“Why don’t you start from page 340 of the text book,” Mr. Giles said directly. Buffy did not respond, and instead blankly stared at her teacher. “Is there a problem, Miss Summers?”
“Yes, unfortunately I had a concussion over the weekend and am now tragically illiterate,” she said smiling. A few of the students began to laugh. Mr. Giles, however, did not seem amused in the least.
“Page 340, Miss Summers. And this time without the attitude?” he said, raising a scarred eyebrow at her. Buffy rolled her eyes and mock saluted Mr. Giles. He had been riding her since day one.
When she moved to Sunnydale, Buffy expected a small town with low standards, at least compared to her old school. Hemory High was just too involved in academics for her taste. It wasn’t that she was stupid or even slower than the other students; she just never cared. At Hemory, that was completely unacceptable. Buffy told her parents she was tormented by her brilliant peers; called stupid and worthless by her teachers (though they did not usually use those exact words, she could tell what they really meant). The more pressure she was under, the less motivated she felt to do her schoolwork. After years of begging, her parents let her move schools at the end of her Junior year. They figured it would look a bit better on her college application to have at least a few good grades during her Senior year.
But that wasn’t the whole truth.
It all started with Riley Masterson: captain of the football team, head of mock UN, and all-around most popular guy at Hemory. When Buffy was a lowly Freshman and he was a Junior, he started showing his interest in her. He left her notes on her locker, texted her during classes, and once even left flowers for her on her doorstep. At first, she was thrilled to have someone like Riley wanting to date her. She wrote his name on her notebooks and told all her friends about their future wedding. When they went out on their first date, it was like a dream. They drove to a cliff that overlooked the LA skyline and talked all night. He was her savior.
But one night was all it took for her knight in shining armor to turn into the villain. A few weeks into the relationship, Buffy noticed that every date they had was somewhere remote. At first it didn’t bother her that people weren’t around during their dates, but after a while she began to wonder. Then, she noticed that when she waved to Riley in the hallways between classes, he ignored her. Sure, he texted and left notes, but he never called or took her out to a restaurant; never once asked to show her off or meet his friends, even.
One day after school, Buffy called him out on it. The mistake wasn’t in saying what she had to say; the mistake was saying it in front of his friends. His jerk buddies made fun of her as she poured out her heart.
That day after school, Riley yelled at her in the parking lot and called her a whore, amongst other names. Buffy cried and ran all the way home. She found out later that Riley had been hiding her away. Embarrassed to be seen with her, he lied to his friends about the nature of their relationship. When they mentioned Buffy waving at him, he told them that he fucked her behind the football field after practice; that she was an easy lay.
The next few years at Hemory had been pure hell. Out of anger, she lost her virginity to a guy in her P.E. class who hadn’t bothered to learn her name before or afterwards. After him, Buffy slept with half the school. In her mind, she was settling the score; trying to make Riley jealous. And maybe Riley had been jealous, at least for a little while. But it could not have been long before he realized the joke she had become and forgot about her.
The kids at school called her names. She was the school slut and she knew it, but she couldn’t stop. It turned into a drug and she couldn’t get enough, no matter how hard it was to face the other students. She left Hemory without a single friend.
Buffy hadn’t lied to her parents about being tormented at school.
For the most part, Buffy did well at Sunnydale High School. She actually did her homework and followed through with studying. Everything was just peachy except for Mr. Giles’ English class. He simply refused to let her succeed. Buffy knew that if he could lose the bug up his ass, she could do pretty well. She even looked over at a few of her classmate’s papers and they received twice the grades she did. Even Cordelia Chase beat her by a grade and a half, this being the girl who, when asked for examples of new inventions in History of the US, exclaimed “the wheel!”
What was his deal?
“…Therefore, when Shakespeare states,
‘Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.’
he means to convey his view of life through Macbeth’s eyes.” Buffy finished and looked up at Mr. Giles. She meant to give him a challenging look, but she knew she probably only succeeded in looking tired at best.
“And what did Shakespeare mean by those words?” he asked Buffy. She hesitated for a moment.
“It means what the author says it means.”
“And what is that?”
“To…’convey his view of life thr-“
“No!” Mr. Giles interrupted her “What does it mean to you?”
“I Don’t Know!” Buffy felt like he was attacking her personally. “What do you want me to say?!” Buffy stood up at her desk against her better judgment, “What do you want from me?!”
The room turned silent. A few of the students gasped in the corner as Mr. Giles jaw seemed to tick in anger, but he remained quiet. Buffy looked around the room and sat back down, her face bright red. Everyone knew of William Giles’ reputation: he was kind and understanding when he wanted to be, but when he was angry… his temper was legendary. Rumors sped around the school that he once stuck a knife in a table, right in front of Principal Snyder and threatened his life just for changing a book on the curriculum. However, no one had seen him act that way toward a student before.
“I apologize, Miss Summers,” Mr. Giles began, “for asking you questions that are apparently too difficult for you to answer. In the future, however, I would prefer it if you held your tongue instead of another outburst of adolescent aggression. Are we clear?”
Buffy narrowed her eyes, furious at how he treated her. He stared her down for a moment, and nodded to himself.
“Good. Now, can anyone else answer the question?” he said, staring directly at Buffy for effect. She crossed her arms and mumbled to herself. “What was that?” he asked, still focused on her. “I said what was-“
“I called you an asshole,” she paused for her own effect and smiled, “Sir.” When Mr. Giles smiled as if he had won, it immediately wiped hers off her face.
“See me after school,” another pause, “Buffy.” After a momentary staring contest, his happy and playful, hers wide-eyed and nervous, Mr. Giles continued. “Now, who can answer this simple question? What did Shakespeare mean by those words?”
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!