Again, the sound of an owl echoed across the pond's surface. This time two sets of ears heard its mournful cry. Willow and Angel sat together on the park bench. Neither spoke. They simply sat together and silently watched as the wind stirred the water in the pond in complex patterns.
They sat until just before dawn in silence. Just before the sun came up they stood and agreed to meet on the bench again that night. They then parted company. He headed for shelter and she wandered home and got ready for school.
* * * * *
"Ms. Rosenberg, I hate to have to be the one to tell you this but this is a classroom not your bedroom," Mr. Duncan, a math teacher, said. "Now if you'd care to pay attention I can get on with the class." At Willow's nod he walked to the front of the room and continued to teach but Willow didn't listen.
Instead Willow sat and stared at the front of the classroom, her mind somewhere else. She sat and spent the rest of the class thinking about the events of the past two weeks of her life. It had been two weeks since Xander and Buffy had become a couple, and her whole world had changed.
She and Angel spent every night together, from sundown to sunup. Sometimes at the pond, now and then walking the streets, and sometimes at his place. Sometimes they spent the entire time talking about a variety of subjects, occasionally they spent all their time in companionable silence, but mostly it was a combination of the two.
Willow was aware that her parents were worried about her but right then, it didn't concern her. She knew that they had received a number of phone calls from the school asking questions like: why she wasn't in class, why she hadn't handed in assignments, and why she kept falling asleep in class. Yet, she found herself unfazed by such worries. They no longer seemed to be an important part of her life.
She also knew that Giles and Ms. Calendar were worried about her. Both had tried to talk to her, but she wasn't ready to talk to anyone but Angel. For the past week and a half, she had avoided the library and the computer rooms in order to avoid the questions Giles and Ms. Calendar inevitably asked.
What hurt, though, was that neither Xander nor Buffy had noticed that she was avoiding them. If they went to class, she skipped. If they were absent she went and usually slept. She was no longer interested in doing well in school. She preferred to spend her school time sleeping, thinking about her time with Angel, or thinking about the time she would have with him.
Just as the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, Willow made a decision. Quickly she packed up, left the classroom, and went to her locker, which she just as quickly emptied of its contents. Then with a determined stride she headed for the school doors. The sound of Xander calling her name almost drew her to a stop. Almost, but not quite. With a sudden burst of speed she ran out the doors and raced home. She had things to do. She was going to start a new life and had to start severing ties with the old one.
*****
"Hey, Buffy. Have you seen Willow today? She wasn't in English earlier and there's no answer at her place," Xander asked as he and Buffy walked down the hall.
"Uh, no. Why?" was Buffy's reply.
"Oh, my cousin Ian is coming to visit and I thought he and Willow could double date with us tomorrow night." Xander smiled at Buffy and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Willow!" he suddenly cried out as he saw his best friend leave her locker and head for the school doors. A slight hesitation in Willow's step was the only indication that she had heard him. He watched, stunned, as she suddenly sprinted out the door.
"That's odd," Buffy said as she watched her friend race out of the school. "I know she heard you but why didn't she stop?" With the obliviousness of youth and young love, it never occurred to Buffy to wonder about Willow's feelings.
"I don't know. Maybe Giles will," Xander answered.
The two stopped beside Willow's locker. The door stood open and when the two looked in, it was to find the locker empty.
"Come on, let's get to the library. I want to know what's wrong with Willow. I want to find out why she'd empty out her locker in the middle of the school year," Buffy said.
Worry for Willow filling their minds the two teenagers rushed to the library where they found an equally troubled Giles listening to a concerned Ms. Calendar.
"I'm so worried, Rupert. She's been falling asleep in her classes and she hasn't even been showing up for my class. She's skipped a number of her other classes and she hasn't handed any assignments in for the last two weeks. It's just not like Willow to behave like this!"
"I know what you mean," Giles said in a tired voice. "She hasn't been here in the library for over a week and every time I see her in the halls she turns and walks the other way. She's been avoiding us."
"Are you two talking about Willow?" Xander asked, surprising the two adults from their discussion. At their nods he continued, "Now that I think of it, I haven't seen in Willow in a long while either and she just ran away from me." At the questioning looks of the two teachers, he explained about what had happened less than a half-hour earlier.
When he finished Buffy said, "I don't remember talking to Willow for over a week now either." When she saw Giles and Ms. Calendar exchange a strange look, the Slayer practically pounced. "You know what's wrong with Willow, don't you?" The two teachers kept silent.
"If you know what's wrong tell us!" Xander cried. "Maybe we can help her."
Giles and Ms. Calendar exchanged another long look and at Giles' nod Ms. Calendar spoke, "It's you two."
The two teenagers looked confused and simultaneously exclaimed, "Us!?"
"Yes, you!" Jenny cried angrily. "The two of you have been so wrapped up in your own lives and your new relationship that you haven't even noticed Willow. You've excluded her from your lives. She's supposed to be your friend and yet you've been acting as though she doesn't even exist or is some sort of pariah. She's probably been avoiding the two of you as much as she's been avoiding the two of us but you haven't even noticed. The two of you are so self-centered!" With those final words, Jenny Calendar stormed out of the library. Behind her, she left a surprised librarian and two teenagers who suddenly felt very ashamed of themselves.
"Come on, Xander," Buffy said grabbing Xander by the arm, "We have to find Willow and apologize to her." With a willing Xander in tow, she too left the library.
End Part Three