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Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah.
Words in indicate thoughts.
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Part 4: So What's the Diff?
Cordelia walked through the halls
quickly, aware that people were staring. Willow's words raced through her
mind, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. They're wondering why the
nerd is so dressed up today. Why the
hacker is in a Versace... She shook her head, half in horror. What kind of world is this? I'm supposed to be the
pretty, popular one! She realized
wryly that the thought of being uprooted from her spot did
not bother her so much as the idea of shy, timid Willow being the one to
do it. She knew that she was being irrationally shallow, but as a bitter
ex-girlfriend, frankly, she just didn't
care. There is no way that girl is displacing me again.
She found a secluded place in the quad where she could sit in
relative solitude and think.
Cordelia ran her hand through her dark hair and thought of
all the differences between her world and this one. One, I'm a nerd.
She paused as she considered this unlikely concept, swallowed hard,
and continued with the list. Two, Willow is so
not shopping at K-Mart anymore. Three, she's popular, and here
she sneered slightly, and Harmony seems to love her, though only God knows
why. This Willow
is an uncaring, insensitive, snotty, shallow little bitch who has no respect for other people's
feelings and puts them down just because they're...not...as cool...as she is...
Cordelia stopped, realizing that
the description sounded...familiar. In fact it sounded very much like...
Her jaw dropped as the proverbial light bulb went off in her head. We
switched places, didn't we? We switched roles? I'm Research Girl and she's
the May Queen! But that means... A line appeared between her
eyebrows, and Cordy was faced with a galling realization.
Am I really that awful a person?
She thought of having wanted to slap Willow's smug face earlier, and flushed with reminiscent shame. Having never been on the receiving end of her own preferred brand of snobbery, Cordy realized, quite simply, that she didn't like the feeling. Do Xander and Buffy think I'm that much of a bitch?
She
bit her lip, thinking back at all the rude, tactless comments she had directed
towards the Scooby Gang in the past. And they were my only real friends,
she realized with a pang.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts,
Cordelia decided to make it up to them when she got out of this world.
That's if you get out, taunted a little voice in her head.
She ignored it and went back to her list, a little shaken.
Um...four. Willow and Oz are going out now. Willow and Xander were a couple... she grimaced at the thought, ...but they broke up when...when Xander and I caught them making out. She muttered an expletive under her breath. Willow, that skank. I guess even in this world, she can't keep her hands to herself. Her frown deepened at the irony, then disappeared as she began to fit together the pieces.
So this Xander is Willow-less, and Oz and I broke up... Her Cordelia Chase, Male Magnet persona began to jump up and down in excitement at the thought. I'm supposedly heartbroken, and so is Xander. What a perfect comfort situation!
Cordelia smiled a
real smile for the first time since the breakup. Maybe this world
isn't so bad after all.
* * *
Xander had checked in the cafeteria,
but Cordy was not among one of the laughing students in the middle of the
full-blown food fight. Normally Xander wouldn't have hesitated in jumping
right into the fray, but his concern for the hacker propelled him away from the
pizzas and towards the computer lab, where she sometimes spent her lunches talking
with her favorite teacher.
"Ms. Calendar?" he called, as he stuck his
head through the door of the room. The pretty, dark-haired teacher looked
up from her computer and smiled. "Hi, Xander." She
noted his worried expression and asked in concern, "What's wrong?"
"Cordy
went awol after a sort-of fight she had with Willow.
Have you seen her lately? She's been acting kind of strange...not like herself at all."
Jenny Calendar frowned as she remembered seeing
her favorite student in the hall that morning. "You mean with the clothes
and all?"
"Yeah, and she seems to have temporary amnesia or
something. She sounded...uh...confused." Xander flushed
slightly. "Something about `not taking me
back.'"
"Taking you back? That doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah. She
was pretty upset. So you haven't seen her?"
"Not
recently."
Xander sighed and headed for the door. "I'll keep
looking. Thanks for your help."
"Tell me if you get any news on
what's bothering her, okay?"
"Will do."
* * *
Larry bumped into Xander just as he
stepped out of the computer lab. "Hey, man, I hear there's a huge food
fight goin' on in the caf. The guys tell me it's like a riot in there.
There's sauce all over the walls! And all over the girls," he said,
winking lewdly at Xander. "They might want some help cleaning up, you know
what I mean? You heading there or what?"
Xander shook his head.
"I'm looking for Cordelia Chase. Have you seen her?"
"The
computer chick? I think I saw her in the quad. Hey, she's lookin'
hot today." Larry looked towards the direction of the cafeteria and
slapped Xander in the back. "Listen, man, Lunch is almost over, and I
don't want to miss the action. I'll see ya later." Larry sprinted
off, narrowly missing a collision with Principal Snyder who shook his fist at
the beefy senior and yelled.
"I smell a detention coming on for you,
young man. No running in the halls!"
Xander snuck away before
Snyder could see him standing by. Once safely out of sight, he headed
towards the quad, wondering what was wrong with his best friend.
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Not much plot development in this one either. Stay tuned for the action. It's coming, I promise.