Buffy met up with Xander by the food court after class. The two friends got out of their morning classes at roughly the same time; Willow was just starting class at eleven a.m. Even though their schedules conflicted on different days, Buffy realized she liked having time to herself with Xander. The two had never had any serious alone time without Willow.
"I can't believe his name is Angel," Xander said with a sour face. Xander and Buffy realized they had the same class, only at different times during the day. "At least Giles is a reasonably manly name. But Angel?"
"Okay, Xander," Buffy laughed. "We get it. You aren't comfortable enough with your manliness to call another man Angel."
Xander groaned. "I'm not worried about my manhood, Buff. I'm worried about his."
Buffy raised her eyebrows. "Not like that!" Xander exclaimed.
"I wonder if he's teaching any General Education courses?" Buffy wondered aloud. "I'd take them."
"You don't even know what kind of teacher he is," Xander answered, taking a bite out of his apple. "Ugh. I don't even know why we have to take these stupid GE courses."
Buffy nodded her head. "They're ridiculous. I thought I was done with math and history for the rest of my life after twelfth grade!"
"What's the use of General Education if we've already been generally educated throughout high school?" Xander piped.
Buffy stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. Xander shrugged before tossing his remaining apple into a nearby trashcan.
Buffy sighed as she fell onto her bed. After her second class
Why does math have to be so torturous!?
she had to wait for about an hour in the UCS bookstore, trying to get her textbooks before they sold out.
She got up and turned on her desktop computer, checking AIM to see if Willow was on. Buffy clicked on the screenname 'redtechscare' and sent Willow an IM.
Looks like she might be idle, thought Buffy. She's probably studying, or working on a paper. Buffy figured she should do the same; her math class already assigned three pages of problems to be finished by the next session. Not to mention, it might be smart to do a little reading for Angel's class…
Her last thought died as soon as she logged onto Myspace.
Buffy was actually looking forward to her English class. Guess that means I picked the right major.
…or just got lucky with the right professor.
But not that kind of lucky. Unfortunately.
She cleared her head before walking into class. Even though she was ten minutes early, the entire front row was filled. With females. Hell, the entire second row was filled with her gender, as well. Buffy shook her head and walked towards the back of the room, taking her seat and sliding her iPod earphones into her ears.
Angel walked into the classroom with dark blue slacks, a long white button-down shirt, a black tie, and his hair slightly spiked. He got started on the day's lesson right away, much to the dismay of his newfound fanclub sitting in the front rows.
"All right everyone, get out your syllabus," he said. "We've got a few things to switch around."
He was an excellent speaker. It was only the beginning of the semester, like Xander said, but she didn't need to know that Angel was a great teacher. Every once in a while he would make eye-contact with her; Buffy usually pretended not to be interested by looking away or yawning or raising her eyebrows nonchalantly.
The truth, however, was that Buffy wrapped herself around every single one of Angel's words. She loved the way he talked, how he taught ideas to his students, his style of communication which was on such a higher level than anyone else she had met. The only reason she rejected displaying an interest in the class
and him…as a teacher, not as a potential lov…ugh, don't finish that thought
was because she wanted to be different. She didn't want to seem like a petty little school girl, striving for attention by pretending to be interested in whatever Angel was talking about.
She had figured the class would include a lot of writing, reading and lecturing…which it did. The only part that was unexpected included all the activities Angel had brought into the classroom. None of the activities relate to English, anyway, Buffy thought as she drew circles in her notebook mindlessly. Why do we even—
"Buffy Summers."
Buffy's head snapped up. Angel apparently had noticed her short attention span and decided to call her out on it. With eyebrows raised, she leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, Angel?"
The students glanced at her. Buffy was the first to call Angel by his nickname instead of addressing him as Mr. Angelus or Angelus.
Angel took his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arm over his chest—all the while staring at Buffy. His brown eyes burned through her skin, igniting some kind of chemistry within her she had long ago forgotten.
And not just the chemistry that comes with writing, either.
"Since you seemed to be so thoroughly engaged in this discussion," Angel said, "I'm assuming you'd like to volunteer yourself for the first activity?"
Buffy blinked. Her head tilted slightly to the left in confusion. "Activity?"
He tilted his head to the side, mocking her. "Yes, activity…and no, not an echo."
The class laughed. Buffy's eyes narrowed. You are definitely going into my little black book, mister.
She sat stubbornly in her seat. The girl sitting behind her kicked her chair, sending her a physical sign that Buffy could read clearly: don't participate and you get on Angel's bad side.
With a smile, Angel motioned for her to come up to the front of the class. She stood up reluctantly, not because of fear but because of apathy. Buffy made her way towards Angel with confidence in her step.
He was much taller than she pictured. Or maybe I'm just shorter than I thought. Buffy looked her teacher straight in the eye. "Now what?"
Angel glanced at her for a moment before turning towards the class. "We're going to be doing a lot of group work in this class," he stated. "Which will be tough, seeing as all we'll be turning in are essays."
"Group essays?" a kid asked, surprised.
Angel sighed. "How many echoes do I need?" Shaking his head, he continued. "I've found that trust is hard to find when it comes to group assignments, especially with something as complicated as an essay. So, today we'll be doing a trust activity. Many of you have probably done this in elementary or something. It's not original, but it works."
He took a step behind Buffy. She shrugged off her unease, not wanting anyone to notice. Buffy looked into the class and saw recognized a few jealous faces, Cordelia's included.
"Each of you will pick a partner, preferably someone you do not know." He paused and wandered away from Buffy, addressing the class. "A good pick would be someone who got your attention when they first walked in, or someone you think you'd get along with. Just make sure you're with someone you don't know…" he paused to glance at Buffy before finishing his sentence. "…but would one day like to."
Buffy glanced away as he stood behind her. She heard his voice from behind her and challenged herself not to turn around.
"I'll be partner A, and Buffy will be partner B…for obvious reasons," Angel said. A few kids chuckled, even Buffy cracked a slight smile. "Everyone pick out a partner and meet us out in the hallway."
Everyone awkwardly stood up from their desks and looked around. Angel walked into the hallway, beckoning for Buffy to follow him. She exited the room and leaned against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. As if on cue, Angel shut the door and imitated her lazy "I-don't-care-about-anything" posture and crossed his arms over his chest.
The two stayed positioned in silence. Buffy found the lack of speech comforting.
"Buffy," Angel mused, more to himself than to her. Her attention sparked. She loved the sound of her name sliding off of his lips—
Aah! Control, woman!
"Is it short for something?" he asked.
No time for embarrassment, she thought to herself. No one intimidates me. Buffy looked up at him, catching his eye contact.
"It's just Buffy," she answered. Angel nodded slowly and turned to open the door.
Buffy wanted to say more, to keep the conversation going. He walked into the classroom without looking back. She bit her lip and watched him command the class' attention.
He was a contradiction.
"I wonder if I can unravel it," Buffy mused aloud.
Angel turned his attention from the students to her, a slight smirk playing on his beautiful features. "Unravel what?"
Buffy snapped her head up in surprise. "What?" She shook her head. "Oh. I, uh…I speak my thoughts aloud, sometimes."
He raised his eyebrows playfully. "When we speak, it is often aloud, Buffy."
She shifted her posture. Don't be redundant in front of a to-be English professor, she noted dully. "Not necessarily," Buffy countered. "Silent protests. Creativity through writing or poetry…"
"It's also still something that's making a statement in itself," Angel answered, quicker than Buffy had thought possible. "Silent protests are done for the cause, not for the silence. Writings, as you mentioned…even those speak to someone. Even through someone."
Inside Buffy fumed. Even deeper inside, she felt a strange sense of admiration. She heard him sigh.
"Not even a 'touché, Angel?'" he asked, pretending to be hurt.
She stared at him angrily in a silent response. Angel laughed. It surprised her; it was genuine.
"If you weren't my teacher, I'd hit you," she said good-naturedly. He beckoned the class to come outside with the wave of his hand before turning back to Buffy.
"I'm only your teacher during class," he said. "Any other time…I'm just another guy."
He walked past her with the rest of the students following and whispering excitedly. She stood there watching him for another moment before shaking her head and smiling to herself.
Slightly jogging up to the front, Buffy caught up with him and walked by his side. Angel looked down at her and acknowledged her presence, making her feel a small sensation of happiness inside.
Why this man? she asked herself as she zoned out. Why here, why now, and why does he have to be my teacher?!
