WWDD: S1E1 “WELCOME TO THE HELLMOUTH”

In the morning, Dawn gets in the car with Joyce and Buffy so Joyce can drive them both to school. We know that Dawn gets dropped off first because when we see Joyce dropping off Buffy, there’s no one else in the car.

Buffy and Dawn have just moved to Sunnydale. Starting a new school in the middle of the year is always hard in a new place, but to make matters worse, Dawn’s mom and dad have just recently split, which made 10-year-old Dawn cry for a whole week. Undoubtedly, the move from LA to Sunnydale—several hours away from her dad—would drum up upsetting feelings from the divorce. So, when Dawn gets home from school, she goes straight to her room and straight into updating the Dawnmeister Chronicles—her diary that she’s been keeping for the last 3 years, which is why we don’t see her when Buffy and her mom have a conversation about going to the Bronze.