Thanks so much for the reviews guys, I didn't think anyone was actually reading this!
Part 5
"Hey, you," she yelled across the almost empty hallway and took the few remaining steps towards the girl, then slammed the opened locker shut with her left hand. If there had been any curious students wanting to stay around when she'd first uttered the words, they were long gone by now after having seen the last gesture.
"Uh…hey," the brunette girl replied, pulling the straps of her backpack across her shoulders and looked at the slightly shorter blonde before her.
"Listen, bitch, I just wanna make a few things clear. First of all, I think it's just great that you want to experiment and all, but don't mess with me in the process; which basically means 'don't get in my way', and you very obviously are. Second of all, Faith is my girlfriend and I don't want you around her. You got me, or do I need to repeat myself, Rem?"
The brunette stared at her, trying to contain the shock of being basically harassed by one of the most popular girls at the school and grabbed the straps of her backpack tightly, "I…I didn't know that…I thought you guys broke up…a…and anyway I'm sure Faith knows perfectly well who she wants to be around with…and who not."
Suddenly the blonde's hand snapped forward, pushing the other girl harshly into the lockers and Buffy got as close to the younger girl's face as physically possible without it being considered sexual contact. Her hand wrapped around the fabric of Ren's shirt and pulled her up a little, giving her a look that would've brought the dead back to life, "Don't mess with me, little one. You are nothing compared to me; you aren't popular or pretty or anywhere near what Faith wants. Save yourself some trouble and stay away from her, because if I ever see you near her again…you don't wanna know what I will do to you. Faith is mine, and no one, no one is going to get into my way…especially not some geeky little whore like you."
Buffy gave the brunette another small shove, then turned around and walked down the empty hallway as if nothing had happened. The brunette looked after her, taking a few cautious steps away from the lockers and smoothed out her shirt. She walked back to her locker and opened it to get the books she needed for the study session she was already late for. Silence was choking her almost, there was not a single sound to be heard in the hallway now, except for the rhythmic ticking of the broken clock up on the wall and her hitched breaths.
Ren stopped and leaned her head against her hand, resting her elbow on the bottom of her locker and tried to fight the tears. There was no good reason for this happening, it just wasn't fair. Faith was definitely one of the greatest people she knew and now some blonde bitch wanted to have her way with things just because she was popular and pretty. The brunette considered going home for a second, but then decided against it. She wasn't going to let it get to her and she hoped she could actually follow through with that.
Sighing, Ren put the last of the books into her backpack and closed her locker. She wiped away the tears that had almost spilled from her eyes and walked towards the library. But there was no bounce in her step like usual.
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The girl looked up as the library doors opened and smiled as she saw her friend walk in, looking around the room. Approaching the table slowly the brunette smiled softly as she finally sat down in a chair next to Faith and pulled out a couple of books from her backpack. She was barely looking at the taller girl next to her, ignoring the questioning stare she was being thrown by her friend.
"Uh…Ren?" Faith finally asked, leaning over far enough into the brunette's visual field to not be overlooked again.
"Yes?" Ren asked, her voice small and nervous, something that the other girl immediately noticed and made her worry slightly.
"What's wrong?"
Looking down at her book, Ren brushed a strand of dark hair from her face and raised her eyes to meet soft brown ones. She considered telling Faith about what had just happened in the hallway, but her heart was telling her not to. As much as Ren disliked Buffy, she also knew that Faith still had some sort of feelings for her and she wasn't about to hurt her friend. So instead the younger girl decided to forget about the threat and smiled at Faith as sweetly as she could muster, shaking her head.
"Nothing…just a little stressed about school. Ready to do Chem?"
Faith gave her another suspicious look but then leaned back and grabbed her own Chemistry book, her eyes never leaving Ren's. The shorter brunette ran a hand through her hair and looked down at the book, hoping that at least science would be able to take her mind off what was going on.
"Uh…the chemical formula for…table salt?" Her voice was back to normal, but she was nowhere near having her complete attention focused on studying. They'd been studying together for probably four weeks and not once had she been this confused and disoriented. Suddenly Ren felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head to look at the face of a pouting brunette.
"I knew the answer and where were you?" Faith pouted, cocking her head to watch as the other girl sighed, rubbing a hand across her eyes and then smiled.
"Maybe Chemistry isn't my thing today…how about we start with the math homework?" the younger girl mumbled, glad that Faith seemed to be accepting her bad excuses.
Ren stared down at her math-book and paper lying in front of her, then looked through her backpack for her favorite pen. She could feel Faith's eyes on her, watching her as she started rummaging through all little pockets in her pack, trying to find that pen. Scoffing, Ren turned back to her friend and shook her head…the day had just hit an all time low.
"What's up?" Faith asked, twirling a pencil with a chewed end in one hand, leaning her chin on the other.
"I lost my pen," Ren said softly, feeling close to whining and she definitely didn't want to make a scene in the school library.
"Well…you can borrow one of mine," the older brunette shrugged and watched as Ren's shoulders slumped before she rested her head in her hands.
"It was my favorite. It was my good-luck pen…I can't believe I lost it," Ren mumbled and looked at Faith after a while, whose eyes were narrowed.
"Hey, you don't need a good-luck pen to be great, it's just a pen…Come on, how about we ditch this studying thing and go get some ice cream?" the taller brunette smiled and stood up, holding out her hand to Ren who reluctantly took it.
The two girls packed up and left the library, Ren hoping that maybe her day would get a little bit better after this. After all, Faith always seemed to have the ability to cheer her up.
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Faith dropped onto her bed with a groan. She was way beyond tired and definitely needed to catch up on sleep. Rolling over onto her stomach the brunette stared down at the Chem book in front of her; they had a test tomorrow and she really wasn't getting it. She'd been hoping that Ren could explain some of the confusing stuff, but after the little scene in the library Faith had doubted it was worth trying. Ren had seemed totally out of it, not even paying attention to educational stuff and that meant something was wrong. Faith had just gotten back from dropping off the other girl at her house, after taking Ren to get some ice cream and trying to get the girl to spill what was wrong. But of course the younger girl had repeatedly claimed everything was fine and tried to tell Faith that she just wasn't feeling alright.
Sighing, the brunette turned the page and stared at the chemical symbols. Maybe that was all there was to it, Ren wasn't feeling well. But somehow Faith had the feeling there was more to it and she hated having her friend be so down. She knew that she'd try just about anything to cheer up the girl and maybe find out what was bothering the brunette. Glancing down at her book, Faith slowly got up and grabbed her jacket. Friends were just more important than some Chem test that was worth twenty percent of her grade and Faith had some errands to run.
Walking out the door the brunette shook her head, she couldn't believe where she was headed. If anyone saw her, her reputation would be ruined. Chuckling at the thought she walked down the street in the cold wind, trying to get to her destination as quickly as possible.
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Buffy sighed and swiveled around in the chair to look out the window. It was windy and the sky pretty dark, considering it wasn't past 4 pm. Maybe it would rain, it definitely would fit her mood. The blonde stood up and pulled the curtains aside on the kitchen window, looking out at the street. It was suburbia, no doubt about it: the same big houses with their white picket fences and expensive cars in the driveway, some kid's toys lying in the front yard for good measurement. It was way too fucking happy for the way she was feeling.
Sighing, she turned around and walked into the empty living room. Her mom was still at work, and would be for another couple of hours, and Faith had left the house not ten minutes ago saying something about an errand. Buffy couldn't care less, as long as the brunette wasn't meeting up with that little friend of hers. With the threat the blonde had uttered earlier she hoped that Ren would be wise enough to stay away from Faith, after all Buffy wasn't making empty promises.
She looked around the room, knowing that she couldn't just sit here and brood. But Kyrie was out with her mom on a shopping spree, and Buffy usually preferred not to be around Jaycee and the sheep without her best friend around. She feared her brain cells might die from the lack of usage and the blonde groaned. There wasn't really anyone…except…Buffy smiled and picked up the phone. She'd been talking to Donnie lately at school and he was a pretty nice guy. Not to mention that if she hung out with him Faith would realize what she was missing and come back to her.
Dialing Donnie's number she hoped at least he was available and she could get out of the boringness of this house.
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It was getting even colder. The wind was harsh and she was definitely glad she'd remembered to take her jacket. If she hadn't known better, the girl would've figured it was about ready to snow. It didn't snow much in Sacramento, a few days out of the year maybe and that not even definitely. She thought back to her childhood, the way the wind had felt just as chilling as now and how the air smelt of snow; but after all it did snow a lot in Boston. Faith did miss the snow, it was one of the few happy memories of being a child; going sledding and having snowball fights.
The brunette sighed and stuffed her hands deeply into her pockets, continuing on walking down the street. At least she'd managed to get done with her errand before the weather got any worse, now she just had to hurry up and get out of the wind. It wasn't even 4:30 pm yet, but already the sky looked dark, with black clouds chasing after her. As long as she'd have someone with a car be willing to drive later, rainy weather was perfect for what she had planned. At least she wouldn't be wasting away a sunny day inside, though Faith had to remind herself that in California those rules mostly didn't apply. There was sun pretty much all the time and people just didn't have the same excitement when the sun was out as they'd had in Boston.
She stopped suddenly, looking at the big house to her left. A white fence surrounded an immaculate front yard that lay in front of a just as immaculate, white house. The were tall windows on the ground floor, each with its own green shutters and three windows in the roof. Faith walked along the driveway, up the two steps towards the door and after a few seconds of staring at the green door she knocked. Footsteps could be heard coming from inside the house and the door was opened after only a few seconds. Faith smiled nervously and looked down at the redheaded woman; it always made her feel uncomfortable to be around adults and that this woman was a State Senator made it only worse.
"Uh, hey Mrs. Stevens…Ren here?" she mumbled, knowing she should probably use correct grammar, but that just wasn't on her mind right now.
"Hey Faith, sure, come on in. Didn't you just leave?" the woman asked, giving her a confused look as she closed the door behind the girl.
Brushing some stray hair out of her eyes, the brunette smiled and shrugged, "Yeah…but Ren was pretty down for some reason. I figured I'd come cheer her up…if it's alright with you, of course."
"Oh yeah, of course. You know where her room is," Eileen Stevens smiled back at the girl and nodded towards the staircase. She'd met this girl a few times and for some reason she really liked Faith. The brunette seemed to have a positive impact on her daughter; Eileen had seen Ren smiling a lot more in the past few weeks.
"Uh…I…could I ask you for a big favor?" the brunette girl mumbled, looking to her feet nervously as the woman approached her with a curious look.
"Sure, I guess so. What is it, Faith?"
Looking up with a soft smile on her lips Faith explained what she needed the woman's help for.
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"Hey girlfriend," came the familiar voice from behind her and Ren turned her head around abruptly.
"Faith," she responded, surprised at seeing the other girl. Ren smiled softly as the brunette walked over and plopped down on the bed next to her. The younger girl couldn't help but inwardly sigh at the greeting Faith had given her; she knew that Faith used the phrase 'girlfriend' just about as much as she herself called her brother a name. But it didn't mean she couldn't just wish a little…
Ren shook the thoughts from her head, she couldn't be thinking this kind of stuff around her friend. Eventually she might let something slip and scare Faith off; she'd rather have the brunette as a friend than not at all. Faith was still smiling, looking at her almost expectantly.
"What're you doing here?" she finally asked, hoping she didn't sound like she didn't want the older girl around. Because the second that Faith had dropped her off and left the house she'd already wished that her friend would come back.
"Well, you looked like you could use some cheering up. Oh…and I got you something," Faith grinned, pulling a small paper bag from her pocket and handing it to the other girl.
Ren raised an eyebrow and took the bag reluctantly; she knew Faith's taste in pretty much everything, and it was the exact opposite of anything the younger girl preferred. She opened the bag, looking inside and bracing herself for the worst, but both of the brunette's eyebrows shot up as she pulled out the single item.
"Faith," she breathed out, staring at the other girl who wore a silly grin, and Ren held up the pen for both of them to see, "Faith, you got me a pen?"
The taller brunette nodded eagerly, "Yeah…I figured you needed a new good-luck pen. So I got you one, it's sort of like your old one, right?"
Ren opened her mouth, then looked down at the pen and nodded, "Yeah…uh Faith?"
"Yep?"
"The pen's purple and…and it's got a feather," Ren spoke softly; she still couldn't believe what she was looking at.
"Yeah…I thought you liked those? I mean, I would've gotten pink, but they were out," Faith shrugged, wondering why her friend was giving her such a weird look.
"Okay that's it…what'd you do with Faith?" Ren asked, her voice harsh in mockery, but she was grinning as well as Faith held up her hands.
"Hey…it's all me. Why, you don't like it?"
"No…of course I like it, it's a cute pen…but Faith…they don't exactly sell this in the stores you tend to visit," the younger girl explained and stared down at the purple feather on her new pen.
"Yeah, I know…and man, I don't think I've ever heard a salesclerk say 'awesome' as many times as in the three minutes and twenty-two seconds I spent in that girly store!"
Ren laughed softly, then looked at her friend still grinning and despite the pleading voice in her head telling her not to, the brunette leaned forward and hugged the taller girl, "Thanks Faith…this is probably the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."
She heard the other girl chuckle and sat back, her body now in a lot closer proximity to Faith's than before and Ren couldn't say that it didn't make her kind of nervous. Looking up into the soft, brown eyes of her friend she cocked her head slightly, waiting for whatever the girl had to say.
"Come on, I've got another surprise for ya. But for this one we've kinda gotta go all the way to the other end of the city," the brunette smiled, shyly almost and stood up, holding out her hand.
Ren took the brunette's hand without hesitation and stood up, but one look outside the window told her that maybe leaving the house wasn't such a good idea, "Uh…Faith, it looks like it's about to pour. Are you sure you really wanna get all wet while walking across town?"
But Faith's confident grin told her that the girl had thought this through and the older girl pulled on Ren's hand, "Don't worry, I got your mom to drive us."
Too stunned for words Ren let herself be pulled out of her room and down the stairs. If she tried to count the times she'd asked her mom for rides and been told to take the bus or walk she'd still be here tomorrow, she couldn't believe her mom had given in to Faith. But then again, she could totally understand.