You’d always been popular. People tended to follow your lead, gossip trailed behind you, and yet somehow, Willow Rosenberg, your science partner, still made your chest tighten. She was quiet, careful, timid around you, and somehow completely absorbed in whatever she was doing. You’d been meaning to talk to her more outside of class, and you knew she sometimes hung out in the library after school.

After your last class, you walked slowly down the quiet hallways, approaching the library. You paused by the door, listening in.

“…so we hit the cemetery around midnight, keep an eye out for any weird vamp activity,” Willow was saying, her voice quiet but steady.

Buffy sighed dramatically. “Ugh, if I see Spike, I’m pretending I don’t. He can monologue to himself for once.”

Xander jumped in, mock cheerful. “Yay, graveyard patrol! Just what I was hoping for tonight. Nothing says fun Friday night like staking demons before bedtime. Maybe afterwards we can hit the Bronze and not talk about—”

Cemeteries… vampires… Spike? It all sounded insane. But the words died the second you pushed open the door.

All three of them turned toward you at once. Xander froze mid-gesture, eyes widening like a deer caught in headlights. Willow froze mid-flip through a heavy, leather-bound book. The moment she saw you, her hands fumbled, and she snapped it shut a little too quickly, the sound echoing in the quiet room. Buffy’s looked at you of suspicion before she glanced between you and Willow.

The library went completely still for a moment.