Author Note: I'm not quite sure where this came from but hope you enjoy.

It's not been betad so all mistakes are my own.

It was now four days, six hours and twenty-five minutes since he had said goodbye to Amy and Mels. Amy had actually cried while she hugged him tightly promising that she would write every day. Rory hugged her back knowing she'd never manage it then, to his surprise, Mels launched herself at him and hugged him as well.

Missing his two best friends on this his first day at a new school in a new country Rory stared out the window of his new bedroom.

It was sunny.

Again.

For the third day in a row in September the sun was shining brightly.

Rory scowled at the sky.

"Honey," his mother called from downstairs, "It's time to go."

With a long sigh Rory picked up his bag and dragged himself down to where his mother and step-father stood waiting for him.

"Come on, Sport," Nick smiled at him, "It's not going to be that bad."

Rory frowned at his step-father but didn't say anything instead heading to the car.

He liked Nick, he did.

Nick had been great to Rory and his mum since they met him after his dad died. Then Rory's mum married him and they moved here.

To Sunnydale California.

x

At eleven years old Rory hadn't quite hit his growth spurt but his limbs at times seemed to double in size, he was wiry and had the ability to trip over nothing. His sandy blond hair was long and had a habit of getting in his eyes but he didn't want it cut because if it was cut then he couldn't hide behind it.

School was already the nightmare he'd expected it to be.

They'd made him stand at the front of the class where the teacher introduced him, explaining how he was from a different country and to make him welcome. The kid who was told to show him round stood in the centre of the corridor after class and pointed out things to him before leaving to have lunch with his friends.

Rory followed the crowd and found the canteen. Not used to the money yet it took him longer than it should have to find what he owed and he could feel all the kids in the queue behind him getting annoyed. Finally he managed to pay and headed to find a seat realising suddenly how completely alone he was. Normally he would have Amy waving him over to a table where Mels was waiting to steal the chocolate cookie he had – which he got for her anyway.

Now he had nowhere to go and scanned the room quickly for an empty table or part of a table he could use.

"Hi," a voice made him turn slightly and almost drop his tray to find a girl standing here with red hair, "Do you want to join us for lunch?"

Rory looked over her shoulder and saw two boys sitting there, one with dark almost black hair the other lighter brown. He looked back at the girl and nodded, the last time he'd agreed to sit with a red-head for lunch he'd found his best friend.

When he slid into the spare seat the girl smiled at him, "I'm Willow."

"Xander," the darker haired of the two boys smiled before pointing to the other who had a mouth full of food, "That's Jesse."

"Rory," he introduced himself.

"Sorry about Kevin," Willow told him, "If I didn't have a doctor's appointment this morning I would have been the one to show you round. Is it true you're from England?"

Rory nodded softly.

He was suddenly barraged with questions about himself and stared at them a little blankly, "Why do you want to know?"

"Hate to tell you this," Xander said with a grin, "But you're probably the most interesting thing to happen in Sunnydale for a while."

Rory started to laugh and by the end of lunch he had three new friends.