Willow carefully sorted through her packed lunch. Healthy as usual. And totally boring. She was so involved that she didn’t notice anyone approaching until a voice spoke behind her.
“Uh, hi,” the voice said. “Willow, right?”
Willow started and turned around. “Why?” she asked suspiciously, and then, seeing who it was, “I mean, hi. Did you want me to move?”
“Why don’t we start with ‘Hi, I’m Buffy,’ ” Buffy suggested, sitting down beside her. “And then let’s segue directly into me asking you for a favor. It doesn’t involve moving, but it does involve you hanging out with me for a while.”
Willow’s expression was doubtful. “But aren’t you . . . hanging with Cordelia?”
“I can’t do both?”
“Not legally.”
“Look, I really want to get by here,” Buffy explained. “New school . . . Cordelia’s been really nice—to me, anyway—but I have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up.”
Willow brightened. “Oh, I could totally help you out! If you have sixth period free, we could meet in the library—”
“Or not,” Buffy declined at once. “Or, you know, we could meet somewhere quieter. Louder. That place kind of gives me a wiggins.”
“It has that effect on most kids. I love it, though. It’s a great collection, and the new librarian’s really cool.”
“He’s new?”
“Yeah, he just started. He was a curator of some British museum. Or the British Museum, I’m not sure. But he knows everything and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?”
“Not at all!” Buffy insisted.
The girls looked up as Xander sauntered over with Jesse.
“Hey. Are you guys busy?” Xander greeted them. “Can we interrupt? We’re interrupting.”
“Hey,” Buffy smiled.
“Hey there,” Jesse answered.
“Buffy, this is Jesse.” Willow made the introductions. “And that’s Xander.”
“Oh, me and Buffy go way back,” Xander said casually. “Old friends, very close. Then there was that period of estrangement, I think we were both changing as people, but here we are, and it’s like old times, I’m quite moved.”
Buffy stared at him half amused, half amazed.
“Is it me?” Jesse asked him. “Or are you turning into a babbling idiot?”
For a split second Xander looked almost embarrassed. “It’s not you.”
“It’s nice to meet you guys,” Buffy said. “I think.”
“Well, we wanted to welcome you, make you feel at home,” Jesse replied gallantly. “Unless you have a scary home.”
“And to return this,” Xander added. He produced the stake that had fallen earlier from Buffy’s bag. “The only thing I can figure is that you’re building a really little fence.”
“Oh. No.” Buffy’s mind worked swiftly. “That was for self-defense. Everyone has them in L.A. Pepper spray is so passé.”
Xander nodded, as though not quite convinced. “So. What do you like, what do you do for fun, what do you look for in a man? . . . Let’s hear it.”
“If you have any dark, painful secrets that we could publish,” Jesse suggested.
“Gee,” Buffy’s tone was mildly sarcastic. “Everybody wants to know about me. How keen.”
“Well, not a lot happens in a one-Starbucks town like Sunnydale,” Xander confessed. “You’re big news.”
“Are these people bothering you?” Cordelia suddenly appeared behind Jesse, a look of pure disdain on her face.
Buffy glanced around in surprise. “Oh! No.”
“She’s not hanging out with us,” Willow hastened to explain, while Jesse only looked smitten at the sight of her.
“Hey, Cordelia,” Jesse said.
“Oh, please,” Cordelia dismissed him in disgust, turning her attention to Buffy. “I don’t want to interrupt your downward mobility. I just thought I’d tell you that you won’t be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with chest hair, because gym has been canceled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker.”
Buffy stared at her. “What?”
“What are you talking about?” Willow straightened, looking alarmed.
“Some guy was stuffed in Aura’s locker,” Cordelia explained.
“Dead,” Buffy repeated.
“Way dead,” Cordelia confirmed.
“So not just a little dead, then,” Xander added.
Cordelia gave him one of her looks. “Don’t you have an elsewhere to be?”
“If you need a shoulder to cry on,” Jesse offered, “or just to nibble on—”
“How did he die?” Buffy broke in, her gaze still steady upon Cordelia.
“I don’t know . . .”
“Morbid much?” Cordelia was eyeing her as though she were some kind of alien. “I didn’t ask!”
Abruptly Buffy stood up. “Uh, look, I gotta book. I’ll see you guys later.”
“What’s her deal?” Cordelia asked, sounding annoyed.
Buffy took off hurriedly toward the gym, leaving the others to stare after her in bewilderment.