“Mom let’s go!!” Buffy screamed from the bottom of the stairs . She and Dawn where waiting by the door for their mom to come down to wish them good luck on the first day of school. Only problem was that their mom had an important meeting with a potentially new client this afternoon and couldn’t decide on what to wear.
So they waited. Once again Buffy looked over towards the clock that sat on the mantle above the fireplace. She realized that they only had about twenty minutes to get there AND find their classes on time.
“MOOOOM!!! We’re leaving now. With or without you,” Dawn pitched in.
“Alright alright I’m coming already.” Their mom suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. She was dressed in a tight fitting black dress that reached all the way down to the floor. She had a headband in that matched her hair color so it looked like there was nothing keeping it pulled back, little make up, and a small silver watch with tiny diamonds. And to top the outfit off she had on black half inch heels on her feet. All in all she looked like she was going out on a date instead of meeting a new client.
Buffy was the first one to say something after the shock at seeing her mother dressed up for work wore off. “Mom, are you sure that this is just a client?”
“Yes honey of course. What else would he be?” Acting completely innocent and unaware of what had her daughters in such a state of shock. “What you didn’t think that your old mom could look nice?”
“Look nice, yes.” Buffy argued for her case. “Dress up for work? Not without an ulterior motive involved.”
Joyce smiled and walked down the stairs to join her girls. “I thought that you were concerned with making it to school on time?”
“I am.”
“Then why are you so interested in my choice of clothing for my business meetings.”
“Whatever,” Buffy said as she turned around, opened the door, and walked outside.
After she was gone and in the car Joyce turned to her second born. “And the teen years are about to arrive.”
Dawn rolled her eyes and reached up to give her mom a hug. “Well I think that you look pretty.”
“Thank you baby, but your sister’s right. Should get you girls to school before your late,” She said just as the car horn beeped from where Buffy was growing continually inpatient.
She smiled, grabbed her keys, and said “Lets go.” as the two Summers girls made their way out of the house and towards the beginning of their new days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buffy walked though the hallways of her new school looking for her locker. She was told everyone in the 7th. Grade had a locker in the same hallway…she just couldn’t find the one that was to be hers. Even more importantly she hadn’t been able to find William either. They hadn’t made plans to meet up anywhere, but it would have been nice to see a familiar face.
She finally found her locker, #763. She quickly figured out how to unto her lock and was putting away the extra stuff that she wouldn’t need right away in the small metal compartment when someone to her right said, “Hey, you must be new.”
Buffy turned her head to look at the girl standing behind her. She was about Buffy’s height, if not a little taller. She had long black hair that went down to her waistline, and a very tan completion. She was wearing a white fitted top that had bell sleeves a multi-colored blue jean mini skirt, and matching stiletto high heels. Her smile was a little to big and her make-up a little too perfect. Buffy got the impression that this was most likely one of the popular girls.
“Umm yeah, just moved her about a month ago actually.” She finally replied to the girl.
“Well, since my locker is right next to yours, and we’ll be seeing each other a lot, I’d be happy to show you around and get you some friends.” If possible the girl’s smile got even bigger as she nodded her head as if Buffy would copy her so that she would agree.
Buffy gave a hesitant smile and said, “Thanks, that would be great.” Still a little unsure as to what she was getting herself into. But her mother had given her the pep talk in the car after dropping Dawn off and told her to be outgoing and daring. So that’s exactly what she was gonna do. Even if the girl in front of her looked like she could give Barbie a new meaning to the word “Plastic.”
“Great,” She said, hoping up a little and clapping her hands together three times, making the shinny silver bag attached to her left mid arm swing back and forth and hit herself in the side. She seemed unfazed by this, however, and once she calmed down a bit she stuck out her hand. “I’m Cordelia Chase, but you can call me Cordy,” She said brightly.
“Buffy Summers,” she replied, also offering the girl her hand. Each gave the other one firm shake before returning their hands to their respective sides.
Just then four other girls that were dressed up almost exactly like Cordelia came striding through the halls from the direction of what Buffy assumed to be the Cafeteria. Only, instead of looking fake and happy, they looked mean cold hearted.
“Hey girls,” Cordy hollered.
The girls looked their way and started over towards them. All the while, Buffy’s smile grew smaller and smaller with each step that brought the foursome closer.
“Hey Cordelia,” They chorused almost together, now with equally bright, fake smiles plastered over their equally plastic looking painted faces.
“This is the new girl, Buffy Summers,” Cordy said. “She’s gonna hang with us, see if we can fit her in the group.”
“Hey Buffy,” They once again chorused, this time while waving their hands and turning their factory faces in her direction.
“Hey guys,” Buffy said softly, she then turned her attention back to Cordelia. “Look, you don’t have to do this, ya know.”
Cordelia just waved her hand in Buffy’s direction, “Don’t worry about it. Every new girl has a chance until she proves herself unworthy by trading us in for some loser wanna-be friends…like those.” She pointed over to wear a red headed girl and brown haired boy where walking in their direction laughing at something the other said.
“Trust me Buffy, you want to fit in around here, stay away from those two. There’s another one around here to, but don’t know where he scampered off to.” She shrugged her shoulders, “Oh well, it’s not like it’s my job to keep up with the losers of this town.” When none of her posse quickly agreed with her, she let her smile drop and a look of death appeared on her face, letting everyone around her know that even though she was in a good mood, she was not to be tested.
“Right?!?” she demanded.
The other girls quickly caught up with their mistake with what had gotten the supposed “leader” angry at them and they quickly tried to cover up for their lack of paying attention. A bunch of “Oh year’s” and “Your so right’s” were heard coming from the four girls. Cordelia’s smile was quickly back in place.
“Right then, let’s go.” She announced to the girls. She then turned back to Buffy to give her the instructions she wanted her to do. “we’ll catch up with you later. But right now we have some business from last year that we need to see to.” Cordy gave her a look like she was waiting for a reply.
Buffy, not wanting to anger her new friend or put her new found spot in her troop in danger said “ Oh yeah, no problem. I’ll just see you guys in class later.”
This seemed to be what Cordelia had been waiting to hear so she quickly put her fake smile back on and said “Great. Catch ya later’s Buffy.” And with that she turn around and the girls departed a few of them saying “Bye Buffy,” could be heard before they turned the corner and headed off to torture someone else for a time.
Buffy let out the breath she didn’t realize that she had been holding, turned around closed her locker, locked it, and then headed off to her first class.
When she finally found her first class ten minutes later, the first bell had just rung once she entered the class room. The teacher didn’t seem in a hurry to start class, he must have figured on some kids being late so she decided to look around the classroom. What she saw had her standing frozen in the doorway. William was sitting in the front row having looked up from the book he was reading and smiled at her.
Buffy, unable to stop herself, smiled back at the boy she was beginning to develop after knowing for such short a time. However, she was pulled out of her thoughts by someone calling her name. Correction, a group of somebody’s calling her name.
Pulled out of her musing thoughts, she looked over at the group of Cordettes as she was taking to calling them.
“Hey Buffy,” the ring leader of their little gang called over to her, “We saved you a seat.” Cordelia sat with her hand on the seat next to her in the back with her four followers.
She hesitantly smiled over to them and then looked back to where William was sitting. He had dropped his eyes from her and it appeared that he was staring at the floor near her feet, looking completely abandoned.
It finally occurred to her that William probably didn’t have that many friends. It would explain his behavior when they had first met, how her and Dawn where the only ones he seemed to hang out with, and how no one was sitting near him or talking to him.
As the little facts became apparent to Buffy, her heart silently broke for him. She quickly noticed there was an open seat next to him in the front. So she now had a decision to make…sit with Cordelia and her posse in the back, or sit with William in the front.
Buffy laughed at herself in her head as she realized that she didn’t even need to think twice about that. She walked over and sat next to William, throwing her purple backpack under her seat while grinning at the glimpse of shock she had seen on the Cordettes faces.
When she realized that William hadn’t even acknowledged her presence since she sat down, she thought a moment to her self for a way to draw her friends attention to her. Once she was satisfied, she smiled at her own cleverness.
Speaking quietly as not to spook him but loud enough so that the Cordettes would get the hint she said, “Hey Cutie, whatcha reading?”
William finally turned his head to the seat next to him, and when he realized that Buffy was sitting next to him, gave off a shy yet charming smile that Buffy was incapable of not returning.
“I…ah…I’m reading…,” William stammered, still entranced by her presence. “I…I…shouldn’t you be back with your friends?” He was finally able to spit out as he nodded his head behind his right shoulder, his smile disappearing but the wonder still sparkling in his eyes did not go unnoticed by the small blonde girl next to him.
“What you mean the ‘Toy R’ Us’ store back there?” she said in a softer tone then before this time so not to be overheard by the mechanical soldiers that were trying their hardest listen to their conversation but make it un-obvious.
William couldn’t hold back his mirth at the comment and let out a small chuckle of amusement which caused Buffy to do the same. She looked down at her desk for a moment and when she looked back up, still smiling, she noticed that only a small smile remained on Will’s face. His head was tilted and his blue eyes held a look of astonishment in them and she longed to know what put it there but did not ask.
It was ten minutes into class and the teacher finally announced that it was time to start the class since there was only 40 minutes left of this class.
“OK then…” the teacher started. Drawing William and Buffy attention to the front of the class. Buffy was the first one to break eye contact and turned face foreward to pay attention to the teacher with William following her example short after.
“I’m Mr. Fidellen,” he continued, “And I’ll be your Social Studies teacher. Why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves. Starting with…this corner over here.” He said pointing to William.
“Umm…ok.” Even though he’d done this time and again, he was still at a loss for what to say. Buffy sensing his reluctance to start off the introductions, leaned over and whispered “I’ll go first and save you this time, but your going next.”
He nodded his and smiled his thanks to her as she stood, turned around, and faced the class.
“Hi,” she began giving the class a small wave. “My name is Buffy Summers. I just moved her about a month ago with my sister, Dawn, and my mom. I’m 12 years old and will turn 13 in January and would love nothing more then to have my sister’s vocal cords permanently silenced.” At this the class laughed, especially William who personally knew Dawn and why Buffy would want something like this. But he came out of his self pondering thoughts as his best friend started speaking again.
“Favorite activities would include Never having to do this again when I don’t know anybody in the room, embarrassing people to think that they are to full of themselves,” At this she paused to stare over at Cordelia. “And hanging out with my best friend,” This time, instead of sending glares to someone in the room, she sent a warm hearted smile over to William who was already smiling back at her.
“And I suppose that’s it,” she said and gave the class a small smile before turning around and sitting herself in her seat.
“Thank you Miss. Summers.” Mr. Fiddellen said, all the while leading the class into giving her a round of applause.
She smiled her appreciation at the teacher then turned her bright, hazel eyes to Will. “Your turn,” she said in a soft solitary voice.
His smile from his pride for her faltered. “Umm…ok,” He said. And stood to give his five minutes in hell speech.
**********************************************
Buffy grimaced, but slid her try along dutifully after a slight push on her right side to move along from William. It was lunch time and the pair had just gotten out of math class. Buffy had been praying that the cafeteria food in Sunnydale would be better then the food in LA, but apparently that wish was not granted.
In fact, it looked almost worse then the food at her old school in LA.
Finally she came to the end of the line, paid and then waited for William to finish up behind her. Once he was done she looked out at the crowd of people sitting down and catching up with their friends and suddenly felt a little left out.
She felt a hand on her left solder and then a soft voice floated into her ear. “We’re right over there, Pet.”
Buffy looked to where William was pointing and noticed the brown haired boy and the red headed girl that Cordelia had warned them about. But then again, she didn’t seem to like her friendship with William either. Buffy decided just to go with it and see if she could make some new friends, it’s not like she had signed her life away to Cordy and her little gang of Nazi fashion victims. Plus she was intrigued to meet some of Williams friends.
With his hand still on her left shoulder, William guided Buffy through the throngs of kids in the cafeteria and straight to the table with the two kids that were smiling brightly at them with easy going looks on their faces.
“William, William, William. Back for another year of café bashing I see.” The boy said while shaking his head while smiling at the boy behind Buffy.
“Not entirely, mate. Thought I’d bring my friend Buffy here over to meet some real friends instead of being bothered by the Cordettes over there.” At the mention of Cordelia and her pep squad, Buffy looked over at where the Madonna rejects were staring over at her with looks of shock on their faces. Their leader, Cordelia, with a look of death directed to non other then herself.
Buffy decided to be unfazed by their presence and enjoy the time she had with William and his friends. She turned around, set her tray down, then proceeded to sit herself at the rectangular table next to William who had already been seated.
After she was seated with her bag once again beneath her, William started with the introductions. “This here,” he began, pointing to the boy, “Is my friend Xander. Next to him we have Willow, or Red as I call her.”
The boy gave off a goofy grin. He held a look of laughter in his chocolate brown eyes, and Buffy could tell that he would prove to be a comedian.
The girl had given off a smile at first, but once the mention of William’s nickname for her came up she dropped her eyes and turned a brilliant shade of red. Buffy just smiled warmly at her to show that it was ok and she didn’t need to be embarrassed by it. Slowly, but more hesitantly then before, the girl’s smile reappeared. William also threw the girl a soft smile to let her know that he was only joking with her and he hadn’t meant to embarrass her like he had.
“So Buffy,” Xander said, breaking the awkward moment of silence that had settled over the group. “Give us news from the outside world. How was the food at your old school? Better then the hunk of junk the feed us here?”
Buffy giggled a little. “ Umm, the food there isn’t that bad, but compared to this?” She dipped her spoon into the green and yellow blob that was supposed to pass as potato salad. “It was a gourmet meal from a five star restaurant.”
Xander just stared longingly at Buffy’s tray not really seeing it. Buffy figured that he was probably imagining the food back in LA. He was suddenly back in Sunnydale Middle School and he sighed as he glanced down at his own tray.
He picked up his fork to begin to separate what was edible from inedible. He shot Buffy one more smile which quickly turned into a frown when he realized who was walking in their direction behind Buffy’s back.
Buffy realized that Xander was staring at something behind Buffy’s back that had also drawn Willows attention so she turned her head to look behind her. It didn’t take her very long to realize what had drawn Xander’s attention away from the less then devouring meal in front of him.
The Cordettes were well on their way over to their table with their leader, Ms. Chase, leading the way. By this time, William had noticed that something behind him had caught his friends attention and also witnessed the wanna-be superstars walking their way.
Buffy turned back to face foreword and noticed that everyone was watching her. They obviously knew that whatever business the Cordettes had over here had to do with her. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let it out slowly, mentally preparing for the verbal showdown that was about to happen.
When Buffy turned around again she had a fake smile on her face to welcome her not-so-much friends, which she realized had come to a halt behind her. “Hey Cordy, what’s up?” She asked innocently. Although if she had to guess what had shoved a stick up the all ready stiff brunette, she had a pretty good idea.
“Buffy,” Cordelia started slowly as if talking to a small, dense, child. “I thought we talked about associating with these losers and how it shouldn’t be done.” Cordelia said in her best snobbish voice.
“Oh,” Buffy started, “And here I thought you talked and I half listened. And being the half wit that you are, I’m guessing that you choose to remain oblivious to my lack of interest in anything you’ve said to me so far.”
Everyone within hearing distance gasped in shock at Buffy’s bold choice of words in front of the most popular girl in school. Even the ice-bitch herself had the decency to look fibergasted. The on lookers at nearby tables were either staring opened mouthed at the new girl and her sharp tongue or they had their hand over their mouths to try and retain their laughter at seeing Cordelia Chase chopped down in front of so many people that despised her.
“How dare you!” Cordelia finally said after the wanna-be blonde recovered from the insult. Something no one else in the town dared to do. “I never did anything to you! In fact, I tried to be nice to you! And this is how you repay me?!?” Cordy said in outrage.
Buffy laughed a little at her comment and rolled her eyes. “Good god Cordelia. Stop acting like you the Crayola Crayon factory’s gift sent to earth in human form, alright? Your not queen Barbie. More like the swan princess who turns into an ugly hag without her make-up. And these,” she continued cheerfully pointing to the four girls behind Ms. Low Carb Diet, “Are your faithful town shop keepers who do what you say every time you squawk at them. Just like a bunch of sheep.”
Buffy stood up to prove she could be as tall as Cordelia. “You might think that you’re the big bad wolf here to scare us all with you circus clown make up and your tight wire walking clothes, but I’m here to tell you something.” By the time, all the fakeness in her voice was gone. She was no longer even remotely worried about not fitting in any more. Cause if these were the people she had to hang with in order to be popular, then popularity obviously couldn’t pay the bill on real friendships.
“The next time you,” she continued, mocking Cordelia’s earlier ways of talking slowly to get the point across, all the while pushing a finger off Cordy’s shoulder, “Decide you want to talk to or about either Xander, Willow, or especially William or I hear that you were putting them down in any way, your gonna be dealing with me,” she finished, pointing at herself.
Cordelia turned around and ran out of the café with her hands over her face. Buffy just stood her ground in case one of the farm animals decided to be brave and stick up for their leaders fallen pride. None, however, had the guts to.
As soon as Cordelia had fled the room and the doors had shut securely, Xander started clapping loudly which was quickly followed by William and Willow. Soon after the whole room was erupting with applause for the girl who put Cordelia Chase in her place for the first time. The firmer posse girls filed out soon after.
Once it quited down some, one of the kids to the left of where Buffy and her friends were sitting asked, “Who are you?”
Buffy just smiled then replied, “I’m Buffy Summers, the girl who put the poster-child for fake and heartless down on the level of reality. “After she said all she wanted to say, Buffy sat back down and was immediately enveloped in a hug by William.
“That was amazing, Pet,” he congratulated her, as the rest of the room settled down for the rest of their lunch period and to talk about what just went down more.
No one except Xander and Willow saw the kiss William placed on Buffy’s already blushing cheek. It also didn’t go unnoticed by the two new friends of the blonde girl who was quickly becoming the new “Miss Popular” of Sunnydale, that William didn’t appear the least bit embarrassed by his actions.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I have another chapter ready to be posted on this story (probably around Monday). This concludes the first section of this story. There will be four or five sections in total. There was only supposed to be one chapter, however, I got carried away and decided that I needed to split it up cause it was to long. I am unsure as to when I will be updating Breaking the Habit, but I’m going to try for Walking Away With Something More next. I want to get a couple chapters in my other stories before I go back to this one. As for all those who are asking me where this interview with James Marsters is located: I don’t have the site anymore. Meaning where I originally found it has been shut down. I do have it saved on my computer, however I don’t know how to send a Windows Media file over internet or AIM. If somebody would let me know if there is a possible way I would love to know so that I could send the interview to any of those who would want to listen to it (it’s on window’s media because it was a radio interview).