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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey guys, we're glad you're enjoying our story, Brat and I thank you for reading it and hope that you continue to enjoy it.

Honestly, these author's notes are a lot harder to do than they look!

Point is, thank you all very much. =)
Chapter Two


Buffy and Spike stared at each other, taking one another in, studying and mentally noting how the other had changed.

For Buffy it was finally getting a good hard look at the guy she’d seen on the bus, and how he’d changed. Who knew the skinny kid with glasses that she’d known once upon a time was going to grow to be so, well, hot?

For Spike, it was much of the same. The tomboy he’d known had grown up to be a woman. Gone were the stringy pig tails she wore and now she had ‘shampoo commercial hair’. Here he was so nervous to see her and now there she was, standing right before him, smiling, and her emerald eyes studying him closely.

“This is so . . . “ she trailed off.

“Surreal?” he supplied.

They chuckled together nervously, and said at the same time, “Yeah.” Then started to laugh again.

The bell ringing shook them out of the awkward, goofy laugh fest they’d been engaging in and William looked at her helplessly. “Help a fellow out, pet?”

She gulped at the pet name, “How?”

“I don’t know where the bloody hell my homeroom is.”

“Oh, uh, do you have your schedule?”

Reaching into his duster, he extracted a folded up piece of paper, opened it, and shoved it at her. “Room 234.”

“Oh, okay, follow me,” she said and turned on heel around the corner and down the hall.

She looked over her shoulder, watching William scramble to reach her. She forced herself to slow down and relax. You won’t actually be helping him if loses you because you’re speed walking due to nerves, she scolded herself.

When he was by her side, she dared a glance at him and found him smiling at her. “Hi.”

She smiled, “Hi.”

“Done that part, haven’t we?” he asked sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, which, somehow, she found absolutely adorable.

“We have.”

“It’s weird bein’ here. I mean, I was part of this town once upon a time and now I see some faces that are familiar – and yet not. It’s strange.”

“Why did you move back?”

He looked down, a forlorn expression passing over his features. “My mum died.”

“Oh my God, William—“ she stopped in the middle of the hallway, not paying any attention to the annoyed looks she got for that.

“Spike,” he corrected.

“What?”

“It’s Spike now.”

She blinked. “Okay. Spike. I’m so sorry,” and she reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “What happened?”

“She went in for a routine surgery to get this lump removed before it could amount to anything serious and . . . well, there was some complications and hemorrhaging. She died on the table.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged, “I’m all right. Living with my Dad now.”

“If there’s anything you need—“

“I need to find homeroom, Buffy,” he said firmly.

“Of course,” she said, nodding, feeling suddenly very dazed. She felt as if she’d lived a lifetime so far and it was only 8 a.m.

******************

Settling her tray down at the table Willow saved for them at lunch, Buffy sat down and immediately started searching for Wil--Spike while trying to open her chocolate milk carton.

“So, he goes by Spike now?” Willow asked, munching on a carrot. “That’s weird.”

Buffy nodded, “Yeah, but it fits him, ya know?”

“Well, you know him better than I do.”

“No, I don’t. I knew William. William who had glasses and wore polo shirts and khaki’s to school. William, who was a mini version of his tweed-wearing father. I don’t know Spike. All black wearing Spike. He’s a mystery to me.”

“You love a good mystery!” Willow chirped.

“No, I don’t, “ Buffy frowned, “I hate mysteries. I like to know what’s going on at all times.”

“So, no surprise parties, ever, then?”

“Well . . . “ Buffy hedged.

Willow grinned.

“Hello, ladies,” Xander Harris, the ‘third’ in their little trio, greeted them and slid in next to Willow. “How has the first day back to hell been for everyone?”

Buffy and Willow giggled.

“Fine,” Buffy answered.

“Buffy re-met an old friend today,” Willow informed Xander.

Xander perked up, his brown eyes lighting up with interest. “Oh really? Is it a girl? She single? Hot? Hot and single?”

Buffy laughed, “It’s a he, not a she.”

“Oh,” Xander said, disappointed. “What’s his name?”

“William Giles. Though he seems to be going by ‘Spike’ now.”

“Spike? What the --?”

Buffy shrugged and watched Xander cram a yodel into his mouth.

“Have you seen Angel at all today, Buffy?” Willow asked her, tearing open the wrapper to her sandwich.

Buffy frowned, “No, I haven’t. Is it sad that I haven’t even really thought of him until now?”

“Well, you’ve had your mind on other things,” Willow rationalized. “And ‘other things’ just walked in the cafeteria.”

Buffy’s head jerked to the entrance to the cafeteria to see Spike and the friends he’d made – how long had he been back exactly to make them? –slide into a seat at one of the round tables, laughing.

“Whoa there, Buffster. You trying to get whiplash?” Xander asked and reached over to her tray, stealing half her brownie.

She slapped his hand, “What are you talking about?”

“The way you whipped your head around to see Spike,” Willow explained.

“Oh,” Buffy murmured, feeling her face turn red.

“So is he the guy with the leather jacket?” Xander asked, staring across the cafeteria. “Who wears a jacket like that in California? It’s eighty out!”

“I haven’t had the chance to ask him yet.”

“He must be sweltering,” Xander muttered, staring at Spike.

Buffy raised a brow, “Xander?”

“Yeah?” he said absently.

“You have a little crush on him?”

Xander snapped his head to her, “Very funny.”

“Well, I have to say, he does look cool. I mean, you can’t help but look at him and think ‘cool’,” Willow reasoned.

“He’s James Deanish in a way,” Xander noted.

“Question is, is he Rebel Without a Cause or Rebel Without a Clue?” Buffy asked.

“Well, I guess that’s a mystery you’re going to have to find out, isn’t it?” Willow said, smiling broadly.

*********

Spike surveyed the room, looking for Buffy. He felt bad for the way he’d shunned her attempts to comfort him that morning after he’d told her about his Mum.

It was still a touchy subject for him, and was living in a world of denial. He thought if he continued to act as if his mother’s sudden passing didn’t bother him, then one day, it really wouldn’t.

No one needed to know that he sometimes cried himself to sleep at night, missing her. And, no one needed to know that he could sometimes hear his Dad doing the same exact thing. It pained him to think about because he knew that his Dad had never stopped loving his mother. He also knew that his mother had always loved his Dad. They just could not make their marriage work for some reason and Spike had never felt quite comfortable asking. It seemed whenever he had started to ask, both his parents would clam up. After a while, he just stopped. He’d come to learn that sometimes love just wasn’t enough to make something work.

When he’d come back to town in the middle of July, he hadn’t been much in the mood for anything save for reading and writing in his journal. Glancing around the table he was currently sharing with the friends he’d made, finally, in August, he didn’t think they’d go too much for the fact that he kept a journal.

Buffy would understand though, he thought, finally spotting her across the crowded room. He smiled wanly in her direction, thinking how he’d like to start up a friendship with her again, and learn about the kind of person she was now.

Something told him she still didn’t take crap off boys, but then he liked to fancy himself as someone special in her life and not just a typical ‘boy’. After all, he gave her, her first kiss. Granted they were seven at the time, but it had to count for something right?

Watching her get up from the table she was sharing with her friends, his eyes followed her as she walked with them out the door and out to the quad. Losing her in the crowd, he sighed to himself.

Looked like he was going to have to pay Buffy a visit after school that day.





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