Part 7: First Day

Bri's pen tapped anxiously against her open Science book, earning her a glare from a boy in front of her. He cleared his throat and looked pointedly at the irritating writing instrument. "Oh. Sorry." Bri whispered, stopping the distracting noise immediately. She sighed loudly, glancing around the class, wondering how anyone could be paying attention to this boring dribble.

"Can anyone name for me the seven taxons?" the graying teacher asked the class. "Miss Morris?"

Bri jumped at her name, glancing around nervously. "Ma'am?"

Mrs. Webster sighed. "Please try to pay attention, Miss Morris. The seven taxons…name them."

The teen's eyes were wide as she frantically scanned down the page of her science book, finding that she wasn't even turned to the right chapter. "Um…taxons…right…uh…"

Suddenly a small slip of paper was discreetly slid onto her book. She glanced down at it and read aloud. "Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species." The teacher regarded her warily before nodding satisfactorily and continuing the lesson. Bri let out a long sigh of relief and glanced gratefully over at her lab partner. "Thanks." She whispered.

"Hey, no prob. I know how first days can go." The boy said. "I'm Tony Castaldi."

"I'm Bri Morris." The slayer responded with a smile. She studied him, noting he was doing the same to her.

The thought idly passed through her mind that Spike would kill this insolent little boy for daring to look at his woman. But then she mentally chastised herself for such a ridiculous thought. 'Spike equals the past.' she reminded herself. 'Come on, girl. Forget him. You've got to move on. And Tony's kind of cute…for a mortal.'

Bri nearly groaned aloud at her inner dialogue. But the bell rang, saving her from having to slap herself straight. As she gathered her things, Tony hopped up on the desk to watch her intently with big chocolate eyes. She shot him a curious look. "What are you doing Friday night?" he asked suddenly.

"Um…I don't know."

"You wanna go to the Bronze? Hang out or something?"

Bri shifted uncomfortably as she slung her bookbag onto her shoulder. "I don't know…I-"

"Oh come on, I don't bite…unless you're into that." Tony joked, earning a wide-eyed look from the slayer. "Or not. Relax, it was a joke."

Bri laughed nervously. "Yea…I-I know."

"So how about it? You and me? Dancing? Food? Mindless first date chatter?"

"I don't know…I just got out of a…relationship…kind of intense you know?"

"That's cool. Hey, no pressure." The boy held up his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

"I'll think about Friday and get back to you."

"OK, I'll see you later then?"

"Yea. See ya." Bri mumbled. She hurried out of the classroom, nearly bumping into Xander on her way out the door.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?" he exclaimed.

"Sorry."

"Hey, no harm done. I had 'Mrs. Weasel' for Biology too. Don't blame you for running out of there." Xander joked, earning a light chuckle from the slayer. "Buffy sent me to show you to the library. You're supposed to meet the other watcher and learn to hate him as much as we do." Bri snickered and nodded, following the brown haired teen through the halls to the library.

"Hey, guys!" Willow exclaimed when they entered.

Bri waved at the redhead as she dropped her things on the table. "So where's this wanna-be watcher?" she asked as Buffy and Giles emerged from behind the stacks, the blonde slayer's arms loaded with books. Someone cleared their throat from behind her and Bri turned and froze, finding a prudish, stiff standing man in a gray suit eyeing her distastefully.

"Bri Morris, meet Wesley Wyndam-Price." Giles introduced them uncomfortably.

The slayer laughed awkwardly. "When I say 'wanna-be'…I don't mean-"

"Please, spare me your explanation, Miss Morris." Wesley said, holding up a hand to stop her explanation. "I expected as much. No doubt you've been thoroughly poisoned to my character already by the others."

Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles' gazes were innocently averted. An awkward silence fell over the room before Buffy spoke up. "So now that all introductions have been made, can we go to lunch?" the slayer didn't wait for answer as she grabbed Bri's hand and all the teenagers in the room hurried to the cafeteria.

"So then the monkey says, that's not my pencil!" Xander finished climactically. Four sets of eyes stared at him blankly.

"This is where the crickets chirp, right?" Buffy asked, earning giggles from Willow and Bri.

Xander slumped in his seat defeatedly. "I think I told it wrong." Willow gave him a sympathetic look.

"Hey, Bri." Tony said, walking up to the group of people.

Bri's eyes went wide as she stared up at the boy. "Hi." She said shyly.

"Have you thought about Friday? The Bronze?"

Buffy and Willow simultaneously looked at the new slayer. "You've been here one day and already you have a date?" Buffy exclaimed.

"Well it's not a date yet. She hasn't said yes." Tony said.

Before Bri could open her mouth, Buffy pounced. "She'll be there. Pick her up Friday around seven. Here's the address." She said, scribbling down '1630 Revello Drive' on a napkin and handing it to the boy. Tony grinned, pocketing the napkin.

"See you then." He said, returning to his table of friends.

"Buffy!" Bri exclaimed.

"What? He's cute! He looks Italian, is he Italian?"

"Definitely seems Italian." Willow chimed in. "With the darker skin tone and the brown hair. Yep…looks Italian."

"Oh…I just love Italian guys…ever since I saw The Godfather…"

"Buffy!" Bri interrupted the other slayer. "Who says I was gonna say yes?"

"Well why wouldn't you? Are you blind?" Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Oh my gosh, you don't already have a boyfriend do you? Back in Virginia? Is that why-"

"No. No boyfriend. I just…"

"Oh. You're not…a…um…not that there's anything wrong with…"

"No! Buffy I'm not a lesbian. It's just…I just got out of a relationship and I'm not sure if I wanna be dating so soon."

"Sorry, Bri. I wasn't thinking." Buffy apologized sincerely.

"No, no. It's OK. Maybe it's a good idea for me to start dating again. Um…I think I'm gonna go to my next class a bit early to get caught up on everything, you know. I'll see you later guys." Bri said hurriedly as she gathered her things and practically ran from the cafeteria.

Willow subconsciously reached out and took Oz's hand, the memories still fresh in her mind of their spat after she and Xander had been locked in the warehouse and discovered kissing by Oz and Cordelia. It had been over two months ago and the wounds had healed but the scars still remained. Each time Willow thought of it and how much hurt they'd all been in, it pulled at her heartstrings. She could very much identify with how Bri was feeling.

The witch reached over and smacked Buffy's arm scoldingly. "That'll teach you to meddle in other people's love lives." The redhead looked to the doors the new slayer had just made her hasty retreat. "Poor Bri. She seemed really rattled. I wonder what happened between her and her boyfriend."

Buffy shrugged. "So, who's coming with me to the Bronze Friday to spy on Bri and her date?"

"Wow. You look great!" Buffy exclaimed as Bri twisted and turned in front of her mirror, inspecting herself from all angles.

"Think so?"

"Yea, you're gonna make Tony's eyes bug out of his head!" Bri shot Buffy a look and the slayer amended her statement. "That's figurative eye-bugging."

The new slayer giggled. "Thanks for lending me this dress. I didn't have any idea what I was going to wear tonight."

"No problem. It's looks great on you."

Bri studied the tight fitting green number that fell just above her knees. It was held up with thin gold straps and it's neckline scooped dangerously low, with gold strings criss-crossing to hold it together and retain a bit of modesty. Bri was the first to admit she looked slutty, but she decided that tonight, she was letting loose. She felt like being sexy, so she was.

Buffy reached up into her closet, pulling down a shoe box and handing it to the other slayer. Bri accepted it and took out the gold heels, pulling them onto her feet and wrapping the criss-crossing straps around her ankles, making sure they were securely fastened. Then she stood and inspected the entire ensemble in the mirror. 'If Spike could see me in this…' she thought unwittingly, then silently reprimanded herself.

Buffy observed the small frown on Bri's face and furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?"

"What? Oh…nothing." She murmured, unconsciously reaching for the necklace around her throat.

Before Buffy could question her, the doorbell rang and Joyce Summers' voice floated up from downstairs. "Bri! Tony's here!"

"Well…that's my cue." The blonde slayer said. She took a deep breath and glanced nervously at Buffy. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Buffy responded distractedly, still pondering the look that had crossed Bri's face as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Bri descended the stairs, watching as Tony's jaw dropped open slightly as he saw her. "Wow. You look beautiful." He said, offering her a hand as she reached the bottom steps.

"Thank you." she said, blushing slightly.

"Are you ready?"

"Yea." The slayer grabbed her coat and smiled as he helped her put it on. 'Spike used to do that. Something left over from his human days. He didn't even realize when he did it. It was like a reflex…DAMN IT!'

"You two kids have fun. And Bri, home by twelve." Joyce called as the two teens walked to Tony's car. The slayer called out an "OK" as her date opened the car door for her.

As the sleek red sports car pulled out of the drive, a pair of blue eyes flashed yellow and another cigarette butt was stomped out on the ground with the toe of a Doc Marten, adding to the collection of ashes and burned out cigarettes beneath the large tree in front of the Summers' home.