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Monday morning came fast and William soon found himself pulling into a parking spot at school and wishing he’d thought to wear a hat. He turned off the engine, pulled out the keys and grabbed his bag. He opened the door to see Xander and Willow, the slight red-haired girl he’d met briefly last week, heading his way.

“Hey, Will…William?” Xander’s eyes widened. “Man, what happened to your hair?” He demanded quickly.

“Xander!” Willow elbowed him and looked back at William with a smile. “He means you…um…you look different. Which doesn’t mean not good umm…”

William smiled, there was definitely something about Willow that put him at ease. “Thank you for the polite translation, but I think Xander had it right; it is rather odd.”

Willow shook her head. “It looks fine. We just didn’t think you were the ‘bleach your hair’ type.”

“Yeah” Xander agreed nodding. “What Willow said and what happened?”

“Well I suppose…” William started only to turn abruptly a second later at the sound of his name.

“William!” Buffy called out and waved from across the parking lot. She bounced up and down on her toes, causing the short skirt of her cheerleading uniform to flip around.

By the time William thought to raise his hand and wave back she had already turned away to join a group of girls. He watched her walk away for a moment before looking back at his new friends’ rather shocked expressions.

Xander spoke first. “And again I ask; what happened?”

“It’s something of a long story.”

Xander glanced towards the entrance of the school where Buffy was now walking through the front door. “I’m prepared to skip first period.”
****************************************
A little while later William was starting to wish he’d thought to skip school all together. His new look was definitely not helping him blend in; if anything he was attracting more attention. People had been giving him strange looks all day. His first period professor hadn’t even recognized him and had suggested he was in the wrong class, causing most of the students to giggle and William to turn red in mortification. He was now in third period where he was sure that the girl sitting across the aisle thought he was a freak. After all, he thought, he’d apparently shocked her enough to make her drop her pencil three times. He’d retrieved it for her and gave her an apologetic smile each time. He was, he thought with conviction, certainly going to have to get it turned back and soon.

At lunch he avoided the cafeteria all together and found temporary peace in the rather empty library. He might have left school; he certainly could have claimed to be ill. It wouldn’t even be a lie, given the currently nauseous state of his stomach. He would have left, but for one thing: last period. Last period was American History and Buffy was in his class. He wasn’t going to leave and give up the chance that she might smile at him again. So he stuck it out, he ignored the odd glances and occasional whispers and with a desperate sort of gladness finally slid into a chair for his last class of the day.

Buffy entered the room a couple of moments later and surprised him by not only smiling at him but heading his way. She dropped into the seat next to him. “Hey. I looked for you at lunch.”

William’s mouth opened twice before any sound came out. “You did?”

She nodded and then leaned in to whisper. “So how’s the makeover working out? Was I right? I bet girls have been hitting on you all day huh?”

“No one has hit me.” William whispered back confusedly. “Why…”

Buffy giggled and he could help but smile at the sound.

“Not hit, like …hit.” She pretended to punch his arm. “I meant like flirt. I’ll bet that a lot of girls noticed you today.”

He laughed. “I do seem to have drawn some attention, but…” He shrugged not sure how to tell her without hurting her feelings that he didn’t think that any makeover, even hers, was likely to work the kind of magic she was talking about.

Buffy frowned slightly and gave William a look over. He looked good, she thought, actually she amended quickly; he looked really good. The dark jeans and black tee shirt fit him well and showed off an unexpectedly fit physique and the hair really made the blue of his eyes stand out. No, she smiled; looks were really not an issue. He was, she decided, simply being too shy. “William, you…”

The teacher started talking and Buffy stopped and leaned back against her own chair to listen.

William was having a harder time paying attention. He’d expected her to go sit next to someone else once class was underway, but she’d surprised him by staying and he now found himself trying to disguise his need to glance her way every few seconds. He was so caught up in his own internal struggle to keeps his thoughts on appropriate topics and not on how smooth the skin on her thighs looked, that he completely missed it when she turned back to him and spoke.

“Okay?”

“Huh… I mean… that is…”

She smiled. “Are you cool with being my partner for the project? I’m sure you’re way smarter about this stuff then me, but I always do my share and my Mom usually makes good study snacks.”

He gaped. Was she actually trying to talk him into working with her? “Yes! I mean yes that would be very nice.”

“Cool.” She bit her lip for a moment drawing his eyes to her mouth. “Are you free tonight? I like to get a quick start on these things so I don’t have to do too much on any given day. That is the way to brain frizzle you know. I have practice but it should be a short one.” She stopped when she caught his dazed expression. “Earth to William” she grinned at his sheepish expression” so does tonight work for you?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes.” He paused for a moment before adding. “I can wait…I mean at school. I could wait until you finish practice and then give you a ride home. Unless, I mean you probably already have a…”

Buffy beamed. “Perfect. That would be great. Ooh then you could meet some of my cheerleading friends.”

He nodded and tried to smile back. He really didn’t think he could handle talking to a whole group of Buffy’s friends, but if it made her happy he’d certainly try.

When History ended William once again delighted in the relative security of the school library. No one there was likely to expect him to talk overly much; not that there were really many students there. He was still a bit puzzled by the lack of use the school library seemed to get and he wondered if anyone here did their homework. He was pondering his chances of checking out a book of poetry by William Blake without anyone noticing, he really didn’t want to provide his fellow students with even more reason to question his sexual preference, when he ran into Willow.

“William!” She gave him a warm smile. “You’re in the library!”

She seemed so genuinely excited to see him that William was for a moment stunned. He nodded and then laughed. “It doesn’t seem like a very popular destination.”

Willow shook her head. “No. No one comes here. Well I come here and sometimes I see Lee Chovskoski here, but I think she just hides here when she’d cutting P.E. Oooh we can be library friends. I’ve always wanted a library friend. Xander swears he doesn’t even know where the library is but everyone comes here during their freshman tour so he must. I guess it would be cooler not to know but I don’t know why. I mean why is it cool to not know something?” She grinned and looked at him expectantly.

William gave her a weak smile while trying to decide which parts of her speech required an answer on his part. Willow seemed like a possible kindred spirit but that didn’t mean he was quite used to following her rather rapid chat yet. He opened his mouth to attempt a response but she saved him from the need to talk by starting up once again herself.

“So you really let Buffy Summers bleach your hair? Is it because you like her, I mean I guess all boys kind of like her right?”

He blushed. “She didn’t actually do the bleaching she just suggested it and I…she seems to know more about this sort of thing than I do, so I thought it best to follow her advice.”

Willow nodded. “I think it’s just one of those things you have to get used to. Like this morning I was all Ahhh!, but now I think it looks nice.”

“Thank you, but I’m really not so sure myself.”

She gave him a quizzical look. “So you like her?”

“She’s been most pleasant to me. I think she…is very nice.” And also the most beautiful and illuminating of souls, his mind filled in.

Willow giggled. “But do you like, like her like her.”

“She has a boyfriend, not that I would presume to…that is I…”

Giggling again, Willow filled in the blanks. “So you really like her.” Seeing William’s blush, she quickly assured him that she wouldn’t tell anyone. “Is it just ‘cause she’s so pretty?”

“Oh no! She’s …fascinating. I’ve never met anyone like her.” Catching himself, William quickly ducked his head.

Willow smiled. “So do you have like a big wooing plan?”

“What? Oh no I’m not. No. I’m just hoping to be her friend.” He paused and leaned towards her slightly. “She asked me to be her partner on our history project, so maybe…”

“Oh William. She definitely likes you then. I’ll bet she thinks you’re cute.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.

He laughed. “I rather think not. She seems to have made it her crusade to help me find a girlfriend.”

Willow frowned. “Hmm…that is tricky. I’m really not the one to help with love stuff. I’m kind of a lost cause myself.”

William frowned. “Surely not. You seem quite lovely. I’m certain there are gentlemen who would be honored to …” He stopped when she started laughing and gave her a confused look.

She looked at him sheepishly. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you have such nice manners.”

“And that’s bad?”

“No.” she shook her head “it’s really nice. I hope we can be friends.”

William smiled at the somewhat odd girl. “I hope that as well.”

After chatting with Willow for a few more minutes, he made his way toward the field that Buffy indicated they should meet at. She’d said that they were just having a quick meet and that she’d be ready in a half hour. He’d considered giving her a few extra minutes in the hopes that most of the others would leave, but quickly decided that he didn’t want to risk the possibility that she would think he’d forgotten and decide to go home with someone else. He ducked against the bleachers along the side at the exact suggested time and watched the girls wrap up their meeting. He couldn’t make out any of the conversation, but he thought that they all seemed quite excited. He supposed that was a requirement for a cheerleader.

Buffy noticed him a couple of moments later, smiled, and gestured that he should come over. He took one look at the bouncing mass of rapidly talking girls surrounding her and decided to pretend that he hadn’t noticed. He ducked his head and feigned great interest in the grass.

Buffy shook her head and giggled. She was pretty sure that he had seen her and decided not to come over. She was also pretty sure that she’d never met anyone so shy before. She decided not to push it. She turned to Cordy. “I’ve got to head. I told William that we could get started on our history project this afternoon.”

Cordy gave her a confused glance. “Who?”

“William, you know we met him at the park.” At her blank look, Buffy added. “I nearly killed him with the frisbee. Well, he’s really nice and smart and he’s got US history during seventh period with me.” She gestured toward William. “He’s waiting so…”

“Wait.” Cordy looked at William for a moment and then back at Buffy. “That is not the dork from the park.”

“Cordy! He’s not…he’s just kind of shy.”

Cordy gave her a skeptical look and then turned her attention back toward the black-clad boy standing on the side of the field. “That boy does not look shy.” Her eyes lit up as she turned back to Buffy. “What does Angel say about all this?”

“What does he say about what? How would he know if William’s shy? I don’t think…”

“So you’re saying that you’re boyfriend doesn’t know that you’re hanging out with bleach boy over there.”

“We’re doing a project and…and he’s my friend. Angel wouldn’t care.” A little voice in her head argued that Angel just might care if he knew about some of her mind’s wanderings during history, but she quickly shut the voice up by reminding herself that it was fine to notice that William was attractive just so long as she remembered that she loved Angel. Angel was her boyfriend.

Cordy nodded, but didn’t appear to agree. “Okay if you want to risk losing the hottest guy in school just to hang out with that guy…just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. Angel won’t care.” Hell, she thought Angel was probably too busy to even notice. She waved goodbye to the others and jogged over to where William stood. “Hiya. You could have come over you know.”

“I was fine waiting. If you’re not done I can…”

“We’re all set.” She laughed. “You ready to think historically?”

He nodded. “I generally am.”





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