To Be Alone

From the Bronze to the Park

Disclaimer: Genius Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh. Joss Whedon (also a genius) owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The lyrics to the songs Welcome to My Life and I'm Just a Kid by Simple Plan, The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks and others belong to their respective owners. I own the fanfics I cook up from time to time.

No, you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels alright
You don't know what it's like
To be like me

To be hurt, to feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No, you don't know what it's like
Welcome to my life

~Simple Plan, Welcome to My Life

I woke up, it was seven, I waited 'til eleven
Just to figure out that no one would call
I think I've got a lot of friends, but I don't hear from them
What's another night all alone?
When you're spending every day on your own
And here it goes

I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare
I'm just a kid, I know that it's not fair
Nobody cares, 'cause I'm alone and the world is
Having more fun than me
Tonight

And maybe when the night is dead, I'll crawl into my bed
I'm staring at these four walls again
I'll try to think about the last time I had a good time
Everyone's got somewhere to go
And they're gonna leave me here on my own
And here it goes

I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare
I'm just a kid, I know that it's not fair
Nobody cares, 'cause I'm alone and the world is
Having more fun than me

~Simple Plan, I'm Just a Kid

Dawn had expected the Spring Fling to be great. She had beautiful jewelry and a new, fantastic dress, along with her crush, the immensely popular sophomore football player Jack Noble, asking her out. She had worked so hard, so friggin' hard, only for the whole time to be ruined by him getting seventy dollars from his actual girlfriend. She hadn't felt so betrayed in her life.

Now she was sitting on a swing in the park, her beautiful dress, which happened to be teal and silk, all hunched over. Her matching slippers were still on her feet;  as she ran to this very park, she wondered how they stayed on her feet and not slipped off. Maybe all those months of biking in the afternoons with Buffy and walking to the park sometimes with Tara had built up a sense of balance in her that she hadn't even noticed until now. Now that she thought about it, maybe it was a great reward after months of hard work to build it up on her part. She smiled at the thought. Who knew that all that biking and walking was good for her and would come in handy sometime?

But then, her smile transfigured into a frown as her thoughts changed, and she recalled what had happened earlier...

Dawn couldn't believe what had happened. One minute she was dancing with Jack Noble, who not only played football (and did a great job with it as well), but was also one of the hugely popular sophomore guys. He was wearing a tuxedo, and from Dawn's perspective, looked absolutely handsome in it. They were at the Bronze, which was a favorite hangout not only to her and her sister Buffy, but also Buffy's friends Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Anya Jenkins and Tara Maclay.

But then the next thing she knew, Dawn felt two hands against her back, and their owner meanly giving her a catty smile as Dawn landed on her side — but luckily, not too painfully.

"I'm sorry, Dawn. But you've just been played for a fool like the naive, undeserving and unpopular little girl that you really are," said Megan Rothman, who was wearing a spring-green dress made of silk material. She was also popular, and she had awapuhi-scented blonde hair and green eyes. Also, from Dawn's perspective, Megan was quite mean and manipulative; rumor had it she could buy her way out of anything.