Dawn looked that the two people who she had become friends with. "Halloween? I don't know about that," Dawn laughed slightly, thinking about the last Halloween she experienced, lip locking with a vampire wasn't something she was looking forward to.
"Why, you're mom really isn't that bad. She's really cool," Carlos asked, taking a cigarette from the pack he had.
"Carlos, Buffy is not Dawn's mother. And stop smoking," Kit reprimanded.
Dawn sighed and ignored the two; they would just fight and then make up. Why couldn't they just kiss and get it over with already? Walking down the hall she slipped into the Family and Consumer Sciences room. Mrs. Wayne was not there, but there was a girl about Dawn's age sitting by the window, softly singing a song to herself.
"Excuse me," Dawn felt bad for interrupting the picturesque scene.
"Do you want to leave a message for Mrs. Wayne?" the girl asked as soon as Dawn said something.
"Well, originally yes, but I have a feeling you can help me much more than she could," Dawn explained. She sat down and explained her predicament.
"Well, that certainly is a predicament, but I doubt I can help you," the girl shrugged and picked up what she had been working on, since she had put in her lap when Dawn had come in.
Dawn looked at it and caught her breath, "It's perfect," she breathed.
"It's pretty," the girl admitted, "But everything has it's imperfections," the girl said wisely. "I'm Kassandra by the way," she introduced herself.
"I'm Dawn, and I would really like it if you would help me," Dawn pleaded and gave puppy eyes.
Kassandra chuckled, "Okay, okay, I'll do it. Free of charge, you just have to pay for materials," she smiled and Dawn returned with one of her own.
"I really couldn't ask you to do it for free. I mean school takes up so much time, at least with me it does. I'm babbling again aren't I?" Dawn became flustered.
"It's perfectly all right," Kassandra smiled and pulled a bag onto her lap. "When can me meet and get the material?"
Dawn shrugged, "After school? Unless your busy."
Dropping the bag to the floor Kassandra nodded and explained about Connor, and how he may be a tag-along. Dawn didn't care and told Kassandra that Carlos and Kit would probably make an appearance as well.
School came to an end and Dawn stopped into Buffy's office. "Buffy, I'm going with Carlos and Kit okay? I'll meet everyone at the Magic Box later," and she was gone as quick as she came. Buffy just shrugged and went back to the rearranging of her desk.
"Ms. Summers," Principal Wood knocked on the door and walked into her tiny office.
"Yeah?" she looked up from her desk.
"Tomorrow I would like you to talk to a Connor James. He's been getting into large amounts of fights here at school and I want to make sure he's getting along with everything. I just want him to know he has someone to talk to, that's all," he explained.
"Fights?" Buffy asked. It wasn't like she couldn't handle him if things got violent, but the less pain, the better.
"Unfortunately yes, but the strange thing is, he sticks up for the ones usually getting picked on. Odd really," Principal Wood shrugged and left Buffy with her own thoughts.
Looking out the wind she saw her sister and her friends with two others. She smiled; she liked Dawn being with normal kids her own age.
Dawn smiled at Kassandra and the boy that came up behind her. "Dawn, and you other people, this is Connor," Kassandra introduced her apartment-mate with the other three.
Dawn leaned over to Kit and whispered, "He's cute," her friend nodded in agreement.
"That's Carlos and Kit," Dawn offered.
"Wassup compadre?" Carlos offered a hand to Connor.
Connor looked at it for a moment and stuck out his own. He probably wouldn't have done so if Kassandra hadn't stomped on his foot.
"So what do you want to be?" Kassandra asked once the five of them stood in the door of a local craft store.
"Well, we don't really know," Dawn confessed. "I guess we want to do a group theme."
"What kind, Robin Hood?" Kassandra pressed.
"Greek Gods?" Kit offered.
"I like that!" Carlos nodded.
Kassandra grinned and went over to the books of patterns like child in a candy store. Soon she selected a few patterns and the four others followed silently.
"Okay Dawn, what Goddess do you want to be?" Kassandra asked, facing the dark haired girl.
"Aphrodite? That's the Goddess of Love, right?" Dawn answered and sighed in relief when Kit nodded.
Kassandra nodded and then went looking for the right material. Soon the two others were done Carlos as Hermes and Kit as Artemis.
"Do you guys wanna join?" Kit asked, face shinning.
Kassandra looked at Connor, who just shrugged. "I have an idea," she muttered to the other four and wandered off.
"That was interesting," Carlos cracked a smile. It was decided soon after that Connor was to be Ares and Kassandra was to become Hestia for the celebration of All Hallows Eve.
Dawn was over at the apartment after school for the next week. She did whatever she could to help Kassandra who seemed to enjoy the daunting task. Dawn cut out patterns, cut materials, and even taking measurements. Both Kassandra and Dawn felt a kinship towards the other; Dawn was almost unhappy with Kassandra finished her own costume, insisting Hestia should be last.
That Friday, Dawn bade Kassandra good-bye, and walked down the hall. Sighing, she readjusted her bag on her shoulder and proceeded to bump into someone. "Sorry," she muttered, finally looking up at the person once she had collected everything that had fallen out of her purse.
"It's quite alright," the person said. A gasp was caught in Dawn's throat.
"Dean," I'm so sorry!" she apologized to the quarterback of the Sunnydale High football team.
"It's okay really. Hey, are you going to the Halloween Dance? It's going to be a blast," he smiled at her, making her knees quiver and her heart melt.
"I think so. I gotta go though, see you at school!" Dawn called as she ran down the hall and down the street.
When she got home, Dawn smelled something burning; Buffy had gotten sidetracked again. Shutting off the stove, Dawn dumped whatever it was and dialed for pizza. While she was waiting for Derrick, she had gotten to know the pizza boy pretty well; she dialed Kassandra's number.
The two talked for awhile and Dawn bragged a bit about talking to Dean. She did 'forget' to mention that she had smacked into him. Kassandra listened intently though, eager to hear what her friend was saying. She was finished with her own costume, which was a relief, since Halloween was that Friday, a scare three days away. The pizza soon came and Dawn bid good-bye and left Kassandra with her own thoughts, the whirring of the sewing machine, and the ever present haunting voices of Simon and Garfunkle.
Finally it as done, and it only left one thing for Kassandra to do, bless them. She knew Sunnydale could be a dangerous place, and who knew about Halloween Night?
By the time midnight rolled around Kassandra was dead tired and cranky. Flopping onto her bead she slept until the next morning's alarm awakened her.
During the day of Friday, October 31st, there was a buzz in the air, everyone was looking forward to the night of horrors, treats, and partying. Even Kit was excited, and for a school function no less.
All day Dawn looked for Dean, but he failed to show his face. She shrugged it off though, it was a big school, and besides if he was sick, he was sick, what could she do?
The day dragged on and on, and Dawn practically jumped out of her history class seat when the bell rang. Running to her locker, she dumped all her books into it. All teachers, hers at least, hadn't given homework, a smart idea.
Carols and Kit met her at her locker and they headed to Kassandra's a normal practice for a not so normal day. The three waited only moments before Kassandra and Connor both arrived.
"Ready to go?" Kit asked. The other two girls nodded while Carlos and Connor shared a looked. They had a very bad feeling about this.
They hurried to Kassandra and Connor's apartment and the girls promptly took over the bathroom and Kassandra's room, which suited the guys just fine. The boys where left to their own devices, they decided upon watching football.
After two hours of primping and priming, the girl came out in while tube tops and shorts. "Don't say a thing. This is the last time you'll see me like this," Kit warned Carlos, who just grinned and went back to watching football. He was promptly shoved off the couch and dragged into the bathroom. Connor laughed at the fallen male, even though he was the next target.
By six-thirty the guys were ready, and the girls were putting on make-up. The guys were then dragged to the school. They entered together, like a roaming pack. Soon, one by one, they broke apart, leaving Kassandra to mingle by herself. She saw Carlos trying to get out to smoke. She turned her head, and heard the door slam. She walked in a different direction and saw Dawn talked to some guy in a Dracula costume. She smiled and determined that, that was Dean. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Connor. Shrugged she went to go find the elusive Kit to talk.
Connor watched Dawn as she talked the full of himself jock. Snorting, he followed them as Dean persuaded Dawn to go into the basement. He was following them when he felt a cool hand on his shoulder. "Go back to the group duck, Something's coming, they're going to need you. I'll watch over my Bit," the distinctly British voice said to him and then disappeared.
Connor nodded, feeling that whatever spoke to him, could see him. Besides he had lost the trail. Turning back to the gym he heard a scream, breaking into a run, he stopped at his locker and grabbed a few weapons, it never hurt to be prepared. Since someone may know what was happening, he grabbed a few extras, figuring that they would probably help him.
"Ooh, weapons, my favorite," Kit grinned when she found him near the gym doors.
"You scare me," he told her when she grabbed two stakes and ran towards Carlos, surprisingly agile in her costume.
Kassandra was gathering as many kids as she could to get them out of the gym that was being terrorized by vampires that thought it was some kind of buffet.
"Where do you think you're going with dinner?" a particularly nasty vamp asked.
"Be gone demon," she whispered and ran at him, a stake that an unseen someone had shoved into her hand upraised. She shoved it into the demon's heart. Kassandra stood in shock as the demon's body imploded into a pile of dust, but quickly started to herd kids out.
"I feel like a cow about to be killed," a passing freshman muttered.
Once everyone was out, Kassandra turned back to the carnage. Dawn was there by now, along with a tall bleached blonde. "Here goes nothing," she muttered to herself and leapt in.
By the end, the gym was trashed and everyone was tired. Dawn had tried to plead to Spike, but he would have none of it. "Go on Bit. Tell your sister about the fun you had," he smiled at her and watched as Connor, Dawn, Kit, and Carlos walked out of the gym. Kassandra stayed behind.
"You're still here, why? You don't have the proper papers," Spike demanded.
"You're in need," Kassandra answered cryptically.
"But I'm not worth it. Go and do your mission, which I am not," Spike walked back into the shadows.
"Vampires suck, especially pissy souled ones," Kassandra muttered to herself.
"I heard that Lighter, I heard that," came the voice of Spike from the shadows. Kassandra snorted and turned on her heel, leaving the gym for someone else to clean up.
Yeah, that's it. That's as about as much action as you're going to get. *sweat drop* I told you I wasn't very good at battle scenes, I'll just stick to angst. The good thing is I have chapter 3 written, and almost typed. And then of course chapter four is in the works, with an interlude done and over with.
Until Next Time.
Elizabeth