By the time Xander had arrived back on the other side of the school Cordelia was satisfied her dress would work for the coronation and she and Faith were heading to the Library to meet up with Diana. Xander and Jesse trailed behind having their own conversation.

"Mr. Giles thinks a ghost is haunting Sunnydale High and this ghost seems real interested in you." Faith commented.

"I don't know if ghost is the right word." Cordelia said absently, her mind seemed to be on something else.

"Something on your mind, Queenie?"

"Queenie?" Cordelia glanced at her companion.

"Well, you won the coronation, didn't you? And you're already known as the Queen of the school, most popular girl in school. Must be great."

"No, not really." Cordelia sighed and said. "I have no idea why I'm about to say this, but I have been having the oddest feelings for the last few months."

"What kind of feelings?" Faith asked, concerned.

"Some things feel...familiar? I'm not sure that's the right word, but for a few months, I've had the feeling I know things. People I've never seen before, but still feel like I know. And right now I'm having one of those feelings, like I need to be honest about something I normally wouldn't talk to anyone about and especially to someone I barely know."

"Honest about what?"

"About how being popular can feel really lonely. People agree with everything I say, whether they actually agree or not. I can be surrounded by people and feel unheard and unseen by every one of them. Being popular can be a straightjacket and a drug, all at the same time. Xander could be popular if he wanted, he's a goodlooking guy who could join a sports team. He'd look great in a speedo. But he chooses to keep bullies from hassling kids who can't look out for themselves. The only person who bullies Xander, at school anyway, is Larry and Xander stands up to him too. Larry's the quarterback and he could probably pound Xander into the ground if he wanted, but Xander stands up to him anyway. Xander chose something other than popularity and he's free of it's restraints. But he kinda also doesn't really fit in any niche. And now he's doing this, helping keep people safe from something out there. Maybe he's finally found his niche."

"Keeping people safe."

"From something like that thing that attacked me last week. I think I know what it was and I think I already knew, but I have no idea how. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it before. Or have I? Why does it feel like I have seen it before and why do I think it's not a ghost after me, but a girl?"

"Xander thinks it's a girl too." Faith offered, wondering what was up with Cordelia's 'feelings'. Had she seen vampires before and just blocked it out? Most people did, convinced themselves they didn't really see what they thought they saw.

"This girl, she hates me." Cordelia murmured. "I know it and yet I feel like I don't knew her. Back in January, something happened at the Bronze, a gang attack I think. A girl died in Xander's arms, I felt like I knew her and yet, I'd never seen her before. That's when these feelings started. This conversation about feeling lonely feels familiar, like I've talked about feeling lonely in a crowd before. But this girl that I know hates me, I have no idea who she is or why she hates me. Did I bully her, like Larry bully's Xander and not even see her while I was doing it?"

"You bully people a lot?" Faith asked.

"It's part of being popular, something I just accepted as a fact of life. I've never been bullied and yet, I feel like I know exactly what it feels like to be on the receiving end of it. Why?"

"Why do you trust Xander?" Faith countered, still really curious about what she'd observed earlier. "He convinced you to let us help you, because face it, you seem to be at the center of this mystery. You agreed because he asked you to. Why do you trust him?"

"I don't know. It's just a feeling, I trust him. Don't you?"

"Something happened to us too, last month and while it was happening we trusted each other without thinking about it. For awhile the feeling lingered and now it's a memory. He's trying to prove he can be trusted and I want to believe it. A lot's riding on him being someone I can trust. Last week when you were attacked, something happened to me too and it was only after it happened and I'd calmed down that I realized, I might actually trust him myself, with something very important to both of us. At the very least I want to give him the chance to prove he can be trusted."

"And I feel like he's already proven it. Which is weird, I admit. Back before popularity became such a big deal for me, we were friends, the way little kids are and now we avoid each other and snark at each other in the halls when we can't avoid each other." Cordelia sighed. "I feel like I've lost something and I'm trying to find it again. But what have I lost? And why am I telling a stranger my feelings? I may have felt like I knew that girl who died at the Bronze, but I don't feel like I know you."

"Sounds like another mystery." Faith grinned. "We're getting good with mysteries."