A/N: Many thanks to Mariann, my beta. She's a goddess, I bow at her feet.
As always, let me know if anything seems off or out of place so I can fix
it. For all of you who wondered when I was gonna bring Spike into the
diary, well, it's in this chapter.
Spike looked down at Buffy's diary in shock. He'd just finished the entry about her death at the hands of the Master. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. While the first entry, and the couple others he'd skimmed so far had been pretty lighthearted, this one held a trace of the Buffy he'd come to know. The one who's innocence, who's hope was gone. It also explained why there were now two Slayers running around. Leave it up to her to accidentally go against the system. This time, however, she wasn't coming back. There wasn't going to be a miracle, and Xander couldn't save her again. Spike distracted himself from his heavy thoughts by flipping past the summer months in the diary. Surprising, the diary was actually a pretty good read. He stopped when he spied his name on page, and as he checked the date of the entry, a slow smirk spread across his lips.
September 29, 1997
Principal Snyder is a rodent. He's always got me jumping through hoops for him, and since I really don't want to get kicked out of another school, I have to let him control me. Last night was Parent/Teacher night at school. Basically, the teachers talk to the parents about the students and their problems, etc. Snyder seemed to think it would be 'neat' if I helped decorate and set up food and all that, along with this girl named Sheila. This is a girl who actually stabbed her teacher with a trowel. The only teachers I've ever stabbed with anything were actively going for my jugular at the time, and I mean that literally. As expected, she pretty much bailed and I had to cover for her. Willow and Xander tried to help, but I didn't want them in trouble too.
Mom complicated matters by finding out about said event. I was hoping to never tell her, but that got ruined when she checked the mail. She basically threatened my freedom and teenager-hood if my teachers didn't report good things about me. So, now I had to plan the night, and study up so that all my teachers would tell my mother that contrary to popular belief, her daughter is not an idiot. This was not shaping up as a fun week when I realized that Angel and I had a tentative date at the Bronze. After a few previous misfires, there was no way I was missing him again. One more thing added to my list. My bright idea? I could study and party at the same time. Didn't quite work out, but I'll explain that in a minute. As I'm planning this fabulous study/party outing, and working on decorations at the same time, Giles picks that moment to come over and tell me that the world's gonna end over the weekend. Great. What a way to make my day an even brighter ball of sunshine. Apparently, Saturday is the night of St. Vegan something or another and the vamps were gonna have a massacre. Now I'm really stressing.
I manage to get to the Bronze, but things didn't go anywhere near planned. Instead of studying and partying and flirting with Angel, I got a vamp attack. Angel apparently doesn't know when a girl is being cool, and he never showed. My French apparently sucks, and while I was dancing, a vamp attacked a girl in the alley. As the Slayer, I ran out and saved her. Xander got me a stake, and I took out one of the vamps. The other, however, crept out of the shadows and proceeded to scare the crap out of me. I think I hid well, though. His name is Spike, and he threatened to kill me this weekend. As the Slayer, I've had death threats made before. This one gave me a major wig, mostly because I think he could do it. Giles looked him up and said that he'd killed two Slayers before. What's to stop him from killing me?
Well, Spike got his chance, and on Parent/Teacher night too. He apparently couldn't wait for the night of St. Virtuoso or whatever his name was. That was how I ended up locked in a room with my mother, Principal Snyder and some others. Let's just say I'd rather have my teeth drilled than go through that again. I managed to crawl across the ceiling to the library, got some weapons and started taking vamps out. Nothing like a good dusting. I cleared the way for Giles to start getting people out, and went to take on the leader. Spike. William the Bloody. Goose bumps. I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling I had as I faced him. I was deathly calm, ready for anything he threw at me. My heart pounded in my chest as we punned back and forth and I know he could hear it. I attacked, and he countered. We fought for a few minutes, but just when I thought he might actually have me cornered, my mother whacked him on the back of the head with an axe. Go Mom! She hit him and told him to get the hell away from her daughter. Spike ran off with his remaining flunkies, and Mom told me she was proud of me. Somehow, it turned into a pretty good night. Ironically, I kinda owe it all to Spike. Hmmm...
Spike looked down at Buffy's diary in shock. He'd just finished the entry about her death at the hands of the Master. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. While the first entry, and the couple others he'd skimmed so far had been pretty lighthearted, this one held a trace of the Buffy he'd come to know. The one who's innocence, who's hope was gone. It also explained why there were now two Slayers running around. Leave it up to her to accidentally go against the system. This time, however, she wasn't coming back. There wasn't going to be a miracle, and Xander couldn't save her again. Spike distracted himself from his heavy thoughts by flipping past the summer months in the diary. Surprising, the diary was actually a pretty good read. He stopped when he spied his name on page, and as he checked the date of the entry, a slow smirk spread across his lips.
September 29, 1997
Principal Snyder is a rodent. He's always got me jumping through hoops for him, and since I really don't want to get kicked out of another school, I have to let him control me. Last night was Parent/Teacher night at school. Basically, the teachers talk to the parents about the students and their problems, etc. Snyder seemed to think it would be 'neat' if I helped decorate and set up food and all that, along with this girl named Sheila. This is a girl who actually stabbed her teacher with a trowel. The only teachers I've ever stabbed with anything were actively going for my jugular at the time, and I mean that literally. As expected, she pretty much bailed and I had to cover for her. Willow and Xander tried to help, but I didn't want them in trouble too.
Mom complicated matters by finding out about said event. I was hoping to never tell her, but that got ruined when she checked the mail. She basically threatened my freedom and teenager-hood if my teachers didn't report good things about me. So, now I had to plan the night, and study up so that all my teachers would tell my mother that contrary to popular belief, her daughter is not an idiot. This was not shaping up as a fun week when I realized that Angel and I had a tentative date at the Bronze. After a few previous misfires, there was no way I was missing him again. One more thing added to my list. My bright idea? I could study and party at the same time. Didn't quite work out, but I'll explain that in a minute. As I'm planning this fabulous study/party outing, and working on decorations at the same time, Giles picks that moment to come over and tell me that the world's gonna end over the weekend. Great. What a way to make my day an even brighter ball of sunshine. Apparently, Saturday is the night of St. Vegan something or another and the vamps were gonna have a massacre. Now I'm really stressing.
I manage to get to the Bronze, but things didn't go anywhere near planned. Instead of studying and partying and flirting with Angel, I got a vamp attack. Angel apparently doesn't know when a girl is being cool, and he never showed. My French apparently sucks, and while I was dancing, a vamp attacked a girl in the alley. As the Slayer, I ran out and saved her. Xander got me a stake, and I took out one of the vamps. The other, however, crept out of the shadows and proceeded to scare the crap out of me. I think I hid well, though. His name is Spike, and he threatened to kill me this weekend. As the Slayer, I've had death threats made before. This one gave me a major wig, mostly because I think he could do it. Giles looked him up and said that he'd killed two Slayers before. What's to stop him from killing me?
Well, Spike got his chance, and on Parent/Teacher night too. He apparently couldn't wait for the night of St. Virtuoso or whatever his name was. That was how I ended up locked in a room with my mother, Principal Snyder and some others. Let's just say I'd rather have my teeth drilled than go through that again. I managed to crawl across the ceiling to the library, got some weapons and started taking vamps out. Nothing like a good dusting. I cleared the way for Giles to start getting people out, and went to take on the leader. Spike. William the Bloody. Goose bumps. I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling I had as I faced him. I was deathly calm, ready for anything he threw at me. My heart pounded in my chest as we punned back and forth and I know he could hear it. I attacked, and he countered. We fought for a few minutes, but just when I thought he might actually have me cornered, my mother whacked him on the back of the head with an axe. Go Mom! She hit him and told him to get the hell away from her daughter. Spike ran off with his remaining flunkies, and Mom told me she was proud of me. Somehow, it turned into a pretty good night. Ironically, I kinda owe it all to Spike. Hmmm...