Last Names | Tyrus/Muffy

Part 18

TJ's POV

This must be strange for anyone who knows us to see: two enemies walking side by side. We come down the last block, and Buffy's officially run out of topics to keep me from asking the obvious question.

"Are you going to talk to Marty?"

"I, uh—wish I knew how to do that," she replies.

"You just go up to him and say, 'Hey, Marty. I want to apologize—'"

"It's not that easy," she cuts me off. "I didn't lose his pencil. I told him to get out of my life. How do I apologize for that?"

"Like this. 'I'm sorry.'"

"You know I'm not good at those words," she mutters.

"Yeah, I know."

As we step onto the grass surrounding the school, I see Cyrus wave to us, and it lights a smile on my face instantly. Just a little left of him, Buffy's love interest talks with some of his friends.

"Well, no time for practice," I say. "There he is."

Buffy stops walking at stares at him as though suddenly unable to think about anything else.

"I guess it's now or never," she says, probably more to herself than to me.

That's when Marty spots her, and Buffy raises her hand to wave, but rather than waving back, Marty simply frowns and turns away, going off in the opposite direction. I can feel Buffy's heart break as she takes in a shaky breath. She bites her lip, looking as though she's about to cry.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yup," she insists.

"Do you need a hug?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

After us not going over to him, Cyrus comes to us. Buffy puts on a fake smile, and somehow Cyrus doesn't see through it. He might be a bit too preoccupied with looking at me as he reaches out for my hand. I let him slip his fingers through mine before I remember where we are. Then I retrieve my hand, and a frown flashes on Cyrus' face.

"Sorry," I whisper. "I just—"

"Lookie here," comes a mocking voice. "It's Kippen and his boyfriend."

Cyrus' eyes flick to where the boys stand behind me, rude looks on their faces, not trying to hide their disgust. In fact, it's so exaggerated that a few bystanders have stopped to learn what the commotion is about.

"I bet if the team knew, they wouldn't have wanted a gay as their captain," says another boy.

Buffy glares at the guys chatting behind me, but Cyrus keeps his eyes firm on me.

"Don't let them get to you," he says softly. "Be the bigger person."

I nod and try to take a breath, but my anger makes it too rocky to calm me down.

"Don't let him play in the next match," a third joins in. "He won't be on his game. He'll be on his boyfriend."

That's what pushes Buffy over the line.

"Yeah, well, I'm sick of being the bigger person," Buffy growls.

I spin around to watch as Buffy marches up to the group of boys talking. They all turn to her, looking a bit taken aback by her appearance.

"Shut the fuck up," she orders them.

The boys exchange confused glances, but only one dares to talk back to Buffy.