Chapter 10

After the last bell rang for the day, Buffy ran from her foreign language class and straight to her locker. She and Willow had stuff to do and they had to do it quickly. She had to meet Willow outside the elementary school and make sure that all the teachers showed up to go judge floats. She just hoped that her notes and reminders to the teachers had served their purpose.

She made it to the elementary school with no problems. He who she didn't know his name hadn't made any unscheduled appearances and Buffy was glad. After her little decision to give him some PDA's, she was a little nervous about how they would act or rather, how HE would be around her.

Shaking it off, she had all night to think of that, she and Willow had to make sure that everything ran as smooth as silk from now until the end of the night. The Homecoming Court, the band's pre-game performance, decorations for the dance, and most importantly the half time show.

Homecoming's half time show was always the event of the year. The announcement of who won King and Queen, the band playing, the parents walking them out, the floats. The floats were always the most important event in the half time show. While the whole town got to see the (usually) incredible job that the students did in making them, it was the announcement of who won that gave the class a year's worth of bragging rights.

For the past three years, it had been Buffy's class that had won every time. They were robbed their freshman year and came in second. This year's theme was Disney Animated movies. Granted the Student Council had picked the theme, it still wasn't the GREATEST theme ever to grace the presence at Sunnydale High.

Buffy looked out the glass door to the parking lot of the elementary school, the rain drops making the cars in the parking lot look panoramic, almost surreal. Four out of the six teachers that were scheduled to be there, were standing outside in rain talking to one of the other members of Student Council.

Taking a breath, Buffy smiled at the teachers that were present, "Hi! We're just waiting for a few teachers. I believe Willow went to track them down. We'll give them a few more minutes and then if they're still not here, I'll go hunt them down."

All the teachers nodded, huddling close together to keep a bit warmer. They weren't used to the chilly air and the rain. It was unusual for Sunnydale at this time of year. Buffy didn't seem to notice it as she was lost in thoughts of a long time ago. He seemed to be on her mind a lot lately. She just didn't understand why. She had been doing really well she believed with moving on and with the moving to a new town.

She knew the reason that she was thinking of him so much lately. It was getting close to that time of year. Christmas was coming soon and even after two years of being without him, her first instincts were still to run into his arms and have him comfort her while her family fell apart. Things hadn't changed at all at home, the move to Sunnydale hadn't helped one bit, so she figured that since that hadn't changed then neither should her feeling of running to him.

She groaned, not understanding what in the hell was the matter with her. He had done nothing but treat her like shit more than half the time she was with him, so why did a select few moments of happiness make her so attached to him? Why did every time she see a guy with his features automatically make her think of him? What was the matter with her?

She felt like smacking the side of her head to make the thoughts of him go away and preferably forever if she had any say in it. She just couldn't get her mind off of him. Everything about him still permanently set in her mind.

His eyes. How magnetic they were and how they pulled her soul to his until he twisted it and pulled it and controlled it to his liking. His hair. How incredibly silky it felt when she would run her hands through it. His broad shoulders. Oh how they would make shivers go up and down her spine as she would watch him strut over to her beckoning her with his index finger. His lips. The smirk he wore as he was beckoning her and when she would willingly come to him even after he'd hit her. The lips that he would use mostly in a punishing force but when he was gentle? Oh how she loved his kisses. They made her knees go weak. His perfect chest. His rippling pecks with his washboard stomach with perfect six-pack abs that made her drool even when she thought of him now.

God, everything about him screamed "sexy" and "perfect" but she knew so much better. As his good traits would forever be sketched in her mind, so would his worst.

His breath. It always smelt of some kind of liquor. Most days it was a choice between Jack Daniels or just regular beer. His drunken stupor. She had been a victim of quite a few times. His hands. While sober, they were so magical, bringing her to her climax on countless occasions. While drunk, they had been the source of her pain. He would never do anything so physical. He had never once hit her while he was sober. While he was drunk, his aim wasn't quite on target. He had missed her a few times and hit the wall, allowing her to escape physical and mental scarring for that night.

Buffy started to look down at her arm, hoping to trace the familiar scar she knew to be there, but before her index finger could make contact, a car horn honked and Buffy's thoughts were dragged back to her task for the day: don't fuck up. Well thoughts of him certainly weren't going to be helping her out in that area. Abandoning events from the past, she smiled and ran to Willow's car hopping in the front seat. She was ready to get this show on the road and just find out who her mystery hall man was.

The judging went smoothly with the teachers following in their individual cars, but the scheduled rain made its ugly presence while they were visiting the Freshman float. Buffy and Willow both groaned wondering if this was all that they were going to face or if this was only just the beginning.

Four thirty rolled around and all the judging was finally completed. The Student Council advisor, Mrs. Carlson, took the voting ballots to tally up on the way back to into town. Willow dropped Buffy off at her house just in time for Buffy to grab a quick bite to eat, a shower and get ready for the game.

Not surprisingly, Buffy's mother was not in sight and there was no note left for her. She vaguely wondered if she ran away from home if her mother would ever notice her missing. She pondered that thought as she ran into bathroom and pumped up the music in her stereo she'd left in there from the morning.

Buffy sang along to the beautiful lyrics as she cleaned her body and hair so that it was shiny and smelling of vanilla and almonds. After she was done in the shower, Buffy heard her phone ringing and ran to answer it as quickly as she could.

Shouting into her room as if the person on the other side could hear her, she yelled, "I'm coming!"

Reaching the blue telephone that was occupied on Buffy's dresser, she pushed her dangling wet blonde locks out of the way and answered, "Hello?"

There was nothing. No one answered.

"Hello?" she tried again.

Finally she heard the other end click and hung up herself. She shrugged it off thinking that it was probably someone with a wrong number. She turned up her radio as she dressed and brushed her hair.

/I know you think that I shouldn't still love you, I'll tell you that/

Dido's White Flag had started and it was one of Buffy's favorite songs. It was such the "Break-up anthem" that she had listened to almost night and day after she had moved and ended her bad relationship. She thought about the music video to this song. How the two kept being at the same place but never noticing each other, even if one of them had, the other didn't. Then finally they came face to face again and how awkward it seemed to be even though they couldn't stop thinking about each other.

She wondered if that would ever happen to her and her ex. If she was ever where he lived or if he ever came to Sunnydale, would they ever see each other? She knew that she still thought about him a lot, but the question was, did he ever still think about her? She guessed it was just one of those things that you'd never know.