Suddenly she was falling, the ground rushing up to meet her in a dizzying spin of brown and grey. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came. Her body struck the side of the cliff, and she began tumbling end over end in a sickening somersault of death...

Buffy heard her gasp and turned to watch Jade shoot off the couch, apparently finally conscious. The girl looked around wildly, momentarily disoriented, before sitting back on the 'infirmary bed' and rubbing her temples tiredly.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she approached the patient. Jade looked up, startled, confusion dancing across her features.

"Huh? Oh, um, I'm fine."

"What happened?" Buffy asked, gently easing Jade into conversation.

She shifted slightly in her seat. "I think I got claustrophobic. Felt like I couldn't breathe. Guess I passed out, huh?" Buffy nodded.

Just then Miriam came into the room, mug of tea in her hands. "Oh, honey, you're awake! Thank God, we were so worried about you," she exclaimed, pressing the steaming cup into her niece's hands.

"I'm okay, Miriam," Jade said reassuringly, testing the tea with the tip of her tongue before deciding it was too hot to drink yet. She put it on the nearest surface and folded her hands demurely in her lap. "I'm sorry I worried you."

Buffy waved a dismissive hand at her. "You didn't do it on purpose - you never know when claustrophobia will attack."

Miriam gave Jade a strange look. "Claustrophobia?"

"Yeah, lots of people in the hall, I didn't know anyone...guess I got overwhelmed."

"Oh, that's a relief! I thought maybe this was a repeat of New York," Miriam sighed. Now it was Buffy's turn to look at Jade strangely.

"What about New York?"

"Oh," Miriam began, completely missing Jade's slightly panicked look, "Jade used to pass out like that on a weekly basis. At first I thought it was drugs, but she insisted it wasn't. The doctor suggested it was narcolepsy, but Jade slept fine. I'm convinced it was some expression of post-traumatic stress."

Jade sighed in exasperation before hopping off the couch and slinging her schoolbag over her shoulder. "Well, thanks for taking care of me, but I've got to get to class - wouldn't want to get kicked out for truancy on my second day. See you later, Miss Summers; bye Miriam."

With that, Jade disappeared out the door and into the hallway, leaving Buffy and Miriam staring after her. Buffy frowned and Miriam sighed, and both bid eachother farewell. The older woman left the office, and the younger stood regarding the slowly cooling tea.

The secretary Buffy had talked to earlier came out of Principal Wood's office. She walked past her and gave her a small smile which Buffy returned.

"Bernadette?" one of the other secretaries called out. The woman turned at the sound of her name and headed back the way she had come. Buffy gawked at her dumbfoundedly.

Bernadette, she repeated in her head. And here I thought it started with 'M'. With a shake of her head, she turned and headed into her cubicle for a nice, relaxing afternoon of paperwork.

****

"Jade? Jade!" She turned and waited for Amanda to catch up with her. The girl was tall, even taller than herself, with long, almost stringy brown hair with gangly arms and legs. Jade winced as Amanda tripped over her own feet and almost did a faceplant on the asphalt.

"Hey! I'm glad I caught up to you. I talked to Dawn and Shawn and they're both free tonight, so we can do research at the library, say, around 6ish? If that's okay with you, of course."

Jade frowned slightly. "Yeah, ok. Sounds good. Hey, do you know where Dawn is now?" she asked.

Amanda shook her head. "Last I saw she was heading to meet her sister at the jeep."

"Oh, okay," Jade nodded, disappointed that she wouldn't get to apologize for scaring her only friend.

"By the way, I heard about what happened earlier," Amanda added, as if picking up on Jade's train of thought. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just got a little claustrophobic." Amanda nodded in sympathetic understanding. Jade liked this excuse - too bad she hadn't thought of it before.

"Well, I gotta get going. I've got band practice after school and if I'm late, I have to do laps."

Jade gave her a confused look. "Mr. Tuba's the band and the gym teacher. He's a strange, strange man." Amanda headed back into the school and Jade continued on her way.

She had been planning on exploring the graveyards tonight, to map out vampire activity, but it looks like that would have to wait until another day. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar blonde head duck behind a large oak tree. Jade paused and focused her attention, trying to make sure she'd seen what she thought she saw...

There! She raced towards the tree, chasing after the person she had seen. But when she got there, nobody was in sight.

"Zeke?" she called out, circling the tree and keeping her eyes and ears peeled for him. "Zeke, is that you?"

There was no answer, and for all her searching, she came up empty. Maybe I did imagine it. With one last cursory glance, Jade headed for home.

Some time later, a young man hopped out of the tree where he'd concealed himself in the foliage. He stared in the direction she had gone, and followed.