Story: "Retrospect" piece 2 - AtS/BtVS Cast
Title: Retrospect, Piece 2
Author: Guardian Erin
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Buffy/Ats
Disclaimer: I do not own Joss's characters.
Summary: New piece to the sequel of Retrograde, featuring Dawn. Big changes for her in store.
The last bell of the day rang, followed almost instantly by a swarm of teenagers ready to go home. Dawn stuffed her books into her backpack and lingered, waiting for the hallways to thin out. The end of the day meant little to her, because she didn't have a ride to catch. It was down to the locker room for her; swim practice started in about half an hour.
She stopped at her locker, putting away books she didn't need to take home and wasn't surprise when Alex was at her side by the time she closed the locker, a few seconds later.
"Excited for the meet on Friday?" Alex asked with a friendly grin.
"Yeah," Dawn nodded, only half interested, though she's been filled with excitement, apprehension, and nervousness for the last month, for an entirely different reason.
She wasn't the fastest swimmer by far. Maybe if she'd been a Potential it would have been different, but she was almost glad that she wasn't a slayer. She enjoyed just participating more than she cared about winning, though she still tried her best and it felt damn good to set a new personal record or even come in first.
The girls started walking together, in no particular hurry, and Alex started chattering about incidents throughout the day, the funny, the interesting, and the dramatic. Aside from the normal fights, it was surprising how benign the school was, at least from her perception. Dawn was used to vampires, possessions, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, demon possessions, the Hellmouth opening up, end of the world once a week, you name it. It was more surreal to have to worry about normal things instead.
"How was your day?" Alex finally asked. "You seem bummed about something. Did something happen?"
"Not really," Dawn shrugged. "This year is just... big."
Alex nodded seriously. "Yeah. Graduation will come sooner than you think. Are your parents cramming college choices and life-altering decisions own your throat yet?"
"No," Dawn shook her head. "Not at all, really. They've been kind of busy with other things."
"Lucky. Mine have given me the whole, 'Don't throw away your life. You'd better become a doctor or a lawyer' spiel. Have you been looking at colleges?"
"I'm not even sure if I'm going to go to college anymore," Dawn admitted.
"Oh, please," Alex shook her head. "With your grades, you could get into a really great college. You'll find something."
"Yeah, it's just really nerve-wracking," Dawn shrugged. "I'm not sure what to do with my life yet. And next week I'm officially going to be an adult."
"Ooh!" Alex exclaimed, hearing this for the first time. "You should definitely find a guy to hook up with."
"No thank you; my sister would kill me," Dawn shook her head with a little involuntary smirk at the idea that soon Buffy would be freaking out and trying to find a chastity belt for her or bars for her windows or something. No doubt that everyone else would suddenly have even more of a paternal attitude around her. It would be bad enough just turning eighteen. She shuddered to think of what they would do if she ever brought home a boyfriend.
Author: Guardian Erin
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Buffy/Ats
Disclaimer: I do not own Joss's characters.
Summary: New piece to the sequel of Retrograde, featuring Dawn. Big changes for her in store.
The last bell of the day rang, followed almost instantly by a swarm of teenagers ready to go home. Dawn stuffed her books into her backpack and lingered, waiting for the hallways to thin out. The end of the day meant little to her, because she didn't have a ride to catch. It was down to the locker room for her; swim practice started in about half an hour.
She stopped at her locker, putting away books she didn't need to take home and wasn't surprise when Alex was at her side by the time she closed the locker, a few seconds later.
"Excited for the meet on Friday?" Alex asked with a friendly grin.
"Yeah," Dawn nodded, only half interested, though she's been filled with excitement, apprehension, and nervousness for the last month, for an entirely different reason.
She wasn't the fastest swimmer by far. Maybe if she'd been a Potential it would have been different, but she was almost glad that she wasn't a slayer. She enjoyed just participating more than she cared about winning, though she still tried her best and it felt damn good to set a new personal record or even come in first.
The girls started walking together, in no particular hurry, and Alex started chattering about incidents throughout the day, the funny, the interesting, and the dramatic. Aside from the normal fights, it was surprising how benign the school was, at least from her perception. Dawn was used to vampires, possessions, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, demon possessions, the Hellmouth opening up, end of the world once a week, you name it. It was more surreal to have to worry about normal things instead.
"How was your day?" Alex finally asked. "You seem bummed about something. Did something happen?"
"Not really," Dawn shrugged. "This year is just... big."
Alex nodded seriously. "Yeah. Graduation will come sooner than you think. Are your parents cramming college choices and life-altering decisions own your throat yet?"
"No," Dawn shook her head. "Not at all, really. They've been kind of busy with other things."
"Lucky. Mine have given me the whole, 'Don't throw away your life. You'd better become a doctor or a lawyer' spiel. Have you been looking at colleges?"
"I'm not even sure if I'm going to go to college anymore," Dawn admitted.
"Oh, please," Alex shook her head. "With your grades, you could get into a really great college. You'll find something."
"Yeah, it's just really nerve-wracking," Dawn shrugged. "I'm not sure what to do with my life yet. And next week I'm officially going to be an adult."
"Ooh!" Alex exclaimed, hearing this for the first time. "You should definitely find a guy to hook up with."
"No thank you; my sister would kill me," Dawn shook her head with a little involuntary smirk at the idea that soon Buffy would be freaking out and trying to find a chastity belt for her or bars for her windows or something. No doubt that everyone else would suddenly have even more of a paternal attitude around her. It would be bad enough just turning eighteen. She shuddered to think of what they would do if she ever brought home a boyfriend.