.

"Amanda!" Xander called as he saw her heading across the school campus to where Cordelia and Harmony were chatting, and ran to catch up with her.

"Oh, hey," Amanda said politely as she turned to face him.

"I was just wondering what time you wanted me to pick you up for our date on Saturday night."

"Well…" she said, glancing at Cordelia and Harmony.

"It's a simple enough question," he snapped at her. "But if you wanna check with your friends first, let me know."

"No," she said quickly, surprised at his sudden change in demeanour. "Just pick me up whatever time you like."

"Okay, how about seven thirty?"

"Well…"

"If that's a problem, give me a call."

Amanda watched, speechless, as he left as abruptly as he had appeared. She shrugged to herself as she dismissed it and headed over to her friends. "Hey," she said brightly.

"So, you're actually going through with it?" Cordelia asked, her tone curt.

"What?" Amanda asked. "You mean the date?"

"No, I meant the plastic surgery," Cordelia spat. "Of course I meant the date!"

"Yeah," Amanda told them, confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Uh, maybe because Xander Harris is a loser."

"He's not a loser," Amanda told them. "He's a really nice guy."

"You haven't known him as long as we have," Harmony pointed out. "Trust us on this."

"Look, maybe this guy doesn't measure up to your standards, but I'll go out with whoever I like."

"Hey," Cordelia said, her tone warning. "Whatever is with the attitude, drop it. We are just two concerned friends who care about the reputation you're likely to get by going out with someone below you. Even if it is just to make an old boyfriend jealous. I mean, Mitch is a hottie, and I can see why you'd be angry at him for what he did, but-"

"Who are you, the Queen of Sunnydale?" Amanda asked. "Xander's a nice guy. That's the only reason I'm going out with him. I couldn't care less about Mitch or what he thinks. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Cordelia turned to Harmony with pursed lips as Amanda stormed away. "It'll all end in tears, mark my words."

Buffy, Willow and Xander walked out of the Sunnydale Bank and headed for the Espresso Pump coffee house across the street.

"So," Buffy said, "how does it feel to have all that money burning a hole in your pocket?"

"Pretty scary," Xander told her. "Every cent I ever earned in the past two years – which wasn't really much until I was gainfully employed at the gas station – is just hanging around in my pants pocket, calling 'spend me, Xander. Go on, buy that limited first edition Superman comic that you've had your eye on'."

"Do you smell toast?" Buffy asked him. "Cos I think you're having a stroke."

"Yeah," Willow said with a grin. "I wouldn't tell Amanda that you've been hearing voices."

"I'm not planning to," Xander said as they reached the coffee shop, sitting at a free table.

"So, what were you saving up for anyway?" Buffy asked as Willow ordered their drinks at the counter.

"Oh, I was trying to get enough money together to buy a car, maybe go to college."

"College?"

"Yeah," Xander told her. "But on second thoughts, I don't think I could handle four more years of rules and authority figures. I don't think I could deal. So, I don't know, maybe a little travelling."

"You don't have to do this, you know," Willow told him as she sat at the table.

"Yeah, I do," he told her. "It's something that I just feel like I have to do. I was looking forward to spending that money, though."

"What's your dad gonna say when he finds out?" Buffy asked.

Willow looked at Xander. "You won't be able to measure how angry he's going to be with existing technology," she told Buffy.

"Yep," Xander agreed. "He's going to be pissed alright. I think he was looking forward to me using that money to get out of the house."

"Do you want me to tell you again how much of a bad idea this is?" Buffy asked him, concerned.

Xander smiled and shook his head. "I think I already got that part."

"Okay, so this is what my future looks like," Xander said as he looked into the antique jewellery store window, seeing the lockets and pendants on show. "So, which one?" he asked the girls.

"I don't know," Buffy said with a shrug. "You're the one taking her out. You should decide."

"But I'm a guy," he stressed. "That means that when it comes to clothes, shoes and jewellery, I know not a lot."

"I'm sure whatever you choose will be fine," she told him with a reassuring pat on the arm. She watched as he pointed out one in the corner. "But not that one."

"Well, what about…?"

"Or that one."

"That one," Willow said suddenly, her eyes drawn to one in the centre. It was a delicate silver chain with a pretty oval locket hanging from it, an intricate detail engraved onto it. "That's the one."

"Wow," Buffy said, quietly impressed. "You have quite the eye for detail."

"Are you sure?" Xander asked nervously.

"Oh, yeah," Buffy told him. "That's the classic choice."

"It's perfect," Willow said. "Any girl who gets that would have to be pretty special."

"Yeah," Xander agreed half-heartedly as he watched her, something feeling not quite right, but unable to put his finger on what it was. "She would."

"Okay," Willow said as he ran a pencil through the last item on her checklist. "All the arrangements have been made." She told Xander, who was finishing up filling a customers car on the gas station forecourt. "You're all set for tonight."

"Cool," Xander told her as he took the cash from the driver of the car, and waved them off.

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"A little," he said with a shrug as he headed back into the workshop with her. "I mean, it's not every night you get to take out one of the best-looking girls in school. Even if it for some kind of joke."

"You know you're going to have to make this look like a real date, right?" she asked. "I mean, you can't let her realise too early that you know it's a set-up."

"I know that," he told her, wiping his oily hands on his already-dirty overall.

"So, what are you going to say?"

"Whatever comes to mind."

"Okay, but don't you think you should plan it out a little?"

"No," he told her. "I want it to be spontaneous, you know, natural."

"Amanda Jones isn't some minor leaguer who's going to be swept off her feet with the usual Xander Harris charm."

"I think I can handle it."

"We need some kind of a plan."

"Well, yeah," he said. "Isn't that what we've been going through for most of the afternoon?"

"Yeah, that's the practical side of it," she told him. "I'm talking about, you know, what if she wants you to kiss her?"

"Then I guess I'm just going to have to kiss her," he said with a cheeky wink.

"And what about dancing!" she exclaimed loudly. "What if she wants you to slow dance with her?"

"Willow, stop panicking," he said casually. "Anyone would have thought that it was you going on this date. There's not something you wanna tell me is there?"

"Ha, ha," she said with a mock-annoyed face. "I'm just saying that you can't dance." He looked at her, a false expression of hurt. "I mean, you can dance," she corrected quickly, "I think your Snoopy dance should have won awards. But we're talking slow dancing. You know, the romantic kind."

"Well, I can do that," he told her. "I mean, when Miss French-"

"Giant Preying Mantis who wanted to eat your head," Willow told him. "She didn't want to dance with you, Xander. She wanted you to mate with her. To fertilise her demon spawn."

"Then there was Buffy-"

"She danced around you, Xander," she told him. "You just kinda stood there looking awkward."

"Yeah, tell me again why I did that," he shook his head. "There was Ampata-"

"Life-sucking mummy," she pointed out.

"Okay, I give," he said, his hands up in a defence position. "I don't have a whole heap of luck with women, but I think I can handle a little dance."

"Fine," she told him, closing her notebook and putting it in her bag. "I was just gonna help you work on it, but if you say you can handle it-"

Xander watched her, worry and doubt beginning to etch on his face. "What, you don't think I can?" he asked.

"If you say you can then you probably can."

"Well, how do you work on it?"

"I thought you said you were okay?"

"Well now you've got me worried," he said frustrated. "Will, come on, I need help. This whole self-doubt thing is your fault. Help me?"

"Okay," she said, turning the up the volume of the radio that had been playing quietly in the background and smiled as a slow ballad came on. "Pretend I'm a girl."

Xander felt an amused noise escape him.

"Pretend I'm her," Willow said with a smile as she rolled her eyes. "Amanda." She took a breath as she tried to summon all the courage she had from the pit of her stomach. "I know it's a big stretch but try it."

"Okay, fine," he conceded as he put down the rag he hadn't even realised he had picked up on the car that was waiting to be serviced. He slowly walked over to where she was standing, waiting for him in the middle of the empty workshop, wiping his suddenly-sweaty palms on his overalls, stopping when he was only inches away from her.

"Okay," she said nervously. "Where do your hands go?"

"Depends," he told her.

"No, it doesn't depend," she told him. "They go on her hips." She took his hands in hers and placed them on her hips, closing her eyes momentarily against the feel of his hands on her.

Xander felt the nervous laugh escape him before he knew it, and looked down at the floor.

Willow moved his hands. "Hey, I don't have to do this, you know," she warned.

"Sorry," he said quickly and sincerely, trying to stretch his facial muscles and placing his hands back on her hips. "I'll behave."

"Good," she told him with a warning tone. "Now, look into my eyes."

"You're not gonna hypnotise me, are you?"

"Xander…"

"Sorry," he said again, doing as she told him.

"She'll probably do this…" she said as she snaked her arms up around his neck and clasped her hands together.

"How do you know all this?" he asked huskily.

"I watch a lot of T.V.," she said. "Okay, now just feel the music. Look into my eyes and once you feel the soft beat of the music, start moving."

Xander did as he was told, smiling as he listened to the song, and his body began to slowly move of its own accord, responding to the music. He surprised himself. Usually, he was all flailing arms and kicking legs, but this was different. He had danced with her before, but never like this. The feeling of butterflies in his stomach wasn't exactly new to him, but he'd never had them like this before, and certainly never around his best friend. He rationalised to himself that it was this intimate situation, and the role-play she was using. He looked at her as he thought, realising she had her eyes closed, and he smiled. He watched as her mouth, slightly open, turned into the slightest of smiles. His hands gripped her hips tighter and he leant forward, not really sure of what he was doing until it happened.

Willow felt his lips on hers and she melted. In her dreams, this had happened a million times, but she suddenly realised that this was really happening. A voice inside her told her to pull away right there and then, knowing that it wasn't really her that he was kissing. It was Amanda. But something held her there. She knew that this was probably going to the only time she would ever know what a kiss from Xander Harris felt like, so when she felt his tongue gently touch her lips, she opened her mouth and met his tongue with hers, feeling that all-too-familiar light-dimming she had discussed with Buffy turn into a full-scale blackout. The feeling overwhelmed her and she broke the kiss suddenly, backing away from him.

Xander was shocked back into reality when he felt the cold air hit his face where the heat of her had previously been and it took a few moments for his eyes to open willingly.

"Lesson's over," she said quickly, her face blushing as she grabbed her bag and sweater.

"Willow, you're blushing," he told her, laughing nervously at the predicament.

"You're all set for tonight," she told him again as she headed for the door.

"Will, don't go," he called after her. "I didn't mean it in bad way. You're pretty when you blush."

"I'll see you later!" she yelled, already out of the doors.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "You will…"