[Reviews - 43]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 5304 times

- Text Size +




Mall Rats


Buffy woke up and as usual she looked at her alarm clock, which read 9:45. 'Might as well get up' she said to herself. She got up got dressed in one of her best outfits, after all she was going to the mall and she had to look great. 'There, perfect' she said to herself. She glanced at the clock, which blinked 10:15. Once she was downstairs she saw Joyce in the kitchen drinking her morning coffee.

"You're up? It's about time."

"It's only 10:17."

Joyce was smiling uncontrollably, and Buffy couldn't help but notice.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Why? Can't a woman who's starting her new job today be happy?"

"You're starting today?"

"Yes, and as a matter of fact I leave in about an hour."

"An hour......so when will you be back?"

"Un....I don't know, could be late."

"Late?......Like how late?"

"Are you gonna be alright...here by yourself?"

"Yeah....No, it's not that.....It's just," Buffy trailed off.

"It's what, Buffy?"

"It's nothing, I'm ok." she said, forcing a smile to her face.

"Well," Joyce looked at the time, "I'm going to go freshen up, and then I'm off."

Buffy sighed and plopped down on one of the kitchen chairs; she grabbed the morning paper and began to flip through it.

About an hour later

Joyce ran down the stairs all ready for her fist day on the job.

"Buffy!"

Buffy, who had moved from the kitchen to the living room, was sitting on the couch watching today's episode of Regis and Kelly, but when Joyce entered she quickly turned it off.

"Buffy, there you are, I'm leaving now. Is there anything you need?"

"Yeah.....there is,"Buffy said as she lifted herself from the couch.

"Well make it quick, I can't be late for my fist day."

Buffy grabbed her purse and swung it over her shoulder.

"Can you drop me off at the mall on your way?"

"OH, the mall, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot."

"No, don't, it's ok. I'm fine by myself."

Joyce reached into her purse and handed Buffy one of her credit cards.

"What's this?" Buffy asked, even though she knew perfectly well what it was.

"It's my credit card. Buffy, you're not to go crazy with this."

"Yes, yes, I know, I know.....what's my limit?"

"Don't go past 100."

"Dollars?"

"No, cents. Of course dollars.....Just buy some stuff for school, ok?"

"Ok, deal!" Buffy gratefully accepted.

Joyce dropped Buffy off at the mall, and as soon as she entered she headed straight for her favorite store.

"Hey.......50 off, I hit the jackpot." Buffy noticed as she headed over in that direction.

"This one, and this one, and this and that and....."

She suddenly stopped talking to herself when she noticed that the people around her started staring and whispering. 'They look around my age' she thought.

"Cordy, Who is that?"

"Umm, not sure."

"She looks around our age though, doesn't she?"

"I don't know, Harm, I don't think she goes to our school."

'They're whispering.......not a good thing,' Buffy then thought to herself as she took her items that she had picked out and made her way to one of the change rooms.

She had about fifteen tops and five bottoms. She also had three belts and three scarves. She tried each top on with each pair of pants. 'Decisions, decisions' she said aloud. Cordelia and Harmony were changing on opposite ends of her, and at the same time they both came out.

"Was that her again?" Harmony asked as she approached Cordelia.

"Yeah, I think so.....Can anyone say freak?" They both walked away giggling.

Fortunately for Buffy, she never heard a word as she was too busy making all the final decisions. When she finally did, she decided on a short sleeved v-neck top that was red, and a dark blue, bell sleeved blouse. Also she picked out a light purple turtleneck, and a light blue top with pink bubbled lettered words written across it that read 'Good Girl With Bad Intentions'. 'Ok, that's a total of four tops,' she said. She had picked out two pairs of pants from the five she had selected. The first was a black pair of bell-bottom dress pants and the second was a pair of low-rise jeans what were a deep shade of navy and they also had some flare at the bottom, and on the back left pocket were the words sexy. She had decided to skip on the belts and the scarves. She quickly looked at the prices 'with 50 off that should come to a total of.....' she went into deep thought 'whatever, I'll see when I get there' she walked out of the change room and made her way over to the discount rack to put her eliminated items back.

"Oops, sorry."

She had banged into a read-headed girl that was looking through the same rack that Buffy was headed for.

"Oh....no, it's ok...I'm fine, no harm done."

"Well....that's good.....that there's no harm done."

"I'm Willow."

"Buffy."

"You from around here?......Because I've never seen you at school"

"No....Well actually yeah, I just transferred."

"Oh....So your going to be going to Sunnydale high?"

"Yeah, I meet Principal Snyder yesterday."

"Oh...Oh my God...are you ok?"

Buffy laughed.

"Principal Snyder is not our most popular Principal."

"I can so see why."

They both giggled.

"So, you here by yourself?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," Buffy sighed, "My mom was supposed to come, but.....she had to start her new job today." she explained.

"Oh, I see, big bummer."

"Yeah."

"So what about you? Are you a loner shopper too?" she asked in a playful tone.

"No, I'm here with my friend Xander, but he's not to big on the girly sections so he's checkin out the CD's at Records Are Us." she gave the store a new name and said it sarcastically.

"I see." Buffy said, giggling as she put back the last eliminated item in her hand.

"Hey, you can hang with us if you want."

"No, that's ok. I don't want to intrude on your date."

Willow couldn't help but die of laughter, though she restrained herself so she could talk.

"My date? Xander is not my boyfriend, just a kindergarten buddy."

"Sorry, I just assumed."

"Oh, no, it's ok." she interrupted and they both began to chuckle.

"So, he's not a boyfriend, are you gonna hang? Not to be pushy....cause if you don't want to that's ok."

Buffy laughed.

"You sure I won't be a third wheel?"

"Yes, positive."

"Ok, great....I'll just go pay for these things and I'll be right back."

"Ok."

Buffy walked up to the counter. There was a line with two girls ahead of her, and she recognized them from before when she had first entered the store.

"Hi, how are you today?" the lady behind the counter asked as she approached the desk.

"I'm fine....just shopping." she answered.

"Is they're anything that you couldn't find that I could help you with?" she asked with the biggest smile that Buffy had ever seen.

"Ah, nope, I'm all set."

"Ok, that's wonderful, you know that there's a 50 discount on all of your items here?"

"Yup..."

"Ok, your total is $96.83."

Buffy proudly handed over her mother's credit card.

"Ok, here you go and you have a very nice day."

"Thanks.....you too."

Buffy walked off toward Willow. 'People here are too nice' she mumbled under her breath, referring to the checkout girl, 'What does she have to be so damn happy about?' she asked herself.

"Hey," she said as she approached Willow, who was still looking through the rack of clothes.

"Hey, ready to go?" she asked as she turned to Buffy.

"Yup, I got my stuff all paid for and I'm as good as gone." she said holding up about six shopping bags.

"Ok, lets go find Xander, I'll introduce you two."

"Great, can't wait." she said with a smile. 'Great can't wait? Did I just say that? Oh my God, I did. Well that's just dandy there Buffy, make it seem like you rhyme all the time. Oh my God, I did it again, do I always do that? Did I just think the word dandy...?' Buffy continued to think to herself.

"Hey Xander." Willow said as she saw him in a not too far distance.

"Hey Wills," he said as they approached, and turning his head to Buffy he asked, "So, who's your friend?"

"This is Buffy, she just transferred, and she's going to be going to school at Sunnydale High." Willow said all too excitedly.

"Well hey there, Buffy, I'm Xander Harris," He said in a manly way while holding out his hand. She played along.

"Buffy Summers." she said while shaking his hand. They started to walk and Buffy and Willow had taken their positions on opposite sides of Xander.

"So where do you ladies want to stop next, and please don't choose a girly place, cause not a girl, and kinda hungry." Xander asked just as he noticed the six shopping bags in Buffy's hand.

"Here, let me get those," he said while taking the bags from her hand.

"Ah, thanks."

"Your Well-Diddley-Elcome."

"He spends 99.9 of his time in front of the T.V." Willow said.

"So Wills, where too now?" he repeated his question.

"I don't know....Buffy, where do you wanna stop?"

"Well...like Xander over here I'm kinda hungry, what about you?"

"Yeah, I could go for some food."

"Oh yeah.....food court, my favorite!" Xander said a little too excitedly. Both girls giggled.

"So, Buffy, where from?" Xander asked.

"L.A, my parents recently got divorced, and now I'm living with my mom here in Sunnydale." 'Geese, tell em your life story, why don't ya?' she said to herself.

"Wow cool, not the divorce thing, the you living in Sunnydale thing." Xander responded.

"Hey, sorry about your parents." Willow said with sympathy. They reached the food court, ordered and sat down at the nearest table.

"So Buff, when do you start.....school wise?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, Monday." she answered quickly.

"That's great." Xander said.

"Oh, great." Willow said while letting out a long sigh.

"What's wrong, Wills, don't like the Buffster?" Xander asked teasing her, but at the same time he was confused about what she was sighing about. Willow rolled her eyes at him, she pointed in front of her. Xander looked past Buffy, who turned around in her chair to see what Willow was pointing at.

"Umm, Willow, I don't see anything." she said sweetly while she turned her head to face Willow. Xander, who knew perfectly well what she was pointing at, just looked at Buffy.

"Oh, great." he said in the same way as Willow did, and leaned back in his chair.

"What?" Buffy asked as she turned her head to take another look. "I don't see anything......besides a bunch of guys," Buffy said while turning her head back to them.

"That's just it," Willow told her. "Those are the most popular boys at school, and, well, they don't really like me or Xander...and the last time either of us had a civil conversation with Ryan, Zack, Shawn and Nick..."

"Those are the are the ones that have been here since kindergarten, like Wills and me." Xander interrupted.

"I see." Buffy said while turning her attention back to Willow.

Willow continued, "Was..... 6th grade, right before Xander over here," she said while pointing at and giving him a playful shove. "Ate Ryan's cupcake."

"It was chocolate....with sprinkles," Xander said bowing his head in shame, "but I seem to remember a certain some one.....maybe I should let you tell her." Xander decided quickly when Willow gave him a hard look.

"Tell me what?" Buffy asked anxiously.

"Well, I sorta sat on Nick's lunch box."

"You what?"

"I sat on his lunch box?"

"Yeah" Xander sighed.

Buffy restrained her laughter and it ended up to some soft giggling.

"Hey, not funny!" Willow said teasingly. Xander laughed too. Willow playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"Not funny."

There were about seven of them all heading in their decoration.

"Anyway," Willow continued, "Ever since then no coolness for Xander and Willow."

"So what about the ones that haven't been here since kindergarten, why do they hate you?"

"They don't. Ok, well look at it this way, to hate some one you need a personal reason, they wanted to be popular so they fell into place." Xander explained.

"Wow, very inspirational Xander. That's like the most inspirational thing you've said since that time you told me spaghetti O's are like life, when your bowl is empty just open another can and dig in," Willow said proudly.

Buffy giggled, "You said that?"

"You had be there," he told her.

"Actually, some of them aren't that bad. I mean there's like one or two who have never said anything mean to me." Willow said.

"Personally Wills, there's only one who has never said anything to me....He's actually kinda cool, we did an assiment in history like two weeks ago so I got to know him a bit. Yup, he quickly became the most popular guy at school."

"So who is he?" Buffy asked.

"Oh yeah, his name. Ohhh, its on the tip of my tongue...oh yeah, it's Sp...." he was interrupted.

"Ohhhhh, looks like Xander's got a new girlfriend," one of them said as all seven of them approached.

"Now, Willow, don't get jealous. You should have figured out by now why Xander enjoys hanging out with girls doing girly things.....Rather than hanging out with guys doing manly guy things."

Buffy couldn't help but roll her eyes at the unbelievably stupid comments that he was making. 'Is he trying to make it sound like Xander's gay? Cause from where I'm sitting he's making it sound like it's completely the opposite way around' she thought.

"And what are you rolling your eyes at, princess?"

"You" she said coldly. He just chuckled.

"And why would that be?"

"Well....I think you're jealous."

"Me? Jealous? Of what?....Harris? You've got to be kidding me, you're nuts! What's there to be jealous of?"

"Well," Buffy began, "Xander is sitting here with two lovely ladies, and you are surrounded by a bunch of guys. So call me crazy but I think you enjoy the company of manly guys instead of with the hot girls....like our friend Xander here does. Or it could just be that you can't get any girls to hang out with you."

He was speechless.

"That has got to be the best load of crap I've heard in a long time, but I've got to admit you thought that shit up in your little head awfully fast. But that's probably what your head is filled with anyway.....shit."

"What was that? Was that supposed to be a comeback? Guess your little head doesn't think as fast as mine."

"You know what......I don't have time for this, there're better places I've got to be."

"Oh, bailing, figures."

He began to walk away while the rest of his buddies followed.

"Ok, have fun with your manly guys," she called after him.

"Wow, Buffy, you really let him have it," Willow said excitedly.

"Yeah Buf, thanks for defending. You always this good with the comebacks?"

"No, actually comebacks and me are kinda like.....backcomes, does that make sense?"

'No BUFFY it doesn't make any sense, they're gonna think you're nuts' she thought to herself while seeing the confused look on Xander face.

"Huh? Backcomes?" Xander asked.

"Yeah backcomes, she means they come out wrong."

"I'll never understand your peoples language, Wills."

"My people? Since when do I have people?"

"Yeah you, women."

"Look, it's easy, she means that her comebacks always come out wrong. Sorta like backwards....so instead of saying all that she just said the word backwards." Willow tried to explain but Xander was still totally lost.

"You know comebacks, backcomes, she said combacks backwards and therefore it becomes backcomes." she tried again.

"That is what you meant right?" she asked.

"Yup."

Willow looked over at Xander who had shown no proof at all that he understood what they were talking about. 'Too many words, too many words....too many thoughts...toooo many thoughts, Hey.........I have a sandwich in front of me....how could I forget that? And where did my cookie go!?' Xander thought to himself.

"Nevermind." Willow said with a sigh as Xander came out of his trance he had used to block Willow out.

"So what changed?" he asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"I don't know, it just came out, and the really weird thing is that it made sense."

Xander just nodded and went back to eating his sandwich. 'This is the best sandwich ever, and what the hell happened to my cookie? Hey, Willow still has a cookie, she won't mind if I just' he reached over a slowly at first and then grabbed Willow's cookie off her plate.

"Hey! Cookie stealer."

"He could also be labeled as cookie monster."

"Oh, that's right, everybody gang up on the me. Well that's just great."

They all laughed.

"You already ate your cookie," Willow pouted.

"I did?"

"Yup, I saw you, with both of my Willow eyes."

"So that's what happened to it."

"Xander, don't tell me you forgot you ate your cookie again?"

Buffy couldn't help but giggle at Xander's expense.

Willow and Buffy started a deep conversation. Willow was filling Buffy in on some of the stuff they had done so far and what teachers to look out for and the ones who could be like your best friend. Xander was quick to jump in with the comment that no matter how nice, funny, hot, or how little homework a teacher gives, no teacher would ever be his best friend. Willow continued. 'This is going to be a long year' Buffy thought to herself. A man off in the distance continued to stare at them and he mumbled under his breath.

"You have no idea......A very long year indeed."





You must login (register) to review.