Part 1
It's big. That's the first thing I notice. It's big and bright and everything that I just know I'll hate. I stare at the high school looming outside the car window and feel shivers running down my spine. I don't like it here. I'm not even inside yet and I'm sure that I'm going to hate it.
"I don't wanna go."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." His voice is gruff and I don't think he even tried to make it sound reassuring. He's probably still drunk. Stupid son of a bitch. He only took me in to get the check from Social Services. Like he gives a damn about me.
I turn in the seat to face him. "How am I gonna get home? Are you gonna pick me up?"
Grunt. Was that an answer? I open my mouth to spout out some of my typical witticism but I remember where that got me last time. The bruise hasn't healed yet. Damn him. I'm tough! I've lived most of my adolescent years shuffled from foster home to foster home and I've never taken shit from anybody! But he's different. Something about him makes me all weak and obedient.
I grab my bookbag and hop out of the truck, wincing as the bag bounces against the angry bruise on my shoulder. The truck takes off without warning before I even take a step away from it. Damn him. With a deep breath I walk up the steps to Sunnydale High. Somebody was on some serious crack when they named this town.
I hear they just rebuilt this place. It got like, blown up or something a few years ago and this is it's first day back in use. I walk through the big doors (everything about this place is big) and through the crowded halls. Ugh…I knew I'd hate it. Everyone in here looks like a casting call for a Britney Spears music video. Some of the guys are kind of cute though…in a shallow everyone-looks-the-same kind of way.
As I make my way to my first class, I notice some of the guys looking at me. Oh yea, I know I'm hot. Eat it up, baby. Yea. A little bit more swagger in my step…a little swing of the hips…chest stuck out a bit more…devilish smile…mysterious eyes…oh yea, I'm good. They're drooling. I'm gonna suck each and every one of these little boys dry.
A smile forms across my face. I'm in my element. This is me. The real me. Jade the randy sex kitten. Tough. Heartless. Chew 'em up and spit 'em out. The unease I'd felt earlier seems to wash away along with my feelings of weakness in regards to my new guardian. I'm fairly certain now that when I get home, I'll be able to stand up to him. Confidence. That's the key. If you think you're hot stuff, if you think you're a bad ass then other people will, too.
I reach my first class just before the bell rings and I hurry to grab a seat at the back of the class. The other students rush to take their seats also and the teacher enters the classroom, closing the door behind him. He looks fairly young for a teacher. Maybe only twenty-five or so. Oh and did I mention, hot? I can hear several of the girls around me giggling amongst themselves. Schoolgirl infatuations. Cute really. But I see this as a real possibility. He looks like he'd be a good ride. I smile impishly to myself as I imagine all the things I'd love to shock him with.
But I know this game. Sadly, teachers are off limits. I learned that the hard way. So as much as I'd like to jump him right then and there, I resign myself to only petty flirtations with him for the rest of the year. Hey, a girl's gotta have a little fun right?
"Hey guys, my name is Mr. Taylor and this is tenth grade English. Everyone take a look at your schedules and make sure you're in the right place." He pauses and runs a hand through his sandy blonde hair. Then when he's certain that everyone's where they're supposed to be, he begins class. And other than watching him strut around the room, it's boring as hell. Tedious crap that's frankly just common sense. English class always is. Of course, I've always been good at English. Science, on the other hand is another matter.
I sit at my lab table in my second class of the day- Biology. At least the first day is mostly taken up with safety procedures and the issuing of the books. "Also during the year we'll be dissecting fetal pigs…" I hear the teacher announce. Fetal pigs? What hell happened to frogs? I thought frogs were standard procedure. Every TV show that deals in any way with school always has the episode about frog dissections and the self-righteous environmentalist kid that is morally against it and sets the little amphibians free. I had hopes of one day being that self-righteous environmentalist kid. Or at least pretending to so that I could get out of the assignment.
"Eww. Fetal pigs? What's the deal with the fetal pigs? Where're the frogs?" Apparently my lab partner echoes my sentiments.
"I dunno. Apparently murdering Kermit wasn't educational enough. Now we have to dissect the corpses of Miss Piggy's unborn offspring." I quip. The brown haired girl beside me giggles.
"OK, now that you put it that way it's way more disturbing than I originally thought. I'm Dawn Summers, by the way." she introduces herself.
"Jade Motley."
"Hey, aren't you in my first period, too? English 10 with Mr. Taylor?"
"Yeah."
"Isn't he just so incredibly hot?" she gushes. I chuckle and nod in agreement. Another cute school girl crush. Dawn sighs. "What I wouldn't give to get my hands on that nice tight little ass…"
Maybe not. I grin at her. "Well I'm an arm and chest person myself. But his ass was pretty tight and totally grab-worthy."
The bell rings and everyone shuffles slowly out the door, still groggy from the shock of an early morning after summer vacation. The day progresses uneventfully. I eat lunch with Dawn and find that, although a bit naive and girlish, she's actually pretty cool. I may have made a friend. Yey me.
*****
I guess that grunt meant 'no'. Great. Now I'm supposed to walk home in these four inch heels? Mental note: sneakers a must from now on. It's funny I don't even have to ponder whether this is going to be a regular event. I know it will be. Social Services really sucks if they can't figure out that Roger is a alcoholic creep.
I sigh and I resign myself to walking home, figuring it'll be dark by the time I get there since it is several miles away and I've already wasted over an hour waiting for him to show up. This is evident by the cigarette butts laying on the ground below my feet. I extinguish my current smoke and just as I hop down off the railing I'd been perched on I hear someone calling my name. Dawn's running over to me. "Jade!"
"Hey, what's up?"
"Do you want a ride?"
"Yea. That'd be great. I mean…if it isn't any trouble."
"No trouble! It's not safe to walk around this late. This town's kinda…dangerous." Dawn says cryptically. "Come on, Spike's kinda impatient. He gets cranky if he's kept waiting."
"Spike?" I ask in curiosity at the unusual name. She leads me over to a decrepit looking black car with blacked out windows. I can hear loud obnoxious punk rock music blaring from inside. How cool is this?
"He's a…friend of the family." Dawn explains.
"Is he cool with giving me a ride?"
"Yea. I already cleared it with him. Here," she says, pushing me towards the passenger side door. "sit up front so you can give him directions to your house." I open the door and toss my bookbag into the floorboard as Dawn climbs into the back of the car. Then I slip inside, not minding my black skirt riding up as I sink into the low seat.
Oh. My. God. Holy hottie, batman! I think this is what it feels like to be hit by the proverbial ton of bricks. Spike- whom I'd suspected to be a large, bearded Harley Davidson enthusiast- is in fact possibly the hottest thing on two legs that I've ever seen. He's smoking a cigarette, ever so casually while his eyes- which are oh-so-intensely blue- are giving me a long look-over.
I smile my trademark devilish grin and cross my long legs, making my skirt ride up even more. He's still inspecting me and from my viewpoint he's liking everything he sees. And I, in turn, like everything I see. From the peroxide white hair to the scarred eyebrow to the baby blues to the drool-worthy chiseled pieces of art that are his cheekbones. And don't even get me started on the coat. One word- leather. Yea, baby.
"Hi, I'm Jade." I say with a smirk.
"Yea…I got that." Holy shit he's British. He turns his attention to starting the car, leaving me somewhat disappointed. "So where's your house?"
"457 Baker Street. It's-"
"That's just a few blocks from where I live!" Dawn exclaimed excitedly from the back seat. "I live on Revello!"
"Cool." I say, trying to sound enthusiastic. Don't get me wrong- it's not that I don't like Dawn. She's cool. And being at such easy distance no doubt we'll be hanging out at each other's house. Or I'll be over at her house at least. There's no way I'm letting any of my friends that I may make within ten feet of Roger. "We'll have to hang out." I say, purposefully not saying which house we'd be hanging out in.
From the looks of her, I'd say Dawn's your normal America teenager. Probably has a nice two story house with a van in the driveway, a loving father and mother, maybe a brother or sister, and a dog. Very wholesome Leave-It-to-Beaver sort of life. But then I look at Spike and wonder about that assumption.
"Spike, your music sucks." Dawn calls from the back seat after we've been riding for a few minutes.
"What was that? I didn't hear you." he responds as he turns the volume up. I can't help but chuckle.
Soon we pull over to the curb and through the little space in the window that not blacked out I can see that we're in front of a two story house that's just oozing with coziness. Dawn begins to gather her things and Spike turns down the radio. "You need a ride again tomorrow, bit?" he asks.
"Yea. We'll probably make this a habit unless someone starts trusting me to walk home by myself."
"It's for your own good. Lots of nasty…muggers out and about at night." He says and I notice how his eyes cut over to me as he says 'muggers'. OOKKAAYY.
"Bye Spike. Bye Jade, see you tomorrow!" I wave a little goodbye as she ducks out of the car.
"Why are the windows blacked out?" I ask as we pull away from the curb.
"I have sun allergy." He explains simply.
"So you like…never go out in the sun?"
"Nope."
"Well that explains the paleness." I mumble under my breath. He gives me a sideways glance. Did he hear that? There's no way he heard that!
"So you just moved to Sunnydale?"
"Um…yea. How'd you know?"
"Dawn told me." He's silent for a while. "You know…this town's dangerous. It may seem like a quiet little burgh but…it's dangerous. I wouldn't recommend going out at night alone. And don't invite anybody in…no matter how normal they look."
"OK…I'm starting to feel like I'm in a really bad horror movie now." I say. Spike chuckles. "Is that funny?"
"Not at all." He glances over at me as he takes another puff from his cigarette.
"Can I have one?"
"Like hell."
"Hey! Come on! I'm out!" I exclaim, pulling out the empty pack from my bookbag as evidence.
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"You shouldn't be smoking. It'll kill you. It gives you bad breath and makes you look old before your time." He says, wagging his fingers at me. That would be a lot more convincing if he wasn't holding his cigarette between those fingers. I arch an eyebrow at him and he chuckles. "Hey, at least I can say I gave you the 'smoking is evil' speech."
He reaches inside his duster and I see an opportunity. "No, I'll get them." I say with a grin as I reach across his chest. "You need to concentrate on the road." He gives me a slightly amused look and I fumble around to find the pocket on the inside of his coat. I finally produce the cigarettes and pull one out before replacing the pack. "Light?"
"Left jeans pocket." He says and there's a challenge in his voice. Sounds like he's testing me. I've had guys do that to me before. They think I'm just a little girl trying to play grown up. Like I don't know what I'm doing. I grin at him, keeping my eyes focused on his as my hand slides over his right thigh and between his legs, just barely grazing his crotch, then up over his left thigh. I slip two fingers into the pocket. It takes some digging to retrieve the lighter and the friction my palm is making against his crotch has got him hardening already.
Yea baby, I'm bad. Spike's looking at me with those eyes- surprise, intrigue, and lust all glowing behind the bright blue orbs. I wonder idly how he can drive without looking at the road. With a short chuckle I pull out the lighter, making sure to graze his crotch as I pull back. I light my cigarette and go to replace the light.
As I do he tenses in anticipation. But I merely grin evilly and place the lighter in his duster pocket with the pack of cigarettes. He practically groans. "This is it." I say, motioning to the next house we're coming to. He stops at the curb and I've got the door open when he grabs my wrist. Cold hands.
"If you need a ride tomorrow…"
"I will. Definitely."
"See you then."
I merely smile at him and close the car door. That was fun.