Any UK readers, in the US, some teens age 15, can get a special license to drive a motorcycle, I think. However, the motorcycle license for all drivers 16 or higher is the same as a regular license.
Chapter 15: School Starts
******A Few Weeks Later******
It was Friday, and Buffy and her friends had settled into school. Two weeks of college classes at Hearts, and they were flying high. Xander liked his job even as he missed Anya. Joyce had taken Buffy to take her driving test right before classes started, and she was happy to report that she had a license. Weevil surprised her with a small motorcycle he and Xander were going to fix up for her to drive. Since the weather was so nice in California, Buffy was eager to have it. She found motorcycles a lot easier to control than a car. Her mother wasn't terribly happy about the motorcycle, but she knew that Buffy would mainly just being driving from school to work around town. Buffy had to promise to borrow a car if she made a trip to Sunnydale.
Since finding out the girls had magic powers, Dick had been itching to watch some magic, so the girls were focusing on turning Amy back to normal. The weekend before classes started, they managed to do it. Dick had been blown away by the sight of a rat turning into a hot naked girl. Amy was a bit traumatized by her experience, but after a few days in Neptune, Willow and Tara drove her home to Sunnydale.
Veronica was content to stay in Neptune instead of transferring like she'd been considering. She wasn't quite ready to just allow Buffy to take her place in everyone's life. After she met Xander, she had to agree with Wallace, the guy was great, and Veronica instantly liked him. It made her a bit annoyed, though, because she knew that her friends were right. If all of Buffy's friends were great and Weevil and Logan both liked her, she couldn't be that bad.
So to show her willingness to befriend Buffy, Veronica was about to voluntarily participate in physical exercise. Something she'd not done since Lilly had talked her into joining the pep squad freshmen year.
"Why am I here again?" Mac asked, glaring at her two best friends. Parker had returned and was rooming again with her. Veronica sprung for a single room as she signed up to be a residential assistance on their floor—much to Mac's amusement. Veronica believed the single corner room would more than make up for the annoyance of leading weekly meetings. Her first act as R.A. had been to change the meetings to bi-weekly by October and then monthly by the spring semester.
"You are here to support Veronica and me, and you need to learn how to defend yourself," Parker said cheerfully. She hadn't yet met Buffy and all her friends as she had not got back to town until the weekend before classes had started. Somehow, her schedule didn't have her crossing paths yet with the much talked about girl. However, she did have class with Tara.
"That's what my can of pepper spray is for," Mac said.
"Hey, Buffy's your friend, and she could use a friendly face, right?" Veronica said, flashing her a smug smile. "We're here to support your friend and my dad's girlfriend's daughter."
Mac rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said. "Buffy doesn't need our support. She is the most confident girl I've ever met, and since I'm best friends with you and Parker, that says a lot."
When they made it to the studio and paid for the four lessons (all Mac would agree to), the place was starting to become congested.
Buffy spotted them and moved to greet them. "I can't believe you really signed up," Buffy said, grinning at Mac. She knew how little the girl liked exercise.
"Well, we wanted to support you. I told Veronica that you didn't need our support, but she insisted," Mac said, smiling.
"Really?" Buffy asked, surprised as she looked at Veronica.
"I'm trying to be nice," Veronica said.
"I appreciate it," Buffy said, giving her a friendly smile. "I'll go easy on you."
"Where's Willow? I figured she'd be here," Mac asked.
"She said she had enough self-defense lessons in Sunnydale," Buffy said. "Tara said she'd come next month after she gets settled into a routine."
"Buffy, this is my roommate Parker Lee," Mac introduced. "This is Buffy, our new friend."
"It's great to meet you," Parker said, smiling. "I feel like I know you already. There's so much talk about you."
"I hope that's a good thing," Buffy said.
"Mostly," Veronica added with a smirk.
Buffy laughed. "I want you guys will come over to my house tomorrow. Do you think you can? Sorry, it's a bit last minute. Mom says we should celebrate how well things are going for all of us. We're having a cook-out in the backyard," she said.
"Is that why Dad was asking me about barbeque sauces yesterday?" Veronica asked.
"Well, you know he is operating the grill," Buffy said with a grin. She looked at Parker. "You are invited, too."
"I will be happy to come," Parker said, pleased.
"As long as you throw in a few veggie burgers, I'm there," Mac said.
"For sure," she said.
"There's a lot of girls here," Parker said looking at the room.
"Yes, Gabe is very happy as we are maxed out at twenty per class," Buffy said. "We're doing the four lessons for a hundred dollars special to get people interested. My Tai Chi class will start on Monday, and he says it's already full. Several of his male fighters signed up for that. I'm teaching it Mondays and Saturdays."
"Tai Chi?" Parker asked, her eyes lighting up. "I would totally love that!"
"After your self-defense block is done, you should check it out," Buffy said. She looked at the time. "It's time to start."
Veronica insisted they get a spot in the back. When Buffy's best guy friend came into the class, she was surprised. "What's Xander doing here? Isn't it all girls?" she asked.
"I don't think I've met him," Parker said.
"He's Buffy and Willow's best friend," Mac explained. "He works with Weevil on campus. He and Willow have been best buds since kindergarten. He's really funny and pretty amazing. Buffy says he saved her life once."
"Really?" Parker asked, looking at the new guy with interest. She was over Logan entirely and spent the summer not thinking about romance at all. When she saw Mac wave and smile at him, she wondered, though, if Mac had a claim on the guy.
"Everyone, I have asked one of my best friends to help with this first class," Buffy said. "We need a male attacker, and Xander's used to getting slapped around and was game."
The girls laughed and all eyed Xander with various degrees of speculation. Buffy was glad he wasn't wearing one of his tacky Hawaiian shirts but had opted for a simple t-shirt and jeans combo.
"Hello, ladies," Xander said with a grin and wave. "I think this might be the best day of my life—all these beautiful eyes all focused on me."
"Enjoy it while you can 'cause soon they'll be feeling sorry for you," Buffy said.
Veronica had to laugh, too, as Buffy proved her words by throwing Xander over her shoulder, elbowing him, and sweeping his legs. Xander took it in stride, bouncing up each time.
Then she took them through a slow demonstration of breaking out of a choke hold and had them partner up. Xander's part was over, so he moved to side to watch. Mac partnered with Veronica, and Parker with the girl on her right. Buffy went around helping the different pairs break out of a chokehold.
After twenty minutes of practicing, she showed them how to properly throw a punch. Then she passed out some small pads for them to hold while their partner punched into it.
"I kind of feel powerful right now," Mac said, punching the bag.
Veronica didn't want to admit that she, too, was enjoying the class. "I sometimes have good ideas," Veronica said, smirking.
When it was over, Parker asked, "How about you introduce me to Xander?"
"Sure," Mac said.
"Unless, you'd rather keep him all to yourself," Parker asked her with a grin.
"Xander? Are you wanting to know if I like Xander?" Mac asked.
"Do you?" Parker asked.
"Of course, he's great," Mac said. "But he's just broken up with his girlfriend and not really looking to date. Besides, he thinks I'm exactly like Willow but with dimples."
"He said that?" Parker asked.
"Basically," Mac said with a shrug. "I don't babble like she does, though."
"Xander," Veronica called, motioning him over. He'd stayed to watch the entire class. "You haven't met Parker yet. She's Mac's roommate."
"Hello," Xander said, flashing her a smile.
"Hi," Parker said. "How are you liking Neptune?"
"I love it," Xander said.
"Good," Parker said. She stared awkwardly at him, not sure what to say.
Mac felt sorry for her roommate and sought to fill the silence. "Parker is from Colorado."
"Really? I've never been. I hear it's beautiful," Xander said. "Do you ski?"
"Sometimes," Parker said.
"Cool," Xander said.
"What do you think?" Buffy asked as she came up to them. "Good class?"
"It actually was," Mac said. "I feel invincible right now."
"I think I'm going to go pick a fight with a frat boy," Veronica said. "Where's Dick at these days?"
Xander laughed. "Probably with Willow or Tara," Xander said. "Ever since he saw Willow do a small bit of magic, he's been glued to their sides."
"Magic? She's a magician?" Parker asked.
"No, she's a witch," Xander said. "And I realize now that I shouldn't be talking crazy. I'll catch you ladies later. Bye, Buffy." He flashed Buffy a panic smile and practically ran out the door until Buffy called him back.
"Hey, can you help me gather up the equipment?" she asked him.
"Of course," he said, moving to pick up pads.
"Okay," Parker said slowly.
"Xander is just messing with you," Buffy said, lifting her hand dismissively. "They are Wiccan, which is often mixed with people who practice witchcraft. Willow likes to tease Dick a lot because he's very gullible."
"That's true," Veronica said.
"So I hope you all come to our house at four," Buffy said. "Mom wants it to start a bit early, so everyone can socialize. Mac, she already called and invited your parents."
"Really?" Mac asked, surprised. "I bet Mom was thrilled."
"She was," Buffy said.
They waved goodbye to Buffy and Xander. When Veronica saw her car, she groaned. "I have a stinkin' flat!"
"Shall I call Weevil?" Mac asked.
"Xander's just inside," Parker said.
"I know how to change a tire," Veronica said.
"Well, sure, so do I," Mac said. "But I don't want to get my hands that dirty. Do you?"
"I'll go get Xander," Parker said, glad to have an excuse to talk to the cute guy again.
Veronica didn't wait and went and got out her spare and the jack. However, when she tried to remove the lug nuts, she had to concede defeat. "Stupid mean and their power tools," she grumbled. "I told my tire guy to stop putting these on so tight!"
"I can do it," Xander said as he arrived with Parker. "Looks like you did a great job positioning the jack. I tried to teach Willow and Buffy how to do this once, and they just looked at me like I suggested they sacrifice their first born."
Parker giggled. "My dad made me learn before I moved here last fall," she admitted.
"My dad made me do it when I was twelve," Mac said.
"I got a lot of sliced tires at my high school," Veronica said. "Mostly from Dick."
Xander frowned, not liking to hear anyone being bullied. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said.
"So Buffy doesn't know how to change a tire?" Veronica asked, secretly pleased there was something Buffy couldn't do.
"She just got her license two weeks ago," Xander pointed out. "She and Willow believe strongly in a division of labor. Buffy beats the bad guys. I am in charge of spider and frog removal and fixing things, plus changing tires and fixing cars."
The girls laughed, and Mac asked, "What's Willow's job?"
"She is book girl and the solver of the mysteries," Xander said. He was working while he talked. "She is also hacker girl and can tell us how to beat the bad guy." He flashed them a smile as he swapped out the tires and began putting on the lug nuts.
"I'm not sure my feminist study teacher would approve," Mac said. "But I kind of like that."
"Why do they need help removing frogs?" Parker wondered.
"Well, Willow and I have been friends since we were five, but we only meet Buffy when we were sophomores in high school," Xander explained. "Willow has extreme frog fear, and I've just always kept them away from her." He shrugged as all three girls gave him various looks of approval and admiration.
He, of course, was oblivious as he lowered the car with the jack and walked the bad tire to her car. "There you go, Veronica," he said.
"Thanks, Xander," Veronica said. "We'll see you tomorrow at Buffy's."
"See you," Xander said.
The girls watched him walk away. "He is definitely Wallace-like," Veronica remarked.
"He's a great guy," Mac said.
"Totally," Parker agreed with a sigh. Now that's the kind of guy she needed to be dating. How long would it take him to get over his ex?
******Sunnydale******
They assembled into the empty warehouse with their leader holding the dagonsphere.
"There are two slayers," the leader said.
"Which shall be chosen to guard the Key?" another asked.
"Whoever is stronger," the third said.
"Surely, the guardian of the hellmouth is the strongest."
"The spell will send the Key to the one who is meant to guard it," their leader said.
They began their spell.
******The Next Day*****
Buffy was feeling very good about herself. She had just finished her shift at the hotel and made two hundred bucks. It was still hard for to believe how much better the tips were than the Hut—easiest money ever. One perk of slayer energy was a busy four-hour shift didn't faze her. Of course, she got to start her day with Tai Chi at Gabe's place, and it put her in a very good mood. To her amusement, Logan and Dick both had signed up for her Tai Chi class after their sunrise surfing, which apparently, they did many Saturdays.
Logan had been blown away by Buffy's class, and he flirted with her shamelessly after class.
"I thought we decided that we were meant to just be friends due to you being in love with Veronica," Buffy said.
"Veronica's not in love with me," he said.
"She is single," Buffy said. "I heard through the grapevine that she and Piz are not dating."
"I don't care," Logan said with a stubborn glint in his eyes.
"Then I guess it won't matter to you one way or another to know that she will be at my house this afternoon for the barbeque," Buffy said with a smirk. "You are still coming, right?"
"Of course," Logan said. "I promised Dick I'd go with him."
"Dick's your date, huh?" Buffy said, giggling. "I'm very jealous."
"I supposed Weevil will be there," Logan said in resignation.
"He is invited, and you know he and Xander are best buds," Buffy said.
"And you're still dating him," Logan pointed out.
"Sometimes, we go out," Buffy said with a shrug. "You know that I'm not looking to be pinned down right now. I'm enjoying having such a stress-free life."
He finally stopped pouting about Weevil and hugged her when they parted at her car. She was relieved that he wasn't going to stop being her fried because Buffy really liked Logan as a person.
Buffy smiled, thinking of the friends she'd made since coming to Neptune—Logan was just one of many it seemed.
"Buffy, are you ready to make the fruit salad?" Joyce asked her.
"I wanted to jump in the shower first," Buffy said. She went to the bathroom, but the door was locked. She banged on it. "Hurry up, Dawn! I need a shower."
"Too bad, so sad," Dawn sang back.
"Mom!" Buffy complained.
******To Be Continued*****
I want to point out that I do know that the Order of Dagon was based in Czech Republic and that Glory destroyed the order. However, we don't know exactly how they created Dawn. Giles says it took the entire Order to make the spell, but we only saw three on BTVS. I'm thinking they channeled the power of their order before coming to the U.S.! Sorry, Dawn haters. The storyline around her is just too good to ignore!
