Buffy was finishing her orange juice when she heard the honking of a horn in her drive-way. She had planned on walking to school after her weekend run-in with Cordelia. She was positive the brunette was still too angry with her to even want to look at her. She grabbed her purse and books and stopped only to lock the door behind her.

She was greeted by the sight of a red Nissan hardbody with the words "Virgin's Last Ride" emblazoned across the top of the windshield in glittering gold letters.

"Hey Buffy," Harmony called from the open window. "We thought you might need a ride. It's a tight fit, but you're scrawny."

Buffy couldn't help but grin as Harmony scooted closer to the muscular, smooth-scalped man in the driver's seat.

"Hey Buff," Gunn said flashing her a toothpaste-ad smile. "Heard about your big weekend."

She felt her cheeks warm a bit at the thought of her big weekend. Just how much had Harmony told him? He reached out and turned up the stereo as he peeled out of her driveway expertly.

Juices like wine

Discord and rhyme

I'm on the hunt

I'm after you...

Buffy giggled at Gunn's choice in music. It was obviously one of Harmony's choices. Harmony was trying to follow along with it, bobbing her head and mouthing the words like someone who had heard the song a hundred or more times. For a cheerleader, she had surprisingly very little rhythm.

"So, what's the what? Is it cool to hang with the outcasts now?" she found herself asking.

"Oh Honey, we are the outcasts now if you haven't figured it out," Gunn joked.

"Yeah, Cordy spent the rest of yesterday calling everyone she knew so that they would be sure to avoid us like the black plague," Harmony groused. "No offense, Sugar Bear," she smiled up at Gunn.

He smiled back at her, dropping a kiss on her head at the stop sign.

"Yeah, I've got their plague alright," he grinned. "That's bullshit, man, that Cordelia thinks she can judge like that. You know, I was never cool with what they did to you, Buffy. Was I, Harm?"

Harmony looked appropriately guilty.

"No, you weren't, Charles, " she said seriously. "He used to tell me that he could fix you up with his friend Wes. Or that we could bring you along with us. That there was no reason to leave you at Cordy's by yourself. But Cordy would always interrupt and say that you didn't mind and that you weren't interested in dating and partying. She made you out to be some kind of freak."

Gee, that made Buffy feel so much better.

"That's why she kept trying to push Connor on me. She didn't like that my Sugar Bear had a heart and a mind of his own," Harmony explained. "She really thought that she could get me to dump him by threatening my popularity. But I... I love Charles," she admitted quietly.

Gunn's eyes lit up at her proclamation. Buffy assumed that Harmony had never told him that she loved him before.

"I love you too, Goldilocks," he said as she snuggled closer to him.

Buffy couldn't help but smile herself. She knew how it felt to love someone and to be loved. The way she felt about Spike erased all of her desires to be anyone but who she was when she was with him. This softer, kinder Harmony was refreshing. Something in Buffy wanted to reciprocate the protective gestures Harmony had shown for her and Spike. She vowed to herself that she wouldn't let Cordy, Angel or any of their snooty friends do anything to hurt this new couple.

Gunn pulled into his usual spot in the student parking lot. At least they hadn't taken his space, that was a start. He jumped down from the truck and then helped Harmony and Buffy out. Buffy noticed Gunn slip his arm around Harmony and remembered how it felt to have Spike's arm around her. It was going to be a long day knowing that he would be waiting for her at two.

The first thing Buffy noticed were the snickers being cast their way as she walked down the hall with Harmony and Gunn. It seemed Cordelia had already done what she considered 'damage control' among the popular set.

"I feel like I have a giant 'kick me' sign on my ass," Harmony whispered.

She had never been on the receiving end of stares and whispers. She was extremely uncomfortable, but Gunn held her close to him. He could feel the tension in her body.

"Ignore them, Baby," he told her. "They're jealous. They don't have what we have. If they did, they'd understand. Besides, I've got a little ace in the hole."

Gunn was nothing like Buff had imagined. She supposed that she had expected him to be just as shallow and unfeeling as the rest of the jocks and cheerleaders. Instead, he was very sweet as he whispered endearments in Harmony's ear making her giggle and blush.

Buffy stopped at her locker and dialed in her combination as Gunn and Harmony continued talking quietly and stealing kisses at the locker next to hers.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Miss Uptight Stick Up Her Ass Buffy and the two losers without a brain between them."

Buffy stiffened at the sound of Cordelia's voice and the harsh words she spat at them,

"Cordy, I really don't think it's neccessary to--"

"Oh wait, that woudn't be a stick... that would be my step-brother's dick up her--"

Buffy's hand shot out before she could even think and silenced the cheerleader with a blow to the nose.

"You shut up!" she venemously glared. "You just shut your mouth! You don't know anything about me and Will! You just leave us alone!"

Cordy held her hand over her nose and glowered at her former friend as a trickle of blood made its way down the front of her white cashmere sweater.

"You bitch! This is a Guess! sweater! It cost a fortune! It's ruined!" she cried out.

Buffy shrugged and shook her head.

"Listen Cordy," she sighed. "I'm sorry about your sweater. It's not ruined. Take it to the dry cleaner. They can get out just about anything. But what is ruined is our friendship... or at least what little was left of it. I... I don't know what happened to you, Cordy."

"To me? Nothing happened to me!" Cordelia yelled. "It's YOU! Something is wrong with you. Not me."

"Right," Buffy nodded. "So, you being a collossal bitch has nothing to do with you? And the fact that Harmony and Gunn see straight through your poor little rich girl act has nothing to do with you? You know, I remember when we used to be friends, Cordy," Buffy said sadly. "I remember when mom and dad would take us all to the beach and then stop by Waffle House on the way home. I remember when... when there was still something about you to like."

She left Cordy standing there with her mouth open and walked away without a glance back. It was sad, the choices Cordelia had made. Her reputation was more important to her than love or friendship. Buffy prayed that she never became like that.

"Oh, and Queen C... just thought I'd let you know," Gunn smirked. "Might want to start looking for fresh meat."

Cordy looked at him through wild eyes. What the Hell was he talking about?

"Buffy's nice enough to not rub salt in your wounds... or maybe she just didn't know. Either way, she's head and shoulders above you in the class department and I didn't want to embarrass her," Gunn began.

"Would you just spit it out already, you Cretin?!" she shrieked.

The insults only fueled the fire as far as Gunn was concerned. Harmony looked up at him, her brow furrowed, wondering what dirty little secret her boyfriend was about to divulge.

"Seems your Angel's been playing you," he told her. "Liam Senior's company was about to take a nose-dive, so he did what he had to do to help out his old man. He won't be going off to Northwestern on that football scholarship after all. He's going to stick around and hit UC Sunnydale so that he can continue his relationship with Winifred Burkle. Her father has agreed to become partners with Angel's dad in VisionCorp. Marrying Fred... well, that was just the final step that sealed the deal."

"Marrying? Marrying Fred?" Cordelia was screaming at the top of her lungs and didn't care who heard her. "What the Hell are you talking about? Angel isn't marrying anyone! There is no Fred! There is no..."

Her eyes raised to meet Angel's across the quad. As soon as she saw him, he looked away. She stalked over to him, pushing her way through the nosy groups of students waiting for the bell to ring. Angel straightened his shoulders and shuffled his feet. This was not the way he had wanted to handle breaking up with Cordelia.

"Tell me he's lying," she demanded.

"He's, uh... he's lying," Angel repeated weakly. He refused to look at her.

"Now tell me you're not," she whispered as the tears welled up in her eyes.

Angel looked up at her briefly and then back down at the floor. He didn't say a word, but the look in his eyes said it all.

"Were you going to tell me?" she asked numbly.

He nodded.

"And when would that be? Before or after you walked her down the aisle?"

"You don't love me, Cordy."

It was a simple statement. There was no animosity in his voice. They both knew it was true.

"But... but I could," she cried out.

"But you don't. And maybe I want that from someone. Maybe I want someone to see me as more than a nice car or a ticket to popularity. Maybe... maybe Fred is that person," he told her.

"No," she whispered. "No!"

"I didn't want to do this here," he told her. "Not like this. I didn't think Gunn would say anything."

"But he did," Cordy reminded him. "He knew. Who else knew?"

He didn't say anything.

"Was I the only one who didn't know?"

"You didn't want to see it," he said. "You... you were too wrapped up in yourself. It was fun, Cordy. It was exciting. But it was never nice. And it was never... it was never forever."

She watched him walk away and sank down on the bench behind her. No. This was not happening. She was Cordelia Chase. Who the Hell did he think he was?

"Well, just so you know it's OVER, Angel!" she screamed. "It's over! I'm dumping you! Yeah! We're through!"

She was crying, uncaring who saw. "We're through," she whispered, not believing it herself.