Chapter 4
“Crap, crap, crap” Daniel thought to himself as he dashed onto the school grounds. He is now convinced that mornings don’t like him and have formed a posse to try and stop him from being on time. He gasped for air as he barrels into the entrance ten minutes late. As he rounded the corner he noticed the councilor talking to the guy running the construction of the new science building. He moved in slowly and stopped just in earshot of their conversation.
“I should have the wood I need to fix the window tonight buff. Sorry I couldn’t get it sooner.” Said the tall dark haired foreman
“That’s okay Xand the place needed airing out anyway,” replied Buffy scrunching her face up at the thought of the smell, “I think Andrew has gotten a little ripe.”
The foreman, called ‘Xand’ for some reason, nodded his head in agreement
“I did notice a certain unpleasantness when I was heading for the kitchen this morning,” he joked, “maybe we should get one of those fire hoses and wash him down like those guys in prison movies.”
Buffy gave him a surprised look.
“What are you kidding? I don’t want to get the carpets wet.” She replied
They both laughed. It was obvious to Daniel that this Andrew guy did something really wrong to the Councilor.
Buffy sighed “no rest for the wicked. I have to get back to work now Xander. I have an appointment with Mr. Tardy.”
She looked over to Daniel her face showing how unimpressed she was. Daniel reminded himself to work on his stealthy entrances.
The foreman looked in the direction where Buffy was looking then looked back.
“Right I have to get back to. For some reason these buildings just don’t want to make themselves.”
He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. “Don’t hurt him too badly.”
She smiled at the Foreman as he left the hallway. That smile left when she looked at Daniel.
“Daniel right?” Buffy asked
He stood awkwardly as she walked up to him slowly.
“I’m still learning the ropes around this campus but I’m pretty sure that school started about fifteen minutes ago,” Buffy said calmly “but from what I hear this is a pattern of yours.”
She gestured him to enter the office he did so and sat down. Daniel tried to avoid eye contact with Buffy as much as possible so he started to examine as many things on her desk as possible. He started by reading her name plaque on her desk Buffy Summers Councilor.
Summers . . . Where has he heard that name before?
He shook off the doubt and continued he examination. Everything else on the desk seemed pretty standard. Pencil holder, documents, and computer, one of those weird pointy stress ball things. What was the point of those stress ball things anyway? The points don’t make it any better. In his opinion those hard rubbery stress balls are much better for . . .
“So,” said Buffy snapping him back to reality, “wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Daniel slouches in the chair the last this he wanted to do was to tell anyone what was going on. He looked up at Buffy again. She had an aura of kindness about her and she seemed approachable but behind that he sensed strength. A strength he sensed in only one other person.
“I can’t sleep,” He said softly, “it’s like when I go to bed my brain just doesn’t want to stop.”
“Well have you tried counting sheep?” Buffy said in a joking tone
Daniel stopped slouching and sat up
“Yeah. But I get confused in what order they should go in. then I get worried if some sheep are going to be jealous if the nicer looking sheep go first and there’s the whole issue of colour. I mean would it be racist if I let the white sheep go first and what would . . .”
Buffy raised her hand to tell him to stop.
“I get it.” She said with a smirk “busy mind. How long has this been going on?”
Daniel sighed heavily. This is a question he didn’t want to answer.
“For a few months,” he said sadly, “it’s like things just don’t fit into place you know.”
“It’s okay Daniel high school can feel like that some times.”
“No it’s not that,” He replied
Daniel desperately tried to find the right words but none were coming to him. He knew what it was just how to say it was the problem. He leaned into her a little closer
“Have you ever felt like the world was going to end?” He asked her
Now it was Buffys turn to choose her words wisely. She smiled reassuringly at him
“It’s only a feeling Danny. If you let it control you are going to end up being trapped.”
He shrugged insecurely.
“Nothings felt right since my mom di…”
He looked up at Buffy. Hoping for any sign that she didn’t hear the last sentence. Unfortunately he’s never that lucky
“Since your mom . . . what?” asked Buffy tentatively.
“Ah . . . Decided to travel,” he lied desperately, “home! She’s English she was like ‘cheery oh! I’m back off to the mother country pip pip!’”
He read her face carefully. It looked to him like she wasn’t buying the story, hell, he’s the one who said it and he wasn’t buying the story. Buffy looked at him closely also if he was saying what he was not trying to say then Danny had a lot worse problem then she though.
“So your mother left.” Buffy asked
“On Vacation” Daniel replied quickly
“When did she leave?”
“A few weeks ago. Maybe a month.”
The unsteadiness in his voice is all that Buffy needed to confirm her suspicions. Buffy lent backing her chair. It took a great effort hide the shock on her face. Daniel was looking for any way out of this conversation. Any more talking and he was going to get himself into worse trouble. Buffy took a moment to steady herself
“When did she say she was coming back?” asked Buffy in a controlled tone
Daniel stood up quickly. And collected his things.
“You know what. Your right maybe I just need to think less.” He said quickly
“Danny wait.” Said Buffy, who also stood and is now blocking his exit, “this is important when did your mom say she was coming back”
He became agitated. His mind said run, in any direction, but he new that how far he’d run he would always end up where he is right now. He rolled his eyes
“I don’t remember okay? I need to get to class.”
He tried to move forward but Buffy stopped him by grabbing his arms. He recoiled in pain as she touched his right arm. Buffy noticed the move. She hadn’t touched him that hard. Moving slowly she rolled up the sleeve on his t-shirt.
The one thing you learn about when you spent most of your life fighting is bruises. And the bruise Buffy was looking at was about the size of a baseball. She examined it closely it seemed fresh probably only a few hours old. This time she refused to hide her shocked look. She looked deep into his eyes for anything that could possibly help.
“Is someone hurting you Danny?” she asked slowly
Daniel didn’t respond. What could he say? ‘No nobody is hurting me. Well . . . except for the large amounts of vampires. Oh and by the way did you know my mom is dead?’ he figured in this case less is more.
“Danny?” she prompted again
“I have class.” He said sadly as he pushed past Buffy and exited to the hall.
Buffy stood stunned for a moment. Principal Wood exited his office to get some papers filled and noticed her.
“You alright?” he asked
Buffy snapped back into reality
“Yeah I just been speaking to Daniel” she replied
Principal Wood folded his arms. This was an answer he was waiting for.
“And what did captain snooze have to say for himself?” he asked flippantly
She looked up at him. Which made Principal wood feel a little guilty over his last comment.
“I’m not sure,” she said with uncertainty, “I think his mom died?”
Principal wood unfolded his arms. This was the last thing he expected to hear
“Oh god.” He exclaimed.
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