Part 3

Dawn and her friend Janice walked up the steps outside the Sunnydale high school. They were studying nearly identical pieces of paper. "So you have Math first on Tuesday, then English right after lunch with me today? Cool!" Dawn was relieved to know her best friend was in at least 2 classes with her.

"Have you heard anything about the new teachers?" Janice wanted to know.

"The science teacher is a real dweeb. Kristin saw him setting up the lab. No telling where they found him. I heard the PE teacher is from Sacramento. Nothing yet on the new English teacher."

"I heard he's a dreamboat." The girls turned to find Chelsea West standing behind them. Chelsea flipped her streaked blond hair over her shoulder, then pulled out a mirror to check her lipstick. "I wonder how long this new batch will last?"

Sunnydale went through an inordinate number of teachers each year. Last year had been no exception. "Don't know." Dawn shrugged her shoulders. "Why are you talking to us anyway? Aren't we a little under your league?"

Chelsea snapped her mirror shut and favored Dawn with a pseudo-smile. "Nobody else around. Might as well talk to you."

"Thanks ever so." Janice sneered out before turning to walk away.

"Catch you later." Dawn waved, then hurried to catch up with her friend. "Hey, that was pretty rude."

Janice shook her head. "I've been on the wrong side of her vicious streak too many times to play nice." She was interrupted by the school bell. "Time to go. I'll see you at lunch."

Dawn waved goodbye and walked to her homeroom.

*****

Dawn and Janice walked into English class, more interested in the two boys in front of them than in their upcoming class. So far the day had gone pretty smoothly for Dawn, and the girls were sharing stories of whom said what to who, and what were they thinking when they wore that anyway? Everything was normal. Janice sat at a desk by the window, with Dawn taking the seat in front of her. She checked around to see who else was in the class, and to take note of the drama masks mounted on the wall. She returned her attention to Janice to get her opinions.

The student chatter muted considerably as the teacher entered the room and walked to the board. Dawn turned to the front as she heard the squeak from the dry erase marker slide across the glossy white surface as the teacher wrote his name on the board with his left hand. Dawn looked curiously at him. He was slight with sandy blond hair, wearing a pale blue shirt and khaki slacks. She turned to whisper to Janice that he had a cute butt, but froze in place when she heard familiar British tones. "Welcome to Sophomore English."

Dawn's shocked gaze was riveted to him as he turned to face the room. Her ears hadn't deceived her. Spike was standing at the front facing the class. His accent was more clipped and proper than what he normally spoke with. "I'm Mr. Browning." He continued. "I'm your new teacher."

*****

"Buffy, I'm not kidding you!"

Dawn was sitting across from the table from Buffy in the meeting room of the Doublemeat Palace. Buffy shook her head, sure that her sister was trying to pull a fast one. "So help me God, Dawn, if you made this up so that I'd let you get away with cutting classes on the first day of school, I'll drop you in the grinder."

"I'm not making it up. Spike is my new English teacher."

Now there was a phrase Buffy thought she would never hear. She shook her head again, this time to clear her ears. "How could he be Dawn? He's a vampire for pity's sake! And vampires do not teach English."

"I don't know Buffy. All I know is that it was him. He was standing there in my class sounding all British and proper, but he was wearing, like, normal clothes. And I'd swear he has a tan."

"What would Spike know about teaching English?"

"Quite a bit, actually! You should have seen him. He started reading Shakespeare and I thought Missy Matthews was going to have kittens. She actually moaned!"

"Oh my god."

"I tried to get up there and talk to him at the end of class, but he was swarmed. Once the crowd thinned out he was gone. I ran all over the school looking for him but I couldn't find anything. The new principal was no help either. He said that us pesky girls had been in there all day asking him about Mr. Browning and he was tired of it." Dawn folded her arms and sulked.

"Dawn," Buffy leaned forward and touched her sister's forearms. "You must understand why I'm having a little bit of trouble accepting this."

"I know Buffy, but you've got to believe me. It's him."

The Slayer sounded grim. "Then it looks like I'm going to have a talk with your new teacher."

Part 4

The next morning the Sunnydale High hall monitor was amazed to see Dawn Summers arrive an hour early for school. This was something that had never happened before. She was accompanied by her older sister, who was also never known for her punctuality. The stout matron stepped in front of the two girls to block their entry. "Where do you two think you're going?"

Buffy raised her chin in the air. "I need to speak with the principal about... about Dawn ducking out of her last class yesterday." Buffy lied through her teeth.

"Try again." the monitor was unimpressed. She'd seen everything in her twenty-three years of patrolling school halls. This slip of a girl was not getting past her. "You can wait outside until he arrives, then we'll see if you have an appointment."

Buffy knew when to retreat. "Come on Dawn." She led the younger girl back outside. "I never could put one over on Mad Martha back when she stalked the halls of the old high school. We will just go on to plan B."

"You're going to sneak in through the gymnasium window?"

"Exactly."

"Can I come along?"

"NO! I want you in your classes where you're supposed to be." She waved her forefinger under Dawn's nose. "No more cutting."

"Yes, Ma'am."

She gave Dawn a hug. "I'll let you know what I find out."

"'Kay."

Buffy jogged around to the back of the building, grabbed a rock and selected her target. Smash! Slayer aim was a wondrous thing. She backed up a few steps, then ran and jumped up onto the ledge under the row of windows. She reached into the fist-sized hole and unhooked the latch, then opened the window and slipped in, pausing to re-latch it behind her.

She was startled to hear an alarm. The old school building never had an alarm! Quickly she looked for a place to hide.

The gymnasium doors burst open and two security guards ran in looking frantically around. The searched all around the empty room then stopped by the broken window.

"Just some punk breaking glass again." Guard number one told his partner. "We'll have maintenance clean this up and cover the hole." He tossed the rock in the air and caught it again in his palm. "I'll just add this to our collection."

The men left. A ceiling tile was lifted and Buffy swung out to grab the rope suspended from a bar a few feet down. She slid down to the floor, wiped her palms on the sides of her jeans, then ran silently to the doors and slipped into the hall.

She had spent most of the previous evening and night looking for Spike. She had gone by his crypt. There had been no sign of him, but she had put quite a scare into the three vamps who had moved in. Of course, she had dusted them before checking around for clues to his whereabouts. Ultimately, she had found nothing.

It seemed that none of the vampires or demons she had encountered had seen him. Clem was nowhere to be found either. Now she was stuck with sneaking into the school and camping out in his classroom until he decided to show. Naturally, when she reached the room, the door was locked. "Looks like more destruction of school property for the former juvenile delinquent." Buffy muttered to herself, before wrenching the knob sharply to the right and tearing it out of the metal door. "Hmm." She held it up and admired it. "Pretty." She let herself into the room.

*****

Fifteen minutes later William paused beside his vandalized classroom door. Buffy. He would have known she was here even without the evidence of her breaking and entering. He could smell her, and still feel her as well. He would have been surprised if she hadn't shown up. He knew he had avoided seeing her for as long as he could. Steeling himself, he pushed open the door and walked in.

She was sitting on the edge of his desk, her arms and ankles tightly crossed. She wasn't smiling.

"Hello, Buffy." He glanced at her, then away.

"Spike." She noted his cringe, subtle though it was. "I think you owe me an explanation."

His voice was low. "I think I owe you more than that."

"Why did you leave?"

He paused. He didn't look at her. "You know why."

He opened his briefcase and began to unpack his supplies.

"Why did you come back?"

"I came back..." He took a deep breath. "I came back because I had to."

She hopped down and turned to look at him, her hands flat on the desk. "I don't understand. I don't understand anything!"

"Makes two of us."

"Spike!" His half answers were making her angry. His jaw clenched again. She stood upright. "What is it?"

"Just... call me William. Please."

She moved rapidly around the desk and grabbed his arm. "Look at me. Tell me what this is all about."

He did as she ordered. She was dismayed at the emotion she saw in his eyes. There was sorrow and shame and... dignity.

"What happened to you?" She whispered.

"I needed to make a change Buffy, so I did."

"What kind of a change?" She backed away a step, then glanced around the room, noting the way it was filled with sunlight. "Tell me why you're here at this school, and how you can walk around in the daylight, and why you're... different."

A bell rang loudly in the hall. Hundreds of feet could be heard squeaking on the linoleum of the floor.

"Later." He said, then turned to look away from her again. "I'll tell you about it later."

"When?"

"After school." He lifted his eyes upward and shook his head uncertainly. "Four o'clock."

"Fine. Come to the Magic Box." She turned and walked out.