"Maybe it was just a fluke," Xander suggested the next morning in Mrs Giry's English class.
"I'd say everyone in the area taking turns pulling a Judy Garland is a little more than a fluke," Buffy disagreed.
"At least no-one's dead," Willow said, trying to look on the bright side.
"Yet," Buffy and Xander said in chorus.
At the front of the class, Mrs Giry began calling roll. The crackle of the PA system heralded yet another announcement by their more-or-less respected principal.
"Students of Sunnydale," he began. There was a brief moment of silence. Buffy felt a cold finger along her spine.
"Uh-oh," she said.
"What?"
"Students of Sunnydale," came the voice again.
SNYDER:
Let your principal Snyder
Tell you what to do.
Yeah, let your principal Snyder
Tell you people what you need to do.
"Is that a bass guitar?" Xander wondered.
SNYDER:
Now, when you walk across the campus,
You know you better not fight.
You better not be smokin', and you better not biiiiite.
You better listen to me,
Believe me when I say
That I will slap you in detention
Until the Judgment Day--
A crackle of static, and the solo was over.
"Wow," said Willow.
Almost as one, the entire class-- except for Willow, Buffy, and Xander, stood up.
FRESHMAN:
All of us students Fall to our knees
ALL:
Oh, show-- show us some mercy, principal, please.
Why disobey? we have nothing to gain.
We know you don't play, sir, we're not insane.
La la la la, la la la la....
Everyone sat down again. Mrs Giry continued calling roll.
"Okay, who wants Prozac?" asked Xander.
"I'll check in with Ms Calendar, and see if she's found anything useful," Willow said, after class had ended-- thankfully, without further calliopean calamity.
"Meet you at the library after school?" Buffy asked.
"Right. Xander, who are you-- never mind," Willow said, as she watched Xander head off at Buffy's side. She shook her head and moved off to the computer lab.
"Ms Calendar?" No reply. "Hmmm. Maybe she left a note...?" Nothing. "Well, I'll just do a little independent research," Willow decided, taking her favourite terminal in the lab, which was quite deserted.
She booted up, stretching her fingers in the manner of a master pianist as she did so. Invoking Netscape, she began running a search on "revenant" and "magical music". She felt her self-esteem rising by the second. "Right here, in the moment," she mused, "I'm where I ought to... be..." She stood up, slowly, turning in a circle to survey the quiet terminals. She moved from one to the other, turning them on.
WILLOW:
In the heat of the moment, I may run and hyde,
'Cos fighting's not my game-- I am the ghost inside.
In the world of the cyber, I know what to do.
Nothing holds us back-- me and my CPU.
[The lights dim dramatically, but the various terminals begin to run their screen savers in a strobe-like manner. WILLOW continues:]
I'm a silicon soldier-- a "computer geek".
Call me what you want, I know I am unique.
An adrenaline rush hits when I ride my wave.
Call me what you will, I know "delete" from "save".
COMPUTERS:
Hoo hoo hoo Hoo hoo hoo
WILLOW:
Ghost in the machinery....
The lights flipped back up suddenly, cutting all of them off in mid-hoo.
"Um, Willow...." Nikki Calendar said, regarding her young friend a bit dubiously.
"I'm gonna make a call," Buffy said, as they walked across campus. "A *private* call," she added pointedly, as Xander followed her to the booth.
"Oh. Guess I know who you're calling," Xander said.
"Well, we have to know if he's found out anything," she said, a bit defensively.
Xander backed off several yards, giving her some space. That's what you're supposed to do with girls, he knew. *Cosmo* said so.
*She's the Slayer, he's a vampire. And me? I'm just a goofy Slayerette. Man.*
XANDER:
I'm just a Slayerette. It's pretty cool... and yet...
I find myself a little disappointed.
Battling bugs and clowns can really get you down;
And double that when fighting the Anointed.
I'm not the smoothest guy-- that doesn't mean that I
Have no romantic leaning. You want, but you don't get
When you're just a Slayerette-- if you get my meaning.
'Cos IIIIIIIIIII ain't got no Buuuuuuffy--
"Xander!" the object of his affections said.
"Uh-- yeah?"
"You're doing it again," she informed him.
"Doing it-- doing what?-- oh. It. Man."
"Yeah. Man. You know, something really weird happens when people start singing."
"You mean, besides the actual singing?"
"It's like... like living in a show by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Never mind. Let's find Giles."
"I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, Ms Calendar said something about the Bee Gees...."
"Well, we've fought the forces of darkness. We should be able to handle Giles going disco on us."
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