The science classroom was dark and empty. A dark figure appeared in the doorway and glanced at the clock, seeing that he had three hours until the teachers arrived, which would be plenty of time to complete his task. He cleared out a space on the floor and opened his book bag. He withdrew a book and opened it to a marked page in the middle. He took the supplies that he would need from his book bag as well, and set them on a nearby desk.

The oil was first. He walked in a circle, pouring the sacred oil so that he was enclosed in the circle. He took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Sema, goddess of fruitfulness, look down upon your lowly servant. Look down upon the one who has called upon your name, begging you once again for your favor."

He struck a match and lit the oil that surrounded him on fire. He continued his incantation.

"Hear me, Sema," he stated with growing confidence. "Hear me and make me more than I am. Make me what I want to be; make me stand out from the herd and a tower of strength among the lower beings."

The smoke began to billow up towards the ceiling. He paid no attention and took a knife from his back pocket, making a slice across the palm of his hand, letting his blood drop into the fire, his voice getting stronger and louder.

"Accept this offering that I bring. Accept this offering and honor my request. Sema, if you accept me, fill me and extinguish what I have built!"

The fire raged at his words, and the smoke began to surround him, and covered his face like a mask. He began to breathe deeply, taking the smoke into his body. After inhaling deeply several times, there was a flash of light and the smoke and fire were gone, leaving no trace behind it.

Cordelia stepped out of her car, and began walking toward the school. For the first time in three months, she was glad the vampire activity was light, so she could spend some time away from Wesley. He was a cloud of gloom and doom last night.

She knew that Wesley had feelings for her. And Cordelia couldn't deny that he gave her the warm fuzzies, too, but she was 16 and he was 25. Did he expect her to not date for the rest of her high school career just because they had some chemistry? Unlikely story. He may have put his love life on hold, but she wasn't going to.

As she walked into the classroom, she saw that Mitch was already at their lab station. She was glad she had only told Wesley about Mitch being in her History class. He would have really flipped if he found out Mitch was her lab partner, too. She sat down beside him, and saw that he was engrossed in some major studying, and had a bandage over his hand.

"So, Mitch, do you think we should look at the periodic table…what happened to your hand?"

He grunted something about burning his hand on the iron.

"Housework related injuries must be right up there with dentist suicides. This is why I let the maid do all of my ironing. Anyway, I had a great time at the Bronze last night. Maybe we could do it again tonight?"

Mitch lifted his head. His eyes were bloodshot.

"Oh, my gosh! Mitch! Did you sleep at all last night?"

He shook his head no.

"You were studying?"

He nodded.

"Do you think it's smart to skip sleep before a test?"

He expression went from blank to rage.

"I don't care what you think is smart, Cordelia!" He hissed at her.

She straightened her posture and looked him in his eyes.

"If you think you can get away with speaking to me in that tone, think again! You are totally on my list."

"Oh, consider me heartbroken, Cordy. Now, if you don't mind, I have something to concentrate on." He turned back to his scribbling until the teacher walked into the classroom.

"Clear your lab stations, please. I'll begin passing out the test, and you may get started when every team has a booklet. You will find that your cabinets are stocked with everything you'll need to complete the test, along with instructions for turning your completed mixtures in to me."

When the teacher had passed out all the booklets, Cordelia opened it and began collecting ingredients for their first mixture. Before she could begin combining the ingredients, Mitch snatched the booklet away from her.

"Excuse me! I was working on that!"

"Why don't you let someone who knows what he's doing make these mixtures?"

"Hello! Team effort ring a bell?"

"Well, I'll have to make up for your half of the team. Why don't you just sit there and look pretty? That's your specialty, right?"

"What's wrong with you? We should work on these together!" Mitch lunged at Cordelia, knocking over several containers of fluid in the process. Mitch screamed, making the teacher and the other students look up.

"Look what you've done, you idiot! That's half our grade spilling on the floor! God, Cordelia, how on earth did I get stuck with you?" His eyes grew redder as he screamed. His breathing became staggered, and blood trickled from his nose and mouth. He collapsed on the floor.

The teacher ran over to Mitch, and checked for a pulse.

"He's still breathing. Someone call 911, quickly!"

Cordelia was already on her cell phone.

"An ambulance will be here in 5 minutes."

Cordelia stood at the door of Wesley's apartment. The door was closed, and she had a key, but she didn't want to use it. She didn't want to hear what Wesley had to say when she told him about Mitch's episode in Chemistry. But she needed to know what had happened to him, and she felt sure Wesley was the only one who could tell her.

She slid the key into the lock and opened the door. Wesley was seated on the couch, writing in a journal. She stood in the doorway, waiting for him to acknowledge her, but he was too engrossed in his writing to notice her.

"Wesley." He jumped at the sound of her voice and slammed his journal shut. He stood up and faced her.

"Cordelia, you startled me."

"I can see that. Must've been a pretty important something you were writing in that journal for you to want it closed so quickly."

"No, I…was just recounting our patrol last night."

Cordelia didn't believe him, but she was willing to let it slide. "Wes, I don't care what you write about in your little Watcher Diaries, because I know I do good work. Besides, I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here about Mitch."

Wesley's face tightened at the sound of his name. He took his glasses off and began rubbing them with a handkerchief, as she closed the door behind her and sat in a chair.

"I'm not sure how I can help you."

"Well, I'm sure this is going to be music to your ears, but Mitch had a complete and total brain misfire today."

"Well, I hate to say I told you so, but..." Wesley's face lit up just a little, but enough for Cordelia to notice.

"You're kidding, right? Don't start with me; it could have been anyone. Listen, he wigged today in Chemistry when we started our test. But that doesn't make him evil."

Wesley stopped rubbing his glasses and placed them back on his face. "I thought you took History with him."

"Well, Chemistry, too. He's my lab partner." She averted eye contact with him.

"You didn't think enough of me to tell me the truth?" The tone in his voice smacked of disappointment. It made her stomach hurt. She decided to take the defensive anyway.

"Because I knew you'd act this way. Why are you so jealous of him?"

Wesley coughed and stuttered.

"I…I…I am most certainly not jealous of a…a….a high school boy. Why on earth…"

"Because you're acting like a 10 year old. Why don't you just pee around me and mark your territory?" Cordelia stood up, her anger burning inside her.

"How absurd. I'm only thinking of your safety."

"Is that what you keep telling yourself?"

"I don't see how you would think anything else."

"I don't see how I couldn't."

He was stumped. He had no other arguments. Cordelia had him dead to rights. She could read him so easily. He decided the best plan of action was to avoid the subject altogether.

"Why don't you begin by telling me everything that led up to his episode, and describe the occurence itself? I'll see what I can find." He sat down at his desk, and began to write in his Watcher's Diary as she spoke. Wesley finished writing, and looked up at Cordelia. "It certainly sounds mystical. It's vaguely familiar, but I'll have to do some research."

She had a very worried look on her face. She began to bite her bottom lip.

"Wesley, do you think he's not human? If he's been possessed by some sort of demon out to get me, I'm going to kill him."

Wesley was taken back by her choice of words. He expected her to feel some grief for her friend, not rage. Obviously, Cordelia's infatuation hadn't clouded the love she had for her own life.

"You need to be cautious, because in all likelihood he could be a demon of some sort, or someone may have cast a spell on him to influence his actions."

Cordelia sighed. "I guess I'm off to baseball practice. Maybe his friends know something."

She turned her back to him, and began collecting the things she had so carelessly discarded just minutes before.

"I'll just stay here, and begin my research." He looked away from her and down at his desk. "I'll call you if I find anything."

Cordelia turned to him and smiled.

"Thanks, Wes. It means a lot," she said as she slid her purse over her shoulder.

"Not enough, apparently," he said quietly as he watched her close the door behind her.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, as Cordelia walked onto the baseball field. Some of the players called out to Cordelia and she waved, but kept walking towards the dugout. One of them noticed her and called her over.

"Hey, Cordy. Quite a surprise to see you out here."

"Well, Jared, this is where I knew you'd be. Can we take a walk?"

"Sure," Jared said with a laugh. "Just don't let Mitch know. His fist in my face is not a thought I'd like to entertain."

Cordelia laughed with him and then turned, letting Jared catch up to her.

"Actually, Jared, I was hoping that we could talk about Mitch."

"Umm, OK..." he said with hesitance.

"I guess you heard about what happened to him today."

"Yeah, the coach told us he went to the hospital. Have you been by to see him?"

Cordelia looked down at her shoes. "Not really. A lot of his outburst was directed at me. I was hoping you could tell me what's going on with him. He was just fine at The Bronze last night."

Michael smiled, but Cordelia didn't like it. "Last few days, his game's been off. And the coach is on him about his grades. Threatened to take him off the team."

He paused, then leaned close to Cordelia and whispered, "But you didn't hear any of that from me, OK? If you guys are having problems, you should go to him."

"Actually, this helps alot. Maybe I'll be able to talk to him now."

"Listen, I've got to get back to practice. But Cordy, if this thing with him doesn't work out, give me a call." He winked at her as he walked away.

Cordelia turned and began walking in the other direction. She made a face.

"No thanks, I am so done with jocks."

As Cordelia opened her car door, she heard Jesse call her name.

"Oh, yay, it's my stalker," she said to herself in disgust.

"Cordelia! Wait up!" Jesse yelled again.

"Ugh! I'm right here. You don't have to yell," she told him.

Ignoring her sarcastic remark, Jesse smiled. "So how's it going?"

Cordelia stared in disbelief as she sat down in her car. "What do you want?"

"I heard about Mitch and thought you might want to talk."

"With you?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, uh, yeah," he said, still smiling.

A vicious smile spread across Cordelia's face. "Well, uh, no!"

As Cordelia cranked her car's ignition, Jesse said innocently, "Then I guess you don't mind if me and Xander and Willow talk about that exciting fight we saw in the cemetery a couple of weeks ago."

Cordelia set her jaw. "What do you want from me?"

"Well, for starters, how about a ride? I'm meeting Xander at the Espresso Pump," Jesse said with a smile as vicious as Cordelia's was earlier.

"Like you two morons need to be hopped up on caffeine," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Get in."

He slid in beside her and buckled his seatbelt. "Thanks, Cordy."

"Try not to get idiot drool on my leather interior."

"That's another thing. These insults really need to stop, unless you need someone finding out your little secret."

Cordelia closed her eyes and sighed, then threw the car into drive and sped away.

After Cordelia dropped Jesse off, she decided to skip going back to Wesley's apartment to study. Instead, she went back to school and sat at a table in the library. She was engrossed in her book when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Wesley standing to her left.

"One of the teachers said she saw you walk in here," Wesley said with a hint of apology in his voice.

"So much for that 'state-of-the-art' security system the principal had installed," Cordelia said sarcastically.

Wesley heard the sarcasm in her voice and responded with similar bite. "I wouldn't be here, but you won't answer your phone. Too busy mingling with the elite?"

Cordelia's eyes narrowed. "I turned it off. As you can see, I'm attempting to study." She was suddenly aware of how annoyed she was by his being there.

Wesley sat down beside her and closed the book she had been studying. "Cordelia, I realize that you are upset with what has happened to your friend, but we still have a job to do. Unfortunately, we do not get the luxury of shutting down when things get bad."

She turned to him and whispered venomously, "You mean I don't get the luxury of shutting down. You mean I still have a job to do. You can quit anytime you want. I, on the other hand, get no such choice."

She paused, and added, "I haven't shut down. I just wanted to study."

Before Wesley could reply, a female student cleared her throat behind them. They turned to see a young redhead staring at them with her arms crossed over her middle. Cordelia rolled her eyes and exhaled.

"Willow, I'm having a conversation here."

"You're too loud. Other people are trying to study," Willow said firmly, though her fear was present in her eyes.

"I apologize," Wesley offered. "It's my fault."

Willow looked at him, confused. 'Who are you? Are you a teacher?"

"Not exactly, no," responded Wesley with a smile. Before he could continue, Cordelia cut him off.

"Save it, Wesley. Willow's just a library assistant until a new librarian arrives. She's nobody to worry about."

Willow's face fell, and Wesley looked at her sympathetically.

"If you don't leave, I'll get Mr. Flutie."

"What's he going to do, make us hug?"

Willow set her jaw and pointed to the door, and Cordelia rolled her eyes, all while collecting her purse and book.

"I don't need anything on my record. C'mon, Wes." When she walked out the door, Wesley followed her.

"Way to get us kicked out of the library, Captain Loud Mouth," Cordelia said as soon as they were in the hallway of the school.

"We wouldn't have gotten kicked out if you hadn't cut your phone off. And why would you go to the library when you should have been questioning the baseball players like you said you were?"

"I did question them. I just wanted…. I just wanted to spend some time alone."

Wesley looked as if she had just slapped him in the face, but she didn't see any point in lying to him. She sighed and took him by the arm.

"Let's take a walk."

The sun began its descent in the sky as Cordelia and Wesley walked down the sidewalk away from Sunnydale High School. For a while, neither of them spoke, but suddenly they both spoke at once, as if the silence was too much for them to bear.

"Wesley…"

"Cordelia…"

They stopped walking to face one another.

Cordelia started gently. "Wesley, I know how you feel about me. It's been pretty obvious from the day we met. But Wes, I don't…I don't want to hurt you."

She tried to smile, to let him know everything was going to be all right, but all she could find in her heart for him was pity. She reached out and touched his cheek.

"You don't deserve to go through this, especially over some silly high school girl like me."

"Cordelia, I don't think you're silly at all."

"But I am. I'm only interested in cars and money and popularity," she told him. "You need to find someone who likes peace and quiet and talking about books. You don't want me. You just think you do."

Wesley stood there, his jaw becoming more and more rigid. He reached up and removed her hand from his cheek.

"I see," he said as his posture straightened. "Well, then, I guess that gives me a new perspective, doesn't it? Please tell me what you found out at the baseball field today."

Cordelia stood there, looking at Wesley in disbelief. "Wes, if you want to talk about this…"

"I believe everything that needs to be said has already been said. Shall we get back to work?"

"Um, OK. I, uh, spoke to one of Mitch's friends, Jared. He said that his grades were down, and that his 'game was off', whatever that means. He also said the coach was threatening to throw Mitch off the team if things didn't improve."

"Interesting," Wesley said as he turned and began walking.

"What? What's interesting?" Cordelia asked when she caught up with him.

"Yesterday you told me that this boy was a straight-A student, but his teammates seem to have a different story. What do you think that means?"

"That Mitch is a colossal jerk and a liar?" Cordelia asked sarcastically.

"Or," Wesley began, "It could mean that Mitch has been attempting to improve on himself to keep from losing what he holds dear, which falls right in line with what I've found. My research indicates that, according to the transformation he underwent, he may have performed an augmentation spell. Cordelia—I want you to go to the hospital and talk to him. In his vulnerable state, he may be more adept at opening up to you."

"Sure, like in Chemistry this morning. I felt like he wanted to open me up instead of open up to me."

"Pride is a curious thing, Cordelia, especially in men."

"So I've noticed," she said with the raise of one of her eyebrows.