Chapter Seven: The Tables Turn
Meeting Andrew was an eye-opener for me. It was the first time that I had a friend who just respected me for what I was and chose to hang out with me. He pretty much had it as rough as I did in high school. Although, instead of trying to kill himself, he tried to take out his frustrations on the people who caused them. I hear that the reason he sent those flying monkeys to attack the school play was because he lost some stupid chorus role in one of the like three plays that they actually put on while I went there. I never saw it. After the lame talent show sophomore year, I stopped going to drama stuff. I only went to that because Cordelia was in it. I have to say, much as I like her, her talent does not lie in singing. She should stick to acting.
Anyway, I met Andrew at the end of my freshman year of college. We had some computer classes together, and we got to talking about one of the assignments. After that we talked about other stuff. After a two hour long conversation about the merits of Nicholas Lea as a bad guy in film and tv, our friendship was pretty much sealed. We started hanging out in Andrew's basement, playing Bond on the PS2 and just generally goofing off. It was fun to have someone to do that stuff with. He was my first, and so far only, best friend.
I'm not saying all of this so anyone will feel sorry for me. I kinda just wanted Willow to know that it didn't start out bad. It started out good. It even stayed good for a long time. Warren's big idea is what made it bad, but I'll get to that later.
So things were going well for me by the end of the year. I'd see Willow and Buffy around campus. I had a different schedule than them, so I didn't see them too often. Every once in awhile Willow and Oz would say hi or even talk to me for a few minutes. Oz was still as cool as he was in high school. I don't think he ever changed. Even the werewolf thing didn't affect him that much. Although, I guess that might have had something to do with Tara showing up later on. I never found out the whole story, but I got the impression that things between Willow and Oz didn't exactly end on a happy note.
Freshman year at UC Sunnydale was pretty similar to high school. The only differences were Andrew and a higher rate of disappearances and mysterious deaths. I also saw more demony things crawling around campus. I never seemed to see the same ones twice, though, so I guess Buffy was doing a good job. Well, and the Initiative. I'm still not sure exactly what that was, but I have a bunch of notes about it from when I created that alternate reality. Apparently Buffy's boyfriend, Riley, had something to do with it. I'm not too clear on that one. He seemed a little too "All- American" to be into anything covert. But hey, I doubt anyone would have anticipated me and Andrew being super-criminals. Warren, on the other hand, was always meant to be one.
Well, I guess this is about the time Warren comes into the story. Andrew and I met Warren at the end of the summer after freshman year. We went to one of Andrew's brother's poker games to hang out. Tucker had just gotten out of jail for an incident at prom where he tried to kill all of the students (good for me that he didn't succeed- Buffy foils yet another plan), and he got his old group of friends together to play some poker and basically just start having fun again. Warren was there with his girlfriend, playing a little poker, but mostly just hanging out and talking to her. I guess they couldn't have privacy at his parents' house.
I should have known something was up with him as soon as I met his girlfriend, April. She was a little too attentive to his needs. She pretty much worshipped the ground he walked on. Warren's (er, was) a cool guy and all, but this girl went above and beyond.
In one of the rare moments when she wasn't jumping his bones, Andrew and I talked to him and discovered that we all liked the same things. We decided then and there to start a weekly poker game in Andrew's basement. Warren was back in Sunnydale pretty much every weekend, and Andrew and I didn't really have standing Saturday night dates, so we started our ritual of playing cards and video games, and just hanging out.
So, by the end of the summer after freshman year, I had two good friends. It was this whole new experience for me. I relaxed a bit and started doing better at school. Basically, life was just better in general.
You know that theory that if one thing gets better, another gets worse? Well, I started to suspect that my life was somehow connected to Buffy's right then. As soon as my life improved, hers began to suck, and I mean post-haste. Her sophomore year of college was the complete opposite of mine. Of course, by junior year they both sort of merged, but first thing's first.
Sophomore year was when everything changed for the little group from high school. Xander hadn't really been in the group ever since they went away to college, but that was only the first problem. Another push towards the edge was when Willow came out. Who knew? I was definitely surprised. Her and Oz had seemed so happy and in love. Sure, that ended badly, but it was still kind of a shock. I guess when she and Tara got together and started hanging out and doing spells, she just realized that she was gay. I assume Tara had known she was gay for awhile. I hadn't ever seen her with any boys around campus. I had noticed her before Willow only because she was possibly the only person on campus more withdrawn than I was when I started. I'm glad someone else noticed her, although it was sort of annoying how quickly she became part of the group.
Who knew that all you had to do to
be accepted was to have the hormonal connection?