Chapter 1: Earthquake

Alexander Harris was still asleep at seven thirty. His alarm clock blaring in his ear, he still snored. Finally, as if a message from the Powers That Be, the ground began to shake and a wooden stake (along with the rest of his "precious" belongings that were thrown onto the top shelf above his bed) fell on top of his sleeping body. He sat up quickly; his eyes snapped open as he began to scream,

"Earthquake, earthquake!!!! Somebody, save me! Buffy!!!!" But then another voice interrupted him, "Shut up you lazy mook, you're gonna be late for school." His uncle Rory said as he stopped hitting the wall.

The smell of peppermint, from Rory's early morning drink-lingered as Xander got dressed. He grumbled the entire walk to Sunnydale High about some up- coming test that he hadn't bothered to study for.

Xander reached the stone steps of the High School and saw his best friends Willow Rosenburg and Buffy Summers waiting for him.

"Hey Xander, where have you been all morning? I thought you were going to be late, or something. But, no, that would be bad. And you are, like, anti- bad guy." Willow said hurriedly

"Will, slow down. Unless he is a different person than he was on Friday, I am pretty sure he just got up. I mean, come on, it's Xander, our Xander."

Willow nodded in compliance and pantomimed zipping her mouth shut and throwing away the key. Although Xander wondered if she realized that zippers didn't have keys.

"Guys, it's our senior year! I wanna do something, go somewhere, and be somebody!" Xander yelled finally showing some sort of brain activity.

Buffy gave him a look, "Xander, you are someone, duh, Xander Harris my best friend. You do, do stuff I mean hello! Saving the world on a daily basis is pretty damn important. And as for going somewhere, you can go where you want, but me? I have to stay here in 'Sunnyhell' California.'" She said with a forced southern accent

"You know Buffy? You're right!" Xander admitted

"I am? Well, that's a first. Out of demon context that is."

"Yeah! I am going to go somewhere. See yeah!" he shouted as he jogged down the stairs and was about to cross the street until he met up with, none other than, Cordelia Chase. Then it hit him, "Hey Cordy, you're looking very whore-ish today. What, did the dog eat other half of your skirt?"

Cordelia looked down at her outfit, which had taken her two hours to pick out. It was stunning, red satin with gold embroidered dragons on it. It was rather short though. "Ha ha. Very funny, Xander. Now that we're on the subject of clothing choice lets have a look at you. Hmmm." She said giving him a once over "Pants, $12.50, Shirt-oh god-please tell me you didn't pay more that two dollars for that piece of trash. And shoes, probably the most expensive item on you. They're Nike and kind of new so I'd say.$60.00, at most. So all in all, your entire outfit cost let than $80. If I had to summarize it I'd say.cheap and crap. But look at it this way, if there was a Loser of the Month Award, you'd win it." She said with false sincerity.

"Awwww, it cuts me deep, Cordy, that you have stooped so low as to diss my outfit." He replied with sarcasm

"The shear fact that you just said the word 'diss' scares the hell out of me. But I am working to be a better person so-"

"A what? Sorry, I just had a case of hysterical deafness!"

".To be a better person," Cordy continued, "so I will just be nice. Xander, what do you want?" she asked gritting her teeth as if being nice hurt her

"I want your keys." He said shortly Cordelia's eyes widened, "MY WHAT?!"

"Your keys, you know the ones you use to start your car?"

"I know that, you dummy, but why do you need my keys? Go steal a bike, or something." Cordy pointed to the bike rack

"No, I need something to take me farther. I need to get out of here. Please help me out. I'll tell you why later. Just let me borrow your keys!"

"I don't know why I am so nice to you. I must be such a good person for doing this." She said rummaging through her matching red purse. She pulled out a set of keys on a gold colored ring with a dangling mini-license plate that read: "Queen C", identical to the one on her actual car. She grabbed the key with a red dot on it in Sharpie MarkerĀ® and removed it from the golden loop. "Here."

"Thanks." He said as he jumped into the car without bothering to open the door and jump-started the engine. He backed the car out of its parking place and drove down the street until he passed the reflective green sign that read: "Now Leaving Sunnydale!" He was out. The farthest he'd been from the Hellmouth in two years. This feeling was amazing, and he'd be feeling it for the next few months while he was on the road.