CHAPTER TEN.
finally eighteen

Angeline never liked to make a big deal of her birthday-- until the day finally arrived. When she woke up, the only thing she could hear was the whirring of the fan above her head and some birds tweeting outside. A giddy feeling spread across her chest like a child on Christmas day, the idea that she was finally eighteen being insane to her.

The fact that she was officially an adult was a hard concept for her to wrap her head around because she definitely didn't feel that old. It felt like last week that she was getting ready for her first day of year seven, but that was seven whole years ago now. She'd grown up quickly. Soon, she was off to one of the best colleges in the world and she'd be living her own life.

As soon as she got out of the shower, Angeline heard her phone buzzing from the countertop and did a mad dash towards it. With a towel wrapped around her body and another one in her dark hair, she answered the call from her mother excitedly.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," she sang poorly down the phone just like she did every single year. "Happy birthday dear Angel, happy birthday to you!"

Angeline chuckled. "Thanks, mumma."

"I can't believe my baby's finally eighteen," her mother released a dramatic sigh. "It feels like yesterday I was holding your hand and taking you to preschool."

A small smile crossed the girl's face. "I know. It's weird, I don't really feel eighteen."

"Any plans for the big day? Is your dad taking you out for dinner?"

"Ur, probably not, I think Paige is organising a get together at her place, so," Angeline spoke casually, knowing her father most likely wouldn't even remember that she was eighteen today.

"Well, I transferred some money into your account because I wasn't sure what to get you," her mother said.

"Thanks, mum."

The mother and daughter only spoke a few minutes longer before Angeline said she should start to get ready for school. She blow dried her hair and did some loose curls and her usual makeup routine and put on the white summer dress that made her feel like she should be in Italy on vacation, as well as a pair of Vans that matched.

Angeline was ready earlier than usual, grabbing her backpack and jogging down the staircase where she found Mr Lewis and Elliot getting ready for the day. The brunette pretended not to see them as she grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, eyeing them out of the corner of her eye to see if they even paid attention to her.

"Angeline, you'll need to be home tonight. We're having another meal with Renolds, as respect for all of the extra hours he's been putting in recently," Mr Lewis said and Angeline nearly dropped the fruit in her hand in disbelief.

"I can't," she said, making her brother look at her strangely. "I have a thing I need to do tonight."

She waited for a 'happy birthday' that never seemed to come. Mr Lewis glared at her slightly, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"It can't be any more important than this."

"It is," Angeline glared back with just as much fire. "It's important to me."

"Just be home at eight," Mr Lewis huffed before he was heading out of the kitchen door, his son right behind him.

She wasn't really sure what she was expecting, and even though Angeline despised the two men, it would have been nice to hear a happy birthday from her father and brother. Angeline took a hefty bite of the red apple, staring in the space that they had been as she chewed it bitterly.

"Ready for another fun day of school?" Mitch's sarcastic voice came from behind Angeline, causing her to jump.

The brunette looked over her shoulder, seeing the dark-haired man stood there swinging the keys around his slender fingers. Angeline noticed he had probably shaved this morning, his face appearing fresher than usual. He still wore the black shirt and the jeans he was always forced to wear, his radio and pistol attached to his hip too.

"At least it's Friday," Angeline hummed back, grabbing her backpack and heading out the door with him.

Once they were on the road, Angeline zoned out, her mind going to a hundred and one other places. She wondered if her friends would be waiting with gifts when she got to the front of the school, or maybe they'd wait until their free period during the second hour to give her her presents. She felt her stomach do flips with excitement, forgetting all about her father and brother.

"Ur, just one caramel frappuccino... extra caramel."

When Angeline snapped out of her daze, her forehead peeling from the window, she was more than surprised to find that they were in the Starbucks drive-thru, already at the speaker. It seemed quite quiet today, only a couple of cars ahead of them.

This was their usual routine, but before Angeline could reach across and slot her card in the machine, Mitch grabbed her small hand in his and pushed it away. She frowned in confusion, watching as he shoved his card in instead and paid for her drink.

"What are you--"

"Think of it as a happy birthday," Mitch shrugged casually, not even glancing at her as they moved ahead in line to the next window.

Angeline stared at him, her brown eyes shining a little. She couldn't believe that he had remembered when her own father had forgotten, and he was actually nice enough to get her something, even if it was as small as her usual coffee order.

"Thank you, Mitch," she said softly.

When the barista handed them the drink, Mitch muttered a small 'thanks' and handed it to Angeline before he drove off. She took a few sips, groaning at the taste like she did every single morning. No matter how many times she had it, Angeline would always adore the sweet flavour.

Angeline couldn't stop thinking about the man sitting next to her and she started to hate that her standards for men were so low that when one even remembered her birthday she was suddenly swooning for them. Well, it didn't help that Mitch looked like he had literally been carved by the angels themselves. If he wasn't a bodyguard, Angeline was pretty sure he could have been a model.

Once they pulled up to the school, Angeline saw Paige, Ciara, and Darcy all standing in their usual spot and she felt giddy all over again. Before Angeline could reach down and grab her backpack, Mitch quickly called her name and reached into the glove compartment in front of her, pressing a button so it fell open.

Angeline watched as his large hand grabbed a hold of an envelope and he handed it to her with a small nod. The brunette gasped quietly, her fingers quickly ripping it open to reveal a birthday card with a turtle in the middle and the slogan 'have a turtlely awesome day dude!' written beneath it.

She giggled quietly, skimming her hand over it. "It's so cute... Like the turtle on my ankle, right?"

Mitch nodded awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "I didn't really know what else you would like."

Angeline flipped it open.

'To Angeline,

Happy 18th Birthday.

Have a very good day.

From, Mitch.'

She smiled and shook her head in amusement at how Mitch the writing inside was. She could tell that he had probably hesitated to do this, considering he was all about keeping their relationship as professional as possible.

"I'd hug you if I didn't think you'd have an aneurysm over it," Angeline chuckled a little, closing the card and sliding it neatly into her backpack. "Thanks, Mitch. Seriously, it means a lot."

"You're welcome," he seemed to struggle to look her in the eyes when he said the words, hands gripping the steering wheel. "Have a good day at school."

"Thanks," Angeline whispered again before she slipped out of the vehicle.

As soon as Angeline was a few feet away, Mitch's car sped off out of the car park, leaving her stranded in the hell that everybody else called school. Her name was instantly being called by Paige and the blonde came running over, grabbing her by the arms.

"Happy birthday, Angel!" She squealed, wrapping her into a short hug. "You're finally eighteen."

Angeline chuckled a little. "Thanks, Paige."

Ciara and Darcy both gave their own little happy birthdays too before Paige was shoving a small jewellery box into her hands. Angeline flipped it open, her eyes widening at the necklace inside.

"It will totally go with your Cartier ring, and it's really minimalistic and cute," Paige explained.

Ciara got Angeline a bag that looked like her limited edition Chanel one, whilst Darcy had opted on a gift voucher and a homemade cupcake with pink sparkles and angel wings on top— it looked like something out of a 2000s coming of age film.

"It's a... special cupcake, if you know what I mean," Darcy winked. "Obviously don't eat it all."

"Let's all share," Angeline suggested.

The girls moved to a bench where Angeline broke the cupcake up into four pieces and handed it around, taking a bite of the vanilla sponge and groaning in delight.

"You should start your own business, Darcy," Ciara exclaimed with a mouthful of cake. "This is the bomb."

"It's good stuff, too," Darcy grinned mischievously, all four teenage girls giggling to themselves whilst the school bell rang obnoxiously from above.

...

All day people had been raving to Angeline about how excited they were for her birthday party later, leading the brunette to assume that Paige had gone ahead and literally invited the entire school. She wasn't really bothered about it, so long as none of her friends forced them to all sing happy birthday to her at some point during the night.

When last period finally rolled around, Angeline found out that Darcy was in her gym class with her, the blonde and the brunette sitting off to the side whilst Coach Gomez yelled at the last few girls to stop messing around and leave the changing rooms.

They were both clad in the school's gym uniform-- a white polo shirt and a pair of navy blue shorts that some girls managed to get away with cutting so they were shorter. Angeline couldn't be bothered; she bought her shirt a few sizes too big to cover the ugly bottoms anyway, and she wasn't there to look like some sort of model-- she was there because she was being forced to by the school.

Not that gym class was that bad. Angeline grew up with dozens of hobbies like swimming or karate or archery or ballet, so as long as they weren't running, she was fine.

"I hate gym," Darcy grumbled from next to her, fiddling with the blonde curls that she hadn't bothered to tie back. "I hate this uniform."

Angeline smiled teasingly as she glanced Darcy over. Her legs seemed to go on for miles and she did look uncomfortable wearing something that wasn't leather or plaid or ripped, but she did somehow make it work.

"You look nice in something other than black," Angeline joked.

Darcy rolled her green eyes. "You're starting to sound like my mom, Angel."

"Well, at least we don't have to wear uniform twenty-four seven," Angeline shrugged, leaning her head against the wall behind her as they watched Coach Gomez argue with a couple of girls about them taking their earrings out. "In my old school we had to."

"I would revamp my uniform," Darcy hummed. "I'd look like some kind of private school vampire."

Angeline giggled and shook her head. "No, no. There was no way you could make my school uniform look better. It was a light blue shirt, tie, navy blazer, knee length black skirt, black tights, and black shoes. No jewellery, no makeup, no nail polish, no coloured hair."

"Where did you go to school? Prison?"

Before the Lewis girl could reply, Coach Gomez was blowing her whistle as loud and long as she could, forcing all of the girls to herd around her. Angeline realised that Grace was standing only a few people away from her, her hair tied up into its usual bright pink scrunchie and her matching nails adjusting it.

"Okay, girls, it's a Friday afternoon so let's take it easy, yeah?" Coach Gomez droned, her eyes glancing down to the clipboard in her hands as she sighed. "Let's have a nice, friendly game of dodgeball. We all know the rules by now, right, ladies?"

There was a chorus of bored replies, everybody agreeing to what the older woman was saying. Angeline zoned out, her attention being brought back a couple of seconds later by her name being called.

"So Grace is captain of team one, and Angeline is team two," the coach huffed. "Grace, you get the first pick of your team."

Angeline nearly snorted at the irony of the situation-- she couldn't believe she was about to partake in something as cliche as a high school dodgeball game against one of her ex-best friends. Nevertheless, the girl remained unbothered, folding her arms across her chest as she watched Grace scan the crowd of girls with a smirk on her face.

"Hmm..." She tapped her cheek with her pink nail. "I'm gonna go with the new girl. Darcy."

A frown immediately took place on Angeline's face, her mouth acting before her brain. "What the hell?" She blurted.

"I object," Darcy glared a little.

Grace narrowed her dark eyes. "You can't object... I'm the team captain and I pick you."

Darcy looked to Coach Gomez as if to plead for help, but the woman simply jerked her head in the direction of Grace, forcing her to go over and stand behind her. Angeline was nearly seething with anger at this point. If she was in some child's cartoon, she was sure that steam would be pouring from her ears and her face would be bright red.

She kept composed, not letting Grace get the best of her. "Jane," she picked.

Eventually, both girls had their own teams, but not without a lot of heated glares every single time somebody the other one wanted on their side was stolen. At this point, every girl in the gym hall knew that this wasn't just a stupid game of dodgeball anymore- this was an ego thing. If Grace lost, Angeline was pretty sure all hell would break loose.

However, she had said this once and she would say it again: Angeline Lewis was not a loser. She was going to get Grace out.

As soon as Coach Gomez blew the whistle, her short legs were bounding towards the red dodgeballs in the middle of the room and she was clasping one to her chest and backing away. Angeline threw the ball as far as she could to hit a girl on the other side, grinning in victory when she got her out.

Everytime she had a ball in her hands, Angeline never missed. She dodged them as they came flying and threw them like her life depended on it, calling apologies when she got out some of the girls that she liked.

"Angel, to your left," Zara, a girl from her math class, called.

Angeline narrowly dodged a ball heading towards her face, a glare forming when she noticed it was Grace who had been the one to throw it. She ran to pick up the ball that had missed her, knowing from the height of the throw that Grace wasn't trying to get Angeline out, but was just trying to hurt her.

Angeline swerved to miss another ball that flew in her direction, only now noticing that there were about two other girls left on her team and only Grace, Darcy and two other girls on the other side. As soon as she saw the opportunity, Angeline threw the ball as hard as she could, grinning once it made impact with Grace's side.

"Argh!" The dark-skinned girl howled as she was knocked over a little, holding her hip. "What the hell, Angeline!?"

"Grace, you're out!" Coach Gomez blew the whistle.

The brunette girl smiled mischievously and waved goodbye to Grace, watching as her old friend stormed off the court and went to sit on the bench next to all the other girls that were also out. Angeline got out another girl before she heard her last teammate get hit from behind her by Darcy.

"Come on, Angel!" Somebody from her team called.

Oh shit, she nearly groaned when she realised that she was the last one left on her team.

Angeline avoided the balls that Darcy and the ebony-haired girl were throwing, ducking her head as she ran to grab one for herself. Once she did, she hurled it at the other girl, getting her out her first time.

"Just you and I now, Angel," Darcy smirked, both having one ball in their hands as they stared head on at each other.

Angeline shivered at the sound of Darcy's voice, her cheeks nearly heating up in embarrassment at all of the girls staring at them. Except, obviously they hadn't taken it the way that she had, and Angeline was once again hating herself for being so attracted to Darcy. The girl could slam the ball in her face and break her nose and Angeline would probably nod and say 'fair play.'

"You're going down, Darcy," Angeline called, passing the red ball between her hands slowly.

Darcy just winked back and Angeline nearly choked. God, what was it with all of the sexual innuendos for the past couple of days?

Using Angeline's distraction as an advantage, Darcy threw the ball so it collided with Angeline's arms. She didn't have enough time to drop the ball in her hands and already catch it, her mouth dropping open when Coach Gomez blew the whistle and she realised she had lost just like that.

Darcy walked over as her team did a small celebration, grabbing the ball out of Angeline's hands and throwing it on the floor by their feet. Her slender fingers reached up and she gently shut Angeline's jaw for her, her green eyes glittering and a smirk on her rosy lips. Angeline's eyes flickered down to them, her stomach fluttering.

"Y-You cheated," Angeline stammered.

Darcy scoffed a little. "Oh, please, Angel. I totally dominated you."

Once again, Angeline knew there were implications behind Darcy's words and she squirmed. Her birthday party tonight was going to be... interesting. She could feel it.

...

my plan had this chapter plus the party all as one chapter,, but i literally got up to 3k words with just this so im separating it. ive already written the next chapter out too soooooo :))

thanks for reading!!

dyiansobrien.