Buffy had to continuously remind herself that she was in College, not High School. The reason why was because people had the same attitudes they had in High School. Harmony and Cordelia, and the rest of the ditz clones were the same immature, practically brain-dead bimbos they always were. She felt like, Buffy Summers-High School student, the oddball, the freak. Nothing was different.
She rounded the corner after her last class of the day, knowing she had a few minutes before she had to rush off to meet Dawn after school. She had an average day; boring teachers, students dutifully taking notes, and homework assignments being passed out.
Buffy had gotten an ‘A’ on her history exam, thanks to her studying, she assumed, because she wasn’t the one to take it. The test had been taken last Wednesday before her arrival in this Sunnydale. She was still proud of the grade nonetheless.
As she continued to admire the first ‘A’ she had seen on a paper with the name, Buffy Summers on it, she paused and ducked behind the corner when she heard voices.
The first voice she recognized was Liam’s. She peeked her head around the corner to see him talking to Riley and Parker. They were alone, sitting on the back of a bench, rambling about what seemed to be the only topic they knew to talk about, girls.
“I’m seriously thinking of giving that chick, Buffy, another go. She wasn’t a bad lay.” Liam said.
Riley rolled his eyes and said, “She’s just too cold man. She acts like she’s better than everyone else. You’d think she was God’s gift to males with her attitude.”
Buffy frowned as she heard Parker speak up, “I still think she’s just a clinging girl who lacks any self-respect. She takes a while to shake, if you know what I mean.”
The three of them nodded in agreement and Buffy gasped as the next statement she heard out of Liam’s mouth surprised her, “She’s a hot little thing though. Perfect size for everything. Pretty green eyes and a tight ass. It’s really too bad she isn’t a great fling. She’s just so damn clingy for such things.”
Parker stood up, slapping Liam on the back, he said, “I wish you well in your conquest. She’s not a bad looking chick.”
Liam chuckled as, Buffy blinded by tears, turned around to leave. She was even more horrified when she bumped into Harmony and Cordelia with their other two friends, who had apparently been listening to the same conversation.
Harmony leered at her because, Buffy, had knocked her book the ground. A random boy came rushing over to pick it up, and Harmony barely acknowledged him, when he placed it in her hand, then ran off.
“Look what you did, you clumsy slut!” The Barbie squealed.
Buffy glared at her, gritting her teeth, “At least I haven’t slept with half the guys on the football field, Harmony. Now go away before something else hits you.”
Harmony laughed, “I hear Liam wants another round with you.”
Buffy grinned, pretending to be proud, “He thinks I’m hot. I noticed you only get a one-time performance. I guess that makes me hotter than you.”
Harmony looked flustered until she came back with, “Well you’re just a slut. Run off with your geeky friends.”
Buffy sighed as she turned around, only to have Harmony purposely bump into her, knocking her books to the floor.
As she bent down to pick up her belongings, she glared at the retreating form of the group. She wiped the tears from her eyes and stuffed her papers into her books, that were scattered everywhere. She pulled her hand back in surprise when it collided with another hand. Her surprise soon turned into excitement as she saw that the hand belonged to William. He was bent down, helping her pick up the mess.
He blushed from embarrassment as he handed her a book, “Here, Buffy.”
She smiled as she reached for the book. Just like Spike, William was helping her, not caring who was watching, or knew.
When all the papers and books were picked up they both got up. William was about to turn away to leave, but stopped when Buffy asked, “Want a ride home? I can drop you off at the curb again.”
Buffy sighed as he got flustered again. It seemed he was always flustered around her, “S-sure. The curb would be fine.”
She nodded as they walked side by side to the car.
For a moment she could almost pretend it was, Spike who had fallen in step beside her. But it wasn’t, because William walked a step behind her. Something that Spike would have never done.
They parted as William got into the passenger side and Buffy into the drivers.
As she started the car she glanced at the time, then turned to William.
“Do you mind if I pick up my sister first? She’s on the way.”
William shook his head, then looked out the window. He seemed to never want to say more than a few words to her.
In an awkward silence they drove to the High School to pick up Dawn. Once she was in the car the awkward silence died down, but was instead turned into the typical teenager chatter. She went on about a boy at school and how her friend, Janice, got a ‘D’ on her paper, but she got an ‘A’. William continued to look out the window, and Buffy could see from his reflection that he looked to be frowning.
Finally, they arrived at the curb in front of his house. Before she could even stop the car, William seemed to have the door open, ready to leave. With a quick turn of his head, they exchanged smiles, then he was gone.
Dawn climbed to the front seat, then asked, “Is that, William? Mom and his mom went to school together. She always said, William was a sweet boy.”
Buffy nodded, looking a little embarrassed and Dawn grinned, “So you have a crush on him or what? He really likes you. Plus he’s a cutie.“
Buffy looked surprised, “How do you know that?”
Dawn’s grin stayed in place as she said, “My friend, Tanya, knows everything. Tanya’s mom is a friend of his mom and his mom talks about how he really likes you,“ she paused. “Do you like him?”
Buffy shrugged, then looked back at the road.
“Buffy has a crush on, William! Mom is just going to love this.” her sister teased.
Buffy pulled into the driveway, and before she could even cut the engine, Dawn was out of the car and announcing to their Mother, who was working in the garden, “Buffy has a crush on, William!“
Buffy sighed, pulling her books and notebooks from the car as she heard her mom state, “That’s sweet, dear. Now go inside and do your homework so we can play monopoly tonight since your father isn’t home.”
Dawn did as she was asked, leaving Buffy behind with her mom.
Joyce smiled at Buffy, “I’m so glad you have a crush on a normal boy for once. I never did like Liam, Riley or even Parker. They all seemed so fake to me, trying too hard for approval,” she leaned down to give her daughter a kiss on the forehead, “You deserve someone who doesn’t have to try hard, but does things from the heart.”
Buffy nodded, not wanting to talk about it since she was still struggling to see parts of Spike in William, rather than see William.
Instead she disappeared upstairs to do her reading before the game of monopoly started tonight. She found herself actually looking forward to spending time with her mom and Dawn. It had been a while since the three of them had played a game together.
Buffy raced down the stairs because she was running late for school. Last night before bed, she had painted her fingernails and toenails pink. Since her mom and Dawn had gone to bed early after playing monopoly, this had given Buffy more time to herself. She had treated herself to some 'me' time. This morning, she had taken the time to fix up her hair into braids leaving little curled hairs to frame her face. She had spruced herself up even more, by putting a light covering of makeup on, and took special care in choosing an outfit.
She was determined to get some attention from William, other than a few words. Instead of the normal jeans and shirt, she had chosen a light blue skirt that only went up to about mid way on her thighs and a white top that had a v-neck and round tight sleeves. The outfit made her look great and beautiful.
To finish off her look, she wore strapped sandals, which were definitely not patrol shoes, but she had no patrolling to do in this world anyway.
She smiled as her mom commented, “You look nice today. Any special reason why?”
Dawn grinned, “She wants to look nice for Will-iam.” she sing-songed.
Buffy took a bite of her cereal before hitting her sister in the arm, who pushed her back as Hank came into the room.
“What’s this I hear about a crush? Aren’t you getting too old for crushes Buffy? Shouldn’t you be thinking of settling down?”
Buffy rolled her eyes, “Dad! I don’t want to settle down. I’m only twenty-one. Besides, I only said that I liked him, not that I had a crush on him.”
Hank poured himself a cup of coffee as he picked up the newspaper, “Well your mother and I married at the age of twenty-two. We dated for three years before that so you are running a close schedule honey.”
Buffy rolled her eyes, jokingly at her Father, then glanced at the time. She was happy that it was already time to leave.
She finished the last few spoonfuls of cereal, placed her dish in the sink, then said with a grin, “Time to go. No more time to discuss lack of marriage plans!,“ she yanked on Dawn’s arm. “Come on, Dawnie!”
Dawn followed her out the door, rushing to keep up with her excitement.
“You do look nice. William won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”
Buffy smiled at her sister, giving her hand a squeeze before heading off to school to see what the day brought.