See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Welcome, everyone, to the latest chapter of the story! Gotta say, thank God it's Friday; really needing the weekend to decompress, after the week from hell at work. Still, we just wanna thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing and sending feedback about the story; it makes us keep going with the writing, despite the adversities of RL. Okay, enough from us; and all you C/X fans, you'll hopefully like what we've come up with...
Part Three: Teenage Journey
Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale
Early January, 1996
People are great adaptors, and by this point things had settled into an established pattern in the town built upon the Hellmouth. It was the vampires' accepted role to lay low, apart from the occasional snack. It was the Mayor's accepted role to rule his domain with an iron fist from within the shadows. And it was Cordelia Chase's accepted role to make life as hellish as possible for Xander Harris, without going completely overboard about it.
Months ago, the gossip had spread like wildfire regarding the Chase elders being awarded custody of the Harris children. Most of it had been somewhat unfavorable too, what with the circumstances of Anthony Harris getting convicted and sent to jail for the next ten years.
But in a single clever move, Mr. and Mrs. Chase had defused all the whispers and possible negative publicity. They had showed up at their country club during the one day of the year when everyone who was anyone in Sunnydale was present. Dawn and Cassandra had accompanied them, dressed in matching clothes and almost looking like twins.
The young Harris girl hadn't acted like the daughter of a drunken criminal, or some sort of basket case; instead, she had behaved just like Cassandra and charmed the crowd. And when Xander, who was all decked out in a suit and tie, had subsequently escorted Cordelia into the club? It was all over, apart from the flattering article in the society pages of the 'Sunnydale Press'.
Xander himself hadn't enjoyed that day of course. He had hated every single moment of it, constantly cursing behind the pleasant exterior. The boy had later sworn to himself that it was the last time he'd ever do anything like that – even if his life depended on it. But thankfully the dog and pony show had finally ended and things had gone back to normal in school, home, and keeping an eye on Dawn.
"So, Cordelia, tell us. What's Xander Harris really like to live with?" Gwen asked as the Cordettes arrived at school on the day following New Year's break.
"Yeah, let's hear all the dirt! What does that loser get up to after school?" Harmony asked excitedly.
"Excuse me? Cordelia Chase actually shares the same house as a loser?" the girl in question demanded, determined to put an end to that topic.
Miss Kendall instantly backpedalled in alarm. "Uh, no, I just meant...never mind."
"Has Xander ever tried anything, y'know...late at night?" Aura asked in a hushed tone, diving in with the juiciest concept she could come up with.
"As if! He'd never dare!" Joy scoffed.
Cordelia turned her patented glare upon the other cheerleader. "Hello, Miss Motormouth, can I get a sentence in? I mean, who here is the one who actually has that information?"
"You mean...he has tried something before now?" Kate asked in wonder.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Cordelia snapped. "We're not friends and my house is so huge, we hardly even see each other. What? You guys think I'm desperate enough to settle for someone like that spaz?"
"No!" "No!" all the girls said at once.
"Good! Besides, he's got that whole annoying 'big brother' thing going with Dawn and Cassandra," Cordelia huffed as the group walked up the steps leading into the courtyard.
"So, does that mean he's gonna be attending your birthday party next week?" Harmony asked.
"He lives in my house, Harm. How do you think it would look to everyone, if the guy didn't at least make a brief appearance?" Cordy wanted to know.
Chase Manor, Sunnydale
Wednesday January 10th, 1996
( I'm fifteen years old today. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me... ) Cordelia thought furiously to herself.
Her room looked like a complete mess from the temper tantrum. The teenager still couldn't believe how her parents had actually left for Los Angeles on some sort of 'emergency', today of all days! ( I mean, hello, priorities? Embarrassing me in front of all my friends, by cancelling the party that way? Why do my parents hate me!? )
Enraged, Cordelia threw a vase at the wall and it shattered into a hundred pieces. It didn't make her feel any better, though. "I HATE MY LIFE!"
"Cordelia?" Xander's voice on the other side of the bedroom door actually sounded concerned.
"Go away!" the girl screamed angrily. "Xander, I'm not in the mood right now!"
"Listen, Cordy, are you okay in there?"
"I'M FINE!"
"You sure as hell don't sound it. Come on, lemme in. I promise, no gloating or whatever."
Glaring at him Cordelia finally opened up, yanked Xander inside and then slammed the door shut. "All right, what do you want? Hush money not to tell everyone at school about what you heard just now? If so, forget it!"
Xander held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, that's it. Just for today, can we call a cease-fire to all the hostilities? Truce, y'know. Tomorrow we can go back to hating one another. But uh, I just figured, right now, you'd be kind of upset, y'know, after what happened, and...and if you wanna talk about it...I'm willing to listen."
Cordelia had been expecting almost anything but this, to be honest. She calmed down a bit and said, "Thanks, but no thanks."
Xander shrugged. "Have it your way. But hey, today's your birthday right? So, here ya go." He held out a small gift-wrapped box.
"What?" Cordelia stared at his gift in disbelief.
The young man put the present into her hands. "It's not much by your standards, but you'd be surprised what you can pick up on a shoestring budget like mine – if you just know the right places to go to in this town. So...happy birthday, Cor."
The girl opened the present and gasped at the small gold necklace with a crucifix. "You actually got me this?"
Harris frowned. "If you don't like it, sorry to have wasted both your time and mine-"
"NO! No," Cordelia hastened to reassure him, not thrown by the gift so much as the fact that her lifetime adversary had been willing to spend money on her. "It's lovely. Xander, thank you."
"You're welcome. So, want me to put it on?"
The young woman nodded and turned her back as Xander slipped the necklace around her neck. Cordelia quickly checked herself out in the mirror, and had to admit the darn thing looked quite good on her. She turned back to her companion and said, "Xander, not that I'm complaining, but why?"
"Just my way of saying thank you. I heard recently that you didn't want me to live here with your family at first, so if you hadn't changed your mind...right now, I guess Dawnie and I would be a lot worse off. So I figure I owed you one."
"You don't owe me anything, you jerk," Cordelia said crossly, yet with a hint of affection.
"If ya say so. And now, if you're ready, Dawn and Cassandra are waiting downstairs to give you their presents as well," Xander told her.
"My sister actually got me a gift? She's never once done that before in her entire life!" Miss Chase exclaimed in disbelief. "Okay, get outta here; I've got to get dressed for school. Just wait outside till I'm done, will you?"
"You mean, I don't get the cheap thrill of watching Cordelia Chase take off her clothes for me?" Xander grinned.
"Get out, you pervert!"
Bucky's Fondue Hut, Sunnydale
Not long after sunset
"So, Willow dear, how was school today?"
The Rosenberg daughter sighed. "Okay, mom..."
The problem was, though, it had been anything but okay. Xander had blown her and Jesse off about meeting up at the ice cream bar this evening, saying that there was an emergency at the Chase house and he would have to take care of the three girls alone.
Well, that was hardly a surprise. Almost the entire school had been buzzing with the news that Cordy's birthday party had been postponed, which was like the social event of the year. Not that she and Jesse had been invited, of course.
It just struck the computer hacker as sad that ever since Xander and Dawn had moved in with the Chase family, her oldest friend had had far less time to be with Jesse and herself. Okay, new living conditions and all, but it had really hurt that for the first time ever, the two Harris kids hadn't come over to her house on Christmas Day to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas".
Willow picked at her food listlessly. ( Xander, what are you up to right now? )
"Moshele!" Sheila Rosenberg suddenly called out. "Is that you?"
The Jewish girl looked up and saw Moshe Levinson, his wife Virginia, and their son Jonathan come over. The four adult friends then started their own conversation as the two teenagers more-or-less got shoved to the side.
"So, Ira, bubelah. How goes the psychiatry business?" Jonathan's mother asked.
"Eh, same old, same old. Would you believe there was one gentile who came in last week who started raving, "It was vampires, I tell you!" Ach, that meshuggener must have watched Dracula far too often as a child..."
Willow automatically tuned out the ridiculous small talk as all the grown-ups laughed. Her mind started focusing on the boy of her dreams again, resisting all her efforts to think about the latest wonders of Windows 95.
"You look as depressed as I feel."
The reedy, nasal voice belonging to Jonathan was enough to drag Willow out of her thoughts. "Huh? Jonathan, what-"
"That look on your face, I see it in the mirror every morning. You're wishing you were anywhere but here, right?"
Jonathan was sitting directly across from her at the table, and their mothers alongside were obviously far too engrossed in the other conversation to pay any attention. So Willow shrugged, "Kinda, I guess."
"Tell me about it. My dad says I don't get out enough, that's why he gave me two tickets to a rock concert over in Fondren this weekend. But I don't have anyone to go with me. So you want 'em?"
"Uh, who's playing?" Willow wanted to know.
"Not sure. But Cibbo Matto is one of the supporting acts, I think."
"Ooh, I love them!" the redhead suddenly gushed, forgetting to be shy in her enthusiasm. "So, so, do you think maybe we should go? Y'know, together?"
Jonathan stared at her in disbelief, the short nerd not sure that he'd heard her correctly. "You wanna go to that concert with me, instead of Xander or Jesse?"
"OH!" Willow's face went as red as her hair. "Well, I-I-I don't want to be rude, I mean they're your tickets. Plus Xander's always so busy these days, and Jesse would just be wishing that it was Cordelia there with him instead of me. So, yeah!"
Chase Manor, Sunnydale
The same time
"Xander, knock it off!"
"But Cordy, it's traditional!"
"Traditional my ass! Stop it or I know just where I'm gonna swing this baseball bat, and it's not gonna be at that piñata!"
"Spoilsport." But still the boy stopped whirling Cordelia around, and let her stagger briefly before finding her balance. "So what do ya say, you two? I betcha five bucks the birthday girl just can't pull it off."
"I'll take that bet!" Cassandra called out at once.
"Me too!" Dawn giggled.
"Will you just listen to that vote of confidence, Cor? But let's be honest here, you're gonna let them down however hard you try."
"I told you, Harris, knock it off! You can't psych me out on this one."
Cordelia slowly stepped forward in the room the four kids had commandeered for their impromptu little celebration. She took a few swings. Nothing.
"Ha! She shoots, she misses!"
"Cordelia still has one more chance to go, Xander. Don't count your chickens just yet," Cassandra said smugly.
With a mighty heave, Cordelia swung with all her might. She was rewarded by the sound of her prize exploding when the stick made contact with the stuffed paper mâché decoration. "I did it! I did it!"
"Yeah, you sure did," grumbled Xander.
Cordelia ripped off her blindfold and instantly erupted in gales of laughter. The sweets were all over the floor, and Xander was standing there licking his shirt that had been drenched with some sort of liqueur. "Oooh, tasty!" he said in delight.
"Hey! You owe us money, Xander, so pay up!" Dawn demanded.
"Well, I'm a bit short right now, Dawn-patrol. You're gonna hafta wait a while, till I can get my hands on some dead Presidents. Or maybe we can work something else out?"
"Piggyback races!" Cassandra yelled. "And I call Xander!"
"Hey, you're my sister; you're supposed to be on my side!" Cordelia said in annoyance.
"Sorry, Cordy, but face it. You may have that cheerleader stamina, but you just can't keep up with Xander's big long legs!"
Deverau Street, Sunnydale
Early March, 1996
The days and weeks had passed quickly. Harmony, having anticipated a big weakness in Cordelia's defenses thanks to that major faux pas by the Chase parents, had been stunned the next day when her friend had shown up at school like she'd just won a date with Tom Cruise or something.
The blonde female teen simply hadn't been able to understand it, until she'd noticed Cordelia constantly staring at that idiot Xander in the distance. Then it had hit the Kendall girl: her fellow cheerleader must have gotten one hell of a birthday present from that guy. And the only thing that Harmony could think of to put that sort of grin on her friend's face...
( I don't believe it! Cordelia actually decided to lose her virginity to that...that over-evolved monkey boy? Oh my God, what was she thinking? )
Harmony couldn't prove it, of course, but there was no doubt in her mind. Her oldest friend had stopped insulting Harris at every opportunity, plus the new dynamic between the King of Cretins and Queen C was obvious to anyone with eyes.
And this was southern California, after all. Harmony, like her friends, knew that fifteen was kinda rare for something like that – but it wasn't unheard of either. Not by any means. Fortunately, however, there was no substance to any of it and both the Harris and Chase reputations remained intact.
Anyway, right now Xander and Cordelia were inside the Chase limousine as it stopped outside the main gates of Restfield Cemetery, with school stuff the last thing on their minds.
"Are you sure you want to go alone?" the girl asked suddenly.
"I'm sure."
"I mean, I suppose I could reschedule my leg wax somehow if you really need somebody to-"
"Cordy, it's fine. Go do what girls do on a Saturday and don't worry about me. I'll be okay," Xander said in a monotone.
Cordelia shrugged. "Alright, have it your way. I'll have Roger swing by and pick you up after I-"
"I'm thinkin' I'll walk back, actually. I'll probably need the alone time afterwards. See you tonight."
Without another word, Xander got out of the car and quickly shut the door behind him. Miss Chase hesitated, but then after a moment told the driver to get moving. Harris didn't even notice as the vehicle left; his mind was completely focused on his objective near the rear of the cemetery.
His mother's grave.
This was the first time he'd ever come to this place. Jessica's rushed burial had occurred whilst he'd still been in the hospital, and even though Janette Macnaught had brought Dawn here not long afterwards to say goodbye, Xander himself had missed out on the opportunity. And after a conversation relating to Mother's Day the boy had suddenly decided that he had to do it now, today, before he chickened out forever.
Xander finally came to a halt and laid his flowers down upon the grave. The headstone was remarkably plain, in his opinion.
It read "JESSICA HARRIS 1958-1995".
Nothing else.
No descriptions like 'Beloved Wife and Mother', or 'In Loving Memory' or anything like that; just the cold, impersonal name and dates.
"Hey, Mom," Xander said nervously, looking at the stone marker. "Ah, y'know, sorry I haven't been here before now. But better late than never, I guess. Thing is I've, uh, I've been kinda busy. Like school and stuff, trying to look out for Dawn as best I can..."
He paused. "I guess first off I should thank you for what happened that night. I mean the way I heard it, if you hadn't stopped him when you did, Dad woulda killed me. I don't remember much after I hit him, actually, there's just...well, I remember majorly huge ouchies, and that's about it. Dawnie still refuses to talk about it, and I don't wanna pressure her. Not after..."
Xander stopped again for a few moments. Finally he continued, "So they told me it was an accident. You know, the overdose? You weren't able to sleep after losing custody, and that quack who prescribed the Placidyl didn't know how easy it was to OD on that stuff. And I wanna believe that that's true, I really do. But I...well, sometimes late at night, I can't help wondering whether you decided to take the easy way out. And I really hate myself for that, ya know? Especially 'cause Dad's still alive, and you're not..."
Suddenly, an expression of sheer rage erupted on Xander's face. He shouted, "What the hell was the matter with you?! Why didn't you just divorce Dad ten years ago, and get me and Dawn out of this one-Starbucks town? Things coulda been so different! But now you're dead. And I don't know what to do. How could you be so stupid? What am I supposed to do without you, Mom!? How am I gonna take care of Dawn all by myself, if the Chase's suddenly decide we're not worth the publicity stunt anymore?"
The tears started flowing then. High above Xander, the sun briefly went behind a cloud. No one else, alive or undead, was present to witness as the boy muttered his last words to the dearly departed.
"I miss you so much."
Chase Manor, Sunnydale
Later that afternoon, not long before sunset
Xander eventually arrived...home, for want of a better word. But the mansion still didn't feel like that to him, even after all these months, and he suspected there was no point in trying to force it to be. If the Chase residence would ever feel like more than a fancy hotel to his psyche, then that would have to happen in its own good time.
As he was about to go through the front door, the limo pulled up. Xander glanced towards it, expecting to see Cordelia in all her long-legged glory; but instead, Roger the chauffeur got out and opened the doors for Dawn and Cassandra.
Both of who were carrying quite a number of shopping bags and, to put it bluntly, were also looking like the proverbial cat who'd eaten the canary.
"Hey, Xander! Where were you? We had a great time at the mall this afternoon!" the younger Chase daughter exclaimed.
"Yeah, we sure did! Hey, Roger, do you think you could take care of all this stuff? Cassandra's mom phoned while we were in the car, and said we have to get ready for dinner. There's a big client of Mr. Chase's attending or something, and we really have to look our best!"
"Of course, miss," the hired help said deferentially as he took both her bags and Cassandra's.
Xander could not help noticing the way Dawn was acting, and suddenly decided they definitely needed to talk as Cassandra went indoors. "Dawnie? Could ya come with me, please, I think there's something we need to discuss. Right now."
"Later, Xander, first I have to-"
"I said now, Dawn."
That tone of voice wasn't something that Miss Harris heard from her big brother very often these days, but when he did get that way Dawn knew better than to throw a tantrum or try to pout at her sibling. So she quickly followed him upstairs to his room; and after the guy shut the door Dawn said impatiently, "Okay, so what's the dire?"
"How much of Mr. Chase's money did you spend this afternoon?"
Xander's voice was now much colder than before, and Dawn began to get a bad feeling about this. "Uh, not that much really..."
"Dawn, I know what I saw. And I know what kind of prices those places charge. You spent every dime you had, didn't you? That's why I think it's long past time we had this conversation."
"Xander..."
The young man ignored the wheedling tone, and looked straight into his sister's big brown eyes. The same chocolate-brown orbs that he himself had. Xander said, "Look, Dawn Giovanni, I don't have a problem with you going shopping with your best friend. I also don't have a problem with the Chase's giving you an allowance to buy whatever's necessary. But there's a big difference between getting what you want, and getting what you need. Do you understand what I'm sayin'?"
"Maybe you should spell it out for me," the Harris girl muttered, already unhappy with the way all this was going.
"Fine. What you need is a roof over your head, good food, adequate clothes, medical and the chance to finish high school. Anything else right now is just gravy. Don't you get it? Our last name isn't Chase, Dawnie. Cordelia and Cassandra are the ones who are gonna inherit the family fortune one day, not us! We're charity cases here. Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful that Mr. and Mrs. Chase took us in like that, but don't for a second assume that they owe us a damn thing. We owe them everything. Or at least, I do."
"What do you mean by that?" Dawn demanded, her eyes starting to become shiny.
"Doesn't matter," Xander said, looking uncomfortable. "Look, Dawn, I'm not trying to upset you by telling you all this, okay? I'm just saying, don't get too used to this sort of lifestyle. The money, the shopping sprees, the manor and everything else. On account of it's not permanent."
"And why's that, exactly?"
"Because after I graduate high school in about three years, that's it," Xander said grimly. "I turn eighteen and I'm a legal adult, so their parental custody thing is over. Most likely scenario is I'll have to find work right away to support us both, till you finish high school as well. Maybe Mr. Chase will be kind enough to offer me something with his company, but then again maybe he won't. No guarantees. Either way, if we have to survive on our own – it's not gonna happen by you and me being dependent on the maid for clean clothes, or the chef to make us dinner. Understand?"
The severe words were enough to instantly bring back memories of another life to Dawn Harris, one where there had indeed been no maids or Visa cards or chauffeured limousines. Or even things like strawberries plus eggs Benedict for breakfast every morning.
In that life clothes and shoes either didn't fit or had fitted very poorly, and breakfast had been cereal and toast that often smelled of beer or whiskey. And money had been damned scarce, even before her father had been laid off from his job.
That life was something which the thirteen-year-old girl had tried her best to completely repress over the last six months or so, especially the night when everything had exploded in her face and her mother had died afterwards. It wasn't something Dawn was exactly keen to remember now, either, but her brother's speech had opened the floodgates and there was no stopping the memories rushing back.
"You finally went and visited Mom's grave today, didn't you?" Dawn asked, after a burst of insight into why Xander had said all these unpleasant things to her. "That's why you're acting like this."
"Yes I did, and no it's not," Xander replied. "All that's something that I figured out shortly after we set foot in this house, but I could never find the right time to bring it up with you before now. Look, Dawn, you said you had to get changed for dinner, right? So why don't you go do that, and if you wanna talk about this afterwards – well, you know where my room is."
Dawn didn't say anything as she just filed out of the bedroom. Xander sat down on the bed and buried his head in his hands, briefly wondering if he'd just made a huge-ass mistake.
Sunnydale High, Sunnydale
Three days later
One of the proverbs to be found in Chairman Mao's little red book goes something like, 'the man who senses the wind of change should build not a windbreak but a windmill'.
In this case, there were no actual windbreaks or windmills per se, but it would not be wrong to speculate that everything would have turned out differently if Xander hadn't sensed the wind of change with regard to his friend Jesse.
"Hey, Jess! Wait up!" Xander called as he followed his buddy to the lockers.
But McNally just kept going, and as Xander reached him the boy started working the combination. "What's going on, pal? Why didn't you wait for me?" Harris asked.
Finally Jesse turned around. "Hey, I've been waiting on you for months...pal." The last word was uttered in a very sarcastic tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Xander demanded in confusion.
"What, are you trying to play dumb? Come on, Xander! We haven't really hung out together in ages," Jesse retorted.
Xander hesitated. He knew his friend did sort of have a point there. "Well, I-I've been busy-"
"So busy you haven't even once found the time to hang with me, during the weekends? Hell, when was the last time we went to check out the latest releases at the comic book store together?" Jesse interrupted.
"It's not that simple. I mean, I gotta look after Dawn now, she needs me," Xander tried to explain.
"Xand? She's got a whole bunch of people to look after her, the same time that they're looking after Cordelia's little sister!" Jesse said dismissively.
Harris shook his head at once. "I still don't feel comfortable leaving Dawn alone in that house. Not now, and maybe not ever."
"Why, you think someone's gonna jump out of the bushes and grab her while you're not there?" Jesse remarked scornfully.
"Well, I don't know. I mean hey, I also thought that my father would never come up with the idea to rape his twelve-year-old daughter while he was drunk – but I guess someone musta forgot to send him that memo, because y'know what? Surprise, it happened!"
The bitterness in Xander's voice was unexpectedly fierce to Jesse's ears. Thus the teen hesitated over how to reply to that one, but then his new friend Jonathan Levinson came over. Ever since that night at the restaurant and the subsequent rock concert, Jonathan and Willow had developed a close friendship, which had spilled over to include Jesse too.
"Hey. I got those phoney IDs for us to try to get into the Fish Tank tonight," Levinson said in a hushed tone to Jesse, ignoring Xander for the moment.
"That bar on Main Street?" Xander looked amazed. He then said to McNally, "Dude! One, you're really gonna get in trouble if you get caught. And two, you were gonna go there without me?"
Jesse shrugged. "Well, I thought the country club with Cordelia was more your scene these days."
Xander looked down at the clothes he had once been forced to wear practically kicking and screaming, and yet now took no notice of. At that moment, he realized just how alienated he had become from his so-called best friend. "I went there only the one time, when Mr. and Mrs. Chase asked me to put on that little performance with Cordy for the town paper. I hated every moment of it, and I think I told you that more than once. So what is your problem, pal?"
Jonathan wasn't an idiot and began to back off, letting these two have their space. Jesse glowered and said, "Okay, ya wanna know the truth? Here it is. You've had months to try to talk Cordelia around into going on a date with me, but she still won't even give me the time of day! What's up with that, Xand? To hell with the little people?"
Xander groaned in disbelief. "You just don't get it, do you? Jesse, please try to understand: Cordelia doesn't like you." He went on even as Jesse opened his mouth, "No matter what I say to her, no matter how much of a great guy I tell her you are, she simply. Doesn't. Like. You. And for the record, I finally stopped banging my head against that particular brick wall. Because the last time I attempted to convince her what a great catch you'd be? She gave me grief over it for three days in a row! Face it. Guys like us just aren't what Cordy's looking for."
Jesse snorted, "Guys like me, you mean." He glanced around at the dark-haired geek. "Come on, Jonno. We've got class."
Jonathan shrugged helplessly in Xander's direction, and began to walk off behind his new friend. Harris didn't want it to end like that though and said, "Jesse, come on, man. We're buds, remember?"
"I think the problem is you don't remember." The dark-haired boy just tossed the barbed remark over his shoulder. "You're like a shadow to me now."
Chase Manor, Sunnydale
Not long after school
( You're like a shadow to me now. )
The words echoed in Xander's mind as he thought about recent events. Not only the meeting with Jonathan and Jesse, but afterwards as well when he had tracked Willow down while she was chatting with her fat friend, the girl named Amy Madison.
Willow had been pleased to talk to him, sure, but he'd noticed there was a distance now that had never been there before. And Xander Harris didn't like that, not one bit.
( Guess Jesse was right. When was the last time I picked up the phone and called Willow to talk about everything we did all day? Oh man, this isn't fair. But what am I supposed to do, just stop worrying about Dawnie and simply hope that everything remains okay around here? This sucks! God, could this day possibly get any worse? )
In time Xander would learn never to jinx himself like that upon the Hellmouth, but that day had not yet come. Here and now, the door flew open and Cordelia stormed into the room.
"What-" Xander started to say as he got up off the bed.
He never got a chance to finish as the Chase girl slapped him across the face. "You idiot!"
"OW!" Xander put his hand to cheek before scowling at the female teen. "Okay, what the hell was that for? I thought nowadays we were kind of friends."
"That's what I thought too, ever since my birthday! But you just had to prove me wrong by telling Dawn all that garbage, didn't you? No wonder she's been depressed and miserable lately, the poor thing thinks she's gonna get booted out of here after what you said to her on Saturday!"
Xander sighed, the anger quickly vanishing. "I better go talk to her."
"Hell no, you've done enough damage. And it's taken me this long to reassure her that Dawn can stay in this house for as long as she likes." The cheerleader glared at him.
"You shouldn't have done that," Xander instinctively glared back at her. "That's not something you can promise her, Cordelia. And I'm sorry Dawn's upset, but I'm not gonna apologize to her, or you, or anyone else about anything I said. Because all of it was God's honest truth."
"You stupid – do you really believe that Daddy's just gonna kick you and her out like that, come the day?" Cordelia looked exasperated.
"I don't know. But remember when Dawn and I first moved in? Y'know, when I thought us living here was just gonna be for a few short days? You said something to me then that I haven't forgotten. You said, 'I can't afford to just blindly hope for the best. And some of us like to plan against disaster.' It was pretty good advice too, especially considering what a spoiled princess you can often be-"
Cordelia shrieked in outrage as Xander's mouth somehow seemed to bypass his brain, and went to slap him again. But this time Harris was ready for her, and trapped both her wrists in his hands.
Goaded into a frenzy, Cordelia charged forward, pushing Xander back against his bed. The two teens lost their balance and fell onto the bed, struggling and writhing like a pair of demented sidewinders. Miss Chase kept trying to smack Xander silly before the guy finally called out, "Okay, okay, enough! You win already, Cor. Peace deal, all right? I give up here, and so do you. Agreed?"
Calming down and taking in big deep gulps of air, an emotionally turbulent Cordelia stopped her frantic motions. "Fine."
At that point, the two teens finally noticed what kind of position they had ended up in. Xander was flat on his back on the bed while Cordelia was laying on top of him, her breasts resting against his chest. Her body was undergoing a lot of changes these days, the puberty hormones were in full swing and the young woman had definitely had a bit of a growth spurt in that area.
Xander still had his hands clamped around Cordy's wrists as their deep breathing echoed throughout the room. As they stared at one another, both the boy and the girl became aware of a tension that had never existed between them before. It was the sort of tension which unexpectedly comes to life when a teenager starts that long, torturous journey into becoming an adult, and precious childhood innocence begins to fade away; the sort of tension when boys and girls discover just what all those interlocking body parts are really useful for.
Cordelia slowly lowered her head down to Xander's, maintaining eye contact with him every millisecond. "Your clothes are all wrinkled-" he started to say.
Warm. Moist. Delicious. Such was the best way to describe Xander's first kiss, as Cordelia plunged her lips onto his and Harris let go of her wrists in stunned shock.
All rational thought seemed to go flying out the window for the young man, as they furiously started to make out. But eventually, Xander had one of those moments where you feel like you're in free fall – and then land very hard on a solid surface.
Completely lost in their mutual pleasure he now abruptly hit that solid surface, and there was an instinctive decision to take stock of the situation.
Fact: he, Xander Harris, was kissing Cordelia Chase in his bedroom. In his bed.
The richest girl at Sunnydale High had her tongue in his mouth, and was causing him to develop one hell of an erection as all the blood rushed south to his penis. It was obvious Cordy had felt it too from her sudden moan, and from the way she'd started rubbing against his groin.
Suddenly Xander grabbed her and with all his might, shoved the girl off of him. "NO!"
More than a little freaked, Harris jumped up off the bed. He bent over almost like an old man with arthritis. "Bad idea. Bad, bad, baddest idea in the entire history of bad ideas! That...that did not just happen. It was a-a-a fluke, that's what it was. And there'll be no more fluking!"
"Xander, why are you-" Cordelia started to say in confusion, as she picked herself up off the floor. She had enjoyed herself immensely, and wanted to keep on going with what they had been doing.
"You have to promise me that you won't ever mention this to anybody for the rest of our lives," Xander started to babble as he straightened up. "Promise me, Cordy, please!"
"Why? And what if I don't?" Miss Chase instinctively put on her arrogant haughty mask.
"Your father is gonna kill me," Harris said nervously. "Or else throw me out of the house, which as far as I'm concerned, is even worse. Please, Cordelia, don't make Dawn suffer for my mistake!"
Uh-oh. That was probably the worst thing Xander could have said to plead his case, as Cordy instantly grew livid with realization and embarrassment. ( Mistake? Is that all it was to you, you asshole!? )
Luckily, she managed to calm down a bit before saying angrily, "Fine. It's erased, never happened. And I'll deny it till my dying day, even if you ever mention it to anyone!"
Xander sighed in relief, misinterpreting Cordy's feelings of hurt betrayal as being pissed that he'd ever dared touch her in the first place. "Thank you. Thank you..."
Cordelia wasted no more time on words; she just quickly adjusted her clothes and hair, and then slammed the door shut on her way out.
Typical male, the one thing they can never seem to figure out at any age is what women truly want...
TBC...
