Part Two
Willow stared at the computer screen in front of her but did not
see the
information that was displayed on it. Instead, she saw a
quiet pond, a young
woman, and a man with the face of youth. Her ears did not
hear the
instructions of the teacher. Instead, she heard the soft
murmur of voices, a
murmur punctuated not only by tears, but also by laughter.
Laughter. She hadn’t thought she’d be able to laugh.
Her heart's pain had
seemed too great to allow for joy. Angel’s suggestion of
remembering the joy
of being friends with the love of your life had worked. The
pain wasn’t gone,
nor was it any less, but it was a little easier to handle.
“Who would’ve thought a vampire would know about the pain of the
heart,” she
murmured to herself as her hands idly moved over the keyboard.
Willow smiled gently as she thought of the previous night.
She and Angel had
spent almost the entire night either talking or just sitting quietly
on the
park bench. Just before the sun had risen, they made a mad
dash for shelter.
Angel’s shelter: his apartment. He had invited her to come
back to his
apartment that night so they could talk some more and she had decided
to do
so.
She was going to spend the night with a vampire! The sound
of that statement
caused Willow to giggle. “Spend the night! What a suggestive
thought.” Her
giggles escalated to a full-blown laugh.
“Excuse me, Ms. Rosenberg, but would you care to share the joke
with the rest
of the class?” Ms. Calendar, the computer teacher, asked
in her best Giles
imitation.
Willow looked at her and thought then simply said, “Nope,” and returned
to her
work.
Nonplussed Ms. Calendar walked back to her desk. She sat down
and stared at
Willow. The girl’s behavior had her confused and worried.
Willow was not
behaving like herself. Ms. Calendar decided to talk to Giles
about Willow’s
behavior later. The whole group was meeting in the library
at 7:00 p.m. to
discuss the current vampire situation. If she got there half
an hour early
she could talk to Giles about Willow without the others eavesdropping.
Ms.
Calendar nodded her head decisively then got back to her own work.
*****
Giles looked up at the sound of the library door opening.
As his head moved
he spoke, “Good, Willow, you’re finally…” His voice trailed off
when he saw
that his visitor was Jenny Calendar and not the young hacker.
“Oh, it’s
you.”
“Yes, Rupert, it’s me. Since you brought her name up maybe
you could tell me
what has got her so distracted?” Ms. Calendar asked looking at
the librarian
in annoyance.
“Distracted, hmmm. I’m afraid I don’t know what’s wrong.
But something must
be wrong. She was supposed to be here a half an hour ago
to get some
information from that awful machine for me. She has yet to
show up.” A look
of inspiration suddenly lit his eyes and he started to wander away,
“Hmmm, I
wonder…”
“You wonder… you wonder what, Rupert? Do you know what’s wrong
with Willow?”
Jenny cried.
“Hmmm,” Giles looked at Jenny and said, “No, not Willow, something
else. Ta,”
then he walked off into the stacks.
“Ta! Ta! Oh, that insufferable man,” she growled as
she sat in a chair and
waited for everyone to get to the library.
When Xander and Buffy walked in she suddenly realized what was wrong
with
Willow. Willow was feeling like a fifth wheel. She
watched and listened as
Buffy and Xander walked into the room together, hand in hand.
They were both
practically glowing and they wore ridiculous grins. They
were talking at the
same time but they weren’t really listening to one another.
The words they
spoke were mirrors. What one said the other had already said
or was just
about to say. They spoke of love, the wonder of being in
love, and the
perfection of the one they were in love with. They were too
sappy for words
with their actions of newfound love.
“Poor Willow,” Jenny murmured. “She must be devastated.
Xander has a
girlfriend and it's Buffy. She has no one to turn to for
consolation. I’ll
talk to Willow after the meeting. She needs a friend right
now and I can fill
the job.”
Jenny’s plans were ruined though. Willow never showed up for
the meeting and
only Giles and Ms. Calendar noticed. Buffy and Xander were
too busy thinking
about other ‘things’ to notice anything that happened at the meeting.
As soon
as they all finished talking about the activities of the vampires,
Buffy and
Xander practically ran out of the library. The two were very
eager to spend
some time alone together. They never even noticed the absence
of Willow.
“Do you think you could talk to Willow, Jenny? I think she
needs a friend,”
Giles asked quietly, his worry evident on his face.
“I’d planned to but she didn’t show up so I’ll try to catch her
after class
tomorrow. Bye, Rupert.” Jenny left the library; her
shoulders weighed down
by her worry for a favorite student.
End Part Two