Who Are You?
“Xander, no! For the hundredth time I am not going to pull your finger.”
“Ah, come on!”
“No!” Willow said the next day, while they were walking to their history class, which they had with Spike.
“Do we have to sit here?” Xander asked.
“Why not? Hey, Spike.”
“Allo, Red.”
“That’s why,” Xander rolled his eyes as he slouched over in his desk.
“So I’m guessing it worked? I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since before and with you and Buffy being all… you know, I assumed I was right.”
“You assumed right, pet. And yeah, you bloody well were right, I owe you big. And thanks ever so by the way.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re happy, Buffy’s happy, which equals Willow's happy.” She said, pleased with herself.
“Remainder equals Xander sick. Wait a minute. What did you do?”
“Never mind him, he’s just being cranky pants,” Willow said to Spike as if she were referring to a child.
“Tis’ okay red. I know why Xander hates me. Even though I never did anything to you,” he was now looking at Xander exactly the same way he was looking at him. With a cold deadly stare. If looks could kill…
“Oh yeah? Tell me then Spike. Tell me why I hate you.”
“Buffy.” It was one word. One name. But it came out as if it was locked up for a 100 years.
“What?” Xander tried to sound surprised. As if the reason wasn’t Buffy at all, and what Spike had just said didn’t make any sense to him.
“Yeah, I know you want her,” it came out in less then a taunt, and more in a possessive ‘she’s mine’ kind of way.
“You can be really stupid sometimes, you know that Spike.” It wasn’t a question and Xander knew that Spike somehow found out about him liking Buffy. Did she tell him? he wondered.
“Yeah, I admit I can be really stupid at times, especially lately. But at least I’m not a sodden wanker-”
“What! Where did you get that from, and what the hell is a wanker?”
“You hate me just because I have something you can never have.”
“Oh yeah. Something I can never have, huh?” Xander said as if to say, keep telling yourself I’ll never have her, cause some day I will.
“That’s right, mate. Buffy doesn’t like you that way, and you can’t stand it.”
“Oh yeah, all I gotta do is wait for you do screw up and she’s mine. Right now she just doesn’t know I’m there because you’re standing in front of me. But someday, my friend, she’ll look behind you and see that I’m the one she needs.”
“Xander! That’s even better then hating some one for a personal reason and falling into place thing…” Willow said, which got her a strange look from Spike, and Xander to, for a moment. And also because it was the first time she had spoken in a while. She also felt a tad bit uncomfortable and hopped her little intrusion calmed them down. But of course it being Spike and Xander after all, nothing could stop them. Except maybe a separating spell.
“That’s what you think mate. Let me give you a bit of a newsflash here. I’m not going to screw up, and even if I did she’d still never be yours.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Two days ago I couldn’t get Buffy to talk to me, and did she turn to you? No, she came back to me, and do you know why? It’s because she’s mine. She’ll always be mine, and there’s not a bloody thing that can change that.”
“Alright class, settle down-” The teacher had walked in. This prevented Xander from saying anything back. ‘I’ll get him later’ he thought. ‘God I hate Spike’. After class was over Spike practically ran out of the room for two reasons. 1- he couldn't wait to see Buffy again, and 2- any time spent arguing with Xander was not only a waste of his time, but it was also time he could be spending with Buffy.
“You better not start something with Spike around Buffy, Xander,” Willow told him as they were walking to their lockers.
“Oh yeah, like I started it,” he protested.
“I never said you started it… but you did and you always do.”
“Lecture 170, you know you always take his side.”
“What? I do not.”
“Yes you do.”
“Ok, lets just change the topic- and no I don’t.”
“Fine, you pick- yes you do.”
“How are you dealing with the whole Buffy thing? Do not.”
“I’m coping and that isn’t really a change in topic- do too.”
“I couldn’t think of anything else- do not.”
“You know what? It doesn’t matter. Let her go off with Mr. I-wanna-be-Billy-Idol. When he breaks her heart for the second time and she comes a-crying on my shoulder, I’ll be sitting there with a big I told you so.”
“You wouldn’t say I told you so, anyways, it could be worse,” Will said.
“Well, I guess it could be worse. I could have Gangrene on my face. You know, I don’t understand how she can still be all jonesin' for Spike, and could care less about me. When he was the one who broke her heart… I wouldn’t do that you know.”
“I know.”
“Well you were right. The deal's done. The polls are in, and it's time for my concession speech. Hey, I know what we'll do! We can go! Be my date! We'll, we'll have a great time! We'll dance; we'll go wild... Whadaya say?” Xander suddenly announced excitedly.
“No,” came her simple reply
“Good! What?” that wasn’t the answer he was expecting.
“There's no way.”
“Willow, come on!” Xander pleaded
“You think I wanna go to the dance with you and watch you wish you were at the dance with her? You think that's my idea of hijinks? You should know better,” she couldn’t help it, she tried to stop them but she felt them coming and she had to get out of there soon. She couldn’t let Xander see her cry.
“I didn't think.” He couldn’t believe how stupid he was… he should have know Willow wouldn’t have went for it.
“I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I'll see you later,” Willow walked as fast as humanly possible down the hall, trying to make it seem like nothing was wrong. She had to find Buffy…fast.
”That's okay. I don't wanna go. I'm just stay home, lie down and listen to country music. The music of pain,” Xander called after her while mentally kicking himself for being such an ass.
*************
“So then he asked me out,” Willow cried.
“What did you say?”
“I told him that I wasn’t gonna go and watch him wish he was there with you.”
“Oh, Willow, I’m so sorry,” Buffy said, feeling guilty.
“This is so silly, I don’t even know why I’m crying. Xander asked me to the dance! Xander! I should be so happy, but it feels like some one punched me right in the stomach… I feel like I’m gonna be sick.”
“I know what that feels like, but it’ll get better, you’ll see. Xander just gets an F in Willow,” Buffy said trying to make her feel better.
“I guess so.”
Not far away stood Oz, who could easily tell she was crying. This made his heart clench, he had to see if there was anything he could do to help her.
“Hey,” he greeted as he approached their seating area. Willow tried as quickly as she could to dry her tears before Oz caught them; she was unaware that he had already spotted them. He could tell she was uncomfortable, and this was becoming incredibly awkward for him. Quickly glancing down he noticed a dandelion growing in the nearby grass. He reached down and plucked it out. “Um, here,” he handed her the small flower. Willow was very shocked, and made an aw face.
“Thank-you,” she told him, sniffing, no use trying to hide it now; she realized that he knew she was crying.
Buffy watched the two as they exchanged glances; she took this as a sign to get lost.
“I've just…never seen you cry before- and I wasn’t liking it too much, so I had to make it stop,” Oz said, calmly.
“Thank-you, again, it was sweet- a-a-nd I do feel better,” Willow said, trying not to stare at him too long.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, as they began to walk through the schoolyard.
“N-no, I’m fine now, but thanks anyways.”
“Oh, good. In that case I’ll take my flower back,” he replied, jokingly.
“No way,” Willow pouted, pulling the flower out of his reach. They walked side by side in comfortable silence until they came to the picnic table. Oz took a seat on the top and Willow stood there, just enjoying his company.
“I’m gonna ask you out next Tuesday night, and I’m kinda nervous about it,” Oz mentioned casually.
“Oh, well if it helps, I’m gonna say yes.”
“It does,” he let a short pause go by before adding “Will you go out with me next Tuesday night?”
“Oh! I can’t!”
“You see, I like that you’re unpredictable.”
“No, it’s just that there’s the dance on Tuesday night a-and I promised Buffy I would go.”
“Oh, I see.”
“But you could come too- it’s a school dance- so you could come.”
“Yeah, actually the band supposed to play for a while, I wasn’t planning on staying after though.”
“Oh-oh you should stay, I-it would be fun, and you could be like my date.”
“I guess there’s a reason to stay now isn’t there?”
“Ye-ah. So I’ll see you then?” Willow asked, hopeful.
“I’ll see you before then,” he winked.
“I-I have to go now,” she claimed, suddenly becoming nervous.
“Alright,” he said, as he watched her walking away.
”I said date,” she giggled to herself.
********
Shortly after lunch Oz was strolling in to the library. He glanced around he noticed that it was empty. In fact he never seen anyone in the library before. He scanned the shelves but had no luck in finding what he was looking for. Finally he gave up; he assumed that some one had already taken out ‘Top 10 ways to become a better guitarist’ so he left.
“Wow, sorry,” Oz said, as he bumped directly into Principal Snyder.
“Mr. Osborne…just the person I wanted to see. My office. Tomorrow morning. Don’t forget.”
*******************
“Ok, so tell me again and don’t leave anything out,” Buffy said, sitting cross legged on her bed with her hand tightly wrapped around the phone.
“Ok… so he was all like asking if I was ok and stuff. And, I was all yeah I’m fine. Oh, that flower thing, really cute don’t you think?”
“Totally cute.”
“Then he said he was gonna ask me out, and I told him that I was gonna say yes.”
“And then what?”
“Well, he asked me out next Tuesday night, and that’s the night of the dance so we’re going to the dance!”
“Oh my God! This is so great! Your going with Oz, I’m going with Spike! Everyone's paired with their soulmate!” Buffy exclaimed.
“You really think Oz is my soul mate?” Willow asked.
“Well I dunno, you guys seem really cute together, and I can tell he’s really into you.”
“Really? You think he’s into me?” Willow asked, unsure.
“Well he asked you out, didn’t he?” Buffy sighed; she had so much to learn…
“But, nobody has ever been into me before, what am I supposed to do?”
“Absolutely nothing, you just be your Willow self, and remember he’s into you, so you don’t need to pretend to be some one else, like with Xander.”
“But I think that Xander could like me, but he’s just a little slow. You know, like with math. He’s always had trouble in math, especially fractions. I remember in grade school when I spent two weeks trying to explain then to him. Well, maybe I’m a fraction. Maybe some one just needs to explain me to him?”
“Maybe. But wouldn’t you rather be with some one who gets fractions? I know if I were a fraction I wouldn’t want some one solving me who didn’t know what they were doing.”
“Yeah, that does sound like the prize winning option, doesn’t it?” Willow sighed.
“Sounds like it to me…look Will, its late, I should go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow in school?”
“You bet, bye Buffy.”
“See-ya.”
*****************
The next day at school was harsh. He paced the school corridors about a hundred times already. He really wanted to talk to Willow but, he felt like he couldn’t, not after making such an ass of himself yesterday. He hoped that Willow wouldn’t hate him forever. Right now, he thought it was best to just stay away from her, and from Buffy. There was only one problem with his genius plan, and that was that it left him totally alone.
“Xander!” shouted a male voice coming behind him “Hey Xander, how have you been,” he asked.
“How have I been? You’re the one who’s been hospitalized with the flu for the past three weeks… look, Willow and I tried to get in to see you two but your room was quarantined. They wouldn’t let us in cause we weren’t immediate family. We tried dressing up like an old couple and pretended to be your grandparents but Willow tends to crack under pressure.”
”Now that’s something I would have like to see.”
“Sorry man, no pictures.”
“Damn.”
“So, Jess, where’s little sis too? She’s not still sick is she?”
“No, she’s fine. Looking for Willow actually. How come she’s not with you?”
“That’s a long story. I’ll fill you in on the way to class. Please don’t interrupt and save your questions till last.”
**************************
“Have you talked to Xander yet?” Buffy asked, as her and Willow walked side by side through the schoolyard.
“No, I haven’t even seen him at all today. You think it’s gonna be weird between us now? I really don’t want this to affect our friendship, you don’t think it will do you?” Willow stated in a high panic.
“Wow, major dêja-vu - didn’t we have this conversation yesterday, except wasn’t I on the other end?”
“We did have almost the same conversation yesterday, didn’t we?” Willow said, excitedly. They both giggled at the sudden realization.
“Willow!” called a female voice from across the schoolyard.
“Oh, hey! You're back!”
“Yup, and I’m as good as new.”
“Oh, Buffy, this is Fred, Fred this is Buffy.”
“Hello,” both girls greeted one another.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get a chance to see you, they wouldn’t let us in, the room was-”
“Quarantined, I know. It’s totally fine.”
“Oh, good! I felt so bad. Xander made me dress up, and wear a wig, and it was itchy, and you know how I crack under pressure…”
“W-wait, you wore a wig?” Fred asked, completely confused.
“So that’s why you had those in your room,” Buffy commented.
“So where’s Jess, he’s not still sick is he? 'Cause I still got the wig.”
“No, he’s looking for Xander, I’m surprised you too aren’t together.”
“That’s a long story, I’ll fill you in.”
“Wait, who’s Jess?” Buffy asked.
“I see you’ve heard a lot about us. Jess is my twin brother, we’ve been out with the flu for a couple weeks,” Fred explained to the blonde. “So did you just move here?”
“Yeah, a couple days ago, not far though, just LA.”
“Oh really, I been there once or twice.”
“Oh, so we should get to class, I’ll fill you in on everything you’ve missed on the way,” Willow told her. “Did you know Spike has a new girlfriend now?”
“No way. When I left he was still dating Harmony.”
“Broke up with her after meeting his soul mate,” Willow half mocked.
“Hey!” Buffy protested. “That was not used in good humor.”
“So who is she? Anyone we know?”
“You’re a smart girl Fred, you’ll figure it out,” Willow hinted.
*************************
“You want me to tutor?” Oz asked
“Mr. Osborne, it’s time to give something back,” Snyder replied, looking up from his desk to make eye contact with the young man seated in front of him.
“Well, I’m kinda busy.”
“Thursdays ok for you?”
“Wednesday would work better, actually,” it was no use; nobody could win with Snyder.
“Good, I’ve got some one all ready for you.”
“So, what is it I’m tutoring?”
“Math.”
“Do I get any extra credit for this?”
“I’ll see what I can do, be in the library 4:00 no later, Wednesday afternoon. 1 hour, you got that?”
“Ok,” Oz nodded, and stood up to leave his office.
“Good day Mr. Osborne.”
“Yeah.”
TBC..........,
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey I think maybe some of the chapters before were a bit confusing because of the borders.. well there in there now and I hope that helps! As always enjoy the chapter, thanks for the reviews and keeep em' coming! lovin ya all..peace out!