Buffy stared into the mirror, she looked at the small bruise on her lower jaw and the yellowish purple handprint on her arm and sighed. At least it wasn’t so bad. And she was pretty sure he wouldn’t do it again. Pulling on a pink cashmere sweater with long sleeves and a pair of low riding jeans she started to cover her bruise. The miracle of makeup. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and grabbed her backpack and purse as she left the house. She didn’t have to worry about Hank in the mornings most of the time because he usually left before she did.
As she stopped at a red light (deciding to take the long route to school), she began to think about the past few moths. If she thought about it, it wasn’t that bad now. Well besides her mom… But what was happening now, with Wesley and having friends was good the whole Hank thing was probably only karma.
It was no secret to people that she knew that Buffy blamed herself for Joyce’s death. She figured everything that was happening now was just meant to happen to even things out for what had happened. And Hank didn’t disagree with her blaming herself either, he actually thought it too. The only way she kept going was with the thought that her mom wouldn’t want her to be unhappy and just not thinking about it. She was pretty good at making herself feel numb even without the alcohol.
She was brought abruptly out of her thoughts when the light turned to green and people started to honk. Pulling into the school parking lot a few minutes later she checked her makeup in the mirror and started to walk up the steps of the school while people milled about before the first bell. It was strange how wearing layers of clothing made her feel more self-conscious then wearing a short skirt and halter did.
She was thinking so much about how she looked that she didn’t feel anyone standing behind her at her locker until their hands snaked around her waist. At first she was shocked and then she remembered that it was probably Wesley grinning she turned around and her eyes went wide.
“ Spike! What are you doing?!” She tried to let go but Spike blocked her from one side putting his hand by her head and let the other on drop to his side knowing that her open locker was blocking the other side.
“ Just wanted to see the prettiest girl around to make my first class at least a little bearable.
Buffy blushed (something she didn’t indulge in often) but had a witty remark ready no less. “ If you actually decide to go to class.”
He grinned. “ Touché. Beauty and brains.”
Buffy just blinked and looked away feeling like the situation was slightly awkward. Here she was, trapped with her back to her locker with her soon to be boyfriends cousin nearly pressing himself against her as he made comments on how pretty and smart she was. Something was definitely off here.
“ Spike, what are you up to? You know I’m going to go out with Wesley, probably go steady.” She saw the frown that started to settle over his features and tried to make the situation less awkward. “ Besides, why say stuff like that to me when you can have any girl in the school that you want.”
She let out an involuntary sigh of relief when he moved away a little more but was caught off guard when he leaned close to her ear and spoke. “ That’s it though. I want you.”
Her eyes went wide at the admission. And she just stared at him for a few seconds before glaring at him. “ I see, unattainable is your thing huh? Guess what, I’ll never be attainable for you.” With that she slammed her locker shut and grabbed her backpack. Before he could protest she was lost in the sea of students as the bell rang.
“ Bloody hell.”
***
Buffy sat through her first class just staring out the window as the teacher went on with her lecture about how Newton's first law made it's appearance in the earlier discussion. She couldn't get over what Spike had done just a little under an hour ago. Why would he come up and say something like that to her knowing that she was with Wesley, and that she wouldn’t do that to him.
“…Ms. Summers, what do you think about this?”
Buffy’s head quickly turned to face her sceptical looking teacher as her voice broke through her reverie. Obviously the teacher had finally caught on to her little trip to la la land. “ I think that your earlier query was a trick question. The subject would not be considered an object, but even though, it was still acted upon by an unbalanced force meaning that at least part of the statement was true.” She may not have paid attention to most of the lesson but Buffy Summer was no idiot.
She watched as a satisfied smile spread across the teachers face and she moved back behind her desk to write the homework on the chalkboard knowing that even though she did this every class students rarely wrote it down. As the bell rang the blonde eagerly grabbed her backpack and bounded for the bathroom to make a quick stop and fix her makeup, it wasn’t a bad place to hide out either until everyone was in their classes. She was guessing that otherwise, Spike would come looking and find her somewhere in the hallway. Knowing that her next class included the bleached blonde, and that he was someone she just wasn’t ready to see again today, she stepped out of the washroom and started to walk to the library after making sure no one was in the halls.
The only thought that seemed to clear her clouded mind now was that her big date with Wesley was tonight. The thought made her a little giddy, what were the chances that a sweet, charming, amazingly good-looking guy would be interested in her? And that she had asked him to dance, well, she never did that. Ever.