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Hugs to Sue for betaing.



Thank you to: Allison, marstersgirl13, Nicki, DaniD. xyz, SarahandJamesFanatic, Renne', seraiza, vitalis, gotkona, cordykitten, klylu, BreannaStorm and Valery for the reviews
Chapter 4: Unexpected.


The weekend passed quickly and come Monday morning, Buffy was anxious to get to school. “Come on, Mom!” she called up the stairs.

Joyce grabbed her bag and descended the stairs quickly, wondering why Buffy was suddenly so keen on get to school. She took one look at her daughter’s appearance and had the answer. A boy… Joyce mused.

Buffy was wearing one of her nicer skirts that clung to her hips and fell just above her knee. The purple T-shirt she was wearing complimented the honeyed tones in her hair, which was swept off her face neatly, with beaded sandals completing the outfit. She looked very pretty. Joyce smiled as she watched Buffy check her watch for the second time in a matter of seconds.

“Alright, I’m here. Let’s go.”

~~~

Buffy walked up the stairs to school, noticing the stares instantly. Is there something on my face? She worried briefly, before dropping her gaze to the ground and hurriedly making her way to her locker.

“Hey!” a chirpy voice greeted her.

She jumped, startled by Willow’s sudden materialization from nowhere. “Hey, Will.”

“So have you seen him yet??” she asked, her words spilling quickly out her mouth.

Buffy shook her head, a slow grin spreading across her face. “I don’t have any classes with him, but maybe at lunch?”

“Hopefully at lunch!” Willow bounced excitedly.

“Hopefully what?” Xander said as he joined the girls by Buffy’s locker.

Willow looked at Buffy for a second, grinning before turning to Xander. “Ah, hopefully at lunch we’ll get to discuss prom dresses,” she covered quickly.

“Prom dresses?” Xander said aghast. “But Prom is months away!”

Buffy nodded, going with the story Willow had made up. “Exactly, which means we’re running out of time. If we want to look like goddesses on the night, we need to start shopping now.”

Willow giggled at the expression on Xander face as he shook his head. “Alright girls, if you say so. I better get to class.”

He waved goodbye to the two of them before disappearing down the hall. Willow said her goodbyes as well, walking down the opposite direction of the hall. That was one thing about Monday mornings she didn’t like, they didn’t share a single class. The trio had compared schedules their first day to see how many classes they had together. Getting her English books out of her locker, Buffy quickly shoved her backpack inside and closed it.

She turned to walk to her class when a hand was pressed up against the locker beside her, effectively blocking her path. Startled, she stepped back quickly, before glaring when she realized who it was.

“Did I scare you, pet?” he drawled slowly, lifting his arm from the locker.

“No,” Buffy retorted. “I have to get to class.”

“I’ll walk you,” he offered.

Buffy blinked in surprise, stunned by the offer. “No thank you, I can find it myself.”

“It’s no trouble. English right? I’m in the same class,” he explained, pointing toward her books.

“You’re in my English class, Spike?” Buffy said incredulously. “You mean you know how to read?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Spike was shocked by the comment, staring at her blankly for a moment. A frown knitted his brows as he turned and walked away. “Suit yourself.”

Buffy watched as he stormed off down the hall in the direction she had to take. She followed, keeping some distance between them. As she turned the corner of the hall she found him standing at the doorway, about to walk in.

“You following me, pet?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No! We’re in the same class, remember?” Her cheeks coloured as she pushed passed him and into the room, quickly finding a desk and sitting down.

Spike smirked when he saw how easy it was for him to fluster her. He followed her into the classroom, sitting at a desk at the back of the room and opened his notebook.

He paid no attention to the aging teacher; he knew more about the text they were studying than the old man did so there was no point listening. He was in class though, which would hopefully keep Snyder off his back.

After scribbling in his notebook for most of the class he looked up, his eyes flitting over the people in his class. He saw Buffy busily writing something down in her notebook, her head tilting to one side as she paused to think about something, before she continued. Her hair bounced around her shoulders with each movement. His eyes trailed down her back to her chair and then the floor. She was tapping one of her feet lightly on the ground. A glimmer of a smile ghosted his face when he followed the line of her leg upwards from her ankle, admiring her. Her skirt was riding a little high because of the way she was sitting, and he caught himself imagining what the view would be like if he was sitting in front of her.

What! He blinked. Did I really just think that? No…

Spike closed his eyes, trying to clear the thoughts that floated in and out of his mind. Opening his eyes, they widened suddenly when she moved, exposing another inch of skin.

“Damned short skirt,” he muttered under his breath, scowling as he returned his attention back to his scribbling.

~~~

“Maybe he was sick or something?” Willow suggested.

“Maybe,” Buffy agreed. Angel hadn’t been at school today and she was more than a little disheartened by his no show. She placed her books into her backpack, which she left in her locker. She had her first training session with the swim team this afternoon.

“I’d better start heading to the locker rooms to get changed. Practice starts in twenty minutes.”

Willow nodded quickly. “Yeah, ah… I should probably start heading home anyway. I’ll call you tonight, see how training was.”

“You don’t need to do that, Will, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Buffy said a little puzzled by the way Willow was suddenly fiddling with her hair, her books, her bag. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine! See ya!” she called, quickly turning and moving towards the exit.

Buffy’s gonna kill me…

~~~

Buffy hung her towel on a hook at the end of the pool and dropped her water bottle by the edge of the lane she was standing before. Adjusting her bathers, she tucked her hair into the silicon cap and positioned her goggles, standing up on the block.

She was a little early and had the pool to herself, which was just how she liked it.

A shot went off in her brain and she sprung out from the block, diving into the clear blue water. A tingle went up her spine at the sudden chill of the water. But the shock only lasted a second before she was up and stroking, arm over arm as she swam to the other end of the pool.

She tumble turned right before the end, her body coiled tightly before she pushed off the wall with her feet. She fly kicked for a few meters before coming up for breathe, freestyling all the way to the other end of the 50-meter pool.

Her lungs began to burn as she pushed her body to the limits, holding her breath for the last few strokes. She sped towards the end, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she slammed a hand into the wall. Taking a few seconds, she lifted her head above the water, and removed her goggles, pressing her back up against the wall and looking down the length of the pool, treading water.

She heard the applause behind her and turned quickly. Coach Jones was standing a not far from the pools edge watching her closely. “Now that’s how you swim a 100-meter sprint,” she complemented, eyeing a couple of the students who were standing around watching Buffy with interest.

“Buffy, glad you could make it,” Coach continued. Turning around she looked at the unmoving students. “Well, what are you lot waiting for, time to get in the water.”

This was met with a few groans, but they slowly disrobed and made their way into the pool one by one.

“Everyone, meet Buffy. She’s the newest member of our team,” Coach Jones introduced. Buffy waved shyly at the group, still treading water. “Buffy this is J.D, Alicia, David, Brian, Beth and Carla. We’re still waiting on Will. He’s always late.”

Buffy grabbed her goggles and put them back on her head, awaiting instruction. “Alright everyone, you’ve got a five hundred meter freestyle warm up followed by sixteen 50-meter sprints on a minutes rest. Let’s go!” A whistle sounded and Buffy pushed off from the wall right into the warm up.

The coach watched with interest as Buffy stretched the distance ahead of the two girls swimming in the lane with her. “Yes, definitely a good thing she joined the team.”

Footsteps padded behind her and she turned to see her missing swimmer. “Hurry it up, Will, get in the pool. They others are already onto sprints.”

The boy scowled, dropping his bag on the ground away from the pool edge and slipping his goggles onto his forehead. Stretching his arms a few times before he approached the blocks his attention was drawn to an unfamiliar person who had managed to lap the two other girls swimming in one of the lanes. Her technique was near flawless and she was fast, slicing through the water with ease as she tumbled at the other end and began her return.

“Who’s the fresh meat?” he asked.

Clicking the buttons on her stopwatch, Coach looked up at Will with a twinkle in her eye. “New girl, Buffy Summers. Looks like we’ve got a chance at States this year; she just broke the female pool record for a hundred meter freestyle and she doesn’t even look like she’s trying.”

“Summers?” he repeated in surprise.

Coach Jones looked up at the boy and smiled. “Stop stalling and get in the water.”

~~~

Buffy felt all her worries slip away as she lost herself in the rhythm of her swimming. One, two, three, breathe…

She touched the wall for the final time and looked around at the others still swimming behind her and a smile flickered across her face. The two girls in her lane had found it hard to keep up, and she would be lying if she said that didn’t boost her confidence. It was nice to be good at something.

Sometime during the warm up the last member of the swim team had joined them but, because the coach had written the session up on a whiteboard, Buffy didn’t have to wait between sets. She just caught her breath and moved onto the next task. But now that she was finished, she watched the other swimmers with interest. When the girls in her lane tumbled passed her again, she decided it would probably be best to get out of their way and start heading to the changing rooms.

“Nice session, Buffy. See you after school on Wednesday,” Coach informed.

Buffy nodded, walking over to her towel.

~~~

He finished his final lap, having caught up and eventually overtaken the others in his lane. Looking up from the water he caught a glance of a tiny girl walking to the hooks and removing a towel. She lifted her leg up on a seat and patted the towel on her tanned skin to soak up the water.

He gasped at the sight. Then she lifted a hand to remove her swimming cap, running her fingers through her long blonde hair which clung to her shoulders in wet clumps.

Wrapping the towel around her slender hips, he realized she was about to leave pool deck. Lifting himself from the water he removed his goggles and walked over to his bag, grabbing his own towel and wrapping it around himself.

“Following me again, eh, Summers?” he called.

Buffy spun around and her jaw dropped when she saw Spike standing a few meters behind her dripping wet, a towel wrapped low on his hips. His hair was an unruly mess of curls and he ran a hand through it in an attempt to smooth it down a little. A sly smirk spread across his face when he saw her eyes flick over his towel briefly and he started to walk towards her.

“I-I’m not following you. What are you doing here?” she asked, still in shock, not even able to muster any of the hatred she felt for him in her words.

“Playing basketball,” he mocked. “What do you think I’m doing? I’m on the swim team. Captain in fact,” he added with a broad grin.

Buffy’s mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish, as she tried to find her words.

“You’re… the captain?” she finally repeated with incredulity.

“The one and only”, he nodded, the grin stretching even further. His eyes ticked over her shoulders, and down…

Buffy lifted her arms quickly and crossed them over her chest, having seen where his gaze was traveling. She was completely dumbstruck; this was the last thing she would have ever anticipated. Her cheeks were already flaming from his scrutiny and she wasn’t going to hang around any longer to give him the chance to spout off any typical sarcastic comments. Turning her back on him she walked towards the locker room. Buffy could feel his eyes burning holes into her back as she walked away from him.

~~~

Buffy showered and changed quickly, hoping to escape another encounter with Spike. She couldn’t believe he was on the swim team. Just wait till she told Willow…

Realization dawned on her, Willow had known. That’s why she was so jumpy after school. Then why wouldn’t she tell me?

She walked out of the locker room and was relieved to see that Spike was not around. Happy, she walked through the school and exited via the front doors. Her relief from moments ago was short lived; he was leaned up against the wall of the building puffing on a cigarette.

Spike spotted Buffy’s exit and walked over, stomping on the butt and smirking as he made his way over. His hair was still wet and was no more tamed than it had been before.

“You a bit surprised to see me in there, pet?” he asked, the smirk not shifting from his face.

She stared at him for a moment before finding her words. “Why do you smoke? As a swimmer you should know…”

“…what they do to your lungs. Save the speech, luv, I’ve heard it dozens of times before.”

Buffy glared and walked away from him towards the parking lot, stopping when she didn’t see the SUV. Her Mom wasn’t here yet.

Spike jogged to catch up with her, walking by her side and sitting down beside her on the park bench at the front of the school. He kept his eyes on her, and noticed how her cheeks began to flush pink under his gaze.

“So, looks like we’re going to be spending some time together,” he teased.

“What? Why?” she demanded.

“There’s a swim meet coming up in four weeks, in LA, over a weekend. We’re staying over. And if I know Jonesy, she’ll want you there,” he explained.

Buffy eyes widened in surprise. “I’ve never stayed over for a meet before!”

Spike chuckled. “That’s right, you used to live in LA, so no reason to stay over, eh?”

Why am I talking to him? She asked herself. The sound of a car driving by caught her attention and she looked up with hope.

He saw the disappointment on her face as the car drove by. “Did you want a lift?” he offered, tilting his head towards his Desoto that was parked on the other side of the lot.

Buffy shook her head a little too quickly. “No thanks, my Mom will be here soon.”

Shrugging his shoulders he stood up and walked over to his car. “Be that way then,” he called over his shoulders.

Buffy sighed and waited for her Mom to arrive.

~~~

Half an hour later Spike was driving from the mall back towards his house, mentally arguing with himself.

She’s the reason I was given detention. Why am I even bothering to talk to her…

Because Angel’s appreciation of her made you look at her differently… a voice taunted him.

No… I don’t go for other people’s seconds…

He clenched his jaw when he thought of Angel’s lips on Buffy’s, tightening his grip on the steering wheel, wondering again why it bothered him.

No… he just opened your eyes… that voice echoed again. He saw her for what she is…

If I hadn’t crashed into her in the hall that day, I probably would’ve noticed her… eventually.

Yeah, right… the voice argued back.

Spike turned up the stereo, blocking out his thoughts as he drove towards home. His eyes widened as he looked out the window when he saw something from the corner of his eye. A girl walking down the street lugging a gym bag plus a backpack, a tiny blonde girl. Cursing, he pulled the car over and wound down the window.

“Thought you were waiting for your Mom?” he yelled out the window.

Buffy jumped, glaring when she saw who it was. “She must be running late, and I can’t wait all day.” Buffy didn’t give him a second look as she continued on her way down the street.

“Get in, I’ll drive you.”

She ignored him, focusing on the path ahead.

Cursing again, he revved the engine and drove a little ahead of her, parking the car but leaving the engine running as he jumped out of the driver’s side.

“Just get in the bloody car, I’ll drive you home!” he growled as he stepped in front of her path, stopping her.

She considered arguing with him until she saw the look on his face. Nodding in acceptance she dragged her bags over to the edge of the street. He popped the trunk and lifted her bags in there for her.

“Bloody hell, Summers, you got half the library in those bags?” he teased half-heartedly.

Buffy didn’t respond, just quietly slipped into the passenger seat and waited for him to join her. Moments later they were moving. Buffy sat in silence when she didn’t have to give him directions.

Spike looked over at her curiously once or twice, wondering what it was that was causing the forlorn look on her face. He knew she wouldn’t talk to him though, so he kept quiet.

~~~

Ten minutes later they were pulling into her driveway. Spike parked the car and shut off the engine, climbing out. Unlocking the trunk he hefted her bags and started carrying them to the door. Buffy watched him from the passenger seat, a little surprised by his chivalry.

“Well, are you going inside or not ,Summers?” he asked when she didn’t move immediately.

She climbed out of the car and closed the door behind her, fumbling for her keys in her pocket as she made her way to the front door.

“You can leave my bags, I can carry them,” she finally protested.

“It’s no trouble,” he assured as he reached the door.

Buffy was overcome by a sudden shyness, unsure of why he was helping her and being so nice. A few days ago he was being a right bastard, and now… Why the sudden change?

Refusing to meet his gaze she managed to get the door unlocked and open. Spike stepped into the house with her bags and dropped them just inside the door.

“Spike, I can manage, okay? Thanks for the ride, but you should go.”

He ignored her words, flicking on a light switch that was on the wall by the door. The entry way filled with light. He could see a dining room off to the right, and a living room to the left. A set of stairs ascended straight up from the entrance, leading to a second level.

“No lights on, your Mom mustn’t be home,” he stated the obvious. “I can wait.”

Now Buffy was getting a little annoyed. “I’m not a child, Spike, I can wait for my mother in my house, by myself.”

Shrugging his shoulders he turned around and walked out the door. “Suit yourself.”

He didn’t even turn to look at the house as he climbed into his car and started up the engine, driving off quickly. His grip on the steering wheel was tight as he drove away, his mind a blur of thoughts. What was that about…?

Buffy sighed and closed the front door as the car disappeared.

I wonder where Mom is?



~~~~~~~~~~
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