Chapter 1
Discreetly she slipped into a an empty seat at the back of the classroom. She pulled out her spiral binder and a pencil ready to take notes. She never spoke to anyone and no one ever spoke to her. Truth be told no one ever even noticed her sitting by herself in the back corner of the classroom. The teacher only knew her by the papers he graded of hers every day. She never spoke up in class nor did he push the issue. Normally the professor insisted that once a week each student make at least one comment, but he still vividly remembered the first time he pressed her to speak. She all but ran from the class room crying. He briefly stared up at her and noted her baggy clothes and slumped shoulders. He quickly passed back the graded papers, but lingered by the girl a little longer, "Wonderful work Miss Summers." Buffy blushed profusely and meekly squeaked out a thank you before stuffing the paper into her book bag.
"So class we've got eight weeks left in the semester," the professor stated.
"Yeah!," a chorus of voices rang out in the classroom.
"Well I see you've enjoyed your time in my class thus far. Well for the last eight weeks of class you shall be partnered up for you final projects," he enlightened the class.
The students all groaned at the prospect of the dreaded partner project. Some students knew they would be saddled with most of the work while the other slacked off. The students watched intently as the teacher pulled out a piece of paper.
"For this project I will be picking your partners, and before you ask, no you can not switch partners. Every one gather your things and come stand in the front of the room," the professor ordered the class.
He watched as the students groaned and gathered things making their way down to the front of the class. Soon all the students were bunched together in a large group in front of the blackboards. The professor picked up his piece of paper and walked to the first seat down at the bottom row of the stadium seating class room.
"When I call your name sit in the seat I indicate. Harmony Kendall… Billy Fordham… Cordelia Chase…," he began rattling off names having the students sit leaving every other seat empty.
Buffy heard her name called and quickly made her way to the second row and sat in the seat the professor indicated. Buffy listened half heartedly as he continued to spout out names. Finally finished he walked down to the front of the class where the other half of the class still stood.
"In this hat I have the rest of the students names. Each seated person shall pick a name out of the hat and that will be your partner and these will be your seats for the rest of the semester," the professor explained as he held the hat out to Harmony.
Each student picked a name and revealed their partner to the class. Some squealed in delight while others groaned in disappointment. Finally the hat made its way to Buffy and she plucked a folded piece of paper out. "Angelus Devlin," she croaked out quietly. "I'm sorry Miss Summers please speak up," he pressed the petite blonde. Buffy blushed then said a little louder, "Angelus Devlin." Buffy watched as a tall handsome man smiled and quickly made his way to the seat next to her. They sat silently together as the rest of the class received their partners. Finally the class was paired up and the teacher revealed their assignment.
"You have the rest of our time to decided along with your partner a period and event in history we have studied in our coursework. You will then need to write a detailed report that has some type of visual aide in it. Also, be prepared because as I'm sure you know, and the reason why many of you took my class, I do not give a final. However, in place of your final you will have to do five minute presentation on your project," the professor revealed his surprise to the class.
Angelus turned easily in his chair to the diminutive girl next to him. He noticed she had written down the assignment already as well as several ideas. "So I'm Angelus," he said holding his hand out to her. Startled she looked up at him and tentatively took his hand, "Buffy." Angelus studied the girl before him and noticed that she was truly beautiful. He could tell that underneath all the baggy clothes and behind the hair in her face she was gorgeous. "So what do you think we should do for the project?," he prodded her. Buffy shrugged her shoulders, "Doesn't matter." Angelus marveled at the girl before him. Angelus rattled off a few ideas in addition to the ones she had written down. "What about the fall of the Roman Empire?," he asked perking his eyebrows waiting for a response. "Sounds good," she said and quickly scrawled the topic out on her notebook and circled it. Angelus shot his hand up in order to give the teacher their topic less someone else steal it for themselves. The professor quickly walked to the pair clipboard in hand. "We've decided to tackle the fall of the Roman Empire," Angelus revealed. He in turn quickly scrawled it out next to their names. "My two star pupils teamed together this should be interesting," the teacher muttered as he walked away. Angelus sat next to Buffy uncomfortable in the long silence. "So perhaps we should work out when we could get together to work on the project," Angelus offered. Buffy shook her head in agreement. After several minutes of Angelus trying to engage her in conversation he finally discovered that they both had Wednesdays free as well as the weekends. Finally class ended and they agreed to meet in the library Wednesday morning.
Buffy headed over to her dorm room after class and shucked off her jeans trading them for a pair of sweats. She slid easily into her bed and pulled her blanket up over her head and was soon fast asleep. Willow entered the room an hour later and quietly pulled out a book and began to read. Willow knew something wasn't quite right with her roommate, but the girl was sweet. Buffy was either at class, work, or sleeping. Willow had tried many times to get her to go out with her, but it was useless. Willow jumped at the sound of Buffy screaming, "No! Please! Stop!" Willow quickly dog eared her page and walked over to her friend's bed and gently prodded her awake. "Buffy come on your dreaming again," Willow gently woke her friend. Buffy sat up in bed and wiped the sleep from her eyes. "Sorry Wills," Buffy said as she stood from the bed. "I guess I better get ready for work," Buffy stated as she grabbed her shower stuff. Willow watched as her friend grabbed her things and headed for the door. "Hey Buffy you know if you ever want to talk about it I'm here for you right?," Willow asked for the millionth time since she met the small blonde girl. As always Buffy just smiled and shook her head yes then headed out the door.
Buffy walked silently through the library restocking the shelves with books. 25 hours a week Buffy worked at the library. She mostly just restocked the books. Sometimes she checked people out, but the librarian knew how much Buffy hated that so rarely made her. Buffy quickly slid a couple books in place then headed out of the isle running into someone as she did. "Sorry," she mumbled as she bent down to pick up the books she dropped. "No it was my fault. Hey Buffy is that you?," the man asked. Buffy looked up at immediately recognized her new partner in history. She smiled and shook her head yes. "What are you doing here. Duh, library… studying?," he asked. Buffy shook her head no, "I work here. I have to go." Angelus watched as the girl scurried out of the isle and down another slowly restocking the books. Angelus didn't know why, but he found himself intrigued by the small, quiet, shy girl.
Nearly six weeks had passed and Angelus and Buffy had nearly finished their project. They met in the library on Wednesdays, but on Sundays they met at Angelus fraternity house. Angelus found himself looking forward to the meetings every week. He spent the entire time trying to get that smile of hers to grace her face. When he was able to make her laugh he soared in happiness. Angelus waited patiently in the front room for Buffy's knock. He knew their partnership would end soon and he was desperately trying to find the courage to ask her out. Finally he heard the small knock that was distinctively Buffy's. He opened the door and motioned for her to come in. He noticed her book bag was heavier then usual and quickly grabbed it from her and lead her up to his room. Buffy was a lets get right down to business person, but Angelus had slowly gotten her to open up a little. "You want a soda?," he asked as she sat down on his couch. She shook her head yes and Angelus quickly gave her a soda. He sat down on the couch next to her and stared intently into her green eyes. Buffy began to shift nervously on the couch. Buffy flinched as Angelus brought his hand up and gently tucked her hair behind her ear. "You know you are so damn beautiful," he finally breathed out. He watched as her cheeks quickly became flushed a deep crimson color. "I want to take you out. Not as partners, but on a date," he finally revealed to her. Buffy looked down at her hands and fidgeted nervously. "I - well- I don't think that's a good idea," Buffy stammered out as she stood up grabbing her bag to leave. Angelus quickly stood and gently grabbed her shoulders flinching as she visibly cringed away from his touch. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Angelus confessed, "It's just that the last few weeks. I just mean well you're a wonderful person and I want to get to know you better," he confessed. Buffy dropped her book bag and stared at the man before her. Buffy thought he was gorgeous, but she wasn't ready for a relationship. "It's just one date," he prodded her.
Before the semester had ended Angelus had managed to talk Buffy into three dates as he called them. Buffy however stated that they were simply friends going out together. She always insisted on paying half the bill although Angelus thought it ridiculous. He was going to her dorm room to pick her up tonight. They were celebrating the A they had received on their project. Angelus knocked on the door and was surprised to find a red head answering instead of Buffy. The red head came out into the hall and shut the door behind her. "Listen buddy, I care a lot about my friend in there. She likes you and you better not hurt her. Got it?," the brazen red head asked. Angelus put his hands up in defense. "I would never hurt her," he stated. The red head smiled and opened the door, "Buffy he's here." Buffy emerged from the room looking exceptionally beautiful. She wore a nice pair of tight fitting black slacks and blouse that was a little loose, but not as bad as the flannel tops she normally wore. Angelus felt his mouth go dry and desperately tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. "You look beautiful," he breathed as he reached up and pushed the hair out of her face.