5: The Cafeteria, Sunnydale High School, Southeast Sunnydale
“Don’t worry about Faith,” urged Buffy as she responded to Willow’s concerns over the other slayer’s predictably rowdy behavior. She pushed her tray down the line and grabbed a carton of milk from the ice-filled bin. “I’ll deal.”
Willow was not sure how. It seemed that Faith was out to cause trouble just for the fun of it. Poor Mr. Giles had his hands full trying to keep the new girl in line. Buffy and Faith were constantly at each other’s throats over everything, especially if it had to do with slaying.
Taking a chocolate milk of her own, Willow set it down on her tray as she followed behind Buffy in the line. “Speaking of dealing…I actually talked to Cordelia during our last class together.”
“How’d that go?”
“She didn’t bite my head off,” Willow’s smile showed her relief. That was progress as far as she was concerned. “I noticed that she was kinda lost in thought when Mr. Whitaker explained the lesson, so I brought her up to speed.”
“Ah, Jack’s trial,” Buffy nodded having already heard what to expect from another student. She had Mr. Whitaker’s government class during fifth period instead of second like Cordelia and Willow.
“Poor Jack. He got twenty to life,” Willow told her. “Nobody gives the good guys any credit.”
Buffy muttered sourly, “Tell me about it,” as she stared at the two main entrée choices. Pointing to option number one, she told the serving lady, “I’ll take the mystery meat.”
Opting for the cheese enchiladas, Willow added her request for the Spanish rice and some green veggies. After putting the plate down on her tray, she asked Buffy, “Does Cordelia seem different after her accident?”
“No. She’s just as loud-mouthed and pushy as ever.” Buffy added truthfully, “With all of the squabbling between her and Xander, you’d think they were still together. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes.”
“It’s just kinda strange. Did you know that she quit the cheerleading squad?”
Buffy obviously had not, her eyes widening in surprise. “Really? That’s a shocker. Being head cheerleader kept Cor in control of all the pretty people. “Maybe she’s still hurting. I told her it was too soon to get back into the physical stuff.”
With a shrug, Willow had to admit that she did not know for sure, but revealed a rumor that suggested Cordelia might simply have other interests.
Slaying never gave her time to get any juicy gossip. “Like what?”
“You’ve noticed that she’s been late coming in to research,” Willow reminded. In fact, Cordelia seemed to show up ten to fifteen minutes late almost every night. They scheduled their meetings right after dinnertime and usually gathered for a couple hours of research before heading out on patrol.
“So?” Ten minutes without Cordelia was not exactly a hardship in Buffy’s line of thinking.
Willow glanced behind her to make sure there was not anyone listening. “I heard it from Brittany who got it from her brother Brandon who’s dating Meg. Y’see, Meg overheard Harmony telling Aura that Cordelia is dating some college guy at Sunnydale University and that’s why she decided to quit the team.”
The woman at the register returned Buffy her meal card after deducting the price of her lunch. Willow handed hers over, waited to get it back, and then picked up the cafeteria tray to follow Buffy toward their usual table.
“So what do you think?” she prompted Buffy who had not said a word about it.
“I think we should just ask Cordelia,” she answered, spotting her standing with her own lunch tray in hand. “She’s over there, talking to Oz.”
Willow’s eyes darted over to her boyfriend who was casually speaking to Cordelia, both of them with smiles on their faces. She felt her stomach churn nervously. It wasn’t that Willow really thought Cordelia would try to put a wedge between her and Oz, especially since she’d managed to do that all on her own. It was just that her own imagination made it easy to think Cordelia might do it just to get her revenge.
“Thinking of having lunch with us today, Cor?” Willow asked rather chirpily, giving herself major kudos for making the offer. Even though Cordelia had resumed her place in the Scooby Gang for their research project, she had not bothered to join them at their table in the cafeteria.
“Why not,” Cordelia shrugged, setting her tray down next to Oz. “There’s no one interesting around at the moment, so I might as well sit with you.”
No sooner were they all seated than Buffy got straight to the point. Willow had to admire her friend for not beating around the bush. “We’ve heard rumors about your latest after-school activities.”
Cordelia stopped sipping from her Capri Sun, the blood rushing out of her face for a moment before she recovered. “What I do is none of your business.”
“C’mon, give a little,” Buffy prompted. “Xander isn’t here to hear about it, so it’s just us girls. Oh, and Oz, but he won’t say anything.”
“What’s Xander got to do with it?” Cordelia looked over her shoulders first one side and then the other glancing around the cafeteria as if she expected everyone to be listening in.
“Duh! You dumped him.” Next to Buffy, Willow squirmed in reaction to the words. Any reminders that the break-up was her fault suddenly made her lose her appetite. “Who’s the rebound guy? Do we know him? I hear he goes to Sunnydale-U.”
After gaping at Buffy, Cordelia quickly recovered and simply confirmed everything they had heard by saying, “I guess there’s no such thing as a secret around this place.”
“Aren’t there enough guys around here to pick from?” asked Willow curiously. It was not like there had ever been a shortage of jocks, geeks, or nerds eager to gain Cordelia’s attention.
Cordelia sipped at her drink again before answering, “There’s a huge difference when it comes to dating a man instead of a boy. Don’t you think so, Buffy? No offence, Oz.”
Being the only male at the table, Oz kept his opinions to himself, but Willow knew he was just as curious as they were to know more. She was not surprised when he decided to ask Cordelia for the pertinent details.
Occasionally playing gigs for some of the frat parties at the university, Oz knew quite a few of the students. He asked, “What’s his name?”
“Oh look, there’s Harmony.” Cordelia suddenly pushed back her chair, picked up her tray and left without a backward glance. “Gotta run. See you tonight.”
Willow mulled over Cordelia’s disappearing act. It was not like her to back off a simple question, especially when she would normally be rubbing it in their faces. “I think she’s hiding something. Maybe he’s someone famous and she’s protecting his identity.”
A glance at Oz revealed that he had gone back to eating his lunch having already lost interest in the subject. Buffy dug into her own lunch with gusto as if their simple confrontation with Cordelia had worked up an appetite.
Swallowing down her third bite of mystery meat, Buffy paused to say, “Cordelia can date anyone she wants as long as it’s not anyone I know. Boy slayer or not, she really hurt Xander when she kicked him out of the hospital.”