Author's Note: Well, you knew it had to happen sooner or later: Kantayra finally writes an AU. Yeah, I'm pretty freaked that I'll completely blow it, but hopefully it'll work well. I decided to use a college setting because 1) Nearly all AU fics are high school, even though Buffy and Spike really didn't know each other that well until her college years (go figure), and 2) The few college stories that I have read have a very 'high school' feel to them. Given that I'm in my last year of college, hopefully I know what I'm talking about here. ~_^ But this does mean that this story will be much more character focused and based on 'real life' than my previous stories. It will feature many adult themes - both of the good and the bad - so be warned. My final note, especially in the earlier chapters I borrow from the BtVS movie which is rare enough in fanfictiondom that I felt I should just give you a little head's up. So enjoy and please have patience! It make take a while to get to the Spuffiness we all know and love, but it looks to me like it's going to be a great ride... ~Kantayra

Summary: AU; everyone's human. All her life Elizabeth has done exactly what everyone expects of her. Now in her first year of college, she discovers the vast possibilities in life. But can she escape the ghosts of her past and find the courage to explore the new paths before her... including the affections of an infuriating young sophomore named William 'Spike' Giles?

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the BtVS characters. All suspiciously familiar themes and names belong to Joss Whedon and his many associates. In addition, the themes I borrow from the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer also belong to Joss. The 'AU story' is also not mine, nor is the idea of making Giles Spike's father. I have no idea who started either of these ideas, but I'll give them the credit they so richly deserve anyway. Also, to my knowledge the College of New York, Shady Glen, the Delta Phi fraternity, and the Tri Xi sorority do not exist. If they do, my depictions are not meant to represent the actual locations/organizations. I think that should cover just about everything. ~_^

Prologue

Buffy sat on the beach, enjoying the last of the sun’s rays. She loved this time of day. The setting sun lit up the horizon, creating a prism of reds, oranges, purples, and blues that scattered throughout the sky and reflected off the ocean beneath it. But what she loved most about dusk was that one moment when the sun’s light faded and the world was bathed in a deep, beautiful blue...

“—At least, that’s what I heard,” Madison stated with a snap of her gum. “Whatta you think, Buffy?”

“Huh?” Buffy’s attention turned back to the circle of her friends that had been sunbathing on the beach beside her.

“Darla? Pregnant?” Madison demanded.

“Darla’s pregnant?” Buffy said in disbelief.

“That’s the rumor anyway,” Candy said excitedly. “She wasn’t at graduation, you know, and no one’s seen her in weeks.”

“If no one’s seen her,” Missy retorted, “it’s undoubtedly because Daddy had her rushed off to get an abortion.”

Madison rolled her eyes. “It’d be just like Darla to get knocked up at eighteen,” she said, carefully examining her nails and pulling out her file when she discovered an imperfection. “I mean, she is such a slut!”

“I totally heard that she blew the entire basketball team at the Homecoming party last year,” Candy said conspiratorially. “You ask me, she was just begging for it.”

“And rumor had it that you boinked the chess team,” Buffy retorted, “so I guess that must be true, too.”

Candy’s jaw hung open.

“Ooh, busted!” Missy laughed at her friend’s distress.

“Jeez,” Candy replied, offended, “I was just talking about Darla. There’s no reason to go all bitchy on me...”

“I think it’s funny,” Madison went on. “Chubby Darla gets even fatter.” She laughed at what she perceived as her own wittiness.

“Do we even know that she’s really pregnant?” Buffy demanded skeptically.

Madison shrugged. “Why else would she miss the last two weeks of school? And graduation?”

“She wasn’t even at prom,” Candy pointed out.

“Maybe she was sick,” Buffy suggested.

“VD,” Missy said in delight. “Now there’s one for the old rumor mill...”

“No, I just meant...” Buffy let out a little sigh of exasperation. “Who do they say the father is?” she finally asked.

“Who do you think?” Madison retorted.

Buffy’s eyes widened and she pulled back as if she’d been slapped. “Y-You don’t think...?” she began, gulping slightly. Suddenly, she felt very cold. She wrapped her spare towel around her shoulders and moved to pull her sweatpants up over her suit.

“Oh, grow up, Buffy!” Madison said in annoyance. “So Angel dumped you. You don’t have to freak out every time he gets mentioned.”

“I’m not freaking out,” Buffy insisted, pulling on her sweatshirt as well. “It’s just that the sun’s set, and it’s cold and—”

“—I still have some packing to do,” Buffy snapped out of her daze, snatching up her towel to go.

“But you’ll miss the last night beach party!” Candy protested. “One last night to party down before we all have to go to stupid college...”

“Yeah, well,” Buffy said primly, “I can party once I get to ‘stupid college’.” With that, she walked off into the night.

“What’s her damage, anyway?” Madison demanded.

“She’s just mad because Angel found out what a stuck-up little brat she is and dumped her on her ass,” Missy answered just loudly enough that Buffy could still hear her.

I don’t care what they think; I don’t care what they think; I don’t care what they think, Buffy repeated her mantra over and over again. Soon none of this will matter anymore... No matter what she told herself, the tears will still streaming down her eyes, however.

She suddenly found that her feet weren’t taking her home like she intended, but rather were leading her down a familiar side street to the skirts of town. It was dark by the time she reached the graveyard.

She who hangs out in cemeteries, Buffy couldn’t help but remember. She winced at the childhood nickname, but in a way it was true. This was where she came to get away from the world...

She wove her way between the stone crosses with ease, the path to the grave she sought well known. She climbed the small hill and froze when she reached the top. The small mausoleum stood out as a black outline against the midnight blue sky. The mausoleum wasn’t why she was here, though.

She walked around the small structure to see the one cross that called out to her personally. Quietly, she went over to it, settling herself down beside it and looking at the view before her.

“Hello, Mom,” she finally said in a quiet voice, not wanting to disturb the sacred hush that always shrouded this place. “I just wanted to let you know,” she began slowly, “that I’ll be going away tomorrow. Me in college? Can you believe it?”

She sat for a minute or two, not speaking but just enjoying the silence.

“So,” I won’t be coming by for a while since I’ll be, y’know, on the other side of the country,” she finally continued. “I just wanted to let you know,” she repeated for emphasis.

The grave didn’t respond.

Buffy sat for a little while longer, looking up at the sky. Her mother’s grave faced east, so it was always cold at dusk. Buffy often wondered if her mother missed seeing the sunset. As she looked now, the horizon was pitch black.

Slowly, she rose to her feet and made her way home. This was it. After tonight, Sunnydale could be as distant a memory as she wanted it to be. She still felt slightly giddy at the thought that she’d finally be escaping this hellhole. She couldn’t think of anything she’d miss, except maybe this – coming to her mother’s grave.

But tomorrow everything changed. By the end of the day, she’d be almost three thousand miles away.

And the Buffy Summers she knew would be no more...

Chapter One

Bu-Not, not Buffy! she chided herself. Not anymore...

Elizabeth Anne Summers stepped from the bus into the small town of Shady Glen. Behind her, the bus driver unloaded her two huge trunks from the bus’ storage compartment. She gave him a grateful little smile and looked around. It was very...small. And kind of old-looking, although not in a bad, dilapidated way.

She heard the bus’ engine start up again behind her and watched it drive away. A sudden feeling of panic spread over her. Wasn’t someone supposed to be here to meet her? And, if they didn’t come, how was she going to find her dorm? She knew absolutely nothing about this town, and it was nine o’clock at night here, and—

As if to reassure all her fears, at that moment the doors to the bus station burst inward, and a petite red-headed woman ran inside, a sign with the name ‘Elizabeth’ written in bold, precise letters slung over her shoulder. She saw the bus riding off and turned to Elizabeth.

“Please tell me you’re Elizabeth Summers,” she said, still panting.

“That’s me,” Elizabeth agreed with a wide smile.

“Hi,” the redhead gave her a little finger wave, still panting. “My name is...pant...Willow Rosenberg...gasp...I’m your...gulp...roommate. I’m the one who...pant...e-mailed you.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed, “I kinda recognized you from your five page description.”

Willow chuckled slightly, breath seemingly caught. “So sorry about being late. We had another freshman arrive this morning, and there was this huge mix-up with all his boxes, and we finally got them right before the post office shut down,” she said all in a rush, grabbing the handle of one of Elizabeth’s trunks and dragging it toward the door.

Elizabeth mirrored her action, struggling to keep apace with the enthusiastic redhead.

“So we had to pile all the stuff out on the curb while the security guard gave us the evil eye for taking so long, and then we had to cart it all the way back to the dorm and unload it since otherwise there wouldn’t be any room in the van for your stuff, and...” Willow turned to see Elizabeth’s overwhelmed _expression. “Sorry,” she said with a sheepish grin, “I’m babbling, amn’t I?”

“It’s OK,” Elizabeth assured her, “and I was only here for, like, ten seconds before you.”

Willow flashed her a contagious grin. “My freshman year,” she said, “the people who were supposed to pick me up were two hours late. I had to sit in the lobby re-reading the same old issue of ‘Cat Fancy’ until they finally showed up.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Well, thanks for saving me from that fate.”

“They still have the magazine, too,” Willow took a slight detour and picked it up off the small table between the benches. “Page 84, the pros and cons of white versus gray Persians – easily the most boring article ever written.”

“Don’t know about that,” Elizabeth countered, “did you read last month’s ‘Elle’?”

“Um, no.” Willow opened the doors and propped one open with one trunk so that Elizabeth could pull hers though.

“Oh,” Elizabeth bit her lip. “Well, it had a really boring article in it.”

“I can believe it,” Willow agreed. “That’s our ride.”

She gestured to a beat-up blue van that was parked right in front of the station. A short man with spiky blue-black hair was leaning against it, waiting for them. He quickly got up to take Elizabeth’s trunk for her.

“Elizabeth, Oz,” Willow introduced. “Oz, Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth,” Oz nodded slowly as if he were thoroughly processing her name. “That’s cool. You got any nicknames? Liz? Beth?”

“No,” Elizabeth said just a shade more vehemently than she had intended.

Oz just kind of blinked in response. “Just Elizabeth,” he agreed.

“OK,” Willow said, “here’s the fun part. We get to move these,” she gestured to the two heavy trunks, “up here.” She opened the back doors to the van.

Elizabeth winced. “These are pretty heavy...” She looked back and forth between Oz and Willow, neither of whom were exactly the bodybuilding type.

“Trust me,” Willow said with a little eye roll, “we can handle it.”

“Jonathan had rocks in his boxes,” Oz said simply.

The young man’s face didn’t alter _expression in the slightest as he said this. Elizabeth spent way too long trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic.

“OK,” Willow had thoroughly analyzed their problem and come to a conclusion, “Oz, you take the back. Elizabeth and I will get the front, and then you can just climb into the van and we’ll push it in.”

Oz nodded and took up his position. The first trunk went in without too much effort. The second was a bit harder since the only way they could fit it was to put it on top of the first. All three of them were panting by the time they were done.

“And just think,” Oz commented dryly as he put the van into gear, “pretty soon we get to drag them up two flights of stairs...”

“Joy,” Elizabeth said with a small smile. She’d quickly come to the (correct) assumption that no facial or tonal cues accompanied Oz’s humor.

“So, Elizabeth,” Willow said from the back, one elbow on the back of Elizabeth’s seat and the other on Oz’s, “you’re from California?”

“Sunnydale,” Elizabeth agreed.

Oz’s brow furrowed slightly as he tried to remember something. “That near LA?” he finally asked.

“A couple hours,” Elizabeth agreed.

“So you’re really far from home then,” Willow commented. “What drew you to the College of New York?”

“I’m really far from home,” Elizabeth joked.

Willow laughed at that, and Oz did this little half-smile thing.

“Away from the parents for the first time?” Oz inquired.

“Well, not really,” Elizabeth said after thinking for a minute. “My parents travel a lot for work,” she explained.

“Oh, do I sympathize,” Willow agreed. “My Mom’s at conferences all the time.”

“My Dad vanished to Hong Kong for two years,” Elizabeth retorted.

“It took my Mom eight months to realize I’d cut off all my hair.”

“I didn’t find out that my Dad had married my Step-mom until after the wedding.”

“My Dad once mistook one of my friends for me,” Willow countered. “And rumor has it he can’t even identify my Mom.”

“I left home the instant I turned sixteen,” Oz fully acknowledged that he couldn’t compete with their tales of woe.

“Lucky,” Elizabeth muttered before she could stop herself.

Willow laughed at her guilty look. “Parent bashing is encouraged,” she informed her, “especially during orientation.”

“So,” Elizabeth asked, “where are you two from?”

“D.C.”

“Pretty much everywhere.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at Oz’s response.

“The longest I’ve ever stayed in one place has been here,” he explained, making a right turn into a back alley. “Shortcut,” he said to Elizabeth’s curious look.

“Cool,” Elizabeth nodded, “this is the first time I’ve been out of California.”

“What do you think of the trees?” Oz inquired. “First time I went to California and saw the vegetation I completely freaked out.”

Elizabeth tries to picture Oz freaking out and couldn’t quite manage it. He seemed so mellow that blinking a lot probably counted as ‘freaking out’, though... “It’s weird,” she admitted, “but kinda like the movies.”

“So speaks the person who lives near Hollywood,” Willow joked.

Elizabeth laughed. “Yeah, well, they’ll come into your house to film, but they’ll travel halfway around the world for the exteriors...” She looked out the window at the old-style Victorian houses they were passing. “Just like the ones here.”

“Ooh!” Willow suddenly exclaimed in delight. “Have you ever seen snow before?”

“Nope,” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’ve heard you’ve got it here, though.”

“Just a little,” Oz commented.

“More like snowdrifts so high you can’t get to class in the morning,” Willow clarified Oz’s sarcasm to Elizabeth. “You’ve got boots, right? And a coat? And snow pants?”

Elizabeth laughed at the worried _expression on Willow’s face. “Yes, I did get your list of things to bring.”

“Good,” Willow breathed a sigh of relief. “So, this means you’ve never been in a snowball fight, huh?” she said with an evil little grin.

“Finally, someone Willow has a chance in hell of hitting,” Oz joked.

Willow playfully batted him on the shoulder before seeming to recognize something out the window. “You taking us to the delivery entrance?” she asked.

“Yup,” Oz agreed, pulling to a halt. “Welcome to Westing Hall,” he announced.

“The freaky back entrance,” Willow amended. “It’s closer to the stairs, so we won’t have to carry your stuff so far.”

“Sounds good,” Elizabeth agreed, getting out of the van.

She and Oz pushed the trunks out onto the ground while Willow ran up to the large stone building and propped open the doors. They dragged the trunks inside, and Elizabeth flinched when she saw the staircase in front of them.

“Spiral, just to make it extra easy to carry stuff up and down,” Willow agreed with a bit of a grimace.

“Yeah, who designed that?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“This building was originally for classrooms,” Oz informed her. “It got converted into a gym after that, and then a cafeteria.”

“But they kept parts of the third floor intact, even when they hollowed out the interior,” Willow added. “Hence our unique living conditions.”

“ ‘Unique’?” Elizabeth asked.

“House of ten,” Willow explained, “smallest on campus.”

“But I thought—” Elizabeth began.

“Forty,” Willow nodded. “The other thirty are on the far side of the cafeteria,” she gestured through the large wooden doors to their right, “over there. The ten of us are cut off all by ourselves.”

“It’s useful for not having to remember a lot of names,” Oz commented, beginning his ascent.

Willow took the other handle of Elizabeth’s trunk, and together they lifted it.

“Be prepared to flee if I drop this trunk and it comes careening down the stairs at you,” Oz joked wryly.

“Break both our backs,” Elizabeth retorted, “and you’ll have to carry up all the stuff I had shipped by yourself!”

“There’s more?” Willow groaned.

“Only half a dozen or so boxes,” Elizabeth assured her, “and they’re nowhere near this heavy.”

“Meet Oz,” Willow joked, “your new best friend...and coincidently the only one with a car as well.”

“I expect complete sycophantic behavior,” Oz joked, reaching the third floor and dropping the trunk with a loud thump.

“Hear that?” Willow encouraged Elizabeth. “Almost there.”

The trunk finally bounced up the top stair, and the two women stopped to rest for a minute, using the trunk as a seat.

“Not so bad,” Elizabeth finally declared, wincing.

“You want the name of a good chiropractor?” Willow teased.

Elizabeth smiled. “OK, you got me. That was brutal.” She was amazed at just how quickly she’d decided that she liked Willow. The other girl hadn’t managed to rub her the wrong way once so far, putting her completely at ease.

“Ready to go down the hall?” Willow asked.

Elizabeth nodded.

Willow counted past the door numbers as they passed. “Three-one-one, three-one-three, three-one-five, ah...three-seventeen, good old pi room...”

“Pi room?” Elizabeth inquired.

“Three point one seven,” Oz provided from within the twelve by twelve foot room that looked more like a TV lounge than a dorm room, “pi.”

“Congratulations,” Willow said with a sheepish smile, “you’re roomed with a math nerd.”

“Lucky me,” Elizabeth set the trunk down in the center of the room.

“Now,” Willow said, “before I forget...”

She dug around in a drawer of the end table by the couch. “Here is your room key,” she handed a small silver key to Elizabeth, “and here’s the dorm one, and...” more fiddling in the drawer, “here’s the kitchen. Only rule is, if you use the kitchen, you have to clean up afterwards. You lose any of the keys, I’ll hafta find you, so don’t.”

Elizabeth fastened the three keys to her ring. “Think I can manage that,” she agreed.

“Good,” Willow said, pulling out a piece of paper. “Now, if you’ll just sign so housing knows I did my job and gave you your keys...”

Elizabeth quickly signed and dated the form. ‘Elizabeth Anne Summers’, she looked at her signature. It looked nice, different...

“Your job?” Elizabeth inquired. “Are you the RA?”

“Sort of,” Willow replied. “We’re too small a house for a real RA, so at the end of every year we vote a returning student to fill the position.”

“Unanimous vote last year,” Oz commented.

“So you’re a...?” Elizabeth asked.

“Senior,” Willow replied. “Actually graduating this year. Very cool and very scary.”

“What in?” Elizabeth asked, looking down at the spot on the couch next to Oz.

“Sit down,” Willow insisted. “After all, it’s your room, too.”

Elizabeth sat, and Willow took the beat-up armchair across from them.

“Biology and computer science,” Willow answered.

“She was doing physics, too, last year,” Oz added, “but even the undefeatable Willow caved in when she saw she’d have a lab four days a week.”

“Even I have my limits,” Willow agreed with a laugh.

“What about you?” Elizabeth asked Oz.

“Non-graduating senior,” he shrugged, “also known as a second-year junior. I just switched to philosophy last spring.”

“Philosophy?” Elizabeth raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You’re gonna get a job thinking?”

“Actually I’ve already got a job playing guitar,” Oz clarified.

“Oz is in this really cool band,” Willow gestured to the poster behind her, “Dingoes Ate My Baby.”

“So I see,” Elizabeth nodded at the poster.

“What about you?” Willow asked. “What do you do?” She proceeded to slap herself in the forehead. “If you know, of course. I mean, most freshmen don’t, so you shouldn’t feel pressured to—”

“Breathe,” Oz advised.

Willow took a deep breath. “Good idea,” she agreed.

“It’s OK,” Elizabeth assured. “I’m an Econ major.”

“You and Anya,” Willow commented. “Just please tell me you don’t fondle your money, too...”

“Fondle my money?” Elizabeth asked in disbelief.

“That’s Anya,” Oz agreed.

“Last year Dru decided to pull this prank on her and rearranged all her furniture while she was in class,” Willow added. “So Anya comes back, sees her room, and instantly says: ‘I demand monetary compensation!’ It was kind of hilarious.”

Elizabeth chuckled. “And Dru is?”

“She graduated last year,” Oz provided.

“Oh yeah,” Willow shook her head. “I’ll mention all sorts of people you’ve never heard of. Just hit me when I do it.”

“It’s a deal,” Elizabeth agreed with a wry grin.

“So, yeah, this is home,” Willow gestured to the room. “The bedroom’s in back. I kinda put both the beds in that room, so we can use this one as a common room. We’re too small to have a lounge, and all the rooms are filled right now...but if it’s a problem, we can switch things up. Really. Right now. Do you wanna switch it?”

“It’s fine,” Elizabeth assured her. She then flashed Willow a guilty, apologetic look. “I’m not actually sure how long I’ll be staying here,” she admitted. “I’m rushing Tri Xi, so it’ll probably only be a couple of weeks...”

“That other girls’ doing that, too,” Oz commented. “Kathy.”

“And then Cordy’ll be able to move back in next semester,” Willow agreed. “It’s OK. Really.”

Elizabeth breathed a little sigh of relief. She hadn’t been too excited about telling her roommate the first day that she’d be moving out. Willow seemed to just take everything in stride, however.

“I think I’m gonna crash,” Oz announced. “Moving three freshmen in in one day...that even wears me out.”

“’Night, Oz,” Willow flashed him a little wave as he got up.

“’Night,” Elizabeth agreed, “and thanks for helping with my stuff.”

“No problem,” he said before vanishing into the room across the hall.

“Do you wanna get something to eat?” Willow asked. “I know it’s late, but...”

“I already ate,” Elizabeth lied. “Plus, I kinda wanna get settled in, get some sleep myself...”

“Do you want any help?” Willow asked as Elizabeth opened her first trunk.

“No,” Elizabeth assured her. “I’m sure you’ve got things you’d rather be doing anyway...”

“Well, I was supposed to drop my O-Chem text off at my girlfriend’s...” Willow thought to herself before her eyes widened in alarm again. “I did mention that I’m a lesbian, right?” And you’re OK with that? I mean, normally I would just say ‘live with it’, but since we’re actually living together and all, it would be really, really bad if you were uncomfortable, and—”

“I’m fine,” Elizabeth cut her off, laughing. “And you mentioned it in your e-mail. Like, eight times.”

“Sorry,” Willow said sheepishly, “I tend to get carried away.”

“I’ve noticed,” Elizabeth said with a small smile. “Now, go meet that girlfriend of yours.”

“She’s really great,” Willow said with a love struck grin. “Her name is Tara. You’ll love her.” Her eyes widened with alarm. “But, oh! We won’t do anything...y’know, in our room, since you’re living there, too.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Elizabeth assured her.

“You sure you won’t be lonely?” Willow asked nervously. “All the other freshmen already went out, and Oz is sleeping, and Devon’s stoned out of his mind, and no one else has arrived yet...”

“All I want to do is sleep,” Elizabeth insisted. “It was a long flight...”

“Ok, then,” Willow agreed. “Bathroom’s at the end of the hall. It’s labeled. Instructions for dialing out are on the phone. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. I think that’s it...”

“Go, sweep Tara off her feet,” Elizabeth teased.

Willow’s face turned beet red. “Normally I’m not like this,” she assured her, “but Tara just got back into town yesterday, and I haven’t seen her yet...”

“Have fun,” Elizabeth said with a wave.

Willow grabbed her textbook and purse and dashed from the room.

Elizabeth chuckled to herself as she removed the bare essentials from her trunk. She quickly made the empty bed in their bedroom before heading off in search of the bathroom. It was conveniently right next to them. She brushed her teeth before setting off to explore their floor.

Her and Willow’s door had two college printed nametags that read “Willow Rosenberg, ’99’ and ‘Elizabeth Summers, ’03’.

Across the hall from them, the nametags had been removed and replaced with a ‘Dingoes Ate My Baby’ poster. The names ‘Oz’ and ‘Devon’ were written upon it in black permanent marker.

Next to them was ‘Anya Jenkins, ’02’ – the Anya Elizabeth had been told about, she presumed.

Next was ‘Kathy Ashton, ’03’. That was the other Tri Xi girl. Elizabeth made note to talk to her as soon as possible.

‘Jonathan Levenson, ’03’ was right by the stairs. Elizabeth was pretty sure he was the one Oz had said had the problems with shipping.

That left her side of the hall...and three names she didn’t recognize. ‘Faith Vlore, ’03’, ‘William Giles, ’02’, and ‘Alexander Harris, ’03’. Faith’s door didn’t have anything else on it. Alexander’s had the ‘Ale’ in his first name crossed out. ‘Xander’, Elizabeth gathered. William’s...

For some reason that was unfathomable to her, his door was covered with little yellow sticky notes that said things like “Welcome back, ‘William’,” “Nice nametag, ‘William’,” “Hey there, ‘William’.” In all of them, the name ‘William’ appeared in quotes. Elizabeth couldn’t quite figure it out and decided it was too late to bother trying.

With a yawn, she headed off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day...

At the register next to her, Faith was having the exact same problem. “Vlo-re,” she leaned forward onto the table, hoping enhanced views of her cleavage would encourage better service. “Vlo-re. V-L-O-R-E.”

“Hang on, I’ll check.” Faith’s postal agent had apparently been inspired and ducked into the room in back.

“What’d I say?” Faith said with a wry grin. “Works every time.” She turned to where Elizabeth was waiting for her agent to look something up on the computer. “This is insane, hey E?”

“No kidding,” Elizabeth agreed.

“I’m terribly sorry, miss,” the woman behind the counter offered her an apologetic smile, “but we’re always swamped at the beginning of the school year. And now our computer system is malfunctioning, and—”

“Faith Vlore,” Faith’s agent returned. “It was just the three?”

“Four,” Faith emphasized.

He sighed and slid the three boxes from the handcart to search for her missing shipment.

“At least you’re three fourths of the way there,” Elizabeth sighed. “I’m still stuck at square one...”

“How are we doing?” Xander and Oz reentered the post office and slipped through the line to where Elizabeth and Faith were waiting. Xander had gotten his boxes in all of one minute. Elizabeth had, after much consideration, decided it would be unfair to kill him because of this fact.

“Number four for Vlore,” Faith’s agent announced proudly. “If you’ll just sign here...”

“I am so out of here!” Faith agreed, heaving the first of her boxes into her arms.

Elizabeth waited for her agent and guarded box number four while Xander, Oz, and Faith carried out to the van. Her stuff still hadn’t been located by the time they returned.

“We’re just gonna make a quick run back to the dorm,” Oz informed her, “get Faith’s stuff dropped off. We’ll be right back.”

“Go ahead,” Elizabeth agreed. “It looks like I’ll be a while.”

“Do you want someone to stay with you?” Xander offered, lifting up the last of Faith’s boxes. “Keep you company?” He had this odd kind of hopeful look in his eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” Elizabeth assured him. “Faith’s boxes need you.”

He flashed her a shy little grin and turned to go back outside.

“See ya, E,” Faith said as she headed out.

“Be back soon,” Elizabeth agreed, “...hopefully...”

“You did say Elizabeth Summers?” her agent finally asked. “Because I just found our master list, and the only Summers is...”

“Buffy,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“The six, then?” the agent inquired.

“Yeah.” Elizabeth’s face was flushing a bright red. Why exactly couldn’t she have remembered to use her full name while shipping?

The six boxes quickly appeared and were signed for. A strategic technique of moving each three feet at a time finally got her and them out to the curb.

As she sat and waited for Oz’s van to return, she carefully blacked out the nametag of each box. The name was something she didn’t need a reminder of. “Here one day, and already it’s popped back up,” she grumbled under her breath.

“You waiting for someone?” A voice suddenly broke into her train of thought.

She looked up to see...a guy. Tall, athletic, broad-shouldered, blond, bland – exactly her type. He flashed her a wide grin, and she managed a little smile in response.

“A ride,” she gestured to the boxes. “Can’t carry all these home by myself.”

He nodded in agreement. “You want some company?”

“Sure.” She kept her _expression bright. This was the sort of thing that was supposed to happen at college, right? Meet good-looking guy...

“I’m Riley Finn,” he sat down on the curb beside her.

“Bu-er, Elizabeth Summers,” she replied. Inwardly, she was slapping herself. She hadn’t made that mistake since she first got here, but something about Riley reminded her of...

“So, Elizabeth,” he said with a broad grin. “You’re a freshman?”

“That obvious, huh?” she said with a sigh.

“You’ve kind of got that stunned rabbit look to you,” he agreed.

She managed a wry laugh. “Yeah, well, moving in and registering for classes – it all makes for a fun, stress-filled weekend.”

He glanced at her in an appraising way that she was all too familiar with. “If you want a break,” he informed her, “there’s a party at Delta Phi tonight.”

“Don’t classes start tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “so it’s the last night we’ll get to party for a while. You should come.”

“I’ll think about it,” she assured him just as she saw Oz’s van rounding the corner. “My ride,” she informed him, getting to her feet.

His brow furrowed as he rose as well. “Osborne,” he said coolly when Oz stepped from the van.

Oz’s eyes narrowed slightly. It was the most vehement reaction Elizabeth had seen from him so far. “Finn.” He proceeded to walk around the larger man to retrieve one of Elizabeth’s boxes.

“You know this guy?” Riley turned to Elizabeth. He saw that she was lifting one of the boxes on her own and immediately moved to take it from her.

Elizabeth bit her lip. Something was going on here, and she didn’t quite know what it was. “We live across the hall from each other,” she agreed.

Oz purposefully brushed Riley aside as he grabbed a second box. Not to be outdone, Riley quickly put his first into the van. Elizabeth moved to grab the last one, but Riley quickly took it from her.

“I’ve got it,” he said simply.

Xander watched the strange three-way dynamic, just as confused as Elizabeth was.

“A word of friendly advice,” Riley finally said. “There are all kinds of different people here...” He looked pointedly at Oz. “Some are better to associate with than others.”

Oz’s eyes were narrowed to slits by now, but he didn’t respond, climbing into the driver’s seat of the van instead. “Let’s go,” he said simply.

“See you tonight,” Riley said confidently to Elizabeth before walking off.

She and Xander exchanged a confused look before climbing into the van. “Someone care to tell me what that was about?” Xander asked.

“What?” Faith, who had not left the van, asked.

“If you can’t say something nice...” Oz began, a hint of anger in his voice.

“What?” Faith repeated, curious now.

“Some guy named Riley Finn,” Elizabeth explained. “I get a feeling there’s some history...” She looked pointedly at Oz.

He sighed. “Finn’s from an entirely different world,” he explained. “Big brass military family. Doesn’t take to poor ‘draft-dodging hippies’ well.”

“You’re a hippie?” Elizabeth asked, confused.

“I’m ‘that sort’ of people,” Oz shrugged. “Finn’s got a black-and-white world view, and if you’re not exactly like him...” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be saying all this.”

“That hunk of lunchmeat?” Faith looked out the window. “Wound up tight...but he might still be fun for a quick roll...”

Xander and Elizabeth both blushed and looked away, still unused to Faith’s bluntness. Oz seemed oblivious.

“I’m not saying anything more,” the young musician said simply, “but you want the full story on Finn, you just ask Spike.”

“ ‘Spike’?” Elizabeth repeated in disbelief.

“He’ll probably show up some time tonight,” Oz clarified as they arrived at their dorm.

Moving Elizabeth’s stuff upstairs was a simple, if tiring, affair, and they all rested in Elizabeth and Willow’s outer-room-cum-house-lounge while they waited for the other freshmen to materialize out of Westing Hall’s masonry.

“Jonathan’s taking his placement tests this morning,” Oz explained. “He should be back around noon. Does anyone know where Kathy is?”

“Maybe she went to register early,” Faith suggested, flipping through her course guide. “Whattaya think, E, art history or music history?”

Elizabeth made a wry face. “Do I hafta choose?”

“Graduation requirement,” Faith agreed.

“Why?” Elizabeth complained. “It’s not like I’ll ever use that stuff...”

“And I never used my math courses for anything,” Oz pointed out, “but I’m still glad I took them.”

“It’s cruel and unusual that I still have to take math,” Elizabeth decided.

“I think labs are what are cruel and unusual,” Xander countered. “Four whole hours?”

“Bio or physics?” Oz asked.

“I haven’t decided,” Xander shrugged.

“Do bio,” Oz advised. “Lab section five. Willow’s the proctor. She’ll be ultra-efficient and get you out early.”

Faith, Elizabeth, and Xander exchanged a look. “Sold!” they announced in perfect unison, laughing as they filled out the time slot.

“There,” Elizabeth said, “I think I’m done.”

“Whatcha got?” Faith leaned over to look at her schedule. “Bio, math,” – Elizabeth made a face – “English, and Econ. Fun,” Faith said sarcastically.

“My back-ups are even funner,” Elizabeth said with a grimace.

“Not as fun as mine,” Faith teased. “Math’s my number one back-up.”

“I’ve got art history,” Elizabeth countered.

“Math is so much worse,” Faith retorted.

“Depends who’s teaching,” Oz commented with a shrug.

At that moment, enthusiastic footsteps sounded up the stairwell, sounding like a whole herd of kangaroos. Kathy burst into the lounge several seconds later. “Guess where I’ve been?” she asked cheerfully, not waiting for a response before answering. “Tri Xi was having this bake sale to encourage rushers, and they let me help out! It was super fun!”

“What?” Elizabeth’s face fell. “I missed it?”

“It’s OK,” Kathy reassured her. “It was totally optional. But, guess what? Delta Phi’s holding this awesome party tonight, and—”

Oz snorted derisively.

“You’ve got a problem?” Kathy demanded testily.

“I wouldn’t recommend binge drinking the night before classes start, yeah,” Oz said simply enough.

Kathy rolled her eyes. “Oh, what do you know?” She turned back to Elizabeth. “C’mon, we so have to go! I’ll introduce you to all the sisters and everything!”

Elizabeth had the irrational feeling that dozens – no, hundreds – of people were staring at her, waiting to judge her decision. She forced a smile onto her face. “Sure,” she agreed.

“Spiffy!” Kathy exclaimed. “Quick, let’s go now, stop by the house and—”

“Registration,” Oz pointed out.

Kathy cast him an annoyed look. “We can do that later,” she insisted. “C’mon, who’s with me?” She looked pointedly at Elizabeth.

“Er, yeah,” she agreed, picking up her registration to take with her. “Can I just drop this off real quick?”

Kathy let out a resigned sigh. “But you’d better hurry up,” she finally agreed.

* * *

Elizabeth and Kathy waited at the end of a decent-sized line of freshmen while Kathy babbled about everything that had happened thus far. “So then Cindy tells me that she, like, totally used to go out with him, but then he got all into debate and dropped football. I mean, what kind of loser would—”

“Who is this?” Elizabeth abruptly realized she should be paying attention.

“Oz’s freshman roommate,” Kathy rolled her eyes. “I mean, who does he think he is, anyway? All, ‘I’m in a band. I’m so cool. Everybody look at what a great freak I am’,” she did a horrible impression. Of what, Elizabeth could only guess.

“Oz?” she said in disbelief. “He seems nice. What’ve you got against Oz?”

“He refused to date Sarah, for one,” Kathy retorted.

“And Sarah is...?”

“Secretary/Treasurer of Tri Xi!” Kathy exclaimed. “How could you possibly not know who Sarah is?”

“Oh,” Elizabeth tried to chuckle wryly and act like she’d known all along, “that Sarah.”

“Yeah, well,” Kathy went on, “she’s a Wilmington. As in the bankers?”

“Yeah, my dad works with them,” Elizabeth agreed.

“That common little punk refused her,” Kathy said in disbelief. “In front of, like, half the sisters. Like that little rodent thinks he’s better than her or something!”

“Maybe he just wasn’t interested,” Elizabeth shrugged.

“He’s just a loser, is what,” Kathy retorted. “And don’t even get me started of the others. Did you know that Xander’s the first in his family to even go to college? Faith, too. And could she be any more of a whore? All those skanky, black clothes... And Jonathan. Let’s just say Nerd Central. I mean, who places out of calculus?”

“Math majors?” Elizabeth said, starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable. This just felt so much like home – a sensation she’d thankfully avoided thus far.

“Exactly,” Kathy agreed, oblivious to Elizabeth’s thoughts. “Losers. What kind of school sticks people like us in dorms with such freaks anyway?”

“I think it was done randomly,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Your dad’s Summers of Stockton and Associates Consulting, right?” Kathy demanded.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed.

“So, don’t you think you’re entitled to something a little better?”

“The people here don’t know who my dad is,” she pointed out.

“Oh god!” Kathy exclaimed into her hands. “We’re trapped in a school for losers. This used to be a cool place, you know, very prestigious, back before they let all the riff-raff in...”

“Maybe it’s not so bad as you think,” Elizabeth suggested. “After all, classes haven’t even started yet.”

“True,” Kathy agreed. “Things should pick up after we get out of that hellhole of a dorm and in with actual cool people.”

“Yeah...” Elizabeth said reluctantly. Truth be told, the only person she’d met so far that she disliked was Kathy.

“Isn’t this line ever gonna move? Kathy complained.

“You can go ahead without me,” Elizabeth offered.

“Really?” Kathy said hopefully. “’Cause I wanna help Cindy decorate for the party tonight, and—”

“Go ahead,” Elizabeth assured her. “I’ll catch up.”

“Great,” Kathy said with a broad smile. “You are so cool, Elizabeth.” She thought for a second. “You need a nickname,” she decided, “something less...blah, Elizabeth. What about ‘Bitsy’? That’s cute...”

“Not Bitsy,” Elizabeth cringed.

“All right then,” Kathy shrugged, “you think of one. See ya later! Bye! Bye!” And, with that, she dashed off.

“Good riddance,” Elizabeth muttered under her breath.

* * *

“Hi, pumpkin!” Hank Summers’ voice over the phone was the first thing that greeted her when she returned to her room.

“Hi, Daddy!” she tried to sound bright and cheerful, instead of completely exhausted. Inwardly, she was wincing at the report she had to give him and wishing she could put it off just a little bit longer. He would not be pleased at what she had to say...

“So, how are things way over in New York?” he asked in a tone more appropriate to someone half her age. In all fairness, though, that was the last any he’d spent any time with her.

“Fine,” she said with a wry laugh. “Where are you?”

“Sunnydale, actually,” he replied. “I had a meeting in LA and decided to make a quick drop by. Your family’s all doing fine, but we miss you, Buffy.”

“Elizabeth,” she reminded him.

There was an annoyed sigh at the other end. “You’re not keeping up that ridiculous plan of yours, are you?”

“Elizabeth’s my name!” she insisted.

“You’ll always be my little Buffy,” he said in a way she was sure was supposed to sound reassuring. She decided it was more condescending. “So,” he said, “did you sign up for classes and everything?”

“Yes, Daddy,” she agreed.

“Did you get the good ones?”

“I decided to get all the requirements out of the way first,” she hedged.

“Oh. What are you taking?” he demanded.

“Bio, English, American history, and art history.” She crossed her fingers and hoped that the list would meet with his approval. Econ had been booked up, and she really hadn’t felt like doing math this semester...

“That’s a bit...frivolous, don’t you think?” he finally commented.

“I need them all to graduate,” she pointed out.

“Shouldn’t you at least take an econ class?” he demanded. “Get a head start on your major...”

“Intro was full,” she informed him. “I’ll take it next semester.”

“Do you want me to call the school?” he asked. “Get you in?”

“No, dad,” she insisted, “it’s just fine.”

“I’ve got a friend of a friend who’s on the board of directors...”

“I’ll take it later!” she exclaimed.

He sighed. “All right then,” he finally agreed. “Go easy your first semester – not a bad idea. Allow you to get more partying in, am I right? Have you met the girls over at Tri Xi yet?”

“Nope,” Elizabeth said, “too busy today. There’s a party tonight, though.”

“Good,” Hank said brightly. “You go and have fun. Some friends of mine have kids there, too. You might want to try meeting—”

“Dad!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

He chuckled. “Right, sweetie,” he agreed. “You’ll meet them yourself. I just want to know that someone’s looking out for my little girl...”

“I’ll be fine, Dad,” she repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time.

“Great,” he said enthusiastically. “Good luck with your big day tomorrow!”

“Thanks, dad. Bye, dad.” She hung up with a sigh of relief.

“Given your high levels of enthusiasm, I’m guessing that was a parent you just hung up on,” Willow entered their room with a wry smile.

“My dad,” Elizabeth agreed, flopping back onto the bed with a weary sigh. “Just called to give me the annual ‘I may be an absentee father, but I still insist on running your life’ speech.”

Willow winced. “My dad wanted me to go to Harvard,” she agreed. “My mom wanted me to go to Columbia. Fortunately, neither of them were home the month college applications were due, so I got to do what I wanted.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Yeah, I’m sort of hoping my dad will just forget about me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Willow assured her. “Once school starts, you’ll be too caught up in work to even think about it.”

“This is supposed to be encouraging?” Elizabeth laughed.

Willow chuckled as well. “Maybe not,” she agreed, “but it’s true.” She checked her watch. “Dinning hall opens soon. Do you wanna eat dinner?”

Elizabeth was torn. “I promised Kathy I’d help her set up for the Delta Phi party...” she began.

Willow batted one hand in the air dismissively. “There’ll be plenty of time for that once you rush,” she insisted. “Come, eat with us while you’re still here.”

Elizabeth didn’t really need to be persuaded. To tell the truth, she felt more like sleeping five days than going out to a party this evening – especially since she had to be up bright and early for class tomorrow morning. So, she joined Willow in her trip down to the dinning hall.

Now, college was supposed to be a pivotal life-changing experience. She knew that. What she didn’t know, as she sat down at the Westing House table next to a peroxide blond she’d never seen before, was that this was that moment in her life. The one that would change everything...

Chapter 3

Spike turned and raised one quizzical eyebrow at the little blond that sat next to him. “Kathy or Elizabeth?” he demanded before she’d even fully noticed his presence.

Elizabeth turned and her first response was – well, she bit back her first response. Second was retro much? “Elizabeth,” she informed him primly, taking in his earring and scarred eyebrow disapprovingly.

“’Lizabeth,” he repeated. “Summers, right?”

“That’s me.”

Honestly, black leather and white hair! Who did he think he was impressing anyway? Certainly not her. Well, except for the gorgeous cheekbones and blue eyes and sexy accent and... Are you crazy? Her mind screamed to her sex drive. He couldn’t possibly be less your type!

“And you are?” She made sure her inquiry was as cool and disinterested as possible.

“Spike,” he flashed her a cocky smile and extended one hand.

Reluctantly, she accepted it, and before she knew what was happening, he’d panted a gentle kiss on her wrist, just right on the sensitive pulse point... She jerked her hand back as if it had been burned.

“Nice ta meet you, Summers,” he said, looking completely unashamed of himself.

Her face flushed a bright crimson, and she quickly turned to her salad. “I don’t seem to recall there being a ‘Spike’ in our house,” she commented coolly.

“Oh!” Willow’s hands fluttered into the air. “Now that we’re all here, we can do introductions! Oh, except Kathy’s not here...”

“Still,” Spike commented, “introductions are fun. Innit that right, Summers?”

She clenched her fork a bit tighter and shoved the greens into her mouth. She had never met a man that she so quickly wanted to...kill. Yeah, that was it, kill... “I can do Kathy’s bit,” she offered politely to Willow, ignoring the irritating young man beside her.

“Great,” Willow said with a bright smile, “so we’ll just do name, where we’re from, major, year, and...er, whatever else you want. I’ll start. I’m Willow Rosenberg, DC, bio and compsci, senior, and...er, head of the local Wiccan coven.” She turned to the blond Elizabeth didn’t recognize on her left. “Your turn.”

The blond rolled her eyes and mimed chewing the last bite of her food before speaking. “Anya Jenkins. Kiev, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and sometimes Stockholm. Econ. Sophomore. If anyone needs a tutor in anything, I’m willing to do it...for money,” she added cheerfully.

“Ah, how we’ve all missed you, Anyanka,” Spike joked.

Anya gave him a dirty look. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?” she demanded. “I could sue you.”

“ ‘The cost ‘f acquirin’ a lawyer outweighs your annoyingness...for the moment’,” Spike quoted back at her.

“I have peas,” Anya countered. “I can quite easily flick them across the table at you.”

“An’ I’ve got corn,” Spike threatened.

Oz stilled his hand. “Let’s try to go at least one day without a food-fight,” he suggested, obviously amused. “We don’t want to scare off all the freshmen.”

“Fine,” Anya sulked and lowered her spoon from where it had been poised to catapult a pea straight at Spike’s head. “I’m done,” she added, abruptly perky again.

Next to her, Jonathan gulped. “J-Jonathan Levenson,” he began nervously. “M-Math... What were the other questions?”

“Where you’re from and what year you are,” Willow provided helpfully.

“Seattle. Freshman.” He shut up like a clam, studying his food intently and blushing horribly.

“Faith?” Willow quickly stepped to his rescue.

Faith flashed a sultry smile to the large bulk of the male population that sat across from her. “Faith Vlore,” she informed them, checking each out in turn and deciding that living here would be fun. “I’m a freshman from Boston. I don’t know what I want to major in yet, so...” she cast a hungry look in Devon’s direction, “any advice you can give me would be...appreciated.” Her eyes flicked over to Spike, and she licked her lips. “Verrry appreciated,” she amended.

He gave her a sexy little smirk in response. “Haven’t quite decided yet myself, pet,” he responded flirtatiously, “but you’re welcome to come over to my room any time you like to talk about it...”

“Count on it.” Faith appraised him again and found out he was even better looking the second time over.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the man beside her. “Pig,” she grumbled under her breath before speaking up. “I’m Elizabeth Summers from Sunnydale – that’s near LA. I’m a freshman econ major.”

Spike groaned. “Not another one!” he complained. “We’ve already got our hands full with Anyanka! Please, tell me you don’ talk to your money, too?”

“My name is Anya,” Anya insisted, “and I was not talking to it! I was merely clucking in a comforting manner after you scared it.”

“See?” Spike whispered conspiratorially in Elizabeth’s ear. “She thinks it’s human. Downright creepy at times.”

“I heard that,” Anya informed him. “I still have peas!”

“No food-fights,” Willow reminded her.

Anya grumbled in a resigned manner.

“Guess I’m doing Kathy next, huh?” Elizabeth dared to speak up again.

“Lucky Kathy,” Spike muttered under his breath.

Elizabeth’s eyes shot wide open before she turned back to pointedly ignoring him. “So, yeah, about Kathy...”

A cheerful voice from behind interrupted her, however. “What’s this about me?” Kathy inquired.

“Oh, Kathy, good, you’re here!” Willow said. “You can introduce yourself to everyone.”

Kathy let out a put-upon sigh. “I’m Kathy,” she said primly. “Kathy Ashton. Of the Vermont Ashtons. I’ll be moving out into Tri Xi next week.” She turned to Elizabeth. “C’mon, Bitsy, we need to help set up for the party.”

“ ‘Bitsy’?” Spike repeated, amused.

Elizabeth cast him a dirty look before turning back to Kathy. “ ‘Bitsy’?” she herself demanded.

“I still think it’s cute,” Kathy shrugged. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I’d kind of like to...finish eating,” Elizabeth finished lamely. Truth be told, she was quite aware of the fact that Spike would be going next and felt the irrational urge to seek revenge on the peroxide blond.

“There’ll be food there,” Kathy insisted impatiently.

Spike snorted derisively. “Beer an’ Doritos – all part ‘f a balanced diet,” he said sarcastically.

Kathy gave him an annoyed look. “Was I talking to you?” she snarked.

“No,” Spike said in a low growl, “you were jus’ interruptin’ our conversation. Don’t the ‘Vermont Ashtons’ know any manners?”

“As if!” Kathy exclaimed. “And who do you think you are, anyway? Like, the eighties are so dead...”

“I know exactly who I am,” Spike retorted. “Do you? Do you have even the slightest identity below that cheap cardboard exterior?”

“Not!” Kathy retorted.

“Sorry,” he said with an evil little smirk, “I meant ‘overpriced plastic exterior’...”

Kathy looked visibly flummoxed. “E-Elizabeth...”

“I’ll catch up to you later,” Elizabeth insisted, studying Spike intently and trying to determine whether or not he’d just intentionally bailed her out. Kathy practically fled from the scene, and Elizabeth turned back to Spike. “Asshole much?” she felt obliged to at least put up a token defense for Kathy’s sake.

“What?” he retorted snidely. “You buy every little thing your television tells you to, too?”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “At least I’m not trying to impress everyone by dressing all in black and then shooting off my big, loud mouth.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You don’ have to shoot it off. Your mouth’s big enough that you don’t need to.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said with false sweetness, “did I break your Big Bad delusions?”

“Did I break yours?” he retorted in just as saccharine a tone. “Go on, tell us how much you love econ. Is it because your Daddy told you to?”

“Asshole.”

“Bitch.”

“Pig.”

“Stuck-up chit.”

“Prick.”

“Oh, you’d better believe it, baby,” he retorted with a lascivious smirk.

She watched his tongue run up under his teeth. His face was only inches from hers now, their bodies having moved closer together with each insult as if drawn together by some kind of magnetic attraction. Elizabeth suddenly felt the nearly irresistible urge to reach out and just...throttle him. Yeah, that was it... She pulled back instead, a coy little smile on her face.

“They say,” she informed him matter-of-factly, “that show-off guys – you know the type,” she glanced up and down at him, “dress to stand out, get angry easily... – are usually virtual eunuchs.”

Spike’s face flushed a deep red, and he pulled back, his eyes wide.

Across the table Anya was laughing hysterically. “Beaten by a freshman!” she exclaimed between giggles. “Too priceless!”

Spike cast Anya an annoyed look and turned back to the table, seemingly ignoring the fact that his argument with Elizabeth had ever occurred. “Remember to breathe, Anyanka,” he said with one eyebrow raised.

“Too funny!” She finally began to calm down.

“Are we all right now?” Willow asked nervously. “We’re not already falling apart even though school hasn’t started yet, are we? Are we?!”

“We’re fine,” Spike reassured her with a little smile, his eyes turning to Elizabeth and staring at her pointedly.

She noticed just how blue his eyes were once again and that cute way his scarred eyebrow quirked upward and... She shook herself out of it. “Fine,” she gave Willow a bright smile and turned back to her food. She was all too conscious of Spike’s leg as it brushed against hers when he repositioned himself.

“Good,” Willow breathed a sigh of relief. “It was your turn, Spike.”

Spike leaned back in his chair, draping one arm over the back of Elizabeth’s chair – which she was fortunately nowhere near – and playing with an unlit cigarette in his other hand. “Name’s Spike,” he began, “in case you somehow managed to miss it... ‘m from Cambridge, England and here, too. Faculty brat in case you couldn’t guess...although not quite so bad ‘s Red here.”

“Your parents aren’t half the intellectual, socially-dysfunctional freaks mine are!” Willow cackled evilly.

Spike spared her an amused smile. “What else? Oh yeah, don’ really have a major yet. Might end up with history just by default – tha’s what my da does. ‘m a sophomore. That it?”

“Just anything else you want to add,” Willow shrugged.

Faith leaned forward on her elbows, exposing a good deal of cleavage for his perusal. “How about where you got that sexy scar?” she asked saucily.

Spike gave her an appraising look followed by a sensual smile. “Piercin’s an’ bar fights don’t go well together, luv,” he said, fingering his scarred brow lightly.

“And yet you still have them,” Elizabeth commented on the silver ring in his ear.

“Like the dark beauty said,” he gave her a hesitant little smirk, “sexy.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and turned back to her food.

“So, yeah, next?” Willow was determined not to let Elizabeth and Spike get into another fight...at least not today.

Oz nodded. “Oz. Everywhere. Philosophy. Junior. The lord of brevity.”

Everyone laughed at that.

It took Devon a while to notice it was his turn, despite Oz’s constant nudging. “Huh, what? Oh yeah, I’m Devon, and...” He trailed off before laughing. “I’m stoned out of my mind.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Oz, you do the honors.”

Oz nodded. “This is Devon, my roommate. I’m his official spokesperson. He’s from New York City, a junior, and...what is your major, anyway?”

Devon shrugged.

“So, uh...yeah...” Oz finished lamely.

Willow coughed something under her breath before smiling pleasantly once more. “Next?” she said, a hint of dread in her voice about what could possibly still go wrong...

Xander gave everybody a little finger wave. “Yeah, I’m Alexander Harris, but you can call me Xander. Or Xand, Xand-man... I’ll pretty much respond to anything with an X in it. Just don’t call me Professor X. That one’s so nerdy it even scares me.” He got a couple chuckles from Willow and Faith at this, and a little smile from Elizabeth. Encouraged, he continued with more confidence. “I’m from the little, tiny town called St. Simmons in Florida. It’s officially the most boring place on earth – only ten blocks and twelve retirement homes.” More laughs. “And the real scary thing is that my uncle Rory still searches through them for old rich widows.”

“Him and my step-dad number two,” Faith raised her glass in salute.

Xander gave her shy little smile before finishing. “And I’m another of those clueless freshmen with no majors. Think that’s about it.”

Willow breathed a sigh of relief when all possible chance of disaster had passed. She turned to the dishwater blond on her right. “Your turn.”

The blond gave her an amused little smile. “You made me go at the end on purpose, didn’t you?” she accused good-naturedly.

“Just saving the best for last,” Willow said with a little grin.

On her other side Anya was making gagging noises. Spike was trying not-so-hard not to laugh. Willow cast them both annoyed glances.

“Hi,” the dishwater blond finally spoke up, “my name is Tara McClay. I don’t exactly live here, but I’m Willow’s girlfriend so I’m around a lot. My room’s over in Freedman Hall. Um...I’m a senior, and English major... I’m originally from this little hellhole town in Virginia, but I’ll lie and say that I’m from here because it’s so much nicer. That it, sweetie?”

“Yup,” Willow gave her a shy little smile.

Anya promptly began making gagging noises again, and Xander accompanied her with little kissy faces.

Elizabeth couldn’t fight back her amusement any longer and even spared Spike a small smile when he leaned forward to whisper in her ear again.

“Crazy bunch, ‘ey Summers? An’ this ‘s about a normal as it gets...”

She turned to face him and instantly discovered just how close they really were. She suddenly felt very hot and debated removing her sweater...until she decided that she absolutely did not want Spike to see her in nothing but a strappy little tank top. Hell, he’d probably think she’d done it just for him, as if she would ever be interested... It was just...really hot in here, was all. And she was done eating so it was OK to leave the table, and Spike had nothing whatsoever to do with her choice... Really.

She stood up abruptly, pushing him aside a bit rudely as she did so. “I have to go catch up with Kathy,” she informed the table before practically running off.

Spike’s eyes followed her back, and a scowl crossed his handsome features. “Bloody irritatin’ chit,” he grumbled under his breath as he turned back to the table.

Willow and Tara exchanged a knowing glance and a little giggle at his reaction.

* * *

“Ooh, ooh!” Kathy exclaimed. “You still have to meet Di!”

Elizabeth followed the perky brunette wearily. She’d felt inexplicably energized after dinner, but her energy dwindled rapidly every minute she spent with Kathy. She’d never realized just how much effort it took to keep up her popular facade.

“Now where did she go...?” Kathy looked around, puzzled.

“Don’t worry about it,” Elizabeth sighed. “I can meet her later...”

Kathy turned to her with a wide grin. “Isn’t this just super cool? Sure is great to get away from all those losers we got stuck with!” Kathy shuddered. “Especially that freak with the white hair. I mean, what’s his damage, anyway?”

“I think it’s safe to say you irritated him,” Elizabeth said with a tight-lipped smile. Something about Kathy insulting Spike just rubbed her the wrong way...well, more than Kathy usually rubbed her the wrong way, that is. At least when she had insulted Spike, she had done it to his face...

“Whatever,” Kathy shrugged disinterestedly before squealing in delight. “Greg’s here!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Is it OK if I, like, leave you alone and—”

“Go.” Elizabeth couldn’t stop the irritation from leaking into her tone.

“Thanks, Bitsy!” Kathy exclaimed, running off. “You’re the best!”

“Thought she’d never leave,” Elizabeth grumbled under her breath. She had just about decided that she was ready to leave when a hand tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey, Elizabeth!” Riley said brightly. “Glad you could make it!”

Elizabeth forced a smile onto her face. “Yeah, well, a friend of mine was coming too, so...”

“A friend?” Riley’s brow furrowed. “It’s not one of Osborne’s crowd, is it?”

“No, she pretty much hates Oz,” Elizabeth sighed. “Kathy Ashton. You know her?”

“Kathy!” Riley’ face instantly lit up. “She’s neat, isn’t she? A bit much to handle sometimes, though...”

Elizabeth laughed at that. “Oh yeah,” she agreed. “Frequent breaks are necessary.”

Riley smiled and nodded, and a brief awkward silence followed. “You want a drink?” he finally asked.

“No,” Elizabeth had to consciously force back the fear in her voice. She followed it up by a nervous laugh. “I mean I’m...heh-heh...not thirsty and...yeah.”

“Sure, whatever,” Riley shrugged. “You, um, like basketball?”

Elizabeth gave him a half-hearted smile.

“’Cause I play center, you know,” he informed her proudly. “Team captain, too. The Panthers. You should come watch us. We’ve got a chance at the championship this year.” His arm slid casually onto the wall behind her as he said this.

“Really?” she tried to sound interested. “Back in high-school, I was a cheerleader. But our basketball team never really got anywhere...”

“You should join the squad here,” Riley encouraged her. “You could cheer me on.”

“Maybe,” Elizabeth said with an encouraging little smile. “So, yeah...”

“Yeah...”

“You dance?” She felt obliged to at least make an effort.

“Not really. You, uh...wanna...?” he trailed off, baffled.

“Right,” Elizabeth agreed.

Another awkward pause stretched out.

“Look,” Elizabeth finally said, “I should probably get going. I’m more tired than I thought and...yeah.”

“Leave?” Riley sounded forlorn. “But it’s only eleven! The party’s barely started!”

“Yeah, well, I have class tomorrow and...more class,” Elizabeth began inching slowly towards the door. “I had a great time, though. Thanks!” And, with that, she was out the door.

“Who was that?” Graham asked Riley.

“The woman of my dreams,” Riley said simply...

* * *

Elizabeth bit back a groan when she entered their makeshift lounge to find Spike sprawled all over the couch, watching television.

“Back so soon?” he quirked a scarred eyebrow in her direction. “Sucked more than the usual Delta Phi parties then...”

“It was fine,” Elizabeth insisted, pausing in the doorway to her room. “I just didn’t want to be tired for class tomorrow.”

Spike rolled over onto his back to look up at her. “Don’ fancy frat boys an’ booze?” he teased.

Elizabeth let out a sigh of exasperation. “I bet you’re the kind of guy that just keeps picking at scabs, aren’t you? Sometimes it’s just best to leave a wound be...”

“Gotten all metaphoric on me now, Summers,” he said with a wry grin. “Better watch it or ‘ll start to think you’re jus’ another one ‘f us nerds.”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but giggle at that. ‘Nerd’ was just about the last word she’d used to describe Spike. “Tell me,” she said lightly, “are you always this irritating, or are you just trying to drive me crazy?”

“Actually,” he said with a devil-may-care grin, “’m usually more irritatin’. You’ve got me on my best behavior.”

Elizabeth raised a skeptical eyebrow. “This is your best? Then maybe we’d better work on teaching you to act civilly this semester...”

“You gonna tutor me, Summers?” he teased. “Knew you liked me...”

She snorted derisively and rolled her eyes. “You wish,” she countered before entering her room and slamming the door shut behind her.

Great. How was she possibly supposed to sleep, knowing that idiot was in the next room? She crawled under the covers and let out an annoyed huff at the sounds of the television...which she could barely even hear, but still! Nevertheless, she shut her eyes, images of her day flooding through her mind. They seemed to linger on a certain peroxide blond and blue eyes that sparked with mirth and anger a bit longer than was absolutely necessary. And, surprisingly, she had no difficulty falling asleep at all, pleasant dreams that she wouldn’t remember in the morning overtaking her subconscious...