Chapter 2: While Quite Misplaced Are Flattering (I guess) -

Tuesday September 15, 1998; Sunnydale High School side parking lot, 12:00 P.M.

Catching sight of Scott Hope exiting his car with a small stack of books and a Burger Barn take out sack, Faith lengthened her stride a bit, grinning to herself. Coming up on him shortly after he finished locking his door, she slid her arm through his and matched her pace to his with a slight skip.

"Hey, stranger," Faith said, laughing as he started at the unexpected contact.

"Hey!" Scott looked down at her. "How goes?"

"All in all, can't complain," Faith allowed. "Much."

"Cool. At least up until the Troll twigs to the whole non-student student thing you've got going," Scott replied. "If you're going to be up here all the time, you should go ahead and bite the bullet and transition."

"Naw," Faith shook her head. "Gots that whole home school thing that that'd like ruin. Or library schooling, anyway."

"Ah. Lucky you," Scott nodded. "Us poor normals have to put up with regular incarceration here. Then again, you have to put up with the British stuffy guy."

"Hey, Jeeves is ok," Faith said, snickering. "Once you get to know him, he's almost like a real person. Kinda." Glancing at his takeout, she said, "Dodging the cafeteria bullet?"

"Yup. Splitting Burger Barn with some friends in the Quad," Scott said. "Wanna join? Got plenty."

"Naw. Thanks," Faith shifted her backpack. "Got my own supplies from the deli to eat in the library." Glancing up, she asked, "Still on for Saturday night?"

"The beach party thing? Sure," Scott nodded. "Hey, that reminds me - you into like, movies?"

"Well, yeah," Faith said. Frowning slightly, she added, "Long as it's not some of that artsy foreign film crap."

"Not into art films?" Scott asked, putting on a mock scandalized expression. "How bohemian of you."

"Hah. Right," Faith said, laughing. "There's plenty of porn on cable without subtitles, if that's your kink. Don't need it in grainy film in French."

"Tsk tsk." Scott laughed, shaking his head, "No, no grainy foreign porn. State Street theater does classic comedy retrospectives regularly. They've got a Three Stooges marathon on Saturday. Thought we might go if you think you'd like that."

"Ah. A wiseguy, eh?" Grinning, Faith nodded. "Sounds like a blast. I like the Stooges."

"Cool. A lot of girls don't," Scott said. "We can figure details and make a day of it Saturday."

"Sure. And, lot of girls, huh?" Faith said, teasingly. "So, you've like known lots of girls?"

"Uh... I'm going to take the fifth on that, on the grounds that you might hurt me," Scott said, laughing. "I ah - hey!" He came to an abrupt stop, almost stumbling.

Faith stopped as well, releasing his arm and looking down at the two pairs of legs sprawled out blocking the sidewalk leading up to the side door. Picking a set, she followed them up from the ankles until her gaze came to rest on the face of a smirking Jack O'Toole. The heavily bruised face of a smirking Jack O'Toole. A quick glance across showed her the other pair belonged to some other goon she hadn't seen before, with a third leaning arms folded against the school by the doorway.

"Cute, guy," Faith said, nodding and looking down at Jack. "Wanna move those before I decide to take 'em off at the hips and take them with me?"

Jack pulled his feet in abruptly and uncoiled from his bench to stand in front of Faith, followed a few moments later by his buddy. Scowling, Jack snarled, "That was real fucking cute yesterday, what you did in the Quad. Bet you thought that was real funny, huh?"

"Well, yeah," Faith said, seriously. "I kinda thought it was a hoot." She grinned, "For the whole ten seconds it stayed on my mind."

"Hah hah," Jack said. "Let me tell you something, bitch. Nobody makes me a laughing stock in front of the entire school here and just snickers about it."

"Well, just call me Terence Hill, then," Faith remarked.

"Huh?" Jack's scowl deepened.

"Nobody," Faith said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Ain't you got no culture?"

"Oh, your girlfriend's a real wiseass, Hope," the other goon said, giving Scott a slight shove. Faith's eyes narrowed at that, but she let it go for the moment while keeping her focus on O'Toole.

"Hey, Dickie, no need for the shoving," Scott said, adjusting his books. "Why not just ease off, and we'll go in and leave you guys to... whatever you were doing. Creative loitering?"

"Very funny," Jack stated, his eyes flicking to Scott and then back to Faith. "Here's a real laugh riot: we're not done here. Your cheerleader friend and the geeks you hang out with? They're gonna be in a world of pain too."

Her eyes narrowing to slits, Faith's vision went red at the edges briefly. Stepping forward until her breasts were almost brushing Jack's leather jacket, she brought her hand up between his legs, grabbing a cupped handful of package and squeezing, hard. Jack straightened abruptly on to his tip-toes, his eyes bugging out as a slow, predatory smile flowed across Faith's lips. The third goon came off of the wall suddenly, then stopped, looking confused.

Faith's other hand shot out abruptly, catching Dickie's hand as it came up to shove Scott back and squeezed, vaguely aware of hearing crackling sounds. She barely registered enough awareness to stop shy of using full Slayer strength before using the grip to send Dickie stumbling back up against his bench, bringing his off hand up to cup the wounded one.

"Now, let's get something straight here, guy," Faith said in a reasonable tone. "You got a problem with me, best keep it there. Anything happens to any of my crew, and there won't even be a grease spot left of you and your stooges here, capiche?" Her smile broadening, she put a bit more pressure into her grip, easing off a bit when Jack's face turned purple. "Nod if you catch my drift."

Jack's head moved up and down, and he managed to grate out, "Caught it."

"Coolness," Faith drawled. "Now, you gonna move your retahded ass outta my way, or do I just take these home with me for a keepsake? I'm easy either way." Jack's head moved from side to side frantically, his eyes signaling 'No!'

"No, you're not going to move?" Faith asked in a playful tone, "Or no I shouldn't snag a keepsake?" Reaching up, she smoothed the lapel of his jacket almost sensuously with her left hand, then took a handful of jacket front and picked him up by the jacket and the handful of crotch, setting him casually to one side and then shoving him back to stumble sitting onto the bench again. With a groan, Jack leaned forward slowly, both hands going to his crotch.

"Oh, you are gonna be so fucked, bitch," a red faced Jack gasped out, his eyes on Faith's.

"Man, you were just born stupid, weren't cha?" Faith cocked her head slightly. "Bring it. Any time, guy." Hooking her hand through Scott's arm again, she led the way past and into the building, the other goon scrambling hastily out of the way.

Inside, a slightly pale Scott looked down at her. "Uh, not to spoil the moment, but," he said, "Are you crazy? That guy is dangerous."

Stopping, Faith looked up at him curiously. "Uh, so am I. And he ain't nuthin."

"Okay," Scott said, slowly. He grinned abruptly. "As long as you know. And I have to say, that was kinda hot."

"Ah." Faith grinned back up at him. "Kinda hot, huh? At least you ain't all freaking out or anything."

"Oh, color me freaked," Scott said. "But not in a bad way. Right now I'm kind of happy to get inside without a black eye, split knuckles, or a stomped lunch," he shook his head as they headed off down the hall.

"You don't stand up to those guys when they try this crap?" Faith asked, curiously.

"Well, yeah, enough so they usually pick on people who don't fight back," Scott said. "But it usually gets me punched out, too."

Stopping at the main hall leading to the front doors and the library, Faith disengaged her arm. "My stop. Books and tweed this floor, lunchroom and Quad that level."

"Right. Sure you won't change your mind?" Scott asked.

"Nah," she shook her head. Reaching out, she hooked her hand in his waistband, pulling him to her and molding her body up against his. Reaching up, she pulled his head down into a scorching kiss. Abruptly, she broke off and stepped back, grinning, "Only kinda hot, huh? See you at the Bronze later tonight?"

"Sure," Scott nodded, grinning back. Turning the other direction he set off, almost stumbling into one of the football players. Laughing, Faith headed for the the library.

................................................

Giles looked past Jonathan's shoulder as the main door of the library opened. "Ah. Here is the young lady in question herself, now," he remarked. "Mr. Levinson, I believe you're already acquainted with Miss Lehane?"

Turning slowly in his chair, Jonathan nearly had his heart stop when he found himself looking up at Faith's whiskey colored eyes and bemused grin from way too close. "Uh, yeah," Jonathan said in a mild and slightly panicky voice. "We've met already."

"Right," Faith drawled, nodding. "Hey, Jonno." Pulling the other chair out, she turned it so she could sit straddling it with her arms folded across the back. Cocking her head slightly, she turned her attention to the older librarian - and away from Jonathan. "Hey, Giles."

"Good afternoon, Faith," Giles said. "Jonathan and I were just having a chat."

"So I see," Faith said. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her bemused look back on Jonathan.

"Excellent. Well, I believe that concludes our business for now Mr. Levinson," Giles said, straightening slightly. "If you would be so kind, make me a list of your afternoon free periods and study halls, along with the names of your study hall teachers and I'll write you a permission slip to spend those periods here in the library with us."

"Yes sir," Jonathan said, still not looking away from Faith. Being able to see her move probably wouldn't save him; but it might buy him a few extra seconds to make his peace with his maker. Not that he was really worried that she might decide to finish yesterday's discussion on a bad note, but after watching her take down Jack O'Toole with one punch, you never knew.

"Meet us here tomorrow afternoon and the three of us can go over Faith's testing results and determine a study curriculum," Giles said, placing three books down on the table. "Meanwhile, if you would familiarize yourself with these, you may assist Ms. Lehane with any corrections on her work as well as helping to explain and answer any questions she may have."

Jonathan, turning ever so slowly to avoid making unnecessary motion, looked back at Giles. "Right. Familiarize. Can I go to lunch now?"

"Oh, certainly. I fear I've quite lost track of the passage of time. Let us adjourn until then," Giles said with another tight smile. He handed the books to Jonathan, who added them to his own stack and clutched them to his chest like a teddy bear as he scurried out of the library as quickly as he could manage without breaking into a complete run.

"What was all that about, Jeeves?" Faith asked once Jonathan was well away from the library. "Looks like you scared Jonno there out of a few more years of his life. And he was already down a few from last week."

"I certainly did my best. He should be frightened," Giles said in a dark voice. "Not only were his shenanigans responsible for several deaths, but were they to come to the attention of certain branches of the Watcher's Council he would have a bit more to deal with than a few mild harsh words from a middle aged librarian. While this is a duty that most active Watchers are not required to pursue, at least part of a Watcher's mandate is to assist in curbing the more disruptive spiritual forces in their region; including rogue magic users."

"So," Faith gave him an inquisitive look. "You're saying that if you'd reported him to the Tweed brigade, or if another Watcher'd been here," Faith said, looking towards the library entrance with a raised eyebrow. "They woulda offed him?"

"Perhaps," Giles said. "Perhaps not. All Watchers have quite a bit of autonomy in dealing with such matters. However, most would likely have at the very least notified the Council; what the Council decides to do with such individuals is generally far from benign."

"They'd have whacked him," Faith said, nodding. She gave Giles a wry smirk. "Kinda harsh."

"Quite," Giles said. The librarian sighed and leaned forward on his elbows and pinched the bridge of his nose after setting his glasses to one side on the table. To Faith, he suddenly looked very old and tired. "However, I as much as anyone understand the risks and unintended consequences of the use of magic. Like yourself, I honestly do not believe that Mr. Levinson intended to create such a monstrosity. What you've told me of your conversation with him seems to confirm this belief."

"Then why are you pulling him in on this?" Faith asked with a tilt to her head. "I mean, it's not like he's gonna love teaching me advanced algebra and remedial geometry. What's the deal?"

"If you suspect that Mr. Levinson won't derive at least some enjoyment from the tutoring sessions, then I believe that you underestimate both your own charms and the libido of teenage males," Giles remarked, getting a smirk and a laugh out of Faith. "While we believe Mr. Levinson to be innocent of any malice," Giles said, settling his glasses firmly back on his nose, "We cannot, however, take such things for granted, any more than we could leave those preparatory school children without follow up warnings over their demon summoning activities." Faith nodded. Giles continued in a soft voice, "Mr. Levinson warrants additional attention; this allows us to keep an eye on his behavior - perhaps dissuading him from acting in such a fashion in the future. I have found that both fear and incentives can be effective motivators if applied appropriately."

"Heh. Glad to be of service Jeeves," Faith said dryly, cracking her knuckles, and then her neck.

"And he saves me the very real trouble of teaching you geometry," Giles said with a smirk of his own. "Though I am sure you were looking forward to it with bated breath."

"You know me," Faith said with a lazy shrug. "I'm all about the training thing. Always just a quiver with anticipation." She wriggled in her seat like an eager puppy, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Quite. So I've noticed," Giles said with a quiet laugh.

"Y'know," Faith said, thoughtfully, "Jonathan knows enough about the supernatural crap to figure out all of what he did. And where to find people to help him out on it." She cocked her head and gave Giles a level look, "Might help keep him in line if he was to be helping us out with other stuff."

"Hrrm. Possibly," Giles said. "Let's take this one step at a time, shall we? Glancing back towards the office, he gave her a curious look. "Now, if you're ready, we can finish your preliminary exams so that I may tally them and we can finish determining where we need to begin devising our strategy here." He gave her an abstracted look for a moment, then said, "I see no real reason we cannot make our way through the rest of those today, as my library duties allow."

Faith smirked as she stood to take off her backpack and turn her chair around. "Aw, just when I thought you were beginning to like me you put me back in the book cage. Sure - let me eat my lunch while we kick around some training ideas, and we'll get on it."

................................................

Tuesday September 15, 1998; Sunnydale High School cafeteria, near-Noonish.

"Ah the staple of the American diet that is the High School lunch," Xander said, sliding into his chair at their usual table. "I'm using 'diet' and 'lunch' in the loosest possible manner here," he added as he pulled his tray in front of himself, looking down at it dubiously.

"Succinctly put," Oz observed. He and Willow had beaten Xander to the cafeteria, and were currently the only other occupants out of their normal crowd. Oz's usual soft monotone masked a very real note of confusion to anyone who knew him well. In this case it manifested as a slightly raised left eyebrow.

The reason for this became obvious when Xander noticed Willow leaning heavily into Oz's shoulder. She shot Xander an unreadable look and returned to nuzzling Oz. Xander was fairly sure he'd never seen Oz look so completely taken aback before. For his own part, Xander was unsure whether to be proud of Willow's new found PDA-style boldness or extremely concerned. She wasn't exactly taking his clothes off in public at the moment, but something about the way she had closed her eyes during the nuzzling process made Xander wonder if that wasn't exactly far off in whatever convoluted Willow-like thought processes were going on.

"Hi Xan," Willow chirped, straightening away from Oz and going back to her lunch tray. Xander blinked, wondering if he'd imagined the previous overt nuzzle session. Willow was back to full Willow-mode again, no signs of any oddness.

"Hey there, Willster," Xander said, pasting a lopsided grin on his face, just to have something to do with it. "Gotta say, I'm really liking the makeover."

"Really?" Willow brightened, tossing him a small grin. "Cordelia and Faith said it would work, but I wasn't real sure but hey - I didn't see any harm in giving it a try anyway... "

"Yup. The Evil Twins were rightamundo," Xander said, not even needing to pause to translate the stream of consciousness sentence. "It's Willow to the nth degree, whatever an 'nth' is."

"Cubed, but only moreso," Oz said in a wry voice. "Willow max," he added, giving his girlfriend a fond but slightly puzzled look.

"Right," Xander jabbed his fork at Oz. "And what the world needs is maximum Willow."

"Won't argue," Oz stated.

Willow laughed. "Awww." She blushed, and added, "I'm going to put you both down for double visits from the Dreidel fairy on Hanukkah just for that."

"Everyone should be double dreideled at least once. Twice if they like it. What's a dreidel?" A familiar voice called Xander's attention away. He looked over to see Tamara take her seat, Aura and Cordelia along with her. However Cordelia said nothing, just taking her seat next to Xander without comment and settling in with her tray. Tamara and Xander shared a look. Xander frowned again and turned to Cordelia, resting a hand on her back.

"Hey guys. You still feeling under the sunny California weather, Cordy?" Xander gave her a concerned look. He glanced up, shooting a quick grin at Michael and Stacey as they settled in across from Willow's end of the table with a pair of 'hello''s.

"Yeah," Cordelia said. "Better than earlier, though." She smiled brightly, then frowned, shaking her head. "No idea what the deal was. Just felt real weird for a bit there." Breaking off, she turned to examining his jacket with a meticulous gaze. Reaching out she adjusted his coat, brushing what may have been imaginary lint off the leather. With a firm nod, she turned back to her food without another word. Xander, for the first time in a very long time, found himself without a quip.

"Dreidel's a Jewish four-sided top thing," Xander explained in an absent tone, finally, "You play with it on Hanukkah."

"Ah," Tamara nodded. "Gotta say, I like the new look thing you guys have. It works."

"Thanks!" Willow bounced in her chair slightly.

"So, what do you think of this dress huh guys?" Aura asked. Her eyes seemed unnaturally large, darting almost eagerly between all the various people sitting around the lunch table.

"Not bad," Xander allowed. Just out of courtesy, he stifled his initial smart assed remark and gave it a look. Yup. The normal stylish Aura combination she'd been wearing earlier in class. Sharp, and flattering, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to what she usually wore. "Looks good on you."

"Really?" Aura muttered. "Well I was so worried about it this morning, I thought maybe it was going to be off or something. But I love that you guys love it!"

"That's really good," Xander said slowly, using the calming tone that one generally uses with lunatics and small children. More and more he was having the same 'Spidey-sense On' feeling he'd had earlier in the day.

"I know it is," Aura said, reaching around to scratch behind her ear a little with her manicured nails. "Hmm. That feels better."

"You better watch that skin girl," Tamara warned. She was intent on her food, but her slightly tense posture indicated she seemed to be feeling the same 'Twilight Zone' vibe that Xander and Oz were. "Don't want to scratch too much. Might cause a breakout."

"Really?" Aura looked suddenly quite concerned. "But it feels so good! My ears have been itching all day. It's been driving me nuts."

"Well something seems to be catching right now," Xander observed, watching with morbid fascination as Willow broke off from eating to inspect Oz's shirt for dandruff, wiping it off whenever she appeared to find something and alternately running her fingers through his hair and picking at it. Oz dealt with it with his usual stoic grace, but there seemed to be a touch more white visible around his eyes than usual. Xander turned his attention back to his tray and narrowed his eyes at it. "Maybe it's in the food."

"Hrrm. Speaking of," Tamara cocked her head, looking at Willow's tray. "When did you go vegetarian on us, Will?" Following her gaze, Xander noticed that Willow's tray held fruit, rolls, and salad only, rather than her usual assortment.

"Oh, you know," Willow said, "Sometimes you just feel like a nut." She giggled, "And sometimes like a leaf or two."

"Rosenberg!"

Xander winced as the voice of The Troll cut across their end of the cafeteria. The group of them looked up to see Snyder moving towards them with the determined 'I'm going to make what's left of your miserable life even more so' stride that Xander had seen depressingly often in the past year or so.

"What do you want?" Willow asked, turning lazily away from inspecting Oz's clothing to look at the oncoming Snyder.

"This isn't a bordello, Rosenberg," Snyder snapped as he came even with the table. He glowered at all the occupants. "Stop giving Osborne an erotic massage on school grounds or I promise I'll make you wish your unfortunate mother had never brought you into this world."

"Oh go to heck you funny looking troll," Willow snapped back, suddenly bristling. Literally: her hair was beginning to stand up on her head. "I see a dozen people a day doing worse than this. And you're going to go after the one girl that may get this worthless pile of concrete and evil you call a school any kind of academic recognition at all?" She stood up from her chair, bent over slightly with her fingers curled loosely into half fists, almost bouncing on her toes in agitation. "Tell you what, buster: you go bring this to the board and see what they say. Go ahead Snyder. Make my year."

Snyder's head snapped back as if he'd been physically struck. However, after a long moment of looking into Willows burning green eyes, he raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Very well then, um, consider yourself reprimanded Rosenberg."

He turned precisely on his heel and walked away from their table to the snickers of other students. Oz looked at Willow in shock. Willow glanced down and snatched a roll off of her plate, bringing her arm back and sending it flying toward Snyder.

Stacey put her hand up and caught the roll as it slapped into her palm. "Whoa. Ease up." She blinked, looking at the roll in amazement before turning back to Willow. "Not even cafeteria rolls deserve to have to touch Snyder."

"Oh, right." Willow nodded, looking down at her tray. Oz's eyes widened slightly and he casually moved the tray out of easy reach as Willow's eyes lit up while looking at her fruit salad.

"Good catch," he said, raising an eyebrow in Stacey and Michael's direction.

Stacey grinned. "Wasn't it? I can't believe I did that!" She tossed the roll back and Oz snagged it out of the air, casually taking a bite from it before setting it on his plate.

"What was that?" Oz asked slowly, looking at Willow.

"What what?" Willow muttered, turning back to nuzzling Oz's denim jacket.

"The 'I am Willow hear me roar' that," Oz explained. Willow fiddled with his shirt a little more before frowning and looking up to meet his eyes. They seemed a little duller somehow, as if she were tired or slightly sick. At the same time the manic gleam that she'd had all day was still clearly visible.

"He deserved it," Willow said finally. "That little troll just wants to make our lives suck."

"We're not debating that Wills," Xander replied in a comforting tone. "We're just asking. You've been a leetle off today. Maybe you have the same thing Cordy does? You guys should probably go home and get some rest."

"I'm fine," Willow stated with a firm voice. She got up, dragging Oz with her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

Tamara, Xander, and Cordelia watched as Willow proceeded to drag the hapless Oz out of the cafeteria by the lapel of his torn denim jacket. After another minute of mutual silence, Xander turned to the other three girls and blinked.

"Was that as weird to you as it was to me?" Xander asked. He looked around and all four of the other girls at the table were watching and nodding very slowly, with Michael adding a thoughtful look to the discussion.

"I've only know Willow since last year," Tamara said. "But that seemed a little... more forward than usual?"

"Oooh ooh!" Aura interjected, bouncing in her seat excitedly. "Maybe they've really just figured out what they wanted. I know that if I had a boy I wanted as much as she wants him that I'd be all over it."

"Um," Tamara said. "Who are you and what have you done with Aura? And in this school? Don't you dare think I'm joking."

"I'm still me," Aura said, looking like a kicked puppy. "I dunno, I guess I just feel perky today."

"Well perky is better than the Queen of Gloom over there," Tamara said. She raised her eyebrow at Xander's frantic 'strike out' motions. However, even Xander seemed surprised when Cordelia just shrugged and bent forward so that her hair covered her face.

What remained of the increasing strangeness of lunch passed by with an agonizing slowness. When lunch hour ended, Xander had never been so glad to get out of the cafeteria before.

................................................

Xander shut his locker and leaned forward to press his forehead against the cool metal, wondering if he was being paranoid or if he should take this situation to Giles. This was too much weird in too short a time for it to be anything other than Hellmouth weirdness. And that truly sucked because tonight was the first night that he'd have had Cordy to himself since they got back from Lake Cachuma. Now that Cordelia had mysteriously transformed into Ms. Shy, he doubted that anything was going to go as planned.

So much for his not-quite-sex life. And for the very enjoyable not-quite-sex...

"Harris."

The familiar voice brought him straightening up abruptly, glancing over his shoulder as his hands flexed slightly. Tor and Heidi on his six. Interesting; in that whole 'oncoming train wreck' kind of way. He reined in his thoughts a little. They had helped with Jack O'Toole; something they hadn't had to do.

"Tor," he replied. He nodded at the female half, "Heidi."

The two of them pulled up to where he was standing and proceeded to lean against the lockers on either side of his with complete nonchalance. Only someone with a shared experience - someone who had reason know them in ways most people wouldn't could tell that they were really tense. Something in the set of the shoulders, just slightly too tight, and in the eyes which tracked around the hallway just a little too lazily calculating of a manner.

And there was something inside of him that hated that knowing. Hated that sense of... connection.

"Got some news for yas," Tor said, frowning slightly. "Your woman had a run in with everybody's favorite psychopath the other day."

"Yeah," Heidi added. "She gave it to him something fierce when he tried to screw with her. She didn't know he'd gone from lamer asshole to full blown psychotic though. We kinda stepped in there."

Xander's eyes narrowed slightly, his mind racing. If Cordelia was shook up from a run in with Jack, that might... naw. Not even nearly getting gutted and chewed on by a Nightgaunt had shaken Cordelia enough to make her demure afterwards. If O'Toole had done something to spook her that badly, the Cordelia that Xander knew would come back with one of Daddy's shotguns to make sure he couldn't repeat it, not withdraw into herself.

"What actually happened?" Xander asked, his attention completely riveted. Heidi gave a barking laugh.

"Nothing too much, just Jack talking a lot of idle shit," Tor said. "More what could have happened if we hadn't wandered up around then." Tor's frown began to deepen a bit. "But ol' Jackie-boy's been getting more and more 'creative' when people screw with him or stand up to him like the cheerleader did. On top of that, the bastard's pathetic memory seems to be getting better. Gots the makings of bad news, Xan."

"Tell me something I don't know," Xander shot back. Heidi gave him a smile with far too many visible teeth to be called entirely friendly.

"Well... your other girlfriend decked him in the Quad yesterday and someone scrawled 'I wuz beat up by a gurl' on his t-shirt in lipstick while Jackie-o was counting tweety birds," Heidi said through her jackal's grin. "How's that for you?"

Xander stared at her, giving out an involuntary bark of laughter at the sudden mental image. "Is this for real?" Xander asked. Heidi and Tor shared a look and turned back to him to nod in unison.

"Thought you ought to know," Tor said. "Haven't really had a chance to catch you on the QT lately, though. They both should be careful: never know when a viper like him'll go off. Or how."

"If that two bit thug thinks he's gonna be able to hurt Cordelia, or Faith," Xander said. A remote part of his mind was almost surprised with the cold anger in his voice. "He'd better rethink his approach to his future, 'cause he won't have one."

Tor's frown shifted into a smile just as dangerous as Heidi's. "Well, what can I say? That's why you're the Man, Xan. Now that our public service is done for the next month, we're off to haze the freshmen. Sorta like shooting baby seals in a barrel. Tons of fun for everyone but them."

"Thanks," Xander said, carefully re-examining the former tormentors. "For this and for earlier."

Heidi looked into his eyes for an extremely intense moment, and then tilted her head to the side and gave him a flat, indolent stare. "You're welcome."

Cocking his head, Xander returned the stare with a lazy half grin. Scratching his head, he said, "I'm having an issue here, though. I kinda thought you two used to run with Jack."

Tor stiffened almost imperceptibly, as did Heidi. "Somehow, that quit seeming quite right after a certain shared experience we all had." He returned Xander's smile with one that was equally as devoid of humor. "You might remember it."

"Naw, Xan," Heidi shook her head. "We're not friends with O'Toole, and he's not one of ours." The two of them began to push off the wall when Xander was suddenly struck with a thought.

"Hey," he said, holding up a hand quickly. He was startled when they froze on a dime. He'd half expected them to just walk off on him after that.

"What?" Tor asked after Xander let the silence linger for a little too long. Xander turned to Heidi and gave her an intense look.

"You been noticing anything weird today?" Xander asked. "People just... acting wrong?"

"People always act wrong around here," Tor said in a mildly exasperated voice. "This is freaking Sunnydale."

"No," Xander shook his head. "This is... noticeable. Seriously noticeable." Just then the bell rang for next period and Xander scowled, closing his eyes and letting his head bang back into his locker. "Crap."

"There's..." Heidi began. She trailed off.

"Get to class, Xan," Tor said. "We'll be at Corner's Malt Shop later tonight if you want to show up."

"Corner's?" Xander's eyes opened and he started laughing. "Isn't that a little Happy Days for you two?"

"Hey, they got good burgers and they stay open late," Tor said, laughing. "What can I say?"

"All right," Xander waved them off, still laughing. "I'll look you up."

By the time he straightened up from his locker, both of them were gone and he hadn't even seen them go. Xander sighed heavily and headed towards his next period class. He wasn't completely sure what he was going to do with Tor and Heidi's little turd of wisdom, but one thing was for sure: he wasn't going to wander casually around the school between periods looking for Jack O'Toole.

He wasn't. Really.

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