3rd Person's POV

In the hall, sign-ups for the science fair are going on. Willow is writing in her entry as Eric comes up to her with a camera and points it at her.

"Smile!" He takes her picture as she frowns.

"Hey!"

He turns around and sees another girl.

"Oh, look at those legs!" He goes to take her picture.

"No, thank you."

Chris comes up behind Willow, "Eric, will you knock it off?"

Eric looks at him, upset to have his fun spoiled.

Willow smiles, "Hey, Chris!"

"Hey."

Chris picks up a sign-up sheet. She watches what he's writing. He looks up at her.

"Oh, I, I was just wondering what you were gonna do this year."

Chris looks at her in question, "Why?"

Willow shrugs, "'Cause every year you win and I place second, so I just thought I'd see what I'm up against."

"You know what the key is? If Dr. Clark doesn't understand your experiment he gives you higher marks so it looks like he understands your experiment," He reads Willow's entry, "The Effects of Sub-Violet Light Spectrum Deprivation on the Development of Fruit Flies?"

He smirks, "That should do the trick."

Cordelia shows up pulls out a pen to sign up, "Okay, I'm doing this under protest. It is not fair that they're making participation in this year's science fair mandatory. I don't think anyone should have to do anything educational in school if they don't want to."

Willow reads, "The Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable?"

Cordelia frowns with a shrug, "I wanted to do something I could finish in a weekend, alright?"

Eric flashes a picture of Cordelia.

"Stop it! What are you doing?"

Eric takes another picture.

"We are under florescent light, for God's sake."

"The camera loves you!" Eric replies before turning around as footsteps make their way closer to the group.

Laney comes up behind the group and frowns as Eric starts to snap pictures of her, "I didn't think yearbook nerds came out of hibernation till spring."

Eric snaps another picture before air kissing her with a wink, "It's for my private collection."

Laney gestures like she's throwing up as she points down her mouth, "Ew."

Chris pushes Eric, "Eric! Will you quit it?"

Buffy hurries through the hallway, "Comin' through. Sorry. Oh hey Laney."

Eric takes her picture.

Laney raises an eyebrow, "Oh now you see me? Funny."

Buffy sighs, "How much groveling do I have to do?"

Laney smirks, "Buy me some candy and we're all square."

Buffy smiles, "You got it. And uh, sorry to interrupt, Willow, but it's the Bat Signal.

Willow's eyes widen before she nods, "Okay, sure. See you later, Chris. Thanks for the tip."

"Okay."

Cordelia watches them go. Eric raises his eyebrows at her.

Cordelia shivers disgusted then turns around and leaves, "Uhhh!"

Eric watches her walk away and rubs his hands together, "Cordelia's so fine. Y'know, she'd be just perfect for us. Maybe even Laney too."

Chris glares, "Don't be an idiot. They're alive."

...

In the library, Willow sits down in front of the PC.

"This shouldn't take long. I'm probably the only girl in school who has the coroner's office bookmarked as a favorite place."

Cordelia prances in, "Hi. Sorry to interrupt your little undead playgroup, but I need to ask Willow if she'll help me with my science fair project."

Willow doesn't even look up as she replies, "It's a fruit."

Cordelia raises an eyebrow before shrugging, "I would've asked Chris to help me, but then that would've brought back too many memories of-"

She freezes as she glances at Laney out the corner of her eye. Laney is sitting at the table with headphones on as she does homework. Cordelia lets out a breath then frowns.

"Way too many memories of Darryl."

Willow glances at Laney before nodding, agreeing with Cordelia.

"Okay I found it! Meredith Todd died in a car accident last week."

Cordelia sits down across from Laney and Xander, "Of course I have learned to deal with my pain."

Buffy walks over and stands behind Willow, "How was her neck?"

"Fine, except for being broken."

Giles comes out of his office.

Cordelia sighs, "Hello! Can we deal with my pain, please?"

"What pain?"

Cordelia's head snaps up and stares at Laney as she smiles uncomfortably, "Um nothing."

Giles rolls his eyes, "There, there." He pats her on the shoulder and continues up into the stacks.

Willow continues to read the pc, "It says that Meredith and two other girls in the car were killed instantly. They were all on the Fondren High Pep Squad, on the way to a game."

"You know what this means."

Xander looks at Buffy with a smile, "That Fondren might actually beat Sunnydale in the cross-town body count competition this year?"

Buffy rolls her eyes and replies, "She wasn't killed by vampires. Somebody did dig up her corpse."

Cordelia gags, "Eww! Why is it that every conversation you people have has the word 'corpse' in it?"

Laney frowns, "Okay, so we got a body snatcher. What does that mean?"

Giles puts on his glasses, "Uh, h-here's what I've come up with. Demons who eat the flesh of the dead to absorb their souls. Or, i-i-it could obviously be a, a voodoo practitioner."

Willow's eyes widen, "You mean making a zombie?"

Laney shudders, "Um excuse me who would want to make a freaking zombie? They're icky and gross... and scary... did I mention icky?"

Giles ignores Laney, "Uh, zombies, more likely. For most traditional purposes a voodoo priest would require more than one."

Buffy nods, "So, we should see if the other girls from the accident are AWOL, too. Maybe we can figure out what this creep has in mind if we know whether or not he's dealing in volume."

Xander rubs his hands together as he stands up. He was finally getting into some action.

"So, we dig up some graves tonight?"

Willow grimaces, "Oh, boy! A field trip! Are you gonna call Angel?"

Buffy frowns shaking her head, "I don't think so."

Xander claps, "Yeah, why bother him, huh?"

"Angel and I have been, um... Never mind. As far as Angel's concerned, I'm taking the night off, okay?"

"So, we're set then. Say, nineish? BYO shovel?"

Willow nods agreeing with Xander, "And I'll pack some food. Who else likes those little powdered doughnuts?"

Laney smiles, "Oh those are the best!"

"Cordelia?"

Cordelia scoffs looking at Willow before snapping, "Darn, I have cheerleader practice tonight. Boy, I wish I knew we were gonna be digging up dead people sooner. I would've canceled."

Laney frowns, "Aw man of course when things start getting good... high school ruins it. I forgot I was a cheerleader."

Xander smirks, "I didn't."

Laney smacks him across the back of his head as she laughs at his surprised face.

Xander grimaces then turns to Cordelia, "Alright you won't be there, but if you come across the army of zombies, can you page us before they eat your flesh?"

Cordelia huffs and leaves the library.

Giles sighs, "Xander?"

"Huh?"

"Zombies don't eat the flesh of the living."

"Yeah, I knew that. But did you see the look on her face?"

...

Later that night at the cemetery, Giles and Xander are digging while Buffy and Willow relax and watch.

"I couldn't believe Angel. He was acting all jealous, and he wouldn't even admit it."

Willow frowns, "Jealous of what?"

Buffy scoffs, "Of Xander."

Willow grimaces, "Because you did that sexy dance with him?"

"Am I ever gonna live that down?"

Willow munches a doughnut, "No..."

"Anyway, he was being totally irrational."

"Love makes you do the wacky."

Buffy nods, "That's the truth."

Xander lets out a huge breath, "Y'know, this might go a lot faster if you femmes actually picked up a shovel, too."

Giles shoves his shovel into the ground and wipes the sweat of his head, "Here, here."

Buffy shrugs, "Sorry, but I'm an old-fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the corpses and the women have the babies."

She turns to Willow, "So, speaking of the wacky, what was Cordelia's whole riff about painful memories? Who's Daryl?"

Willow's heart skips a beat but Buffy doesn't notice her pause.

"Daryl Epps. Chris' older brother. He was a big football star. All-State two years ago. He was a running... He was a running... Uh, someone who runs and catches."

Buffy nods, "Was he a studly?"

"Big time. All of the girls were crazy for him. But he was taken."

Buffy frowns, "And he broke Cordy's heart? Thus possibly proving its existence."

Willow glances over at Xander. He didn't know the full story yet. No one but Cordelia, her mother, and Laney knew the full story. She didn't want to tell when it has nothing to do with her but she didn't want to lie either.

"Um not quite. He actually was dating Laney."

"Laney? What? Well then why is Cordy going all oh woe is me?"

"Because she's dramatic. But she probably fell for his looks and popularity... You know it's not my story to tell."

Buffy nods holding up her hands in surrender as she sees Willow start to freak out, "Alright. No harm no foul. I'll talk to Laney about it. But what happened to him?"

"He died. Car crash."

Buffy frowns, "Man, that's lousy. Poor Chris."

Willow swallows harshly, "Ever since then Chris has been real quiet. Kind of in his own world. I heard their mother doesn't even leave the house anymore."

Giles whistles interrupting the girls, "I think we're there."

Buffy and Willow get up and go over to the grave.

Willow clears her throat, "By the way, are we hoping to find a body, or no body?"

Xander chuckles, "Call me an optimist, but I'm hoping to find a fortune in gold doubloons."

Giles rolls his eyes, "Um, body would mean flesh-eating demon, no body would point towards the, uh, army of zombies thing. Take your pick, really. Right, then, uh..." He gestures to Xander, "Go on."

Xander points indicating to the casket, "You're closer."

"Pathetic much?" Buffy pushes through them and climbs down, "Move over."

She opens the casket.

...

Back at the school after practice, the cheerleaders are heading home.

Cordelia sighs, "Guys, if we don't get this down by tomorrow, no one's gonna be led by our cheers. Practice."

"Okay. See ya later."

The girls all walk away to their cars then drive off leaving Laney and Cordelia in silence.

Cordelia and Laney continue on to Cordelia's car just as they hear something by the fence. They stop to look around.

Cordelia looks around scared, "Hello?"

Laney frowns and slaps her arm as she whispers, "Hello? Have you ever watched freaking scary movies? You never say hello. That's like telling the killer hey mister mask guy come rip out my guts I'm over here."

Cordelia grimaces, "Sorry."

Laney rolls her eyes and looks around once more then gestures for Cordelia to follow her. They continue to the car, then Cordelia stands and starts to dig in her pack for her keys. Laney frowns as she hears more jumbling around nearby. The two glance at each other before running the rest of the way.

"Come on get the keys out. Rule number two Cordy. Always have the keys in your hand, out and ready to go. What are you a newbie?"

Cordelia groans and digs through her bag, "Well I'm sorry I don't fight mystical magic beings for fun. Why are you scared?"

Laney scoffs, "Someone is out there looking for nice pretty girl bodies to cut up in pieces and use to make zombie armies. I don't look good in pieces!"

Cordelia nods and nervously fumbles with the lock, "Xander Harris, if this is some kind of joke..."

She drops her keys and they roll under the car. She glances up at Laney who looks at her with a deadpanned stare.

"Seriously?"

Cordelia groans once again before kneeling down and reaching for them frantically. Laney hears something behind her making her run to the other side of the car and bend down. She grips onto Cordelia making her freeze. On the other side of her car they can see someone in black shoes approaching. They quickly get up and start to run. The man follows them.

He walks past a dumpster. When he's gone the lid opens, and Laney checks to see if the coast is clear.

"It's all clear."

Cordelia pops up beside her a face of disgust. Laney pushes the lid up all the way, then turns around again to hop out, but is startled by Angel.

"Ah!"

Laney frowns and covers Cordelia's mouth. Cordelia finally realizes she is safe and stops screaming.

"Sorry."

Angel frowns, "Cordelia. This is the last place I expected you to hang out."

Laney looks at him with wide eyes, "Wait a- hold on a god damn minute... you expect me to hang out in weird places like the dumpster? Rude!"

Angel chuckles, "Well it's not unexpected. I don't mean it in an offensive way. It's just you and the others are usually in weird positions all the time so this isn't really surprising."

Laney shrugs and nods, "You got off this time."

Cordelia whines quietly, "Oh, God! God, it's you."

She turns angry and starts to slap Angel's shoulder, "Why were you following us?"

"I wasn't sure it was you at first. I'm looking for Buffy."

"Buffy? Well, she's, uh... big shock, she's at the graveyard."

"Cordelia!"

Cordelia shrugs, "What?"

Angel frowns, "She said she'd be home."

Cordelia scoffs, "Well, she lied. Isn't she a rascal? Well, you're in luck. It just so happens that my night is free." She tries to get out, "Uh, hold on, my skirt is caught. Laney can you let go?"

Laney frowns, "I'm not touching you. Both my hands are literally right here."

Laney holds up her hands in front of Cordelia's face making her look confused. She reaches behind her and gets her skirt loose.

"There."

She picks up what was holding her skirt and sees it's a hand. She drops it and screams.

𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑦'𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑔𝑔𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠?