The first day of Sunnydale High, it was bright, sunny and summery. The school grounds were full of new students, some whom had been attending other schools in Sunnydale, others that had previously been forced to go to high school outside of Sunnydale since Sunnydale High had been involved in that, what they vaguely referred to as 'little accident' several years earlier.

Macy was already in the halls. She was on time. She feared perhaps she was ill.

Macy was of average height for her age, slim, with broad shoulders and long black hair that she kept in an untidy plait. She wore scuffed jeans, sneakers and a slightly baggy black t-shirt, an outfit which pretty much identified her as the tomboy she was. You'd be hard-picked to find Macy in a skirt rather than her old jeans.

Her new locker was clean, and blue, and fresh. Just like everyone else's, which wouldn't do, so she stuck a big sticker of her favourite local band right across the middle. It was long, rectangular and black with gold lettering that read "Hell Took Over". It was her attitude sticker - that looked much better.

Macy took a black marker out of her bag and pulled the cap off with her mouth. She was about to graffiti something more on the locker door when someone down the hall called her name.

"Macy!" A much shorter boy came puffing through the crowd. His blond hair was ruffled and the glasses he wore were small but thick giving him a sort of feeble Clark Kent look. However the dusted gray shirt and black pants with suspenders were doing nothing for that imagery. Aside from the heavy-looking brown backpack that bobbed behind him as he skidded towards her, he was also carrying an armload of burdensome advanced computer books and a shoulder bag that looked like it held a laptop. As he came to a stop, he grinned at her and started flinging the books into the locker beside hers.

"Heya Dusty!" Macy acknowledged. If she knew that 'Dusty' was the biggest dweeb in school, possibly on the planet, she didn't acknowledge it. But maybe that's because Dusty, aka Dustin, had been her best friend for, like, ever. Instead, she just grinned, and drew the marker back up to her lips as though it were a microphone.

"This is Macy Kilbourne, star reporter at the first day of the grand new opening of Sunnydale High," she said in her reporter voice, "I'm here with Dustin Clark. Tell me, Dustin, what do you think about being back in Sunnydale?"

"Breathless," Dustin muttered, half playing along, and he really was from his short run. He shoved a few more books into the locker and slammed it shut, "I'd like to thank God, and my family…"

"Aww, what's wrong," Macy wisecracked, "Boarding School not sitting well with you?"

"One more day there and I would have gone somewhat… mental!"

"Oh well," Macy sighed, "Sunnydale Day School wasn't much better. Let's face it, if anything interesting actually happened in Sunnydale, we'd all die of shock and be sucked straight into hell." Of course, despite the disparaging comment, Macy couldn't help but feel a little excited today. It wasn't the prospect of a new school, no that just meant more study, boring essays and mind-numbingly difficult exams. It was the prospect of new people, fresh starts, and the beginning of a new phase of life which, hopefully, would be much more exciting than the last. She grinned broadly at Dustin, then realised he was staring past her puzzledly. She turned to see what he was looking at.

Something was happening down the other end of the hall. The double glass doors swung open and the distant sound of dramatic but modern music floated in from outside. The crowd that was overflowing at the door, packed in like sardines, suddenly split down the middle and poured up the side of the hall squeezing along the lockers. Macy's eyebrows furrowed.

Through the doors, and down the centre of the hall, five excessively fashionable girls, dressed to kill, began marching into the school. The one in the centre was in the lead in a back miniskirt, heels and a purple sleeveless top. She stalked down the halls and smelled of predator. Then, just as strangely as they'd come, the five girls turned into the doors of a classroom and the entire atmosphere they'd brought faded away as though it had never been. People began filling the hallway again.

Macy groaned, "Penelope Daaaarhling-Filby," she explained to Dustin, "Her dad is, like, a gazillionaire - at least she'd have you believe it. They say he's some hot shot lawyer in L.A. or something. Bah!" She wrinkled up her nose, "What I wanna know is, if he's so great, why's he there, and her all the way out here!?"

Dustin shrugged and adjusted his glasses, "She can't be that bad," he offered unknowingly. She didn't even dignify that with an answer. Dustin would learn soon enough. Penelope was a cancer, and the best way to keep her out of your life was to avoid and ignore her.

It was then that Macy noticed that, in the time they'd been distracted by Penelope, two more people had arrived at the lockers. She looked across at them, mildly intrigued. Behind Dustin a girl with light, long brown hair was putting her own things into a locker a couple of lockers down. She was wearing a sky blue skirt and a pink shirt. Next to her, a boy with short brown hair in fairly drab clothes was staring dubiously between the girl and the locker.

Dawn Summers. That was the girl, she had gone to Sunnydale Day School as well. But the boy she didn't know. Anyway, it was obvious that they knew each other. He wasn't that bad looking either.

"Damn," she said to no one in particular, "No one told me it was 'bring a cute, dark, brooding guy to school day'!" Dustin just flicked his eyes in the newcomer's direction, before rolling them at his friend. He knew his friend well enough to recognize the interest as passing.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a voice interrupted them, "Gee, I guess you'll just have to stick with Mr. Nerdy Ugly-pants." It was high-pitched, dripping with deadly sarcasm, and it could only belong to one person. 'I'm-the-queen-of-the-world Penelope Darling-Filby', and she was right behind Macy. They must only have stayed in that classroom momentarily. Macy shuddered at the nearness that was Penelope. Dustin looked a little hurt.

She turned around, "You know, I don't see any boys hanging around with you Penelope… just a whole lot of girls." The problem was, with all she'd had said about ignoring Penelope, Macy just couldn't take her own advice. Penelope flipped her hair over her shoulder and flashed an indignant look.

"I'll have you know," she said, "I came to school in Jason Milner's brand new, expensive car. Not that I would expect you to know about anyone cool, he's a senior, on the football team." Penelope threw herself into an angelic but self-satisfied pose.

"Penelope," Macy replied, also making sarcasm her friend, "I know who Jason Milner is. If they let girls, I'd be on the football team."

"Oh that's right," Penelope threw Macy her 'you're so pathetic' look, "I forgot you're auditioning for Miss Man 2002… Anyway," she continued, before Macy could process the belittling comment, "anyone who hangs around Dawn Summers has got to be creepy. Like attracts like you know." She made sure she said the last two sentences especially loud enough for Dawn to actually hear, then flashed the girl a winning smile before resuming her parade down the Sunnydale High corridor, her entire fashion pack giggling and whispering as they followed behind her.

Macy groaned and rolled her eyes, "That girl is a demon," she told Dustin, grabbing out a pen out of her emptyish bag and chucking the rest in her locker. One day, she dreamed, the world was going to turn around and thrown down with Penelope Darling-Filby.

"Oh hey," she added to Dustin distractedly, "can I borrow some paper?"

Dustin nodded, once again carrying an armload of books as he began wobbling down the corridor to class with Macy, "Sure."

A couple of lockers down, Dawn watched the departing backs of Macy and Dustin for a moment before she noticed Connor was pulling something steely out of his jacket. A small knife glinted wickedly in the light of the corridor.

"What's that!?" she growled at Connor accusingly.

"You heard what she said," Connor replied, "that girl is a demon, we have to stop her before anyone gets hurt."

"Hello… I don't think she meant it literally." Great, just great, Dawn thought. This was supposed to be school, not slay-time, and already everybody thought she was a freak. Connor was just going to make it worse.

He looked confused, "What other way is there?"

Dawn sighed exasperatedly, "Forget about it. Look, just put that thing away before a teacher sees it or something." She gave him a glaring look before taking her own books and marching off down the hall.

Connor followed uncertainly. He didn't like being here, he could just feel it that something was wrong. Something demon, he was sure, and if it was that girl - she did have an atmosphere - then he was going to do whatever it took…