Part 15
The last hours of school couldn’t come soon enough for Cordelia. Visions of white sandy beaches and turquoise sea as clear as Venetian glass, taunted her throughout the boring dissertation that the English Teacher had decided to read out to the class. Checking her watch for the zillionth time, she willed it to speed up and put her out of her misery.
I should be so lucky.
Her mind wandered back to two days before, when her parents had unexpectedly arrived home – only to inform her they were off again on Saturday morning.
Cordelia had instantly jumped at the opportunity to escape from SunnyHell, if only for a while. Literally begging to be included in their plans. Reminding them that school closed for Summer recess on Friday, when her mother attempted to use that as an excuse not to take her along.
She’d turned beseeching puppy-dog eyes towards her father, promising: “You won’t even notice I’m there.” This tactic had never worked with her mother, be he usually folded when exposed to the well-learned and perfected gaze from his ‘Princess’.
Or, it could have simply been the near-desperation in clouded eyes that did it. Whatever.
Her father had agreed, and in less than a day she’d be flying first class, naturally, to Bermuda.
The bell finally rang. Cordelia held back, waiting for the initial rush for the door to be over, before shoving her books into her bag and rising quickly to head out of the classroom. Towards freedom. She’d given Harmony and her ex-Cordettes short shrift, and had no problem ignoring them after that, but… A much-needed break from the-now two Musketeers and the Watcher was definitely in order.
Since Sunnydale High wasn’t exactly humongous, it had been impossible not to figuratively bump into them. And unfortunately there had been times when she’d had to visit the Library to grab books needed for her classwork. Xander -surprisingly, turned his eyes away after the initial glare each time they’d seen each other. Which suited her fine.
Willow, on the other hand, would catch her eyes and smile that weird/sad little smile that always tightened her throat, and made her mostly want to throttle the girl. Cordelia did not need- nor want her pity! With grinding teeth she’d skim the shelves for books needed for study, feeling the burn of her gaze on the back of her neck. The knee jerk reaction to turn and bitch her out stifled, for fear something might slip.
Mostly, Giles would be closeted away in his office, which again suited her fine. Not thinking for a second that he hadn’t thought long and hard on their very brief conversation. Her confidence, calm and “leave me the hell alone, I’m busy” persona had so far worked when occasionally confronted with his concerned and oftentimes deeply searching gaze.
Each night, she’d go home feeling drained and not a little depressed. Then spend hours rebuilding slightly cracked walls.
But finally, Cordelia could put all that behind her… until Sunnydale High inevitably opened its doors once again. But by then, she hoped enough time would have gone by to bring some sort of normality to her World. ‘Normal’ hadn’t been part of their World for a long time, but the remaining ‘Scoobies’ would probably be concentrating on some other Big Bad by the time she got back.
One could but hope.
