Thank you to Anapeque, ba2006 and dkwr07 for your wonderful feedback.
This chapter I'm not completely happy with but I have to get it out of the way so I hope it doesn't confuse anyone.
Chapter 6: Changes
Angel sat at his desk in his room thinking about what had happened the day before with Ms. French, he couldn't believe that it was happening. Nothing like that would have happened to him before, no girls took notice of him before. Not until he met Buffy at least. She took notice in him and now his teacher did too. He wondered if there was something about him that attracted older women... then there was Cordelia but that brought up a whole new set of problems. Buffy seemed to actually care about him though, he didn't know exactly what Ms. French wanted other then sex and Cordelia was always a mystery to him. He couldn't believe a teacher would have sex with her student, that was something he only heard about on TV shows or something.
He didn't go over to Buffy's house Saturday night like he had told her he would, he couldn't. He felt so bad about what happened when he went to see Ms. French, he thought Buffy would be able to tell that something was different. He had avoided her all day Sunday too, she had called him but when he saw her number on the Caller ID he didn't answer. What would he say to her? He felt very awkward, he didn't know how to deal with girls. Part of him wondered if it would have been better if nothing had changed, if he was still the nerdy loser that no one liked, if he still only had his two best friends.
Angel stood up from his chair and went over to his bed, he felt a breeze and glanced towards his window. He noticed Buffy in her room, she was changing. Angel smiled, it was like before when things were still simple but now he knew what it was like to be with her and he didn't want it to be any other way. He didn't want to hurt her either though and he had a feeling she would be hurt if he told her what happened with Ms. French. Why did Ms. French have to ask him to do the Science Fair? Why did she have to kiss him? Now his whole relationship with Buffy was going to be screwed up all because of his Science Teacher.
He had also ran into Cordelia earlier at the mall, she seemed different towards him too. He had to say he liked it but then his thoughts went back to Buffy. Cordelia seemed like she was flirting with him earlier, but then again he didn't really know the difference between a girl being nice and flirting. She even asked him if he would like to join her for lunch. It was harmless so he did of course. He didn't know why all these girls were all the sudden interested in him, it just didn't make sense. Buffy was his girlfriend. He liked being with her
Buffy hadn't heard from Angel since Friday night, she was worried about him. He had said he was going to come by her house Saturday night but never showed, she tried calling him a few times but no one answered. She thought she would swing by the school towards the end of the day, if Angel wasn't at school then she would know something was very wrong. He wasn't the kind of student that would skip out on school.
She sat in her car for a while but got bored of messing with the radio so she got out and went on the high school campus. She looked around, it was a lot like her old high school only a lot less graffiti. The kids in small towns must be a little more respectful then the ones in LA. She stopped to look at a message board that had a bunch of fliers on it. Drama Club, Science Fair, Cheerleading. She saw a flier for basketball try outs, she took the flier down to look at it. The try outs were in a few weeks, she was sure she could get Angel playing well enough to make the team if they worked hard enough then the coach could take it from there, but then again she had never seen him play.
Buffy was looking at the flier when she thought she saw Angel walk past out of the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw him walking quickly in the other direction. Buffy ran to catch up to him.
"Hey Angel." He looked back at her but didn't stop. "Where are you going?"
"No where." He said slowing down a little.
"I thought you were going to come over Saturday night. What happened to Buffy Night?" She smiled as she walked next to him.
"I got busy." was all he said.
"Sunday too?" She asked.
"Yeah." Angel looked passed Buffy and saw Ms. French standing in one of the side doorways to the school, she was smiling at him.
"Are you busy now?" She wondered. "I went shopping this weekend so if you want a snack that isn't a cup cake I'm your girl!"
"Kind of... but I have a minute." He said.
.
"Oh... well check it out." She held the flier out to him to look at.
Angel looked down at the flier and shook his head.
"But I thought you wanted to... I could help you.." She said.
"I cant do it. There is just so much, everything is happening at once. I thought everything I wanted to happen would have been spanned out within my four years of high school but everything is happening this year." He told her.
"What do you mean? She asked trying to hide her hurt feelings.
"The Science Fair, I have to keep my grades up, applying for colleges and you!" He exclaimed.
Buffy took a step back. "Are you breaking up with me?"
"No! I just...need to figure out how to balance everything." He told her calmly. He already felt guilty for everything that was happening with Ms. French and what he thought was happening with Cordelia. He didn't want to hurt her feelings.
"So we will figure out a way." She whispered.
"I have to go." He said walking past her back into the school.
Buffy stood there looking in the direction that Angel walked in, he was acting a little weird.
"Buffy!" She turned around to see who was calling her name, she wished she hadn't! Percy was walking towards her with his backpack handing off one should. He looked way to much like Riley to her. "I was hoping I would see you soon."
"Really?" She put her sunglasses on so he couldnt see her rolling her eyes.
"Yeah." He smiled. "I saw you were rockin' out to Hinder at my party the other night so I made you.." He reached into his bag and pulled out a burned CD. "this. Its a Hinder Mix."
Buffy took it from his hand. "I got that from the 'Buffy's Hinder Mix' that is written on it."
Percy smiled. "It has all my favorite Hinder songs on it."
Buffy smiled. "Does it have How Long?" Percy nodded. "Lips Of An Angel?" He nodded again. "Predictable?" He smiled and nodded. "Awesome. Thanks. I better get going. I will listen to this in the car."
"Your welcome." He said as Buffy walked away. "Maybe we can go to a Hinder concert together."
Buffy rolled her eyes. When she got to her car she threw the mix CD on the passenger seat. That guy is so stupid, he is Predictable. Chances are he doesn't even know who Hinder is because even a moron knows that Predictable is by Good Charlotte.
As Angel walked home from school that afternoon he felt really bad for how he acted with Buffy when she was at his school. She must have gone there for a reason and he didn't even ask her why, unless it was just to pick him up. Maybe he needed to spend time with her to get over the guilty feelings he was having.
He was walking past Buffy's drive way when he saw what looked like a CD case on the ground near her car. He picked it up and saw that it said "Buffy's Hinder Mix". When he was at the mall he went and bought Hinders album Extreme Behavior because Buffy seemed to like them, he had to admit they were pretty good. He looked up at her house, here it goes. He knocked on the door waiting for an answer.
Buffy opened the door and smiled when she saw him. "Hey! You don't have to knock just come in. Besides if I was upstairs then you would have had better luck ringing the doorbell."
"I .. uh.. found this in your drive way." He said holding the CD out to her.
Buffy took the case. "Oh. Blah!" She walked to the kitchen saying "I was going to throw it out anyway."
"Why?" he asked, watching her toss it into the trash.
"Percy gave it to me." She told him.
Angel looked at the trash where the CD was. Great, on top of everything that was already going on he had to deal with Buffy hanging out with Percy. "When did he give it to you?"
"Today. At your school, after you left he caught up to me. Said he made it for me." She shrugged. "but he doesn't even know who they are. He said all his favorite Hinder songs are on that CD but when I named off some song titles he said they were all on there."
"What's wrong with that?" He asked. He didn't like the guy but he didn't get what Buffy's point was.
Buffy leaned against the wall. "One of the songs wasn't a Hinder song, but he said it was his favorite Hinder song."
Angel nodded. "What song?"
"Predictable." She told him.
Angel smiled. "Good Charlotte."
"You know, for a so called nerd you sure have good taste in music." She smiled.
Angel laughed. "Thanks, I kind of accidentally stumbled upon Good Charlotte a few years back when no one even knew who they were."
"I love doing that, its like discovering a rare gem and you get to enjoy it for just a little while before everyone else discovers it too and takes your secret away." She laughed. "What's your favorite band of all time?"
Angel took a deep breath, thinking about it. "The Grateful Dead."
"Favorite song?" She asked walking into the living room.
"Johnny B. Goode." He said walking into the living room behind her.
"Awesome scene in Back Too The Future." Buffy said pointing to him then sitting on the couch. "I also enjoy the Elvis remake. I have a thing for Elvis."
"Odd considering you age." Angel smiled sitting next to her.
"Hey!" Buffy playfully slapped his arm. "Jailhouse Rock has no age limits!"
"How about you?" He asked. "Favorite band."
"You did not just asked me that. You cant ask me that!" She laughed. "I consider myself a lover of all music, I cant pin point just one. All though, Madonna is a biggie for me. Guilty pleasure. A band, group or singer that you would never tell anyone you like."
"Billy Joel." Angel responded without thinking.
"Only The Good Die Young!" They both said at the same time laughing.
"If you ask my mom she will tell you that song was my anthem when I was younger." Buffy joked. "You know if I wasn't already attracted to you, your taste in music alone would have done it for me."
Angel smiled at her. Just having this conversation with her was making him feel a hell of a lot better then he was. He made a decision right then that he would take her up on her offer. "I was thinking... maybe I will try out for the basketball team. You said you would help me right?"
Buffy nodded smiling. "Yeah, I will."
"Are you any good?" He joked.
"I have been told." Buffy joked back.
Angel looked at his hands, his fingers intertwined. "Do you want to start now? If try outs are in a few weeks."
"Awesome! Just let me go change." She said heading to the stairs to go up and change, Angel watched her.. "You wouldn't happen to know where there is a basketball court.. would you?"
Angel laughed looking back down at his hands. "Yeah, I know one."
"Are you sure that dress you were wearing earlier isn't better for this kind of thing?" Angel asked with a smile as he Buffy threw him the basketball.
Buffy looked down at her red and black sport shorts and her Jersey that said Jordan 23. "Are you knockin' my Jordan attire? Do you know how much these Jerseys are going for on ebay?"
"No, I cant say I do." Angel laughed.
"Good, its probably better for your health if you don't know." She joked. "I almost had a heart attack. Besides, Michael Jordan is THE SHIT. Now lets see what you got."
"Maybe this was a bad idea." Angel said.
Buffy walked up to him. "Why?"
"Well the fact that I suck would be enough but the fact that you will see me suck, that is just to much of an embarrassment." He told her shaking his head handing her the basketball.
Buffy handed it back to him. "Take a shot. I wont laugh."
Angel threw the ball at the hoop, it went a few feet to the left of the basket. Buffy put her hand over her mouth. "We will work on that."
"Let's see what you got, Summers." He said picking the ball up and handing it to her.
Buffy never broke eye contact with him as she through the ball from the free throw line, Angel watched as it went in. "That! I want to be able to do that!"
"First thing is first. Try." She said giving him the ball again. "Do you know how many granny throws I had to do before I could even make a basket? I wont even tell you because its to humiliating. Although I could actually make a basket with my back to the hoop before I got anything else down. Don't ask me how!"
"How long have you been playing?" He wondered twirling the ball in his hands. Buffy put on a black hoodie and zipped it up, it was starting to get a little chilly.
Buffy thought about it for a second. "A long time. Xander used to be on the basketball team in high school, I went to all of his games and when it was a off season we would go to the park and shoot hoops together. Now, lets try this again, shall we?"
Buffy showed Angel how to hold the ball and told him to visualize the ball going into the basket. He didn't actually think that would work but she kept telling him to do it and the phrases "Snap your wrist" which didn't sound good to him and "Follow through with your wrist" were now drilled into his brain. Apparently it was all in the wrist, which he didn't know before. After numerous tries he finally made a basket.
"See! Check out your bad self!" Buffy gave him a high five. "Just keep practicing, you will be amazing, I know you will." She kissed him on the check and sat down on some metal bleachers on the side of the court. "Remember the follow through for your wrist! You will be shooting from the center circle in no time!"
"Yeah more like the side lines." Angel told her.
"How about we make this a little more interesting." Buffy smiled.
Angel took another shot, it hit the rim and bounced to the side of the court rolling towards Buffy. "And how would we do that?"
"Well... for every shot you make I will take off a article of clothing... for every shot you miss, you take off something." She smiled. "You game?"
"What do I get if you end up naked?" He asked with a half smile.
Buffy tossed him the ball. "The pleasure of seeing me naked isn't enough?" she joked. "How about a little back seat fun?"
"Okay." Angel said dribbling the ball. "I'm game."
Buffy and Angel stayed out pretty late practicing, Angel didn't know if she was really trying to help him or if she just wanted to keep playing until one of them were naked.
Angel nervously sat in his last class of the day, they were posting the new players for the Basketball Team at the end of the day, he just hoped Coach Wheeler wasn't late posting the list. Buffy told him he had become pretty good, they practiced as much as he could before try outs. He was either with Buffy or Ms. French during all of his free time. He didn't tell Buffy about what happened with Ms. French and he didn't know how to tell her. Ms. French would imply that she was attracted to him or make sexual comments while they were together, she even invited him over to her house again but he refused. He felt to weird being at her house not to mention the way she acted when he was there before, he just wanted to get his Science Fair project done. Whenever things got to uncomfortable for him he would leave sometimes not even telling Ms. French that he needed to go. He really didn't know what to do about her.
When the ball rang signifying that class was over Angel didn't even stop at his locker like he normally did. Instead he ran straight to the message board where the names would be listed. By the time he got there, there was already a crowd of students, he couldn't get through. He sat down on a nearby bench to wait for the crowd to die down. A few students pushed their way out of the crowd, two of the students were Chris Epps and Owen Thurman they walked past him, Owen patted Angel on the shoulder.
"Congrats Angel." Chris smiled.
Owen turned around and shrugged with a half smile. "Looks like we will be seeing more of you."
Angel quickly got up off the bench and pushed his way through the students in front of the message board. He quickly scanned down the list finding his name, he couldn't help but smile. He was actually on the basketball team. He pushed back out of the group of students and ran to the parking lot, passing Doyle and Gunn.
"Hey man! Did you check the list?" Gunn shouted as Angel ran by.
He didn't stop, he just turned towards his friends and smiled before turning back around continuing to run.
"I think that was a yes, and I take it he made the team." Doyle assumed.
Angel ran all the way to Revello Drive, he was getting tired that must be a sign that he will need to work out more. He needed to tell his parents that he actually made the team, they seemed a little skeptical when he told them he was going to try out again but his parents had always been supportive of everything he did. Instead of running up to his house he turned onto the yard next to his, he slowed down to catch his breath for a minute before walking in.
"Buffy!" He shouted.
Buffy ran down the stairs thinking something was wrong but when she saw he was smiling she calmed down. Walking over to give him a hug. "Hey."
"Guess what today was?" He smiled still breathing a little heavy.
Buffy smiled. "A sale at Bloomingdales? Because that is the only thing that would make me smile like that."
"No." Angel said still smiling. "Well maybe, I don't know but they posted the list from the try outs!"
"And I take it you made the team?" Buffy asked excitedly.
Angel picked her up and spun around. "You bet your sexy ass I did."
"Angel!" Buffy laughed. She had never heard him talk like that before.
Later that night Angel went into his room, he had lost his happy moment after talking to his parents about joining the basketball team. They had always been supportive but this time they brought him down. He could see where they were coming from, they were being realistic but that didn't mean he was happy about what they said. He picked up his cordless phone and sat in his desk chair, he dialed a number he had memorized now and pushed himself over to his window. Waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.
"Hey Mister Basketball Player." Came the cheery voice.
"Hey." He greeted her.
"What's wrong? You said like someone rained on your parade." She said.
Angel sighed. "My parents rained on my parade. Your not in your room." He said quietly.
"Do you want me in my room?" She laughed.
"Yeah, I could really use a visual right now." He said somberly.
"Does that mean you want me to get naked?" She joked.
"No, I just want to see you." He said looking out the window waiting for her to come into view. He saw her bedroom light come on and she appeared in her window.
She smiled sadly at him. "You look sad. Talk to me."
Angel took a deep breath. "My parents seem to think I am taking on to much. Adding Basketball to my plate would just be to much right now."
"How do they know?" She asked. "Do you think you could handle it?"
"I don't know." He said not taking his eyes off of her. "I have been kind of stressed the last couple of weeks."
Buffy leaned her elbows on her window sill watching Angel in his room. "Do you want to talk about it?" When she didn't get a response she said "If you want to do Basketball then do it, if you don't want to do it then don't but at least you tried out and you made the team. And do you know why you made the team?"
"Because you kicked my ass into shape?" He said with a small smile.
Buffy shook her head with a half smile. "Because you are that damn good! Your like... a Jack of all trades, Angel. Good show by the way, ended WAY before its time."
Angel chuckled. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."
"Your just afraid of the truth." She said into the phone.
"No, If Bruce Campbell was man enough to take on Verne Troyer then Lori Loughlin wouldn't have divorced him." Angel smiled.
Buffy looked down and laughed. "Oh, and he goes below the belt!" Then she turned serious. "Angel honestly if you feel like Basketball will be taking on to much then don't do it. But if you really want it then you will find away for it to happen. Either way I know you can do it because I believe in you."
"Thanks Buffy, I really needed to hear that." He said softly.
"Your very welcome. Now unless you have another crisis that needs to be averted then you should get to bed, you have school tomorrow." Buffy told him. "Did I really just say that to my boyfriend? At least I'm not tucking you in."
Angel laughed. "Okay, good night."
"Night." She smiled.
Angel sat in his usual spot at Buffy's doing his homework, he wasn't as focused on his work as he used to be. He was watching Buffy out of the corner of his eye as she moved around the kitchen, things were starting to get a little better for him. Mostly they were getting better because he was spending less time with Ms. French, he was using Basketball as an excuse not to work on the Science Fair Project. She always made comments about how school work should come before sports. He had been on the team for a month now and he was loving it, they had a few games already but they hadn't won any.
He watched Buffy messing around with her coffee maker, she had been going back to it every once in a while since he got there he was pretty sure it was broken but she didn't want to except that. He smiled when he watched her face scrunch up in annoyance. They had been together for almost two months now, he didn't know if he was supposed to get her a gift for their to month anniversary or not... did couples even celebrate their anniversary every month? If they did then he missed their one month, he remembered he was with Ms. French on the day that marked one month of being in a relationship with Buffy. He didn't like that though. He also didn't like that whenever Buffy brought up the Science Fair or the project, he got snappy with her, it wasn't her fault.
"Damn it." Buffy whispered pushing the coffee maker further back on the counter then turned to Angel leaning her back against the counter. "How is basketball going?"
"Sucks. We haven't won any games." He said not looking at her. "I would rather not talk about it." This whole Ms. French thing was getting way out of line not that it was ever in line anyway but now it is causing anxiety. Every time they talked he felt like he was going to slip up and say something about Ms. French that he shouldn't.
"So... when is this science fair?" Buffy wondered.
"Soon." He replied. "I have a lot of work to do."
"On it or in general?" She smiled.
"Both." He said not looking up from his notes.
Buffy let out a short laugh. "Oh... well can I go?" She asked in a quick playful voice.
"To what?" He asked looking up at her. "The Science Fair?"
Buffy nodded.
"It would be better if you didn't." He told her looking back to his notes. "It's just you wouldn't like it very much."
"Okay." She said walking into the living room. Angel had been acting weird the last few weeks, she didn't know if she had done something or if there was something else bothering him. He only acted somewhat normal when they were practicing basketball at the park and on those rare occasions where he would let his guard down. Something was definitely up.
Angel watched her walk out of the kitchen, he already felt bad. He didn't want to hurt her feeling. He went into the living room to find Buffy, she was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine. He sat down next to Buffy, sighing. "What if this basketball thing isn't for me?"
"Why wouldn't it be for you? I mean if you don't want to do it then you don't have to, I'm just wondering." Buffy said quietly.
"I'm not a athlete or a jock or a popular kid. I wanted to fit in so badly because I didn't want to be THAT kid, the one that regrets not taking any chances in high school but now.. I'm afraid of who I am going to become... plus I kind of suck. We haven't won any games." Angel explained to her.
"Fear will consume you if you let it Sawyer." She half joked. "but your stronger then that. When I look at you I don't see a weak person." Buffy smiled leaning her head against his arm. "You don't have to be a jock, you just have to be you."
Turning to look at her he asked. "So weather I am nerd or a jock I am still going to be a joke."
"No." She shook her head smiling up at him. "Your Angel Sawyer, you are a good friend, a great student and your also the best guy I know. No matter what you will never be a joke."
"Thanks." He said kissing her hair. "You always know what to say to me."
"Is that what's up?" She asked seriously. "You don't feel right about being on the basketball team?"
"It just out of my element I guess. I feel like in the last few months I have become a different person." He sighed. "I just want to feel like me again."
"Your always going to be you." She smiled. "But if you feel like you are losing yourself then don't do it. Don't risk losing yourself over something you don't love."