The Glitch 2.0

Okay, so I never realized just HOW much of the earliest chapters were cut off. Not only half of chapter one, but also of chapter two, and others as well. It’s almost as if the ends of every chapter through the first half of the original version were just eaten away. As such, I’m mostly using it as a vague guide to the events of the story. Chrissy is being introduced in a different order of events here, and the explanation of what happened with how Willow knew the truth is coming. Damn but those AFF glitches tore this story to shreds.

Willow watched silently as Faith and Taunie laughed, fooling around more than actually training like the girl was supposed to be doing. She’d noticed the pair of them getting closer and closer, though Taunie didn’t seem to be flirting any despite the closeness. Part of her was worried for her apprentice. Caring for someone that couldn’t love you back, no matter how close the two of you seemed, was a painful experience. It had been a superficial, childhood crush she’d had on Xander, but she had cared strongly nevertheless. Faith wasn’t any better than Xander at being careful of feelings like that, it just didn’t seem to occur to her… if Faith was even aware of it.

“If you stare any harder, I’m pretty sure that they’ll burst into flames.” Buffy joked behind her, and Willow jumped. “What’s wrong?”

“Hey Buff!” Willow smiled, her voice too chipper, and spun to stare at the blonde Slayer cradling a can of diet coke at the kitchen island. “What’re you talking about?”

“I mean you were looking at them like you do me every time I have to fight an apocalypse.” Buffy quipped, shrugging. She lifted the can, almost ready to drink, and commented one more thing before tipping it. “Sad and a little pissed off.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Willow denied, slipping onto one of the dining room chairs and flipping open the book she’d brought down to read from. She had a feeling that the answer to her latest magical questions was in it. “I had no such look on my face.”

“She’s still your apprentice.” Buffy sighed, looking at Willow the same way that she always looked at Dawn. Willow was not a stubborn teenager that had messed up though, and only sent a rude gesture her way, much though it was against her normal character. Buffy sputtered. “Willow, she’s just spending time with the girl that she’s had a thing for since she moved in. Wouldn’t you want to too?”

“That’s part of my problem.” Willow admitted, glaring down at the foreign words in the book. “I don’t know if Faith is aware of the situation… or that she might be making it worse by leading Taunie on.”

“Or maybe that she needs to back off because Taunie is just a teenager still?” Buffy asked, smiling. Willow blushed.

“Faith doesn’t think of Taunie like that… which only makes it worse that Taunie may be taking the attention wrong.” Willow sighed.

“Or maybe we’re just really good, best friends, and like hanging out.” Faith said, startling the shit out of Buffy and Willow. Neither had noticed the two open the back door. “Fuck Red.”

“I already told you my views, Willow.” Taunie said in an oddly quiet voice, making Faith’s head shoot around to look at her. “I… you already know how I see it, that isn’t changing. Okay? I’m gonna go for a walk.”

Faith watched the teen walk through the kitchen, and then heard the front door close. There wasn’t even the bass rumble of the bike starting up. “Red… that was fucking stupid.” Willow glared at her. “It was. T and I already talked about it. We both just want to pretend like nothing’s wrong. She asked me not to change how I treat her. I’ve also been tryin’ to work on her about her confidence. So that… that was crap what you said.”

“Shit.” Willow groaned, pillowing her forehead in her arms.

Outside, Taunie had reluctantly left the bike behind. She loved Seelie, but it was a brisk, cool day outside, and a walk would both keep her warm, and help her to think while she stretched her legs. Sparring with Faith had turned into goofing around with Faith, and they hadn’t gotten much done more than joking about some of the stupid kids at school that pestered her, or amusing stories from Faith’s past. Laughing helped the abs, she thought she remembered something about it working the muscles pretty well, but that didn’t do anything for the rest of her body… and certainly wasn’t going to teach her how to spar or defend herself. When she’d gotten three blocks away, she realized that she’d been thinking more about how Faith and she had been goofing around than that she was upset that Willow would think she’d put herself through that.

“Maybe it wasn’t healthy.” She scowled and leaned against a light post. Reflecting on her feelings, it was more that, though she had had fun goofing around, she wasn’t dwelling on Faith. She’d been dwelling on not being productive. “Fuck, how can it be unhealthy for me mentally if I’m not even gushing over her? Shit Willow needs to chill… or you know… say stuff to my face.”

“Do you always talk to yourself?” The voice was distinctive in its slight twang, and Taunie looked up and around. A cute girl with short, shaggy cut, blonde hair was smiling at her. A simple denim jacket covered whatever she was wearing, other than equally simple pants, but the grin was friendly enough, and behind the girl was a moving truck in the process of unloading. “Hi.”

“Hey… sorry. I don’t normally pose in front of a new girl’s house to look crazy.” Taunie smirked slightly and shrugged. “Just moved in?”

“Moving in, but yeah.” The girl giggled lightly at her. “I’m Chrissy. It’s nice to meet you. Do you go to the high school, Supposedly-Not-Crazy girl?”

“Yeah. I’m Taunie.” She offered her hand, and watched as the blonde blushed at shaking it. “You need some help bringing things in? I may look like a twig of a thing, but I’ve got some muscle hidden in here. I just skipped out on my work-out for the day, so it’d be my pleasure.”

“Well, if I can help you to not feel guilty about ditching your exercise, then I’d love to have you help!” Chrissy joked, then judged Taunie forward at the larger boxes. “My uncle Malcom is useless. He just murmured something and adjusts his glasses before going off to make sure his study is exactly right.”

“So you’re from Texas?” Taunie asked, easily helping to heft the largest of the boxes. The girl looked at her in surprise before nodding. “The accent. You twang. Say yall or something.”

“Yawl.” Chrissy pouted.

“No, it’s cute! So why’d you move here?” Taunie smiled as charmingly as she could.

“My uncle is my guardian, and there’s something dealing with his work here.” Chrissy answered vaguely, and shrugged as they set down the box. “You do have some muscle hidden in those arms. I feel all flattered and impressed. Should I swoon?”

“Ah, sarcasm, how I love thee.” Taunie rolled her eyes, and Chrissy giggled. “How about, I help you bring your heavy things in… and then if you can find me at school, you can make it up to me by buying me lunch.” Chrissy’s eyebrows rose. “Not that we’d eat anything from the cafeteria. I was thinking I could use it as a weapon in biological warfare.”

“If I can find you at school, you’ve got yourself a deal.” Chrissy said, and Taunie nodded, chatting easily with her as they continued to load things into the house. It was surprisingly easy to talk to the girl, something about her making her feel more comfortable than a lot of the others at the school. For some odd reason, she almost felt like one of the Scoobies.

“Okay, Chrissy. Let the search begin.” Taunie winked and moved to saunter back the way she had come.

“Wait… no last name even?” Chrissy called, sounding incredulous.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Taunie yelled back without even turning to look at her. She vaguely heard Chrissy growl a few choice words, and smirked to herself most of the way home. The girl was pretty cool. Somewhat like Spike and Xander in a freakish personality merge. Absently, she said aloud to herself, “Okay, maybe I am crazy.”

~

“Hey Taunie?” She looked up at where Willow leaned over the railing at the top of the stairs. The redhead looked sad, still. She’d mostly avoided her mentor the previous day, and had told Faith not to worry about it. “Can we talk?”

“I was kinda… heading to the game. You can come if you want.” She zipped up the jacket absently, surprised at the chill in the air. This was Sunnydale after all. “It’s homecoming, really late this year, but still… anyway, I promised some people at school today that I’d go.”

“Yeah, Buffy and Dawn already headed out.” Willow smiled softly and slowly trailed down the stairs, looking reluctant. “I just wanted to apologize.”

“About what?” she absently tugged at the arms of her jacket and then reached for the spare helmet to give to the redhead.

“Taunie…” Willow’s voice was sad and reproachful, and the girl looked at her in confusion. “I… I’m sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have assumed that…”

“It’s okay. You had the right.” Nataunia let out a deep breath and smiled brightly. “I think, anyone could have. Don’t worry though. It’s all cool. I’m getting over her. We’re just… it’s that… well, neither of us have really had… you know… close friends before. Best friends. The kind that’d believe through anything. We’re trying that. The closest she ever came was Fang back in LA.”

“Angel?” Willow looked surprised.

“That’s what she calls him. Anyway, you heading out with me? You can use the extra helmet.” She held it out, smiling. “Dawn said she and Faith’d save me a seat.”

“I can’t believe we’re all going to a football game.” Willow chuckled, looking at the helmet, unsure. “I mean, which one of us has ever cared about that?”

“Buffy is working with one of the kids on the team, and promised she’d be there since his parents are out of town. She dragged Dawn along, who didn’t fuss because I’m going too. One of the cheerleaders cornered me today and got me to promise to go.” Taunie shrugged and gave a lopsided smile. “As both Buffy and I are going, Faith said she’d go too… and drive so that Dawn would survive the experience.”

“And this thing is supposed to help me survive on your little bike?” Willow asked, looking at the girl skeptically.

“Sure as shit. I’m a kickass driver on Seelie. You’ll love it.” Taunie’s grin grew into a full-blown smile, arrogant enough to do Faith proud even in her dark slayer days, and she shoved Willow’s jacket into her arms. “Come on, we’re already missing the kickoff. I’ve stalled as much as I can. Fucking game.”

“You’re starting to cuss more.” Willow complained, though she was cooperating. Taunie blushed, but didn’t comment, and the two made their way out to the bike. It took a moment to start, which surprised the girl, but its bass purr for an engine rumble was even smoother and deeper than usual when it did. She could only assume that it approved of the passenger.

“She likes you.” Taunie offered at a stop sign, surprising Willow. “Seelie. She likes you. That’s good.”

“Oh.” Willow was jolted, having not expected her apprentice to start off again in the middle of talking to her, and clung more tightly. It was exciting to ride the thing, admittedly, though she nearly screamed every time Taunie took a corner too sharply. When they’d finally gotten to the game, she was glad that the bike made finding parking easier, but the roar of the crowd was strange. She’d thought that Sunnydale was having a bad year.

“Taunie! You came!” They were surprised when, in the middle of trying to spot where the gang was sitting, one of the cheerleaders broke formation and ran up to them. The rest of the squad was left glaring, and continuing with their cheer, but the girl bounced happily in an uncanny imitation of Dawn at her most excited. “I thought you were joking!”

“Ah, I promised. No more notes in my locker now, right?” Taunie smiled and winked, and the girl nodded. “I gotta find the fam… you know where the hot counselor and Dawn Summers are sitting?”

The girl pointed before running quickly back to her squad, ignoring their looks and seamlessly flowing back into the routine. It, at least, gave them an easier time getting to their seats. Everyone had noticed the cheerleader break away to speak with them, and as such everyone was paying attention to them, instead of the field, as they ascended to their seats. Several students called out to Taunie, surprising Willow. She hadn’t realized that the girl really was that popular. Considering how shy she could be sometimes, and how she’d so briefly mentioned her life had been before, she was surprised that Taunie wasn’t freaking out.

“She’s a hottie, T!” Faith laughed, dragging Taunie into the seat next to her and scrunching closer to the two Summers so that Willow could fit too. “You should totally hit that!”

“If I hit her, she’d press charges.” Taunie growled, smirking, and Willow giggled as Faith rolled her eyes and punched the girl’s shoulder lightly. “Faith, she’s practically stalking me. Like, seriously. Notes in my locker, every day… usually with her name and my name in a heart and scrawling writing. It’s creepy… and hot as she is, she’s kinda stupid.”

“So you like smart chicks?” Faith asked with a smirk, winking, and Taunie growled. “Well, we gotta narrow it down so that you can replace the fake girlfriend with a real one.”

“Not so loud! People are probably eavesdropping!” Taunie snapped, staring around. Luckily, the majority of their neighbors were paying attention to the first, and only, game of the season that Sunnydale seemed to be doing well in. “And I don’t like smart chicks. I had a thing for you, didn’t I?”

“Oh, that’s cold T. That’s cold.” Faith teased, making Taunie and Dawn roll their eyes. “So where’s this chick you were telling me about last night?”

“The Texan? I dunno… I ducked her at lunch after I saw her talking to the cheer squad. Fuck!” The sudden loud cheering and standing of their bleechers made the girl flail, and both Dawn and Faith had to steady her. “Shit, I think we just made a goal or touchdown or whatever.”

“Touchdown.” Dawn supplied with a grin. “And I think so too.”

“Oi Buffy!” Taunie leaned forward and looked at the blonde on the other side of Faith. The crowd was starting to sit again, many of the men and boys there high-fiving and grunting like fools, at least in her opinion. “Which one’s the boy you’re helping?”

“Number thirty-seven. He’s on defense, so he’s not out right now.” Buffy offered over the cheering, smiling down at the field. “It’s almost half time, though. What took you so long?”

“Stalling.” Willow and Faith offered at the same time. Both Summers girls laughed, making Taunie grumble. “What Texan, Taunie?”

Nataunia glanced at Willow, not really sure what she was talking about for a moment. When it hit her, she laughed, and leaned closer to speak over the crowd. “I met this new girl a little bit of a walk away yesterday, helped her move some stuff inside since I slacked on my training session. She was pretty cool, but I didn’t feel like bein’ all social and stuff at lunch today, so I ducked hangin’ out with her. I’ll prolly catch up with her or somethin’ on Monday. No big.”

“She cute?” Willow teased, making Faith laugh.

“Eh, cute enough.” Taunie tried to shrug and seem nonchalant. “Didn’t really feel anything though.”

“I’m starting to think that you only like older women.” Willow teased more, and Faith snorted, laughing more and nudging at the girl. Dawn was, predictably, pouting. Taunie simply blushed, and glared.

TBC