Shelly's Story

[RubberPiggy]

Shelly’s Story

Disclaimer: Any events, diologue, and characters that have appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer are not my creation and belong to Joss Whedon, BtVS writers (such as Matt Kiene, Ashley Gable, Thomas A. Swyden, Joe Reinkmeyer, and David Greenwalt), Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, Sandollar Television, and/or whoever else may have legal rights to them. This work is fictional and is only for my and others entertainment. Therefore no infringement is intended. I do not intend to make a profit from this work. Any characters that have not appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, however, are my own creations and use of them without permission is prohibited. Thank you.


Prologue

FunnyMonkey11: and then he ran around the entire cafeteria!
BlueFalcon: Wow, I so wish I could have seen that!
FunnyMonkey11: yeah, it was hilarious. but now I have to pay him 20 bucks
BlueFalcon: Was it worth it?
FunnyMonkey11: hehehe... yeah
FunnyMonkey11: at least he got lunch detention for a week
BlueFalcon: I can’t believe it was only a week…
FunnyMonkey11: yeah...

I smiled to myself as my gaze fell to my Math book. My smile faded and I sighed.

BlueFalcon: Well Drew, I really should go do my Math homework now
FunnyMonkey11: ok
FunnyMonkey11: c-ya tomorrow, shel
BlueFalcon: Bye, Drew.

I signed off of America Online and sat down on my bed to do my math homework. I was just about to start working on some super-fun geometry when I heard Mom yelling from downstairs.

“Shelly! We’re leaving!”

I jumped off my bed and ran out of my room and over to the top of the stairs. Mom, Dad, Nick, and Nora were all standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Nora needs new sneakers, so we’re going to the mall. Do you want to come?” Mom asked.

“No thanks, I have too much homewo- wait. What does Nora need new sneakers for?” I asked. She had just gotten new sneakers like, two weeks ago.

“She dropped one of them in the creek!” Nick laughed as he gave Nora a mocking look. Nora stuck her tongue out at him. It’s always nice to see the twins getting along.

“Knock it off, you two,” Dad said sternly. Mom sighed and rolled her eyes. Dad looked up at me and smiled, “Guess we’ll see you later, then.”

“Okay,” I smiled as they started to leave. But then I thought of something. “Oh, hold on!” I yelled.

Mom came back to the base of the stairs and looked up at me, “What?” she asked.

“Could you stop in the game store while you’re there and pick up that game I wanted?”

Mom sighed. She hates having to deal with this “video game stuff” that me and Nick like. “What game is it?” she asked, grabbing her purse so she could get out her notepad and write down a bunch of instructions.

I smiled, “Don’t worry about that, Nick knows what game it is. Right, Nick?” I yelled down to him”

“The Mario one, right?” Nick asked from the other room.

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“Okay, I’ll get it!”

“Thanks, little dude.” I said. Mom smiled at me, then gave me a little wave as she went over to get the twins ready to go. I waved, and then went back to my room for some big math fun.

A few minutes later, I heard them outside my window, walking out to the car. I got up and looked out the window. The sun had just set and the sky was a pretty blue. Nora was chasing Nick around the driveway. Nick laughed and then hid behind Dad. Dad grabbed him and held him there, so then Nora came up and started poking him repeatedly. They were all laughing. All having fun.

I wish I could tell you that that was the last time I ever saw my family. I wish I had looked away before I saw any more. I wish that could have been the last memory I had of them. But I kept watching out the window. I saw what happened next. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Part One

Year One

Chapter One

Four Months Later
March 1997

I gripped the strap of my backpack tightly as I walked down the street. It was dark now, and I had to admit, this town was kind of creepy at night. Plus, there was a cemetery about every two blocks. Maybe that was all normal during the day, but at night… it was creepy. The whole place just gave me this vibe. It made me very uncomfortable.

I stopped and rolled my eyes at myself. It wasn’t like I hadn’t spent the night out in the dark before. I was totally over-reacting.

I should be happy, I thought to myself, I mean, this is what I wanted, right? I finally made it here and now I can start over. Just gotta spend one last night on a park bench, and then I’m gonna turn things around for me.

I nodded to myself confidently and started walking again. Before long, I did come to a park and there was a nice looking bench there.

“Yippy,” I said to myself, “Home sweet home.”

I sat down on the bench and then felt that wonderful feeling you get when you finally get off your feet after walking for over an hour straight. It was nice. I couldn’t get a bus from Shadeston that actually went all the way into town, so I had to settle for getting off a bit outside of town. Ergo the having to walk all the way here. But it didn’t matter anymore. I was here now and the walking was in the past.

I can’t afford to dwell on the past.

I opened up my backpack and took out my little green pillow. It was always my favorite pillow. It was so comfortable and soft… sometimes when I’d sleep on it, in that moment between the time I’d wake up and the time I’d open my eyes… I’d almost think I was home.

As I lay down on the bench, I tried to think happy thoughts. I tried to imagine my new life here. I thought about going to school, making some friends, even-

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

I sat up with a start as I heard the sound of the woman scream. I looked at my watch. 1:17am. Definitely not a time where screaming could be anything relating to a good thing. I grabbed my backpack and started running toward the sound of the screaming. I didn’t know what I planned to do if it was some psychotic rapist or whatever, but I couldn’t just sit there.

Suddenly, in front of me, a woman, looking about in her mid-twenties or so, came running out of the bushes. She was terrified, crying as she ran. She passed me and all I could do was turn and watch her. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. She just ran off, leaving me standing between the swing set and the sliding board, watching in a stupor.

I looked in confusion at where she had come from. Through the bushes she had run through I could just make something out. A figure on the ground.

I gulped as I walked toward the bushes. The closer I got, the worse I felt about what I was about to see there. Closer, closer. It was a person lying on the ground. What were they doing down there? Closer I came, and I pushed through one of the bushes.

“Oh my God,” I gasped as I saw what lain beyond those bushes. It was a girl. She couldn’t have even been twenty. She had brown hair. She was wearing jeans and a red T-shirt. She looked like she had probably been out running.

But now she was dead. She had a long, bloody gash on her arm. But what was more frightening were the two bleeding holes in her neck.

I backed away, practically shaking with fear. No, I thought, this can’t be. It can’t be real. Why did this happen?

I was crying now, but I barely even noticed. I was lost in my thoughts. In my memories. I kept backing away slowly.

“No,” I said, out loud this time. “No… why here? This isn’t right. Why did I come- I shouldn’t have come here!”

“Damn straight, you stupid bitch,” I heard a voice say behind me.

I spun around and found myself looking at another face. It was the face of a man, only the upper portion of his face was oddly wrinkled and bumpy. And his teeth were unusually large. I froze in terror.

The vampire smiled. “Welcome to Sunnydale,” he said as he hit me and I fell down to the ground.

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Two

Ow.

My head was throbbing. I crawled up in my knees and looked up to see the vampire smiling his evil grin as he reached down to grab me. He took hold of my sleeve and pulled hard, pulling me up to my feet without any help from my legs, which wouldn’t have mattered anyway, since my legs weren’t exactly taking any instruction from my brain at the moment.

His face was so close to mine. Had he been breathing, I’d have been able to feel his breath on my face. He opened his mouth. It was all over.

The vampire suddenly let go and I fell to the ground. My head was a jumble. I couldn’t think clearly. Focus, Shelly, focus! I looked up. The vampire was looking past me. I followed his gaze to see a guy standing there. Wait… I thought as I tried to sort out the last few seconds. The guy had hit him! He had saved me!

Before I could think, the vampire ran at this new guy and punched him in the face. The guy punched back. They were fighting. It was… I didn’t even know what to think of it. I still wasn’t really at the stage where I could move yet, let alone think clearly.

They were fighting closer to me now. But I couldn’t move. Suddenly, the guy turned around.

“Get out of here!” he yelled.

That got me out of my funk. Not because of what he said, but because of what I saw. His face didn’t look the same as it did before. His forehead… his eyes… they had changed. He was a vampire, too.

I started to run away, but once I realized I was a safe enough distance away, I stopped, and in doing so, tripped over my own feet and was down on the ground again.

I looked back at the fight. The new vampire seemed to be winning. He hit the first vampire back, and while he was disoriented, the second vampire pulled a wooden stake out of his jacket pocket and stabbed the vampire that had attacked me right in the heart. Before the vampire even had time to realize what had happened, he suddenly exploded into dust.

So… that’s how a vampire dies, I thought to myself.

The other vampire picked the stake up off the ground and looked around. He saw me on the ground and came over closer. His face looked normal now. Like a normal guy.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I tried to speak, but I couldn’t make the words come out. I was too confused. He was a vampire… but he saved me. Why? It didn’t make any sense.

He looked hard at me, and when he saw I wasn’t going to say anything, he sighed and started walking away. Good, part of me thought, He’s a vampire. I’m lucky he didn’t just kill me. I should just get out of here. It seemed perfectly rational. And yet… there was just something about this vampire. He just seemed different. And for some reason, I couldn’t just let him leave.

“Wait!” I called, my voice a bit raspy. “What if… what if there’s more of them?”

He looked around, “I don’t think so. But you should get home, just in case.” He started walking away again.

“But!” I started. He turned around. “I don’t exactly have one… here.” I said. He just looked at me with a bit of confusion.

“You don’t want my help.” he said sternly.

“Why not?” I asked just a little nervously as I got up and started walking towards him.

He glared at me, “You saw what I am. You can’t trust me.”

I stopped, “But you saved me.”

“Yes.”

“Why would you do that, being the evil creature that you are?”

He looked down at the ground, “I…I just try to help people.” He looked down for a moment more, and then looked back up at me. “Look, I might know a place where you could stay. I could take you there.”

I walked up to him and looked into his eyes. He’s an evil creature, my mind kept telling me, He’s only taking you away so he can kill you. You can’t trust him. It’s all just a trick. But as I looked at him, I didn’t think it was. I had so much reason to hate him for what he was, but I just couldn’t. He saved my life. That had to mean something.

“Thank you,” I said, “I’m Shelly.”

He looked at me, “My name is Angel.”

“Well, Angel, really, thank you for saving my life.”

Angel looked uncertain for a moment before answering, “You’re… welcome.”


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Three

* * * * *

Angel looked at the girl. Shelly, she had said her name was. She had glasses and dark brown hair that went down just past her shoulders. She didn’t look like she could even be any older than sixteen. And yet here she was, all alone, in the middle of the night. She was carrying a backpack, and it seemed to be packed pretty full. Angel could take a stab in the dark and say that she was a runaway. But it wasn’t any of his business. He was just going to show her to where she could stay, and then that would be it.

“Come on,” he said, “It’s just a short ways down this road.”

Angel turned and started walking out of the park. Shelly hesitated for just a moment, and then began to follow closely behind him.

They walked in silence for a few minutes when finally Shelly spoke, “So,” she began, “can I asked you a question?”

“Sure,” Angel said, still looking straight ahead.

“Are you, like, a good vampire? Different from the ones that go around killing people?” she asked.

“Guess so.” Angel said simply.

“Why?”

Angel sighed. To most people, he wouldn’t have ever bothered giving a real answer. He wasn’t exactly someone who went around telling everyone about his past, and he certainly didn’t just trust people out of the blue. But he couldn’t lie to this girl. The way she looked at him… she was actually ready to hear what he had to say before she judged him. Most people wouldn’t.

“I was cursed. By gypsies,” he said. “They gave me soul, so I could have a conscience and feel remorse for all the terrible things that I did. So now I don’t kill people anymore.”

“But… you used to?” Shelly asked, a bit of concern in her voice.

“Yes.”

* * * * *

I wasn’t sure what to think at first. He was a killer. Just like the rest of them. The only reason that he wasn’t still killing people now was because some gypsies cursed him. But he was still a killer.

But then a thought occurred to me. “So, they gave you a soul. A conscience.” Angel nodded. “But that’s just like what any human has. Every human has a conscience, from the nun to the mass-murdering psychopath. Just because you have a conscience now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t kill, because people kill each other all the time.”

“Yes,” he agreed, not really sure what I was getting at.

“What I’m saying is that if you wanted to, you could still be all evil and kill people,” I said, “but you don’t. You choose not to. So… I guess what I’m telling you is that I’m okay with your company. That I don’t have a problem with what you are.”

I looked down to the ground. It sounded really cheesy. I saw Angel’s feet stop walking and I looked up at him. He was looking back at me with an expression I couldn’t really read.

“Okay,” he said finally, with a hint of a smile. I smiled back.

“Anyway,” Angel said, looking up, “this is the place.” He motioned towards a one-story building across the way that didn’t exactly look like the shiniest, happiest part of Sunnydale. It had doors going down the long side of the building.

“What is that?” I asked. “A motel?”

“Cheap apartment building, actually.” Angel said. “It’s cheap and not especially clean, but I stay there. There was a woman staying in one of the other rooms. She saw some of the other things that live here in Sunnydale and left pretty abruptly. But I think she had the rent paid up through the end of May, so you wouldn’t have to pay anything for a while.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that I could just go live there? I don’t need to, like, actually buy it or anything?” I asked.

“As long as you pay the rent, the guy who owns the place doesn’t really care,” Angel replied. “It’s small, but it has a bed. Definitely better that sleeping outside.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Angel took me up to the room. Number 8.

“You gonna be okay here, then?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “So, the lady who lived here before left because she saw the scary things in Sunnydale?” Angel nodded. I bit my lip. “Guess there’s a lot of those, then?”

“Yeah,” he said, “they like it here.”

Of course they do, I thought to myself, Because it’s where I decided to go… It’s my luck.

I looked back to Angel as I opened door number eight, “Thank you. For everything, Angel.”

“Yeah,” he said looking uncomfortable. He stood there for a second more, then turned and started walking away.

“Angel!” I called. He stopped and turned to look back at me. “Will I be… seeing you around?” I asked.

He turned and started walking away again. “It’s not like I live far away,” he called back.

I smiled and went into my new place. My new home, I thought. Because I was staying. Yeah, there were vampires in this town, and they were the last things I wanted to be encountering. But meeting Angel, a vampire who chooses not to kill people, it really made me think about things. There might have been vampires no matter where I went. What was really important was to not live in fear. And just live.

I looked around the apartment. Angel was right, it wasn’t very big. But it would do.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Four

I know most teenagers would love the chance to not have to go to school everyday. In fact, if the circumstances were right, I’m sure I’d love it, too. But seeing as my life wasn’t a perfect world of happiness and fairies, I decided I didn’t want to be some loser who didn’t even have a high school diploma.

Luckily, getting into Sunnydale High was much easier than I had expected. My old school, back in Elmwood, was known throughout California as one of the best public schools academically. We didn’t even have a football team; the school was that focused on the book-learnin’. Point is, it was a really strict school, and had I been trying to get into school there, I’d have been faced with background checks and parent conferences and other things that would have been very difficult for me to deal with.

All I really needed to provide for Sunnydale High was a mailing address.

“Well, Shelly, I think everything is pretty much in order here,” Principal Flutie said as he shifted through his papers. I sat uncomfortably across from him, bored after a good forty-five minutes of being talked at about the values of education and stuff like that.

“Except…” he continued as he looked up at me, “I still don’t seem to have any of your records from your old school,”

Ah, I had prepared for this.

“Well, I was home schooled before this,” I lied, “My mom kept detailed records of all my progress, but they were all destroyed when our house burned down. It’s why we had to move.”

Principal Flutie looked shocked for a moment, then instantly shot on a look of concern. “Oh, um… okay,” he said, “Well, that’s okay then. You passed all your placement tests with flying colors- in fact, you scored above the tenth grade standards in mathematics- so, I suppose proof that you’ve finished ninth grade won’t be necessary.” He paused. “Um, no one was hurt, were they?”

“What?” I asked, confused.

“In the fire.”

Oh, right. “Oh, no, we all got out fine,” I said, making stuff up, “Yeah, we just lost most of our possessions.”

“Oh, I’m very sorry,” Flutie said, sounding somber.

I held back a laugh. This guy was actually concerned. He totally bought it! Good thing this dufus is such a pushover, I thought. I was so not feeling confident about my acting abilities here.

“Well,” Flutie started again as he began looking through his papers again. He pulled out one sheet and handed it to me. “Here’s your class schedule,” he said as I looked at it. “If there are any classes you can’t find, feel free to ask any teacher and you’ll need to stop in the library and pick up the books you need for your classes.”

“Okay,” I said as I read over the schedule.

“So, I think that’s it, then,” Flutie said as he stood up.

“Okay, thanks,” I said, standing up, too.

Flutie glanced up at the clock, “There’s about twenty minutes left in fourth period now, so you can either go to the end of your fourth period class, or you can explore the halls for a little while, learn your way around, and then make your way to lunch. Whatever you want to do,” he said with a smile.

“Okay,” I said, forcing a smile back at him. “Thanks again.”

I left Flutie’s office and leaned against the wall right outside. That was a fun morning, I thought, looking at my watch. This Flutie guy was boring, annoying, and a way big fan of educating the nation’s youth, but if I had to spend a few hours in an office with him in order to get back to the normal life of school and homework, then so be it.

“So, fourth period,” I muttered to myself as I skimmed down my schedule. Phys Ed. Ick. I suddenly found it difficult to remember why it was I wanted so badly to go to school.

Let’s see… the gym was down the hall to my left. I started walking right.

“Gym can wait,” I said to myself.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Five

* * * * *

Xander watched Buffy from across the cafeteria as his lunch sat unattended on his tray.

“Look at her flirting with him,” he complained, “She doesn’t even know him. Just because she thinks he’s all studly, it doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a great guy.”

“Stop being jealous,” Willow said as she too watched Buffy flirt. “Buffy deserves to have a date with Owen. She shouldn't have to be all evil-fighter all the time.”

Xander frowned as he picked up his fork and started picking at the green stuff on his tray. He looked up to see Buffy walking back to their table with a big smile on her face. He rolled his eyes as Willow suddenly got excited, too, and the two of them walked off with their happy boy-giggles.

“Okay, I’ll just hang here, then,” Xander muttered to himself.

He looked around the cafeteria in boredom and noticed that there was a girl holding up the lunch line, talking to one of the lunch ladies.

Hmm, he thought, don’t recognize her. Wonder who she is…

* * * * *

No matter what school you’re at, there’s one thing that will always be true. The lunch ladies are mean.

“Principal Flutie said that he would get me a lunch card tomorrow,” I explained, “He said I could get lunch here today without it."

After a bit more arguing with the grumpy lunch lady, and a whole lot of grumbling on her part, I finally got my lunch and was released into the busy cafeteria.

I looked down at my tray as I walked away from the cash register. A small salad. A roll. Something that was probably cake. Something green that I really didn’t want to know what it was. I fought so hard for this?

I sighed to myself as I looked around for a place to sit. Perfect. No empty tables. Guess it’s time to make a friend, I thought nervously.

I looked around and saw a guy sitting by himself at a nearby table. He had dark hair and was wearing an off white shirt. If you ask me, he looked a little lonely as he played with the green stuff on his tray.

I walked up to the table and he looked up at me. “Hi,” I said, more than a little embarrassed, “Um, is it okay if I sit here?” I asked.

“Uh, sure, go ahead,” he said, motioning to the chair in across from him.

“Thanks,” I said as I sat down, “This is my first day and I don’t know anyone yet.”

“Oh, so you’re new then?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

He gave me an odd look, “Just out of curiosity, you’re not one of those new girls who’s secretly a superhero of some kind and makes being friends with you a very complicated task, are you?”

I replied to that question with a blank stare.

He smiled and looked a little embarrassed. “Let me start over. Hi, I’m Xander.”

I raised an eyebrow and smiled back, “I’m Shelly,” I said.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Shelly. You enjoying your school-cooked meal?” he asked me as I took a bite of the salad.

“The food at my old school was way better than this,” I said, “This is… I mean, I’m afraid to even touch the green stuff.” I scooped up some of it with my fork and gave it a disgusted look.

“Yeah,” Xander agreed, “I was telling my friends before that I was just hoping that it’s not string cheese.”

“Your friends?” I picked out of that sentence, “Oh, am I taking someone’s seat or something?”

“Oh no,” Xander replied quickly. “They’re not coming back. The two of them scampered off, giggling about hot boys,” he said with a hint of bitterness.

I gave him a look.

“Oh! They’re girls,” he said.

“I kinda figured.” I said with a smirk.

He smiled as he changed the subject back to me, “So Shelly, got anything interesting next period that will help you forget about this oh-so-scary lunch?”

I looked at my schedule, “Hmm, it says ‘Free’ for fifth period. Guess that’s a good opportunity to go to the library and get a whole bunch textbooks. Now, if only I knew where the library was,” I added to myself as an afterthought.

“Well, lucky for you, I’m going to the library anyway. I could take you there if you want.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Thanks, Xander.”

Aw. Shelly made a friend, part of me thought. Well, yes. It seems that I did.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Six

“Wow,” I said as we walked into the library. I couldn’t help it. This library was cool.

It wasn’t the most modern looking place, but I loved the old, almost mustiness of it. The library at my old school was very bright and happy, with multiple librarians always around to help you. I always felt uncomfortable there. This was nice, though. Shelves of books everywhere and that was about it. Just a quiet place where one could study, without any colorful distractions. I know it seems odd, and it’s hard to describe, but it really seemed like a much nicer place than the other library I had known, like it was in disguise or something.

Across the room, there was a small cluster of tables with chairs around them. At one of the tables there were two female students. Sitting in a chair was a girl with blond hair tied up into a bun, and sitting on the table next to her was a girl with brown hair with a backpack full of books next to her. Standing on the other side of the table was a middle-aged man with glasses, wearing a tweed suit. They had been talking, but they all stopped and looked up as they noticed Xander and I come in.

“Hey!” Xander called over to them, “What are you crazy cats up to?”

The blond girl shot a look at the man, then looked back at us, “Nothing,” she replied, “So, who’s your friend, Xander?”

No, I didn’t feel the least bit awkward…

“This is Shelly. She’s new and comes in search of textbooks,” Xander said, looking at the man.

“Oh, that’s right,” he said. He had a British accent. “I was told there would probably be a new student coming by. I’m Mr. Giles, the librarian.”

“Hi,” I said, putting on a smile, “Shelly Adler. I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my pocket, “Um, Mr. Flutie gave me this; it’s a list of all the books I need.”

He took it from me and started looking over it, “Alright,” he said, “I’ll get these for you, it’ll be just a moment.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said as he walked off towards the bookshelves.

“Hope she doesn’t get the same book I got,” the blond girl muttered. I looked over at her in confusion. She looked a little embarrassed.

“Never mind,” she said as Xander went over and sat on the table next to the brunet. “I was the last new girl. This is some weird deja vu for me.”

Xander and the other girl smiled. Xander looked at her, “So now we’re attracting new girls,” he paused, as if thinking to himself, “I don’t see a problem with this.”

The other girl smiled, “I know you don’t,” she said, rolling her eyes at him.

The blond girl rolled her eyes at the two of them then turned back to me. “I’m Buffy,” she looked over toward the other girl, “And that’s Willow.”

Willow gave me a little wave, “Hi,” she smiled.

“Yes, yes,” Xander said, “And now that we’re all acquainted…” he motioned with his arm for me to come over there, “Come. Sit. Converse.”

I smiled as I came over and sat in the chair across from Buffy.

“So,” Buffy said, “Where are you from?”

“Elmwood,” I replied, “It’s about eighty miles form here.”

Buffy looked like she was about to say something else, but just then Mr. Giles came back over with a large pile of books. He set them down on the table with a large “thud.”

“There you are, everything you need,” he said. I noticed that he seemed a bit tired from carrying that heavy pile.

“Looks like fun,” I said with a bit of a sigh.

“Right, well, you’ll need to fill out the checkout card in the back of each book,” Mr. Giles said. He looked up at Xander, Buffy, and Willow, “Don’t the rest of you have class to get to?”

Willow hopped off the table, “I was just about to say, ‘shouldn’t we be getting to Biology?’”

Xander got up, too, “You know, I could tell,” he said to Willow, “I could actually see it in your eyes that you were about to say that.” She smiled and the two of them began to walk out and Buffy got up to follow after them.

“Buffy,” Mr. Giles called to her. She looked back at him. “I should expect to see you back here later so I can go over the details for this, um, project.”

Buffy sighed, “Yeah, I’ll be here. But you better be right, Giles,” she said.

As they all started walking out again, Xander waved back to me. “We’ll see you around, Shelly!”

“Yeah, see ya,” Willow said.

“Bye,” Buffy added.

And then they were gone. Mr. Giles walked away and into another room that may have been an office. And I was suddenly there alone with a happy little pile of textbooks.

School is fun.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Seven

So I survived the first day of school. Actually, I survived the second and third days as well. They went alright. I still had the next week or two to spend catching up for most of my classes. It was a lot of work, but it wasn’t that hard. And I had a lot of time at home. Reason being, I didn’t have cable.

I talked to Xander, Buffy, and Willow at times throughout my school days. They were each in some of my classes and they were all nice and talked to me and stuff. But they were their own little group that I couldn’t really become a part of. I was still alone most of the time, but it didn’t bother me too much. I was used to it.

In addition to the rest of my schoolwork, I was thinking about finding a second semester elective to fill in one of my free periods. I figured it’d be better than sitting alone in some study hall, but I would have to find something by next week. Willow was in a computer class, so I figured I might ask her about that.

But I hadn’t done any homework yet that afternoon. No siree. I had been out shopping.

When I left my house in Elmwood, I knew that if I was going off by myself, I’d need money, and not just a little of it. Luckily, all my money, along with my siblings’, was in cash, and I found a lot of expensive jewelry and stuff around the house that I could sell. I knew it was what I had to do, so I did it. But until I found a real place to stay, I knew I had to use the absolute minimum of that money that was possible.

In the last four months, I lost over twenty pounds from not spending very much money on food. Definitely not all bad.

But now that I found a place for myself in Sunnydale, I figured it was about time I had more than three changes of clothes. So I went shopping. Got myself some clothes, some personal hygiene products, some Pop-Tarts. I was in a good mood. It was nice to have new things again.

I was carrying multiple bags of stuff as I approached the door to my apartment. I looked at the door. Looked at my left hand. Full. Looked at my right hand. Also full.

“Crap,” I muttered to myself as I found that it may be very difficult to get this door opened.

“Need some help?” a voice said from behind me. I turned around and looked.

“Angel,” I said as I saw him standing there. I stared at him dumbly for a moment and then he started to look uncomfortable.

“Oh,” I said suddenly, “um, sure. Could you hold these for me?” I asked, holding out the two bags in my right hand.

“Yeah,” he said as he took the bags from me. I opened the door and he gave me my bags back.

We stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“So,” he said finally, “You’re in school now?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “How’d you know?”

“Oh, I uh, saw you leaving with your book bag and books and I just figured...” he trailed off.

I narrowed my eyes at him, “Okay, that doesn’t sound creepily like you’ve been watching me.”

“Oh, no, I’m not watching you,” he said quickly, “I just… I lurk.” I smiled. The way he said it, I totally believed it. He probably didn’t have much better to do than lurk around in the shadows, watching the world go by. At least he had a little sense of humor about it.

“Hey, why don’t you come in,” I said as I went to set my bags on the floor. “I’ve got Pop-Tarts. Not much else, but-“

Angel was gone from the doorway. I looked out the door, left and right, but I didn’t see him anywhere.

“Guess he’s gone off to lurk,” I said, rolling my eyes.

I went back inside, closed the door, and opened my box of chocolate Pop-Tarts.

Yum.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Eight

It turned out that I was lucky enough to come to Sunnydale High only a few days before the annual field trip to the Sunnydale Zoo. It was just your average zoo. Animals here and there that usually don’t do anything interesting. But as any high school student will tell you, it’s better than being in class.

I was walking around by myself, nearing the elephants, when I saw Buffy walking along not too far in front of me. I walked a little faster and caught up to her.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey,” she said back, “Having a fun time looking at animals?”

“Oh, you know it,” I said, just as Xander and Willow came running up.

“Hey!” Xander yelled, “Buffy! Hey, Shelly!”

“Hey,” I said.

“You guys missed it!” Willow said excitedly.

“Missed what?” Buffy asked.

“We just saw the zebras mating!” Xander said with a big grin. “Thank you, very exciting.”

“It was like the Heimlich,” Willow said, “With stripes!”

I rolled my eyes as Buffy turned to me.

“And we missed it!” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Whatever will we do?” I asked with the same amount of sarcasm. We both smiled.

“I think somehow, we’ll find the courage to live on,” Buffy said.

“I guess we’ll have to,” I said with fake disappointment as the four of us continued down the path.

“So what have you two been up to?” Willow asked.

“Well, I just found Buffy right before you guys did,” I replied, “I came from that-a-way,” I said, pointing back toward the way I came from.

“And you, Miss Summers?” Xander asked Buffy.

“I was looking at the fishes,” she replied.

“Was it cool?” Willow asked excitedly.

“It was fishes,” Buffy said with a huge lack of enthusiasm.

Xander shook his head, “I’m feeling that you’re not in the field trip spirit here,” he said.

“Yeah, well I…” she started, “It’s nothing. We did the same zoo field trip thing at my old school. Same old, same old.”

“So does every school,” I said, “But that’s not the point at all.”

“That’s right!” Xander agreed, “This isn’t just about looking at a bunch of animals. This is about not being in class.”

“Exactly.” I said.

Buffy took a moment to ponder this, “You know, you’re right,” she said, “Suddenly the animals look shiny and new,” she said with a smile.

“That’s the spirit!” I said.

“You just gotta have perspective,” Xander agreed.

The four of us walked along for a little while and soon came upon the entrance to an exhibit marked “Hyena House.” It was obviously closed, though, what with all the yellow CAUTION tape and the signs saying things like “CLOSED” and “Positively No Admittance,” along with a nice flashing orange light. At least they weren’t overdoing it.

We were about to just walk by when we saw a group of five kids from our school go heading right in, under the tape. I didn’t know any of them, but I recognized some from the bus ride over. Your typical mean, annoying kids.

“What are Kyle and his buds doing with Lance?” Willow asked as we walked toward the “Hyena House” entrance.

“Oh, playing with him, as a cat plays with a mouse,” Xander said disdainfully.

“Um, so I guess Lance isn’t in their Jackass Club, or whatever?” I asked.

“No, he’s just an impressionable geek,” Willow said looking back at the forbidden entrance.

Buffy sighed, “What is it with those guys?”

“They’re obnoxious,” Willow said simply, “Professionally.”

“Well, every school has them,” Xander said, “See, you start a new school, you get your desks, some blackboards, and some mean kids.”

I nodded in agreement, “That does seem to be true, doesn’t it?”

Buffy started to walk into the hyena exhibit, “Yeah, well, I better extract Lance before-“

“I’ll handle it,” Xander said, holding his arm out in front of her, “This job doesn’t require…” he glanced at me, just for a second, “…the help of Buffy. I got it,” he finished.

That was odd, I thought as he ducked under the tape and walked around the corner into the “Hyena House.”

Buffy looked a little worried, “Don’t you think we should follow?” she asked.

Willow shook her head, “Kyle and those guys are jerks, but they’re all talk,” she said, “Mostly.” She looked uncertain now.

“Mostly?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Why don’t we…” Buffy started.

“Yeah, why don’t we,” Willow instantly agreed.

“Yeah,” I said a bit quietly, still wondering what was up with Xander before. The three of us started ducking under the tape.

“Whoa, whoa, hold it, hold it!” we heard a voice say from behind us. We turned around to find a middle-aged man with a Sunnydale Zoo tag clipped on his shirt.

“Are you blind or just illiterate?” he asked us, “Because hyenas are very quick to prey on the weak,”

Buffy tried to think fast, “Oh, well we were just gonna take-“

“You’re not going in there,” the zookeeper interrupted as he held up the tape for us to walk back under, “Anyone who does is in a world of trouble.”

The three of us just looked at each other nervously. We were all thinking the same thing: Xander.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Nine

“Heh, sorry,” I said as we went back under the tape, “I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“Why is it off-limits?” Buffy asked nervously.

“It’s a quarantine,” the zookeeper said, “These hyenas just came in from Africa, so keep out.” He narrowed his eyes at us, “Even if they call your name.”

We looked at each other, confused.

“What are you talking about?” Buffy asked him.

“A Masai tribesman told me that hyenas are capable of understanding human speech,” he said, “They follow humans around by day, learning their names. At night, when the campfire dies, they call out to a person. Then, once they separate them, the pack…” the zookeeper snapped his fingers, “devours them.”

The three of us looked at each other, frankly, a little freaked out.

“That’s a, um, interesting story,” I said.

“Well, it’s just a myth,” the zookeeper said, still speaking in a rather creepy tone. “Why don’t you girls go ahead now? I won’t keep you any longer.”

He watched us as we walked away from the “Hyena House,” making sure we weren’t still planning on sneaking in there, then he went on his way, off to creep out some other random kids. We sat down on a bench with the hyena exhibit still within sight.

“So what do we do now?” Willow asked, looking back there.

“I guess we’ll just wait for them to come out,” Buffy said, “I mean, they have to come out sometime.”

So we waited. It didn’t take long before we saw Lance come running out of the exhibit, looking back behind him. When he saw that nobody was chasing him, he slowed down and just started walking off angrily.

“Come on,” Buffy said and we started walking over there to him. By the time we got up to the “Hyena House” again, Xander and the other guys were coming out. We stopped as they all ducked under the tape and came out. Xander and Kyle exchanged a look, and then Kyle’s group started walking away and Xander walked back over to us.

“Xander, are you okay?” Willow asked, relieved to see him not beat up or being taken away by security.

“Yeah, good.” Xander said casually.

“So what happened in there?” I asked, “Did they do something to Lance?”

“Turns out Lance just couldn’t take a joke,” Xander said, shaking his head. We all just looked at him.

“What?” Xander asked, confused.

“Nothing, I guess,” Buffy said finally.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. I looked at my watch, “Well, it’s time to get back to the busses, I guess,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Buffy agreed.

“Yeah,” Willow said absently, still looking hard at Xander. Xander didn’t seem to notice.

So, I wonder what did go on in there, I thought to myself as we walked back to the busses. Xander had been so disgusted by the way Kyle and his friends were picking on Lance, and now he just decided that it was fine that they were “joking around?” It didn’t seem right.

I was still lost in thought as we were boarding the busses. And of course, that means I wasn’t watching where I was going. I tripped walking up the stairs and fell down to my knees.

Now I’m all for a little laughing at myself. I smiled to Buffy and Willow, and they smiled back. But that’s a much different reaction from what I heard behind me.

I was not surprised to see Kyle and his friends laughing their asses off at me. They were jerks, I knew it, so there was no reason to let their laughing bother me. I shook my head and started to go back up the stairs.

I stopped suddenly. I noticed something that did surprise me. Yeah, Kyle and his friends were laughing like idiots. But they weren’t the only ones. Xander was laughing, too.

I exchanged a concerned look with Buffy and we went and sat in our seats. We didn’t say anything to each other about it, but we both knew. Something was going on here that we weren’t getting.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Ten

By the next day, I had mostly forgotten about Xander’s attitude the day before. Or at least dismissed it as normal, rude teenage-boy-behavior. I just figured that it probably wasn’t as big a deal as I thought it was.

As a particularly boring English class ended, I walked up to Xander as we left the classroom.

“Hey,” I said, “Wasn’t that lotsa fun?”

“That sucked,” he said simply.

I bit my lip. It seemed a bit harsh. “Yeah, but hey, at least she was so busy being boring that she didn’t give us a reading assignment, right?”

“Yeah,” he said curtly and started walking a bit faster.

I shuffled along to catch up. “You okay?” I asked.

He stopped and just and looked at me.

“You-you just don’t seem like yourself,” I stuttered.

“And how exactly would you know?” Xander demanded rudely. “I mean, you’ve known me for like, a week, and now you’re acting like you’re my best friend or something? Give me a break.”

I was genuinely hurt. I didn’t know what to say. “Xander…” I tried.

“Don’t, Shelly,” Xander said harshly, “Stop acting like we’re friends.”

As he walked away, I couldn’t do anything but stand in the middle of the hallway in shock, my mouth hanging open. It’s true, I hadn’t known him very long, but I never would have thought that Xander would say those things to me. As he got farther away, I swear, I could hear him laughing to himself.

- - - - -

It was all thunderstormy that afternoon, so that meant we didn’t have to go outside for gym class. But it also meant that the two normal gym classes had to merge together to play the wonderful game of dodgeball. Coach Harrold was very happy about this.

“Dodgeball,” he said with a tone of great satisfaction, “Now for those of you who may have forgotten, the rules are as follows. You dodge.”

He smiled as he motioned for us to go to our separate sides and tossed the ball he was holding to Buffy. I was on Buffy’s team, along with Willow, and Xander was on the other side. Coach Harrold blew his whistle and the balls started flying.

My dodgeball strategy is very simple. Don’t worry about throwing any balls, just work on dodging them. Surprisingly enough, it usually works out pretty well for me. I noticed as other people on my team got out, but I just kept dodging, knowing how fun it is to not get beamed with a big rubber ball.

I heard a “THUD” behind me. I looked back to see that Willow had gotten hit by a ball. It sounded like it had hurt. Too bad, I thought as she went back to sit on the bench.

A little more than half our team had gotten out now. There was a ball on the floor next to me, so I figured I might as well pick it up and give it a throw.

I threw it to the other side, but I don’t exactly have much arm strength, so it hit the floor right on the other side of the line. It bounced twice and then Xander picked it up. He looked up at me and smiled.

There! A ball coming at me from the left! I dodged that ball, but it just gave Xander the opportunity he needed.

“Ow!” I cried as the ball Xander had thrown hit me right in the stomach. Xander snickered as I stumbled back to the bench.

“Ugh,” I muttered as I sat down on the bench. I shook my head to myself and looked down to the other side of the bench. Willow was sitting four people down from me. She just sat there, staring intently out into the gym.

She was watching Xander. She looked so hurt. He’s not the one who hit her with the ball is he?

I looked back out into the game. Our whole team was almost finished now. There were only three people left, Buffy included. The other team consisted of Xander, Lance, Kyle, and Kyle’s triad of jerks, Rhonda, Tor, and Heidi.

They quickly hit the other two people, and then Buffy was the only person left for our team. The members of the other team stopped and looked at her for a moment. Xander, Kyle, Rhonda, and Heidi all held balls. Tor picked one up, too. Then, they all turned around and looked at Lance, the only one of them without a ball now.

Buffy looked out at them, confused, but they completely ignored her. They all just walked toward Lance, who looked equally confused. Without saying a word they all just surrounded him, gripped their big rubber balls, and threw them at him with great force, knocking him to the ground.

My eyes widened, “What the hell?” I said, my voice a whisper.

The five of them all smiled and walked away, leaving Lance lying on the floor. Buffy ran over and helped him up.

Coach Spendell just stood there watching. “This game is brutal,” he said to himself, “I love it.”


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Eleven

I was getting really worried. I saw how worried Willow was about Xander, and that made me worry even more. I didn’t know what to do about it, though.

I figured maybe the best thing was to go talk to Willow about it. See if she could tell me anything. The only thing was that I wasn’t sure if she would tell me what’s wrong with him if she knew. We weren’t that close, and she and Xander were like, best friends. But I had to give it a try.

Willow was a really smart, a real book-wormy type, so I figured the best place to find her as school was ending would be the library. So off to the library I went.

I found Willow in the library watching some documentary about some wild dogs or something.

“Hey,” I said as I walked up behind her.

Willow jumped a little. I guess she hadn’t heard me coming. She turned around and relaxed when she saw me.

“Oh. Hey, Shelly,” she said.

I sat down in the chair next to her. “Willow,” I said, “I was wondering if I could ask you about something.”

“Um, sure,” she said as she stopped the video on her computer. She seemed kind of shaken.

“Do you know what’s wrong with Xander?” I asked.

“Um…” she muttered as she looked down toward the ground.

“Look,” I said, seeing the difficult issue this may be, “if you could just give me a general idea, here. I just want to know if there’s anything I can do to help him. I feel like I owe it to him, after he went out of his way to befriend me or whatever.”

Willow looked up at me. “I just don’t think there’s anything you can do to help him,” she said quietly.

I bit my lip. “Are you sure? I mean… what happened to him?” I knew I was pushing. I hadn’t meant to. It’s just my nature. I hate not knowing things.

“Well…” she hesitated.

“Please, Willow,” I said.

She sighed. “The short version? Hyena possession.”

“What?” I asked in confusion just as Buffy pushed through the double doors into the library. She was dragging an unconscious Xander behind her. Willow got up and started running over to them. I stood up, too.

“Hurry up,” Buffy said as Willow got over to her. “We gotta get him locked up somehow before he comes to.”

“Oh my God, Xander!” Willow said, “What happened?”

“I hit him.” Buffy said simply.

“With what?” Willow asked.

Buffy was about to answer when she looked up and saw me standing there. Her serious eyes met my surprised ones just for a moment, then she went back to dragging Xander into the book cage.

“A… heavy object,” she answered Willow, “He tried his hand at felony sexual assault.”

“Oh, Buffy-“ Willow started.

“No, I’m fine, it’s cool.” Buffy said. She dropped Xander down beyond the caged walls and came out and put a lock on the door. She looked at Willow then looked over at me awkwardly.

“So… hey, Shelly,” she said, trying to act as if there wasn’t some crazy thing going on here.

“Hey,” I said slowly, “So… Xander’s possessed by a hyena?”

She exchanged looks with Willow and then nodded. “Yeah. Him and Kyle and all them who went into that hyena exhibit at the zoo. Something happened to them there.”

“Okay,” I said, “But, we can… fix it right?”

I looked back and saw Mr. Giles coming into the library. I looked at Buffy. She looked back at him, too, and then back to me.

“We’ll find a way,” she said, “But right now, I’m more worried about what the rest of the pack is up to.”

Wait, does Mr. Giles know what’s going on here, too? I wondered.

“The rest of the pack was spotted outside Herbert the mascot’s cage,” Mr. Giles said.

Well, that answers that question.

Herbert was the mascot for the Sunnydale Razorbacks. He wasn’t actually a razorback of any kind, just a poor little pig with a big foam razorback glued onto his back. It was sad, really.

Mr. Giles glanced at me for a moment, and then continued what he was saying. “They were sent to the principal’s office.” He looked grim.

“Good, that’ll show ‘em.” Willow said. Mr. Giles just looked down at the floor. I sat back down.

“Did it show ‘em?” Willow asked nervously.

“They didn’t hurt him, did they?” Buffy asked.

“They, uh,” Mr. Giles hesitated for a moment, “Ate him.”


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Twelve

My eyes widened. I tried to speak, but I couldn’t get any words out. Willow sat down slowly.

“They… ate Principal Flutie?” Buffy asked slowly.

“Ate him up?” said Willow.

“The, uh, official theory is that wild dogs got into his office somehow,” Mr. Giles said, “There was no one at the scene.”

“But Xander didn’t!” Willow said quickly and turned to Buffy. “He-he was with you.”

Mr. Giles looked over and saw Xander lying unconscious in the book cage. “Oh, well, that’s a small mercy,” he said.

“Giles, how do we stop this?” Buffy asked him, “How do you transpossess someone?”

“I-I’m afraid I still don’t have all the pieces,” he said as he walked over to a nearby table with a pile of books on it. They seemed to have forgotten I was sitting there now. But I didn’t know what to say. This was all so… I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

“Um, the accounts of the primals and their methods are a bit thin on the ground.” Mr. Giles continued, “There is some talk of a, uh, predatory act, but the exact ritual is, is, um…” He picked a book up off the table and looked at it. “The Malleus Maleficarum deals in particulars of demonic possession, which...”

He stopped as he saw me stand up. Everyone was silent as I walked over to the book cage. I looked in at Xander. He looked like the same cool, funny guy I met in the cafeteria. But there was something else inside of him.

It was all just so crazy. I mean, I knew stuff like demons and magic existed. I did a lot of research after I found out about the vampires. But this is the first time any of that other stuff ever was really… real. I wasn’t reading about possession in some book. It was real and it was happening to someone I knew. To my friend.

“Maybe you should just go home,” Buffy said to me. She had walked over and was right by my side. I hadn’t even noticed. “We’ll take care of this, I promise. But you should go.”

I probably should, I thought to myself. This wasn’t what I’d wanted. I didn’t want to be involved in this supernatural stuff. I just wanted to try to be normal. I should just go home and leave this be. It was the best thing for me to do.

“Come on,” Buffy said, reaching out for my arm.

“No,” I said, jerking away, surprising both her and myself. But I soon understood why. “I can’t just leave. I came in here to ask Willow if there was anything I could do to help Xander with whatever it was he was going through. I wanted to help him because he was he was so nice to me- was a friend to me- when I had no one. And now that I found out that his problem is a bit more… unusual than I may have expected… I can’t just leave him because of that. I still want to help. I need to help.”

I was surprised to find that I wasn’t crying after my little speech. I tend to cry easily when I get all emotional like this, but now, I was just calm. As if I had gone beyond the emotion. I stood there and looked at Buffy. She nodded.

“Okay then,” she said, “Come on over.”

We walked back over to the table where Willow and Mr. Giles sat staring. Buffy sat back down on the desk and I leaned against a chair. We sat in silence for a moment.

“Giles, you were talking about some possessing thing or something?” Buffy said, breaking the silence.

“Oh, right,” he said, snapping alert. He picked up his book again, “Well, as I said, this ritual is for demonic possession, which may apply…” he turned the page read over it. “Yes, one may be able to transfer the spirits to another human.”

“Oh that’s great,” Buffy said sarcastically, “Any volunteers?”

“Oh… good point.” Mr. Giles said.

“What we need to do is put the hyena back in the hyena,” said Buffy.

“Well, shouldn’t we just find out what it was exactly that happened to them at the zoo?” I asked. “I mean, once we know what that was, couldn’t we find some way to reverse it?”

Buffy nodded. “I bet that zookeeper could help us. Maybe he didn’t quarantine those hyenas because they were sick.”

“He was really creepy,” I said. “You think he knew that something like this could happen?”

“We should talk to him,” Mr. Giles said.

“Okay,” Buffy said, hopping off the desk. “Oh, wait, someone has to watch Xander.”

“I will,” Willow said, standing up.

Buffy looked worried, “Will, are you sure? If he wakes up…”

“I’ll be fine. Go.” Willow said.

Buffy hesitated.

“I’ll stay, too,” I said. “I mean, better for two of us here, right? And it’s not like you need three people to go talk to some creepy zookeeper.”

Buffy nodded. “Okay,” she said as she gave Willow the keys to the book cage. “Come on,” she said to Mr. Giles and the two of them left.

I looked at Willow, but she was looking away, towards Xander.

I sighed. This will be interesting.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Thirteen

“'Blood Rites and Sacrifices,'” I read off the front a book. I started paging through it. “So, do you guys, like… deal with this kind of stuff a lot?” I asked Willow.

Willow didn’t look up. I could hear the sounds of yipping hyenas coming from her video.

“Willow?” I said.

She looked up suddenly as she pushed a button on her keyboard, pausing the video. “Oh, uh, sorry, what?”

“I just asked if you guys deal with this weird type stuff a lot,” I said again.

“Oh, yeah, I guess,” she replied, coming out of her daze, “There’s a lot of that kind of stuff in this town. Probably more than you would believe.”

“I believe it,” I said idly as I paged through the book some more. I glanced up to see Willow looking at me questioningly. “Well, I knew that there’s apparently lots of vampires here,” I explained, “And now there’s possessing hyenas? I’m thinking this might not be the most normal town.”

Willow looked a little surprised, “Yeah, that’s definitely true. So, you know about vampires?”

I hesitated for a moment as I tried to think of the right thing to say. But I just couldn’t think of anything.

“Yeah,” I said lamely, “I do.”

“Oh, well that’s good,” Willow said, “I mean, it’s not so much good as it is really scary and stuff, but well, you know.”

I smiled slightly, “Yeah, I get it. So is this common knowledge in Sunnydale or…”

“No,” Willow said, “I mean, I didn’t even know about any of it until a few months ago, when Buffy saved me from some vampires-” She stopped suddenly as if she had said something she didn’t mean to.

“Buffy saved you from vampires?” I asked her.

Willow hesitated for a moment; “Yeah…” she paused then looked up at me, “Buffy’s the Slayer.”

She said that like it was some kind of big statement or something, but I really had no idea what she was talking about.

“Slayer?”

“Vampire Slayer,” Willow explained, “Like, mystically chosen to kill vampires.”

I had never heard it. “Really?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” Willow said, “She’s got superpowers and everything.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Really. Super strength and healing and reflexes and stuff.”

I thought about that for a moment. I supposed it was possible, although not necessarily plausible. I wasn’t quite sure whether or not I should buy it all, but with all the other weirdness going on, I figured I may as well run with it.

I shrugged toward Willow, “Okay, then.”

“Nnyhn,”

We both looked over toward the book cage. Xander had stirred. I don’t think either of us took a breath for a good ten seconds as we watched to see if he was waking up. But he stayed down.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew.”

“Yeah,” Willow said quietly as she sat back down. She sadly gazed over at Xander lying unconscious in the cage. She almost looked as if she herself was in pain as she stared at her friend on the floor.

“I guess you’ve known Xander for a pretty long time, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Willow replied as she looked down at the ground, “We haven’t always been best friends, but we’ve known each other basically our entire lives.” She paused and bit her lip. “It’s just so hard to think about this thing taking him over like that. It’s awful.”

She turned back towards the table and turned back on the hyena video.

I went over a pressed the ‘Stop’ button. “And I don’t think this is going to make you feel any better,” I said. “You’re just torturing yourself. You should try to think about something else. Do some homework or something.”

She looked down for a moment, “You’re right,” she said finally. She grabbed her backpack and pulled out a book. Biology.

“There,” I said, “Now that will either make you feel better, or it will bore you until you fall asleep, and then you’ll be sleeping, so you won’t have to worry about anything.”

She smiled. “So, what homework are you gonna do, then?”

I looked up with fake innocence, “Well, in an effort to avoid that for the time being, I’m gonna go out the machine outside and get a soda. You want?”

“No, I’m good,” she said, “Thanks.”

I nodded and smiled, and then went on out to the soda machine in the hallway. Soda selection wasn’t great. I went with the root beer.

I was gonna go right back to the library, but I suddenly found all that’d happened, all that I’d found out in the last day… it all came rushing to the surface. I went to lean against the wall, but I ended up just sinking down to sit on the floor.

Hyenas had possessed a bunch of students. Possessed them. And then they freaking ATE the principal.

Principal Flutie was dead. Eaten by students.

And my new friend Xander had a hyena inside of him. Possessed by a wild animal.

And my other potential friend apparently had superpowers? Given powers to fight the vampires of the world?

It was all just so much. It was mind-blowing. It was insane!

I don’t know how long I sat there on the floor. Probably longer than it felt like. I just sat there, processing everything.

After a while I found myself able to push it all to the back of my mind. Once I found my root beer can on the floor nearby, I got up and walked back to the library. As I walked in through the double doors, I thought about how-

“Let me out! LET ME OUT!”

Xander was awake, yelling and shaking the cage door. Willow was backing away from the cage as he continued to yell. She looked back at me and we exchanged a look.

Things were about to get a lot more complicated.


~RP~

[RubberPiggy]

Chapter Fourteen

I walked cautiously toward Willow and the cage as she turned around and went back to the table.

“Just ignore him,” she said as she sat down, “It’s not Xander.”

I nodded a bit nervously as Xander started laughing.

“Ha! Like there’s so much point in you being here at all!” he laughed. I glared at him and then sat down next to Willow.

“I mean really!” he continued, “I don’t know what might happen if you weren’t here, Shelly. You are the only thing keeping me in this cage right now.” He started laughing again. Loudly and rather insanely.

Just ignore him, I reminded myself, Don’t let him get to you.

“And then if I did get out, what would you do about it? Make faces at me?” he roared with laughter.

I grabbed the nearest book on the table an opened it. Just read. Don’t listen to him. Just don’t listen.

“Do you think you’re helping me? You’re not helping! You can’t help anyone! I wouldn’t even need to know you very well to know what you are. You’re a loser.”

I closed my eyes. I can’t sit here and listen to this. And why should I? What good am I doing here? Why don’t I just go home?

“Seriously, Shelly! Why would you even bother?”

It almost felt as if something snapped inside of me. I stood up and pushed back my chair, making a very loud sound on the wood floor. I walked over to the cage in a rage. Xander smirked. I felt like I could yell my brains out.

But I didn’t.

“Because Xander’s my friend,” I said quietly. I turned around, went over and quietly pulled my chair back over to the table, and sat back down. Willow gave me a concerned look. I returned a small smile, and then went back to looking at that book.

The hyena inside of Xander tried yelling at us some more after that, of course. But we didn’t listen. He eventually stopped.

* * * * *

He sniffed the air and smiled.

They were coming for him.

* * * * *

Xander had been quiet for a while now. Buffy and Mr. Giles had been gone for what seemed like a really long time, now, too. Hopefully they’d be back soon.

“Wiiiiillllow…”

We looked at each other. Xander was starting up again.

“Sheeeellyyyy…”

I sighed. The quiet had been nice while it lasted.

“Wiiiiilllloow…”

Willow turned around to look at him. I looked to. And then we looked at each other.

Xander was just standing there, staring up, away from us. Smirking. We slowly turned and followed his gaze.

CRASH!

Glass from the two windows up by the ceiling fell to the floor as they broke. We could hear more hysterical laughing as twin sets of legs started coming through the windows.

The rest of the pack. They were here.

I stared for half a second, frozen in shock, but then I felt Willow tap me on the shoulder, and I got up and ran, following her out of the library.


~RP~