The Glitch 2.0

She’d been able to keep in mind where the pizza shop was pretty easily. It was the closest provider of cheap food to the motel, which meant that she passed it whenever she went anywhere. She’d had a single slice before, though, and it was surprisingly good for such a dive. She tried not to think about what the health standards had to be, and had gotten as advice from another patron of the place that she only wanted to order pizza and soda. Considering that there were the typical options of breadsticks, wings, and even cinnamon buns as dessert on the menu, she had decided not to wonder at what was wrong with everything else, since the pizza was consumable… mostly.

“M’kay… the Summers live on Revello… how the hell do I get to Revello?” She grumbled, poking absently at the crust of the pie she’d gotten. It was better to think about what she had to do than to have to think about the possible sanitary conditions or lack-there-of of the kitchens… or even worse, what magical and Sunnyhell-like things they might be doing to the food that wasn’t pizza. “To find a Summers, I need Revello… fuck what was the address… sixteen-something…”

That was strange too. She couldn’t quite remember the address, which she was fairly sure she would have been able to do before being dropped into the middle of Sunnydale. For the moment, she was simply hoping that it was a product of landing badly when being dropped, literally, into the cemetery, or from fainting a few times maybe. “You mean Dawn?” The question surprised her out of her thoughts, and she turned, mid-chew, to look over her shoulder at a greasy-looking punk-boy that was only a booth away. His friend looked very stereotype nerd to her, which was surprising simply for the fact that she had been pretty certain that the town was cliquish to an extreme.

“Dawn… right, sure.” She smiled nervously and swallowed hard to make sure she wasn’t spewing masticated pizza everywhere. “You’re friends with her? I need to find her house.”

“She’s in my Lit class.” He smiled broadly, and she got a sudden whiff of his breath, nearly making her gag. “Um, it’s in my student directory or something I think… er… I could… help you find it.” The suggestive tone creeping into his voice disturbed her, and Nataunia thought rapidly to attempt to dissuade him.

“Er… I don’t need that, really. Thanks though. I know she lives of Revello Dr. Sixteen-something… 1630 I think? Maybe… sixteen-thirty-or-something. I’m just kinda new to the area and don’t know which way to go to get there.”

“Oh.” He deflated slightly, and she couldn’t tell if his spiked hair had actually wilted from disappointment, or possibly his breath, or if she was imagining it. Any of the three were possible, considering it was a hellmouth. She just hoped that he wasn’t actually some bad-breathed demon and the spiked hair was head-spikes and she’d told him where they lived. “Um, I can draw you a map on a napkin! And, um, maybe put my number on the other side.”

“Right…” She smiled and reached for both one of the napkins on her table, and another slice of the pizza, turning to hand him the flimsy paper as she stuffed more food into her mouth. She’d have to duck out as soon as she had the ‘map’ if she planned on actually learning how to get there before the sun rose. She needed like… MapQuest permanently linked into her brain. She watched as the boy drew out a sketchy and somewhat dubious map, much to the amusement of his nerdy friend, and tried not to bounce in place too impatiently. “So… um… what’re you two boys doing here?”

“Jack lives a couple blocks from here. I was tutoring him, so he decided to treat me to dinner.” The nerdy boy said with a soft blush, smiling, though his shy eyes were still turned mostly to the greasy punk boy. Nataunia tried not to grin in a goofy manner at the little gay-boy, glancing away before she did and noticing the wings on the table next to the nerd. “I’m Clyde.”

“Oi… no no no no.” She hopped out of the booth and grabbed the basket of wings, quickly tossing them in a nearby trashbin, much to the confusion of the boys. Absently, she grabbed her jacket too, and swung the remaining half of her pepperoni pie to their table before she took the napkin. “Pizza only boys. Gotta jet.”

She was just starting up the bike, glancing curiously at the napkin map, when she saw the spiky-haired head of ‘Jack’ pop out of the door. “Hey! What’s your name, hot-stuff?!” Her head shot up and she frowned at him, sliding the helmet on and spinning the bike so she didn’t have to linger. “Wait!”

“Call me Taunie, and take my advice about the food!” She yelled back, and quickly sped off before he could call her hot-stuff again. Note to self, cannot punch the greasy punk boy with bad breath for calling me hot-stuff. I’d probably get his stink on me. It was a snippy, bitch-like thought, but she was pretty sure that she’d have to keep that thought memorized if she encountered him again, and he started hitting on her. Which is possible if he lives close enough to the motel that he considers the pizza parlor a suitable place for his tutor’s dinner.

By the time she’d actually found Revello, and the humble Summers residency, it was a goodly portion through the night. Twice the napkin had flown out of her hand, and she’d gotten lost three or four times when finding her way back to where she’d been when it flew away. When she was finally sitting on the bike, looking down the street at the house, it was late enough that the two Slayers looked to be getting in from whatever patrol they’d taken. It was kind of shocking, how much like the show the house looked, and she had to wonder if it had been created in her world simply to make transition, and acceptance, easier for her. But that would imply that I’m important enough for the Powers to interfere like that… which hello, I’m not. I’m unimportant enough that the mistaken of being born in the wrong world went unfixed for almost eighteen years.

~

“Yo… Dawn…” the girl tried her hardest to ignore, very thoroughly, the gross boy that sat behind her. It was bad enough that he was back there every class, breathing his nasty breath in her direction, she was not going to turn around and give him the impression that they were friends. “Dawn! Come-on, girl. Hello, I know you can hear me. What’s up with the hottie? She a friend of the family or something?”

She sighed, and huffed indignantly, turning the glare at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Leave me alone.” Dawn turned back to the front, trying to ignore him, and looked at the half-assed attempt at dragging on the lesson the teacher was making. The old man had seemed distracted the entire class, which wasn’t making it easy to feign interest herself.

“The upperclassman, Taunie. She looked like an upperclassman.” The greaseball continued, nudging her, and Dawn quickly glanced around in embarrassment. It didn’t look like anyone else had noticed him talking to her. “You know… hot, five-something tall, wavy brown hair… or was it red… it kinda looked brown-red… would you call that brown or red…” She continued trying to ignore him, staring imploringly at the clock. “She was pierced too. Eyebrow, and I think I saw a tongue piercing… you know what that kinda girl is like…” Dawn could only roll her eyes, and then rush to get everything together and then get out when the bell finally rang. “Damn, you’re-fucking-welcome for telling her how to get to your place. Shit, I feel appreciated.”

She almost stumbled, stopping quickly enough to catch that, and then turned to stare at him. “Who?”

“Taunie… the hot upperclassman-looking chick… I met her at the pizza place, gave her directions. You owe me, man, for drawing out the map for her. Should totally hook me up with her, biker chicks rock…” He was babbling, but Dawn’s eyes widened and she quickly ran off to find her sister, leaving behind a confused and crudely gesturing stank-breath-boy behind.

“Buffy!” Dawn yelped as she nearly collided with her blonde older sister at the office, and struggled to not drop everything in the process. The Slayer, of course, managed to keep the papers and folders in her hands from slipping without much effort. “This guy, in class…” The somewhat gawky teen began, pulling her sister back into the cubicle and going on with wide eyes. “… there was a girl and a pizza place and he said she was looking for me and gave her directions to our house and it was probably last night because he’s always asking me to go to that grease-pit over toward the skeezy end of town with him and she knows where we live now!”

“Wow, okay, freaked out much? Deep breath and slow down.” Buffy said, looking at her in an amused and skeptical manner. “Try that one more time.”

Dawn huffed and glared at her, irritated that Buffy hadn’t understood the first time around, and already knowing from the expression that her sister doubted that it was really worth the worry. “This gross guy in my English class sits behind me. He’s always asking me to go out to this grease-pit pizza place in the skeezy end of town with he and his tutor.” She sneered and shivered at the mere thought. “He was all up behind me in class today and asking about this girl, or whatever, that he met there last night. She was asking about me and he gave her directions to our house, and drew out a map for her.” Dawn frowned at the blonde, noting how Buffy barely looked concerned.

“Did he tell you anything else about her? You asked, right?” Buffy asked, re-shuffling her papers and folders, ready to go on about her business. Dawn huffed again, but blushed slightly.

“He kept calling her hot and a hottie, and said she’s got long brown-red hair, or red-brown, or whatever. He babbled about that a lot.” She rolled her eyes, then blushed again. “And then stuff about her eyebrow and tongue piercing… but he said she looked like an upperclassman and rode a motorcycle, and called her Taunie.”

“Hm… okay, I’ll keep an eye out.” Buffy said, and yawned as she checked the time. “Go on to class, I’ll see you at home for weapons work.”

“Geeze.” Dawn huffed and spun, starting to storm out of the offices. “Thanks for the tip, Dawn. You were right to be concerned, Dawn. Good job, Dawn. It’s not like you’re the Slayer or anything, or like a Hell-god tried to use me to open a portal before. No… nothing like that.” Buffy watched her moody sister rant to herself as she left the office, and simply shook her head, wondering if she was that dramatic at Dawn’s age.

TBC