Your reviews are wonderful and I love the ideas you are all coming up with. Keep 'em coming.
A/N: I'm sorry about the wait between the last chapter and this one, but I've been reading fic rather than writing it. I've started the Twist of Fate series by Lisette, and I can tell you they are great! Check 'em out for a good read.
A/N 2: I've taken all your preferred 'ships into account and I've made up my mind. This story is going to be B/...What you didn't think I'd actually tell you, did you? Ohh...I'm evil, I know. ;p But I hope you don't stop reading this fic because of the ship. It will eventually become a necessary part of the story, so if you don't approve of the ship please just give it a chance.
A/N 3: Also, I've had requests for Lindsey to appear in this fic. I'm not familiar with his character, and not confident enough to actually write him, therefore he won't be appearing in this story.
Anyway, on with the story...
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Chapter 7
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The next day was much the same as the first, although the hall was considerably less occupied than the day before. Only twenty or so students remained over the weekend, including Buffy and her friends. Instead of spending the day in the garden, she headed back to her room after breakfast.
She waved off her friend's concern saying that she was only tired and made her way back up the stairs. As soon as she hit her bed, Buffy was ensconced in a deep sleep. She wasn't awoken until late evening, when Willow and Cordelia came in to check on her.
She expected to be called to train with Giles, but her Watcher didn't approach nor call for her during the meal. They had arranged that he would come get her but even after the sun had waned nobody came to fetch her. She shrugged the unpleasant tingling away and joined the others in a quick game of cards in the boys' room.
By the time the bell rang for lights out the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach hadn't disappeared, but she fell asleep nonetheless.
Again her dreams were filled with strange conversations between unknown people and dizzying cryptic symbols. She tossed and turned uneasily, but when she woke she remembered nothing of them.
With the dawn of the new day, Buffy rose from her bed anxious, nervous and weary. She was to begin her first classes today. Normal school and ordinary teachers had scared her enough, but now she was attending demon and vampire based classes, taught by demon hunters no less.
At breakfast the hall was teeming with students, all shouting, chatting and laughing about the new semester that was about to begin. She overheard someone moaning about how yet another Unusual Demons lecturer had been hired.
"Morning Buffy." Xander greeted her, followed by the rest of what had become her 'gang'.
"Hey, Xander, hey guys." she replied as she slipped into the seat and eyed the food hungrily. Scooping two pancakes onto her own plate, she drenched them in maple syrup before tucking in.
"Did you get your time table?" Willow asked, her eyes glittering from excitement. From Xander's teasing the night before, Buffy had gathered enough information to know that Willow was a more than adept student. Top of her class for four years in a row, in fact. She grinned at the redhead's enthusiasm.
"Unfortunately." she replied, delving through the small backpack that Cordelia had unwillingly handed over when it was discovered that she had nothing to carry her books in. She found the slip of paper and handed it to the other girl.
"Oh!" she squealed, "You and I are in the same classes! History of Demons first period, math's second, Vampire Analysis third, Science fourth and then...oh. You've got Slayer studies fifth. I've got a Wiccan class."
"At least I've got someone to copy off." Buffy muttered, earning a disapproving look from Willow and a deep chuckling from Xander.
"See Will? It's natural to have a fallback buddy."
"Fallback buddy?" Oz said, raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah, someone you can fall back on if you 'forget' to do your homework." Buffy explained, grinning back at her brunette friend.
Cordelia and Willow looked mystified at their two friends, but Oz just leaned back in his chair and smiled.
"Look, somebody actually speaks Xander-speech." Cordelia snorted.
"I resent that remark." Xander said, feigning a hurt expression. "Anyway, I'm in the same classes as you two as well," he said, nodding towards Buffy and Willow. "Except for the last one. I got..." he checked his timetable again and grimaced, "Tutoring your Gift. Aw, I hate one on one tutoring. There's no way to snooze through the lesson."
"Ever see those one-sided glasses? Works like a charm." Buffy replied with a smirk, earning more groans from her friends.
"You two are hopeless!" Cordelia groaned.
Just as Xander opened his mouth to reply, a loud bell rang through the hall and the next few minutes were filled with the sound of screeching chairs, rushing footsteps and scrambling students.
They waved goodbye to Cordelia and Oz and made their way down the first floor. Buffy glanced at her timetable and then shrugged helplessly at her two friends.
"This place is just too big to work out anything from this thing!" Willow exclaimed, waving her map in the air. The halls were emptying fast and she was beginning to become frantic. "What if we're late to our first class!"
"Oh no, we might get scowled at!" Xander said with mock horror.
"This isn't funny Xander!"
"No, dead serious here," he deadpanned.
"Look guys maybe there's someone around..." Buffy said, turning from left to right. The familiar prickle cascading down her spine and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
"Lost?"
The three of them jumped around in fright, Xander letting out a shriek.
"That's it Harris, real manly." Spike smirked, leaning against a pillar.
"Hey..." Xander began angrily, but then his face turned to one of confusion, "Hang on, how do you know who I am?"
"I know who everyone is Harris," he said as he turned his gaze onto the two girls, "Rosenburg, Summers." His gaze lingered on Buffy for a second longer, before turning back to the three of them. "You guys lost?"
"Uh...yeah." Buffy said, "We've got History of Demons in chamber seven."
"Two doors down on your left." he directed, "Better hurry up though; Wes doesn't take well to late comers."
They nodded and hastened past him. Spike grabbed Buffy's arm as she brushed past him and she shivered involuntary at his touch.
"Don't always follow orders, pet. 'Cause that's what'll get you killed." he hissed in her ear and she pulled away from him in shock. He turned and sauntered away, leaving Buffy standing frozen in the corridor.
"Buffy...hurry up!"
She turned to see Willow gesturing from the door and hastened into the room, slipping into a seat in the back row between her two friends. Wesley raised his eyebrows but said nothing of their late entrance.
"Good morning students. For those who don't know me, my name is Wesley Whydham-Price, but the teachers here go by their first names so feel free to call me Wesley. This year I will be teaching you the basics of demon history. Firstly, I've placed a copy of the textbook on each of your desks. These must accompany you to every class. Secondly, this class will be mainly theory work, so don't expect many practical experiments." He said, ignoring the many groans that ran throughout the classroom. "Now, first question: how did demons originate?"
Willow's hand shot up.
"Ah, yes, Miss Rosenburg?"
"Demons roamed the Earth since the dawn of time and made it their home. Eventually, they began to loose their grip on this world and the Gods banished them to the Hell that exists today. The human reign began, but the last remaining demon sucked the blood of a human and hence vampires were created."
The class stared at her in shock and Wesley's mouth fell open in surprise.
"Uh...I-I see you've been to the library, Miss Rosenburg. Well done, that was ah...an accurate account. Ah, today we will be studying the Mak'le'ki demon. Now, does anyone know the characteristics of a Mak'le'ki demon?"
Willow's hand shot up again, and Buffy sunk further into her seat, rolling her eyes at Xander. As her bright friend answered with another textbook response, she leant over to Xander.
"Are we supposed to know this?" she whispered.
"Hope not," he replied, "'Cause I have no idea what she's talking about."
"Same here. I didn't even know any of this stuff existed until two days ago," she mumbled, straightening in her seat when Wesley glared at them from the front of the class.
"Willow only found out a week ago, and she's read all the text books inside and out," he replied, covering his mouth with his hand.
"And if Mr. Harris and Miss Summers finish their private conversation, we can begin labeling the illustration of a Mak'le'ki."
Buffy and Xander startled at Wesley's pointed statement and turned sheepishly to the front. She imitated zipping her lips and throwing away the key, and for the rest of the lesson concentrated on listening to Wesley's descriptions. As the class progressed she found herself becoming more attentive to his teachings. She'd never been one to enjoy lectures, but this particular topic held her attention throughout.
Buffy was surprised when the bell rang. The lesson had flown by without her even noticing, and not once had she glanced at the clock and wished it over.
"I want a four hundred word essay on the attributes and physical characteristic of the Mak'li'ki demon finished by next lesson." Wesley called over the loud rings.
She flung the bag that held her textbook over her shoulder and joined the others in the hall.
"Wasn't that just marvelous?" Willow exclaimed as they made their way to the second floor where their math's class was being held. "I can't believe there's so much to learn!"
"Learn?" Xander snorted, "Will, you knew everything before the class even started!"
"Not everything," she replied, unaware of his sarcasm.
They pushed and shoved their way through the masses of students conversing on the stairs. Xander's speed seemed to slow with every step he took.
"I have no problem learning about demons, but math's? No thank you!" he replied when Buffy questioned his leisurely pace.
" Aw, come one Xander, I'll protect you from the big bad numbers!" Buffy joked.
"And I feel so much better now," he grumbled as they entered the room. A tall, imposing woman stood stiffly behind her chair, looking down her nose at the students who passed her. Her eyes narrowed when they alighted on Buffy, but she said nothing. She could feel the woman's eyes bore into her back as she strolled to the back row.
"Please be seated," Her voice was icy and it was more of an order than a request. Immediately a hush fell through the room and she continued, "I am Gwendolyn Post, Miss Post to you. The course book has been placed on each desk. Do not lose it. Remove your notebooks and copy these sums from the board."
Buffy groaned inwardly as she extracted her notebook. This was going to be a very long lesson.
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"That was the longest lesson ever!" Xander complained as they left the room with fifty sums for homework. "Who would invent math's anyway?"
"People who have no life." Buffy answered dryly, already dreading that night's homework.
"Thought so."
"We're in chamber 13." Willow read from her timetable. "Where do you suppose that is?"
"Probably further down the hall." Xander said with a shrug. In fact, it was the very last chamber.
"Vampire Analysis. This is going to be real interesting," Buffy muttered, aware that she already knew about a lot of the things they would be teaching.
"Hope so," Xander grinned excitedly, "And I wish we get a better teacher than Icy woman," he said as he pushed the door open.
"Wish granted."
Xander, Buffy and Willow glanced up in surprise at their Vampire Analysis teacher.
"Angel?"
"Yes?"
"You're our teacher?" Xander blurted out.
"Have a problem with that Mr. Harris?" he asked with amusement.
"Uh...no. It's just...you don't exactly seem like the...type of...ah, don't worry," he trailed off, quickly slipping past the amused head master.
Buffy sat down and waited curiously for the lesson to begin. Once the students were settled, Angel breezed over the course requirements and the topics that they would be studying. Buffy saw many students learn forward, eagerly waiting for the lesson to begin. Many did seem curious, if not excited to see what this class would contain.
Surprisingly, the lesson was laid back and enjoyable. Angel leaned against the front of his desk and most of the lesson was utilized by the student's views on how vampires were portrayed in the media by people who only thought of them as fantasy creatures. It was interesting to hear where they went wrong.
"Vampires can be killed by a wooden stake through their heart. Decapitation and sunlight also work," he explained, "But holy water and crosses can only hurt them, they can not kill."
"What about their teeth? Do they stay as fangs?" asked a short girl near the front of the room.
"Good question. No, they don't. Vampires appear normal until they wish to bite a person. Then they will 'shift' into game-face, which means that they will grow fangs and their face will become a demon's." he said as he sifted through the papers on his desk. He found the one he was looking for and held it up for everyone to see. Buffy had already seen this particular picture of a vampire and it didn't faze her, but the rest of the class gasped in horror.
"That's horrible!" the girl exclaimed.
The topic changed when a burly looking boy held up his hand.
"How do we fight vampires?" he asked.
"You don't. The Slayer does." Angel answered. Buffy's eye widened and she waited for the stares and whispers that were sure to come her way. But when the students gazed blankly back at him, she released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.
"What's a Slayer?"
"One girl chosen in all the world, with the strength and skill to fight the vampires." His eyes flicked to the back row, "But that is for another lesson. Any other questions?" he asked. Buffy glanced from Willow to Xander's confused face.
They mustn't know about me, Bufffy thought with relief. Her eyes narrowed when she remembered the look of comprehension on Faith's face. The other girl had known. Why hadn't she told anyone?
After discovering that she'd told her friends about her identity, Giles had prohibited her from telling anyone. She had been skeptical on it remaining a secret, but had understood the necessity of it. If other students decided they wanted to be superheroes, she would have them following her on patrols and more than likely placing themselves in danger.
Buffy still couldn't understand why Faith hadn't spread it around the school. She instantly pushed back the thought of blackmail to the furthest recesses of her mind. She wouldn't do that. However, the thought nagged at her and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Psst, Buffy." Xander hissed to gain her attention, "I didn't know it was a secret." Willow nodded when she overheard him.
"Well it is, so don't spread it around." she whispered back and they nodded and fell silent.
"What does it feel like to be bitten?" an unpleasant boy asked.
"Any reasonable questions?" Angel countered, earning a few sniggers from the students.
"Is Dracula real?"
Angel's face brightened and he smiled. "Well, that story is quiet fascinating..."
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I thought you guys deserved an extra long chapter since it was so late in coming. Hope you enjoyed!