"Dawn? Wake up." Buffy was softly nudging her little sister, who was sleeping like a rock.

'Mmm...Nooo..." Dawn mumbled before turning onto her stomach and pulling her pillow over her head.

"Come on. If you don't get up soon you won't have time to get ready for class." Buffy tried again to get her out of bed.

"I don't care!" She shouted. It came out as a muffled whine.

"Dawn! God, you're so grumpy in the morning. You need to get up and get ready. Mom will kill me if she finds out you were late for one class." Buffy rolled Dawn over.

"Why? It's Saturday!"

"Yeah, and you still have school. But only 'til noon."

"Thank God." Dawn mumbled before finally giving in and dragging herself out of her nice, warm bed. She trugded into the bathroom to do her routine wash-up. While standing in front of the mirror and fiddling with her hair she remembered what she was doing that night. A smile spread across her face and lit up her features. She strode out of the bathroom practically glowing. Buffy and Willow just watched her in confusion, not saying anything.

That smile never left Dawn's face through her five classes of the short, weekend school day. On her way to the cafeteria she ran into Xander. To the casual observer it was an average two second meeting. To Dawn it was the stepping stones of a not-yet-existing-but-soon-to-be relationship between the two of them. Dawn recalled their encounter, the smile on her face only growing.

Dawn walked swifly through the school hallway when someone came up beside her and barely brushed against her upper arm. She turned to see who it was. Him.

"Oh, h-hi Xander" she replied nervously.

"Hey Dawn." He gave her a cute loop-sided grin before turning left into a smaller hallway branching out of the main one.

She sighed, remembering how cute that smile was. Before she knew it she was standing infront of her, Jaime, Shauna and Casey's usual table. They weren't there yet. Dawn slid her purple bookbag strap off of her shoulder and dropped it on the floor beside her chair. She was about to go up into the food line when the three girls appeared, each carrying a lunch tray.

Dawn opened her mouth to tell them that she was going to go get her food when Shauna beat her to it.

"Here, Dawn. We got you some food. It's your usual stuff." Shauna sat down and pulled the second plate off her tray. Sure enough, there was a turkey sandwhich, a bag of chips, a banana, a coke and a small cup of green jell-o. Dawn had always liked jell-o. Somone had told her that it was made from ground up cows feet and that there were cows somewhere limping around with no feet. But she was sure they killed the cows before someone cut their feet off...

"Thanks. I didn't know they let people get lunch for someone else." Dawn accepted the plate and sat down.

"They usually don't, but if you bug 'em enough they'll let you." replied Casey.

"We saw you talking to Xander a few minutes ago."Jaime said slyly.

Dawn tried not to blush. "Yeah...so?"

"We also saw the way you were looking at him."

"Oh."

"It's okay. I mean, he is pretty cute- In a goofy and charming sorta way." replied Jaime. The other two girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, but he's a Junior." Shauna said, emphasizing her point.

"True. He'd be better suited with my sister." Dawn joked, but secretly dreaded the thought that Xander could have feelings for Buffy.

"But he's going out with Cordelia." Casey replied. That's right. He was. Dawn felt slightly jealous. She knew she could never compare to the beautiful Cordelia.

Dawn sighed. "Oh well. I can dream right?"

All four girls giggled.

"So, are you psyched about tonight?" Jaime asked.

All three girls nodded.

"I can't wait!" Dawn smiled.

"I know. We're gonna be the hottest girls there." Casey replied with a flip of her hair. The dance was only a freshman thing. There were different nights for different grades.

"I bet I can get Dave to dance with me." replied Shauna.

"I bet I can get him to dance with me first." Jaime countered.

"Deal." Shauna reached across the table and grabbed Jaime's hand, sealing the deal.

The girls continued talking until the bell rang and they went outside to study.

\/\/ In Mr. Gaffety's office...\/\/

Mr. Gaffety spun around in his swivel chair, facing his desk which was currently buried under stacks of books. Mr. Jones, his secretary walked into the room with a red covered book in his hands.

"Here." He flipped the book open to a page he'd marked. "I believe this is the name of what it is you're looking for."

Mr. Gaffety looked over the page for a long while before replying: "Good work, Mr. Jones. This is it. The Gem of Amara." He grinned widely.