September 1988 Sunnydale, CA
Buffy Summers tightened her death grip on her mother’s hand and looked up at her.
“Buffy don’t be scared honey.” Her mother smiled down at her and tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her daughter’s ear. “You’re going to make lots of new friends.”
Buffy had serious doubts about that but followed her mother into the admissions office of Sunnydale Elementary, and listened as her mom checked her into her first day at her new school.
“Hello, yes, I’m Joyce Summers, here to finalize everything for my daughter, Buffy’s first day.”
“What grade is she entering?” enquired the elderly admissions clerk.
“Second,” replied Joyce. “Elmwood Elementary in L.A. was supposed to forward her records, have you received them?”
Buffy tuned out of her mother’s conversation, and looked sadly out of the window into the busy hallway where groups of kids were walking and laughing together.
The door to the admissions office opened again and Buffy turned to see a pretty woman with dark hair and bright blue eyes walk in, practically dragging a little boy with curly brown hair and glasses behind her.
“William,” the woman exclaimed, “please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”
‘She sounds like Mary Poppins’, thought Buffy as she tried to listen to their conversation, but the boy is mumbling and his mother has bent over to whisper in his ear. The woman stood and introduced herself as Anne Pratt to the second admissions clerk, and stated that she is there to register her son William for second grade.
Joyce whispered to Buffy. “Did you hear that? Another new student in your grade.” She turned to Anne. “Hi, sorry I couldn’t help overhearing, I’m Joyce Summers and this is my daughter Buffy, we just moved here from L.A., is your son a new student as well?”
“I’m Anne Pratt,” said Anne, reaching out to shake hands with Joyce. “Yes, yes my son, William and I recently relocated from England, and I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to convince him that he would not be the only new student, so thank goodness, there is one!”
“I’ve been having similar conversations with Buffy,” laughed Joyce. “Buffy, William, why don’t you go have a seat and get to know each other while we finish up the paperwork?”
Buffy reluctantly let go of her mother’s hand and glanced over at William to see if he is going to comply with her mother’s request, he looked up at his mother who nodded, and he walked with Buffy over to a sofa by the office door.
The two sit there for a few minutes swinging their legs and looking at their mothers laughing and talking to each other.
“England is on a’nuther continent,” Buffy finally said.
William looked at her.
“Did you come here in an airplane?” she continued.
“Uh huh.”
“Were you scared?”
“No,” he replied defensively and a little loudly. “I’m not a baby, I’m seven and a half.”
“Sorry, I’m sorry,” Buffy said quickly while glancing towards her mother. “I didn’t mean you’re a baby, I meant I would be scared cuz I’ve never been on a plane…that’s all.”
“Oh.”
The two children lapsed into silence, Buffy looked over at her mom who was still talking to Mrs. Pratt. She wondered how she is supposed to make friends with this boy if he wouldn’t even talk to her.
“You talk really cool - like the kids in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Do you think you can teach me how to talk like that? Oh…did they have movie screens on your plane like they show on TV?”
“Yes,” he begins hesitantly. “I saw a really funny film about a cartoon rabbit called Roger.”
“Na aww, I heard about that one. It’s PG and Mom wouldn’t let me watch it! You’re sooo lucky, I bet everyone has seen it ‘cept me!” Buffy hunched over and started to pout.
William reached over to pat her shoulder. “Don’t worry it wasn’t that great.”
Buffy smiled at him. “OK, but you need to tell me all about it so I can pretend that I’ve seen it, and then everyone here won’t think I’m a baby.”
Relieved to see his new friend happy again, he launched into an animated description of the movie.
The two mothers looked over at their children. “I must say that I’ve never seen William open up so quickly before, he is usually quite shy,” said Anne.
“I’m just surprised that he’s able to get a word in edgewise. Buffy can be a little overwhelming at times.”
“That may be just what William needs right now,” replied Anne thoughtfully. She often worried that such a big move after dealing with the recent divorce of his parents would drive the boy further into his shell. This little girl, Buffy, seemed to be someone who could get him to interact. “We should get together sometime - for the children’s sake.”
“Yes, that would be lovely,” responded Joyce, thinking that a little adult conversation wouldn’t hurt either. “Are you free this Saturday?”
The two mothers continued making plans as they gathered up their children.
~*~*~*~*~*~
April 1989
“I don’t know, Buffy.”
“Will-yum,” whined Buffy. “You promised!”
“Right, but that’s before your mum said we couldn’t.”
“Whatever,” Buffy waved dismissively. “She didn’t say we couldn’t go to the Brucker’s pond to catch tadpoles.”
“But she did say we couldn’t ride our bikes past Oak Street and the pond is waaay past there.”
“Right, I know, so here is my plan, we ride to Oak, then we walk our bikes to the pond. Seeee? That way we’re not really breaking the rule.”
“We’re going to get in trouble.”
William wondered why he was even bothering to argue with Buffy. He knew she would get her way in the end. He also knew that they were going to get caught because they always got caught, but that didn’t stop Buffy from continuing to create her seemingly foolproof plans for adventure, or from him following along.
“William, you said we could catch a tadpole and watch it grow into a frog jus’ like in the film they showed in science class. You said it would be cool an’ we could get a fish tank an’ feed it bugs an’ everything.” Buffy paused to take a breath. “Now you want to change your mind cuz of silly rules.”
“OK, OK. We’ll go, I’m just saying we’re gonna get grounded - again,” warned William as he pushed off on his bike and started pedaling towards the pond.
“Don’t worry, William, my mom will never find out if we keep the frog at your house,” shouted Buffy gleefully as she pedaled furiously behind him.
***Half an hour later***
“So what do you want to tell your mum?” said William as he looked over at Buffy and wondered how they were going to explain being soaked through and covered with mud.
“Maybe we say we had a mud fight?” she suggested hopefully.
“Better not lie.”
“Yeah,” she sighed dramatically. “Thanks for rescuing me, William.”
“It was nothing. Anyway you could touch the bottom, it’s not like you were going to drown.”
“I really thought those lily pod thingies would hold me. They were huge!”
“Lily pads,” he said rolling his eyes.
“I’m really sorry you lost your glasses William, is your mom gonna be real mad?” Buffy asked looking truly remorseful. “I’ll say it was all my fault, and that only I should get punished. Don’t be mad at me, OK?”
“It’s all right, Buffy. I’m not mad at you and we had fun. I just should’ve taken my glasses off before I jumped in after you.” He stopped walking and balanced his bike with one hand then threw his other arm around her shoulders as they continued home.
“William?”
“Yeah?”
“How long do you think we’ll be grounded for?”
“At least a week I’d guess.”
“William?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think there will still be some tadpoles at the pond in a week?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: This story is for entertainment purposes only. I own nothing.
Thanks to my wonderful betas enigmaticblues & mabel marsters.
Thanks to Mrs Muir for the excellent title.
Thanks to my wonderful betas enigmaticblues & mabel marsters.
Thanks to Mrs Muir for the excellent title.
Chapter End Notes:
This is my first fic so any comments or suggestions are appreciated.