My Mom had found us the next morning, curled up outside the back door, soaking wet. Apparently she had found me leaning my head on Angel's shoulder, whilst Angel's arm had hugged me closer. Thankfully she told me this piece of information whilst Angel warmed up in the shower. You couldn't help how you slept, right?

After I had my turn in the shower and I had found some snug clothes to warm up in – a pair of sweatpants, a tank top and an oversized jumper – I waited in Angel's car whilst he put a fresh pair of clothes on. Humming along to the music, I tied my hair up in a scruffy bun, deciding it went with my 'I don't give a crap about what I look like' outfit. Angel had sneakily entered the car and shoved his keys into the ignition. It was the sound of the engine, roaring wildly like a lion imprisoned in a cage, that had me jumping in surprise. Angel gave me a goofy smile before reversing out of the drive.

'Wait, where's Angela?' I questioned, only just realising the absence of our robotic baby.

'Oh sweet baby Jesus …'

Great, now we were doomed to fail sex-ed. However, even knowing that Snyder was going to call us up about the missing robot, I couldn't help but mentally cheer at the fact that I would never have to take care of that insanely moronic thing again. And I'm sure, judging by the cheerful expression on Angel's face, that he too was grateful that the robotic critter had disappeared. I was that happy that I didn't even question as to where it had gone.

'I'm guessing that Willow and Oz will be the only couple to pass sex-ed then. Faith and Spike are out, we've joined them, and god knows what Xander and Anya's baby has been through,' I said, laughing at the many possibilities.

We pulled up in the school parking lot.

As I jumped out of the Jeep, I noticed something bright red shining in the sunlight from the corner of my eye. I turned slightly and stared in amazement at the polished red Mercedes convertible parked a few rows down from me and Angel. A boy was sat in the front seat; his stylish shades perched on the brink of his nose, his blonde locks blowing in the breeze, whilst he flicked through a magazine, unaware of the many girls staring at him with curious eyes as they passed.

'So, the yummy scrummy new guy has caught your eye to?' said Cordelia, appearing by my side.

I nodded my head slowly, my eyes still transfixed on the new boy.

I could hear Angel clucking his tongue irately behind us, but I ignored him. He could become so jealous and protective within a matter of minutes, like the previous night with the boys who had showed interest at me in the Bronze, and it was beginning to seriously annoy me, much more than it usually did. Deciding that I was sick of Angel's protective crap, I heaved my bag over my shoulder and marched in the direction of the new boys' car.

'Hey, I'm Buffy!' I introduced as I halted besides his car door.

He looked up, lowering his magazine. The corners of his lips tugged up into a smile as he pulled off his sunglasses, bestowing the power of his eyes upon me. They were a grey blue colour with flecks of green. They were soft, beautiful, and they sparkled like two expensive diamonds. His eyes were unlike anything I had ever seen before. Then there was his smile. He flashed a full set of pearly whites at me, causing his eyes to sparkle even more, which gleamed against his beautiful sun-kissed glow skin.

'Hey, I'm Lucas,' he smiled in a thick British accent.

His voice lured me in.

I shook his outstretched hand, smiling warmly at him.

'You're from England?' I asked in interest.

'The accent gave it away, huh?' Lucas said, laughing.

'No, just the totally awesome car you're sat in. I haven't seen a car like this since Cordelia brought her new Porsche,' I replied.

I remembered the many guys who had skipped period one and two, leaving the classes half empty, so they could sit outside besides the new Porsche and admire it. Eventually Snyder had been alerted of the missing students and he all but dragged them back inside by their ears. I knew that if it had been anyone else except Cordelia, someone who's Father couldn't close down the school with a snap of his fingers, then Snyder would have forbidden any sort of flashy cars to come through the parking lot gates again, however he knew it wasn't wise to forbid Cordelia Chase from bringing her car to school.

'Cordelia?' said Lucas.

'Yeah, the brunette chick over there,' I answered.

I jabbed my thumb in the direction where I knew Angel and Cordelia would still be stood, both of them glowering at me – Angel because he was unimpressed with my actions and Cordelia because I had spoken to the new boy before her. I should have known better than to introduce myself to a hot guy before Cordelia, but at the moment I didn't really care.

'Oh. The one stood with the bloke who looks murderous?'

I spun around on my heel.

Lucas was right.

Angel stood besides Cordelia, his hands clenched into tights fists, his knuckles turning a deathly white colour, whilst his narrowed eyes stared at Lucas with a murderous glare, his teeth gritted. His brow was scrunched together, his whole body language screaming that he was indeed furious.

I turned back to Lucas, flashing him a quick smile. 'One sec!'

I dashed back over to Angel, my own anger bubbling heavily in the pit of my stomach. I came to a sudden halt a few meters away from him, my nostrils flaring as I glowered at him. His stance seemed to have relaxed slightly.

'Don't you dare,' I spat acidly.

'Do what?' said Angel.

'Quit the whole protective act, Angel. I'm sick of it! I'm not a little girl and I don't need to be looked after!'

And with that, I spun on my heel and returned to the side of Lucas's car.

'So, whose form are you in?' I smiled.

I sat with Lucas that lunch time. All my other friends, including Angel, sat on the opposite side of the canteen, glaring at me with their watchful eyes. I tried my hardest to ignore the daggers aimed at me from all across the room – I could say for definite that all the girls were going to jump me on my way home from school.

'You're friends don't seem to be happy that you're sat with me,' observed Lucas, taking a swig of water from his bottle.

I didn't need to look in his line of direction to know what he was talking about. I just nodded.

'Especially the intimidating brown haired one. It seems like he wants my guts for garters,' he added.

I chuckled. 'He probably does.'

I liked Lucas – he seemed like a good friend. Except the rush I felt this morning, the rush that had made me want to make Angel jealous, had now worn off and, if I was being honest, I missed him. It had been a day; in fact not even half a school day, but he had become such a huge part of my life that it seemed odd not having him with me most of the time. I felt guilty for using Lucas just to piss off Angel, though he had turned out to be quite a good friend. I was glad that I gone up to him this morning – I had no regrets about meeting him at all. I guess it was one of those girl moments where you don't think about the backlash of your actions.

'Listen, I don't want to come between you and your boyfriend,' Lucas said to me.

I looked up at him with wide eyes, noticing the serious expression over his face.

'We're not- it's not … we're just friends,' I stuttered, shaking my head.

Lucas gave me a small smile before reaching across the table to cup my hand in his. He gave me a soft squeeze, surprising me with his tenderness at someone who he barely knew. I couldn't help smile back softly as he showed off his perfect pearly whites.

'You're so much more than friends,' he whispered, rubbing his thumb across the mine, 'and it's such a shame neither of you can see it. You need to open your eyes, Buffy … better yet, open your heart.'

Was he right? Or was his British accent just overwhelming me? I couldn't be more than friends with Angel … could I?

'Bloody hell, Niblet, you know how to piss off our Angel dearest, don't you?' said Spike, taking a seat besides me in history.

I sighed and dropped my pencil on my unfinished work, knowing already that this was going to be one of those conversations. I gritted my teeth and angled my body to face Spike. With one glance at my face, he was raising his hands palm up as though he was surrendering.

'Easily now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with pissin' peaches off, alright?' he said, lowering his hands. 'Jeesh, you bloody women,' he added under his breath.

'What do you want Spike?' I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face.

'World peace, a deli sandwich, maybe a new car-'

'What do you want that involves me?' I interrupted, not in the least amused by his answer.

'Who is this Lucas, niblet?' Spike asked suddenly.

'A new kid. You're not dense, Spikey, what are you playing?'

Spike smirked. 'Angel's my friend, okay? You're crushing him with your female stupid ways. Neither of you see what's right in front of you.'

For the second time that day, someone had hinted that there is something more between Angel and me. I couldn't believe that I hadn't noticed it if Spike had. Angel and I had been pulling pranks on each other since the day we met; making each others lives a complete embarrassment, could you really fall in love with someone who did that to you? The idea of having Angel more than a friend was too overwhelming.

'I don't know what you're talking about,' I said.

'Oh, yeah. You're just friends, right?' questioned Spike mockingly.

'That's right,' I replied, now fiddling with the cap of my pen.

'You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains, niblet, its blood...blood screaming inside you to work its will. I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it.'

And with that, Spike rose to his feet and left me alone at the table.

My head and heart went into overdrive as I repeated his words over and over again in my head. I had never heard Spike talk so passionately, so wisely, and it seemed kind of odd that he was talking like that about Angel and I. Were we in love? Were we more than just friends? It did explain why I wanted to make him jealous … why he was so protective of me around other males. Maybe, without meaning to, we both fell in love on the road to where we now were.

Except, thanks to me and my actions this morning, maybe that road had been shattered. Would Angel forgive me for being to spiteful towards him? Could I repair the broken road?

Or had my brain acted before my heart had chance to realise what it was that I wanted?

I sat in Snyder's office, facing Giles, tapping my foot impatiently. Giles seemed to be focusing on the door, drumming his pencil on top of the desk as though he was trying to irritate me to death. I rubbed my hands over my face, begging the high heavens that Angel would turn up soon, and sighed.

He was fifteen minutes late.

Had he forgotten about our session? Or didn't he want to see me? Surely Snyder knew that he hadn't turned up – he must have gone looking for Angel. After all, Snyder was obsessed with both of us. Whatever was going on, I just needed Angel to walk through the door. I couldn't sit through a full therapy lesson on my own; neither could I wait any longer to see him. It had been a day, nearly a full school day, and after listening to Lucas and Spike, my true feelings finally began to fall into place.

I was in love with Angel.

The boy who stuck up naked baby photos of me. The boy whose car I had every member of the school holding onto to win. The boy who had somehow stolen my heart without either of us realizing.

God I wanted to smack myself for sounding so cheesy and romantic.

Thankfully the door opened.

I almost jumped out of my seat in excitement. Though I was disappointed immensely as my eyes found the door.

Snyder, wearing the ugliest suit made possible – it should be illegal for tie like that! – walked in shaking his head, mumbling as he always did under his breath. Yet no Angel was in sight.

'Gone,' said Snyder.

Gone? What did he mean gone? How the hell could Angel have gone? Sure Angel wasn't the best student and he didn't achieve top grades, however I knew he wouldn't have just took off without telling me. Even if we were fighting. He was staying at mine for the next few days – his parents were out of town. Maybe he had gone to my house. He could have possibly fallen ill or something. But I knew that I was lying to myself. Angel was never ill.

'Left last lesson. He was registered in that one but never turned up for last period. This is the final straw – I'm going to have to ring his parents,' muttered Snyder, his eyes darting across the floor.

'His parents aren't in town, he's staying at mine,' I informed.

'Miss Summers, did I ask for your opinion? It seems like you still have no control over your attitude,' Snyder replied.

If I wasn't so concerned about Angel, or if a therapist hadn't been in the room, then I would have come up with a good retort, although I couldn't be bothered. And even Snyder seemed surprised by this.

'Well, if you don't mind Principle Snyder, Buffy and I still have an appointment – whether Mr O'Conner is here or not,' Giles spoke up for the first time since greeting me at the door.

Snyder mumbled something under his breath, something that sounded like "good for nothing therapist", before exiting the room.

I spun around in my chair, staring into space.

'You're worried about Mr O'Conner,' stated Giles, his head cocked to the side as he scanned me.

I nodded.

'And why is that?' he asked.

I shrugged.

'Because maybe Mr O'Conner isn't just a friend?'

He said it as a question, though I knew he was stating it. He knew. From one session of us together – he knew. In fact he probably knew before I did. Now I did feel stupid.

'I wondered, Miss Summers, if you would ever truly see the connection between you. You both feed off each other. You need him to make you feel complete and he needs you. It's quite remarkable for teenagers … but love works in mysterious ways,' Giles explained, nodding his head.

I shook my head, my fists tightening at my sides, as a scream curled up in my throat.

'I can't do this,' I whispered before throwing myself out of the chair.

I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder, and ran out of the door. I ran past Snyder and his secretary, ignoring Snyder's orders to return instantly, and dodged students through the corridors. As soon as I saw the door leading outside, I sped up until the fresh air enclosed around me.

I halted. I breathed in the fresh air through my nose, exhaling through my mouth. I found that the tightness around my chest had ceased more and more with each clean breath of air I took. I bit down on my lip as I closed my eyes, allowing the soft breeze to cool my flustered face.

However, suddenly I could hear Snyder's voice intruding on my peaceful moment.

Tightening the grip on my bag, I began to run again, heading for the school gate that screamed freedom.

I ran through the gate, out of school, and down the street towards the direction of my home.

I was in trouble. Huge, unbelievably painful trouble, though I couldn't find it in me to care at that moment in time.

About three things I was certain …

Number one – Angel had gone.

Number two – I didn't know where he was and when, or if, he was going to return.

And number three – I was completely and utterly in love with him.

FIRST UPDATE IN A WHILE! I'M SO SORRY.

I know a few people might not like this chapter. What? A new guy starts, Buffy makes Angel jealous, Angel leaves and she realises she loves him in the same chapter? And so soon? Why, yes. I know you like this story because its humour– and it will continue to be so slightly – though I wanted to turn it to drama. I want to give it a bounce. And I hope you don't mind!

Please review!

Lots of love,

Beth x