Title: Sunnydale Elementary

Author: Margie

Rating: G

Pairing: B/S, X/A, W/T (friendship - they're only in the 3^rd grade people!)

Summary: What if the gang had met back in 3^rd grade? AU, everybody's human. Giles is Spike's dad.

Disclaimer: Own nothing. Joss owns all.

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Chapter 10 -

Buffy had picked up her brush and began painting the rock in front of her light gray. Her fingers were already stained with paint and she had accidentally dropped a dollop on her jeans. She looked over at Spike, who was painting the top of a tree a dark green. She giggled when she realized that he was singing under his breath. She could barely hear it but it sounded like "row, row, row your boat"!

Will turned his head sharply when he heard Buffy erupt in giggles. His faced flushed when he realized that she must have heard in him singing. It was a habit that he had sometimes. He usually didn’t even realize that he was doing it. Figures stupid Goldilocks would overhear him!

When she saw him turn to face her she immediately stuck her tongue out. Will was so mad that his movements became jerky. When he pulled his brush out of the paint he moved a little too fast and ended up splashing part of Buffy’s rock with green speckles.

"Spike head! Watch what you’re doing!" She moved to paint over the tiny dots of green.

Huh! He hadn’t even done it on purpose! And she as yelling at him again! Well fine. If she was going to be mad at him anyway then he was going to deserve it at least. He plunged his little brush into the green paint and pulled it out quickly, letting a few drops fall back into the bucket. Buffy was facing away from him trying to repaint the green speckles on her rock.

"Eek!" Buffy screamed when she felt the thick cold splash of paint all over her back. She jumped up and turned to find Spike laughing his head off. Her lips pursed and her eyebrows scrunched together as she formulated her plan of attack.

Instead of using her brush she plopped her whole hand into her bucket of gray paint and made a cup. She lifted and hurled the small puddle of paint before Spike had even stopped laughing. "Hah!" she screamed as the paint landed squarely on his spiky head (most of it anyway).

Now she was in trouble! He could not believe she just did that! He scooped up a handful of paint and chased after her. She had of course fled as soon as he had begun to move. She was fast but clumsy, and soon tripped over another piece o f the fake shrubbery surrounding them.

He was on top of her within seconds. Smearing the paint onto her face and neck as she squirmed underneath him. "Yuck!" she screamed in between bursts of laughter. They were both laughing and wrestling each other when Mr. Giles returned.

"William! Buffy!" Mr. Giles ran toward them and pulled them apart, subsequently getting green and grey paint all over his suit. He sighed and plopped them both down on their butts on the stage. They were still giggling.

"What am I supposed to do with you two?!" He was exasperated. He didn’t think he could take anymore today, so he sent for Buffy’s mother and then took William home. He figured staying after school all next week to help him clean the classroom and get ready for the play would be punishment enough. For them or him, he wasn’t yet sure.

***

Buffy sat quietly by the fountain while her mom went into the bookstore. She hated bookstores. They were so boring! So her mom said she could stay here if she was very good and very quiet. So she sat kicking her feet out, and splashing her small hand in the water.

William was walking by with his Da when he looked over to see Goldilocks sitting by the fountain. His Da wanted to go into some ratty old bookstore, so he convinced him to let him stay outside. Once his Da disappeared into the store, he headed straight for Buffy.

"I’m a little teapot, short and stout…" Buffy was singing/humming as he came near. She looked pretty bored. She didn’t look as annoying as she usually did. As he came nearer he suddenly heard a squeal toward his right.

"Buff-eeee!" Red came tearing around the corner. She ran straight up to Goldilocks and gave her a big squeeze before sitting down next to her on the fountain ledge.

"I didn’t know you’d be here! My mom made me come. She wants to buy me new pants. I told her I don’t need any new pants. But she insisted. But now I’m glad. Because now I got to see you!" She smiled after her furious speech.

"Hi Will! I’m so glad you’re here. I was so bored." Buffy rolled her eyes and made a face.

They were still talking when William finally reached them. Willow stopped and waved at him calling out, "Hi Will!!"

"Spike head! What are you doing here?" Buffy asked in her "I’m really annoyed" voice.

"Hi Red." William answered completely ignoring Buffy.

Buffy got mad. How dare he?! Just ignoring her like that. Her hand was still splashing in the cool water of the fountain and so she did the most natural thing. She splashed him.

Oooh! She made him so mad! He turned in her direction and spit out, "Hey Goldilocks – did you tip over? I didn’t hear you whistle…" He laughed at her as she realized he had heard her singing earlier.

"Uh oh" Willow thought. Here they go again. "Buffy. Will. Why don’t we just sit down for awhile. Our parents should be back any minute." She tried for a shy smile. But neither one was paying attention to her now.

Buffy’s face was completely red. She was embarrassed and angry at the same time. Why did he always have to do that to her! She jumped down from the fountain ledge and raced toward Spike.

The second he saw her move he was off running. Willow just stood on the fountain ledge and let them run around her in circles trying to figure out a way to stop them. She saw them dodging benches and chairs until one of them, Buffy of course, stumbled and went down. The cry of pain she let out was enough to have a few adult heads turn that were walking by. Willow was quick to jump off the fountain and race toward her friend. She helped her up into the seat that she had tripped over while Will hovered around anxiously.

"Sorry Goldilocks." He looked genuinely upset. Buffy glanced up and saw his nervousness and felt bad. Why did they always end up fighting?

She was sniffling a little. Tears had sprung to her eyes as she connected with the hard floor but she had managed to keep from really crying. "S’okay." She mumbled at Spike as he finally took a seat next to hers. Willow was holding her hand and making sure that she hadn’t scraped her knees or elbows.

"You okay?" Spike asked as he leaned in to check that Buffy wasn’t hurt anywhere.

"Yeah." Buffy whispered quietly as she wiped away the last of her unshed tears. She was embarrassed that she had fallen. And confused that Spike was being so nice to her. Although she still remembered how he had tried to protect her during the dinosaur movie. She blushed and looked away from him.

For his part, William was really sorry that he had made her fall down again. Not that this hadn’t happened dozens of times before, but this time she had actually started to cry! He didn’t want to make her cry.

When Buffy turned around again Spike was gone. She was both mad and disappointed. He just walked away? He didn’t even say goodbye! She turned back to Willow feeling hurt but pretending it was anger instead. Why should she care if Spike left? She didn’t want him around anyway!

A few minutes later she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Spike looking down at her sheepishly, holding a vanilla flavored ice cream cone out.

"What’s that for Spike head?" Buffy was confused. Just when she was convinced that she was mad at Spike for leaving, he comes back and gives her ice cream?

"S’for you." Spike shoved the cone at her and sat down in his seat. Willow was smiling in the seat next to Buffy, and Buffy was just looking stunned. She took the cone from Spike and started licking at her ice cream.

"Thanks." She said and continued to eat. Spike just sat next to her and watched the water falling in the fountain. Willow kept talking to Buffy about the new pants she was getting. And that’s how their parents found them when they finally all got done for the day.

Mr. Giles and Mrs. Summers were walking out of the bookstore together, having run in to each other at the check out line. When they caught sight of their errant children, they sighed. "Why can’t they be like that all the time?" Mr. Giles commented. Mrs. Summers could only agree as they both walked over to collect their little hellions.