"That's cool. I wish I could do that. Audit, I mean."
Technically, she probably could. Technically, she was missing school to be here, so it probably wouldn't be too difficult to convince Buffy and Giles to let her take some classes. It would probably give her a leg up on college applications, especially applications to good, academic colleges far away from any known Hellmouths.
She raised her eyebrows slightly when Mel stuck out her tongue, then laughed. "Yeah, me too, kind of. That's kind of why all the books. It has to be, like, worthwhile." She wanted to help, too, instead of just continuing to be the little-sister tag-along.
She decided she liked Mel. It wasn't a conscious decision, really, but something about the other girl felt familiar and Dawn was comfortable with her. Besides, she had cool hair and piercings. Dawn had let Janice dye a pink streak in her hair once and her mom had freaked.
"What are you studying?" she asked, genuinely curious. She wondered what a girl like Mel would be interested in, academically.