Chapter 3

Tara pulled her chair out and sat down across from Amy at their usual lunch table. "Hi," she said with a greeting smile for her friend.

"Hi, Tara," Amy replied. "How's your day going?"

Tara furrowed her brow in thought as she reached for her apple. "Mmm, it's been a little weird. Did, uh, have you seen Michael today? He wasn't in History this morning."

The dark haired witch shook her head. "I called his house during my study period, but I only got the machine. I'm kinda worried; it isn't like him to cut school. At least, not without letting me know about it."

"Maybe he just had a doctor's appointment or something, and forgot to tell us," Tara suggested hopefully. "Or it was a dentist appointment, and he mentally blocked it."

Amy sighed. "I hope you're right. Anyway, how was work last night? Was Mary there?" she asked with a suggestive grin.

The Wiccan shook her head. "It was her night off, and exactly why are you grinning at me like that?"

"Come on, Tara, she only has the biggest crush on you. Don't tell me you didn't notice that!"

"Me? Um … n-no," she said, her cheeks taking on a pink tint. "What would anyone see in me?"

Amy winked. "Why don't you ask her that? I'm sure she has an endless list of things to like about you." She nodded her head towards where Mary sat, and Tara followed her gaze.

To her surprise, the girl with the wavy chestnut brown hair had been looking in Tara's direction, and offered a smile and a wave. Tara waved back, then quickly turned back to Amy. "Wha – how – why didn't you tell me!?" she hissed urgently, having been completely clueless.

Amy raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Well, I find it kind of hard to believe that you had no idea. I mean, you see the girl here, at the GSA meetings, and at work. There had to have been indications that she wanted to spend more time with you somewhere. Not to mention, she was kind of obvious about it."

"Well, yeah, but I thought she was just being friendly!" Tara exclaimed. "I didn't know she-"

"Oh, here she comes," Amy interrupted.

Sure enough, Mary approached the little table by the window. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she smiled at the two witches. "Hey, um, mind if I sit with you?"

"No, not at all," Amy answered quickly, moving over to let her take the seat directly across from Tara.

Tara aimed a light kick at Amy under the table, but instead hit her shin on one of the support bars hidden beneath. "Ow!" she yelped, pulling her leg back toward her body and simultaneously shoving her chair backwards with her uninjured leg. She overbalanced, and her chair tipped backwards in slow motion, her blue eyes going wide as she felt herself falling. She landed with a crash, feeling bruises forming not only on her shin, but also on her lower back where the chair's back rammed into her and where she'd bumped her head on the floor.

The entire cafeteria turned toward the sound and saw a girl with a bright red face and long golden hair struggling to get up without having her skirt slip any farther upwards. The students burst into applause, making her turn even redder in the face. Another girl with dark wavy hair hurried over to the blonde's side to help her up, the third table-mate also rising to help.

"Oh, god, Tara, are you okay?" Mary asked with concern, extending her hands to help her up.

Amy knelt on her other side. "Come on, let's get you up."

"You're going to shoot me, right?" Tara asked, gingerly getting up with her friends' help. "'Cause that was really, really embarrassing." One hand went to the back of her head, the other to her shin.

Amy righted the chair and grabbed most of Tara's lunch, quickly wrapping it in napkins and putting it in her own brown paper bag. "We'll get you out of here. Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"I-I don't think so," she answered haltingly. "Just, let's go."

Mary reached out to steady the fair-haired female's smaller frame, and Tara allowed her co-worker to assist her. Together, the trio walked out to the courtyard, taking a seat on the nearest unoccupied bench. Mary hovered closely over Tara, trying to make sure she was all right. "I'm so sorry, this is all my fault."

"What makes you think that?" Tara inquired, lifting her skirt slightly to study the mark on her shin. "It was just me being clumsy. It happens from time to time."

"Whoa, Tara, what's that scar from?" Amy wondered.

Quickly, Tara dropped her skirt, hiding both the spreading purple bruise and the two-inch long scar on the side of her leg. "Um, um…" She fumbled for a scar story. "It, ah, I was climbing this tree a couple years ago, a-and I slipped. See, clumsy me."

Amy nodded and opened up the paper sack with their lunches in it. "Mary, want some food? I've got a PB&J and some Doritos," she offered. The short haired witch handed Tara her apple again.

"I'm okay, thanks. As long as you're all right, Tara?"

Tara blushed. "I'm fine, Mary, it's not your fault," she reiterated. "Don't worry about me."

The brown eyed girl nodded. "I'll try," she smiled. "I better, um, get going now. I'll see you tonight though. Bye, Amy, Tara."

~~

"I still can't believe I fell out of my chair, in front of everyone!" Tara squeaked. "Now they'll all laugh at me for the whole rest of the year!"

"Aww, that's not true," Willow said, placing a hand comfortingly on the fair-haired witch's forearm. "They'll forget about it as soon as the next person falls out of their chair."

Xander shook his head. "You know, some people still make comments about the time I fell off the risers in the fifth grade holiday concert dress rehearsal." Again, he belatedly noticed that Willow was giving him a look. "Bitter, bitter people, with grudges. I'm sure they'll forget all about it before the week's out, Tara."

Tara half-smiled at the Scoobies. "Thanks. You're the best."

"So we'll be back at 11 to walk you home, okay?" Buffy reminded the Wiccan. "Or, I will be, anyway. These two, I'm gonna try to convince to stay home. If there's too large a crowd, the creepies tend to avoid. Not that we want to attract creepies, we just want to make sure we can find something out."

"Right," Tara affirmed with a smile. "I'll see you then."