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Author's Chapter Notes:
I've dragged myself out of hiatus long enough to post the next two chapters... ^-^ hope you like.
Spike didn’t show up for the Homecoming dance that night, or Willow’s Homecoming party afterward. He didn’t go to the Bronze Saturday night, in fact, nobody heard from him all weekend. Which is why Buffy was surprised to see him in class on Monday morning.

“Mr. Connors, so glad you could join us. Why don’t you take a seat?” Mr. Wyndam-Pryce said to the late arrival.

The only available seat, unfortunately, was in the third row, right next to Buffy.

Spike trudged over and flopped down into the seat, dropping his bag on the floor. He pulled out a pen and a battered notebook and started writing. He looked up again, annoyed, when the teacher spoke to him.

“Would you mind telling us why you were so late this morning?”

“Overslept,” he grunted, looking back down to his paper.

Mr. Wyndam-Pryce turned back to the rest of the class. “So, I trust you all did the project I assigned you last week?”

Buffy sat and doodled on her paper, trying to ignore the tense atmosphere between her and Spike. She glanced over, and he was still writing away like there was no tomorrow. She went back to her doodles. Palm tree. Sandy beach. She glanced over again. Still focused on whatever it was he was writing. She sighed. Two more palm trees. A mountain. Big yellow sun. Ok, so not really yellow, kinda gray. She looked out the corner of her eye. Spike was still writing. He turned a page and returned to scribbling furiously. Buffy gave a frustrated sigh. The teacher was still droning on, and she was horribly bored. She scribbled out the doodles on her paper and pulled out a clean one. She started again. Island. Ocean. Palm tree. Little pile of coconuts.

“Spike?” she whispered. No response. “Spike?” She poked him with her pencil.

“Piss off. I’m working.”

“Ok.” Pause. “I’m bored.”

Spike let out a low growl. “And how exactly is that my problem?”

“Because.”

“I do hope my lesson isn’t interrupting and important conversation of yours?” Mr. Wyndam-Pryce said, glaring at the pair.

“No, sir. I was just telling Miss Summers that she should pay more attention,” Spike replied dryly. He turned back to his notebook.

Buffy blushed brightly and turned back to her paper with a muttered apology. She grabbed a fresh paper. She started writing a list of everything wrong with Spike.

Annoying
Bizarre
Crazy
Dumb
Extremely Bleached

and on the list went. Finally the bell rang and Buffy practically ran from the room.

“Miss Summers!” she heard a voice call from the room.

She reluctantly walked back in. “Yes, Mr. Wyndam-Pryce?”

Spike smirked as he headed towards the door. “And you, Mr. Connors.”

He froze, and then slowly turned around and walked back.

The professor sighed. “You two are very bright, I know this, but you won’t show it. Your grades will not be very good if you don’t do your assignments. I know it’s only the second week, but you two need to get in the game or I’ll have to take certain measures that nobody will enjoy. My policy is, no student of mine fails at being the best they can be. I trust you understand this?”

“Yes, sir,” the pair responded in unison.

“Good, good. Now, get to your next class.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

When lunch came, Buffy noticed Spike sitting at the table with her friends. She had half-hoped he wouldn’t sit there today, mostly because of the tension that she felt was better left alone. But, she needed to be strong, so she strode over to the table and sat down.

“Hey guys.”

“Hey Buffy.” “Hey there, Buffster.”

Spike looked up and acknowledged her with a gruff “Summers” and a nod. He opened a can of Coke and leaned back in his seat surveying the group from across the table.

“So, Buff, Spike tells us you got in trouble,” Xander said tactfully.

“I’m not the only one who got held after,” she shot back, giving Spike a distasteful look. “Not even the only one who got yelled at for talking.”

Xander let out an exaggeratedly shocked gasp. “Cordelia?! No way!”

Willow laughed and Buffy glared. Xander held up his hands in surrender. “So, what did my favourite bottle-blonde couple do to get in trouble?”

“We’re not a couple!”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Bad grades, apparently. It’s only the second week! And Miss Buffy was talking to me in class.” He smirked.

“That was rude of you, embarrassing me in the middle of class like that.”

“Serves you right,” he said defiantly. “I told you to bugger off, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Ooh!” Willow gasped. “Here comes Angel!” And he was coming, all right. Walked right up to their table.

“Buffy. What a surprise to see you here,” he said, leaning on the table. “William.”

“Poof.”

Buffy watched the cousins exchange pleasantries. She looked back up at the darker boy and gave him her best California-girl smile. “Hey Angel. And, how exactly is it a surprise? I go to school here, too.”

Angel chuckled. “Let me cut straight to the chase. I had a lot of fun with you Friday night. I wondered if you’d like to go do something this weekend.”

Buffy was caught momentarily speechless. She gaped for a moment before being brought back to reality by a sharp poke in the back from Willow.

“Oh, um, y-yeah, that would be cool,” she stuttered, blushing.

Angel grinned wide. “Great! How about I pick you up Friday at seven?”

“Sounds good.”

“Cool.” He nodded briefly at Spike, flicker of a smirk at his cousin’s obvious dismay crossing his face. He walked off towards his usual table and seated himself between Trick and Gavin. He turned back around and blew a kiss at Buffy, causing her to blush again at the teasing gesture.

Buffy turned back to her friends, silly grin plastered on her face. Willow gave her a big smile and a thumbs-up. Xander rolled his eyes at Spike and mimed finger gagging. Spike managed a smirk at Xander’s disgust, but the angry frown returned back to his face before too long, completely missed by the other three.

this will not do.

~~~~~*~~~~~

Buffy walked through her front door, the troubles of the morning forgotten in the light of her upcoming date. She dropped her bag just inside the threshold and slammed the door. “Honey, I’m home!” she called through the quiet house.

Suddenly, a noise from upstairs. Something dropped on the floor, shattering. She heard stumbling, and another crash.

Buffy adopted an attack position, in case the intruder decided to come downstairs. She knew it wasn’t Dawn or Mom, they were both at school and work. She cautiously edged toward the staircase, freezing as she heard whoever it was up there slam a closet door and trip over something, a mild curse floating down to her ears.

Footsteps. Loud, running. She heard a door fly open and hit the wall. The intruder let out a primal cry and barreled down the stairs, crashing straight into Buffy.

“Buffy!” the person screamed at her. She gasped as she recognized him.





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