For personal enjoyment not for profit, if you recognize it, I don't own it, just bending and folding it.
Chapter 3
Xander dialed his oldest friend's number.
"Good morning, Rosenberg residence." He heard her bright voice.
"Hey Willow, it's Xander," He greeted her.
"Xander how are you doing? Are you okay? I was surprised I didn't hear from you this weekend. What did you do this weekend?" His friend rapid fired.
"It's been a very busy weekend. I'm doing okay. I kind of got a baby sister over the weekend." Xander said giving Faith a wink.
"You mean your dad has a kid with his mistress, I thought you said he was sleeping with Mrs. Thompson?"
"Willow, joke, one of Mom's cousins has a daughter that needed a place to stay, we picked her up at LAX yesterday, Mom's taking guardianship of her, she's going to stay with us probably for at least a year if not longer," Xander said. Before Willow could go off, he continued, "So I was going to show her around town this morning, the library, where school is, but wondered if you wanted to meet at the mall for lunch so you could meet her."
"Yeah, that could be good, we could go eat and then go ah shopping, yeah that's what people do at the mall." Xander could almost hear Willow's mind going in a million different directions.
Jesse agreed even quicker, always up to hang at the mall.
Since Faith already knew her way around Sunnydale, or at least had memories of Sunnydale from being a teenager, Xander and she road straight to the library.
"Well, we've got that going for us," Xander said seeing that their run this morning was almost on pace to be on the team, more good news was for the last two years, Sunnydale had only fielded a JV and Varsity team, no Frosh team.
"So we can probably walk onto the team today," Faith said, reading over his shoulder.
"Point,"
Their next stop was the Magic Box where they found the book that Xander remembered on runic tattoos. It was in Old English and French but Xander was confident they could translate it. Two more quick stops had a post office box set up for Faith and after the purchase of a money order they sent off an order for a kit with basic tattoo gun, ink, and some needles from the back of Inked magazine.
After hiding the book at the house, they made it to the mall with a little time to spare.
They saw Willow fidgeting on a bench in front of the food court, wearing overalls and t-shirt, she saw Xander and stood as they walked up. "Hey there, Xander, is that a new shirt?" she asked brightly.
"Yeah, mom took me shopping on Friday. Willow, this is my cousin Faith," Xander introduced them. "Faith, my oldest friend Willow."
Faith held her hand out, "Xander's told me a lot about you, it's nice to meet you."
Willow flustered, "Thanks."
They didn't see Jesse so they made their way into the food court. "Willow, so what's good here?" Faith asked.
"Well, I like the salad bar stand, but I usually get Khan's BBQ when I'm here with Xander," Willow answered.
"Xander, are you going to to the Mongolian BBQ?"
"That was my plan," he answered.
"Well, why don't you go do that and Willow and I will grab salads. Xander can fend for himself."
"Oh, Okay."
"You good X-man?" Faith asked him.
"Yeah, sounds good, grab a table over in the corner." Xander said heading over to his favorite restaurant, he had just started piling meat and veggies in the bowl for the artist at the grill to turn into spicy noodly goodness, when Jesse walked up to him.
"Hey Xander, who's the hottie talking to Willow?"
"That is my cousin Faith," Xander said as he created the geometric masterpiece that allowed him to get maximum meat and veggies.
Jesse picked up a bowl to start loading his own lunch.
"How long is she in town and more importantly, does she have a boyfriend?"
"She's staying with us and I haven't asked." Xander said shaking his head. "What happened to your undying devotion to Cordelia?"
"Oh it still exists, but I've realized that the universe may have other plans for me." Jesse
Xander hoped that wasn't fate screwing with him. "Unh huh, I see." Xander paid the cashier and walked over to where he saw Willow and Faith sitting across from each other. Jesse slid ahead of him and sat down next to Faith
"Jesse McNally, Welcome to Sunnydale, if you need someone to show you all the wonders of our fair city, I would be happy to offer my expert services."
"Thank you, Xander is already teaching me all the ins and outs of Sunnydale, but I can always use more friends," Faith said giving Jesse a winning smile.
"So how long are you in town for?" Jesse asked
"I don't know how much Xander told you, but my Mom is going to be away for the foreseeable future, so Aunt Jessica has actually taken me in. I'll be here at least through the school year."
"Cool, so we'll see you at Sunnydale High then?" Jesse asked.
"That's the plan, but only if we can convince the school to let me skip eighth grade, I got really good grades, and should be able to do it, but it's not set up yet," Faith answered. Not letting Jesse ask another question, Faith turned back to Willow, "So like I was saying I've heard that colleges really look at the whole picture. I mean, once you hit the really competitive schools, pretty much everyone has an unweighted 4.0 so it's a question of how many units of AP credit you can get and other things you can point to, like clubs, sports, and community involvement. I'm kind of on my own for college, So I have to get really good scholarships or I'll probably be doing community college before transferring to a 4 year school. If I can graduate with a semester or two of credits already in the bag, that's so much better. Most of the sports are things I don't want to play, but Xander and I were talking about cross country, I love to run, and the season is over before finals first semester so we can focus on reports and tests when it really counts."
Willow had been nodding along with what she'd been saying right up until Faith said, "So do you want to start practicing with Xander and I in the morning?"
Willow's nods lost rhythm, "What?"
"Well, you're Xander's best friend, I already think you and I are going to be friends and it would be great to have another face I know on the team."
"I – I – I don't do well with P.E.," Willow said, looking down at her salad.
"That's the other beauty of it," Xander supplied. "if you play a sport, that counts towards your P.E. requirement to graduate."
"Freeing up class period for computers or language," Faith said with a smile.
"Okay I was going to say for auto shop or wood shop, but yeah," Xander interjected. "And hey, no dodgeball or the confidence building technique of the week."
Willow's eyes lit up, "Okay, Okay, I don't know if you guys planned to double team me, but okay I'll give it a try."
"I'd be up for double teaming," Jesse said waggling his eyebrows. Willow blushed while Faith just held up a finger and waggled it back and forth.
"Jesse, I don't plan on double teaming you, but do you want to join us working out?" Xander asked.
Jesse very maturely stuck his tongue out. "Yeah, I'm in, chicks dig athletes."
"Chicks also dig guys who don't obviously only think of them as chicks." Faith said giving Jesse a Clint Eastwood squint. She then put a hand on Jesse's shoulder, "Don't worry Jesse, between Willow and I we'll make you acceptable to walk out in polite company."
Faith looked at Jesse and Willow, "Not to mention if I join a team that starts practicing before school starts, that will give me some more people that know me if not more friends which will make the whole new school thing less awkward."
The conversation moved on to other things and Xander was glad that at least it appeared that Willow and Jesse got on with Faith. He'd still been trying to figure out what was going on when he'd gone over to Willow's house the day he spun back so was kind of out of it. Watching his friends interact He felt like things weren't too crazy. He really saw Willow as his old friend at this point before she'd turned down the path that lead to the destruction of the seed. After lunch they wandered, the mall was the mall, Monday at the beginning of summer wasn't the busiest time, the technology available at Circuit City just made him long for Flat screen TVs, Netflix, his Blackberry and his Ipod. Faith looked kind of interestedly at the display of pagers.
Faith ended up buying a book, Get fit the Army Way, at the bookstore. She responded to Willow's look of concern, "Hey if they get hundreds of thousands of people into shape, they've got to be doing something right."
"I guess," Willow responded sheepishly.
"Lighten up Willow, I just think most of these fitness books are basically somebody pushing people to join their gym or buy their product, to reach the next level," she said pointing to the Gold's Gym and GNC labeled books, "I just want something that's going to tell me what to do to get in shape without hurting myself."
Faith dragged Willow off to look at clothes, leaving the two boys on their own. They meandered into the game store.
"So, no boyfriend, wants to make friends, nice." Jesse said with a grin and waggled eyebrows.
"My cousin, don't be an ass." Xander responded back.
"Yeah so how close do you think you and your cousin will be?" Jesse asked trying to turn the tables on Xander.
"Well, I think we're actually third or maybe fourth cousins or so, so not really close enough that it would matter if we'd like met in college, but with introducing her as my cousin, I don't really want my ringtone to be dueling banjos."
"Your what?" Jesse said looking confused.
"Ringtone, entrance music, theme song," Xander said trying to cover his gaff.
"Oh, yeah, that could be awkward if you like took her to homecoming."
"You think?"
"Anyway, so far she's great people, it will be interesting once school starts, see if she ends up in a different social group. But I like the idea of starting the year as part of a team, might keep Larry and the other group of morons off my case for a change."
"Yeah, that would be nice," Jesse said as he thumbed through the latest issue of Dragon. "So do you think Cordie will think I look good with a Letterman's jacket?"
"Jesse, I predict Queen C will be dating a varsity football player before the first dance," Okay he was cheating he remembered this and how much Jesse moped over it. "Jesse, look man, I can really only think of one chance you have of dating Cordelia at this point, you'd have to stop hanging around with Willow and me and then you'd have to overcome the facts that she's dogged you as part of the nerd herd for the last two years, going to be a cheerleader, and be dating a guy with a car by the third week of classes. Are you willing to go that far for that small a chance?"
Jesse set down the magazine he was looking at, "Shit Xander when did you get all Zen Master."
"Well, watching mom and dad blow apart, and then talking to Faith the last two days, she's way focused on getting through school and getting to college. It's made me think. Just make some new friends and if there happens to be a girl you like, well, then maybe you will have someone to date."
"Speaking of dating, are you ever going to acknowledge Willow's crush on you?"
"What?" Xander asked feigning ignorance.
"You cannot tell me you don't know she's got a mad crush on you. Really?"
"Okay, yeah I know, honestly I haven't done anything because I didn't want to screw things up or make you feel like the odd man out," Xander told his friend. "It's kind of felt like us against the world for the last couple of years and I didn't want to lose that."
"Xander, you are a good enough guy that even if it doesn't work out, you should still be friends, and besides," he said with a chuckle, "now that D'artagnan is here to distract Porthos, the other two musketeers can go frolic."
Xander looked at him funny, "By that logic since they're off on their own, wouldn't that mean that you and I-"
"Shut it Athos,"
"I mean, I know there was that time in sixth grade-"
"Shut it!" Jesse said with a growl and they broke up laughing.
"Jesse, Xander."
The boys turned to see Johnathan and Andrew were setting up a game at one of the tables in back of the store.
The two friends walked over. Xander recognized the original Shadowrun manual and several maps and character sheets. Xander remembered seeing Andrew running games for some of the geekier slayers in the Cleveland house, Winter was long and they could only do so much training. He had never had time to join in before, but from things he heard, at least years from now, Andrew knew how to run a game. Xander started thinking about Johnathan and Andrew and felt the sound of thunder. Maybe – maybe if Johnathan and Andrew didn't feel so isolated, maybe they wouldn't turn evil.
"Xander?" Jesse saying his name brought him out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, what?"
"Andrew was asking if we wanted to join a new campaign." Jesse answered. "They are looking to start a Shadowrun game."
"Could be fun, would Willow and my cousin be invited?"
"Your cousin?" Andrew asked.
"Yeah, my cousin Faith, from Boston, just moved in with us. I'm not sure if she would want to play, but she's new in town and doesn't know many people."
"Hey, the more people the better." Johnathan.
"I don't know," Andrew said trying to sound authoritative. "I'd want to meet her first and vet her, find out her gaming experience-"
"Andrew stop trying to be a martinet, if Xander and Jesse vouch for her that's good enough for me." Jonathan told his friend. "besides even if she looks like Xander in a dress she and Willow are still better looking than any girl you've said more than 5 words to in the last forever."
"Jeez – Johnathan – yeah okay, we're going to play the first couple Sunday's here to try to get some other people to play and then move to somebody's house so we don't have to pay a table fee."
"Sounds good, we'll call you later this week," Jesse said grabbing Xander's arm and lead him out of the game store.
"Are you okay Xander?" his friend asked worriedly.
Xander took a deep breath, "Yeah, just this thing with my parents and then having Faith show up, it hits me at moments and my brain just takes a walk."
"No problem man, if you need to talk," his oldest male friend offered.
"Thank, I'll be okay," Xander replied. He looked at his watch, "Let's go meet the girls."
After saying goodbye, Faith and Xander headed home. To Xander's increased senses, Vivian smelled and appeared completely human.
The meeting with the social worker went pretty much how they hoped. Xander thought to himself that D'Hoffryn had to be involved given that Faith was set to take placement exams on Thursday to advance to ninth grade. Faith had gone off with Vivian to the back yard to talk and when she returned, Vivian explained to Jessica that she would recommend Faith taking self defense courses as part of her counseling to build confidence and overcome the assault that happened. Xander almost wasn't surprised when Vivian turned to Xander and asked if he would like to join her. She told Xander's mom that she couldn't pay for Xander's classes, but she could get him the discounted rate that her department got. When his mom nodded to him, Xander quickly agreed. When they finished, Vivian set her notebook and name tag on the table by the door.
"Okay, so now that the official visit is over, Faith if you want you can call me Aunt Viv, I remember your mom, Jessica, and me used to play on the tire swing out back here. Since your Aunt Jessica works nights, I'll probably check in on you more than strictly necessary, don't worry it's not me thinking something is wrong."
Over dinner, Jessica and Vivian shared stories of Faith's mother growing up, not touching on the problems she'd had the last few years. After they left Xander and Faith were sitting in the living room,
"So, ever feel like somebody out there is nudging pieces pretty hard?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, but for the first time in quite a while I think we at least have some clue as to the way we're being steered." Faith responded. "So, when we were talking out back, Vivian told me that learning self defense helped her feel better about herself after she was attacked. She has a friend who runs a Hapkido dojo, so this isn't like some YMCA class she wants to sign me up for."
"So do you still want to spar to see how our reflexes are?" Xander asked.
"Sure thing Xman," Faith said getting up and kicking off her shoes, "just no face shots until we know our controls good, I don't know if I have Slayer healing and I don't want to have to explain a black eye to Aunt Jessica."
Friday morning after their work out, the kids rode to the local copy shop and ran off copies of a flyer advertising yard work and general housework. In his first time around, he had earned pocket money mowing lawns and cleaning gutters so didn't see any reason not to do the same this time as well.
That afternoon he and Faith walked around the neighborhood and handed out the flyers getting a couple of jobs right off the bat.
It also gave Xander an opportunity to introduce Faith to some of their nicer neighbors.