

Buffy looked at the jacket and blushed slightly. "Thanks," she said then she noticed three long, parallel cuts on Paige's arm. "What happened?"

"Vampire," Paige said. "I was walking over to where I normally can orb home out of sight of anyone and he attacked. He had claws of some kind. I just thought I would warn you when you patrol tonight. If you need me I will keep an ear out for your call."

"Okay, thanks, Paige," Buffy answered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"A vampire with a claw?" Giles asked as Xander walked up to him, Buffy, Willow and Paige in the quad of Sunnydale High the next morning.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give a better description," Paige said. "It looked like his hand had been replaced by a fork or a claw or some such. He was tall, kind of big. Not fit big, but not overweight big either."

Giles nodded. "I'll see what I can find out." He looked up at the sky. "God, every day here is the same."

"Bright, sunny, beautiful—how ever can we escape this torment?" Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.

Paige had to laugh, she like Buffy, Willow and Xander had grown up in California. So she was used to the weather. Giles on the other hand had come to England where it might rain frequently.

Giles gave Buffy a look, exchanged good mornings with Xander, then went off to bury himself in the stacks.

Wanting to share his good news, Xander immediately started in on it. "Guess what I just heard in the office? No Dr. Gregory today. Ergo, those of us who blew off our science homework aren't as dumb as we look." He punctuated the statement by closing Willow's bio textbook.

"What happened?" Buffy asked. "Is he sick?"

Xander shrugged. "They didn't say anything about sick—something about missing."

"He's missing?" Paige asked.

Xander frowned. "Well, let me think. The cheerleaders were modeling their new short skirts, I kinda got—" Buffy and Paige shot him one of their looks, which, annoyingly, was just like one of Giles's, and Xander grew serious. "Yeah, they said missing. Which is ... bad?"

"If something's wrong, yeah," Buffy said. "Paige?"

"I'll see what I can find out," Paige said.

Xander felt like he'd missed something. No bio teacher meant a substitute, which meant, in essence, a free period. What could be wrong?

Willow, as usual, explained: "He's one of the only teachers that doesn't think Buffy is a felon."

Mustering up his sincerity, Xander said, "I'm really sorry. I'm sure he'll—iya huh huh huh!"

He had intended to finish the sentence with the words turn up, but he had been distracted by a sight that made every overactive hormone in his body stand at attention.

The woman who walked down one of the quad's pathways was remarkable in many ways. For one thing, she was a woman in a setting primarily populated by girls; for another, she was attractive.

Though attractive didn't really seem to cut it.

The most beautiful woman ever to walk the face of the earth came closer, but even that seemed insufficient.

She had black hair cropped at her neck, sultry eyes, and the most amazing, pouty lips that Xander had ever seen. They were the kind of lips that simply begged to be kissed. She also wore a simple black jacket over a white shirt or blouse or something, and a skirt that wasn't quite a miniskirt.

To Xander's amazement and glee, she walked right up to him. "Could you help me?" she asked. Her voice was mellifluous, with just enough of a hint of an accent to sound moderately exotic, but not enough of one to place it.

All thought fled from Xander. His mind was filled solely with this incredible image of beauty before him.

"Uhhh—yes."

"I'm looking for Science One-oh-nine."

"Oh, it's um—" His mind remained blank, but for the image of her. He had no idea where Science 109 was. He wasn't entirely sure he could remember his full name if he were asked to provide it. "I go there every day," he said with a short bark of laughter, then turned to Buffy, Paige and Willow in a panic. "Oh God, where is it?"

Before anyone could respond, a voice belonging to the teenager whom Xander right there decided he hated more than anyone else who ever lived said, "Hi. Blayne Mall. I'm going there right now. It's not far from the varsity field where I took all-city last year."

"Oh. Thank you, Blayne," she said, and Blayne led her off. The football star gave Xander a friendly pat on the shoulder as he led the vision of perfection off toward the main building.

"It's funny," he said to the three girls, "how the earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to."

Paige, Buffy and Willow looked completely unsympathetic. In fact, they were smiling.

"Come on," Buffy said, "we'll take you to Science One-oh-nine. If you want, you can even drop bread crumbs so you can find your way the next time someone asks you directions."

"Hardy har har," Xander said. And the three of them went to bio class.

Paige watched them go and shook her head. Something didn't seem right about that woman. But till she learned more she wasn't going to worry her sisters about it. She turned and walked into the school heading toward the office.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

When Buffy, Paige and Willow reached Science 109 they found the woman standing in front of the class. She wrote the words Natalie French on the blackboard.

Buffy spotted a pair of glasses on the floor and knelt down to pick them up.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

Xander turned to look at Buffy.

As Buffy picked up the glasses she noticed a cracked lens. "If Dr. Gregory dropped his glasses, why wouldn't he pick them up?" Buffy asked. Shrugging, she put the glasses on one of the tables and took her seat next to the hated Blayne.

The final bell rang, and the class settled down. "My name," said the woman, "is Natalie French, and I'll be substituting for Dr. Gregory."

Buffy asked, "Do you know when he's coming back?"

"No, I don't, um—" she consulted her seating chart, "Buffy. They just call and tell me where they want me."

Blayne muttered, "I'll tell you where I want you."

"Excuse me, Blayne?"

"I was just wondering if you were gonna pick up where Dr. Gregory left off," Blayne said quickly.

"Yes," Ms. French said with a smile that lit up the entire room. "His notes tell me you were right in the middle of insect life." She went over to the display table and picked up one of the glass cases that had a plastic replica of some kind of bug in it. "The praying mantis is a fascinating creature, forced to live alone. Who can tell me why—Buffy?"

Buffy stared at the case for a moment, then said, "Well, the words bug ugly kinda spring to mind."

The smile disappeared, and Ms. French's face darkened. "There's nothing ugly about these unique creatures." Then the smiled returned to her face. "The reason they live alone is because they're cannibals."

Several students made eeeww noises.

"It's hardly their fault," Ms. French went on. "It's the way nature designed them: noble, solitary, and prolific. Over eighteen hundred species worldwide, and in nearly all of them, the female is the larger and more aggressive than the male."

Blayne, having apparently forgotten the shoulder incident, leaned over to Buffy. "Nothing wrong with an aggressive female." Buffy shot him a look and he straightened up.

Ms. French picked up a textbook and began reading from it and walking up the aisle. "The California mantis lays her eggs and then finds a mate to fertilize them. Once he's played his part, she covers the eggs in a protective sac and attaches it to a leaf or a twig out of danger." She held up the textbook and showed it to the class as she continued. "Now, if she's done her job correctly, in a few months, she'll have several hundred offspring." She put the textbook down, and looked around the room. Her eye caught something on the bulletin board. "You know, we should make some model egg sacs for the Science Fair. Who would like to help me do that after school?"

Xander's hand shot up. So did Blayne's—and pretty much every other guy in the class.

"Good," she said with another one of her smiles. "I warn you, it's a delicate art. I'd have to work with you very closely—one on one."