College Girl (Book Four, BTVS)

chapter 1 - The Freshman

Well, summer was over, and it was time to go back to school.

But not high school.

Nope.

Buffy, Willow, Oz and I were going to UC Sunnydale now.

So it had only been a few months since I had become an actual Slayer.

Buffy, Willow and I were in a cemetery the night before school started, patrolling.

I was leaning against a tombstone.

Willow was sitting cross-legged on the ground, reading papers.

Buffy was pacing, sighing. "Anything?"

Willow nodded. "Ah. 'Introduction to the Modern Novel'. 'A survey of 20th century novelists'. Open to freshmen. You might like that."

"'Introduction to the Modern Novel'?" I asked. "I'm guessing we'd probably have to read the modern novel."

"Maybe more than one," Willow answered.

"I like books," I told them. "I just don't want to take on too much."

"Do they have an introduction to the modern blurb?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, short story," Willow told us.

"Well, that's good," Buffy told us.

"Oh, no," Willow told us. "It conflicts with Psych."

"Maybe I shouldn't take Psych," Buffy told us.

"You gotta," Willow told her. "I--It's fun, a--and you can use it to your science requirement. Anyway, Professor Walsh is supposed to be great. She's, like, world-renowned."

"How do you get to be renowned?" I asked. "I mean, like, do you have to be 'nowned' first?"

"Yes, first there's the painful 'nowning' process," Willow told us sarcastically. I smiled. Willow looked at the papers. "Wait! 'Images of Pop Culture'. This is good. T--They watch movies, T--TV shows, even commercials."

"For credit?" Buffy asked.

I smiled. "Isn't college cool?"

"How'd I miss that one?" Buffy asked.

Buffy and I sat on either side of Willow.

"Well, you did sort of wait till the last minute with your course selection," Willow answered.

"Sorry, 'Miss I-chose-my-major-in-playgroup," Buffy told her.

"That's an exaggeration," Willow told us. "I just, you know, think it's good to be prepared. Don't want to be caught unawares."

"Well, we've been busy," Buffy told her. "It's been a very slay-heavy summer. We just haven't had a whole lot of time to think about life at UC Sunnydale." She looked at me. "Speaking of that, no-longer-a-Slayerette..."

I chuckled.

"How does it feel?" Willow asked.

"It's different," I answered. "I'm super strong now, and I have all this strength that I don't really know what to do with." Buffy nodded in understanding. "And the blows from the opponent doesn't hurt as much as it did before, I mean, when I was just a Potential. I'm better than I was."

"Well, don't get too cocky yet," Buffy told me. "What we've been dealing with the last summer was the kind of stuff we used to deal with on a daily basis. Wait until it's something that we don't usually deal with."

I nodded sarcastically. "Yeah, thanks for that."

Buffy smiled a small smile. "But it's exciting, though, isn't it?"