Author's Note: Oh god-I can't believe I'm publishing an original character fic for Dead Poets Society, but here it is... Don't worry (or actually, DO worry), there's a LOT more to come after this chapter-I already have it written. Er... I appreciate feedback! Thanks for reading, guys.

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Chapter One

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It was the summertime when he first met her. He had managed to get away from Hellton for the weekend and catch a play at Henley Hall. He had told his parents he wouldn't come home because he was too busy studying—and, in a way, it was true. He was planning on studying the actors, planning on taking mental notes for himself. It was something Neil had recently gotten into and right now it was only a small seed planted in his brain, waiting to grow. It was a lovely, warm but breezy evening and Neil could feel a surge of excitement go through his entire frail body as he opened the door and entered the box office. He loved how it felt to be inside of a theatre, to be with everyone before a show. He wished he knew what it would be like to be anticipating the same thing backstage. He walked up to the box office window with money in-hand and began to speak, but he froze at the sight of her.

She had long, curly auburn hair and hazel eyes that were accented with the thickest eyelashes he had ever seen. Her pink lips were curled up into a shy smile and Neil soon noticed that they had been making eye contact the whole time.

"Can I help you?" she finally asked, breaking their gaze. Neil snapped out of it, or tried to, anyway, and replied:

"Uh—yes, I'd like one ticket, please." She took his money, handed him his ticket and told him "enjoy the show" before taking the next customer. As he walked away he couldn't help but turn around to catch one last glance. Because he was stuck with boys every single day of his life, Neil found himself gazing at almost every girl his own age, no matter what they looked like. But this one was a little different, somehow. Maybe it was the rush that being in a theatre gave him, but he felt like if he didn't talk to her again, he might explode.

Neil found himself zoning out during the whole play—though it was a very good one. He kept thinking back to the girl working behind the box office. He wondered what her name could be. Neil often liked to look at strangers and assign them names based on what they looked like, but for some reason, nothing seemed to fit this beauty he had found. Phyllis? Suzanne? Anna? None of them sounded right, none of them were good enough for such a young woman. He imagined her sitting next to him just then, and he wondered what might happen if he were to put his hand on top of hers.

Neil had never been on a real date, of course. He was always too busy with school—he practically lived to do homework and study. That was all he did. Like a machine. He was wasting his entire summer in school, as a matter of fact. And it's very hard to find good dates when the only people around you are teenage boys. Before he could even think of a proper name for the Box Office Girl, it was intermission. He jumped up from his seat to rush to the lobby—maybe he could catch a glimpse of her. He hoped with all of his heart that she would be there. Neil looked around at all the faces—everyone was older, married—some brought their children. Where was his Box Office Girl? He spent the entire ten minutes waiting for her to make an appearance, but it was a no-show. Dejected, he returned to his seat to watch the rest of the play.

When it was over, Neil made his way to the lobby again to exit. He stood around for a minute, hoping that if he took his sweet time, she would magically appear before him. But she was nowhere to be seen. He finally realized he had to leave, so he went out the front doors into the night.

Neil made his way back to school, feeling disappointed, when suddenly, he caught a glimpse of someone. He ran towards the figure. "Hey!" he shouted. "Hey…" She stopped and turned around. He never knew he could be so absolutely enthralled to see someone's face.

"Hey—hi… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologized.

The girl grinned shyly. "It's all right." She was quite a deal shorter than he was, very petite and small, but with a girlish figure. Neil didn't know much about womens' fashion, but he could definitely tell that this was a girl who could dress herself. She had on what must've been the most flattering clothes on the face of the earth, and a pair of heels that made her legs look long and graceful. Her hair fell over her shoulders and her eyes glistened in the moonlight. How cliche of him to think… but it was true. He had never seen someone's eyes glisten before.

"I—I just wanted to introduce myself to you." He put a hand forward. "I'm Neil Perry."

The girl took his hand. "I'm Angela Sullivan," she responded.

He smiled at that. Angela… he was so glad to know her name.

"So—do—do you like theatre? Acting and stuff?"

She nodded. "I'm an actress," Angela replied. "Well—kind of. I do plays here—in addition to taking tickets."

He was in absolute awe. "Wow… that's… amazing."

She laughed at this.

"What?" Neil playfully asked.

"Nothing, it's just… not that amazing. I love it, but, you know. It's not Broadway."

"I'd kill to be up onstage at a place like this," he admitted.

Angela cocked her head. "Why don't you audition sometime? We could always use more boys—we have several new shows coming up!"

Neil laughed a single "ha", and looked at the ground. "Yeah, my father would never let me do that."

"Oh," was her response. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, anyway…" He brought his focus back to her face. "Do—where do you go to school?"

"I go to Ridgeway." She smiled at him—God, her smile sent his heart into conniptions. "Where do you go? I haven't seen you before… do you live around here?"

"Oh, I go to Welton. Or, as we like to call it—Hellton." That made her giggle.

"Ohhh, fancy," Angela joked. "So you must be too busy for acting anyway, huh?"

"I guess. I'm doing summer session right now, actually."

"Oh, wow. That's too much school for me."

"Me too." They shared another laugh before their eyes met again.

"Um… do you have a phone at Welton?"

His heart stopped. "Y—yeah! Yeah, there's… we have telephones."

"Can I… give you my number? You can call me sometime, if you want. You know… stay in touch."

Neil blinked. Was this it? Had he finally discovered what it was like to be a normal guy? A normal guy who went to school and met… girls?

"I—oh, uh—yeah! Yeah, that'd… that'd be great."

She laughed and reached into her handbag for a notepad and a pen. She scribbled down some numbers while using the side of the theatre building as a sideways desk and ripped off the paper hastily and gave it to him.

"You—you can call me any time, I guess." Angela laughed. "During the week I'm almost always home after school ends."

Neil stared at the phone number on the notebook paper.

"Oh—yeah! Sounds great. I'll—I'll do that, I'll… call you…" She smiled at him, that beautiful smile.

"Great. I have to go now, but I look forward to hearing from you, Neil."

"Uh, you too! Angela." That made her smile again and she waved at him through her fingers before she disappeared into her parked car. She left Neil there, bursting at the seams with excitement. Was this really happening? Had his first encounter with the Outside World really ended up in getting a girl's phone number? A girl who loved acting? His mind reeled with possibilities the entire walk back to Welton and followed him until he fell asleep.