(Author's Note: Holy shit, I have fans of this story other than my friends who I forced to leave reviews? You guys are way too kind. I apologize for the delay in this chapter but I'm still at the whole exposition part of things which bores me terribly. The good stuff is coming up next though, I promise you! Thank you so much for reading!)
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Chapter Four
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Before September rolled around, Neil and Angela had been on several more dates, each better than the last. They had also learned a lot about each other. For example, Angela learned that Neil wasn't really as shy as she previously thought, and Neil learned that Angela had a sailor mouth.
It wasn't just when she was angry or for emphasis, but yet it wasn't like every other word that came through her lips was a four-letter-word. Neil just had in his head that proper young ladies never cursed. Of course, proper young boys didn't curse either, but Neil knew that was nearly impossible. It wasn't like he was necessarily an angel either, it just seemed so alien for the word "shit" to come out of the mouth of such a beautiful young woman.
She was funny, too, in a strange way. Neil felt like he could tell Angela anything, and she did the same in return. Maybe it was because they were one another's First Everything, but the amount of trust the two shared was almost frightening to them. Neil felt as though Angela understood everything about him. She understood his desire, no, his need, to act and to perform, because Angela shared the same exact need.
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"Gentlemen," Neil began with a smirk. "I have an announcement to make." It was the first day back at Welton and all of his friends had gathered into his room. Charlie was already stretched out on a bed with a cigarette and Neil's new roommate was awkwardly attempting to blend into the wallpaper.
"Well? Out with it," Charlie unenthusiastically responded, taking a drag of his cigarette.
Neil's smirk widened. "Yours truly," he began, gesturing to himself, "has a girlfriend."
"No shit?" Knox asked, half-amused.
"No, no shit. I met her over the summer. She does plays," Neil added with a grin, as if it were the greatest thing a person could do.
"All right, Neil," Charlie congratulated, while taking another drag of the cigarette. "So when do we get to meet her? Is she real?" he teased. "What's her name?"
"She is real, Charlie, and her name is Angela. Angela... don't you just love it?"
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Angela sat with her friends during lunch period. It was the first day back at Ridgeway and she was bursting at the seams to tell her friends all about Neil Perry. She could barely focus on anything else, as a matter of fact, especially not Suzanne's droll story about her summer spent reading on the beach. As soon as she was finished (which was not soon enough), Angela finally blabbed:
"So... guess what happened to me this summer."
"Nothing?" Beatrice asked, sarcastically, followed by a high-pitched giggle from Suzanne.
"No," Angela shot back. "I got a boyfriend."
"No you did not!" Elaine replied.
"I did. Cross my heart. I met him at the theatre."
"What's his name?" Suzanne asked.
"Neil. Neil Perry." Just saying his name made a smile creep onto her face. But she could tell from the look on her face that Beatrice was skeptical.
"So, where exactly does this 'Neil Perry' go to school?" she asked. "Will we get to meet him, or is he just a figment of your imagination?"
"He's real, Bea, and he goes to Welton." That was followed by a chorus of "oooh"'s from the lunch table.
"Ooh, a Welton boy," Suzanne giggled. "Is his family rich? He's probably going to Harvard!"
"Shut up, Suzanne!" Elaine replied, with a playful smack. "Not everyone who goes to Welton is a millionaire. ...He's not a millionaire, is he, Angela?"
She just rolled her eyes in response. "I can't believe I even told you about this..."
"No, no, it's great Angela!" Suzanne exclaimed. "You've never had a boyfriend before! This is so exciting!"
It was true. Angela had always felt so embarrassed by the fact that she was the only one out of her friends who had never so much as held hands with a boy. Mostly because she was afraid. Boys asked her out, she would talk to them, but she never liked one well enough to go on a date with. Now that she was with Neil, though, it was almost like he was too special to show off to her friends, or anyone else. He was hers, and she was his-it was special... and she didn't want her worlds to collide just yet.
"So, when do we get to meet him?" Beatrice asked.
"I don't know," Angela admitted. "I mean, I don't know what breaks are like at Welton, and I can only call him during certain hours of the day. I promise you'll get to, though. I promise he's real."
"If you say so."
The rest of the day went on as though Angela had never even mentioned him.