Chapter 1:

April 1999


With her lunch tray in one hand and silverware in other, Buffy continued to wait as Gary Miller picked up a third dessert in the front of the line, holding up traffic for the rest of his starving peers. She figured by the time Gary got around to paying lunch would be over.

“…I swear to god, Kennedy, if you don’t come to practice today I will ruin your life for the rest of time…”

Buffy turned around and directing her attention to Ms. Cordelia Chase dressed in her red and yellow cheerleading outfit waiting in line with the rest of them. Today was pep rally day, which meant it was ‘do as Cordy says’ day. The bossy brunette was barking commands on her cell phone as she stepped out of line and told one of her closest lackey’s to get her lunch.

“Get me a milk and banana…if they don’t have milk get me water…if they don’t bananas—“

”So, Buffy…”

Buffy looked back at her redheaded friend standing next to her, the sound of Cordelia’s voice was still hovering in the background.

“You start to do the senior poll yet?”

Buffy rolled her eyes and took a small step forward; she looked around the crowd of students in front of her and noticed that Gary was at the checkout. ‘Thank the lord’ she thought to herself.

“No…tempted to just throw it away…” Buffy muttered, “Seems rather clique to do…where are we Beverly Hills 90210? Cause I don’t see Luke Perry anywhere.”

“Don’t throw it away!” Willow whined, “I wanted you to do it with me…”

Buffy raised and eyebrow at her friend, “Willow, you actually are FOR this stupid poll? It’s a popularity contest.”

“It’s fun though…we can vote against all the people we hate…” Willow smiled evilly; the little redhead turned her head around and eyed Cordelia and the Cordettes.

“Ya…true…but does no one remember the senior poll of 94’, Worse Dressed turned out to be Susan Young…her dad lost his job that year and her house burned down. I can’t believe Snyder would actually allow this poll to continue after that.” Buffy remarked as she grabbed a milk carton.

“Well they aren’t letting Worst Dressed make an appearance in this poll…” Willow said as she shuffled through her books and notebooks in her hands. She opened one of her folders and pulled out the poll to show it to Buffy. “Most Athletic…Biggest Flirt…Biggest Ego…”

“That one is still sort of cruel.” Buffy said as she asked the lunch lady for a piece of lasagna.

“Most Likely to Succeed…Most Likely to Win the Nobel Peace Prize…” Willow continued.

“Aren’t those two sort of the same thing?”

”Most Likely to—“

”Most Likely to be a Pest, winner Spike Giles.” Buffy grumbled.

”Huh?” Willow looked up from her paper to see the bleached blonde haired man, dressed all in black, standing in front of Buffy grabbing an apple and a slice of cake.

“Spike, what the hell…you totally cut.” Buffy complained.

“Cool it Summers…wasn’t going to wait in that fucking line all day long…” Spike said as he moved back the end of the line to grab something to drink before going to the cashier.

Buffy stepped in front of him to block his path.

“Move it Sunshine.” Spike took a step to the side, Buffy mirrored him.

”No, I’m not letting you go…” Buffy argued.

“Umm…people starving back here.” A student called a few feet away.

”Shut up!” Both Spike and Buffy said.

“Go back to the end of the line Spike.” Buffy said as she took his apple out of his hand and put it back in the pile of fruit.

“What are you, the lunch monitor?”

“What are you…biggest… bleach prick?”

“Good come back love.”

Willow stepped between the two blondes, “Umm…Buffy, why don’t we just go pay for our lunch?”

“Ya…listen to Little Red.” Spike smirked as he reached over and grabbed his apple; he pocketed it in his black leather coat and then went to grab another one.

”Are you stealing food?”

“They’re like 49 cents Summers.” Spike rolled his eyes and brushed past her to the exit.

Buffy let out a frustrated growl, “How did Jenny and Giles get to have such a menace like Spike for a son?”

“He only does it because he knows it pisses you off.” Willow muttered as she grabbed herself an apple as well as an orange.

“He only does it because he has mush for brains.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“So Summers, give anyone else a ticket for displaying improper lunchtime line manners?” Spike asked, causing everyone around the round table to stop conversing, turn to Buffy’s scowling face, and giggle.

Of all the boyfriends Buffy had to be with, she had to pick the one that was friends with the royal idiot. When Buffy turned to him she noticed he too was laughing along with the others. Under the table she gave her boyfriend a sharp kick in the leg.

“Owww…”

Spike chuckled at the petite fireball, “Easy love, don’t take all your frustration out on innocent bystanders…don’t want to bruise the boy.”

”Angel…would you please control the thing with the funny looking hair.” Buffy said to her boyfriend between her teeth.

Buffy guessed that Spike had sharp hearing, because he instantly commented on her remark, “Why don’t you come over here and control me yourself.”

“Layoff Spike” Angel sighed.

Spike rolled his eyes and turned back to his own girlfriend Drusilla, leaning in close to her and whispering into her ear.

“Why do we have to sit here?” Buffy complained quietly as she shielded her lips with her hand, hoping that the bleach wonder on the other side of the table, who still was glancing over at her, couldn’t hear her this time.

Angel sighed, “What’s wrong now?”

”What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Umm…hello, I don’t like to be picked on in front of everyone…not my idea of a good time.”

“It’s playful teasing…you know Spike--”

”Ya, I do know Spike. Knew him since he moved down the street from me ten years ago, and it turns out he’s still the same old booger brain as he was back then…apart from having different hair.”

”He’s harmless…”

Maybe so, Buffy thought, but she still didn’t like him.

“So Buffy, senior poll…you do it?” Xander Harris, another one of Buffy’s friends who was the table, decided to change the subject.

“No…” she shook her head with a sigh, “Probably won’t either…it’s a stupid poll that is meaningless and a waste of time.”

“Thanks Buffy…as one of the editors for the school newspaper and had to print off three hundred copies, I thank you.” Anya, Xander’s girlfriend scowled.

‘Oopps…’ Buffy cringed, she forgot about that.

“Sorry Anya…”

”Wait it go Summers, way to make your friends feel good about themselves.” Spike smirked.

Buffy turned to him and gave him a glare, “Shut up jackass-in-the-box.”

Spike only continued to smile in satisfaction, draping his arm around Drusilla and holding her close.

“Anya, didn’t you complain a day ago you thought it was stupid too?” Xander asked.

“Well…after making me do all that stupid work it doesn’t seem so meaningless now….so, you all better vote!” she threatened and pointed to everyone with her finger.

“Where were you when I was registering students to vote a few months ago?” Willow asked Anya.

Willow’s question went unanswered; everyone pulled out their senior polls and a pen and started circling names without thought. All except for Buffy and Spike.

“Aren’t you going to vote?” Willow said as she looked up at the blonde duo, noticing they weren’t doing anything, except for glaring at one another.

“No…” they both said simultaneously.

“Oh come on…its fun!” Xander smiled.

Willow checked over his shoulder, “Xander…you voted for yourself on almost half the categories.”

”So? Come on, like you aren’t doing the same?” Xander made a grab for Willow’s ballot.

“Hey!! That’s confidential!” Willow complained.

“You voted for Oz for Best Smile?” Xander gave her a humorous look.

“Shhhh!!!” Willow covered his mouth with her hand and looked around the cafeteria.

“Hey Rosenberg, I believe you got your paws on my mans lips.” Anya complained.

Willow rolled her eyes and snatched her paper back and muttered, “Oz has nice teeth.”

“Is there a nomination for Biggest Mouth on that sheet?” Buffy spoke up as she looked back over at Spike, “I believe that honor undoubtedly goes to Mr. Giles over here….”

Spike gasped, “You think my dad has a big mouth.”

”That’s it…I’m out of here…” Buffy got up with her tray in hand and book bag on her shoulder.

“It’s going to hurt his feelings when I tell him, pet!” Spike called out after her. Once she was half away towards the exit, he rose from his seat and decided to continue his fun of pestering Buffy by following her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

1 month later…

“What’s wrong Summers, no sense of humor?” Spike asked as he and Buffy traveled from the school parking lot to the school’s main doors.

“I’m not riding with you tomorrow.” Buffy complained.

“Sure you are…” Spike waved her threat off, “You do everyday.”

”Not after your little stunt.”

”What? I unlocked the door for ya.” He said in an innocent little voice.

“Then locked it again…” Buffy looked down at her top and saw that it was soaked.

“But then I unlocked.”

”Eventually…after ten minutes of ‘keep Buffy locked out in the rain’, seriously it’s like your ten years old again.”

“When did I ever do that to you?”

”Umm…do I need to remind you of the time you locked me out of your house after it started to thunder and lighting?”

“What? I didn’t know you were out there and I’m scared of thunder.”

”You were thirteen and scared of thunder?!”

The blonde duo started to walk down toward their group of friends that was standing near Buffy’s locker. Everyone was present minus Angel and Drusilla.

“I was ten…”

”Liar.”

”Bitch.”

”Hey Willow…” the annoyed tone in Buffy’s voice disappeared instantly, her happy face automatically went on as she addressed her best friend.

“Hey…” Willow smiled nervously.

“What’s up?” Buffy glanced at Willow then at Xander and Anya.

“Nothing…” Xander bit his lip as he glanced between Buffy and Spike.

“Looks like whelp has a secret, lucky for me…I don’t give a care.” Spike said as he walked around the group and went off to find his girlfriend.

Buffy groaned and shook her head at the retreating bleached boy, “I got to get myself a new ride to school.”

“Ummm…Buffy, the senior poll is posted in the school newspaper.”

”Oh really…” Buffy laughed, “Who got Biggest Ego? Please say Spike.”

”Umm…no…” Willow handed Buffy the Sunnydale High School paper.

“Biggest Ego was a tie…your boy toy Angel and Parker got that honor.” Anya smiled.

“Let’s go Anya…far far away…” Xander pushed his girlfriend down the hallway as he watched through the corner of his eye as Buffy continued to flip through the paper.

“But I want her to see—“

”Let’s go make out in the closet.” Xander interrupted.

”Okay…” Anya didn’t put up a fight anymore and willingly left in a hurry with Xander.

Buffy glanced up from the poll to see Xander scurry off, “What’s up with him?”

“Umm…I got to go too…need to see Giles in the library…need a few books…”

”Oh…well make sure to tell him—“ Buffy didn’t get a chance to finish, Willow was already gone.

“Strange…” she muttered to herself as she shook her head at her friend’s behavior and glanced down at the poll.

Buffy skimmed through the list of names in the right column, not bothering to look over at the left column at the list of categories. She came across some of her friends’ names, noting that they got some kind of recognition. Buffy decided she would look back later to see what they actually won. Right now, Buffy was looking for her own name. Surprisingly, she found it at the very bottom. However, it wasn’t alone. She did a double take at the name placed right next to hers.

‘NO WAY’ she thought as she saw Spike’s name right next to her, ‘It HAS to be a typo…the only way his name would be next to mine is if the category was ‘Most Likely to Kill Each Other...’

When Buffy glided her finger over to the left column to see what they were both listed for, she opened her mouth and screamed.

There, in black in white, for the whole student body to read…

‘Most Likely to Marry… Buffy Summers and Spike Giles’

TBC….

Chapter 2:

The nervous little redhead and the oblivious librarian stopped conversing at once when they looked over to see the blonde burst through the library doors. She was clenching the newspaper in one hand and the door frame with the other; she seemed a little bit out of breath, possibly from racing down the hallway to get there.

“What the HELL is going on?!” Buffy shouted at the two.

Willow cringed; Giles looked taken back by Buffy’s language.

“Buffy…” Giles gasped, “Watch your mouth.”

“Watch my mouth Giles? Watch my mouth? Did-do—did you do you even have any idea…” Buffy was started to stumble over her words, the furry inside of her was causing her to not think straight.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing to get this upset about that you have to use foul language like that…especially in school.” Giles said as he walked closer to her and took off his glasses. The Brit gave her a stern look, one that he gave his son too many times he could count.

Buffy hung her mouth open, looking at the man as if he were crazy.

“Buffy…he doesn’t know about the poll.” Willow said from behind Giles quietly.

“Poll? What poll?” Giles turned around to look at Willow biting her lip.

“The poll that is going to turn my life upside down, Giles!” Buffy burst and handed him the school newspaper.

Giles raised an eyebrow when Buffy walked off and started to pace in front of his desk, he never seen the girl like this before, even when she was arguing with Spike. After placing his glasses back on and unfolding the newspaper, Giles began to search for this ‘disaster poll’.

“Buffy…it’s nothing; you said it yourself last month that it’s a waste of time. It means nothing.”

”Means nothing? Nothing?! Willow, that poll is going to be linked to me and Spike forever. Forever!” Buffy shouted.

“It was just for laughs….no one takes these things seriously.”

“Oh…oh really?” Buffy nodded at her friend and then walked over to the newspaper that Giles was looking at. The old man was still reading through the poll, but Buffy started picking out a few other categories that people got recognition for.

“Biggest Flirt, Harmony …Best Athlete, Riley …Best Musician, Oz …Best Dressed, Cordelia ….Most Likely to Succeed, YOU!” Buffy turned around and looked back at her friend, “Those seem pretty accurate to me.”

“You and William got mostly likely to marry?!” Giles laughed out. In fact, the man couldn’t stop smirking and giggling until he turned to see the murderous look from Buffy. “Umm…” Giles’s face fell back to being serious and he cleared his throat, “That’s…that’s just…”

”I'll tell you what it is...WRONG!!!” Buffy finished for him, “Completely wrong and totally disgusting!”

Giles turned away from the two young ladies and went back to smiling; he practically had to bite his lip to keep from laughing again.

“Maybe…maybe it was just a joke because all the two of you do is fight all the time. It’s pretty obvious to everyone that you two are king and queen of bickering.” Willow shrugged with a small reassuring smile. However, Buffy wasn’t listening to word her friend said.

“SPIKE!” Buffy exclaimed as she snapped her fingers, acting like that was the answer to this little predicament.

“What about---?” Willow started.

“Spike! He must have done this!” Buffy concluded, “It’s one of his stupid stupid jokes that only he could come up with.”

”Buffy, why would he do this?”

”Because he’s Spike, Willow. Hello, he’s a pain in the neck remember?”

Giles thought it was now the time to step in and defend his son the best he could, “Buffy, even though William goes a bit too far with teasing you sometimes, he wouldn’t do this.”

“Giles, don’t let that little cocky boy fool you too…please, you of all people know he’s got some sort of evil side of himself.”

Giles rolled his eyes, Buffy and Spike had been at each others throats for what seemed like forever. A rumor started that before he and his family moved to California, peace and quiet was the way of life on Revello Drive. Now, ‘I’m going to get you good Summers!’ and ‘I freakin hate you Spike!’ were the war cries of the neighborhood.

Giles sighed and took off his glasses to rub his tired eyes, “Buffy…please believe me when I say that William wouldn’t do this to you.”

“Ya Buffy” Willow agreed, “Why would Spike want to be the victim of his own joke? He’s part of this poll too. Plus, and nothing personal Giles, but he’s also too lazy to pull off something like this…it would have taken a lot of effort for him to do this.”

“Not offended at all…” Giles muttered, “That boy will be the death of me…”

“He could have bullied the newspaper staff to do it…pay them off...” Buffy’s eyes widen, “ANYA!”

The name didn’t even have time to fade away from Buffy’s lips—the young blonde was off again and looking for vengeance.

”I fear this will ruin the last few weeks of her senior year.” Giles said as he stared at the door Buffy just left.

“Oh no, this will carry on for a good five years... at least…I'm saying at least.” Willow corrected.

The sound of a faint scream that came from Buffy in the hallway had Willow and Giles racing toward the library exit.

“What the….?” Giles was half way to the door to see what happened, to get an explanation behind why Buffy yelped, when the doors swung open.

“What the hell is up with Summers?” Spike laughed as he pointed out back into the hallway.

“Well that explains it.” Willow muttered.

“That silly chit took one look at me and shot in the opposite direction…” Spike laughed, “Wish I had my camera to capture the moment.”

Giles followed behind his son to one of the study tables in the middle of the library, watching his boy slump in a chair without a care.

“So William…”

”Da’ it’s Spike…”

”WILLIAM…” Giles sternly said, “Read any good news lately?”

“What, that bloody little high school paper we get? Saw everyone snickering about the latest issue in the hallway…but no, sorry to say I didn’t catch up on some kid kissing some teacher’s ass…like I care.”

“I think you’ll care what’s in this issue.” Giles threw the paper onto his son’s lap, “Page 4…”

Giles did a little countdown in his head, ’10….9….’

“What am I looking up? Lunch menu…”

’8….7…’

“The bands bake sale?” Spike shook his head as he flipped the page to come to page four.

‘6…5….’

“Senior poll…they already tallied that thing?”

‘4….3…’

“Ha…looks like Peaches will be in a pissed off mood about his ego for the next few days…”

‘2….1…’

“Wait a second…” Spike wrinkled his eyebrow and brought the paper close to his face to make sure he wasn’t reading the text wrong, “That’s—that’s…”

”That little chit you just came across in the hallway is going to be my future daughter in-law….” Giles smiled as he picked up his ‘Kiss the Librarian’ mug and took a sip at his tea, “Your future wife…”

TBC…

Chapter 3:



Willow gave a friendly pat on the back to the mute Spike, who was still sitting at the table and staring at the senior poll in the school newspaper. He hadn’t spoken a word yet or even reacted to his father’s teasing remarks.

“Well I’m off…see ya Spike… Willow said openly before turning to address only Giles, “Tell me how things work out with him when he comes back down to earth.”

”Yes…” Giles nodded as he glanced back at his son, “I believe cursing and throwing of objects will be coming soon after he comes to his senses…”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less than that…I’ll check on Buffy—make sure that she didn’t murder Anya or Andrew and Jonathon down in the press room.” Willow said as she took one last look at Spike before exiting the library.

With one comatose son and one highly amused father occupying the room, the library was back to being silent. Giles leaned back against the front desk with his mug in his hand, watching the wheels slowly turn through his son’s mind.

“You could do worse you know…I always liked Buffy.” Giles smiled.

Spike snapped out of his daze at that, blinking a few times before turning to his father, “What? WHAT?!”

“I’m just saying…Buffy’s a sweet girl…a spitfire like you…stubborn as hell like you…match made in heaven if you ask me.” Giles shrugged as he continued smile.

“Match made in---you got to be kidding me? Summers? Summers and me?!!!” Spike stood up and knocked over his chair, threw the newspaper down to the ground, and started pacing and digging his fingers into his bleached locks.

“Oh please William, I know you thought about it…”

”Never! No, never…” Spike shook his head in the same disgust that Buffy was displaying earlier, “We…we…we would kill each other before I even got a chance to ask her out!”

Giles raised a brow, was his son admitting something?

“Perhaps if you two had walkie talkies on the date you wouldn’t cause each other much physical harm…” Giles suggested with a shrug, he was having too much fun with this new turn of events. After all these years of hearing whining from his son about ‘Buffy stole my this…’ and ‘Buffy kicked my that…’, the old man could finally get satisfaction out of teasing Spike to death.

“Ya…” Spike muttered softly. There was a pause for a moment and then he shot his head up and said, “HEY!!!”

Giles shook his head and chuckled.

“Da’ this is not funny…this…this poll is going to destroy my life! Drusilla and I are already on the rocks with our relationship, this fuckin poll is going to tick her off something crazy!”

The old man bit his tongue; he promised himself that he wouldn’t get involved with son’s affairs with the gothic girl that took advantage of Spike every chance she got. Giles tried to play ‘helpful father’ once before and got punished by his son by not speaking to him for a nearly 3 weeks. I guess this is why Giles was a little bit pleased that this poll turned out the way it did, if Drusilla got upset then the two could split and Spike could realize that there were other nice girls out there that wouldn’t take him for granted…girls like Buffy. Giles liked Buffy, despite what she said about Spike earlier. Maybe the old librarian liked her even more because of what she said about his son---that she wasn’t afraid to stand up against the young boy when he was being a jerk. Giles respected her and hoped just a little bit that this future daughter in-law comment would someday actually become reality. The old Brit smiled at the thought of Buffy part of the family and being the mother of his grandkids. With Dru, thinking about her being part of the family…well, Giles always got a cold chill run up his spine at the thought.

“Drusilla will get over it.” Giles waved his hand in the air, brushing off the matter that he cared less about.

“No she won’t, have you met Drusilla?”

“William, this isn’t your fault, your peers voted for you and Buffy. Not you alone.”

”Right…right…” Spike nodded, that explanation was perfect and he knew it couldn’t go wrong. “It’s not my fault…it’s everyone else’s…” he mumbled to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spike’s hand instantly went to his burning cheek.

‘God she knows how to slap’ Spike thought, ‘…defiantly going to leave a mark for the rest of the day.’

“Baby, this isn’t my fault…what did you want me to do, go around to the whole senior class and tell them to not vote for me and Summers? This took me for a loop too, I didn’t see it coming.” Spike argued.

“They must have had a motive for their actions, ever think of that? There must be a reason that they voted for you and—and HER!” Drusilla spat out the word ‘her’ in disgust.

“Well I certainly didn’t do anything!”

”You pick on her! Tease her…you LOVE to tease her specifically!” Drusilla snapped.

The couple was out behind the bleachers on the football field. Always around lunch time the two of them would sneak off from their friends for a quick smoke and some kissing. Today, they skipped lunch, mostly to avoid Angel and Buffy, and decided to discuss this poll privately.

“So what? I’ve been teasing her ever since I’ve met her!”

“Ever think WHY you do that? Did you tug her pigtails, push her down, and run away when you were kids too?”

As a matter of fact, Spike did do that a number of times. However, he didn’t think that was worth mentioning to Drusilla right now as he was getting chewed out. The fact that he did commit the crime would leave him girlfriendless in five seconds flat.

“No!!” Spike lied, “We…we’re just friends Dru…like I’m friends with Willow, Xander, and Angel…”

”I don’t remember you teasing Willow or taking Xander and Angel to the sixth grade dance!”

‘Uh-oh.’

Spike knew that stupid dance would come back and bite him in the ass.

“I only took her because her date got sick…” Spike explained, “My dad practically made me do it!”

In less than five minutes he told his girlfriend two lies already. ‘Good Spike, dig yourself in a deeper hole that you’re already sitting in…heck, fill the hole with quick sand to put you out of your misery.’

“Don’t lie to me William…” she said sternly, using his given name to show that she was serious about this. “Are you saying that since the day that you moved to Sunnydale that you never once thought of her more than a friend?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

1989….

William hated America. He hated American television, American sports, and American kids. He hated how all the neighbor kids on the block made fun of how he talked.

“I’ll say bloody anytime I want…” he muttered to himself as he kicked his soccer ball against the garage door once again. However, one burst of energy that came out of his 8 year old body cause him to kick the ball a little bit too hard. The ball bounced off the garage door and went flying quickly to his face. Poor William didn’t have a chance to duck.

The rim of his glasses scratched his cheek as they flew off his face. William was now on his back and looking up at the sunny summer day sky.

‘Can’t get much worse than this…’ he thought to himself.

The sound of laughter erupted from behind him, girlish playful laughter.

William rose up off his back and turned around to see a girl, about his age, on her green bike.

“What are you laughing at?” he grumbled as he eyed her little ponytail and blue dress with red polka dot leggings.

“You…” she continued to laugh as she rode her bike a little bit closer to him and stopped.

“It’s not funny…you, you…you stupid bit.”

”What’s a bit?” she stopped laughing and scrunched up her face in confusion.

“It’s what you are…”

The little girl stuck her tongue out at him before pushing off on her bike with one foot and riding circles around him, “Well you’re a booger brain.”

“Well you’re a nit…”

”Cheese head…”

”Bitch…”

Buffy gasped, “You said a bad word.”

”I don’t care…”

”I’m telling my mommy on you.”

”I don’t care…”

Buffy didn’t think it was fun to tell when they didn’t care, “Well…I challenge you to a bike race…”

“I’m not playing with you!”

“What are you, afraid?”

William narrowed his eyes and got up off the pavement, forgetting about his scrap on his cheek and his bent glasses. “I could beat you any day of the week.”

“Prove it…prove it…prove it.” Buffy sang as she started to circle him with her bike once again.

William stepped in her path and held her handlebars in place so she would lose her balance and fall over. He narrowed his eyes at her and asked, “What do you want to bet?”

”Bet?”

”Ya…if I win I get something of yours…”

“No!” she argued.

”Then I’m not playing…” he shrugged and went over to get his ball with a smile.

“You’re no fun!” Buffy called out after him as he moved toward his front door.

William turned around to look back at her, “Do we have a bet?”

Buffy bit her lip, “What do you want if I lose?”

William walked closer to her and said, “Five bucks.”

Buffy’s eyes widen, the wager was too steep for her. “No way…that’s my allowance for a whole week!”

”See ya later then!”

“Wait!” she called out and stopped him, “Fine…”

”And if you win, what do you want?”

Buffy smiled, if she knew boys, and she most defiantly did, she knew something that would make him cringe, “You have to kiss me.”

William shrugged casually, “Fine.”

Buffy instantly frown, ‘He doesn’t care…?’

*~*~*~*~*~

The race was tight; it came down to mere inches.

“Pay up Summers.” William said as he held his hand out. After learning his new neighbors name he preferred calling her by her last name rather than her first. It was something he did with all his friends back in London, however this was the first time did it with a girl.

“I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”

”No way…I want it now…” he argued.

”Tomorrow William…”

“No…now!” He held out his hand.

Buffy paused, bit her lip, looked down at his palm waiting for his money, and then looked back at his sweaty and red hot face. Without hesitation Buffy reached out, grabbed William’ faced, and kissed him on the lips. When she pulled back she saw he didn’t look disgusted but a little stunned.

”I’ll pay you tomorrow…bye William.” She said as she pushed off her bike and made her way home.

*~*~*~*~*~

Present Day…

Spike never asked for his five bucks after that day. Even though he was young at the time he considered what Buffy gave him a much better reward than money—his first kiss. From the ages of eight to eleven, every time the two of them had a race or a bet William would request a kiss instead of cash as a reward.

The two of them bickered like they always did, the kiss never really changed that; but for some odd reason neither one of them decided to change the reward of their bet. After they reached eleven, the kisses stopped as soon as they went through their ‘I hate girls’ and ‘I hate boys’ stage.

Spike looked back up at his girlfriend, trying to shake the fuzzy memories from his mind that he seemed to have forgotten until now. “Ya Dru…I never thought of her as more than a friend…”

*~*~*~*~*

Buffy skipped her lunch to avoid the stares of her peers in the cafeteria, to avoid Angel, and most of all to avoid Spike. At the moment she was hiding in the corner of the library, buried deep in the stacks of bookcases, looking through the senior poll ballots that she got from Anya.

Not one of the sheets had a name on them but Buffy didn’t really care, she had to see for herself that her classmates actually voted for her and Spike. Out of the 295 students in her graduating class, she only pulled out 70 that didn’t vote for them for ‘Most Likely to Marry…’

Buffy sat the papers down beside her and thought for a moment, “Xander…” she muttered when she remembered something.

In hurry Buffy picked up the pile and started flipping once again to find one specific sheet. She remembered a month ago when everyone was voting at lunch that he circled his name for nearly half the categories.

Buffy stopped when she saw his ballot.

Then she remembered Willow voting for Oz for ‘Best Smile’. Buffy search back through the pile of 294 and only found one that had Oz nominated for ‘Best Smile’.

With her two friend’s ballots pulled, knowing without a doubt that they were theirs, Buffy sat them on the ground in front of her.

Under ‘Most Likely to Marry…’ both her friends, her closest dearest friends that loved her, they both voted for her and Spike.




TBC…

Chapter 4:



“Buffy?”

The petite blonde, who was sitting on the ground surrounded by senior poll ballots, looked up at Giles with a small innocent smile. She looked miserable but she still formed a smile to try to get out of trouble for her being there.

“Hey Giles…”

”Have you been here the entire afternoon?”

”Ummm…no…”

Giles lets out a sigh, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. You missed all your classes.”

”Ya…I guess I did didn’t I?”

”That’s all you have to say for yourself?”

Buffy shrugged and gave a small nod, “Pretty much…so assign me detention so I continue to sit here alone in despair.”

Giles had two options here, handle the matter as a teacher or handle it as a friendly parent. The school board probably preferred the first one, but being a softy that he was, he sat down on the ground next to Buffy.

“This is still the poll right?”

It was a stupid question to ask but Giles needed his facts straight—teenage girls today could be crying over one thing one minute and worried about something different the next.

“Yes…” Buffy muttered as she raised her legs up so she could loosely hug her knees.

“I figured…” Giles nodded, “You know your not the only one upset about this, William is too.”

”He is?”

”Well, I’m not saying he reacted as dramatically as you did but yes, he was a bit speechless.”

”At least I know now that he didn’t mess with these stupid polls.” Buffy said as she kicked a few of the ballots to the side.

“I told you he wouldn’t have done this to you. William knows his limits; he would never pull a stunt like this. You know how I know?”

Buffy looked up at Giles.

“Because he knows you well enough to know it would upset you.” Giles explained.

“Careful Giles, you’re making it sound like Spike cares about me…if you did that I may have to punch you.”

Giles chuckled, they both knew her threat was harmless just by the way she said it.

“Despite what either one of you say, I believe you do care for one another.”

“Giles…” she growled.

“Now hear me out. Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t it you that took time off from cheerleading practice one week to help plan William’s 16th birthday party?”

”Well…”

‘I had to let Cordelia borrow my leather jacket for a whole week to get out of those practices…’ she reminded herself.

“And didn’t he beg me to teach you how to drive after your mother refuse to get in a car with you after you hit a mailbox on your first lesson?”

“Ya but…”

“I also believe there was one rainy weekend 3 summers ago where the two of you made camp in my basement after Cecily broke William’s heart. The two of you watched Sci-Fi movie after Sci-Fi movie until you two practically looked like aliens.”

”Giles, please…I was just—we were just…”

”Being friends to one another? Yes.”

”Ya!” Buffy agreed, ‘Friends…nothing more…’ she thought to herself.

“Yes, I agree…but I don’t remember your other friends nearby during these memorable moments.”

“So we hang out together, big deal, it doesn’t automatically mean marriage and white picket fence with a dog!” Buffy got to her feet and turned to stand in front of Giles, who was still sitting on the ground in front of a bookcase.

“Doesn’t mean you hate each other either…which the two of you claim you do every bloody day” he pointed out.

”I’m with Angel...he’s with Dru…”

“Yes…and?”

”And that’s the way it is…why would over 200 kids think I would shack up with Spike in the future?”

”Well, why don’t’ you ask them?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Spike thought he’d feel more pain than this. Was his heart not plugged in properly? Drusilla dumped him and he felt hardly anything for her. No longing, no dread about living without her, no desire to go begging to her to take him back.

“Didn’t I love her at all?” he whispered to himself as he sat in his car in the school parking lot. He had been there for the better part of the day; smoking cigarette after cigarette and watching the students change classes through a few of the windows that he could see into the high school.

As the last bell rang to dismiss school, kids started pouring out into the parking lot and onto buses. Spike started his car and waited. Waited for what, he wasn’t sure. Normally he gave Buffy a lift home, but today he didn’t think that would be the case

‘She ran away screaming when she last saw you mate’ he reminded himself. ‘She’s probably hiding around Captain Forehead for protection.’

‘Angel…such a stupid name’

The thought was so random that Spike stopped to wonder why he even thought of it in the first place. Angel was never a problem before. Now all of sudden his friend had a poofter name?

Spike looked up toward the school entrance and saw Willow coming out of the building with Buffy tagging along right behind her. He tilted his head to the side to get a good look at the little blonde.

‘Has she always done her hair up like that…? Doesn’t look good, it should be put down like it was the other day…’

Spike nodded in agreement with his thoughts before stopping and widening his eyes, “I did not just think that. I did not just think about her hair and what way it should be styled...”

He shook his head and looked back up at her. ‘See…you can look at her and not think about her hair…or that little skirt that she wore last Thursday and how perfect her legs looked in it…’

“Damn it!” Spike yelled and hit his steering wheel.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I can’t believe you skipped class Buffy.” Willow said as she walked beside her friend outside the main entrance of the school.

“Well I can’t believe you voted for me and Spike!”

Willow flinched, “What?”

“Anya gave me the ballots Willow…”

”Ya…so…doesn’t mean that I—“

”Best Smile…Oz…” Buffy stated, “You were the only one out of the entire class to vote for him for Best Smile.”

”Well, well…how do you know I even turned my ballot in…that could be someone else’s ballot!”

”Willow, voting for to you is like ten orgasms.”

”I-I-I I have the right to an attorney right? I demand that I have him present before…before…” Willow frowned and her voice rambled off, “Before you ultimately kill me and no longer be my friend.”

”If I do that to you then I’ll have to make an exception for Xander too…he also voted for me and Spike.”

Willow’s gasped and her mouth hung open, “He did?! That little weasel said he wasn’t going to do it!”

”What?”

”Umm…nothing…”

“Did…did you guys like discuss this or something?”

”No….yes…well sort of” Willow hung her head down in shame.

“I knew it, I knew it! You guys planned this out!”

”No, honest Buffy, no…” Willow pleaded and shook her head, “It was just a conversation between me, Xander, and Anya—a private conversation.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at her friend and pondered how well Willow could lie, “Go on…”

”It was---we just, we just got to thinking about all the couples in the school and we couldn’t pick out who would be good for ‘Most Likely to Marry…’ It started off as a joke, really, but the more we talked about it the more we sort of convinced ourselves that it wasn’t that crazy…”

”Not that crazy?!” Buffy burst, “Willow, me good….” She pointed to herself, “Him bad…” Buffy pointed off indicating that the ‘him’ was Spike somewhere else.

“Buffy you know he’s not bad. He can be really sweet at times. Remember how he gave you and me a rose, along with Dru, on Valentine’s Day this year?”

Buffy sighed, she forgot about those little things. It was so easy to remember all the teasing and jokes that he did and forget when he did things like take her to the dance, teach her to drive, and give her a rose with a tiny note saying ‘I know this isn’t from Peaches, but hopefully it will make you smile.’

What was wrong with her?! How could she be so dense to not read into these little hints that he cared for her.

“I know you’re with Angel and I know Spike’s with Drusilla…but I don’t know, we—we just thought at the time it was not so far fetched…I mean you guys knew each other forever.”

“You and Xander have known each other forever…” Buffy pointed out.

“Ya…and I thought he was goofy and cute when he ate yellow crayons in kindergarten.” Willow smiled, “I care about him and he cares about me…but not so much that he would know to drive all the way out to Los Angelus just to find me…”

‘Oh…right…THAT summer’ Buffy thought to herself.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Two years ago…July…

Buffy looked down at her dead cell phone cradled in her hand. It had been dead for nearly 5 hours; just about the same time everyone would notice that she was no longer in her room and had runaway. It seemed convenient for her—she didn’t want to talk to anyone or be found at the moment.

The shock that her parents were getting divorced had not yet settled in her mind. On the three hour bus ride all she did was cry, she was surprised someone even bothered to sell her a ticket because of her unstable state.

As Buffy glanced up from her phone she went back to looking at the setting sun across the ocean. Ever since she arrived at the beached and parked herself in the sand she felt relaxed. She could remember countless summers with her mother and father at this beach, playing in the water and building sandcastles. Their summer evening would always end with a trip to the boardwalk where a merry-go-round lit up the shoreline.

“Thank god!” the sound of a very pissed off Brit said from behind her.

Buffy didn’t turn around to acknowledge his presences, she knew it was Spike. She was just waiting for the sounds of the rest of her rescue crew to follow the sound of his voice. However, they never did.

“Summers, I swear to god this time I’m going to beat you to a bloody pulp!”

He appeared right in front of her, blocking her view of the beautiful ocean. Buffy calmly looked up at him, gazing at him as if he were a dream or an illusion.

“Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone?!” he yelled as he reached down and grabbed her cell phone out of her hand to look at it.

“It’s dead…been dead for a few hours.” She muttered.

He growled in frustration, “I left probably about a million messages on here and it’s been dead the whole time?!”

“You did?”

”My phone is practically down to its last bar because I kept trying to call you on the ride out here.” He argued.

“Why?” she asked quietly.

“What?!” he snapped.

”Why were you calling me?”

He stared at her for a minute, “Are you kidding?! Everyone is looking all over for you in Sunnydale! Your mother is hysterical, your dad is checking every ditch from your house to Vegas, and my parents are hopping from hospital to hospital, bus stop to bus stop.”

“Where did you look?”

“What?”

”How many places did you search…?”

”…well…here and the mall…”

“How’d you know where I was?”

Spike sighed, he’s heart was still racing from earlier when he found out she was missing, “I remembered you liked it here…”

“You remembered but my mom and dad didn’t?”

”Cut them some slack…everyone is crazy with worry” he said as he moved to sit next to her in the sand. He handed over her dead cell phone and looked around the beach.

“Of all the people to find me…” she muttered.

“You could do worse Summers…” he pointed out, “Could have been a rapist or some lunatic beach bum that only comes out at night.”

“Ya, guess I could do worse.”

”What were you thinking anyway?” he snapped, “Or were you thinking at all? I swear Summers, sometimes I think your head is screwed on upside because you--“ he stopped when noticed her face was all scrunched up and tears were trailing down her cheeks.

“Sorry…” she whispered as she let out a sniffle.

Spike sighed; he forgot that sometimes his mouth was more of a liability than an asset when it came to expressing his concern for others. It was just that he got so scared a few hours ago when everyone reported back from their first searching spot with no Buffy. Worst case scenarios kept popping in his head while he made the drive from Sunnydale to Los Angelus. He was deathly afraid that he never would see his friend again.

“No love, I’m sorry…” he whispered as he placed a hand on her arm without hesitation. Spike rubbed a few circles on her shivering goose bumped arm. When he noticed her tears weren’t stopping he leaned in closer and placed his entire arm around her back to hold her close.

“Just promise me one thing?”

”Hmmm?” she asked while continuing to cry her eyes out.

“Charge your phone every bloody day from now on…” he whispered in her ear.

Buffy sniffled once more before letting out a hiccup of a laugh.

“Okay…” she whispered.


TBC…

Chapter 5:




Jennifer Giles stopped cutting up vegetables on her cutting board in the kitchen when she heard the front door open and then slam shut. She smiled, that noise could only belong to her little boy.

“William?” she called.

“Ya?!” he yelled back, clearly not wanting to take the time to travel down the hallway and into the kitchen to answer her properly.

Jenny rolled her eyes when she didn’t hear him mosey his way to her, so, she decided to go to him. She found him standing half way up the stairs, waiting for her response so he could be on his way.

“Your home awfully early, thought you were spending the rest of the day with Drusilla?” Jenny asked.

“Ya, well, change of plans…something’s come up.” He said quickly. Even though he loved his mother, Spike wasn’t willing to share his love life with her. The woman washed his underwear up until he was fifteen years old, for god’s sake; he had to draw the line on his privacy somewhere.

“You two have a fight?” she asked in that concerned motherly voice.

“Something like that…” he muttered as he fidgeted where he stood. He eyed the top of the stairs, hoping his mother would take the hint and let him go.

However, she didn’t.

“Well come down here in the kitchen and I’ll fix you some cocoa and you can have some of last nights left over chocolate cake.” Jenny waved him down the stairs and went back into the kitchen, expecting he would soon follow.

Spike sighed when she was out of sight, “I must be the biggest ponce in Sunnydale…drinking cocoa and eating cake with my mom…”

And with that said, he stomped back down the stairs and joined Jenny in the kitchen.

*~*~*~*~*~

“Are you sure you’re not mad?”

”For the fiftieth time Buffy, no, I’m not mad.” Angel reassured.

After Willow and Buffy’s little conversation out around the school parking lot, Angel drove up to the curb near the girls and told his girlfriend to hop in. He didn’t seem mad, jealous, or highly emotional as she opened to door and got in, he was very calm and relaxed as they drove through her neighborhood and parked in front of her house.

A few houses down Buffy could see Spike’s black car parked in front of his house.

“Are you mad at Spike?”

”Noooo…” he raised a brow, “Should I be?”

Buffy had to admit that no one was at fault here, well, that is not one specific person was to blame. The student body as a whole in her eyes was still obviously the guilty party, but what could she do about that? Stand up on a cafeteria table and shout out ‘I am not going to marry Spike Giles!’ and demand everyone take the poll again? The scene she would have made there would have been worse than the attention she got from the senior poll.

“No….” Buffy shook her head and looked down at her small hands on her lap, “I mean he’s probably livid about this too…”

“Maybe…”

Buffy snapped her head up, “What?”

“What?”

”’Maybe?’” she repeated, “You don’t think he’s disgusted by this too?”

Hearing from Giles and Willow that Spike cared about her was one thing, but hearing it from her own boyfriend was another.

Angel shrugged, “You two do fight like an old married couple…”

“Ya…the keyword there is ‘fight’…” Buffy pointed out, “Fight, as in no pleasant conversation at all.”

Angel smiled and shook his head at her stubbornness, “Whatever you say Buffy, but deep down in your heart I know you hold something special for Spike. Something I can’t even touch.”

Buffy was taken back by that, “What do you mean?”

Angel sighed; he didn’t know how to explain something that he himself didn’t understand. “When you and Spike fight, when I watch you fight, I feel a little jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“The way you guys fight, its friendly and quick witted…it’s not dangerous.”

Buffy turned her head from him and glanced back down the road at Spike’s car. She remembered earlier that morning when Spike kept locking the door every time she tried to pull on the handle.

“When you and I fight, all I feel is dread and all I hear is alarm bells ringing in my ears. Every fight we have I feel it will be our last…that maybe we won’t make it past that last one.”

”Angel you know that’s—“

”Silly…” he finished for her, “Ya…I know, but it’s just how I feel Buffy; I’m trying to be honest with you.”

Now that Buffy heard everyone’s point of view, from best friend to boyfriend, she had some serious thinking to do before she talked to the man in question herself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Spike scrapped the rest of the chocolate frosting off his plate and onto his fork before setting the silverware down. He was clearly now just playing around with his food and not thinking about digging in to the last bit of sugary goodness on his fork.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset honey…” Jenny said as she took his plate and fork away and sat it in the kitchen sink.

“Mum, I just told you Dru broke up with me.”

“Yes, and I still stay no use crying over her…but I meant about Buffy and the poll.”

“It’s crazy is what it is…now things are going to completely awkward between us. I’ll probably have to switch schools now.” He grumbled.

“Change schools when you have three weeks left?” she laughed.

“Have you forgotten my high school reunion? 10 year reunion…20 year reunion…mum, this poll did more damage than you think.”

”No honey, YOU think it has done more damage…I don’t see it making headline news around the neighborhood yet…it’s all in your head honey. Besides, wasn’t it you that said a month ago that ‘You have to bloody shoot me to go see those bunch of high school wankers in 10 years’.” Jenny said, impersonating her son’s accent.

“First off mum, don’t do that again.” Spike remarked on her impression, “And second, ya…I did say that…but I don’t like having to fear going to my own reunion if I wanted to. I might be a successful rock star in a couple years and would like to show off my fame to all those gits that said I’d never amount to anything…especially Snyder, if he’s alive…” he muttered under his breath, “And I don’t want to have to hide under the table when our class president goes up to the mic and announces, ‘Hey, remember that nit that was named ‘Most Likely to Marry Buffy Summers…’ well he got the Grammy for Best New Artist.”

”What’s wrong with that?” Jenny laughed, “Thought you wanted to Best New Artist?”

“Ya, I do!” Spike exclaimed, “But did you happen to catch that little… ‘he was remember for being Most Likely to Marry Buffy Summers thing’?”

Jenny rolled her eyes as she went back to chopping vegetables for dinner.

”That’s what I’ll be most likely be remembered for mum!”

“Oh William, stop being so dramatic…”

”I’m not being dramatic…you said for yourself that when you went to da’s reunion he was called Ripper by everyone at the party.”

”Ya, so…he likes that old nickname…” Jenny shrugged with a smile, she secretly liked it too.

“Well…I guess that’s different then…” Spike scratched his head, he had to think of a new example.

”I know what you’re saying honey…you don’t want that poll to live down in history and come back and nip you in the butt.”

”Yes!! Thank you!!” he exclaimed when he realized his mother finally got it.

Jenny turned around, “Well, despite what you think or say, I feel that you could do a whole lot worse than Buffy Summers.”

Spike blinked a few times and straightened up on the stool he sat on, ‘What’s this now?’ he thought to himself.

“When you two were kids you were so cute together…bickering back and forth like you do now…well, it was more cute than how you do it now…” Jenny commented with a smile as she opened a cabinet to get some bowls and plates. “I believe you even gave each other little kisses…”

’She knew about that?! Oh god, who else knew?!!’

“No we didn’t!” he denied.

Jenny smirked at him and raised a brow, “You use to run off and play flashlight tag in the backyard until I had to practically drag you in to go to bed…you use to have water balloon wars and squirt gun fights…”

Spike looked down at his hands, he couldn’t deny those times.

“I don’t know what happened to you guys…but around thirteen you stopped doing those things…” Jenny sighed, “Must have been puberty…”

”Ya…” Spike got up from his stool and walked down the hallway, “Or it must have been my big mouth…”


TBC…

Chapter 6:

4 years ago…7th grade, Gym Class…

From the bench behind the fence, Buffy clapped her hands and smiled as Angel hit a high fly ball into left field and started rounding the bases. Once she glanced back down at William, who sat next to her and saw a scowl on his face, she stopped.

“What?” she shrugged.

“It’s gym Buffy, not the bloody World Series…” he muttered
as he watched one of their peers take a chance up at bat.

“There is nothing wrong with cheering him on.” Buffy explained as she scooted down the bench once someone got up to take their turn, “He’s new…needs to feel welcome.”

“He’s already got five bleedin girls all over him; I don’t think he needs a sixth.” William huffed.

“Jealous are we?” Buffy smirked at her brown hair curly friend.

“Of what?”

“That I’m cheering him on and not you…”

‘Just a bit…’ the little voice inside William’s head admitted.

“No” he scoffed quickly, “Just thought you had better taste than him.”

“Oh I see…” Buffy laughed, “Okay then, if he’s so out of my league, give me a guy that is…”

William was a little thrown by what she said; ‘A guy that’s in her league?’ He never really thought about Buffy dating anyone before, the idea of dating in general was always light years away from his mind. He’s 13 years old for crying out loud, sports and more sports were what he eats and sleeps. Sure, he was starting to get curious by the boobs on the cheerleaders, but dating? Dating was out of his league.

“What about Harris?”

“Xander?!” Buffy laughed as she looked out at the boy in question in the outfield swatting at a few bugs and not paying attention to the game.

“Not good enough for you?” William asked.

“He’s like a brother to me Will…” she waved her hand and crossed her legs.

William glanced down at her bare tan legs in her blue gym shorts.

“So I’m a brother to you too?”

Buffy shrugged, “You’re defiantly a pain in my ass, that’s for sure.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a crack of the bat and a bunch of girls screaming for Angel to run faster around third base to home plate.

“Yayyy!” the girls started to yell, they were all standing a few feet away from the bench where William and Buffy were seated.

“I never knew you were so good at baseball…” Harmony Kendal giggled as she touched Angel’s arm and squeezed his bicep.

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned her attention away from her 7th grade girls gushing all over Angel O’Connor.

“What’s the matter Summers, afraid of the competition you have with girls like Harmony?”

“No…” she shrugged.

“Me thinks you are a bad liar Summers.”

“Me thinks you are a dumbass, dumbass.” Buffy mumbled as she got up to take her turn at bat.

Angel, after escaping the swarm of bubble gum popping girls and getting a drink of water, came around the bench and sat down next to William.

“Nice hit…” William muttered.

“Thanks…” Angel said, out of breath and turning his attention on Buffy.

“STRIKE ONE!” the kid playing the position as the emperor yelled.

“Hey Giles, you and Buffy are good friends right?” Angel spoke while continuing to watch the game.

William took his eyes off Buffy for a moment to glance to his side at the boy, “Uh…I—I guess…I mean …not really …”

“Well, do you know if she’s going to the dance next month with anyone?”

“Dance?”

Angel was referring to the middle school dance that had sixth, seventh, and eighth graders attending, it was pretty much the social event of the year for kids their age.

“Ya…does she have a date?”

“STRIKE TWO!!!”

William knew that Buffy was starting to have a crush on this new boy, Angel. He knew if his friend was right here she would say ‘yes’ without hesitation if Angel asked her to the school dance.

“Uh….no…I don’t think she does.”

“Do you want to go with her?” Angel took his eyes off Buffy and looked at William.

“Me?! Me?! What are you kidding…” William looked at Angel in disgust, “Me and Summers….me and Summers? Now that’s a laugh.”

“Why? What’s wrong with her?”

Is there a time in your life that you wish you could take back desperately, a time where you knew sooner or later what you said will be held against you for what will seem like forever? Well, this was William Giles’s moment.

“What isn’t wrong with her? She’s…she’s stupid chit that is stuck up…she’s got stupid commercial shampoo hair and—and—and she’s not really pretty at all.”

There was a brief pause between the boys as the watched Buffy take her last chance at bat.

“STRIKE THREE!”

“A few people said that you took her to the dance last year though...” Angel said.

“Only because I was paid to take her…” William explained as he got up from his seat on the bench and walked away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After school, William decided to go for a bike ride up and down Revello Drive since it was such a nice day. He needed a little relaxation after the rather odd day he had a school after gym class. With each passing period, more and more girls were giving him some pretty weird looks—the kind of looks that said he hated women. William could have sworn that even Mrs. Beckjord, the lunch lady, gave him a look that said ‘take a hike boy’.

When William rode his bike closer to Buffy’s house he could see that she was out on the porch swing sitting quietly. He smirked to himself before he wheeled into her driveway and came as close to the porch as his bike would allow him to.

“Hey Summers…” he smiled, “Want to race?”

Buffy blinked at him and didn’t say a word.

“Winner gets—“

“Go away William.” She interrupted.

“What?”

“You heard me…leave…”

The young boy was a bit confused, not by the fact that she was ticked off at him but by the fact that he didn’t do anything yet to tick her off.

“What did I do?”

“I said go” Buffy sternly said, tears beginning to form behind her eyes.

“No…not till you tell me what I did—“

“So you were paid to take me to that dance last year?!!”

William almost fell over on his bike, he was so thrown by her outburst.

“What?”

“I’m not pretty?” tear were now actually starting to fall down her cheek.

“Buffy…I—I—I…”

“We’re not good friends?”

“Wait, what? I didn’t say that…I, I said…”

‘I did say that, didn’t I? ’he thought to himself when William remembered his conversation with Angel.

“Well, William…why would you want to ride bikes with someone that isn’t your friend?”

“Buffy wait…no…I didn’t mean—“

“Stay away from me William! I hate you!” she yelled as she ran inside her house and slammed the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The bleached blond man that lounged on his bed alone, staring up at the ceiling, had to admit now that middle school was a very dangerous time in his life. Well, dangerous socially. Buffy did eventually speak to him again after that fight but something defiantly changed after he lied about having his dad have to pay him to take Buffy to the dance. Spike wasn’t sure if Buffy began to start to keep her distant from sharing things with him or what, but something was different. Kind of like he lost something…something that he usually got for free was scarce whenever they conversed. Spike wasn’t sure she ever trusted him again after that point.

With a sigh, Spike got up off his bed and decided he needed a smoke.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Spike walked around the block twice before stopping in front of Buffy’s house. He looked up at her window and saw that the light was on in her room.

“Tell hell with it…” he muttered as he walked up her driveway, up her porch stairs, and rang her bell.

Within a few minutes he greeted Buffy in her pajamas.

“Spike…” she seemed in awe that he was there at first but then her eyes widened and she panicked, “What…what…are you—“

“Nice PJs Summers…” Spike couldn’t help himself, snippy remarks was how he broke the ice.

Buffy glanced down at her matching kitty cat shorts and top.
“Getting to bed early are we?”

When Buffy looked up she shot him a nasty glare and started to shut the door in his face. However, Spike stuck his big boot out and let himself in.

“Sorry love…the evilness inside me comes with the coat I suppose.”

“Perhaps you should get rid of it or something…”

“Hell no, makes me look handsome and all.” He smirked.

“Whatever you say…now, what do you want?”

“Guess it would be stupid not to bring up the poll huh?”

Buffy sighed, “Sort of…but I can’t avoid you forever, can I?”

“This is crazy Buffy, you and I both know that it’s a joke…a stupid joke that everyone was in on…”

“Funny, it seems the more I talk to people the more I find that theory to be shot down.”

“How so?”

“Willow and Xander voted for us!” Buffy exclaimed.

“What?!”

“…and I’m guessing Anya did too…”

“Bloody hell…” Spike ran his hand over his face in distress.

“Ya…so after thinking about this for a while, I figured out that there is only one way to solve this…”

“Ya and what’s that?”

Buffy took a deep breath, “You’re going to have to kiss me.”

TBC….

Chapter 7:

Spike must have heard her wrong. This was not an if-I-lose-a-bet-you-have-to-kiss-me situation when they were ten years old, this was kissing as adults.

“What?!” he exclaimed.

“It’s the only way” she explained.

“Only way to what?!”

Buffy rolled her eyes and dragged him into the house by his arm. When she shut the door and turned around to look at him, she noticed he looked sort of scared and pale.

“It’s the only way to see if this thing between us is sexual tension or the simple enjoyment of pissing each other off.”

“And we have to kiss for you to know?!”

“For US to know and why are you so scared? It’s just me…you taunt me a million times a day…you should feel nothing when you kiss me.”

‘She’s right’ he thought to himself, if he kissed her he SHOULD feel not one ounce of affection for her. However, that SHOULD wasn’t hold much weight to him with all the memories that keep popping in his head.

“Oh come one Spike, just do it so you can go home and I can go to bed” she complained, acting like it was a chore that her mother wanted her to do all day but she procrastinated.

“Fine! Fine, fine, fine…” he muttered and stepped forward, “This is stupid though…I mean you have a boyfriend…what’s Angel gonna say when he finds out I’m lip wrestling you?”

“It’s not like we are doing it out of enjoyment” she said.

Spike raised a brow, ‘Say again?’

“I mean it’s just an experiment...one kiss…”

“One kiss…” he muttered to himself.

“I won’t tell Dru if you won’t tell Angel.”

Spike didn’t bother correcting Buffy and telling her that it didn’t matter to Drusilla anymore whether he kissed her or not. He figured she find out soon enough through the network of gossip girls at school on Monday morning.

“Okay?” Buffy asked when he didn’t respond.

“Okay…right…our secret” he muttered.

“Good…okay, so kiss me” she ordered.

“What?”

“Kiss me…”

“Why should I go in for the kill, you do it…it’s your idea” he argued.

“‘Go in for the kill?’ ” she repeated, "Is that what you call it?"

“You suggested it, you kiss me.”

“Would you be a gentleman for a few seconds and initiate the stupid kiss?” she stomped her foot on the ground.

“Buffy?!” a shout from up the stairs interrupted them.

“Everything is fine mom!” Buffy yelled back quickly, hoping to God that her mother wouldn’t come downstairs to see what was going on.

“Who’s down there?” Mrs. Summers shouted.

“It’s Spike…he’s just leaving…” Buffy opened the front door and directed Spike out into the darkness.

“Wait, I thought we were—“ Spike started but got interrupted.

“Shut up! Shut up!” she scolded in a whisper as she pushed him out the door “We’ll do it outside…”

Once the door was closed, Buffy turned around and glared at the bleached blond menace that stood under her porch lamp.

“What’s wrong, your mum is not happy to see her future son-in-law?” he teased.

“Shut up or I’ll knock you in your family jewels” she threatened.

“If you do, you’re facing the consequences of us not having Little Spike and Little Buffy” he continued with his quick witted comments.

“Well I’m glad that you’re so nonchalant about the results of this stupid poll, but I’m not.”

“Why’s that, because you and ANGEL didn’t get picked for most likely to shag?”

Buffy gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, “Don’t you care what other people think?”

“This is me pet, I wear a leather duster and bleach my hair, opinions from others are a yawnfest for me….unlike you.”

“Don’t you get it Spike, this isn’t a joke…our FRIENDS voted for us...people think this teasing between us is just a cover, a cover for our desire for one another.”

“Ya so?’

“So….is it?”

“Is it?”

“A cover for our desire”

Spike stared at her like he was a deer caught in front of headlights.

“Just…just kiss me so I can see for myself…”

“See what?”

“Just…just….just come here”

Buffy didn’t let him get another word in as she grabbed the collar of his leather duster, tugged him forward, and attacked his lips with hers. For thirty seconds their lips for fused together; they didn’t moan or make a move to go to second base. They hardly even stayed at first base.

When Buffy pulled back she looked up to see Spike’s
reaction, “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well…did that…did you…” she stumbled to find words, “Did that do anything for you?”

“How about you…?”

Spike wasn’t going to play her game; she wanted them to kiss so they kissed. Now it was her turn to say what she felt.

“I asked you first” Buffy argued.

“So? I asked you second.”

“If you don’t answer I’m going to kiss you again until you tell me the truth" she threatened, acting like it was the most horrible punishment in the world.

“Go ahead”

“Fine”

“Fine”

“Fine!” Buffy yelled and grabbed the back of his head again and brought it to her mouth.

When they pulled back the second time Buffy jumped back and held her lip, “You bit me!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“It was only a little nibble”

“There will be no nibbling…” Buffy touched her lip with her finger and brought it down to see if he drew blood.

“What’s the matter love, not the nibbling type? Knew you couldn’t take it.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Buffy snapped.

“Means you and Angel must trade Eskimo kisses or something…man doesn’t have a spark of passion in his body.”

“Oh, so you and Drusilla what? Rip each others throats out when you make out?”

“No, but at least we didn’t do Eskimo kisses…it’s like getting a giant hug.”

“We have passion…I have loads of passion.” Buffy argued.

“Oh ya?! Prove it…lets see how far you go with kissing me…”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next day…

Willow glanced at her quiet friend as they walked down Main Street passing a number of stores. They already passed two shoe stores that had sales and Buffy still didn’t jump for joy and drag Willow back to the black leather boots section. Needless to say the redhead was worried.

“Are you okay?”

Buffy, who was walking in sort of a zoned out mode, finally snapped back to present day.

“Huh?”

“Okay, now what’s the matter? You still hate me about the poll?”

“What? No, I told you I’m over that…why would I still be hold onto that stupid…stupid thing?”

“Because we just passed a number of stores that had sales and you didn’t even glance in the window.”

“Oh…” Buffy saw her point.

“Did you talk to Spike?” Willow asked.

“What?! Why would I talk to him? I hate Spike why would I even…why?!” Buffy started to freak.

“Okay…I think I finally figured out the problem—Spike.” Willow muttered, “But as usual, it’s going to be like pulling teeth with you to find out the actually problem, isn’t it?”

They continued to walk, Buffy stayed mute.

“Buffy…what happened? What did he do? What did you do?”

“Spike…” the rest of the sentence got cut off by mumbling.

“What?” Willow asked.

“Spike and I…” once again she mumbled the most important part of the sentence in quiet voice.

“Spike and you…?”

“Spike and I had sex okay?!”

Buffy yelled loud enough that a few older ladies stopped on the sidewalk to stare at the two teens in disapproval. Buffy and Willow ignored them.

“Now you know, satisfied?” Buffy asked Willow

“Ummm no, not really…more importantly, were you?”

TBC…

Chapter 8:

The two girls sat in the back of the coffee shop with their half full tea and latte. Willow bit her lip as she noticed how quiet Buffy seemed to be after her confession. ‘Was she regretting it?’ she thought to herself, ‘Did she really have feelings for Spike?’

Buffy didn’t really answer her question on the sidewalk about being satisfied, and with that in mind the red head had a whole new set of questions popping in her head that she wanted to ask her friend.

“Well…aren’t you going to pry?” Buffy whispered first.

“Will you let me?” Willow asked with little uneasiness.

“I was the one who admitted having sex with Spike in the first place…I think I kind of set myself up for questioning.”

“Buffy…it’s between you and Spike and if you don’t want to—“


“I think I have to talk about it…my mind just might explode if I don’t get someone else’s opinion.” Buffy confessed.

“Okay…well…what was it like? Wait…how did this happen is a better question.” Willow scrunched up her face in confusion.

“It seemed to have happen kind of in a blur.”

“Were you drunk?”

“What?! No…however, it would make things simpler.” Buffy admitted, “Then I would understand how and why it happened.”

“Was Spike drunk?”

“Will, we were very much sober.”

“Sorry¸ just wanted clarity.” Willow said with an ‘I’m sorry’ smile.

“It just started off with a kiss…a kiss that I insisted and then it kind of got carried away.”

“Wait a minute, did you guys…. ‘do it’ while your mom was home?”


Buffy stared at Willow with a shocked look on her face—these are the questions she was asking?

“I’m just setting the scene up…two nights ago…you’re at home…it’s a school night…of course your mom’s at home….unless you guys...you guys didn’t do it at school, did you?”

“Oh my god… Willow…no. What kind of…oh god…no.”

“Good.” Willow breathed a sigh of relief; school was considered her special safe innocent place. Even though she had some fantasies about making out in the library between the bookcases, she didn’t want to picture Spike and Buffy in one of the classrooms…especially one of her classrooms.


“We aren’t animals…” ‘Well...maybe not to the point of doing it like rabbits…I think...’ Buffy added in her head.

“Sorry…just…never mind…go on.”

“My mom was home…so we didn’t do…IT…in the house…”

“Car?”

Buffy shook her head and looked around the café before whispering, “Garage…”

“Seriously?”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Flashback to 2 nights ago…

“Oh god…” Buffy breathed out as soon her lips were free from Spike’s. As he went lower to focus on her smooth neck, she started to notice the surroundings around her over Spike’s shoulder. In the corner of garage was her childhood bicycle with pink streamers, in the opposite corner was the aluminum Christmas tree and boxes of holiday decorations.

‘This was what I’m going to remember when I think of my first time?’ Buffy asked herself as Spike pulled away from her neck to look at her.

“You alright?” he asked while panting. His right hand abandoned massaging her breast and went up to caress her hair.

There was silence between them as they still moved together at a relaxed pace.

“Buffy?”

This was the point Buffy knew she was suppose to stop this—alert him to how disgusting a setting they were in and that this was a mistake.

Spike slowed their pace, practically reading her mind.

“Don’t stop…” she whispered, seeing her breath through the cool air.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Seriously…” Buffy admitted.

Willow looked torn as for what to say—all she could come up with was, “I’m sorry Buffy.”

“Ya well…”

However, in the back of Buffy’s mind, her coupling with Spike didn’t seem to be something that needed to be forgiven. After looking back into Spike’s eyes, the dark musty garage seemed to fade away and it was just them.

TBC...