[11 years later]

"Dawn!" Buffy screamed and tapped her foot against the hardwood floors impatiently. "Dawn. Get your ass down here!"

Dawn franticly searched for her shirt. She appeared in her black bra at the top of the stairs.
"Have you seen my black shirt?" Buffy sighed.
"Which one? All the clothing that you have is black." Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Not true!" She vanished back into her bedroom.
"Found it," came a voice. Dawn walked down the stairs.
She was wearing red chino pants with a black studded belt and a black shirt. Her makeup was done lightly. The shirt showed off a strip of tan skin at her belly that exposed a piercing, one of many. Her straight, dark coffee hair laid on her back in a messy braid. She looked hot and she knew it. She tanned all during summer vacation, just for this moment – for her first day of being a sophomore.

The shirt was her favorite, not because it was her favorite band's t-shirt, The Clear, but because Drusilla gave it to her. Drusilla was Spike's sister. Spike was formally known as William, but kept the nickname that his buddies called him. It suited his new look because, to him, William was a nancy boy name and he was no nancy boy. Drusilla was beautiful in Dawn eyes. Surely, Dawn shouldn't think this way about another girl, but she did. She was attracted to her.

"Dawn, if you don't get your ass moving, I will leave with out you!" Buffy said while slinging her tattered book bag across her shoulder.

Buffy was the complete opposite of her sister. She had long, blonde hair that hit her mid-back. Her eyes were hazel, not changing much through out the years. She wore a pair of lightly faded and torn jeans with a deep red shirt that had the Chinese symbol for forever on it. She, also, had on the necklace that Spike gave her so many, many years ago. She didn't know why she always wore it, but she did. Always.

"I'm coming. I'm coming," said Dawn. She had a piece of burnt toast in her mouth.
"Mom, we're off," said Buffy. Dawn grabbed her thrift store bag that had many patches on it and headed out the door.

The day was fresh. The sun was glistening between the thick bundles of leaves through the trees. The sisters looked over at their neighbors. Spike was leaning on his black Desota, his black leather duster and all. He was yelling at his younger sister to hurry out of the "bloody house". He took a pack of fags out of his pants' pocket and started to light it. He exhaled the smoke in the twirls of the wind. He noticed the eyes of the youngest Summers. He smiled and nodded his head acknowledging her. She gave him a quick smile and gawkily waved her hand at him. Buffy snatched it with a snort and began to walk towards school. Dawn frowned, while Spike just rolled his eyes.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Dawn snapped. She hated how Buffy always seemed to embarrass her. "How could you even associate with him?" she said, her voice low.
"He's a-a-a freak!" Dawn crossed her arms over her chest.
"Yea a freak who you used to love." Buffy's eyes were wide.
"Don't you ever say that! I was never in love with him. Yes, I use to like William, but Spike and William are two totally different people!" Dawn sighed.
"Yea, whatever."

Buffy really did love William, but that was years ago. After his mother died of a brain tumor, he closed out. He was so young when it happened, about thirteen, and it devastated him so much. He started to go deeper and deeper in a downward spiral. He experimented with drugs, sex, and gangs, but nothing could take the pain away from his heart. He thought about suicide and tested out with self-mutilation. Even though it erased the pain for mere seconds, it was better than anything else he tried. He began to hang out with the "trouble" makers of the town and was in jail many of times. Life sucked for him.

Dawn just made it to homeroom. She smiled as the, also late, Drusilla walked in. She looked stunning. She hadn't seen Dru in two months. They both smiled as Dru took the seat across from Dawn's.

Drusilla bit her lip. Over the summer she got into some bad things like her brother. He didn't know, of course, because if he did, he'd make her stop. She wanted to tell Dawn, she really did. Dawn was, like, her best friend. But if she told her, would she be upset?

"Hey," Dru said while pushing her black, shiny hair behind her ears.
"Hey," Dawn replied.
"You're wearing the shirt I gave you," she said frankly. Dawn blushed and shook her head.
"And you're wearing the ring I gave you." The teacher started talking, but they both ignored him.
"You look good," Dru said while tapping her pencil on the desk. Dawn tried to hold back a smile, "Thanks. You do, too."

"Girls...don't make me send you to the principal's office," said the teacher, making the girls roll their eyes.

Buffy got to homeroom just in time. Spike was late, as usual. He was probably out smoking in the courtyard or shagging some girl blind in the boys' bathroom. Not that she always knew what he was doing. He was just consistent and predictable. He came into the class with a blonde on his arm.

It was Harmony –the town slut. She shacked up with guys all the time and it looked like Spike was the bimbo this week. Buffy "ugghed". 'What could he see in her?' she asked herself. Then she realized what she was doing. 'Bad mind!' she scolded herself. She quickly distracted herself with a note she was writing. It was for Willow, her best friend since...forever.

Spike noticed the sudden blushed look on his neighbor's face. He always had a thing about her and he never knew why. There was something about her that attracted him to her. That was one of the main reason he was going with Harmony. She almost looked like Buffy and maybe by shagging her blind, he could get Buffy out of his system.

"Sit down Mr. Worthington," a voice said. Spike sauntered to the back of the room and sat down in the last seat of Buffy's row. She sighed knowing that he was two seats behind her. He always irked her like that –being so close to him, but not close enough for her to call him on it. He seemed, lately, that he was always on her mind.