A/N : Need to go through a little bad patch before we get back to the good stuff - sorry but thats just the way it goes! A happy Spuffy ending is of course iminent - just give it a little time!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

"Damn!" Faith yelled as she realised her latest best friend had just overheard the conversation between herself and her step-brother. Of course to Buffy it sounded much worse than it really was. A bet had been made a month ago between Faith and Spike and it all centered around Buffy. He was trying to make her love him, whilst she was using the cheerleading squad to prove a point. Now the blonde knew the truth it threw a rather large spanner in the workings of the Faith and Buffy friendship and whatever might've been developing betwen Buffy and Spike.

"Buffy!" the bleached blond called, making to go after her.

"No way, man" Faith snapped, pulling him back, "You caused enough damage" she told him as she pushed passed him and chased Buffy into the building.

She may have been playing the part of cheerleader for a bet at first, but she'd actually found she really kind of enjoyed it now, and her friendship with the Captain of the squad was real enough. Buffy was the first decent friend she'd had since she was in first grade and the thought of losing that stung somewhat. Of course some of it was her own fault, but Spike was to blame too, and it was easier right now to be angry at her step-brother than at herself.

"Buffy, slow down!" she called as she pushed through crowds of girls to catch up with her.

"Why?" the blonde asked suddenly swinging around to face her so-called friend, "So you can tell me it's not how it sounded? That you didn't make some bet with your brother about him... seducing me or whatever!" she yelled, the crowds aroudn them falling silent as they watched the scene play out.

"It's not as clean cut as that, B" Faith shook her head, "Yeah, so me and Spike made a stupid bet about me being on the squad and him getting you to like him, but that's all it was, a stupid bet, and I was just tellin' him it's all off"

"And why's that Faith?" Buffy asked, folding her arms over her chest angrily, "Because the squad looked stupid today? You're just gonna walk out on us, and hey, I actually kinda liked Spike, he might've won your little bet there"

"This ain't about winnin' B" the brunette told her, getting just as angry now, "You think you're so damn special? You just happened to be the loser we picked on!"

"Screw you, Lehane!" Buffy spat, hating the fact that tears were welling up in her eyes as she spotted Spike behind his step-sister, "Screw both of you" she said before hurrying away and this time they both let her go. Spike would have run after her again but Faith stopped him, it was quite clear that now was not the time.

"Bollocks" he cursed and his step-sister looked at him oddly.

"Why do you even care about this, BleachBoy?" she asked him, "She was my damn friend, all you lost is one good lay"

"What the hell do you know about it, Lehane?" he yelled back at her, turning to walk away, but Faith caught a handful of his leather coat and pulled him back.

"You like her, for real?" she checked, brown furrowing even further.

"Yeah" he admitted softly, with a nod, "Damn me, but I bloody do"

"You sure you're okay, Buff?" Xander checked as he pulled his car up outside her house.

"I'll survive" she nodded, her tears long over but the red rims around her eyes giving away the fact that she'd been terribly upset.

The stress of preparing for Regionals, only to be be made to look like a fool when her team followed the Hyperion Hornets with the exact same routine, that had been bad enough. Then to find out that not only had Faith joined the squad and pretended to be her friend for a bet, but that Spike, who she really believed had feelings for her, was also only pretending for the sake of a deal with his step-sister.

When Angel had told her she maybe wasn't good enough to be Captain of the cheerleaidng squad, Buffy had been angry and upset, but she could've dealt. Lately she'd gotten used to him not being around, and Spike amply filled the space her boyfirned left and then some. He was all that Angel had been, gorgeous and sweet and funny, and yet so much more than that too. He seemed to understand her, he wanted to be there for her, plus he had that bad boy angle that, as superficial as it seemed, was always a plus.

"If you need to talk later, you can always call me" Willow said kindly from the back seat, "I'm not sure how much help I'll be but I listen real well" she smiled.

"Thanks, Will" Buffy managed a half smile back to her, "Both of you, really, you've been great today. Now I think I just really need some sleep" she sighed, unfastening her seatbelt, grabbing her bag, and getting out of the car.

"I'll see you on Monday" she said through the open front window, "Drive safe"

"See ya, Buff" Xander smiled back at her as he pulled away from the kerb and drove off.

With a deep sigh, Buffy turned to walk down the path towards her house. She was surprised to find a figure on the porch steps as she approached.

"Buffy" Spike said her name as he scrambled to his feet, a small bunch of flowers in one hand, a cigarette in the other which he quickly dropped to the ground and stubbed out under his boot.

"I have nothing to say to you" Buffy told him swiftly, heading straight for her front door without hardly looking at him, at least that was the plan. Spike stepped in front of her, squeezing between her and the front door.

"Well, I have somethin' to say to you" he told her, his eyes looking right into her own. As mad as she was at him, as hurt as she felt by what he'd done, she was still hypnotised somehow by the those bright blue orbs, and she nodded slowly.

"Fine" she said with a sigh, "You have something to say, then say it, and leave" she told him, glancing away because she couldn't stand to meet his eyes any longer.

Convinced that Buffy was not the type to double cross him, Spike moved away from the front door, trusting she wouldn't rush through it the moment he took a step. She stayed where she was and turned when he did, so they were facing each other, both sideways on to the house.

"Right then" Spike began, taking a breath, "I s'pose I ought to start with an apology, though honestly I'm not sure what I'm sayin' sorry for..."

"Huh!" Buffy made a little sound of indignation, which caught his attention, "You don't know why you should be sorry!" she asked incredulously.

"Well, no" Spike admitted, talking quickly so that Buffy didn't have a chance to explode into some anti-him speech which he could see was on the tip of her tongue, "I see why you might think I should, but luv, you don't know the whole story"

"What have you ever told me but stories?" she asked with a humourless laugh, "All that crap about Angel, how he wasn't good enough for me, and all the time it was for a stupid bet" she reminded him, "You don't even like me"

"Yes, I damn well do!" he belowed back at her, "I do soddin' like you, reckon I more than like you, and that's what I was about to tell Faithie when you came round the bloody corner!"

Buffy was stunned into silence by his words but not for long. As nice as it might be to think that what he was saying now was true, how could she trust him, when clearly all he'd told her up to now had been lies.

"Why are you botheirng with this, Spike?" she asked, shaking her head, the remnants of pained laughter still in her voice as tears crept down her cheeks, "Was that little talk you to had a set up like everything else? Was I supposed to find out about the bet? Is it part of something else?"

"No, it bleedin' isn't!" he yelled, getting just as angry as she was now, "Why can't you just accept what I'm tryin' to tell you, Buffy, I really..."

"Because I don't care!" she told him loudly, but it didn't make it any less of a lie, "I don't care what you think, or what you feel, or anything. You and your bitch of a step-sister both played me for fun. What can you possibly say that'll change that?" she said angrily, suddenly turning to her door, unlocking it and slamming inside before Spike had a chance to say anything else.

"Bloody hell!" he swore once again as he kicked the wooden upright nearest to him, a stupid thing he realised when his foot throbbed painfully.

For the first time, Buffy was glad about her mother's business trip for the gallery that took her out of town this weekend. When Joyce had originally broken the news about the trip she couldn't possibly get out of, Buffy had been so upset that her own mother would not be there to support the Razorbacks squad in their first event with herself as Captain. Now Buffy was glad to know she was alone in the house, with no-one to ask her for an explanation as to why she was crying. Of course she could have passed it off as tears over the competition and what Cordelia had done, but it would have been less simple to hide the yelling that had occurred between herself and Spike.

He'd hurt her, so had Faith, but at least she understood about that. There was pain inside her that came from knowing the girl she'd lately thought of as a best friend was in fact play acting at being her friend as well as using the squad for the sake of a bet. What didn't make sense to Buffy was why Spike's betryal hurt so much. After all, she really hadn't encouraged his advances. She'd told him time and again how she had a boyfriend already and that she'd never think about being unfaithful to him in any way. Okay, so there had been that one kiss that she probbaly should've stopped sooner, but it wasn't as if she were in love with the guy or anything... was she?

The idea of it seemed ridiculous and yet thinking over all that had happened, each Bio lession she'd spent in Spike's company, the night she stayed over at the house with him and Faith, up to today when he'd been there to support the squad at Regioinals and he'd waved to her from the crowd, now all of it was almost too painful to recall.

Though Angel had upset her tonight, Buffy wasn't sure what that meant for the two of them. She suspected some of the rumours she'd been hearing were true, that perhaps he really did have a woman, or more than one, at college that were keeping him busy. He didn't call, he didn't visit, she marked it down as a miracle that he even showed up at the competition today. The final nail in the coffin was when he said she might not be cut out for the Captian's job, and it made Buffy's blood boil to remember that conversation. How dare he presume to think he could overrule her, and install Glory and Harmony as leaders in her place, just because he felt like it!

"Buffy?" Spike's voice through the door made her jump a little, since she'd been so lost in thought, "Look, I know you're there, luv, I can see you moving through the glass" he told her and she shunted away from the panels in the door he may have spotted her through. Still she remianed with her back flat to the surface of the door, interested in what he might have to say in spite of everything. She suspected that inexplicable feeling she had for him was to blame.

"Whether you want to listen or not, well, there's not a damn thing I can do about it" Spike sighed, "But I want you to know, pet, Faithie's not the villain in this. I wish you'd believe I'm not either but I don't see that happenin' any time soon" he said sadly, "My point is, don't punish Faith. Yeah, we made a stupid bet, it was wrong, but she was the one tellin' me it should be called off because she likes you, pet. She'd kill me if she knew I was sayin' all this but, well, you're the first proper friend she's had in a good few years I reckon. I'd hate to see her lose you now"

Buffy stood on the other side of the door, wiping tears from her cheeks and feeling wretched. She was still mad at both Spike and Faith, but in all honesty she knew she was going to miss them terribly if she cut them both out of her life all of a sudden. She so wanted to forgive them, and yet she didn't really think they deserved it.

A huge yawn escaped her and she heard a whisper of goodnight through the door along with Spike's footsteps as he walked away from the house. Right now Buffy needed a good night's sleep, and she hoped in the morning, things might be clearer.

To Be Continued...