Riley heard the phone ring from his bedroom, but he knew his mother would get it so he barely moved an inch. It was almost time for him to begin his chores around the farm. The farm…..Riley was waiting for the day he could leave this boring little town. “Riley, can you come down here for a minute. Please.” Once again his mother had interrupted his dreams of finding a way out of Huxley.
As Riley walked down the stairs, he thought of what that name meant to him. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Riley wanted danger and mystery, things that you just didn’t find in Iowa. Iowa even sounded lame. Riley thoughts turned to the matter at hand. Everyone was in the kitchen with his mother. The only time the whole family was together was at dinnertime in the Finn household. Boy, this must be bad, Riley thought to himself.
“Good, now that we are all here I can tell you who just called. Remember my friend Joyce that I talk about? Well, her daughter has been getting into tons of trouble. Living in L.A. can even turn good girls bad, so Joyce wants us to help her. Since Joyce is my best friend in the world, your father and I have decided to take the poor girl in.” Riley just stared at his mother. Another girl in this house was not what Riley needed. He already had two bratty little sisters, Emma and Allison.
Emma was the first to speak. “Well, where is she going to sleep? Not in my room, that’s for sure. I don’t want an orgasm friend.” Oh, no here we go again. Riley knew what was coming next because it always happened. It never failed, because his sisters were just too competitive.
Allison chipped in her two cents, too. “She’s not going to sleep in my room either. Maybe, she could sleep in Riley’s room. Oh, Riley, maybe she’ll be your girlfriend. We could always put a spell on her to make her like you.” From that moment, Riley knew he was in for it. This girl was going to be trouble.
Sensing Riley’s anger, Riley’s mother stepped in. “Now, children, Buffy will sleep in the guest room. I hope that you all make her feel welcome in this family. She’ll be here on Friday, so any issues you have had better be resolved by then. Now, go do your chores.”
Riley and his sisters followed their mother’s orders and went outside. As Allison began feeding the horses, she started in on the girl that would soon be living under the family’s roof. “Buffy, what kind of name is Buffy? I thought my name sucked. Ha! Buffy is a horrible name.”
“Allison, stop it. You heard what Mom said. ‘ Resolve your issues because she’ll be here on Friday.’ Give me a break.” Emma was the only one that could imitate their mother perfectly, and usually it was quite amusing. But somehow, it just wasn’t funny today.
“Knock it off, you two. We have chores to do.” The two sisters knew not to go against Riley. They loved him dearly, but boy did he know how to spoil a good time. Oh, well they would have plenty of time to have their fun with Buffy.
Riley went to go milk the cows, leaving his sisters to their banter. A girl named Buffy from L.A. What was his life coming to? She probably was one of those blonde airheads who talked about clothes and make-up. She was going to have to go to Huxley High with him and his sisters. Nothing could make this worse.
Joyce was telling Buffy about the Finn’s from details Linda had shared about her family. “Sweetheart, they are a lovely family. Linda has three kids, two girls and a boy. From what she says, the boy is older but the girls are about your age. I think you’ll fit in nicely.” Buffy just glared at her mom, not saying a word. She just wanted all of this to be a bad dream. She, Buffy Anne Summers, was going to live on a farm to gain responsibility. She knew plenty about responsibility. She was the Slayer, only her mother didn’t know that and she wasn’t about to tell her. Slaying was what had gotten her into all this trouble in the first place. “Mom, I don’t want to go. I have a life here with my friends. Please, don’t make me leave!”
“Sorry, it’s too late for that. You are going to go on Friday so you had better start packing.” Giving her mother one last death look, Buffy ran up the stairs to cry on her bed. Her life was over because she was the Slayer, the Chosen One. Iowa had nothing but potatoes in it…wait that was Idaho. She was going to have new friends, a new family, and probably a new Watcher. Buffy thought her life couldn’t get any worse.
Riley was pacing at entrance gate 12D. Buffy’s flight was arriving soon. He could still hear his mother, “ Riley, can you please go pick Buffy up from the airport. And no buts.” She had said it with a smile on her face and steel in her eyes. Supposedly, she still had lots to do before their guest arrived. Riley knew she was lying because she had told his father last night that everything was ready. Riley looked at his watch again. Great, now the plane was late.
Riley found himself wondering what Buffy was like. Everyone at school was giving him advice on how to deal with her. He was going to kill Emma for opening her big mouth. All Riley knew was that if he had never able to figure out Huxley girls, how was he going to figure out a girl from L.A.? She could be trouble with a capital T, or a nice addition to the house. Since she was coming to Huxley, the most boring place on earth, he was opting for trouble.
The plane was touching down in Huxley, the most boring place on earth. What was she going to do? How was she going to keep her identity a secret? It had been hard enough at home. Maybe they didn’t have vampires in Huxley? She thought hopefully. Oh, forget it! Buffy was more worried about high school than vampires. Vampires she could handle, but a new school? She had her doubts..
Buffy gathered her stuff from the overhead compartment, then left the security of the plane. There was no one on the plane but her so she knew the young man waiting outside was her ride to hell.
Riley stopped pacing as he saw a very small blonde girl coming off the plane. I knew she would be blond, Riley thought to himself. Riley walked up to the young woman, noticing she was very pretty. Maybe this wasn’t going to be that bad after all.
“Hi, you must be Buffy. My name is Riley Finn, and I’ll be taking you to the farm.”
Well, at least, there was one cute boy in Huxley, and his name was Riley Finn. Buffy almost smiled, then grimaced when she remembered. She was going to be sleeping under the same roof as the cutie. Buffy didn’t need to be thrown out of the Finn’s house because of a boy that happened to be their son.
Buffy smiled up at Riley. Riley towered over her, but that was fine with her. Maybe he could help her fight the vampires. Buffy smiled at the thought of Riley fighting vampires. He would never believe in some silly tale about vampires, especially about the Slayer. “It’s very nice to met you, Riley.”
Riley liked the sound of her voice, but she seemed to be really skinny. Give her a week and she would be huge from his mother’s cooking. She probably didn’t even know what the word ‘run’ meant coming from L.A. and all.
“Well, let’s get going before it gets dark. We have a long ride ahead of us.” Riley picked up Buffy’s suitcase and carried it to his truck.
As they began the trip back towards Riley’s house, Buffy just looked at the scenery in front of her. She couldn’t help but think how different it was from Los Angeles. Everything is L.A. was the same color, but here the colors roamed as freely as the cattle. “I have never seen a rainbow of colors in the sky. And there are real trees with an actually odor. This is so beautiful.”
Riley watched the expression on Buffy’s face. So are you, he found himself thinking. Looking out the window, an embarrassed flush coloring his cheekbones, he saw the passing scenery with fresh eyes.
Riley realized he had never taken the time to truly appreciate his surroundings. “I never really thought about it.” It was funny and kind of sad that he had been here his whole life, and had taken it all for granted. It took a girl from LA to show him the beauty he had grown up in.
“ Well, Riley Finn, I think I’m going to have to change your opinion about a lot of things.”
Somehow, Riley knew that getting to know Buffy Summers was going to be an adventure. In the five minutes he had known her, she had already changed his view of the world. “Buffy, you are not what I expected.”
“Really? Well, you aren’t what I expected either, Riley Finn. You know Huxley isn’t that bad after all.” Buffy thought that maybe her mother had made a good choice sending her to Huxley, but she would never tell her that. Things in Huxley didn’t seem bad to either Buffy or Riley.
“ I think I’d have to agree.”