A Dawn of a Slayer

I Have a Headache!

At lunch, Alana and I sat with one of her friends, Sam. He was a tall guy, a little on the skinny side though. His hair was tied back in a tight ponytail only reaching down to his neck. My first impression was that he was a senior, but he was definitely in my grade.

"Hey, I'm Sam. I'm a junior." See? His bright blue eyes looked up at me as I sat down with my salad. "Are you sure you wouldn't want something else to eat?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking down at my salad. It looked all right: green lettuce, red tomatoes, and yellow... yellow... "What are the yellow things?" I looked back down and saw the large yellow thing start to move. Screaming slightly, I threw the salad into the trash and left it at that. "Oh my God, gross. What all was that?"

"The chilly-pepper roaches."

"What?"

"A recent development in Hickory's Weirdness," Alana explained.

"Hickory's Weirdness?"

"Yeah, a ton of weird stuff happens here. Ever seen the show O'Grady?" Sam asked.

"No, we don't have television at my house."

"Oh, well it's about this town where weird things happen because of this force they named the 'Weirdness'. So being that the 'Weirdness' is copyrighted, we, as in Alana and I, call it Hickory's Weirdness. But everyone else thinks all the creepy stuff is random coincidences."

Wow, they've explained it all in a completely believable theory, of course this theory is completely wrong. "Are you sure it can't be explained in another way?"

"Well... we do have another theory," Alana started. "But it's completely out-there."

"More out-there than relating everyday life to a TV show?"

"Very true," Sam chimed.

"Alright... we have this theory, from a book I found last year on vacation to London, that this town might be on a Hellmouth."

Wait... what? "Wait... what?"

"In my book, it explains the Hellmouth as a center for mystically evil magic. Weird, out-of-the ordinary happenings occur including disappearances, deaths, and demons. But it's completely false."

No, actually it isn't. "Why do you say that?"

"Because the only way a Hellmouth was real is if our whole existence is based on a lie. We're always taught magic was a false belief. That demons were only in our heads. And people killed people. That's what I believe anyway."

"What about you, Sam?"

"I'm open to anything that can explain why my coat had teeth this morning." We all laughed at his joke, but an inkling in my mind said he was telling the truth.

I wonder if I could tell these people about... well, everything. The Hellmouth, my so-called sister and the people I live with, about the demons I've seen and faced while in California? No, I have to respect Willow's request and keep everything a secret. Just thinking about it all gives me a headache. Huh, there it is. It took a while.

"Alright, let's stop freaking the new girl out," Sam joked. "So what classes are you taking, Dawn?"

"Uh... let's see, my first block is World History and my second block is the same as Alana's, so Pre Calculus; my third block is Art III, and my fourth block is AP Chemistry."

"Who do you have for AP Chem?"

"I think his name's Branson?"

"Bronson, excellent. You'll have that class with my boyfriend and I."

"You're gay?"

"Yeah... do you have a problem with that?"

"If I did I wouldn't be living with a lesbian couple." And so again we laughed. I like these two; they're very open with a lot of things (kinda have to be) and very open with people. If only I could be open with them. God, I hate having to lie to my friends! Ow, don't think too hard, Dawn; you have headache, not a stomachache. I'm just glad I didn't eat those yellow things.

By fourth block I wanted nothing to do with math again, but sighing heavily for the fact I have it for 18 more weeks. I tried to do my homework for it in my Art class, but ended up drawing a sketch of myself hammering threes and x's and crap into the ground. My Art teacher loved it, but I knew I still had to do it. I just hope AP Chemistry would be better. But unfortunately, my headache had not subsided. In fact, I swear it had gotten worse since my interaction with those stupid problems.

When I walked into the classroom, the first thing I noticed was a senior-looking boy talking to the teacher. He wore a bright red and yellow jacket that was obviously a football letter jacket.

I turned to take in the classroom fully: three laminate tables, probably fireproof, sinks at the end of each, along with test tubes and beakers. It was an actual science room, not the cheap, tables at the back, desks in front thing my old school had.

Sam, standing in the back wearing a large, whit lab coat, waved enthusiastically to me. I smiled and walked to him, passing seven people staring at me. I guess my entrance onto school grounds hadn't passed over people's heads yet.

"Hey, Sam."

"Hey, how's your day so far?"

"Aggravating, I have such a headache from my calc homework."

He got up from the stool he was sitting on and pulled another white lab coat over me. "I knew math'd be the death of us all, I just didn't know it' be this soon." I laughed at his joke.

The jock started to walk off from the teacher's desk and head down the row. Ohh, God was he cute! Blonde hair (obviously dyed); tanned, toned torso.

"Ok, I'm not much for football, but I think I'll start going to the games," I whispered as the jock went into a cabinet and took out another lab coat.

"I see you have your eyes on Hickory's quarterback, Jason," Sam whispered back.

"Most definitely."

"Fat chance."

Jason walked over and kissed Sam full on. Damn! Why are all the cute ones gay?!?

When Jason pulled away, Sam introduced me. "Jason, this is Dawn."

"Oh yeah, Motorcycle Girl."

"Great, I have a nickname."

"Class!" Mr. Bronson shouted. He was an old man, probably about fifty. He once had a full head of brown hair, but now it was diminished to a ring-around. "We have a new student today, I say we all, as in you all, gawk at her for a moment as if she was telling us about herself. Seeing as she will be."

I sighed and stood up. "My name is Dawn Summers, and I've been doing this all day. I have a headache, probably soon to escalate into a migraine. I have three hard classes this semester which I'm sure will all give me homework my first day here and I'd really like to go home as soon as possible."

That's what I would have like to say. "Hi, my name's Dawn Summers. I moved here from California, Sunnydale more accurately." I got a lot of "oohs" from this.

"You survived the earthquake?" Mr. Bronson asked, surprised.

"Yeah, my caretakers and I went to a refuge center. But we had insurance on our house so we got enough money to come here and get a fresh start."

All of a sudden, a lot of people started blurting out questions to me, but thankfully, Mr. Bronson started class.

At the end of school, Jason had offered me a ride with Alana and Sam, but I declined. I had to wait for Kennedy, cell phone or no cell phone.

Kennedy arrived about five minutes after Jason and all left the parking lot. "Hey, Kid," she yelled, taking off her helmet.

"Hey, Kennedy," I said rubbing my temples. The roar of the cycle did no justice for my headache.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I just have a headache." I grabbed my helmet off the back and straddled the bike one last time for today.

When we got home, I quickly scuttled into the kitchen and took some Tylenol, hoping the medicine would work fast.

Kennedy and Willow walked in staring intently at each other, which meant they were conversing psychically. Willow noticed me and finished her conversation to start a new one. "Hey Dawney, how was your first day?"

"It was alright, I have a splitting headache though."

"Did you take some medicine?"

"Yeah, as soon as I got home."

"Um... Buffy called earlier."

My headache seared as she continued on, but I couldn't hear any of it. I closed my eyes to the pain; only to open them again as the weight subsided instantaneously. It was weird what I saw, and it took a while to realize what I was actually seeing.

Everything was in weird shades of color, and in between shades I could see things: cereal boxes in the cabinets; glasses in the cupboards; and Kennedy's cycle keys in her hand. I was seeing through things.