Chapter 12
“Hi mom!”
“William! Everything ok, son?”
“Yeah”
“How did the test go?”
“Fine…it was easier than I thought it was going to be…although, funnily enough, practically everybody I spoke to after thought it a lot harder!”
“Only you dashed off so quickly this morning I was worried”
“Sorry mom”
“Dad wanted to say ‘good luck to you, but whoosh – you’d gone!”
“Sorry, I thought I heard the car start early, and he’d already gone” Joyce patted his shoulders.
“No, he was just moving it so I could get my car out first. Are you hungry?”
“Starving, I didn’t bother with lunch in the end, I thought I’d rather get home”
“And you didn’t have breakfast either, oh love! Still, got your favourite for tea, sausages, I’ll do you a couple extra”
“Great, thanks…I um, I better go on up, there’s some studying I want to do. What time’s tea?”
“About six, is that alright?”
“Fine” William had just got to the stairs, when the phone rang.
“Hello”
“Oh, hi Will, how was the test?”
“Fine”
“How’s Buffy”
“Buffy, I don’t know, I’ve only just got in, didn’t you two have Eng Lit together this afternoon?”
“Should have done, she walked out at 1.30, she’d got herself detention from Miss Jones, nearly from Mr Simpson, and we haven’t seen her since”
“Oh, hold on…mom”
“Yes?”
“Where’s Buffy?”
“Buffy? Why, she hasn’t come in from school yet, she could be with Willow, I suppose”
“Oh, um right, ok thanks. Willow, mom says she hasn’t come in yet, and she could be with you”
“Gods, don’t drop her in it, will you?”
“I won’t, but she better not be with that moron Stebson, that’s all, bye” he got up into his room, and heard the front door slam, and thumping up the stairs.
“Buffy, Buffy, is that you?”
“Yes…” Buffy said in a bored voice.
“Somebody’s phoned for you, ask William”
“Ok” She swallowed, and looked at William’s closed door. She knocked. No answer.
She opened the door with a defiant look on her face, until she saw William with his back to her on his computer, with his headphones on. He knew she was there, but didn’t turn around. Buffy put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up, pulled his headphones down off one ear.
“Willow’s phoned for you, wanting to know where you went this afternoon”
“Oh. What did you say?”
“I asked mum where you were, she said you hadn’t come in from school and could be with Willow. I didn’t tell her it was Willow that wanted you”
“Thanks how did-“ William ignored her and replaced his headphones. Buffy felt close to tears. She left his room, and miserably threw herself onto her bed. She could hear the phone ringing, and then her mother calling up the stairs for her.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hi Xander…”
“Where did you get to?”
“Um…not now, eh…I’ll see you tomorrow”
“We were worried about you”
“I’m ok”
“You made it up with William?”
“Um…don’t think so…he’s not happy with me, anyway”
“How did his test go?”
“Don’t know, all he said was that Willow had phoned me and that was it”
“Well, if he’s pissed at you because of Stebson, then I’m with him. Buffy, you don’t need to get mixed up with the likes of him…he’s dangerous” Xander warned.
“Yeah, yeah…you make him sound like a bloody gangster!”
“Well, he might as well be, he killed somebody, don’t forget!”
“Don’t talk bollocks!”
“I’ll tell Willow you’re ok, see you tomorrow, bye” Buffy trudged back upstairs. At a quarter to six, William went downstairs, and went into the kitchen.
“Want me to lay the table?”
“Um…your dad won’t be in ‘till late, and I had a cooked lunch, I don’t know what Buffy’s doing, so if you want yours on a tray?”
“Ok”
“What’s Buffy doing?”
“I’ve no idea” William said, as he opened the draw and took out a knife and fork, and a placemat. This surprised Joyce.
“Not fallen out, have you?”
William said nothing.
“What’s she done?” Joyce asked.
“What makes you think she’s done something?” William asked with a faint smile.
“Because I know you, and I know my daughter, and she can be a prize bitch at the moment!” this surprised William, but he said nothing. Joyce served up his tea, and he went and put the TV on.
“Buffy…Buffy!” Joyce called.
“What?”
“Tea”
“Not hungry” Joyce said nothing else. When he’d finished his tea, William took his tray out into the kitchen, and put his plate and cutlery into the dishwasher, and put his tray and placemat back in the cupboard. Putting his head around the den doors, he said,
“Thanks mum, that was great, I’m going up to do my homework now”
“Ok baby, I’ll bring you a drink up soon”
“Ta, see you” he ran upstairs. Buffy was in the bathroom. He went into his room and closed the door. On his bed William saw $10, and a note.
‘Thanks…have you fallen out with me? I love you’ William heaved a sigh, and closed his eyes. There was a light tap on his door.
“Will…William” he opened the door. Buffy looked at him with big eyes.
“Yeah?”
“Get your money back?”
“Yes thanks”
“Have you fallen out with me?”
“Are you still going out with Angel?” Buffy didn’t answer.
“I’ll take that as a yes then,”
“What has everybody got against him?” Buffy whined.
“Where do you want me to start? – Thanks for the money back, now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got homework to do” Buffy pursed her lips and turned and went back into her own room, and slammed the door. Joyce, had heard this exchange of words, and wasn’t happy. The phone rang again.
“Hello?”
“Mrs Summers?”
“Yes”
“I’m Mrs Manning, I’m the school councillor, could you tell me what happened to Buffy this afternoon? She was registered as present, but doesn’t appear in any of the class roll calls”
“I’m sorry, hold on…Buffy…Buffy…BUF- OH”
“What?”
“You get down here this minute, NOW young lady, you’ve got some explaining to do!” Buffy rolled her eyes, heaved a sigh, and reluctantly stomped downstairs.
Half an hour later when Hank came home
Hank paced about in front of her.
“Just what’s got into you, Buffy? Detention, truancy and now I understand you’re seeing this Angel Stebson, do I have to remind you that a boy was killed whilst they were messing about in a car?” Buffy sat there, and said nothing.
“You really disappoint me, I thought we’d bought you up better than this!”
Joyce added.
“You’re grounded, for a fortnight, and no allowance either”
“But dad!” Buffy began
“And no borrowing off William” Buffy sat there feeling wretched.
“Go to your room”
Buffy stomped upstairs. William was waiting upstairs for her, standing in his doorway. She glanced up at him, her eyes glistening with tears. He held his arms out, and pulled her close into a hug, and kissed her forehead, he slipped the $10 back into her hand. She looked through blurry tears at the cash.
“But dad said-“ Buffy began.
“Shh…it’s not a loan…you can have it, now don’t cry, please…you know I hate it when you cry…” Buffy cuddled in. She couldn’t BEAR falling out with William, everything else, well, she couldn’t give two hoots really, especially school, even punishment from their parents, but William, he was a different kettle of fish.
He’d felt responsible in a way for getting her detention, as he’d ignored her that morning. Xander had told him what had happened.
“You don’t hate me?”
“Never, you know better than that”
“I love you –PLEASE don’t fall out with me, I can’t bear it”
“I love you, always, now, you better go to your room, I think dad’ll be up to see me very soon, he’ll want to know about my test”
“How did you do, bet you thought it was easy” William smiled.
“Yeah”
“William” hank called up the stairs
They broke apart; Buffy gave him a light kiss and went to her room.
“Yes, dad?”
“Mind if I come up for a few minutes, not disturbing you too much?”
“Course not”
“………So, luckily, I’d seen something on the net about this new business language, and read up about it, and how easy it was to adapt”
“You said everyone else thought it hard?” Hank asked, smiling at his son.
“Well, there was only another two people who’d heard of this language, one had seen this thing on the net, and the other chap had seen a brief reference to it because he dabbles in stocks and shares, but neither of them knew much about it”
“So…that’s one clever son I’ve got. I’m very proud of you William”
“I know, dad…”
“So, where did we go wrong with Buffy?” Hank asked with a sigh.
“You didn’t…look, she’ll be ok, I’ll do what I can, I’ll always look after her, and if that Angel Stebson does anything to hurt her, I’ll bloody kill him!” William said, smiling at his dad. Hank smiled, hugged him and said goodnight.
“She’ll be ok…William looks after her, but he was busy with his test today” Hank said.
“Yes, I’m so glad we’ve got that lad…I think they had a falling out, about her seeing that Angel” Joyce said.
“Yes, well…Will won’t see her in any harm”
“Goodnight love”
“Goodnight Hank” Joyce turned her lamp off, turned over and went to sleep.
Buffy did her detention, and did her punishment of being grounded. When the fortnight was up, she went to the Bronze with Angel, and the following night they arranged to go out, but he stood her up to go and play pool.
She decided to give him one more chance, and they arranged to go to the cinema when the latest blockbuster came out. At the last minute, she decided that she didn’t want to see the film as it was a war one, and very violent, and leaving school late one evening, she saw Angel with Cordelia in the cinema queue. They were all over one another, kissing and cuddling, and she was a little upset.
The front door slammed, and Buffy stifled a sob with the back of her hand, and ran upstairs. Joyce went to stand up.
“Buffy…Buffy, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Leave me alone, mind your own business!” She slammed her bedroom door.
“If it’s that no good boyfriend of hers, I’ll…Buffy, you come down here, now!” Hank shouted. They spent a fruitless ten minutes trying to get her to come out of her bedroom.
William came in, put his bag full of books on the floor. He hung his coat up and hooked his scarf over it on the hook.
“Hi mom, dad…what’s up?”
“Buffy, and you tell us…she’s upset over something, but won’t tell us, she won’t even let us into her bedroom, or come out and talk to us” Joyce reached the bottom of the stairs and kissed her son’s cheek.
“Do you want me to…”
“Would you son…if it’s that boyfriend of hers, I’ll bloody well kill him!” Hank said, making a fist.
“I just saw him…oh, I’m SO gonna hit him, I’ll kill him if he’s hurt her! Is she very upset?” William asked, looking up the stairs. Joyce and Hank nodded
“What did you see?” Joyce and Hank said in unison.
He led them a little way off out of earshot from the stairs.
“When I was coming from the library just…I passed the cinema, and there was Angel, with Cordelia in the queue” William said.
“But, well, they’ve all known each other since they were toddlers, what’s the problem?” Joyce asked.
“Oh…Cordelia was hanging off him…they kept on kissing each other…Buffy must have seen it too”
“William…Will-“ Buffy called down stairs, although you couldn’t see her.
“Yeah?”
“Come and talk to me…please?”
“Sure, be up in a minute”
“Buffy, William has got to-“ Joyce began to call out
“It’s ok mom, I’ve done all my homework and revising, If I haven’t done enough studying by now, then…” Joyce nodded, patted her son’s arm.
William picked up his book bag, ran up the stairs.
“I sometimes wonder what we’d have ever done without that lad…” Hank said.
William knocked on her door. Buffy opened it a crack, saw it was William and let him in immediately.
“You ok Buffy?”
“No!”
“Oh…come here…” William cuddled her up. She put her arms around his neck, William put his around her waist, loosely. He let her cry for a minute or two.
“You getting my shirt all snotty?” William teased softly.
She giggled, sniffed, and leant slightly out of the embrace.
“Sorry” she mumbled He got her a tissue.
“Here, blow your nose, now, please tell me you’re not crying over Angel, else I’ll be forced to go and hit him.” William said. (Again, he thought, Buffy didn’t know that he’d hit him last week). Buffy turned away, sat on her bed, William sat by her.
“Buffy” her mother called, lightly tapping the bedroom door. Buffy grimaced and mouthed ‘not now’ shaking her head at William. He stood, opened the door a little.
“Here.” She handed him two cans of soda.
“Do you want any tea?” Joyce continued. Buffy shook her head.
“It’s ok, mom, we’re going out, we’ll get something then, ok?” William said, trying his best to reassure his mom with his facial expression.
“Oh, but…ok” She turned and went downstairs.
“Here” William passed her a can. She put it on the nightstand.
“Thought you’d got an exam tomorrow?” Buffy said, watching the cold can ‘sweat’ in the warmth of her room.
“I have”
“Shouldn’t you be studying then?”
“Now, what’s more important, my entrance exam to get me into Harvard and Yale, or my sister’s problems with her no good ex boyfriend, who isn’t fit to lick her boots!” Buffy put her arm around William’s shoulders, and kissed his cheek.
“I love you…what would I do without you?”
“Let me see…well, you’d have to study a bit harder…make up your own excuses for being late and coming in after curfew, instead of relying on me to open a window for you…um…find yourself a new best friend to tell your problems to!”
Buffy was lying across her bed, head against the wall, she was playing with William’s fingers.
“Oh god!” she sat up suddenly.
“What’s the matter?” William looked worried.
“Um…please fail these exams!”
“Fail, why?” William had a slight smile on his face.
“Coz if you pass…you’ll have to leave, then what will I do?”
“Do you realise…apart from the first night that you spent in hospital having your appendix out, we’ve never been apart?” Buffy said. William smiled, nodded, and looked down at the bedroom carpet,
“Yeah…I know!”
“I cried so much that night that I was sick, and then the hospital said I could sleep by your bed…I was petrified you were going to leave me” She leant her head on his shoulder. William turned his head and kissed her forehead.
“Do you remember what I whispered to you when you’d just got put back into the hospital room from the recovery ward?” Buffy asked smiling
“Um…I was pretty groggy…something about always love me?” Buffy grinned
“Yeah, I said get better, coz I’ll always love you” She sat holding onto his hand. After a little while, William squeezed her hand and said,
“Come on Buf, let’s go out, shall we?” Finishing his soda, he threw the empty can in the wastebasket, then stood and pulled her up. He went across to his room, and went to put on his denim jacket.
“Can I wear that?” Buffy asked.
“Sure!” he took his arm back out of the sleeve, and handed it to her, putting on his college fleece instead. He picked up his wallet, grabbed her hand and they ran downstairs.
“See you later” The front door slammed behind them.
“Was that the two of them?” Hank asked, getting up and looking out of the window.
“Yes…don’t worry, William will bring her round”
“I know, I just…”
“Just what, love?”
“I don’t know…what will we do if he wins this place at Harvard and Yale? I mean, chance of a lifetime for him, plus, I’m so proud of him, our son at Harvard…” Hank threw back his Scotch.
“He can’t not go because of our selfish daughter…I don’t know why she’s like she is with us, we’ve always treated them the same, always encouraged her to bring her friends home …I don’t know her anymore.” Joyce said sadly.
“Well, at least there was never any rivalry or jealousy between them, they’re still best friends”
In Luigi’s
“Share one, shall we?” William looked at the menu. Buffy nodded.
“A large smoked ham and mushroom, extra cheese, and some potato wedges with sour crème dip, two diet cokes please.” William said.
The waitress smiled as she took their order. In fact, she could hardly drag her eyes off William.
Buffy grinned.
“Got a fan-club there…in fact, you’re the number one Hottie on campus, did you know?” Buffy asked grinning. William had gone red.
“We’re here to discuss your problem, remember?”
“Huh…how can I forget?”
“You don’t want to let on that it bothers you…I don’t know what you see in him anyway…thankyou” William said, as the waitress put their drinks in front of them, she flashed William a dazzling smile, and gave Buffy a dirty look. Buffy scowled back at her.
“She fancies you! See the look she just gave me?”
“Yeah…look…it’s pointless, I’m totally not interested”
“Why?”
.
“Because if I’m going away soon, it wouldn’t be worth starting anything, would it?”
“You could have some fun for a couple of weeks!” Buffy said, trying not to sound jealous as hell.
“You know I’m not like that.” William said quietly.
“No. You’re not. You’re the sweetest bestest brother I could ever have, and I love you to bits!” Buffy said. She sat up straight, grinning at him. William smiled shyly at her.
The waitress put the pizza in front of them, and then turned back to the counter for the wedges.
“Anyway, dear brother, what are we going to do for my birthday?” Buffy asked. The waitress went big-eyed when she heard Buffy say ‘brother’ and smiled at Buffy then.
“Can we have the dips over here, please?” Buffy called. The waitress rushed and apologised, putting three little tubs on the table instead of two.
“Thanks”
“So, this birthday of yours what do you want to do, big party?”
“Nah…same old crowd…sick of them…sick of Cordelia, sick of Willow…sick of Xander…and Totally sick of Angel”
“Well, that’s good, the Angel bit…what did you see in him? Is it the bad boy image, knowing dad and mom would disapprove?”
“Something like that…”
“Listen Buffy, I know nothing was ever proved…but I swear I’ve always felt that the night James got killed…”
“What, that it was Angel driving and not James?” Buffy said. As he was chewing, William just nodded.
“Yeah, well…like you say, nothing was ever proved, and he’s not gonna say now, is he?”
“No. But every time you got into that bloody black Plymouth of his…”
Buffy looked up big eyed at William.
“I went through it once, lost two people I loved most in the world at the time, I lost my mom and dad when I was just five…I couldn’t…I couldn’t stand it to loose you too” Buffy closed her eyes.
“Well, no worries, I promise you…I’m well over him now” Her fingers reached his hand and she gently squeezed.
William glanced outside the restaurant to see Angel and Cordelia strolling past. Buffy saw William’s face change, and followed his look.
“See, totally over him!” Buffy turned back, grinning at William and picked up her last slice of pizza, she was still holding William’s other hand though.
**
“See now, I think that’s WAY unhealthy!” Cordelia said.
“What?” Angel had seen Buffy in the pizza place and immediately dropped Cordelia’s hand; he rubbed his nose with his finger so Cordy wouldn’t get suspicious.
“Those two…I mean, HELLO, they’re brother and sister, for gods sake!”
“Yeah, but, well, the law might say they are, but they’re not really, are they, both got different sets of parents…he comes from the other side of the world remember…” Angel said.
“Why are we talking about them? Cordy grabbed his hand again, and as they were out of eyeshot of the restaurant, Angel didn’t object …
“Romano, the hair salon where I work - he said that I can start helping the buyer tomorrow…only watching though, he won’t let me anywhere near the computer to do any ordering yet, but, hey…Oh, I’m having my hair done, a streak, what do you think, blonde perhaps, or something more daring, like…purple?” Cordelia said.
A big motorcycle roared passed, and Angel craned his neck to see if he could see who it was.
“So, what do you think?” Cordelia bought him back to the here and now with a pull on his arm.
“What?” Angel asked, frowning. Cordelia rolled her eyes.
“A streak…of blonde, or something daring like blue or even purple”
“Where? – Not on my car, no way”
“No! Are you even listening to me? My hair, dummy!”
“Oh…blue?” Angel pulled a face. They stopped outside the tattooists.
Cordelia knew her dad would shit her just looking in the window!
“Wow…I love that, it would look great on my back!” Angel was looking at the cover of the Album, ‘Bat out of Hell’ with the big Harley and the skeleton faced demon riding it.
“You do know, that you can’t have sex while you’re having it done, don’t you. I mean, while the tattoo is in progress, stretches the skin or something?”
Cordelia said, talking complete bollocks as usual, then realised what she’d said, and went red. His interest suddenly 100% on what she’d got to say, Angel gave her a wicked grin.
“Planning on coming across then?”
Cordelia smacked his arm, hard.
“I’m not Buffy”
“Er, Buffy and I are finished because she…um don’t want to talk about it!”
“What?” Cordelia asked.
“You didn’t want to talk about them, her, so be quiet!” Angel said, annoyed.
“Oh my god…you finished with her because she WOULDN’T? Gods…I thought that…never mind”
Angel shoved her against the wall, his hand went up her top, and he squeezed a lace-covered breast.
“Angel!”
He kissed her neck, gave her breast another squeeze, and then withdrew his hand.
Cordelia glared at him.
“Not out here…gods, my dad could be driving past, or one of his clients”
“Yeah, yeah…” A thought just struck Angel.
So…if not out in the open…
“Um…want to come back to mine?”
“T-t-t-tonight?”
“No, ten years from now, YES, tonight!”
“Um…well I, erm…”
“Come on Cordelia…gods you’re SO beautiful…please, I just want to be with you…you fill my every waking thought, you’re driving me crazy, I think I’m in love with you!”
The words sunk into Cordelia. The fact that he hadn’t even looked at her when he said it, or kissed her or even stroked her face as the book suggested, and the fact that he’d delivered the lines with such lacklustre of emotion, just verbatim, he was surprised at the result…hey, the book was right!
One up for ‘How to Seduce Women’, volume one! Totally didn’t work on Buffy though…she even asked who was writing his cheesy scripts!
“You mean that?” Cordelia all dreamy eyed, holding his hand, curling herself towards him.
“Sure…I um…I think of you all the time.” He lied.
“Do you? – I mean, you do? – So why date Buffy?”
“I haven’t…well ok, just a couple of times but, well, I finished with her…to go out with you…I was hoping to make you jealous!” She reached to stroke his face. A car full of rowdy students drove passed, loud music blaring and the kids swigging out of cans.
Angel grinned at them. Recognised a couple of the kids, then he realised what Cordelia was doing, making him look a right wuss. He jerked his head away.
“Erm, like you said, not in the street!” She looked a little startled.
“Come on…let’s go back to yours” Angel said.
“What, we can’t…and don’t park that thing anywhere near my house, dad will have a fit”
“Well, I’ve just remembered, we can’t go to mine…dad’s got his bird there tonight”
“His what?”
“Oh, um nothing…he’s busy, that’s all”
“Where’s your mom?”
“Working the night shift”
“Come on, let’s go for a drive” Angel’s only thought was to go to Inspiration Point.
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