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by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: Okay, let's see. I didn't make up the characters of Buffy, Xander, Willow, Faith, etcetera and cannot call them my own. (I can't love them and hug them and call them George, either. :-D )
Willow strode confidently through the doors of the high school. She still didn't feel like she had come down from the high of her date with Xander, which made her sure that 'taking time out' on Sunday had been a good idea. She had spent some time hanging out with Buffy, but hadn't felt free to talk to much to her about Xander, as bummed as Buffy still was about Angel leaving, and Willow suspected the Slayer was worried about becoming a third wheel. But even those worries weren't enough to cut a notch out of Willow's happiness.
She was wearing an outfit that she wouldn't have had the nerve to even take to school before - a deep green miniskirt and green tank top, with a jade denim jacket overtop. What was more, she felt comfortable in these clothes, something Willow had never felt she would. Somehow, getting together with Xander had given Willow a confidence she had never had before. She was even walking without cursing the emerald leather heels.
Suddenly, something happened that completely broke Willow's contentment into pieces. "Well, if it isn't Sunnydale's newest manhunter, dressing the part," a catty voice rang out from the side of the corridor. Willow stopped short, almost stumbling. Slowly, smartingly, she turned to identify the speaker.
Harmony was leaning beside her open locker, looking at Willow caustically over the cover of her of her fasion magazine, surrounded by a crowd of Cordettes. (Were they really still Cordettes? Willow wondered. Somewhere along the way, Cordelia had fallen partly from grace, what with the whole Xander issue, and Harmony seemed to have been the one to move into the power vacuum. Did that mean they were Harmonettes now? That didn't have quite as much ring to it... but Willow was getting off on a tangent.)
"Now that she's finally got her claws into Cordelia Chase's freaky ex, she figures she can sashay through the school as if she owns it," a Harmonette taunted.
"Wonder what she's gonna try next?" another lauged. "Steal Cole Palmer?"
"Nope - her friend Buffy Summers has got that assignment," someone else mentioned, and all the Harmonettes laughed at that.
"Well, now, you never know," Harmony said, taking the lead and striding away from the wall. "Our little Willow might have been a wallflower geek before, but I think she has a potential. Nice figure, cute face... and somewhere along the way she's put that nerdy brain of hers to use learning a little about fashion, makeup, and hair. If she gets with the program, she might make a good lackey for me, don't you think?" Everyone laughed at that.
Her eyes filling with tears, Willow stormed away. Not looking where she was going, she collided into another student head-on and lost her balance, tumbling painfully onto the tile floor.
"Willow?"
Oh, no. Willow recognized that voice. How had she managed to crash, of all people in the school, into... "Oz??"
(Only a few corridor intersections away...)
"I'm gonna do it," Cole Palmer said as he came up behind Buffy Summers at her locker. "I'm gonna break up with Cordelia. As soon as I see her."
"Uh, good for you," Buffy replied, not looking at Cole.
"Don't you have anything more to say than that?" Cole pressed, catching Buffy's eyes through the mirror on her locker door.
Buffy sighed with annoyance. "I dunno, Cole. I like you, you know I do. But Cordelia... well, I think of her as a friend, however she might think of me, and I don't want to make her angry at me. Any more." She sighed at him. "So, I dunno what I'm saying here. If you really want to break up with Cordelia, by all means, break up with her. But I'm not saying that I'm gonna go out with you until the Cordelia thing finishes blowing over."
"Which it might never," Cole said, nodding his head. "Well, that's okay. I just wanted you to know."
Meanwhile, Cordelia peered at them from a window connecting the student lounge and the hallway. She wasn't upset that Cole was talking to Buffy. She had been counting on it. Cordelia was no idiot, and, contrary to what Buffy and her friends might think, she was really very observant. Cole's attention was straying, betraying some kind of an interest he had in Buffy, and Buffy seemed interested in return. Another girl might have been furious about that, but not Cordelia. 'Don't get mad - get what you want.' That was Cordy Chase's motto, and she had the ultimate plan for getting Cole Palmer back. And the chosen moment for putting her plan into action was, well, now.
Every male jaw dropped as Cordelia walked out into the hall. She was wearing a skimpy halter top of dark leather that showed off a lot of skin, lifted her chest up and pushed it together. That piece was matched with a dark brown lycra microskirt, dark pantyhose, and high heels. Her dark hair was swept back to fall across her shoulders, with just the tiniest hint of curl. Cordy knew she looked very sexy, rather extreme, and yet not without class and style. Every guy in sight wanted her - that was for sure. Including Cole Palmer.
Cordelia sauntered up to Cole, giggled a little at his bug-eyed stare, and smiled right into his warm brown eyes. "Hi there, honey," she told him with a smile. "How's it going?"
"Uhh..." Cole moaned. Buffy sighed, rolled her eyes, and nudged Cole in the side. "Great," he finally gushed, earning him even more contempt from Buffy. But Cole wasn't even paying Buffy any attention, of course.
"So, I was wondering if you wanted to do something together tonight," Cordelia cooed, reaching out to stroke Cole's cheek tenderly. "Say, dinner at Chez Louis?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, of c-course," Cole stammered.
"Great," Cordelia whispered, checked the hallway clock out of the corner of her eye, and leaned forward to kiss Cole passionately on the lips. She ran her hands around to his back and pulled him closer to her, giggling as Cole's own hands touched the bare skin along her sides. If her calculations were correct, then any moment now...
"Ahem!!" Cordelia broke off, keeping one hand around Cole, and turned to smile shamelessly at Principal Snyder.
"Do you have anything to say, or shall I just write out the detention slips?" Snyder asked caustically.
"D-detention?" Cole stammered, his brain still not working at full power, apparently.
"Two weeks," Snyder commented, "the mandatory for such a violation of the school decency guidelines. In light of that, Miss Chase, and considering your mostly good record, I'll waive the four days for wearing less than the school Dress code."
"Don't I feel special," Cordelia quipped, smiling. "Well, we had better head to class, right sir?" Snyder nodded, and Cordelia led Cole away from Buffy, cherishing the disgusted look on her face.
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