Destiny Lost
#1: In the Space of a Heartbeat
Authors: Sonya and Erin
E-mail: sonyajeb@swbell.net OR carynsilver@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: B/X, AU, action/adventure, romance
Summary: An accident seconds before being chosen causes the Slayer Essence to skip Buffy, leaving her a normal girl. Then, a year and a half later, her mom's new job and her parents' divorce brings Buffy and her mother to Sunnydale, where Buffy comes in contact with the world of the night and a young man dedicated to its destruction.
Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up.
Distribution: Sure, just let us know where it is!
Feedback: Love it! We want to know your likes AND dislikes. Flames are the only thing we do not accept.
Spoilers: Basic BtVS mythology and vampire/slayer lore
Author's Note: Just a quick comment to say that the OC in this story wasn't named after one of the authors. They really have nothing in common, name not withstanding. LOL! Seriously, we just needed a name and plugged in the name Sonya in a sort of stop-gap measure while we were writing it way back when. However, by the time we began publishing it, we'd already written almost half of the first story and the name Sonya had become a big part of who the character was to us, so we couldn't bring ourselves to change it. So, hence it remains Sonya to this day. Okay, end lecture now. LOL! ;)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 1
Sunnydale, California 1997
Dawn was a long time in coming. Buffy Summers couldn't sleep. The boxes towering around her in her new room in the house she and her mother, Joyce, had just moved into made unusual, scary shadows on the light pink walls. Buffy's legs ached, and she couldn't sleep. She knew it was a phantom pain, but that didn't make it any better.
At a little past three o'clock, her mother stuck her head in the door. Buffy smiled. "Hi, Mom."
"I didn't mean to wake you up," Joyce said with a concerned-mother look. She came in and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you hurting?"
Buffy nodded.
"You're scared about tomorrow, aren't you?"
Buffy nodded again. After the accident, she'd broken both her legs in several places. She was in traction for months and months. Then the doctors let her move on to a wheel chair, then a walker, then crutches, then braces and finally she was able to walk again. Intellectually, Buffy knew her legs were healed, but sometimes they still hurt. The doctor said her legs would tell her when the rains came. Buffy knew from experience that her legs ached when she was stressed or upset. They'd ached like they had right after the accident on the night her dad finally moved out of the house. They'd also ached the night her mother told her about her new job and their upcoming move to Sunnydale.
"I miss Daddy," Buffy whispered.
Joyce looked pained. She laid a hand on Buffy's knee. "I miss your daddy, too," she admitted. "But you know that we tried to work things out. We just couldn't."
"It was because of me, wasn't it?" Buffy's voice was almost a whisper. "Because of all the stress after the accident and all the doctor's bills and things..."
Joyce looked horrified. "No, Buffy! Never, ever think that! Your dad and I both love you very much. We just aren't in love with each other anymore."
She paused, wiping her daughter's tears away. "And that's why Sunnydale will be such a great new start for us. I've got a great job at the gallery. They really need me here. And Sunnydale high had a wonderful reputation. I think you'll benefit from being in school with fewer people. I know you tried to pull your GPA up after you missed so much school, and you did so well catching up with your lessons -- and now, you've got a year and a half here in Sunnydale to finish the job."
Buffy hugged her mother. Somewhere deep inside she still believed that she was the cause of the divorce, at least partially, but her mother always made her feel better. Buffy was able to push the fear back under the surface where it belonged.
Smoothing Buffy's hair back, Joyce said, "Will you be able to sleep now?"
"I hope so." Buffy smiled a little.
"That's my girl," Joyce said. "I'm sure, once tomorrow, the first day, is over, things will get back to normal." Joyce patted Buffy one last time, and kissed her on the forehead. Then she tucked the girl in firmly, and left the room.
Buffy snuggled under her quilt, relieved that for now the pain had lessened. But tomorrow still loomed. Things hadn't been normal since Bobby Brunswick hit her with his pickup truck. Sunnydale High might be the perfect place for her to excel academically with smaller classes and college prep options, but normal -- popularity, the phone ringing off the hook, girls hanging on her every word, boys lining up to ask her out -- the accident had stolen all that from her, and Buffy didn't think she would ever get it back.
From her bed, Buffy looked out her curtainless window. She could barely see a tiny silver of moon over the top of the house next door. She wondered what everyone else was doing underneath that very same moon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The moon was just a small sliver of light in the otherwise black sky, illuminating the rows upon rows of tombstones with its ghostly pale glow. Xander decided that the moon seemed lonely without the stars out to keep it company during the long night. Twirling a sharp, wooden stake between his fingers and humming a song that he'd just heard on the radio, Xander walked between the many graves, still feeling like an intruder even after all these months of patrolling. It was like he was trying to fill someone else's shoes, but they just happened to be about 5 sizes to large. So now he was stuck tripping over his own feet in this clownishly oversized foot apparel that would never fit him properly, no matter how much he grew or changed ... metaphorically speaking, that is.
Looking down at his own black boots, Xander grinned. His slaying abilities might be in question as of late, but his shoe size was happily still the same as it had always been. "The more things change the more they stay the same," Xander mumbled, quoting a book he'd read somewhere, though for the life of him, he couldn't remember the book's name. Scholastic aptitude had never been his forte.
Suddenly, Xander's musing was cut short by the sound of wood splintering and breaking nearby. Gripping his stake tightly in his right hand, he jogged toward the sound, weaving around the tombstones with an ease that only one familiar with the graveyard's layout could possibly possess. Rounding a rather large mausoleum at breakneck speed, Xander skidded to a halt in front of a tombstone engraved with the name "Owen Thurman" in bold letters. Coming from beneath the freshly piled dirt was a pair of pale, bony hands. "Too bad," Xander murmured sadly as he watched the vampire continue to claw his way free of the earth. "Owen might have been a little too into his Emily Dickinson, but he definitely didn't deserve this."
Xander waited until the vampire formally known as Owen managed to pull himself completely from the ground before he moved in, stake in hand. The newly born demon tried to fight back, but he didn't stand a chance. After all, Xander had been trained by the best. Avoiding the thing's sloppy punches and kicks easily, Xander stabbed the vampire through the heart with his stake and quickly stepped back as it exploded into a pile of dust, coating Xander's new leather jacket with the nasty brown stuff.
Though he was busy trying somewhat unsuccessfully to brush the vamp dust off of his clothes, Xander still wasn't surprised to hear a voice shout out from behind him, "Too slow, numbskull! If there had been any more of them you would be dead right about now!"
Xander smirked, turning around to face his own worst critic. "Yeah, whatever," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I'd like to see you do any better, Wheels."
A young girl who looked to be in her late teens was sitting behind Xander, partially concealed by the shadows of the mausoleum, though even the darkness couldn't completely hide the fact that she was sitting in a wheelchair. "Just give me half a chance, Harris." Sonya Parker gave her protege a hard look before allowing the hint of a smile to escape, briefly lighting up her face and making her blue eyes sparkle mischievously.
"I saw that smile," Xander announced with a grin. "Now don't you start going soft on me, Parker. That would turn my world all askew."
Sonya laughed, allowing Xander to guide her wheelchair out of the graveyard. "Oh, horror of horrors, Mr. Chosen One!" Her voice was practically dripping with sarcasm. As they made their way through the cemetery gates and toward Xander's car, Sonya looked up at the dark haired boy and stopped him with a raised eyebrow and a puzzled frown. "Did my ears deceive me or did the word 'askew' just escape your lips?"
Xander picked Sonya up, carefully cradling her in his arms as he carried her over to the passenger side of his old, beat-up jeep and placed her inside. As he was folding up her wheelchair and placing it behind her seat, he replied, "What can I say? I've definitely been spending too much time with Giles. His vocabulary is starting to rub off on me." Xander finished getting her wheelchair stored and then he hopped into the driver's seat and gunned the engine, pulling out of the graveyard's parking lot with a squeal of tires. "Don't tell him I said so, though. He'd never let me hear the end of it."
Sonya smiled as the wind whipped her chestnut colored hair around her face. "Your secret's safe with me, Harris."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning, Buffy got ready for her first day of school quickly. She showered and pulled her hair back into a pony tale. That alone gave her a sense of accomplishment. After the accident, her mom had made her cut her hair -- it was too hard for Buffy to take care of in a body cast. Now it was finally long enough to be pulled back. Then she pulled on a white shirt with buttons, a pair of khaki overalls and her favorite black boots. The boots came up underneath her pants legs to mid-calf, giving her legs plenty of support.
Buffy grabbed her backpack, complete with notebooks, folders and pencils, munched a piece of toast for breakfast, and then hopped into the car with Joyce. They pulled up at the front of the school a few minutes later.
Joyce looked at Buffy. "You're all registered and everything. You should just have to stop by the office and pick up your schedule. Do you want me to come in with you?"
"No!" Buffy said quickly. Then she looked at her mom and softened. "I mean, I'd love for you to, but to have my mommy with me on the first day - it would be the kiss of death." Buffy grinned, and Joyce followed suit.
"All right, dear." Joyce gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Have a wonderful day. Meet lots of new friends, and I'll see you at five."
Buffy kissed her mom back, and then hopped out of the car. "Lots of new friends, right," she muttered as she started the long, lonely walk up the sidewalk to the front doors of the building.
"Ooof!" Buffy grunted as someone bumped into her, hard. She was knocked off balance, and fell to the ground. Papers the other person had been holding scattered with the breeze.
"Now see what you've done!"
Buffy looked up and saw a tall, beautiful girl with thick brown hair and an angry expression.
"Who do you think you are?" the girl demanded as Buffy got to her feet again.
"Buffy Summers," Buffy replied, leaning over to gather up some of the papers.
The girl snatched the papers back. "Well, you've ruined everything now."
Buffy caught a glimpse of one of the papers. It said: Cordelia Chase for Prom Queen. Underneath was a picture of the girl standing in front of her.
"Isn't it a little early for prom queen?" Buffy asked, confused.
The girl laughed. "Shows what you know. You have to cultivate the vote early if you want to win. I'm a junior. I've got stiff competition from some of those seniors. But I'm going to be the first junior prom queen in SHS history!"
"Well, good luck," Buffy replied, remembering a time when a campaign like this would have been all-encompassing to her. But popularity contests hadn't been an option for her for a long time.
"Whatever." Cordelia finally tired of talking to the new girl and turned away.
"Wait," Buffy called.
Cordelia turned back and raised an eyebrow.
"Which way is the office?" Buffy asked in a small voice, feeling completely intimidated by the beauty in the skin-tight sweater and black mini-skirt.
Cordelia pointed and then rejoined some girlfriends a few feet away. The girls all started laughing as Buffy walked by, and Buffy could swear she heard the blonde say, "What kind of name is Buffy anyway? Is she a cocker spaniel?"
Her face flaming, Buffy made her way silently into the hallowed halls of Sunnydale High, hoping that no one else would notice her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As the bell rang for first period, Xander made his way through the crowded halls of SHS with little difficulty. Most of the students knew to stay out of his way after word of the "Halloween Incident" had gotten got out, so navigating the halls wasn't a problem for him. Spying a familiar brunette walking towards him, Xander sighed. Too bad Cordelia Chase wasn't intimidated by him; then his life would be a lot easier.
"Well, well, well," Xander said with a smirk, "If it isn't the Ice Queen, come to honor us little people with her esteemed presence!"
Cordelia simply raised an eyebrow, noticing the fresh cut on Xander's cheek, the latest in a stream of injuries brought on by his slayer duties. "What's the matter, Harris? Did your father forget to teach you how to shave properly before he passed out from alcohol poisoning this morning?"
Xander felt his cheeks flame from embarrassment. True, his poor family life wasn't a secret, but having it brought up for public mockery like this still stung. In retaliation, he snapped, "Wow, it looks like you're actually moving on up to two-syllable words, Chase. Your mommy must be so proud!"
Cordelia just snorted, breezing by him with her precious prom queen flyers clutched protectively to her chest. Her group of followers trailed behind her, whispering to each other. "Gossiping about me, no doubt," Xander muttered under his breath, trying to convince himself that he didn't really care what they thought.
Shrugging it off, Xander made his way to class quickly, trying to beat the tardy bell. His little chat with Cordelia had put him behind schedule and Mrs. Jacobs would have his head if he was late to class again this week. Xander ran the last few steps and darted through the door, sliding into his seat near the front of the room with mere seconds to spare. Luckily, the teacher was late herself, so she didn't notice his last minute arrival.
A few minutes later, the door to the classroom opened and Mrs. Jacobs walked in, followed by Principal Snyder. Xander briefly wondered what was going on, but his curiosity was short-lived. "Class, we have a new student here today," Snyder announced in his nasal voice. "Please welcome Miss Buffy Summers." As the door to the classroom opened once again, Xander felt his heart stop as he watched the new girl walk uncertainly into the room. She was beyond beautiful. She was perfection. Her golden blonde hair was pulled back in a simple pony tail that helped accentuate her lovely features. Her clothing wasn't trendy like most of the Cordelia wannabe's, but her plain overalls and boots were just right in Xander's opinion. However, the thing that stood out the most about her was her eyes. They had a sadness in their green depths that reminded Xander of himself in a way. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Buffy Summers called out to him; he felt like he'd known her for forever when in reality they'd never even spoken to each other before.
Xander snapped out of his daze when he heard the teacher telling Buffy to take a seat where ever she wanted. He glanced at the empty seat directly in front of him and held his breath anxiously, waiting to see where Buffy would sit...
#1: In the Space of a Heartbeat
Authors: Sonya and Erin
E-mail: sonyajeb@swbell.net OR carynsilver@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: B/X, AU, action/adventure, romance
Summary: An accident seconds before being chosen causes the Slayer Essence to skip Buffy, leaving her a normal girl. Then, a year and a half later, her mom's new job and her parents' divorce brings Buffy and her mother to Sunnydale, where Buffy comes in contact with the world of the night and a young man dedicated to its destruction.
Disclaimer: We do not own Buffy or any of the original characters or ideas from the show. They all belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. All we own is our own creative genius (unless that's too strong a word :) and any characters we make up.
Distribution: Sure, just let us know where it is!
Feedback: Love it! We want to know your likes AND dislikes. Flames are the only thing we do not accept.
Spoilers: Basic BtVS mythology and vampire/slayer lore
Author's Note: Just a quick comment to say that the OC in this story wasn't named after one of the authors. They really have nothing in common, name not withstanding. LOL! Seriously, we just needed a name and plugged in the name Sonya in a sort of stop-gap measure while we were writing it way back when. However, by the time we began publishing it, we'd already written almost half of the first story and the name Sonya had become a big part of who the character was to us, so we couldn't bring ourselves to change it. So, hence it remains Sonya to this day. Okay, end lecture now. LOL! ;)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 1
Sunnydale, California 1997
Dawn was a long time in coming. Buffy Summers couldn't sleep. The boxes towering around her in her new room in the house she and her mother, Joyce, had just moved into made unusual, scary shadows on the light pink walls. Buffy's legs ached, and she couldn't sleep. She knew it was a phantom pain, but that didn't make it any better.
At a little past three o'clock, her mother stuck her head in the door. Buffy smiled. "Hi, Mom."
"I didn't mean to wake you up," Joyce said with a concerned-mother look. She came in and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you hurting?"
Buffy nodded.
"You're scared about tomorrow, aren't you?"
Buffy nodded again. After the accident, she'd broken both her legs in several places. She was in traction for months and months. Then the doctors let her move on to a wheel chair, then a walker, then crutches, then braces and finally she was able to walk again. Intellectually, Buffy knew her legs were healed, but sometimes they still hurt. The doctor said her legs would tell her when the rains came. Buffy knew from experience that her legs ached when she was stressed or upset. They'd ached like they had right after the accident on the night her dad finally moved out of the house. They'd also ached the night her mother told her about her new job and their upcoming move to Sunnydale.
"I miss Daddy," Buffy whispered.
Joyce looked pained. She laid a hand on Buffy's knee. "I miss your daddy, too," she admitted. "But you know that we tried to work things out. We just couldn't."
"It was because of me, wasn't it?" Buffy's voice was almost a whisper. "Because of all the stress after the accident and all the doctor's bills and things..."
Joyce looked horrified. "No, Buffy! Never, ever think that! Your dad and I both love you very much. We just aren't in love with each other anymore."
She paused, wiping her daughter's tears away. "And that's why Sunnydale will be such a great new start for us. I've got a great job at the gallery. They really need me here. And Sunnydale high had a wonderful reputation. I think you'll benefit from being in school with fewer people. I know you tried to pull your GPA up after you missed so much school, and you did so well catching up with your lessons -- and now, you've got a year and a half here in Sunnydale to finish the job."
Buffy hugged her mother. Somewhere deep inside she still believed that she was the cause of the divorce, at least partially, but her mother always made her feel better. Buffy was able to push the fear back under the surface where it belonged.
Smoothing Buffy's hair back, Joyce said, "Will you be able to sleep now?"
"I hope so." Buffy smiled a little.
"That's my girl," Joyce said. "I'm sure, once tomorrow, the first day, is over, things will get back to normal." Joyce patted Buffy one last time, and kissed her on the forehead. Then she tucked the girl in firmly, and left the room.
Buffy snuggled under her quilt, relieved that for now the pain had lessened. But tomorrow still loomed. Things hadn't been normal since Bobby Brunswick hit her with his pickup truck. Sunnydale High might be the perfect place for her to excel academically with smaller classes and college prep options, but normal -- popularity, the phone ringing off the hook, girls hanging on her every word, boys lining up to ask her out -- the accident had stolen all that from her, and Buffy didn't think she would ever get it back.
From her bed, Buffy looked out her curtainless window. She could barely see a tiny silver of moon over the top of the house next door. She wondered what everyone else was doing underneath that very same moon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The moon was just a small sliver of light in the otherwise black sky, illuminating the rows upon rows of tombstones with its ghostly pale glow. Xander decided that the moon seemed lonely without the stars out to keep it company during the long night. Twirling a sharp, wooden stake between his fingers and humming a song that he'd just heard on the radio, Xander walked between the many graves, still feeling like an intruder even after all these months of patrolling. It was like he was trying to fill someone else's shoes, but they just happened to be about 5 sizes to large. So now he was stuck tripping over his own feet in this clownishly oversized foot apparel that would never fit him properly, no matter how much he grew or changed ... metaphorically speaking, that is.
Looking down at his own black boots, Xander grinned. His slaying abilities might be in question as of late, but his shoe size was happily still the same as it had always been. "The more things change the more they stay the same," Xander mumbled, quoting a book he'd read somewhere, though for the life of him, he couldn't remember the book's name. Scholastic aptitude had never been his forte.
Suddenly, Xander's musing was cut short by the sound of wood splintering and breaking nearby. Gripping his stake tightly in his right hand, he jogged toward the sound, weaving around the tombstones with an ease that only one familiar with the graveyard's layout could possibly possess. Rounding a rather large mausoleum at breakneck speed, Xander skidded to a halt in front of a tombstone engraved with the name "Owen Thurman" in bold letters. Coming from beneath the freshly piled dirt was a pair of pale, bony hands. "Too bad," Xander murmured sadly as he watched the vampire continue to claw his way free of the earth. "Owen might have been a little too into his Emily Dickinson, but he definitely didn't deserve this."
Xander waited until the vampire formally known as Owen managed to pull himself completely from the ground before he moved in, stake in hand. The newly born demon tried to fight back, but he didn't stand a chance. After all, Xander had been trained by the best. Avoiding the thing's sloppy punches and kicks easily, Xander stabbed the vampire through the heart with his stake and quickly stepped back as it exploded into a pile of dust, coating Xander's new leather jacket with the nasty brown stuff.
Though he was busy trying somewhat unsuccessfully to brush the vamp dust off of his clothes, Xander still wasn't surprised to hear a voice shout out from behind him, "Too slow, numbskull! If there had been any more of them you would be dead right about now!"
Xander smirked, turning around to face his own worst critic. "Yeah, whatever," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I'd like to see you do any better, Wheels."
A young girl who looked to be in her late teens was sitting behind Xander, partially concealed by the shadows of the mausoleum, though even the darkness couldn't completely hide the fact that she was sitting in a wheelchair. "Just give me half a chance, Harris." Sonya Parker gave her protege a hard look before allowing the hint of a smile to escape, briefly lighting up her face and making her blue eyes sparkle mischievously.
"I saw that smile," Xander announced with a grin. "Now don't you start going soft on me, Parker. That would turn my world all askew."
Sonya laughed, allowing Xander to guide her wheelchair out of the graveyard. "Oh, horror of horrors, Mr. Chosen One!" Her voice was practically dripping with sarcasm. As they made their way through the cemetery gates and toward Xander's car, Sonya looked up at the dark haired boy and stopped him with a raised eyebrow and a puzzled frown. "Did my ears deceive me or did the word 'askew' just escape your lips?"
Xander picked Sonya up, carefully cradling her in his arms as he carried her over to the passenger side of his old, beat-up jeep and placed her inside. As he was folding up her wheelchair and placing it behind her seat, he replied, "What can I say? I've definitely been spending too much time with Giles. His vocabulary is starting to rub off on me." Xander finished getting her wheelchair stored and then he hopped into the driver's seat and gunned the engine, pulling out of the graveyard's parking lot with a squeal of tires. "Don't tell him I said so, though. He'd never let me hear the end of it."
Sonya smiled as the wind whipped her chestnut colored hair around her face. "Your secret's safe with me, Harris."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning, Buffy got ready for her first day of school quickly. She showered and pulled her hair back into a pony tale. That alone gave her a sense of accomplishment. After the accident, her mom had made her cut her hair -- it was too hard for Buffy to take care of in a body cast. Now it was finally long enough to be pulled back. Then she pulled on a white shirt with buttons, a pair of khaki overalls and her favorite black boots. The boots came up underneath her pants legs to mid-calf, giving her legs plenty of support.
Buffy grabbed her backpack, complete with notebooks, folders and pencils, munched a piece of toast for breakfast, and then hopped into the car with Joyce. They pulled up at the front of the school a few minutes later.
Joyce looked at Buffy. "You're all registered and everything. You should just have to stop by the office and pick up your schedule. Do you want me to come in with you?"
"No!" Buffy said quickly. Then she looked at her mom and softened. "I mean, I'd love for you to, but to have my mommy with me on the first day - it would be the kiss of death." Buffy grinned, and Joyce followed suit.
"All right, dear." Joyce gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Have a wonderful day. Meet lots of new friends, and I'll see you at five."
Buffy kissed her mom back, and then hopped out of the car. "Lots of new friends, right," she muttered as she started the long, lonely walk up the sidewalk to the front doors of the building.
"Ooof!" Buffy grunted as someone bumped into her, hard. She was knocked off balance, and fell to the ground. Papers the other person had been holding scattered with the breeze.
"Now see what you've done!"
Buffy looked up and saw a tall, beautiful girl with thick brown hair and an angry expression.
"Who do you think you are?" the girl demanded as Buffy got to her feet again.
"Buffy Summers," Buffy replied, leaning over to gather up some of the papers.
The girl snatched the papers back. "Well, you've ruined everything now."
Buffy caught a glimpse of one of the papers. It said: Cordelia Chase for Prom Queen. Underneath was a picture of the girl standing in front of her.
"Isn't it a little early for prom queen?" Buffy asked, confused.
The girl laughed. "Shows what you know. You have to cultivate the vote early if you want to win. I'm a junior. I've got stiff competition from some of those seniors. But I'm going to be the first junior prom queen in SHS history!"
"Well, good luck," Buffy replied, remembering a time when a campaign like this would have been all-encompassing to her. But popularity contests hadn't been an option for her for a long time.
"Whatever." Cordelia finally tired of talking to the new girl and turned away.
"Wait," Buffy called.
Cordelia turned back and raised an eyebrow.
"Which way is the office?" Buffy asked in a small voice, feeling completely intimidated by the beauty in the skin-tight sweater and black mini-skirt.
Cordelia pointed and then rejoined some girlfriends a few feet away. The girls all started laughing as Buffy walked by, and Buffy could swear she heard the blonde say, "What kind of name is Buffy anyway? Is she a cocker spaniel?"
Her face flaming, Buffy made her way silently into the hallowed halls of Sunnydale High, hoping that no one else would notice her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As the bell rang for first period, Xander made his way through the crowded halls of SHS with little difficulty. Most of the students knew to stay out of his way after word of the "Halloween Incident" had gotten got out, so navigating the halls wasn't a problem for him. Spying a familiar brunette walking towards him, Xander sighed. Too bad Cordelia Chase wasn't intimidated by him; then his life would be a lot easier.
"Well, well, well," Xander said with a smirk, "If it isn't the Ice Queen, come to honor us little people with her esteemed presence!"
Cordelia simply raised an eyebrow, noticing the fresh cut on Xander's cheek, the latest in a stream of injuries brought on by his slayer duties. "What's the matter, Harris? Did your father forget to teach you how to shave properly before he passed out from alcohol poisoning this morning?"
Xander felt his cheeks flame from embarrassment. True, his poor family life wasn't a secret, but having it brought up for public mockery like this still stung. In retaliation, he snapped, "Wow, it looks like you're actually moving on up to two-syllable words, Chase. Your mommy must be so proud!"
Cordelia just snorted, breezing by him with her precious prom queen flyers clutched protectively to her chest. Her group of followers trailed behind her, whispering to each other. "Gossiping about me, no doubt," Xander muttered under his breath, trying to convince himself that he didn't really care what they thought.
Shrugging it off, Xander made his way to class quickly, trying to beat the tardy bell. His little chat with Cordelia had put him behind schedule and Mrs. Jacobs would have his head if he was late to class again this week. Xander ran the last few steps and darted through the door, sliding into his seat near the front of the room with mere seconds to spare. Luckily, the teacher was late herself, so she didn't notice his last minute arrival.
A few minutes later, the door to the classroom opened and Mrs. Jacobs walked in, followed by Principal Snyder. Xander briefly wondered what was going on, but his curiosity was short-lived. "Class, we have a new student here today," Snyder announced in his nasal voice. "Please welcome Miss Buffy Summers." As the door to the classroom opened once again, Xander felt his heart stop as he watched the new girl walk uncertainly into the room. She was beyond beautiful. She was perfection. Her golden blonde hair was pulled back in a simple pony tail that helped accentuate her lovely features. Her clothing wasn't trendy like most of the Cordelia wannabe's, but her plain overalls and boots were just right in Xander's opinion. However, the thing that stood out the most about her was her eyes. They had a sadness in their green depths that reminded Xander of himself in a way. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Buffy Summers called out to him; he felt like he'd known her for forever when in reality they'd never even spoken to each other before.
Xander snapped out of his daze when he heard the teacher telling Buffy to take a seat where ever she wanted. He glanced at the empty seat directly in front of him and held his breath anxiously, waiting to see where Buffy would sit...