Work Text:
Overall, Jessica was having a pretty good Homecoming dance. Her date had turned up on time and was being attentive. It made up for the fact that he had been her second choice, although she wasn’t going to let him know that. Dingos Ate My Baby were playing. Her friends were all here. Everyone was having fun. So far there had been zero weirdness – no horrible murders or strange disappearances – which was a first for a Sunnydale High event. The only thing she considered slightly unusual was when Cordelia Chase and Buffy Summers had showed up just before the Homecoming Queen crowning looking like they’d been rolling around in the dirt together. In fact, that wasn’t that weird. Whenever something strange happened, Buffy was always at the center of it. The girl was a total freak as far as she was concerned.
Her best friend, however, was not having a great Homecoming. Debbie had caught her boyfriend making out with Emily Anderson so now Jessica was spending the dance stood in the restroom passing Debbie handfuls of tissues.
“He said he loved me!” Debbie wailed before loudly blowing her nose.
“Yeah, don’t they always.”
Jessica hadn’t noticed that a dark-haired girl had joined them in the restroom. She wasn’t someone she recognized (Jessica prided herself on knowing who everyone was). She was kind of hot in a way that her mom would probably call skanky.
“I mean guys will say anything to get in your pants, right?” the girl said.
“Tell me about it!” Debbie had gone from upset to angry in a matter of seconds.
“You’re better off without him,” the girl replied. “My friend broke up with her boyfriend earlier. The guy was a total loser anyway.”
Jessica didn’t think this girl looked particularly upset about her friend’s break up. The girl adjusted her dress and then left the bathroom.
“I’ll back in a sec.” She left Debbie and headed back to the dance.
“Hey, got you a drink.” Dean, her date, stood there in front of her, a cup in each hand. “How’s Debbie?”
“Not great,” she admitted. She looked around the crowd for a sign of the dark-haired girl.
“What are you looking at?” Dean followed her line of sight over to where the girl was stood talking to Buffy Summers.
“Do you know who that girl is? I don’t think she goes to Sunnydale.”
“I’ve seen her around. I think she’s like Buffy’s girlfriend or something.”
“What?” That was one piece of gossip she’d somehow managed to miss. “I thought she was dating Scott Hope.” Jessica had been a little jealous. She’d always had a soft spot for him.
“According to him she doesn’t play for our team, if you get what I mean.”
That would explain why the girl hadn’t been exactly cut up over her friend’s bad news. Come to think about it, she’d never seen Buffy with a steady boyfriend. There had been guys hanging around her – including Jessica’s sophomore crush Owen Thurman – but none of them had ever stuck with her. Maybe that was why. Then again, what did she care about Buffy Summers’ love life when Emily Anderson was stood at the other side of the dancefloor looking like she didn’t have a care in the world. That girl was going to get a piece of her mind.
---
The classrooms were dark, and his footsteps echoed as he walked down the corridor. Brody never usually stayed this late at school. It was only because he’d been studying for a history test and it was by far his worst subject. He’d spent the last few hours desperately trying to cram and now it was like his head was going to explode.
He was pretty sure the library would still be open. From what he’d heard Mr Giles usually worked late. He’d be grateful of some company, even if it was some weird English dude. The school was pretty creepy without anyone else there. Like most people, he’d heard the stories. His mom never liked him staying out past dark.
When he pushed the library doors open the lights were on but there was no sign of Mr Giles. Instead a very surprised looking Buffy Summers jumped up from behind a table. It looked like she had been doing some kind of exercise, although why she would be doing it in a library, he didn’t know. She was all sweaty, red-faced and panting, not to mention that she appeared to have this glow, like she was…energized.
“Hey,” she said awkwardly, pushing her hair back.
“Little help here B,” came a voice from down on the ground next to her. Buffy reached down and helped up another girl. Like Buffy, she was all hot and sweaty, but didn’t seem as bothered by the interruption. She actually grinned at him. No one said anything, just stood there. Oh God what had he walked in on? His textbooks slipped out of his hands. Quickly he scooped them back up and turned to leave the library.
“I won’t tell…” he mumbled as he hurried out. He would in fact love to tell all his friends about this, only Buffy scared him more than a little. Ultimately he valued his kneecaps (and his life) so the story about catching her having sex with a girl in the library would die with him.
---
Hell was a chemistry test. Erica’s eyes actually blurred when she looked at the questions. She took her glasses off and wiped them clean. When she put them back on nothing was any clearer. No matter how hard she studied, chemistry was never going to be her strongest subject. She needed it to get a good GPA and graduate though and she was going to graduate if it killed her. And this being Sunnydale there was a good chance that that might happen.
The classroom felt so damn stuffy. She pulled at her shirt collar. Her palms were sweaty. She needed to chill out and get this done. College out of state was waiting for her, a glorious bright light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Focus Erica, she thought.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed another student freaking out. Weirdly it reassured her to see Willow Rosenberg of all people getting the wiggins over a chemistry test. Maybe there was hope for her after all. Looking ahead she saw what had distracted Willow. A girl was crouched outside of the classroom drawing a heart on the window. She vaguely remembered seeing the girl around school before, although she didn’t think she was in any of her classes. The heart seemed to be directed towards Buffy Summers who got up and climbed out of the classroom window.
So the rumors were true. Erica had always put it down to Scott Hope being a bitter ex but the heart shape smeared on the classroom window said otherwise. Willow was still frowning. Clearly she disapproved of the relationship. Did she just not like the dark-haired girl, Erica wondered, or was she not cool with the gay thing? Or maybe she was jealous. Maybe she had a thing for Buffy, or they’d once had a thing. Erica found the dynamics of their little group pretty interesting. At one point she was sure Willow had been in love with Xander Harris who was into Buffy who clearly wasn’t into him. Cordelia Chase had figured in there somewhere.
Despite all the weirdness, Erica actually liked Buffy. One time, a couple of months ago, she’d helped her out when a guy had got a little too friendly with her at the Bronze. He’d tried to give her one hell of a hickey before Buffy had stepped in. To be honest she was a little fuzzy on the details overall, but she remembered being grateful when Buffy threw the guy across the alleyway. If Buffy wanted to date girls then she had no problem with it. Right now, she kind of felt a little jealous. Not of the girl thing, but she would love to just climb out of the classroom window and forget all about this. Hell really was a chemistry test.