Worth the Fight (BTVS fanfic, Book Three)

chapter 11 - Gingerbread

At school, Willow, Amy and I walked into the cafeteria to find Oz and Xander sitting at a table together.

"Hi, Oz," I told him.

"Hey," Oz said. 

"Xander, hi," Willow told him.

"Hey, Amy," Oz told her. 

Willow, Amy and I sat down next to them.

Amy was smiling widely, pleased to show off her new short, darker hairstyle. "Hi, guys."

"Hey, Amy," Xander told her. "I like your new hair." 

Oz looked at me. "I haven't seen you all day? Where you been?" 

"Preparing Buffy's birthday gift with Willow and Amy for next week," I answered.

Xander clapped. "Oh. Yeah. Good. I've also been pondering gift options." 

Willow saw Buffy approaching. "Shh." 

"Oh, come on, we just got a topic here," Xander complained.

"Hi, Buffy," I told her.

"Buffy," Xander repeated, standing. "What's up?" 

Xander offered her his chair.

Buffy sat down.

Xander grabbed a chair from a nearby table. 

"You guys didn't hear?" Buffy asked.

Xander sat down. "Hear what?" 

"A murder," Buffy answered. "Somebody killed two little kids."

Willow looked at her in shock. "Oh, no." 

"They were, like, seven or eight years old," Buffy told us. "My mom found the bodies during patrol last night."

"Oh, my God," Amy said.

"Kids?" Oz asked.

"Why was your mom there?" Xander asked.

"More bad," Buffy told us. "She picked last night, of all nights, for a surprise bonding visit." 

"Good, your mom would actually take the time to do that with you?" I asked. Buffy gave me a look. "That really wasn't the point of the story, was it?" 

"No," Buffy answered. "The point is, she's completely wigging." 

Joyce approached our table from behind Buffy. "Who's wigging?" 

Buffy turned her head to see Joyce, standing, thinking quickly. "Um... everyone. You know, 'cause of what happened.:" 

"Oh, it's so awful," Joyce told us. "I--I had bad dreams about it all night."

"Hi, Mrs. Summers," Willow told her. 

"Oh, hi, everybody," Joyce told us absently.

"Hi," I told her. 

"Hi, Mrs. Summers," Amy told her.

"Buffy, have you talked to Mr. Giles yet about who could have done this?" Joyce asked. 

"Yeah," Buffy answered. "He, uh... He thinks it might be something ritual. A cult. Uh, he's still looking. In the meantime, we're gonna add to my patrol, and you know, keep an eye out." 

"A cult," Joyce repeated, jumping to conclusions. "Like witches." 

Willow coughed.

Amy looked away.

"Sorry," Willow told us. "Phlegm. Too much dairy." 

"Oh, I know you kids think that stuff's cool," Joyce told her. "Buffy told me you dabble."