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*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* "Argh!" Buffy Summers was eighteen, and a senior at Sunnydale High, and today was just another day in the many she was counting down until spring break, which was in one week. This Monday wasn't going to be any better than the others, she knew, but at least it was bringing her that closer to total relaxation with her friends in the warm California sun, instead of inside at school, taking tests and trying not to fall asleep in the too-stuffy classrooms.
She turned off her alarm clock, almost still mid-dream about a time just around the corner when she would get to sleep as long as she wanted. Just one week. With that thought she managed to get out of bed, relishing the sun shining through her window, promising some fun after school at least. With a critical eye she looked at her wardrobe. What should she wear to celebrate the beginning of the end of her long wait?
After almost twenty minutes of messing up her entire closet, she chose a yellow halter top sundress with a sweetheart neckline. It was adorable, perfect for a nice day like this. Not to mention Riley will love it. She had to smile—because Riley really would love it. He couldn't help but stare at her no matter what she was wearing. After being his girlfriend for six months, she felt sexy no matter what she had on.
With a lovey-dovey sigh, she couldn't help but remember how they had first met—or at least noticed each other.
Buffy ran off the field after cheering on the Sunnydale High football team to a win, and she was feeling great. After all, why wouldn't she? She was beautiful, top of the cheerleader pyramid—quite literally—and she was well-liked throughout the high school. With a contented sigh, she flipped her hair back from her face and leaned against the bleachers. The entire team jogged past her to the locker rooms, some of them giving her a nod, or saying hi.
All except one. Riley lingered at the back of the group, and watched as they left. With a little curiosity, Buffy eyed him, waiting for him to say something. Finally, when his teammates disappeared into the building, he faced her, and gave her a bashful sort of smile as he ran his fingers through his hair. It suddenly and unexpectedly occurred to Buffy that she might like to do that; she could all too easily imagine running her own fingers through his hair, maybe even while kissing him. I mean, that's the only thing I don't have, right? she thought to herself. A boyfriend.
If Buffy was honest with herself right after talking to Riley this first time, she would have admitted that she didn't particularly like him, certainly not any more than the other guys on the teams that she cheered on, and she could already have any of them if she wanted. The only reason she thought Riley would make a good boyfriend was because she thought she needed one. Their relationship would simply end up proving that Buffy could easily lie to herself, and that Riley was an insufferable twat, among other things.
So with the brief image in her mind of what could be with Riley, Buffy had smiled at him, and said, "Hey. You were really good today in the game."
And the rest, as they say, is history. Or it would be, if a bleached punk from London hadn't chosen Buffy's senior year to come to the United States and, as she would later put it, "totally screw up everything. Seriously."
"Buffy!"
Oh. Crap. That was her mom, Joyce, yelling from downstairs, and with a glance at the clock on her bedside table, Buffy realized that she was late. Spending too much time on trying to find the perfect outfit had eaten up all her time. No breakfast today. With a sigh, she grabbed her bag for school, and ran down the stairs, careful not to trip in her high heeled sandals.
Waiting at the bottom of the stairs was her mother. "You know honey, it's not the greatest idea to get detention for being late one too many times, right before spring break." She smiled wearily at her beautiful daughter. Buffy smiled sweetly back.
"You know, you're right mom which is why I'm going to book it to school in the car—" seeing the look her mom was giving her, she amended, "at the legal speed limit, of course."
Joyce frowned slightly. "I'm not sure that's a good idea…you only just passed the test a few weeks ago, and before that you failed a few times. I know you don't like to hear it, but Buffy, is this really a good time to try driving when you're feeling agitated?"
"Yes!" With that final, irrational statement, she ran out the door, calling out behind her, "Bye Mom, see you later, love you!" to placate her mother.
Joyce just sighed again, silently praying that her daughter wouldn't end up crashing the car and hurting herself, as she was likely to do.
Happily, Buffy made it to school unhurt, but unfortunately two minutes before the bell rang. She parked the car closer to the front entrance than rules allowed, then pelted to her first class as fast as she could, bag swinging from her shoulder, occasionally half-tripping in her heels as she ran down the halls.
Her distraction at the thought of being late and possibly receiving detention made her completely ignore the dark figure who was lounging just around a corner, mere yards from the door of her classroom. In all her sunny glory, Buffy collided headlong into this dark figure. Her bag flew out of her hand, and papers went everywhere, along with what could have been the contents of a small beauty salon.
"What the…" was all the boy managed to get out. Buffy, meanwhile, was very angry, very fast.
"Oh my god, what do you think you're doing?" She was practically screeching, unable to suppress her annoyance. "I need to get to class!" Right then the bell rang, and she realized the halls were empty. "Crap! Thanks a lot!"
As she continued ranting, Buffy didn't notice that the barricade she had encountered was picking up her stuff, and had handed her the re-packed bag. She didn't bother with a thank you, she was so frustrated at facing an afternoon that was even two seconds longer than she was required to be in school. "Detention is going to be so your fault if I get it. I don't even know who you are!" Buffy didn't consider herself one of the schools 'elite', like Cordelia Chase, or her group, and therefore didn't need to know everyone's identity in order to elevate them or make their lives misery, but she certainly thought she knew everyone there by face, if not by name. This guy was unrecognizable. Though certainly not unattractive."Ugh, it doesn't even matter. I'm late!"
"Aren't you Buffy Summers?" Buffy turned around from the storming off she was about to make when she heard what this random guy was asking her. I don't know him, I'm pretty sure, and he knows my full name?
"How do you know my name?"
"I'm Spike Pratt." He looked at her with a strange expression, kind of like he expected something. Like he expected her to…recognize him?
"Um, okay. Well, sorry, but I have to go." What the hell. That's not at all helpful. She was about to go into her classroom, when her frustration got the better of her.
"I might not know you, but I think you should know that you made me late." Her righteous sense of needing someone to take the blame was spewing words that if she was in a better mood, she wouldn't be saying. "So next time, just stay out of my way! Got it, British bleach boy?" Naturally she was referring to the ridiculous hair he sported, and the accent she had noticed when he spoke—it was kind of hard not to notice. He could never be mistaken for Californian, that was for sure. His accent kind of hit like a freight truck actually, if you weren't expecting it. A sort of sexy freight truck.
"Buffy Summers?" A head poked out of the door of the chemistry class that she was supposed to be sitting in at this very moment. It was Jonathan, a kid she didn't know that well, but he seemed harmless enough. Until this moment, when he embarrassed her in front of the other thirty kids in their class.
"Oh sorry Buffy," he said when he saw Spike, "I didn't mean to interrupt you. Though don't you already have a boyfriend?" he shook his head, as if it didn't matter. "Sorry," he said again, "but Mr. Peters says if you don't come in and stop screaming at your 'new boyfriend'—his words, not mine!" he added when he saw her deadly glare, "he says that you'll get double detention. So you should come in. Now." He added the last word for a little unneeded emphasis.
With a last glare at Spike, she followed Jonathan's retreating head into the classroom, but not before she saw the smirk on Spike's lips, as if he had enjoyed hearing what Jonathan had to say, and was amused that now the whole school would be speculating if she was cheating on Riley.
The one thing Spike Pratt had succeeded in doing that morning, she decided, was cementing her opinion of him as a total jerk, and someone she was not going to be talk to ever again.
"…and then Jonathan came out and now everyone thinks I'm cheating on Riley!" Buffy finished with a heave for breath, and took a sip of her coke. It was lunchtime, and across the table from her, Willow had wide eyes.
"Okay, well, first of all, I never heard that rumor, so it's probably not as bad as you think," she said, hoping to calm Buffy down.
"Willow," Buffy said a skeptical look, "I'm the only person who tells you gossip. If I didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't know about it."
"Hey!" Xander cut in. "I tell her stuff too."
Buffy turned her skeptical look to him. "Has there ever been a time when you told her something I hadn't already?"
Before the conversation could go any further, Buffy felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, and Riley sat next to her, planting a kiss on her lips as he did so. Buffy smiled at him like Willow and Xander had simply disappeared off the planet, and they were the only two left sitting in the cafeteria. "Hey," he said, in his usual semi-monosyllabic way.
"Hey," Buffy replied. "You haven't been hearing anything…weird about me, right?"
Riley frowned. "No, why?"
She laughed as if it didn't matter. "No reason! There's just this new guy, and he was annoying me today. There might be some weird rumors going around, but you can ignore them, okay?"
He shrugged and squeezed her side. "Alright."
Buffy smiled at him again and went back to eating her sandwich and talking to her friends. She managed to totally forget about that morning, and was about to leave to get her stuff for class, when she heard someone clear their throat behind her, and saw Willow's eyes go wide.
"Buffy Summers?"
She turned around and glared, already knowing who it was. "I don't know you. Seriously. So please go away."
Riley put his two cents in as well. "Stay away from my girlfriend, you freak."
Spike had looked like he was about to say something, but after what Riley said, he settled for a derisive smirk, and put his hands up. "Alrigh' love, I'll leave you alone. For as long as possible, at least."
He walked away, leaving the four of them slightly confused. "Are you sure you don't know him, Buffy?" Willow asked tentatively. "I mean, he seemed kind of adamant."
Buffy shook her head. "Willow, I swear. I never saw him in my life until this morning. I've got no idea what he's got to say to me, but I don't want to hear it. He's kind of being creepy. If he comes up to me again, I'm going to tell him to stop stalking me or whatever."