For Buffy Summers, fifteen, high school was a whole new world, but she still had time to get used to it. Maybe it was because she had prepared herself for it beforehand.

Anyway, it was now lunchtime, and Buffy was very hungry. She had gotten her own tray of food, and was now looking for a place to sit at. However, the cafeteria seemed to be crowded, and the tables looked to be full of students that were sitting together.

Buffy sighed. Being the new kid was tough, and tougher still was the fact that she didn't know anybody at all. At Hemery High, her old school back in Los Angeles, she was popular, and people knew who she was. They liked her, and they usually saved a seat for her at lunch as well.

Here at Sunnydale High, her new school, however, she was at the bottom of the totem pole. She was the It girl no longer.

Turning a mental hose on those images and washing them away, Buffy looked around the cafeteria, and soon spotted a table with an empty chair. Sitting at the table were three boys.

Hmm, they probably might be friendly to a new girl like me, Buffy thought to herself as she then walked over to the table. I hope so, anyway.

The three popular boys seemed to be in a discussion of sorts when they heard a new voice — a female one at that — suddenly ask them a question right out of the blue.

"Would it be OK if I sat here?"

The question wasn't much, just a simple, little query. However, the three boys then looked at each other. Their looks of puzzlement soon turned into ones of scorn as Buffy sat down in the empty seat at the table.

"Is she serious?" asked the first guy as he picked up his tray and got up from the table to leave.

"Whatever!" snapped the second boy as he also followed suit.

"New girl!" hissed the third guy as he, like his comrades, picked up his tray and put the strap of his messenger bag on his shoulder before getting up and then leaving also.

Buffy couldn't believe her eyes. Or her ears, for that matter. Her hunch was wrong. Those three guys definitely did not want to accept her. At all. All they cared about was themselves and their "popular guy" status. They only saw her and her "new kid" status, and also saw her as "weird" and "odd" into the bargain. The only thing they saw in her was her appearance, and they didn't care to find out what her dreams were, what she wanted to be in the future, or any of that stuff.

And they sure didn't say she was more than welcome to be with them. Nope, not one bit.

Instead, when she sat down at their table, they had what she would refer to as a Yank the Dog's Chain moment (for she knew that all that time researching the website for TV Tropes and Idioms would come in handy some time). In other words, they had simply picked up their lunch trays, gotten up from the table and left her sitting there.

It was then that, as Buffy sat there by herself, tears threatened to gather themselves behind her emerald orbs and then fall down her cheeks while leaving tracks behind. What was going on? Why were those guys so mean? Oh, well. It was settled, then. For the next four years, she was going to be seen as the "new kid", and, from the looks of it, she would have to eat her lunch all by herself. Also, everyone would never know her real name, or what she was like as a person, either.

Fortunately for her, Atem 'Yami' Moto, who was sitting at a table a few feet away from the one where Buffy was, had seen the whole thing. After looking at Buffy's now tear-stained face, he soon made up his mind and came to a decision.

With that, he picked up his lunch tray, pushed his chair back, and then headed over to the table where Buffy was sitting. The people that he had been sitting with looked at each other, puzzled, and then back at Atem as they began to whisper things like "Why is he sitting there?" as he first set his tray down on the table before sitting across from Buffy.

Buffy looked up, and saw the most beautiful pair of crimson eyes unlike anything she had ever seen. But they weren't full of taunting and smirks like those three boys when she had looked into their eyes. Instead, the eyes that were looking at her right now were full of something else. Sympathy. He had seen what had happened to her, and he felt she needed someone to talk to. He would be that person.

"Hi," she said.

He smiled. "Hello. I take it you're the new student here at Sunnydale High." His voice then took on a serious tone when he spoke the next few words, which Buffy noticed and took a secret liking to. "I couldn't help but notice that when you sat down at this table, those... bullies... actually had the nerve to get up and leave you there." He shook his head. "How cruel could they be?"

Buffy smiled. It looked like she had made a friend on her first day already. "My name's Elizabeth Anne Summers, but I've been called ‛Buffy' my whole life."

"Ah, Buffy. A variant of Elizabeth, which means ‛God is my oath'."

Buffy blinked. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" she asked.

"I said that your name, ‛Buffy', is a variant of Elizabeth. And the name ‛Elizabeth' is Hebrew, and means ‛God is my oath'," Atem replied.

"Wow," said Buffy.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I've forgotten to introduce myself. My name's Atem Moto, but my nickname is ‛Yami', which is very neat, I might add."

"Really? Cool," said Buffy as she held out her hand for him to shake.

However, what happened next was something that not even the bullies could've foreseen. Right then, as everyone in the entire cafeteria looked on — including, Buffy noticed, the three popular male bullies — instead of shaking her hand, like she expected he would, Atem took her hand in his, turned it over so that the back was facing him, and then lifted it to his lips. Buffy felt the blush rising in her cheeks as Atem pressed his mouth against the back of her hand.

When he finally let go, still smiling at her, Buffy smiled to herself, while those around her in the cafeteria turned and started whispering to each other — mostly about what they had seen.

"Uh, thanks, Atem," she said.

"You're welcome, Buffy," Atem replied.

It turned out Atem was in most of Buffy's classes, as their schedules were almost the same. So, for the rest of the day, Atem accompanied Buffy to the classrooms they were scheduled to be in. And whenever the bullies got close to Buffy, Atem would try and be there for her.

Buffy grinned enthusiastically to herself. Forget being alone and an outcast for the next four years; I think I have someone to share them with! How cool is that?