Prologue


Willow Rosenberg sat on her bed flipping through her senior yearbook. She stopped when she got to Tara McClay’s page. Sighing and shaking her head, she put the yearbook down and went to her computer. Sitting down, she began to type.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunnydale High School.

Home of the Razorbacks.

From the outside, it looked like any other school. But it wasn’t. It was a place full of lies and betrayal - and murder. See, being popular was critical to surviving here. So critical it could kill.

You all know them. They went to your school too. The beautiful ones, the “Fab Four”. Everyone wanted to be them. They ruled everyone and everything.

First, there was Faith Evans. She was the leader, and Satan in heels. Then there was Cordelia Chase. She was Faith’s second-in-command. Next came Buffy Summers, doomed to be popular because of her looks…and because she was best friends with Tara.

Tara McClay. Tara was special, everyone loved her. And not just because she was rich, smart, and pretty…but because she was sweet. Faith ruled with terror, but Tara ruled with kindness. She was like the Princess Di of Sunnydale High and it pissed Faith off.

Tara was perfect. I used to dream about what it would be like to be her. Popular, beautiful, loved by everyone…

It’s a shame what happened to her. That was no way to wake up on your eighteenth birthday…

Chapter 1
Tara was lying in her bed sleeping peacefully when three masked intruders entered her room. Two grabbed her hands and feet and tied them together while the other shoved a large jawbreaker in her mouth and taped it shut. They grabbed her and took her outside and threw her in the trunk, ignoring her struggles.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Faith closed the trunk on her terrified friend. She got in her car with Buffy and Cordelia. They took off their masks, laughing.

“Oh my God! This is so much better than what we did last year!” Buffy said.

“She is gonna die!” Cordelia shrieked.

“I wish I had friends that would do this for me.” Faith teased.

“Yeah right, you’d have us killed!” Buffy said.

“Totally maimed, my dear.” Faith answered.

“So, what are we gonna do to her?” Cordelia asked.

“Well, first we’re gonna stuff her pretty face with pancakes. Then we are gonna tie her to the flagpole in her bra and undies and let the fun begin!” Faith laughed.

The girls screamed again.

“She is gonna die!” Cordelia yelled.

Faith stopped at the parking lot at the Expresso Pump and the girls got out of the car laughing. Faith grabbed her Polaroid camera and the keys to the trunk.

“Hey Birthday Girl! Rise and shine!” Faith said as Buffy and Cordelia banged on the trunk.

“Ok, who’s doing the honors?” Faith asked jingling the keys.

“Me!” Cordelia yelled.

Faith tossed the keys to Cordelia. “Ok. Here we go. Pop it Cordy!” Faith said.

“Surprise!” The three yelled, as Cordelia opened the trunk and Faith snapped the picture.

“Oh my God!” Buffy said, trembling. Faith stopped laughing to look at Tara.

“Hey, what’s happened to her? What’s in her throat?” Cordelia asked.

Faith looked at Tara, shaking. She dropped the Polaroid and leaned down to rip the duct tape off of Tara’s mouth.

Cordelia laughed nervously. “This is a joke, right? A total joke? Please say it’s a joke.”

“It was supposed to be for fun.” Faith answered.

“Say this isn’t happening!” Cordelia cried.

“I didn’t know! I just didn’t want her to scream.”

“God, Tara?” Buffy said, leaning over in the trunk.

“I thought a jawbreaker would be funny.” Faith said.

Buffy looked at Faith in horror. “You gagged her with a jawbreaker?”