Part 8:

Finding principal Snyder turned out to be far less difficult than they had imagined. Faith, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia had barely entered the Bronze, marvelling at the complete wrongness of the scene unfolding before them, when a happy voice greeted them.

"Rosenberg," Snyder yelled at them. "My favourite class nerd. I didn't know you'd be coming tonight."

The principal emerged from the teeming mass of dancers, most of them well over thirty, smiling broader than any student had ever seen him do unless there was an expulsion coming on.

"You brought friends," Snyder said, putting an arm around a very disturbed Willow's shoulder. For a long moment he stared at Oz. "I love your hair."

Oz frowned heavily, unconsciously running his hand over his blonde spikes, but Faith ran out of patience quickly. Grabbing Snyder by the lapels of his jacket she backed him up against the nearest wall.

"Listen up, gnome!"

"Call me Snyder," he smiled at her. "I like a girl who knows how to handle her man."

"I'll manhandle you, gnome, unless you tell me where that fucking chocolate is coming from."

"The chocolate?" Snyder seemed confused. "I don't know, it came through the school board. It tastes mighty good, though, doesn't it? Wish I had another piece right now."

"Where did the packages come from then? Who delivered them?"

Snyder was mumbling something about a factory on the outskirts of town when a commotion on the dance floor drew everyone's attention. Faith looked up just as the crowd was parting to make room for a body flying through the air.

"Tired yet?" a voice asked, coming closer as the body came to rest at Faith's feet. A familiar body. "I haven't even started."

Buffy emerged from the crowd, her demon eyes blazing right through the contact lenses she wore almost constantly these days, her face warped by fury. Her approach made the hairs on Faith's neck stand up straight, her every instinct screaming 'DEMON' at her.

Xander struggled to get back to his feet, his neck visibly bruised.

"Buffy," Willow went between the Slayer and her prey, something that Faith considered a really bad idea at the moment. "What are you doing?"

"What I should have done a long time ago," she answered, simply brushing past her best friend. "This stinking loser got it coming."

"But ...," Willow went on helplessly as Buffy reached down to pull Xander up for another round. Reacting more on instinct than anything else Faith interjected, grabbing Buffy's wrist and pulling her off the helpless boy.

"What are you doing?" Buffy hissed at her.

"Look, B, I know he's got it coming, but I don't think you really want to do that. Not your style, girl."

"What do you know about style? Do you even own any clothing except those leather pants?"

One moment ago she had been a hissing monster, now she sounded more like the kind of snob girl Faith had hated in high school, the ones who had always made fun of her. Come to think of it, why was Buffy behaving like the demon bitch from hell anyway? Everyone else had simply been turned juvenile by the cursed candy.

"Got a problem, baby?" Angel approached through the crowd as well, moving with a kind of arrogant swagger that Faith had never seen on him before. The broad grin on his face alone was almost enough to make Faith blush and she never blushed. She did not know much about Angel but if he had not been a great womaniser in life than she would join a nunnery.

"Get out of my way, Faith," Buffy growled, the demon bitch back.

Faith was desperately trying to come up with some kind of idea. She did not want to fight Buffy and she especially did not want to fight Buffy and Angel. The last time she had done that it had ended in her being knocked unconscious, quite roughly so, and neither of them had been under some kind of curse then.

Besides, they were her friends now, and she did not want to harm them, even if she were certain she could.

"That's quite enough, Buffy Summers," a sharp voice suddenly came from behind them. "You are really embarrassing yourself."

Both Slayers turned a surprised look on Cordelia, who was giving Buffy a stare that could have made plants shrivel up and die in seconds.

"Cordelia, what ...?" Buffy began, more confused than angry.

"Try and remember that you are the Slayer, girl," Cordelia continued. "While you are indulging your childish urges here the town is going nuts. It's your job to beat up the bad guys, remember?"

"But ... but Xander ..."

"Xander's not a bad guy, just monumentally stupid. Besides, he isn't going anywhere. You can beat him up after you do your duty and save the world. Do we have an understanding of the priorities here, young lady?"

Faith could not help a smile as she saw Buffy fidget in indecision. From the looks of things Cordelia had hit just the right nerve, coming off as the parent from hell to remind Buffy of her sacred duties. Faith had never met teenage Buffy, but from everything she had been told the girl had been a sucker for duty, trying to live up to everyone's expectations of her even while she was whining about her lack of a life.

"Every adult is going crazy, Buffy," Willow said, trying to sway her friend. "We need your help."

Throwing a glance at Angel Faith saw that he seemed to be waiting for Buffy to decide, though he was still throwing some very unfriendly glances at Xander. Noticing that Faith was looking at him he locked eyes with her, giving her a look that made her knees go weak. God, what it had to be like if he got close enough to use his hands ...

"Get your act together already," Cordelia admonished Buffy, pulling Faith out of her x-rated thoughts. "We don't have time for your usual angst and woe."

Buffy gave the cheerleader a look that reminded Buffy of a brat child angry at not getting her way, but she finally took a step back from where Xander had managed to get back to his feet.

"Okay," she huffed, crossing her arms before her chest, "but don't think I've forgotten about you, Xander."

Draping Angel's arm around her she started for the exit. "Let's kick some evil ass!"

Faith and everyone else present breathed a sigh of relief.

"You should take Xander and head for the library," she told Willow and Oz. "Maybe you can find something to lift this ... whatever it is. Besides, I don't think having him close to B is a great idea right now."

Willow nodded, moving closer to Xander to support him. The boy was massaging his aching throat, looking quite the worse for wear.

"Be careful, Faith," Willow said. "I think the cursed candy has done more than simply regress Buffy and Angel to teenagers."

"Like what?" Faith asked, having wondered about that herself.

"I'm not sure, but ... well, Angel is a vampire and Buffy is at least partly demon because of his blood. Maybe ... maybe they're having problems controlling their demonic ... instincts, whatever."

"Great," Faith mumbled, then looked at Cordelia. "Think we can keep them in a line a little longer?"

"Watch me!"

Faith grinned at the brunette, then grabbed Snyder, who was busy trying to sneak away from these people who did not seem to be as much fun as he had originally thought.

"Let's go chocolate hunting, gnome!"

#

Piling into Cordelia's car they reached the chocolate factory in record time, Buffy and Angel jumping out before the vehicle had even come to a stop. The air was filled with the smell of candy and it seemed to draw them in.

"Evil chocolate central, I assume."

Two guys in worker clothing were busy handing out fresh chocolate to a small crowd of people, all of them jockeying for position as if they were at a rock concert. Buffy and Angel were quickly making their way to the front of the crowd, pushing aside everyone who did not get out of the way fast enough. Faith and Cordelia were running to catch up.

Then suddenly Buffy froze.

"You're nothing but a selfish ignorant," a British-tinged voice accused.

"Oh yeah? At least I didn't wear tweed for the last two decades, you ... librarian, you!"

Faith could not quite believe what she saw. There was Giles, Mr. Stuffy- British-Watcher himself, dressed in Jeans, a dirty white shirt, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He was currently caught in a heated argument with none other than Joyce Summers, who seemed to have raided her daughter's wardrobe for the sultriest stuff she could find, never minding the fact that most of the stuff was two sizes too small for her.

Joyce was looking quite trim for a forty-year-old, though.

"Mom?" Buffy approached them, looking liable to faint any minute now. "Giles?"

"Shut up while your elders are talking," both of them yelled at the same time, then went back to bickering. Buffy was close to tears, Angel immediately there to comfort her. Though his idea of comforting was bordering on the obscene.

"This isn't quite going as planned, is it?" Cordelia asked.

"Does that really surprise you?"

TO BE CONTINUED