Sunnydale, California

University of California, Sunnydale

Campus Quad

The mystery of the unknowing was a terrifying part for the Vampire Slayer. After all of the long and arduous hours of training with her Watcher, nothing had prepared her for this; The first day of college.

Buffy stood alone in the swarm of excited faces in the centre of the campus quad. She had lost her friends in the massive crowds. She had nothing but the orientation package in her arms. Her green eyes darted back and forth to the people zipping past her. Like usual, she felt like the last person to know something. The excitement and genuine smiles were completely lost on her.

Gathering the courage to search for her friends once more, Buffy took a deep breath and made the first step to manoeuvre herself through the massive crowd.

"Freshman!" A senior student advisor shouted holding a megaphone. She stood on top of tall boulders gathering the newly arriving students as they passed her. "We're doing this by class folder colour! If you're not holding a yellow folder, you're in the wrong group! That is a yellow folder!"

Buffy paused and glanced down at the folders in her arms. Her frown deepened when she realised she did not hold a yellow folder.

"Buffy!" Buffy whirled around thankful to finally see a friendly face. Grinning wildly, Willow moved around the students catching up with the Slayer. "Buffy! We're over here!" Willow waved her hand over a bunch of heads that blocked her pathway to the blonde woman.

Buffy nodded her head releasing a breath she had not realised she had been holding in.

"Hey, Will! Boy, am I glad to see you." Buffy said with great relief.

Willow's smile widened. Her eyes were bright as she looked around the active campus. "Isn't this cool? There's so much stuff going on!"

Buffy muttered a fake agreement as she fell into step with the redheaded witch. With amazement, Buffy looked at Willow as she effortlessly led them to the bookstore. Whatever was being said had fallen on deaf ears because Buffy could not keep up with Willow excited yammering.

She followed Willow's pointing finger to a group of protesters yelling at the top of their lungs and holding picket signs above their heads.

Nervously, Buffy blinked and swallowed, "Um, yeah, almost, one might say too much fun." She cleared her throat needing to the change the subject quickly. She noticed the colourful array of fliers in Willow's hands. "I see you got ticketed too."

"Oh, yeah!" Willow beamed. "Isn't it great!"

"Bookstore." Buffy gestured to the banner hanging over the entrance of the ginormous building which also duelled as a library. "Is Oz meeting us there?"

Clearly distracted by the fliers in her hands, Willow replied, "He saw some friends some time back. He'll catch up later—I've heard about five different issues and I'm angry about each and every one of them." Willow's pout shifted into a goofy smile.

Buffy released a small laugh and shook her head as they entered the Bookstore building.

Bookstore

Unsurprisingly, the Bookstore was crowded with nervous students and they're parents. Each aisle row was filled with newly arrived students searching for their class textbooks.

Buffy and Willow were no different than them.

"Here," Willow said pointing her finger up to the aisle label indicating the class subject. She scanned the titles of the textbooks carefully for a moment until finding the one she needed.

"I can't wait till mom gets the bill for these books," Buffy said taking the two books from Willow's hands and placed them in the basket balanced on her arm. "I hope it's a funny aneurysm."

Willow laughed and squealed when she spotted another textbook on the list. "Introduction to Psychology," she announced. "Up there."

Buffy followed Willow's index finger to the top shelf. With a frown, she passed the basket to Willow and moved to the tips of her toes straining her arm to reach up to the shelf. "This store discriminates against short people," Buffy said with a pout.

"I think there's a protest next week," Willow smirked waiting patiently for the books.

Buffy felt the textbook with the tips of her fingers. Slowly, she inched them closer and closer to the edge of the shelf. The unsteady textbook shifted unsteadily on the edge of the shelf before toppling down with a thud on an unsuspecting student kneeling on the floor reading a textbook.

"Oh! Oh god! I am so sorry!" Buffy winced with guilt.

The crouched young man patted a hand over the top of his aching head. He lifted his eyes to see his attacker. As soon as his eyes landed on her face, the air caught in his throat. He swore his heart skipped three beats. He had a sinking feeling he was drooling like a moron. As stupid as his expression might be at the moment, he couldn't help it. Never in his life had he seen a woman so beautiful before. His eyes darted around her face taking in her bright green eyes that stared at him widely. The slight parting of her lips that were incredibly enticing. The silky shine of her straightened blonde hair. Holy shit.

He swallowed and replaced his drooling expression with an easy smile. "Don't worry about it." He slowly stood tall holding the fallen textbook in his hand. "Let's, uh, put some of these right here." He placed the textbooks down on a lower shelf.

Buffy couldn't tear her eyes away from him. As soon as he looked up at her, his striking icy blue eyes sent her into a spiral. There was only one other time anyone had made her knees buckle, her throat dry, and made her stomach do summersaults. It was the first time she had met Angel in the alleyway.

She couldn't help but find his awkwardness endearing. Buffy watched as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you, uh, takin' Psych or somethin' or do you just want me dead?"

"Uh-huh," Buffy froze to where she stood mentally slapping herself. Ugh, you're an idiot. "I mean—the first one." She hoped to the Powers That Be that he didn't notice her cheeks flare up with embarrassment.

A lazy smile twitched at the corners of his perfect lips. He found her reddened cheeks and offhanded comments adorable. "Professor Walsh is, uh… a character. You won't be bored."

"You've taken her class?" Willow made herself known to the attractive rugged man for the first time.

He slowly turned his eyes from Buffy's face to Willow and shook his head, "Uh, no… A buddy of mine is a TA in the class. I'm Graham—by the way." He wanted to kick himself for sounding like a blabbering idiot.

"Willow," she gestured to herself then pointed at Buffy, "and this is Buffy."

Buffy. Graham repeated her name in his mind finding it perfect. The smile that was forming on his face couldn't be helped.

Buffy felt his intense eyes on her and began to shy away from them though all she wanted at that moment was to drown in their cool depths.

Willow sat back on the heels of her feet and watched the silent exchange of heavy attraction. She smiled finding the not-so-subtle flirtation between the pair highly entertaining.

"It's nice to meet you," Graham said.

"I'm nice to meet." Buffy blurted then immediately regretted even opening her mouth. Seriously?

"Yeah," Graham's smile widened, "you're very nice to meet."

Willow quickly plotted on how to keep this man around for a little while longer hoping Buffy would get more acquainted with him. She found this man surprisingly perfect for her best friend despite only just meeting him.

"Graham," she noticed the book on Dietrich in his hands and asked, "what are your thoughts on Dietrich?" Willow paused wondering why she couldn't just ask a simple question like 'what's your favourite colour?'.

Graham tore his eyes away from Buffy to answer Willow's question. Buffy's face fell with disappointment knowing she was unable to actively participate in the academic conversation. Well, it's not like you were doing so well during a 'regular' conversation. She sighed heavily and turned her attention to students and parents filing out of the Bookstore.

Unbeknownst to her, Graham's eyes actively glanced in her direction more often than not. Whatever was being said by Willow was on deaf ears. Graham was distracted by Buffy and watching her every movement. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

Every now and then Graham would grunt a response. Willow was not offended in the least. She found it amusing how he longingly stared at Buffy. Desperately, Willow wanted to shake that 'far off' look in Buffy's eyes knowing she was completely out of the conversation and her mind was elsewhere.

Oh boy. Willow smiled to herself watching the pair in front of her.