"Mahal"
By: Lynn
DISCLAIMERS: Making it short...NOT MINE!
SUMMARY: AU; Just another story where everybody's human and Angel, Oz, and Xander are the new students in school.
DISTRIBUTION: Are you kidding me! I NEED someone to host my fics. Just e-mail me if you want them. Previous Parts found at: http/
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BETA READER: Ashley Russo (last parts un-beta¡¦ed)

Part 13

Buffy and Angel went out for their first date the next night, and had been attached to the hip ever since. They had received the immense approval of all their family and friends, most of them claiming it was about friggin' time.

But while new relationships were being created over the break, an old one had ended; Gunn and Fred had split. Fred had told Gunn that she did in fact have strong feelings for Wesley, but still deeply cared for him. With that in mind, Gunn did a noble thing and suggested that she should pursue her feelings with Wesley, although it hurt him to do so. It was a heart wrenching break-up that involved a whole bunch of tears, but it still ended in good terms, the two deciding to remain friends.

Despite that sad moment in time, the gang still managed to have a good vacation. Christmas Eve was celebrated at the Summers' household. It was an intimate gathering of family and close friends, a perfect way to celebrate the joyous holiday.

While Christmas was calmly spent there, the Roarkes held an all out, in Oz's words, hootenanny at their house for New Years. Even Faith flew in to join the festivities. It was complete with a hired DJ and an open bar, which was insisted by Isabella's good friend, Lorne Caritas. The two grew up together, and had followed Isabella to California. He had resided in L.A. but visited his favorite family whenever he got the chance.

Even though the gang's vacation was a blast, they knew it had to end sometime.

It was now the dreaded Monday, the first day of the second semester of school.

Angel pulled his black Plymouth convertible into the senior parking lot, scanning the area for his girlfriend. Seeing her silver vehicle was two spaces away from where he parked, he was disappointed to find that she was already in the building.

After Angel parked his car, the Roarke siblings split in two different directions, the twins going one way and the triplets going the other.

The three oldest were a few yards away from the tree where they were going to meet the others when a familiar voice chirped, "Hi Angel," from behind them.

They stopped and turned around to come face to face with an annoying blonde, who was surprisingly alone and not with her usual flock of chicken heads.

"Hello Harmony," Angel greeted politely, Oz and Xander discreetly slipping away behind him. 'Traitors,' he silently yelled in his head. They always did that to him.

"I'm sorry I missed your party. I heard it was like totally awesome," Harmony said, stepping a little closer to the handsome eighteen year old.

Taking a step backwards, Angel gripped the strap of his back pack that was loosely hanging on his shoulder tighter.

"Uh... It was," he replied, not knowing what else to say.

"So I heard you broke up with the college girl," she leaned in closer, Angel leaning backwards to avoid her touch, "Must've been hard for you."

"Actually..." he trailed off when he felt small arms wrap around his waist. Seeing that it was Buffy, he relaxed and threw an arm over her shoulders.

"Hey Harmony," Buffy's voice was filled with faux sweetness. The ditz was always envious of her and always tried to show her up. So Buffy was enjoying the look on Harmony's face. Her mouth was agape and she was stuttering. To their amazement, no one had informed her, the girl with the biggest mouth in all of Sunnydale, that Buffy and Angel had hooked up.

"Uh...um... H-hi B-Buffy. H-how was your break?"

Buffy's fake smile for Harmony turned genuine when she gazed up at her boyfriend.

"It was great. I got myself a new honey." Angel returned her smile and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Y-you and Angel are together?"

"Yup, since the second day of the break."

"Oh...um... that's great," Feeling awkward, Harmony took a glimpse toward her watch and said quickly, "Oh would you look at the time! I gotta go and... Bye!" Hightailing it out of there, Harmony scurried off in search of Blue and Aura so she can start bitching at them for not feeding her this important piece of gossip.

"Hmm... Wonder what was wrong with her," Angel joked, glancing at the departing blonde and then back at the one at his side.

Buffy giggled in return, "That was fun. We should do that again."

Rolling his eyes, he smiled at his girlfriend, leaning down to give her the proper hello kiss he was planning to give her before he was intercepted.

"Hi," he said when they parted.

"Hey. I missed you."

He laughed and took her hand, slowly leading her to the gang's spot, "We were together all day yesterday and we were on the phone for two hours last night."

"So, doesn't mean that I didn't miss you."

He let go of her hand and opted to wrap his arm around her again instead. He kissed her smooth forehead and replied, "I missed you, too."

Finally they managed to meet up with the rest of their friends. They only got a minute to talk before the first bell rang, signaling them to head off to class and begin a long drawn out day of boring lectures and note taking.

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"Pete asked me out," Dawn exclaimed, practically attacking Jessica as soon as they met after their third period class.

"What? Who's Pete," Jessica asked, looking at Dawn, puzzled, and then shifted her gaze towards their other friend Janice, who looked just as equally excited as Dawn.

"Pete," Janice simply answered while they walked down the hallway to Jessica's locker. When she saw that Jessica's confused expression hadn't faded, she exhaled in frustration, "You know, the drop dead gorgeous Pete who's on the lacrosse team! He's friends with Connor."

Jessica's eyes widened in realization, "Oh! Pete!" Dawn nodded with extreme excitement, "Oh wow... Way to go Dawn. He's hot!"

"I know," Dawn squealed, "He's taking me to dinner and then to the movies."

"So you're finally over Connor, huh," Jessica teased while opening her locker and tossing in her things.

"Oh yeah. When we kissed, it was like I was kissing my brother." Jessica visibly shuddered at the thought.

"So that means he's available right," their curly, red haired friend, Janice asked, Jessica rolling her eyes in response.

As the three girls made their way through the crowded hallway to lunch, Dawn said to Jessica, "Now all we have to do is find you a guy."

At this, the young brunette laughed, "Yeah right, and where are we going to find him? All of these guys are too afraid of my brothers and Riley to approach me." As soon as she ended her sentence, she bumped into a body in front of her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. Coming in contact with pale, grayish blue eyes, she slowed down her steps, admiring the qualities of her male victim. She was suddenly glad that she was a klutz. The boy had a puppy dog look on his face but had on a shy, dimpled smile for her. For some reason, she just loved his soft, light brown hair that was styled with short spikes. He had a small, silver hoop on each ear lobe and he wore a gray short sleeve, collared shirt and khakis. He was definitely a hottie.

"Jessica! Come on," she heard Janice call for her, snapping her out of her stare off she was having with the guy. With one last smile, she quickly caught up with Dawn and Janice.

"I think we found your guy," teased Dawn.

As Jessica ran off, the boy that was still watching her leave, was shocked out of his reverie when he felt a hand clap on his shoulder. He looked up and saw that a smirking black guy was looming over him.

"Uh... Can I help you," the boy asked the other guy, who's leering and smirking made him quite uncomfortable.

"Yeah, what's your name, kid?"

"N-Noah Linus. I-I'm new," he hesitantly answered. He wasn't much of a people person.

"Well kid, I'm Forrest Banks," he then proceeded to drag the ever-so shy Noah to the cafeteria, "Your new best friend."

Against his own will, Noah was forced to follow Forrest to a table that seated his friends.

When they approached the table, a guy with dark, shaggy hair looked up at Forrest and Noah. He let out a snort of laughter and asked, "Hey Forrest, who's the loser," causing the three other guys sitting around him to stare at Forrest and his new companion.

Again, Forrest clapped Noah on the shoulder, "This is Nick."

"Noah," the shy boy corrected.

"Whatever," Forrest dismissed. He then pointed to the rude shaggy haired boy and introduced him as Parker; then he introduced his other friends Graham, Hamilton, and Larry.

"Stick with us kid. You'll go places," Forrest then shoved Noah into the empty seat between him and Parker. He slouched lower, shrinking under their gazes.

To try to avoid eye contact, Noah stared straight ahead. He brightened when the girl he bumped into came into his line of vision, laughing and talking with her friends.

Parker looked over to where Noah was staring and chuckled, "Oh no, no, no. Kid, that chick's not worth it."

Noah tore his eyes away from the object of his affection and turned to slightly glare at Parker, frustrated that they kept calling him "kid". "Why not?" he asked.

"Because," he tried to logic with him, "You see that guy over there," he pointed to Connor, who came up behind Jessica and kissed her on the cheek. They exchanged a few words with smiles on their faces before Connor stepped away, making his way to the vending machines that were located by Forrest and company's table.

Noah frowned a bit, "That her boyfriend?"

"Worse," Forrest answered, "Her brother. He looks scrawny, but he's tough. He lifted twice as much as the biggest guy in weight class," Noah's eyes widened, "But he's the least of your worries. She has three other brothers. Oz, he's level-headed, but touch his baby sister and he can do some damage. Same goes for Xander. Angel's the worst, though. He's very protective. I heard he sacked a guy he was half the size of just for saying hi to her."

Hamilton added to the rumors that were spread around school, "I heard the guy was in a coma for a week, and nearly snapped him into two." If it was possible, Noah's blue eyes got wider, "Not to mention that she has an older cousin, Riley," He smirked at Forrest, "I believe Forrest here had a little encounter with him a few weeks ago. I'm sure if he wasn't too busy doing other things, he would've made you part of the pavement."

Forrest glared at him and muttered, "I could've taken him." To which the guys, except for a shocked Noah, laughed hysterically at.

"Still, it would be great to get in between those smooth, shapely thighs. And have you seen the rack on that girl? God's gift to men I'm telling you," Larry commented, getting hearty agreements from the guys, Noah just glared.

"Shh...," Parker hushed them and smiled mischievously, seeing Connor about to pass their table to get to his own, "'Ey Connor! Come here." The boy paused to eye them suspiciously before walking over to them.

"What," he snapped once he reached the table.

"So Roarke, I got some questions about your sister," Parker began, preparing to provoke Connor. He knew Connor could beat him into a coma, but he was just naturally a jerk and couldn't help but commenting, "Is she naturally stacked and that little innocent thing she got going on, that's just an act right?"

"Excuse me," Connor viciously stared down Parker.

"Yeah, it must be," Larry joined in, "I heard that she was fast."

Connor's fists tightened , the cap of the soda he was holding was digging deeply in his palm.

"For your sake, I hope you mean 'as the wind.'" Connor was about to protect his sister's honor when he saw a boy about his age sitting with them, looking strangely out of place.

"Hey," he called out to Noah, his tone becoming friendly, "What's your name?"

"N-Noah Linus," he shyly responded, "I-I just transferred here from LA."

"Well, Noah, hanging out with these jerks was your first mistake. You can sit with us."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Noah quickly gathered his stuff and made his way to Connor's side.

Connor scoffed and looked upon the group of assholes with disgust before walking off with Noah. Shaking off his anger, he calmly introduced himself to his new friend. "I'm Connor Roarke," the two shook hands, "Sorry 'bout that back there."

"It's okay. You're tight with your sister, huh?"

"Yeah. She's my best friend and my twin, can't get any closer than that."

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The older part of the gang was across the street for lunch, using the privilege of being a senior and eating off campus.

"Hey Angel, you gonna eat that cookie," Xander asked him, pointing to the abandoned treat lying in front of his brother.

Angel abandoned his task of nibbling Buffy's ear to look at Xander, down at the cookie, and then back to Xander.

"I'm saving it for later," he told him, turning his attentions back to his girlfriend. But Xander wouldn't let him get off that easily.

"No you're not. You just don't want me to have the cookie," he argued, making Angel veer his attention back to his annoying sibling.

"No, I want it later."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying!"

"Why don't you just give him the damn cookie," Riley butted in.

"Yeah man... it's just a cookie," added Gunn, the others watching on in amusement.

"Because it's mine," Angel lamely came up with.

"Angel has sharing issues," Oz explained, causing everyone to giggle.

Angel opened his mouth to retort but stopped when he heard Buffy softly call his name. Turning his head toward her, he saw her smiling up at him.

"Kiss me," she demanded, to which Angel obeyed.

"And that, ladies and gentleman, is a demonstration of how a whip is cracked," Spike baited. Angel flicked him off, not once breaking away from Buffy.

While they were kissing, Buffy discreetly slid the cookie towards Xander. Unfortunately, Angel caught this action and ripped away from her lips. "Hey! That's mine," he exclaimed. Xander taunted him by licking it and offering it back, Angel just narrowed his eyes, silently promising to get him back later.

"Oh pipe down you big baby," Cordelia said, "you weren't going to eat it anyway."

"Buffy!"

His girlfriend laughed at him and swatted his shoulder, "Geez Angel, It's just a cookie. You act like someone killed your best friend."

Silence enveloped them, seeing as how Xander, Oz, Angel, and Riley exchanged awkward and sad glances, Angel looking the saddest.

"Angel?"

He backed away from a confused Buffy, not making eye contact with her or anybody else at the table.

"I um... I gotta go. Can't be late for class." With that, Angel quickly walked back to the campus, leaving the others to stare at his retreating back.

"Geez, never seen someone so attached to a cookie," Cordelia broke the silence.

"Not now Cordelia," Xander spat, glaring at his girlfriend, effectively quieting her. He looked so serious, which was not normal, and that worried her.

Turning her questioning gaze back to her friends, Buffy knew she must've said something really offensive, because even Oz wore a deep frown on his face and that couldn't have been good.

"What just happened," she whispered.

TBC…