At Buffy Summers' party, Michelle is very content to be standing off in the corner, swaying softly to the sound of Dingoes Ate My Baby and watching those around her. But when Jovan Doe, center on basketball varsity and Mr. Joe Cool, comes over to her, she's quite shocked. It also doesn't help that the first visual that comes to mind is how awkward it would be for such a short person (michelle) to kiss such a tall person (jovan).
Of course, Jovan Doe would have no real interest in talking to someone such as Michelle so she is unsurprised when he reveals that he's looking for someone named Melissa to inform the poor girl that her cat has bitten the dust. Reminding Jovan that her name is Michelle, the short girl is confused when the popular jock doesn't leave. In fact, the boy leans closer to her, his body almost pressed up against hers.
A jolt of terrifying excitement runs through her and Michelle can't help but wonder if maybe Jovan Doe likes her. Like, like likes her. No way, she decides. It has got to be some kind of mean dare. But, despite the facts, Jovan does seem like he's trying to get Michelle to leave with him. Confused and curious, Michelle activates her mind-reading power and focuses in on Jovan.
Expecting to hear about some prank the cool-kids were playing on the nerds of Sunndydale High, Michelle is quite surprised to hear Jovan thinking about the walking undead and the need to save Michelle's life. Deciding that Jovan was losing his mind--the poor jerk of a kid--she resolves to get him some help. But first, they need a quieter place to talk. So she agrees to head out with him and, knowing that Jovan doesn't want to be seen with her, she leads him towards the backyard.
Entering the backyard, however, proves to provide yet another shock. Nicholas Winterer and Scott Hope...kissing?! And Antigone, Francesco, Morrigan, Amy, and Sebastian as further witnesses. Of course Jovan Doe has to make some rude comment, and Michelle (trying to ignore the feel of his muscle-ly body pressed up against her as she accidently bumps into him) hits him on the chest, annoyed.
What's more? Everyone in the backyard seems to be talking about Zombies. Either everyone else is insane or she is. But, as if talking about them conjured them, suddenly the backyard is swarming with the undead. At the sound of Mrs. Summers' voice, Michelle is reminded of her own mother--but it's enough to get her back into action. She rushes back into the Summers kitchen, grabbing Jovan by the arm and pulling him along with her.
In the kitchen, Michelle rationalizes everything happening and decides that a crazy leper-cult is attacking the house. Gearing up for a fight, she starts searching the kitchen for weapons--forks and knives--and tries to move the fridge over the backdoor. Too weak to even make the large appliance budge, Jovan Doe slips in behind her to help her. Preoccupied with the feel of Jovan's hand against her arm, Michelle tries to keep focused on the task at hand: not dying.
Not willing to move the fridge all the way over the door until all the students have come back inside, Michelle shouts to the stragglers to hurry up. It's all for nothing, though. The zombies crash in and before anyone can stop anything---Scott Hope is lying on the kitchen floor, dead.
With the kitchen no longer safe, Michelle grabs the kitchen knife and, wondering briefly what Mr. Giles was doing in the Summers residence, heads towards the foyer. As she heads out, she glances at Jovan, asking how he knew that the zombies would be in the living room before it even happened.
Getting no response, Michelle follows the others upstairs. As she stops in the upstairs hallway, trying to gather her courage and thoughts, she realizes she's lost Jovan. Shouting his name, she doesn't realize that Francesco has almost just collided with her. He rather rudely tells her to hurry on up to Buffy's room and to forget about her 'boyfriend'.
Annoyed, Michelle has no real choice but to follow Francesco towards Buffy's room. Seeing Amy, Willow, Sebastian, Morrigan, and Dawn all already there, she's unnerved when Amy suggests that she and Sebastian have ...power. Being dared to disprove it, Michelle steps into the circle along with Sebastian, surprised to see the deep blackness of Amy's eyes.
[Time skip]
At Scott's funeral, Michelle is more shy than usual and inexplicably irritated. She's having trouble coming to terms with Scott's death, its reminders of her mom and sister's funerals, and the truth about what had happened at the Summers' party. Francesco breaks the ice with her, and she and him head towards Morrigan and Sebastian. All together, Michelle can't help but be reminded of when they were all in Buffy's bedroom but she does find a sense of peace by standing among those who shared in the madness.
[Time skip]
Having avoided Jovan Doe all day--as per usual since the Summers' party--Michelle is about to find a place to eat her lunch when a loud popping sound startles her and causes her to drop all her books. Dante Blackwell helps gather them up and Michelle notices that he's crushed his Nestea bottle and cut his finger.
Before he can protest, Michelle whips out a coozie bandaid from Alaska and helps patch the boy up. Surprised at how interesting Dante is, she learns a little about his religious feelings and wonders why he isn't more social in class. Just as he begins to open up to her, though, he violently shoves it off--reminding Michelle that she's Michelle and he's one of the (albeit more obscure) elite.
After Dante abruptly leaves the cafeteria, Michelle, not seeing her usual friends, sits alone at one of the tables. Suddenly, Francesco comes riding in on his skateboard and crashes into a trashcan nearby Nicholas Winterer. Rushing towards him, Michelle stops when she sees Principal Snyder. She didn't want to hear another lecture about the evils of dyed hair, but she did want to make sure Francesco wasn't hurt.
Seeing that Francesco is okay, she can't help but laugh a little at the situation. As Morrigan and Sebastian soon show up and tell Snyder some lie about condoms being filled with water, the urge to laugh increases. With Snyder off to stop some imaginary mischief, Michelle confirms that the skate-boarder is alright. As the group is about to crash Nicholas' table, Harmony Kendall shows up dressed in a full Disney princess costume and asking in her annoyingly bubbly voice what today--the special Sept 29th--was.
Having no clue it is Harmony's birthday, Michelle thinks the popular girl might be referring to an interesting astronomical event. As Harmony quickly sets her straight, Michelle is distracted by Snyder's voice on the intercom. Everyone is to report to the auditorium.
Quietly slipping out of the cafeteria, Michelle is glad to get out of the crowded area. Being a little socially shy, she still isn't sure whether Francesco, Sebastian, and Morrigan consider her a part of their group. She figures she'll take a seat in the auditorium and see if they choose to sit by her. Satisfied by her plan, she heads towards the auditorium and then stops dead in her tracks: Jovan Doe is blocking the doorway.
Hoping someone comes by to save her, she is relieved when as a voice talks to her. Not caring who it was, she turns, basically ready to give the guy a hug. Slightly surprised to see Nicholas Winterer. Trying to stall by getting a drink from the nearby water fountain, Michelle's tactics are not lost on Nicholas. He knows that she is avoiding a certain tall basketball player but he turns out to be pretty cool. She and Nicholas joke around a little about knights in shining armor and damsels in distress--and Francesco, Sebastian, and Morrigan join up with them.
The group heads into the auditorium and take their seats near one another. Michelle makes a lame joke and feels sorta stupid but is surprised when 'Cesco tells her she is actually "cool." Before she can respond, Synder reveals the purpose of the assembly: everyone who intends on graduating must join one of the three clubs, journalism, art, or drama. But that's not all. In addition, he has appointed different people to the student government.
Afraid to be chosen as either Treasurer or President or anything equally horrible, Michelle hopes that her name won't be called. As she waits in semi-terror, she considers which club she'd like to join. At first she is a little concerned about which club will have which people (for instance, there is no way she's joining whatever Jovan joins!). Then, Michelle slowly starts to warm to the idea of clubs and decides art club might be fun.
Feeling an odd connection to Nicholas, who quietly reminds her that "you can still hide in art," Michelle and their little group head up to the tables to sign up for their chosen clubs.
After school, Michelle heads over to Morrigan's house to get ready for Harmony's party at the Bronze. The two girls are a little self-conscious at first to reveal to each other that they both live in a hotel but Michelle breaks the ice first, more concerned with checking on her father than letting Morrigan know where she lives. As they both realize they are more similar than they realized, the two girls bond and do girlie type stuff. Michelle borrows some of Morrigan's clothes and her shoes and for once she looks rather normal: she goes to the Bronze in jeans and a tight black shirt.
As they arrive, Michelle notices something is a little off about Francesco and she decides to read his mind--just to keep Morrigan safe. Michelle knows Morrigan and Michelle have some kind of thing going on and she doesn't want her new friend to get hurt. She's a little surprised to realize that Francesco is high and when Morrigan shows up, it gets a little tense. She decides to quietly excuse herself and let the two work things out on their own.
Walking away from the bar, Michelle heads in no particular direction but finds herself passing by Jovan Doe. (Okay, so maybe it was a subconscious decision to head that way). She desperately wants to pass him by without talking to him but Jovan grabs her arm. Annoyed that he even has the gall to touch her, Michelle flashes angry eyes at him. He, in turn, demands to know why she has been avoiding him all week.
Wanting answers from him, Michelle starts to read his mind and when he asks her to go backstage with him so that they can talk, she grudgingly agrees. As she heads backstage, Jovan is suddenly hit with a premonition and her psychic link is severed--but not before Michelle hears him think "I don't want to see--". As Jovan does not join her backstage, Michelle gets angrier, assuming he was blowing her off in some kind of twisted and mean trick.
Trying to keep back her crushed feelings, Michelle stays angry, afraid that if she lets down her guard she might cry or something. So she waits backstage until she can get her emotions a little more stable. To her surprise, this creepy older guy comes backstage and starts to mess with the electrical grid.
[Externally, Michelle's power level increases to level 2. She can now read two people's minds at once.]
Hearing the strange man talk about taking somebody out, Michelle hides behind a large speaker and starts to mind read the guy. Not at all liking what she gets from the guy, Michelle waits silently until he turns out the lights, activates some kind of charm thing, and then takes off.
Scared silly, Michelle inches forward in the dark and fumbles around at the electrical grid, trying to figure how to turn the lights back on. Finally finding it, wha-la! Let there be artificial light!
Torn between immediately calling the cops and getting out or seeing what is going on, Michelle decides the cops will want to know how many people there are taking hostages so she sneaks up onstage. Seeing Jovan at knifepoint and a man with a gun, Michelle has no time to ponder why most of the student body seems to be frozen in space.
Grabbing a guitar from Dingoes Ate My Baby, Michelle slams it down on Weatherby's arm and forces him to drop the gun. As he tackles her to the ground, Michelle is too weak to push him off of her but something strange happens and he's suddenly talking to his mother??
Glad to be saved, Michelle grabs Morrigan's hand and jumps down from the stage. She tells Morri to find Sebastian and Cesco while she takes off in search of Jovan and Zach.
Just as Michelle and Zach are trying to get Jovan to safety, a group of Spider Demons appear and skewer Jovan Doe through the chest. Throwing her shoes at the spider, Zach takes a more practical approach and throws a chair at it. The spider in turn shoots webbing at Zach, suffocating the young witch.
Running to the bar, Michelle finds some hydrochloric bleach (wow!) and baking powder. She makes an acidic and bubbly concoction to burn the web from Zach's face and allow him to breathe. Unfortunately, she also burns her arm in the process, leaving a scar.
Meanwhile, Sam Holden uses his powers to destroy the demon spiders and save the day. Michelle is quite oblivious, focused on stopping Jovan from bleeding to death as Zach calls an ambulance.
[Time skip]
to be continued...
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