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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hi all. I'm coming down from the high of a lovely visit from my best friend from college and a weekend of fun (including brunch). Thanks for all the William love. I hope you like part three.
The next day started off bad and then got worse. First, while William was still listening to his mother remind him that she and his father would not be home until late, he heard a car pull up in front of Buffy’s house. Peeking out the window confirmed it; Buffy had gotten one of her other friends to pick her up for school. He watched her climb into the car with a big smile. It made his stomach hurt and he considered for the smallest of moments telling his mother that he didn’t feel well so that he could just go back to bed. He quickly imagined his mother dragging him to the doctor and decided it wasn’t worth it. He nodded distantly through the rest of her instructions and then drove to school with The Clash playing at a volume that could easily cause hearing loss.

William rarely felt homesick for London. He’d fallen so hard and so fast for Buffy Summers of Sunnydale, California that generally the thought of being anywhere but near her caused him distinct distress. Today, though, he missed rain, real rain that was gloomy and cold and gray and made everyone miserable.

His classes were a welcome distraction. He liked learning and he liked showing off what he’d learned nearly as much as learning it. It was nice being good at something. But every time the bell rang he’d have five minutes to get lost in his own head before the next class started. As usual, he used those breaks to find Buffy in the hallway. Most of the time, he didn’t talk to her between classes. Occasionally he said hi and asked her a question that he didn’t truly need an answer to, but normally he just saw her. He knew her schedule so finding her was not very hard. On good days, he could find her between nearly every class. On very good days, she would come up to him in the hallway and ask him a question.

They’d hung out more often the year before. He used to be able to show up at her doorstep without an excuse at all. She used to smile and invite him in to watch a movie or ask if he wanted to go get frozen yogurt. William wasn’t really sure what had happened to change that, but he suspected it was his fault. Somewhere along the way he’d started finding it too hard to pretend all the time. He ached whenever she was close.

He ate his lunch in the Bio-lab. He wasn’t actually taking Biology that term but it was a habit he’d developed the year before and he got extra credit for tutoring the students who were taking it. He knew that he was welcome to go to the cafeteria and sit at whatever table Buffy was at. Some of her other friends would probably look surprised, but it wasn’t like any of them would actually tell him to leave. She would probably smile and ask him why he wasn’t in the lab and he’d feel really good for a few minutes. After that he wouldn’t know what to do. He couldn’t chat with her friends. He’d tried a few times, but it never went well. William knew that he would just end up sitting there trying not to look at her too much. It was better to eat in the Bio-lab.

After his last class he spent some time in the dark room developing the pictures he’d taken for the school newspaper. Of course he could have used a digital camera and made things a little easier, but he liked the intimacy and challenge of the classic SLR. Forty-five minutes in the darkroom and then a half hour in the library. It was his standard Wednesday routine. As always, afterward he headed to the gym to see if Buffy was done with practice and if she wanted a ride home. That’s when it happened. That’s when he found out that having your heart broken actual hurt in a physical way.

He knew immediately what he was watching. Buffy was standing in front of Liam “Angel” O’Brian. She was still wearing her cheerleading uniform and as she spoke she bounced slightly in her sneakers before coming to a standstill with one knee bent inward. William knew she was nervous because she was using her hands to gesture more than she normally did. Liam was nodding and smiling. William knew that he should leave, walk away and try to forget that he’d ever even seen Buffy Summers and her golden hair and big green eyes. He couldn’t. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from it. When the football player leaned down and kissed Buffy’s cheek, William’s heart stopped. The whole world stopped. He was certain, that for just a second, the entire world was on fire and he was the only one that knew it. But then they started moving again, as though nothing had happened and he watched Buffy nod and pick up her book bag before following Angel out towards the parking lot.

William Pratt had a strict policy on crying. He didn’t do it, especially not in the hallway of the bloody high school. He squared his shoulders and took the long way to his car.

He was half way home when he made a command decision. If he was going to be a pathetic girlfriend-less loser, he was going to be a pathetic girlfriend-less loser with a lock on his door so he could wank without his mother walking in and looking at him like he was a pathetic girlfriend-less loser and also a pervert. He turned and drove to the hardware store.

Of course his mother noticed when she came home and acted as though it was the strangest idea in the world.

“What have you got to hide?”

“Mum, I’m seventeen years old. I should be able to change my clothes without worrying about you coming in.”

She’d suggested that he change in the bathroom but, in a rare showing of male solidarity, his father had told her that it seemed like a fair arrangement and then distracted her with a question about the tie he was planning to wear to a big presentation the next day.

William Pratt smiled for the first time all day.





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