Buffy sank into her desk chair and swept the hair out of her eyes. Her smallish cubicle was bland and dark, but a huge improvement from the grease and smell of the infamous Doublemeat Palace. She lifted a manila folder from her inbox and flipped it open.
Jade Harder, huh? Buffy scanned the pages in front of her. The girl was seventeen and had been kicked out of three other high schools before arriving here. Skipping class, arson, and fighting…nice reputation.
Her eyebrows quirked upwards as she realized this girl sounded a lot like her. 'Hmmm, maybe it won't be so hard to talk to this girl after all,' she thought. Putting on her resolve face, Buffy stepped around the beige wall and found herself standing before the school's newest student.
Jade glared contemptuously at Buffy, her arms crossed in silent defiance. Buffy smiled brightly at the unhappy teen and ushered her into the 'office'.
Jade plopped herself down in the only other chair in the room and propped her feet on Buffy's desk. She then proceeded to pick the black nail polish off of her long fingers. Buffy took in the full appearance of the younger girl.
Her shiny black hair was shoulder length and crimped. She wore all black, from her combat boots, cargo pants, tight t-shirt, and choker to her heavy eyeliner, lipstick, and the chipping nail polish. 'I guess you can never have too much eyeliner…' Buffy thought.
Calmly, she pushed the girls offending boots off her desk as she sat down. Jade looked up long enough for Buffy to notice the surprise reflected in the girl's emerald eyes. Hah, my authority is working!
"So, Jade, how are you today?" Buffy asked conversationally.
The brunette slouched in the chair and merely shrugged, her attention drifting away from the guidance counsellor. Buffy nonchalantly began reciting some of the comments in Jade's file.
"Trouble-maker, disobedient, insolent, tardy…this is definitely not a glowing report card."
Jade's expressive eyes finally rested on the woman, belying a hint of defiance.
"Yeah, so? What's it to you?"
Buffy shrugged non-comittally. "It's not. Just wanted to know what you have to say about it."
A slight frown briefly crossed the girl's features before a look of disinterest settled on her features. "If that's what it says, I guess it's true."
"I'm sure you don't really believe that."
The frown returned and her eyes expressed confusion. "What does it matter if I believe it or not?"
Buffy didn't answer, she simply closed the folder and put it in a drawer. "You start with a clean slate here," she promised, echoing the sentiments of a previous Sunnydale High principal, Mr. Flutie, who had given Buffy the benefit of the doubt when she'd first arrived here.
Jade fidgeted in her chair a little, uncomfortable. "Um, thanks, but I don't know how much good it'll do. Trouble kind of…follows me, you know?"
Buffy nodded in understanding. "Trust me, I know what that's like." She gave the brunette a warm smile before standing and offering her hand in friendship.
Jade regarded the gesture warily before accepting it with a cautious smile. Behind the tough façade, Buffy sensed a budding strength and determination, and also a malnourished sensitive side. She knew the perfect person to get this girl settled in.
"I want you to come with me. There's someone I want you to meet."
Buffy led Jade out into the hall and down to one of the science classrooms. After tapping gently on the door, she opened it a crack and poked her head in.
"Sorry to disturb, Ms. Klassen, but I need to borrow Dawn for a while."
"Certainly, Ms. Summers. Dawn?"
Buffy's sister closed her notebook and swung her bag onto her shoulder as she stood. She walked to the front of the room and slipped out the door without a backwards glance.
"So, what's the big? Did Spike wake up?" she asked hopefully. Then she noticed the black-haired girl hovering behind her sister. "Um, k, I'm confused. Who's this?"
Buffy turned and dragged Jade forward. "Dawn, this is our new student, Jade. Jade, this is my sister, Dawn."
The two teens looked each other over for a moment before they simultaneously flipped their hair over their shoulders in an action of indifference.
"That's great. Can I go back to class now?" Dawn asked.
Buffy glared at her sister's rudeness. "I want you to give Jade a tour of the school."
Dawn's blue eyes went wide in surprise and opened her mouth to protest. Jade's mouth set in an angry line and her eyes narrowed.
"No, there is no discussion here. I want you two to make nice and try not to get into trouble. Understood?"
The teens exchanged a look of disgust before relenting to 'Guidance Counsellor Buffy'.
"Good. When you're done sight-seeing I want you both to visit me in my office. K?"
Rolling her eyes, Dawn replied, "Yes, General!" and saluted her sister.
"Whatever," Buffy sighed, and walked away from them.
Dawn and Jade watched her retreat until she disappeared from view, then turned to each other.
"So, where should we start?" Dawn asked. Jade just looked away and shrugged. "Right, um…how 'bout we just walk around and I'll point out anything of interest?"
"Sure, fine, whatever."
"Geez, who pissed in your cornflakes?" Dawn shot back.
An amused expression crossed the other girl's features before she retorted, "Look, I don't need Miss Energetic's little sis to hold my hand. I'm fine on my own."
"Oh, really? Then how do you expect to find the cafeteria? Or were you just planning on starving yourself all year?"
"Figured I'd just follow the crowd."
"What about when you start classes tomorrow and have no clue where you're going? I guess you'll just follow the crowd into the grade nine applied math class instead of grade eleven English."
Jade contemplated this a moment before giving in with a sigh. "Fine, let's just get this over with."
Dawn grinned triumphantly and grabbed Jade's elbow, dragging her down the hall.
"Ok, so what classes are you in anyway? I'll start with those."
Jade pulled a folded paper out of her back pocket and handed it over.
"Oh, hey! You're in my biology class. That's the one I was just in. And, ooh, we've got free period together, and pre-calc, and…everything." Dawn frowned. "Our schedules are the same."
The girls glanced at each other before agreeing. "Buffy."
"I guess she figures you'll keep me in line," Jade commented. Dawn snorted.
"Believe me, if she wanted someone to keep you out of trouble, she would not have picked me. Trouble kind of…follows me."
"You know, I told your sister the exact same thing! She said she understood the feeling."
"Oh, yeah, Buffy had quite the rep in high school. You know, she burned down the gym when we lived in L.A. Then she got kicked out and our parents split up…and we ended up here. Weird Central, USA," Dawn explained.
Curiosity piqued, Jade pushed Dawn to continue.
"Well, lots of crazy stuff goes on here, but most people try to ignore it, pretend it doesn't happen. I like to call it the 'blinder effect'."
"No, I mean about your sister. What else has she done?" Jade clarified.
Feeling slightly uneasy about this line of questioning, Dawn let her down gently. "Oh, I dunno, you'd have to ask her, really. Mom didn't like to talk about it with me around."
Jade nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, my parents didn't like to talk about my 'behaviour'. I guess they had their 'blinders' on, huh?"
"Your parents talk about it now?" Jade gave Dawn a confused look. "Well, you said 'didn't', so…"
"Oh, um…see, I don't live with them anymore. I'm staying with my…cousin here."
"Ah, I see. Yeah, my life's kinda like that too. My dad left us and went to live with his secretary. Then Mom died, and Buffy too…um, took care of me after that. She's my guardian. It's just the two of us now."
They walked in silence, Dawn interrupting every now and then to point out a bathroom or a class they share. Eventually they made their way back to the biology class, just as the bell rang signalling the class's end.
Crowds of students began flowing out of rooms, pressing in on all sides of the two brunettes. Dawn once again grabbed her new friend's elbow and pulled her through the throng to Buffy's office.
"Hey, Buff, I'm finished my stint as tour guide. Any more special requests?"
Buffy looked up from her computer screen and gave the girls a thoughtful look. "How did it go?" she asked slightly amusedly.
"Oh, Dawn sure knows everything about this place."
"And we behaved ourselves like you said."
Buffy smiled. "Good! So, I guess you wouldn't mind helping Jade in class, with homework, making friends -"
"Yeah, we kinda figured you finagled Jade's schedule to put her with me. But," Dawn glanced at Jade, "why?"
Leaning back in her chair, Buffy regarded them seriously. "Cause I have a feeling you two have a lot to learn from each other." She pulled Jade's folder out of the drawer and plopped it on the desk.
"Dawn, you're working on the whole petty theft issue. Jade's got a problem with spots of violence. I want you to work together on becoming better citizens."
"Hey, I thought you said I have a clean slate?!" Jade exclaimed.
"You do, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to help you keep it clean. Call it, 'pre-emptive intervention'."
"But Buffy, do you really think this is…important right now? I mean, you know…"
"Of course it's important Dawn! And…this isn't about…that! This is about you and Jade, and my job as guidance counsellor states that I should help you with your problems. So, I'm helping!" Buffy reprimanded.
Jade picked up on an underlying tension between the two sisters. Wonder what this important thing is they're talking about…
Before Dawn could argue her innocence with her sister any longer, Buffy's phone rang.
"Sunnydale High, guidance office. Buffy Summers speak-…oh, hey Giles! What's up? You find anything…uh-huh…I didn't think the Net would turn up much. Thank Andrew for me though, okay? What's that?"
Buffy's eyes shot to Dawn's as she listened to the voice on the phone.
"Okay, I'll be right there. No, no, I've got the jeep. Just…keep him calm and lucid for me, k?"
She slammed the phone down and grabbed her purse before brushing past the two girls on her way into the hall.
"Dawn, I need to go home for a while. Make sure you and Jade get to all your classes and…um…"
"Buffy?"
"Yeah?"
"He's awake, isn't he."
Buffy didn't reply, just tossed a weak smile over her shoulder as she walked out the doors. Dawn stared after her sister, her heart racing a mile a minute in both fear and anticipation. He's awake, he's awake! Oh, thank God…
"Um, Dawn?"
Dawn was tugged out of her internal happy dance by Jade's voice.
"Oh, um, we've got English now. You got pens and stuff?"
Jade looked at her queerly before nodding. Then she followed the younger Summers girl to class, all the while wondering what the Hell had just happened between the sisters.