CHAPTER 1: Reassurance



"Morning Giles, morning Spike!" greeted Buffy after she came out of Spike's room ready for school.

She went towards Giles and Spike, who sat next to each other at the dining table, sipping their coffee.

"Morning, Buffy."

"Morning, luv," said Giles and Spike simultaneously, both not taking their sight off of the newspaper they had been reading.

Buffy kissed Giles' cheek and Giles gave her a warm smile. Then she went to Spike and kissed the back of his head, inhaling the scent of his freshly shampooed bleached hair, earning a smirk and a wink from him.

"So, any plans after school?" asked Buffy as she sat down next to Spike, taking two slices of toast and covering them with peanut butter.

"Nah...just hanging out with the gang I suppose," Spike shifted his seat, then dropped the newspaper and stood to start cleaning up his dishes.

"Ooh...don't forget we have to meet after school, remember you have to buy me an outfit because you lost that bet."

Buffy grinned evilly at Spike, he just groaned at that. The bet was Willow and Xander's coupling. Buffy had reassured him that there were sparks between Willow and Xander, while Spike kept denying that those two were anything but best friends like Buffy and himself. Until one day when school finished, when they caught the brunette and redhead kissing wildly, hands roaming on each other at the back of the school library. Spike was stunned, merely managing to raise a scarred brow at them. Buffy squealed madly, excited that they had gotten together at last.

"Yeah yeah...I bloody remember! What time should I meet you?"

"About four-ish, I have to go to Snyder's office first." Buffy scowled at the thought of the students' brain killing machine.

Spike rolled his eyes, "What did you do this time?" knowing that Buffy had been the picked-on-by-Snyder student of the month.

"Absolutely nothing. That's why he wanted to see me. He said that I've never attempted to give any effort during gym classes and if it goes like that any further, he'll have to fail me. That bloody killer!" Buffy grunted on the last sentence and took a rough bite on her toast as if it was Snyder's head she was eating. Spike chuckled at her choice of words. This was why spending too much time with Buffy was a good idea if you wanted to turn a native Californian into a British wannabe.

"Yeah, well, try not to piss him off more often if you still wanna graduate this year. Might as well suck him up if you know what I mean." Spike gave a sneer, a glint in his baby blue eyes.

"Eew! I hope that's not a part of the 'How to survive high school' handbook." Buffy made a disgusted face.

Spike chuckled again. "Come on, pet! We're going to be late, don't wanna get into Snyder's little playtime again now do we?"

Snatching his bag, he turned on his heels, grabbing Buffy's arm along as he yelled over his shoulder.

"Bye, Dad!"

"Bye, Giles!" Buffy shouted as she almost stumbled over a chair on their way to the front door.

"Oh, bye kids!" came the reply from Giles after realizing they'd already gone.


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William 'Spike' Giles and Elizabeth 'Buffy' Anne Summers had been best friends since like forever. They met when they were little, around five or six years of age, at the house warming party for Spike and his dad which was a few blocks away from Buffy's house. Spike and Giles had just arrived from London after Giles was placed to work in this little town called Sunnydale. Buffy, who had never had a father's loving care after her parents' divorce, considered Giles to be her non-existent father and Spike to be the brother she never had. Spike's house had already seemed to be her second home, what with her having her own keys allowing to access to the house any time she wanted. She even slept more often at Spike's place, due to the tight schedule of her mother's job to fly around the country attending art gallery meetings. Spike, on the other hand, being the only child like Buffy was, had considered Buffy to be his sister as well and Joyce as his second mother, since his mother died after giving birth. The two were stuck together, and became friends with Xander and Willow, their other neighbors. They shared every little thing, even a bed, and felt comfortable with each other snuggling together when they slept.



"Hey guys! What's up?" called Xander as he and Willow were walking towards Spike and Buffy holding hands at the cafeteria.

"Well look at these two lovebirds! Aww...aren't they just getting cuter everyday?" Buffy teased with a wide smile plastered on her face. Spike let out a chuckle when he looked up at his friends, a shy smile and goofy grin registered on Willow's and Xander's faces respectively.

"So, are you guys doing anything after school?" asked Willow, changing the subject.

"Well, I have to deal with Snyder after school, much to my dismay. Might as well do to bloody shoot him on the face if that's what it takes to stop that wanker from intruding with my life."

Buffy growled while stabbing her food with her fork. The rest couldn't stifle their chuckles after hearing Buffy's complaint.

"What?"

Buffy snapped, annoyed with the amused looks on her friends' faces. Xander finally burst into laughter and shook his head.

"Buffy, I swear you're becoming like Spike more and more everyday. Spike man, what the hell did you

do with our California Buffy? She's turning into British Buffy, what with the choice of words and all." Buffy just rolled her eyes and set them back to focus on her food.

Spike chuckled again, "I ain't doing nothing to her. She's the one who keeps sticking to me!"

"I so do not!" Buffy protested, eyes widened. "Yeah, keep telling that to yourself." Spike snorted. Just before Buffy tried to defend herself, the bell rang.

"Oh, shit! I gotta go, my next class is on the other side of this bloody school. See you after school, luv." Spike gave a peck on her cheek and winked at a pouting Buffy.

"Xan-man, are you coming with?" asked Spike as he turned his head, looking at the brunette.

"Of course." Xander brushed a kiss on Willow before he got up. Buffy watched the two young men exiting the cafeteria until their figures vanished. She let out a soft sigh, then turned to look at Willow, who had an amused smirk on her face as she looked back at her.

"What?" asked Buffy exasperated, shrugging her shoulders.

"You know Buff, if I didn't know any better, I would have mistaken you and Spike for a married couple," said Willow with a brow arching up.

"Oh please..." Buffy rolled her eyes again.

"I'm serious! And you both haven't even graduated high school yet."

"Willow, we've gone through this over and over again. Spike and I are JUST FRIENDS!"

"Really?" asked Willow, not believing any single word coming from her best friend.

"Yes, really! Now, come on! We're gonna be late...again!" With that, the blonde and redhead left the cafeteria that had almost been emptied.


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Buffy stomped her feet through the hall with a scowl on her face. Facing Snyder had never been a pleasant thing on her list. She continued mimicking the words he said back in his office.

"'Miss Summers, if you don't put out any effort in your gym classes, I'm afraid I'll have to fail you. And we both know that physical education is as important as the other subjects, like English and Mathematics. So I suggest you start to think about it more often if you want to graduate this year'. Yeah right, important my ass!" Buffy snorted disgustedly when Snyder's features came across her mind. There was a smug look over the old man's face every time he made her squirm or seethe.

She reached the steps leading to the front yard of the school. Her eyes searched around the green grass that coated the yard. She finally rested her eyes on a black clad figure with bleached curly hair. A smile began forming on her lips as she walked towards the boy who had been sitting on the steps near the street smoking his cigarette.

"Hey, been here long?" Buffy tapped on one of his shoulders.

"Been a while. So what did he say this time, luv? Did he make you think twice about the gym class if you wanna survive this school?"

Standing up, Spike began walking side by side with Buffy.

"Something like that. God, why does he have to be so vindictive?" Buffy looked up at the sky as if asking God himself.

"I dunno, pet. Maybe it just comes straight from the genes." Spike offered a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah. I guess so." Buffy mumbled, returning his smile half-heartedly.

"Okay, enough with that bloody killer. Where to now?" asked Spike knowing that it would just brighten her mood.

"Main street, 'course. You know, I've been eyeing this cute outfit and it's sooo gorgeous..."

Spike groaned as Buffy start rambling on about the outfit he had to pay for since he lost their bet.