Chapter 25
Buffy entered the restroom before heading to her first class. She stopped suddenly at the sound of someone crying in one of the stalls, then tapped on the one that it was coming from.
“Are you okay in there?”
The sobs instantly turned into sniffles and a young, blonde girl walked out of the stall.
Buffy gave the girl a smile when she recognized her. “You’re Tara, right? I’m Buffy, are you okay?”
She nodded and looked down. “It’s…It’s nothing. I should get to class.”
Buffy stopped her from leaving. “We have some time. It doesn’t seem like nothing to me. You can tell me what’s wrong. I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to.”
Tara took a deep breath and decided to tell her everything.
* * * * *
Buffy was still in a state of shock later that day after her conversation with Tara. She headed over to Faith’s house because they needed to have a serious talk. Like before, her mother just let her into the house and Buffy made her way upstairs. She opened the door and was surprised to see Faith out of bed.
“Hey, B. I’m actually going back to school tomorrow, if you can believe it. All this sitting around and doing nothing is really starting to get to me.”
Buffy nodded and sat down on her bed, still lost in thought.
Faith noticed her friend’s distracted expression and sat down beside her. “You okay?” she wondered.
Buffy shook her head and got right to the point. “I need you to tell me the truth about what happened between you and Principal Wood. Did he force you?”
Faith wasn’t expecting that. “Are you asking if he raped me? Come on, Buffy. I wouldn’t let some guy get away with that, it doesn’t matter who he is. I can definitely handle myself.”
Buffy placed her hand over Faith’s. “Please, be honest with me. You can tell me the truth.”
Faith sighed and had a feeling she would see through that. “I wasn’t really forced. I obviously kept going back to him. The truth is that when I went in there for the first time, he threatened to suspend me if I didn’t sleep with him. My mom had to drop out of high school because she was pregnant with me. I know how important it is to her that I graduate, so I couldn’t handle a suspension. Now that I think back on everything, it was never worth it. Being with him and getting knocked up, I should have been more careful. It should have ended after that first time, but I kept going back for more. I guess I was just afraid of what he would do if I didn’t. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret my actions. I feel dirty every time I think about what I did. I should have never let him touch me. Why are you bringing this up now?”
Buffy was stunned by everything she learned, but got back to the reason of her visit. “You know that quiet girl in our Math class, Tara Maclay?”
Faith nodded after giving it some thought.
“I saw her in the bathroom at school today and she was pretty upset. After she calmed down, I got her to tell me what was wrong. She told me that Principal Wood made a pass at her. He basically made the same threat to her that he did to you. And when she refused, he got forceful with her. It seems like to me it didn’t matter whether you accepted his offer or not, he still would have tried to have sex with you. She was pretty shaken up about it. God, this guy is disgusting. I have a feeling there are a lot of girls in school that have gone through the same thing. Tara was just the only one willing to tell someone. I have to do something. He doesn’t deserve to be a principal.”
Faith had to agree. “What could you do?”
Buffy shrugged. “I don’t know. I was thinking about trying to find any of the other girls that he has done this to. I have a feeling that just Tara’s word wouldn’t be enough. If I can find more girls that are willing to speak up, we may be able to get him fired.”
“I’ll help you find others, but I can’t be a part of it. I don’t want anyone to know that I was ever with him. I can’t have my mother finding out about that, Buffy. I know she doesn’t say it all the time, but I can tell that she’s disappointed in me. I don’t need to give her another reason to be.”
Buffy didn’t think that keeping it a secret was a good idea, but she only nodded. “Okay, we’ll start asking around when you come back to school tomorrow.”
Faith nodded as well, then decided to change the subject. “How are things going with you and Spike?”
Buffy blushed at just the mention of him. “Things are good, thanks for covering for me. My parents may know about us being together, but I don’t think they’re ready to know that I’ve stayed at his place.”
“No prob, I’m just glad that it seems to be working out. One of us should have romance in our lives.”
Buffy could tell that her friend wanted that, but would probably never admit to it. “You’ll find someone, Faith. Someone that won’t treat you like Robin did. Not all men are like him, he gives all of them a bad name. You deserve to have a great love. It will happen.”
She gave a small smile. “My, how your tune has changed. What happened to you not believing in love anymore?”
Buffy smiled in return. “I guess I’ve had a change of heart. I realized that I’m not my parents. Their relationship may have ended badly, but that’s not going to happen with me. Besides, they still love each other. I can tell that it’s only a matter of time before my dad moves back into the house. I just hope it’s soon. I really miss having him around.”
“Yeah, I miss him always being there when I would visit you. I never told you this, but he was always like a dad to me. You know what mine was like, so it was nice having yours around. Your mom may have made a mistake, but your parents are still pretty cool. If anyone can get through this, it would be them.”
Buffy knew that Faith was right. Her parents still had a very powerful love for one another, nothing could ever change that. She wouldn’t give up hope that they would soon get back together.