Buffy does not comply with Dawn's final command and instead wanders the halls of the school as the bell rings and the stragglers rush to class. She peers about and paces the shiny linoleum. She's startled by a basketball smacking into some lockers near her, and sees someone catch the ball. The halls are now empty as Buffy rounds the corner in search of the suspicious ball-bouncer. Heh -- I think that's the name of the male strip club near my house. She just manages to catch sight of a kid in a baggy denim coat and jeans vanishing around another corner. Suspenseful music plays. I'm not so convinced. Buffy rounds the corner, but the kid is gone. She walks past a basement access door. Xander's non-existent secret passageway? Check! Sing with me: Hey, daddy-o, I don't wanna go, down to the basement, there's somethin' down there. Heh.

Dawn sits in the back of a classroom full of students chatting or fiddling with their books. Her teacher says he's going to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves. As he's deciding where to start, we cut to Buffy, still snooping around where she doesn't belong. She enters a girls' restroom and smoothes her hair, sulking about being mistaken for a mom. She reaches down to wash her hands and finds a little bundle of sticks and feathers next to the sink. The music tells us this is scary and actually manages to be convincing, unlike anything Wanker ever managed to come up with. The camera pans back up to the mirror, and we see a zombie girl now standing behind Buffy. "You can't protect her. You couldn't protect me," grits out zombie-girl. Couldn't protect her from the fashion nightmare that is her bright turquoise peasant shirt, I think. Buffy turns away from the mirror, but the girl is gone. Buffy looks around. Suddenly a zombie-man appears right next to her, screaming, "Get out! Get out! Get out!" Oh, c'mon. Is that not the biggest shout-out ever? It would have been just that much better if he'd been yelling it at Dawn. He scares the crap outta Buffy, who cowers in the corner with her head down. Is the Buffybot taking Dawn to school again?