Anyway,
thanks for being supportive during the 'Angel' crisis.
Hang in there – things will get good I promise!
And
I would NEVER have Buffy have sex with Angel! Yucky.
I couldn't write that.
----------------------
Joyce
was busy organizing papers at the bus station when she looked up to see
the four counselors, decked out in Sunny-D attire, approach her table.
"Right on time guys." She said with a sigh of relief.
"Xander . . .Angel . . . you two take the table on the right to sign in
the boys." The two young men smiled
and took their seats, pens ready.
"Buffy . . .Cordy, I need you on my left to register the girls."
"Sure
mom," Buffy said, giving her mother a weak smile, as she and Cordelia took
their places next to Joyce.
"As
you'll see, each table has two lists of names. Please
be sure to check the box next to the corresponding name when each child
checks in." The four young
people nodded, as Joyce continued. "Also,
I need you to collect any money the parents might want to leave for their
children . . . for any extra trips or just for emergencies. Please
collect medications as well; making a note of them along side the child's
name." She lifted Cordelia's clipboard
and indicated the proper space on the list.
"Place the containers in these little plastic bags," she said, shaking
a Ziploc bag, "Then, put it in this large box next to me." Joyce
looked at each of them. "Any
questions?" Off of their silence,
"Good. I have to go greet
parents and do all that fun Camp Director stuff." Joyce
rolled her eyes, put on a brilliant, albeit, fake smile, and walked towards
the front door.
Five
minutes later, the two tables were hit with a mad rush of young campers
and their parents.
"Name
please," Buffy said, without looking at the girl standing before of her.
"Dawn
Green."
Buffy
scanned her list and placed a checkmark next to the girl's name. "Looks
like you're going to be in my cabin this year."
"Lucky
for me," the girl said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
The
blonde was taken aback by the cold response. She
looked the tall teenager over. She
was pretty. Kind of gangly
. . . like she still hadn't completely grown into her body yet.
Her long, straight brown hair hung loosely down her back. "How
long have you been taking ballet?"
Buffy asked, noting the way Dawn was standing.
The
girl looked surprised. "How
did you know?"
"You're
standing in fifth." Buffy said,
pointing at the girl's feet. "Plus
your posture's really good. I
could've spotted it a mile away."
Dawn
was impressed. "About seven
years now." She looked the
older girl over with a critical eye. "You
one of the dance teacher's?"
Buffy
stood up and extended her hand, "I'm Buffy. I'm
head of the dance department at Sunny-D; and your new counselor, as you
know." Dawn shook it limply,
finally allowing a small smile to form on her face.
"Every summer I have a couple of the teenagers help me out with the younger
classes. Give them some experience
with teaching and even let them do a little choreography."
Seeing the look of excitement cross the girl's face, she continued. "I
usually reserve that for the returning campers, but I could make an exception.
You interested?"
Dawn
looked to her mother and father and then nodded quickly at Buffy.
"Good. We
can talk about it on the bus ride up." Buffy
sat down again as she watched the girl skip off happily with her parents.
She made a note of the $40 they gave her, and placed it in the lock box.
"Next!"
"Janice
Voight."
-------------------------
"Conner
Stevens," the young man said to the young man smugly. "But
I think you already know that."
Angel
glared at the sixteen-year old, eyes filled with ire.
"Conner my boy. Good to have
you back."
Conner
didn't flinch. "Well, I had a talk
with Miss Summers and she assured me that this summer would be MUCH better
than last year."
Angel
frowned and shook his head. "I'll
bet."
"Well,
my parents already turned in my extra money to Joyce-" he said with a big
smile, "-so if it's ok with you, I'll just make my way over to my bus." He
started walking away, then turned back to Angel once again, "But then again
. . .I don't really need your permission anymore, do I?"
Angel's
face turned colder, and began to speak, but realized that he couldn't do
anything with all the parents standing around. Conner
laughed and ran out of the building.
---------------------------
Buffy
sat on the bus, listening to Dawn yap about her dance training.
She zoned out, and went over the morning's events in her head.
Angel and her hadn't really talked much since the night before.
After she got out of the shower, Buffy had blocked out all guilty thoughts
from her mind. She quickly got dressed
and blow-dried her hair, so Angel wouldn't tell her she looked like a 'drowned
rat' or make any other biting remarks. Before
the four of them left for the buses, he had kissed her in the hallway again.
The kisses were getting better, but they still didn't come close to matching
the intensity of those she shared with Spike.
"So,
any hotties I should know about?"
"Huh?"
Buffy said, snapping to attention.
"Guys?
Boyfriends?" Dawn asked.
"I want to know which of the counselor cuties you're macking on," she said.
Buffy
sighed, and looked out the window at the passing cars.
"Dawn, we're really not supposed to talk to the campers about our personal
lives. It makes things all crazy
when you guys know who's dating who."
"I
don't care about 'who's dating who,'" Dawn said with a whine. "I
want the REAL dirt. Like which
of the counselors has the best six-pack . . .who gives the best smoochies
. . . who's boning . . .who should be? You
know - the fun stuff."
Buffy
smiled, she couldn't help but sympathize with the girl.
When she was a camper she wanted to know everything too.
"I'm sorry Dawn; I really can't.
You'll just have to figure it out."
She watched Dawn pout, and draw back into herself.
"But, I can say, without a doubt, that we do have a mighty fine selection
of eye-candy this year."
Dawn
squealed and started grilling Buffy with questions, trying to pry any info
she could get out of her.
---------------------
Spike
inspected himself in the mirror.
'I am a handsome devil. Though
these staff shirts could use a bit of color,' he thought as he eyed
the white polo shirt. 'Or atleast
be black with white writing instead.'
He
nervously stole a glance at his watch. '15
more minutes and she'll be here.'
He couldn't wait to see Buffy again. The
last twenty hours had been absolute agony. He
had gone to The Bronze with Willow and Oz the night before, but seeing
the two together was too much; so he had left after only two pints.
He
glanced around the room, trying to remember if he had forgotten anything. The
signs were completed, as were his lesson plans.
After he unpacked his things, he had taken some time to decorate his room
a bit. A few photos lined the mirror;
one of him with his kid sister, one with Clem, and a few of his other university
chums. He had stripped the flannel
blankets from the bed and replaced them with a large black comforter and
sheets made of soft t-shirt material.
It had taken up a lot of room in his suitcase but it was worth it.
He couldn't sleep on anything else.
He grinned at the white envelope and flowers that sat on the dresser, and
exited the room, leaving the small token for later that evening.
-------------------------
Spike
stood in front of the camp gates, waiting anxiously for the buses.
He was definitely excited to see Buffy, but at the same time scared out
of his wits to face all the kids who would be arriving with her.
"Nervous?"
piped a sweet voice from behind him.
He turned to see Willow standing with Oz.
"Don't be. The little girls will
LOVE you. The older ones will WANT
you. And the boys will want to BE
you."
Spike
laughed. "Just a little scary.
First time doin' this and all."
Willow
gave him a quick pat on the back, and gave him her resolve face.
"Trust your instincts and show no fear."
Oz
smiled weakly at Spike; he was also a little uneasy about the prospect
of 200 screaming kids interrupting their peaceful campus.
Just
then the buses turned the corner onto the main street.
The returning counselors began clapping and singing some song about Sunny-D.
Spike looked at Willow oddly and she indicated that he should join in.
Soon he found himself clapping and smiling like an idiot, chanting something
along the lines of, 'Campers, campers, campers . . . aren't you glad
to be . . . fina'ly with your counselor's . . . here at Sunny-D.
We're so glad you've made it . . . gonna have a time . . . let's start
the whole thing over . . . cause nothing really rhymes.'
Of course, there were a lot of words that rhymed with time, but the counselors
got a kick out of saying the short chant over and over, speeding up and
voices rising with each repeat.
Willow
had Spike and Oz help her up onto a large brick post and began jumping
up and down excitedly, screaming the chant at the top of her lungs.
Her excitement was infectious and the entire staff was now screaming and
clapping - the bobbing mass of white polo shirts blinding to the average
passer-by.
The
buses finally pulled to a stop in front of the singing staff members.
Spike stood on his toes trying to get a glimpse of Buffy.
The doors of Bus 1 opened, and Xander emerged, with fifty or so young boys
pushing to get past him. "Leave
your bags here and go straight to the theater!"
Spike heard the brunette yell after the group of kids.
Spike
turned his attention to Bus 2. Out
stepped Cordelia followed by lots of giggling girls, approximately the
same age as the boys on Xander's bus.
Bus
3 held Angel and the older boys.
Spike saw a tall teenager push his way past Angel, and guessed that had
to be Conner.
Finally,
he turned his attention to Bus 4.
Of course, it had to be the one farthest away from where he was standing.
He saw the top of her head emerge from the door.
She was surrounded by teenage girls who were scrambling to find their friends
and favorite counselors to hug them hello.
All he could see of Buffy were her waving arms, directing the young women
to the theater.
Willow
saw Spike start to try to make his way over to Buffy's bus.
She jumped down from the post, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back.
"Nuh uh, Mister. You'll see her
later. Right now we have to get
all this luggage over to the front of the theater and do the welcome song
for the kids."
"Welcome
song - I completely forgot. Wait
. . . did you say MORE luggage?" Spike asked, gaping at the redhead.
"Yup.
This is all the stuff the kids didn't send ahead of time," she said, indicating
the mountains of bags lying on the grass in front of them.
"Plus the extra crap they wanted with them for the bus ride."
Spike
turned and caught a glimpse of Buffy's swaying backside heading towards
the theater, bags in hand. He let
out a deep sigh and collected a few suitcases from the grass.
-------------------------
"AAANNNND
NOOOOW. PLEASE WELCOME. . . YOUR
2002 SUNNY-D COUNSELING STAFF!"
Spike
felt his heart pounding in his chest as he ran onto the stage.
He looked out at the audience and saw hundreds of seated kids staring directly
at him. Of course, they weren't all staring at him, but that's what it
felt like to Spike. As the music
began he felt his body start to move instinctively, like Willow told him
it would. He soon relaxed and got
into the groove.
Before
he knew it, they were on the third song in the medley - the YMCA spoof.
Spike and the rest of the male counselors formed a row in front of the
seats and started forming the letters S-U-N-N-Y-D, with their arms and
legs. The kids were screaming and
jumping on the chairs, just as he had seen in the video.
He noticed a group of teenage girls giggling and pointing at the male counselors.
The
music to "Last Dance" started and the men made their way into the crowd
to shake hands. Spike, unable to
resist the opportunity, headed straight for the group of girls.
They paled when they saw him approaching.
"Hey there sweet bits, I'm Spike."
The four faces in front of him turned bright red, as they each shook his
hand in turn. As he walked away
he heard the brunette speak excitedly, "Oh my god!
He is soooo cute." Spike's grinned widened, Willow was right again!
"But, did you check out his ass?!"
As he heard one of the other girls speak, he turned around to check out
his backside, making sure there was nothing on his white shorts.
"I know!" The brunette shrieked, "Couldn't you just . . ." Spike looked
at her out of the corner of his eye and watched as she made a squeezing
motion to her friends. The man blushed
and made his way around the room to shake more hands.
'Although . . . my bum is quite nice.'
His
gaze moved to the stage as he watched the female counselors dance and sing
happily. There was Buffy, front
and center as always, doing some sort of pivot turn, hip shaking motion.
He had seen her do it in rehearsal, but this was different.
The live crowd made her come to life.
She looked absolutely beautiful.
The
song ended and the counselors took a seat.
Buffy looked around and her stomach fluttered when she finally spotted
Spike on the other side of the stage.
He was more gorgeous than she had remembered.
The white uniform showed off the tan that was starting to appear on his
body. She gulped as she saw him
stretch his legs out in front of him, thighs tightening.
He then leaned back on his arms, and she saw the muscles there flex as
well. As she lifted her eyes from
his body she was met with his piercing gaze.
Spike rested back on his arms and turned his head in Buffy's direction. He finally found her, and drank in the sight of her looking over his body. When he caught her eyes he mouthed the words: 'Missed you.' Buffy blushed and turned her focus back to her mother, who was now dividing the campers into their cabins. Spike laughed and stood up to go meet his new charges.
