Changing Lives by Mabel Marsters

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Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

The first thing Spike saw when he got out of Rupert’s car in the school parking lot the next morning was Angel.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered.

“Did you say something?” asked Rupert as he locked the car doors.

Spike just shook his head. “God, did I really do that?”

Angel was walking slowly up the steps leading to the entrance, holding himself stiffly due to the bruising on his ribs. But it was the glimpse Spike had of his face that had shocked him. Both of Angel’s eyes were blackened and his nose swollen and cut.

Rupert followed Spike’s gaze and saw Angel disappearing into the school building.

“He hasn’t been giving you any trouble, has he? I could have a word with Principal Snyder.”

“Wot? No, no, he’s not being any bother,” said Spike quickly.

“That’s good. I’d hate to think he was going to start to bully you like you told me he bullied poor William.”

“Um…I don’t think he’s gonna do that,” replied Spike, “I’ll see you at lunchtime, okay?” and he hurried away from Rupert, not wanting the conversation to go any further.

Rupert watched Spike rush away, shaking his head slightly as he made his way to the library. He didn’t think he’d ever work out what was going on in Spike’s head; the boy was just a mass of contradictions.

Oooooo

Oz saw Spike as he walked into school building.

“Hey, Spike,” he said, falling in step with him.

“Hi, Oz,” Spike replied. He felt a little ashamed. This was the first time he’d seen Oz since he’d pulled him off Angel.

“Angel’s in school today,” said Oz.

“I know. I just saw him.”

“Looks a bit of a mess.”

“Well, it makes a change for it to be him,” replied Spike baldly.

“You’re not going to…” Oz’s voice trailed off.

“Wot?” snapped Spike, “Carry on where I left off?”

Oz nodded, watching his friend carefully.

“It’s not like he doesn’t deserve it,” said Spike, “Don’t worry, it’s over. I’m not looking to repeat it,” he added as Oz gave him a bit of a ‘look’.

“I know he’s not cool but, man, you really went for him,” said Oz.

“I know. I know,” sighed Spike, “Not sure where all that came from. It must be after William telling me wot he did to him as much as wot he did to me.”

“Anyway, one good thing came out of it,” said Oz with a grin, patting Spike on his shoulder, “You’ve got a friend for life in me. I’m too scared to fall out with you!”

They both laughed.

“That’ll never happen, mate,” said Spike.

“Um…it might…I told the others about how he set you up with the locker and the stealing,” said Oz.

“Yeah, I know. Buffy mentioned it last night.”

“Oh right. I forgot you’d be seeing her after school. Sorry, I wanted to tell you first.”

“That’s okay. I’m glad she knows I’m not a thief. Not something yer want people thinkin’ of yer.”

“Since they all know now, why don’t you come and have lunch with us?” asked Oz.

“I can’t, Oz. I’ve still got to go to the library - still under military rule,” Spike replied, relieved that he had a genuine reason not to join them. It would just be too strange.

“I forgot about that,” said Oz, “I’ll probably come to see you then. I want to talk to you about some of your lyrics. I’ve had some ideas for the music to set them to.”

“Cool,” said Spike. He’d finally plucked up enough nerve to show Oz his ‘poetry’.

Ooooooo

Spike was walking to the last class before lunch when he saw Angel coming out of Snyder’s office.

“Holy crap, I really am in for it now,” thought Spike, standing still and watching Angel walk towards him.

“Spike,” said Angel when he spotted him.

“Angel,” Spike returned, fixing him with a defiant stare.

“Snyder wanted to know what happened to me ‘cause I can’t train for two or three weeks,” said Angel, not quite meeting Spike’s eye.

“And?” said Spike, feeling the anger bubbling inside him. If he’d gotten him into more trouble….

“I told him I was running and tripped and hit my face on a post,” said Angel.

“Did he buy it?” asked Spike.

“I think so,” replied Angel, “So we’re even then? Just keep out of each other’s way? He looked at Spike.

Spike grinned at him. He reached up and gave Angel’s cheek a light slap, laughing as Angel flinched when he brought his hand up.

“Yeah, we’re even,” he said and he stepped aside to allow Angel to pass, “Oh, just one thing.”

Angel turned back to face him.

“If I hear you’ve done anything to Jerry our deal’s off. The truce is over, get it?”

“Got it,” said Angel, a touch weakly.

“Great,” said Spike and he walked off to class.

Ooooooo

At lunchtime Spike had been in the library for about twenty minutes when he heard the doors open. He looked up to see who was coming in. When he saw who it was he nearly dropped his sandwich. Oz was walking in followed by Willow, Xander and Buffy.

“Hey Spike, you okay with having a bit of company?” asked Oz.

“Um…yeah….no worries,” stuttered Spike, avoiding everyone’s eyes.

They all dropped their bags down and sat around the table; Oz nearest to Spike then Buffy, Xander and Willow.

“Hi, Spike,” said Buffy, “Have you done any work on that English assignment yet?”

“Um…no not yet,” replied Spike. “Gonna do it tonight. You’ll be able to see it tomorrow. It’s not due ‘til Friday.” He sounded a little defensive.

“Why did I say that?” Buffy groaned to herself, “Why did I just have to talk shop?”

“Er…so how are you settling in here in Sunnydale?” tried Xander.

Spike looked at him in amazement. “Wot? Yer mean apart from getting busted for stealing, nearly being kicked out of school and being grounded for, well, probably forever?”

“Um, yeah,” said Xander with a sheepish grin.

“Oh, in that case, I’m settling in great!” replied Spike with a smile. Xander might be prone to putting his foot in it but he wasn’t a bad guy.

They all laughed at that.

“How long do you think you’ll be grounded for?” asked Oz.

“I ‘onestly don’t know. Rupert was a bit wound up about the locker search but was okay about it in the end. So hopefully he hasn’t added any time onto it.”

“He shouldn’t since you weren’t in the wrong,” said Buffy.

Spike risked a glance at her. Their eyes met and he looked away quickly, blushing.

“So Willow, you’re the top of the year now then?” asked Spike.

“How do you know that?” asked Willow. She looked at Buffy who shook her head. She hadn’t mentioned it.

“Shit. That’s something William would know, not Spike,” thought Spike, “Um…William told me that you were the only one to give him a run for his money to be the top student.”

“He did?” asked Willow, “Wow, that was sweet of him. I did beat him in history a couple of years ago though.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Spike ruefully. “I’ve done it again!” “I mean, he said he was annoyed at being beaten.”

“So did William tell you about us all?” asked Buffy.

“What can I say now? I can’t talk about bloody William for the next half hour,” thought Spike desperately. “He…er…he…” he faltered. He looked at them and saw that they all looked a bit uncomfortable. They obviously thought it was too painful for him to talk about, which it was - just not for the reason they were thinking. “He told me a bit about you guys. Said he’d had fun at The Bronze one night.”

“Yeah?” said Buffy.

Spike couldn’t look at Buffy, he just fiddled with his can of Coke.

“It was a good night, just wish I’d gotten a chance to repeat it,” she added sadly.

Spike’s heart missed a beat. It sounded like she really liked him. Then it fell to his boots as it dawned on him that it was William she liked; quiet, bookish, mousy William, not always in trouble Spike.

“Oh God, I’ve messed everything up. All because I was too much of a coward to come back as William,” he thought in despair.

Oz noticed how discomforted Spike had become and was regretting asking everyone to come with him. Despite the façade Spike projected and the fact that he’d hammered Angel on Monday, Oz knew Spike was actually almost painfully shy- just like William had been. He needed to lighten the mood.

“So Spike, do you reckon if we work on Mr. Giles he’ll let you come to see the Dingoes play Thanksgiving weekend at The Bronze?”

“Wot?” said Spike, lost in his thoughts, “Um…I dunno…not sure he’ll trust me anywhere near The Bronze, wot with all the liquor in there.”

“Surely he will if I say I’ll make sure you only have soda?” coaxed Oz, “We can ask him on Saturday.”

“We can give it a try but he hasn’t mentioned anything about easing off on me. Can’t blame him. Don’t think there’s a standard for getting carted off by the cops and being pissed up in school,” said Spike dryly.

“Saturday?” asked Xander, “Why Saturday?”

Oz looked at Spike apologetically, realising that he’d let the cat out of the bag about meeting up. Spike gave a small shrug to let him know it was okay.

“I’ve been going round to Spike’s on Saturday evenings for the past few weeks,” said Oz.

Willow gave him a bit of a sharp look and Spike stifled a chuckle at the thought that it wasn’t only him who was capable of getting himself into trouble.

“Hey, have you seen Angel today?” asked Buffy.

“Oh great.” thought Spike, “This conversation is just getting better and better.”

They all nodded.

“So what do you think happened to him?” continued Buffy, “Do you think he finally picked on someone his own size?”

Oz and Spike daren’t look at each other, both thinking that he’d actually met someone much smaller than him!

“He told everybody in my class that he tripped,” said Xander.

“Yeah, tripped onto somebody’s fist,” said Willow.

Spike put his grazed, swollen left hand under the table.

“Well, whatever has happened to him, at least it’s kept him pretty quiet today,” said Buffy, “and that can’t be a bad thing. Long may it last.”

“It’ll make a lot of people breath easier if it does,” said Xander.

The bell for the end of lunch sounded and they all made their way out of the library, Oz hanging back with Spike.

“You didn’t mind them coming along, did you?” asked Oz.

“Er…no...it’s okay,” said Spike.

“They’re good fun. Buffy can be a bit intense but she’s nice when you get to know her.”

Spike nodded. “She’s okay,” he said, blushing slightly, “We’re getting on a bit better in the tutorials, probably mostly due to you letting her know I’m not a thief, I think.”

“That’s cool. I’ll see you later,” said Oz as he left Spike to go to class.

“See yer,” replied Spike.

To be continued….

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