Thanks for the reviews! I'm writing a lot faster now, so you guys keep on reading! I'm going to answer a few more questions you probably have over the next few chapters, and also introduce some familiar faces. Anyway, here's another chapter so enjoy!

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Chapter 4

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Buffy was surprised when the hall emptied just as quickly as it had filled. She was left sitting at the table with her newfound friends as the students hastened to get ready. They had no idea what to do, but then a nun shooed them out, so they stood awkwardly on the main staircase.

Fred appeared from the hallway with a harried expression and spotted them.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Uh...we don't know where to go." Willow admitted, ducking her head.

"Oh, of course! I'm sorry, I should have told you. Right, well if students don't go home or into the city, they usually either spend time in the library or the garden. You're allowed in the dormitories, but not many prefer to stay inside. The garden's on the roof. There's a ladder and a trap door at the end of the sixth floor that'll take you there."

She glanced at her watch with a frown. "I've got to go, but if you have any trouble, just call for Dennis!" she said over her shoulder as she hurried down corridor.

"Who's Dennis?" Cordelia asked and received only shrugs.

"Well?" Xander said, "Let's go find this garden."

"What if someone wants to go to the library?" Willow asked.

"Wills, if anyone other than you wants to go to the library, I'll skip lunch."

When no one said anything he nodded and said, "See? Let's go."

Willow scowled but followed nonetheless.

The trooped up the stairs and arrived at the sixth floor panting and wheezing, except for Buffy who only grinned.

"Slackers." she said.

They treaded down the hallway, and groaned when they arrived at a dead end.

"Who were we supposed to call if we had trouble?" Oz asked.

"Dennis!" Buffy called as she remembered his name.

Suddenly, Cordelia gave a shriek, and Buffy saw her hair pulled upright. It stood on its end, and Cordelia began to wail.

"Are you Dennis?"

Xander yelped as his head was moved in a nodding motion.

"Can you tell us where the garden is?" Buffy asked, and again Xander's head nodded.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he said as his ear was pulled, and his body followed his stretched ear to the wall.

Two knocks sounded down the corridor and the wall swung open to reveal a ladder. They thanked Dennis and climbed up the ladder consecutively. As Buffy was first, she pushed the trapdoor open and scrambled into the sun. She averted her eyes from the harsh glare of sunlight, then when it turned into a dull light she glanced around at her surroundings.

It was very green. That was the first thought that popped into her head. The lush grassed areas were spattered with tall, leafy trees and many, various sized shrubs. Flowers sprung from the green carpet in multiple colors. Benches lined a paved pathway that snaked through the shrubbery and came out into a basketball court where students were playing a fast paced game. Beyond the court was an open terrain where clusters of small children were lounging on the grass or throwing a red ball to each other.

"Oasis, much?" Cordelia said, gazing about in approval. Xander looked giddy with excitement, and Oz had already started towards the basketball court.

They made their way down the path with Oz in the lead, then Cordelia and Xander, and Buffy and Willow bringing up the end. Buffy noticed Xander lean over toward to brunette, and then smiled in amusement when Cordelia slapped him on the shoulder with a furious expression.

"He's a shocker."

Buffy glanced at the redhead beside her in confusion, "Huh? Who?"

"Xander. Look at them, they're so obvious." she smiled and shook her head. "He's so into her, and she pretends she can't stand him, but you can see she loves it. They're always touching each other, it's totally gross."

Buffy laughed and saw that they did take every opportunity to make contact. "Were you friends before you came here? With Cordelia, I mean?"

"Friends?" she snorted, "More like life enemies. We've know each other since crèche, but before we came here the only time she spoke to me was to tell me to get out of her way. You know the type; gorgeous, rich, popular, cheerleader, total bitch..."

Buffy bit her lip while Willow talked about all the run ins she'd had with Cordelia. Only one day ago she had been that girl Willow was describing. She'd been the pretty and popular one, the bitchy cheerleader. Rich? She hadn't been rich, but no one would have known that by the state of her wardrobe. She would have teased and tormented Willow had the redhead came to her school. She winced when all the bitchy incidents came flooding back to her.

Had she really been so horrible? Yes, that and so much more. From what Willow was telling her of Cordelia's high school exploits, it sounded as though she could have been a sound competitor in the bitch stakes.

"But her and Xander have always been at heads with each other, they're forever insulting each other. Anyone can tell they're flirting, but they'd never admit it." Willow was saying, "And then all of a sudden, she's talking to us like we've been friends for years. So I thought, maybe as well hang around with her since we don't know anyone else."

Buffy nodded and watched the two supposed 'enemies' and saw where Willow was coming from.

"Yep, definite vibes coming from the two of them."

They had arrived at the basketball court, and she saw that Oz was already being included in the game. The four of them sat beneath the shade of a tall tree beside the court. Buffy leant against the tree trunk, Willow lay on her stomach and Xander and Cordelia sat cross-legged opposite them.

They remained seated until an attractive, young nun came over, a friendly smile on her face.

"Aren't you kids going out today?"

"No, we're new here, so we don't exactly know what we're going to do." Willow explained.

"Oh!" the nun settled onto the grass between Xander and Cordelia. "In that case, I'm Jenny."

After a few introductions Xander asked, "Uh, not being rude or nothing, but shouldn't nuns be like, I don't know, against all this magic and demon stuff?"

She appeared about ten years younger when she laughed. Her eyes twinkled with amusement, and the skin around them crinkled. Buffy couldn't estimate what her actual age was, but she appeared to be thirty or so.

"Oh trust me, we would be very against all this if it weren't for Angel saving us from a burn out." she said.

"Burn out?" asked Willow curiously.

"Vampires set our convent on fire to lure us out so they could just pick us off one by one." she said with a shrug. "If it weren't for Angel and his gang we wouldn't be alive today. When he offered us a home here, we gladly accepted. Hence, we live here and help out during meal times and with the cleaning."

"Wow." Xander said, "So Angel, Mr. Stiff and Proper, actually fights the vampires?" he asked dubiously.

"Of course he does! Did you think he'd be a normal principle and just sit in his office all day with him being like he is? Angel and the staff are always fighting vampires." Jenny glanced at the sun and squinted, "I'd best be off now, I have to help ready lunch. I'll talk to you kids later."

They bid her goodbye, and turned to watch the basketball match, but Buffy was still thinking about what the nun, Jenny, had said.

'...With him being like he is...'

What did that mean? What was so wrong with Angel that he couldn't act like a normal person? He seemed ordinary when she'd spoken with him, a bit formal, uncommonly wise, but there wasn't anything altogether peculiar about him.

Now Spike, he was a different matter entirely. There was something unusual about him and it gave her a distinct physical tingle, but what, was still unclear to her. Whenever she had touched his hand it had been freezing, and had sent an icy chill up her spine. His touch had made her want to glance over her shoulder, as though danger lurked just beyond her line of vision.

There was definitely something about him, and she was going to find out what. However, for the moment she'd make do with dealing with her new life, her unusual school studies, and her Slayer duties.

Just like any other girl, she thought sarcastically.

Shaking her head to escape her own musings, Buffy turned her concentration to the basketball match currently in process.

There were a few girls, but the teams consisted mainly of boys. They seemed to be fifteen, sixteen years old, and the game was beginning to get physical. Fouls were occurring everywhere, and a fight would break out over whether it was a foul or not.

Oz was playing, and playing very well at that. For a short teenager, Oz was extremely fast and agile. He drove past players before they could even comprehend it. When he shot a goal, the four grass loungers cheered.

A tall blonde boy grabbed the ball and threw it to his teammate, then ran to the other end of the court. Suddenly, the ball disappeared from his teammate's hands and apparated into his own. He quickly shot a goal, and the other team objected furiously. Apparently, gifts weren't allowed in this game, and the two teams fought over the rules.

The boy who had cheated called out an offensive remark to a tough-looking brunette, and she stepped out of the pack and punched the blonde boy full on the nose. He yelped and clutched his bleeding nose, and a full brawl began on the court. The brunette jumped onto the boy's friend and began to throw punches. Two more boys attacked each other and soon the whole court- excluding Oz because he had cleverly stepped away from the crowd- was fighting.

Buffy ignored her friend's alarmed exclaims and strode onto the court. She grabbed a rather large boy by his shirt and effortlessly extracted him from his bleeding victim's limbs. She dumped him on the grass then walked back into the fray. She plucked the rough girl off her casualty and deposited her next to her teammate. By this time, the others had noticed their teammates on the ground and had stopped fighting.

The brunette girl stood up and stalked furiously over to Buffy.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled angrily.

"Stopping you from killing him!" Buffy answered calmly, pointing to the girl's victim who was sitting on the court nursing his bruised head.

"Well mind your own bloody business!" she yelled, pushing her face into Buffy's and looking down on her. When she didn't react, the brunette became irate and pulled back her fist. She drove her fist towards Buffy's face, but she didn't even flinch.

With lightning speed, Buffy grabbed her fist when it was only an inch from her face. The brunette's expression turned from angry to one of surprise. Despite the strength she was using, her fist wouldn't budge in the girl's grip.

"I will. But if you touch another student, don't expect me to just watch." Buffy said quietly. She had been shocked at her speed and strength, but had managed to cover her surprise.

"Faith!"

The two girls jumped in fright when an African-American man stormed through the trees.

"What do you think you're doing, girl? Attacking other students? This is the third time, Faith! Angel's not happy, and if you want to keep your butt in this school you'd better get down to his office right now!" he yelled.

Faith rolled her eyes as he approached then strolled past him and down the path that led back to the trapdoor.

"Harmony, help Jonathan down to the hospital wing, and Warren you go with Faith. I saw you jump Andrew, and no I don't care if he cheated."

The boy Buffy had dumped on the grass waked past with a scowl on his face, and the bleeding boy was helped to his feet by a blonde girl.

The man turned to face Buffy, and she guessed that he was a teacher of some sort.

"Buffy Summers I suppose?" he asked.

"Uh...yeah."

"I'm Gunn," he held out his held and Buffy accepted it. "Thanks for stopping the fight. Not many people here stand up to Faith or Warren, but I guess it isn't really a problem with you." he grinned, "Angel'll hear about this. I'll be surprised if the girl doesn't get kicked out, but then Angel was never one to send people away." he turned to go, but then whirled around, "Oh by the way, I was told to tell 'ya that you're wanted in the library."

"Do you know why?" she asked.

"I think your Watcher's waiting to meet you. Slayer duties and all that."

Yeah, Slayer duties and all that. If only, she thought.

She watched Gunn retreat down the path, a growing, gnawing dread filling the pit of her stomach.

She told the others that she had to go, and felt their eye's boring into her back as she walked away.

What if I'm not any good? She thought anxiously. Can Slayers be fired?

The feelings of apprehensions grew with every step, and by the time she had descended the ladder, she felt seriously sick. How can I fight vampires? I'm nothing but a teenage girl whose greatest fear is turning up to school wearing last season's clothes.

How am I supposed to save the world?