Chapter 7

Buffy sat on the floor. She didn't want to, what she really wanted to do was run away. Far away. And she had only watched a couple of minutes of the show.

"I need to get outta here..." she muttered.

"Going through the motions..." her tv-self sang. Grace was humming the melody too, and it sounded awful.

Buffy stood up, but Dawn pulled her down.

"You are gonna watch this, Buffy," Dawn hissed. "We can learn something new. And, you know, it's fun."

"Fun?" Buffy asked. "Wait 'til you sing." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked angry.

The bathroom door opened and Giles tried to walk in the room so that Grace wouldn't notice him. But she did.

"Anthony!" she yelled. "Come sit next to me!"

"I'd rather not," Giles tried to say. "It looks like all the space is taken."

"I'm sure you can squeeze yourself in," Grace said and Giles sat unwillingly next to her. And then started singing. In the tv anyway.

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"Oh... My... God!"

That was all that Grace could say. She clapped her hands. "Oh my God!" she repeated.

Buffy was pale. She stared at the screen. "No," somebody said. "No, no, no, no, no! She can't do that! Can she?"

"Eww," said another voice.

Buffy heard someone cough.

Then there was silence.

"How dare you!" yelled a high-pitched voice. Buffy looked up and saw Star. And she was furious. She almost slapped her, but Buffy stopped her hand. "He's miiine!" Star complained. Buffy rolled her eyes. Star returned to sit next to Spike and tried to grab his hand, but he pulled it away from her.

Silence again.

"Um, popcorn?" Willow asked.

Silence.

And then everybody started talking.

"Y-you put a spell on me?"

"But..."

"Where was Joyce?"

"We're getting married!"

"And you're planning to leave us?"

"You stole from my shop!"

"How many times do I have to repeat this: It's not your shop!"

"She died again? How does she always come back?"

"And what on earth was that thing..."

Buffy ran out of the room. She banged the door closed behind her and leaned on the wall.

"I... I died?" she bit her lip. "And I... Just... Yuck."

She shook her head. "No. That show just can't be real. I would never do that."

Dawn came out.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked.

"For what?"

"Well, the jewels in the box weren't exactly mine."

Buffy grabbed her shoulders. "Dawn. Think," she said. "Would I ever kiss Spike?"

"Well, yeah," Dawn said. "I mean at one point you were planning to marry him, so..."

"That was Willow's fault," Buffy said angrily. "I'm just saying, that what we just saw on tv isn't real. At all."

"How do you know?" Dawn asked. "Maybe that is what'll happen next year. I mean... I think I could... If you and Mom..." her voice broke.

"Oh, Dawn. Wake up! I'm not planning to die anytime soon. And Mom's gonna be fine too," Buffy said. "That was just somebody's imagination. I bet those writers don't really know anything about us. You'd never steal, Dawn. I know you better than that."

"I..." Dawn started, but the door opened.

"Buffy," Giles said. "We need to talk about this."