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Chapter Seven
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School was incredibly boring for Angela. She could hardly believe she even had the willpower to continue going every day. All she could think about-besides going back to bed-was Neil. She desperately wished they went to school together. Just seeing his face during the day would be enough motivation to keep going. She kept thinking about little things he did-the way he smiled at her, how he would sometimes tighten his grip, as though he were afraid of losing her, the dimples when he smiled really, really big...
Her friends would pass her notes in English class while Mr. Burns had his back turned. It was always one of the girls inviting everybody over to her house to "study"-usually Suzanne, though. Her house was the biggest. Her daddy was a lawyer. But every time Angela would scribble back "Sorry, not tonight" and pass it along to Barbara who would give it back to Beatrice or whomever, who would roll her eyes in Angela's direction. It didn't bother her much. She liked thinking about Neil more than she liked gossiping about whoever-the-hell. Besides, it made her feel special that Neil used his telephone money on her.
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Angela felt like she was walking on air every time she talked to Neil, even over the telephone. They could never talk for very long, because calling hours at Welton were limited and there were, of course, others who needed to make calls. Angela's parents were as satisfied as they could be with this, as it meant they never had to tell her to hang up, which helped their financial situation.
When she wasn't doing her homework or talking on the phone with Neil, Angela wrote in her diary how Neil made her feel. Finding the right words to describe it proved to be nearly impossible. How did he make her feel? Whenever her friends talked about their boyfriends, they never described anything like this. All the girls at school talked about were where they went and all the boys at school talked about was how easy it was to get under her skirt. Angela scribbled down some possible new word inventions to properly display her emotions before bed that night.
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PHONE CALL #3
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Two weeks of calling and laughing for ten or so minutes a night passed by when Neil called again.
"Hello?"
"Guess who," he joked.
"Gee, I dunno, is this Bobby?" Angela played along.
"Why yes it is," Neil responded in a deep voice, which made her nearly lose it.
"Well, how are you doing?" Angela asked in between giggles.
"I'm fantastic!" He seemed so genuine, she could almost picture him bouncing on his feet at the telephone, trying not to burst. There was a pause.
"Well... why?!"
"You know that play at Henley Hall you were telling me about?" Neil asked. Angela had brought it up to him a few weeks previous, telling him that there were several roles he would be able to play with no problem.
"Midsummer? Yes..."
"I'm going to audition!" Neil exclaimed, which made Angela's face light up with joy.
"Oh, Neil, that's so great! I'm so excited for you! Your first audition! You're gonna love it, Neil..."
"I know, I-I can't wait, I really can't. -D'AH! I can't believe it!" Angela was grinning from ear to ear, and she knew he was too. But then there was a pause.
"-Wait," Angela slowly realized, "what about your father? Did you ask him about it? He said it was okay?" Neil hadn't even told his parents anything about Angela, let alone the audition. He knew his father would never approve of either.
"Well-no, not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"Not at all. But I don't care, I'm doing it anyway."
Angela smiled. "Well-whatever you think is best, Neil."
"I just wish you could be there to audition with me."
"I know-but my math grade is really going down and I really need to focus on school if I want to pass. I'll be with you in spirit, though. I promise. You're going to do so great, Neil."
He grinned. "You really think so?"
"I know so. And hey, maybe this weekend we can do something to celebrate this momentous occasion... your first audition."
"Hey, maybe we can..." Neil stopped. "Hey, um, this is out of the blue but... Todd's, um, got an excuse to leave school this weekend. He's going to be gone Saturday night, something about his uncle dying, I think. He didn't know him-but... he's... going to be at the funeral."
"Oh!"
"I mean, I was just going to say that-I mean, my friends and I have kind of become experts at sneaking around... I was wondering if maybe you wanted to stop by after lights-out or something?"
"Oh-of course, yes! Yes, that sounds like fun."
"Great! That's... uh, great."
"A-Are you sure you know how to sneak me inside? Like-are-are you going to have your friends help us, or...?"
"I think I can handle it myself. I mean-I think if I told Charlie he'd probably spend the whole night bothering us and... you know, being Charlie." They both laughed.
"I understand. So-so you want me to stop by on Saturday night?" Angela had to keep her voice down-her mother was just in the next room listening to the radio and washing the dishes.
"If you can... maybe around... 11:15? Does that sound okay with you?" That was even later than last time. The idea of heading outside alone at such an hour was terrifying, to say the least.
"For you? Sounds wonderful."
