Chapter 2: Lesson the First
The next day Buffy sulked in her room until mid-day, trying to prove something to her mother but going about it the wrong way. She had decided this was the only way to show how unhappy she was at the situation as Joyce wouldn't allow her to tell her. But sulking wouldn't work, Joyce easily went about her usual business, ignoring her daughter's bad mood. She was aware that she was trying to draw attention to her dislike of the circumstances, but she wouldn't be affected by it. She was determined to stand her ground. Buffy stayed in her room with her music blaring, deliberately trying to annoy her mom. She was resolute that she wasn't going to make the situation easy. She wasn't going to make any effort. And she was being tutored for a guy, so she wouldn't make it easy on him either. At around noon she started looking through her wardrobe for her most eye catching outfit. No, she wouldn't make it easy on him at all.
She was due to meet her tutor at two at the library so at 1.30 after taking one last look in the mirror, to make sure she had gotten the desired effect, she went downstairs and straight out the front door, ignoring her mother's call behind her.
Joyce had watched her daughter leave in horror, she was dressed like she was going to a party and she had a feeling that she was up to something. Buffy did not even know the name of her tutor, but she had told him what Buffy looked like. He'd find her.
Buffy stood bored outside the door of the library, checking her watch every few minutes. He wasn't due to meet her for another few minutes. She took a seat on a low wall, and looked at the people walking around. There were a lot of kids walking around with backpacks, but she figure they were mostly high school kids. But there were a few who looked about college age and she checked out the guys as they walked by. She noticed a group of guys and another boy walking a bit behind them. The group looked like they were athletes, they were all tall. Broad shouldered and had those all American looks that all jocks seemed to have. They were the typical guys that she saw every day. The other guy wasn't there anymore but she had noticed a little bit about him. He was average height and of lean build with bright blonde hair. He had been dressed all in black, and he was ok looking. Buffy was distracted when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into the face of the black clad figure. Forget alright looking she decided, he was hot.
"You Buffy?" he questioned, she nodded in response and her spoke again
"Well then, looks like I'm tutoring you" he informed her
"uh, ok" she spluttered and thought 'yeah good one Buff, make your self look like a bumbling idiot' "Ok well, I'm William Giles. Just don't call me that, call me Spike everyone who isn't a parent or old does" he held his hand out for to shake and she willingly complied.
Spike had noticed her straight away, her mother had described her well, but he thought she was even more beautiful, if a little overdressed. When he introduced himself he thought it was sweet how all of a sudden she seemed tongue tied, she had seemed so confident when he first noticed her
"Well, we should probably get started" he told her
"Ok, yeah, guess you're right" she agreed walking towards the library doors
"hey" he called out "do you wanna do this elsewhere. I hate the library and you have your stuff" he suggested to her
She smiled and started walking towards him again "Ok. Where do you wanna go?"
"Um, well, there's a coffee house nearby. It's quiet enough but we can talk there properly about stuff, how about that?"
"Sure, sounds good" she concurred
They walked in silence for about fifteen minutes until Spike stopped and told her they were at the coffee place. He held the door open to let her in and followed behind her. He led her over to a booth in the corner and sat down, she sat across for him and awaited instructions on what was to come
"Ok" he started "well, I guess your mum told you that I'm tutoring you three days a week, we just firstly need to decide which days are going to work out best" Buffy suddenly noticed that he spoke with a thick English accent, she had been so nervous earlier that she hadn't noticed
"Well, any day is ok for me really, I don't exactly have much to do" she told him
"Well, how about Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Probably best days for me" he asked
"Sure that'll work"
"Ok" he nodded "well we should get started, where's your stuff?" He watched as Buffy pulled out a large file folder that was surprisingly well organised, and lay it on the table. She saw his look and decided to explain
"I made more effort than my mom thinks I did this semester. I'm just not good in school. I tried but it didn't work. It wasn't good enough" she sighed and pushed the folder towards him and he picked it up and flipped through.
"Well, we should start by putting everything in order, alphabetical, just because it's easier to handle. Then you'll have to tell me which classes you're doing bad in" She snorted and told him
"Well that's easy, I failed three and got C's in the others"
"Ok" he looked a bit confused her notes all looked good he didn't see how she could be doing so badly "Well, which ones did you fail"
"Um history, World Civ and Spanish"
"Ok, so that leaves English, Chemistry and Math" he only nodded "alright then, well I was ok with most of these, not great but ok, we should be able to get your grades up"
"Cool, I need to do better or my mom will go crazy"
"Well we'll get there" he assured her "but if we are gonna we should get to work, let's start with history" he pulled out her history notes and saw that they were studying world war two "ok, let's get started. I'm gonna give you a short quiz, get to know what you've learned then we'll know what we have to cover"
"Ok, where did Hitler invade first and when did it happen?" was the first question
"The Rhineland in March 1936" she answered easily
"Ok good" he praised "What was the name given to the take over of Austria and when was it?"
"The Anschluss in April 1938, but it was the second attempt" she answered Spike was impressed she seemed to know her stuff
"Ok what treaty was signed that gave Hitler power over a certain part of Czechoslovakia what part was it?"
"Uh" she was finding this part more difficult "um he was given the Sudetanland but I just can't think of the treaty" she fretted
"That's ok" he reassured "it seems to me that you know the basics, but that the events are a little confused, so that's what we'll work on. So we'll start with the Rhineland ok" he waited until he saw her small nod of agreement before he started a commentary on the invasion
"Nazis remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, it was done on a weekend when no political action would be taken. Nothing was done because the Rhineland was technically German territory that had been taken from them after the previous world war. It was said that they were only walking into their own backyard and so..." he continued for fifteen minutes. Buffy seemed to pay attention for the first ten, but then he noticed the bored look in her eyes. He stopped what he was saying and looked at her
"You really don't want to be here do you pet?"
"I'm sorry, it's just that I've tried to get this stuff and it doesn't work and my mom won't listen to me. I tried to do better but everything just gets mixed up and my mom doesn't care about the reasons why my work went downhill in the first place" she rambled on and Spike just sat patiently and let her spill it all out. When she finished he spoke softly to her
"Look pet, I know where you're coming from. I went through a stage of not caring myself. I went downhill, rebelled after my mum and dad split up. I was left with dad but he's hard to talk to, doesn't understand how I felt. He was always sort of closed off, I took it all hard and probably made it harder on him. I came close to failing out of school because I just stopped caring"
She nodded her head, listening intently to what he had to say
"So, I'll make a deal with you" he continued "you strike me as someone who's bright and could do well with a bit of help. I think I understand how you're feeling. So, if you will try this tutoring thing, put some effort in, I'll listen if you ever need to talk. We'll even put a half hour on to the tutoring time just so we can talk" he promised
"Sounds good, but I don't think my mom will pay the extra" she warned
"Don't worry, it'll be on the house" he smirked and she let out a small laugh "Now, I need to know. Why are you wearing that? You had something planned didn't you?" he prodded
Buffy suddenly remembered what she was wearing and blushed a little
"Uh, yeah, kind of" he laughed and waited for her to go on, but she didn't
"Oh come on, you can't leave it there" he said
"Alright" she said grudgingly "I had decided that I was gonna make it hard on you, so I wore this" he stared at her and she exclaimed
"What? I own a mirror I know I don't look too bad" He shook his head disbelievingly, all of a sudden there was the confidence that he knew was there somewhere and he thought it was great
"Well then" he looked at her sternly "let's get back to work"
Buffy sat back in her seat and looked at him as he started telling her the details he had started before while she took some more notes at the same time, she was surprised that the next hour passed very quickly.
The next day Buffy sulked in her room until mid-day, trying to prove something to her mother but going about it the wrong way. She had decided this was the only way to show how unhappy she was at the situation as Joyce wouldn't allow her to tell her. But sulking wouldn't work, Joyce easily went about her usual business, ignoring her daughter's bad mood. She was aware that she was trying to draw attention to her dislike of the circumstances, but she wouldn't be affected by it. She was determined to stand her ground. Buffy stayed in her room with her music blaring, deliberately trying to annoy her mom. She was resolute that she wasn't going to make the situation easy. She wasn't going to make any effort. And she was being tutored for a guy, so she wouldn't make it easy on him either. At around noon she started looking through her wardrobe for her most eye catching outfit. No, she wouldn't make it easy on him at all.
She was due to meet her tutor at two at the library so at 1.30 after taking one last look in the mirror, to make sure she had gotten the desired effect, she went downstairs and straight out the front door, ignoring her mother's call behind her.
Joyce had watched her daughter leave in horror, she was dressed like she was going to a party and she had a feeling that she was up to something. Buffy did not even know the name of her tutor, but she had told him what Buffy looked like. He'd find her.
Buffy stood bored outside the door of the library, checking her watch every few minutes. He wasn't due to meet her for another few minutes. She took a seat on a low wall, and looked at the people walking around. There were a lot of kids walking around with backpacks, but she figure they were mostly high school kids. But there were a few who looked about college age and she checked out the guys as they walked by. She noticed a group of guys and another boy walking a bit behind them. The group looked like they were athletes, they were all tall. Broad shouldered and had those all American looks that all jocks seemed to have. They were the typical guys that she saw every day. The other guy wasn't there anymore but she had noticed a little bit about him. He was average height and of lean build with bright blonde hair. He had been dressed all in black, and he was ok looking. Buffy was distracted when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into the face of the black clad figure. Forget alright looking she decided, he was hot.
"You Buffy?" he questioned, she nodded in response and her spoke again
"Well then, looks like I'm tutoring you" he informed her
"uh, ok" she spluttered and thought 'yeah good one Buff, make your self look like a bumbling idiot' "Ok well, I'm William Giles. Just don't call me that, call me Spike everyone who isn't a parent or old does" he held his hand out for to shake and she willingly complied.
Spike had noticed her straight away, her mother had described her well, but he thought she was even more beautiful, if a little overdressed. When he introduced himself he thought it was sweet how all of a sudden she seemed tongue tied, she had seemed so confident when he first noticed her
"Well, we should probably get started" he told her
"Ok, yeah, guess you're right" she agreed walking towards the library doors
"hey" he called out "do you wanna do this elsewhere. I hate the library and you have your stuff" he suggested to her
She smiled and started walking towards him again "Ok. Where do you wanna go?"
"Um, well, there's a coffee house nearby. It's quiet enough but we can talk there properly about stuff, how about that?"
"Sure, sounds good" she concurred
They walked in silence for about fifteen minutes until Spike stopped and told her they were at the coffee place. He held the door open to let her in and followed behind her. He led her over to a booth in the corner and sat down, she sat across for him and awaited instructions on what was to come
"Ok" he started "well, I guess your mum told you that I'm tutoring you three days a week, we just firstly need to decide which days are going to work out best" Buffy suddenly noticed that he spoke with a thick English accent, she had been so nervous earlier that she hadn't noticed
"Well, any day is ok for me really, I don't exactly have much to do" she told him
"Well, how about Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Probably best days for me" he asked
"Sure that'll work"
"Ok" he nodded "well we should get started, where's your stuff?" He watched as Buffy pulled out a large file folder that was surprisingly well organised, and lay it on the table. She saw his look and decided to explain
"I made more effort than my mom thinks I did this semester. I'm just not good in school. I tried but it didn't work. It wasn't good enough" she sighed and pushed the folder towards him and he picked it up and flipped through.
"Well, we should start by putting everything in order, alphabetical, just because it's easier to handle. Then you'll have to tell me which classes you're doing bad in" She snorted and told him
"Well that's easy, I failed three and got C's in the others"
"Ok" he looked a bit confused her notes all looked good he didn't see how she could be doing so badly "Well, which ones did you fail"
"Um history, World Civ and Spanish"
"Ok, so that leaves English, Chemistry and Math" he only nodded "alright then, well I was ok with most of these, not great but ok, we should be able to get your grades up"
"Cool, I need to do better or my mom will go crazy"
"Well we'll get there" he assured her "but if we are gonna we should get to work, let's start with history" he pulled out her history notes and saw that they were studying world war two "ok, let's get started. I'm gonna give you a short quiz, get to know what you've learned then we'll know what we have to cover"
"Ok, where did Hitler invade first and when did it happen?" was the first question
"The Rhineland in March 1936" she answered easily
"Ok good" he praised "What was the name given to the take over of Austria and when was it?"
"The Anschluss in April 1938, but it was the second attempt" she answered Spike was impressed she seemed to know her stuff
"Ok what treaty was signed that gave Hitler power over a certain part of Czechoslovakia what part was it?"
"Uh" she was finding this part more difficult "um he was given the Sudetanland but I just can't think of the treaty" she fretted
"That's ok" he reassured "it seems to me that you know the basics, but that the events are a little confused, so that's what we'll work on. So we'll start with the Rhineland ok" he waited until he saw her small nod of agreement before he started a commentary on the invasion
"Nazis remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, it was done on a weekend when no political action would be taken. Nothing was done because the Rhineland was technically German territory that had been taken from them after the previous world war. It was said that they were only walking into their own backyard and so..." he continued for fifteen minutes. Buffy seemed to pay attention for the first ten, but then he noticed the bored look in her eyes. He stopped what he was saying and looked at her
"You really don't want to be here do you pet?"
"I'm sorry, it's just that I've tried to get this stuff and it doesn't work and my mom won't listen to me. I tried to do better but everything just gets mixed up and my mom doesn't care about the reasons why my work went downhill in the first place" she rambled on and Spike just sat patiently and let her spill it all out. When she finished he spoke softly to her
"Look pet, I know where you're coming from. I went through a stage of not caring myself. I went downhill, rebelled after my mum and dad split up. I was left with dad but he's hard to talk to, doesn't understand how I felt. He was always sort of closed off, I took it all hard and probably made it harder on him. I came close to failing out of school because I just stopped caring"
She nodded her head, listening intently to what he had to say
"So, I'll make a deal with you" he continued "you strike me as someone who's bright and could do well with a bit of help. I think I understand how you're feeling. So, if you will try this tutoring thing, put some effort in, I'll listen if you ever need to talk. We'll even put a half hour on to the tutoring time just so we can talk" he promised
"Sounds good, but I don't think my mom will pay the extra" she warned
"Don't worry, it'll be on the house" he smirked and she let out a small laugh "Now, I need to know. Why are you wearing that? You had something planned didn't you?" he prodded
Buffy suddenly remembered what she was wearing and blushed a little
"Uh, yeah, kind of" he laughed and waited for her to go on, but she didn't
"Oh come on, you can't leave it there" he said
"Alright" she said grudgingly "I had decided that I was gonna make it hard on you, so I wore this" he stared at her and she exclaimed
"What? I own a mirror I know I don't look too bad" He shook his head disbelievingly, all of a sudden there was the confidence that he knew was there somewhere and he thought it was great
"Well then" he looked at her sternly "let's get back to work"
Buffy sat back in her seat and looked at him as he started telling her the details he had started before while she took some more notes at the same time, she was surprised that the next hour passed very quickly.