TITLE: The Upper School

AUTHOR: Danielle

SUMMARY: Buffy's POV through out her whole middle school and high school life and how she survives going to a very strict school, which who goes has tons of money. And the faults of just being a kid. And of course... some Angel.

RATING: PG- NC- 17 eventually

DEDICATION: To everyone at school, I love you guys.

DISCLAIMER: Character are all Joss Whedon's, the school is based on a real school but the name is different and so are the teachers.

AN: I cannot stress this enough how THIS IS NOT MY LIFE. The school name and teachers are not real. Though this is based on my school life, it is not my life. Many of the stories that Buffy goes through are somewhat real, some might be mine and others are my friends. If you have an questions on it, feel free to email me, and I will happily answer any questions.

Trimester One- 7th Grade (1997)

You know how on the first day of school you are all excited and everything. You have a new outfit, nervous about seeing your friends again after a long summer break; well that was how I was. Nervous and all.

I had the perfect outfit, blue jeans, and a red long top with flowers on it, and on my hair I wore and headband. So that was what I was wearing for the first day of school, plus white flip flops. I got it all from Anthropology. Cool huh?

Oh by the way the school I got to is William B. Stern Day School. It's for really smart people. Well not really because all you have to do is sign the kid up in the Lower School. But once you got to the Upper School you have to be really smart if not they kick you out! At least that's what I hear. And that they are super mean. But the seniors are supposed to be nice to use. But everyone supposed to call us 'sevies' meaning, seventh grades because we are the new kids in the school. The young vulnerable ones.

Oh yeah, the Upper School starts at grade seven and goes till grade twelve, the whole school system is really messed up. So we really start Middle School in seventh grade. But everything is super expensive because not only is the tuition like sixteen thousand dollars but we have to pay for my entire books to. This alone cost like two hundred fifty dollars. Plus binders, pencils, and pens and all that stuff you need in school. Super expensive. Also I forgot to add are schools is really rich and if you're not rich your pretty much screwed. Good thing we're rich.

So I walk down the stairs to my house and my dad whistles and I glare at him. I hate when he does that. He makes such a big deal about things that I wear sometimes. My mom asks if I want breakfast and I sort of shake my head, who eats in the morning? I grab my bag and head out the door towards the garage where I climb into my Dads Volvo. See… rich and all.

Once my Dad gets into the car and my stupid sister Dawn he drives to the Lower School and as I watch her enter the huge building I can't help but have relief wash through me. I hated that place. Almost everyone thought I was pretty stupid. The guidance counselor there once told me if I thought the school was to hard then I should leave. My dad and mom got super mad about that.

But as my dad finally pulls into the lane of the carpool for the Upper School, I start to get nervous. What am I doing here? I'm not smart. I take a deep breath and look out the window, I see all these tall people and I can't help but wonder why again I have to be so short. I look at my dad and he gives me a smile, I grab hold of my blue Jagsport bag with a red comforter in it and I walk slowly to school. All these people look at me. I pull my ID around my neck with the blue strap they gave me and I can't help but feel a little nervous.

I think part of my anxiety is the fact that Lysette isn't going to the school anymore. See in sixth grade I had twelve best friends. Lysette was the main one. The leader you can call it. Though now that she left, I'm sort of scared to see what happens. Are we still going to be friends like we used to? All of us? All twelve us? I don't have any other friends then those people. I wasn't aloud to have anyone else. But now she left and she is going to Jules West now, because the school is too expensive for her parents to pay even if her Mom teaches here. So she has to go to Public School.

I cross the sidewalk once the guard tells me its okay. I see a huge yellow bus that just came from the Lower School and tons of older kids come out. They push past me and show there ID. Once I enter I see all the students showing there ID to the teacher so I take my ID and show the teacher and she nods with a smile on her face. I give her a grim smile. I can already till I'm a little late.

I walk inside and see a huge yellow banner welcoming everyone back to school. I walk more into the school and see on the left the hallway for my grade. The Sevie grade. I see everyone from my grade hugging and smiling at each other and I can't help but feel left out. I wish I had more friends then eleven and now the very best of my friend doesn't even go to the school anymore.

I find my locker. 586. There is no one next to me but then I hear the bell ring for the minutes before Homeroom and I curse a little. I can't be late on my first day. I try to open my locker, but in the Lower School we had to buy locks but here there attached to the locker and I can't even open them. I kept trying to pull it open but it wouldn't budge. I see a teacher in the hallway and give her a look. 'Please help me, I'm desperate' and she smiles and comes over.

"Hi, can I help you?" She asks nicely and I can't help but think she is really nice. Even though she has a big ass and huge hair.

"I can't open my locker," I whisper and then the five minute bell saying that you should be in your class already rings and I have to hold back tears. And then I remind myself that I shouldn't cry. I'm not aloud to cry in front of people. They'll just make fun of you.

"I'm Mrs. Vander Walde," the teacher tells me as she shows me how to open it. Turn left and press the number then turn right once and then turn it left again and wait for to stop and then pull. Once I get it I can't help but have a smile on my face. She asks for a piece of paper so she can write me a note on why I'm late for my first homeroom!

I try to find my homeroom class but I can't find it anywhere, I start to panic again and I look around me. I don't see that nice teacher anywhere but then I see down the hall my Guidance consular and I run towards her.

"Where is room 102?" I ask shyly.

She smiles at me and tells me to follow her and I follow her in the direction of what is called the 100s hallway. She points to the first room on the left that has a purple box saying class 102 and it's dedicated to some person. I open the door and once I enter everyone stare at me. I look down and look to see if I know anyone. There are a few people but I haven't talked to them in a year. The teacher who is obviously going to be the homeroom teacher smiles warmly at me and she smiles and points to a chair next to this really hot guy and finally there is someone hot in out grade.

"Everyone welcome to the 1997 school year, and I hope that everyone has had good year. My name is Mrs. Prigal and I'll be you're Homeroom teachers, these people," she said pointing to a girl in a blue jersey, a girl with bad eyebrows, a blonde, a fat girl and the really hot guy who I am sitting next to, "are my Homeroom helpers."

That is when it finally hits me that the hot guy next to me isn't in my grade but he is in an older grade. A high school grade. I look down a little and wonder do we have hot guys in the Upper School opposed to the Lower School? She once again points to the pretty girl in the blue dance jersey and I finally recognize her from Jennifer's dance team on MTC.

MTC is a dance place that I learn how to dance. I can say I'm fairly good. Not the best in the world but defiantly not the worst in the world. Then Mrs. Prigal talks about what will be happing in this class over the year and already I'm about to fall asleep but then she mentions my schedule and I'm up and running to find everything out. She calls my name and I get up and I take it and look it over.

For the first time I don't know any of the teachers and I don't know who is good and who sucks and who I should just stay away from. My first class is Structure Study Hall, I'm in special needs. Well not really, I just have ADHD. My mom says I'm special. I just think everyone in the class is stupid. Not really, it's just funny seeing the teachers squirm when we say that. They get so upset.

I look around the room and see people compare there schedule's and I feel… well I don't know what to feel, I just now that I hate that feeling that I have no friends in the class. I get up as the bell rings and scramble out of class. I run down the hallway toward where my locker is. I do that thing that Mrs. Vander Walde teaches me and I open my locker and I can't help but be happy that I opened it. I grab a pencil from the gel pencil case I had since I was in fifth grade. Everyone write on it. In Math last year with Mrs. Koblenz class, Cordelia used to draw on it all the time.

I look around and I finally see that I'm very lost. I walk down the closets hallway and see an older kid and he looks down at me and I look back down. I ask someone where the class is and he points down the hall and towards the left. I walk slowly and I really don't like the fact that all these people are looking at me.

I walk slowly into the room and see Kathy and Samantha sitting at a desk and for some reason I feel my insides twist. I look around and see a woman with gray hair and a woman with white hair and a mole on her cheek. I look around the desks and see they are white and long. Not like desks that you see in a normal school. These were attached. And two people in each. I sat on the edge of the second row and looked around again. I saw Penn sitting there. I smile a little and he gives me a smirk. I sink into my seat and see that Kathy and Samantha where whispering about something and then I see Kathy look back at me and I shrink some more.

Twelve best friends my ass.

The lady with the gray hair starts yelling and suddenly I don't feel so good.

I look around my next class and see that, Virginia, Percy's girlfriend was in it. So was Fred. I look across the room and see this new guy in it. He is sort of hot. I don't know, just I know his new. And he defiantly has to be the newest hot guy I have ever seen. I look around the room again and the teacher that is in the front is so short! She has glasses and looks really funny.

I'm sitting at the end of the room right next to the door. I see the teacher and I hope she won't be like the teacher in the other class who yelled and told us things that we weren't aloud to do. I look across the room and see the hot new guy looking at me and I wave a little. He seems so lost and I just can't help but feel a little bad for him. The school seems like a school that everyone gets lost in.

I hate science. I can already see that. The teacher is a bitch. And there is no one in my class. Expect Sunday. But I can't stand her. The only reason I'm even friends with her is because she was best friends with Lysette. But she always gave me problems in sixth grade. I walk to where I learn the cafeteria is and I remember how they told me to slide my ID card so I could get lunch. I slide and I push the handles to I can get through. The person behind me gets a ring. And when I hear it I jump as high as the ceiling. Well not really. But it is pretty high. It sounds like an alarm when someone steals something and they catch you.

I go into the one of three lines and wait. The older grade, the eighth graders are staring at us like we're Martians. I get to the front of the line, finally. And see that they have pizza and French fries. I order two pizzas and a lot of French fries. I take a cup and see that there is a salad bar and a place to get soda. I pour soda into my cup and grin. I love soda. Well not soda. I like Sprite. I grin to myself till I hear my name being called.

"BUFFY!" I turn and see Kathy yelling at me sitting with all the guys and my friends. I give her a fake smile and walk slowly towards the table she decided would be ours. The table at the front of the cafeteria. With chairs and not benches. I sit next to Sunday and smile at everyone. I look across the room and I feel my inside tearing when I see Willow and Xander laughing. They used to be my best friends. And now… I'm part of the "group". I laugh. I hate these people. Hate em'. No one knows what they did to me. I start eating my food being quiet as always. I see the new kid sitting at a table with the cool dorks and I smile a little at him. He gives me a little wave and I give him the warmest smile I can do.

Kathy rolls her eyes and I shrink back into my seat. Why did she have to ruin everything? Who did she think she was? Who said she could be the leader of the group? I sure as hell didn't. I made Kathy. I'm the only reason she was in the group. I was her only friend last year till she thought she could rule the world with Lysette. I eat quickly and for the first time in years I wish that I had class.

Math. I hate Math! It's so annoying. I hope it dies. I'm sitting here in the back. Looking at this messed up teacher who has red hair and seems really stupid. This is the last period of the day. Thank God, I felt like the whole time I was suffocating. I really can't wait till I get to leave this place. I hate it already. No friends, no nothing. Life sucks.

The bell finally rings and I get up quickly and run to my locker. I really want to get out of this place. I pack my bags up and I run swiftly towards the front of the school that will let me out. I look at all the cars and I don't see my Mom's jeep anywhere. I see seniors driving there cars home, kids holding hands, making out against cars. I see at the far end where all the trees are kids smoking and laughing. And I wonder will I be like that? I see the new kid and I smile at him again. He comes over and leans against the stone I'm on to. He gives me a weak smile and I shake my head. I know how he feels. I might have been going to this school since I was five. But today felt like a whole new world.

His ride comes and I see an older girl get inside and he runs towards the car. Right before he gets into the back seat of the old Volvo, he waves a little. I give him a smile again. I see Kathy and Percy get into there green Mini Van, Honda, oh and did I mention there twins. Percy waves and I smile. Kathy smirks and I try not to flick her off.

Thirty minutes later I'm still waiting for my Mom and when I finally see her jeep I'm trying hard not to explode. I go into the front seat and trying to keep my calm. Why was she so late on my first day of school? I lean against the window and hoping that we can get home faster.

When we finally get there I climb out of the car quickly and hurry to my room without saying a word to my Mom or Dawn. I lock my door and do the only think I know what to do when I'm upset. I walk into my private bathroom, kneel in front of the toilet and let the whole day come out.

TBC

Thanks so everyone who reviewed! I already have six parts of it written which should be posted everyday, hopefully. Thanks again so much and I hope you guys liked this, I promise it gets a lot better, this is just the beggining.