Chapter 2

He hit his alarm clock furiously as it sounded in the stillness of his room. Groaning as he saw the time was only 4:30, he swung his legs out of bed. With much protest he stepped into the warm spray of the shower, trying to wash away the sleep that seemed to cling to him. The day had barley even begun and he already was going to have to wake up his mother, something he was not looking forward too, drop his sister off at her friend's house so she could get ready for preschool there, then get to his school and somehow convince his English Professor to give him a twenty-four hour extension on his paper. A point which he knew would be nearly impossible to do.

Leaning against the shower stall heavily, he sighed. It was mornings like this that he just wanted to stay inside the hot confines of this steel box, and not face the outside world. All he wanted was at the very least, one day where he didn't have to worry about school, or his little sister, or his drunken mother. But no matter how hard he hoped, how hard he prayed, it never happened.

Getting out of the shower he toweled off his dark hair and blindly got dressed, practically falling down the stairs as he went to wake up his mother. She still laid in the same position as last night. Looking for the entire world as if she were dead.

"Mom." Angel shook her lightly, hoping that when she roused she wouldn't be in one of her moods. "Mom, you've got to get up. Works in an hour."

She groaned in protest at her son. "What time is it?"

"Five."

"Too early." She mumbled, rolling back over to go to back to sleep.

Angel got up from his kneeled position. Starting a strong pot of coffee he went and got a bottle of bear, some water, and two Advil.

"Mom." She opened her eyes and glared. "Here take these, then drink this." He handed over the beer, something that was a constant supply in their house, and without a second glace walked upstairs.

He hated to have to wake her up by giving her the thing that had put her in that position in the first place. But the beer eased her hang over, and more importantly, kept her off his back. The vile substance was always resting in the fridge. Nights would go by where neither he nor Kathy would have any thing to eat just because their mother had spent her paycheck on a new dress and alcohol. It seemed to be the only liquor she could afford. If she could, she would defiantly buy the hard stuff, but since Angel kept half his paycheck from her for those nights that he and Kathy would starve, she had to make due with the cheep store bought alcohol.

"Kathy sweetie." He sat down by his sister. "Wake up." Stretching like a cat she uncurled herself.

"Don' wanna."

"Just go brush your teeth for me. Kay?"

Nodding, she blindly got up and left, making Angel smile as she padded down the hall.

Grabbing his bag and his sisters he ran downstairs, placing them by the door. "You up?" He asked of his mother. She waved her hand while taking a swig of her beer.

"Where you goin'?"

"School. You know the place I go every day." He bit out sarcastically while filling up his travel mug with a lot of black steamy coffee. He was going to need it today.

"Don't be smart with me young man." She snapped

"Kathy, hurry up! We're gonna be late!"

"Answer me when I'm talking to you!" She barked from the living room.

Angel just rolled his eyes and lifted a half asleep Kathy in his arms, getting ready to leave.

"Angel!"

"What?" He rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Don't you dare ignore me. I'm your mother for Christ's sake. The least you could do is treat me with a little respect."

Angel picked up the bags while balancing Kathy with one arm. "Tell you what, you start acting like a mother, and I'll show you some." He slammed the door behind his mothers cursing, dreading the kind of day that lay before him.

Buffy walked into the hall of her school and headed straight to the bathroom. Quickly she pulled out her cover up and tried to hide the deep dark circles embedded under her eyes from the lack of sleep she had received.

"Rough night?" A short red head came into the bathroom eying Buffy suspiciously. Everyone thought she was insane. People had stopped counting how many times she'd come to school with bruises and cuts. She always blamed it on her father, but the rest of the student body, along with the town, just couldn't think of kind old Dr. Damon like that. He was too nice and kind hearted. Every time Buffy and him would walk down the street together everyone would always shake there head and sigh, thinking about poor Damon who lost his wife so many years ago, and ever since, had to deal with a suicidal daughter. They all thought the wounds that would appear on Buffy over night were self inflicted, that she was just trying to get attention. If only they knew how badly her father beat her. How she had cried herself to sleep every night until about a year ago. It was only then that she had learned to accept how her life was going to be.

"Yeah." Buffy replied shortly, walking out of the bathroom as quick as she came. Lowering her head a little, so as not to draw anymore attention to herself, she continued forward through the throngs of teenagers, and headed towards the library.

"Mr. Henders please! I'm just asking for one more days worth." Angel followed his English professor from one side of the room to the other, trying his hardest to make his case known.

"I've already told you Mr. O'Connel. The answer is no."

"Then at least give me until the end of the day. I swear I'll have the paper on your desk by five o'clock."

"I said no. You shouldn't have procrastinated…"

"I didn't procrastinate! I have to take care of my sister and my mother, go to work everyday so we have enough money to pay the rent, and I have homework from every other teacher in this damn school! All I'm asking for is a short extension." Angel pleaded.

Mr. Henders turned around and looked him straight in the eye. "If you can't keep up, then maybe you should consider dropping out of my class. I don't have time to deal with late work."

Angel stared at him blankly for a second before responding. "Fine." He growled as he marched out the door and headed to the library. He'd have to settle to making half of his report up off the top of his head. He wasn't going to let the professor win. By first period, he'd have a paper to turn in, even if it was a worthless piece of shit. He wasn't going to give Mr. Henders the satisfaction of giving him another F. Angel had already done half the research he needed so far, that in it's self was worth at least a D.

In his rush to get to the back table of the library, Angel didn't even see the young blonde kneeling by the texts books until he ran into her.

"Oh god! I'm sorry." The girl said from her position on the ground.

"No, it was my fault. I wasn't looking." Angel started gathering his things, not really paying attention to the girl in front of him.

"It was both are faults." She said, helping him pick up his papers. "Here."

Angel looked up to take the offered book in her hand. That's when he saw her, or at least truly saw her, for the first time. She had the most beautiful green eyes and gold tresses that framer her small face. "Th-thanks." He took the paper from her, making eye contact. "Are you new here?"

"Um…" she looked down from his gorgeous eyes and starting fiddling with the edge of her shirt. "No, I've…. I've gone here since I was in preschool actually." She was a little disappointed that he didn't know that. She'd been here for eleven years now.

"Oh, well… I just moved here about six months ago and I've been really busy ever since so… I don't really know everybody yet."

A wave of relief washed over her as she heard that. But then again maybe it was good that he didn't know who she was. Everyone that did couldn't stand to give her the time of day.

"I'm Liam O'Connel." He said, sticking out his hand. Suddenly his term paper didn't seem too important anymore. "Everyone calls me Angel though."

"Buffy Summers." She replied, slipping her little hand inside his. "I better let you get back to what you were doing. You seemed kind of in a rush." She looked pointedly down at the books and papers that still lay scattered on the floor.

"Oh, yeah. I have a paper due next period." He responded lamely. "I hope to see you around school." Throwing a smile over her shoulder he walked off, causing Buffy to nearly go weak at the knees.

Standing shakily, Buffy walked to the back of the library. This is where she had spent every morning, and lunch for that matter, for the past five years. It was her safety from the outside world. No one every came back here, thus making it the perfect spot to sit and read or do her homework. But today she had another reason for being here. Today, she wanted to sit and spy on the dark haired boy she'd just met.

She saw him immediately sit down in one of the chairs and pull out several books and pieces of paper. From almost the moment he sat down he began to work, writing furiously on his paper and only occasionally looking back at the books for a reference. Every few minutes he'd crumple the paper up violently and throw it into the waste basket when he didn't like something. Buffy couldn't help but smile at the way his brow crinkled every time he started to get frustrated. Soon enough though the bell rang, causing him to groan and look at his unfinished paper in dread.

Slowly, as if he was trying to put the rest of the day off, he got up and headed towards the door. Waiting a few moments, making sure that he wasn't about to rush back in here, looking for a forgotten item, Buffy too got up and headed to class. Suddenly, her day was looking brighter.