Hearing the annoying buzzing of her alarm Buffy rolled over and looked at her clock. The large red numbers showed that it was only five thirty in the morning. With a groan she reached out towards the offending mechanism and pressed the snooze button. Sighing she rolled over and went back to sleep.
Exactly five minuets later the horrid buzzing sound started again. Hating the fact that the weekend was over Buffy threw off her sheets and got out of bed. Stumbling blindly down the hall she finally reached the bathroom.
Running her hand over the wall she found the light switch and flipped it to the on position. Blinking in the bright florescent light she stumbled over to the shower and turned it on.
Awhile later she emerged from the bathroom with her hair dried and in a towel. Walking back down the hall towards her room she started to hum a random song. Finally reaching her destination Buffy closed the door and found her cloths for the day.
After she was dressed she grabbed her bag and went down the stairs to get something to eat before she had to go and catch the bus. Looking at the clock in the kitchen she let out a gasp of surprise. She had taken longer to get ready than usual and only had a minute to run to the bus stop.
Running to the door she grabbed her shoes and didn't even stop to put them on. Racing towards her destination she prayed that the bus hadn't come early that day, as it sometimes did. As she rounded the corner Buffy was disappointed to see the taillights of the bus as it drove away.
Dismayed and knowing she was going to be in trouble with her mother Buffy slowly started to walk back to her house. Just as she was turning into her driveway a car pulled up alongside her.
"Did you need a ride?" Spike asked as he rolled down the window of his black Desoto.
"Huh?" Buffy said with a puzzled expression.
"Do you need a ride?" Spike asked slowly again.
With a sigh of relief Buffy said, "I would love one. I missed the bus and I didn't want to have to ask my mom for a ride. Are you sure you don't mind?"
"I wouldn't have asked if I minded." He said with a chuckle.
"Oh right." Buffy said her face turning red.
Getting out of the car Spiked took Buffy's bag from her and walked towards the back of the car, "Umm…. What are you doing with my bag?" Buffy asked feeling stupid.
"Putting it in the trunk." Spike replied opening said trunk and putting in the bag, "Unless you want it under your feet for the whole ride."
"Oh no, thank you." She said wondering how much redder her face could get.
"Your welcome." He said as he went around and opened the passenger door, "Get in."
"Thanks again." She said with a smile as she got into the car.
"No problem." Spike said as he closed the door and walked around to the driver's side. Getting into the car he noticed how tense she looked and shook his head with a small smile. "I'm not going to bite you know." He said his smile getting even bigger when her face turned red again.
"I know." Came her reply, "Thank you again for the ride." Buffy said looking down at her hands.
"For the last time your welcome." He said as he pulled away from the curb and started towards the school, "Stop thanking me it's starting to get on my nerves."
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to annoy you." She said quietly.
"Don't worry about it." Spike said, "You can turn on the radio if you want."
"Thank you but I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep I'm sure. That's me sure girl." Buffy said starting to get uncomfortable.
"Alright if your sure."
"Yep I'm sure." She said playing with her shoelaces.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Spike said looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"No." She said looking out the window.
"Why are you caring around your shoes?" Spike said in an amused voice.
"Oh! I'm not wearing any shoes!" Buffy said in a panicked voice. She untied the shoelaces and put the shoes on her feet. "Oh no I forgot socks." Buffy groaned.
"But you remembered your shoes which is a plus. You still haven't answered my question." He said.
"Well I was running late this morning and I didn't have time to put on my shoes so I just grabbed them and ran." She said as she put her foot on the dashboard to reach the shoelace easier.
"You went running down the street in your bare feet?" Spike asked in disbelief "The Buffy I know would have blanched at the very idea of walking around the house in her bare feet. The most amazing part is that you're not begging me to turn around so that you can get socks."
"A girls got to do what a girls got to do." Buffy said with nod of her head.
The rest of the ride was made in a comfortable silence. Neither one of the two occupants of the car had anything else to say. Once they pulled into a parking space relatively close to the school Spike got out and opened the door for Buffy. Giving him a small smile Buffy got out and walked over to the trunk. Opening the trunk Spike reached in and grabbed Buffy's bag. As he closed the trunk he gave it to her.
"Where's your bag?" Buffy asked looking at his empty hands.
With a dismissive snort Spike said, "Like I ever bring that thing home on the weekend."
"Right how foolish of me to think that you actually would do your homework." Buffy said rolling her eyes.
Pointing a finger at her Spike said, "What did I say about rolling your eyes at me?"
"Oops sorry I forgot." Buffy said with a sheepish grin.
"Yeah sure you forgot." He said, "Hey do you need a ride home?"
"Not unless I miss the bus again." Buffy said smiling.
"Well then miss the bus I'll give you a ride home." He said starting to walk towards the school.
"Are you sure?" She said following him.
"Didn't we already do this?" Spike asked in a half-annoyed half-amused voice.
"Oops?" Buffy said turning red once more.
"Yeah oops." He said shaking his head.
As the approached the entrance of the door Buffy saw Willow and Xander standing in their usual meeting place. Looking to her left she could see Drusilla and her friends standing on the grass. An unspoken agreement passed between the two of them and each went to their respective group of friends without saying goodbye.
"Hey Buffster what's up? We saw your bus but you weren't on it." Xander said.
"Yeah we were worried that you might have slept in and missed the bus." Willow said, "But hey you're here and how did you get her?"
"Spike gave me a ride." Buffy said as walked into the school.
"What!" Both her friends said.
"Wait I get it! This is a joke." He said as he looked at Buffy for confirmation.
"Nope no joke." Buffy said looking Xander in the eye.
"But…but…but…" Willow said.
"I'm with Willow on this one." Xander said
"I missed my bus and Spike saw me. So he asked me if I needed a ride to school." Buffy explained as they reached her locker.
"I thought he didn't talk to you anymore." Xander stated.
"Yeah I thought we were all in the I hate Spike club." Willow said her nose crinkling up as she though about it.
"Well we talked this weekend and we came to and understanding." Buffy said opening her locker and taking out the books she would need for the next few classes.
"But you're the president." Xander said in a baffled tone, "Who's going to be our new president?"
"Will are you okay?" Buffy asked noticing her friend hadn't said anything in awhile.
"I'm fine just confused. I though you hated each other." Willow said looking at her.
"I told you we came to an understanding. Why don't you guy's come over later tonight and I'll explain it all to you." Buffy said walking to her next class. Not hearing either one of her friend's respond Buffy looked behind her and saw her friends staring at her, "Okay? Guys? Hello?" Sighing she walked backed and waved her hand in front Willow's face.
"Yep okay!" Willow said elbowing Xander in the stomach.
"Ow! What?" Xander asked coming out of his thoughts. On seeing Willow's look he said, "Okay."
"What's wrong with you guys today?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing." Willow squeaked.
"Yep nothing." Xander agreed.
"Why do I not believe you?" Buffy said looking towards the same direction as them. Seeing what they were staring at she rolled her eyes, "Oh joy just what I needed the vapid whore squad shooting daggers at me."
"Buffy!" Willow said in shock.
"Go Buffster!" Xander said slapping her on the back.
"What it's not like they can hear me." Buffy said looking at Willow, "Now on to the book learning." Buffy said as she started to walk down the hall towards their next class. With a shrug to his only other friend Xander followed her.
By the end of the day Buffy had gotten sick of ignoring the glares from, as Xander had now dubbed them, The Vapid Whore Squad. Walking past them again she just rolled her eyes wondering what she had done to piss them off this time. She went back over to moments before they had started to glare at her but could come up with no explanation, other than their small brains needed someone to hate and it was her turn.
Buffy continued her walk to her locker nodding in passing at some of her other classmates. Finally reaching it she opened her locker. Grabbing the books she didn't need from her bag she exchanged them for the ones she did. Closing her locker she started to walk towards where all the buses were.
Opening her bag one last time, before she got to the bus to check to see if she had everything, she noticed that her English notebook was missing. Sighing she hurried back to her locker hopping to get her English notebook and back to the bus before it would leave. Opening her locker she saw that her notebook wasn't there, another check in her bag showed that it had been there the whole time.
With another sigh she practically ran to her bus. Just as she was opening the door the final bell rang signaling that the buses were leaving. As she watched the buses pull away from the school she felt like she could cry. Today had just not been her day.
She walked through the doors and sat on one of the many stone benches that littered the property. Setting her bag next to her, Buffy opened it. Rooting around in one of the many pockets she found her cell phone. After five tries of trying to turn it on with no success she remembered that the battery had died last time she had been at the Bronze. Not panicking she opened another pocket to look for the two quarters that she always had incase this happened. After searching fruitlessly through every pocket she remembered that Xander had taken them to buy a Twinkie out of a vending machine.
With a growl of fruition Buffy put her head in her hands. She had no money, her cell phone was dead and she had no idea how she was getting home. Deciding that sitting wasn't going to get her home any sooner, she got up to see if there was someone she knew that could give her a ride home.
As she walked through the deserted halls Buffy felt a weight in grow in her stomach. There was no one left at the school. Sighing in defeat Buffy walked back outside and went back to the stone bench. She put her head back in her hands and started at the grass. Seeing a shadow fall over her she looked up.
"Decided to take me up on my offer after all huh?" Spike said as he adjusted the backpack that he had slung over one shoulder.
"Well I didn't mean to but I thought I had left my notebook in my locker. Then I went to get it but it turned out that it had been in my locker the whole time. Then I missed that bus and my cell phone is dead. Oh and Xander took my two quarters to buy a Twinkie." Buffy said in a rush.
"So then that would be a yes." Spike asked.
"That would be a very big yes." She said with a laugh.
Following Spike to his car a sudden thought occurred to her, Hey why were you on the bus on Friday?"
"What?" Spike said turning to look at her.
"You have a car so why did you go home on the bus?"
"It was in the shop." He said as they reached the car. Taking Buffy's bag from her he opened the trunk and threw both their bags in.
"Oh. That's must have sucked." She said as he opened the door for her.
"Did you just say sucked?" He asked with his eyes wide in shock.
"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" Buffy said as she got in.
Closing the door Spike walked around to the driver's side. Opening the door he said, "Do you know what it means?"
"Yeah, why?" Buffy asked.
"I just can't imagine sweet, little Buffy Summers using that kind of word." He said as he got in. Starting the car he backed out of the parking space.
"A lot of things can change in four years." Buffy said as he pulled out onto the street.
"Yeah they can." He said.
Unlike that morning the silence was uncomfortable. It was awkward and full of things that still needed to be talked about but neither one wanted to start that conversation. That conversation had the ability to break the bond they were just starting to form.
As they pulled onto Revello Drive Buffy was looking at her hands again. She felt guilty causing such an awkward silence but didn't know how to break it. Seeing that they were approaching her house she saw Willow and Xander sitting on the front porch. Feeling stupid that she forgot that they were coming over she waved. Spike pulled into her driveway and she didn't wait for him to open the door. Getting out she smiled at her friends and went over to the trunk to get her bag but Spike beat her to it. Grabbing her bag he motioned for her to go talk to her friends.
"Hey guys." Buffy said.
"Hey Buffy." Xander said looking at Spike with confusion written all over his face.
"Hi Buffy." Willow said than as an after thought, "Hi Spike."
"Willow, Xander." Spike said with a nod at each person in turn. Giving Buffy her bag he started to walk back to his car.
"Spike wait." Seeing him stop Willow said, "Would you like to hang out with us?" Seeing three mouths drop open in shock she turned the color of her hair.
"Thanks Red but I think that I should be getting home." Spike said with a small smile as he opened his car door.
"Spike" Buffy said, "we wouldn't mind. Besides it's the least I can do for you giving me a ride home."
Looking at his two friends Xander said, "Yeah it would be great if there was another guy to talk to. You have no idea how tiring it is to only have girls for friends."
Closing the car door Spike said, "Okay I guess I could stay for a little while."
"Oh goody!" Willow said clapping her hands, "Now Xander won't be able to say that he's the only boy." Seeing everyone's faces Willow asked, "Did I come off as insane just then?"
After Buffy and Xander looked at each other they both nodded their heads at the same time. Looking at the other one again they both started to laugh.
Opening the front door Buffy asked, "So what do you guys want to do?"
