Title: Haven't Changed A Bit

Author: mistymidnight

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Haven't you figured it out by now?!

Spoilers/Timeline: " "

Summary: Anya. Six. Wish. Challenge. Gidgetgirl.

Author's Notes: This is to tide me over, until all my favorite fics are updated. (If you wanna do me a gigantiforous favor, check out my favorites list and go review the stories there. Hopefully this will inspire the writers to update soon. Note that the favorites list is not Spuffy-friendly. (I'm not a Spike-basher, though.) BA all the way!

I'm caught up in the search for a fic I read years ago and never bookmarked. Too bad. I loved it. See my website to see if you can help me find it.

Did you know that my website is fixed? If you were trying to view it in a browser using Mozilla, America Online, etc. and couldn't access my main page, it's all fixed now. Try, try again.

A Money-Making Venture

Buffy opened her eyes groggily and felt a presence in the room with her. Groaning, she reached up to pull the hair out of her face…

"GOOD MORNING!" an unrealistically high-pitched voice screamed in her ear. It was like a foghorn was stationed on Buffy's nightstand.

Buffy made a sort of "Squeeekriff!" noise and jolted upright, finding herself looking down into the deceptively innocent face of a six-year-old girl.

"Hello, blond lady," Anya greeted her. "You look like you're the boss around here." Her voice was conversational. Buffy took this in suspiciously.

"I guess," Buffy said. "Why?"

Anya hoisted herself onto the bed and sat primly, Indian-style. "I have a request for you, blond bossy woman."

Buffy raised an eyebrow, a trick that had taken years to perfect, and waited.

"Please tell the others to give me their money," Anya said.

Buffy tried hard not to laugh. Her lip twitched. "Anya, this is a free country. No one has to give you money if they don't want to."

"I'll make them want to!" Anya said. Which was how, three hours later, Buffy found herself sitting in a lawn chair holding a sign that said, "Lemonade. $3.00 a glass."

"Anya," Dawn said gently for what seemed like the millionth time, "no one will buy lemonade at three dollars a glass."

Anya looked puzzled. "Why not?"

Dawn sighed loudly. Now she understood some of Buffy's aggravation. It was hard to be the big sister. "Because lemonade isn't worth three dollars a glass."

Anya looked confused. "Who says? Is there a lemonade law?"

"Well, no," Dawn began, "but you'll never—"

"Then it's okay!" Anya said. "I say the lemonade is worth three dollars, and so it is. Because I said so."

Dawn gave up and returned to the house to do homework. Anya surveyed her business and the surrounding vicinity, her eyes falling on a girl around ten years old walking her dog. "A customer!" she said happily, poking a bored Buffy in the ribs. "Look lively."

Buffy sat up a little straighter.

"Oh, please!" Anya said. "No one wants to buy lemonade from a sleeping person." She took the sign and began a sort of cheer/dance that went something like:

"Lemonade, just three dollars a cup!

Oh, this lemonade will fill you up!

Made from lemons and lots of sugar—"

Anya couldn't finish because the only word she could think of that rhymed with sugar was booger, and boogers did not make sales.

But nevertheless, the girl and her dog were walking over. "Hello!" Anya beamed. "I'm selling lemonade. Would you like some?"

"Sure," the girl said, pulling out a quarter and plunking it on the table. Anya's eyes narrowed slightly, but her smile remained. "Please read the sign," she chirped. "Our lemonade is not worth a quarter."

Buffy would never forget the look on the girl's face as she read the sign. "That's way too expensive!" she cried, snatching back her quarter and waling away. The dog whined and tugged at its leash, and was yanked away for all its protests.

"It's people like you that make other people lose their jobs!" Anya yelled after her, her pigtails bouncing indignantly.

Buffy sighed and got up. "Come on, Anya. No one is going to buy three-dollar lemonade. Either lower the price or come inside."

"Never!" Anya yelled dramatically.

It was going to be a looooooong day.

TBC…next, the aftermath of Anya's lemonade stand, research, and the beauty of capitalism.

This is my favorite chapter so far! =)

mistymidnight