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She didn’t think bruises were so hard to cover up. Buffy had seen plenty of people use makeup on TV to cover up their bruises…but for some reason the handprints on her wrists and upper arms wouldn’t even fade the slightest. She’d just have to wear a sweatshirt again. She then brought her hand up to the small, single bruise on her cheekbone.

---Flashback to the previous night---

Angel, as Angelus always asked to be called, had brought Darla home after their evening shift at the bar. Both adults were drunk as anything, so Buffy hurried to her room.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t been fast enough and had only been halfway up the stairs when Angel and Darla came stumbling through the front door.

Laughing up a storm, Darla clumsily closed the door. “Oh, Buffy…what are you still doing up?” Her voice wasn’t hate-filled or anything, just sounded annoyed. This couple really didn’t want to have to take care of her.

“I, um…there was some homework that I n-needed to finish,” she said, stuttering a little bit.

“O-oh ok-kay,” Angel said, mocking the way she’d stumbled on her words. Both he and Darla went into a fit of laughter again. Angel’s laughter quickly died down when he saw that his bruised handprints were visible all over Buffy’s arms now that she was only in her short-sleeved shirt instead of a sweatshirt.

Buffy followed his gaze and wish she had kept her sweatshirt on. “Who’d you tell?” He asked in a low voice. “Because, ya know, it was for your own good. Kids need discipline…no sense in telling people I hurt you when I was only giving you what you deserved.” His voice was defensive, yet friendly, wanting Buffy to keep the ‘mistakes’ a secret.

Buffy, without thinking, rolled her eyes. “Didn’t tell anyone, sir,” she said in a voice that clearly stated she was annoyed.

Before she could react, Angel had used the back of his hand across her cheek. It wasn’t extremely hard of a hit, but it definitely hurt. As she held her cheek in her hand, Angel glared at her. “I think it’s time for bed, Buffy. We can talk about this later.”

Darla had been holding her giggles in, but she almost fell over laughing now.

As Buffy turned to leave, she sighed.

Was there ever a time that they weren’t drunk?

---End of flashback---

That was the first time Angel had hit her.

And it’s the last time, she reasoned with herself.

Sighing, Buffy put on a different sweatshirt than from the day before and just stopped trying to cover up the stupid bruise on her face.

She could always make up a cover story for it this time.



Spike was not having the best morning.

“Dad, give me the keys,” Spike demanded the older man.

“You skipped a few classes yesterday. I told you that if I found out, no car for a week. Walk.” Rupert Giles, didn’t even look up from his morning paper as Spike groaned.

But, knowing that his dad wasn’t going to give in, Spike slammed the front door shut as he walked out.

The school wasn’t very far from his house, only a couple blocks.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Spike saw the blond from yesterday walking timidly across the street. And she looked like she was…crying?

“Um…Buffy?” Spike asked, hoping he’d remembered her name correctly from yesterday as he ran up to her.

She jumped a little, but relaxed when she saw it was just the guy from yesterday. “You’re talking to me?” She asked with a raised eyebrow as she brought a hand up and casually wiped away a few tears.

“Seems that way, doesn’t it?”

She turned to send a mild glare his way and that’s when he noticed the odd-shaped purple bruise on her cheek. It was small, but still looked pretty nasty. “Bloody hell,” he exclaimed suddenly, stopping her to look at it closer.

Buffy was a little more than shocked to be standing there with Spike inspecting her cheek. Then she remembered the bruise there and abruptly jerked away.

“I’m fine,” she said defensively.

“I didn’t ask, pet,” he reminded her, implying that she was very well not okay.

“It’s just a bruise.”

“Yeah, that looks like the shape of a fist,” he said, getting annoyed. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she replied quietly, not able to come up with anything.

“You don’t…Bloody hell,” he trailed off and cursed.

Buffy was getting a little uncomfortable with how this conversation was going. “Don’t you have friends to get back to?” She asked, trying to sound impatient as they walked onto school grounds. “You wouldn’t want to be caught chatting it up with a loser like me.”

“Now hold on just a minute,” he demanded angrily. “Look, I may have the stereotype popular guy thing going on-”

“Full of yourself much?” Buffy had no idea where this was coming from. She hadn’t actually talked to people since the incident in LA.

“As I was saying, that doesn’t make me a soddin’ shallow jerk.”

Buffy just rolled her eyes, but immediately froze when Giles came walking up the sidewalk.

“What?” Spike asked, turning to see what was wigging her out. “Bloody hell…Dad! You couldn’t have just given me a soddin’ ride?”

“William,” at hearing his son’s growl, he cleared his throat. Turning to Buffy, Giles smiled and then looked concerned at the bruise on her face. “Buffy?”

“Hey,” she said cheerfully, ignoring his worried tone.

“What happened?”

“You know her?” Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

Giles turned from Buffy to face his son and sighed. “I told you about that woman I bought the paintings from in LA…this is her daughter.”

Buffy had to keep in the tears just from hearing her mother mentioned. “Was…” Buffy managed to say in a weak voice. After clearing her throat, she spoke it in a normal voice. “Was my mother. She’s dead now remember?”

Spike’s eyes widened slightly, as did Giles’. How could she be so blunt about it like that?

But they just didn’t understand. It was so hard to hear other people talk about the death.

But if she spoke about it herself, then it was easier to control her emotions, especially when she closed herself up and said everything as if it were no big deal.

“I’m, uh…sorry to ‘ear that pet,” Spike said softly.

“Terribly sorry, Buffy, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Buffy shrugged it off. “But I need to go.”

Before either of them could protest, Buffy hurried away, walking straight past Willow and Xander, not wanting anymore questions.



As Buffy made her way to the lunchroom, she kept her eyes glued to the floor, hating it when people stared.

“So. You’re Buffy?” Harmony asked in a sneering voice as the other popular girls came to stand beside her. “Can we deal with your outfit for a moment?”

Buffy just rolled her eyes and continued walking toward the lunch line.

“Hey,” Parker said harshly, standing in front of her. “You were being talked to.”

“Yeah, until I walked away,” Buffy retorted with another eye roll.

Why can I stand up to these losers, but not my uncle?

“Hey, Parker. Wanna chill for a sec’ and back off?” Said a brunette as she strolled over. The girl was wearing black leather pants with a simple black v-neck shirt. “What’s your name?” She asked Buffy.

“Buffy,” she answered, suddenly shy again.

“Buffy. I’m Faith. These guys botherin’ you?” Before she could answer, Faith turned to Parker. “Look. I’m gonna take B here and you can stop with the stuck-up act before I kick your ass.”

Parker knew that Faith and her friends were the only ones that would actually take them in a fight and win, so he sent her a glare before walking off.

Sighing, Faith turned to Buffy. “Ouch. Nasty bruise. What happened?” Faith asked, eyeing the thing like it had grown its own head.

“Not important,” Buffy answered and looked over to see that Willow and Xander had already sat down. “Um…”

“Hey, come sit with us, alright. They’ll leave you alone now.”

Nodding, Buffy followed Faith to her table.

“So, B, what’s your story?” Faith asked while stuffing herself with the school sub.

“I’m from LA. Now I live here. That’s all you need to know.” She didn’t mean to snap so suddenly, but Faith didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seemed pleased.

“Well. Looks like Blondie does have some backbone,” Faith replied with a smirk. Buffy smiled a little in return. “So. What’s up with the baggy clothes? Not like you’ve got anything to hide.”

You have no idea…

“Always ask so many questions?” Buffy questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Just wonderin’. Hey, B, why don’t you let me give you a ride to my house tomorrow. We could get you all prettied up and take you to the Bronze.”

“Um…”

“Great. Tomorrow after school, meet me near the entrance.” Faith didn’t even wait for a reply as the bell rang.

Buffy sat there for a few minutes longer, knowing she’d be late for her next class.

She didn’t even realize she had pushed her sweatshirt sleeves up to reveal her bruises until she saw Spike glaring at her arms from across the lunchroom.

Without second thought, Buffy quickly stood up when she saw Spike approach her and she didn’t stop running until she was out of the school.

No one could know what was happening to her.

They would only try to stop the abuse from continuing.

She deserved it, though.

After what she did to her mother and sister…she deserved it.


(I bet it’s not what you’re thinking. Lol Review please. Spuffy encounter next chapter. Um, more Faith/Buffy friendship. I won’t be playing on the Willow/Xander/Buffy friendship for a while, just because it won’t work with everything I’m going to put Buffy through. Hehe…I’m evil. Review!)





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