She stuck by the idea that her and Xander just did not fit. She was the homecoming queen and he was... He was Xander Harris. What more needed to be said? It didn't work, and that was all there was to it. That was why they had tried to hide their relationship for so long. Relationship. Ha. As if you could ever call it that.

Who was to say it couldn't be a relationship? Yeah, until now broom closets and trips into the woods in her father's car were fine. But now people knew. And they were mocking her for it-

Okay, she told herself, focus.

Taking a deep breath and tapping her pen on her notebook, she tried to separate her thoughts. Her and Xander. Wow, was that a weird thought. Her and Xander. Xander! The guy she had spent half her life tormenting. For good reason, she added silently. He was a loser and he had a horrid sense of humour and God, his clothes! He wasn't even that cute. At least, she had never thought of him as cute before the trips to the broom closet started.

She had almost gotten used to the idea of her and Xander. At first they had been so terrified of the idea that they could actually be together in any way, shape or form. Then they had kept it secret because of Cordelia's friends, and Xander didn't want Willow to find out.

Then Willow found out. Then they got sloppy. People saw them together, they saw Cordelia hanging out in the creepy library with Buffy and her friends. Of course, there had to be something wrong with anyone that hung out in a library that much. And she had become one of those people now! She had subjected herself to that, made herself the object of ridicule. Then she let people see her with Xander.

Xander. Ugh! There was no way this would work. It was like she had told him, they just didn't fit. She had explained it all to him at the Bronze. On Valentine's Day. After he had given her that beautiful locket. Okay, maybe she could have handled that better.

But where did he get off taking the necklace back? It was a gift, and then bam. That wasn't right.

Sidebar: Why was she even wearing the locket? No, that wasn't even a real question. She knew the answer. If it was up to her, Cordelia wouldn't have broken up with Xander. Not yet. Not for a while, unless he did something really stupid. But it wasn't up to... her...

What was she thinking?

Was she really going to let Harmony and the others dictate her life? She was their leader, not their follower. But she couldn't stand seeing them turn their backs on her, and have their insults directed at her. They were her friends, and she could not take their rejection of her. Not for Xander.

Cordelia would probably miss him if she wasn't so mad at him. This was just ridiculous. What they had was just a minor clique jump, nothing more. Now she could go back to her life and he could go back to his. There was no reason to drive herself crazy over this. It wasn't like she was the dumpee here. There was just not a reason for her to be feeling like this. This breakup was not supposed to hurt.

It did hurt. It hurt because her friends were still ignoring her, it hurt because Xander hated her for it, and it hurt because she almost wanted to be with him. That was it, time to commit herself. Just clear out one of those little padded rooms for her. She could maybe develop a new brand of straitjackets that didn't make a person look fat and came in a wide variety of styles and colors... Then maybe being completely insane wouldn't be so bad.

She had been through breakups before. She had had a couple boyfriends die on her. Breaking up with Xander Harris was not the worst thing that could happen to her. But for now, it sure felt like it was.

As Mr. Prynn droned on, Cordelia sighed and rolled her eyes. This was not the time for her English class to be studying Romeo and Juliet...