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William entered the party with energy. Buffy had called to tell him to go to the party by himself. He was a little disappointed - surely she would want to go to Cordelia's party. As far as he could tell, she was the only one that Buffy still talked to on a regular basis. He was going to make the most of it, though. Everyone wanted to talk to him. The music was so loud that he couldn't make out what most were saying, but it didn't matter. Nobody came to these things for the conversation.

After dancing for a while, he relaxed on a couch away from the speakers and watched the crowd. He was getting used to being at the parties. When Buffy didn't show up, he was forced to deal with everyone by himself. This made him feel more independent. Maybe he really didn't need Buffy to be cool.

"Hi." Harmony sat down next to him wearing shorts and a tight shirt that left nothing to the imagination. "You all alone again? If I was your girlfriend, I would be by your side every second." Putting an arm on either side of him, she bent towards him so that her blond hair cascaded around the two of them.

Spike was hit with desire. For the past two weeks, Harmony had been coming on to him whenever Buffy wasn't around. He had always turned her down, because he wanted to be faithful to Buffy. But, except for the time she came over to his house earlier that week, she rarely spoke to him.

The more he thought about it, he wondered why he was refusing Harmony. He was popular now, and one of the benefits of being popular was making out with beautiful girls. Since Buffy wasn't going to do that, why shouldn't he go with the next best thing?

"What else would you do?" Spike lowered his voice to a husky growl.

* * *

"Buffy, you're here!" Cordelia opened the door to her house. The party was in full swing. Buffy had decided to come at the last minute. At first, she had planned on going, since Cordelia, whom she considered one of her better friends, was throwing it. But after the Willow incident yesterday, she was too angry to go. About twenty minutes ago, though, she changed her mind again. Spike didn't need to be alone with her friends. They were a bad influence, and she should be there to balance them out.

"Where's Spike?" She asked Cordelia after glancing around the room.

Cordelia smoothed the hair in her French twist and avoided Buffy's eyes. "I'm not sure. He was here earlier," she murmured. Buffy nodded and went in search for him. She thought that Cordelia was acting strangely, but she didn't have time to think about it.

As Buffy walked through the house, she noticed that everyone kept looking at her. Many of them were smiling, but some looked nervous. She asked people if they had seen Spike, and every one of them answered that he had just been there. She felt that they were not telling her something, which just frustrated her. They were talking among themselves and glancing at her whenever she wasn't in earshot.

She stuck her head outside the patio door, and didn't see anybody there, so she decided to check the bedrooms. She had already checked the hall bathroom. Cordelia's parent's bedroom was on the first floor, so she decided to check if he was using the bathroom in there.

The bedroom was away from the party at the end of a quiet hall. When she tried the door, it was unlocked. She took that to mean that nobody was using the room, so she entered the room. She was wrong. Spike was in the room with Harmony - in the middle of a passionate kiss. He was shirtless, and his hand was under Harmony's shirt. They hadn't noticed Buffy.

Buffy slammed the door close. "Spike!" Buffy exclaimed, making Spike and Harmony jump. Spike pushed a surprised Harmony away from him. He quickly grabbed his shirt and put it on.

"Buffy! How did you get in here?" Harmony was hurriedly straightening out her clothes.

"I used the door, you idiot," Buffy was starting to see red. She glared at Spike. "Why?"

For a moment, Spike looked regretful. He opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head. "Why? Harmony's treated me more like a boyfriend than you have in the past month. You can't expect to remain frigid and ignore me, and think that I'll stick around." He glanced over at Harmony with a smirk, and she raised her eyebrow and smiled back at him.

"Asshole." Buffy turned and opened the door. Half the partygoers were standing outside the room. They all had huge smiles, and Buffy knew that they had heard every word. For a moment, she considered telling them the truth about her deal with Spike. He would be humiliated, just as she was humiliated. She decided against it, though. Let him have his popularity.

* * *

"Buffy, wait!" Cordelia caught up with Buffy as she hurried towards the front door. "What happened?"

"As if you don't know!" Buffy tried not to cry, and she wiped away the few tears that escaped.

"No, I don't. Okay, I know he went with Harmony somewhere and they were pretty cozy, but I don't know what you saw or what everyone else heard." Cordelia knew she should have told Buffy the minute she arrived. Whatever she saw, must have really hurt her. She lowered her voice. "Do you want to talk about it? We can go somewhere quiet." After a moment, Buffy nodded.

Cordelia lead her to her father's office, which was locked so that no one would disturb it. She sat down on a leather sofa and waited for Buffy to begin talking.

"He was kissing her," Buffy sniffed. "I don't know why it hurts. I wasn't.." She suddenly stopped talking and flopped onto the sofa.

Cordelia handed her a tissue. "You weren't in love with him?" She asked gently.

"I don't know."

Cordelia paused. "You know what you need? New shoes. Tomorrow, we'll go to the mall. Nothing cheers up a girl more than a new pair of Pradas." Cordelia grinned when she saw a small smile appear on Buffy's face. "And then you'll need clothes to go with them."

* * *

Cordelia was right, Buffy thought. The new shoes did cheer her up, though they put a dent in her father's wallet. They were looking over the railing onto the people walking one the floor below.

"Buffy."

Buffy turned to see a tall, brunette man. "Angel!" She didn't expect to see him in Sunnydale. He was as good looking as he remembered, but he appeared more subdued, with his dark clothes and somber expression, than the last time she saw him. "What brings you back to Sunnydale?" She looked over at Cordelia, who had a surprised look on her face.

"I came back to-"

"Angel!" Cameron, along with Gage and Spike, were heading their way. Buffy's heartbeat jumped at the sight of Spike, even though she was still mad at him. He was staring at Angel, but Buffy couldn't tell what he was thinking. "You're back!" Cameron slapped Angel on the back. Angel gave Cameron a small smile.

Buffy calmly looked at Spike. He kept giving her looks and then quickly looking away. She glanced at Angel, and noticed that he was looking at Spike.

"This is Spike," Gage said, introducing him to Angel.

"He was William last year." Buffy raised her eyebrow at Spike. Recognition appeared in Angel's eyes and he nodded.

Cordelia put her hand on Angel's shoulder. "They're having a little fight." She motioned to Buffy and Spike. Angel's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Oh, you don't know about them being together?"

Buffy knew that she should have been upset with Cordelia for telling Angel that she was with Spike, but she found that she didn't mind. She was more worried about what Spike thought about Angel and herself.

"Man, you should see him at parties. He'll do anything. And last week, he - what was it that you called Xander?" Gage looked at Spike. "Whelp. That's it." Gage and Cameron started to laugh. Spike smiled a little.

Angel looked from Gage to Spike. "Congratulations. I guess this makes you one of us."

"Well, since you graduated, someone had to take your place," Spike smirked. Angel frowned.

That was possible, Buffy thought. Spike was becoming more like Angel, or at least how Angel was last year. Wanting some space, Buffy headed towards a quiet bench a few shops away and sat down. She began to evaluate her life. Everything was changed. What was once important wasn't, and what used to be unimportant, was. The more she thought about Spike and how he changed, the worse she felt. It was a combination of guilt, anger, and something else she couldn't place.

Angel walked towards her. "Are you alright?" Buffy was so worked up about Spike, that she had completely forgotten about Angel. A few months ago, she would never have let thoughts of Angel leave her mind, especially if he was nearby.

"I'm fine." Buffy closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.

Angel sat down next to her. "Popularity is a funny thing. It's supposed to mean that everybody likes you, but some people who are considered popular are so ugly on the inside. Why would other people like them? They don't. They just want to become them." Angel glanced over at Buffy. "It's the power."

"Spike is only popular because I made him popular." Buffy put her hands on the bench and glanced at Spike. He was still with the rest of the group next to the railing. "Everyone just accepted him. He didn't do anything special. Now, it's gone to his head."

"It's not worth it. Losing yourself to that power. The things I did.." Angel trailed off and stared off into space. He suddenly looked at her. "You love him. That's why this is bothering you."

Buffy shook her head in denial, but stopped with a sigh. "I don't know. I just realized how horrible my friends are. Spike used to be so sweet, and now he's..he's like you used to be."

"He's not that bad. He looks unsure. I was never unsure."

"You were always drunk. Alcohol helps in that department." Buffy saw the pained look on Angel's face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up." She paused. "Cordelia told me."

Angel slumped against the bench. "I came back to apologize to my parents."

"How did it go?"

"I haven't talked to them yet." Angel turned to look at Buffy. "Why did you and Spike have a fight?"

"I caught him making out with Harmony last night." Buffy played with the handle on one of her shopping bags. "Plus, he's been acting like a jerk."

"He choose Harmony over you?"

Buffy glanced back at her friends. They were too far away to hear what she and Angel said. "We aren't really going out. We had a deal and my end was to make him popular. I thought pretending to date would make it easier. He didn't choose Harmony instead of me. He never had me."

"And yet, you were hurt by this."

"I did like him, at first. When he got some self confidence, I thought I could be happy with him. But.." Buffy stared off into space. "But he wants to be popular so much, he's always with the rest of the group."

"So, you're jealous that he'd rather spend time with them than you."

"What? That's-" Buffy smiled a little and shook her head. "Maybe that's part of it," she admitted.

"Maybe you should talk to him."

"I tried that. It didn't work."

"Why? Did you run off the minute things became uncomfortable?" Angel looked at her pointedly.

Buffy gaped at him, then nodded. She tended to avoid things when they got too hot. "I used to run from you all the time. Not physically, but I would tell myself that everything was fine so I wouldn't have to deal with it." She paused. "Maybe the accident with your mother wouldn't have happened if I had spoken up sooner."

Angel shook his head. "I wouldn't have listened to you, so don't blame yourself. I needed something big, like being kicked out of my house, to force me to straighten up. You did keep me from driving drunk by driving me home many times." Angel slowly smiled. "Though, I'm not sure if that was any safer."

Buffy smiled back at him and shared a soft laugh. She was feeling better, and everything was looking brighter. She just needed to stop running away and confront Spike.

TBC





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