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(Sunnydale Funeral Home – Night)
(A woman in her fifties is laid out in a coffin.)
Mortician1: (os) You did good work on her. She looks good.
Mortician2: (os) Thanks. She's all set for the service tomorrow.
(Two men in black suits walk past the coffin.)
Mortician1: (os) Good. All right then. I'll see you in the morning.
Mortician2: (os) G'night.
(They turn the light off on their way out and shut the door. Pan out. There are several other closed coffins in the room. A few seconds later, one of the other coffins opens, and Buffy climbs out with a flashlight. Then Xander climbs out of another coffin.)
Xander: Hey.
Buffy: (jumps) Sorry.
Xander: 33 minutes. Since when do we go through all this trouble for one lousy vampire. Excuse me, one lousy potential vampire.
Buffy: Vampire by vampire. It's the only way I know how.
(There's a knocking sound from one of the smaller coffins. Buffy and Xander go to open it, and Dawn, who was fairly cramped, gets out, gasping for air.)
Dawn: I think this thing has a freakin' child lock on it.
Buffy: Shh!
Dawn: You know, I'm not the shortest one here. I don't know why I had to be in the kid coffin.
Buffy: Look, I know it's my job—
Xander: No, no. I'm sorry. I wanna help. I guess I've been a bit stressed out lately. I'm sorry I took it out on you.
Buffy: No big. Been kinda stressed myself.
Dawn: Well, the whole Willow sitch is not unstressifying.I mean she's here, but not "part of the gang" here and hopefully not "under my feet here in another time dimension" here.
Buffy: There's Willow. There's the looming humongo bad. And it's a school night. I should be home in bed, cuddled up to my insomnia, and worrying about how I'm gonna mess up tomorrow.
Dawn: You'll be fine. You'll be a great counselor.
Buffy: It's my first week actually talking to the kids. What if their problems are all weird and tricky?
Xander: I think you underestimate your familiarity with the world of weird and tricky. This job's perfect for you.
Buffy: Check out perfect me. (She walks toward the casket containing the dead woman. Dawn and Xander follow her. Buffy shines the flashlight in the dead woman's face, inspecting her.) Taking my sister on an educational outing to the—
Dawn: Dead body.
Xander: I don't know. Amateur opinion here, but she looks dead. I mean like natural causes dead.
Buffy: The paper said she had unusual cuts and contusions on her neck.
(Buffy shines the flashlight on the dead woman's neck, and right below her pearl necklace there are two puncture wounds that have been stitched up.)
Xander: Maybe she cut herself shaving and then died naturally of embarrassment.
(Buffy hands the flashlight to Xander.)
Dawn: She looks...
Buffy: Peaceful.
(The woman in the casket opens her eyes, and they're yellow, like a vampire's.)
Vampire: I am not peaceful.
Buffy: That, I can help with. (Buffy takes out a stake and plunges it into the lady's heart, turning her into dust.) I always thought closed caskets were more tasteful anyway.
(Buffy closes the lid to the woman's casket.)
(Sunnydale High – Buffy’s Office – Day)
(School is in session. There are students wandering the halls. Buffy is arranging and rearranging her desk. Then she decides to sharpen all her pencils. A student walks up to her mid-sharpening. The girl, skinny with long brown hair, looks kind of timid and introverted.)
Introverted Girl: Hello?
Buffy: (startled) Come in! (hides the pencils) Hi.
Introverted Girl: Mr. Miller sent me here.
Buffy: Do you know why?
Introverted Girl: I'm not sure. Maybe 'cause this guy was picking on me.
(Time Lapse)
(A young, tough-looking boy is standing in Buffy's cubicle wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head.)
Tough Boy: I don't wanna talk to you.
Buffy: OK. That's fine.
Tough Boy: I'm serious. I don't wanna talk.
Buffy: OK.
(Time Lapse)
(A tall, good-looking, confident boy is talking to Buffy. He's wearing a stylish knit sport shirt and looks kind of preppy.)
Confident Boy: You know, I hate to miss Bio, but I thought it was best I come speak with you.
Buffy: So, what's on your mind?
Confident Boy: On my mind?
Buffy: Are you worried about school? Uh, friends, girls, your parents?
Confident Boy: Yeah, yeah, that's it. My parents.
Buffy: What about them?
Confident Boy: Oh, issues... of divorce.
(Buffy’s Office)
(The following scenes go back and forth between the students she’s been speaking to all day. Resume Buffy's conversation with the introverted girl.)
Buffy: You know, it's awful... being teased. But the thing is, you know, with bullies like this, they're really just—
Introverted Girl: Insecure? Yeah, everyone says that. You know, I'm really tired of everyone being so insecure.
(Resume Buffy's conversation with the tough boy. He is staring at her with his best tough face. He sits down at Buffy's desk.)
(Resume Buffy's conversation with confident boy.)
Buffy: Divorce is terrible. My parents got divorced when I was a kid.
Confident Boy: Yeah, my parents are happily married. (Buffy glares.) It's hard. Uh, I feel... left out. B-but I'm also concerned about girls. (laughs nervously) OK, I'm just bored. Maybe I should get back to Bio?
(Buffy nods, and the boy walks away. Resume Buffy's conversation with the introverted girl.)
Buffy: You have to stick up for yourself, Amanda. You need to show this bully that you're not gonna take any more of his sh—guff. Uh, any guff.
Amanda: 'Cause that's what I did. I stuck up for myself. The other day after class, I jumped him in the parking lot, and I slammed his stupid-ass insecure face right into the pavement.
Buffy: You what?
Amanda: I guess that's another reason Mr. Miller wanted me to see you. (Buffy sighs) Do you think I should pound on him some more?
(The Park)
(Willow and Xander are walking along, talking. Willow's wearing black.)
Xander: I bet she's giving them great advice.
Willow: Absolutely! Those kids are lucky to have Buffy looking out for them. I just wish she believed it. She's still stressing over the whole "dropped out of college, not actually qualified" thing. Plus the salivating Hellmouth underneath her feet and the whole—
Xander: From beneath you, it devours. It's not the friendliest jingle, is it? It's no "I like Ike" or "Milk: it does a body good."
Willow: I know. It's gonna be bad. It's gonna be real bad. And I wonder, will I— Well, if it comes— When it comes, will I be able to help?
Xander: I think so.
Willow: I don't know. I don't know what I can do. I mean, frankly, I'm—I'm scared of what I might do.
Xander: Yeah, I get that. Figuring out how to control your magic seems a lot like hammering a nail. (Willow looks confused) Well, uh, hear me out. So you're hammering, right? OK, well at the end of the hammer, you have the power, but no control. It takes, like, two strokes to hit the nail in, or you could hit your thumb.
Willow: Ouch.
Xander: So you choke up. Control, but no power. It could take like ten strokes to knock the nail in. Power, control. It's a tradeoff.
Willow: That's actually not a bad analogy.
Xander: Thanks.
Willow: Except... I'm less worried about hitting my thumb, and more worried about going all black-eyed baddy and bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends' skulls open like coconuts.
Xander: Right. Ouch.
Willow: Sorry. (beat) Xander, being back here... I don't know...
Xander: It'll take time. (sighs, they stop walking) Are you sure you're ready for this?
(Willow nods and walks forward without Xander. Pan out to show they are at a graveyard now. Willow walks by herself past many graves before coming up to a tombstone. She puts a handful of rocks on the headstone, and kneels in front of it.)
Tara Maclay
Oct 16, 1980 - May 7, 2002
Willow: Hey. (She touches Tara's name on the headstone.) It's me.
(Sunnydale High – Buffy’s Office)
(Resume Buffy's conversation with the tough boy. He is sitting down at Buffy's desk.)
Tough Boy: I'm scared. I don't want to be left all alone. My brother's joining up with the Marines. Whew. You know, if he knew I was making a fool of myself, he'd smack me in my head. I guess I'm just being stupid.
Buffy: Sounds like your brother's pretty tough.
Tough Boy: Yeah, he's a man. I'm just all messed up right now.
Buffy: You are not messed up. It is not messed up to worry about your brother.
Tough Boy: What if he doesn't come back? What if he gets blown up?
Buffy: Have you talked to him? Have you told him how you feel?
Tough Boy: No. No, I don't wanna talk to him. I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna talk to him.
Buffy: OK.
Tough Boy: You understand?
(Time Lapse)
(Buffy's counseling a nerd boy now. He's wearing a crystal pendant necklace and horn-rimmed glasses.)
Buffy: So, Josh, what's on your mind?
Josh: Well, I'm worried that I'm... gay.
Buffy: OK, first of all, I... I think it's great that you would come and talk to me about this. And second of all, you should know that there is nothing shameful about being gay. Nothing.
Josh: I-I know. It's just—I'm not positive, so, uh, I was thinking that... why don't you go on, uh, a date with me so I can be sure.
(Josh flashes his crooked-toothed smile at Buffy while she shakes her head in disbelief and sighs.)
(Time Lapse)
(Buffy is counseling yet another student. She seems flustered with this student, holding her head in her hand before finally speaking.)
Buffy: It sounds like it's difficult for you. Like maybe your sister makes it hard for you to establish your own identity. You said she's controlling, she doesn't let you make your own decisions—
(The student she's counseling turns out to be Dawn, who's sporting an attitude.)
Dawn: Yeah, and she borrows my clothes without asking.
Buffy: I understand. That must be hard.
(Time Lapse)
(Buffy's now counseling a girl who doesn't quite fit any stereotype. She's wearing a black t-shirt and purple streaks in her blonde hair.)
Buffy: So, you're not doing your homework.
Cassie: I guess not. It all just... seems kind of ... whatever.
Buffy: I know high school can seem kind of frustrating. But if you just get through it, then you can go to college, you know, or you can join the French Foreign Legion, or anything you want.
Cassie: (smiles) Yeah, well, I'm not gonna do all that stuff.
Buffy: OK, no Foreign Legion. I get that. I mean all the changing your name, and being indentured for all those years, and occupying Algeria...
Cassie: (laughs) It's just that I'm not graduating from high school.
Buffy: Why not?
Cassie: I really like that shirt. Where'd you get it?
Buffy: Cassie, don't change the subject. Why won't you graduate?
Cassie: (seriously) Because next Friday I'm gonna die.
Buffy: What?
Cassie: Can we talk about something else?
Buffy: No, we have to talk about this.
Cassie: Just... never mind.
Buffy: Cassie, what makes you feel like this?
Cassie: Feel like what?
Buffy: Like you wanna hurt yourself.
Cassie: Oh, I'm— (laughs) I'm not gonna commit suicide if—if that's what you're saying. No way.
Buffy: (confused) OK then. Then what are you saying?
Cassie: Look, I don't mean to be a pain. You seem really nice, and I know you're just trying to help. But I'm wasting your time.
Buffy: No you’re not. This is why I'm here. Cassie, please tell me, why do you think you're gonna die?
Cassie: I don't think it, I know it. I just know.
Buffy: What do you mean, you know? A-are you saying that someone's going to hurt you? Has someone threatened you?
Cassie: No. (beat) No, I just know that next Friday I'm gonna die. Some things I just know. I don't know how, I just do. (beat) Like I know there will be coins—
Buffy: Coins?
Cassie: Mm-hmm. Lots of coins. Weird ones. And I know that you'll go someplace dark underground. I-I don't know.
Buffy: What do you mean underground?
Cassie: And I know you'll try to help—
Buffy: Cassie, I-I don't understand what you're saying.
Cassie: But you can't, OK? I gotta go. (stands up, gathers her things) Trig. I don't want Mr. Corrigan sending me Principal Wood again.
Buffy: Cassie, please—
Cassie: Thanks for being so nice. I really do like that shirt. (touches her own shoulder) You should put a sweater on so it doesn't get stained. I gotta go. (walks away)
Buffy: (stands) Cassie, wait, please—
Cassie: Gotta go.
(Principal’s Office)
(Buffy's standing, panicked, talking to Principal Wood, who's calm, sitting behind his desk.)
Buffy: What am I supposed to do?
Principal Wood: Well, you did what you were supposed to do. You reported the situation to me.
Buffy: And…
Principal Wood: Listen, Buffy, it's hard. Kids this age... they're hurting, they're pissed off, and they say things. Sometimes they say awful things. (stands up, walks to coffee maker, pours coffee) When I was in high school, I had a thing with this guy, right? Real bully. I kept telling everyone that he'd better sleep with one eye open 'cause I was gonna bust his ass. Well, I got suspended. Talk like that is taken pretty seriously where I come from.
Buffy: The hood?
(Principal Wood stops pouring his coffee and looks at Buffy.)
Principal Wood: Beverly Hills... which is a hood. (Buffy looks embarrassed. Principal Wood finishes preparing coffee, and walks toward Buffy with a cup of coffee for each of them. He hands one mug to Buffy.) Listen, the point is, I was talking big because I was scared. I couldn't bust a move back in high school, let alone someone's ass. Most of the time, that's what it is when these students act out. Fear, pain—
Buffy: But sometimes, it's not just talk, right?
Principal Wood: (walking back to sit at desk) Every time there's a threat like this, we do the same dance. Inform teachers, search lockers, but we can't—we can't know what's gonna happen, and we can't search their brains. We just—we just do what we can.
Buffy: It's not enough. I need to fix this. I don't usually get a heads up before somebody dies.
Principal Wood: What do you mean usually?
Buffy: (animated, talking with hands) No. No, not since—I mean, I'm sure it's not usual to get a chance to stop something like—I just I need to do something, OK? (walks toward Principal's desk) I have to make this better— (trips over something, and spills coffee on her shirt) Oh! Oh, shoot.
(Buffy looks down at the coffee stain on her shirt, and remembers what Cassie said earlier.)
(Hallway)
(Dawn's opens her locker, and Buffy's standing there when she closes it again.)
Buffy: I have a job for you.
(Library)
(Dawn's standing near one of the library stacks, listening in on a conversation between Cassie and guy friend.)
Mike: What're you drawing?
Cassie: Don't you have a history test to study for?
Mike: When are you gonna design me a tattoo?
Cassie: A tattoo? Oh, right. I could imagine that.
Mike: Come on. Design something. I mean, maybe we could get matching tattoos. How 'bout like a snake with fire coming out of its mouth.
Cassie: Hmm. Or a sexy hula girl who wiggles when you flex?
Mike: Yeah, now you're talking. Sexy hula girl. But a sexy snake hula girl.
(Dawn is pretending to read a book while casually making her way toward their conversation.)
Cassie: (chuckles) You are so ridiculous.
Mike: So, I was thinking... maybe we should go to that dance after all.
Cassie: What do you mean "after all." I told you I don't wanna go.
Mike: Well, I assumed you were kidding.
Cassie: It would probably be lame anyways.
(Dawn's standing behind them now.)
Mike: Well, yeah, but lame is funny… and, you know, maybe fun if, you know, we're hanging out together.
Cassie: We hang out together all the time.
Mike: Right. And therefore we should hang out together at the winter formal.
(Dawn walks up to them and interrupts.)
Dawn: (to Cassie) Hey. Um, I'm in ceramics class with you. I'm Dawn Summers. I forgot if we had an assignment last week. I spaced.
Cassie: Right. Um. Hey, Dawn. Uh, yeah, you know we did have an assignment, but I didn't write it down. I think something to do with glazes...
Mike: As scintillating as the pottery talk is, I'd better actually go study. (gathers his things and stands)(to Dawn) I'm Mike, by the way.
Dawn: Hi, Mike. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—
Mike: Oh, don't worry about it. I better go hit the books if I'm gonna ace this test. Nice meeting you, though. Cass, I'll see you later?
Cassie: Yep. (Mike walks away) Hey, Mike, you're gonna get a "B".
Mike: Oh, "A+" baby, "A+".
(Dawn notices that Cassie is reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Dawn sits down beside Cassie in the chair Mike vacated.)
Dawn: So, um, is that any good?
Cassie: Yeah. Actually, yeah.
Dawn: What do you have to read it for?
Cassie: Oh, just for me, I guess. I kinda stopped reading my homework assignments. I just... read what I want.
Dawn: That's so cool. I'd do that, but my sister'd be down my neck in a second.
Cassie: Summers... hey— are you the counselor's little sister?
Dawn: No. She's my sister. Lucky me, huh?
Cassie: No, no, she's-she's really nice. I actually just saw her this morning.
Dawn: Oh, really? What about? (beat) Uh, I'm sorry, that's none of my business.
Cassie: No, I don't care.
Dawn: So, Mike's a cutie. Are you guys going to that dance?
Cassie: No, I don't think so.
Dawn: Oh. I mean, didn't he ask you?
Cassie: Uh, like 105 times.
Dawn: And you said no?
Cassie: 106 times. No, I-I can't go. I'm not gonna be around that night.
(Summers Residence – Dining Room)
(Buffy and Xander are gathered around Willow, who's at her laptop on the table.)
Buffy: Cassie's records all show the same thing. Good grades, good kid, then all of a sudden not so good grades, absenteeism, comments about apathy and depression—
Xander: So, the question is, what changed?
Buffy: Right. If she did have some sort of psychic vision, that would explain it.
Willow: Do you really think this girl is some kind of precog?
Buffy: Oh, I don't know. I told you about the shirt, right?
Xander: Buff, you spilled a cup of coffee. I'm not saying you don't have slayer grace, but it's not the first time.
Willow: I mean maybe, just maybe, you're trying so hard to help that you're seeing paranormal when there's just normal.
Buffy: Maybe. But maybe not.
Willow: Want me to check her medical records?
Buffy: Her doctor already sent them.
(Buffy hands the file to Xander, who flips through it.)
Xander: (softly) Let me see that. (normal) Strep throat. Ear infections. Yeast infections. None of my business... no real info here.
Willow: Have you googled her yet?
Xander: Willow, she's 17.
Willow: It's a search engine. Look. (types on laptop) OK, let's see what "Cassie Newton" pulls up. (computer beeps) Hey, look. Check this. She's got her own site.
(Cassie Newton has a web site too, where you can read her poems, etc.: www.cassienewton.com.)
Xander: A day and a half of researching, and we finally try looking up her.
(Cassie's website is artsy and eccentric. The graphics resemble a collage of words cut from magazines pasted together.)
Buffy: Wow, that's a lot of poems.
Xander: Poems. Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil.
Willow: (reading from the website) The sheets above me
cool my skin
like dirt
on a mad woman's grave
I rise into
the moonlight white
and watch
the mirror stare
Pale fish looks
back at me
Pale fish that will
never swim
My skin is milk
for no man to drink
My thighs unused
unclenched
This body is
not ready yet
But dirt waits for no
woman
and coins will
buy no time
I hear the chatter
of the bugs. It's they alone
will feast.
(Meanwhile, Dawn has come home.)
Xander: OK, death is really on her brain.
Dawn: We all deal with death.
Xander: This girl isn't just dealing, she's giving death a long, sloppy word-kiss. She has a yen for the big dirt-nap.
Willow: I don't know. I mean, a lot of teens post some pretty angsty poetry on the web. I mean, I even posted a melodramatic love poem or two back in the day.
Xander: Love poems?
Willow: I'm over you now, sweetie.
Xander: Love poems!
Willow: Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff. You join chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fan-fic. It's all normal, right? Let's see what other sites there are. (types, computer beeps)
Dawn: You guys are way off track. I got a hunch on this one.
(No one acknowledges Dawn. They're just looking at the laptop.)
Willow: (computer beeps) Oh, wait, no, here's something. No, that's Philip Newton.
Buffy: No, that's her dad. Open it.
Dawn: Guys, I'm telling you. I got this case cracked wide-open. I got the perp fingered. I told you 'bout Mike Helgenberg, right?
Buffy: Uh, that's the guy that asked her to the dance?
Dawn: Right. The one that keeps asking her to the dance. I'm thinking, who likes to be rejected? Nobody. I'm thinking, some people can't handle the rejection. I'm thinking that—
Willow: Hey, I got something. Whoa, drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace—there's a lot of charges here.
Buffy: Her dad's a drunk?
Xander: A violent drunk?
Buffy: We'd better find out. I have his address right... here. Got your keys?
Xander: Yeah.
(Buffy and Xander are leaving without even acknowledging Dawn.)
Dawn: Guys, I'm telling you, I'm liking Mike Helgenberg for the perp. Let's collar him before he— (Buffy and Xander walk out the front door and close it) lawyers up.
(Philip Newton’s House – Night)
(Buffy and Xander are standing on Cassie's dad's front porch, ringing the doorbell.)
Buffy: Buffy, the vampire slayer, would break down this door.
Xander: And Buffy, the counselor?
Buffy: Waits. (Mr. Newton answers the door, but doesn't open the screen door.) Mr. Newton?
Mr. Newton: That's right.
Buffy: I work at your daughter's school. I need to talk to you.
(Time Lapse)
(Now inside the house, Buffy and Xander continue their conversation with Mr. Newton.)
Mr. Newton: So, is she screwing up her grades again? Because she's not the sharpest apple in the barrel.
Buffy: She's got some problems. But it's, um, it's kind of you we wanted to talk about.
Mr. Newton: What about?
Buffy: We know you've been picked up by the police a couple of times. We wanted to know if you still— (looks over at the counter top, cluttered with bottles of alcohol) drink a lot.
Mr. Newton: What's that got to do with Cassie?
Buffy: Frankly, we were worried that you might—drink too much and hurt Cassie. That's all.
Mr. Newton: Oh. Oh, I see. That's-that's all. You just come in here in the middle of the night, into my home, and start accusing me of beating on my daughter? That's all?
Buffy: We just want to make sure that Cassie's—
Mr. Newton: (slurring) Well, that's a lie! Who told you this? Did Cassie's mother put you up to this, 'cause I pay my support, OK? To the dime! She just wants to take away the one weekend a month I get to be with my girl.
Buffy: Which is when?
Mr. Newton: What?
Buffy: Which weekend is it?
Mr. Newton: I-I just had her last weekend. (beat) Look, I may not be the greatest dad in the world, but I don't beat up my daughter.
Buffy: So, you won't be seeing her this Friday, then?
Mr. Newton: Not unless my ex-wife gets a personality transplant.
Buffy: OK.
Mr. Newton: OK, what? OK now you'll get out of my house?
Buffy: Yeah, we will.
(Buffy and Xander go back out the front door.)
(Outside)
(Buffy and Xander are walking back out to the car when they see Cassie has just pulled into the driveway. Cassie uses remote keyless entry system to lock her car, which beeps.)
Cassie: It's not him. He's not the one who does it. Thank you for trying, but I probably shouldn't have told you anything. You're making such a big deal out of it, and I want it to all to just go away.
Xander: Are you talking about killing yourself?
Cassie: No, of course not.
Buffy: Then fight. Try.
Cassie: There's no point. I told you—
Buffy: This doesn't sound like someone who really wants to live.
Cassie: You think I want this? You think I don't care? (starts to cry) Believe me, I want to...be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal... (sniffles) I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music to wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff. (sniffles) I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will.
Buffy: You will. Cassie, you will. You just have to tell us what you know. You have to tell us everything. Please, help us.
Cassie: I can't. I just know it's gonna happen. I don't know why and I don't know how, but something out there is gonna kill me.
(Sunnydale High – Library – Night)
(Seven people clothed in floor-length, hooded red robes are chanting softly in Latin in a circle, each holding a lit white candle. There's a circle of coins on the floor inside their circle, and papers in a bowl in the center. One of them uses his candle to light the papers. Zoom in to show a picture of Cassie is among papers.)
(Buffy’s Office – Day)
(Buffy is sitting at her computer, reading more from Cassie's web site. Principal Wood walks up to her.)
Principal Wood: Hey, how're we doing? (Buffy sighs) Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.
Buffy: Oh, no, that's OK. I just didn't get much sleep last night.
Principal Wood: It's been a long week, huh. Well, thank God it's Friday. I can't believe I just said that. See you later.
(Principal Wood walks away, and Buffy turns back to the computer. She's reading "Poem #5" from Cassie's web site. It looks like scanned handwriting on ruled school paper. It scrolls on the screen while her pastel drawings are displayed in the background.)
Buffy: (reading) I sit alone at my
window sill
Trees crackle,
sunshine blares...
(Courtyard)
(Cassie continues reading the poem where Buffy left off. On screen is a scene of students sitting outside, eating lunch together.)
Cassie: (vo) ...and
children laugh like death
their sharp happiness is a
knife to me—
One jealous snake on a
window sill—
(Summers Residence – Dinging Room – Night)
(Cassie continues the voice over while displaying a scene of Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Dawn gathered around the dining room table, frantically researching. There's lots of papers on the table, yearbook, plus the laptop, and Willow's looking at a picture of Cassie that Xander handed her.)
Cassie: (vo) They will be here, trees and sun
and children with canes
and pruney skin
when I am but a memory
a laugh in the trees
of time. I sit alone
and try to love them
I sit alone, a snake
(Cassie’s Bedroom – Night)
(Cassie continues the voice over while displaying a scene of her sitting on her bed, writing more poetry. Her walls are covered with sketches and pastel drawings.)
Cassie: (vo) I sit alone and try to
love them
I sit alone
and laugh.
(Sunnydale High – Basement)
(Buffy walks around, looking for Spike. When she finds him, he's crouched on the floor. He's got the "bad hair of redemption", unkempt and not slicked back. She walks up to him, and waves her hand in front of his eyes. He doesn't respond. She snaps in front of his face, and he still doesn't respond. She's frustrated, and sighs. She impatient with his moods and games.)
Buffy: (crosses her arms over her chest) Spike, what are you doing?
Spike: Nothing. If I don't move, if I don't think, if I don't listen to the voices, then I won't hurt...much.
Buffy: I need to ask you something.
Spike: Don't.
Buffy: There's a girl, she's in danger, and she needs your help. Now. Time is running out. It's Friday, the day Cassie said she's going to die.
Spike: I can't. I can't hear you.
Buffy: Is there something evil in the school? Down here, maybe. Spike, please, do you know anything?
Spike: (defeated sigh) Yes. (beat) There's evil. Down here. Right here. I'm a bad man. William is a baaad man. I hurt the girl. (cries)
(Spike starts punching himself violently in the face.)
Buffy: (grabs his wrist) Spike, stop it! What did you do?
Spike: I hurt you, Buffy, and I will pay. I am paying because I hurt the girl.
Buffy: (tenderly) Spike. No. (lets go of his wrist) It's not me. It's a different girl, OK? Her name is Cassie Newton. Please, do you know anything specific?
(Spike shakes his head "no", and Buffy sighs. She turns to leave, when Spike calls out softly after her.)
Spike: Don't—don't leave me. Stay here, and help me be quiet.
Buffy: (turns to face him) I think it's worse when I'm here. (walks away)
Spike: Don't let him hurt the girl.
(Hallway)
(A locker inspection is being conducted by a security guard and Principal Wood.)
Principal Wood: Well, there's nothing in this one. What've you got?
(Mike walks by, and Buffy stops him.)
Buffy: Where's your hall pass?
Mike: No hall pass. I got a free period.
(He starts to go on by, but Buffy steps in his way again.)
Buffy: You seem kind of upset. Something on your mind?
Mike: No, not really. (holds up a graded paper) Well, I got a lousy "B" in Egyptian history. Knew this stuff cold, so that, you know, that pisses me off.
Buffy: You get... pissed off a lot?
Mike: No, I—
Buffy: Let me cut to the chase. I hear you can't get a date for the winter formal.
Mike: Oh, whoa, look, I know it's your job to talk to kids with problems, but honestly I don't have any. I'm fine. (Buffy seems suspicious) All right, look, it's really no big deal. I have a friend that I really wanted to take—I don't know, I guess she doesn't see me that way. (laughs) She makes me crazy.
Buffy: Crazy?
Mike: Yeah, sometimes I jus— That's funny. You're Dawn's sister, right?
Buffy: Uh, that's right. Dawn is my sister.
Mike: Oh, that's so weird. I was just thinking about her. Yeah, I was thinking if, you know, Cassie won't budge, maybe I'll ask Dawn.
Buffy: You aren't mad at Cassie, with her rejecting you like that?
Mike: Nah, she's a girl right? Making boys crazy is like your job description.
Buffy: (suddenly offended) You're asking my sister to the dance, and she's your second choice?
(Behind Mike, Principal Wood and the security guard open a locker and lots of coins fall out onto the hall floor. Buffy notices the commotion. To Mike.) I'll be keeping an eye on you.
(Buffy goes to the locker to check out the coins with the Principal and the security guard.)
Principal Wood: Seems like someone's got quite a coin collection, huh?
(Buffy picks one up, and it's unusual. She stands and looks at the label on the locker door, which reads "281".)
(Buffy’s Office)
(A boy sits in the chair in front of Buffy's desk, and Buffy is sitting on her desk in front of him.)
Boy: You wanted to see me?
Buffy: (sternly) You have locker number 281?
Boy: Yeah, why?
Buffy: (holds the coin in front of him) I want you to tell me what this is, and what this has to do with a girl named Cassie Newton.
Boy: (fidgets in his chair) I don't know. I-i-it's late. I'm going to miss my bus.
Buffy: I know it's late. That's why I don't have time to mess around, so you need to talk to me. Now.
Boy: Believe me, i-i-if I knew anything, I'd tell you. I just... don't.
Buffy: Do you know why I came back to Sunnydale High?
Boy: To creep me out?
Buffy: To help. I'm a counselor here because I wanna help. I know what it's like to walk these halls and feel lost, alone. I just want to make things better, connect. (stands and intimidates) And I'm going to connect with your face if you don't stop wasting my time and help me do my job.
Boy: I... please, I—
Buffy: A girl could die.
Boy: I guess I know who you're talking about. She's some weirdo suicidal poet girl. These guys I know wanna mess with her. They've got this plan—
(Sunnydale High Front Steps)
(Students are leaving for the day. Dawn and Cassie are walking out together.)
Cassie: Well, I guess this is goodbye.
Dawn: No. (beat) I mean, let me walk you home.
Cassie: Oh, don't worry about it, I'm going to my Mom's. It's kinda far.
Dawn: Far is good.
Cassie: Dawn, I know what's going on here.
Dawn: What?
Cassie: Buffy told you about me, right? She told you to pretend to be my friend?
Dawn: No. (beat) Maybe. Cassie, she was scared. She wanted to help you.
Cassie: Well, she can't.
Dawn: Maybe she can. She's not like you think. She's got powers... of helping. And look, she was worried and now I'm worried and I wasn't pretending at all. I really wanted to be your friend.
Cassie: (chuckles) You are my friend.
Dawn: I am?
Cassie: Yeah. Just remember, I'm not as dumb as I look.
Dawn: (laughs) I'm glad.
(A guy, the confident boy who went to Buffy's office earlier, calls out to Dawn.)
Confident Boy: Hey, Summers!
Cassie: (touches her on the shoulder) Listen, Dawn, whatever happens now, it's not your fault, OK?
Dawn: (to Cassie) Uh... (to boy) Uh, what's up, Peter?
Peter: I was just wondering if anyone had asked you to Winter Formal.
Dawn: What? (smiles, blushes, flutters eyelashes) Oh, uh, no. not exactly.
Peter: Well, uh, I was just doing a poll. (laughs at her) I'll see you.
Dawn: (to Cassie) That guy is such an ass. (She turned to talk to Cassie, but she was already gone.) Cassie? Cassie? Cassie!
(Library – Night)
(More chanting in Latin. The red robed people are gathered again, with candles lit and hoods over their heads.)
Peter: All present?
All: All present.
(Peter goes to light a nearby torch with his candle. He pushes his hood back.)
Peter: Then we begin. (someone giggles) Mandel, shut up.
Mandel: Sorry, dude, it's— It's just so cool, I mean— We're gonna be rich!
Peter: Keep your shorts, all right. We have to do the ritual if we wanna score. Oh, Keith, did you take care of the fire exits?
Keith: Yeah. Anybody tries to bust in here's gonna get a nasty surprise. (chuckling) I set up this booby trap my cousin Ben always used to do—
Peter: Then nobody is getting in... (pulls a blindfolded, bound and gagged Cassie from behind a bookshelf and into the circle) and nobody is getting out.
Mandel: Dude.
(Cassie's whimpering through the duct tape on her mouth.)
Peter: (pulls off Cassie's blindfold) This is our sacrifice. (picks up a large cleaver) It's nothing personal. It's just that you have this death-kick suicidal vibe going. I figure if you disappear, everybody'll just assume you threw yourself in a river somewhere. Extinguish. (All the robed people holding candles lick their fingers and press them to the candlewick to extinguish the flames.) All mighty Avilas... please accept our sacrifice. Please appear before us, oh mighty soldier of the dark. Please appear before us, and grant us with infinite riches, and we will pay you with our sacrifice. We kneel before you with the gift of flesh.
(One of the robed people stands and unfastens the robe, revealing her identity as Buffy.)
Buffy: OK, that—is going on your permanent record.
Peter: (stands) Wait, this is—the counselor! What the hell is she doing here?
Mandel: (pointing at another member) I-it was his idea!
(Buffy and Peter start to circle each other. Peter is still holding the cleaver.)
Peter: Back off. Get back! Get back, you stupid bitch! (Buffy kicks him in the face, and he falls back. He gets back up and yells, coming at her with a cleaver.) Aw, you're gonna die!
(Buffy kicks him again, in the crotch this time, and he falls down in agony, dropping the cleaver.)
Buffy: Do you know how lame this is? Bored teenage boys trying to raise up a demon. Sorry it didn't show. I bet it's 'cause you forgot the boom box playing some heavy metal thing, like Blue Clam Cult. I think that's the key to the raising of lame demons.
Peter: (still on the floor, he looks over Buffy's shoulder and points) That lame demon?
(Buffy looks behind her and sees the demon Avilas standing there. He's six feet tall with a curved horn coming out of either side of his head. He's got scaly brown demon skin, very muscular, with fins jutting out from his shoulders. He's also got a circular cavity where his abdomen should be. Buffy grabs the cleaver from the floor in front of Peter and hurls it at the demon. It lands in his chest, but doesn't phase the demon at all. Buffy lunges at it to attack it, but it throws her across the room.)
Kevin: (to Peter) Dude, help!
(The demon takes the cleaver out of its chest and throws it back on the floor near Peter. The demon goes after Buffy, who tries to kick him away. Peter grabs the cleaver and goes after Cassie.)
Buffy: No! (Peter holds the cleaver to Cassie, bending her head back to bare her neck. Buffy kicks one of the cult members out of the way, and the demon attacks her again, throwing her into a bookcase. While Buffy's down on the floor, the demon steps on her chest.) No! Ow!
(The demon is going to hurt Buffy when it turns around instead to measure a new threat. Spike (with normal, slicked back hair) is standing behind him with the torch to the demon's back. It roars.)
Buffy: Spike?
Spike: Here to help. No hurting the girl.
Buffy: Untie her. I'll take care of this.
(Buffy takes the torch from Spike and points it at the demon. Spike walks to Cassie. Buffy sweeps the torch in front of the demon's face. Spike punches Peter, knocking him to the ground. Buffy jabs the torch into the demon's abdomen cavity. Spike's on top of Peter, pummeling him ferociously. After each punch, Spike pauses to hold his aching head, then he punches Peter again.)
Peter: Who are you?
Spike: I'm a bad man.
(After knocking Peter out, Spike grabs the cleaver and holds it menacingly over Peter while he stands. The demon has caught on fire from Buffy's torching it. Spike uses the cleaver gently to cut the ties on Cassie's hands, then he takes off the duct tape on her mouth. The demon has burned to a crisp. Cassie's crying, but calms down enough to tell Spike something.)
Cassie: She'll tell you. Someday she'll tell you.
(Spike stares at Cassie, taken aback. Buffy comes over to them, and attends to Cassie.)
Buffy: Are you OK?
(Spike gets up and walks off, while Buffy inspects Cassie's arm. Cassie winces.)
Cassie: Uh-huh. Ow.
Peter: (crawling on the floor toward the crispy demon) You can't be dead. Where are my infinite riches? (the crispy demon jumps up and bites his shoulder) Ahh! Ahh! It bit me!
(The demon explodes. Buffy shields Cassie, who gasps with fright.)
Buffy: (to Cassie) C'mon.
Peter: Help! Help me, please! I'm bleeding.
Buffy: (walking away) Sorry. My office hours are 10 to 4.
(Library Front Room)
(Buffy walks out into the library's front room with Cassie.)
Buffy: It's all OK now. I hope you're not too disappointed. (They walk to the main door, and when Buffy opens it, the booby trap triggers a crossbow to shoot an arrow at their heads. Buffy reaches up in time to stop it from hitting Cassie between the eyes.) See? (breaks the arrow in half) You can make a difference.
(Cassie reaches up admiringly to push a strand of hair out of Buffy's face.)
Cassie: And you will.
(Cassie breathes in sharply and collapses onto the floor. Buffy kneels down to help her. She puts her ear to Cassie's chest, then checks her pulse, and strokes her hair.)
Buffy: Cassie? Cassie. Cassie. No, come on. Cassie. Cassie.
(Buffy cries, unable to help her.)
(Summers Residence – Day)
(Xander's sitting in the comfy chair, and the girls (Buffy, Willow and Dawn) are sitting on the couch in front of the window. No one is talking, just sitting quietly reflecting on the loss of Cassie until Willow breaks the silence.)
Willow: How is her mom?
Buffy: OK. (beat) As OK as... she told me that her family had a history of heart irregularities, but she never told Cassie.
Willow: Cassie didn't know? Then it was fate?
Xander: I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she. Didn't matter what you did.
Buffy: She just knew. She was special. I failed her.
Dawn: (crying) Uh-uh. No. You didn't, 'cause you tried. You listened, and you tried. She died 'cause of her heart, not 'cause of you. She was my friend because of you. I guess sometimes you can't help.
Buffy: So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?
(Sunnydale High – Buffy’s Office – Day)
(Buffy is back at work. She hangs her coat on the coat tree, and sits down at her desk, and starts going through files.)
Season Seven Guide