In the weeks that followed, Buffy settled right in. Willow and Xander became the best friends she'd ever had. They didn't demand anything from her, didn't dare her to do dangerous things, didn't encourage her to skip school and get drunk with them.

She was, at first, apprehensive to let her guard down to much, she was waiting for them to turn on her when she didn't do what they wanted. That never happened, and she found that the three of them had a genuine fondness for each other. She was happy for the first time since she was a child and it was having positive consequences in other areas of her life. Her grades were up thanks to Willow, she was almost always laughing thanks to Xander's humour. She was getting on so much better with her Mom, there were no fights, she was allowed to have a social life without her Mom constantly demanding to know where she was. Her Mom had even taken her shopping for new clothes as a reward for her good grades.

All in all, Buffy was glad her Mom had moved them to Sunnydale. The only small downside was her growing attraction to Angelus Murphy. She had done what she'd promised Willow and Xander on her first day and stayed away from him. Not that he'd made it easy. He always said hello to her when they passed in the hall, always had a smile for her in class, and every time she saw him at the Bronze he would ask her to dance, which she always politely declined. He always took her rejection graciously, but it didn't stop him from trying.

Now sitting in History class which was just one of the many classes she shared with Angelus, she could feel his eyes on her. She itched to turn around and smile at him, but she wouldn't, she would be good. She was repeating that over and over in her head so much she didn't hear when the teacher called her name.

"What?" She asked bewildered when Willow gave her a nudge and nodded to the teacher. "Um, yes?" She replied with a weak smile.

"I said, you will be paired with Mr Murphy for this project, Miss Summers." Mrs Bartrum said curtly.

"Oh...OK," Buffy replied. Then leaning over to Willow she whispered, "What project?"

Willow giggled, "Do you ever pay attention?"

"Er, I try."

They were interrupted by Mrs Bartrum, "For the remainder of class you will join with your partners to work out your plan for your project."

"Who'd you get?" Buffy asked.

"Oz," Willow replied shyly. Buffy looked at Willow with a big smile on her face, it was no secret that the Dingoes guitarist had a crush on Willow. Buffy knew that Willow also had a big crush on Oz. "Maybe this could help move you two along," Buffy said teasingly.

Willow became flustered and her face began to redden, "Oh I don't know…"

They were interrupted again by a cough from someone standing over them. They looked up to see Angelus. "I think Oz is waiting for you," he said to Willow trying to keep the annoyance from his voice. He was itching to sit down next to Buffy. Willow gave Buffy a sympathetic look, before collecting her things and going over to sit with Oz.

"Hi," Angelus said as he sat down in the seat Willow had just vacated.

"Hi," Buffy replied, willing herself not to blush. Being this close to him was doing things to her. Not wanting to let her attraction take over, Buffy forced herself to focus on the task at hand. "So, we should probably start by getting together after school. Do you want to meet in the library?" She asked.

Angelus gave her one of his half-smiles (Oh how they made her melt), "Actually I was thinking you could come over to my house, our library is way more extensive than the school's."

Buffy's eyes widened, "You have a library in your house?"

"Of course," Angelus said like it was a completely normal thing to have in your house.

"Um, OK," Buffy replied, whilst mentally berating herself. She really should be sticking to neutral territory like the school library. She began wondering what his bedroom was like, which led to wondering what he looked like in his bedroom, naked on his bed…

"Buffy!"

"Oh, sorry, what did you say?" She asked blushing, she really needed to get a hold of herself.

Angelus looked at her with a smirk wondering just what she had been thinking about. "I said, meet me in the car park after school."

"Oh yeah, I can do that." Buffy smiled.

Just then the bell rang and everyone started collecting their things. "This is due in 2 weeks everyone." Mrs Bartrum called as people were filing out of the room.

At lunch, Buffy tried to pay attention to the conversation Willow and Xander were having but her mind was on Angelus. When Xander threw a French fry at her head and she didn't respond, they knew something was wrong. "Earth to Buffy," Xander said as he waved his hand in front of her face.

"What?" She asked.

"You zoned out, Buff," Xander said.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

Buffy bit her lip she didn't know if she should tell them about her growing feelings towards Angelus. They didn't like him, Xander especially and she didn't want them holding it against her. She quickly dismissed that thought, they were nothing like her old friends. She knew she could confide in them both, Willow especially.

Sighing, she said, "It's this history project thing. Being paired with Angelus will not help me in my 'keep Buffy away from Angelus' plan."

"Well just do the work as quickly as possible and then avoid him like usual. It won't be that hard," Xander replied. "Hey at least you're not partnered with Queen C! The next two weeks will be like torture for me!"

"I think I'd rather be paired with Cordelia," Buffy mumbled.

"Angelus isn't that bad Buffy," Willow said. "I know he's a jerk, but he's pretty clever and seems to always get good grades."

"It's not that, Will. I'm majorly attracted to him. I was doing really well staying away from him, but now we're going to be spending so much time together. And you've seen how persistent he is. I don't know if my willpower is strong enough for me to keep saying no."

"Of course, it is." Xander said, "Just think about his reputation. Every time you find yourself thinking about him in that way just remind yourself how he treats the girls he's slept with. You saw yourself how he and the other jocks taunted that poor freshman girl Amy last week."

"Wait, he slept with Amy?" Buffy asked incredulously. "I didn't know that was what those jerks were taunting her about!"

"Yeah. She hasn't been in school all week. I heard from one of the freshman guys that she hasn't left her room since Friday." Xander said.

"Oh, oh," Willow smacked Buffy on the shoulder, "And, Darla. Don't forget he already has a girlfriend, Buffy."

Buffy frowned, she was mad now. "You two are right. The guy is frickin asshole. I will remember that!" Buffy felt better now, she had more determination to not fall for the jerk's charms, no matter how gorgeous he was. She was glad she'd told her friends.

Throwing an arm around both Xander and Willow's shoulders she said, "I love you guys."

Laughing Xander said, "Fry?" As he wiggled it under her nose.

After school, Buffy made her way out to the car park. She found Angelus leaning against his car waiting for her. She was impressed by his car, although she didn't let it show. It was a huge black convertible. She had no idea what kind of make and model it was, cars weren't really her thing. Still, it was gorgeous, much like its owner.

Smiling as she approached he held the passenger door open for her. "Thanks," she said as she climbed in. It was a nice day so she wasn't surprised when he took the top down as they drove away. Feeling the wind in her hair and the sun on her face was lovely. She turned her head upwards towards the sky and closed her eyes. As they stopped at a red light Angelus turned to look at her. She was really beautiful, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

He was pulled out of his reverie by a beep from behind him. He quickly moved off from the lights. The beep had pulled Buffy from her thoughts and she turned to look at him. He had a slight blush from being caught dawdling at the lights, and it made her giggle. He gave her a quick glance before smiling. "What?" he asked.

"You, getting embarrassed." She said with a smile, "You're not the type of person I thought would ever get embarrassed."

He raised his eyebrow as he looked at her again, before turning his attention back to the road. "What type of person do you think I am exactly?"

"Typical jock, too cool to be bothered by anything trivial. Rules the school, can get any girl he wants, a player."

"You think I'm a player?"

"I don't think it, I know it," Buffy replied, as she turned to look at the scenery.

He didn't say anything just carried on driving. He knew she had been told all about his reputation. He suddenly had an urge to prove her wrong, to let her see him for who he really was, and not the jerk she thought he was. He wanted to get to know her, and for her to get to know him. He had an almost overwhelming craving for a meaningful connection with this girl. Woah! Where did that come from? He just wanted to bed her. He didn't have meaningful connections with girls. She may be more beautiful than his usual conquests, but all he wanted from her was sex. Yeah, he thought, keep telling yourself that.

Shaking the troubling thoughts from his head, he stopped to put a code in the keypad that opened the big double wrought iron gates to his house. The gates opened and he drove up the long winding driveway that led to his parents' mansion. Buffy's eyes were wide, she couldn't believe anyone lived in a house this big. Anyone who wasn't royalty anyway.

As Angel opened the car door for her he laughed at her wide-eyed expression. "I can't believe people actually live in houses this big!" She said as looked up at the huge concrete structure. "Unless they're related to royalty. You're not are you?"

He shook his head and chuckled, "No, definitely not royalty. C'mon, I'll give you the tour."

He led her through the huge double front doors to a wide-open hallway the size of a small ballroom. There were two flights of stairs leading from upstairs that fed into one single flight that trailed down to the entranceway. Sparkling wooden floors and crisp white walls greeted her from every angle. Sunlight was pouring in from several high windows that overlooked the stairs.

Angelus was fascinated by her reaction to his home. The look of wonder on her face was mesmerising. "So?" Buffy said as she turned to him.

"So…?" He asked, his eyes still transfixed on her face.

"You were going to give me a tour?"

"Oh, right, yeah," Angelus mumbled. "Are you thirsty?"

Buffy smiled as she noticed the slight blush on Angelus' face. "Yeah."

Angelus began walking off to what she assumed was the kitchen, so she quickly followed him. He opened a fridge that she would swear was nearly as big as her bedroom.

"What do you feel like? Soda, water, ice tea…?" Angelus asked, trying to regain his composure whilst his head was stuck in the fridge. He'd never reacted like this to a girl before, he was actually nervous!

"A water is fine, thanks."

He grabbed two bottles of water and handed her one. He quickly decided to forgo the tour and just take her straight to the library.

Nearly three hours later and Buffy was ready to never look at another history book ever again. Throwing her pen down on the table she said, "Urgh, how are we meant to actually do this project and have a life? I can't be spending three hours every day on this thing!"

Angelus chuckled at her outburst. "It's not that hard, we've done most of the outline today. The rest is just putting it together. Besides, spending three hours a day with you is not exactly a hardship."

Buffy's head shot up and their eyes locked. The air around them seemed to crackle and Buffy knew she was treading on dangerous ground. In the past three hours, he'd made her laugh, told her stories about his parents and his sister. She was beginning to like him for more than just his gorgeous looks. She couldn't quite reconcile the guy in front of her with the jerk that everyone kept telling her he was.

Angelus couldn't take his eyes off her, his gaze kept switching back and forth between her beautiful hazel eyes and her soft rosebud lips. He wanted to kiss her so badly his hands were bunched into fists. But he didn't want to mess this up either. He'd enjoyed the time they'd spent together today. She was incredibly funny and really intelligent and he found himself wanting more than anything to know everything there was to know about Buffy Summers.

It was a strange feeling for him, he never enjoyed spending time with girls. Not girls he wanted to sleep with anyway. The only girl he'd ever wanted to keep around after sleeping with her was Darla. But his patience with her was wearing thin these days, funnily enough since meeting Buffy.

Now her eyes were locked with his and he knew he was going to kiss her. Slowly leaning in he softly touched his lips to hers. As soon as their lips met electricity ran through both of them leaving them feeling like their lips were humming. They pulled back startled a little before their eyes locked again and they both smashed their lips together passionately.

Buffy's arms came up around his neck as she somehow found herself being lifted onto his lap. His arms tightened around her waist and he deepened the kiss by sliding his tongue into her mouth. Buffy moaned at the sensation and it went straight to his groin, which was quickly hardening. His hands slowly wandered down to her ass before he moved her so she was straddling him.

He pushed her into his groin so she could feel his arousal. She moaned again, her own arousal growing. When she began taking over the kiss and sliding her own tongue into his mouth he groaned. God, she was incredible, he wanted to take her right here on this table. When his hand slid underneath her shirt and grazed the underside of her bra Buffy was suddenly brought back to reality.

She quickly broke the kiss and hopped off his lap like he was on fire. He looked at her with concern, "What's wrong?"

"Um…" Buffy couldn't think properly. She was so incredibly turned on, and she couldn't take her eyes off the impressive bulge in his pants. Shit, why did he have to be so well endowed on top of being so devastatingly gorgeous?

Finally, she was able to put a sentence together, "We shouldn't be doing this," she said as she started to get her things together and put them in her backpack.

"Why shouldn't we be doing this?" Angelus asked as he rose from his chair. He came up beside her and she stopped what she was doing. "Why?" he asked her again as he held her by her forearms.

She looked up at him and nearly got lost in those beautiful chocolate pools of his. Quickly looking away before she gave in again she said, "Because you have a girlfriend!"

"So." He said as he pulled her to him and his lips descended on hers again. His hands quickly moved down to her ass and he pulled her against his still very prominent arousal. Buffy let out another moan. Her whole body felt like it was on fire just from his kiss. Girlfriend, player, Amy, jerk. All ran through her mind as she tried desperately to fight her growing attraction.

Finally, she was able to get a hold of herself and she pushed him away with such force he fell back into his chair. He stared at her dumbfounded. He'd never had a kiss that was so hot, so electric before. He couldn't seem to form a thought as she quickly grabbed her backpack and started making her way out of the library.

Before she reached the door she turned around and said, "I think it's best we meet at the school library tomorrow. I'll see you there after school."

With that she was gone, leaving a bewildered and confused Angelus behind. He knew she'd felt what he'd felt during their kiss, but he couldn't blame her for running away. He knew his reputation must have scared her. And for the first time since he'd begun his little fun and games in freshman year, he found himself regretting his actions. He didn't want his reputation to come between them. He wanted her, more than wanted her, he wanted to know her.

He shook his head. This was ridiculous! She was just another girl, he was just feeling this way because she represented a challenge. He never usually had to work to get a girl and it was obvious he was going to have to put a lot of work in to get Buffy Summers. That's what he kept telling himself, anyway.