Chapter 10

Willow broke away from Tara's mesmerizing blue eyes to fix the immaculately dressed blonde with a glare. "Go away, Harmony."

Harmony cast a dubious look at the pair. "And just what made you think I'd want to hang around here with you freaks? Whatever it was you were doing…" she huffed, "well, I don't even want to know." She stepped towards the two young women and took a closer look at Tara, then Willow. "And why are you all cuddly with her? I thought you were dating that musician guy, Oz. Whatever." She turned on her heel and stalked back towards the door. As she pushed the door open with a manicured hand, she called over her shoulder, "I guess he was too good for you after all." The restroom door swung shut with a bang.

Tara jumped at the noise, looking back to Willow, who was sliding off the ledge. "W-what was that all about?" the blonde inquired.

"Oh, that, that was just Harmony. She's always like that," Willow answered, looking down for her backpack. "No one's really sure what her problem is. Bet my mom would love to try and figure it out, though."

Tara hopped down from the ledge as well, straightening her skirt. "So she's um, with the In Crowd?"

"Definitely with the In Crowd. In fact, she probably is the In Crowd. They're all just like clones of her, anyway." The redhead picked her bag up, then noticed the tissue box on the floor. As she stooped to pick it up, Tara crouched simultaneously. They both reached for the box, Willow getting it first. Tara's hand continued almost of its own will, gently making contact with Willow's. Both girls looked at their hands for a moment, then Tara pulled slowly away, her fingertips trailing over the back of Willow's hand. The blonde lifted her gaze again to meet Willow's. "I, I should go. I mean, you've got to go meet up with Buffy at the library. And-" Her fingers unconsciously balled closed as she stood again, blushing fiercely.

Willow nodded. "It, it's okay. I mean, you've got stuff to do too, right?"

"Yeah. But, um," she fumbled for what to say, not wanting to leave Willow.

"Thanks for listening, Tara," the redheaded girl said softly but earnestly. "And for being here. I'm really glad you stayed. It, you made me feel … less alone."

The blonde Wiccan gave a half-smile. "Me too. I'm glad I was here for you. And, I mean, none of my friends … they're both out today. So I was um, kinda alone, too."

"Oh. So you probably don't have anyone to sit with at lunch, do you?" Willow asked carefully. Tara shook her head. "Then, um, why don't you sit with me? I can meet up with Buffy later, it's no big."

"Really? I could sit with you?" Tara asked in disbelief.

Willow nodded. "Yeah, well, me and Xander anyway. Since Buffy's with Giles, and Cordy's not in school. And Oz isn't, isn't…" she trailed off.

"It's okay. I know."

~~

Outdoor lunch, Tara discovered, was pretty neat. There was the whole palm tree overhead thing happening. There were no creepy lunch ladies out here, and students tossed Frisbees and footballs to one another in the courtyard. And then there was Willow. Even though she was kinda down today, and the way Willow and Xander interacted was somewhat awkward, and it was probably only for today, Tara was seated across from the girl of her dreams.

"…So I called again right before you got here, and she still won't take my calls," Xander lamented. "I mean sure, she's had a pain-filled night, but don't they say laughter is the best medicine? I could always make her laugh. Well, usually. Okay, sometimes. But it's been known to happen."

Willow inclined her head. "Yeah, but she hasn't said to your face to leave you alone. I mean, recently. Well, besides that one time, a-at the hospital."

Xander shook his head. "I dunno, Will, it's not looking good." He popped a chip into his mouth. "See, normally, she'd take my calls and belittle me. That would be a sign things were getting back on track. It's like she doesn't even care enough to yell at me." He turned to Tara. "We aren't boring you here with our personal troubles, are we, Tara?"

"Oh, no, I'm okay. It just sounds like you had a really bad night, is all." She took a sip of her Coke.

"Boy, are you not kidding." The boy leaned towards Tara. "So why don't you lighten things up with something fun-filled that happened to you?"

The witch shook her head. "Oh, no, I-I kind of had a bad one last night, too."

Willow smiled encouragingly. "Well, how bad could it be?"

Taking a deep breath, Tara began, "Well, you know Amy and Michael?" Both teens nodded their heads in affirmation. "Well, they're both out today because … because of what happened."

"Wow, and we only took one person out of school," Xander said, then realized Willow was giving him a look. "Oops." He smiled apologetically. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"I'm not sure you want to know, it's pretty bad." She looked at both of them intently, but they seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out. "All right, here goes. We went into the magic shop yesterday afternoon; they wanted to show me some stuff. Books and um, candles and other things. But we couldn't find the shopkeeper. She, she didn't come out, so they went to the back to find her."

Willow's face showed surprise and realization. "I, I was at the magic shop yesterday. I bet that's where – oh my gosh. The lady in the shop! Her name was Andrea, I think. She was … she was dead, wasn't she?" the hacker asked hesitantly.

"Willster," Xander admonished her. "And the prize for subtlety goes to…"

Tara, meanwhile, confirmed that Willow was correct. "Yeah. They, they called her Andi. I guess they knew her pretty well. How did you know?"

"Um, something someone said. Last night."

"Uh, we should go talk to Buffy. Now." Xander tugged at Willow's sleeve, rising to make for the library.

"Well wait, we can't just leave Tara here, can we? Excuse us a second," Willow said politely to Tara. She then pulled her friend aside and leaned closer to him, whispering. "If she knows something, something that can help Buffy, she should come with us. She was in the magic shop, hanging out with Michael and Amy. She's gotta be a witch. I could feel something about her."

"But we're not sure how much she knows," Xander hissed. "And look at her. She's so … innocent. If we have to tell her, I don't know what will happen. Some people just don't take it very well that demons and vampires lurk on the streets of their happy town, waiting to eat them at night."

Willow gave him a level look. "You know perfectly well what'll happen, Xander. She won't know how to protect herself from anything that's out there, and she'll wind up as someone's happy meal. Maybe worse, she'll end up as one of them, and then we'll have to dust her."

The young man was torn with indecision. After a prolonged internal debate, he finally nodded his assent. "You're right, she should know."