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Chapter 6

“Jessica Anne Summers, get down here now!” Buffy yelled from the bottom of the stairs. She knew Jess could hear her from the clomping of teenage girly feet coming from upstairs.

“What?” Jess yelled back.

“Don’t ‘what’ me young lady, get down here right now. I am not in the mood.”

Buffy rubbed her temples as she waited for Jess to appear. Her head was spinning. Jess, Spike, or as he was known now, Mr. Mayne, she didn’t know where to begin.

Jess. She had to sort out Jess first before she could even think about her own feelings. She had learnt the golden parenting rule of self sacrifice earlier than most, being a teenage single mom was kinda a crash course in it.

She watched Jess storm her way down the stairs she wondered what it would have been like to be a “normal” teenager. Ok, so she knew there was no such thing as a ‘normal teenager’, but what she would have been like if she hadn’t had Jess? Such as going to the movies with friends, as opposed to going to the paediatrician when Jess had a fever. Or staying up all night at a slumber parties talking about the coolest clothes, music, and boys instead of staying up all night trying to get Jess to stop crying.

And for what... gratitude was now replaced by contempt. And contempt was sitting on the couch waiting for the yelling to begin.

“Look, if this is about the hair dye stain in the bathroom, it will come out. Eventually.”

“No, it’s not about that, but once we are done here it will be.”

“Oh.” Jess folded her arms trying to look innocent.

“Your English teacher called me in to see him today.” Why didn’t you tell me he was your father? That’s right. I never told you the truth that’s why.
“Mr. Mayne?” Jess sounded surprised.

“Yes, Mr. Mayne. He tells me that your grades are slipping. I thought English was your favourite subject?”

“Did you think he was hot?”

Now that question threw her for a loop.

“What?”

Please not that, anything but that. Buffy did not like where this was going.

“All the girls in my class and a couple of the guys think he’s hot.”

“And what do you think?” Buffy tried not to sound panicked and at the same time trying to calculate how many years of therapy this was going to cost.

“Eww mom, he’s like a teacher and way ancient.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. How thirty-five could be considered ancient was beyond her.

“Besides I like my guys with a bit of edge.”

“Really? How many guys with edge?”

“What? There are no guys, mom. You make sure of that. Besides, Mr. Mayne couldn’t have edge even if he was made of right angles.”

“At least your Trig is ok,” Buffy sighed.

Flashback

Spike couldn’t believe his good luck. It was a damn good thing he’d gone back to learn her name, despite the rocky start they’d had. Helen Barnes was not what the package suggested at all. From the outside she screamed Valley Girl, with her long blond hair, twinkling green eyes, tight clothes and made up face. However, she was incredibly smart, funny, and had the uncanny ability to cut through the bullshit.

“Just look at them,” she said, waving her hand to the party of drunks. “They all think they’re so cool because they’re old enough to drink and they go to college. What they don’t realize is how incredibly stupid they really are because I bet half of them are flunking out of school for partying too much. How cool are they going to look when they flunk out of college?”

“Do you think they care?”

“They might not now, but they will later.”

“What do you go to school for?” Spike asked.

“I want – I mean, I go to school for Journalism.”

“Ah, a writer.”

“Of sorts. I’m not that great at being creative, but I can take the facts and string them together and make it sound good.”

“That is the mark of not only journalists, but English majors as well. Taking something and just making it sound nice – selling it.”

“In other words,” Helen said with a smirk, “Turning it into bullshit. I am a great bull shit artist. It’s probably why I can see through the bs thrown at me on a regular basis.”

“Do you ever get caught up in your own bs?”

She looked up at him and he noticed a tinge of sadness in her eyes. “Yeah, I do.”

He was about to ask what was wrong when her friend waltzed up to them, hanging onto a different boy than the one she’d been hanging onto earlier.

“I’m leaving,” her friend announced.

“That’s right, Cordy,” Helen said, standing, “We’re leaving together, remember?”

Spike’s heart sank. He didn’t want her to leave just yet, he wanted to spend more time with her, get to know her.

“No, I’m going home with…” Cordy looked to the guy and grinned goofily, “What is it again?”

The guy slurred his name, which was Jack.

“Cordy, you don’t even know his name! This is insane, you cannot go home with him!” Helen exclaimed.

“Well I am!” Cordy snapped, spitting fire. “Back off.”

“Look, I think you should listen to Helen,” Spike started.

Cordy smirked, “Oh yes, Helen. Come on Jack.”

“Cordy, don’t!” Helen called after her friend, desperation and fear tinged in her voice.

“Why don’t we follow them?” Spike suggested. “Keep an eye on them.”

Helen was near tears when she looked up at Spike. “Sure,” she agreed softly.

“Does she do this a lot?” Spike asked as he and Buffy followed Cordy and Jack up the beach.

“What run off with random guys at parties? Or piss me off?” Buffy replied coolly.

“Both I guess,” he asked as they continued their brisk pace.

“Well really once is too much, but she’s not really herself at the moment. She has just come out of a bad break up and I don’t think she is thinking clearly. Coupled with the Jell-O shots, I’m scared she might do something stupid.” When Spike just raised his eyebrows at the comment she continued. “Well more stupid than running off at a frat party with a random guy.”

“Well from an outsiders perspective I’ve got to say that you are doing the same thing,” Spike pointed out.

“What?” Buffy frowned in confusion.

“You and I… running off from the party.”

“That’s completely different. First of all we are chasing someone, so it’s not running off… and second of all I know what I am doing, unlike some.” They had caught up with Cordy. Buffy grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“Cordy stop,” Buffy ordered, however she forgot that Cordy was drunk and she over balanced and caused them both to fall on the ground.

“Let me help you up,” Jack offered, clearly seeing the potential girl on girl action that could take place if he took them both home.

“I don’t think so mate,” Spike stepped in between them. “I think your nights over”

“Listen, I don’t have to have both… you can take the blonde and I’ll have the brunette. Mates share.” The leer on the guys face made Spikes stomach turn.

“First of all,” he said as he grabbed his collar “I’m not your mate.” He punched Jack in the jaw.

“Secondly, scum like you give us all a bad name,” Spike snarled. He turned around to see how Buffy and Cordy were doing.

“Thanks,” Buffy replied. “But I think I have a bigger problem,” she gestured to Cordy who had missed the action due to her passing out on the sand.

***

“So my mom wanted me to come and apologise to you.”

Spike looked up from marking his papers to see Jess standing in the classroom doorway. She didn’t look happy, but then he had never seen her really happy. Buffy’s appearance yesterday had thrown him for a loop for one, but finding out that she was Jessica’s mom was something else.

Though they hadn’t covered it in the teachers hand book he knew that wanting to date one of your students parents was pretty much forbidden. So he had tried to forget about her, her lies that she had told all those years ago, however he had as much success in that as he had in forgetting her for the last fifteen years.

“Really?” He motioned for Jess to come in and sit down which she didn’t. She just stood in the doorway unmoved. “Something tells me you were not a big fan of that plan.”

“Listen, I just came here to say sorry, okay. So sorry,” she said as she went to leave.

“What for?” he asked causing her to stop in her tracks.

“For being disruptive in class or something, I don’t know. I’m just sorry.”

“Jess, don’t lie. Not to me, not to anyone. You don’t want to apologise to me and frankly I don’t think you have anything to apologise for.”

“But my mom...”

“She wants what’s best for you that’s all, better than what she had.”

“I know that, don’t you think I know that by now? All I have heard is ‘I want better for you’, but you know what that means?”

“No,”

“Mom had me when I was sixteen, the age I am now. She wants better for me than she had at my age. Better, as in she wishes she was never pregnant. She didn’t want me not then and not now.”





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