"In every generation there is a Chosen One." "She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness." "She is the Slayer." "I just love springtime." "I just love springtime." " Me in bright spring fashions." " Spring training." " Me at the end-of-school dance." " The end of school." "Definitely my favourite time of year." "I am, of course, having my dress specially made." "Off-the-rack gives me hives." "Let me guess." "Blue, like your eyes!" "My eyes are hazel, Helen Keller." "You two will look so fine together in the May Queen photo." "Well, I haven't been elected May Queen yet." "Behold, the weirdness." "You're probably wondering what I'm doing with this." " Wow!" "I'm not." " Uh, for history class." "Mr Giles has this, like, hobby of collecting stuff, which he lent me for show and tell." "Did I mention it's for history class?" "She is always hanging with that creepy librarian in that creepy library." "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time she attacked me at the Bronze?" "I don't know why this school admits mentals like her." ""If you prick us, do we not bleed?" "If you tickle us, do we not laugh?"" ""If you poison us, do we not die?"" ""And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"" "OK." "So talk to me, people." "How does what Shylock says about being a Jew relate to our discussion about the anger of the outcast at society?" "Cordelia?" "How about colour me totally self-involved?" " Care to elaborate?" " Yeah." "With Shylock it's whine, whine, whine." "Like the whole world is about him." "He acts like it's justice, him getting a pound of Antonio's flesh." "It's notjustice." "It's yicky!" "But has Shylock suffered?" "What's his place in Venice society?" " Well, everyone looked down on him." " That is such a twinkie defence." "Shylock should get over himself." "People who think their problems are so huge craze me." "Like this time I sort of ran over this girl on her bike." "It was so traumatising for me, and she's trying to make it about her leg." "Like my pain meant nothing." "Cordelia's raised an interesting point which we'll pursue at a later time." "Um, Ms Miller?" "Good observations today." "It's always exciting to know someone's done the reading." "Thanks." "I wanna talk to you about my final paper." "I'm real unfocused." "I have all these thoughts and I'm sure they all contradict each other." "I have your outline here, but why not stop by tomorrow?" "We'll go over it then." " Great." "Thanks." " You're welcome." " I'll see you then." " OK, bye." "Harmony!" "They called and said the dress is ready." "It's so great." "Mitch is gonna die." "Mitch, you going to the Bronze?" "Later." "I'm pickin' up my tux first." "Gotta look sharp for the big dig." "Right." "You gotta look good on Cordelia's arm." "Oh, it's not her arm I'm looking to be on!" "Who's there?" "OK, fun time's over." "Come out." "Now remember who to vote for for May Queen, as in me." "Hi!" "Isn't this the bomb?" "I'm such a campaign strategist." "C?" "For Cordelia?" "No, C for Wilma, little brain." "Of course, C for Cordelia." "This way people will associate me with something sweet." "Here's a chocolate..." "Oh, I don't think I need the loony-fringe vote." "Well, I don't even like chocolates." "OK, that was the lamest comeback ever." " What's Cordelia up to?" " Bribery." " She's desperate to be May Queen." " Cordelia does love titles." "Oh, God." "Remember in sixth grade with the field trip?" " Right." "The guy with the antlers on his belt!" " "Be my deputy."" " And remember the hat?" " Oh, God, the hat!" "Gee, it's fun that we're speaking in tongues." "Oh, I'm sorry." "It was just we had this..." "You had to be there." " It's not even funny." " Really." "Cordelia just has a history of trying too hard." "Yeah." "What kind of moron would wanna be May Queen, anyway?" "I was." " You what?" " At my old school." "Oh, so the good kind of moron would do that." "The, non-moron, I mean." "We didn't call it May Queen." "But we had the coronation and the dance and all that stuff." " It was nice." " You don't need that any more." "You got us." ""Be my deputy!"" "Oh, God!" "Guys, Mitch got whaled on!" "I think he's..." "Dead?" "Of course not." "Dead!" "What are you?" "Ghouls?" "There are no dead students here." "This week." "Clear back." "Make room." " Mitch, what happened?" " I don't know." "I heard something." "I tried to grab a bat." "It hit me." " What hit you?" " The bat." "By itself." "The thing was floating and it knocked me out." "I'd better check out the scene." "Where do you think you're going?" "Mitch wanted me to get his comb." "He likes his comb." "I don't think Mitch needs his comb." "Mitch needs medical attention." "And you need to stay away from the crime scene." "Always sticking your nose in." "Sue?" "What did you say?" "Mitch was gonna sue the school?" "Sue?" "Who?" "His dad's a powerful lawyer in Sunnydale." " Hold on." "What have you two heard?" " His dad, the lawyer." "You don't know him?" "Other lawyers call him "The Beast"." ""Look"?" "That's all it said?" "Look at what?" "Look at Mitch?" "Maybe." "All I know is it's a message." " And?" " Ah, here you are." "And monsters don't usually send messages." "It's crush, kill, destroy." "This was different." " I'd have to say you're right." " I love it when he says that." "Any theories?" "It's a bit of a puzzle, really." "I've never heard of anyone attacked by a Ione baseball bat before." "Maybe it's a vampire bat." "I'm alone with that one, huh?" "Well, assuming the bat is not possessed, there are a few possibilities to investigate." "Someone with telekinesis:" "the power to move objects at will." "An invisible creature, or possibly a poltergeist." " A ghost?" " Yes, and a very angry one." "Yeah, I'd say!" "The locker room was a real scene." " If it's a ghost, we're talking about a dead kid." " I guess so." "Why not compile a list of dead or missing kids?" "Could be a good place to start." "And I'll research all the possibilities." "Xander, if you're not doing anything, would you like to help me?" "What?" "There's homework now?" " When did that happen?" " It's part of the glamour of vampire slayage." " What part do you have?" " I'm gonna find out what I can about Mitch." " I want that part." " Fine." "You can do it." "Ask around." "Talk to his friends." "Talk to Cordelia." "Talk to Cordelia?" "So, research, huh?" " Hi." " Oh, hi." " Cordelia, you weren't in fifth period." " I went to the hospital." "Oh, Mitch." "How is he?" "Will he be OK?" "The doctor says he'll be fine." "They're gonna send him home tomorrow." "But you should have seen him lying there, all black and blue." "How will he look in our prom pictures?" "How will I ever be able to show them to anyone?" "They can do wonderful things with airbrushes these days." "You think?" " Hi." " Hi." "Did you see Mitch?" "He just broke up with Wendy and he's already nosing around." "It's shameless." "In the spring, if he makes varsity baseball, maybe I'll take him on a test drive." " Hey, guys." " What do you want?" "I just hope they can prop him up long enough to take the picture." "Cordelia, can I talk to you?" " Oh, great." " Why is she always try..." "Harmony!" "Oh, for heaven's sakes." "Clear back, everyone!" "Give her some air." "You!" "School nurse, now!" "Oh, my ankle." "I think it's broken." " What happened?" " Hey!" "Who's the Principal here?" " What happened?" " She fell!" "We were standing at the top of the stairs and she fell all by herself." "No, I was pushed!" " Ow!" " Don't sue." "Is anybody here?" "Hey, who's here?" "OK, I know someone's here." "Look, I'm not gonna hurt you." "I just wanna talk to you." " Giles, have you touched a ghost?" " Uh, no." "From what I've heard, having one pass through you is a singular experience." "It's a..." "It's a rather cold, amorphous feeling." "Makes your hair stand on end." "That's my problem." "I touched the thing, but it didn't go through me." "It bumped into me, and it wasn't cold." " So we're talking about an invisible person?" " A girl." "She laughed." "A girl on campus with the ability to become invisible." " That is so cool." " Cool?" "Yeah." "I'd give anything to be able to do that." "I wouldn't use my powers to beat people up, just to protect the girls' locker room." "It must be a fairly heady experience, having that ability." "How'd she get it?" "Is she a witch?" "Cos we can fight a witch." "Hm, Greek myths speak of cloaks of invisibility, but they're usually for the gods." "Research boy comes through with the knowledge." " This girl's sort of petty for a god." " She's got a grudge." "But why Harmony?" " And Mitch." "The common denominator is..." " Cordelia." "So what now?" " Tomorrow, pull up that "missing kids" list." " Got it." "I'll see you then." " Bye." " See ya." "Wanna come over for dinner?" "Mom's making her famous "call to the Chinese place"." "Xander, do you guys even have a stove?" "So I'll look into ways that you can de-cloak an invisible someone." "What about you?" "Cordelia might be working on her dress tonight." "Maybe there'll be some action." "I guess I'm gonna start the hunt." "How exactly do you propose to hunt someone you can't see?" "You may have to listen to people." " Very funny!" " I thought so." "Should I wear my hair up?" "Should I wear it up?" "How does the hem go?" "Is it long enough or..." "Isn't that beautiful?" "Who's there?" "A vampire casts no reflection." "Don't worry." "I'm not here to eat." " Buffy said you no longer feed from humans." " Not for a long while." "Is that why you're here?" "To see her?" "I can't." "It's too hard for me to be around her." "A vampire in love with a slayer?" "It's rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way." "What can l, uh..." "What can I do for you?" "I know you've been researching the Master." "Yes, the vampire king." "I try to learn as much as I can about him for the day Buffy must face him." "Something's already in motion." "Something big, but I don't know what." "You've read all the slayer lore, right?" "I've studied all the extant volumes, of course." "But the most salient books of slayer prophecy have been lost." "The Tiberius Manifesto, the Pergamum Codex." "Codex?" "It's reputed to have contained the most complete prophecies about the slayer's role." "Unfortunately the book was lost in the 15th century." "Not lost." "Misplaced." "I can get it." "That would be most helpful." "My own volumes have been rather useless of late." ""Legends Of Vishnu"?" "There's an invisible girl terrorising the school." "That's not really my area of expertise." "Nor mine, I'm afraid." "It's fascinating, though." "By all accounts, it's a wonderful power to possess." "Oh, I don't know." "Looking in the mirror every day and seeing nothing there." "It's an overrated pleasure." "God, I am never sitting through another one of those alumni lectures again." "Two hours of "My Trek Through Nepal"." "Hello?" "There is nobody caring." "And did you see his toupee?" "It was like a cabbage." "And those slides?" ""That's a mountain." "That's a mountain, too."" ""Now look at some mountains."" "I swear he had three slides and just used them over and over." "I know, but did you see his toupee?" "It was like the worst." "We're talking, OK?" "Oh, and did you guys check out that extreme toupee?" "Yeah, that's realistic!" "It looked like a cabbage." "That's so funny." "The winner is Cordelia Chase!" "Let's bring up our new May Queen." "Cordelia." "Thank you for making the right choice and for showing me how much you all love me." "Being this popular is notjust my right, but my responsibility." "And I want you to know I take it very seriously." "It all began..." "So, Giles said you'd be here." "Why are you being here?" "Last night was a bust, but I still think Cordie's the key." "This is the "dead and missing" list." "I pulled up their classes, activities, medical records." "Good work." "Has Cordelia hired a bodyguard or something?" "Check out this one." "It's the most recent." "Marcie Ross disappeared six months ago." " I don't know her." " Me neither." "Her only activity was Band." "She played the flute." "So?" "Last night when I was hunting, I heard this flute." "And it was in the Band Room that I lost Miss Invisible." "This tracks." "I'm gonna check it out." " See you guys later?" " OK, we'll see you after Geometry." "Marcie Ross." "So, it is you." "Cordelia, could you possibly be on time?" "Who's there?" "Ms Miller?" "Oh, my God!" "Ms Miller!" "Oh, my God!" "Are you OK?" "Ms Miller?" "Ah!" "What happened?" "Attacked..." "Didn't see." "A nest?" "Looked like she'd been there for months." "It's where I found this." " Check it out." " Oh, my God." ""Have a nice summer."" ""Have a nice summer."" "This girl had no friends at all." "Uh, once again, I teeter at the precipice of the generation gap." " It's what you write if you've nothing to say." " It's the kiss of death." "You didn't know Marcie Ross?" "Never met her." "Why?" "Cos you both wrote it, too." ""Have a nice..." Yeesh!" "Where am I?" "Oh. "Have a great summer."" " See, I cared." " You guys don't remember her?" "No, I probably didn't see her except to sign the book." "I mean, this is a big school." "Xander, we each had four classes with her last year." "No one noticed her and now she's invisible." "She turned invisible because no one noticed her?" "Of course!" "I've been investigating the mystical causes of invisibility, but not the quantum-mechanical." "Physics." "I think I speak for everyone here when I say "Huh?"" "It's a rudimentary concept that reality is shaped, even... even created, by our perception." "And with the Hellmouth and its mystical energy..." "People perceived Marcie as invisible, and she became so." "So, who knows the answer to this one?" "Think about it." "Cordelia?" "Just because this story's about him doesn't mean he's the hero." "Right?" "Exactly." "So what do we call him?" " Willow?" " Well, the protagonist." " Xander?" " Why can't he be both?" "He did heroic things." "Absolutely." "Who doesn't agree?" "OK." "And how about you?" "This isn't this great power that she can control, but something that was done to her." " That we did to her." " No wonder she's miffed." "What does she want?" "Just what we thought." " Cordelia." " What?" "I knew you'd be here." "Buffy, I know we've had our differences, with you being so weird and all and hanging out with these total losers." "Ooh!" "Anyway, despite that, I know you share this feeling that we have for each other..." " ..deep down." " Nausea?" "Somebody is after me!" "They've just tried to kill Ms Miller." "She was helping me with my homework." "And Mitch and Harmony!" "This is all about me." "Me, me, me!" "Wow!" "For once she's right." "So, you've come to me for help?" "Because you're always around when weird stuff is happening." "And I know you're very strong and you've got all those weapons." "I was kind of hoping you were in a gang." "Please!" "I don't have anyone else to turn to." "Please." " Sit down." " OK, thanks." "You know, I..." "I don't recall ever seeing you here before." "Oh, no." "I have a life." "OK." "Cordelia, your attacker is an invisible girl." "Who is really angry at you, which I can't imagine personally, but it takes all kinds, you know." "I don't care what it is." "Just get rid of it." "Well, it's not that simple." "It's a person." "It's this person." " Do you have any idea why she'd be so..." " God." "Is she really wearing Laura Ashley?" "So homicidal?" "I have no idea." "I've never seen this girl before in my life." "I guess you didn't see me coming." "Cordelia, you don't remember me." "I remember you and your slut friends." "I hate them!" "They take your life and suck it out of you!" "But they didn't see me coming." "No." "They gotta learn." "From what you told us about the attack on Ms Miller, we now have two messages from Marcie." ""Look" and "Listen"." "Messages we don't understand." "I don't think we're supposed to yet." "Marcie's not quite ready." "But, from what she did to this picture, she's wigged on the May Queen thing." "She may do something about it." "Stop the coronation tonight maybe." "Keep you guys away from the Bronze?" "Nothing is keeping me from the Bronze tonight!" "Can we just revel in your fabulous lack of priorities?" "If I'm not crowned tonight, then Marcie's won." "And that would be bad." "She's evil, OK?" "Way eviler than me." " Cordelia has a point." " Buffy's with me on this." "Anyway, continuing the May Queen activities may be the best way to draw Marcie out." " We can use Cordelia as bait." " Great!" "Bait?" "Willow and Xander, you'll help me begin our research anew." "Unless we cure Marcie's invisibility," " then Buffy will be..." " A sitting duck." " Come on." " Well, I have to try on my dress." "Am I really bait?" "So, how creepy is it that this Marcie's been at this for months, spying on us?" "Learning our most guarded secrets." "So are you saying she's invisible because she's so unpopular?" " That about sums it up." " Bummer for her." " It's awful to feel that lonely." " You've read something about the feeling?" "Hey, you think I'm never lonely because I'm so cute and popular?" "I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone." "It's not like any of them really know me." "I don't even know if they like me half the time." "People just want to be in the popular zone." "Sometimes when I talk, everyone's so busy agreeing with me, they don't hear a word I say." "Well, if you feel so alone, then why do you work so hard at being popular?" "It beats being alone all by yourself." "Listen." "Come on." "We could talk to her, perhaps reason with her." " Or possibly grab her." " There are three of us." "Let's go." "If you ever tell anyone that I changed in a mop closet..." "Your secret dies with me." "It looks OK." "But hurry." "OK." "Over here." "Marcie, we know what happened to you." "Please, can we talk to you?" "We're sorry we ignored you." "Can you say... "gulp"?" "What's that sound?" "You know what you were saying before?" "I understand." "Somehow it doesn't seem to matter how popular you are, when..." "You were popular?" "In what alternate universe?" "In LA." "The point is..." "I did sort of feel like something was missing." "Is that when you became weird and got kicked out?" "OK." "Can we have the heartfelt talk with a little less talk from you?" "Cordelia?" "Cordelia!" "Cordelia!" "Buffy!" "It's gas." "And she's snuffed out the pilot light." "The gas is up full." "I can't find the shut-off valve." " Is this it?" " OK, that's bad." "How about the door?" "No!" "One spark and you'll take the whole building with us." "Cordelia?" "Cordelia?" "Oh, my God!" "Buffy?" "You're awake?" "Yeah." "I can't feel my face!" " What do you mean?" " My face is numb." "What is she doing?" "I don't know." "What does that mean?" "I don't know." "That should give us a few minutes, but if we don't get out soon..." " Why is Marcie doing this?" " The loneliness, the constant exile." "She's..." "She has gone mad." "You think?" "!" "I'm disappointed." "I really hoped you guys had figured it out by now." "Why don't you explain it?" "Come on, Marcie, what are we supposed to learn?" "Yeah, what do you want to teach us?" "You don't get it." "You're not the student." "You're the lesson." " What did you do to my face?" " Your face." "That's what this is all about, isn't it?" "Your beautiful face." "It's what makes you shine just a little bit brighter than the rest of us." "We all want what you have." "To be noticed, remembered." "To be seen." "What are you doing?" "Well, I'm fulfilling your fondest wish." "I'm gonna give you a face no one will ever forget." "One, two, three." "Try again." " Marcie, you can't do this." " What are you gonna do?" "Slay me?" "Marcie, you know this is wrong." "You should have stayed out of my way!" "You know, I thought you would understand my vision, but you're just like them." "Please don't do this." "No!" "You should be grateful." "People who pass you will remember you for the rest of their lives." "Children will dream about you." "And all your friends who come to the coronation tonight will take the sight of the May Queen to their graves." " Wait!" " No, we really have to get started." "The anaesthetic will wear off." "I don't want you to faint." "It's less fun if you're not awake." "You guys, I..." "I'm blacking' out on you..." "Let me see." "I think we should start with your smile." "I think it should be wider." "Marcie, I know you think I don't understand, but I do." "Yeah, I'll bet you know how I feel." "I'm sure you can be with your friends and feel alone cos they don't really know you." "You're just a spoiled brat, and you think you can charm your way out of this." "Isn't that what you think?" "I see right through you." "Oh, my God!" "Get me out of here, please." "Just hold still." "Oh, my God." "Come on!" " What happened?" " You tell me." "I'm up, Mom." "Hi." "What do you want?" "I brought you the Codex." " I came in and smelled the gas." " We must shut it off or the school will go up." "I'll get it." "It's not like I need the oxygen." "Come on, let's get out of here." "You know, I really felt sorry for you." "You've suffered." "But there's one thing I really didn't factor into all this - you're a thundering loony." "Buffy, are you OK?" "Oh, my God!" "Oh, my God!" "Buffy!" "Buffy?" "Oh, my God!" "Hey, moron." "I'm invisible." " How can you fight someone you can't see?" " Oh, my God." "Cordelia, shut up." "OK." "I see you." "Everybody, stay where you are." "FBI." "Nobody move!" " OK, we'll take it from here now, ma'am." " Take what from where?" "Agents Doyle and Manetti." "We're here for her." " Where were you when she played surgeon?" " I'm sorry, we came as fast as we could." " Oh, my God." " We'll take it from here." "You can cure her?" "We can rehabilitate her." "In time she'll learn to be a useful member of society again." " Where are we going?" " Very useful." "This isn't the first time this has happened." "This happened at other schools." " We're not at liberty to discuss that." " It would be best if you forgot this incident." "Do you know that you guys are very creepy?" "Thank you for your help." "Oh, and... ..have a nice day." "Can I get untied now?" "Thanks." "I just can't believe how twisted Marcie got." "By the way, how did you guys escape?" " When the gas was comin' down..." " Ajanitor found us and shut the valve off." " We were lucky." " I'll say!" "Hi." "Hey." "Look, um, I didn't get a chance to say anything yesterday, with the coronation." "But, um, I guess I just wanted to say thank you, all of you." "That's funny cos she looks like Cordelia." "You really helped me out yesterday and you didn't have to." " So thank you." " It's OK." "We were gonna grab lunch, if you wanted to..." "Whoa, you're not hanging with these losers, are you?" "Are you kidding?" "I was just being charitable, helping them with their fashion problems." "You think I really felt like joining that social leper colony?" "Please!" "Boy, where's an invisible girl when you really need one?" " I think you'll be happy here." " You should fit right in." " Welcome, Marcie." " Hey." " Class, this is Marcie." " Hi, Marcie." "Sit down." "OK, class, let's get started." "Everybody turn to page 54 of your texts." "Cool!" "Urgh!" "Argh!"