Chapter Two: Angela's POV

When I got back from dinner, Rachel was sitting on her bed, looking mildly shell-shocked.

"Did you have fun with the guys?" I asked her.

"Yeah, um, okay." She gestured vaguely with her hands. "Um, I'm going to bed now."

I glanced over at the clock. "It's only 10pm, and it's not even a school night! I was going to see if you wanted to go see a movie or something. I feel kinda bad for neglecting my girlfriends."

"You haven't neglected me. And it's not like I've been Miss Available Girl over the last few weeks."

Rachel looked down at her hands. "What would you say about love at first sight*?"

"I'd say it happens all the time, *" I quipped. I could see that she didn't get the reference, though.

"Okay, spill. You're all distracted. What's been happening?"

She sighed, but not unhappily. "You might want to sit down."

I plopped down on my bed. "Okay."

"You know how I've been spending time with Jack and Eric lately? I mean, more than usual."

"Yes..." I prompted.

"Well, when I left their apartment, I met this guy." A smile played on her face.

"And that's the big news? That I had to sit down for?"

"Oh, and Eric and Jack are together."

I was so surprised that I fell over backwards. "Do you mean that they're dating?"

"Yeah. Anyway, about the guy..."

"Does Shawn know?"

"Stuart? How should I know?"

"Rachel!" I had the insane urge to shake her. "What do you mean, Jack and Eric are dating? Did we slip dimensions without me knowing? Because I never saw anything that made me believe for a second that they would ever go out with each other."

"They've been giving off signals for almost the whole school year! You'd have to be blind, deaf, and without any clue to not see what's going on."

"That would be me," I said slowly. As my mind began to wrap around the fact that two of my least likely friends were going out, I smiled. "So, they're happy?"

"Yeah. Anyway, the guy's name is Stuart. Stuart Minkus."

"That sounds vaguely familiar. Rachel, you are seriously mooning over a guy you just met today! Oh well, stranger things have happened. Especially today." I sat back up on my bed. "I have got to call Shawn."

"Don't! I mean, I kinda found out by accident that Jack and Eric are together. I don't know how they would feel about telling everyone else yet."

"Okay. Well, are you sure that you don't want to see a movie?"

"Nah. You go ahead. G'night, Ang."

"Night, Rach."

I walked into the hallway. Once I was sure that Rachel wasn't following me, I ran to the bank of pay phones.

"Shawn? I have to talk to you. Tonight."

Next Chapter: Shawn

(* The two lines are out of a song, "With a Little Help From My Friends." I think that the Beatles sang it first, but I was thinking of the Joe Cocker version. For you TV lovers like me, you know that that song was the theme for "The Wonder Years". See, it all ties together!)