Chapter ten- Potential Friend

The four-hour drive back to Sunnydale seemed to be the longest trip ever to Buffy. Buffy sat in the back seat feeling awkward about not telling her parents about the truth of what happened at Slayer Camp.

All her life she had not even thought of lying to her parents until now. She told herself she had to lie because who knows what the Council would do if they found out she had told her parents what went on there.

The Summer's car pulled in the driveway. Hank got out Buffy's suitcase and walked into the house. Joyce took the sleeping bag inside. Buffy got out of the car thinking about how she had just lied to the people she loved the most and how if she did try and tell them truth she would feel much worse than she did now. Buffy picked up her potential bag, which was in the back seat of the car, and took it inside the house with her.

Inside the potential bag were workbooks they had been working in all week, their work sheets, information booklets on slaying, the Council etc., a stake and a slayer handbook. All useful things for a potential Slayer.

She went upstairs to her room and placed the bag on the bed where her parents had put her suitcase and sleeping bag.

"Buffy, tonight for dinner we thought we should go out to celebrate your first week at Slayer Camp," said Joyce.

"If you would like, you can invite a friend to come too," added Hank.

"Well thanks for saying I can invite a friend but…," said Buffy who was interrupted.

"Yes Buffy?" said Hank.

"I didn't actually make any friends at Sunnydale Elementary last year. I did make a friend a camp though. Her name is Faith, she's real nice and just like me."

"That's wonderful Buffy that you made a friend while you were away. Where does this girl Faith live? Maybe she could come with us," asked Joyce

"I don't know where she lives mum, I didn't get a chance to get her phone number or address."

"That's okay sweetie, next time you go to camp with her try and get her address and phone number then," said Joyce.

"Yeah…" Said Buffy, Buffy then paused and then continued what she was saying. ".. Next time I'll get her details."

"Are you alright Buffy?" asked Hank in concern.

"Yeah I'm fine dad, just a little tired from the trip and week at camp."

"Well in that case I think we might stay in for dinner tonight. Instead I can cook your favourite meal," said Joyce.

"Thanks mum," Buffy smiled and then yawned.

She took all the things off her bed and placed them on the floor. She opened up her potential bag and had a look at her workbooks. Along the side of each margin in her books, Faith had written little messages and had drawn little funny things. Buffy started to cry because she missed her new friend Faith. Here in Sunnydale she had no friends. In Buffy's mind, she didn't even have a potential friend.

Buffy looked at her clock. It read 5:30pm. Buffy had fallen asleep after crying about Faith. Her pillowcase was a little wet from her crying. She went to the bathroom and washed her face then was about to go downstairs but remembered that she had left all her Slayer stuff on the bed and quickly threw all the stuff into an old wooden toy chest.

She then went downstairs to see what her parents were doing. Joyce was cooking the dinner and Hank was watching the television. Buffy walked into the kitchen and saw her mum preparing the salad for dinner. Buffy started to help her mum and then Hank walked into the kitchen.

"Is dinner ready yet?" asked Hank.

"No not quite yet, in about five minutes," replied Joyce.

"Good afternoon Buffy, did you have a good sleep?" asked Hank.

"Yes I did. I feel a little better."

"It's good you got all that rest because you did look really tired earlier after the trip back," said Joyce.

The oven timer went off and Joyce took the chicken out of the oven and Hank and Joyce served dinner.

The three of them sat at the dinning room table and ate their meals.

"Thanks mum for cooking my favourite meal."

"That's okay Buffy, you deserve something nice to eat after your long, hard week at camp," replied Joyce.

"What are your plans Buffy for tomorrow?" asked Hank.

"Well I thinking of maybe going to the Youth Centre in main street."

"What are you going to do over there?" asked Joyce.

"I was planning to try and become friends with some of the kids from school over there at the arcade."

"That's sounds like a great idea but if you decide to go somewhere else besides the arcade ring us so we know were you are okay," said Hank.

Yes dad, I'll ring home if I decide to go anywhere else."

That was the end of the whole conversation during dinner. Buffy finished her dinner and went to bed early because she was still feeling tired.

Buffy woke up the next morning in a bright and cheerful mood. She put on her favourite top, her Scooby-Doo t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She tired up her hair and put on her sandals. She then went downstairs to have some breakfast.

It was 8:30am and her dad had already gone off to work. Buffy's mum was still in bed, sleeping in. Buffy made some toast and put jam on it. By 9:00am, she was ready to leave the house. She write a not for her mum so she knew where she had gone and took some coins in case she needed to call home

The main street of Sunnydale was a little busy at this time of the day. There were already people lined up outside the cinema and the shops were busy with people going in and out of them.

While Buffy walked down the street towards the Youth Centre she noticed a new shop, the Magic Box. She stared at it for a few minutes and noticed it was a real magic shop. Buffy decided after she went to the Youth Centre she would got to the magic shop and have a look inside.

Before she started walking again, making her way down the street towards the centre, a young boy around Buffy's age on a skateboard, clumsily bumped into her and fell off his skateboard.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked with some concern.

"Yeah I'm fine, are you alright?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah I can handle anything. I'm tougher than I look," said the boy.

"I thought you already did look pretty tough," said Buffy.

"Thanks. Where are you headed on such a nice day like this

 "I'm going over the arcade at the Youth Centre, what about you, where are you going?"

"Oh I'm just meeting a friend over at the skate park near the centre"

"Cool.. I might see you around then."

"Yeah I might see you there later. Well I got to go meet my friend, I'm already late. Sorry about bumping into you."

"Oh you don't have to be sorry at all. I'm glad you bumped into me. Well you better go see your friend, see you around."

Buffy then continued on her way to the Youth Centre.

"Hey girl! I forgot to ask you something. What's you name?" asked the boy.

"It's Buffy."

"I like it, your name it's cool."

The boy continued skating down the street towards where Buffy was going except went to the park instead of the centre.

"Hey man! Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting for more than five minutes," said another boy

"Sorry Jesse, I was just skating down Main Street when I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into this girl," said Xander.

"Well, where is this girl from? Is she our age? What's her name?" asked Jesse.

"What's with all the questions dude?"

"I'm just asking because I want to know who you embarrassed yourself in front of."

"Hey, that's not funny. I don't 'always' make myself look stupid besides this girl said she was glad I bumped into her."

"So.. who is this girl?"

"Well I don't think she goes to our school because I don't think I've seen her before and she looks around our age. She said her name is Buffy. I told her she has a cool name, don't you think she has a cool name?"

"Oh my god Xander!" Jesse yelled out.

"What? What?!" Xander yelled out.

"You really did make a fool of yourself. This girl Buffy, with the 'cool' name, goes to our school and is in our year."

"Oh my god! I'm such and idiot."

"Yes that's right, you're an idiot. Finally you agree with me."

"Oh thanks for the reassuring Jesse."

"No problem."

"I had no idea she went to our school and was in our year."

"Also this girl is the one who was causing all the trouble, causing the fights and what not."

"Oh my god! Buffy was that girl. I had no idea at all."

"Anyway, besides our real problem is that you have a crush on this girl, the one who starts fights and causes trouble. This can't be good."

A/N: Wow that took ages to write, I hope it turned out okay. I know the chapter is really long but I had to put all that stuff into just one chapter. Next time I hope I don't put that much into one chapter. For a whole week I had writer's block and it was really annoying because I had to get past the Xander meeting Buffy part some how. Please review so I know if it sounded okay.