Sunnydale High School. Xander, Willow, Oz, and Buffy are sitting on couches as Xander pokes through Willow's impressive stack of early-admission packets to a variety of colleges. As I watch them being all Buffy-buddy, I have to remind myself that this happens after Willow and Xander's "fluke" and the fall-out from that, if you'll excuse the pun. Isn't it nice and patient of Oz to be hanging around with Xander after that? Some banter about Xander expecting many college rejections, and giddiness from Willow about all the choices open to her. As Oz dryly suggests making sure to graduate from high school ("Gettin' left back: not the thrill ride you'd expect."), Cordelia swans into view and takes a few nasty pot shots at Xander. Oh, go get even more of a tan, lose a bunch of weight you can't afford to lose, and end up as a boring, mealy-mouthed loser on Angel's show, why don't you? Feh. Maybe Sep and I should get Strega to recap the Cordelia scenes from season three, since the nasty creature is her responsibility now. Xander gets in a good joke about Cordy marketing a line of "hooker wear," although her skirt's not as short as many we saw Buffy wear in season one. "Well, Xander, I could dress more like you, but oh, my father has a job," sneers Cordelia, and I laugh into my sleeve (just a saying. I live in Tucson, it's summer, I'm not wearing anything resembling a sleeve at this time of year) at Cordy's upcoming financial humiliation. Some more blather establishes that Buffy has to pass an upcoming chemistry test, and that she and Willow will study together that night. Buffy heads off to the library.

In the library, we get a close-up of Giles's sour, just-this-side-of-angry face as that toad Wesley simpers in the background. Ugh. Well, hey, if we can talk Strega into taking the Cordy scenes, maybe we can talk her into doing the Wesley ones as well! Oh, it would be so nice. I really never, ever want to see Wesley again, let alone recap his most insufferable, priggish moments of season three. But Strega hates him as much as I do, so I doubt we'll ever talk her into taking these scenes. Sniff. And for the record, just to get it out of the way at the start, everyone on the boards is always yawping about how much Wesley has improved in the last two seasons of Angel, but to me he seems just the same now as he did in Buffy season three. He was an awful, repellent, weaselly priss then, and he's one now too. Anyway, the nasty little toad brags to Giles, "I have, in fact, faced two vampires myself. Under controlled circumstances, of course." Giles: "Well, no danger of finding those here." Wesley: "Vampires?" Giles: "Controlled circumstances." Heh. Giles sits on one of the library tables, his back to Wesley, and rolls his head with exaggerated patience.