Most of the junior class was at the Sunnydale State Beach at night. There was a large party going on with about fifty students in attendance.

"Mann's Chinese", by Naked, playing in the background.

Xander, Cordelia, Willow and I sat together next to the fire.

"All I'm saying is, it's a stupid idea to have a victory party at the beach," Xander told us. "It's officially nippy." He looked down at himself. "So say my nips."

"Oh, come on!" I told them. "I think it's festive. A party with nature."

"You're just saying that because it's the beach and you love beach parties," Willow told me.

I smiled. "So true."

"Well, it's the team's choice," Cordelia told us. "It was their victory."

"Team?" Xander repeated. "Swim team." He chuckled. "Hardly what I'd call a team. The Yankees. Abbott and Costello. The 'A'. Now, those were teams."

"Jealous?" Cordelia asked.

"No," Xander told us. "Y-yes, but 'no' more than 'yes'." A member of the swim team staggered by with a girl under each arm. "I mean, look at that." Xander gestured to them. "Dodd McAlvy. Last month he's the freak with Jicama breath who waxes his back. He wins a few meets and suddenly inherits the cool gene?"

"Well, all I know is, my cheerleading squad wasted a lot of pep on losers," Cordelia told us. "It's about time our school excelled at something."

"Hmm," I hummed. "You're forgetting our high mortality rate."

Cordelia smiled at that.

Xander pumped his fist. "We're number one!" He looked around. "Huh?"

He hot a few positive responses from nearby students.

~~

The four of us were walking down the stairs in a school hallway the next day.

Willow was telling us about what Snyder had told her.

"Just like that?" I asked. "He actually told you to alter his grade?"

"Exactly," Willow answered. "Except for actually telling me to. But he made it perfectly clear of what he wasn't telling me."

"That is wrong, a big, fat, spanking wrong," Xander told us. "It's a slap in the face to every one of us who studied hard and worked long hours to earn our D's."

"Xander, I know you take pride in being the voice of the common wuss, but the truth is, certain people are entitled to special privileges," Cordelia told him. "They're called winners. That's the way the world works."

"And what about that nutty 'all men are created equal' thing?" Xander asked.

"Propaganda spouted out by the ugly and less deserving," Cordelia told him.

"I think that was Lincoln," I told her.

Cordelia exhaled. "Disgusting mole and stupid hat."

"Actually, it was Jefferson," Willow told us.

"Kept slaves," Cordelia told her. "Remember?"

"You know what really grates my cheese?" I asked. "That Buffy's not here to share my moral outrage about swim team perks. She's too busy being one of them."

~~

We went to the library.

Buffy had been with a guy named Cameron, who locked her in his car and tried to make out with her. Buffy had punched him in the face and broke his nose. Snyder had seen her, and she had gotten into trouble because of it.

Buffy stood between the cage and the table. ",So I'm treated like the baddie just because he has a sprained wrist and a bloody nose.  And I don't have a scratch on me, which, granted, hurts my case a little on the surface, but meanwhile he gets away with it because he's on the 'aren't we the most' swim team, who, by the way, if no one's noticed, have been acting like real jerks lately..." She noticed our expressions of impatience and tried to find some sympathy there. We had none to give. "So . . ." Buffy giggled nervously. "Anything new with you guys?"

Buffy sat down.

"Thank you for taking an interest," Giles told her. "Apparently, some remains were found on the beach this morning. Some human remains."

"Dodd McAlvy's remains," Willow told her.

"Vampire?" Buffy asked.

"No," Giles answered. "No, he was eviscerated. Nothing left but skin and cartilage."

"In other words, this was no boating accident," Xander told her.

"So something ripped him open and ate out his insides?" Buffy asked.

"Like an Oreo Cookie," I answered. Willow gave me a look. "Well, except for, you know, without the chocolatey cookie goodness."

"Yes," Giles said. "Um, Principal Snyder has, has asked the faculty to keep the news quiet for now, um, so as not to unduly upset the students."

"For 'students': read 'swim team'," Xander told us.

"So, we're looking for a beastie," Willow told us.

"That, uh, eats humans whole... except for the skin," Giles told us, looking into his book.

"This doesn't make any sense," Buffy told us.

"Yeah," Xander agreed. "The skin's the best part."

"Any demons with high cholesterol?" I asked. Giles slowly turned to me and gave me a look. I pointed at him. "You're gonna think about that later, mister, and you're gonna laugh."

~~

Xander had seen a monster in the boys' locker room.

He came back to the library for me to try to draw it.

Xander was standing behind me sitting at the table and watched me sketch the monster he saw. It was scaly and had rifts on his head, almost like a mohawk.

"No, no, no!" Xander told me. "The mouth's a lot bigger! And downward. Like this." I looked at him. Xander made a face with the corners of his mouth turned down. I sighed. "With more teeth!"

I had enough. I put the sketchpad down, getting up and walking over to Giles at the counter. "I'm doing the best I can."

Giles took off his glasses and looked up from his book over at Xander. "Is that what you saw, Xander?"

Xander picked up and looked at the sketch. "Y... yeah!" He considered. "I think so." He considered some more. "Pretty much."

"Are you sure?" Giles asked.

I faced Xander and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Well, it was dark," Xander told us. "And the thing went through the window so quick, and I was a... little shocked when I saw it, and..."

"Go ahead," I told him. "Say it. You ran like a woman."

I grinned.

"Hey, if you saw this thing, you'd run like a woman, too," Xander told me.

Willow, Cordelia and Buffy walked into the library and headed for the counter.

"Buffy was right," Willow told us. "According to the statistics, Dodd and Cameron were the best swimmers on the team."

Willow handed Giles the figures.

"First and second, actually," Buffy told us. "Which means if my theory's correct, Gage Petronzi, the third-best swimmer on the team, would be the next item on the menu."

"God, this is so sad," Cordelia told us. "We're never gonna win the state championship. I think I've lost all will to cheerlead."

I sat on the counter. "Raise your hand if you feel her pain."

Cordelia gave me a look.

"If you're saying these killings aren't random, it would suggest someone's out for revenge," Giles told us.

"And raise the possibility that someone brought forth this sea monster from whence it came to exact that revenge," Buffy told us. She reconsidered her words. "'From whence it came'?" Willow and I smiled. Buffy looked at Giles. "I'm spending way too much time around you."

"Who would hate the swim team that much, though?" Xander asked. We all gave him a look. "Besides me, I mean."

Willow raised her hand. "Ooo!"

"Willow?" I asked.

"Jonathon," Willow told us. "He was bullied by Dodd the other day on the beach, remember?"

"He did say he could take care of things himself," Buffy told us. "It's a good call. You should question him."

Willow smiled. "Really? Me?" She spoke menacingly. "I'll crack him like an egg."

Giles looked at Buffy. "Meanwhile, I think, uh, swimmer number three might benefit from your... watchful eye and protection. Discreetly, of course."

"I'm on it," Buffy told us, walking out of the library.

"Zoey, I need your help with finding out how to stop these, uh, sea monsters," Giles told me.

"I'm so tired with research," I told him.

"You can question Jonathon," Willow told me.

I smiled, picking up a book. "Research it is!"

"What about me?" Xander asked. "What can I do?"

"Well, you could go out to the parking lot and practice running like a man," I told him.

Xander hugged his arms around himself to protect against the sting of my words.

~~

Angelus had attacked Gage last night, but he had spit his blood back out.

Buffy had saved Gage, though.

There was a swim meet today.

Buffy, Willow, Cordelia and I sat in the stands.

Gage, in the speedo uniform, waved to Buffy.

Cordelia looked at Buffy. "So he spit it out? I thought Angel liked blood."

"He used to," Buffy told us.

"Maybe his eyes were too big for his stomach," Willow told us.

"Or maybe there was something in Gage's blood that Angel didn't like," I told them. "Say, for example, steroids."

"That would explain all their behavioral changes," Willow told us.

"And their winning streak," Cordelia added.

"So maybe whatever's in their blood is what's attracting this creature to them," Willow told us.

Buffy looked at me. "Any luck researching our fish monster?"

"Zippo," I answered. "We couldn't find any sea demon that matched the description that Xander gave us. Not that Chicken Little's much of a witness, but..." My eye was caught by a swimmer coming out of the locker room. "Oh."

The swimmer had athletic legs, crimson Speedo's and tight abs and a hairless chest.

"Oh!" Cordelia said. "Oh, my! Now, that, girls, is my kind of..."

"Xander?" Willow asked in shock.

"Xander?!" Cordelia repeated. When Xander heard our voices, he scrambled over to a pile of kickboards, grabbing the one off the top and hiding himself behind it. We stood, walking toward him. Xander scrambled over to us. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Shh!" Xander told us. "I'm undercover."

"Not under much," I told him, grinning as I finished.

"Get out of here before someone sees you impersonating a member of the swim team!" Cordelia told him.

"I don't do impersonations," Xander told us. "I tried out for the team last night. I made it."

"Really?" Cordelia asked, intrigued.

"Yeah," Xander answered. "I figured I can keep an eye on Gage and the others when Buffy can't."

"When you're nude?" Willow asked. I nudged her. "I-I meant to say 'changing'."

Coach Marin called for Xander. "Harris! You can flirt on your own time!"

"Okey-dokey, coachie," Xander told him, backing away to go join the rest of the team, covering his butt with his free hand.

Xander lamely tossed the kickboard back onto the pile, but it just fell off. He reached the others and listened in on what the assistant swim coach was saying.

Cordelia smiled proudly. "I'm dating a swimmer from the Sunnydale swim team."

"You can die happy," I told her.

We watched as Xander got up on a starting block and put on his swim cap.

Buffy looked at Willow. "What about Jonathon? Is he involved?"

"Oh, no," Willow answered. "He just... sort of... peed in the pool."

"Oh," Buffy said.

We looked back at Xander to watch as he dived in. His dive qas a bit sloppy, but not at all bad.

We all looked on in wide-eyed shock as we realized what he just dove into.

I cringed. "Oh!"

~~

Gage had turned into another fish monster. Liternally. His skin had torn away and revealed nothing but another sea creature. That was how the others had died.

Buffy, Xander, Willow and I sat in Ms. Caldenar's old classroom, which was now Willow's classroom until the new teacher came.

We were at the computer surfing through the school medical files.

"There," I told her.

"Dodd McAlvy: torn tendon," Willow told us. "Gage Petronzi: fractured wrist, depression, headaches."

"It's all there in the school medical records," I told them.

"All symptomatic of steroid abuse," Willow told us.

"But is steroid abuse usually linked with, 'hey, I'm a fish'?" Xander asked.

"There must be something else in the mix," Willow told us. "But the point is, these boys were obviously drugged."

"And Nurse Greenleigh treated every one of them," Buffy told us. "She must have known."

"If steroids are that dangerous, why would they do that to themselves?" Willow asked.

"They needed to win," I told her. "And winning equals trophies, which equals prestige for the school. You see how they're treated. It's been like that forever."

"Sure," Xander said. "The discus throwers got the best seats at all the crucifixions."

"Meanwhile, I'm breaking my nails every day battling the forces of evil, and my French teacher can't even remember my name," Buffy told us.

"So what's the drill?" I asked. "Get Nurse Greenleigh?"

Willow stood up sternly. "Let's throw the book at her!"

"She probably went home for the day," Buffy told us. "I think it can wait. Xander, why don't you see if you can find out what these boys are taking, or at least how they're taking it? Powders, pills, syringe?"

"I'm Lookin'-Around Guy," Xander told us.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Giles loaded up the tranquilizer gun," Buffy told us. "We're going fishing."

~~

Xander came to meet us in the library, telling us that the steroids were in the steam that the team sat in after practice.

Xander paced.

Giles got up from cleaning his glasses and headed for the table, where Willow, Buffy and I were sitting.

Cordelia was on the stairs to the mezzanine level behind the table.

"They're absorbing the steroid mixture through the steam," Giles told us.

Xander followed him. "Not they. We. Me! We have to find an antidote, don't you think? The clock is ticking, people!"

"I wouldn't break out the tartar sauce just yet," I told him. "I mean, it's not like you were exposed more than once." Xander gave me a worried look. "Twice?"

"Three times a Fish Guy," Xander told us, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh..." Buffy, Willow and I trailed off.

"Whoa," Cordelia said.

"What am I gonna do?" Xander asked.

"You, you, you," Cordelia told him. "What about me? It's one thing to be dating the lame unpopular guy, but it's another to be dating the creature from the Blue Lagoon."

Xander paced over to her. "Black Lagoon. The creature from the Blue Lagoon was Brooke Shields. And thank you so much for your support!"

Xander sat by her.

"I think we'd better find the rest of the swim team and lock them up before they get in touch with their inner halibut," Buffy told us.

"Yes," Giles agreed. "Yes, good. Uh, we also need to know exactly what's in this, this steroid gas so that the hospital's toxicology lab can develop an antidote."

Willow stood up. "Well, I'll talk to Nurse Greenleigh."

"You're really getting into this interrogation thing," I told her.

"The trick is not to leave any marks," Willow told us, walking out of the library.

Buffy stood up. "On that note, I think I'm gonna go have a little talk with our coach. Somehow, I doubt all he's been giving these boys is inspiration."

Buffy walked out of the library.

~~

While Buffy and Willow went to interrogate Nurse Greenleigh and the Coach, and Cordelia and Xander went to do God knew what, Giles and I rounded up the swim team into the library.

I led the other swim team members into the cage. "All right, boys, in you go." They were all a bit confused, but obeyed none the less. "Stay calm."

I closed the door.

Giles stood next to me. "Either we'll find an effective antidote, or, or, uh... S-stay calm."

"The miracle that a hot girl can do effortlessly," I told him. "Everyone's accounted for except Sean."

Xander, Cordelia and Willow walked into the library.

"I think we can safely say we've found Sean," Cordelia told us. "He was in the pool skinless-dipping."

"Where's Buffy?" Willow asked.

I looked at them. "She hasn't come back yet."

~~

Xander had gone to the coach. This had been his plan all along. He had tried to feed Buffy to the fish monsters. Xander had saved her and they had accidentally killed the coach.

The next day, Xander, Cordelia, Willow and I were in the school lounge together.

Willow, Buffy and I were sitting on one of the couches opposite Xander and Cordelia on the other.

"Let's see," Xander told us. "I gotta take a make-up chem test at three. And then I'm meetin' some of the guys for plasma transfusions at five. It's turned into quite the busy afternoon."

"The fun never stops with you, does it?" I asked.

"Giles seems pretty confident that the treatments are gonna work," Willow told us.

"Well, turning into a creepy-crawly wasn't on my top ten list of things to do before I turn twenty," Xander told us.

Cordelia looked at Xander. "I want you to know that you've really proven yourself to me. And you don't have to join the new team next year if you don't want. I'd be just as happy if you played football."

Cordelia smiled.

Buffy, Willow and I exchanged an amused look.

Giles walked up the steps to us. "The... people from animal control have just left. Our creatures have apparently made a, a dash for it. Um... so to speak."

"Does that mean we're gonna have to hunt them again?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so," Buffy answered. "I don't think we'll be seeing them anymore."

"Where do you think they'll go?" Giles asked.

"Home," Buffy answered.

The ocean.