Disclaimer: Joss owns all, for now. He's a rat bastard who got me hooked
on show tunes, especially his. *glares* For now, he owns all characters,
and some dialog that takes place in the beginning. But I will prevail. Just
watch….
************
It's Monday again and it feels like it never ends.
Where did your life go?
Did you forget what it was like?
This week is way too slow, it'll never end.
"Friday Nite", Slick Shoes
************
2014, Los Angeles, CA
Dawn, if you don't hurry up, I'm leaving without you!" Connor pounded on the door of the fifteen-year-old girl.
The door jerked open, revealing a sleepy eyed Dawn. She glared at the 26-year-old man. "You wouldn't dare," she told him before she slammed the door in his face.
"I curse the day I decided to take a job at St Vincent's St. Mary's," he muttered to himself, and went back to his room, in order to make sure he had everything for the first day of school.
By the time Connor was walking downstairs, Dawn was munching on a piece of toast talking to her mother. "You ready?" Connor asked, not bothering to look up from his palm polite.
"You bet I am. Love ya Ma, Aiden and I will swing by sometime after school okay?" Dawn called as she followed Connor out into the California morning. "Shit it's cold," Dawn muttered under her breath.
Connor looked at her, and his jaw dropped when he saw what she was wearing. "You know, if you wore clothes, you'd be warmer," he remarked. She was wearing a short skirt, a tank top, and strappy heels. "And it's people like you that make them consider uniforms," he said as an afterthought.
She shrugged and put on a helmet, her bag at her side. "Just let me get on the bike, you get on, and drive. The sooner I can get into a building the better." With minimal difficulty she slid onto Connor's antique Harley that his father had gotten him for his 20th birthday.
Shrugging Connor got on the bike and they rode off.
As soon as they reached the school of St. Vincent's St. Mary, Dawn slipped down the north wing, where her locker stood. "And so starts another school year," she muttered to herself as the lock's dial was expertly spun.
"And another year of Sister Mary Francis glaring at me during Religious Ed," a voice said from behind her.
"Aiden!" Dawn turned and flung herself into her best friend's arms.
"Hey Dawn, so what's the plan for tonight?" Aiden asked after they had gotten over the hugging and so forth.
Dawn shrugged as she slid to the cheaply carpeted floor. "Not much. I told my mom that we'd swing by after school. But other than that, we're free. Why you have any ideas?" Dawn looked at her best friend, who just shrugged.
"Well I was thinking, you might want to you know…" Aiden stumbled over the words.
Dawn smiled softly, "It's okay. I know." Sitting in silence, they spent the next twenty minutes for the starting bell to ring. When that happened, the whole sophomore grade would pile into a classroom in order to get briefed by their grade advisor, who was some poor teacher who got elected to lead the 2017 class. The thirty or so other sophomores milled around, many catching up on went on over the summer.
St. Vincent's St. Mary was a small Catholic School that was a small paradise in the city of LA. Built around a large courtyard, the stone structure was two stories built in a square shape. The second floor had a covered walkway connecting two sides.
"Will grades 10-12 please report to their advisor's classroom. Freshmen report to the cafeteria. I repeat; will grades 10-12 please report to their advisor's classroom. Freshmen report to the cafeteria," the voice of Father Burton, the principal of the school, came over the loud speakers.
"And so another school year begins," Aidan said as he stood up, helping Dawn up.
She quirked a smile as she shook her head, trying to get her bangs out of her face. "Hopefully this year will be better than last," she told him.
Freshman year had not been fun, for either of them. Due to circumstances beyond her control, Dawn had been in and out of school for most of the year. Life hadn't been made any easier when she had convinced herself that her biology teacher had it in for her, and she started skipping classes. After about a month, she was found out and forced back into class. She had passed though, and she never wanted to see Sister Catherine again.
Aidan nodded somberly and they walked into room 115, Connor's (or rather Mr. Chase as he was known to the students) history room. Taking a seat in the back, Dawn waved to a girl in a pair of jeans and a nondescript tee shirt.
"Whose that?" Aidan asked. Neither he nor Dawn really tried to talk to many of their classmates, call them anti-social, but that's just how they were.
Dawn shrugged, "Elizabeth. She made sure I didn't flunk Bio. She's cool."
Aidan nodded and left it at that. They sat through Connor's speech about the new year and so forth, often writing notes back and forth. The speech was the same as last year, it outlined the rules and so forth, Dawn ended up leaning her head on Aidan's shoulder and dozed for a bit, not really caring what Connor had to say.
"Oi, wake up," Aidan poked her shoulder and Dawn yawned. "Here," Aidan shoved a piece of paper under Dawn's nose.
"What is this?" Dawn mumbled as she stood up, following him out of the classroom, but not before giving a wave in Connor's general direction.
"Your schedule. You're lucky we have first period together, math." Aidan grinned; he was good in math, and in science. Two plus two always equaled four and two hydrogen atoms plus an oxygen atom made one water molecule. Both science and math were concrete, facts were there, it was proven. Which wasn't the case in Religious Education, where Aidan was sure Sister Mary Francis was lying in wait for him.
Dawn groaned, but followed her friend anyway. It was the first day of school, no use in starting it off on the wrong foot, besides she had a free the next period, she could always pop into the cafeteria/snack bar and pick up some coffee or tea. Anything that had life giving caffeine.
The day passed agonizingly slowly, much to the distress of Dawn; she missed her summer time laziness. She almost fell asleep in Spanish and if it wasn't for Elizabeth sitting behind her, she would have had an earful from Sister Kristen, as if the woman didn't hate her enough already.
When the final bell rang, Dawn flounced down to the first floor, where Aidan lounged. "You had the last period off?" Dawn asked, amazed.
He nodded, silently.
"And you waited for me?"
Again he nodded, still silent. But he stood up as she shoved useless schoolbooks into her locker. Luckily none of her teachers were so anal retentive that they made her cover any textbooks they made her use.
"I gotta pop in and tell Connor that he doesn't have to wait for me," Dawn dashed down the hall, Aidan just stood there, watching his best friend try to run in her ridiculously tall heels.
"You ready?" Aidan asked as she walked back out, looking just a bit more serene.
Dawn smiled happily and nodded, "I can't stay till my curfew tonight though. Connor just reminded me that I have an audition today at four. So we'll go and hang out for about an hour. Where to?" she asked as they walked out into the sunshine.
Aidan shrugged, "I figured we'd hit up the music store, see if we can get any discounts on stuff," he told her. The local music store, just around the corner from St. Vincent's St. Mary, called Club 47, was a popular hang out for the duo.
Dawn shrugged as she chewed on her right pinkie, a horrid habit she had picked up from childhood. She didn't really care. As long as she never ruined her nails, she was fine. Dawn was always meticulous about her nails, they always had to be manicured and usually colored.
Four o'clock rolled around and Dawn found herself in the company of her Aunt Cordelia and worried, "What if I totally mess up the screen test and decide I am terrible and blacklist me?" she said, slight terror in her voice.
Cordelia laughed, since she wasn't really looking for acting jobs anymore and she had very good people skills after working with Angel Investigations for so long, she had become Dawn's unofficial manager and agent. Hugging the younger girl by the shoulders, she tried to reassure her. "You're talented, and you have an excellent memory, and if they don't want you, you don't need them."
Dawn beamed and sighed, she was still nervous.
The next day started like the one before it, Connor banged on her door and Dawn rushed, they rode to school on Connor's motorcycle and the morning was spent hanging out with Aidan until the first bell rang and then they went to classes. In fact this was how the whole week was spent. The afternoons were spent hanging out together, either at Club 47, Aidan's house or just at the Starbucks across the street, it didn't matter.
Friday was finally here and Dawn practically ran down the stairs and to her locker. Aidan was already there, but stayed wisely silent as she slammed the locker door. She then started to hurry to Connor's classroom, her bag bumping against her hip.
Seeing that his best friend was upset, Aidan hurried after her. Dawn was always there for him, so why should he be there for her? He got there just as Dawn threw a US History Textbook against the wall, making a satisfying thunk as it hit.
"I hate her, I fucking hate her!" Dawn screamed, seething.
Connor seemed unaffected, "You hate who?" he asked, his eyebrow raised as he sat down to grade some essays.
Dawns eyes were narrowed in hate, "Sister Mary Francis and Kelly Prescott. We were talking about sins and such in class and I swear to god that Sister was looking at me when she was talking about it. And then Kelly has the nerve to bring everything up, the little bitch."
Aidan smirked slightly, "Aww, come on Dawn, you know Kelly spouts off more crap than Sister Mary Francis does, and in a less amount of time too. Don't let her get to you."
Dawn sighed and nodded, "Your right. I'm just stressed. My father is coming today and I really don't feel like being with him. And then everything. I'm going to wander a bit, I'll be back in an hour," she headed toward the door, where Aidan stood.
"Want me to come with?" he asked simply.
She shook her head and took his hand in hers, squeezing it. "No, this is something I gotta do myself." Giving her best friend a tight smile, she left the room and went outside, heading to the church or more like the graveyard.
Wandering the manicured walkways, Dawn trained her eyes forward. She really didn't see anything I front of her, but her feet knew the way, so she did not trip or fall on anything. As her feet carried her, she continued to cry blindly. Finally she stopped at a grave that sat under a weeping willow tree. Dropping down to her knees, Dawn's fingers traced over the words.
Wesley Lawrence Wyndham-Price
1978-2013
A devoted friend and father,
who gave his life to save another
Fat tears rolled down her face as she traced over the last line. "I'm so sorry daddy," she whispered to herself, hopeful that her father could hear him, wherever he was.
The day that he had died still haunted her dreams. It was her fault that he had met his untimely death at the hands of a vampire. If she hadn't begged to go with her parents on patrol, her mother wouldn't have given in, and she wouldn't have consequently been a magnet for all the lovely bloodsuckers. Her father had pushed her out of the way in the last minute, and the vampire, in a rage snapped the man's neck. By that time Dawn had gotten a stake and had dusted it.
Still crying, she leaned forward, her head resting on the gravestone. As soon as her tears dripped off her face and on to the marble stone, the air started to tingle slightly. But it wasn't enough for the distraught girl to notice anything strange. She cried more, and the tears dripped quicker onto the stone, and started to make a small puddle on the smooth stone. The air tingled more with raw power; suddenly Dawn fell back, her energy drained. As she fell backwards, her head hit a rock, plunging her into unconsciousness.
And nobody was there to see the air shimmer as if somebody stood there. The shimmer than began to move, slowly leaving the grave and Dawn, eventually leaving the bounds of the graveyard and to the streets of LA.
************
Tell me nothing ever counts
Lashing out or breaking down
Still somebody loses 'case
There's no way to turn around
"Show Me Love", t.A.T.u
************
Author's Note: The third chapter, and the plot's already coming about! Yayness for me! *grin* And Wesley is not the thingy we all saw, cause Wes is a good guy, so he can't be the big bad. And I can promise you that Jen will flounce me enough for killing of Wesley. Sorry but the bloody plot bunnies got to me, and the Eve (my muse) sided with them. So therefore this fic is slightly cut short cause I had to.
Thank you to my reviewers: Ivorycat, gigetgirl, and zelda.
gigetgirl: I know the last chapter was somewhat rushed, it was because I just wanted to get to the main part of the fic, which is this.
Hints for future chapters:
1. There are subplots.
2. I took inspiration from a good friend of mine.
3. I have a good background in the supernatural, especially as what Willow dressed up as in a previous season.
************
It's Monday again and it feels like it never ends.
Where did your life go?
Did you forget what it was like?
This week is way too slow, it'll never end.
"Friday Nite", Slick Shoes
************
2014, Los Angeles, CA
Dawn, if you don't hurry up, I'm leaving without you!" Connor pounded on the door of the fifteen-year-old girl.
The door jerked open, revealing a sleepy eyed Dawn. She glared at the 26-year-old man. "You wouldn't dare," she told him before she slammed the door in his face.
"I curse the day I decided to take a job at St Vincent's St. Mary's," he muttered to himself, and went back to his room, in order to make sure he had everything for the first day of school.
By the time Connor was walking downstairs, Dawn was munching on a piece of toast talking to her mother. "You ready?" Connor asked, not bothering to look up from his palm polite.
"You bet I am. Love ya Ma, Aiden and I will swing by sometime after school okay?" Dawn called as she followed Connor out into the California morning. "Shit it's cold," Dawn muttered under her breath.
Connor looked at her, and his jaw dropped when he saw what she was wearing. "You know, if you wore clothes, you'd be warmer," he remarked. She was wearing a short skirt, a tank top, and strappy heels. "And it's people like you that make them consider uniforms," he said as an afterthought.
She shrugged and put on a helmet, her bag at her side. "Just let me get on the bike, you get on, and drive. The sooner I can get into a building the better." With minimal difficulty she slid onto Connor's antique Harley that his father had gotten him for his 20th birthday.
Shrugging Connor got on the bike and they rode off.
As soon as they reached the school of St. Vincent's St. Mary, Dawn slipped down the north wing, where her locker stood. "And so starts another school year," she muttered to herself as the lock's dial was expertly spun.
"And another year of Sister Mary Francis glaring at me during Religious Ed," a voice said from behind her.
"Aiden!" Dawn turned and flung herself into her best friend's arms.
"Hey Dawn, so what's the plan for tonight?" Aiden asked after they had gotten over the hugging and so forth.
Dawn shrugged as she slid to the cheaply carpeted floor. "Not much. I told my mom that we'd swing by after school. But other than that, we're free. Why you have any ideas?" Dawn looked at her best friend, who just shrugged.
"Well I was thinking, you might want to you know…" Aiden stumbled over the words.
Dawn smiled softly, "It's okay. I know." Sitting in silence, they spent the next twenty minutes for the starting bell to ring. When that happened, the whole sophomore grade would pile into a classroom in order to get briefed by their grade advisor, who was some poor teacher who got elected to lead the 2017 class. The thirty or so other sophomores milled around, many catching up on went on over the summer.
St. Vincent's St. Mary was a small Catholic School that was a small paradise in the city of LA. Built around a large courtyard, the stone structure was two stories built in a square shape. The second floor had a covered walkway connecting two sides.
"Will grades 10-12 please report to their advisor's classroom. Freshmen report to the cafeteria. I repeat; will grades 10-12 please report to their advisor's classroom. Freshmen report to the cafeteria," the voice of Father Burton, the principal of the school, came over the loud speakers.
"And so another school year begins," Aidan said as he stood up, helping Dawn up.
She quirked a smile as she shook her head, trying to get her bangs out of her face. "Hopefully this year will be better than last," she told him.
Freshman year had not been fun, for either of them. Due to circumstances beyond her control, Dawn had been in and out of school for most of the year. Life hadn't been made any easier when she had convinced herself that her biology teacher had it in for her, and she started skipping classes. After about a month, she was found out and forced back into class. She had passed though, and she never wanted to see Sister Catherine again.
Aidan nodded somberly and they walked into room 115, Connor's (or rather Mr. Chase as he was known to the students) history room. Taking a seat in the back, Dawn waved to a girl in a pair of jeans and a nondescript tee shirt.
"Whose that?" Aidan asked. Neither he nor Dawn really tried to talk to many of their classmates, call them anti-social, but that's just how they were.
Dawn shrugged, "Elizabeth. She made sure I didn't flunk Bio. She's cool."
Aidan nodded and left it at that. They sat through Connor's speech about the new year and so forth, often writing notes back and forth. The speech was the same as last year, it outlined the rules and so forth, Dawn ended up leaning her head on Aidan's shoulder and dozed for a bit, not really caring what Connor had to say.
"Oi, wake up," Aidan poked her shoulder and Dawn yawned. "Here," Aidan shoved a piece of paper under Dawn's nose.
"What is this?" Dawn mumbled as she stood up, following him out of the classroom, but not before giving a wave in Connor's general direction.
"Your schedule. You're lucky we have first period together, math." Aidan grinned; he was good in math, and in science. Two plus two always equaled four and two hydrogen atoms plus an oxygen atom made one water molecule. Both science and math were concrete, facts were there, it was proven. Which wasn't the case in Religious Education, where Aidan was sure Sister Mary Francis was lying in wait for him.
Dawn groaned, but followed her friend anyway. It was the first day of school, no use in starting it off on the wrong foot, besides she had a free the next period, she could always pop into the cafeteria/snack bar and pick up some coffee or tea. Anything that had life giving caffeine.
The day passed agonizingly slowly, much to the distress of Dawn; she missed her summer time laziness. She almost fell asleep in Spanish and if it wasn't for Elizabeth sitting behind her, she would have had an earful from Sister Kristen, as if the woman didn't hate her enough already.
When the final bell rang, Dawn flounced down to the first floor, where Aidan lounged. "You had the last period off?" Dawn asked, amazed.
He nodded, silently.
"And you waited for me?"
Again he nodded, still silent. But he stood up as she shoved useless schoolbooks into her locker. Luckily none of her teachers were so anal retentive that they made her cover any textbooks they made her use.
"I gotta pop in and tell Connor that he doesn't have to wait for me," Dawn dashed down the hall, Aidan just stood there, watching his best friend try to run in her ridiculously tall heels.
"You ready?" Aidan asked as she walked back out, looking just a bit more serene.
Dawn smiled happily and nodded, "I can't stay till my curfew tonight though. Connor just reminded me that I have an audition today at four. So we'll go and hang out for about an hour. Where to?" she asked as they walked out into the sunshine.
Aidan shrugged, "I figured we'd hit up the music store, see if we can get any discounts on stuff," he told her. The local music store, just around the corner from St. Vincent's St. Mary, called Club 47, was a popular hang out for the duo.
Dawn shrugged as she chewed on her right pinkie, a horrid habit she had picked up from childhood. She didn't really care. As long as she never ruined her nails, she was fine. Dawn was always meticulous about her nails, they always had to be manicured and usually colored.
Four o'clock rolled around and Dawn found herself in the company of her Aunt Cordelia and worried, "What if I totally mess up the screen test and decide I am terrible and blacklist me?" she said, slight terror in her voice.
Cordelia laughed, since she wasn't really looking for acting jobs anymore and she had very good people skills after working with Angel Investigations for so long, she had become Dawn's unofficial manager and agent. Hugging the younger girl by the shoulders, she tried to reassure her. "You're talented, and you have an excellent memory, and if they don't want you, you don't need them."
Dawn beamed and sighed, she was still nervous.
The next day started like the one before it, Connor banged on her door and Dawn rushed, they rode to school on Connor's motorcycle and the morning was spent hanging out with Aidan until the first bell rang and then they went to classes. In fact this was how the whole week was spent. The afternoons were spent hanging out together, either at Club 47, Aidan's house or just at the Starbucks across the street, it didn't matter.
Friday was finally here and Dawn practically ran down the stairs and to her locker. Aidan was already there, but stayed wisely silent as she slammed the locker door. She then started to hurry to Connor's classroom, her bag bumping against her hip.
Seeing that his best friend was upset, Aidan hurried after her. Dawn was always there for him, so why should he be there for her? He got there just as Dawn threw a US History Textbook against the wall, making a satisfying thunk as it hit.
"I hate her, I fucking hate her!" Dawn screamed, seething.
Connor seemed unaffected, "You hate who?" he asked, his eyebrow raised as he sat down to grade some essays.
Dawns eyes were narrowed in hate, "Sister Mary Francis and Kelly Prescott. We were talking about sins and such in class and I swear to god that Sister was looking at me when she was talking about it. And then Kelly has the nerve to bring everything up, the little bitch."
Aidan smirked slightly, "Aww, come on Dawn, you know Kelly spouts off more crap than Sister Mary Francis does, and in a less amount of time too. Don't let her get to you."
Dawn sighed and nodded, "Your right. I'm just stressed. My father is coming today and I really don't feel like being with him. And then everything. I'm going to wander a bit, I'll be back in an hour," she headed toward the door, where Aidan stood.
"Want me to come with?" he asked simply.
She shook her head and took his hand in hers, squeezing it. "No, this is something I gotta do myself." Giving her best friend a tight smile, she left the room and went outside, heading to the church or more like the graveyard.
Wandering the manicured walkways, Dawn trained her eyes forward. She really didn't see anything I front of her, but her feet knew the way, so she did not trip or fall on anything. As her feet carried her, she continued to cry blindly. Finally she stopped at a grave that sat under a weeping willow tree. Dropping down to her knees, Dawn's fingers traced over the words.
Wesley Lawrence Wyndham-Price
1978-2013
A devoted friend and father,
who gave his life to save another
Fat tears rolled down her face as she traced over the last line. "I'm so sorry daddy," she whispered to herself, hopeful that her father could hear him, wherever he was.
The day that he had died still haunted her dreams. It was her fault that he had met his untimely death at the hands of a vampire. If she hadn't begged to go with her parents on patrol, her mother wouldn't have given in, and she wouldn't have consequently been a magnet for all the lovely bloodsuckers. Her father had pushed her out of the way in the last minute, and the vampire, in a rage snapped the man's neck. By that time Dawn had gotten a stake and had dusted it.
Still crying, she leaned forward, her head resting on the gravestone. As soon as her tears dripped off her face and on to the marble stone, the air started to tingle slightly. But it wasn't enough for the distraught girl to notice anything strange. She cried more, and the tears dripped quicker onto the stone, and started to make a small puddle on the smooth stone. The air tingled more with raw power; suddenly Dawn fell back, her energy drained. As she fell backwards, her head hit a rock, plunging her into unconsciousness.
And nobody was there to see the air shimmer as if somebody stood there. The shimmer than began to move, slowly leaving the grave and Dawn, eventually leaving the bounds of the graveyard and to the streets of LA.
************
Tell me nothing ever counts
Lashing out or breaking down
Still somebody loses 'case
There's no way to turn around
"Show Me Love", t.A.T.u
************
Author's Note: The third chapter, and the plot's already coming about! Yayness for me! *grin* And Wesley is not the thingy we all saw, cause Wes is a good guy, so he can't be the big bad. And I can promise you that Jen will flounce me enough for killing of Wesley. Sorry but the bloody plot bunnies got to me, and the Eve (my muse) sided with them. So therefore this fic is slightly cut short cause I had to.
Thank you to my reviewers: Ivorycat, gigetgirl, and zelda.
gigetgirl: I know the last chapter was somewhat rushed, it was because I just wanted to get to the main part of the fic, which is this.
Hints for future chapters:
1. There are subplots.
2. I took inspiration from a good friend of mine.
3. I have a good background in the supernatural, especially as what Willow dressed up as in a previous season.