A Touch of Jealousy
 Chapters 1-3


Written by: Echidna
 Author's Website





Summary: Sunnydale, Buffy, Spike and the entire gang are seniors in high school. When Buffy and Spike discover that their respective counter parts (Dru and Angel) have been macking on each other their heartbroken and decide to get them back by making them jealous. How is that achieved, by pretending to be an item, problem is that every one in the high school know that Spike and Buffy HATE each other. How will they convince them? Inspired in the movie “Addicted to Love”.
Disclaimer: The show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all of it's characters belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, & Fox Prod.
Author's Note: Thanks to Ali for betaing this fic and for supporting it! ;)
Feedback: echidnas_pen@yahoo.com





Chapter I


"Honey! I think Willow is here!" Mrs. Summers called out from the kitchen.

"I'm on it!" Buffy bellowed back as she hopped down the stairs taking two steps at a time. "Hey, Wills!" She greeted the redhead with a huge grin as she opened the door.

"Hey! Xander, Cordy and Oz are waiting in the van. Ready for some Bronzing?"

"Sure!" The blond grinned wildly. She loved Saturday night outings. "Just let me get my coat."

She walked briskly into the living room and picked up her leather coat that was draped over the coach.

"Angel's meeting us at the Bronze. Let's g-" Buffy was cut off as the phone rang. "Hello?" She started as she picked up the receiver. "Angel, we were just talking about... What? What's the matter? You've got the flu?" she paused and Willow watched as the smile on her face quickly crumbled. "Oh... Ok, then. Sure, don't worry, just stay at home and... drink lots of fluids. No, I'll stay home too; don't really feel like going out if you can't. Don't worry, ok? Night." With a disappointed sigh she put down the receiver.

"He's not coming?" Willow dared to ask.

"No. Apparently he's got the flu." The blond answered disheartened.

"Really? He looked fine yesterday at football practice." Willow noted.

"Must have gotten it from the guys in the locker room or something. You know, sweating and all, then cold showers and such." Buffy tried to justify.

"Yeah... must be it." The redhead replied unconvinced.

"Well, I'm staying then, but you guys go." The blond said, head bowed and her lower lip jutting out for a pout.

"No way! You're coming with."

"Willow, I really don't feel lik-"

"I don't care, you need to have some fun. You know, relax through major, all night partying." Willow stopped when she saw Buffy's eyebrow cock up. "O-Ok, maybe not all night, seeing as we are seniors in high-school and all but... you know, partying till curfew time." As she finished her enthusiastic speech, the redhead set her lips in a straight line to emphasize her resolve.

"Willow, I-"

"I won't take no for an answer."

Buffy took a deep breath and sighed loudly before speaking:

"Ok, fine. I'll go."


~+~


A cloud of thick smoke engulfed them as the five teenagers walked into the club.

"Ah! The ever familiar and intoxicating air of the Bronze is entering my lungs. I can die a happy man now." Xander sighed as he sat around the nearest available table.

"I hate this place." Cordy protested as she practically coughed her lungs out.

"Oh, come on honey. It's the Bronze. It's where we-"

"One more word out of you and you're a dead man Xander Harris." The brunette threatened.

"Okay." A small hissing sound came from Xander's lips as he inhaled sharply, giving his girlfriend his best ‘you're my queen and I shall do as you command' look. "Shutting up now and heading toward the bar to get some much needed refreshments. Orders."

"Soda."

"Soda."

"Soda."

"Coke." Willow piped up with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Three sodas and a coke coming up."

"Oh, oh... Let's dance." The redhead said giddily as she took Oz's hand and practically dragged him to the dance floor.

"Ok, I think for my best friend's sake and for all of us present I'll make that four sodas. No more caffeine for her!" Xander quipped walking away, leaving Cordy and Buffy behind.

An awkward silence filtered between the duo. The truth was that they didn't really know each other all that well. They had belonged to completely different groups all through junior high. Cordy always belonged with the high and mighty *in* crowd while Buffy mingled with all the rest – mere mortals. It had been that way ever since she could remember, but it had changed during the last summer. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Xander and Cordy had announced that they were an item and ever since then they had been hanging out together. Buffy had come to realise that beneath her popular bitch/queen act, the brunette was actually someone worth knowing. Cordy seemed to have vague, fleeting episodes of humanity in her and that was always a plus. But even so, they had never really gotten a chance to ever have a normal conversation.

So there they were, sitting together, staring into the crowd, trying hard to ignore the screaming silence between them.

"So..." Cordy finally ventured. "Angel didn't come?"

"No, he's home, sick. He's got the flue." Buffy answered quickly.

"Really? I just saw him earlier today, he seemed fine to me." Cordelia started.

"Maybe it wasn't him." Buffy offered.

"Oh, I go to cheerleading practice every week, I'm pretty sure I can identify the starting quarterback of our school when I see him." Cordy countered.

Buffy was about to answer when Oz and Willow returned. A strange look was plastered on the redhead's face. She seemed even paler than usual.

"Willow? Are you ok? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Maybe we should all just go home." Willow replied.

"Go home?" Xander's voice hovered over them as he set the bottles on the table. "We just got here."

"But, we should just go. I-I'm tired and... I need to go." Willow's mind searched frantically for an excuse.

"You're tired, you were just jumping your ass off on the dance floor, giggling like a madman and suddenly you're tired and you wanna go home?" Buffy asked.

"Exactly."

"Willow, what's wrong?" Buffy could easily read the fear and nervousness in her best friend's eyes.

"Nothing, lets just go." Willow insisted as she glanced out of the corner of her eyes.

"Wills, what-" Buffy stopped in mid sentence as she followed Willow's gaze. Everyone in the table did the same.

"Hey, isn't that Angel? What's he doing with that skinny ho? I thought you two were-"

"Cordy, honey..." Xander interrupted his girlfriend. "Shut up."

"Angel?" Buffy felt as if the ground had been ripped from under her feet.

She didn't want to believe her eyes. Angel, her Angel, the Angel that was supposed to be home, in bed, sick, was actually out on the dance floor, arms tightly wrapped around a tall, skinny woman, whose black hair cascaded down her back as she ground her hips against HER boyfriend.

"What..." She couldn't speak as the lump in her throat grew to the point she thought she couldn't breathe anymore.

"Buffy, I-I'm sorry... I..." Willow stuttered clumsily as she saw the pain plastered over her best friend's face.





Chapter II


The petite blond watched as the skanky girl nibbled at Angel's neck while he closed his eyes in a clear sign of pleasure. Slowly, Buffy recognized her; it was the odd vapid ho that hung out with that idiot, Spike and the Goth crowd in school - Dru. As the seconds melted away, the pain gave way to anger and rage.

In a flash, Buffy was up and crossing the dance floor. With all the strength she could muster she gripped Dru by her scrawny shoulder and threw her across the floor.

"What? Buffy? Wha-what are you doing here?" Angel stuttered like an idiot.

"That's my line!" Buffy growled. "You were supposed to be sick, remember? In bed, with a fever. Not here, groping this trashy ho while she's sucking on your neck."

"Hey!" Dru objected. Before she could say anything else, Buffy's small hands were on her throat.

The two fell to the ground in a violent catfight.

"Buffy!" Willow called out. "Xander, do something?"

"What...? Huh?" The young man snapped out of his daze as his brain overrode the ‘Girl fight, cool.' sequence of his programming and entered the ‘Buffy's in a fight, gotta help' mode.

Grabbing Buffy by her waist, Xander pulled her off a very bashed Dru who could barely sit up.

"Let go of me!" Buffy yelled off the top of her lungs as she wildly kicked the air and her nails dug into Xander's hand. "I'm gonna kill you!" She continued to bellow.

"Calm down Buffy, this isn't the way!" Xander tried to explain, but the petite blonde would have none of it.

The rage cursed through her veins, her eyes flashed brightly with fury.

"You're insane!" Dru screamed as she finally managed to stand up with Angel's help.

"Get your hands away from-"

"From who? From him?" Dru asked, the arrogance building up in her sharp English accent as she pointed toward the tall quarterback. "He hasn't been yours for a long time now, sweetie. Do you really think that he would be satisfied with a puny little thing like you. Please. He's been coming to me, to *my* bed, for months now. Guess you were... how did you put it, Angel? Hum... Frigid!" She hissed. "Did you really think that he'd stay with you? The star quarterback with some insignificant loser. Ha! I had to bite my lip every time I walked by you in school, just so I wouldn't start laughing at just how incredibly pathetic you are."

Buffy felt as if the air had just been sucked out of the room and she couldn't breathe. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly as she tried to speak, but she couldn't. All eyes were on her; she could hear the snickering and whispering in the background growing.

"Angel..." she finally managed to whisper.

He simply looked at the floor, never giving her a glance.

"I... I... I have to go." Buffy breathed as she ran out of the club, tear threading down her cheeks.

~++++++++++++++~

The moment she passed the threshold of the large door she felt the burden of a hundred eyes on her. She felt like she was in one of those cheesy teen movies, walking in slow motion through the halls while everyone turned to gawk at her, a look of pity plastered on all those faces. She felt her stomach turn and her breakfast quickly crawling its way up her oesophagus.

She slammed her hand against her mouth and made a run for the girl's bathroom. Once there, she entered the nearest available stall and threw herself into it. Dropping limply next to the toilet, she vomited.

"Uh... Gross!" A high pitch voice was heard from the next stall as the fairly recognizable sound of someone regurgitating filled the room.

Buffy breathed heavily, her head still hovering over the toilet as she waited for the next wave of nausea to take over. She stayed there for a few minutes, waiting for everyone to clear out of the restroom. The ringing of the bell sounded and she imagined having to face all those people again.

By now, the few students that hadn't been at the Bronze to witness her total humiliation had already heard of all the sordid details.

"God... I hate my life." She exhaled noisily as she banged her head against the door before standing up.

Slowly, she turned the faucet and let the water run for a while before splashing her face with the crystal liquid. She looked up at the mirror to see her pathetic, soaked expression staring back at her. She shook her head and closed her eyes for a second, searching for the courage to leave that bathroom.

"Let the slaughter begin." She mumbled pushing the door open and walking down the hall.

"Why if it isn't Miss goody two shoes?"

She felt the pain in her belly increase drastically at the sound of the familiar London accent. Buffy stooped dead in her tracks, but never turned to face him, instead she waited for the black clad figure to circle her and stand in front of her.

"Late for class are we? Now, what would good old mummy think of that, Betty?" The bleached teen mocked with fake concern in his voice.

"It's Buffy! What do you want, bleach-boy?" she hissed at him.

"Me? Nothing. Just being polite." He answered with a cocky grin.

"You? Polite? Ha!" she laughed forcibly as she restarted walking.

He followed her.

"So, what are you doing out of class?"

She stopped and turned to face him with a frown.

‘He doesn't know?' was the mantra in her mind as the cocky Englishman shoved his marble white hands into the pockets of his trademark black duster.

"Why don't you ask your skanky excuse for a girlfriend?" She quipped.

"Hey! Don't ever call Dru that!" Anger flashed in his eyes.

"Why? That's what you call people who go around stealing other people's boyfriends." She held her chin up as she looked into his eyes.

"What are you talking about, you bint?" He hissed back.

"I'm talking about your *girlfriend* and my *boyfriend* having a major make out session in front of everyone at the Bronze on Saturday." She talked quickly as the images of that evening flashed before her eyes and served to fuel her anger.

Suddenly, his hands were on her arms and she felt her back slam against the lockers. The bleached teen glared at her, teeth clenched tightly, highlighting his sharp cheekbones.

"You better take that back." He hissed angrily.

She swallowed hard as she tried to calm her racing heartbeat.

"It's true." She never lost face, the words coming out washed in despise and rage.

"You're lying!" he accused her.

"Apparently, you didn't know your *sweet* girlfriend has been boning *my* boyfriend." She answered back.

He closed his eyes for a second as he tried to get his nerves under control and stop himself from beating this girl into a pulp.

"You don't believe me? Go ask your vampire wannabe of a girlfriend." She gathered her courage, grabbed his hands and forced him to let go of her arm. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got classes to go to."

And with that she whirled around and quickly made her way to her next class.





Chapter III


"We need to talk." His voice was sharp and low as he grabbed Dru by her arm and dragged her to the nearest corner.

"Spike! What-"

"Is it true?" He interrupted her. "Please, tell me it isn't true."

"What isn't true, Spike?" She asked with a soft voice as she ran her hand across his cheek.

He closed his eyes for a split second before gripping her hand and pulling it away.

"Answer me!" he ordered.

She took a deep breath and sighed. Making an irritated face she answered simply:

"Yes."

"What?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I've been with Angel. I was going to tell you-"

"When? When everyone in school already knew about it and were laughing behind my back?" He growled.

"I knew you wouldn't understand." She sighed annoyed.

"Bloody right, I don't! Dru? You're *my* girl." He said desperately.

"Not anymore." She answered plainly.

"But-"

"It's over Spike, I'm with Angel now. I'm sorry."

She walked away, leaving him standing there.

Buffy dragged her feet as she walked.

"They're all looking at me." She grumbled.

"No, they're not." Willow lied.

"Willow, I'm not blind or deaf." The blonde rolled her eyes and sighed as she plopped her tired body on the chair setting her tray on the table.

"It'll all blow over in a couple of weeks, when they get another thing to gossip about." Oz offered, looking at his plate and trying to identify which of the mounds were the mashed potatoes and which were the meatloaf. He had the feeling that by the end of high school all they would have would be a large puddle of unrecognisable organic matter for lunch.

"I really hope- Oh, God no!" She breathed as she saw Angel walking into the cafeteria, his arms draped across Dru's skinny form.

"Buffy, just calm down."

"God, I swear, by the end of the year I'm gonna break something off of him." The blonde hissed between clenched teeth as she furiously pounded her fork into her food.

"Um... Buffy?" Oz called with his usual monotonic voice. "I'm pretty sure they don't serve live animals in American high schools for lunch. It's probably against a whole bunch of laws so, no need to kill it."

"What?!" Buffy looked at her plate and realised that she had just spread the food all over the table. "Um... sorry. I think I've lost my ap-"

A loud banging sound was heard as the trio turned, just in time to see Angel crash into Jonathan, sending them both spiralling over the freshly waxed floor. A very pissed Spike hovered over them.

"You stay away from Dru." He growled.

Quickly, Angel stood on his feet and towered over the shorter boy.

"Or what?" the quarterback shot back.

Spike's answer came in the form of a punch and soon someone was yelling off the top of their lungs:

"Fight!"

Masses of testosterone driven teens screamed and cheered enthusiastically, coming to circle the fighting pair as the two exchanged hard blows.

"What is going on here?" A loud booming voice was heard and everyone turned to see principal Snyder standing by the door.

The crowd quickly dispersed to reveal two bloodied up boys frozen in position.

"You two..." He started, the intense pleasure evident as he spoke. "Are getting detention for a week. Now, move it. In my office."

The two boys still had time to exchange a dirty look as they untangled themselves and walked after the short, bald man.

~+~

"Poor Spike." Willow sighed as she sat on the bench next to Xander.

"Poor Spike? What about me? Publicly humiliated at the Bronze, remember?" Buffy protested as she walked around in circles in front of her two best friends.

"Oh, you too, but...Spike, well... you know, he's been crazy about Dru ever since I can remember and to see his long time girlfriend going around smooching with Angel can't be giving him any happy, fuzzy bunny feelings." Willow tried to explain.

"Who cares about Spike and happy, fuzzy bunny feelings? He's an idiot and he probably got what he deserved." Buffy grumbled under her breath.

"As much as I love to despise that bleached foreign freak I have to agree with Willow on this one. Spike's always been head over heels for Dru; he worships the ground she walks on. No, actually any ground in the near vicinity of that girl!" Xander corrected himself.

Buffy's response was a heavy sigh paired with an annoyed roll of her green eyes.

"They've been together ever since Spike moved here, like two years ago, and you and Angel have only been dating since this summer, you can't comp-" Seeing the deadly look the petite blonde was shooting at him, Xander quickly added: "Ok, shutting up now for fear of seriously irreparable head trauma."

Exhaling sharply, Buffy plopped on the bench, between Xander and Willow.

"God, I hate this school." She grumbled.

"Buffy, you..." Willow trailed off as she saw a fairly battered Angel walk out into the patio.

Buffy and Xander glanced in the direction of the redhead's frozen gaze to see Dru running hysterically towards the tall quarterback, wet handkerchief in her hand, ready to nurse Angel's bleeding lip.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill..." Buffy whispered the demonic mantra, which her friends easily picked up.

The entire patio came to a screeching halt as they saw the infamous bleached Brit walk out a few moments after the quarterback. Everyone froze to see what would happen. Those who expected a big scene or another bloody fist fight were clearly disappointed as Spike simply glance at the couple and walked away with a bowed head as he dug nervously into the pockets of his duster, clearly in need of an extra dose of nicotine.

"You can seriously tell me you don't feel sorry for the poor guy?" Willow asked incredulous.

"Hum... No?" Was Buffy's sarcastic answer. "I'm too occupied with hating Angel and that skanky ho to feel any sort of empathy for anyone, specially not that bleached idiot."

"Why do you hate him so much?" the redhead questioned. She had never quite understood it.

"Ok, need I remind you the first time I met him was when he was pulling my pony tail and screaming off the top of his lungs ‘Fake blond ahead, danger, danger.' ?"

Willow's eyebrows came together in a painful frown as she remembered the petite blonde's humiliation.

"Plus he's so full of himself, and cocky and annoying as hell with that ridiculous accent and stupid bleached head. And what's with those absurd Billy Idol wannabe outfits? Plus those bizarre combat boots and old as hell duster and... stupid accent. He's and idiot!" she finished her clearly negative description.

"You said 'stupid accent' twice." Xander noted with a grin, but it soon crumbled as Buffy narrowed her eyes at him.

"I just don't like him that's all. He's made my high school life a living hell since he first came here two years ago." Buffy stated as the bell rang and the trio stood up and walked to their classes.
 



CONTINUED...


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