The band at the Bronze finished the last song of the set and left the stage, chatter replacing the music in the club.

"You know," Buffy said to Willow as she sipped her soda. "I'm glad we did this."

"Me too," Willow told her. "It's nice to do something normal for once."

"I can't believe the band's finished," Xander said as he placed three more drinks on the table from the bar. "I was just about to put my dancing shoes on."

"Thank heavens for small mercies," Buffy said jokingly.

"Ha, ha," he told her. He saw Mitch Holden sat with the freshman he had seen him with a few days earlier and shook his head, looking at his friends. "Look at that," he told them. "I told you guys he was cheating on her."

"They're just talking," Willow said.

Xander kept his eyes on them as Mitch leaned in to kiss the girl, and saw Amanda entering the club with Cordelia and Harmony in tow. "Oh, this should be fun…" he said to himself.

The girl motioned to Mitch to look behind him and he did, his eyes meeting Amanda's furious ones. The younger girl disappeared quickly as Mitch stood up, approaching Amanda.

Amanda turned and stormed back out of the club, only to have Mitch catch her arm as she reached the outside. "Get off me!" she yelled at him, pulling away from him.

"What?" he asked innocently. "She was upset. I was comforting her."

"Yeah, I'll bet," she spat at him. "I'm sick of this, Mitch."

"Sick of what?" he asked with a small laugh. "How can you be insecure and so beautiful at the same time?"

"Mitch, I only came to this school because of you. I was perfectly happy at Kent Preparatory, but no, you wanted me 'close by'. Two years!" she yelled at him. "We have been together for two years, and in all that time, that's all I've heard from you. 'Come to Sunnydale High. It'll be so much better'. After everything I did to convince my parents to let me move schools, now I'm here and you do this to me?"

"Do what, Amanda? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, if you were more of a man then maybe you'd be able to handle two girls, but you're not. This – us – it's over."

"But Amanda-"

"Hey," Xander said, interrupting. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes!" Mitch snapped at him. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"Amanda?" Xander asked.

"We're fine," she told him. "I was just leaving."

Mitch rolled his eyes as she turned and headed away from the club. "Stupid bitch…" he mumbled under his breath as he pushed past Xander and went back inside of the club.

Xander watched Amanda disappear around the corner and went after her, his pace quickening as he realised she was walking down an alley, alone, at night, in Sunnydale. "Hey!" he called as he saw her in the distance. "Amanda!"

She turned, confused, smiling at him. "Uh…hi," she said, unsure. "It's Xander, right?"

"Yeah, it is," he told her. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You know, a lot of bad stuff happens at night in this town."

"So I've heard," she told him. "I heard stories at my old school."

"Well, I, um…I also wanted to see if maybe…maybe you wanted to go out sometime. With me. But if it's not the right time or you think it'll be too awkward or you don't like-" he was stopped when the vampire jumped on his back from the fence around the alley which Xander had his back to. Xander managed to pull the cross out of his jacket pocket and held it to the vampire's hand. They both stumbled back into the yard of the Bronze, the empty kegs and crates making a loud clanging sound as he and the vampire thrashed around.

"Is everything okay?" Amanda called as she stood back.

"Fine!" Xander called back as he tried to avoid the punches and kicks being thrown by the vampire. He fished around in his pants pocket and found the small vial of holy water which Buffy had made him carry at all times and smashed it into the creature's face. He breathed a sigh of relief as the vampire ran away with his hands over his face, cries of pain coming from him, but only after a blow to his stomach which made Xander double up in pain and sink to the floor.

Amanda appeared and helped Xander to his feet. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he told her, running his hands through his hair. "What about you, are you hurt?"

"Just a little shocked.

"Good. Where were we?"

"You were asking me out on a date," she informed him.

"Oh, right," he said. "You mean I was embarrassing myself."

"And I was about to say yes."

"That's okay, you don't have to…did you just say yes?"

"Yeah," she told him. "I mean, it's not everyday a guy saves your life."

"Wait until you've been at Sunnydale High a little longer. It becomes an everyday occurrence."

Amanda laughed. "You know, suddenly I don't feel much like going home any more."

"Well, how about I just accompany you back inside?"

"That would be nice."

"So, she just left?" Cordelia asked Mitch inside of the Bronze.

"Yep," Mitch told her and Harmony. "I mean, I know she's mad and all, but-"

"Oh, look, she's back," Cordelia pointed out as she saw Amanda re-enter, Xander close behind. She watched them say something to each other and looked stunned as Amanda approached them. "What were you doing with that loser?" she asked, almost outraged. "Hanging with him is going to give you nothing but very rapid downward mobility."

"He just wanted to ask me something," Amanda told them.

"Which was?" Cordelia demanded.

"He wanted to ask me out on a date."

"And what did you say?"

Amanda looked at Mitch pointedly. "I said yes."

Cordelia was speechless as the new girl headed to the bar and ordered a drink.

"She's just mad," Harmony told Mitch awkwardly, seeing his stunned expression. "I'm sure she'll come to her senses.

Buffy moved down the lunch queue, pushing her tray as her mind thought of all the possible alternatives of where she could be that would be better than school. She smiled absently, hardly even realising it, as her thoughts turned to a particular souled vampire. She handed her tray to the lunch lady, indicating to the fries on offer, and took a carton of milk from the steel food dispenser.

"…You just know it's a joke," Cordelia said to Harmony and another girl as they took the table next to the lunch queue. "I mean, come on, Amanda is only doing it to get back at Mitch. But, I can think of plenty better people to use then the Loser of the Year, Xander Harris. That's just desperate. I'm telling you, before the week is out, Xander Harris is going to get what he deserves."

Buffy suddenly stopped in her tracks, right in the middle of the lunch queue, hearing everything Cordelia had said. She anxiously waited for more information, but when the topic turned to the latest colour in nail polishes, she abruptly left her tray and bolted.

"Good," Buffy said loudly as she hit the library doors and saw Willow and Giles at the wooden table, their noses immersed in books. "You're here."

"Well, yes, Buffy," Giles said. "This is my job."

"Not you," Buffy said. "Willow."

"What's up?" Willow asked curiously. "I thought we were meeting in the cafeteria for lunch."

"Yeah, change of plans," Buffy told her. "Listen, I just heard Cordelia talking in the library-"

"If you'll excuse me," Giles said as he left the table. "I have the distinct impression that this conversation somehow isn't going to turn into a debate on the latest demons terrorising Sunnydale."

Buffy waited for him to take refuge in his office and sat down beside Willow. "Where's Xander?"

"Oh, we both have the next two periods free so he went home to grab a change of clothes. He's working at the gas station later."

"Good."

"What was that about Cordelia?"

"I heard her and a couple of her friends talking, and she was going on about this whole thing with Xander and Amanda. Cordelia said she thinks it's all a joke. That it's Amanda's way of using Xander to get back at Mitch."

Willow's eyes lit up. "That's gre…terrible," she said. "Absolutely terrible."

"It's okay," Buffy told her. "I know you weren't exactly happy when we found out about their date."

"Yeah, but if it a joke then we have to tell Xander. I don't want him to be hurt when he finds out all of this is some big joke on him. He really likes her."

"I know," Buffy said. "But we do have to tell him. How do you think he'll take it?"

"No. Way." Xander said determinedly as he finished filling up an SUV with gas, and took the credit card from the driver.

"Xander, it's true," Buffy told him. "I heard Cordelia saying it today."

Xander ran the plastic card through the machine at the counter inside the gas station and waited for the receipt to print. "Oh, well, if Cordelia said it, then it must be true."

"Will you just listen?" Willow asked. "Amanda's only going out with you to make Mitch jealous."

"She wouldn't do that," Xander said as he took the credit card back out to the car and handed it back to the driver with the receipt with a smile, with Willow and Buffy following close behind.

"How do you know what she would or wouldn't do?" Buffy asked him. "It's not like-"

"Look, I get it," he snapped at them. "But me going out with Amanda isn't going to affect my friendship with you guys."

"Wait, wait, wait," Buffy said. "You think this is about us being jealous?"

"Well, isn't it?"

"No, it's not."

"We just don't want you to build your hopes up," Willow told him. "Just to have them dashed. We don't you to get hurt."

"At this point, the only thing that's hurting me is your attitudes in this," he told them. "I thought I'd be able to count on you both for support. It looks like I was wrong."

Buffy looked at Willow, giving up. "We're sorry," she told him. "You can count on us."

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "Whatever you need, we're here."

Willow slumped onto Buffy's bed and lay lifeless for a moment, her hands covering her face as she let out a sigh of frustration. "He doesn't believe us," she told Buffy.

"I know," Buffy replied. "Why can't he just see what's right in front of his face?"

"He just doesn't want to believe that this whole thing with Amanda isn't for real."

"I wasn't talking about that," Buffy said as she sat next to Willow. "I was talking about you."

"What?" Willow asked, propping herself up on her elbows and looking at Buffy with obvious confusion.

"Well, if Xander could just see what he's missing with you, maybe he'll finally realise what he's been looking for is right in front of him."

"I sense a plan," Willow said as she looked at her suspiciously. "Somehow, I don't think I'm going to like what you're about to suggest."

"Jealousy," Buffy said simply. "We'll make him all jealous."

"Oh, no…"

"Yeah," Buffy said enthusiastically. "It never fails."

"Buffy…"

"It worked with Angel. You saw how he reacted when I danced with Xander that time."

"There is no way I'm going to press myself against some poor guy just to make an idiot of myself." She looked at Buffy, cringing. "No offence."

"None taken," Buffy told her. "Besides, we don't have to be as direct as that. I have an idea."

"Oh, no…"

"This is gonna be fun!"

Xander walked into the cafeteria and grinned when he saw Willow's red hair glinting in the sun against the window she was sitting next to. He could see sipping her juice box through a straw and knew her mind was working overtime, probably on one of her assignments. "Hey!" he said cheerily as he bounded over to the table, sitting in the empty chair next to her.

"Oh, hey," she said, putting her drink down.

"So, I was thinking…" he stopped when he realised there was a male figure stood behind him, and he turned to look at him. "Uh, Jonathon, is there something we can do for you?"

"Uh, well…" the boy began nervously.

"You're in his seat," Willow told Xander.

Xander looked at her with a confused glare, noticing that there was a backpack on the opposite chair, and knew it belonged to Jonathon. "Oh." He said as he stood up. "I, um…I didn't realise."

"That's okay," Willow said as she smiled at Jonathon and motioned for him to take his seat back.

"Well," Xander said awkwardly, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I'll leave you guys to it."

"Okay, thanks."

"Yeah, see you." Xander backed away from the table, his eyes still fixated on his best friend and her new companion, and felt a strange churning in his stomach and sinking feeling in his chest. Before he had time to think, he quickly turned, knocking into someone in the process. "Oh, sorry," he said quickly.

"It's okay," Amanda said with a smile. "You seemed like you were kinda in a hurry."

"No, not really," he told her, trying to loosen up, and with a quick glance at Willow and Jonathon at their table. When he looked back at her, something caught his eye. There was a silver locket hanging at her neck, oval in shape, shining at him in the sun. "Oh, hey, that's a pretty necklace."

"Thanks," she said, looking at it. "It's my sister's."

"I'm glad I ran into you," he told her. "You know how we were talking about going out sometime?" he waited for her nod so he could continue. "How's Saturday night?"

"Um…Saturday's good," she told him.

"Great," Xander said. "Uh, I have to go right now, but we'll arrange the details soon."

"Okay, that sounds good. I'll see you around?"

"Yeah," he said distractedly. "Bye."

"Thanks for everything," Willow told Jonathon as she finished her lunch. "I hope you didn't feel too pressurised into having lunch with me."

"Oh, no," Jonathon said enthusiastically. "I mean, Buffy did give me five dollars – but I would have done it for free."

"That's sweet," Willow said as she stood up.

"Listen, I know that this whole thing was part of some prank on Xander or something, but I was wondering-"

"Hey!" Buffy said brightly as she rushed over to the table. "How did it go?"

"Oh, fine," Willow told her. "Although, I don't think Xander was jealous. I mean, why would he be?"

"Xander's an idiot," Jonathon said out of blue, surprising both girls. "I mean…I didn't mean to interrupt or listen in, but I think Xander's an idiot for not noticing you."

"Uh…thanks…" Willow said awkwardly. "I've gotta go."

"Wait up, Will!" Buffy called after her as he rushed out of the cafeteria. "That was really nice, Jonathon," Buffy told him. "Thanks for everything."