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 11 -

--- Monday ---

* Chewing Gum Duty *

Buffy was only 10 minutes into detention and she was already resolved to never ever ever ever chew bubble gum again!

When the rest of the class had been dismissed Mr. Giles had turned to them. She and Spike had been handed two little spatula things and told to get to work!

Ugh! It was so disgusting. Had she ever stuck gum under her desk? What was she thinking?

While Buffy continued to scrape the desk she sat under, Will re-entered the room. He glanced over at Goldilocks with a grimace. This was all her fault! Why did she always have to make him so mad? Nobody else could get him as worked up as she could just by looking at him.

Her stupid hair! Her stupid face! Her stupid laugh! Why was she always laughing at him? Stupid Goldilocks!

She heard the desk scrape as Spike repositioned himself beneath it. She glanced up briefly to see him sitting cross-legged under Willow’s desk. At least he got to take a break! Maybe she would need to go to the bathroom in a few minutes. She didn’t know how much more of this ucky job she could take!

Trying to get her mind off of the piece of stubborn gum she was trying to pull off the desk, she thought back to their day at the mall yesterday. She shook her head absently. She just didn’t get him! First he’s all mean to her, and then he ends up buying her ice cream? Why can’t he just be normal? Like Xander! Xander didn’t act all mean and then act all nice and then act all mean again! Why can’t Spike head be more like Xander?

Will looked over when he heard Goldilocks’ soft sigh. She wasn’t scraping her desk. She looked more like she was watching tv or something. Figures she’d try to get out of working. Bloody heck! He wasn’t going to let her get away with it!

"Da! " Mr. Giles head snapped up at Will’s call. He puffed out his own sigh as he saw the now familiar look of irritation on his son’s face. A look that he has become intimately acquainted with ever since the first day Buffy Summers stepped onto their little playground.

"Yes William?" He queried resignedly.

"Goldilocks isn’t even scraping! She’s just sittin’ there doing nothing!"

"I am not! Spike head! What are you doing watching me anyway? Why aren’t you scraping your desk!" Buffy’s eyes were big green circles of fire. Why was he always trying to get her in trouble?

"ENOUGH!" Both pairs of eyes fell to the floor at Mr. Giles’ bellow. "You have 15 more minutes of detention left. Go out and throw the scraped gum into the trash bin and return. You will then study your readers for the rest of the time." Mr. Giles sat down again, pinching the ache he felt at the bridge of his nose.

They sat at their desks with their readers open, both pretending to study them intently. Buffy was getting tired of getting in trouble all the time. She never got in this much trouble at her old school! Not really anyway. She suddenly felt very homesick. She hadn’t thought about her old school for awhile. But now she missed Allison.

Allison was a lot like Willow. She never got in trouble. That kind of helped Buffy not get in trouble. Though she did occasionally break some rules. Her old teacher used to call her a spitfire, whatever that was! She sighed again wondering what Allison was doing and turned the page in her book.

Will was watching Buffy. It was easy to do since he sat behind her. Da didn’t know he wasn’t really reading his books. She seemed sad. What a weird girl! She’s always either laughing at me and making me mad, or crying and making me feel bad! Why can’t she be a normal girl?

They both looked up as Mr. Giles pushed back his desk chair. "You have five minutes left of your detention. Buffy your mother should be here soon. I am just going down the hall for a few minutes. Please continue to study your readers and BEHAVE yourselves!" Mr. Giles walked out praying that his little monsters would be at their desks sitting quietly when he returned from the restroom.

After his Da left Will decided to see what was wrong with Buffy. "What’s your problem Golidlocks?"

She stiffened. "I don’t have a problem Spike head. Except for you that is!"

Now why was she mad? He just wanted to see why she was sad! Bloody heck she was annoying!

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

They both turned back to their books.

Now Buffy was sad and angry. She was homesick. And stupid Spike was making fun of her! Mom said she was a big girl now. She wasn’t supposed to cry just because she missed her old school and her old house and all her old friends. Buffy’s eyes started to get big. No! She was not going to cry! Suddenly her head snapped backward as Spike tugged on her ponytail. Argh! She couldn’t take anymore!

Will had heard Buffy start sniffling. He knew something was wrong. Why did he hate to see her cry so much? Her eyes got so big and green. She looked so sad that it made him sad. He decided to distract her so he did the first thing that came to mind. He pulled her hair.

As Mr. Giles rounded the corner he could hear several sounds from his classroom. None of them sounded like children quietly reading. He hurried his steps only to find Buffy and William on opposite ends of the classroom. Each one had several chalkboard erasers and from the looks of it had been throwing them at each other like grenades.

He took in a deep breath and said the only thing he could. "ENOUGH!!"

Good Lord! Four more days! He didn’t know if he could take it.

--- Tuesday ---

* Eraser Clapping *

"Since you two were so fond of the erasers yesterday I decided that your job today will be to clap them all out, and I’ve offered your services to the entire hall."

Buffy and Spike looked down to see two small bins at their feet. Mr. Giles was going on about collecting all the erasers from the classrooms and then going outside to clap them. Buffy was so mad! This was all Spike head’s fault! He was the one who pulled her hair yesterday and made her throw the erasers at him! Why was he always getting her in trouble?

Will was brooding. At least this wasn’t as bad as chewing gum duty, he thought. But still. If it weren’t for Goldilocks he wouldn’t have to be here at all! Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered with her? Seems like he was always getting in trouble because of it.

They headed out, each with their own bin to fill. Buffy took all the classes on the left side of the hall, and Will took the right. Mr. Giles was staying in the classroom to do some paperwork and had left them with express instructions to behave. The truth was he just didn’t think he could stand another afternoon with the two. He was already going out of his mind! He sighed and hoped that there wasn’t much trouble they could get into clapping erasers to the side of the building.

Unfortunately for Mr. Giles, Buffy and William seemed to be able to find trouble wherever they went!

When they had gathered all of the erasers they headed outside together. Instead of stopping outside the door they decided to go around to the other side of the building where it was shadier. That way they wouldn't get too hot. Both their bins were full and it seemed to them that it would probably take their whole detention to finish the job.

So far they hadn’t said a word to each other. And that was just fine by Will! He didn’t need a dumb old cootie girl to talk to anyway. He thought back to their eraser fight yesterday. He was just trying to distract her. He smiled. He guessed it worked!

Buffy looked over to see Spike laughing about something. What an annoying butthead! She thought. Boys were so dumb. He sings to himself. He laughs to himself. What a weirdo! She thought about her earlier wish that he act more like Xander. Xander didn’t act anything like the other boys she knew.

He was nice and sweet and funny. Well Spike head was funny too. Sometimes. When he wasn’t being mean to her that is. And she guessed that he could be nice sometimes too. He did thank her for the card she gave him. And after she had embarrassed herself at the dinosaur movie too! Come to think of it. He was kind of sweet. He did buy her an ice cream cone after she fell at the mall. So why did he always make her so mad? Why couldn’t he be nice and sweet and funny all the time instead of just sometimes?

As she reached down to pick up another eraser she heard Spike humming to himself. This time she could hear the tune was rock-a-bye-baby. She giggled and looked up at him.

"What?" Will caught Buffy staring.

"Nothing." She smiled. "Just thought I heard something." She giggled again and started clapping her new eraser against the wall.

Will started to turn red. The blush started at the base of his neck and gradually spread across his face. Darn! She caught him singing again! "So what! If you don’t like it then go clap your erasers somewhere else!" He turned away hotly, his face completely flushed with embarrassment.

Buffy saw him turn away and was immediately sorry. She didn’t want to make him mad again. They were almost through with detention today. "I’m sorry Will. I didn’t mean to make fun of you. I just thought it was funny that it was rock-a-bye-baby."

Tears sprang to his eyes. He was no longer embarrassed. He hadn’t realized what he was doing. It was an unconscious habit he had, and most of the time he didn’t even know he was doing it, let alone what he was singing.

Buffy saw Spike’s eyes get big before he turned away again. Oh no! Now what had she done? He looked like he was going to cry! "I’m sorry Spike! I didn’t mean it! I swear!" She put her eraser down and stepped closer to him.

He was still turned away when he started to speak. "S’Okay." * sniffle * "Didn’t know I was singing that song. My mum used to sing it to me. I think she used to sing to me a lot." He tried to swipe his eyes without Buffy seeing.

Buffy started to cry. She was such a creep! "I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I won’t make fun about it anymore. I promise!"

To Will’s surprise Buffy stepped forward and threw her arms around him. She hugged him for a second and then pulled away, going back to her eraser bin. "Come on Spike head. Let’s hurry so we can go home."

He wiped his eyes one final time and turned back grabbing his next eraser. He didn’t look at her or say another word for the next 10 minutes. His next words were pretty much a loud shriek as the sprinklers for the lawn next to them came on.

Both Will and Buffy screamed at the same time. Buffy ran out of the way as soon as the first drops of water splashed her from behind. And Will was right behind her. When they stopped they both realized that they left their eraser bins in the shower of water! So of course they were running back into the water as Mr. Giles came out of the building to see what the noise was all about.

"William! Buffy! Get out of there at once!" Mr. Giles cried out to them as they came back carrying their now drenched erasers.

"Da! It wasn’t our fault!"

"Mr. Giles they just turned on!"

Buffy and William yelled at the same time. As they simultaneously shook their heads free of water.

To his credit all he said was "follow me," as he turned back toward the building wondering where he could find a set of towels.

Good Lord! Three more days! What was he thinking assigning them a whole WEEK of detention?!

--- Wednesday ---

* Auditorium Cleanup *

Since the play was only a few more days away he wanted to the Auditorium to be spic and span. Today he would have Buffy and William clean up. But first he wanted to make sure that any potential disasters were averted. He decided to go in during lunch and lock away all the paint, push aside all the sets, and pretty much clear the way for his two favorite hellions.

He could see the twin looks of chagrin on their faces when they entered the room. Two brooms, rags, and various other cleaning supplies sat in a heap in the corner. As soon as they some, they both knew their assignments for the day. They sat sullenly in the first row awaiting his instructions.

"Well since this is where it all started, it is only fitting that you two will have to clean up your own mess." He glanced at both of them as he spoke.

Buffy wasn’t really paying attention to Mr. Giles. It was obvious that they would be spending their detention cleaning today. Instead she was looking at the various splats of paint that decorated the floor of the stage. Remembering back to last week and her and Spike’s paint war.

Will hated cleaning. It was always one of his chores during the week, sweeping the kitchen or cleaning the bathroom. He looked around trying to figure out exactly what his Da was going to make them do today.

"You will be cleaning off the stage today. I have moved aside all the sets, which we will be fixing up on Friday for your final detention, by the way. You need to sweep the floor first, and then you will be wiping down the stage with some rags and warm soapy water. The supplies are over in the corner, you will need to take a bucket each and fill it with water in the restroom. If you have any questions I will be in our classroom." Buffy watched as Mr. Giles headed out of the Auditorium.

Will decided he just wanted to get this over with. He stood and made his way to the corner grabbing the first broom and stepping up onto the stage. He turned to see Goldilocks grabbing her own broom and following him. His thoughts turned to yesterday’s detention.

He was so mad at himself. He couldn’t believe he had let Goldilocks see him cry! What kind of baby was he? She didn’t seem to mind though. And had even given him a hug. That was weird. He didn’t think he had ever hugged another kid before. Just his Da. But it had made him feel a little better. He sneaked a peak at Goldilocks then. She was on the other side of the stage. He giggled because the broom was so much bigger than her and she looked so funny!

Buffy was too busy struggling with her broom to notice Will’s giggling. It was much larger than her, and she had to hold it in the middle of the handle to use it. She finally looked over to see Spike sweeping the last of his dirt onto a little tray and then dumping it in the trash. She was almost done with her side but still sweeping when he came up to her a few minutes later.

"Hey Goldilocks. I’m finished sweeping so I’ll go get the water and the soap so we can finish. Kay?" He was trying to be nice to her since they seem to have reached some sort of truce yesterday before the sprinklers hit.

She looked up to answer him, and saw that he had dirt smudged on his face. It made her smile, but instead of making fun of him she just said, "Okay Spike head. Don’t spill any on the way back!" As he headed down the steps.

Will grabbed the bucket and headed out the door. He wondered at the smile she gave him when he told her what he was doing. They hadn’t fought all day today. What was going on? Were they becoming friends? He shook his head wondering what he was thinking as the water splashed into the bucket he held.

Buffy had finished sweeping and was taking the rags up to the stage when Will came back. They both dunked their rags in to begin wiping down the stage.

As they started cleaning, they both realized that they weren’t going to be getting much of the paint or other dirt off the stage. Mr. Giles must be running out of things for them to do during detention, Buffy thought. She was slowly wiping the rag in a circle in front of her.

She and Will were relatively close together on the stage, both having to be close enough to the bucket to re-dunk their rags whenever needed. For some reason Buffy felt like talking to him.

"Hey Spike head." She waited until he looked up at her. "Thanks for getting the water."

He blushed. "S’okay." He said softly. He wasn’t used to this Buffy. The Buffy that was nice to him. That wasn’t making fun of him or getting him in any trouble. He thought about the mess that had gotten them here in the first place. That stupid play!

"Why do you like this stupid play anyway?" He asked as they continued cleaning.

"Huh?" Buffy was busy wringing out her rag when Spike had spoken. "Oh. Uhm. Well it’s great! Dorothy is a hero! She saves Oz from the wicked witch and she helps the scarecrow and the tin man and the cowardly lion! And she’s a girl! But that doesn’t stop her from being the hero!"

Will was smiling as he watched Buffy rant on about Dorothy. Girls! They were crazy! "So you just like it cause it’s got a girl in it?" He smirked.

"No dummy! Cause its got a HERO girl in it! It even has a bad guy girl in it too! It’s so cool!" She scrubbed happily away at the stage.

Buffy heard Spike’s snort but chose to ignore it. She didn’t care what stupid Spike head thought anyway. It was a cool play!

"The play’s the only reason we’re here in the first place! Stupid play!" Spike snorted again.

"Not it’s not!! We’re here because of you Spike head! You ran away from me when I tried to kiss you. That’s what started it all!" Buffy huffed at him.

"You think I want your cooties!?" He cried with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Ugh! Do you think I WANT to kiss your stupid butt face!? It’s part of the play dummy! We have to do it no matter what, so you better get used to it!"

Ick. He didn’t think he could ever get used to the idea of a girl kissing him! Gross! But she was right. His Da was going to make him do it no matter what. He sighed. It hadn’t been so bad when she hugged him yesterday. Maybe the kiss wouldn’t be too bad either. After all monkey boy hadn’t come down with anything yet, and Anya had kissed him weeks ago.

They were just finishing cleaning up. There was a little drain behind the stage that he took the bucket to so he could dump the water. When he got back Goldilocks had already put the rags and brooms back in the corner pile they had started in.

"Thanks." He said as he came up beside her to put the bucket in the pile as well.

"Welcome." She said, turning away to start down the stage. Before she could get down the second step, Spike had touched her arm. She looked back up with a question on her face.

"Uhm. Sorry I ran away from you." He mumbled his apology. She squinted up at him surprised.

"S’okay." She shrugged, "but you better not do it again. The play is next week. Mr. Giles will really be mad if we mess up when all our parents are here."

"I know." He started to walk down the steps, but stopped. "Maybe uhm…maybe we should try it again, before the play. You know. Just so I can get used to it?" He was blushing now and couldn’t look at her.

Buffy was smiling. He looked so funny when he blushed. His whole face got red, even his neck! She decided that she wasn’t going to make fun of him for this since he was actually trying to keep from getting either one of them in trouble.

"Okay. Why don’t we do the whole thing so it will be more realistic?" She grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the stage.

***

Mr. Giles looked up at the clock and realized it was time to go get his two little rascals. Mrs. Summers would be here any minute to pick Buffy up from detention. He heaved a sigh as he lifted himself off his chair and stood to make the walk to the Auditorium.

When he entered the room his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Buffy was kissing his son on the cheek. And amazingly his son was doing nothing more than a little squirming.

"Thanks tin man." He heard Buffy say as she moved away from Will. He realized then that they must have been practicing for the play. A smile lit his face, feeling some relief that they were not going to have a repeat of the rehearsal fiasco during the play next week.

Without warning he saw his son’s hand dart up and pull down on Buffy’s left pig tail. He heard the tiny screech from her mouth and sighed as the chase began.

Good Lord! Two more days! The distinct possibility that he might spontaneously combust sprang to mind.

--- Thursday ---

* Playground Pickup *

Today Mr. Giles told them to clean up all the trash on the playground. He gave them each a small trash bag and let them loose.

Geez! Will never realized how messy his classmates could be. There was rubbish everywhere. Gum wrappers, candy wrappers. Ugh! Even crumpled up tissues.

Buffy was wandering underneath the jungle gym with her trash bag. Only one more day of detention! Yeah! Her mom had even told her that she could go to a movie with Willow and Xander on Sunday! She could hardly wait. Not that they wouldn’t have plenty of time to hang out with each other over the summer. Just one more week of school! Now she just had to get through one more rehearsal and the play.

She giggled remembering her and Spike’s rehearsal yesterday. He’s such a dorkbutt sometimes. He wanted to practice the play with her so that he wouldn’t mess up again like last time. She had to admit that he had been good about it this time. He actually stood still enough for her to kiss his cheek. Of course he ruined the whole thing after by pulling her hair and making her chase him all over the stage! Dorkbutt!

Will looked around the playground trying to decide where his next clean up spot should be. For some reason he ended at the swings by the jungle gym.

He shifted the sand underneath one of the swings to pull out an old tootsie roll wrapper. He glanced over at Goldilocks who looked more like she was playing on the jungle gym instead of cleaning underneath it. He laughed under his breath. She never did anything right! No wonder she was always getting in trouble. He looked down at her bag of trash. At least it looked like she had done some work.

"Hey Goldilocks!" He called out to her. "Better get down before Da comes out and catches you. You might end up with detention again next week and you won’t even have me to keep you company!"

"Whatever Spike head! Not like I want your butt head company anyway!" She yelled back, but dropped back down to the ground as advised.

They spend the next twenty minutes cleaning up the are around the gym, swings, and hand ball courts. Since Mr. Giles was probably going to be coming out soon, Buffy decided to just wait for him on the grass. She saw Spike coming toward her and waited for him to say something mean about her hair or clothes or whatever. But instead he just plunked down beside and looked up at the sky.

Buffy tried to look up to see what was so fascinating but couldn’t tell what he was looking at. Finally she said, "What are you staring at butt face?"

"Just a frog cootie breath." He said without looking away from the sky.

"What are you talking about Spike? There aren’t any frogs in the sky!" Buffy squinted but couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.

"There. See." He pointed at a cloud just above the classroom building.

"Oh." It did sort of look like a frog. "Looks more like a bunny to me."

"Of course YOU would think it’s a girly animal." He looked away and down at her. "Do you wanna hear a secret?" He asked after awhile.

Huh? Spike head was going to tell her a secret? She looked at him and shrugged.

"Don’t tell Anya I told you…She’s afraid of bunnies!" He said in a whisper.

"Bunnies! Who’s afraid of bunnies! That’s silly!" They laughed together.

"That’s why it’s a secret!"

They watched as the wind blew the frog/bunny cloud away and out of sight. They were looking for another cloud to watch when Buffy saw a streak of brown and white fly past them. She looked down and realized that the wind was blowing their trash bags over and scattering everything they had collected.

She shrieked and pulled on Spike’s arm to get him to follow her as they both started chasing their trash down. At least she had caught her bag before she lost ALL her trash.

Poor Spike wasn’t as lucky. She felt bad for him so decided to help him grab his trash back up. But before she did she tied her bag shut so that she wouldn’t lose anymore of what she had already stuffed back inside.

Mr. Giles was just finishing grading the last of his papers when he heard the shriek. He decided that maybe if he just ignored them long enough he wouldn’t have to deal with whatever had inspired the little outburst. He continued to sort the papers for a few more moments before his conscience got the better of him and he headed outside.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped out was that the wind had picked up significantly. The second thing her noticed was that this was what obviously caused the earlier shriek he had heard. Both Buffy and Will were running around the playground trying to catch flying pieces of paper and not being particularly successful. The annoying thing was that they both looked like they were enjoying it! Only Buffy and Will could enjoy detention! His now familiar heavy sigh appeared, as he lengthened his stride toward the two ruffians.

Good Lord! One more day! It was almost over. It was almost over. He just had to keep repeating that to himself.

--- Friday ---

* Auditorium Setup *

At least today wouldn’t be so bad. They didn’t have much to do but push the rocks and trees back in place. The only other thing that needed to be done was to put the yellow brick road down. It was really just some yellow construction paper that she and Spike had to tape together, but it was cool anyway.

They had taped the road together in the classroom while Mr. Giles sat at his desk reading a book. She figured he wasn’t going to leave them alone this time. Yesterday he said something about having to keep his eye on them every minute of every day, or something like that. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like it was their fault the wind was blowing!

They had worked together quietly. They hadn’t talked much today beyond their usual greeting/insults. Not that she cared. Although it had seemed like they had talked a lot this week. But that didn’t mean she wanted to keep doing it. Or that they were friends or anything. He was still a butt head boy!

But just as they were finishing up she heard him mumble something. "What Spike head?" She asked, putting the last piece of tape on her "brick".

"Thanks." He mumbled again, but slightly louder. "…uhm…you know…for helping me get my rubbish yesterday."

How come whenever she thought he was a just a dumb butt head boy he always ended up doing something nice? He was just trying to confuse her!

"Uh. Welcome…are you finished yet?" She didn’t know why but she felt like she was blushing. "Hurry up dorkbutt. We still need to put the rocks and trees back."

"Don’t call me dorkbutt, barf breath!" He called back absentmindedly. "There. I’m done. Let’s go."

They carried the "road" up to Mr. Giles and he led the way to the Auditorium.

Again Mr. Giles sat down reading his book, this time in the first row of seats. Before resuming reading he instructed the children to push out the trees and rocks before laying down the "road". He wanted to minimize any destruction that might be caused by the moving.

Although the sets weren’t very heavy each one needed both Buffy and Will to place them properly. They worked together without much comment. Mr. Giles took quick glances in between each page of his book. Making sure that their last day together was not going to result in another week’s worth of torture for him. To his surprise and relief they both seemed to be working together without any problems.

Both Buffy and Will were quiet as they finished placing the sets and moved toward the "road" they had left on the steps. They should both be happy to have their last day of detention coming to a close, but for some reason neither one seemed very excited.

When they were finished taping down the "road" on stage they looked up at each other. Buffy knew her mom would be their any minute to pick her up. She walked over to Spike, "Well see you Spike head."

"Whatever Goldilocks." He said back as she started to walk past him, he pulled on her pig tail half-heartedly. She looked back and stuck her tongue out at him. For some reason it made him feel better, even though he wasn’t even sure why he needed cheering up.

Mr. Giles stood with his son as Buffy climbed into her mother’s Cherokee. The week was finally over.

Thank the Lord! He felt like a disaster survivor…