Part Three
The next day, Jesse and Xander cornered Iam in the hall. “C’mon, Iam. We want you to meet Willow,” pleaded Xander, shamelessly using his patented whipped-puppy-anime-eyes to get his way.
Iam tried to resist, but eventually gave in, allowing the two hyper boys to drag him to the library. “Wait, where’re we going?” he asked.
“The library,” said Jesse.
“Bloody hell! I don’t want to go there!”
“But that’s where Willow spends all her free time,” said Xander.
“Fine,” said a disgruntled Iam, “but you can’t talk to my uncle.”
“Why?” asked Xander and Jesse in unison.
Iam looked around nervously, then said quietly, “I don’t really know anyone here. He’s scared that something bad’s going to happen to me. He has been very overprotective since we got here. He’ll give you a terrible interrogation!”
Xander laughed, “Is that all? C’mon, what’re we gonna say? We’ll tell the truth: true love found in the boys’ locker room!”
Aghast, Iam stared at Xander open-mouthed until he realized Xander was joking. “That was not funny,” snarled the British boy.
“Sure it was,” snickered Jesse. The three boys stopped in front of a set of doors. “Well, here we are, the library,” he said, gesturing widely.
“Thank you for that stunning report, Captain Obvious,” said Xander very seriously, before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter, with Jesse soon following.
Grinning a little, Iam stared at the two boys as if they had lost their minds,
not noticing the figure standing in the doorway until a throat was cleared.
A British voice put a stop to the merriment,
“And just what are you boys doing out here?”
“Um, studying?” said Jesse, trying appear innocent.
“I see. In the corridor?”
“We were just going into the library, Uncle Rupert,” said Iam nervously. “We’re meeting someone.”
“Oh, and who are your friends?”
“I’m Xander.”
“And I’m Jesse.”
“Rupert Giles. Now, are you coming in? Or would you rather stay in the hallway?”
“Hall, library, hall, library. I just don’t know what to choose,” said Xander, as though faced with a difficult and important decision.
“Into the library,” said Jesse, pushing Xander through the open door.
Iam and Giles followed them. “How long have you known Iam? He’s never mentioned you before.”
“Uncle Rupert,” hissed Iam, embarrassed.
“Oh, we go way back,” said Jesse. “Years and years. Seriously, we met him yesterday. Swapped life stories and real first names. Total male bonding, ya know?”
“Life stories?” asked Giles a bit surprised. He looked at the two boys closely, noticing some faint bruises and severaln almost healed cuts on one; the other was wearing a long sleeved tee-shirt.
Before any of the boys could reply, a red-haired girl bounced up to the group. “Xander! Jesse! There you are; I’ve been waiting for ages! Where’s this new kid you wanted me to meet?”
Xander and Jesse rolled their eyes good-naturedly at the rapid-fire babble that came out of the girl’s mouth, while the two Englishmen tried to decipher what she had said. “Willow, this is Iam and his uncle, Mr. Giles. Iam, Mr. Giles, this is Willow,” said Xander.
“Pleased to meet you,” said Iam.
“Yes, we’ve met before. I’m pleased to see some of the students here actually know where the library is,” said Giles, smiling faintly.
“Well, things to do, essays to write, let’s go,” said Iam hurriedly, grabbing Jesse and Xander and dragging them off into the shelves of books, with an amused looking Willow following.
Giles looked after them for a minute or two, then decided to leave them be.
“Did he follow us?” asked Iam.
Willow laughed a bit, “No, he’s back at his desk now.”
“So you’re the new guy?”
“Yes.”
“And the librarian’s your uncle? Where are your parents?” she asked curiously.
Tensing up. Iam swallowed nervously, “My mum’s in England and my da lives in Los Angeles.”
Standing a bit behind Iam, Xander was making frantic no gestures. Willow was confused a little at first, then realized what Xander was trying do and changed the subject. “That’s nice. What do you think of Sunnydale?”
Iam relaxed a little and the four were soon sharing stories about teachers and classes. When the bell rang, the four headed out the door. Xander had run back in because he left his books. On his way back out, Giles stopped the boy. “Xander, was is?” He nodded. “Do you have a minute?”
“S-sure,” stuttered Xander, nervous as to what the man wanted.
They moved into Giles’ office. “So, how did you meet William?”
Xander wondered if he should tell the truth or not, then decided on the truth. “Some guys had beat him up and I wanted to make sure he was okay.”
“Bloody hell,” was the muttered response.
“Then I took him to meet Jesse and we spent the afternoon together. That was okay, wasn’t it? I mean, he didn’t get in trouble did he?” Xander peered at Giles with his whipped puppy look.
“No, no. I just wondered where he was yesterday. He wouldn’t tell me,” said Giles soothingly. “I thought… never mind.”
“That his dad had him?”
Giles shot the boy a look, “How do you…”
“He told us. Shared comfort, you know,” said Xander, then realized his shirt sleeve had pulled up a bit, revealing some nasty bruise. He quickly pulled it down, hoping the librarian hadn’t noticed.
“Yes, well, I am glad he’s making friends.”
“Can I go? I’m late for English,” said Xander.
“Oh, sorry. Here’s a pass,” said the Englishman. Xander quickly left the office and the library. Giles watched him go, then pulled out a phonebook.
“Hello, child services? Yes, I need to report two cases of suspected child abuse.” He listened for a few minutes. “They both have bruises and cuts. No, they’re from different families.”