"You could sell me about anything
And I would buy because I like your face"
-Matchbox 20, "Heavy"

"Hey, thanks for doing this, Cordy," Buffy said, leaning forward to talk to the young woman in front of her. "I'm just sorry you had to give up your Friday night."

She, Cordelia, and Angel were sitting in Cordelia's red Toyota on their way to a mall outside Sunnydale. Buffy had called Cordelia with an invitation she knew she couldn't resist. Angel needed to modernize his wardrobe, change his attitude toward life. Would she be able to help?

Fifteen minutes later Cordy showed up at Angel's apartment with a plan to turn Angel into the most fashionable man in Sunnydale. All they needed was to take a little drive out of town to the Square One Mall. It was Cordy's favorite since the mall got its name from the large department stores located on its four corners. They, along with the smaller stores like Contempo Casuals, The Rave, and Urban Outfitters made it far better than the local shops near home. At least to her.

"That's okay. I just had a date with Xander," she said, keeping her eyes on the road. "This is more important." When going shopping, Cordy always kept her attention on just that.

Chuckling, Buffy sat back and allowed her to focus on her driving...

To her surprise, Willow and Cordelia didn't hold any grudges toward Angel. In fact, they were quite nice to him and treated him the same way they had before the change.

Oz was a little confused on how to behave since they had really only met at Buffy's surprise party, but he did know what the ex-vampire was going through. Being a demon himself, he wanted to be treated the same as everyone else. Following his girlfriend's lead, he made a promise to himself that he would be as kind to Angel as possible.

That left only Xander and Giles. Buffy hadn't spoken to Xander much since his outburst at the apartment. They weren't ignoring each other, but they weren't as close as they used to be.

Giles was the same. He wouldn't even mention Angel's name. She guessed that was only natural, though. Angel had murdered his girlfriend and, due to the fact no one had reported him to the authorities, would only suffer the punishment of his own guilt and the blame of others. He knew Xander felt the same way, and he wasn't pleased of his juvenile attitude, but he wasn't going to just sit back and pretend like it never happened...

Within a couple hours, Angel had acquired bagfulls of new clothes, paid for by Miss Chase herself. They tried to reimburse her, but according to her, the experience was fulfilling enough. She enjoyed dressing up people and making them look their best. Everyone else had their own specialties, except for Xander maybe, and this was hers.

"Hey, Cordy," said Buffy. "I know I've said it already, but thanks again for coming. I couldn't have done it without you, and the money thing is really generous of you."

Angel was paying for his clothes in the men's department using some cash Cordelia had given him, and the girls had decided to browse through the women's. Their lives may have been different than other girls their age, but they did have fun shopping and doing other common 'teen' activities.

"No problem." Cordelia shrugged it off, flipping through a rack of fancy prom dresses. "Angel is one of the few guys who actually can wear almost anything and still look good."

Smiling, Buffy nodded. "I can't pay for everything, but I will try-"

"Buffy, don't worry about it," Cordelia assured her, picking up one dress and holding it up in front of herself in the mirror. "What do you think?" she asked, turning around.

The dress was a beautiful white gown with a fitted bodice and billowing skirt that reached down to her ankles. It even had a matching white shawl. Was she planning on wearing that to the prom?

"It's nice," Buffy commented, not giving it too much thought. She was sure this wasn't the first dress or the last Cordelia would pick out before finally deciding on one.

"Nice?" Cordelia asked, showing her the tag. "This is a Zum Zum. Do you know how many people would kill for this dress? I know I would."

Sighing, Buffy put her hands through her bleached blond hair. Was Cordelia going to lecture her now on fashion, because she really didn't care about which dress she wore.

"Buffy, what are you going to wear?" the other girl wanted to know.

"Oh, I'm not going," she said nonchalantly, looking through a rack of slip dresses and hoping that if she didn't give the subject too much attention, Cordelia might drop it. But she didn't.

"You're not going? Buffy, you have to go," Cordelia told her in a serious tone. "The junior prom is the most important day in a girl's life. Well, besides her senior prom."

"And her wedding day," Buffy inputted. "And the birth of her first child and all the ones after that. Cordy, there are more important things than buying a two hundred dollar dress and shoes you're only going to wear once just to go to a dance and then watch everyone get smashed afterwards. I could be doing something productive with my Friday nights."

"What, like killing vampires?" she asked sarcastically. Buffy gave her a look that said clearly, 'Shut up,' but she still continued. "I'm sorry, but you need to get a life. This demon hunter gig is nice, saving the world and all, but all work and no play makes you a very dull girl. Have some fun, Buffy! Besides, I bet Angel would look hot in a tux. You know he'll go if you ask him."

"Go where?" a voice interrupted.

The girls turned around to see Angel, shopping bags in hand, standing behind them. He had obviously come in on the tail end of their conversation and wanted to know what they were talking about.

"The prom," Cordelia explained. "It's this dance for kids in their junior and senior years in high school, and I'm trying to convince Buffy to go. You'll go with her, won't you? It's nothing bad. They usually throw it at a nice hotel or something, and you just have to wear a tux and maybe bring her some flowers."

Angel shrugged. "Sure, I'll go."

A formal dance with Buffy as his date? Hmm... It sounded nice.

"That's really nice of you." Buffy glared at Cordelia, who pretended to ignore her. "But I'm not going. Come on, let's go."

She started to walk down the aisle and back to the store's entrance. Angel looked at Cordelia in confusion. He didn't know why Buffy was so against this dance thing. But Cordelia only shrugged, and they followed Buffy toward the parking lot...