UGH who wishes the scoobies were their friends?? 🙋
I'll never know. Not for sure, anyway. My mum always tells me to trust my gut, but my head's too smart for that: overanalysing every text, snide comment and always, stupidly, giving them the benefit of the doubt.
I'll never know if they hate me. Not for sure, anyway. But, today, sitting alone at lunch for the fourth time this week, I do know, although I can't admit it.
I toss my salad around with my wooden fork, my appetite practically non-existent. Well, that's a lie. After a minute of fishing around in my bag, I find a forgotten about chocolate bar. Unwrapping it slowly, I lock eyes with them from across the hall. My skin pricks with a mixture of panic, embarrassment and resentment. Cordelia's sharp gaze cuts right through me, before she turns back to Harmony. She whispers something, their eyes dart to me, and they erupt in a malicious fit of giggles. Is this my life, or have I been transported into Mean Girls?
Screw them.
I'm perfectly happy with my squashed Butterfinger bar and soggy salad.
"What do we do?" someone hisses from behind me. I turn to see Xander, from my History class, hovering weirdly close to my table. He stares at me, as if he wasn't being obnoxiously loud, before giving me an awkward, toothy smile.
I return a polite smile as his two friends approach. The redhead shoots me an apologetic look while the blonde gazes hungrily at the candy in my hand. "Hey." she says.
"Hi?" I respond, confused.
"Sorry, it's just that you're in our seat," Xander starts and I immediately start to scoop up my things, "But it's completely fine! Don't feel you have to move, but is it okay if we sit with you?"
"Oh. No, sure. It's okay. Sit away." I gush, blushing a little.
"I'm Buffy," she gives me a little wave. She's wearing a cute skirt and a white V-neck t-shirt with a delicate cross dangling from her neck. My attention drifts to the girl on her left, who I think is named Willow. She's wearing overalls, paired with a bright orange jumper. They make quite the pair.
"Willow," she says, voice kind and quiet, with a small gesture to herself.
"I know," I reply, "Top of physics class. I sit behind you?"
"Oh, yeah. Y/N, right?"
I nod, grateful she knows my name at least. Before I can psych myself out and leave, Xander says, "Oh. You're Y/N?"
"Yeah...? Oh no, what have you heard about me?" I ask jokingly (although I'm scared to hear his answer).
"Oh, it's nothing. Just heard Cordy saying something about you-"
"Oh God -"
"It can't be important though if it was coming from her," Buffy quickly interrupts. "You know what she's like."
"Yeah," Willow backs her up, "Anyway, did you hear about the band they've got playing at The Bronze tonight? A big one from out of town, apparently."
"Yeah," I reply, picking up my fork again just so I have something to do with my hands. "But I don't like going out alone at night because of all the va - ...the urm... vapers! Peer pressure. It's very concerning." I bite my tongue at my own uncoolness. Why did I have to say that?!
They all exchange a glance and I sigh. I blew it, unsurprisingly. Time to retreat to my life of flossing, going to bed early and dying a virgin.
"Vapers?" Xander says with a quirk of his eyebrow.
"Are you sure you meant vapers?" Willow chimes in, but there's nothing mocking in her tone.
"Sure you didn't mean... something else? A real threat to Sunnydale in the night?" Buffy asks in a hushed voice.
"You know," I cough, "Vape rates are on the rise among teens these days. That's what my mum always says..."
Xander smacks his hands down the on the table, making my lunchbox rattle a little.
"Ok, Y/N, let's play word association."
Now it's my turn to raise my eyebrows, "Huh?"
"Okay," he continues, "Angels."
I sigh and comply, "Christmas."
"Holy."
"Water."
"Wooden."
"Stake."
"I KNEW IT!" all three exclaim, triumphant grins plastered on their faces.
"What?!" I ask, throwing my hands up in a surrender.
"I knew you were cool like that," Xander says, pointing finger guns at me.
"You... you know about vampires," Willow whispers, tucking a strand of her red hair behind one ear.
I think carefully before confirming. "And you guys do too?"
"Oh, we are so going to be friends," Buffy says, looking directly in my eyes and I can only stare at her awkwardly, "We already have so much in common."
"Wait," I say slowly, "I'm confused."
"We hunt vampires," Xander says proudly, earning a jab in the ribs from Willow.
"Well, she does," Willow clarifies with a pointed look at Buffy, "We do help occasionally, though."
"Cool," I say, "I, urm, have lived in Sunnydale my whole life and... things are weird. I saw my first vampire at eleven, killed my first at fourteen."
"Woah," Xander breathes, and even Buffy looks impressed.
"I want to know everything," she says with genuine interest - something I'm not too familiar with, "But do you want to go to the library? That's where we usually hang - oh, you need to meet Giles! He's gonna hate you! Oh, that sounded - no, I just mean. You're like a rogue demon hunter and he like, is all like British and - okay, I'm gonna stop talking. You'll just see." She leans back in her chair with a faint blush on her cheeks. "Sorry. Just got too excited."
"No," I smile, "It's fine. I'm up for going to the library."
Our chairs scrape against the polished cafeteria floor as we all get up.
"It's quieter there," Willow tells me, "More secretive for slayer talk."
"Cool."
I instantly tense up a little as I feel eyes watching me. I glance back to see Cordelia and Harmony staring daggers at me, as if I somehow wronged them. Why are they so bothered? On our way out the door, Xander makes a cheesy vampire-related joke and I can't help snorting. I watch Harmony and Cordy's faces morph into a look of disgust and in that moment, that span of two seconds, I realise I'm going to be a lot happier without them.
"Oh," Buffy says, "When Giles offers you a cup of tea, whatever you do, do not refuse it."
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