A/N : Thanx to BuffyandDracoLover, spikeswife1, spuffyfan-1, Mita427, wicked-angel3, kate, James lee, for the latest reviews. I hope you continue to like the story. Honestly, 'Spike' is on his way soon. Hopefully in the meantime you'll like the new character introduced in this chapter... ;-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 6 - Making Progress
Two weeks had passed since William & Dawn's trip to the mall. The complete outfit that they'd bought hung in the back of his closet, of no use what-so-ever until he could get the other piece of the puzzle - the motorcycle. He'd counted up all his spare cash, but there was no way he was going to afford a decent ride without his mother noticing a hole in his college fund.
At school he watched Buffy as she chatted with her friends and hated the fact that she completely ignored him at every opportunity. Willow would sometimes say hello to him, but never when she was with 'the gang' and the guys continued to throw dirty looks at him whenever he walked passed.
William was miserable about it all. He was such an idiot, thinking he could just change his clothes and Buffy would love him, the motorcycle part was just as important for her dream man to have. Looking back he admitted to himself he was blocking out the part of the equation that may cause him injury and taking the safe route, but Dawn had been right. Buffy wanted the whole package, she deserved it and he'd find a way to do this. All he had to do was get his hands on some cash and soon...
"Hey, English-boy" a voice called and William glanced across to see Xander walking towards him, "I need to talk to you"
"Okay" he answered uneasily, closing the book he'd been studying, as the leather-jacketed boy sat down on the wall beside him, "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"I got this English paper to write, somethin' about a poem or whatever" he shrugged not really caring.
"You wanted my help with your homework?" William ventured, unsure as to what Xander was getting at. He was a little worried when the brunette laughed.
"I don't want help" he explained, "I'm talkin' papers for paper" he said with a smile, William looked confused and Xander rolled his eyes, dropping his voice lower, "Essays for cash?" he made it clearer and the other boy frowned a little.
What he was being asked to do was wrong, it was cheating, and he could probably get into all kinds of trouble for it...on the other hand, he'd be getting paid for something he found simple enough to do, and the more cash he had the quicker he could get that motorcycle he needed to win Buffy over...
"So, we got a deal, Will?" the brunette asked him and William smiled.
"Yes, I do believe we have" he agreed.
- - - - - - - -
William yawned and checked his watch. By the light of the lamp, the face told him it was past midnight and he groaned as he realised how long he'd been sitting at his desk, reading and writing for his own homework as well as some for Xander, Andrew and even Angel. He'd been doing all their trickier assignments for the past month, being paid a pittance for each and every paper, but it was all adding up and he knew with just a few more pieces, he'd have earned enough for the motorcycle.
Rubbing his eyes, he turned off the lamp and moved over towards his bed, removing his clothes on the way. He fell onto the mattress and sighed as he closed his eyes. Tonight was no different to any other and, behind his eyes, William saw Buffy. She'd smiled at him today, for the briefest of moments but it made his heart soar. He didn't know why, frankly he didn't care. Maybe the guys had told her he was a decent person because of the favour he was doing for them, but he doubted they'd want anyone to know of their academic difficulties. Perhaps Willow had put in a good word for him, she was always kind to him, well, when the gang wasn't there anyway. Or possibly Dawn had pleaded his case, though the poor girl was barely more popular with those people than he was.
'Dearest Dawn' William smiled to himself. She was such a sweet girl, in many ways like her sister only nicer to him at the moment. She'd make a wonderful girlfriend for some lucky boy one day, but to him she was the younger sister he wished he could have had.
- - - - - - - -
"Another day, another crappy homework assignment" Faith sighed as she exited fourth period with her friends.
"Tell me about it" Buffy agreed, "I mean, why do we even need to know this stuff anyway?" she said as she scanned over the sheet in her hand, full of questions about the Civil War that required ridiculously long answers. It was going to take hours.
"This doesn't look so bad" Angel grinned, looking over at Xander, "What do ya say Xand?"
"Not a problem" his friend smiled back, as the girls shared a bemused look and the two guys silently agreed to explain as the gang headed outside.
"We kind of don't do the homework" Xander told them as the girls sat down on a nearby bench. The boy climbed up to sit on the back of the seat with his feet between Buffy and Faith.
"But I've seen you hand in your papers?" Buffy frowned, "So how...?" she didn't finish her question as Faith started to laugh loudly.
"You snakes in the grass" the brunette girl chuckled, looking between Xander and Angel, who stood to the side, who both began to laugh too, "These two have some brainiac doing their assignments for them" she said to Buffy who eyed the pair with distaste. They pulled scams all the time but if they were threatening a guy into doing their school work, that was just kind of pathetic.
"So come on, tell us" she snapped, "Who are you idiots beating on to do your work?"
"Beating on?" Xander looked disgusted, "Come on Buff, you know us better than that...we just pay the guy"
"Then you really are idiots" Faith continued to laugh as she got up and walked away shaking her head. Angel opted to go after her and Buffy looked up at the boy who remained beside her.
"So, you gonna tell me who it is?" she asked him. Xander gave her a goofy grin.
"Your very own little lost puppy dog" he told her, pointing across the way to where William sat engrossed in a book as always.
Buffy's eyes followed her friends finger and she sighed when she saw who he meant. William had been such an annoyance to her when he'd first arrived at Sunnydale High, but these past few weeks, since he'd stopped constantly asking her out and bugging her, she found she didn't mind so much when he smiled at her on the way to class, or sometimes stared across the room at her. It was sort of nice to know someone liked you that much, and since he was less obvious these days the gang had more or less stopped teasing her about it.
"I'm gonna go find Cordy" she half heard Xander say as he jumped down from the back of the bench and wandered off. Buffy's eyes were still fixed on William though for a long time there she wasn't really seeing him, her mind was somewhere else entirely as she considered this guy.
"Hey" Buffy was almost as startled by her own voice as William was as she found herself standing next to him now.
"H-hello" he replied nervously, wondering why she was suddenly standing there talking to him, and thanking God that he went to the bother of putting his lenses in today instead of wearing his glasses.
"I just wanted to..." Buffy began, internally asking herself why on earth she was doing this, "I heard from the guys that you do their homework for them" she said eventually, "and I just wanted to tell you, you shouldn't let them make a fool out of you, okay?"
William only nodded in reply, afraid of saying something stupid if he actually opened his mouth.
"Well, that was all" Buffy shrugged, adjusted her sunglasses, and turned to walk away. William suddenly decided he had to say something to her, she had actually been pleasant to him after all!
"Thankyou, Buffy" he called behind her and she turned back just briefly to smile at him. He smiled back, feeling that today anything might be possible. He didn't know how right he was until he turned back and ran straight into Angel.
"Will, buddy" he smiled almost evilly and William involuntarily shuddered.
"History again?" the English boy guessed and Angel slapped him on the back as he walked with him and spoke in a low voice.
"Keep the volume down, boy" he reminded him, "I don't object to paying for a service but the deal was we keep the profile low, remember?"
"I remember" William nodded once as Angel checked the area for people and slipped a piece of paper to the other boy.
"By Friday" he said sharply, "Two versions, usual rate"
"I understand" came the reply with a further nod as the brunette walked away with his usual air of superiority, straightening the collar of his leather jacket as he went and winking at some random girls.
William sighed and shook his head as he looked over the paper. 'Simple enough' he thought to himself, 'and two copies at the usual rate...' he smiled as he headed for the library to make a start during his free period. If his calculations were correct, he should be able to go shopping for a motorcycle this weekend.
- - - - - - - -
Saturday came around again, and it couldn't come fast enough for William. Almost two months since his original plan to win Buffy over and finally it looked as if he was getting close. Dressing in his most 'normal American teen' outfit, he headed out to a place he'd found in the phone book called Rippers. It was a garage in the less-respectable side of town, that bought and sold cars and bikes and fixed them too. William was not entirely sure he liked the idea of buying a second hand bike from a man named 'Ripper' but then he thought of Buffy and it was all entirely worth it.
Already he'd shared smiles with Buffy on three occasions and there had been that glorious moment on Monday morning when she'd come over and talked to him, warning him against making deals with those who were supposed to be her friends.
William soon arrived at the garage and his eyes took in the scene. A courtyard area held a couple of cars that looked like they'd fall to pieces if you went over 50mph, and the main building looked like a strong gust of wind might reduce it to debris, still, it was the only place around where William seemed guaranteed to get a good deal on a bike. Taking a deep breath he headed for the front of the building and cautiously went inside.
As far as William was aware he'd never been in a garage that looked quite like this, in fact he wasn't so sure he'd ever been in one at all. But now here he was staring at a mans legs as they stuck out from beneath a jacked-up car, one black booted foot tapping along to a rock tune that rang out from the battered radio on a nearby shelf.
"Er, excuse me" William's voice sounded ridiculously polite and uncharacteristically loud in such a rough setting. The noise was sudden enough to cause the person under the car to bang his head and curse colourfully as he dragged himself out into the open.
"You stupid bloody pillock!" he swore at William as he jumped to his feet, wrench still in hand, and the boy found himself backing up quite speedily.
"I'm terribly sorry" he apologised profusely, "I...I just wanted to...I wondered if you might help me..." he rambled nervously and the man who appeared to be Ripper sighed as he wiped his hands on an oily rang and moved to turn the radio down to a less blaring level.
"Don't tell me" Ripper smirked, looking the boy up and down, "You've got a flat and mummy wouldn't like it if you got grease on your best shirt"
William was quite offended by this and looked indignantly at the older man before him.
"I am here on business" he announced, "I have money to spend on a bike and I planned to spend it here, but I can go elsewhere if..."
"Calm down, mate" Ripper held up his hands in mock surrender, "Just don't get a lot of your sort in 'ere is all" he commented, "You got a name, son?" he asked next.
"William Spencer" the boy said politely extending his hand.
"Okay, Will" the man nodded, taking the offered hand and shaking it firmly, "You can just call me Ripper, okay?"
William nodded as he took back his hand and looked disdainfully at the grease and dirt on it.
"Get used to it" he heard as he looked up, "Cos if you plan on buying and running a bike, your hands are gonna get dirtier than that...I take it this is your first bike?"
"Yes" William admitted, feeling a little stupid and very out of place.
Ripper nodded and smiled to himself. He'd seen this kind of thing before, hell it was how he'd turned out the way he had, for the love of a woman.
"What's her name?" he asked casually as he could.
"Buffy" William blurted out without thinking, trying not to blush like some nancy boy as the older man tried not to laugh.
"Tell you what, Will" the man sighed, patting him on the back and leading him across the room, "Seein' as your a fellow Brit, and this is all to win the love of some fair lady, let's see if we can't cut you a deal..."
To Be Continued...
A/N2 : Review please and let me know what you think! :-)
[More 'Our Little Secret' should be up in the next couple of days!]