5.) All Grown Up: Beta Zeta Pie
by Mooncalf
Disclaimer: Buffy The Vampire Slayer and related characters are owned by Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy. I can only take credit for the new main characters I have created and various other vampire minions which may wander into my stories. I created them, so they are mine. Don't sue as this is just pure fanfic.


*****Chapter Two – Beta Zeta Pie*****

Buffy opened the door to her dorm, dropped her bags and books on the floor and collapsed onto the bed.

‘Hey.’ Said Willow from the other bed.

‘Mmmuph…’ Buffy mumbled with her head in her pillow.

‘Tough day huh?’ Buffy sat up and pushed open her window.

‘I had no idea the first few days could be so…hard.’

‘It’s not so bad…I’m pretty excited actually. All the professors are so great, and the atmosphere here is just amazing.’

‘Will, you’re drooling again.’ Buffy said sarcastically.

‘Well at least one of us is getting into the spirit of college.’ She poked her tongue out at Buffy and went back to her reading.

Buffy lay back on the bed and looked around the room. It was painted pale, simple colours and had two beds, two closets, two desks with some shelves on either side; plus a phone, a small fridge and a sink. She and Willow had tried to make it more homely. Willow had stuck up various Dingoes posters and flyers, along with a bunch of flyers she collected on her first day at college. She also had a few Wiccan style posters. Buffy had less pictures on her side…just an art poster her mom had given her, which was kinda creepy…in a homely way. She also had her trusty weapons chest beside her bed and her stuffed toy, Mr.Gordo sitting on top of it. She decided to make herself a coffee in an attempt to stay awake for an evening of slaying and studying. At that moment the door burst open and Cordelia strode in.

‘Hey Cordy…oh’ Willow said as she looked at her. Cordelia looked very flustered, and pale. Her usually perfect hair and make-up were a mess and her outfit…well, it looked as though she’d dressed in the dark, whilst lacking opposable thumbs to properly button things up.

‘Cordelia…whats wrong?’ Buffy asked, a little concerned. ‘Is it a vamp? I could use a good fight right now.’

‘What?’ Cordelia said, distracted. She started fiddling nervously with something around her neck. It looked like a dog collar, but it was very tight…and it looked as though her neck was getting sore.

‘I said, is it a vampire?’ Buffy asked looking at her slightly confused, while Cordelia’s eyes wildly looked around the room. ‘I mean, we haven’t seen you since the first day…now you turn up looking like this…’ Cordelia seemed to come back to earth and calm down for a moment.

‘I’m pledging.’ She said quietly. Looking down she noticed how badly button her shirt was and started to adjust it. ‘I haven’t had a lot of time y’know…its serious business.’

‘Well, yeah…I can see that, but…’ Buffy and Willow shared a doubtful glance. Just then Cordelia started beeping. She grabbed her beeper and instantly looked rattled again.

‘I’ve got to go…’ She said and rushed off.

‘Ok…’ Buffy said. She opened her weapons chest and grabbed a small assortment of things. ‘Something’s up, and I wanna know what. Looks like I’m going into slay mode.’ She headed for the door, and then turned to look at Willow.

‘Er…research mode?’ She said, closing her book reluctantly. Buffy nodded and then headed after Cordelia.

**********

Buffy followed Cordelia across campus in the semi-darkness until they reached the sorority house. The lights were on and the front door was open. There was a girl with long black hair standing by the door and welcoming Cordelia inside, followed by two or three other girls…all looking as zombified as Cordelia and wearing the same collars.

Buffy slowly approached the house and caught the eye of the girl on the porch. She stopped and allowed her to stare for a moment, then the girl stepped inside and closed the door.

Buffy slipped round the side of the house and began watching through a window to the side. Cordelia and the other girls were standing in a line in front of the fire place. The window was open slightly and Buffy could just about hear what was being said inside. The dark haired girl paced up and down in front of them, shouting. Inside Cordelia stood staring blankly ahead as Paige talked.

‘You’re worthless! All of you! Not worthy of this house, not worthy of this sisterhood, not worthy of this earth!’

‘S-s-s-sorry…’ spluttered Abbey, the meek strawberry blonde. Paige stopped in front of her and stared at her in silence for a moment.

‘What did you say?’

Abbey whimpered a little. ‘I said I was sorry.’ Paige pressed her face close to hers, her dark eyes burning with a fierceness that made Abbey recoil. ‘So you should be.’ She said. With that she grabbed Abbey’s arm and pulled her forward. Spinning her round awkwardly to face the other pledges, Abbey tripped and fell to her knees, but Paige pulled her arm up high and dragged her forward.

‘This is what failure looks like girls.’ She said as she roughly dropped Abbey’s arm and watched her crumble to the floor sobbing with cold eyes. ‘This is what is beneath us.’

From outside Buffy watched the girl being humiliated, while the other pledges stood emotionless. Not one of them helped her up, or even looked her in the eyes.

‘Please…’ It was a barely audible whisper through the sobs.

‘What?’ Paige snapped.

‘Please…’ Abbey tried again. Before she could finish Paige pinned her to the ground and tore the collar roughly off her neck. She then dragged her to her feet and pulled her towards the front door. As Abbey sobbed and protested, begging on her knees, Paige threw her through the door with such force that she fell down the porch steps and lay crying on the path. Paige marched angrily back into the room and stared at the pledges.

‘Anyone else feel like fucking up?’ She asked.

‘No.’ Came the unanimous reply.

Outside Buffy ran round to the front porch and pulled the sobbing Abbey to her feet. She was still begging in a quiet voice, and mumbling other things about failure and worthlessness that Buffy didn’t quite hear.

‘Come on, I’ll take you home.’ She put an arm round her and led her away from the house.


**********

It was almost an hour later when she caught up with Willow, working late at the library. She’d eventually managed to get the name of Abbey’s dorm out of her, then left her with her roommate who had been settling her down with a glass of warm milk and a soft blanket round her shoulders.

‘Hey, any news on our sisters.’

‘Yeah, quite a bit actually…well, not on them…just the house.’

‘Fill me in.’ Buffy sat beside Willow as she scrolled through a few old headlines on the computer.

‘Well, 50 years ago, just after freshers week, there was a double suicide at the house. Two of the sisters hanged themselves in one of the rooms. It says they didn’t leave a note, but circumstances were suspicious.’

‘So nothing demony…or ritual about it?’

‘It says in the old police files that they hauled all the other house members in for questioning, but they seemed to have taken a pact of silence. Didn’t see anything, didn’t hear anything…said the two girls kept themselves to themselves.’

Buffy sat back in her chair and let out a deep breath. ‘Well that’s pretty much useless. Nothing else?’

‘Well, there’s lots of stuff from the college paper from that year. Rumours and speculation about the girls being lovers, who killed themselves as part of some dramatic protest…or there’s the theory about the janitor of the house being a psychotic pervert.’

‘Well, that gives me two ideas. Talk to the janitor, then try and talk to Cordelia. What I saw there tonight didn’t look too sisterly, and I doubt I’ll get anything out of Abbey until she calms down.’

‘Abbey from psyche?’ Buffy nodded. They spent the rest of the evening in the library as Buffy filled Willow in on what she’d seen at the house.

********

The next night Buffy went back to the house. She hadn’t seen Cordelia since yesterday in their room, and Abbey was still in no fit state to talk to anyone. She crept to the same window again and saw that the pledges were lined up in front of the fire again, and they seemed to be missing another. This time the dark haired girl she had learned was called Paige was lounging in a chair opposite them. She had something in her hands, something shiny, it reflected the light of the fire…it was a metal of some kind. But she was holding it too closely for Buffy to see what it was.

‘Y’know I thought last nights little mess was bad enough. That whiny, snivelling little bitch. But now this?’ Paige glared hard at Courtney, pledge number five.

Courtney stared at the floor and fumbled nervously with her hands, while the rest of the pledges stared straight forward.

‘You know pledges aren’t supposed to date.’ Paige went on, almost spitting out the words.

‘I know…but he just asked, I didn’t see any harm in just one date…’

‘Is that what you want to spend your time doing? Making yourself some frat guys plaything? Whoring yourself all over campus?’ Paige stood up and was towering over the rapidly crumbling Courtney.

‘No…I…just one date…’ Courtney’s voice cracked, she sobbed a little as Paige leaned closer. Then she looked Paige in the eyes and whispered ‘I’m not a whore.’

There was a blur of movement as Paige’s hand swung round and hit the side of Courtney’s face, the shiny thing she’d been holding flashed and Cordelia, who was standing beside Courtney felt something warm splatter her arm.

For a second nobody moved as Paige stood back and wiped the shiny thing on her black shirt. From outside Buffy could see that it was a knife. Courtney stood up slowly, her hand covering a deep gash on the side of her face. The blood seeped through her fingers, and before anybody could speak she bolted for the door. Buffy sped round the side of the house to meet her round the front.

As Courtney tumbled down the porch steps, bleeding and sobbing, Paige marched out the door after her. Courtney fell to her knees in the cool grass and Buffy jumped between her and Paige.

“What the hell is going on!” She demanded angrily.

Paige neatly slipped the knife into her back pocket and put on a slightly creepy smile. “She’s a pledge. And she’s going home. It really isn’t any of your business.”

“She’s bleeding…why did you cut her face?” Buffy took a step back and grabbed Courtney’s arm, pulling her gently to her feet. She looked at the bloody gash on her face and then glared at Paige. Behind Paige other pledges were walking numbly out of the house.

“Like I said, it’s none of your business.” Paige turned and strode back into the house, slamming the front door behind her. Most of the pledges began walking away, except Cordelia who stood staring darkly at Buffy.

“Cordy, we have to talk. But I need to get this cut looked at first.” Buffy turned and started to lead Courtney back down the path towards the dorms when suddenly something hit her from behind. It was Cordelia.

“You stupid, interfering bitch!” She screamed, slapping at Buffy and trying to pull her hair. Buffy grabbed her forearms and held her tightly. Behind them Courtney ran away.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m not the one creeping around spying on people. If you’d wanted to pledge, you should’ve done it sooner…all the spots are taken!”

“Pledge? You think I want to pledge?” Buffy released Cordelia’s arms and took a step back in disbelief. “I’m just trying to find out what’s wrong with you…why you’re acting so strangely. And I can see why, with little miss blade-happy running the show.”

“We’re being tested. That’s all, and she failed.” Cordelia pointed behind Buffy in the direction that Courtney had run. Buffy looked around to see that Courtney was long gone.

“Damn, where did she go? Cordelia, listen…” Before she could finish her sentence Cordelia slapped her hard across the face, almost knocking her off her feet.

“Hey!” Angels voice came out of the shadows, followed by his fist as he hit Cordelia square in the face, knocking her flat on the floor.

“Angel?” Buffy recovered from her slap and stared at Angel angrily for a second, then kicked him hard in the stomach, throwing him back into the shadows. “What the hell? It’s Cordelia!”

She ran forward and pulled Cordelia to her feet. Instead of thanking her Cordy just pulled out of her grasp, and clutching her wounded face ran in the direction of her dorm. Buffy sighed and closed her eyes for a second, there was grumbling and a rustling noise to her left as Angel pulled himself to his feet and approached.

“I jut thought I was helping…” He began.

“Oh save it. Ok? You can help by leaving me the hell alone.” Buffy started to walk away, but Angel called after her.

“Buffy…I love you!”

But she ignored him and kept going. She’d thought it was over. After graduation, after the prom…she’d made it clear enough hadn’t she? They were over…really over. It was time to move on. And stalking round the bushes at night spying on her wasn’t how to get over it. With her head spinning over what she’d seen, and what had happened with Cordelia, she headed back to her room. The next day she’d have to cut a class or two to track down that janitor…if he was still alive.

Back inside the sorority house Paige stood before the other girls frowning.

“We have a problem.” She said simply.


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