Author name - MellindraX
Email Address - elizabethb_34@hotmail.com
Rating - This chapter is G, but check at the beginning of each chapter, as it might change.
Disclaimer - All the characters in this story are owned by ME/Joss, and I have no legal claim on them (grumble grumble...). There is little to no angst, it takes place in Season 4 (sort of), and there are spoilers up to the beginning of Season 4 (once again, sort of)
Feedback- I would love you forever! But one thing, if you ant to say "It's good" say "It's good because" or "It sucks" say "It sucks because". This is my first fic, and I want to use it as a chance to improve my writting
Summary- The basic idea is that instead of Willow being the one who has lived in Sunnydale all her life, it's been Tara. Most of the story stays the same, but obviously there are changes, and I'm not using Adam for the big bad (I think...)
Notes- As I said, this is my first fic, so it's not going to be too good, but I want to give thanks to Wytchi Grrl for being my beta reader and helping me with plot and wording! Yay her! Things in single quotation marks (' ') are usually thoughts, and there will be a good amount of them.
Now, please enjoy, as our story begins *eerie shooshoy noises*...
She stared at the sky, letting her mind wander aimlessly where it would. She’d always lived in Sunnydale, and for the large majority of her life, she’d always pictured it as just another boring, quiet, suburban little California town. As boring a place as you’d ever be likely to go. She was always just another random face passing through the crowds, no truly discernable worth or outstanding features. She’d never been popular, the only person who’d actually been more than a passing acquaintance being her lifelong neighbor and most-time friend, Xander. He was annoying, but she loved him.
That was basically a good summary of her life, at least up till 3 years ago. Then everything changed, and the world went to hell. Well, not literally, but it got pretty close a couple of times. She smiled, remembering the first time she discovered the secret world of vampires, demons, inter-dimensional travel, and the Slayer herself. It had, undoubtedly, been the biggest event to ever happen to her.
Now she, the quiet unnoticed girl in the crowd, fought hell beasts, averted Apocalypses, and battled night and day to make sure there would be a world to wake up to in the morning. She had become a fantasy book character, living out a perilous life of derring-do and mystery. Yet she still walked home the same route she always had, still worried whether or not she would do well during her finals, whether or not her friends would stay in touch for years to come. She sometimes wondered what secrets other people kept, if she could act just like them, and not be like them at all.
Yes, she was a girl with a layer. Not layers, per se, but she did have at least one layer that she knew of. With the great evil that approached her, drawing ever nearer, she knew that it would not be long before maybe she realized another depth in her soul.
She lifted her head, shifting her gaze from the unchangingly sunny California sky onto her friends, sitting not 5 feet from her. Xander, laughing at some no doubt humourless joke of his, a bright and silly grin pasted on his face, and Buffy, sitting a small degree away from him, trying to keep the thin grimace in some semblance of a smile. The boy and the Slayer, her two best friends in the entire world, and yet they didn’t seem at all alarmed by this evil thing that hovered over all their heads, threatening to engulf them and tear them apart.
Noticing the intent gaze of the girl lying on her back, Buffy looked over, her expression transformed into her genuine smile.
“Hey there sleepy, planning on joining in and maybe spare...err adding to Xander’s commentary?”
“Well aren’t we the polite one.” Xander said, hurt seeping into his voice, betrayed by his still wide smile “I was actually just relating a rather amusing joke to our tactless friend here. Wanna hear it? Maybe get a little smile on your face. You’ve been rather doom and gloom lately, moping about and being all silent. Ok, well the last bit is a lot like you, but not the moping. That’s new.”
Tara finally sat up, her shy smile tugging the corners of her mouth, and her mind working quickly to avoid another one of Xander’s pointless attempts at cheering her up.
“Sorry, Xander. I’m just still w-worrying. Now that high school is well, n-non-existent to the fullest extent, this means we’re gonna be going to college. Aren’t you at the very least s-scared?” Xander looked at her as if she had sprouted an extra head
“You’ve already been accepted into every college with enough money for a stamp. You said you’d also already decided you would stay in Sunnydale and go to Sunnydale U so you could help Buffy with the slaying. So what are you worried about?” He asked, his head tilted the tiniest bit to the side.
“Well, yeah, but its college! This is one of the biggest s-steps in our life! How well we do there will decide our fate for the rest of our lives! I can’t s-stop thinking about it. My mind won’t let me…” Tara’s voice trailed off, her head already down in it’s position that allowed Tara the ability to nearly disappear, her thoughts clearly already somewhere else.
Buffy gave her friend a quizzical look. Tara was smart, scarily so she thought at times, and she knew that Tara would have no trouble at college. But Tara knew that too. Intelligence was probably the only thing that Tara had the confidence to believe she had. Buffy knew something other than college was bugging Tara’s mind. She just wished she knew what it was.
“I know what will cheer her up! One of the Xan-man’s patented jokes! Alright,” Xander began, shutting his eyes as though to amplify the image of him smiling, rather than to merely be able to block out his friends distraught looks “So there were these two lesbians in a bar…” He would have continued, but for the rather severe case of coughing Tara seemed to develop in a very short period of time. He opened his eyes, still smiling, and his expression was immediately sobered by the look his usually reticent friend gave him.
“Are you ok? You should really go to a doc…. Uh maybe we’ll save that one for another time?” Xander asked, or more accurately stated the obvious. He realized that if she wanted to, Tara could quite literally scare him into silence. A mighty feat, for any being.
Tara lay on her back once more, her friends resuming their banter, still putting no connection on how offended she got whenever Xander tried to start such jokes. That was what had been bugging her, and plaguing her thoughts, the reason why her usually indifferent demeanour had become more troubled as time passed. She wanted to tell her friends the truth desperately, but she couldn’t. They were, in the end, the only truly good things she had in her life right now, and if she lost them, well She didn’t think college would be the biggest priority in her life anymore.
“Goddess, I wish I could tell them…” Tara said to herself.
Buffy turned to look at her, a quizzical expression on her face “What did you say?”
Tara sat bolt upright, her eyes wide open in alarm. Apparently it hadn’t been as to herself as she’d hoped.
“Uh, I-it was n-nothing! J-Just thinking out l-loud!” Buffy looked at Tara for a moment, as if considering something then minutely shook her head and returned her attentions to Xander who hadn’t even noticed the small exchange.
***
She stared at the building, the bright colours of the stonework glaring in the sun. It tried to maintain a bright, cheery façade, but she knew it for the ominous and evil-bearing thing that it was. She lifted her backpack over her shoulder, pulled on the wheelie-bag on which lay all her other bags, and stepped the few feet until she was, for the first time, on the campus of Sunnydale University. She took in a deep breath, and closed her eyes for a moment, savouring this moment, this rite of passage, even if at the same time her anxious mind pelted her with worries and concerns about the years to come. At this new school, in this new town, she had no friends, nobody to talk to or listen to.
“Not that I was exactly Miss Popular back in my old town” she thought to herself cynically. She released her breath, and looked down at the slip of paper she’d written the information she needed on, and looked at the first set of numbers and words “Dorm building 3, room number 214”
20 minutes and about 5 stops to ask for directions later, she found herself standing in front of the door that would be the entrance to her home for the next four years. “Oh, stop being so melodramatic. Just go in, meet your roommate, put your stuff away, and start looking for classrooms.”
She twisted the knob and stepped into the room, sticking on her best smile for her new roomy. Instead of finding the disturbing person she was expecting, she found the room totally devoid of life, including the paraphernalia required.
“Ok, apparently I got here first. Oh well, means I get to choose my bed” She threw her backpack unceremoniously onto the bed nearest the window and dragged the rest of her luggage to the closet. She stifled a yawn, her eyelids fluttering slightly as they tried to close.
“Well might as well take a small nap before I go hunting for classrooms. Or meeting my new roommate, for that matter.” She walked over the bed she had chosen as her own, and lay down, not even bothering to get under the covers.
“Welcome to college.” She muttered to herself, seconds before her eyes closed, and she started to mumble “the frogs… get them off …. come to get them”
***
Tara had already been to the campus a few times, once to check it out as college material, and a few other times to kill something large, slimy, and horned. She felt pretty confidant about how to get around. She didn’t have much in the way of baggage, but her one bag was awkward enough to make walking around for a long time an unwelcome prospect.
“Simple enough, I just have to find my room first and put away my b-bags, then I can go explore. Let’s see” Tara rummaged in her pocket for a moment, before pulling out a crumpled piece of a napkin, the words ‘Rm. 214. Dorm 3’ scrawled across it “ok, I know where that is”
3 minutes later, she stood in front of room 214, having found her way amazingly well considering the fact the size of her bag made it rather impossible to see. Tara dropped it to the ground and opened the door, only to freeze on it’s threshold.
On one of the beds, gently mumbling to herself was the most beautiful woman Tara had ever seen. Short, angle cut red hair draped her pillow and the side of her face equally, her expression relaxed and calm in slumber even as her mouth moved softly, making words too quiet for Tara to hear. Lying sideways, her figure framed by the window by her bed, her light curves were accentuated by the sun’s light, but blocked Tara from seeing the details in the girl’s clothes, though it was obvious they were more for comfort than looks. Tara could hardly breath, and she had a bad feeling her heartbeat was going for the record set by a hummingbird.
Finally tearing her eyes from the wondrous sight, Tara turned her back on the door and leaned down, grabbing the handles of her one bag, and began the process of getting it through the doorway (a difficult task, considering the bag was a few inches wider than the door, it’s height no better). After a few minutes of quiet straining, the bag popped through the door with Tara still pulling on it as hard as she could, trying to ignore the sleeping figure and be quiet for her at the same time. Tara fell backwards, thrown off balance, and couldn’t help but let out a small squeal as her heel hit a backpack; she went toppling backwards, straight onto the bed of the sleeping girl.
There was a pause; Tara remaining completely still, hoping the girl next to her would remain asleep. Groaning slightly, the girl sat up bleary eyed, and look around, her mind taking a moment to notice the bag lying on the ground a few feet in front of the door on it’s side, and the strange girl lying directly next to her. Another pause as the sleeper woke fully. Then she turned her head slowly to the side and down, to meet the gaze of the obviously petrified girl still trying to remain perfectly still.
“Hi, who are you? What are you doing lying in my bed?” The girl asked, her face still showing faint traces of sleep, but definitely registering annoyance as well.
“Oh, I-I’m T-Tara. Your new r-roommate?” Tara said, forcing the words out through her suddenly frozen mouth. She was visibly shaking, and couldn’t believe she’d made herself into such a fool in such a short period of time. The girl next to her stopped glaring for a moment, clearly considering what had been said.
“At the least that deserves a name. I’m Willow. But that still doesn’t tell me why you’re lying there. And take your time, say it clearly” Willow smiled lightly, trying to calm down the clearly distressed girl.
“I w-was trying to g-get my bag through the d-door, but it wouldn’t g-go, so I had to p-pull. Then it came through, a-and I fell backwards.” Tara stopped talking again, her shaking reduced but most definitely not gone.
“So you my new roommate, huh? Neat. I’ll help you with your bag, and ... Uh ... try to make some room in the closet” Willow cast her gaze over to the closet, where through the still open door was visible her numerous bags crammed in as fast as she’d been able. Her analytical mind was already working on how she could fit all of her bags and the newcomer’s without making it utterly impossible to actually get anything out, but the other side of her thoughts wandered, and settled on her new roommate, Tara. Her long, dirty blond hair lying against the drab Sunnydale High sweatshirt, her full and pouting lips pulled to a straight line by pure nervous energy, the simple, loose jeans. Inexorably, Willow’s gaze was pulled to the girl’s eyes. A sparkling crystal blue, holding depths Willow could only hope to explore in a lifetime, almost radiating a quiet sense of responsibility and wisdom ‘Gorgeous eyes’
Willow shook her head slightly and got up, starting preparations for bag shifting, keeping her eyes and thoughts from wandering back to the other girl. ‘Bad Willow, bad. You don’t think that girls are beautiful. You don’t even think girls’ eyes are beautiful. Now where should I put the bag with my teddy bears?’
Tara remained on the bed, at the point of deciding whether to get up and help Willow rearrange the bags, or to simply lie there silently, admiring the girl. She watched her as she moved about the room, moving this bag there, that bag here, her eyes always just to one side of Tara’s. She sat undecided for one more moment, then arose from the bed, walking over to where Willow was trying her hand at getting Tara’s bag through the closet door. Tara reached forward and grabbed the bag, pulling it from Willow’s grasp, and began to empty out her clothing and put it into one of 2 bureaus in the room. Willow’s face flushed at the realization that was the simplest and inevitable conclusion.
“Oh, um, thanks. Probably should of thought of that myself” she said, turning slightly away to grab her own bags, and to begin unpacking.
“So, it’s Tara, right? You’re from Sunnydale, guessing from your sweatshirt.” Tara looked up from her bag for a second, holding her blue peasant top absent-mindedly.
“Oh, uh, yeah. I-it’s a g-great town, Sunnydale…”
“You’re lying.” Willow quite plainly stated. Tara jerked and stared at this mostly-stranger.
“No, seriously I love it here!”
“No, you don’t. You probably think you do, but I can hear it in your voice. And did you notice you didn’t stutter when you were surprised just then?” Willow glanced up from placing her bears strategically on her bed, looking again straight into the other girls eyes, which were by now as wide as plates, then dropped her gaze just as quickly.
“Oh, I d-didn’t, did I? Oh, I d-did. And I do like it here. S-Sunnydale, I mean. Um, s-so what do y-you like to d-do? H-hobbies, sports?” Tara said, a rather plain attempt at steering the conversation away from her preference on the town.
“Well, to be honest, I don’t really do the sports thing. Or really the hobby thing, for that matter. I, um, do other stuff. Not really important.” She turned away, trying to avoid the gaze of her new acquaintance. ‘Might as well not scare her straight off with the fact I’m a witch’ “So what are you into Tara? And what’s there to do in this town?”
“Um, w-well I don’t really do s-sports, or h-hobbies either. For the t-town, there’s always the Bronze. Oh!” Tara’s face suddenly brightened as she turned all the way to face Willow “We c-could go to the B-Bronze, and I can introduce you to m-my friends!”
Willow glanced up, surprised by the girl’s sudden change in attitude. She straightened her back, and once again caught the blue eyes in her own.
“Sure sounds fun. Maybe tonight. Don’t have much else to do, anyway.” Tara smiled broadly, then as if suddenly remembering her boldness stooped her back and ducked her head in her traditionally shy position, returning to her bags. ‘Her eyes, they’re so green. Emerald even, like brilliant crystals. Gorgeous eyes’
Ok, thank you to anyone who actually bothered to read to the end of the first part
. Please, no matter what you have to say, post and say it! Bye 
On the official Buffy board, freaked-out Willow lovers demanded that the plot be revealed as an evil spell, or that the two girls prove to be nothing more than really, really good friends. (Although some good-natured petitioners went in the other direction, demanding a "tasteful shower scene.") –Girls’ Night Out, Article on Nerve.com
Edited by: MellindraX at: 1/5/03 3:21:55 pm
at: 1/3/03 1:25:03 am
Nice job so far and can't wait for the next update. 
.Great start; can't wait for more
Ok that means I better pull my socks up and get the next bit back to you.
I think it's cool that you have Tara as the one who's friends with Buffy and Xander and Willow as new in town. Can't wait to see what happens next!
.
Anyway, waiting anxiously for an update! -Nora 
Im bored by myself ................. update?! 
