Chapter 8
Buffy let her head fall limply to the desk, while in the background Mrs. Finch’s monotonic voice rambled on about the importance of mining being reflected in the prevalence of Crown rights over mineral wealth throughout much of Europe.
“God! Just kill me now and end my suffering.” She mumbled between clenched teeth.
As if someone had answered her prayer the bell rang out. In a flash, the petite blonde straightened up, looking wide eyed at the round clock up on the wall.
“It’s miracle!” she sang out, gathering her books and stuffing them into her backpack. “I survived! Thank God this Friday’s over”
“You really do hate history, don’t you?” The redhead asked as she waited for her friend.
“More than anything in the entire world.” Buffy answer as she walked out of the classroom followed by Willow. The small blond came to a halt as she saw the familiar bleached teen further down the hall. “Correction: it’s the second thing I hate most in the world.”
Willow sighed audibly as they made their way down the large corridor stopping by Buffy’s locker.
“So we are back to hating Spike?” The redhead asked.
“What?” the blond teen asked absentmindedly as she rummaged trough the contents of her locker.
“Hating Spike. Back on the priority list?”
“Oh, top priority! I’m definitely over my momentary lapse of reason on that one.” she nodded emphatically handing her books to Willow. “Hold these for a second.”
“Good, cause that little episode in the cafeteria yesterday just seemed… wrong.”
Buffy smiled reaching to take the books back from her best friend when the conversation going on a few feet away from them caught her attention.
“Come on, luv. Just for a second. I need to talk to you.” Spike’s begging tone made Buffy’s stomach crunch up as she turned to see the blonde teen leaning on the row of lockers lined up against opposite wall of the corridor.
She watched as the bleached Brit pleaded with an unyielding, black clad Dru.
“Please, just for a sec. I just need to talk to you, luv. Please!” He practically implored while the dark haired girl remained unaltered, arms crossed over her chest, staring annoyed into nothingness, occasionally letting out a disgusted sigh.
“Are you done yet? I told you Spike. It’s over I have nothing to say or hear from you. Get a life already, you’re starting to border on extremely pathetic.” She spat out turning on her heels to leave while everyone in the hall eyed the public humiliation of the Brit. But he didn’t care. He needed to talk to her, get some sense into that pretty little head of hers, so he grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.
“Please, luv…” He begged once again.
“Let go of me!” Dru bellowed freeing her arm from his grip. “I-“
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”
The entire hall froze in place, watching the petite blonde snake her arms around Spike’s and give him a light peck on his chiselled cheek. Turning to Dru with a wide grin o her face Buffy greeted politely:
“Hey, Dru!”
The dark haired girl’s response was a deep frown, while Spike simply gawked at the small that now held hands with him.
“Well, we better go.” She said, practically dragging a dumbstruck Spike by his hand as she made her way down he hall. “Bye, Dru.” She waved lightly at Willow as she passed her by. “Bye, Willow. I’ll call you later.”
The redhead was left behind, gawking at the odd couple, her jaw glued to the floor along with everyone else’s.
~+~
Her arms snapped away from his the moment her feet touched the concrete on the other side of the street, away from prying eyes. She cringed a bit and doubled her pace as she noticed the bleached teen still staring at her. After a few painfully silent steps she came to an abrupt halt and turned to face him.
“What?” Buffy asked trying to sound as annoyed as she could, but the dominant emotion in her was definitely unease.
He cocked his head and his lips curled to one side for a light smile. Nodding, he said softly, setting his mouth in a straight line:
“Thanks, luv.”
She was a bit thrown by his reaction, it actually bordered on sincere. This was novelty. She shook her head nervously as if trying to push down the strange feeling that crept up her spine.
“You’re welcome, but don’t expect me to do that for you again anytime soon. I can feel a strange allergic reaction coming just from touching you.” She tried to sound convincingly disgusted but failed miserably and she could tell he wasn’t buying it as his trademark smirk crept over his lips.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and restarted to walk alongside her.
“Whatever you say, pet.”
“And don’t call me pet!” She snapped at him as a deep frown settled over her eyebrows in a frustrated attempt to emphasize her discontentment.
“Sure, luv.”
There it was again! On his face! That stupid, obnoxious, cocky grin that was making her… nervous? What?! No! Stupid, obnoxious, cocky grin was supposed to make her angry, disgusted not… nervous. Never nervous. Buffy kicked herself mentally as she realised too much time had passed since his last reply for her to come up with a successful comeback. “Stupid distracting grin!” she thought to herself as she kicked a pebbled that laid in her path.
Once again they walked in a nerve-racking silence, making her fidget with the straps of her coat. Suddenly, she whipped her head around to face him.
“Why are you here?” She asked out of nowhere.
“Because my da and mom were really horny about 18 years ago?” He offered with a smirk.
“Stupid, distracting… Concentrate!” She scolded herself mentally.
“Oh, you’re funny!” She replied sarcastically.
He smiled at her and eventually answered her question, matter-of-factly:
“Walking my girlfriend home.”
Somehow, that simple phrase made it impossible for her to control her breathing and swallowing at the same time and she was practically coughing her lungs out as she choked.
“Are you ok, luv?” He asked a bit concerned as he watched her bend over, trying hard to breathe.
At his question, she looked up at him, flushed face, shooting daggers at him.
“Don’t *cough*… call me *cough*cough*…”
She wasn’t able to finish her sentence as another onslaught of coughs took over her.
“Here. Drink some of this.” Spike handed her a silver flask and without thinking the petite blonde tilted into her mouth, spilling its contents down her throat. It took a few seconds for her brain to register the strong burning sensation that seemed to smoulder her entire oesophagus. Instantly, she dropped the flask and restarted another coughing fit. Spike watched in panic as the petite blonde’s face changed from red, to purple, to blue and finally back to infuriated scarlet as she began to scream at him:
“ARE YOU INSANE? WHAT THE HELL WAS IN THAT THING?”
“I-“
“Do you want to kill me? Is that it? I know we hate each other but…” The anger built so far up that she wasn’t even able to construct coherent, logical sentences anymore, so she simply started to march her way down the street and up the steps of her front porch with a panicked Spike trailing closely behind.