Changing Lives by Mabel Marsters

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 :: 12 :: 13 :: 14 :: 15 :: 16 :: 17 :: 18 :: 19 :: 20 :: 21 :: 22 :: 23 :: 24 :: 25 :: 26 :: 27 :: 28 :: 29 :: 30 :: 31 :: 32 :: 33 :: 34 :: 35 :: 36 :: 37 :: 38 :: 39 :: 40 :: 41 :: 42 :: 43 :: 44 :: 45 :: 46 :: 47 :: 48 :: 49 :: 50 :: 51 :: 52 :: 53 :: 54 :: 55 :: 56 :: 57 :: 58 :: 59 :: 60 ::

Chapter 4

It was Friday night. School was out for summer. William had met up with Buffy, Xander and Willow for lunch on Thursday and Friday, Oz too busy with last minute rehearsals to join them. He’d gotten a little more comfortable in their company and, just by not being alone, Angel had left him mercifully unbullied.

Now he was getting ready to meet them all to go to The Bronze. He normally didn’t put any thought into what he wore, he just grabbed the nearest thing. But tonight he wanted to look nice. He knew it wasn’t a ‘date’, wasn’t anywhere near a ‘date’, but he still wanted to try to impress Buffy.

He decided he’d wear his new blue Levi jeans that he’d bought for the trip but didn’t know what shirt to wear. His mom had insisted on some more colourful shirts than he usually chose when they were shopping. William was so used to trying not to stand out that he wasn’t sure he could wear one tonight. He was just picking up a brownish sweater when his mom walked into his room.

“How are you getting on? You don’t want to be late,” she said, smiling at her son.

She’d kept her drinking to the minimum level she could cope with over the past couple of days and they’d managed to eat proper meals together, both of them equally anxious that she didn’t ‘lose it’ in England.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” he said, pulling the sweater over his head and dislodging his glasses as he did.

“Why aren’t you wearing one of your new shirts?” she asked.

“Um, well….I…er…was saving them for the trip.” he stuttered.

She smiled at him sadly, she knew he got bullied, and she knew she wasn’t much help. That’s why Julia had invited them to stay. She’d poured her heart out to her twin a few months ago, saying how she was struggling to cope and was worried about William. She hadn’t told Julia things like that for years, but she’d posted the letter before either her courage ran out or what was left of her pride kicked in. She needed help and she knew it.

“Here, honey,” she said, picking up a royal blue shirt, “Wear this, it’ll bring out the colour of your eyes.”

“Mom!” said William, blushing slightly.

“Come on, wear it for me, please.” She’d given her son so little over the years. She wanted to give him a little confidence tonight.

“”I dunno?” he said doubtfully, but pulled off his sweater and put the shirt on.

“That’s better,” exclaimed his mom.

Impulsively she flung her arms around him, tears pricking her eyes as he tensed.

“Yes, I’ve done a great job with my son.”

“You look great.” Her voice choked up as she spoke.

“Thanks.” he replied, looking at himself in the mirror. It certainly did look better than the sweater. “I’d better be going. You’re sure you’ll be ok?”

“Yes, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me, have a good time, William.”

He shoved a few dollars into his jeans pocket, picked up his key from the hall table and set off, heading to Buffy’s house. She’d given him directions, thinking it would be better for him if they all met up there rather than have him walk into The Bronze on his own.

When he got to the door of the house on Revello Drive his courage almost failed him. The house was huge compared to his and immaculately kept. He knocked lightly on the door and it was opened almost at once by a tall blonde woman obviously Buffy’s mother. She smiled at him.

“Hello. You must be William. Come on in.”

“Um, hello Mrs. Summers.” said William shyly, stepping in and following her into the lounge.

“Take a seat,” she said, gesturing to the couch.

William sat down and tried not to stare too much at the surroundings. The room was perfectly tidy. Ornaments adorned the surfaces, not bottles like in his home. He looked at Mrs. Summers and wondered what made her so different from his own mom. She was on her own but hadn’t fallen apart. He never could get his head around the fact that his mom wasn’t glad to be rid of his father. He didn’t realise that the years of abuse she’d taken during her marriage had broken her so badly. He glanced at his watch.

“She’ll be down soon.” said Buffy’s mom when she saw him. “If you hang around with Buffy and her friends for long enough you’ll soon find their timing and the ‘real’ world’s are a little different. You need to add on about a half hour to know when they’re really going to be ready.”

She smiled at him - the poor kid looked so nervous. There was a knock at the door and Willow and Xander came in laughing.

“Hi, Mrs. Summers. Buffy still not ready?” asked Xander.

He was wearing black jeans and one of his trademark loudly coloured shirts. He spotted William on the couch.

“Hey William, glad you’re here. Boy do I need help keeping this one calm,” he said, pointing at Willow, “The whole ‘my boyfriend’s in a band’ thing has gone to her head.”

“No, it has not.” she squealed, giving Xander a friendly punch on his arm.

She sat next to William. She too was brightly dressed in a long red skirt with a white and red blouse. William suddenly didn’t feel self-conscious of his own blue shirt - it was quite bland in comparison to these two.

Willow leaned in close to William, “I think it has a bit, but I’m still denying it to Xander!” she giggled.

William just smiled back, still a bit too shy to think of anything witty to say. A few minutes later and Buffy walked down the stairs.

“’Bout time, Buff.” said Xander, “Come and rescue poor William, otherwise Willow will have done everything but sing the songs to him.”

“No, I won’t!” protested Willow. “Have I been babbling?” she added to William.

“A little bit, but I don’t mind,” said William.

“See? Come on, let’s go.” Xander took Willow by the hand and pulled her up off the couch.

William stood up and looked at Buffy. Always beautiful in his eyes, she looked especially nice that night, in a pair of figure hugging black pants and pink silky blouse, her blonde hair loose and falling around her shoulders in soft waves. She looked at him and held her arm out to him.

“Shall we go?” she smiled.

He flushed a little and linked his arm self-consciously through hers and together they followed Willow and Xander out of the house.

William was having a great time even before they got to The Bronze; Buffy had kept her arm linked through his until she’d chased Xander after he’d made a comment about how lame Icecapades was. They’d streaked ahead of the other two until Xander let Buffy catch him and apologised very insincerely. Willow grabbed William’s hand.

“Come on!” she urged and the two ran along to catch up.

Ooooooooo

The Bronze was heaving, being the Friday school broke up added to the pull of the band playing and meant it was full to capacity. Oz might maintain that ‘Dingoes Ate My Baby’ weren’t up to much but they were very popular. Luckily they managed to find a table. It only had a couple of bar stools around it that the boys gallantly let the girls sit on. Xander and William went to the bar to get some drinks - Cokes all around except for Willow who Xander thought was hyper enough already and got her a lemonade.

“Glad you came, William.” said Xander as they were walking back. The more he got to know him the more he liked him. “I know Buffy is too,” he added with a bit of a leer.

William stared at Xander, “No, he couldn’t mean it how it sounded, could he?”

“I’m glad I came, too. I’ve never been here before.” He grinned back at Xander. “Make that never been anywhere before.”

They rejoined the girls standing behind their stools so Buffy and Willow swivelled round to face them.

“So how long before Oz’s band is onstage?” asked William.

“They’re due on in half an hour.” said Willow. It was the first gig the band had played since Willow and Oz got together, hence the appearance of ‘Hyper Willow’.

The music the DJ was playing changed from a fast dance track to a slow one. Buffy got off her stool, took William’s hand and started to walk to the dance floor, pulling him along behind her. When he realised where she was heading he stopped. She looked around at him.

“Come on.” She smiled at him, eyes sparkling, “I want to dance.”

“But….I….um….” stuttered William, “I can’t dance!” he finally blurted out, grateful that it was dark enough to hide the fact he was blushing.

“Slow dancing isn’t like dancing, it’s more like standing still and you can do that okay. Come on, it’s easy.” She gave his hand another tug and he let her lead him onto the dance floor.

Once there she turned to him, put her hands on his shoulders and stepped in close to him. He hesitated, and then put his hands on her hips. It felt awkward for a moment or two, swaying in time to the music, until Buffy leaned in closer still. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

“Ok, I’ve died and gone to heaven,” thought William as he wrapped his arms around her. Suddenly it didn’t feel awkward at all.

The track blended into another slow song, the DJ giving a reprieve before Dingoes came on and started to rock. William bent his head down so it was touching hers and with his eyes shut moved slowly to the rhythm of the song.

Ooooooo

“Hey, look! What’s over there,” sneered Davey, pointing out William and Buffy to Angel.

“The Pratt’s getting ideas above his station,” snarled Angel, still smarting from Buffy standing up to him in the cafeteria.

Oooooooo

The dance finally ended and Buffy and William let each other go, William’s shyness once again kicking in as he didn’t quite meet her eyes. Buffy stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

“Thanks, William, that was lovely.”

Before he could react she turned and made her way back to Xander and Willow, still pulling him along by his hand. Buffy had decided that she really liked William and since he was so super shy she’d have to do the chasing. When she sat back down she kept hold of his hand. She caught his eye and this time he met her gaze without looking down. He still flushed a little but kept looking at her and smiled. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, giving it to William. He looked at it - it was her full address.

“So you can send me a postcard from England.” said Buffy quietly.

Dingoes came on stage to a loud cheer and Buffy turned around on her stool to face the stage. She kept hold of William’s hand and pulled it to her front so he put his other arm round her, too. She leant back against his body as he stood behind her.

He still couldn’t quite believe it was real, as he stood there, arms wrapped around the girl he’d admired from afar for so long. And he was flying to London for two months tomorrow afternoon, how ironic was that? On Monday he’d been so excited when he’d found out about the trip - the best thing that he thought could happen to him. Now on Friday he was almost wishing he wasn’t going, or at least not for a couple of weeks, so he’d have chance to get to know Buffy a bit more.

But for now he contented himself to holding her, having her hair tickle his face, as they watched the band on stage. He certainly wasn’t going to get on the dance floor to a fast song.

Willow could hardly contain herself when Oz was on stage, especially when he grinned at her and winked, his hair dyed just about the same colour red as her skirt! When the Dingoes finished their set Oz came to spend the rest of the evening with them.

“Hey Oz, you were great.” said William. He couldn’t think of anything more daunting than standing up on stage in front of a crowd of people.

“Thanks, Will, but we suck. Devon was off key most of the time,” replied Oz.

“No you don’t.” countered Xander, “William’s right, it was really good.”

As Oz started to protest again, never satisfied by the band’s performance, Buffy interrupted him.

“Oh for goodness sake, Willow, kiss him or something to shut him up.” she joked, “Whatever you think of it, Oz, we all thought it was great.”

Willow happily obliged with the kissing.

The DJ started to play again and when one particular song came on Buffy got off her stool.

“I love this one. I’m going to dance. Who’s coming?”

Willow was the only one to move, the guys, perhaps wisely, deciding that the world wasn’t ready to see them en masse on the dance floor just yet.

“Do you want another drink? Xander? Oz?” asked William.

“Yeah, thanks.” said Xander.

“Please.” said Oz.

William made his way to the bar and bought the drinks, as he turned back his path was blocked by Davey. The huge guy put a hand out and pushed William lightly on his chest.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Um, back to my friends,” said William as boldly as he could.

“Your girlfriend, you mean?” sneered Davey.

“Er….yeah.”

“Are you sure she’s yours? Not just giving a little pity out to a loser like you, her good deed for the week?”

“No,” said William, “it’s not like that.”

Davey looked over to the dance floor. William followed his gaze and his heart fell. Buffy was dancing with Angel. The quarterback had his arms around her, with her back against his chest.

“Angel bet her you wouldn’t show, so she won. Wonder what’s she’s going to claim as her prize from him?” he laughed as Angel rubbed his hands over Buffy’s body and kissed her neck.

William couldn’t see her face but he’d seen enough. He’d thought it had been too good to be true. He should have known - why would someone like Buffy suddenly decide to be his friend? He dropped the plastic cups holding the drinks he’d just bought, contents spilling over the floor, and he pushed past Davey, heading to the exit as quickly as he could.

Oooooo

“Get off me, you ape!” screamed Buffy, wriggling to free herself from Angel’s clutches. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Aw c’mon, you know you like it,” said Angel, leaning down and kissing her neck.

“Ugh! Get your hands off of me!” she yelled.

“Think she wants you to leave her alone,” said a voice from behind them.

Angel spun around, still holding onto Buffy.

“What’s it to you?” growled Angel.

“Because that’s my friend and she’s not wanting the affections of you,” said Xander

Angel glanced over at his pal Davey, who nodded. He let go of Buffy, mission accomplished. Pratt had left the building.

“Sorry, thought you were enjoying it, Buffy,” sneered Angel. “My mistake.” He grinned at Davey and walked towards him.

“You okay Buff?” asked Xander.

Buffy had seen the look pass between the two thugs and suddenly knew what it had been about.

“Where’s William?” she asked anxiously.

“He went for drinks, he’ll be back with Oz by n….” his voice trailed off as he saw Oz standing on his own.

Buffy stormed up to Angel, grabbing his arm.

“Oh, so you were enjoying it then?” laughed Angel and leaned down to kiss her again.

She slapped his face as hard as she could.

“What have you done?” she shouted at him.

“Why you little bitch.” He snarled, moving towards her menacingly. His friend Davey had to put a restraining hand on him.

“Cool it, Angel,” he said.

Angel shrugged off his hand.

“I got rid of your little friend Pratt,” said Angel.

“What did you say to him?”

“I didn’t say anything at all,” said Angel with a smirk, “but Davey here might have led him to believe that you and me had a little bet as to whether or not you could get the freak to come out with you or not.”

“You evil pig.” She turned and ran towards the exit.

“Where are you going?” called Willow.

“That pig Davey told William I’d only been with him tonight for a bet. I’ve got to find him to explain.”

“It’s really late, Buff. You can go round tomorrow. You said he didn’t really like you going round to his house the other day, it might make things even worse if you go round so late.”

“They can’t be worse, Will, he’s flying to England tomorrow for the summer. I can’t let him go thinking I was that cruel. I really like him, Will,” replied Buffy, tears glistening in her eyes.

“He’s going to England? Why didn’t he tell us? How cool is that? I wonder if he’ll go to the British Museum? See the Tower of London?” said Willow excitedly.

“Willow, can we have some focus here?” snapped Buffy.

“Oh, sorry, what time does he leave?”

“The flight’s at three thirty.” replied Buffy.

“Well, you’ll have time to go round in the morning. Leave him tonight, Buff, your mom’s expecting you back home in ten minutes. She’ll ground you for the summer if you’re late again.”

“Okay, I guess I’d better not go,” sighed Buffy as Xander and Oz joined them.

Willow explained what had happened.

“God, it’s about time that Angel got some comeuppance. He just does what ever he wants,” said Xander.

The four of them went outside and got into Oz’s van. He dropped Buffy off just before her curfew, then Willow and Xander got out at their homes, which were next door to each other and Oz drove himself home. The mood was pretty quiet, each thinking about William.

Oooooo

William was halfway home before he stopped running. He leant back against a wall gasping for breath. He thought of their dance, her kiss, her back leaning against him holding his hands when Oz was on stage. Had that all been an act? Was she really so nasty?

He started to regret rushing out of The Bronze without confronting her, but he’d never done anything but avoid confrontations since he was eight.

“God, I hate Angel!” he shouted, as he hit the wall with his fist in frustration, grazing his knuckles.

He glanced at his watch. It was too late to go back - he’d just have to see her tomorrow before he left for the airport.

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