SECOND
CHANCE
NOTE: I own none of the Scooby gang because they belong to mean old Joss.
A/N: This story takes place at the beginning season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel. When Wesley was booted out of AI (he so had it coming) he went back to Sunnydale. Buffy's alive (yay) and if you're wondering how Angel gets back from the sea without Wesley's help... well, he never goes. I was just wondering, if Buffy died, who was the new slayer? If any of you know... don't tell me. You'll ruin my moment. Now on with the story.
CHAPTER 3
Maggie (Margaret) jogged down the stairs that morning, clad in a blue blouse with oversized sleeves and light blue jeans, her blonde hair nicely curled. She entered the kitchen and saw Giles sipping a cup of coffee. Maggie felt he was teasing her with the delicious cup of Joe he held. It just looked so tasty that she had to fight off all urges to snatch it out of his hand.
"Good morning, Uncle Rupert," Maggie greeted.
Giles looked up. "Oh, hello, Margaret." The girl hated the sound of her full name but dealt with it. "Don't forget that I'll be at Buffy's house for most of the day so you're to go there right after school."
"You know, Uncle Rupert, I don't need a baby-sitter." She grabbed a bagel out of the breadbox and began slicing it in half. "I'd be fine staying at home until you got back."
"Margaret, we've been through this. Your parents gave me regulations that I must abide by."
Maggie shrugged. "A fun uncle wouldn't."
Giles picked up the nearby newspapers. "Finish your breakfast and get ready for school."
"Fine," Maggie sighed, smearing cream cheese on the bagel's halves.
When the bell for second period rang Autumn practically stuffed herself in her tall locker, dozed off. She wore a multi-colored long sleeve blouse, crisp white pants, a red belt, and white K-Swiss shoes. She felt a tap on her shoulder, taking her away from dreamland, and making her jump slightly. Autumn stuck her head out of the locker to see Maggie standing there. Autumn blushed slightly.
"Uh, hey," she greeted the British girl.
"Hello, Autumn." Maggie stared at her closely. "God, you look positively awful."
Autumn got out of the locker entirely. "Thanks," she said dryly.
"Oh, that's not what I meant. I mean you look weary. Are you all right?"
"I haven't been sleeping well. Every time I close my eyes something... weird happens."
"Oh? Like what?" Maggie asked, leaning against someone else's locker, hugging one of her schoolbooks close to her chest.
"Well," Autumn took her English book out of her locker. "Last night I had this dream that some guy kissed me."
Maggie seemed interested then and formed a mischievous smile. "Was he hot?"
"Hot?" Autumn thought back to her mother saying that and cringed. "Why do people still say that? What happened to cute?"
"Answer the question," Maggie urged.
Autumn smiled. "He was yummy, Maggie. But I barely saw him. All I got a good look of were his eyes."
"How was the kiss?" Maggie wanted to know.
Autumn felt uneasily. "Well... it... I..." She shook her head, going back to reality. "Oh, Maggie, it was a dream. How do you rate a dream kiss?"
"Well, I don't know. My parents wouldn't let me go near a boy in London unless he was all prim and proper. Would you like to have that dream again some time?"
Autumn smiled with a blush. "I don't know... maybe.
It's not like a going to school naked kind of thing. It was just nice."
Maggie smiled brighter. "Nice, huh?"
Autumn wanted desperately to change the subject. "You know, this school is huge. I'm still lost in it. Like where's room 210? That's my English class."
"Oh, I know. I have that period now, too," said Maggie, not at all noticing that Autumn had changed topics. Maggie looked around for someone who might help out with directions, for once.
"Uh, can I get to my locker please?" Maggie hadn't noticed a tall girl with long dark brown hair walk up to them. She had a beautiful face and looked to be Mexican.
"Oh, sorry," Maggie apologized, moving aside.
The tall girl just sighed annoyed and opened her locker door.
"Excuse me," said Autumn. The girl paid no attention to her. "Excuse me!"
The tall girl finally looked at her. "Um, sorry, are you addressing me?"
"Well, yeah," said Autumn. "Do you know where room 210 is?"
The girl looked ready to burst with laughter. "Oh, let me guess. You two are freshman, right?"
"Yes," Maggie replied. "So?"
"And you talk like little freshies, too," the tall girl sighed. "Well, lucky for you I just happen to be going that way."
"You're going to room 210?" Autumn asked confused.
"That's right."
"How old are you?" Maggie asked.
"What is this, twenty questions? I just turned sixteen, my name is Jessica Porter, my eyes are brown, and, if you're wondering, I use body fantasy conditioner to get my hair this shiny. Is the interrogation over now?" she asked defensively.
"Sorry," said Autumn with a roll of her eyes. "But if you're sixteen why are you going to a freshman class?"
"Gee, I just loved freshman year so much that I decided to repeat it. OK? That answers all your little freshy questions?" Jessica asked smugly.
"Sorry again," Maggie muttered.
"Just come on," Jessica ordered. "I don't want you to keep asking me for the class, anyway." She moved on ahead of them.
Autumn turned to Maggie. "Aren't the wanna be sophomores so sweet?"
Maggie giggled.
"Hey, freshies, move it!" they heard Jessica shout.
Maggie and Autumn shared a perplexed look and followed her down the hall.
The girls all sat in their English class, Maggie sitting next to Autumn in the second row. There were four rows in all and Jessica sat behind Autumn in the third. Autumn listened to the English teacher, Mr. Roland, go on and on about the fun and regulations of his class, and Autumn noticed there were way more regulations than fun. His, dry, dull talking bored Autumn so much her eyes began to close slowly. She managed to wake up again before anyone could notice. Mr. Roland was still talking about the same things. Autumn felt someone tap her on the arm, sitting next to her.
"Excuse me," came a male voice. "But can I borrow some paper for notes? I left mine in my locker."
Autumn nodded, not even looking at the boy. She took a couple of sheets of paper from her loose leaf and turned to hand it to him. Autumn looked horrified at the sight she saw. The boy's face was decaying and the top of his head looked to be boiling over with blood. Autumn released a terrified scream. The boy suddenly reached out and grabbed her boy the throat.
"Shut up, you stupid bitch," he ordered.
Autumn continued to scream through the choking.
Maggie and the entire class looked over at her. Autumn stilled screamed but there was no head on her throat. And the boy sitting next to her was just a regular boy with glasses. Autumn screamed so hard it looked as if she were insane. She fell out of her chair then, still bellowing out of control.
"Autumn!" Maggie cried. Students began to surround her. Maggie got down to the floor on her knees and shook Autumn. "Autumn, come on, snap out of it." Maggie shook Autumn's arm vigorously but the girl continued her screaming. "Autumn, relax! Please!"
Autumn all of a sudden realized that she was OK and quieted, touching her neck.
Maggie sighed with relief.
Students began to murmur among themselves.
"What's with her?"
"Is she crazy?"
"What kind of drug is she on?"
Autumn sat up on her knees and put her head into her hands, crying, but not loud enough to be heard.
Maggie patted her back gently.
"Young lady, is everything OK?" Mr. Roland asked. "I don't tolerate disruption in my class."
Autumn shook her head. "Everything's not OK," she whispered. "I don't feel well."
"Would you like to go to the nurse's office and call your parents?" Mr. Roland asked.
Autumn nodded, her head still in her hands.
Mr. Roland wrote her a quick hall pass and Autumn exited the class as quickly as possible.
"God, freshman," Jessica said to herself. "The pressure is on."
Maggie watched Autumn leave, a worried expression on her face.
Autumn walked down the halls at school, a few tears escaping her eyes. She managed to wipe them away but still felt awful. What was going on? Every time her eyes closed something went wrong. Autumn made her way towards the nurse's cubical but found it empty.
"Pardon me?" Autumn turned and saw a woman at a desk talking to her. "Who are you here to see?"
"Um, the nurse," Autumn replied. "I need to call my parents to pick me up. I don't feel well."
The woman's face softened. "Oh, please, sit down. The nurse should be back soon."
Autumn nodded taking a seat that was right outside the nurse's cubical.
The teenager waited a couple of minutes for the nurse to come back. She looked over at the cubicle next to the nurse's and saw on the door "W. Pryce" printed on the outside wall. Autumn hesitated for a moment then got up and entered the cubicle. Wesley sat at his desk doing some paperwork.
"Um, Mr. Pryce?" Autumn called out softly.
Wesley looked up. "Oh, hello, Autumn. It's good to see you again."
"You, too." Autumn gave him a small smile.
"Please, sit down." Autumn abided, sitting down in front of his desk like she'd done the last time. "How can I help you?"
"Well... I... have you ever... had things go normal one moment and bizarre the next?"
Wesley raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes, but I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean."
"It's so hard to explain." Autumn sighed. "You know what? I should be bothering you with this." She stood. "I'll just—"
"No, no," Wesley urged. "Sit down. I mean, I am here to help the students."
"All right." Autumn sat down with another sigh. "But it is hard to explain. Plus it's weird."
Wesley shrugged. "Try me."
"Well, OK. Lately I've been having these psycho dreams, heavy on the psycho, and I don't know why."
"Really?" Wesley took off his glasses and began cleaning them with a tissue from his box. "What kind of dreams."
"The first one I had was a while back. I dreamed I was in this cemetery and then this thing jumps out at me."
"What sort of thing?" Wesley asked.
"It had this weird bumpy face, some long teeth, and it looked... well, dead."
Wesley became strangely interested. "Oh, really."
"Really. And today I dreamt that one of my classmates was... gross. He had a weird face. It was rotting and it made him look like a—"
"Zombie?" Wesley cut in.
Autumn nodded. "Yeah, one of those." Wesley practically froze in his seat. "Mr. Pryce? Are you OK?"
Wesley snapped out of it slowly. "Oh, yes, of course. Now this first dream you had... when did it occur."
Autumn shrugged. "A few months ago I think. Why?"
"But it was before the summer, right?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, it happened right before summer vacation."
Wesley turned slightly pale. "Would you excuse me for a moment?" Autumn nodded. Wesley stood and left out of the office. He went into the hall and made his way to the pay phones, putting in the necessary coins, and dialing a number.
Buffy and Willow were in Buffy's dining room, Willow typing away at her laptop, trying to find new information on their latest demon. Xander stood, peering over Willow's shoulder, eating a bowl of cereal.
"Any luck, Will?" Buffy asked.
"I think," the witch replied. "You just gotta give google it's time. It has to... google enough."
The phone rung then. Xander sat down his cereal bowl and went into the kitchen and picked up the phone.
"Hello?" he greeted. "Oh, hey, long time no hear. Hang on a sec." He covered the mouth of the phone. "Buffy, phone!"
Buffy walked into the room a moment later. "Who is it?"
"Wesley," Xander replied.
Buffy's eyes widened somewhat. "Wesley Wyndham-Pryce?" Xander nodded, handing her the phone. "Hello, Wesley? Is everything OK? Is Angel—"
"Buffy, good," Wesley cut her off on the other end. "Listen, you did die before the summer, right?"
"Uh, right," Buffy replied.
"Are you sure?" Wesley asked.
Buffy looked confused. What was he, stupid? "Yes, Wesley, I'm pretty sure. I mean the heavenly lights kind of gave it away."
"Oh... right. Goodbye then." Wesley hung up his end of the phone.
Buffy looked at the phone, perplexed, when she heard the dial tone. She hung it up.
"Is everything OK?" Xander asked.
"Yeah," Buffy replied hazily. "Wesley's just lost it a little."
Xander shrugged. "So what else is new?"
Wesley, flustered, returned to the office and went back into his cubicle, seeing Autumn still waiting patiently. Wesley sat behind his desk and cleared his throat.
"Oh, you're back," said Autumn.
"Yes, and I believe you and I have something to discuss," he said. Autumn looked attentive. "Sometime serious."
Then she looked completely worried.
A/N: I tried to make this chapter long enough for you. Also if you still have unanswered questions, don't worry. They will be answered. Please review.