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After Christmas break ended, Buffy took an additional week off school, not willing to see anyone or to have to deal with people looking at her sympathetically. She didn’t want pity from people, and she especially didn’t want to talk to anyone, including her friends. The only person she saw was her mother, and even that was bad enough.

When Joyce found out about what had happened between her daughter and William, she was furious. She didn’t understand how he could suddenly move on to some girl he hadn’t even known for a month. But whenever Joyce tried to talk to her daughter about it, Buffy emotionally shut her mom out, distancing herself from everything.

When the following Monday rolled around after her mental health break from school, she decided that she couldn’t hide out forever and let her mother drive her to school. Wordlessly, she got out of the car and walked to the front doors of Sunnydale High, noticing a familiar car driving into the parking lot. Watching as William parked his vintage Desoto and instantly feeling nauseous when Drusilla got out of the car on the passenger side, Buffy held back the tears forming in her eyes and walked inside.

When she got to her locker, she was thankful that both Willow and Cordelia were waiting there for her. Both girls hugged their friend, still worried about her well-being.

“How’ve you been, sweetie?” Willow asked, running her hand over Buffy’s hair. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Buffy said, mustering some strength and opening her locker. “Have I missed a lot?”

“No,” Cordelia answered, looking at Willow for a second. “We have a paper due Friday in English, but that’s about it.” Buffy nodded and grabbed her books for her morning classes.

“And we have study hall in Chemistry,” Willow said. Buffy felt relieved.

‘One less time I have to see Drusilla today,’ she thought. ‘I really need to get a new Chemistry partner. Maybe I can buddy up with Willow. Not that I want to pair Tara up with the vapid ho that stole my boyfriend away from me.’ Buffy felt tears forming again and shut her eyes to stop them from escaping. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come back today.’

“So, is there any gossip I should be informed of?” Buffy asked, hoping that her friends wouldn’t notice her watery eyes.

“Not really,” Cordelia answered, shrugging. “You missed a boring week.” Willow looked at Cordelia with a grateful expression.

Both girls had seen the school’s reaction to the break-up over the course of the prior week. Whenever William and Dru had walked down the hall together, everyone looked at them with angry expressions, and most of the time, the new couple could hear people saying things about them. Willow saw the sad expression on William’s face every time he was confronted by another student. He felt ten times worse about the situation when he was at school, and when people began to ignore him, like the people he considered friends, he felt lower than he ever had before.

“So, we should probably get to class,” Willow said, and Cordelia nodded. Buffy followed her friends towards their Algebra classroom and saw William and Dru walking inside the building. Locking eyes with her, he clenched his jaw when she ducked her head quickly.

‘She’s never going to forgive me,’ he thought before seeing the glares that Willow and Cordelia were shooting at him. He watched as the three girls walked into their classroom before he kissed Dru’s cheek.

“I’ll see you at lunch, luv,” he said quietly, letting her go to class. He went to the library for study hall, and for the whole hour, his thoughts were filled with his ex-girlfriend.

* * * * *

Willow and Buffy walked to the cafeteria together for lunch and sat at their usual table. When all of her friends sat down, she looked at William’s empty chair and sighed.

‘I guess it’s just the seven of us now,’ she thought.

Xander looked over and noticed the depressed look on Buffy’s face.

“So, Buffster, want to hear this great joke I heard the other day?” he asked, hoping he could maybe make her smile. She looked at him, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw William and Drusilla walk in, going over to her table of friends. A lot of the students quieted down, probably hoping that something would happen now that Buffy was back and was in the same room with the two people who had betrayed her. Buffy turned her back to Dru’s table and looked at Xander.

“Sure, cheer me up,” she said, managing a small smile. Willow looked at her friend with a soft expression, proud that Buffy wasn’t going to let the break-up keep her down forever.

After the bell rang, Buffy went to her locker to get her books for the second half of the day. While pulling out a textbook, she sensed someone standing beside her. She saw Jonathan Levinson standing there, looking at her sadly.

“Hi,” she said quietly. “Can I help you?”

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about what happened between you and William,” he said. “You didn’t deserve that, no matter what anyone says.” Buffy looked at him, surprised.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him before in my entire life,’ she thought. ‘And I’ve known him for over a decade.’

“Thank you,” she said with a soft smile, putting her textbook in her backpack. He nodded and walked away, going into a classroom. After shutting her locker and turning to go to her next class, Buffy walked into someone and froze when she saw who it was.

“Sorry, luv,” William said, grabbing her arm gently to keep her from falling. She instantly wrenched her arm out of his grasp and took a step back. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” she asked, practically hissing. “Am I okay? What do you think, Will? Do I look okay to you?” He put his hands in his pockets, frowning.

“Buffy, I’m so-“ he began to say, but she put her hand up to stop him.

“Don’t even think of apologizing to me,” she cut in. “There’s nothing you can say to me that’s going to make me forgive you.” She began to walk away from him.

“I still care about you,” he said, loud enough for her to hear. She stopped and turned to look at him.

“No you don’t,” she replied, willing herself not to cry. “If you did, you wouldn’t have hurt me like that.” She stood up straighter and took a deep breath. “But we’re over now, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?” He sighed as she turned again and walked away from him, disappearing into the library.

‘Of course it still matters.’.





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