Waking up
by Lost
New Friends
[reviews]
Faith sighed as she plopped herself down in her next class. History had been so boring she had nearly fallen asleep and it didn't help that she was having a helluva come down. Her left leg would randomly spasm and every single room seemed to be lit with florescent lights that made her want to twitch that much more. All she wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and never be near food or water again. Unfortunately she had lunch for the next period so she knew that chances of that happening were slim to none.
When she had first arrived at Sunnydale High School they hadn't even asked her for her transcript from her old school. She had simply shrugged it off, figuring that they would figure it out on their own; her biggest hope being that she got an easy math class. Not one for the mentally challenged, but one for people who didn't grasp math very quickly. At least not Algebra II. 'And lucky me, here I am.' She thought as she stared at the white board at the front of the class. Next to her someone sat down just as ungracefully as she had. She glanced up, and there was the blonde from this morning.
Buffy had had just about all of the questioning she could handle. She had been to one period (besides the counseling session) and everyone seemed to be jumping to ask her what had happened, who had taken her, how she got out, how long she'd been at home afterwards; the questions never seemed to stop. 'At least I can get a nap in math class.' She thought as she positioned her backpack so that she could rest her head on it for the next seven minutes until the tardy bell rang. She had just settled down and shut her eyes when she felt her backpack move. She glanced up, wondering who was bugging her now.
"Hey, I'm Faith." The girl sitting next to her said. Buffy glanced at her, and then quickly realized that she was the girl from this morning.
"Buffy." She said as she held out her hand. They shook and when she turned back Faith noticed a little bit of bruising on her jaw. Upon closer inspection she noticed that it looked like the majority of the bruise had been covered by makeup but the blonde must've missed a spot because there it was clear as day, and it wasn't a particularly attractive bruise either.
Buffy shook the brunettes hand and instantly felt the cold that seemed to cover the tip of her fingers, but only there as if the circulation in her body simply didn't extend to them. She looked at the girl for a minute, trying not to be too obvious. Faith looked like she hadn't slept in days, and she could've passed for gothic if it wasn't for the 'jewelry' she was wearing. She looked pale and sick, and her pupils were dilated while a light sweat could be seen on her forehead. And for some reason she was radiating a sickly sweet smell.
"So how long have you and Red been together?" Faith asked, she rubbed her palms roughly on her black jeans, they wouldn't stop sweating and she was getting tired of it.
"Red? Oh, Willow? Not long." Buffy answered, it took her a second to realize who Faith was talking about.
"Ah, my girl's comin down this weekend." Faith said. She felt the need to talk to someone, her energy was way up for the amount of sleep she'd had, and her leg wouldn't quit bouncing. 'Probably shoulda turned down that o.j. this mornin.' She thought to herself as she waited for the blonde to pick up the conversation.
"Where are you from?" Buffy asked her.
"Arizona. Just got here yesterday." She answered.
"Why would your parents move from Arizona to California?" Buffy was starting to be interested in this girl. Not in a sexual way, more in a 'just curious' kind of way. It was obvious that she had some kind of story, and at the moment Buffy was willing to think about anyone's past but her own. She was mentally exhausted after the barrage of questions she had managed to fend off and it was a lot easier to think about someone's problems than her own at the moment.
"They didn't. Just sent me up here on a bus. Thought it would help to 'clean my act up' or whatever." Faith told her, using the little bunny quotes in the air.
"Oh, well, welcome to Sunnydale." Buffy replied as the tardy bell rang. The teacher stood up in front of the class and began talking about quadratic formulas. While Faith did her best to pay attention, Buffy seemed to do her best not to. Half way though the class Faith shot the blonde a quick glance to see if she was understanding any of the material only to be met with the sight of her sleeping on her backpack. She glanced up at the teacher, then back at Buffy. Then scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. At her old school if anyone was caught sleeping it was an automatic detention.
The bell signaling the end of class woke Buffy and as she stood up she spared a glance at Faith. "What's your next class?"
"Uhm, Lunch." Faith said, and if it was possible paled a little bit more than she already was.
"Oh, well, if you want to you can eat with us." Buffy told her.
"Yeah, sure, that'd be great. Thanks." And so Faith followed Buffy down to the cafeteria and to a small round table. Willow was already there waiting.
Buffy reached out to grab the redhead's hand, and although Faith noticed the girl flinch, neither of them acknowledged it. She watched the silent exchange the two girls seemed to be having even as Willow reached into the bag next to her feet and pulled out a brown bag, laying the contents onto the table in front of them.
"So, Faith, what's your story?" Willow asked even as she took a bite of a carrot.
Faith took in the redhead before her even as she contemplated how to best answer her question. She was beautiful, from the contrast of her hair and skin down to her dark green eyes and pixie like features.
"Well, not much to tell. My parents shipped me here to live with my uncle. And here I am." She said with her hands held up in a 'who-am-I-to-argue?' gesture.
"Why'd they 'ship' you all the way out to a little one star buck's town like Sunnydale?" Buffy asked and took a bite of half of the sandwich. "By the way, help yourself." She said with a gesture towards the food.
"Thanks but no thanks don't think I'll eat food. Ever again." She said with a slight shake of her head, her eyes scrunching up in disgust. "I was just too much trouble for them to handle on their own, so they sent me to Jeeves."
"Jeeves being... your uncle?" Willow asked, raising her eyebrows in question while she opened up a can of coke.
"Oh yeah, he's the librarian here." Faith replied with a nod.
Just then the guy who had been in their history class walked up. "Hey, how are you guys dealing? With the questions I mean? I've been telling people it's none of their business." Xander's tone indicated that he had been a little bit harsher than what he was actually telling the couple, but both girls ignored it.
"I slept." Buffy told him.
"You slept? Buffy you're not supposed to sleep in class!" Willow said in an indignant tone.
Buffy just shrugged and barely managed to look sheepish. "Where's Cordelia?"
"Oh, she had some cheerleading luncheon planned or something like that." Xander replied with a gesture in the air that Faith could only interpret as a 'who cares?'. "She said that she MIGHT make it to lunch, but not to count on it; something about a dance."
He then turned to the girl sitting next to him. "By the way, don't think we've been introduced. Hi I'm Xander." He held out his hand for her to shake and she glanced at it quickly before returning the gesture. The first thing he became aware of was how cold and clammy her palm seemed to be. He spared her a quick kind of confused glance before shrugging it off.
"Oh yeah, sorry bout that." She replied as she wiped her hands once again onto her jeans.
He nodded his acceptance before turning to the couple again. "So how was the group counseling session this morning? Chalked full of fun stories?" He had a goofy grin on his face even as he asked the girls.
"Oh yeah, let me tell you about it." Buffy told him, sarcasm lacing its way through her voice.
Xander waited a moment for Willow to respond. She seemed to be staring off into space, and so without thinking about it he reached out and gently nudged her shoulder. "You okay in there Will?" He asked quietly.
The moment his hand came into contact with her shoulder she nearly jumped a foot in the air. Buffy glared at him accusingly. "Sorry." He said with a cringe.
*********Across town at one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries*********
"And although we walk through the shadow of death...." The preacher went on and on as Angel listened. He was there, standing out in the middle of the daylight, attending a funeral. It would have seemed perfectly normal if it wasn't for the police officer who was escorting him.
He glanced around for a tomb stone but found none, all there was a tiny flat plaque planted firmly into the ground. He looked on silently as a single tear rolled down his cheek and he watched as his only living family was placed into the ground.
They would pay for this, pay for the pain they had caused him, and the death of his uncle.
*********Back at the Sunnydale High School Library************
"So Jeeves, wanna help me study tonight?" Faith asked as she sat at the library table. She would never normally ask for help, but this whole, quadratic formula and matrices thing was kicking her ass.
Giles glanced up from the book he was reading. "Yes of course Faith, if you would like some assistance that is." He let a slight smile play on his lips; he had watched the girl before him grow up over time and in many ways he considered her to be a daughter of sorts. And so he knew exactly how rare it was for her to ask for any kind of help whatsoever.
She nodded and he smiled slightly. Maybe he could help her get her life back together after all?
*********Outside*********
Buffy and Willow walked slowly down the sidewalk, neither touching the other, but still close enough. "So, did you maybe want to come over and eat dinner?" Buffy asked as she let her hand dangle at her side. It was her way of hinting that Willow should take her hand, however the redhead didn't seem to notice.
"Uhm, yeah, sure I guess." Willow replied, casting her eyes down at the sidewalk as she walked. Before the whole Xander incident at lunch she had been fine with holding her girlfriends hand, but now, it just seemed almost... wrong. She felt Buffy's hand lightly brush her arm and stopped walking to look at the blonde.
"Hey, we made it right? We're okay?" Buffy asked, concerned for the redheads mental state. She knew that between all of the questions and copious amounts of homework they had been assigned the day had to have been exhausting for Willow; she just hoped that the redhead would be okay.
"Yeah, definitely, we made it." Willow told her with a forced smile gracing her lips. There was no reason for her to be putting on a show, but she still felt the need to reassure the blonde; even though she wasn't so sure herself. She even leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on the blonde's lips.
"Okay, good." Buffy said as she pulled back. This time she didn't hint that she wanted the redhead to take her hand, she simply grabbed onto it. She felt slightly better about the situation. Of course nothing had been fully resolved, but together they could face it, and she knew that; so long as they were together.
She sighed contentedly as she swung their hands while they walked.
*****In Los Angeles*****
Kate sat down at her desk stiffly, it had been a long few days and she wanted nothing more than to go straight back to bed, and that was before she had even left it. Although the kidnapper had obviously been killed, and in a sense brought to justice; there was no evidence linking him to the other bodies that had been found with the same symbol. The only thing that she could assume was that he had branded the two girls for a few perverted kicks and giggles.
Once his identity had been revealed it has been easy to see the link between their abductor and Hank Summers. He had been a client of Hanks, and Mr. Summers had unwisely advised him to make an investment that didn't work out. The only thing she could assume was that he took the girls as a way to return the favor to Hank after their deal had fallen through.
It was almost too convenient that Mr. Rack Andrews was Angel's only living relative, but she shrugged that off, and tried to convince herself that sometimes coincidences do happen. She glanced at the sheer amount of paperwork that seemed to cover every flat surface of her office and resigned herself to get her desk cleaned.
*****Back in Sunnydale*****
Faith glanced down at the math problem. "This doesn't make any sense Jeeves." She told him as she sat her pencil down roughly in disgust.
"I'm sure that it does, it's just, not something that I understand." He replied as he removed his glasses enough to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Maybe we should get you a tutor?"
Faith mulled this idea over for all of two seconds before agreeing. At least then there would be someone who MIGHT understand what the class was all about who could help her out a little bit. "Yeah sure, I'll ask around tomorrow." She said as she moved to put her book away. It wouldn't do her any good without an explanation as to what she was trying to do.
"Quite right, what would you like for dinner?" He asked as he moved away from the desk and towards the kitchen.
"Euch, nothing." He heard her reply. Sticking his head out into the living room he raised his eyebrows.
"Surely you must be hungry?"
"Oh gawd no." She said, scrunching her nose up again.
"Maybe some tea then?" He was doing his best to try and think of ways to spend more time with his niece, since he was convinced that the reason she had turned to drugs in the first place was a lack of parental attention.
"I think I'm just gonna hit the hay." She covered her mouth as a yawn escaped. "Been a long day ya know?"
He nodded his acceptance. "Sleep well."
*******Summers Residence********
"What would you girls like for dinner?" Joyce asked as the two girls leaned against the counter in the kitchen. Buffy still wasn't talking much, at least not to her.
"Uhm, whatever works for you Mrs. Summers." Willow said as she glanced down at the floor in front of her.
Joyce stood there for a few moments of silence, hoping for her daughter to have some input. But when it was obvious that she didn't have anything to add, she shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, why dont you girls go upstairs and I'll call you when its ready? I'm sure you've both got quite a bit of homework to catch up on."
Buffy nodded in agreement and followed Willow upstairs. "So what do you want to stat on?" The readhead asked as Buffy went and shut the door.
"Well, I was kinda hoping for maybe a kiss?" Buffy asked her uncertainly. A smile brightened up Willows features as Buffy walked over to her and sat down beside her on the bed.
"I think that can be arranged." She told the blonde before she leaned in and kissed her.
A/N: Special thanks to Valyssia, without her help this plot line would have been left to collect dust. Let me know what you think? - L.