Chapter 14
“Buffy, I’m so glad I found you.”
“Take a deep breath, Will. What’s up?” she wondered.
Willow tried to get control of her breathing before she answered. “I wanted to tell you not to go out with Riley.”
Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Why would I go out with Riley? How did you even know that he asked me out? You weren’t in class this morning.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I came late. I overheard some of the guys talking and they made a bet with Riley. He said that he can get you to sleep with him on the first date. I had to warn you to make sure that you wouldn’t go out with him.”
“Is that a fact? Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I would never let that idiot touch me.”
Willow was relieved. “That’s good to hear. I heard them making fun of you in front of the boy’s locker room. I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but you know I hate confrontation. I just went looking for you instead.”
Buffy smiled. “Thanks for the head’s up, Will. I’m gonna go take care of it myself. I’ll see you later.”
Willow watched her friend walk away, a small part of her felt sorry for Riley.
* * * * *
Buffy saw Riley and his jock friends laughing in front of the locker room, having a feeling that it was about her. She had a strong urge to wipe that stupid grin off of his face and marched over to them.
The laughter died down when they saw her approach, but the smile remained on Riley’s face.
“Hey, Buffy. I was just thinking about you.”
She smiled in return. “I was just thinking about you, too. I decided that I would love to go out with you, Riley.”
He seemed stunned, but not disappointed. “I knew you would come around.”
Buffy stepped closer to him. “Wait, I just remembered something,” she stated, then brought her knee up into his groin.
Riley cried out in pain and fell to the floor, his friends moving to help him.
“I just remembered that I don’t date morons. You should probably put some ice on that. See you around,” she said sweetly, then walked away with the smile still on her face.
* * * * *
Buffy knew that she had to talk to Spike about what happened earlier that day, so she headed to his classroom after school. She was surprised to see him packing up his desk once she arrived there.
“What are you doing?”
Spike looked up at her and shrugged. “What does it look like? I decided to quit, this is my last day. I could have just given my two week’s notice, but I can’t stay here for that long. Besides, Principal Wood has already decided to let Mr. Giles take over the class until the regular teacher returns. He’s not just a stuffy librarian. Apparently, he’s also pretty good when it comes to History.”
Buffy wasn’t expecting that. “Why would you quit? I thought you liked it here.”
He nodded and looked away from her. “I do like it here, but it’s too painful to stay. I can’t go through every day having to see you make out with other blokes. It hurts too much.”
“That was only one time. It didn’t even mean anything. It was just to get stupid Riley off of my case. I wasn’t planning on you seeing that.”
Spike glanced back up at her. “Well, I did. You should be with one of these high school boys, Buffy. It would be selfish of me to not let you have that. I just don’t want to have to be around to see it. It’s better this way.”
Buffy knew that he was right, but couldn’t help feeling hurt at the thought of him leaving. “What are you going to do now?”
Spike took in a deep breath. “I don’t know yet. I thought about maybe going back to England. I’m sure I can probably get a teaching job up there. I was only supposed to be here temporary, anyway. I didn’t plan on staying in California forever. I shouldn’t have left London in the first place. That’s where I belong. I never really fit in here.” He grabbed the box after he finished putting his things inside. “I really wish you the best, love. You were the one thing that made all of this worth it. I’ll never forget any of our time together. Goodbye, Buffy.”
She was still in shock when Spike walked out of the room, not knowing what to think about what just happened.
* * * * *
Buffy headed to Faith’s house the next day. She was still astonished that Spike decided to leave and wanted to making things right with him before that happened, but she wasn’t sure how. She couldn’t think about him right now and just wanted to focus on her friend. Buffy hadn’t heard anything from Faith in days and was really starting to get concerned about her, so she figured it was about time to pay the other girl a visit. She gave a small smile to Faith’s mother when she opened the door and let her into the house, making her way slowly to Faith’s room. Buffy knocked on the door and just opened it when there was no response. She took in the sight of the messy room, then noticed Faith lying on her bed.
“Hey, I was starting to get worried about you. How have you been?”
Faith turned around to stare at Buffy. “I’ve been better. I can’t handle going to school right now.”
Buffy nodded and sat down on the bed. “I can understand that.”
Faith shook her head, tears once again filling her eyes. She hoped that they would have stopped by now. “No, you don’t understand. I…I got rid of the baby. It was too hard to be around anyone.”
Buffy gasped and had no idea that her friend would actually go through with an abortion. She knew that Faith was scared about having the baby, but never would have guessed that she could have actually done that. “God, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t talk to you about that, Buffy. You would have tried to talk me out of it if you knew what I had planned. I didn’t have a choice. I told my mom that I got pregnant and she was actually helpful. She knew what it was like to get pregnant at my age. I just didn’t tell her who the father was. I have a feeling she wouldn’t be all understanding if she knew that. She’s the one that took me to get the abortion. She said it was my choice and she would support whatever I decided. I hate myself for what I did, but it was the only way. I just couldn’t have the baby. Please, don’t hate me.”
Buffy moved closer to Faith and took the other girl into her arms, letting her cry against her shoulder. She stroked her dark hair and whispered soothing words into her ear, but she wasn’t even sure if Faith heard them at this point. Buffy remained with her for a little while longer, until the brunette finally fell asleep. She then got off of the bed and made her way into the bathroom across the hall. Buffy closed the door once she was inside and rested her head against it, sliding down to sit on the floor. Everything that happened that day was just too much for her to deal with. Spike, Riley, Faith, it was too much to handle. Buffy buried her face in her hands and finally let the tears fall.