Chapter 2
“Sum-mers,” Elizabeth said in a slow, careful voice. “Sum-mers. S-U-M-M-E-R-S. Summers.”
At the register next to her, Faith was having the exact same problem. “Vlo-re,” she leaned forward onto the table, hoping enhanced views of her cleavage would encourage better service. “Vlo-re. V-L-O-R-E.”
“Hang on, I’ll check.” Faith’s postal agent had apparently been inspired and ducked into the room in back.
“What’d I say?” Faith said with a wry grin. “Works every time.” She turned to where Elizabeth was waiting for her agent to look something up on the computer. “This is insane, hey E?”
“No kidding,” Elizabeth agreed.
“I’m terribly sorry, miss,” the woman behind the counter offered her an apologetic smile, “but we’re always swamped at the beginning of the school year. And now our computer system is malfunctioning, and—”
“Faith Vlore,” Faith’s agent returned. “It was just the three?”
“Four,” Faith emphasized.
He sighed and slid the three boxes from the handcart to search for her missing shipment.
“At least you’re three fourths of the way there,” Elizabeth sighed. “I’m still stuck at square one…”
“How are we doing?” Xander and Oz reentered the post office and slipped through the line to where Elizabeth and Faith were waiting. Xander had gotten his boxes in all of one minute. Elizabeth had, after much consideration, decided it would be unfair to kill him because of this fact.
“Number four for Vlore,” Faith’s agent announced proudly. “If you’ll just sign here…”
“I am so out of here!” Faith agreed, heaving the first of her boxes into her arms.
Elizabeth waited for her agent and guarded box number four while Xander, Oz, and Faith carried out to the van. Her stuff still hadn’t been located by the time they returned.
“We’re just gonna make a quick run back to the dorm,” Oz informed her, “get Faith’s stuff dropped off. We’ll be right back.”
“Go ahead,” Elizabeth agreed. “It looks like I’ll be a while.”
“Do you want someone to stay with you?” Xander offered, lifting up the last of Faith’s boxes. “Keep you company?” He had this odd kind of hopeful look in his eyes.
“I’ll be fine,” Elizabeth assured him. “Faith’s boxes need you.”
He flashed her a shy little grin and turned to go back outside.
“See ya, E,” Faith said as she headed out.
“Be back soon,” Elizabeth agreed, “…hopefully…”
“You did say Elizabeth Summers?” her agent finally asked. “Because I just found our master list, and the only Summers is…”
“Buffy,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“The six, then?” the agent inquired.
“Yeah.” Elizabeth’s face was flushing a bright red. Why exactly couldn’t she have remembered to use her full name while shipping?
The six boxes quickly appeared and were signed for. A strategic technique of moving each three feet at a time finally got her and them out to the curb.
As she sat and waited for Oz’s van to return, she carefully blacked out the nametag of each box. The name was something she didn’t need a reminder of. “Here one day, and already it’s popped back up,” she grumbled under her breath.
“You waiting for someone?” A voice suddenly broke into her train of thought.
She looked up to see…a guy. Tall, athletic, broad-shouldered, blond, bland – exactly her type. He flashed her a wide grin, and she managed a little smile in response.
“A ride,” she gestured to the boxes. “Can’t carry all these home by myself.”
He nodded in agreement. “You want some company?”
“Sure.” She kept her expression bright. This was the sort of thing that was supposed to happen at college, right? Meet good-looking guy…
“I’m Riley Finn,” he sat down on the curb beside her.
“Bu-er, Elizabeth Summers,” she replied. Inwardly, she was slapping herself. She hadn’t made that mistake since she first got here, but something about Riley reminded her of…
“So, Elizabeth,” he said with a broad grin. “You’re a freshman?”
“That obvious, huh?” she said with a sigh.
“You’ve kind of got that stunned rabbit look to you,” he agreed.
She managed a wry laugh. “Yeah, well, moving in and registering for classes – it all makes for a fun, stress-filled weekend.”
He glanced at her in an appraising way that she was all too familiar with. “If you want a break,” he informed her, “there’s a party at Delta Phi tonight.”
“Don’t classes start tomorrow?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he agreed, “so it’s the last night we’ll get to party for a while. You should come.”
“I’ll think about it,” she assured him just as she saw Oz’s van rounding the corner. “My ride,” she informed him, getting to her feet.
His brow furrowed as he rose as well. “Osborne,” he said coolly when Oz stepped from the van.
Oz’s eyes narrowed slightly. It was the most vehement reaction Elizabeth had seen from him so far. “Finn.” He proceeded to walk around the larger man to retrieve one of Elizabeth’s boxes.
“You know this guy?” Riley turned to Elizabeth. He saw that she was lifting one of the boxes on her own and immediately moved to take it from her.
Elizabeth bit her lip. Something was going on here, and she didn’t quite know what it was. “We live across the hall from each other,” she agreed.
Oz purposefully brushed Riley aside as he grabbed a second box. Not to be outdone, Riley quickly put his first into the van. Elizabeth moved to grab the last one, but Riley quickly took it from her.
“I’ve got it,” he said simply.
Xander watched the strange three-way dynamic, just as confused as Elizabeth was.
“A word of friendly advice,” Riley finally said. “There are all kinds of different people here…” He looked pointedly at Oz. “Some are better to associate with than others.”
Oz’s eyes were narrowed to slits by now, but he didn’t respond, climbing into the driver’s seat of the van instead. “Let’s go,” he said simply.
“See you tonight,” Riley said confidently to Elizabeth before walking off.
She and Xander exchanged a confused look before climbing into the van. “Someone care to tell me what that was about?” Xander asked.
“What?” Faith, who had not left the van, asked.
“If you can’t say something nice…” Oz began, a hint of anger in his voice.
“What?” Faith repeated, curious now.
“Some guy named Riley Finn,” Elizabeth explained. “I get a feeling there’s some history…” She looked pointedly at Oz.
He sighed. “Finn’s from an entirely different world,” he explained. “Big brass military family. Doesn’t take to poor ‘draft-dodging hippies’ well.”
“You’re a hippie?” Elizabeth asked, confused.
“I’m ‘that sort’ of people,” Oz shrugged. “Finn’s got a black-and-white world view, and if you’re not exactly like him…” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be saying all this.”
“That hunk of lunchmeat?” Faith looked out the window. “Wound up tight…but he might still be fun for a quick roll…”
Xander and Elizabeth both blushed and looked away, still unused to Faith’s bluntness. Oz seemed oblivious.
“I’m not saying anything more,” the young musician said simply, “but you want the full story on Finn, you just ask Spike.”
“ ‘Spike’?” Elizabeth repeated in disbelief.
“He’ll probably show up some time tonight,” Oz clarified as they arrived at their dorm.
Moving Elizabeth’s stuff upstairs was a simple, if tiring, affair, and they all rested in Elizabeth and Willow’s outer-room-cum-house-lounge while they waited for the other freshmen to materialize out of Westing Hall’s masonry.
“Jonathan’s taking his placement tests this morning,” Oz explained. “He should be back around noon. Does anyone know where Kathy is?”
“Maybe she went to register early,” Faith suggested, flipping through her course guide. “Whattaya think, E, art history or music history?”
Elizabeth made a wry face. “Do I hafta choose?”
“Graduation requirement,” Faith agreed.
“Why?” Elizabeth complained. “It’s not like I’ll ever use that stuff…”
“And I never used my math courses for anything,” Oz pointed out, “but I’m still glad I took them.”
“It’s cruel and unusual that I still have to take math,” Elizabeth decided.
“I think labs are what are cruel and unusual,” Xander countered. “Four whole hours?”
“Bio or physics?” Oz asked.
“I haven’t decided,” Xander shrugged.
“Do bio,” Oz advised. “Lab section five. Willow’s the proctor. She’ll be ultra-efficient and get you out early.”
Faith, Elizabeth, and Xander exchanged a look. “Sold!” they announced in perfect unison, laughing as they filled out the time slot.
“There,” Elizabeth said, “I think I’m done.”
“Whatcha got?” Faith leaned over to look at her schedule. “Bio, math,” – Elizabeth made a face – “English, and Econ. Fun,” Faith said sarcastically.
“My back-ups are even funner,” Elizabeth said with a grimace.
“Not as fun as mine,” Faith teased. “Math’s my number one back-up.”
“I’ve got art history,” Elizabeth countered.
“Math is so much worse,” Faith retorted.
“Depends who’s teaching,” Oz commented with a shrug.
At that moment, enthusiastic footsteps sounded up the stairwell, sounding like a whole herd of kangaroos. Kathy burst into the lounge several seconds later. “Guess where I’ve been?” she asked cheerfully, not waiting for a response before answering. “Tri Xi was having this bake sale to encourage rushers, and they let me help out! It was super fun!”
“What?” Elizabeth’s face fell. “I missed it?”
“It’s OK,” Kathy reassured her. “It was totally optional. But, guess what? Delta Phi’s holding this awesome party tonight, and—”
Oz snorted derisively.
“You’ve got a problem?” Kathy demanded testily.
“I wouldn’t recommend binge drinking the night before classes start, yeah,” Oz said simply enough.
Kathy rolled her eyes. “Oh, what do you know?” She turned back to Elizabeth. “C’mon, we so have to go! I’ll introduce you to all the sisters and everything!”
Elizabeth had the irrational feeling that dozens – no, hundreds – of people were staring at her, waiting to judge her decision. She forced a smile onto her face. “Sure,” she agreed.
“Spiffy!” Kathy exclaimed. “Quick, let’s go now, stop by the house and—”
“Registration,” Oz pointed out.
Kathy cast him an annoyed look. “We can do that later,” she insisted. “C’mon, who’s with me?” She looked pointedly at Elizabeth.
“Er, yeah,” she agreed, picking up her registration to take with her. “Can I just drop this off real quick?”
Kathy let out a resigned sigh. “But you’d better hurry up,” she finally agreed.
* * *
Elizabeth and Kathy waited at the end of a decent-sized line of freshmen while Kathy babbled about everything that had happened thus far. “So then Cindy tells me that she, like, totally used to go out with him, but then he got all into debate and dropped football. I mean, what kind of loser would—”
“Who is this?” Elizabeth abruptly realized she should be paying attention.
“Oz’s freshman roommate,” Kathy rolled her eyes. “I mean, who does he think he is, anyway? All, ‘I’m in a band. I’m so cool. Everybody look at what a great freak I am’,” she did a horrible impression. Of what, Elizabeth could only guess.
“Oz?” she said in disbelief. “He seems nice. What’ve you got against Oz?”
“He refused to date Sarah, for one,” Kathy retorted.
“And Sarah is…?”
“Secretary/Treasurer of Tri Xi!” Kathy exclaimed. “How could you possibly not know who Sarah is?”
“Oh,” Elizabeth tried to chuckle wryly and act like she’d known all along, “that Sarah.”
“Yeah, well,” Kathy went on, “she’s a Wilmington. As in the bankers?”
“Yeah, my dad works with them,” Elizabeth agreed.
“That common little punk refused her,” Kathy said in disbelief. “In front of, like, half the sisters. Like that little rodent thinks he’s better than her or something!”
“Maybe he just wasn’t interested,” Elizabeth shrugged.
“He’s just a loser, is what,” Kathy retorted. “And don’t even get me started of the others. Did you know that Xander’s the first in his family to even go to college? Faith, too. And could she be any more of a whore? All those skanky, black clothes… And Jonathan. Let’s just say Nerd Central. I mean, who places out of calculus?”
“Math majors?” Elizabeth said, starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable. This just felt so much like home – a sensation she’d thankfully avoided thus far.
“Exactly,” Kathy agreed, oblivious to Elizabeth’s thoughts. “Losers. What kind of school sticks people like us in dorms with such freaks anyway?”
“I think it was done randomly,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“Your dad’s Summers of Stockton and Associates Consulting, right?” Kathy demanded.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed.
“So, don’t you think you’re entitled to something a little better?”
“The people here don’t know who my dad is,” she pointed out.
“Oh god!” Kathy exclaimed into her hands. “We’re trapped in a school for losers. This used to be a cool place, you know, very prestigious, back before they let all the riff-raff in…”
“Maybe it’s not so bad as you think,” Elizabeth suggested. “After all, classes haven’t even started yet.”
“True,” Kathy agreed. “Things should pick up after we get out of that hellhole of a dorm and in with actual cool people.”
“Yeah…” Elizabeth said reluctantly. Truth be told, the only person she’d met so far that she disliked was Kathy.
“Isn’t this line ever gonna move? Kathy complained.
“You can go ahead without me,” Elizabeth offered.
“Really?” Kathy said hopefully. “’Cause I wanna help Cindy decorate for the party tonight, and—”
“Go ahead,” Elizabeth assured her. “I’ll catch up.”
“Great,” Kathy said with a broad smile. “You are so cool, Elizabeth.” She thought for a second. “You need a nickname,” she decided, “something less…blah, Elizabeth. What about ‘Bitsy’? That’s cute…”
“Not Bitsy,” Elizabeth cringed.
“All right then,” Kathy shrugged, “you think of one. See ya later! Bye! Bye!” And, with that, she dashed off.
“Good riddance,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath.
* * *
“Hi, pumpkin!” Hank Summers’ voice over the phone was the first thing that greeted her when she returned to her room.
“Hi, Daddy!” she tried to sound bright and cheerful, instead of completely exhausted. Inwardly, she was wincing at the report she had to give him and wishing she could put it off just a little bit longer. He would not be pleased at what she had to say…
“So, how are things way over in New York?” he asked in a tone more appropriate to someone half her age. In all fairness, though, that was the last any he’d spent any time with her.
“Fine,” she said with a wry laugh. “Where are you?”
“Sunnydale, actually,” he replied. “I had a meeting in LA and decided to make a quick drop by. Your family’s all doing fine, but we miss you, Buffy.”
“Elizabeth,” she reminded him.
There was an annoyed sigh at the other end. “You’re not keeping up that ridiculous plan of yours, are you?”
“Elizabeth’s my name!” she insisted.
“You’ll always be my little Buffy,” he said in a way she was sure was supposed to sound reassuring. She decided it was more condescending. “So,” he said, “did you sign up for classes and everything?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she agreed.
“Did you get the good ones?”
“I decided to get all the requirements out of the way first,” she hedged.
“Oh. What are you taking?” he demanded.
“Bio, English, American history, and art history.” She crossed her fingers and hoped that the list would meet with his approval. Econ had been booked up, and she really hadn’t felt like doing math this semester…
“That’s a bit…frivolous, don’t you think?” he finally commented.
“I need them all to graduate,” she pointed out.
“Shouldn’t you at least take an econ class?” he demanded. “Get a head start on your major…”
“Intro was full,” she informed him. “I’ll take it next semester.”
“Do you want me to call the school?” he asked. “Get you in?”
“No, dad,” she insisted, “it’s just fine.”
“I’ve got a friend of a friend who’s on the board of directors…”
“I’ll take it later!” she exclaimed.
He sighed. “All right then,” he finally agreed. “Go easy your first semester – not a bad idea. Allow you to get more partying in, am I right? Have you met the girls over at Tri Xi yet?”
“Nope,” Elizabeth said, “too busy today. There’s a party tonight, though.”
“Good,” Hank said brightly. “You go and have fun. Some friends of mine have kids there, too. You might want to try meeting—”
“Dad!” Elizabeth exclaimed.
He chuckled. “Right, sweetie,” he agreed. “You’ll meet them yourself. I just want to know that someone’s looking out for my little girl…”
“I’ll be fine, Dad,” she repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time.
“Great,” he said enthusiastically. “Good luck with your big day tomorrow!”
“Thanks, dad. Bye, dad.” She hung up with a sigh of relief.
“Given your high levels of enthusiasm, I’m guessing that was a parent you just hung up on,” Willow entered their room with a wry smile.
“My dad,” Elizabeth agreed, flopping back onto the bed with a weary sigh. “Just called to give me the annual ‘I may be an absentee father, but I still insist on running your life’ speech.”
Willow winced. “My dad wanted me to go to Harvard,” she agreed. “My mom wanted me to go to Columbia. Fortunately, neither of them were home the month college applications were due, so I got to do what I wanted.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yeah, I’m sort of hoping my dad will just forget about me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Willow assured her. “Once school starts, you’ll be too caught up in work to even think about it.”
“This is supposed to be encouraging?” Elizabeth laughed.
Willow chuckled as well. “Maybe not,” she agreed, “but it’s true.” She checked her watch. “Dinning hall opens soon. Do you wanna eat dinner?”
Elizabeth was torn. “I promised Kathy I’d help her set up for the Delta Phi party…” she began.
Willow batted one hand in the air dismissively. “There’ll be plenty of time for that once you rush,” she insisted. “Come, eat with us while you’re still here.”
Elizabeth didn’t really need to be persuaded. To tell the truth, she felt more like sleeping five days than going out to a party this evening – especially since she had to be up bright and early for class tomorrow morning. So, she joined Willow in her trip down to the dinning hall.
Now, college was supposed to be a pivotal life-changing experience. She knew that. What she didn’t know, as she sat down at the Westing House table next to a peroxide blond she’d never seen before, was that this was that moment in her life. The one that would change everything…