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"Oh God." Harmony widened her eyes and frantically grabbed Cordelia's arm. Cordelia saw Buffy and Spike holding hands across the school yard.


"Looks like they kissed and made up." Cordelia bit her lip to prevent her from laughing at Harmony's hysterics.


"Buffy's going to kick my ass!" she whined. "She won't stop until I've been beat!"


Buffy doesn't seem too upset, Cordelia thought as she watched her talking to Spike under the tree. She started towards them, but Harmony stayed glued to her spot. Cordelia grabbed her arm and dragged her over.


* * *


Spike never noticed how beautiful Buffy looked in the sunlight. Last night was a revelation. He'd always been attracted to her, but now he thought it might be more than mere attraction. He didn't want to hurt Buffy ever again, so he was worried when he saw Harmony walking towards them. Actually, it looked like she was being dragged over by Cordelia. Still, he didn't want Buffy upset.


"Hi! You two look like you're in a good mood," Cordelia greeted them happily. "Don't you think so, Harmony?" She nudged Harmony.


Harmony nodded while watching the ground.


Buffy smiled at Cordelia. "Spike and I've been talking about things." She raised an eyebrow at Harmony.


The first thing Spike noticed was that Buffy was treating Harmony like she always had. Granted, it wasn't warm, but Buffy had never been warm to Harmony. He felt relieved that Buffy was putting the past behind them. Not wanting to rock the boat, though, Spike decided not to speak to Harmony.


"Spike, where were you last night? You missed out." Cameron called out. Spike turned and saw Cameron and Gage walk over.


Spike's face began to feel warm as he thought about what he was doing the night before. Buffy was looking at him with a small smile, and he gave her hand a squeeze.


As much as he loved the night before, though, Spike still wanted to know what Cameron and Gage did. He wanted to know if they were mad at him for not being home. "What did you guys do?"


Cameron opened his mouth to speak, but Buffy interrupted him. "Spike, I have to go do that thing we were talking about last night. Do you want to help me with it?" Buffy tried to tug Spike towards the school.


What is she talking about? Spike wondered. She can't mean sex - they were at school. Cameron had an annoyed look on his face. Buffy's face was expressionless, but at least she didn't look angry. He decided to compromise. "I haven't talked to Cameron or Gage yet. Couldn't we do it this afternoon?"


Buffy's face fell. "I wanted to do it this morning." Buffy started to walk towards the school. "Stay here, I don't care."


Damn it, now she's angry. Maybe he should go after her.


"Jeez, what's her problem?" Cameron shook his head, watching Buffy walk away.


Gage narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, she needs to stop being a bitch."


"She's not.." Spike started to say, but his words died out. He could make up to Buffy later. If he made Cameron and Gage mad, he wasn't sure how he could get out of that.


Gage and Cameron exchanged a look. Gage looked past Cameron and grinned.


"Look our favorite couple is here. We should go over and say hello." Gage pointed to where Willow and Xander were walking towards the school building.


"Guys, leave them alone." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "It's really childish."


"I remember not that long ago when you told Willow you were glad she saw the softer side of Sears," Cameron laughed. "We're not doing anything that you haven't done."


"Well, I've matured since then." Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest.


Cameron and Gage were quiet for a minute. Then Cameron pushed himself away from the tree and started towards Willow and Xander.


"Well, those of us who aren't geek lovers," Cameron eyed Cordelia, "come with me." Gage immediately followed.


Harmony hesitated, looking at Cordelia, who remained standing under the tree, before running towards the school. "I forgot..something."


If Spike followed Cameron and Gage, Buffy would be even more angry at him. If he didn't follow Cameron and Gage, they would be mad at him. Why did Harmony have to use the only excuse to get out of this?


"Spike, you coming?" Cameron turned around to face Spike. Maybe if he went with them, but didn't participate, it would be okay. Besides, Buffy was inside. She may never find out. Spike looked around the schoolyard to make sure Buffy wasn't outside before he walked towards Cameron.


Gage and Cameron stalked towards Willow and Xander. The two were sitting on a quiet section of the broad stairs that led up to the school and laughing about something. Xander noticed Cameron, Gage, and Spike. He alerted Willow by indicating to the group with his chin.


Willow and Xander stood up. The three had formed a circle around them, so they tried to get past Spike.


"William, let us through," Willow said firmly. Seeing Willow, reminded Spike of what he used to be like, and what he enjoyed now. He wasn't going to to risk his popularity, no matter how much it hurt her. Clenching his jaw, Spike remained where he was.


"Hey, we just have a few questions we want to ask," Cameron said to Willow with a phony smile. "When a friend rejects you for people who are actually cool, is it worse than when your mother rejected you?"


"Leave her alone," Xander clenched his fist.


"What about you, Xander? Does having a friend dump you hurt more or less than having a father wish you weren't his son?" Gage laughed.


Xander blanched. "Move!" He tried to push his way by Spike. Spike instinctively pushed Xander back. This was the beginning of a fight. Xander punched Spike. Spike was not going to let Xander, a geek, win. He was better than Xander, now. Desperate, he punched Xander, and the fight proceeded down the stairs. He was vaguely aware of Cameron and Gage watching. At the bottom of the stairs, Spike threw himself on Xander and pinned him down.


"You can't beat me. I'm better than you, now!" Spike pushed himself off of Xander.


"Are you?" Buffy quietly asked. Spike hadn't seen her join the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight.


The anger he was feeling was replaced by the fear that this time he went too far. Spike immediately went to Buffy and tried to touch her shoulder. Buffy shrugged him off. She appeared sad. His gut clenched with the thought that he had hurt her.


"You knew that I didn't like you picking on them. Now, it's become fist fights!" Buffy's voice became loud for a second. Suddenly, she spoke in a low voice again, "I thought .. I thought that you wouldn't want to do that anymore. I guess I'm just stupid."


Spike reached for Buffy again, but she walked away from him. She took a couple steps until she was above the crowd. She turned to face them and spoke loudly. "Spike is a fraud. He paid me to hang out with him, because couldn't be cool on his own."


There were loud gasps in the crowd as Spike's whole world crashed around him. The only thing he felt was the sting where Xander had punched his chin. Buffy was looking at him coldly. Xander and Willow sadly smiled and walked away.


Cameron gaped at Spike. Then he started to laugh. Gage laughed, too. Spike thought he could turn the whole thing into a joke and started to laugh, too.


"Shut up, geek!" Cameron seethed at Spike. Spike immediately stopped and felt scared. "I can't believe I hung out with you." With that, Cameron turned and walked into the school. Gage followed.


Spike stood in the middle of the crowd, staring at the door that Cameron had used. Maybe this was a bad dream, and he would wake up any minute. He looked to Buffy, but she was walking away from him. For some reason, that hurt even more than Cameron walking away.


"Spike?" Spike looked to see Oz. Suddenly, Oz punched his left jaw. "I was on the phone all night Friday, listening to Willow cry about you. I was left with a very strong urge to hit you." With that, Oz left, and Spike realized that it was not a dream.


The crowd started to chuckle. They were all pointing and laughing at him. He had to get away and hurried to class. As he walked to the school, they laughed harder. The whole school, it seemed, was against him.


* * *


Cordelia had overheard Buffy reveal the truth about Spike. She was shocked. She could have sworn that Buffy saw something in him. She guessed, it must have been all about money. But if that was true, she thought, why did Buffy look so upset? Cordelia walked over to her.


"Are you okay?" Cordelia laid her hand on Buffy's shoulder. Buffy didn't acknowledge Cordelia. After a moment, Cordelia asked, "Why?"


Buffy turned to face her and opened her mouth to speak.


"Buffy!" Harmony ran up to Buffy and pulled her away from Cordelia. "I heard about Spike. Why didn't you tell us? Oh my God, I made out with him. Eww! Oh! Now I understand why you were so upset then! I thought you were just jealous, but you just didn't want me to lower myself with him!"


As Harmony continued to ramble, Cordelia noticed that Buffy was more and more pale. She remembered the way Buffy reacted the other night when she caught Spike with Harmony. That was out of jealousy and betrayal.


"And then you wanted to make sure I didn't end up with Spike again, so you held his hand to make me think he wasn't available! You're such a great friend!" Harmony hugged Buffy tightly.


Buffy made a small sound that sounded like a sob. Harmony didn't seem to notice, and continue to explain how horrible it would have been if she had gone further with Spike.


"Harmony, shut up." Cordelia pulled Harmony away from Buffy.


"I'm late for class," Buffy said quietly before walking back to the school.


* * *


All day Buffy overheard students talking about Spike and how uncool he was. Hypocrites, she thought. He's the same guy that was cool yesterday. She hadn't seen him all day. He was probably avoiding everyone. Well, she was avoiding everyone, too. She had skipped lunch and sat in the library so she didn't have to see anyone. The day was horrible.


This was for the better, she thought. Popularity was not good for him. Just like Angel needed to be kicked out of his parent's house before he could change, Spike needed to be kicked out of the group. He was hurting people - he deserved this. But, he was all alone now. The whole school was laughing at him, and she doubted that Willow and Xander wanted to talk to him, either. And who's fault was that? If Spike hadn't become such a jerk, he would have friends right now. But if she hadn't made him popular, he would have friends right now, too, she thought.


As she closed her locker, she realized that she and Dawn didn't have a ride home from school. She wasn't going to ride with Spike. She had been getting a ride from him since they started the agreement, even when she was mad at him. Dawn had chatted enough that Buffy hadn't had to say anything.


She and Dawn could probably walk. It was only a few miles to their house, and it was a nice day. She really didn't want to explain to Dawn why they were walking home.


It turned out that she didn't have to explain anything to Dawn. News traveled through the whole school, including to the Freshmen. Dawn didn't seem happy.


"He's not popular anymore, so we can't be his friend?" Dawn asked as they walked home. "I liked him."


"It's more complicated than that." Buffy sighed. "He wasn't very nice."


"He's nicer than your other friends." Dawn shifted her books in her arms. "At least Spike talked to me."


"I know."


A car pulled over to where they were walking. "Buffy?" Willow asked from the passenger side of a convertable that Xander was driving. "Do you two need a ride? We live in the same neighborhood."


"Yes!" Dawn said and started to climb in the backseat.


"Dawn! I don't....oh Hell." Buffy gave up and climbed in, too.


"Hi, I'm Dawn!" Dawn greeted Xander and Willow.


"Hi Dawn. Are you a Freshman?" Willow turned to ask Dawn. They continued to talk. Buffy didn't listen to what they were saying, because she was thinking about Spike. Not only did she feel guilty, but she was still feeling hurt because he choose Cameron over her. She had just wanted to get him away from Cameron and Gage - and maybe make out a little. She had hoped that he would change his mind and follow her into the school. He never did. After waiting a few minutes, she had looked out the window to see if he was still under the tree. Instead, she had witnessed him pushing Xander. That's when she decided to tell everyone the truth.


"Buffy, we're here." Dawn waved her hand in front of Buffy's face. "Earth to Buffy."


"What? Oh." She was so lost in thought, that she didn't realize that they were in her driveway.

Xander and Willow were looking at her. Don't they hate her? She felt guilty being around them.


"I'm sorry," Buffy said as she moved to get out of the car.


"For what?" Willow asked gently.


"For William." Buffy climbed out the car and ran into the house. Dawn entered the house a minute later.


"Boy Buffy, you were pretty rude. You didn't even thank them for the ride." Dawn walked past Buffy and into the kitchen.


"Dawn, I.." Buffy stopped when she saw their mom at the kitchen table. Joyce didn't look happy with her. Now what? She just wanted to lock herself in her room and not come out until after graduation.


"You're home early," Dawn said as she dug through the refrigerator.


"Dawn, why don't you take your snack into the living room. I need to speak with Buffy."


Dawn smirked at Buffy and carried her cold pizza into the other room.


"Mrs. Pearl came by the gallery today."


"From down the street?" Buffy sat at the table across from her mom. Buffy was trying to figure out what she could have said to make her mother angry. She hardly ever saw her.


Joyce surprised her. "She wanted to know how you were doing after the accident last month."


Buffy froze. Someone else saw the accident. Damn, why didn't she think that another neighbor would have heard the crash?


"Do you have anything to say?" Joyce interrupted her thoughts.


"It was just a little fender bender." Buffy decided to come clean. She was going to get yelled at - might as well get it over with. "I wasn't hurt."


"Was there some sort of emergency where you needed the car?"


Buffy shook her head and looked at the floor. "I drove it to a party." She quickly amended, "I didn't drink any alcohol. Another car hit mine and drove off."


"And yet, you didn't think to tell me? You don't have a driver's license. I thought I had made it clear that you weren't to use the car. Then, you tried to hide it from me. You know better than that. How am I supposed to trust you when you disregard me." Joyce sighed. "Where did you get the money for the repairs? Did you use your father's credit card?"


"For some of it. Spike lent me the rest," Buffy answered in a small voice.


"Didn't you two start dating after I got back? Why would he lend you money beforehand?"


Because he wanted to be popular, Buffy thought. He wanted it more than anything.


"Buffy?" Joyce touched her daughter's arm.


Buffy could feel a tear roll down her cheek. "I made him a monster," she sobbed. She couldn't hold back any longer. She cried for all her guilt and heartbreak.


She felt her mom draw her into a hug. "Honey, what happened?"


"Spike gave me the money so I could make him popular," she sniffed. "It worked, but he changed. He became mean and egotistical. I told him that I didn't like the way he was acting. I thought maybe would want to change back for me, but-"


"He wanted to be popular instead?" Joyce finished.


Buffy nodded. "Why didn't he choose me? What's wrong with me? And after we-" Buffy buried her head in her mom's shoulder and cried.

TBC





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