Chapter Six
The next morning at school, Spike was casually waiting in the hall by the front entrance. He was talking with three of his friends that were dressed in matching 'Greasebucket,' their favorite band, leather jackets. Spike was wearing his usual long leather coat with nothing written on it; he wasn't into the band groupie thing.
Buffy came walking in with an urgency in her walk. She was completely oblivious to the fact that Spike was calling out her name. She pushed open the library doors and threw her small black book bag on the counter. "Giles?" She glanced by the shelves to see if his head popped out from around the corner. She bent over the counter and leaned over. "Giles?" Sure enough he stepped back to where Buffy could see him.
"Buffy." He returned his glasses to his nose and walked towards her.
"Uh oh. Research?" she asked about the big book in his hand.
"Sorry?" Buffy gestured to the text. "Oh. No. I was just checking over this new book I received from the Watcher's Council."
"Why?"
"Because I need it."
"Hey, there aren't pictures of naked women in it are there?" Giles gave her his typical stop-kidding look. "Sorry. Anyway, back to why I'm here. I need to talk to you about-"
"A book?"
"Huh?" Buffy caught Giles hinting with his eyes and turned around. "Spike? What are you doing here?" Her watcher made his way out of his office and around the corner.
"I saw you and I wanted to say hi. Hey watcher. Giles. Rupert Giles. Mr. Giles."
Giles seemed a bit baffled at the moment so Buffy helped clear things up. "He knows."
"What?"
"It's not my fault. He was out slaying vampires when I spotted him and then he asked why I was out and then he was like, 'you're the Slayer' and I was like 'how do you know that?' So we ended talking and things happened- not things. I mean, we talked."
Giles grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her to the side. "I can't believe you would be so irresponsible."
"I'm irresponsible? What kind of idiot goes out fighting vampires?" Anticipating Spike's retort she finished with, "Who isn't the Slayer."
"I told you-"
"Spike, would you please leave so Giles and I can talk?"
"It's a library. It's public domain."
Buffy gritted her teeth and exhaled aggression. She pulled Giles into his office and shut the door. Spike rolled his eyes and leaned with his back against the counter. Xander, Willow and Oz walked in with Willow and Oz holding hands and Xander trying to explain his latest encounter with Cordelia. "What are you doing here?" Xander asked.
"It's a library."
"Exactly. So why are you here?"
"I was about to say the same thing to you."
Xander turned his head. "Is Mr. Giles here?" Willow asked.
"Yea, they're talking about how I know Buffy's the Slayer."
All three were pretty shocked, Oz maintaining his usual glance as opposed to Willow and Xander's wide eyes. "The what now?" Xander asked.
"I know," Spike said.
"You know what?" Willow faked.
"That Buffy's the Slayer."
"What's a Slayer?" Xander questioned. "I think someone had a little too much coo coo in his Cocoa Puffs."
In Giles' office he and his Slayer were arguing over Spike's new insight on her. "I told you I didn't mean to."
"I thought you hated this boy."
"With a firey passion. Not sexy passion, angry passion. Actually not even passion-"
"Buffy you can't just go telling everyone about this."
"Jeez, you act like I was carrying around a banner that said 'I'm the Slayer. Come annoy me with your questions.' He was in the cemetery and saw me."
"And you couldn't make something up? The four of you have all kinds of excuses for carrying around crosses and stakes but you couldn't think of a reason to be in a graveyard."
"Do you realize what you just asked me? Why would I be in a graveyard?"
"Visiting a dead relative. A shortcut to your home."
"Those are good ideas," Buffy said. Giles just ruined her excuse for lack of excuses. "But Giles, nobody here knows about the Slayer so when he brought it up I was shocked. It was a reflex, like when someone hits your knee and your leg jerks."
The watcher inhaled deeply and removed his glasses. His right hand went up to the bridge of his nose and started to rub it in exhaustion. After taking a minute to calm down Giles returned his glasses to his nose. "All right, the question is, can we trust him not to say anything?"
Buffy walked over to his window and looked out at the platinum blonde boy who used to be her friend. Willow and Xander were swapping sentences with him, Xander looking more aggressive. However Buffy's eyes remained on Spike as she thought of the way they used to be and how they got to where they are today. "I don't think he'll say anything."
"Are you sure?"
"If there's any remnant of the Spike I once knew," Buffy faced Giles, "he won't say anything." She pushed herself off the wall and left his office.
"Shut up Spike!"
"Make me."
"Fine. Buffy, hit him."
"No." She walked to the end of the counter and retrieved her bag. "Are we still on for after school?"
"Of course," Willow assured.
"Yea," Xander seconded.
"All right. See ya in class." Buffy left the library and went straight. Spike slipped past her trio of friends and followed her.
"Buffy. What's going on after school?"
"None of your business." She was sick of this thing Spike was doing.
"C'mon, I-"
"Spike," Buffy interrupted. She moved so she was standing right in front of him. "We're not friends. No matter what you know or how you know it, that doesn't make us friends. I still think you're a jerk."
"Buffy-"
"No. We don't acknowledge each other. We don't chat. We don't do anything except rehearse during rehearsal hours. That's it. You may quickly forget what you did to me but I don't." With that she turned and walked away.
The rest of the school day when Spike came into contact with Buffy he would roll his eyes and then walk around her. Buffy thought she might've been a little harsh on him but she was so fed up with all the questions and the clinging. Also, all of a sudden he was being nice and she was angry that it took this revelation to get him to talk to her. Why couldn't he have just felt bad for the way he treated her and come up to her one day and say Buffy, I was a jerk. I'm sorry for ignoring you that night. I don't know what I was thinking. Can we be friends again? Then of course she'd give him the cold shoulder for a while but then they could be friends. But it can't happen this way. It's almost as if he wants something from her.
After school the gang, minus Oz because of a previous engagement with Dingoes Ate My Baby, met up at Buffy's house so they could run some lines. "Okay, so what should we start with?" Buffy asked.
"Oh FYI, I'm Paris," Xander informed.
"What?" Buffy and Willow questioned.
"I talked to Giles during fourth period and he said he would swap me with the current Paris."
"Why do you want to be Paris?" Willow asked, unsure why anyone even wants to be on stage.
"Because he doesn't have a huge speech and he's hardly in the play."
"So you want to participate but with as little effort as possible," Buffy rephrased.
"As little as possible."
"Right. Okay then, how about we go through the scene where you and I meet up at the church."
"There's a church?" Buffy and Willow looked at him with eyes wide. "Kidding. Now, uh, when does that happen again?"
"I'm going to get poison from the priest. Oh, Willow, why don't you play the priest?"
"Okay."
Xander was flipping through every page trying to find where the scene was. "Act four scene one Xander."
"Oh, right." He flipped to the page and waited for Willow to start reading.
"On Thursday, sir? The time is very short," she started. "Should I be sitting or standing?"
"It doesn't matter Will."
"My father Capulet will have it so;
And I am nothing slow to
slack his haste."
"You
say you do not know the lady's mind:
Uneven is the course, I like
it not."
"Immoderately
she weeps for Tybalt's death,
And therefore have I little talk'd
of love;
For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.
Now, sir,
her father counts it dangerous
That she doth give her sorrow so
much sway,
And in his wisdom hastes our marriage,
To stop the
inundation of her tears;
Which, too much minded by herself
alone,
May be put from her by society:
Now do you know the
reason of this haste."
"I
would I knew not why it should be slow'd.
Look, sir, here comes
the lady towards my cell."
Buffy walked over to the couch where Willow and Xander were standing.
"Happily met, my lady and my wife!" Xander read.
"That may be, sir, when I may be a wife."
"That may be must be, love, on Thursday next."
"What must be shall be."
"That's a certain text," Willow said, looking closely at the words.
"Come you to make confession to this father?" Xander took a few stiff steps towards Buffy.
"To answer that, I should confess to you."
"Do not deny to him that you love me."
"I will confess to you that I love him."
"So will ye, I am sure, that you love me."
"If
I do so, it will be of more price,
Being spoke behind your back,
than to your face."
"Poor soul, thy face is much abused with-"
"Cookies," Joyce announced.
The three teenagers dropped their script books and ran to the kitchen. They each
grabbed a hot chocolate chip cookie and took a bite from it. The chocolate oozed in their mouth and squished together with the warm cookie batter. "Mmmm. Joyce you're the best mom ever," Xander said.
"She's got the artistically challenged first grade mug to prove it," Buffy announced.
"I love that mug," Joyce defended. "It's very colorful and has a cute picture of the two of us."
"Yea, with Judy Jetson hair and restroom sign clothes."
"It's very sweet." Joyce put an arm around her daughter and kissed the top of her head. "I wouldn't want it to look any different."
"Because then you couldn't point and laugh at it with the other parents."
"Where is this extreme sarcasm coming from?"
"The usual place."
Joyce smiled and went to the oven. She started putting more dough on to the cookie sheet. "How's the play going?"
"It's going," Buffy replied.
"I got assigned to a new part today," Xander said.
"Why?" Joyce asked with motherly concern.
"Because Giles felt my actorial skills would be better used in the part of Paris than Benvolio."
"Mercutio," Buffy corrected.
"And this in no way has anything to do with the amount of lines."
"Oh no, it has everything to do with that."
"We should get back to reading. Only three hours 'til sundown." Buffy grabbed two more cookies from the cooling rack and went to the living room. Willow grabbed two more as well and Xander grabbed the last five.
"Great cookies Joyce." Xander placed the fifth in his mouth and followed them to the living room.
They ran through more lines, taking cookie breaks along the way. When it was about six o'clock Xander and Willow left so Buffy could prep for slaying. "Bye you guys. See you tomorrow," she yelled after them. She shut the door and walked upstairs to her room.
The doorbell rang as Joyce finished washing the dishes. She wiped off her hands and answered the door.
Buffy pulled her hair back in a ponytail and slipped on her jean jacket. "Buffy!" she heard her mom call. "Someone's here to see you!"
"Be right down!" She slipped a stake up her sleeve and another in her pocket. She made her way down the stairs and noticed the platinum blonde waiting for her in the living room. "Spike?" He rose from the couch. "What are you doing here?"
"I had a proposition for you. How about, when you go out slaying to night, I go with you."
"No."
"But we can run lines between the fighting."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because this isn't your job Spike. You shouldn't be out there and I am not going to be responsible for you dying." She made her way to the kitchen to say goodbye to her mom. "I love you. I'll be home later."
"You can't stop me from going with you," Spike informed her.
Buffy took a breath. "You're right. Even though I say you can't come, you can still follow me."
"Exactly."
Buffy looked down to the right and landed a right hook against his jaw. He fell to the ground, unconscious. "But I can do that."
