Chapter 1 – Run-In
Buffy Summers clutched her books to her chest as she wandered through the
crowded halls of Sunnydale High. It was her first day at the new school and
already several months into her senior year. At her old school, she had been
happy. Popular. Now, she felt like she was stuck in a fishbowl with
everyone staring at her as she made her way to her locker.
Trying to avert her eyes, she felt the shyness creep into her that she
wasn’t used to. Her mother had been killed in a car accident a few weeks
ago, and ever since then, Buffy had reverted into a much more reserved person
when she was in an unfamiliar setting.
Finally reaching her locker, Buffy looked at the combination written on the
small slip of paper in her hand. After her third unsuccessful try at
opening it, she had to repress a growl as she lowered her head in defeat.
Seeing a fist fly by her head, Buffy instinctively ducked as it struck the
door of her locker.
Spinning around in surprise, she encountered a tall brown-haired boy with a
goofy grin. “Most of these lockers just need a little persuasion of the
forceful variety,” he said, offering his hand. “I’m Xander Harris.”
“Buffy Summers,” she said with a smile of her own, shaking his hand.
“So, you’re the new girl everyone’s talking about.”
“I was hoping the staring and whispering was my imagination,” Buffy said,
depositing half of her books in the locker and slamming the door.
“Nope, that’s the consequence of moving to a one Starbucks town like
Sunnydale,” he replied as they began walking down the hall.
“Great,” Buffy said with a small grin. “Just what every new kid looks
forward to- being the daily gossip.”
“Try weekly,” Xander said with a smile. “We don’t get a lot of news by the
day.”
Buffy laughed as he reached for her schedule. “Well, you’ve got most of
your classes with me, and the ones that I’m not in, you’ve got with Willow.”
“Willow?”
“Yeah, she’s my best friend. Really nice, you two should get along just
fine.”
“Oh, that’s-“
Buffy was cut off as she turned a corner and crashed into what felt like a
wall, her books flying everywhere.
“Bloody hell, woman, watch where you’re going!”
Buffy looked up from picking up her books to stare at the leather-clad
bleach blonde who had nearly knocked her off her feet and was now glowering
at her. Standing up to her full five feet, three inches, Buffy gave him a
glare of her own. “Me? You’re the one that doesn’t know how to walk!”
She narrowed her eyes as he looked her up and down, suddenly wishing she
wasn’t wearing a skirt today as his eyes seemed to linger on her legs
longer than necessary. “Listen, Princess, you need to figure something out
real quick,” he said, a more menacing tone to his voice as he took a step
closer to her. “YOU move out of MY way when you see me coming.”
Buffy clenched her jaw as she looked over his shoulder to see his friends
chuckling. “The name’s Buffy, not Princess,” she replied, offering a
half-hearted smile. “And I’m guessing you’re about to have a rough time
because I have no intention of getting out of your way.”
Buffy roughly pushed past him, feeling moderately satisfied when his friends
moved out of her way.
“Hey.”
Buffy turned to see Xander jogging up beside her, handing her the books that
she didn’t get around to picking up. “Oh, Xander, I’m so sorry! I forgot
all about you when that jerk crashed into me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, waving his hand in dismissal.
“So, who is he, anyway? Leader of the Sunnydale High Hell’s Angels?”
Xander chuckled. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? No, he’s actually William
‘Spike’ Giles. Star of the Sunnydale High soccer team and general pain in
the ass if you’re not in his clique.”
“I guess after my little display back there, I am definitely not in the
clique,” Buffy said with a smile.
“Probably not,” Xander replied with an answering smile. “Well, this is us,”
he said, pointing to a nearby classroom.
“Let the torture begin,” Buffy said with a wry smile.
* * * * *
Spike roughly shoved both doors open to the library as he stormed in. “You
know, I really hate the bints that go to this school!”
“Shhhh,” his father shushed him as he came rushing out of his office.
“Dad, there’s no one here,” Spike said with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s still a library,” Rupert Giles said as he got closer to his son.
“Now, what’s the problem today?”
“Just some little chit, thinks she’s God’s gift or something,” Spike said,
slouching into a nearby chair.
“You mean someone has annoyed you today?” Giles asked. “I don’t believe
it.”
Spike stared at his father for a minute. Sarcasm was definitely not normal
in a conversation with him. “You feelin’ alright, Dad?”
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“No reason,” Spike replied, shaking his head.
“So, who is this girl that seemed to agitate you so much?”
“Some little princess. She plows into me and then informs me that she has
no intention of ever getting out of my way.”
“After you informed her of the very same thing, I’d wager.”
Spike knew enough to look suitably sheepish at his father’s accusation.
“She’s the new girl. I’ve been here for years- I’ve earned my place!”
“Son, this is not a Caste system,” Giles said with a sigh. “It’s a high
school. You could at least try to be nice, especially if she’s new. She’s
probably nervous.”
“Yeah, real nervous with her designer clothes and snobby attitude.”
“Should I be worried that my son knows what clothes are designer?” Giles
asked with a smile.
Spike glared at him, deciding to not even dignify the statement with a
reply. “You could try and support your flesh and blood every now and then
and not defend a girl you’ve never even met.”
“Did you say she’s new?” Giles asked with a puzzled look.
“I’ve never seen her before,” Spike answered as Giles walked over to his
desk and began flipping through papers.
“Did you happen to catch her name?”
“It was something weird.”
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, SPIKE.”
Spike glared at his father. “I don’t know it was something like Bunny or
Candy. Why do you care anyway?”
“Buffy?” Giles asked, staring at a piece of paper in his hand.
“That sounds right.”
“Buffy Summers. She’s the daughter of Hank Summers.”
“So?”
“I think you should try and be nice to her.”
“And why would I want to do that?” Spike asked with a confused look as he
stared at his father.
“Just be nice to her, William.”
* * * * *
Buffy let out a heavy sigh as she walked into the cafeteria. It had been a
very long day, and it was barely even half over. Smiling when she saw Xander
and Willow waving at her from their table, Buffy began making her way over
to them.
Halfway there, and for the second time that day, she felt herself losing
balance as someone plowed into her. Turning to face the perpetrator, Buffy
found herself rolling her eyes as she, once again, began glaring at Spike
Giles. She noticed his clenched jaw as he looked up at the ceiling.
“Do you need glasses or something?” he asked, making eye contact with her.
Buffy took a deep breath, not wanting to get into a screaming match in the
middle of the cafeteria on her first day at a new school. Regardless of
what she thought of him, it wouldn’t do wonders for her reputation to be
caught yelling at one of the most popular guys in school. Unless everyone
else disliked him as much as she did. This thought almost brought a smile
to her face, but Buffy quickly remembered where she was. “Do you think
you’re so superior to everyone else that they don’t even matter when you
try and knock them over?”
“Maybe if you’d get your nose out of the air and watch where you’re going,
you wouldn’t find yourself in this position so often.”
“I’m the one with my nose in the air?” Buffy asked, gesturing to herself in
disbelief. “When you practically have an entourage following you?” She
motioned at the same group of people that were with him that morning in the
hallway.
“At least I have friends,” he said with an annoying smirk.
Buffy glared at him. “Yeah, I’m sure they’d stick with you through thick
and thin. Or at least through the next soccer game, provided that you score
the winning goal!”
Without another word, Buffy turned and made her way to the only two people
who had made an effort to be friendly to her all day.
Spike gritted his teeth as he stalked over to his table, jerking out his
chair with enough force to propel it across the room if he hadn’t had such a
harsh grip on it. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to be nice to her,” he
grumbled as he dropped into the chair.
“What’s wrong, Blondie Bear?”
Spike looked to his left to see his girlfriend Harmony sitting next to
him. “Nothing, Harm,” he said in a sulky tone.
“Spike just had another run-in with the new girl,” Riley Finn said as he sat
across the table.
“New girl?” Harmony’s whiny tone carried across the cafeteria.
Spike glanced over at Buffy’s table to see her shoot him a look, obviously
knowing that they were talking about her.
“Yeah, Buffy something,” Angel O’Rourke said, taking a seat. “Cute girl,”
he said, looking over at Buffy’s table.
“I’ll say,” Riley spoke up. “Definite potential for that one.”
Spike stared incredulously at his friends. “Are you lot insane!?”
“Come on, Spike,” Angel said. “You know you were checking her out with the
rest of us.”
“My Spikey doesn’t check out other girls,” Harmony said, not noticing the
eyes that were rolling.
“What’s the what?” Cordelia Chase asked, sitting down next to Riley as Darla
Mason sat next to Angel.
“Just talking about the new girl,” Angel said.
“I had a class with her earlier. She seemed alright, great fashion sense.
Why? Are we thinking about letting her into the group?” Cordy asked.
“We bloody well better not be,” Spike said, giving the members of the table
a look.
“Spike’s having issues with her,” Riley said when Cordelia gave them a
confused look.
“Did she put you in your place, Spike?” Darla asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh yeah,” Angel said with a chuckle, earning a glare from Spike. “She told
him she wouldn’t be getting out of his way anytime soon.”
“I like her already,” Cordy said with a laugh.
* * * * *
Buffy was practically running through the hallways after school. She had
stopped by the Counselor’s office to make sure her transcripts had arrived
from her old high school, and now she was running late.
Turning the corner, Buffy groaned when she saw Spike at the end of the hall,
leaning against the row of lockers. Taking a deep breath, Buffy made her
way toward the exit. She could have found another door, but she didn’t have
time.
She saw when Spike noticed her but kept her eyes averted as she got closer.
“Are you stalking me, Summers?”
Buffy turned to face him, looking slightly uneasy. “I never told you my
last name.”
“Small school. Details don’t stay quiet long.”
Buffy didn’t bother to answer- she simply made her way to the exit door.
“You never answered my question.”
“No, I’m not stalking you,” she said in an irritated voice. “I’m trying to
get home…and I’m not the one lurking in darkened hallways like some creature
of the night.”
“I’m not lurking, I’m waiting.”
“Waiting?”
“For my girlfriend,” Spike said in a tone that implied she should have
known.
“You mean someone’s actually going out with you? What kind of air-headed,
bubble brain would demean herself that much?”
Before Spike had a chance to answer, Harmony came bouncing down the hallway. “Spikey! I’m done with cheerleading practice. You wouldn’t believe how
easy it is for me to do the new cheer now.”
Buffy raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. “Never mind, you don’t need
to answer. I think I get the picture.”
Spike walked closer to Buffy, putting more distance between himself and
Harmony. “You think you’re so cute, don’t you, Summers? With your pricey
clothes and the holier than thou attitude, but you know what? I see through
all that. I see the shallow, egotistical creature that’s lying under that
polished surface.”
“You talk to me for less than five minutes, and you think you know me? Let
me tell you something, Spike, you…” Buffy trailed off as she looked at her
watch, her eyes widening as she turned around to run for the door.
“So that’s it? No snappy retort?”
“I don’t have time for you, Spike,” Buffy said, rushing out the door.
A/N Let me know if you think I should continue.
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