A week had passed since the eventful Halloween party. Everyone except Parker had survived the incident with no ill effects. Willow started a rumor that the guests' light-headedness had been caused by a gas leak in the house, and that explanation soon gained general acceptance. As for Parker's death, the common theory was that he had accidentally fallen over the stair railing, which had led to his tumbling all the way down and breaking his neck. Since no one had admitted to witnessing the fall, however, the police had to investigate the possibility of foul play and they hadn't yet issued a statement as to their findings.
Meanwhile, forced to view Spike in a different light, the Scooby gang had to admit that his actions had been heroic but he was still an evil, murdering demon at heart. At least, most of them thought that. Willow didn't contribute much to those conversations and Buffy also remained pretty quiet rather than launching into one of her usual anti-Spike harangues.
Spike noticed that the gang had started to soften toward him, though of course the only member he really cared about was Buffy. Still, if her friends accepted him that could only help his cause. In particular, he noted that Willow had become friendlier. So on Monday, when he was on his way to his composition class to meet Buffy, he didn't mind running into Willow in the hallway first.
"Hey, Spike, do you have a minute?" she greeted him.
He checked the watch he had begun wearing just so he wouldn't be late for any Buffy-meetings. "Sure, got a little time before class starts."
"Have you noticed something strange about Buffy? Well, not about Buffy herself exactly, but it concerns her."
Concerned, Spike demanded, "What's that?"
"Nothing bad. At least I don't think so," Willow assured him. "It's just strange. You do know that all of a sudden Professor Walsh has started giving Buffy much better grades in psychology class, right?"
That was all? Spike instantly relaxed. "Slayer mentioned it. So?"
"So...I wonder why. It came from out of nowhere and I can't figure it out. I mean, Buffy's not stupid but she shouldn't be getting A's on every assignment and test. I've looked at some of her work and it's like B or C level most of the time."
Spike shrugged. "Can't help you there." He wasn't going to give away his secret, just in case Willow spilled to Buffy and she wasn't pleased.
"Huh." Willow stared hard at him. "I really thought you might know something about that whole business. Guess I was wrong."
"Yeah, guess so." Spike snuck another peek at his watch. "That all, then?"
"Sure." Willow shifted her book bag to her other hand, then blurted, "You know, her work *has* improved since she started getting those higher grades. I think all she needed was a confidence boost. Whatever way she happened to get it."
That statement told Spike that Willow had figured out his secret, but she wasn't going to blab to Buffy. "Whatever way she happened to get it," he agreed.
"Well, I'll let you get going." Willow stepped around him and disappeared down the hallway.
His little run-in with Buffy's friend nearly made Spike late to comp class, and he slipped through the door seconds before the instructor began his lecture. As always, he was in the seat next to Buffy's. From the way she kept glancing him and mouthing words, he knew she wanted to communicate something. But what it was, Spike had no clue. He had never mastered the art of lipreading. Finally, he shook his head slightly to let Buffy know that whatever her message was, it wasn't coming through. She frowned, then began to whisper very quietly. Yet despite his enhanced hearing, Spike couldn't figure out what she wanted to tell him.
Frustrated by Spike's obvious lack of comprehension, Buffy picked up her pen and scrawled several words on a scrap of notebook paper. She then palmed the note and passed it across the aisle to him. Once it was safely in his possession, Spike flipped it over and read: "Just heard. Parker's death was ruled accidental." Beneath those words, she had drawn a smiley face.
Spike wrote his response below. "Good news. Celebrate tonight?" Well, a vamp could always hope. With a lightning-quick motion, he threw the note onto Buffy's desk.
She read it and sent back her response. "Bronze? Around 7?"
"Perfect. Meet you there," Spike wrote back. He was a bit surprised Buffy had agreed to go out with him again. Although she had become friendlier in recent days, she unfortunately hadn't yet figured out they were meant for each other. But maybe she would come to her senses that night.
Daydreaming and paying absolutely no attention to the droning voice of Dr. Petrovski, Spike began to compose a new poem in Buffy's honor. He wrote down several versions in different forms before completing one. Just as he set his pen down, he heard Buffy hissing at him and turned to look at her.
"Hello!" sounded the very unwelcome voice of the instructor. "Buffy, William! Are you two trying to disrupt my class again? It was bad enough that you passed notes once, but to do it twice is simply incredible. You're adults and you should know better than to disrespect me and your classmates with your lack of attention." He strode over to their desks and grabbed Spike's poem from the top of his.
"Hey!" Spike protested, about to try to snatch it back.
"Spike, no," Buffy urged.
He settled back into his seat with a groan and winced as the professor moved back to the front of the room, paper in hand.
"Well, what do we have here that was so important it made William and Buffy cause that unpleasant disturbance? It looks like a poem." The professor cleared his throat and recited,
"She ventures outside,
Slaying with impunity.
Golden effulgence."
The class tittered, Buffy blushed, and Spike wished for a hole to open up in the floor and swallow him. He hadn't been so embarrassed since he'd been a mortal and his poetic efforts of that time had received much the same reaction.
Dr. Petrovski cleared his throat. "Quiet down, class. I'm not quite sure what William had in mind when he wrote it, but this poem is an example of a haiku. Now, a haiku is a form of Japanese lyric verse...."
*****
As the instructor lectured on, using Spike's haiku to illustrate his point, Buffy glanced at the vampire. He was staring straight ahead, not sparing the slightest glance in her direction. In fact, he looked incredibly embarrassed. Well, he shouldn't, thought Buffy. The poem, which was so obviously about her, was pretty cute. Maybe that was why he was embarrassed. Master vampires didn't usually go around acting cute. Then again, she'd never heard of any vampire besides Spike attending college class or winning prizes at Halloween costume parties. He was definitely a special case.
Buffy forced herself to at least try to pay attention to the remainder of the class, but was incredibly relieved when it ended. She wanted to talk to Spike, but he darted from the room before she could say a word. Throwing together her books, Buffy tore out after him and caught up halfway down the hallway, where she fell into step beside Spike.
"Sorry about that stuff in class," she apologized. "I was just so excited about the news about Parker that I had to share it right away. I didn't know Dr. Petrovski would throw such a fit. It was kind of like being back in high school for a minute there."
"S'all right," Spike mumbled, walking faster.
"Okay, well, I'll see you at the Bronze tonight, right?"
Spike stopped in his tracks and stared at her. "You still want to go?"
"Yeah, don't you?" He wouldn't have changed his mind because he felt uncomfortable about the poem, would he?
"No, I mean, yes. I mean, I'll meet you there."
"Good." Buffy continued on her way downstairs to meet Willow, wondering if she should invite anyone else along to the Bronze or keep it just her and Spike. She finally decided it was best to meet Spike alone. He was more likely to open up to her if no one else was around. Judging from the fact that he had been writing poems in honor of her, he definitely was still interested.
"Buffy." Willow fell into step beside her. "Class go okay?"
Buffy shrugged. "More or less. Spike and I got yelled at for passing notes and I'm going to the Bronze with him tonight. Aside from that, not much happened."
"Trying to make progress, huh?" Willow looked thoughtful. "Think you'll get anything out of him?"
"We'll see," Buffy hedged. She started thinking about the poem again and smiled slightly. But something about it confused her a little. "Hey, Willow?" She turned to her friend. "What does 'effulgence' mean?"