Part 2

I hate navigating through schools, by the way. Too many corridors that all look that same. Too many doors, too many lockers, nothing that stands out. It's difficult to figure out where one is supposed to go.

First class was history. An easy one. I could zone out and still flourish in any test they would give me. If I was careful, I may even be able to get a little reading sneaked in.

You may be wondering what my plan was when I reached the Hellmouth. True, I knew I had come to the right place. The air felt electric to me, though no one else seemed to notice. I suppose that's because they were used to it. It only makes sense that I would have some sort of plan, right?

I hate to disappoint you, reader, but alas, I had no plan.

I suppose 'waiting for something to happen' could constitute a plan, but it's not terribly exciting, is it?

Anyway, I had pulled back the hood and stowed my sunglasses elsewhere while I strode through the halls, keeping my head down while I glanced around at the door that may lead to that bloody history class, when I got a vaguely familiar whiff of someone and glanced around.

There was that boy again, Xander, just ahead of me. I lowered my eyes again and slowed. I was afraid that if he noticed me, he would try and introduce himself to me again, and I just wasn't in the mood today.

He looked about sixteen or seventeen, so maybe he was in the same class as me?

I would follow him, then. Maybe he would inadvertently lead me to I was supposed to go.

Unfortunately, there was yet another interruption.

A couple of young people off to my right had been talking to each other, and had failed to notice that young blond girl, the one who had distracted Xander, coming out of what looked like the principal's office.

She was looking down, they weren't looking around, and of course they collided.

The girl's bag hit the ground and spilled the contents. I didn't look at them, I kept walking to follow Xander.

Xander, however, was more chivalrous than I was, and immediately turned and bolted back to come to the aid of the damsel in distress.
I must admit I was rather selfishly annoyed by this. I needed to get to class, but to do that I'd have to wait for Xander to get done being the hero for the ladies. Or, lady.

He swept over to her and hit the floor to help her get her things.

"Can I have you?"

That took me by surprise. I think even Xander was taken aback by what he'd just said. The girl blinked at him, I blinked at him and stopped short before I rounded a corner, and Xander started stammering.

He laughed to cover it up.

"Can I help you?"

"Thanks." The girl replied with an awkward laugh of her own. I leaned against the wall to wait and acted like I was looking for something in my backpack, but kept an ear turned towards them.

"I don't know you, do I?" Xander was saying, which to me obviously said that she was new and he desperately wanted to know her.

My assumption was confirmed by what the girl said next: "I'm Buffy, I'm new."

"Xander." Xander replied, then realized he'd left off something else. "Is-is me," he continued, "Hi."

"Uh, thanks." The girl, Buffy, said again.

I felt embarrassed just watching Xander. The poor lad wasn't exactly Don Juan.

"Well," Xander said, trying to salvage the conversation, "uh, maybe I'll see you around? Maybe at school? Since we…both…go there."

He gave a shake of his head at the end of the sentence and his tone dropped in disappointment. Disappointment in himself.

It was pitiful.

"Great." Buffy said. She was trying to pretend this hadn't gone horribly awkward, bless her.

"It was nice to meet you." She said, and then took her leave. Poor Xander stayed rooted to the spot for a time, looking as though he'd just swallowed something sour.

"We both go to school," he repeated to himself, exasperated, "very suave. Very not pathetic."

Well, at least he realized it. At least he didn't genuinely believe that had gone well. I mentally urged him to recover swiftly from his broken heart and hurry on to class. He started to, and then noticed something on the ground that they'd both missed and bent to pick it up.

I didn't see what it was until he held it up, and when I did see it, every sense snapped to attention.

My first discovery.

"Oh!" he said, "Hey! Hey! You forgot your…stake."

I whipped my head around and watched the blond girl as she strode away.

So that was the Slayer.

Interesting.

I must have looked incredibly disturbing during history class. I couldn't stop staring at the back of the Slayer's head. I had tried to come up with a myriad of excuses for how she might not be the Slayer, but every one of them fell to pieces when I thought about the stake.

Even though the teacher was talking about the Black Death, or, Bubonic Plague, which I had been through. It was awful. Seriously, the smell…

Anyway, I just kept my eyes on the Slayer and that bag of hers.

Evidently the only thing not in it was a book for the class since she had to share one with another girl. This girl was also beautiful and had long brown hair and large brown eyes. I frowned and forced my gaze down to the book in front of me.

I didn't like the feel of this other girl. She didn't…well, this is going to sound odd, but trust me when I say she didn't smell right.

All too soon, the bell rang, shrieking through my skull and snapping my attention from the Slayer for once. I took my time gathering up my book and untouched notebook.

"Hi!" the brown-haired girl said, stretching her hand over to the Slayer, "I'm Cordelia."

Immediately I had a flood of memories of Anne of Green Gables and made a note to check and see if they had a copy in the library here.

"I'm Buffy." The Slayer replied.

"If you're looking for a textbook of your very own there's probably a few in the library." Cordelia continued.

"Oh great, thanks where would that be?"

I looked at the pair and got up, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. It looked like I would be following someone again. After all, I wanted to know where the library was too.

"I'll show you, come on." Cordelia offered. She seemed nice enough so far, but there was still that feeling…

You don't have to be around for centuries to get a warning about someone, but it can help.

I followed the pair as they moved towards the door. They were talking about L.A. Not my favorite town. Again, too sunny. Too many people. Too loud. A nice visit but I never spent more than a couple of weeks there.

"I would kill to live in L.A." Cordelia was saying excitedly, "That close to that many shoes!"

I frowned in confusion.

I've never understood the obsession with shoes. You can only wear one pair at a time, correct? Why have more than that?

Girls.

I followed the two of them across the courtyard and into another section of the building, and then I decided to move ahead of them so it wouldn't look like I was following.

Most of what Cordelia had been saying to Buffy was already giving me a headache from rolling my eyes so much, but when she mentioned testing Buffy's 'coolness factor' I felt about ready to just flee her presence.

Apparently Buffy was cool enough already to skip the written coolness test, but she had to give an oral one.

Seriously.

By this time I had already spotted the pair of doors that must lead to the library. Pretty much anytime you saw a pair of double-doors in a school, it was probably a library. I headed towards them thinking to lose myself in the books.

Now that I knew the Slayer was here, I considered my mission done, for the most part. That must have been why there was so much draw to the Hellmouth, because the Slayer was here. Naturally.

I'm not very good at fooling myself.

I immediately started wondering. Why was the Slayer at the Hellmouth? Had she been drawn here too? Was there something big going on that I had missed? Not that that's at all surprising. I don't associate much with…well, monsters.

Speaking of monsters, Cordelia had stopped and was talking to the pretty little girl who had been Xander's friend.

"Willow! Nice dress. It's good to see you've found the softer side of Sears."

Her voice dripped with sarcasm and I hesitated at the doors to look back at her and Buffy.

"Oh, well, my mom picked it out." Willow stammered shyly. I turned around to get a better look. The poor dear. She looked so small with Cordelia standing over her with that malicious, self-righteous look in her eye.

Buffy looked taken aback and disapproving. Well, at least she wasn't entirely like Cordelia. That was reassuring.

"No wonder you're such a guy magnet." Cordelia continued, then dropped the smile, "Are you done?" she motioned to the water fountain Willow had been drinking from.

I felt a growl rise, unbidden, into my throat. Call it maternal instinct or whatever you wish, but I wanted to defend Willow. I wanted to speak up for her, to rip Cordelia's throat out, to-

'Steady.' I ordered myself. Whenever I got angry it didn't take much for me to fly into a rage.

Thank you, demon Essence.

Poor Willow beat a hasty retreat, and I decided I didn't feel in the mood for the library after all.

I cast one last scathing look at Cordelia, and then locked eyes with the Slayer.

Call me paranoid if you wish, but I could have sworn she saw me for what I was. But I couldn't be sure because as soon as we locked eyes I looked down, pulled my hood up, and then followed Willow as she scurried away.

That's not suspicious, right?

I found Willow sitting outside with a crumpled brown bag that held her lunch. She didn't look terribly upset, but she still cut a dejected little figure, sitting all alone after getting yelled at by the Perfect Queen.

'Don't get involved.' I told myself.

Of course I didn't listen.

There's something in me that just melts when it sees a weak, defenseless little creature. Especially one that's been hurt.

I wanted to give her something to make her feel better. What makes people feel better? I understand women like chocolate. Unless they're allergic. In any case, I didn't have any chocolate to give her, otherwise I would have and that would have been that.

However, all I could give her was my words. So I did.

"Excuse me, young miss?" I said, then winced at how formal that sounded.

Kids don't address each other that way, do they? No. I hadn't been around teenagers much, or I would have known. As it stands, I knew I had said something out of place as soon as they were out in the open.

Too late to draw them back in, however.

"Oh, y-yes?" she looked up at me, blinking from the sun.

"Forgive me interrupting your lunch, but, uh," (I threw in the uh for good measure. Youths do that a lot I've noticed. Perfectly understandable, though) "I could not, uh, couldn't help but notice the incident that happened inside. Are you all right?"

She smiled at me and shrugged.

"Oh, that's just Cordelia. I'm okay."

I nodded slowly, wondering what to do next.

"D-Do you want to sit down?" she invited. That took me by surprise and I raised my eyebrows over my shades.

"Certainly." I answered after a brief hesitation. I would have said no, but I had come out here to cheer up the poor thing. I settled myself beside her on the brick bench and hugged my backpack to my chest.

I expected an awkward silence to immediately invade, but, to my surprise, it didn't.

"So, you're new, right?" she asked, munching on her sandwich. "I would remember seeing you around."

I suppose she meant my outfit. Excuse me if I'm lazy about dressing myself. I mostly wear muted colors because they're easier to match and require minimum effort. So I must have looked like one of those…what are they called…gothic people?

In response, I gave a laugh. She joined in. It was a sweet little laugh. Bubbly and soft. It was endearing. I felt myself melting a little more.

She was just so…cute.

"Well, I do aim to leave an impression." I joked, adjusting my sunglasses. She giggled again, and I could feel her relaxing. She was starting to trust me.

That'll make it easier, an unwelcome voice whispered.

'We're not doing that anymore.' I answered.

That's what you think.

I cleared my throat, my smile slipping. I could hear her heart beating quickly from laughing.

"I just moved here." I continued, "From Oregon."

"Neat." She said, nodding, "I went there on vacation one time. My mom took me to a ton of bookstores."

I smiled.

"A girl after my own heart." I told her. Her eyes brightened in excitement and she grinned happily. That smile just made her even more cute. If she had been holding a kitten she couldn't have been more adorable.

"You like to read?" She asked.

"It's my life." I told her honestly.

"Mine too." She giggled, then frowned slightly. "Is that sad?"

"Not in my opinion."

She smiled again, then swapped her sandwich over to her other hand and offered her free hand to me.

"I'm Willow, by the way." She said. I smiled and accepted her hand. It felt so little and soft.

"A beautiful name," I commended her, I wanted to say that it suited the bearer of the name perfectly in terms of beauty, but I thought that would be forward. Besides, youths don't speak that way to each other.

Especially not acquaintances.

"I'm Margery." I told her.

"Great to meet you."

"Likewise, little miss."

I winced again, but she just smiled. She must have thought it was my form of teasing.

Suddenly, we were interrupted.

"Uh, hi, uh, Willow, right?"

We both turned and I tensed.

The Slayer stood behind us. Willow looked surprised, then worried. I didn't blame her. After all, Buffy had been with Cordelia. In Willow's eyes she was on that side. And maybe she was? I knew next to nothing about Slayers beyond the fact that they slew things like me.

"Why?" Willow asked, then corrected herself, "I-I mean, hi! D-Did you want me to move?"

"Why don't we start with 'Hi, I'm Buffy' and uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor." Buffy said, at the same time coming taking the other seat beside Willow. She looked over and saw me, and I was once again grateful for those sunglasses.

"Hi!" she greeted me. I nodded in response. That's my go-to response for awkward encounters. A nod.

"Oh, t-this is Margery." Willow said like we were old friends. "She's new too."

"Good to see I'm not alone then." Buffy said with a nod.

"Likewise." I managed to say.

"The favor," Buffy continued, turning back to Willow, "it doesn't involve moving but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

The tone in which she said this was friendly, but I detected a certain knowledge behind the words that said she knew saying this to Willow was supposed to make her feel insanely privileged and excited.

Buffy was popular. 'Twas only to be expected, really.

"But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" Willow said.

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked.

"Not legally." Willow answered. I smiled.

Buffy laughed. "Look," she said, "I really want to get by here. New school, and…Cordelia's been really nice…to me, anyway, but, uh, I kind of have this burning desire to not flunk all my classes and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to, to get caught up."

Willow grinned excitedly.

"Oh I could totally help you out! If you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?"

Buffy stopped short and I felt her tense. I peered at her over my sunglasses. Her smiled had slipped and her eyes were wider. She looked panicked.

"Or not?" she said. Willow looked confused. "We could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kind of gives me the wiggins."

I frowned in confusion.

What on earth are wiggins?

"Oh it has that effect on most kids," Willow said in understanding, but her eyes were alight, "I love it though."

'Bless you dear child.' I thought with a smile. God help me but I'm getting maternal in my old age.

"It's a great collection," she continued, "and the new librarian is really cool."

"He's new?" Buffy asked.

There was something about the way she said it that made me take notice. Perhaps I should have gone to the library after all? I made a note to do that at the first opportunity.

"Yeah, he just started." Willow said, "He was curator for some British museum, or THE British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies and am I the single dullest person alive?"

I chuckled.

"Sounds like my kind of thing." I said, using a line I had heard a boy use once.

Willow grinned.

"Not at all." Buffy assured Willow. I heard footsteps approaching and got yet another whiff of-

"Hey!" Xander greeted, vaulting over the brick platform to us. "You guys busy?" A friend of his came around the other side. A tall, gangly sort of youth staring at Buffy. Xander's hair flopped in his face and he gave a toss of his head to move it.

"We interrupting?" Xander continued, settling himself down, "We're interrupting." He didn't seem to mind.

"Hey." Buffy replied.

Xander caught sight of me and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh, hey, it's you!" he said. Willow nodded and put a hand on my shoulder.

"This is Margery." She said, "Margery, this is Xander and Jesse." She introduced them both to Buffy as well and Xander actually took the time to shake my hand.

"Nice to finally meet you." He said.

"My apologies about earlier." I said, since he evidently wanted to bring the subject up, "I thought I was going to be late for class, or I would have given you my name. Sorry."

"No biggie." Xander said with a shrug, and turned back to Buffy.

"Me and Buffy go way back," he said with a grin, "we're old friends, very close. Then there was that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people but now here we are like old times I'm quite moved."

I just blinked at him.

Heavens but he was trying so hard.

Of course, there could be nothing but an awkward silence after that.

"Is it me," Jesse said, "or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?"

Xander shook his head. "No, uh, it's not you."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor boy. Between him and Willow, I couldn't melt anymore without turning into a puddle. I wanted to take him aside and tell him to stop trying so hard. But this was not the time, nor the place.

Buffy made a valiant effort to salvage the conversation yet again.

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys." She said. "I think."

Xander nodded, smiling, and then looked at me. I realized I was meant to say something.

"Oh, uh, likewise." I said.

"Well, you know, we wanted to welcome ya," Jesse was saying, "make you feel at home," Xander suddenly dismounted the brick platform and knelt on the ground while he went through his backpack, "unless you have a scary home."

As if on cue, Xander rose, holding that stake again. I couldn't help but tense and pull back.

I've had more than a few of those thrown at me in my time. Literally.

"And to return this." He said. "The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence."

I glanced at Buffy to see her reaction. She tried to laugh it off, but I could see her mind scrambling for an explanation.

"Ha! Uh, no, uh, a-actually it was for self-defense." I raised my eyebrows. Was she going to just come out and say she was a Slayer? The Slayer?

"Everyone has them in L.A." She continued. "Pepper-spray is just so passé."

Xander invited himself to sit down, evidently satisfied with this answer, forcing me and Willow to scoot down a bit. Of course, that left no more room on the bench so I stood up. Willow looked up at me apologetically and mouthed: "Sorry."

I shrugged and nodded.

"So what'd you do for fun?" Xander was babbling, "What do you like? What do you look for in a man? Let's hear it."

"If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish." Jesse offered. Again, I shot a look at Buffy. She was playing this off fairly well, but a few more close calls or an ill-timed question and she'd leave. She was getting nervous.

So was I.

"Gee." Buffy said, "Everyone wants to know about me. How keen."

"Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale," Xander explained, "you're pretty big news."

Buffy pointed at me.

"She's new." She said, "Is she news?"

Xander and Jesse looked at me. Silence. That was good. I could work with silence.

"I have a way of…well, being forgotten." I explained. "Which sounds sad until you think of it as…as…a…" oh, the Devil take it, what was that word? Ah, yes! "Superpower." I finished. I won't lie I felt quite chuffed with that explanation.

"Anyway," Buffy said, answering Xander, "I'm not news. Really."

"Are these guys bothering you?" Cordelia asked. I thought I had felt something foul approaching.

"Uh, no." Buffy said quickly. Willow was quick to try and save her.

"She's not hanging out with us." She said. She sounded so cheerful about it. I supposed it was common to try and placate Cordelia. I could imagine she would be terrible to try and deal with when she was truly upset.

Jesse stood up, determined to be suave.

"Hey." He greeted Cordelia, who simply rolled her eyes. "Cordelia."

"Oh, please." Cordelia dismissed him with barely a look and a quick move of her hand. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility," she addressed Buffy, "but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster-the woman with the chest hair-because gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."

Every nerve in me snapped to attention and I heard Buffy take a sharp intake of breath. Her eyes grew wide, and I could see she was thinking the same thing I was.

"What?" she said weakly, full of dread. I didn't much relish the idea of what this could mean either.

"What're you talking about?" Willow demanded.

"Yes," I joined in, "please explain."

Cordelia shrugged. "Some guy was stuffed in in a girl's locker."

"Dead?" Buffy said. I frowned at her. That seemed fairly obvious to me, but, the Slayer looked as though she was in shock. I found this confusing, before I reminded myself she was still but a child. Sixteen. That meant something different these days.

"Totally dead, way dead." Cordelia said. She was enjoying this.

"So it's not just a little dead then?" Xander joked.

That reminded me of a line from The Princess Pride.

Stop giving me that look. I don't live under a rock. I love that movie. A lot. I've seen lots of films. What's the point of living potentially forever if you're not going to experience new things?

"Don't you have elsewhere to be?" Cordelia snapped.

"You know, if you need a shoulder to cry on," Jesse offered, "or, just to nibble on-"

"How did he die?" Buffy interrupted. I was about to ask that myself.

"I don't know." Cordelia said, in a tone that said: "Why should I care?"

"Were there any marks?" Buffy sounded desperate now.

I figured right about now would be a good time to take my leave. I needed to get a look at that corpse, and then I needed to check out the library. If I left now, I could beat the Slayer to both. I took a step back.

"Excuse me, Willow," I murmured to her, she looked up at me, "I must take my leave now. I mean, I've gotta go. I'll see you around?"

She nodded, that smile back in place. "Sure!" she said. "Hey," she said as I started to leave, I turned back, "you coming to the Bronze tonight?" I tilted my head.

"The what?"

"Oh, it's this club we like to go to, you want to come?" She sounded like a child asking for a treat. I couldn't refuse her.

"Of course!" I said with a smile.

"Great! I can walk you there if you want? Where do you live? I'll meet you there."

I hesitated. My current living quarters were…less than stellar. And by that I mean I had moved into an abandoned building that already had boarded up windows that saved me the trouble of having to do it myself.

A fake address I could use, and just meet her outside the building, but I could already foresee that presenting a problem should she ever come looking for me.

"Actually," I said, "why don't I meet you at your place? M-My, uh, parents haven't quite got everything put together and…they hate company."

It was a poor excuse, but better than none.

"Oh, okay." Willow agreed. She quickly gave me her address, and told me what her house looked like.

Such a sweet, trusting little thing. The easiest prey we've ever had.

'She's not prey.'

Not yet.

I turned and strode away quickly. I broke into a run once I was inside, and I charged past the hall monitors and the other milling students.

I'm fast, but I'm quiet, too. I followed the signs to the girls' locker room and ran through the door before anyone could think to stop me.

Once inside, I slowed down and tested the air.

The police hadn't arrived yet, which meant they would be soon. I would have to do this quickly if I wanted to beat them and the Slayer. No doubt she would be checking out the scene. She needed to see if this was vampire work as well.

I could already smell the scent of corpse in the air. I followed it, and soon found the body under a thick blanket. I knelt and pulled the cover back

It had been a young man. A youth himself. He was completely drained, which meant he wasn't possessed. He had been a meal, the poor lad. I didn't need any further confirmation that this had been a vampire attack, but I leant over his body any way and took off my sunglasses.

Two holes in his neck.

I put the cover back and swallowed, then stood and shifted my backpack.

This was bad. First the Slayer, now a vampire, what next?

I had a feeling the library was the answer.

I stole swiftly back to the door and peered out. The hall was still crowded, but no one was looking this way, so I took my leave and headed for the library. Just in time, too. On the way out, I smelled Buffy coming in.