“She said what?” William and Buffy were sitting at a small table in the school library, speaking quietly, although they seemed to be the only two people there for the moment. Now William glanced at Buffy, a confused look on his face.
“I told you, Mrs. French wants us to work together with the history project.” Buffy suddenly felt nervous. She had been really happy about the idea, but what if William didn’t want to work with her? Clearing her throat, she couldn’t help but add; “I told her I wanted to work alone, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“Oh.” William looked away. “Sorry you got stuck with me then.”
“What? No!” Buffy blushed and looked around the large room, lowering her voice as she went on; “God, I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t mind working with you at all.” She was horrified that he would think she was disappointed by the arrangement and felt a desperate need to assure him otherwise.
William didn’t look convinced. “Really, Buffy, I understand. You don’t have to…”
She interrupted him. “William, there’s no one in the school I’d rather work with. I mean it.”
Now he looked more shocked than ever. “Why?” He hesitated. “I mean… I’m sure you’d rather work with one of your friends.”
Swallowing, Buffy looked down at her hands. So, he didn’t consider her a friend after all. Suddenly she felt very uncertain about the whole thing, not to mention stupid. What was she supposed to tell him now? That no one had wanted to work with her, but she was actually okay with that because she’d had a secret crush on him for weeks? Yeah, right! Like that wouldn’t scare him away for sure. She took a deep breath, still not meeting his eyes. “If you don’t want to work with me, just say so.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
William’s eyes widened. Was she kidding? The idea of spending more time with Buffy both thrilled him and scared him at the same time, that much he had to admit, but when she had first mentioned the project, it had taken just about everything he had not to start jumping for joy. Now she suddenly looked miserable, and he realized it was all because she thought that he was the one who didn’t want to work with her. ‘Say something, you git!’ he told himself desperately, suddenly fearing that she would just get up and leave. He swallowed, nervously. “No, I’d love to be your partner!” Then it was his turn to blush. “For the project, I mean.”
Buffy’s face lit up, and William couldn’t help but feeling oddly proud of the fact that he was the reason behind that beautiful smile. He realized then that he would do just about anything to see her happy. “Really?” As he nodded, he noticed that she watched his face closely, obviously trying to see if he was serious. Then she smiled again, looking relieved. “Great! When do you wanna start?”
“Um…” He thought about it for a moment. “How about after school?” Then he hesitated. “Unless you’ve already made other plans?”
“No, after school’s just fine. Your place or mine?” She was beaming at him now, and he found himself grinning like an idiot.
“Either’s fine with me. You decide.” He glanced at his watch. “Sorry, but I’ve got to go, or I’ll be late for my next class.”
Buffy nodded. “Sure.” Then an idea occurred to her and she got a hopeful look on her face. “Hey, I was thinking… you wanna meet up for lunch later?”
His smile faltered a little. “I, um…” Suddenly feeling very self-conscious, he kept his eyes on the floor. “Maybe some other time. I need to come back here and, um… study.” He mentally rolled his eyes for not being able to come up with something more interesting. Surely Buffy would think he was the most boring person ever.
She was disappointed, but didn’t object. Instead she nodded again, putting on a somewhat strained smile. “Of course, I understand. I’ll see you after school then?”
Relieved that she was willing to let it go, William let out the breath he had been holding. “Absolutely.” The innocent words ‘I’ll look forward to it’ almost slipped out of his mouth, but he was able to stop himself, not wanting to sound too eager. The truth was, he could hardly wait for school to be over for the day, even more so than usual.
William felt his heart skip a beat when he found Liam waiting for him by his locker. For a moment, he seriously considered just to keep walking, but he quickly decided against it. He may not stand a chance against a bully like Liam, but he refused to run the other way like a bloody coward. Besides, he needed to get his books for the next class. Taking a deep breath, he slowly made his way over to his locker. Just when he was about to open it, Liam stepped between him and the door, a wide grin on his face. William glanced at his watch; he really didn’t have time for this.
He didn’t bother to hide his irritation. “Do you mind?” Liam raised a brow, but made no move to step out of the way. William let out a sigh. “What do you want?”
Liam’s grin became even wider. “Funny you should ask. I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
William couldn’t imagine what that git could possibly have to discuss with him, but he suspected that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be of the good. Unfortunately, he also realized that he probably wouldn’t have any say in the matter. Still, it didn’t change the fact that he was already late for class. Much to his relief, Liam appeared to be alone this time. “Yeah? It’ll have to wait. I need to get into my locker.” He almost added a ‘please’ before remembering that he had made a promise to himself to never show any sign of weakness in front of that bastard again. Not that he really expected to be able to live up to that for very long, but he was still furious at Liam for what he had put him through the other day in the locker room. And right now, anger was a good thing. It kept his fear away for the moment.
“Okay. Wait!” Liam pretended to be thinking hard, then smirked at William’s raised brow. “No.”
“Oh, for the love of…!” William glared at his tormentor, both annoyed and frustrated. “Just tell me what you want and sod off!”
“Cocky today, are we?” Liam looked amused. “I wonder why. Don’t suppose it has something to do with that blonde, pretty thing I saw you with earlier?” Seeing the look on William’s face, Liam chuckled. “I see. What did she do? Give you a blow-job? Let you go down on her and suck her sweet little pussy?” Laughing at William’s shocked expression; he waved his hand in dismissal. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m only kidding. Really.”
William wanted to kick Liam’s face in for talking about Buffy like that. But before he got the chance to say anything, Liam went on; “Because no girl in her right mind would ever let you touch her, let alone stay and wait for you to take it out of your pants.”
Trying not to let Liam’s cruel words get to him, William crossed his arms over his chest and looked Liam straight in the eyes. “When you said you had something to discuss with me, I didn’t realize it was about my bloody sexual life. Maybe I’m not the one who would enjoy…” He raised a brow. “How did you put it the other day? Oh, right. Having a cock in my mouth.” Shocked by his own words, William had no idea what possessed him to speak to Liam like that and he knew he would pay for it, but right now, he didn’t care. He’d had enough, and it was time to let Liam know it as well.
For a moment, Liam just stared at him, mouth open. Then his eyes narrowed and he took a step closer. “What did you just say to me? Are you accusing me of being a fucking fag, is that it?”
William swallowed, but refused to back away. He realized that he was probably in big trouble, and would be even more so if he showed even the slightest sign of fear. Still, he had noticed a sudden look of uncertainty on Liam’s face, and as long as that was still there, he might have the upper hand, at least for the moment. He glanced over his shoulder and realized that people had started to gather around them, obviously eager to see what would happen. Seeing Liam gritting his teeth in fury, William just wanted to run away. But at the same time, he wanted nothing more than seeing Liam finally get what he deserved after everything he had put him through over the years. So, he remained where he was.
Liam looked around them, also noticing their audience. The brief moment of insecurity had passed, and he grabbed William by the collar of his jacket and slammed him hard into the lockers. Then he took a step back and raised his fist, about to strike. William didn’t know how he did it, or where his sudden strength came from, but he managed to dodge Liam’s punch and slammed his own fist into the dark-haired boy’s face, causing him to stumble back and grasp at his bleeding nose, a shocked expression on his face.
William’s eyes widened when he realized what he had just done, but couldn’t help feeling strangely proud of himself. That was until he heard a throat being cleared behind him and slowly turned around. Suddenly he didn’t feel so good anymore. And when Principal Snyder gestured for him to follow without a word, William felt worse than ever.
TBC