Synopses: Response to challenge issued by Lori. The challenge is as follows-
SUMMARY:There are no slayers or vamps etc. Buffy and Angel go to two separate schools and they are both in there last years of High School. There is a little controversy between the two schools, manly between the captains, Buffy and Angel. Although they have never met, they hate each other.
Exams are coming up and stuff happens, blah blah blah, B & A fall in love.
MUST HAVE:
- Fluff, pure B/A Fluff
-Angel in leather pants
-B's classmates must play at lest one prank on A's classmates, or vise versa and whatever else you want to add
OPTIONAL:
- Egging (ask if ya don't know)
-Claddaghs
-A movie night
-Smut would be nice
-Buffy dating riley, Angel dating whoever
Feedback- If I don't get any, I won't write any.
Disclaimer- Joss and co. owns all the characters on Buffy and Angel (surprise, surprise).

Part One-

Buffy Summers rushed down the stairs of Rosemont High School. She needed to find Valerie and the rest of the gang to vent. She couldn't believe this, the damn McKinley High School seniors played a prank on them! They spray painted the football field with the McKinley school colors!!! She was furious, how dare they vandalize *her* school. Of course it was when *she* was senior and class president that they decided to play the worst of the pranks. But everyone knew that this had been going on forever. The rivals between the two schools. They hated each other, utterly and completely, and pranks were a normal thing.

"Cordy!" Buffy grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. "Did you see it?!?!"

"See what?" Cordelia Chase was instantly alarmed at the fact that Buffy was so wigged.

"The field!" She screeched. "They fucking painted our field red and black!!!!!"=

"WHAT?! They are SO going to pay for this! God! How dare they!" Cordelia was already trying to plot revenge. She was good at that, hurting people from the enemy.

"It's all that Angel guy or whatever. Ok, and what in gods name is up with that name? Angel?! He's so far from it. He's the one who's leading them, I'm positive. The jack ass. We destroy him, we destroy all of them."

*********

"Angel man, you should have seen the look on their faces!!! And that was only two of the girls, the rest of them weren't even there. I wish I could have seen the guys' reaction. It would have been priceless." Zack could hardly get out his words he was laughing so hard.

Angel snickered at the thought of the frustration it would cause the R kids, and the victory that it had brought them, or more likely, him. This was it, this time, he was in charge of everything, he had all the control. No more easy pranks, no no, this year, was his year. And Buffy Summers and all the people at that school were going to lose, badly.

*********

Part Two-

Rosemont and McKinley high schools had been arch enemies forever. They were pretty even as far as sports and competitions went. Neither one could be called the overall champion, it was always going back and forth. Though both the entire schools were in dispute, it was mainly the senior classes that hated each other. Every senior class would try and win majority of the titles for that year, trying to make themselves better then their previous successors.

The senior class presidents were in charge of everything. Not only were they the rulers of their class, they were pretty much the rulers of the entire school. Peers envied and respected them, teachers favored them. It was hard to become the class president, you were voted on by your class mates. They chose you because they thought that you were the best fit for the job. The actual job has a lot of pressure. If you do a good job and make your school proud, you go down in history as a winner, someone to be respected for all times. If you lost, fellow class mates would resent you, you went from being at the top of the top, to the complete bottom. Even the geeks were above you.

Angel was determine to be the best president in the history of McKinley high school. And at the moment, he had his lead. Things were looking up for him, first week back at school and he had already proved himself. He was star quarter back for the football team and on top of that he was the ruler of the school. Everything was going well. Tonight they had a game against some other high school, Mid-Pac or something like that. It didn't matter, they would win, no questions asked.

***

Buffy, Cordy, Valerie and Willow were all hanging out under the tree in the center of campus. It was the place that anybody who meant anything would sit.

"I don't know you guys," Willow said quietly. "That's kind of pushing it. No one has ever attacked them when they were playing another team. It's not even on their field!"

"And what?! Like anyone has ever painted our field red and black!! Please, they went too far. But it doesn't matter, tonight we get them back." Buffy was seething with hatred. She was damned if McKinley was going to ruin her year. Uh uh, no way.

"Buffy's right. They crossed the line so now it's our turn to cross it back." Valerie was the newest member to the group. She had transferred this year from New York but had instantly adjusted and fit in. The other three girls had been best friends from freshman year.

"I agree." Cordelia said without hesitation

"Agree with what?" Ian asked as he came up and kissed Cordy lightly. "If it's something to do with getting back at McKinley, I'm in."

"It is," Buffy supplied. "Cordy, fill him in then have him tell Will and the guys. We'll meet in the parking lot of Mid-Pac at 7:30. The game should be ending then. I'll take care of the materials, just be sure that everyone is there." With that Buffy grabbed her bag and made her way to her car. She needed to calm down a little and prepare everything for tonight.

***

Buffy was just pulling up to her house when her cell went off. The caller I.D. told her that it was Will.

"Hi sexy," she said with a smile on her face. Will was captain of the football team, hot, sexy, every girl wanted him, and she had him.

"Hey beautiful. So who came up with this plan? I must say that it's a winner."

"Cordelia did, as always. She's the best at that." Buffy opened the door to her house and trudged up the stairs to her room. Plopping down on the bed she noticed a red rose on her window sill.

"Yes she is. Everyone's coming, it's all set up. You got the stuff?" He asked her.

Buffy drifted off as she walked over and opened her window. The rose was blood red, it was beautiful. 'Will goes overboard sometimes,' she thought. She brought the flower to her nose to inhale the intoxicating scent that she loved so much. What she got was an unwelcome surprise. Red pepper flew up her nostrils, burning her nose.

"Buf-" he was cut off by her scream and then excessive swearing.

"Buffy? What happened? What's wrong?" He almost dropped the phone when she screamed. It took him totally off guard and he learned that she had a very loud scream.

"There was a rose on my window sill, I thought it was from you but it was planted! The put peppers in it and now my nose is burning up! Goddamn it! I swear I fucking hate them, they are so going to be sorry." Her voice was muffled on and off from her trying to blow her nose to rid it of all the tiny particles that had made their way into sinuses as far as she was concerned.

As much as Will hated McKinley, he couldn't help but chuckle. He had to give them credit, they did come up with some pretty smart stuff. "I'm sorry. Are you ok? And don't worry, we all hate them. No worries though, it's only the beginning of the year and we haven't even begun to fight back. Are you ok?" He asked again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Anyways, I need to take a long hot soak or something. I'll see you guys at seven thirty ok? Bye."

***

"God job men, that was a great game to open up the season. Now go get on the buses." The coach for the football team had just finished his victory speech. They had beat Mid-Pac 49 to 6 without a sweat.

"God, that was something. I almost feel sorry for them, but then again, nope, never mind." Greg laughed as he made his way to the bus.

"Have to agree with you there buddy, you can't really feel sorry for losers." Zack and him then ran ahead to catch up with Angel.

"Hey Angel, good job man, that was some excellent passing."

"Thanks I-"

He never had a chance to finish he was cut off by a female voice screaming "NOW!" and the next thing he knew he was being pelted with eggs. They tried to run but to no avail, the eggs kept on coming. Not only were they eggs, but they were rotten eggs. Angel practically growled before turning on the group and charging. But he was too late, all he could see was a group of people running away laughing hysterically.

"So there assholes! That'll teach you! You have fun trying to get rid of that smell!" The girl who said it was too far away for Angel to see clearly. The only thing that he could tell was that she was blond. He knew that it had to be Buffy. She was the little queen of them.

"You'll pay for this Buffy!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. He swore as he noticed that he and his team mates were covered in black eggs. Not only that, the Mid-Pac team was having a field day mocking them.

Angel was too upset to go over and beat the crap out of them. They weren't his concern, it didn't matter. He angrily made his way to the bus, just wanting to get clean and get revenge. "Revenge is sweet." He said quietly to himself. And despite the smell and the awful mood he was in, he smiled, an evil, menacing smile.

***********

Part Three-

Buffy and her crew stumbled into the back parking lot and burst out into renewed laughter.

"Did you....did you.....did you see how....how mad he was?!" Buffy could hardly get it out she was laughing so hard. There were tears in her eyes and her stomach was sore but she wasn't complaining.

"All of them! That was hilarious, that was the best one yet!" Ian added. They were still cracking up put they had calmed some.

"Good work if I do say so myself." Val was still knew to this but she had to admit that she was impressed.

"I just wished I could have seen his face. He had his stupid football helmet on, I couldn't see anything. No matter though, it was obvious that someone was pretty pissed." She said in a sing song voice. Buffy broke into giggles once more.

"We should have had a video camera!" Cordelia slapped her head, mad that she didn't think about it until now.

"That's ok, I'm sure that we'll all remember it." Willow said smiling.

"That we will." Oz put in as he came behind her and slipped his arms around her waist.

"Number 72 right? That was his jersey number?" Buffy got a couple of confirming head nods. "Good to know, I'll have to remember that for future reference."

The group disbanded into their various cars heading towards Buffy's house for a sleep over. It would be fun to stay up all night and talk and plan ahead for future pranks. Their part of the game, had begun.

***

The locker rooms back at McKinley reeked of rotten eggs. The whole football team was swearing and ranting as they took their showers and changed.

"How could they? It's like an unspoken rule or something, you don't fuck with each other while you're playing other schools. They weren't supposed to attack us at a game that we weren't even playing with them! At Mid-Pac of all places!" Zack was superbly pissed off along with the rest of the team.

"The bitch was stupid to do that. Don't worry about it, we'll get them back. They won't win. With me here? Please that little snob doesn't have a chance of winning this. There's no way." Angel turned off the shower he was in and went to his locker to change.

"Greg," Angel turned around to face his friend. "Get everyone together and meet at your house. Get the girls too. They'll want to help. I'll be there in about an hour, is that enough time?"

"Yeah, no problem. See you then."

~an hour later~

They were seated in Greg's living room, they always meet up here because his parents were never home and if they were, they never cared.

"So what are we going to do?" Kelly asked from her spot on the floor.

"I don't know yet. We need to think. This has to be good, no generic stuff." Angel's brain was working feverishly trying to think of a way to pay them back.

"Agreed," was the general response throughout the room.

"Hey by the way," he asked. "Where's Christine?" As if on cue, Christine entered through the front door babbling a sorry and some reason on why she was late.

"Hi baby." She said as she lowered herself into Angel's lap. He said nothing but instead chose to kiss her.

"So do we have a plan yet?" She asked as she pulled away from the kiss. She didn't even wait for an answer, she knew what it was. "As I expected," she said slyly. "Well don't fret because I do think that I have come up with a plan of excellence."

"By all means," Laura said.

"Yes, yes, share." They all quieted as Christine told her idea.

*************

Part Four-

"So here's the plan," Christine started. "They're already expecting something from is and they know that we might do something over the top."

"So what? What's your point?" Kelly didn't see how this was relevant at all.

"So, we do something not terrible, but more irritating." She paused expectantly, waiting to hear the inevitable.

"Like what?" Angel asked as he tightened his grip around her waist.

"Like what." She repeated. "Like, one of us goes to Rosemont during one of our brakes or after school or something. They won't recognize most of us, even if they did see us. The point of going there is to figure out where one of their lockers are, preferably, Buffy's. Once found, you smother it with syrup or chocolate or something. Something sticky. If it's liquidy enough, you can try and get it through the slits and get it on her books. And not only will little miss Summers have a problem with sticky binders, but I do imagine that her locker will have a big lot of ants in it." She finished smugly with a proud smile on her face.

"Pretty tricky." Zack was pretty impressed. The girl may be bitchy sometimes, but she did come up with some pretty good shit.

***

Monday-

"God I so hate Monday's."

"At least it's over." Buffy and Willow were walking to their lockers which happened to be in the same building this year.

"What do you think they're going to pull? I would have thought that they would've done something already."

"I know." Buffy agreed. "I'm getting worried. They usually don't wait so long." She moved her books to her other arm so she could spin the dial on her combination lock. As she opened her locker door she let out a yelp and dropped the books from her hands.

"Oh my god!" She yelled. Her books had honey and what looked like apple juice all over them along with about ten gazillion ants.

"Gross! Egh! It's everywhere! Great, everything's ruined. I swear, we spoke too soon." Buffy started to push things out of her locker onto the floor. "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew." She only touched what was absolutely necessary to move her books and folders from her locker, to the floor

"I'll go get some paper towels." Willow hurriedly left to find some supplies to help aid her friend.

Angel could only see her back but it didn't matter. He had heard reaction and could see how annoyed and grossed out she was. That was enough for him. He laughed to himself as he thought of all the explaining she would have to do to her teachers.

Buffy heard someone laughing quietly some small ways behind her. She knew it was him, but she didn't give any sign that she knew he was there. Suddenly, she spun around and ran to where he was hiding in a group of small trees.

She had taken Angel completely by surprise. He hadn't thought that she had known he was there. Before he knew it, she was standing right in front of him. Angel couldn't create a single word, or sound to form from his mouth. It took him off guard, he had no idea that she was so beautiful.

*************

Part Five-

Was this him? No, this couldn't be him; he wasn't allowed to be this hot! Buffy had gone speechless upon finding him in the bushes. He had an amazing build and his features were incredible. They were so defined and his tan complemented him completely. Buffy mentally kicked herself and didn't allow one more thought to pass through her mind. She quickly leveled out her head and regained her composure.

"Nice little stunt you pulled there," she said with more hatred and resentment then she actually felt.

Angel rapidly closed his gaping mouth and brought himself back to reality. "I thought so." His reply sounded smooth, too smooth one might think, even to him.

"Well, you've finished your purpose here so now you can get the hell out of my school," she viciously spat at him.

"I think that I will. I'm beginning to get sick from the sight of you." He was an excellent liar.

A flash of hurt mauled her pretty features but it was so quick that Angel didn't even know if he saw it or if his mind was playing tricks on him. He turned and started to walk away from the petite blond when he heard her voice.

"Oh, and Angel," she waited as he turned to face her again. "Watch your back." He said nothing but smiled mockingly at her as he once more turned and started to leave the campus.

"Buffy!" Willow came to a screeching halt next to her. She was still watching Angel as he walked away. "Well?! What did he say, what did you say? I know that was Angel. It was Angel wasn't it?" Willow could not believe that he had been watching her and Buffy earlier *and* had made himself known. What an asswhole, coming here and then probably mocking her more then was necessary.

"Yes. That was Angel. We passed insults, that's all." Before Willow had a chance to ask something else, Buffy turned around and went back to cleaning out her locker. Willow was dying to know more but something was strange about the way Buffy was acting and she didn't want to push. Buffy's face was knitted in concentration and confusion. What about, Willow had no idea.

***

"So you talked to her?" Zack asked in shock. It wasn't normal to have talked to the person in charge on the opposite side so early on in the year. Usually it was just notes and other messages, no direct contact for most of the time.

"Yeah." Angel didn't continue and it didn't seem like he was going to offer any information.

"And...." Zack waited for him to go on.

"And we just said some mindless banter." Angel was seeming to get annoyed rather quickly and gave the hint that he didn't want to be asked any more questions. He was acting kind of out of it, he wasn't all there.

"I think Greg said that he has an idea of what to do next time. He and Christine thought of it together. We should probably meet soon and get everything together." Zack watched perplexed as Angel seemed to just through it off like it wasn't that important. She said something to him, he was acting funny, not like the Angel that he knew. Zack knew that the Buffy chick must have done something to him to make him act this way. But what? He was about to ask when Angel cut him off.

"Yeah, whatever. You can handle it." Angel didn't wait for a response, he got up and left McKinley, walking towards his car. All he wanted to do was to go home and get the image of that stupid bitch out of his head.

*

A couple of miles away, Buffy had ditched her friends to go home early and take a long bath and listen to music. She had only met him for a minute, and he was a person that she hated with passion, yet she couldn't stop thinking about him. 'Oh boy,' she said to herself. 'This is a problem.'

************

Part Six-

"Buffy, are we going to Oceans tonight?" Xander had called Buffy to see if the gang was getting together at one of the better night clubs. They barely made the cut for 18, but they made it.

Buffy didn't want to go out, she wanted to stay home and listen to her slow songs CD and fret. "Yeah. Can you call everyone though, I want to take a shower and I need to rummage through my closet for something wearable." She figured that it would do her some good to get out of the house and hang with her friends. If she was lucky, she could find herself a cute little boy toy to take her mind off of someone else that we all know and love.

"Yeah, I think everybody's already going but I'll call around to be sure. Should we say meet at 8?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'm not going to stay for too long though cause I have a ton of homework due this week."

"Yeah, I know. All of us do. But we need fun time so we don't fry our brains out with studying, right?" Xander very well knew that he always went for happy time and skipped out on the studying part of life. Unfortunately for him, so did everyone else.

"Uh hu. And um Xander? How much home work have you done?" It was more of an accusation then a question.

"Yeah yeah. Pfft. Homework, school, who needs it? And before I get an answer to that I'm going to hang up on you and call everyone else and by the time you see me tonight you'll have forgotten and won't lecture me. B'bye now." Competing for the fastest goodbye in the world, Xander rapidly pressed the hang up button on his side of the phone.

Buffy laughed to herself and gingerly hung up her line. She promptly set herself to getting ready for her night of clubbing with her friends.

***

Angel made his way through the mobs of people in the club looking for his group. Girls were very obviously admiring him which he usually would have smirked at. But tonight, it didn't seem like anything. The glow lights were creating an entertaining show around him as he walked the perimeter of the club. The different colors looked cool in the almost black of the room.

Buffy spotted him walking at the edges of the club. She knew it was him even though she had only had a quick glance. The lights bounced off his handsome features and his apparel made his already sexy figure look even better. He had a black tank top that fitted nicely to his built chest. Along with that he was wearing black leather pants that hugged his lower body. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him, as much as she wanted to.

*

As Angel was scanning the room, his gaze came across Buffy. His breath caught as he saw her. She was wearing a dark brown halter that complimented her every curve. Tight denim blue jeans adorned her legs. Her hair was piled on top of her head with a few strands hanging down that added to her pretty face. She was looking at him and he met her gaze. He knew that he should look away, this was the complete wrong person to have the hots for. His mind new all of this, knew every single rational reason on why he should just turn and leave now. But he wasn't able to walk away, he couldn't stop looking at her.

**************

Part Seven-

'Look away. Stop staring at him. What is your problem girl? He's the bad guy. Him being hot doesn't change the fact that he's the bad guy.' She kept on telling these things to herself over and over. Yet she couldn't seem to avert her lingering eyes. He was about to walk towards her, took a step and her breath hitched, but he then changed his path and quickly walked away to the right. Buffy let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding.

'How could I be so stupid? What was I going to do, go over there and ask her to dance?' Angel went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. "She. Is. The. President. Of. Rosemont." He said out loud to himself. 'And don't forget that you have a girlfriend. She's pretty and she's smart and she's yours.' There were a million and one reasons telling him not to even contemplate going out with Buffy. However, at the moment all of them were seeming to fly out the window. As he left the bathroom, he bumped into a lady going to the women's restroom. "Excuse me." He started to move away when he realized whom it was that he ran into.

Buffy was about to say something rude to him but stopped when her eyes met his for the second time that night. They were oblivious to the world around them. Their eyes seemed to communicate the exact same things. 'I shouldn't do this..........this is wrong............no way.............what would the school think................not worth it.........................I'm dating someone...............but she's so beautiful.................but he's so hot.'

"We need to talk." Angel took her arm and lead her out the back door of the night club. The cool air was welcomed after being in the stuffy hot club for so long. Angel noticed Buffy shiver from the frigid weather. "Are you cold?" He asked sincerely. "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Buffy was amazed that this was the same person who had played pranks on her and insulted her to her face. He hardly even knew her yet he was concerned on whether or not she was cold.

"No, it's ok. I'm fine."

He didn't look convinced but went along anyway. "So..."

"So," she repeated. How did they start? They didn't even know what they needed to start.

"This needs to stop before it turns into something."

Buffy wished that she could pretend that she had no idea what he was talking about and that he was just being above and beyond egotistical. Unfortunately for her, she knew all too well what he meant.

"Agreed. This is completely not sane to even be thinking about it. I mean, think about our friends, our schools. They are superb non mix-y things." She had kept her head down to the ground because his eyes were so hypnotic, she knew she would be sucked in and then have no hope of forming coherent thoughts.

Angel moved a step or two closer despite wanting to just turn and run away now.

"Yeah, not to mention the fact that I have a girlfriend, and you have a boyfriend."

"How did you know that?" She asked, without really caring what the answer was. He probably just did some research on her, just like she had done on him.

"I didn't. It's just impossible to think that someone as pretty as you wouldn't have a boyfriend."

Her head snapped up at that and looked him. Her cheeks were barely visible in the dark but she knew that the redness in them was easily seeing. "This can't ever....."

"Work." He finished for her. "I know that. You know that. We all know that."

"So if we both know that, then why are we still here?"

"Because, I don't accept that." He moved so he was right in front of her, looking down into her emerald eyes.

She automatically raised herself onto her tip toes and put her arms around his neck. He lowered himself to meet her halfway and their lips met in a soft kiss.

*************

Part Eight-

Buffy sighed as she pulled away from the kiss. It was the best kiss that she'd ever experienced, without a doubt. "Well, this is a problem."

Angel knew that she was right but refused to think about it. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of the nearest park. Away from all their friends, away from all the disapproval, away from all the things that he was supposed to be doing.

The Park-

Buffy and Angel strolled hand in hand along the many pathways the park had to offer. They had been talking for hours. About everything, what they liked, what they didn't. Simply getting to know each other. It turned out that they had a lot in common.

They walked in silence for a while, letting the reality of what they were doing sink in. Both were starting to get depressed just thinking about it. Buffy felt guilty for not only ditching her friends, but her boyfriend, and for the enemy no less. Angel felt the same though he wasn't as guilty about leaving Christine. He never really liked her. She was just this pretty girl in his crowd that he was allowed to date. In truth, she was a stuck up snob and he wasn't really fond of her.

"Buffy, I.-" He didn't really know how to say this. He didn't think he would ever have to, the situation of this relationship was completely unexpected and weird. If you could even call it a relationship. At the moment he was unsure as to what this was. He knew it was something. He'd never felt this way about anyone. And trust me, he had had a ton of girlfriends.

Buffy looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish.

"I just wanted to say sorry. You know, for everything. The pranks and all."

"Oh. Well, I am too. I think we're pretty much even in that department. I got you pretty bad with those eggs." Buffy smiled despite herself.

"Oh please, ours were so much better." He had a huge grin on his face.

"Not even!"

"Even."

She playfully slapped him then began to run down the path. Angel laughed and started to chase her. Buffy darted behind a rock and quietly caught her breath. She watched as Angel came into her view. She knew what he looked like, hell she knew what he kissed like. But she just had to admire once more his handsomeness.

"Buffy?" She couldn't have gone far, he hadn't allowed her that much of a lead. As he turned to look to the left of him, a figure ran up and jumped onto his side. Buffy was giggling uncontrollably as he swung her over and set her down in front of him. She didn't know why she was so willingly doing whatever it was that they were doing. There was just something about him. And she knew that he wasn't the asswhole that she thought he was. Her laughter quieted and she looked up at him, this angel.

He was captivated by her eyes for the umpteenth time that night. He kissed her, this time more exploring then their first. His tongue roomed through her mouth while hers willingly did the same. He rested his hands at her sides and brought her closer. The kiss finally broke when they both needed the air.

"We should get going," Angel practically whispered to her.

A sound escaped her lips which could easily be determined as a whine. "I don't want to have to deal with the fifty messages that I promise you are on my machine."

"I know what you mean. But look, we lost track of the time." He watched as she checked her watch and gasped.

"Oh my god! We really did. I seriously hope that my mother didn't wait up."

"Come on, we'll go back and get my car and then I'll drive you home." Angel knew that she had caught a ride with one of her friends because she didn't have a car. One of the little tidbits that he had picked up somewhere along the line.

"Ok." They started to walk back to the club

All the lights were off when they pulled into Buffy's driveway. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that her mother must have went to bed hours ago. Angel walked her to the door and they sat down on the steps to the porch.

"I had fun tonight." She said honestly. It was more then fun, it was amazing, and she said so.

"Me too." He leant over and slowly kissed her one more time. "I'll call you tomorrow after school. Goodnight." With one last soft kiss, he turned and walked to his car. Buffy spun around and went into her house with the hugest grin plastered on her face. 'Why he likes me? No idea.' She thought. She bounced up the stairs, quietly of corse, and went into her room. She felt like dancing across the room and sing at the top of her lungs. She'd never felt this way before, there were still butterflies in her stomach. As she got herself ready for bed, she couldn't help but think two things. One, she was going to be SO tired at school tomorrow....two, but it was completely and utterly worth it.

**************

Part Nine-

Buffy sighed as she dropped her bag on the floor as she walked into her room. She just had the worst day of her life as far as she was concerned. And the scary thing was, she knew that the days to come might and most likely would be worse then this one. But this one so far was still pretty awful.

First off, her friends had bothered her non stop as to where she had gone the night before. She had to make tons of apologies along with making up some stupid lie like she forgot she had a test to study for. Will had been totally ticked that she had just left without so much as a goodbye. She had tried to calm him but he still needed time. Then after that Willow approached her, knowing that Buffy didn't go home to study because she had called her house numerous times. Buffy said that her mom must have put the phone on no ring. Willow didn't buy it but being the sweet friend that she was, simply accepted it. But all that paled in comparison to the argument that she and her group just had. They asked her what their next attack would be and she told them to lay off. None of them understood it and ended up accusing her of something. They didn't know what they should be accusing her for, all of them just noted that there was something wrong with their fearless leader today.

Buffy stopped thinking about it. She didn't want to. This whole thing with Angel was confusing and hard enough, she did not need the added pressure of trying to hold up her friendships. She walked into the bathroom and started a hot bath. She added her favorite bubbles and then left the tub to fill. She moved her CD player to the bathroom and put on some nice music. She was about to unplug the phone but then she remembered that the phone would hopefully be the one good thing to happen today. She grabbed the cordless and placed it on the rug next to her now full bath.

She discarded her clothing and gracefully submerged herself into the welcoming feel of the hot, smooth water. She closed her eyes and relished the feeling of relaxation that came over her. All of her muscles began to unwind, her shoulders especially. Like everyone else, her shoulders always held the most tension. She went about loosening her self up for quite a while, adding hot water every 20 minutes or so, when the phone rang. She wished that she could say she didn't get butterflies in her stomach and splash out a quarter of the water in the tub to reach the phone, but, she couldn't.

"Hello?" She asked hopefully. Too hopefully. Pathetically hopefully.

"Hey. It's Angel." He sounded tired and frustrated. Which, he was. He had just been through a day much like Buffy's. With his friends blowing up at him for various different reasons. He had skipped his football practice and came straight home so he could call her. He knew that skipping practice was not on the smart side of the things to do list. His friends were already suspicious enough, this wasn't going to help. However, he discovered that he had this weakness, when it came to this particular petite blonde, he seemed to not care about anything else. Angel stopped his thoughts and came back to the present where he was talking to this girl that he so suddenly adored oh so much.

"I recognized your voice." He heard her smiling over the phone and pictured her pretty face on the other side of the line.

"How was your day?"

She groaned. "Don't even have me talk about it. You haven't heard me bitch yet and trust me, you don't want to."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm all for forgetting that this day happened. So, can I see you tonight?" He was worried what her answer would be but he was good at hiding it and making himself sound very suave.

"But of course. I would love to see the kind sir who flatters me so." She giggled at her horrible accent and her choice of words. It felt nice though, just being lame and laughing.

Angel chuckled, 'she is so cute,' he thought.

"Great, so I'll pick you up in about an hour? I figured we could go eat somewhere and then hunt around for another park." He smiled at the memory of the wonderful time last they had the night before.

"Sounds like a plan. But tonight, we can't lose track of the time. I'm tired as is and I don't need to fall asleep in classes tomorrow. The teachers love me and I can get away with a lot, but sleeping in class is definitely pushing it."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry. As soon as it gets to around ten or so, we'll start heading back, ok?"

"Yeah, ok. Thanks. I'll see you in a bit then. Bye"

"I can't wait."

The two lines hung up and both parties proceeded to get ready for the night ahead.

*************

Part Ten-

Angel had taken her out to eat at a casual but nice restaurant on the outskirts of downtown. After they had finished their meal, they headed towards a park on the opposite side of town from the one that they had gone to last night. Presently, they were walking through the almost forest like pathway of a beautiful park that Buffy had never been to before.

"It's so pretty here. I never even knew about this"

"Yeah, not many people do. I come here whenever I can. Just to get away." He paused for a moment but then continued on to tell her things that know one knew about him.

"Everyone thinks that I'm this total social person who's always with his friends. Well, I am, but only half of the time. I spend an equal amount of time just keeping to myself. It gets irritating you know? Always with people who talk about the same empty things. I'm a hypocrite though. I say that all of that is irritating and I try to get away yet, that's who I am. I'm this mindless person who cares so much about a school tradition that's so old, no one knows why we do it. I spend time thinking of pranks to play on you and your friends. Oh yeah, I have a life." He finished sarcastically.

She laughed a little at the end remark. "Oh please, like I'm so much better. I do the exact same thing except I'm hardly ever by myself. I'm always miss popularity who's out twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I hate it a lot of the time though."

"Then why do you do it? Why did you work so hard to become class president?"

"The same reason you did, the power you get, the respect and all that stuffs. It wasn't always this way though." She was about to continue but then stopped. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it. Everything about that part of her was in the past and she still didn't take the time to sort through it and understand it all.

Angel asked her to continue but she changed the subject. He didn't pry but he was a little unnerved as to what was such a big secret. He led her down a narrower trail of to the side of the path that they were currently on.

"Where are we going?" She wasn't too fond of the idea of leaving the path that had the nice happy lamps that lighted the way.

"Don't worry, I know where I'm going."

"And where might that be?"

"It's a surprise so stop asking questions." He flashed her that sexy little grin of his and pulled at her hand to quicken the pace. After they had walked for a couple minutes, Angel led her through a clearing in the trees. The moon was pretty much a full moon and the light it provided was good enough to see clearly. It was a wonderful night.

"Oh my god! It's beautiful!" She gushed. There was an amazing fountain made of rocks with greenery surrounding it. The water flowing down ended in a medium sized pond with Lilly's floating on the surface. But what made the scene so extraordinary were the huge flowers on the perimeter of the pond. The coloring was white and purple, Buffy hadn't seen that kind of flower ever before. "What are those? They're so lovely."

"The flowers are night-blooming Cirrhus'. During the day all of them will wilt up but at night, this is what they look like." He watched her and smiled that she was enjoying this so much, glad that she was glad.

"What is this place? It's part of the park?"

"Not really, it was already here but then someone else who I've never seen started to plant all the flowers. I never see anyone here, I come here a lot, when I want to get away."

"I can see why. I don't think that you're ever going to get me to go anywhere else," she stated matter-of-factly.

He smiled at her. "Not going to hear any complaints from me. Picnics here are really nice. Maybe you want to join me in one sometime." He sat down and pulled her along with him so she was sitting in his lap.

"I think I'd like that. As long as you don't mind me intruding." She exhaled loudly and closed her eyes when Angel started to place light kisses on her neck and down to her shoulder.

"Not in the least."

They stayed in that position for a while longer, enjoying the company that each provided for the other.

Buffy took a deep breath and got ready to explain what she didn't finish earlier. "Before I went to Rosemont, I lived in San Francisco. I only moved here sophomore year." She stopped, about to not finish the story but a reassuring squeeze from arms around her waist made her continue.

"At my old school, I was always picked on. Everyone hated me, I was at the bottom of the social chain. People were harsh, tripping me on purpose, laughing at me nonstop. I was the typical loser."

Angel gritted his teeth and his fists clenched thinking about what she was telling him. He never met these people and yet he wished he could kill them. She shivered against him, either from the cold or the story, he couldn't tell. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and pulled her closer. She gratefully took the comfort and snuggled in as much as she was able.

"Anyway, when we moved, I just, I changed. I started over. I went and I spent tons of money on clothes and make up. When I came to Rosemont, no one knew me. I had a chance to start completely over and get in with the right crowd, or what I thought was the right crowd. I did it, I made friends with the popular people and now look where I am, I'm at the total top of the top. I worked hard and I now live a life that I never in my wildest dreams ever thought would be real."

"So then why do you hate it most of the time? It's all you wanted, you worked hard and got where you wanted to be."

"But to get here, and to stay here, I hate it. I pretty much fell easily into being a bitch. All that anger I had kept up for so long, I just let it out on everyone who wasn't in my group. You know how it is, not in with you and your friends, then they're the desperate losers that you prey on. I can act like that bitch and I am one. But when I come home, I don't feel good about myself, I feel like shit. My life is a fake, it's a joke. I'm the exact person that I hated back in San Fran. The person that I swore I'd never be."

Angel felt bad. For her, and for the people that he himself was mean to. He never really thought that it was that much of a big deal. He'd never known anyone who used to be a loser. Until now that is. In his eyes however, she never was and never would be a loser. She was a gift from the gods as far as he was concerned. He couldn't understand how no one liked her. 'Well, this is going to keep me thinking.' he thought to himself. He put it away for later though, right now his job was to cheer up pretty little blond in his lap that was now very sullen.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. He turned her around but she kept her face down, refusing to look at him. He brought a finger under her chin and brought it up so that she was eye level with him. He felt a twinge in his heart as he saw the tear streaks marring her pretty features. Angel ran his thumbs over her cheeks to wipe away the tears. She pulled away as she got up and started to head back the way they came. Angel darted after her and grabbed her arm which turned her around so that she was facing him.

"What?" He was confused as to why she turned so cold.

"I just want to go home. And you shouldn't see me when I'm crying. My nose stays red forever and my eyes get all puffed up. I look horrible."

"You look beautiful." Before she could argue with him he bent down and captured her lips with a sweet kiss that left both of them breathless.

"Please don't leave. Stay with me, just for a little longer," he pleaded with her.

She couldn't say no to the look in his eyes and figured that a half an hour more wouldn't hurt. Besides, she lied when she had said that she wanted to be alone. In truth, there was no where else she'd rather be then in his arms.

*************

Part eleven-

A week had passed and the two had managed to see each other almost every night without getting caught by anyone. Oh, their friends knew that there was something that both parties were not telling them. The two groups had badgered each for answers causing many quarrels and arguments among Buffy and her friends as well as Angel and his friends. But still yet, Angel and Buffy had been connected at the hip as much as they could get away with. They had fallen hard for on another despite everything working against them.

A couple days earlier, Buffy had broken up with Will which caused more confusion among the group as well as some serious resentments. Her reason was nothing. She said that she just needed some space. It made no sense to Will. He hadn't done anything wrong, there was nothing that he could think of that would make Buffy do this. Except for that thing that everyone knew about without knowing what it was that they knew about. Buffy had avoided all calls and friends for a couple days. Always going to the library or some weird place like that during her brakes so she wouldn't have to confront anyone. Tonight though, Willow had practically forced herself over to Buffy's and spend the night

They were in her room watching "Ever After." It was a favorite among them. Cordelia and Val were coming over later, much to Buffy's dismay. She didn't want to have to deal with any of them and if any, then Willow, but just Willow. It was the end of the movie, just at the part where Henry "rescues" Danielle. Buffy had tears in her eyes from the sweetness of it all. She just realized how close to home it really hit. Danielle had hated the prince without knowing him, she had hated Angel without knowing him. Henry had refused to go near a commoner before he fell in love with one. Angel had refused to go near Buffy, until he fell in love with her. At least she hopped that he fell in love with her. She knew very well that she had fallen in love with him, severely might she add.

Willow was sick of this. She watched as Buffy got so into the movie. They'd seen it fifty times and the only time she cried besides this time was when they saw it in the theater. She waited not so patiently for the movie to end before getting up and making sure the bedroom door was locked. She proceeded over and turned off the TV and VCR.

"Don't you want to watch 'Final Destination'?" Buffy hoped to god that she would just be able to avoid whatever accusation that was going to be thrown at her.

"No Buffy, I don't. What the hell is going on with you?" Willow rarely got angry so it was stretch to see her so pissed off.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She turned around and started to clean up the mess that they had made.

"You know very well what I'm talking about and I'm sick of being nice and putting up with all this crap. You've been acting like Ms. Marry Poppins for the past week and a half for no apparent reason. Yet despite this huge happy, you're ignoring your friends, dumped your boyfriend and not played a single prank on McKinley. Don't you dare tell me that you don't know what I'm talking about." By this time Willow was seething.

"You wouldn't understand." Buffy avoided her gaze and continued to go about cleaning up the dishes and wrappers.

"Buffy," her voice was softer now, and hurt.

"When you moved here I was the person who brought you into the group. I convinced everyone that you were cool and worth their time. We're best friends and I wouldn't understand?" Buffy turned away in shame from the hurt in her friends voice. It was true. Willow had befriended her long before the rest of them and she was closest with Willow out of all of them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't." She wasn't lying. What was she supposed to say? 'Yeah the reason that I dumped Will and am neglecting you all is because I'm secretly seeing Angel. Yep, the one who goes to McKinley who's our sworn enemy. And when I mean seeing I mean kissing and groping along with the date part of it all.' She seriously did not think that was the best way to approach the matter.

"You can't or you won't?" Buffy didn't reply. Both girls knew it was the latter. Before the tension got any higher, Buffy's cell phone which was placed on her bed started to ring. She hoped to god that it was not Angel. But of course, to add to her shitty day, it was. She had tried to make a dash for the phone but Willow answered it before Buffy was even halfway across the room.

"Hello?"

"I...I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong number." Angel swore that he knew that number already.

Willow frowned at the voice, where had she heard it before? She looked down to the screen where the caller ID said "Angel." She tossed the phone back on the bed without hanging it up.

"Angel?" She asked Buffy in disbelief. "That's what's been distracting you? Angel? How could you, you bitch! That's why you broke up with Will. That's why you won't pull any pranks, you're sleeping with the enemy," she spat bitterly.

"I'm not sleeping with him! Willow please," Buffy tried desperately to get to her but she would hear none of it.

"Don't, just stop. We trusted you Buffy. I trusted you." Willow regarded the other girl with hurt and anger in her soft features.

Buffy had tears streaming down her face. She couldn't have her friends hate her. She couldn't. "Willow please, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to, please." She was begging for her forgiveness.

Willow held up a hand to stop her. "I'll see you on Monday. Because I'm not like you, I'm going to tell the rest of them about this. Don't expect Cordy or Val tonight. And be prepared on Monday to give up your station and leave all of us alone." Without another word Willow left the house. She knew that she had overdone it. She out of all of them thought that the rivalry was stupid. But she was hurt that Buffy had not trusted her enough to tell her. She was aware that tomorrow, after she calmed down she would call her up and apologize. But she wasn't joking about making her give up her presidency. There was no way she could keep it if she was dating the rivaled school's president.

Buffy watched Willow's form leaving her room and broke down into tears. She never knew that she was even capable of being that cruel and un-understanding. Her sobs echoed throughout the room.

Angel hung up his end of the line, he had heard the entire thing. He grabbed his car keys and bolted out the door on his way to Buffy's house.

*************

Part twelve-

*Note* Ok, yes I know that Willow was out of character but no worries. It's a different world with different people and different acting of characters :) I promise that Willow will start to become more Willow-y.

Angel made his way to the back of the house and climbed through Buffy's bedroom window. He had seen her mother's car in the driveway and was sure that she wouldn't be too pleased about him coming by at 11:30.

As he entered the room, he spotted the small girl huddled against the far wall. Her tears were now moving in slow steady streaks down her face. She was looking at a picture and seemed to be oblivious to everything else except that. She didn't even notice Angel come in.

"Buffy," he moved over to her broken form and crouched down in front of her.

"This is sophomore year," she stated referring to the picture in her hand. Her voice was raspy from her earlier hysteric sobs. "We look so happy, no problems, no worries. Just best friends." The photograph was of her and Willow lying next to each other on Buffy's bed. They had food and make up and stuffed animals scattered all over the place from what had to be the remnants of a sleep over. Both girls had huge grins plastered on their young faces.

Angel brought a hand up and wiped away at the new set of tears. She tilted her head into his touch. Buffy didn't even wonder how Angel knew, she was too upset to care.

"I'm sure she'll come around, give it some time. She was upset and surprised and she lashed out. If she's your true friend, she'll stick by you." She was scaring him, she hardly even registered that he was there.

She laughed with bitterness thick in her throat. "She didn't do anything wrong, she was right. It's my fault. And now they all hate me. Because I'm dating you." At that she jumped back out of his grasp.

"Leave," she spat. 'What am I doing? He's the only one that still wants me and you're pushing him away. No, they all hate you because of him. One against a whole group of friends.'

"Buffy, don't do this." He begged. He never thought that she would blame it on him, though he knew it was his fault. If they hadn't gotten together in the first place, none of this would have happened.

"Don't do this?! I'm doing it Angel. There's this unspoken rule between us girls, you know what it is? That you never let a guy come between you and your friends. Guess what you are? The guy in-between my friends and I. This was all a mistake. We had no idea what we were getting in to." Her heart was telling her to shut up but her head wouldn't hear of it.

"We did think and we knew the consequences, but there's something between us that we couldn't control. Buffy, I've never felt like this before, I love you." His dark eyes bore into her hazel ones, searching for a sign of hope that she wouldn't do this. Wouldn't push him away.

Her heart did a little, ok a big flip flop at those words. Angel loved her. 'Angel loves me, he just said he loves me.' She allowed a shred of happiness to soak into her battered heart. Almost as soon as it came, she pushed it away.

"Did we really think Angel? We said we did, but I don't think that's right. And something between us? Please, you're just a boyfriend. A soon to be ex. I don't love you so just leave."

It felt like someone punched him in the stomach. He couldn't breath. "If that's the truth," his voice cracked as he forced the words out. "Then why are there still tears running down your cheeks. Why can't you look me in the eye and say that?"

Buffy kept her head down and forced her tears to stop. She raised her head and looked at him straight on. "I don't love you. Leave."

He was crushed. He ran out of her room so fast and continued to speed away in his car.

Buffy watched as the last sight of his car got engulfed by the darkness of night. She had just told the biggest lie of her life and pushed away the one person who had understood and loved her, all of her. Her knees gave way and she fell to the floor with a thud. This pain was worse then what Willow had caused. She'd known Willow for three years and yet this man who had been in her life for three weeks caused her more pain. 'Both cases, still my fault,' she reminded herself sourly.

*

Angel drove along the black roads with a mix of hurt and anger. He couldn't believe that he had thought she was different. She wasn't like all the other girls who just wanted a good looking body. He had opened up to Buffy in ways he hadn't to any other person. And she dumped him, like that. Saying that she didn't love him. He was so pissed off that a girl had made him into this wreck, a girl! At that moment he swore to never allow anyone close to him again. Oh, he'd date and all, but always and only at a distance. But he was still planning to date. In fact, he was going to go home and call up and ex-girlfriend by the name of Christine and get back together with her. His friends didn't know about Buffy, he didn't have the problem that she now had. They'd be happy that they had their real leader back.

************

Part thirteen-

Saturday-

Buffy woke up to sunshine streaming in through her window. She rolled over, pulling a pillow along with her to block the light. She hoped and prayed that all of it was a dream. That Willow didn't hate her along with the rest of her friends and that she didn't just break up with Angel. Of course, reality hit and she knew that it wasn't a dream, it was all very true. She got out from the safety of her covers and padded over to the bathroom. She winced as she saw her reflection, to say she looked like shit was a serious understatement. She savored the feeling of the cool water from the sink splashing over her worn features. All of her energy went to the feeling in her face instead of the feelings in her heart. After she had successfully woken up, she moved to the shower. The water was burning her skin but she didn't change the temperature. It was something that she couldn't explain, it hurt, like the rest of her.

After she had finished and changed into real clothes, she promptly went about cleaning her room. She couldn't sit still, she needed to do something, anything to take her mind off of the events that took place the day before.

There was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in," she didn't turn around, knowing that it would just be her mother asking her to do some chore or the other. But it wasn't.

"Buffy." Willow's voice carried over to the other working girl.

She stopped dead in her tracks, could she really take Willow screaming at her more? Telling her that she was a self-centered bitch? She turned around and faced her friend, or unfriend at this point.

"I'm sorry. About last night. It's just...you didn't even try to tell me, had no faith in me that I'd understand. Did you ever realize that I think the whole enemy thing is lame? You should have told me." She wasn't angry or upset, just hurt. She was calm though, she'd had a night to reflect and think about how many times Buffy had been a good friend and she couldn't lose her. To be stuck with Cordy and Val all the time, there was no way she'd survive. They were her friends, yeah of course, but she was never able to talk to them like she could talk to Buffy.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you. But put yourself in my position, no one really would accept it. I know that the rest of the gang hates me by now." She understood where Willow was coming from, now she was asking Willow to understand where she was coming from.

"I know. Last night, I didn't, I didn't think about it before I talked. But when I went home, I thought more about it and you're right, no one would accept it. I don't even fully accept it. But the gang doesn't hate you, because they don't know."

"What? Why? I thought you would have called them all by now." She couldn't believe this, she had a chance to make things right, the way they were supposed to be between her and her friends.

"I told Cordy and Val that you got food poising and that you were just going to sleep so don't come over. After I calmed down, I came to the conclusion that you should have the chance to tell them before I do."

"It doesn't matter, there's nothing to tell. Angel and I were a mistake. Whatever foolish relationship we had is a thing of the past." One problem at a time. She'd deal with getting over Angel after she dealt with winning back her friends.

"I'm happy about that. It was the right thing to do."

"Yeah," she agreed half heartedly.

"Buffy, I don't want to lose you as a friend. That's why I didn't tell everyone. I didn't want to make things worse then they already were. But as a friend, I'm telling you; they all know that something's up. You need to become our Buffy again. The Buffy who is a confident, smart, witty president and friend." She hoped to god that she had begun to get over Angel. If he wasn't dating her, there wasn't a problem. Even though Willow thought the rivalries between the two schools was childish, she couldn't ignore it. It was part of their school spirit, and tradition. You couldn't just stop playing pranks and competing. That's not the way it worked.

"You're looking at her. The pod Buffy of the last two weeks is gone." She pushed all feelings having to do with Angel to the depths of her soul to be forgotten at least for the time being. Right now, she needed to go out with her friends and get back into the game.

*

Christine had gone back with Angel without a second thought. All of them were at a bowling ally enjoying themselves, happy that the real Angel was back instead of the pansy substitute they'd been dealing with for the past two weeks or so.

Angel was currently nibbling on Christine's ear from her place in his lap. He couldn't help but think how wrong this was, there should be a blond in his lap as oppose to the present brunette. As quickly as the thought crossed his mind it was gone. This was right, this was the way things were supposed to be.

"So Angel, what's the next line of attack?" Zack was eagerly wanting to get back in business. They had wasted too much valuable time already.

"Didn't you say that Greg and sexy here were thinking of something?" Sexy was referring to Christine.

"Yes indeed, you are correct." Christine was a little to excited about this. Her eyes held mischief.

"Oh yeah, we have a plan." Greg grinned evilly and the two masterminds went about explaining the newest antic.

***************

Part fourteen-

Could he really do it? Could Angel really go and do what Christine and Greg had come up with? The answer two days of go would have been and easy no. Now, it was something that he could and would do.

Angel and his crew were planning to carry out this little prank the following weekend. They had a week to prepare everything.

During that week, Angel had completely gone back to normal. His friends hardly even noticed that he had been different for a while. In fact, Angel was more aggressive towards Rosemont then he had ever been before. A newfound hate for the other school.

While Angel has slipped easily into his former self, Buffy had not. She was going out with her friends, and they were planning pranks, but she wasn't really there. Her heart wasn't in it. She hid it well though, merely put on another facade. Willow was the only one who expected something, she saw through her. She knew that Buffy was upset about Angel.

"Well she really fell for the wrong person," Willow mumbled. Yet as frustrated as she was about the matter, she could see that Buffy was hurting. The fact that she was also a hopeless romantic just helped with her trying to find a way that just maybe this relationship could work. The other's wouldn't accept it, she was sure of it. And she was also positive that Angel's friends wouldn't be too happy. She highly doubted that they knew.

"Buffy," Willow grabbed her arm and pulled her outside of Ocean's night club.

"Willow, what are you doing?" She was really not in the mood to go through girl talk right now.

"Look, I don't like this thing with Angel but-"

Buffy cut her off as soon as "Angel" was mentioned. "There isn't a thing with Angel. That's over."

"You know you're not over him," the red head said softly.

Buffy didn't argue.

"Now back to what I was saying. I don't like it but he must be a really good guy deep down because you like him so much. I generally trust your judgement on guys. Point being, this is getting ridiculous. The Buffy with Angel is better then the Buffy after Angel."

"Give me time, I'll get over him."

"I think you need to talk with him, or something. I'm worried about you."

"I don't want to talk to him and I don't want to talk about him. It was a mistake that I'm not going to repeat." Buffy's voice had gotten cold and harsh. She didn't wait for any response from Willow, simply turning and re-entering the night club. She couldn't talk about him. Not paying attention, she ran into a figure who was on their way out.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, no. It was my fault." Christine replied.

"Hey aren't you Buffy?" she asked.

"Yeah. Have we met?" The girl didn't look familiar.

"No, I'm Christy. I'm new to Rosemont."

"Welcome! How do you like it so far?" Buffy asked cheerily, smoothly gilding into class president mode.

"I totally love it. But I'm so screwed for tomorrow." Christine prayed that she would buy this. She seemed pretty dense, things were looking up.

"Why?"

"I have this AP Bio homework that's already late and I left it in my locker. I can't get credit if I don't turn it into Mr. Edwards' box by 7:30 tomorrow morning."

"That's not a problem. Isn't your locker in Griffiths Hall?" All seniors had lockers there and they were outside so you were able to reach them all the time.

"No, because I'm new. My locker's in Alexander." Christine hoped beyond hope that that was the right name.

"Hmm, well, I'm not supposed to do this but I have the keys to the main buildings."

Buffy thought about this, should she do this?

"Really how come?" She played dumb, pretending that she didn't know the reason.

"It's because I'm the senior class president. Sometimes the staff and faculty and all that have meetings on Saturdays or something and I need to be able to get in."

"Wow, that's a plus. Are you sure this is ok?"

"Yeah. I'm not supposed to but I know how you feel. The same thing has happened to me various times."

"God, thank you *so* much!" Christine fought hard not to laugh. Jesus this girl was gullible.

"Do you have a car? I'll have to go with you 'cause I don't have one."

"Yeah, it's out in the parking lot."

"Ok, I'll meet you there. Let me go tell my friends where I'm going. I'll be there in a sec."

"Ok, thanks. This will save my life." Christine turned and finally allowed a vicious grin to appear on her face.

**************

Part fifteen-

Christine and Buffy pulled up to the pitch black campus. It was unusual, there were supposed to be lights on at night.

"That's strange. I wonder why the lights are out." Buffy commented. It didn't really matter, the moon was light enough to at least see what direction you were going and she knew the school like the back at her hand.

"Maybe there was a power outage," Christine suggested innocently. Of course she knew why the lights were out. They were out so Buffy wouldn't be able to see well.

"Whatever, I don't care. Come on. I need to get home soon." Buffy started to head off in the direction of Alexander.

Christine followed closely behind. They were crossing the field when suddenly, something flew right into Buffy. It was a water balloon. A very cold water balloon.

"What the fuck?" Who threw that one, and two, a water balloon? 'Oh I'm so scared.' She thought.

"Ooops, sorry Buff. I guess I kinda... sorta...yeah... pretty much lied to ya." Christine said as she faced Buffy. Zack and Greg grabbed her two arms and half lifted, half dragged her over to a light post.

"What the hell is going on?!" She couldn't believe this. Screw her over on her own turf? That was dirty.

"Well see, we haven't really been up to par with our pranks lately. So...we figured today was a good time to get you back." Christine pulled out a placed bag from behind one of the portable classrooms. She opened it and started distributing items among her group.

Buffy couldn't see what the contents were. The moon wasn't quite that bright. But she wasn't exactly heart broken that she couldn't see them. She had a feeling that she might like it more if she didn't know. Kelly unscrewed something and threw it on her. Buffy screamed, from shock and pain. It was coffee, very, very hot coffee. She couldn't move away, her hands were tied behind the lamp post. She was about to scream again and hope that one of the near by residents would come over. Before she had a chance they shoved a rag in her mouth and tied it tightly behind her head.

Greg started to throw ice at her. Hard. Even though no one could see it, her skin was red from the coffee burning her and from where the ice was pelting her skin. No one talked, they didn't need to. This was good enough for the attackers. Seeing her not be able to do anything and everyone knowing that this was just the beginning. The group knew that she would be left here and not found until the morning. The ultimate humiliation. Being screwed over and displayed at your own school. At least they had been kind enough to do this on a Saturday. They figured that to let her classmates along with the janitors find her, it would be just way to harsh. Everyone but Christine had agreed to do it tonight as oppose to tomorrow. Christine had lobbied for the crueler sick joke but she had been overruled by everyone.

The group continued to get Buffy filthy with everything imaginable- they put glue in her hair, jam, bad milk, stinky herbs, old tuna, all of it was disgusting. Angel appeared out of the darkness. He didn't do anything to her except look. Through the dark Buffy could see the pain and anger in his eyes.

He watched on as his friends continued to mutilate her. Christine had taken out numerous things, all of them vile. The worst being dog shit which they had spread all over her. All the while laughing the entire time. Earlier in this charade they had stripped her down to her bra and panties so there were repulsive things all over her. She kept her face down, not wanting them to see that they were winning, that she was crying. She shivered from the fridgid air, some of the things on her helping to promote the cold.

"Looks like you finally got what was coming to you Buff." Christine said. She pulled her head back by her hair and slapped her fiercely across the face. Buffy screamed but it was caught by the gag. More tears fell down her face. From her being so gullible, for her not having one of her friends come with her, for the pain, for the humiliation, and for the fact that Angel was the one doing this to her.

Christine laughed and hit her again. Angel winced but didn't interfere. Christine then kneed her in the stomach. It caused Buffy to fall to the ground, gasping for breath that she couldn't get because of the rag in her mouth. Her face was being rubbed in the dirt, she turned her head towards the earth so she wouldn't have to see them. Christine kicked her again, harder this time. Buffy tasted blood in her mouth and fought to breath. She curled in on herself and just lied there.

Angel watched as his girlfriend beat the girl that he still loved. He didn't do anything, every time he was about to he stopped, remembering what she had said to him a couple weeks before. Yet he still breathed a sigh of relief as Christine turned and walked away. Relief turned to fear as she returned with a baseball bat. She raised it up and brought it down, only to be caught by Angel's hand.

"That's enough."

"Angel get out of my way. You won't get in trouble, if I want to I can. Now get out of my way.

"I said that's enough. I won't let you do anymore. Go home."

"No. I want to hurt the bitch that took you away from me."

Angel didn't say anything, his features reflected pure shock. How did she know?

"Yeah, that's right Angel. I know that you and little miss slut were tramping around town for a couple weeks."

"Don't call her that."

"What? A slut? Why not. I can call her whatever the hell I want to call her. Now get out of my way."

"Greg, Zack. Take her home. Kelly too. I'll meet up with you guys tomorrow. I'll explain everything, I swear. Just please get this psycho out of my face and don't listen to anything she says." He knew they would listen to him. They were smart enough to know when enough was enough. They had done their thing to Buffy now it was time to leave her alone.

Buffy watched as Angel's friends started to leave, Christine throwing back harsh words at both her and Angel.

Angel walked over to her battered form and kneeled down. He reached out a hand to brush some of the hair out off her face but she winced and shied away. All the hate he had built up about her crumbled then and his heart broke as he finally took in her appearance. She was hardly recognizable. And now she really would hate him forever. Hate him or not, he had to help her. She had a lot of cuts and bruises that needed attention. He was pretty sure she didn't need to go to a hospital, he hadn't let it get that far.

Angel untied her from the post and took the gag out of her mouth. She tried to talk but she couldn't make a single sound.

"Shh. Don't talk. God I'm so sorry Buffy. I'm not going to hurt you anymore, I'm so sorry." He had tears in his eyes from the realization of what he had just done. What he had just witnessed and not done anything about. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shaking form before picking her up and driving her to his house. He could go through his own entrance and it was too late for his parents to be up. He had to at least help her get functional again before she ran as far away from him as possible. He couldn't take her to her house though, not like this.

**************

Part Sixteen-

Angel quietly opened the door to his room, the last thing he needed was for his mom to come down and ask why he was coming in so late. Both of his parents were pretty deep sleepers, thank the lord.

Buffy had been slipping in and out of consciousness; at the moment, unconscious. Angel carried her into the bathroom where he removed his jacket and placed her into the bathtub. He started the water and began to gently wash away all the nasty things that covered her. He was careful to not irritate her cuts, paying special attention to them. He tried not to focus on the fact that the woman he loved was lying bruised and broken before his eyes, because of him. The guilt would never leave him. Angel was pretty good about not feeling guilty on a lot of things, this wasn't one of them. He would never forgive himself.

He hadn't removed her undergarments, not wanting to invade her privacy more then he already was. After he had thoroughly cleaned her, washed hair included, he dried her off and put her into one of his oversized shirts. At least for her it was. He cautiously placed her on his bed, afraid that he would break her as if she were glass. He hesitated, he wanted to go get some neosporin, band aids, and ice, but was afraid if she woke up, she'd freak out. She'd never been to his house and she would probably be at least a tad bit out of it. After a minute of debating, he decided to leave but to make it quick. He really wanted some ice for her bruises.

He came back to see that she was still sleeping and breathed a sigh of relief. He first attended her cuts, none of which were too big. He then lifted up her (well, actually it was his) shirt and gasped as he saw the bruises along her rib cage. It had just been starting to bruise when he was cleaning her up but he hadn't expected it to get this bad this fast. There were two especially bad areas that were a mass of blues and purples. Another pang of guilt shot through him. He placed one of the ice bags carefully onto a tender spot. He brought the other one up and softly placed it on her left cheek, where Christine had slapped her. There wasn't a bruise, Angel doubted that there would be. Christine couldn't really hit that hard. But where Christine had hit her had left the area inflamed a bit and was probably sore, along with the rest of her body.

His eyes filled with unshed tears as he once again took in the condition that she was in. What was wrong with him? How could he have just stood there and watched as they hurt her?

Buffy's eyes started to flutter. The first thing she felt was a hand touching her cheek, then pain, lots and lots of pain, then cold on two places. She opened her eyes to be greeted by a very distraught looking Angel. She smiled, why was he here? Where was here? In a flash she remembered the past weeks. Her harsh words, Christine, what had happened an hour ago, she remembered it all. She remembered that he had been a big part of all that pain. She flung away from his touch as if it burned her.

"Where the hell am I?" The aftermath of her jumping up so rapidly hit her and she faltered a bit as pain over swept her tiny body.

"You're at my house. You blacked out a while ago." He didn't meet her eyes, kept his head down and his voice low; for two reasons, one he was ashamed, and two, his parents were still right upstairs.

"Why did you bring me here?" Her voice was harsh but not loud, she didn't have the strength to make it so.

"I...I couldn't just leave you like that. You needed help."

"Oh and didn't you help me by watching as your girlfriend beat the crap out of me." She spat angrily. Tears were falling down her silky cheeks, emotional pain, as much if not more then the physical, assaulting her.

"You loved me? Oh yeah, remind me to never let you show me how much," she said, motioning to her battered body. "You are not the person I thought you were. You're not the person I fell in love with, you're a monster. A. Sick. Fuck." Her voice was unrecognizable, so much pain and hatred embedded into it. She turned around as fast as her legs would allow and started towards the door.

Angel had not said a word to her, hadn't looked at her once. Just took it in, knowing that he deserved it and much worse. But the last sentence had sparked something in him. He jumped up and grabbed her arm, forcing her around.

"I'm a monster? So maybe I am. But you know who made me that monster? Huh? Do you know Buffy? It was YOU. You're the one who turned me into the sick fuck to begin with so you really just brought this upon yourself." Anger had taken over him. He knew his words were partly true, but it was mostly an excuse. He was trying to make an excuse for an incident that was plainly inexcusable.

"My fault? How the hell do you figure that it's my fault?" She couldn't believe he was saying this.

"Yes, yes Buffy it is. I turned into someone else a little while ago. I turned into this cold, twisted person. Gee, can you guess when the exact day was that that happened?" He paused for a moment, letting his point sink in. He didn't need to say it, it was obvious. "I loved you so much, I didn't think it was possible to feel that way about anyone. But I felt it about you. And all you did was squash me and hurt me until I thought I was going to die. You killed me that day Buffy, you turned me into that person."

She looked down, knowing that he had a point, but it was only a point. He wasn't right. There was no excuse for what he had just done to her. And she had her own reasons for that day that he didn't even try to understand.

"God! Well sorry if I'm a normal person. Sorry if when I get hurt I lash out and tell lies. Sorry if I can't handle everything. Sorry that I'm not capable of holding myself together all the time. Christ Angel! I made a mistake, I'm sorry. So sorry, I'm not fucking perfect!" That was her last strand, she didn't have much energy to begin with, and now what she had was gone. She slumped to the ground, broken yet again. Her body shook with uncontrollable sobs.

All of the heated anger that was coursing through him dissipated when she fell. Always hurting. She was always hurting. Recently seeming to be hurting because of him.

He crouched down in front of her and hesitantly moved a hand to stroke her face. For a moment, she did nothing; but there was nothing left in her to fight him away. She fell into his arms and cried into his shoulder. Not comprehending that she was crying because of him to him, she didn't care. They stayed like that for a while; Buffy clutching Angel like her only lifeline and sobbing into him, Angel holding her and shedding tears himself. How had they managed to hurt each other so much? How had they managed to get involved? Two simple questions that neither knew the answer to.

*****************

Part Seventeen-

Buffy's sobs had quieted but she hadn't left Angel's embrace. She still clung to him as tightly as before.

Angel tried to pull away. This was wrong, he didn't deserve her. Not then and especially not now. What she and he both knew was correct, he had done an act that was unforgivable, no matter which way you looked at it.

She whimpered pathetically against him. "Please, just hold me," she whispered.

He wanted to, he wanted to more then anything, but her pulled away from here more forcefully. "You're ok now. I'll drive you home."

"What? But... I thought..." She was confused. She was mad at him, but then she wasn't. She hated him, but then she loved him too. She thought that Angel would still want to be with her.

"You thought what? That we could just get together? It doesn't work like that Buffy. The problems that were there at the beginning of this are still there and standing strong. More then ever now. We've both seen how it wouldn't, couldn't, and won't work. And after tonight, there's no way."

"No, we can start over. Please Angel, you're the only person who's ever understood me. I can't lose you again. I tried life without you and I hated it." No longer were her tears dormant; they were just as heavy as before; large drops making their way down her flushed cheeks.

"It's not that simple."

"Too bad, I'm making it that simple." Her voice was pathetic, hoping, pleading with him.

"How can you be saying this? Do you not remember everything that's happened? How naive we were? We thought we could make it work, we were wrong."

"Of course I remember everything! I'm not stupid Angel. I can think, I know all the things working against us. For gods sake look at me! You think that I don't remember? But you don't seem to be getting my point, I don't care."

"I do."

"I can't believe this. What is it that you care about? You're friends? What they thing about you? Christine? You don't love me anymore, do you? I guess I screwed that chance over weeks ago."

"Buffy, I love you, more then anything in the world, but that doesn't change anything. What I did.... nothing can ever take that back. The reason I care so much is because I don't want you to get hurt again. I won't take that risk."

"I will. Angel, I do love you. And I don't care about my friends anymore, if they're my real friends they'll stick by me. And I don't care about my reputation, I've lived without it before, I can live without it again. I care about you."

"Why? All I've done is hurt you. You should be with someone who won't jeopardize your friendships and that reputation. It doesn't matter what you say Buffy, I know that those two things mean a lot to you."

She was silent for a moment. He was right, they did mean a lot to her, almost more then anything. But he meant more. "Why do I love you? Why after all the hurt that I've gone through regarding you? I don't know. There's no answer. But I love you. And if that isn't enough for you to not want to be with me then I don't know what is." She brought her legs up to her chest and curled in on herself. Trying to regain her composure but having no luck. She'd never felt this low and scared in her life, not even in San Fran.

He didn't say anything, didn't do anything. Simply stared at her. He loved her, he knew that, she knew that, but he didn't know if that was enough. He was using logic, which, he rarely did. Pain flowed through him yet again as he took in her shattered appearance. But he still couldn't bring himself to go to her. He couldn't do it. He wanted to, so badly; wanted to go and take her into his arms and kiss her and promise that he'd never leave her, that he loved her so much, but there was a force in the form of his conscience which was talking loud and strong on why this relationship was and always would be a mistake. They'd only end up getting hurt again. He didn't want her to have to endure anything more then she already had.

Buffy closed her eyes tightly and took in a deep breath. That was his answer, fine. She could live without him, despite how much she didn't want to. She stood up and walked over to the door.

He started to speak, offer to drive her home.

"Don't. I'll be fine. I can catch a cab."

"Buffy, you're.."

"Just stop. I'll be fine." She turned away from him and vowed to not look back.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

Angel watched her form disappear into the night, but not before he was sure that she'd made it safely into a taxi. He sighed in defeat and frustration. A shaky hand ran through his hair. Was he doing the right thing? Should he use his head and not his heart? He didn't know anymore. He hated having a conscience, hated thinking. He missed being five. But then, when he was five, he wasn't capable of loving someone in the way that he loved Buffy Summers. The girl who had just walked out of his life, possibly forever.

*****************

Part eighteen-

Buffy looked into the mirror at her fading bruises. She'd managed to pretty much avoid everyone for the past three days, easily faking sick so she wouldn't have to go to school. With lots of make-up and a dark room, she'd avoided her mother seeing her battered body.

She had been talking with her friends on the phone but refused to let them come to visit. Simply saying that she was too sick, she didn't want them to catch it. She figured that by tomorrow the bruises would be faded enough so that she could just cover them with some foundation and she'd be fine. The worst of them were on her rib cage and she wasn't exactly planning on wearing any midriff tops or bikini's to school anyway.

She hadn't told Willow what had happened. And she still didn't let Willow tell them about her and Angel being a couple all those weeks ago. She didn't want her or any of her friends to hate Angel. In case...in case he wanted to be with her. Her eyes started to water for the hundredth time. Three days. Not a word. She'd turn into a moopy pathetic mess. She wished that she hated him, that she didn't love him. But she couldn't.

"Come on girl, pull yourself together." Great. Now she was talking to her own reflection. She bent down and splashed cold water over her face several times. The last thing she needed was to go back to school tomorrow with puffy eyes. Yeah, that would be completely unobvious. She had been a wonderful actress, nobody expected anything but her being sick.

Willow had dropped the issue of talking with Angel. Being satisfied that Buffy was acting fairly normal. Buffy knew that the only reason she'd been able to fool her was because they'd talked on the phone. Willow couldn't see her.

She took in a deep breath and started to think like a normal person again. She was sick of this. She wasn't going to turn into a pathetic mess pinning for some high school sweetheart. There were plenty of other fish in the sea. Right? Right or wrong, she was pushing Angel out of her mind as best she could. She was going to be like she was before Angel, before Will. Independent. She didn't need a guy to survive. She could live without Angel's love. She could, really. At least, that's what she told herself.

***

Angel sat in AP Bio, not paying any attention whatsoever. His mind was elsewhere, like it had been for the past...since he met Buffy. Christine had been arrested. The cops found her tramping around L.A. with a gun acting insane. He couldn't believe that he had gone out with her for such a long time at not realized that she was so unstable. It turned out though that a month before, her father had run out on her and her mom with some 25 year old co-worker. That's when she apparently started to get really bad.

Angel had explained to all of his friends the relationship he'd had with Buffy. He told them pretty much everything, except the things that were too personal or an invasion of her privacy. And he told them about how she walked out without him stopping her. He wasn't planning on telling them the whole story, but surprisingly they had been much more understanding then he'd expected. All of them agreed that all this new information explained a lot. While they were unhappy about it, they did, after some time, come around. They all did wish though that he had fallen for someone from another school. Any other school. Why did it have to be the class president of Rosemont? His friends expressed their hurt and anger that he hadn't told them. He took it all willingly. They also said that while they didn't exactly approve of the couple, it sounded like she was a nice girl once you got to know her. They warned him that it would be really hard to keep it working and that it was probably better that he did what he did. And that was that. His friends didn't hate him. He wished he could say that some of the pressure was off but that wasn't the case. He hadn't cared at all one way or the other whether or not his friends were still his friends. It didn't matter to him that much. He was a guy, all of his friends were always at some sort of distance. He'd known them for years and yet Buffy, the girl he'd known for two months, knew more about him.

He let out a breath in frustration. What was he supposed to do? Go back and beg her forgiveness? Everything was working against them, was there anything working for them? Love? Would he regret this for the rest of his life that he didn't get the girl of his dreams? He was positive that he would. But would that be making him selfish? She claimed that she wanted to be with him but he was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Lucky her. Had she really been thinking clearly? Was she thinking as far ahead into the future as he was? He didn't know. He thought that she hadn't had a clear head when she told him that she wanted to be with him. At the same time, he argued, she was big girl who could think for herself. He wanted to punch something, this was too hard. Why did it have to be so hard? He stopped thinking about and tried to pay attention to Mr. Weinberg; a hopeless cause.

**

Buffy sat in front of the TV, growling in frustration. The only shows that were on seemed to be all the lovey dovey sweetsy stuff you could imagine. Nope, the one time that she didn't want that sap, the time that she wanted blood and gore, and of course, all that was on were dozens and dozens of couples. She turned it off and headed up to her bed. Maybe she'd have some happy dream. It was one of those times when sleep was something she looked forward to. It was when she could get out of the world that hated her. She went to the bathroom and changed clothes, washed face, brushed her teeth, the normal routine. As she walked into her room she noticed a beautifully wrapped package placed on her bed. She didn't dare get her hopes up for anything, it could easily be a prank. It wasn't from Angel, there was no proof of that. She sat down and lifted the present onto her lap. There was no card so she went about carefully unwrapping the gift...or prank. The paper fell away to reveal a stark white box. She opened that only to find another smaller jewelry box, this one blue. Buffy gasped as she opened it. Inside lay a gold heart necklace with a single diamond in it's center. On the back the word always was inscribed in flowing cursive. She was so busy admiring the necklace that she didn't even notice that someone was standing in her room until they moved over and was right in front of her. When she looked up, she couldn't say anything. She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't a dream, that Angel was standing her in front of her.

He kneeled down so he was eye level with her and took her small hands into his. She started to say something but he cut her off.

"Let me talk, please?" His voice was quiet, scared, unsure.

She nodded slightly.

"I made a mistake. I'm sorry, for everything I've put you through, for everything I've done to you. I was a jerk and I didn't try to understand... And then I just thought that you weren't seeing the problems that I was. I was treating you unfairly."

"Ang-" she was cut off again.

"No, let me say this. Buffy, I wasn't willing to risk you getting hurt again. I still don't want to, but that's not my choice, it's yours. I love you so much and the fact that you wanted me was unimaginable. I couldn't believe that you could still have feelings for such a horrible person. I don't deserve you."

"If we do this, there will be a lot of problems, probably a lot of hurt. But I realized that the one thing I want most is to try again...that is, if you still want to. I don't ever want to lose you, I hope that I haven't already." He kept his eyes down, not wanting to see her reaction; he was prepared to say a final goodbye.

"You haven't." She put her hand on his cheek and brought his gaze to hers. She used her other hand to wipe away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

"I..I'm sorry too. I said a lot of things that I didn't mean. And I didn't handle things as well as I should have. Angel, you're not a bad person. You made a bad mistake, everyone makes mistakes. It doesn't matter to me. Believe it when I say that I want to be with you. I do. You filled a hole in my entire being that I didn't even know was missing."

"I know what you mean," he said sincerely. He moved up to the bed where he took her in his arms. She burrowed her face in his neck and wrapped her arms tightly around him. It was a feeling that she'd thought she would never experience again.

He felt the same way, couldn't believe that still yet, she took him back.

"Stay with me," she begged.

He bent his head down and softly placed a kiss on her golden hair. "Always."

Ok, how about for x-mas all you guys send me feedback? Come on, please!!! It's the last time for this story, no more. Just this time, please please please please! Tell me what you thought of it, did it get crappy, did it stay good, was it never good...tell me! It will help make me happier from that napster incedent.

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