Killed By Imagination-Part II

*********
 Rai and Clover sat at the lunch table eating their lunches. Rai had her
apple, milk, and cheese sandwich, while Clover had a coke and a cold piece of
pizza.

"One of these days, I have to learn how to cook something other then toast."
Clover stated as she took a bite of her pizza.

Rai nodded. She was lost in her own little world. Had been since she talked
to Dale. *I really care about him. If something would happen to him, I know I
would just die. Wait, hold on what am I saying? Sure he's really cute, and
funny, and smart, and oh so sweet. But he's 20, and I hardly even know him.*
She looked over at Clover. *Did she say something? Oh man, I have to pay more
attention to her.*

Clover gave Rai a look. "And then Will and I jumped in the river, thus saving
Spike and Queen Elizabeth or Lizzy as I call her."

Rai almost choked on her apple. "Oh,Clover. I'm so sorry did you say
something?"

Clover sighed in annoyance. "No." She got up from her chair. "I have to go
train." She walked away.

Rai sat there for a moment thinking that she should go after her best friend.
But then  her beeper went off. And it was Dale, Rai smiled to herself as she
went off to find a phone.

************
Gavin looked over the e-mail he had just finished typing.

Erza,
 I know what you mean. I care a lot about you to. I think about you all the
time and can't wait for you to get back to the states. I have an idea, lets
spend all of V-D night e-mailing each other back and forth. Tell Anne that
Pierre is in England with the WC if she wants to tell him hi.
                                                                             
                 Love you,
                                                                             
                    Gavin

A huge grin came to his face as he pressed the send button. He sat back in
his chair and waited for a reply.

Gavin's eyes wondered to the door. He grinned even more as Clover walked in
and sat next to him.

"Hey, Gav, so listen I was wondering...would you like to go to that dance the
Bronze is having Friday night with me?"

Gavin shook his head. "Sorry, Erza and I are e-mailing each other all night.
Maybe you and Rai can go. Dale is out of town, so she might be up for a
little anti-V-Day fun."

"Oh, well maybe. But, she's a little busy. I could hang out here with you..."
she looked at Gavin who was all ready answering an e-mail from his
'girlfriend' Erza. "Or not. I'm really busy that night. I just thought..."
She trailed off as she stood and left. Leaving Gavin and his computer alone.

*****************
Dustin Rogers was a man of taste and tact when it came to members of the
opposite sex;or so he thought. The thing was he had never had a good
relationship with a women in his life, unless you counted Alicia Price, who
turned out to be half demon and Clover's child from her past life. Rogers
didn't count her.

So, he was mostly not looking for love when he walked into a computer science
class that Tuesday afternoon. But he found it.

Rogers walked into a computer science room to meet and greet the new teacher
who was to teach history. He stopped when he saw the teacher. It was a women
in her early to mid-20s. She had brown hair which was cut in a new fashion,
it was short, yet framed around her face. She kept brushing it out of her
green eyes. The women was around Rogers height, she looked like she might
play some kind of sport or maybe was even a dancer. The women wore a long
black skirt, a black shirt with a little see-through black thing over it and
black high-heel shoes.

When she saw Rogers, she smiled. "Hey, I'm Ricci Daniels. The, uh, new
history teacher." She stuck out her hand and Rogers took it.

"Dustin Rogers, vice-principal."

Ricci took her hand back. "Ah, an English guy. Nice, very pro-alley."

"Um? Yes, well, I guess. I um. I'll show you to your classroom now Ms or Miss
or Mrs Daniels."

"Miss. Daniels. Mr. Rogers."

"Very well." Rogers led her into the empty hall.

They walked side by side, yet were very quiet. Ricci couldn't stand it any
longer.

"So, been teaching here long?" she asked dying for anything to talk about.

"Well, about a year now. A little over. Have you been a teacher long Miss.
Daniels?"

Ricci shrugged. "Nope. Just a few weeks. This is my first teaching gig."

Rogers did his British sniff. "I see." They came to the classroom. "Here's
your room."

Ricci did a little bow. "Thanks." She walked in.

Rogers quickly walked away. Not believing the school board had asked her to
teach at the school. *That women couldn't teach cows history.* He thought to
himself as the end of the day bell rang.
***********
  Rai  ran into her apartment building and up the stairs to her and her
father's second story apartment. She raced to their appartment;appartment 2C;
and quickly stuck her key in the keyhole. She left it in and raced into the
living room and the phone. Rai picked it up, and was about to dial when her
father's voice caught her ear. Rai slowly put the receiver down and turned to
see her father walking into the living room from the hall.

"Hello Dad,  you're home early. "

Rai's father answered. "Well, yes Rai, I believe I am."

"So...Dad..d.. " Rai always hated this because it seemed her and her father
had nothing to say to each other. Ever since her mother died when she was
six, her father had gone into his own little world, yet at the same time
trying to protect his daughter from everyone and everything. This was why she
had never told him about Dale ; she knew he'd take it the wrong way. Not only
was she a minor and he wasn't, she knew she fatherwould never understand or
tolerate her relationship.

"Dad," she tried again, " I ..I uh ... I made plans for Valentine's Day. See,
Gavin and the guys are playing the Bronze, so I'm gonna go see them with
Clover. You remember Clover, then afterwards, we're going to go over to
Clover's and watch sappy movies because none of us have dates and we're all
anti-V day."

Mr. Shields nodded. "That's lovely dear. Oh my,look at the time. My favorite
cooking show is on. They're going to teach us how to cook this dish from
Spain.I'm going to cook it for dinner, so don't be late," he added turning on
the t.v and taking out a notepad and pencil to take notes.

"Okay, I'll be in my room, studying," she answered walking to her room. She
sighed to herself in annoyance wishing, not for the first time, that she and
her father could have a real relationship with each other.

*****
Clover walked into her house throwing her keys on the table by the door and
shrugging off her coat and putting it on the coat-rack noticing that neither
her mom's nor Xander's coat were there.
She went to the stairs across from the door and into her bedroom where she
found Quinn standing by her bed.

Quinn looked the same as he did  when she was little. He had long wavy dark
hair that came to his shoulders and dark blue eyes that were rimmed with a
touch a gold. He was tall and had the build of an athlete. He still looked
around the age of twenty, and was still wearing the clothes she had last seen
him in; a long pair of dark blue pants and knee high leather boots with a
lashed blue doublet and a silk half-cloak. On top of his hair was the same
color hat with a feather.

He turned as she walked in, and when he saw her, a smile lite his face, and
he took of his hat and bowed sweepingly to her. "M'lady," he said, " methinks
you have kept me waiting too long."

"Sorry, I had school," she answered throwing her books on the bed next to him
then sitting on the floor. "So, what'd you all day Quinn?"

Quinn placed his hat back on his head and scrunched his face up in deep
thought. " Me dear every hour away from you is like it did not exist. I
merely watched the outside world from your window and wondered where you were
in such a cruel world filled with cruel people."

"Quinn, you're going to give me a complex," she laughed throwing a pillow at
him which he caught with a smile and dropped the pillow on the floor.

"Me thinks the lady does protest too much," he warned wagging a finger. He
turned from her and reached under the bed to pull out a box taped and
seemingly forgot about. "But I did find this whilst you were away damsel."

Clover gasped in delight and took the box from him and began untagging it. "I
cannot believe I still have this! My Barbies!" she cried taking them out one
by one and laying them down on the floor next to her.

Quinn sat down and reached for the Ken. "I'll take this dear chap," he told
her .

Clover reached for her Evening Gown Barbie with a smile. " I haven't done
this in years."

******
Gavin's hand flew to turn off his alarm clock. The drummer rubbed sleep out
of his eyes,as he looked over at it. He picked it up. "Six o'clock on
February 12, 2020. A great day to be alive."

Gavin got up and quickly got dressed in; a pair of baggy pants, a T-shirt
that read: 'Got Stakes?', and a pair of sneakers. He brushed his brown hair,
and grabbed his bookbag. He walked into the living room, saw an apple on the
coffee table in a bowl and picked it up putting it in his bookbag before
leaving for school.

At school, Gavin closed his locker and started walking to his first class. He
was halfway there when Clover appeared at his side. "Hey Gavin."

"Hey Clover. So, what's happening? Save the world lately?" he questioned.

"Not in the last twenty-four hours, no," she replied. "but I did kill a bug
last night. Listen, I was thinking, you, me, and Rai should all go to the
Bronze tonight. We could hang like old times. You know before you got so
preoccupied with that other Slayer. "

Gavin turned to face her and they stopped walking. "What do you mean
'preoccupied' ? I'm entitled to my own life aren't I? Maybe I just got sick
of being your little lapdog."

"Gav, that's not what I meant. It's just that you hardly know Ezra, and don't
get me wrong, she's a great girl and a good Slayer, but it just seems like
when you're not e-mailing her, you're talking about e-mailing her, and I just
don't think it's healthily. And maybe it's a little obsessive, and I know you
have a thing for Slayers ,and that's all and good but sometimes you just need
to take a breath because, hello, she's on the other side of the world.
There's people here that care about you, and you could hang out with them."

Gavin scoffed and walked away angrily without bothering to reply to Clover.
Clover stood there a minute before shrugging. A second later, Dustin Rogers
came downstairs in somewhat of a hurry.
"Whoa, Rogers, going a little fast there. Let's remember the safety rule of
the stairs to not run down them. Much like the rule of the scissors. Pretty
much don't run with anything or anywhere."

"Clover, I don't have time for your babbling," he told her walking by.

Clover ran after him. "You're in a hurry, that's never good. The last time
you were  in a hurry good things did not happen. So, where are you going?"

"To my office," he said not bothering to look at her but kept walking and
finally opening the door to his office.

"Come on Dustin," she said sitting in one of the chairs facing his desk as he
sat down on the other side and began looking at paperwork. " If you keep all
this bottled up inside you, it will all end badly. You could go on a killing
spree killing thousands of innocent
people.."

"It's that woman," he said throwing the papers aside and leaning over the
desk, " that Miss Daniels, the new history teacher. She's a bloody nuisance
is what she is! With her ramblings and her going on, she reminds me of you
actually."

"This isn't one of your I'm your father-figure but I have a thing for you
Jerry Springer kind of things is it?"

"No! I just mean why do all the women I know babble on about nothing that
matters?

Clover shrugged. "Maybe it's your boyish charm? But, I came to tell you that
I can't come by and train after school today, I'm meeting my friend Quinn."

"Quinn? I don't think I know a Quinn."

"No, I'm pretty sure you don't. He's not real," She looked at Rogers, whose
face looked like he had just seen a whale walking on the dirt at a baseball
field. "he's imaginary."

Rogers' eyes grew wide. "What?! He's imaginary? How, Clover are you feeling
all right?"

Clover gave him a look. "Yes, I feel fine. But just because he's not real
doesn't make him less of a man." She stood and went over to the door. "Now,
I'm going to class now." With that she opened the door and left.

Rogers watched her go, a worried expression on his face. "This is bad. I'll
need to get the teenagers together."

*********
 Will walked into the Bronze that night. He and Clover were supposed to meet
there. The demon hunter looked down at his jeans,t-shirt, and sweatsuit
jacket. He brushed a hand throw his hair, as he walked to a table and sat.

Will sat there and looked around for his partner. *Well, were is she?* He
thought. Will bopped his head to some music that was being blasted over the
loud system.  He checked his watch and sighed as he saw that she was half an
hour late. *Ten more minutes and then I'm out.*
*************

Part III

Oak's Diary