Chapter 5

Three years later…

"Happy birthday, sweetie!" Jennifer shouted when Angela came downstairs for breakfast.

"Pfft," she snorted as she sat down. Her mother placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her and a glass of milk.

"You're not excited?"

"What's to get excited about? I'm eighteen. Unless there's a car in the driveway with a red ribbon on it, I'm not interested."

"How cliché would that be?" David chuckled as he swept into the kitchen and kissed his daughter on the top of her head. "But I might have something that will excite you."

He pulled a wrapped parcel from behind his back and dropped it on the table in front of her. "It arrived at my office Friday."

"Who sent it?"

"Why don't you read the card like a normal person?"

Angela rolled her eyes and took the card out of the envelope. It was one of those blank cards that had a simple "Happy Birthday" on the front and when she opened it and read the inscription, she gasped.

Kid,

Thought you might want this. Now you can say you took the shirt off my back.

-H

"It's from House!" She ripped open the parcel with shaking hands and pulled out the same vintage T-shirt that Tim Tucker had ripped three years before.

"That was nice of him," Jennifer nodded as she gave David a stern look. Clearly she didn't approve of a grown man giving her daughter gifts. But David shrugged it off.

Angela held the shirt to her nose and took a whiff. It even smelled like House. That clean, masculine scent that was uniquely him. "Oh my God! It's his own T-shirt! Read what he wrote," Angela beamed as she handed the card to her mother while David lifted the blinds to let the morning sun into the kitchen. Then he took a picture of her with his Polaroid as she sat in front of the window.

"What was that for?" Angela asked, looking confused at her dad.

"Just taking a picture so I can show him how excited you were. Here, take a look."

Angela watched as the picture slowly developed. She saw herself sitting in front of the kitchen window that overlooked the driveway. However, sitting in the driveway was a black BMW convertible with a large red bow.

"What the.." she said as she turned and looked at the real image before her.

"Happy Birthday."

"You got me a car?" she squealed as she got up and ran outside, not caring that she was still in her pajamas.

"You've worked hard this year and kept straight A's. We think you've earned it."

"That's why you pushed me to get my license this year. I should've known."

"So do you like it?"

"I love it! Not too many kids in my class have cars, let alone brand new ones. Can I drive to school tomorrow?"

"As long as you're careful."

X X X

She rolled into the student parking lot with the top down. As luck would have it, it was a sunny day and a lot of kids were hanging out when she arrived. Pretending not to notice the stares, she parked, put the top up, since she heard it might rain later, and set the alarm.

"Nice ride," a boy named Lance said with a low whistle.

"Thanks."

"I guess having a daddy who's the District Attorney has its merits."

She gave him a dazzling smile as she walked ahead of him and slung her bag over her shoulder with a confident toss of her hair. "Thank you. And yes it does."

Word got out fast about her car and soon she was the center of attention. Normally she would've dreaded it, but for the first time in her life, the attention was favorable. People who had never looked in her direction before were suddenly noticing her, regardless of how much she tried not to stand out.

She sat in Chemistry class, chewing on the end of her pencil as she contemplated the latest quadratic equation when she felt something hit her back. She whirled around to see Lance sitting directly behind her.

"Psst..."

"What?" She hissed back.

"Do you have a date for the Spring Fling?"

Angela was instantly wary. She'd been down that road before, and it didn't end well.

"I don't go in for that sort of thing. Sorry," she whispered and turned back to her paper. She really didn't want to get into what would surely be a nightmare.

"Psst!" he hissed again.

"Leave me alone!" she whispered over her shoulder as the teacher stared.

"Is there a problem, Miss Sorentis?"

"No, sir. Just a bug in my ear...or something."

"Would that bug be Lance Wesley, by any chance?"

"Yes, sir. Would you kindly tell it to stop buzzing?"

There were a couple of snickers from the other class members as Angela put her head down and went back to her assignment.

The bell rang at the end of class and she quickly scooped up her books and shoved them in her bag. Lance was busy talking to the girl next to him so she made a quick exit, only to be cornered by another girl.

"Do you like him?"

Angela frowned at the girl and took in her appearance. For a private school, she was straying far from the required uniform. She wore the white blouse and the black pleated skirt, but her fingernails were black, as was her lipstick, and around her neck were a dozen different necklaces.

"I don't even know him that well."

"I've seen you around. You seem like a nice person. Lance is a jerk."

"Well that's good to know."

"If you went to the dance with him, you'd totally be like the Prom Queen. All you'd have to do is show up."

Angela rolled her eyes. "So what's your point?"

"He's probably going to ask you."

"And you're saying I shouldn't go?"

"Not if you don't want to be another notch on his belt."

"So he sleeps around?"

"He can have any girl he wants. And it looks like he wants you."

"Well I'm not interested."

She grabbed her things from her locker and headed to the parking lot, only to find Lance leaning against her car smoking a cigarette.

"Do you mind? I don't want your ash on my car," she hissed as she shoved him aside and unlocked the doors.

"Sorry. So...how about it?"

"How about what?"

"Wanna go with me to the Spring Fling on Friday?"

"Seriously?"

Lance nodded as he stamped out his cigarette. "Sure."

"What's the catch?"

"Catch?"

"What do I have to do?"

"Nothing."

Angela got into the car and buckled up as Lance leaned against the open door and smiled at her. He really was cute, and she found her resolve quickly diminishing.

"Fine."

"Cool. I'll talk to ya about it tomorrow."

"Okay."

Angela drove home and went to the kitchen for a snack. "Good day at school?" her mom asked as she made her daughter a sandwich.

"Yeah, fine. They loved my car. I got invited to the spring dance by a cute guy..."

Jennifer smiled. "Really? Are you going?"

"I said I would. But..."

"But what?"

"I dunno. I just have a bad feeling. Like something will go very wrong."

"Well, I have something that might get your mind off that for awhile." Jennifer rifled through the days' mail and held up an envelope. "This came for you today. I guess good news travels fast."

Angela took the letter and stared at it. It was from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "Oh my God..."

"Open it!"

"I'm...what if..."

Jennifer snatched it out of her hand and begin to open it. "I'll open it and tell you what it says." She took the letter out and read it to herself for a minute, while her lips curved into a smile.

"Dear Miss Sorentis, we're happy to inform you that you've been offered a spot in our fall program..."

"Give me that!" Angela giggled as she snatched the letter away and read the rest. "I'd have to go to Regina, Saskatchewan for six months!"

"You already knew that."

"Yeah but I doubt I'll be able to get back here for the holidays. Training is pretty rigorous."

"Are you going to go?"

"I don't know..."

"What do you mean you don't know? This is an excellent opportunity for you. You'll get to visit schools and lecture about bullying. All the stuff you want to do, you can."

"I know but...it all seems pretty intense."

Jennifer picked up the letter and glanced at it. "Well, you have a couple of months before you have to give them an answer. It's only March, and they expect an answer in May."

"Yeah. I need to look into the Police Academy here. I heard it's good too, if not better. And if that's the case, I'll need to get my American citizenship too."

"That will be easy enough since your father is an American, and an attorney. He might be able to move things along faster."

"He said he would. I dunno. It's just so overwhelming."

"Well enough about that for now. Tell me about this boy who asked you out."

"I don't know much about him except he's popular, handsome, hot, happening, and captain of the football and the wrestling team. I've been down this road before, Mom," Angela whispered, her voice slightly shaking as she remembered that night three years ago.

"Hey," Jennifer whispered as she took Angela's chin in her hand and looked her in the eye. "You're not that girl anymore. And you did defend yourself."

"Yeah, and then I ran into an oncoming car. Big victory."

"That's all in the past. You need to rise above it. Go to the dance with this guy and have a hell of a good time."

"You're right."

Angela bounced out of the kitchen and took the letter with her up to her room to read it again. For the first time in a long time she felt something she never thought she would. She was hopeful.

Show me love, guys! You've been so good at it before, why stop now?