Spike sighed as the bell finally rang signalling that class was over. It seemed that class had gone about as fast as the slow motion running scenes in Bay Watch and he hadn’t appreciated that since he wanted to question Buffy more about the mark on her face. She had ridden it off quickly as an ‘accident’ but wasn’t that how most girls were with abuse? Not that he knew for sure weather someone had actually hit her, but her father didn’t seem to be much of a father at all and seemed to have a darker side then he let on.
For a while he thought that maybe he was wrong about it, until the bell rang and she sprinted from the class like the devil himself was on her heels. Buffy was running from him, which in turn meant that she didn’t want to answer any of his questions, and there was no reason not to want to answer questions unless she had something damn important to hide. And he was going to find out just what it was.
***
Buffy sighed once she was in the safety of the girls washroom. Perfume scents mixed with the smell of soap washed over her as she plashed some water on her face ignoring two girls as they left the washroom whispering and trying to conceal that they were in fact, looking at her at all.
Great. All she needed now was rumours and Spike bursting into the girls washroom demanding more answers.
Willow burst into the washroom and locked the door before turning to her friend with worries and serious eyes.
Right. This was some sick cosmic joke. Instead of Spike it was the next worst thing, Willow, current best friend and resident smarty pants. She’d see past the fake façade. Buffy Summers was done. Looking at her friend she gave her the fakest smile she had ever given anyone and it made her cringe internally. “ Hi Wills!”
The read head watched her carefully before approaching. “ Buffy how did you get that bruise on your face?”
Buffy finally sighed. She was tired and wry of the questions. “ If I told you would you honestly believe me?”
Willow took her hand. “ Sweetie of course I would.” There was a pause. “ Did Spike do this to you?”
Buffy burst out laughing. She backed up until she hit the bathroom wall which was now supporting her in the frenzy of laughter while Willow looked on in shock and confusion. Did she really think that Spike was capable of doing that to her? Maybe it was plausible since it was the only current explanation for her bruise to her naïve friend but still… it was just freaking hilarious how she could even consider Spike doing that.
“ No!” She finally said after finally getting her fits of laughter under control. “ Oh god no Willow. He would never do that to me. Did you really think…” She trailed of giving Willow what she hoped was an amused look.
It seemed to have worked because as soon as she saw the look Willow started to giggle a little. “ Yeah, guess that was kind of stupid of me. I mean I’ve known Spike for a while and I know he wouldn’t do that.” She broke out into a full grin and stuck out her elbow to Buffy. “ Come on, we’ve got Xander to meet and I’m sure Wesley is dying to see you too.”
Buffy smiled, gladly taking the offered elbow as they unlocked the door and walked out as a few girls that had been waiting rushed inside. Maybe Willow wasn’t as clairvoyant as she had first assumed. Glad for the current distraction she couldn’t help but smile as second period started and they set of for study hall in the library.
“ I heard Cordelia’s party is tonight, you know the one that she handed the invitations out for, like a month before the actual date? Well anyway, I was thinking, and we still have those invitations…”
Buffy grinned. “ I like the way you think.”
***
Buffy made her way through the party with the glass in her hand, taking a sip now an again. The day hadn’t gone by nearly as badly as she thought it would. Willow had taken her explanation a lot more easily then she thought, Wesley said he had not reason to doubt her and she hadn’t seen Giles so he had no opportunity
to comment on it. Spike was a different story however. She hadn’t seen him that often during the day but when she had, at lunch for example, he hadn’t said much. Just stared at her calmly, his face blank as he thought. It seemed that her story wasn’t flimsy to everyone but Spike.
She wasn’t sure weather it irritated her that he didn’t believe her, made her happy that he saw past the fake story, or terrified her because it meant he knew her better then everyone else. Maybe it was a little bit of everything. Making her way through the club as the lights dimmed for the next song, she stood in the wall of people waiting their turn at the bar. She took a sip of her drink and turned around startled when she felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders.
“ Lo’, luv.”
She gave him a nervous smile, lowering her hands to her sides. “ Hi Spike. You should learn not to sneak up on people.”
He quirked his head to the side. “ I wanted to talk to you about…something.” He said the last part eyeing some of the surrounding people that he knew who liked to gossip. This was after all, a party with everyone in Sunnydale High attending. Well most anyway.
Buffy sighed in exasperation, she knew he would come back to this. “ Look, I told you what happened, what else do you want to know?” She leaned back against the bar, telling the bar tender who was taking her order to come back in five.
“ I know you were lying.”
She narrowed her eyes angrily, why the hell would he think that she was lying? Given that she was, but she had never given him any reason to think that she would lie to him, some things were just better left alone. “ I wasn’t. Don’t pretend you know more then you do Spike. Just because we spent some time together talking doesn’t mean you know much.” She wasn’t sure why she was so furious with him really, it just seemed to make her angry that someone had been smart enough to catch on to her lie, if Hank found out…
Spike stared at her and then at the glass in her hand. Why was she so angry? He was only trying to help her out. “ Pet, is that alcohol?”
She shook her head. “ Unbelievable. First you accuse me of lying and now you’re accusing me of getting drunk?” She slammed the glass down on the counter forcefully, ignoring the glare the bartender was sending her way. “ No, I wasn’t drinking alcohol. But I think I’m going to start now!” She glared at him before grabbing the half full glass of a girl next to her and downing it. Placing it back on the bar she apologized to the girl in a quiet mumble and stormed off leaving a very confused Spike to stare after her.
Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appriciate the feedback. As you can notice I'm going to start going into the abusive aspect of Buffy's life a little bit more at this point. To clear up some things, I do realize that most of the people were under age and they had beer and this was because of fake ID's. As long as the club gets paid they don't care. Buffy is also acting a little bit irrational, I'm doing this on purpose, I have my reasons. ~ Anna