Like Other Girls...

Yes I realize that I’ve changed Kendra’s personality greatly, but since she was not raised by a watcher, instead by her single father, and is from Sunnydale… I figured that several aspects of her personality and behavior would have changed from those differences. Besides, it’s my story *sticks tongue out childishly* lol.
Anyway, please don’t kill me for having not updated for so long. Life and work get in the way of many things, including fanfic writing.


“Hi! I mean… hi. Um… Willow, right?” Everyone looked up from where they were lounging in the Quad for lunch, to see a pretty black girl nervously shifting from foot to foot. Willow smiled a bit, though confused, and nodded, starting to stand. “No… er… I mean, you don’t have to stand up. I just wanted to come over and… I…”

“Do ya wanna sit down or not?” Faith chuckled, turning back to her food when the girl stared at her. “Well?”

She quickly sat, a blush lightening her cheeks slightly, and fiddled with the book bag in her hands. “Thank-you. I’m… I’m Kendra Young.”

“Buffy. That’s Tara, Jesse, Faith, and you obviously already know who Willow is.” Buffy smiled in a friendly manner, and then raised an eyebrow at the redhead, who shrugged in response.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Are you new?” Jesse asked, and took a too-large bite of his sandwich.

“I… no.” She laughed a little nervously. “I’m just shy. I… I don’t know a lot of people.” Once more the girl fidgeted with her book bag, and swallowed. “It’s just I… um… always noticed Willow around. She seemed nice. I…”

“It’s nice to meet you too Kendra. Thank you.” Willow provided as the girl trailed off. Shy was an understatement. Willow was shy. Tara was shy. This girl, she was a meek little mouse. The redhead smiled brightly. “So you went to SHS last year too?”

Kendra nodded, grateful for the subject change, and noticed Faith and Buffy giving each other a strange look behind the redhead’s back. The other blonde, Tara she thought the smiling blonde had called her, was merely watching with a silent, soft grin. “Yes. My father… I was home schooled, but he decided I should go to a public high school. To… um… socialize.”

“Well, it looks like ya really needed it, Kennie.” Faith offered, shrugging with a smirk. It made Kendra blush again, and Buffy smacked the girl’s leg lightly. “What? She’s meek as a fuckin mouse B. Even Blondie’s not that bad.”

Tara eyed Faith, then smirked and leaned forward. “Be nice or I’ll convince Feathers to give you a lapdance again.” Faith snorted and choked on the can of soda she’d been drinking, turning incredulously to stare at Tara. Buffy and Willow just laughed, leaving Jesse and their newest lunchmate clueless. “You can ignore F- Faith. Her br-brain and mouth don’t connect.”

“Yes they do,” Buffy corrected, teasingly. “The filter between them, though, works about as well as Xander’s.” Tara giggled again in response, and Faith didn’t really know how insulted she should be by that. Maybe she needed to take a trip back to their old school and track down this guy they seemed to mention every once in a while.

“Don’t mind them.” Willow offered, rolling her eyes. “So do we have any of the same classes?”

Kendra bashfully shook her head. “I’m… um… I’m a year ahead of you.”

“Ooh baby Red, ya got the older women hittin’ on ya now.” Faith interjected, making Willow blush brightly and Jesse snort on his sandwich. Buffy stared at her meaningfully, raising her eyebrows, and Faith snickered even more, winking.

“Faith, I’m sure she’s not hitting on me. I’m not the hitting type. I mean… not that she’s striking me… but that is… She’s not…” Willow babbled, brain temporarily short circuiting on how to respond to that, especially in front of Tara, who was blushing, oddly. Buffy had to hold back a giggle at her red-headed friend’s response, especially with Kendra ducking her own head.

“Actually… um…” all eyes turned toward Kendra as she attempted to correct Willow’s babble. “I was kind of… wondering if you’d… go… to coffee with… um… me.” Kendra’s voice trailed off so much at the end of that that Willow, sitting next to her, could barely hear it. Jesse’s jaw dropped, revealing a half-masticated glob of sandwich, and Tara watched quietly as she picked up a portion of her own meal to eat. Faith bit her lip to keep from laughing before she finally just got up and strode away, shaking to contain it. Oh man this was priceless. Even B was staring.

Willow stammered incoherently for a moment, jaw working but no intelligible sounds emerging. Then, turning bright red up to the roots of her hair, she let her eyes drift quickly, and secretly, to Tara. Tara, who had a boyfriend… a very male boyfriend. No matter what Faith said Buffy said, did that even make sense, Tara still had a very real, very male boyfriend who was completely and utterly nothing like Willow. Ducking her own head, she answered in a way that shocked Buffy. “Um… sure.” Jesse started choking.

~

Faith stood next to Buffy, staring, dumbfounded, at Willow chatting shyly with Kendra at her locker. Had this really just happened? Just last week she and Buffy had been ready to plot fixing Willow and Tara up… just last week Willow had admitted to really liking Tara… and just yesterday at lunch the redhead had made a sudden turn away from the pair’s intended path and agreed to go on a date… with another girl. It wasn’t so much that someone had finally asked Willow out, Faith knew the redhead was cute enough in her own right, but that Willow had said yes to Kendra boggled the brunette. She continued staring, still in shock.

“They went out?”

It was the fifth time Faith had asked Buffy that, and the blonde let out an aggravated and tired sigh. “Yes, for the last time, they went out. Willow called me and told me all about it afterward.” Buffy provided, shifting the strap to her bag, still a little surprised by it herself. She, for one, hadn’t thought that Willow was ready to be that open about her… erm… preferences. As well, she could see how it was affecting her sister. “I think they had a good time. Apparently Kendra is thinking about culinary school… she cooks.”

Faith wondered where that came from. “She ‘cooks’?”

“Yeah. They talked about Kendra being home-schooled, and Willow’s parents being gone a lot… and discovered they both like cooking.” Buffy turned to look at Faith in surprise. “Willow’s not interested in becoming a chef, but she sounded really surprised and impressed that Kendra might.”

“That’s her winning point?” Faith asked, looking again at the shyly talking girls. “That she cooks? What about Blondie?”

“What do you think? Tara fidgeted all through dinner until I told her what Willow had told me.” Buffy sighed and closed her own locker. “This is going to cause as many problems as Billy the Bloody pain in my ass does.”

Faith chuckled and looked over at Willow and Kendra. Secretly, she was a little impressed. Even if she did go along with Buffy trying to fix Willow and Tara up, she had to admit, Willow had landed herself a hottie. Kendra wasn’t bad at all. “Whatever. Find me if ya figure somethin out. I’m gonna go sleep through class.”

~

It was, well, almost amusing. Jesse still couldn’t stop staring at Willow and Kendra, dumbfounded. They were at the Bronze, it being a Friday night, and Spike had even ridden down for a visit. Willow and Kendra were both too shy to dance together, but they still sat next to each other in the group, an erstwhile addition to their collection of friends. Buffy was currently filing a nail she’d broken, watching everyone else out of the corner of an eye. Faith had gone to fetch herself a drink of some kind, and Spike sat on the arm of Tara’s chair, looking uncomfortable. The band was good, with a small mob of supporters crowding close to the stage, and the music might have made the silence among the friends more comfortable, if Spike would stop fidgeting.

He kept looking at his girlfriend in discomfort, though why he had yet to say. He’d asked her if she was okay several times so far, receiving an ‘of course’ every time. Tara had seemed much like she was fine, and didn’t know why he was asking, and only Buffy could see that Tara seemed a bit strained, and that Spike had apparently noticed. Uncomfortable, Spike cleared his throat and gestured with his chin to gather Willow and Kendra’s attention. “So… Willow, I didn’t know you were into bints… though the call shoulda told me. Where’d you pick this one up?”

Willow blushed and Kendra looked between them, surprised at the biker-looking boy’s question. She’d grown to like most of the group, though Faith seemed a bit brash at times, and had been surprised by the supposed animosity between Buffy and her sister’s boyfriend. “I… um… kinda picked her… up.” Kendra provided when all Willow could do was stammer and blush. That made Spike laugh, though there was an almost nervous quality to it, and Buffy grunted, rolling her eyes.

“William, why don’t you just leave them alone. Go grease your axle or something.” Buffy groaned, putting away her file and determining that she’d saved the nail, mostly. Kendra stared at the blond, then looked quickly at Spike, as if she were watching a tennis or volley ball match.

“Bitter that yer pretty git ain’t interested, Elizabeth?” Spike asked with a sneer.

“Who’s a pretty git now?” Faith asked, flopping on the couch next to Willow and near Buffy’s chair. Spike grumbled something. “What? I didn’t know that Buffy had a git.”

“Neither did I.” Buffy grumbled, looking around. She should just go find someone to dance with. Faith laughed a bit at that, though her chuckles died off lamely as the tension continued to linger.

“Yo B, we should all get out there and dance, yanno? So as Red and her girl don’t get too embarrassed feelin’ each-other up in front’a people.” Faith offered. Her eyes shot to Tara briefly, and noticed the other blonde looking away.

“Actually Kendra… you and I haven’t really had much of a time to get to know each other.” Buffy said with a sudden smile, idea lighting her eyes and looking carefully at the girl. “As one of Willow’s very best friends…” she smiled at the redhead, who was glaring at her, “I’m going to have to insist on at least one go on the dance floor.”

“I… um… don’t know…” Kendra temporized, looking at Willow and noticing the redhead’s glare at her blonde friend.

“Oh go on Kennie. It’ll be fun. B won’t hurt ya.” Faith smiled and winked, and Buffy proceeded to drag the other girl off to the dance floor of the Bronze. “Don’t worry Red, B’ll be gentle.”

“Sure she will.” Willow glared after the two, looking suspicious. “What exactly does she want with Kendra anyway? Tara, you don’t think she’s going to scare her off?”

“I don’t see why she would.” Tara offered absently, still looking away, though this time she was watching her sister and Willow’s girlfriend out there dancing. Her own brows were knitted with confusion and curiosity though, too.

“So… how long did you like Willow before you finally got up the guts to talk to her? And with her group of friends no less. Brave girl.” Buffy asked with as friendly a smile as she could manage. She didn’t really intend to break Willow and Kendra up, per say. After all, Tara was still dating Spike, and that would be an awefully mean thing to do to her friend. Nevertheless, she did want to know where things stood.

“I…. I… I…”

“Cause, Will’s never dated a girl before… I don’t know if she’s ever even dated at all before. It’s a big step for her, and I hope this isn’t all just an act and that you’re going to break her heart.” Buffy continued, giving Kendra a meaningful look. Woops, did she just say that? As Kendra winced, Buffy coughed and actually did start to regret saying it.

“No… I… she…”

“Sorry… protective friend side coming out. I’ll retract the claws.” Buffy abruptly spun Kendra, and was surprised when the other girl managed to keep balance. “So you like Willow… that’s good. I’m glad. You two seem to be getting along well enough. She says you like to cook.”

“Yeah…” Kendra glanced back at the table, where Jesse was currently entertaining them with a story neither she, nor the blonde, could hear. Willow looked about as uncomfortable as she was. “Um… I do.”

“Alright then…” Buffy stared off as well, letting herself slip more and more into the music. Dear lord it was like pulling teeth trying to get Kendra to talk. She’d sick Faith on the girl, but she had a feeling that the brunette would get even less from her, what with Faith’s abrasive attitude. “You should dazzle us all with your culinary skills sometime soon. You can make the meal, I’ll buy the dessert… trust me you want nothing I’ve attempted in the kitchen… and Faith, Tara, and Willow can all pig out on the bounty of our effort. Girls’ picnic out.”

Kendra actually seemed to like the idea, and gave Buffy the first genuine smile she’d managed since being dragged away from the redhead. As the song finally ended, and both girls went back to the table, Spike actually looked at Buffy pleadingly. “Elizabeth! Wonderful. Say something insulting. It’ll entertain me.”

“I’m not here for your personal amusement, Spike.” Buffy growled, rolling her eyes and flopping into the seat she’d vacated. “So Kendra’s going to cook us a nice little picnic, and I’m responsible for dessert, and it’ll be a girls’ day out, so no mooching in, Jesse, Spike.”

“You’re going to bake?” Tara and Spike both said at the same time, looking horrified and shocked all at once. Faith couldn’t help but laughing then, even if she was going to have to find a way to not eat whatever it was that Buffy was going to bring. At least it was free food.

“Are you kidding me? I’d break another nail. No. I’m going to buy something.” Buffy snorted, and sounded appropriately snobbish in doing so. It resulted in more laughter, this time from her sister and Spike along with Faith. Willow was still watching her with thinly veiled suspicion, and Jesse was pouting at the loss of a free meal.

“How exactly did you wrangle her into that?” Willow finally asked, ready to object and save her girlfriend from whatever plans Buffy was putting her through. She’d had the feeling, ever since she and Kendra had started going out, that as supportive as Buffy was acting, the blonde didn’t approve.

“It sounded fun.” Kendra said, before Buffy could answer, though her voice was quiet. Everyone turned to stare at her, including Willow. Buffy smiled, as did Willow, and Tara plastered on a grin as well. “Besides, I want to get to know Tara.”

“Check it out Blondie, she likes the shy girls. Careful Red, Tara might steal her away from you.” Faith snickered, and exchanged a quick, confused glance with Buffy, who only shrugged as discreetly as she could.

Willow was, however, bright red, which was what Tara and Spike seemed to be paying attention to, and Kendra quickly began speaking again. “She’s… um… just the most quiet. I don’t know anything about her… but I’ve learned things about the rest of you… because you’re not… you know… as… quiet.”

Buffy turned to look at her sister, eyebrows raised, and then returned her gaze to Willow, tilting her head. The redhead laughed softly, nervously, and only shrugged in response, giving Buffy and the others no further insight. Needless to say, the rest of the night out, while not as tense as it had begun, was less than relaxing or fun for the most of them.

TBC