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Chapter 24

Buffy didn’t know what she was doing when she walked to Gwen’s house a couple of days later. They haven’t been friends for a while, but she still felt that she should apologize for what she said in front of their former teacher. She let her temper get a hold of her and blurted out a secret that she promised herself she would never mention, even if they both had it coming. The school year was almost over and Buffy figured that it was about time to make amends. She decided to be the bigger person and take the first step, knowing that Gwen wasn’t likely to.

She broke out of her thoughts when she finally reached the other girl’s house. It looked the same as she remembered it. Buffy took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She waited for a few seconds and got no response. A few more knocks and still nothing, so Buffy decided to risk turning the doorknob. She was surprised to find the door unlocked and opened it, stepping into the house. Something definitely didn’t feel right once she was inside. “Hello? Is anyone here?” she called out and again got no response in return. Buffy slowly headed upstairs and figured that she should just leave, but she was too curious now. She came upon Gwen’s bedroom door to hear music inside, rolling her eyes at how dense her ex-friend could be sometimes. She knocked on the door and then opened it, not bothering to wait for a response that probably wouldn’t come. Buffy stopped suddenly when she took in the sight of the room. It was a complete mess, but it was the unconscious figure on the floor that really had her shocked. “Oh god, Gwen!” She ran to the girl’s side to check for a pulse, sighing in relief when she felt one, but it was pretty weak. It was then that she noticed the empty bottle of pills lying next to her body. Buffy panicked and instantly grabbed for the phone. She dialed 911 and waited impatiently for someone to pick up.

“911, what is your emergency?” a female voice said on the other line.

“My friend overdosed on sleeping pills. I can’t get her to wake up,” Buffy claimed in a frantic.

“Stay calm, miss. Where are you located?”

Buffy was finding it hard to stay calm, but managed to give Gwen’s address.

“An ambulance is on the way,” the lady replied after a moment.

Buffy hung up the phone and waited for help to arrive. She had no idea where Gwen’s parents were and wasn’t about to leave her there alone. She looked around and took notice of an empty bottle of Vodka that she didn’t see before. She couldn’t believe that Gwen would take a bottle of sleeping pills with alcohol. She stared down at the dark haired girl, with unshed tears in her eyes. “God, what happened to you?”


* * * * *


“Buffy, what happened? Are you okay?”

She shook her head and accepted Spike’s comforting embrace.

He pulled away to look at her, noticing her bloodshot eyes from crying.

“Gwen tried to kill herself. She overdosed on sleeping pills with Vodka. The doctor had to pump her stomach. They think she’s going to be okay, but she still hasn’t woken up.”

Spike ran his fingers down her back soothingly and moved her over to one of the empty chairs in the waiting room. He sat down and pulled her down with him.

Buffy rested her head against his shoulder. She was scared when she arrived at the hospital and didn’t know what to do. Spike was the only person that she wanted, knowing that he would make her feel better. She called the house and had her mother put him on the phone, after assuring her that she was fine. She didn’t tell him much, just to come to the hospital and that she would explain later. Again, assuring him that she wasn’t hurt or anything.

The doctor suddenly made his way over to them.

Buffy quickly stood up, Spike following her lead.

She got right to the point. “How is she?”

“Ms. Raiden is going to be fine, but she will need to take it easy for a while. Do you know of a number where her parents could be reached?”

Buffy shook her head. “No, they weren’t at home. They might be out of town or something.”

The doctor nodded. “Well, you may see her now. She’s asking for you.”

Buffy nodded as well and watched him walk away.

“Do you want me to go with you?”

Buffy looked at Spike and gave his hand a squeeze. “It’s okay; I think I need to do this alone. Wait for me?”

He nodded. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll call Joyce; let her know what’s going on.”

She gave a small smile and placed a kiss on his cheek, then took a deep breath and headed for Gwen’s hospital room.


* * * * *


Buffy took in the sight of the pale girl once she entered the room and gasped.

Gwen gave a little laugh at her reaction. “Yeah, I look like a ghost or something. I think I might bring the pale look back.”

Buffy moved closer to her and sat down in the chair that was next to the bed. “Only you would think about making jokes at a time like this.”

She shrugged. “I have to do something to liven up this room. What were you doing at my house, Summers? You haven’t set foot in there for over a year.”

“I was actually coming to apologize for the whole thing at school. I didn’t mean to say that to Mr. Rayne, but I was pissed off. I saw you hitting on Spike and I just lost it. Why do you always do that? Why do you have to go after everyone I like?” she wondered.

“I honestly don’t know. It’s not like you have the best taste in the world. I’m not interested in Billy Idol; I just wanted to have some fun. He’s all yours.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “That’s your problem; everything is always a game to you. It doesn’t matter who you hurt. We used to be really close, Gwen. I don’t know what’s gotten into you. At this rate, you’ll be lucky to have any friends left. What the hell were you thinking tonight? You could have died, unless that’s what you were trying to accomplish. It doesn’t make any sense to me why you would want to kill yourself.”

Gwen gave a humorless laugh. “Of course it doesn’t make sense to you, Buffy. You have the perfect life. I wouldn’t expect for you to understand.”

Buffy was stunned by her confession. “You think I have the perfect life? Have you been around for the last couple of years? Sometimes my life happens to suck beyond the telling of it. I lost my dad, I was raped, and I nearly drowned. I could go on. The last few years have been complete Hell. The only reason I’m happy at all right now is because of Spike. If I didn’t have him, there’s no telling where I would be. I don’t understand why you would want a life like mine. You’re only seventeen, Gwen. There is so much that you haven’t done yet. Your life is bound to get better if you let it, deciding to end everything isn’t the way. What brought this on?”

Gwen looked down at her hands. “I got into some stupid fight with my parents the other day. They were talking about shipping me off to an all girl boarding school in Switzerland. Apparently, they just don’t want to deal with me anymore. My dad said some pretty harsh stuff to me and my mom just let him. They left for LA on another one of their many trips to get away from me. They say it’s for business, but I know better. I just couldn’t take anymore.”

“I’m sorry about that. I know parents can be cruel sometimes, but it’s not a good reason for you to kill yourself. You should try talking to them about the whole boarding school thing; get them to listen to you about how you feel. And if that doesn’t work, I think it might be a good idea. Maybe you could use a change in scenery, to start over where no one knows you.”

Gwen thought about it. “I suppose I could use a break from the parents.”

Buffy nodded. “There you go. No matter how bad you think something is, there’s always some good that comes out of it.” She was silent for a moment, until she thought of something else that had always bothered her. “Why did you sleep with our teacher? Were you really that desperate for a good grade?”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “I could care less about grades. I don’t know why I did it. It was stupid and I never stopped regretting it since it happened. I was at the Bronze and may have had too much to drink. I was shocked to see Mr. Rayne at the bar. I never would have expected a teacher to show up there, but I started to flirt with him. He could have turned me away, but I guess he was also pretty drunk and just didn’t care. We ended up going outside to the alley, where he figured no one would see us. Well, you pretty much know the rest after that.”

Buffy shuddered at the memory. “Yeah, unfortunately I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s something I never wanted to see.”

“That was the only time it happened. We pretty much never spoke of it again. I didn’t want to get in trouble, and he didn’t want to lose his job. We just tried to put it behind us.”

Buffy felt guilty. “I’m sorry again for what I said. I didn’t plan on blurting it out like that.”

Gwen waved her hand in the air. “It was bound to come out sooner or later. I’m surprised you took that long to say something.”

Buffy nodded and stood up. “I should go and let you get some rest.”

Gwen gave her a small smile. “Thanks for saving my life, Buffy. I’m sorry for being such a bitch. Maybe when I get out of here, we can try that whole friends thing again. You know, assuming I’m not headed to Switzerland.”

Buffy returned her smile. “Yeah, I’d like that. I’ll see you later.” She left the room and made her way back to Spike, glad that things were starting to look up.





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