A/N: So, I'm giving this another shot. I am very impatient and sorta reckless, I guess. So here I am, giving this story a second chance.

Buffy Summers stood facing her new locker. It glared back defiantly. She started her attack on it. It was putting up a good fight too. Then a group of girls came over and helped her out. She was a little hesitant at first. This was her first day of school and she wanted to make the right decisions.

"Hi. I'm Cordelia. You're the new girl, aren't you? That skirt is so beautiful. Where'd you get it?" a brunette with very expensive looking clothes introduced herself. She then gave the locker a quick bang and it popped open. Buffy gave her a thankful smile. The group of girls behind her looked annoyed, as if Buffy wasn't worth their time.

"I'm Buffy, yes and I got it in LA." The petite blonde smiled at them. They were very much like the girls that she used to hang out with at her old school in Los Angeles. She didn't have so much fun with them. They only talked about make-up and hott guys. But change is a scary thing so Buffy tried to make with the girls she immediately identified as 'Bitches who Rule School'.

"Is that where you moved from?" Cordelia feigned interest.

"Yeah. It's total culture shock." She said. Cordelia giggled and the girls following behind rolled their eyes.

"I know. I used to live there but my dad thought it would be a nice experience for me if we moved to Sunnydale so here I am."

"Does anything ever happen here?"

"Is that what you're expecting because if so, I might as well be the first to crush your hopes brutally and vigorously."

"So…that would be a no?"

"Yes. Don't worry, Buffy. We'll make sure that you know what's happening and all that other crap. We got your back. We know everything that's anything that's going on in this hellhole we call a school."

"Much thanks!" Buffy smiled. She walked with them around school, noting all the cute guys and also noting how Cordelia and her cronies treated people that they saw were geeks or losers or freaks or something to that extent. The blonde (fake, Buffy was pretty sure) that had introduced herself as Harmony knocked books out of people's hands and made snide comments on wardrobe and style and fashion. Buffy didn't want to stand up for them but she didn't partake in the torturing of the school outcasts festivities. She just wanted to be accepted. So she just hung back, not bothering anyone.

Then there was a large group standing in the hall. Buffy knew that they would be there in a split second and they were. "Come on," Cordelia looped her arm through Buffy's. "There's something going on."

Buffy wasn't sure what the large group was doing but when she found out, she was horrified! They were beating the shit out of an innocent kid! He was not very popular to put it nicely and to put it not so nicely he was a total geek. He had curly brown hair and round wire-rimmed glasses. He dressed in a blue and white and green plaid shirt that was tucked neatly into his khaki Dockers. His shoes were like something that her grandpa would wear but behind all that, she knew that he was absolutely gorgeous. He had such beautiful, clear blue eyes and high cheekbones. He was a human being and she could see that but apparently the people who were cheering and kicking and beating the living daylights outta that guy didn't. She felt compelled to stop them all.

"Stop it!" she yelled. The group harassing the unfortunate guy stopped briefly to look at the interruption. A big guy, probably the quarterback for the football team, stepped forward and smiled. "Hey cutie. Don't like us picking on little William?"

"No. I don't." she stood her ground like her mom had always taught her to. She even stuck her chin out defiantly! Ha! Take that quarterback!

Cordelia rushed up behind her. "Buffy, stop it. This is like social suicide except ten times worse because you're trying to defend the king of nerdom." Cordelia whispered desperately. Then the bell rang and everyone headed off to class without a second glance at the guy that was being hurt so badly, that he was in silent tears. Cordelia looked expectantly at Buffy and Buffy nodded and told her that she would catch up. Cordelia shrugged and strut off to class with her groupies.

Buffy looked over at the guy that the football played had called William. She felt very sorry for him. He looked so… weak on the floor, trying to gather his things together while his eyes were running and he was trying to stifle it. He was trying to keep it together but it wasn't working and his hurt seeped through his attempts to be composed like the way blood flowed from a fresh open wound.

"William?" Buffy asked softly so as not to scare him.

He stopped scrambling around on the floor and looked up. Buffy offered him her hand and helped him up.

"Are you alright?" Buffy asked sympathetically. Then she winced. "Of course you're not alright. You just got kicked the crap out of by the whole football team in front of everyone."

"Thank you f-for standing up for me." He sniffled and wiped his eyes. Why was she being so nice to 'Wimpy William'? What could she possibly want with him? Was she just messing with him? Would she actually go to that much trouble just to humiliate him all over again? William was so unsure. He was sure however, that this girl was an angel. A very beautiful one.

"It's ok. I'm Buffy, by the way." She smiled at him and kneeled down to help him pick up the rest of his things. She picked up his glasses and placed them tenderly back on his face. He shied away from her. Girls aren't usually this nice to him, especially pretty popular girls like Buffy. They never even bothered to give him second glance. This confused him. Buffy confused him.

"William." He introduced himself.

Buffy smiled. "I know."

William blushed, making Buffy's smile even wider. "We should probably head off to class."

"Uh-huh." William agreed. He brushed himself off and began to walk away.

"Hey, William?" Buffy called. He turned around. "Would you please show me where my first class is?"

He was startled but agreed, being the gentleman that he is. "S-sure."

Buffy smiled at him. "I have government first in room…" she checked her syllabi. "114."

William smiled and nodded. "It's this way."

"William, why does everyone pick on you like that? Don't you ever stand up for yourself?" Buffy asked after a couple of moments of not very awkward but not very comfortable silence passed.

"I don't know why they pick on me. I suppose it is because I am a nerd. A geek. A nerdy geek. And as for standing up for myself, I don't know. I just can't do it." He hung his head down as if ashamed of himself. Buffy stopped them. "Hey. Don't be that way. You're a great guy! Way better than a lot of the guys here, I'm sure. Just don't put yourself down like you do. You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are. They should be ashamed for beating you for being who you are."

He smiled gratefully at her.

"My mom taught me that." She smiled.

"Your mom is a smart woman."

"She is. That's one of the reasons why I love her so much. I admire how she can raise my sister, Dawnie, and I while being a single mother. She's like Wonder Woman except without the costume."

"Your parents aren't together anymore?" he asked timidly. Conversation with girls was not something that happened often for a guy like William. In fact, this was the first conversation that he's had with a girl that wasn't his friend, Willow Rosenburg.

"No. But it's ok because my dad is an ass, really."

He blushed at her use of foul language.

Buffy laughed. He liked that sound. It was musical. "You need to stop blushing so much even if it is really, really cute."

That caused him to blush even more.

"Don't be so embarrassed all the time. Just have fun and be yourself. Go with the flow."

William nodded, still wondering why Buffy was bothering to talk to him at all. He was not a football player. He hated football. He wasn't a comedian. He couldn't be funny if his life and his parents' lives depended on it. He wasn't a romancer. He's never even been kissed. He wasn't anything. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself.

"Are your parents divorced?" she asked, hoping that the question wasn't too personal.

"No. They are happily married and I'm hoping that they will stay that way." He smiled. He liked talking to Buffy. She made him feel a degree of importance. It wasn't something that he normally experienced.

Buffy smiled and nodded, looking down. "I'm happy that my mom is happy but sometimes I wonder if she really isn't. Soon, she'll want to date and that'll be ick." She shuddered slightly.

William chuckled. "Well, you want what's best for her don't you?"

Buffy nodded slowly, having a slight idea of where he was going with it.

"Then don't you want her to be happy too?"

Buffy wondered how to answer his question. "I do but there's just not a great enough guy out there for her."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Torture sessions to the adolescents.

"Wow." Buffy exclaimed. "We've been talking for awhile now."

"I'm so sorry for making you late for your first class on your first day here. It was all my fault." William apologized quickly.

Buffy giggled. "Don't worry about it, Will."

"Buffy!" Cordelia called, coming from behind them. She didn't even look at William. It was as if she looked right through him. He was invisible to her and the rest of the school. "What's your next class?"

"Uh…" she turned around and to her dismay, William was nowhere in sight. She sighed. " Math."