FicWad

The sun was hiding behind clouds this morning as Willow sat in the quad again. It was her normal spot. Well, it was becoming her regular spot. After all, last year she attended middle school and this year she was a freshman in high school and didn't have the quad to sit in.
Normally she would be waiting for Xander to show up. But today, there was another reason that she sat alone. Her mind just wouldn't let her forget the shy blonde she had met yesterday. Tara was the sweetest person she had ever met. And she really wanted to be friends with her or maybe more. But she knew the girl was hiding something. She would find out. And if it were something bad, she would help in anyway that she could.
"Hi." Willow's head turned at the sound of the sweet quiet voice. "I thought I'd say hi before I went to class."
Willow didn't even have a chance to say anything. Tara was already taking off before she had a chance. She grabbed her backpack and took off after the blonde. "Tara!" The girl stopped and stood her gaze kept to the ground. "I wanted to talk to you."
Tara's gaze snapped up to look at the red head. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong. Whatever it was, I'll try not to do it again. I promise."
A small smile crept across Willow's face. But it was a sad smile. What was her life like if she felt she had done something wrong. They hadn't talked that much. "Don't be silly. You haven't done anything. I just wanted to talk to my friend, that's all."
"Friend?" Tara's eyes widened in surprise as she finally looked up at the red head. She had never had a friend before. Her brother always made sure that she was alone. But he was still in middle school and wasn't as able to tell anyone that would listen what a loser she is.
"Unless you don't want me for your friend." Willow's smile faded. It was going to be harder to get to the girl. Just trying to be her friend was proving to be difficult. It was like she had all these defenses up. She'd never met anyone like her before. But the girl seemed worth the effort. "But I really hope you do. I like you." The patented Willow smile returned.
That brought a huge smile to the girl's face. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to people, any people, well, even talking to me let alone trying to be friends with me."
Willow smiled. "It's no big. Before yesterday, it was pretty much just me and Xander. But now, there's you too." She smiled as the girl blushed. But why did she blush? "There is something I wanted to ask you." Tara nodded. "This may sound kinda funny, but I was wondering if you might want to go to the dance with me on Friday. We can go as friends and make fun of the populars dancing their funky dances. What do you say?"
Inside, Tara was screaming at herself to say yes. This was the chance she had wanted all her life. Not only could she have a friend, but she might actually turn it into something else. This could be her first real relationship. But there was that other voice. The one that sounded so much like her father. The one that wouldn't let her even have a moment of happiness. So, her heart broke a little as she did what she knew she had to do. "I-I can't. I wish I could. But..."
"It's all right." Willow saw that there was pain on her face. Something definitely was going on with the girl. And not just of the normal stuff. And her just wanting to hang with the girl was causing her pain. Not something she like the thought of. Not one bit. "Strict parents, huh?" She came to this conclusion because it was the second time that Tara had refused to go out at night. That had to be the explanation.
Tara almost seemed relieved at the question. "Yeah. Very strict. I'm not really allowed to go out. Even on weekends. But I still want to be friends. We'll just have to try and make the most of the school day."
"I'd like that." Willow smiled big. "I'd like that a lot."
Anya was standing next to Xander's locker. At least, she thought it was Xander's locker. But if it wasn't, she wouldn't care. Only that she had missed her opportunity to talk with him. After that dance last night, she couldn't get him out of her mind. And that never happened with a guy.
Xander slowly strolled up to the locker. He had been going to talk to Willow but had seen her talking with Tara. There was something about the girl. He thought that she could really use a good friend. And Willow was the best friend a person could ever have. He hoped that Willow could break through that shy facade she had going on.
He stopped short. Anya was standing next to his locker, smiling really big. Not only had she asked him to dance last night, now she was waiting for him by his locker. This was getting really weird now. No girl even gave him the time of day.
"Hey, Xander." He smiled his goofy smile at her. "I had a great time last night. I wish we could have danced more." She was hoping that he would pick up on the hint. But if he didn't, she would just have to do it herself.
"Hey and me too." He started to put in his locker combination but he kept getting it wrong. His mind seemed to be somewhere else. On the fact that it sounded like she just might want to go to the dance. But that wasn't right. A girl wanting to be seen in public with him? Should he?
He was about to when he heard a blurted out question. "Look, I really liked dancing. It was nice. I don't usually like dancing. And dating isn't my thing. But I would like to go to the dance with you Friday, if you want to."
Xander had a very surprised look on his face. She had been hinting for him to ask her out. His surprise turned back to his goofy smile. "I'd love to escort you, mi lady."
"That's great!" She sounded so excited. "Now I have to go and get a dress and get everything ready. This is why I hate dating." She started to walk off, but turned back to him. "But I think you might be worth it."
Xander's mouth opened. He stood staring after the girl. She was just so different than the other girls. And he had a date. His first real date ever. Maybe high school wasn't going to be as bad as he had at first thought.
Across the hallway, Spike watched the little dance. It was a dance he watched often in the hallways of Sunnydale High. His previous two years of school had seen a lot of people get together and than breakup a short while later. It was nice to see two people who he thought had a chance at the little dance. And watching Anya pursue Xander was funny.
But he was happy for the guy. Xander had never seemed that bad too him. A little goofy, but never the loser that everyone else made him out to be. And not the loser that his big brother thought him to be.
But Spike didn't care what others thought. He only cared what he thought. And seeing two people, though he didn't really know them all that well, that he thought fit well together possibly make it would be sweet.
Speaking of sweet, a certain blonde that he had danced with last night was walking past him. All he wanted to do was go over and talk to her. Maybe even ask her out. But he wasn't sure if that's what she wanted too.
Long ago, he had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't force others to do want they didn't want to. Not after all that his parents had put him through. At least now, they basically ignored him and Angel.
She smiled at him as she walked by. He was looking as good as ever. Especially since he was wearing that long black leather duster he always wore. And that red shirt matched him oh so well. Buffy almost ran into someone because she couldn't take her eyes off from him. She apologized and hurried to her locker, totally embarrassed by the whole thing. It reminded her of yesterday and how painfully embarrassing it had been for Xander when he had run into Angel.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw that he was coming. Her heart started pounding a little harder. Even her breathing was faster. What was happening? Was she really falling for the guy so fast? They just met yesterday. And shared the most amazing dance she had ever had with anyone.
"Hello, blondie." Spike's deep voice made her heart skip a beat. "Are you all right?"
Buffy turned her head. Had he seen her klutz attack? Of course he had. Was he coming to make fun of her? "Yeah, well, I should learn to watch where I'm going. Don't know what was with the sudden attack of klutziness."
Spike laughed. But it didn't sound like he was laughing at her. "We all have our moments. I can remember when Angel was flirting with one of the cheerleaders while trying to pretend to be quarterback. Five guys tackled him and we lost the game. Now that's embarrassing. But because he is the coolest, everyone just forgot about. Stupid idiot."
"You don't like your brother much, do you?" Buffy smiled shyly at Spike. He was definitely doing a number on her.
"Well, no. And that's putting it mildly." He shrugged. "Listen, while I'm here and got your full attention, I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me to the dance."
"Accompany?" Spike shrugged. "Well, are you sure there isn't someone else you'd like to take? I mean, I'm not the most popular girl in school. I was once, but not since I moved here."
"I don't give a damn about who's popular and who's not." Spike sounded angry. Buffy wondered if there was a story behind his sudden bout of anger. "I like who I like and hang out with who I hang out with." He took a deep breath. "Sorry. But I hate that people assume I'm like my brother and worried about the coolness factor. I don't give a damn."
Buffy smiled big. "Well, that's good to know. And I'm glad. I was hoping you weren't like Angel. He seems like he's putting on this big act. Maybe if he weren't, he'd be all right. But that's not important. I'm not going to the dance with him, I'm going with his little brother."
Spike's eyes widened. A huge smile appeared on his face. "Than it's a date. Can't wait for Friday." He started to leave but turned back around. "Be seein ya around."
Buffy watched him walk away. She wondered why she had said what she had said about Angel. The guy was a jerk. And Spike was definitely not. And she had a date with the blonde guy. And that's what counted.
Oz smiled as he watched his friend Spike make a connection. It was rare that Spike made such connections. As far as he knew, he was Spike's only friend.
Oz himself wasn't big with the friends. He had his guys from the band. But beyond that, he pretty much kept to himself. Except for the occasional time that he spent with Spike. And that was getting rarer and rarer. He missed those times.
He instantly got distracted by a certain dark haired girl walking in front of him. She was simply sexy, there was no arguing with that one. And he really wanted to get to know her. But he saw something that just might put a damper on that.
Faith was walking with a guy that Oz had never seen before. He had short dark hair. He wore wire rimmed glasses. The guy didn't seem to be Faith's type. Not that he really knew Faith or anything about her. But this guy seemed to have an air of loser or at least nerdiness about him.
Not that Oz ever bought into any of that. He rather liked people that were different. He himself was of the quiet. And that made it hard to make friends.
Faith smiled big at Oz. She noticed that his hair color was still red. As in the guy was so red hot. She wondered why he hadn't changed it to blue like he said he might. At least that's what Spike had said to her.
She noticed the look on his face. It was like he was trying to see if there was more to her. But hanging out with her brother wasn't going to do the trick. She so had to ditch Wesley so that she could ask Oz out. She wasn't the kind of girl to wait for the guy to act. When she wanted something, she simply went for it.
"Hey Wes, you think you can find your way to the library from here?" She was mentally telling her brother he had better be able to or he'd have to deal with her.
"I believe that I can take it from here, little sister." Wesley watched as she bolted towards a guy with blue hair. "I should have known." He continued down the hall towards the library.
Oz was about to take off when Faith got back to his locker. "Hey, man." She called out to get him to stop. "I wanted to stop and talk earlier but I was showing my big brother around. He's going to do the student teacher thing for a little while."
"That's cool." Even though his expression didn't change, Faith could sense that Oz seemed to relax a little. "So, name?"
"Huh?" Faith looked at him. "Oh, right. Wesley. He's kinda a big loser. But he's really nice to me, so it's of the good. Listen, class is gonna start soon so I'm just going to come out and ask. You wanna go to the dance with me? Cool if you don't."
Oz's expression still didn't change. But Faith again felt this vibe coming from him. "Sweet. I may be playing. But we can hang and dance during the band breaks. If that's cool with you."
Faith laughed. "Hell, I don't really dance. It'd be cool just hanging and getting to know you. This is so cool." The bell rang. "Well, we'll get the details down later. Gotta motor."
Oz watched the girl for a moment. He was going to be late for class, but he didn't care. Class wasn't that important to him. It was an interesting day to say the least when the girl he wanted to get to know felt the same way. For once, he walked with a big smile on his face.
Wesley pushed the swinging doors to the library open. There was an older gentleman standing behind the desk. That had to be Mr. Giles, the librarian. He was supposed to get his teaching materials from him.
But he got distracted for a moment. A girl in glasses similar to his own was busy straightening the shelves. She must be a student working in the library. Or, could it be she was Mr. Giles assistant? One could only hope.
"Can I help you?" The voice startled Wesley a great deal.
"Sorry." He smiled weakly. The girl glanced at him but quickly returned to her work. Wesley made his way over to the library counter. "I'm going to be student teaching with Miss Calendar. I was told that I could get the necessary materials from you."
For some reason, there was a little color on the older man's face with the mention of Miss Calendar. Wesley simply shrugged it off as nothing. "Yes, I can assist you in that endeavor. It'll be just one moment." He turned and walked into a little office.
Wesley turned his gaze back to the girl. She apparently had been looking at him as well. As soon as he looked her way, she quickly turned herself back to whatever task she had been doing.
"Excuse me, Fred." Giles had come back out of the office. Again, his voice startled Wesley. "Have you seen 'Computer Basics' lying around anywhere? I seem to have misplaced it."
Fred blushed from the attention on her. "I just put it on the shelf." She made her way to the right spot and retrieved the book. She walked over and handed it Giles. "Here you go, Mr. Giles. Is there anything else?"
"No, dear." He smiled at her. She quickly went back to doing whatever it had been before. "She's really lovely. A little shy."
"Is she a student here?" Wesley couldn't help but ask. If she were a student, she would be off limits. But if she were not, there was still a chance.
"She graduated last year." He smiled in the direction of the girl. "She was always in here helping me. She had expressed an interest in becoming a librarian so I decided to ask if I may have an assistant. She attends UC-Sunnydale part time. I think she'll make an excellent librarian one day."
"Indeed." Wesley couldn't take his gaze off from her. "Well, thank you for all this material. It will give me something to go over before I officially start on Monday."
"If you'd like to get to know the students better, there is a dance on Friday." Giles noticed the long stares that Wesley kept having in Fred's direction. "I myself am going to be a chaperone. They could use another, if you'd be willing to give up a Friday night. And like I said, it would help in getting to know the students."
Wesley turned towards Giles. "That would be a capital idea. I may just take you up on that offer. Very kind of you, indeed. I best be going. There is a lot for me to look over, now isn't there." He stared after Fred a few minutes before actually turning to go.
Giles smiled to himself. He could see the look of new love blossoming. It had been a while since he himself had experienced such a thing. But that may very well change on Friday. For he wasn't the only one that was going to be a chaperone.
There was another of his fellow faculty members that was also going to be doing those honors. One that he really wanted to get to know better. The woman was simply gorgeous. But she seemed a little bit more outgoing than he himself was. But there is that old saying, isn't there. Opposites do attract.