Chapter 2:
The nervous little redhead and the oblivious librarian stopped conversing at once when they looked over to see the blonde burst through the library doors. She was clenching the newspaper in one hand and the door frame with the other; she seemed a little bit out of breath, possibly from racing down the hallway to get there.
“What the HELL is going on?!” Buffy shouted at the two.
Willow cringed; Giles looked taken back by Buffy’s language.
“Buffy…” Giles gasped, “Watch your mouth.”
“Watch my mouth Giles? Watch my mouth? Did-do—did you do you even have any idea…” Buffy was started to stumble over her words, the furry inside of her was causing her to not think straight.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing to get this upset about that you have to use foul language like that…especially in school.” Giles said as he walked closer to her and took off his glasses. The Brit gave her a stern look, one that he gave his son too many times he could count.
Buffy hung her mouth open, looking at the man as if he were crazy.
“Buffy…he doesn’t know about the poll.” Willow said from behind Giles quietly.
“Poll? What poll?” Giles turned around to look at Willow biting her lip.
“The poll that is going to turn my life upside down, Giles!” Buffy burst and handed him the school newspaper.
Giles raised an eyebrow when Buffy walked off and started to pace in front of his desk, he never seen the girl like this before, even when she was arguing with Spike. After placing his glasses back on and unfolding the newspaper, Giles began to search for this ‘disaster poll’.
“Buffy…it’s nothing; you said it yourself last month that it’s a waste of time. It means nothing.”
”Means nothing? Nothing?! Willow, that poll is going to be linked to me and Spike forever. Forever!” Buffy shouted.
“It was just for laughs….no one takes these things seriously.”
“Oh…oh really?” Buffy nodded at her friend and then walked over to the newspaper that Giles was looking at. The old man was still reading through the poll, but Buffy started picking out a few other categories that people got recognition for.
“Biggest Flirt, Harmony …Best Athlete, Riley …Best Musician, Oz …Best Dressed, Cordelia ….Most Likely to Succeed, YOU!” Buffy turned around and looked back at her friend, “Those seem pretty accurate to me.”
“You and William got mostly likely to marry?!” Giles laughed out. In fact, the man couldn’t stop smirking and giggling until he turned to see the murderous look from Buffy. “Umm…” Giles’s face fell back to being serious and he cleared his throat, “That’s…that’s just…”
”I'll tell you what it is...WRONG!!!” Buffy finished for him, “Completely wrong and totally disgusting!”
Giles turned away from the two young ladies and went back to smiling; he practically had to bite his lip to keep from laughing again.
“Maybe…maybe it was just a joke because all the two of you do is fight all the time. It’s pretty obvious to everyone that you two are king and queen of bickering.” Willow shrugged with a small reassuring smile. However, Buffy wasn’t listening to word her friend said.
“SPIKE!” Buffy exclaimed as she snapped her fingers, acting like that was the answer to this little predicament.
“What about---?” Willow started.
“Spike! He must have done this!” Buffy concluded, “It’s one of his stupid stupid jokes that only he could come up with.”
”Buffy, why would he do this?”
”Because he’s Spike, Willow. Hello, he’s a pain in the neck remember?”
Giles thought it was now the time to step in and defend his son the best he could, “Buffy, even though William goes a bit too far with teasing you sometimes, he wouldn’t do this.”
“Giles, don’t let that little cocky boy fool you too…please, you of all people know he’s got some sort of evil side of himself.”
Giles rolled his eyes, Buffy and Spike had been at each others throats for what seemed like forever. A rumor started that before he and his family moved to California, peace and quiet was the way of life on Revello Drive. Now, ‘I’m going to get you good Summers!’ and ‘I freakin hate you Spike!’ were the war cries of the neighborhood.
Giles sighed and took off his glasses to rub his tired eyes, “Buffy…please believe me when I say that William wouldn’t do this to you.”
“Ya Buffy” Willow agreed, “Why would Spike want to be the victim of his own joke? He’s part of this poll too. Plus, and nothing personal Giles, but he’s also too lazy to pull off something like this…it would have taken a lot of effort for him to do this.”
“Not offended at all…” Giles muttered, “That boy will be the death of me…”
“He could have bullied the newspaper staff to do it…pay them off...” Buffy’s eyes widen, “ANYA!”
The name didn’t even have time to fade away from Buffy’s lips—the young blonde was off again and looking for vengeance.
”I fear this will ruin the last few weeks of her senior year.” Giles said as he stared at the door Buffy just left.
“Oh no, this will carry on for a good five years... at least…I'm saying at least.” Willow corrected.
The sound of a faint scream that came from Buffy in the hallway had Willow and Giles racing toward the library exit.
“What the….?” Giles was half way to the door to see what happened, to get an explanation behind why Buffy yelped, when the doors swung open.
“What the hell is up with Summers?” Spike laughed as he pointed out back into the hallway.
“Well that explains it.” Willow muttered.
“That silly chit took one look at me and shot in the opposite direction…” Spike laughed, “Wish I had my camera to capture the moment.”
Giles followed behind his son to one of the study tables in the middle of the library, watching his boy slump in a chair without a care.
“So William…”
”Da’ it’s Spike…”
”WILLIAM…” Giles sternly said, “Read any good news lately?”
“What, that bloody little high school paper we get? Saw everyone snickering about the latest issue in the hallway…but no, sorry to say I didn’t catch up on some kid kissing some teacher’s ass…like I care.”
“I think you’ll care what’s in this issue.” Giles threw the paper onto his son’s lap, “Page 4…”
Giles did a little countdown in his head, ’10….9….’
“What am I looking up? Lunch menu…”
’8….7…’
“The bands bake sale?” Spike shook his head as he flipped the page to come to page four.
‘6…5….’
“Senior poll…they already tallied that thing?”
‘4….3…’
“Ha…looks like Peaches will be in a pissed off mood about his ego for the next few days…”
‘2….1…’
“Wait a second…” Spike wrinkled his eyebrow and brought the paper close to his face to make sure he wasn’t reading the text wrong, “That’s—that’s…”
”That little chit you just came across in the hallway is going to be my future daughter in-law….” Giles smiled as he picked up his ‘Kiss the Librarian’ mug and took a sip at his tea, “Your future wife…”
TBC…