The class gathered anxiously around Angel's presence. Buffy had tried to sneak over to the side, blend into the crowd, but Angel had seen her in the corner of his eye. He gently brought her back to the spotlight and smiled at the crowd.
"Now that everyone has their partners, listen carefully," he spoke. "Partner A will count to three slowly." He looked to Buffy before continuing with a smile. "On three, Partner B will let it all go with eyes shut. He or she will lean backwards, where Partner A will catch them."
Anxious chatter sounded throughout the partners. Angel quieted them down before setting up a quick demonstration.
He leaned in close to her ear. "Are you ready, Buffy?"
She quickly took in a breath. God, is this man trying to get pounced due to sexual frustrations or what?! "I'm ready."
Putting his gentle hands on her
Yep, definitely trying to unleash those frustrations
he took a step back, creating some space between them.
"Do you trust me?"
She hesitated, and she knew he could feel it. "Yes."
The entire class watched with vague interest, mainly for the personal interactions.
"One," he said loud enough for the whole class to hear. Buffy closed her eyes, anticipation getting the best of her. "Two," he continued as he let go of her shoulders, hoping she wouldn't notice. She bit her tongue, trying to surpass the sigh ready to come out of desperation of his touch. "Three."
…
Why aren't I moving?
She heard a girl snicker. Opening her eyes, she spotted a brunette whispering to one of her friends and motioning to her.
Just get it over with!
Buffy sighed and closed her eyes again, leaning back and feeling herself fall. There was a flash that filled her mind as blood rushed to her head, and sure enough, she felt Angel's secure arms catch her. She stayed there for a moment, haziness clouding her better judgment, until he hoisted her up.
"That wasn't too hard," Buffy said, embarrassment creeping up on her face. "I guess I don't like falling."
Angel smiled at her. "Oh, I don't know," he said in a low voice so that only she could hear. "Falling isn't so bad, when you're with the right person."
Buffy remained motionless and slightly confused, unsure of her TA's double meaning. She had no time to question him about it; as she turned her head his way, she saw him approach the rest of the class, telling everyone to start on the activity.
Might as well find another partner, she told herself numbly, trying to shake off everything that had just happened. Buffy saw the same brunette who had snickered at her earlier talking to Angel, and she briefly imagined her refusing to do the activity because she was afraid to break a nail.
Chuckling to herself, she headed towards the crowd, looking for someone without a partner.
"Buffy!" It was Angel again. She slowly turned around and saw Angel with the brunette chick
Oh, God, if he asks me to do him a favor and help little miss high and mighty with her manicure, I swear --
"I need you to do me a favor," Angel said, looking from Buffy to the other girl.
Please please please please please --
"You two need to be partners, since there's no one else left."
Buffy blinked at him and looked back to the other girl who had looked like she had been slapped.
Angel looked at the brunette. "You're OK with that, right…ah…"
"Cordelia," she answered, looking up at him with pretty eyes. Buffy felt like throwing up. Cordelia completely ignored Buffy before trying to get Angel's attention again. "It's just…Angel, if I could call you that--"
"It's fine."
"Good, because I didn't want to be disrespectful or anything by just saying it straight out like some people--"
Buffy looked at her in slight amusement. Does she really think that she's going to win this one out?
"--but on to the subject. I was hoping to be partners with you, since you probably know what you're doing better than she can."
"Hey, so I am visible," Buffy murmured to herself. Apparently, Angel heard and calmly stole a glance in her direction before resuming his talk with Cordelia.
"I think it would be best if it goes 'student-to-student' from now on," he concluded, ready to turn away.
Cordelia desperately grabbed his arm. "I wanted to be partners with the teacher, not with the frea--"
"Cordelia," Angel interrupted, sensing the tension between the two young ladies beginning to erupt. He added in a menacing tone, "go with Buffy."
Cordelia's hand drew away from his arm at his slightly harsh tone. Buffy stifled a laugh which earned her an evil glare by Cordelia.
Damn. Should have stuck with the manicure idea.
As Angel tried to leave once more, Cordelia tried for a third time to gain his attention, Buffy noticed with shock. She looked up at the teacher with sad, puppy eyes, making a slight pout and putting her hands behind her back. Buffy almost cried out in disgust as Cordelia tried to avert Angel's attention from her face to her shirt, which was…largely revealing.
But what really made her sick was the fact that it worked. She watched Angel's eyes linger, a somewhat darkened look crawling upon his angelic-like features. Cordelia stepped closer into Angel's presence, shortening the space between them and leaving Buffy not only repulsed but angered at the fact that such a gentlemen could fall into the obvious trap of seduction.
Grade-digger.
Buffy's cough caught both of their attentions, leaving a pissed off Cordelia and a lost Angel. "Cordelia," she said sweetly, "you might want to stand up a little straighter." She brought a hand to her face, pretending like she was telling a secret. With a loud whisper, loud enough for Angel to hear, she added, "the fruits just aren't blossoming like they use to. I mean, they're not falling out of your shirt or anything!"
Angel choked back his laughter, oblivious to a seething Cordelia. Collecting his authority with a stern stare to Buffy, he said to the both of them, "the faster you two get this thing done, the quicker you can get away from each other."
Buffy smiled with mock sweetness and Cordelia put out her hands so that she could catch the small blonde. After once doing the activity with Angel, it was easy for her to fall back. Angel turned around and started rounding up the class as Buffy fell backwards. With a careless attitude, Cordelia stepped back as soon as Buffy fell, leaving her no support.
She realized what was happening in an instant. Her eyes shot open and her hands came out to her sides, trying to stop the fall from hurting too hard. As she connected with the grass, an "oof" escaping her mouth, she turned to face Cordelia. She had joined her friends, laughing and walking away.
"I hate her!" Buffy yelled to Xander, who she had met up with after class.
"I thought you didn't hate anyone," Xander countered.
"Fine…I strongly dislike her," she finished. "And Angel—I mean, I thought as a teacher--as a member of the male species, even--he was different. But as soon as Queen C pops open her shirt intentionally, all the sweetness just drifted away from him, like an unsweet, sour…thing." She shook her head. "It was not sweet, at all."
Xander shook his apple at her. "You're expecting too much," he said. "He's a guy. He does guy things. He probably even has a guy part, despite the name confusion." He smiled mischievously. "Guys with things tend to act that way around girls like Cordelia."
She shook her head. "I just thought he was different, I guess."
"Ah, what's so special about him anyways," he answered, casually dismissing Angel. "I mean, Buffy come on, he is a teacher. You couldn't get with him, anyways, if that was what you were thinking."
Buffy stirred. "Well, technically, he's only the teacher's assistant—"
Xander stared at her in shock. "Oh, God. You were thinking about getting with this guy!"
She grinned sheepishly before letting her eyes wander down to her shoes. "That was before I realized I had to be super sexy, Queen High and Mighty, everyone-bow-down-to-me, Miss Bitca of the Seven Seas."
"Buffy," Xander said, concern in his voice. He put a hand on her shoulder. "So you've run into a few jerks in the past who generally suck and do look at girls like Cordelia before you. One day you're going to realize that perfection, if you could even call it that, comes with a price, and those jerks will realize that, too, and come crawling back to you. Then you can commence with the shoe licking and the kicking of the shins."
This got a smile out of her. Buffy pulled Xander into a friendly hug before the two said their goodbyes and headed off in different directions. And as Xander watched one of his best friends leave, he hoped that Buffy wouldn't fall for the "good guy" façade that Mr. Angelus was obviously pulling over her.
