WWDD: S1E6 “THE PACK”

At the beginning of the episode, we see Buffy wearing Angel’s leather jacket at the Bronze. Before the Bronze, however, she hunts around her room for her brown leather jacket. Dawn hears Buffy rooting around her room for the jacket and becomes nervous. Dawn is reminded of the time in LA when Buffy came home with a bunch of weird books about vampires, including one big, old one titled “VAMPYR” and another titled, “Slayer Handbook,” which captured her interest. Dawn recalls sneaking the Handbook out of Buffy’s room, accidentally spilling watercolor paints on it, and quickly throwing it out before anyone could ever know.

The next morning, Buffy and Dawn are downstairs eating breakfast and discussing Buffy’s upcoming school trip to the zoo. Dawn finds it weird that Buffy’s high school class is going to the zoo (as did Kristin and Jenny on October 18, 2016) and is jealous. She casually asks if Xander is going to the zoo, and Dawn finds herself even more jealous at Buffy’s answer. Jealousy leads to daydreaming about how mysterious and cool it is that he goes by “Xander” instead of “Alex.” She concludes that he must be a deep and creative soul—just like her.

Dawn goes to school in braided pigtails and a fuzzy, multicolored sweater inspired by Buffy’s cool friend Willow, but some of her classmates don’t respond kindly. Popular girl, Kirstie, makes fun of her outfit in front of the whole class, which makes Dawn flee the classroom in tears. When Dawn is crying in the bathroom, another student in her class, Janice, rushes through the door to comfort her and assures her that Kirstie is mean and probably jealous. Janice and Dawn are fast friends. When Dawn comes home that night, she slips into her sister’s room and tells her about the mean girl, Kirstie, at school. Buffy and Dawn bond over school bullies and spend the rest of the evening laying on Buffy’s bed reading magazines—Buffy with a “Cosmopolitan” and Dawn with a “Tiger Beat.”