Faith looked up at Sunnydale High school, and, with an annoyed scowl set on her face, she started up the steps. Yells down the pavement alerted everyone to the approach of a skateboarder. He glided along, calling,
"'Scuse me, sorry, watch out! Sorry, scuse me…" he fell silent on seeing the dark haired girl on the steps. Watching her, instead of the way he was going, he ploughed right towards the handrail. Faith knew what was going to happen seconds before it did. She spun, grabbing the guy's hand as his stomach hit the rail, and the board went flying. She raised her eyebrows.
"Classy." She said, helping him up.
"Ha ha, yeah… thanks." He spluttered. "You're new here, right?"
"Not if I can help it." She replied.
"Xander!" a voice called as a girl in a tunic approached. Faith kept her thoughts to herself.
"Will! Hey. New girl."
"Yeah." Faith said with an unenthusiastic smile.
"Hi!" the redhead girl chirped, "I'm Willow."
"An' you're Xander, right?" Faith checked.
"Yep, Xander… is me." Faiths lips quirked into a smile.
"Faith is me." She said calmly. "Look, y'know where the library is?"
"Right over there." Willow told her, pointing.
"Thanks. Right, let's get this over with." She murmured, and set off in the right direction without another word.
"She's… nice." Xander summarised.
"Uh-huh." Willow said, not entirely sure about that. They walked towards school, nearly reaching the door before Xander remembered the skateboard.
"Damn it." He cursed, and went to search for it in the hedges.
"Hello?" Faith called out. She strode into the library, looking around.
"Ah. Faith." The watcher said, appearing with a pile of books. "You came." He said, a smile playing on his lips.
"Yeah. Can I go now?" The watcher gave her a withering look. Faith rolled her eyes, and sat herself on the table, dropping her bag on a chair.
"You do know most people do that the other way around, yes?" Faith frowned, looked down at the chair, shrugged, and stayed where she was.
"So who are you, anyway?" She asked.
"Huh?" he asked, putting the books down on the counter.
"Y'know, your name? Or… d'you need to look that up?" The watcher frowned.
"My name is Rupert Giles… Mr. Giles. I'm the librarian here, and as you know, your new watcher."
"Yeah, 'bout that. I seriously think you should get someone else, G." He ignored the abbreviation, but frowned anyway.
"There is no one else, Faith. You are the slayer! One girl in all the world…"
"Yeah yeah, I know the spiel. I'm the chosen one, the only one who has the strength and skill… blah, blah, woof, woof. I don't care! It's not me! I'm not the 'chosen one' type."
"You have no choice." He said simply. She dropped her gaze to the floor.
"You think I don't know that?" She said quietly. "I've had people telling me that for the last couple of years. But you don't seem to get it… I don't want this! I want to live my life. I don't need all this on my back."
"From the diaries of Merrick's I read, it sounds like you enjoyed slaying. Revelled in it."
"That was before everyone started dying… Yeah, I love the thrill of the fight, ok? It's wicked… but I can't do this again. I'm sorry." Giles touched her shoulder,
"I understand. I really do. I wish this could be different. I didn't want to be a watcher at first… but we have to do what we have to do. Just… give it a go, ok?" Faith nodded slowly, and hardened once more.
"So, what's the deal with this town? I've been here like three days, and I've seen way more vamps than I'd like to." Giles picked a few books, and sat at the table.
"Look at these." She swivelled to look, grimacing at the gross pictures on the pages.
"I forgot how much you guys like your sick pics, and boring books." She murmured.
Half an hour later, Faith was annoyed again.
"You mean I have to?" She whined.
"Yes. Absolutely."
"But… why? Are you like, determined to ruin my life… again!"
"Faith! I am your watcher. You are the slayer, and there are some things you have to do to keep your identity unquestioned." She sighed again.
"So I have to go to classes."
"Yes. And if you don't go right now, you'll be late." Faith rolled her eyes and groaned.
"Fine. But I don't like you. K, G?"
"Giles." He replied, not looking up from his book.
"Whatever, G." She smiled, walking out.
At lunch Faith sat in a corner of the cantine, alone. She was still angry that she had to be here, and was well aware that her social skills weren't excellent anyway, so she had decided to keep out of everyone's way. Despite this, a pretty girl with long dark hair, perfect nails, perfect make-up, and a perfectly fake smile, joined her at the table.
"Hi, I'm Cordelia." Faith raised her eyebrows.
"Hi."
"You're Faith, right? You're new? Well, I'll take it upon myself to show you the way this place works, ok?" She gabbled in an oh-so-cheerful voice.
"Ok!" Faith mimicked. Cordelia didn't notice the piss-take.
"Right, well first rule, is, know your geeks. Once you know them all by sight, it's much easier to avoid them." Faith's eyebrows got higher. "Over there, that's Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris. Avoid them at all costs if you want to uphold your…" she looked Faith up and down, "Already doubtful popularity. Next…"
"Whoa, Cordy?"
"Yah?"
"I just wanna say one thing, k?"
"Uh-huh?" the voice was starting to really bug the new girl.
"Bite me." Faith said with an over enthusiastic smile. She picked up her tray and headed over to where Xander and Willow were sitting. Cordy sat there, stunned.
"Mind if I join ya?" Faith said, sitting at the table. Xander was starring at Cordy.
"What did you do to Cordy?" he asked, a grin spread on his face. "I like you." Faith couldn't help smirking.
"What did you say?" Willow gasped.
"She was giving me the low down on which people to avoid in order to be as much like her as possible. I told her to bite me." Faith said with a shrug.
"I definitely like you!" Xander almost squealed.
"Ok then." Faith said under her breath, wondering if she might have been better off with Cordy.
"So… where're you from?" Willow asked timidly.
"Boston." Faith replied, not meeting their eyes. She really didn't want to talk about her past.
"Ooh, I've never been there." Willow said chirpily. "So… your folks moved here?" Faith swallowed.
"Nope. Just me."
"They sent you to live with relatives? I wish mine would do tha… no wait, my relatives are even worse than them…" Xander trailed off.
"Na." Faith said, shrugging again. "It's just me. My folks… well I never really knew my dad, and my mom… can we not talk about this?"
"Sorry." Willow said with a sympathetic smile. Faith looked the girl up and down. On top she was, very simply, like Cordy had said, a geek, but Faith had a feeling that this girl had layers. She smiled a little, naturally. She knew now that she would have fun bringing this girl out of her shell. Hey, if I'm stuck here I might as well have a project, right? She thought to herself.
"So is there anywhere to hang round here?" Faith said aloud.
"The Bronze." Xander shrugged. Faith gave him a questioning look. "It's a club… the club… Sunnydale is kinda small."
"Yeah, I got that." Faith smiled. She seemed to be doing that a lot today, despite the fact that she was at school, where she had a new watcher, so she had to actually be a slayer again, and she actually had to attend classes. She shook her head slightly, and felt her forehead, I must be ill. She thought. I must be.
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