An awkward moment

"At last, Miss Summers," said Principal Snyder, "I've caught you doing something that not even your self-appointed guardian angel Rupert Giles can excuse. This means expulsion for sure."

At that point, Buffy did the one thing she'd never imagined doing in even her worst dreams -- she found herself hugging Principal Snyder and saying, "Thank God it's you. I was so worried!"

"Worried?" asked Principal Snyder, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Someone stole my clothes during gym class so I went to hide in the high school basement," said Buffy. "But there were some people there -- dope fiends -- crackheads, maybe. And I got so scared. But thank God you're here."

"Er, okay," said Principal Snyder, not quite sure whether or not to believe Buffy's story but not particularly sure what else he could do.

Then he saw a couple of middle-aged school teachers approaching -- and noticed the disapproving looks on their faces. He realized what the situation must look like from their point of view -- him a grown man embracing a naked teenage girl.

He instantly stepped away from Buffy and averted his eyes. "That will be enough, Miss Summers," he said. "You're dismissed."

"But my expulsion..." Buffy started to say.

"No need to worry about that," said Principal Snyder. "Extenuating circumstances and all that. Just go home and never mention this incident again. To anyone."

"But the basement..." said Buffy.

"Er, will be taken care of," said Principal Snyder. "Eventually. Now go home. Please."

Buffy smiled as she watched Principal Snyder hastily walk away from her.

She hadn't expected that strategy to work and she suspected that it would not have if she had thought about it too long. But for once she got lucky.

However, she was still naked and she still needed a place to hide. The high school basement was obviously out. Perhaps she might find some place on the way home.

As she tried to run down the street and cover herself at the same time, she noticed an old church just a block away from the high school. She didn't see any cars in the parking lot. Could it be deserted?

Buffy decided to investigate.

Sure enough there seemed to be no people outside yet the front door was unlocked. All the windows were blacked out so that no one could see the inside of the church from outside, making it the perfect hiding place for a naked Buffy.

Or so she thought until she entered the church and heard the sound of chanting coming from a nearby room. Apparently the church was not so empty after all, realized Buffy.

Against her better judgement, Buffy went into the nearby room and noticed that it was almost totally dark except for a few scattered candles. The next thing she noticed was a frightened young naked redhead about her age who had been tied to a stone altar in the center of the room -- an altar that looked as if it once had been a regular church altar but now had been converted to a different purpose altogether. The last thing she noticed was a group of dark-robed figures gathered around the altar, each of them wearing hoods and each of them carrying knives.

And of course, each of them turned toward Buffy as she entered the room and proceeded to aim their weapons in her direction.

"I'm guessing I picked a bad time to show up, right?" asked Buffy.