Mr. Monroe wasn't in class and they had to have a sub for that day. They were paired into groups of three to discuss one of Shakespeare's sonnets. Angela ended up paired with Ben and Katie much to her amusement. In another world, she might've felt chagrined or wistful but she was genuinely happy for the couple who seemed to get along very well. She could even laugh at how she had pined for Ben Chenney in what felt like a lifetime ago.

"No longer mourn for me when I am dead," Ben recited. "That you shall hear the surly sullen bell."

Ben had a nice voice. It sounded clear and he almost soft in how he pronounced vowels. It had been something she liked about him. She liked this calm and easiness to him. With his glasses and anime shirts, he was achingly normal and familiar.

"Give warning to the world that I am fled," Katie continued the next line. "From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell."

Katie's voice was higher pitched and softer, almost like a little girl's. It suited her somewhat as she was petite and delicate in a way Angela had always wanted to be. She had honey blonde and big blue eyes and looked like a princess in a Disney movie. Angela could see why Ben was so smitten.

"Remember not the hand that writ it, for I love you so," Angela read. "That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot."

"I think it's pretty simple, isn't it?" Katie asked. "He's asking not to be mourned by someone he loves."

"It's kinda morbid," Ben remarked. "Talking about your hypothetical death. I would find it distressing if someone started talking about that to me."

"Nobody really wants to think about their own mortality, especially of the people they care about," Angela agreed. "But we can't really avoid it. It's part of living."

"Yes, the age old relationship between life and death," Ben nodded. "You can't really talk about one without the other."

"But it's unrealistic for someone to ever ask you not to mourn them," Katie argued. "As if we can just turn off our emotions and not grieve. I certainly wouldn't be able to just move on if…if I ever lost someone."

"I think it's because once we're dead, we don't have to worry about the aftermath," Angela reasoned. "Grieving is for the living and the dead don't take part it in."

"Shakespeare was getting old when he wrote this," Katie added. "Perhaps he couldn't help think about his own end."

"Yeah, this is still really morbid," Ben laughed. "What happened to the sonnets about love and subtle innuendos?"

They all laughed before continuing their discussion of the rest of the sonnet.


During lunchtime, her friends were talking about the Homecoming game on Friday and the dance the next day. And this eventually led to Angela being asked who was going to be her date.

"Are you taking He-Man as your date?" Jessica asked. "I have this feeling he would look amazing in a suit."

Mike with a mouthful of a bologna sandwich, questioned, "Who's He-Man?"

"Jacob," Angela answered. "The guy from La Push?"

"The guy with the muscles?" Mike flexed his arms for emphasis. "I thought you weren't interested."

"Oh, she's interested," Lauren smirked at her as she finished her fruit cup. "Really interested."

Angela was blushing and she glared at Lauren to stop talking. If there was anybody who would start oversharing to torture her, it would be Lauren Mallory. Eric turned on his camera and pointed it to her. She tried to cover her burning face with a hand.

"Is this the same guy from yesterday?" He asked. "The one on the motorcycle?"

Tyler joined in. "He's built like a Terminator!"

Angela dropped her hand and nodded. "Yes. It's him."

"We like him!" Eric said. "I have a footage of you two driving off into the sunset. Very romantic."

"So, is he gonna be your date?" Jessica cut in. "Cause are you still gonna carpool with us or will be he picking you up for the dance?"

"I haven't really discussed the dance with him," Angela confessed. "It kind of skipped my mind."

"Well, ask him soon," Her friend suggested. "You don't want to be the fifth wheel."

"And what about me?" Eric turned the camera to Jessica. "I don't have a date."

"You're working the camera the whole night," She countered. "We'd barely see you You'll be the trusty spare wheel taking pictures from afar."

Angela smiled as her friends bantered with each other. She would have to ask Jacob if he was free on Saturday and that would mean he would have to officially meet her friends and become part of the group. Meeting her parents had been accidental as neither of them had planned that. Meeting her friends would be deliberate and it honestly scared her. She was scared for him.


Jacob had just entered her room when she told him about the dance. He was okay with being her date. He gave his sunny smile and told her he could borrow something from his dad to wear. And he was okay with meeting her friends officially.

"Officially like…boyfriend?" He asked, carefully. "Like your boyfriend, not just the werewolf you spend every night with?"

He made it sound so sordid especially when all they did was talk and sleep. There were a few kisses that never went further because she would spontaneously combust if he tried. She hated how quickly she blushed. She also hated how amused he was whenever she was embarrassed.

"Yes, like my boyfriend," She finally answered. "Unless you don't want to be?"

"Of course, I want to be your boyfriend!" He replied. "I have been waiting patiently for you to finally ask me the big question."

"The big question of 'will you go steady with me?'" She was legitimately baffled. "Why was that needed? Wasn't the imprinting thing the same thing?"

"No, it's not. That's werewolf magic imposed by some nature deity," He countered. "This is between you and me, just two…mostly human teenagers who like each other very much, crazy magic aside."

"Why didn't you ask me then?"

"Because I…I knew it freaks you out that we don't really have a choice with the imprinting," He winced. "I didn't want you to feel pressured to be my girlfriend too. I wanted it to be something you wanted."

She nearly melted. He could be adorable and disarmingly sweet. And quite frankly, he was just plain weird. She took his hand and made him sit beside her on the bed.

"Jacob Black," She said. "Will you be my boyfriend?"

"Hmm," He actually pretended like he was thinking about it. "I don't know. We're both so young. Do we really need to go steady and not just go with the flow?"

She grabbed a pillow and hit him with it as hard as she could. He didn't even flinch. He started laughing that deep rumbling laugh of his. And sensing that she was really going to slap him, he grabbed her hands in his.

"Okay, okay. No need for violence, Angie," He stated. "I'll be your boyfriend."

She pulled him to her and cuddled with him, letting his arms and glorious body heat envelop her. She would never be cold when she had Jacob with her.

"I do have to tell you, I have rounds on Saturday night. I'll see if I can get someone to cover for me but I'll probably be a bit late," He smiled apologetically. "But I'll be there. I promise."


Angela had no ride home again. She seriously considered if it was time to get her own car and whether she even had enough savings for that. She had considered getting one for college but with how things were going lately, getting one earlier would probably for the best. Even some old car that would at least get her from Point A to Point B would do.

She was about to leave the school parking lot to begin her trek home when Jacob showed up in his car. She wondered if the imprinting had some level of telepathy or this was just a coincidence but she was glad for it. She got into the car but instead of driving her home, Jacob turned the car in the opposite direction. And when she asked where they were going, he told her they were going to hang out at Sam's house that day for a 'pack meeting'.

"It's just really an excuse to eat Emily's cooking," He explained. "We mostly just sit around the living room and hang out since there aren't any vampires to worry about anymore."

She pointed out, "You sound like you're bored."

"Hey, I didn't want those things hanging around and killing people and now that they're gone there aren't any more kids shifting," He replied. "But it was something to talk about in pack meetings. Nowadays, it's just wedding planning and Jared trying to swallow Kim's face whole."

"It can't be that bad."

"You know what Emily did the other day? She painted Seth's nails different colors to check which nail polish she should wear for the Big Day," He continued. "And Leah was moping in the corner and talking about how marriage was a brainwashing ideal created by society to fulfill a consumer capitalist agenda."

"Well…" She didn't really know what to say to that. "Is Emily's cooking good?"

"The one saving grace," He stated grimly. "Or I would've jumped off a cliff by now."

She didn't point out that he would survive. Jacob had told her he and the pack went cliff diving for fun. His werewolf healing would also insure he couldn't be injured. She found that out after one night when he was helping himself to a sandwich in her kitchen and nicked his thumb with a knife. She watched in fascinated horror as his wound healed after a minute, leaving only unblemished skin.

She would never get used to this werewolf stuff.


Sam Uley and Emily Young were a lot younger than she expected. They were both in their early twenties but carried themselves a lot older. She supposed maturity came when having to lead and oversee an entire pack of werewolves. Not that she had any experience in that at all. It must come with a certain level of stress and she could understand why Sam wanted to step down as Alpha and focus on his marriage.

They were both very welcoming and nice to her when she arrived at their house with Jacob. Five other boys were eating at the kitchen table and were devouring what had to be a feast to feed the entire population of Forks. She recognized Jacob's friends and Seth. The other two had to be Paul and Jared.

"Hi Angie!" Seth greeted her from his seat. "Glad you finally made it!"

"We've wanted to meet you for a while," Emily explained. "Like an imprint to pack introduction as weird as that sounds weird."

She didn't really know the protocol for packs and imprints so she just agreed to whatever Emily was saying. Quill and Embry waved at her and the other two boys just stared at her in curiosity. After the introductions were made, she sat down with Emily as they began to look over wedding dress designs. Jacob tried to make an excuse to leave but Angela held his hand and shackled him to her. She wasn't allowing him to abandon her there.

Jacob sighed and turned to Jared. "Where's Kim?"

"She had her tutoring job," The other boy looked forlorn. "She couldn't make it today."

"She's literally a block way," Paul declared. "Lighten up."

"You don't have an imprint so you don't know how I feel," Jared retorted. "Once you get one and you can understand my pain, then we can talk."

Paul scoffed. "I'm never imprinting."

"I said that too," Jared replied. "Jake said it too and now here we are."

"I didn't say it," Sam pointed out, hugging Emily from behind. "I never wanted to."

"You also just turned into a werewolf without a heads up," Embry remarked. "You also didn't even know what imprinting was."

"Semantics," Sam reached over and swiped Embry's bacon. The latter growled at him. "Paul, my friend, someday you will imprint on a girl and you will understand what Jared is talking about."

"Hopefully somebody hot," Paul grinned and asked Jacob, "When is your sister Rachel visiting again?"

Jacob intoned. "If you imprint on my sister, I will run you over with my car as many times needed to kill you."

"Lighten up, Jake!" Paul laughed. "We would be brothers for real!"

"Oh no," Jacob vehemently shook his head. "Death is more preferable. I would really rather die than have you as a brother-in-law."

Angela laughed. Jacob gave her a look of betrayal. She shrugged and tried to tell him she didn't mean to laugh at him. She did but he didn't need to know that.


Jacob drove her home before dinner. He parked his car into their driveway and Angela saw the lights were still off in the house. Her parents were possibly at the church with the twins. She didn't remember getting a message from her mother about them coming home late.

"You wanna come inside?" She offered. "I could make us something."

He had eaten his fill at Emily and Sam's house but as she learned over these past few weeks is that his stomach was a black hole and was never truly full. He could probably eat her family out of house and home if he wanted. Werewolf abilities came at the price of a very fast metabolism. He agreed to go inside with her and they made their way inside.

The house was pitch black inside. She turned on the switch and found her family and friends shouting "surprise!" at her. She nearly had a heart attack. The large banner with Happy Birthday on the wall reminded her that she forgot what day it was. She forgot her own birthday.

"Happy Birthday, Ang!" Jessica was the first to come and greet her with hug. "You thought we seriously forgot?"

"Happy Birthday, Angie!" Eric hugged her too. "I was freaking out you were gonna figure us out during lunch."

Lauren came over with a three-tiered Birthday cake. "We needed you gone so we could bake this monstrosity."

Her mom started lighting the candles on the cake with a lighter. "Luckily, Jacob here helped us."

Jacob smiled too innocently at her and she realized he was in on this.

"She asked me to keep you distracted," He explained. "Just for a few hours while they set all this up."

"We know you hate the fuss," Mike said. "But you can't have cake without the fuss so…we knew you would've picked the cake."

She wasn't annoyed at all. She felt touched that they all went through all this trouble for her. There were balloons and food. The twins even helped decorating as she could see paper dinosaur cutouts taped to the walls. She couldn't stop herself from smiling if she tried.

Her mother took the cake from Lauren and moved it closer to her. "Make a wish, love."

Angela thought about what she really wished for in life. Was there anything she truly wanted or needed? A few months ago, she might've said Ben Chenney liking her back or getting into her college of choice. Now, looking at the faces of everyone she loved she realized she didn't really wish for anything else than what she had in that moment. She was content and happy and there was nothing else she needed.

She closed her eyes and blew out the candles. She wished for nothing.


Later, when everyone had stuffed themselves with cake and their guests had gone home, Angela would look over the presents she received. Eric gave her a photo album of all the pictures he'd taken off the group over the years. Tyler gave her the soundtrack CD to the Breakfast Club. Mike gave her a book about the best places to see in Europe. Jessica made her a jewelry box painted red with white flowers.

Lauren's gift was more of that lavender moisturizer she loved. Her parents gave her a golden bracelet. Jacob's gift was a card that said 'Free Motorcycle Rides for Life'. The last present she wanted to frame it to make her laugh if nothing else.

When she told Jacob this, he laughed. "Okay. We'll frame it."

"I want it on the wall so I can be reminded how weird you are."

"I did what I could," He replied. "I didn't have time to make something. I didn't know it was your birthday because you didn't tell me."

She forgot her birthday. It was the first time that had happened. Though she never went out of her way to do anything for her birthdays as they'd all been quiet affairs, there had at least been some cake. She almost didn't get cake and what a travesty that would've been.

She put away all her presents and went to bed, Jacob cuddling her and his warm breaths tickling the nape of her neck. Angela's heart felt full. She felt she would burst from the amount of love she felt for all these people. She wondered if she deserved such love and kindness. She really hoped she did.


We are nearing the end of this story. Next chapter will be Homecoming and after that we'll have a chapter or two and it'll be the end.

1. Sam Uley and Emily are around 19-20 in the books but I decided to make them a little older. Teen weddings are kinda weird to me especially in this day and age. I made it a personal choice to omit Sam scarring Emily. With my childhood, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable to show violence against women. And I don't want it in my story.

2. Angela's birthday is October 20th and that makes her a Libra. I decided to make Angela a little bit older than her friends. I decided to make her birth year 1987 (instead of 1988 like in the books) and she's not in the grade above them as her birthday is at the later part of the year so now Angie is 18. And it was a Thursday on October 20th, 2005.

3. The sonnet they were discussing in class is Sonnet 71.

4. Jacob talking about jumping off a cliff is a reference to Bella in New Moon. And yeah, Paul does still imprint on Rachel in the future. Rachel is at college for the moment.

5. Leah's rant about marriage is taken from the film 'Definitely Maybe'. 'He-Man' is a comic book and cartoon character who is quite buff like Jacob. And 'Terminator' was an 80's science fiction action film.

6. The chapter title is a play on the 80's film 'Sixteen Candles'.