~~~Chapter 9~~~
The bell rang, making
students jump from their seats and scurry from the classroom. Buffy waited until the class emptied out
before following her classmates into the crowded hallway. Keeping her head low, she slid along the
sides of the hallway until she reached her locker. It was so-far-so-good as she turned the
tumblers of the lock. Sixth period was
over and freedom was finally hers. All
she had to do was get off school grounds and she would have successfully made
it through another day without a showdown with Angel or his skanky new
girlfriend.
"Boo," a voice
whispered in her ear, making her jump about two feet.
"Geez Spike,"
Buffy said, elbowing her friend in the stomach.
"Do you have to scare a girl half to death?"
"Well you were looking
a little uptight," Spike said, tickling her with his breath as he
continued to talk into her ear. He
massaged her shoulders. "Feel a
little tense, too. Mr. Baker get on you
about French again?"
"No. I'm trying to avoid Angel," Buffy whispered,
still not turning around. It was a
little childish to think that if she couldn't see Angel and Cordelia that they
couldn't see her either, but it was all she could manage. If they wanted to find her, they would. She wasn't afraid of them. At least not physically. If it came down to it, she was pretty
confident that she could kick their ass.
She was more worried about her heart, which was already bruised from
seeing them together every minute of every day.
"Oh. What happened to the big crush?"
"Would you hush?"
Buffy yelped, looking around to see if anyone could have heard. The hallway that was packed with students
just a few minutes ago was almost empty now. She was relieved to realize that it wasn't
likely anyone had overheard Spike's blurting of her feelings for Angel. "I still like him, but after that stunt
you pulled, I heard he was after blood."
"Let him be,"
Spike said. "He deserved it for
toying with your affections."
"Please," Buffy said,
slamming her locker shut. She gave the tumbler
a few quick turns to make sure it was locked before she turned around. "I really don't want everyone talking
about it, so can we change the subject?"
"Sure, just as long as you're
not feeling scared," Spike said. He
threw an arm around her shoulder.
"Come on. Let's go find Red
and Xander. "Maybe we can find some
other trouble to get into this afternoon."
"No trouble,"
Buffy said. "I want to stay on my
mom's good side."
"What do you
want?" Spike asked with a
laugh.
"Nothing," Buffy
said, leaning into his embrace as they started down the hallway. "I just want to keep her happy so that I
can be happy without her knowing a thing."
"Gotcha."
Spike squeezed her shoulder
in support. It made Buffy feel safe
knowing that her friend was there if she needed anything. Without speaking they headed for the parking
lot behind the school where they would meet up with
"Uh oh, stupid bints
right ahead," Spike muttered, interrupting her thoughts.
"Oh crap."
Coming right at them was
Cordelia and her pack of followers. All
of them dressed in the latest fashions with perfect makeup to fit their perfect
lives. It made Buffy want to hurl.
"Well, look it’s the
school vandals," Cordelia said, stopping in front of the pair. Her minions flanked her. "What have you misfits destroyed
today?"
"Damn it," Buffy
said, snapping her fingers. "Our
plan didn't work. Her mouth is still
running."
"Yeah, well, I bet
Angel is grateful for that," Spike added with one of his evil grins.
"Oh, that's really
funny," Cordy said. "Unlike
your prank the other night. Angel was
livid about his car."
"It was funny,"
Buffy retorted. "You were afraid
you were going to get hooked."
"Well, you all are going
to get it. Angel isn't going to let this
go," Cordy said.
"Yeah, like right now
he's…," one of Cordy's friends started to say until Cordelia grabbed her
shoulder.
"He's what right now?" Spike asked.
It didn't take much for
Buffy to figure out what Angel was doing.
If she and Spike were inside the school, it left the weaker two of their
group vulnerable.
"Shit, Xander,"
Buffy said, knowing she was right when Cordelia lifted one of her brows and
shrugged her shoulders. She knew that
while she was avoiding Angel because of the embarrassment she would feel,
Xander had been avoiding him because he didn't want to deal with someone else
trying to beat him up. It wasn't
fair. It had been Spike's idea so why
wasn't Angel trying to pick on him?
"Come on," Spike
yelled, taking off at a run down the hall.
Buffy wasn't far behind even
with her heels slowing her down. The
anger she was feeling making her move despite feeling clumsy. All she could think about was Xander getting
hurt. He didn't fight back which Angel
probably knew. Everyone in the school
knew about Xander's Dad. Despite hoping
that Angel wouldn't do anything like pick on someone who was outmatched by his
size and ability, she feared it wouldn't make a difference. Angel needed to take back his pride.
~~~
As soon as Xander looked up
to see Angel coming his way, he knew it was the end of a good day. His stomach sank while his hands twitched
with uncertainty as to whether to ball up into fists or remain frozen at his
sides. The frightened little boy under
his father's fists wanted to cry while, at the same time, rage at the injustice
of someone else wanting to hurt him made him want to meet Angel with fists
cocked. Frozen in indecision, Xander
watched the school's hero, and everything he'd never be, approach with a
gathering crowd in his wake. Whatever
went down would be seen by the other students, and only add to his reputation
as a loser.
"Let's get out of
here,"
Xander could feel her hand
curl around his arm, gently tugging at him to flee. He knew if he ran it would only be followed
by the sound of students imitating chickens with clucks that would be heard for
days. Swallowing back his fear, Xander
dropped his book bag on the ground and stood straighter. At least being beaten at home insured there
was no audience, but here at school he would be surrounded. Each punch or kick would be followed with
taunts. His stomach tightened as he
prepared to deal with whatever was coming next.
"Not running?"
Angel said. He stopped within punching
distance of Xander.
"Not today,"
Xander said, hoping his voice didn't sound as weak as he felt. "What do you want?"
"Payback."
"Uh, I think you should
direct that to your mother. She's
responsible for that ugly mug, not me."
A few of the kids
snickered. It didn't make Angel
laugh. Xander couldn't believe he could
be so stupid as to be a smartass. Angel
didn't need any more reasons to beat the pulp out of him. He flinched when Angel moved so close that he
could smell Angel's breathe which thankfully didn't smell like alcohol. It was a stupid thought it was the only thing
that came to his mind as Angel grabbed his shirtfront and pushed him into
Spike's car. Xander felt
"Do not ever hurt
The crowd was chanting,
"Fight, fight…"
"She shouldn't be
hanging out with such a loser," Angel yelled back as he threw a punch.
Somehow, Xander got
lucky. He ducked, and then danced out of
the way just in time. Angel's fist
connected with the window frame of the Impala.
As he tried to regain his footing, he could hear footsteps running his
way. He knew it was Spike and
Buffy. They were the only two in the
school that would be coming to his rescue.
Except he didn't want to be rescued.
Not from Angel. He would rather
go down trying to defend himself, instead of someone else doing it. Before the others could reach him, Xander
drove his shoulder into Angel's midsection taking them both to the ground. He started pounding away, not caring if he
was doing damage.
"Stop it."
The voice was feminine and
very demanding. It took a second to
recognize Cordelia's voice as the one telling them to stop. He almost laughed, but Angel was tossing him
onto his back. Suddenly, Angel was
pulled off of him.
"Don't," Xander
yelled when he saw it was Spike rescuing him.
He rolled onto his knees and then jumped to his feet. "Let him go."
Cordelia stepped between him
and Angel stopping Xander from starting the fight again.
"Do you want to get
kicked out of school?" Cordelia
asked, pointing at Angel. "You
promised to take me to the Winter Formal.
Who would I go with if you're suspended?
The captain of the football team is supposed to take the head
cheerleader." She took a deep
breath. "And I don't want to go
with someone who has fading bruises. The
pictures would be horrible."
Everyone laughed. Xander was too humiliated to find anything
funny about it. Tomorrow he would hear
about how Spike rescued him and a girl stopped the fight. There wasn't anything manly in either
thing. He grabbed his backpack off the
ground.
"Are you
okay?"
"I'm fine," Xander
said. "Did you get hurt?"
"No." She shook her head. "Thank you for standing up for me."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"No reason."
"Hey," Buffy
said. "You were really throwing
some fists around. I'm proud of
you."
"Yeah, until Spike
decided he had to rescue me."
"I didn't," Spike
said, stepping into the group.
"Just wanted to make sure there was enough left for me."
Xander was furious. At himself, Angel, the world and especially
at Spike.
"Bullshit. You decided to play hero," Xander spat. "I don't need you to take care of
me."
"I wasn't trying to
take care of you," Spike protested.
But Xander could tell he was
lying. The truth was in his friend's
eyes. That Spike felt that Xander was
weak. Weak because he wouldn't stand up
to his father's rampages. Weak because
he always tried to use humor to avoid conflict.
Weak because he loved Spike.
There would never be a
conversation between them about who would bottom in their relationship. It was already obvious that Spike was the
more masculine between the two. Although
Xander knew in his heart it was what he wanted too, it infuriated him that
Spike would feel this way about him. It
wasn't without justification, but he hated for others to have the same thoughts
about him as he did. Most of all Xander
hated that he wanted to be pulled close to Spike's body and told everything was
going to be all right.
The inner fight between the
man and the frightened boy was driving him crazy. Tears burned his eyes as he fought those,
too. There wasn't much he could do to
save face at this point. His friends
were staring at him, unsure of what to do, afraid they were going to set him
off. He laughed. It wouldn't take much.
"You okay?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, another
headliner day in my life," Xander said, pushing back the hair from his
face. Or that was what he wanted them to
see instead of them seeing him checking to see if he was crying or if there was
sweat on his cheeks.
Suddenly he was being
hugged. He already knew it was Buffy. He didn't want her touch. He wanted to hold onto the rage that was
still coursing through him. It kept him
strong. Stronger than the helplessness
filling his soul. The rage told him to
push her away, as hard as he could, to tell her and Spike to go to hell, that
he didn't want their sympathy, and their friendship that he so desperately
needed to stay sane.
A sob, muffled against his
shirt, melted him. With one last fight
to stay where he was, he pulled Buffy close.
It couldn't be a good day for her either. Not with the boy she wanted to love already
making plans with another girl for one of the biggest dances of the year, and then
having to watch Angel attack him. It had
to have hurt her to choose between the two of them in the fight. Even if knew in his heart that she would
always choose him. She was loyal to the
end.
"I’m sorry,
Buffster," Xander whispered.
"Not your fault,"
Buffy said. "I'm stupid for liking
him."
"No, he's stupid for
not seeing what a great girl you are," Xander said. He sighed as he looked up, knowing he was
guilty of Angel's crime. He stared into
blue eyes. "Sorry Spike."
"It's okay."
It wasn't okay. One day Spike might not take another sorry
from him. Xander wondered what he would
do when that day came.
to be continued…
