The Time Capsule

Chapter 7: A Date in Darkness

Chapter 7: A Date in Darkness

Angelica had tried on at least five different outfits in the past fifteen minutes, different variants of scarves with exotic patters before finally settling on her favorite leather jacket, a patterned shirt, ripped jeans and pirate boots with silver buckles. Her hair was curled around her shoulders and she momentarily tested out her pirate hat in the mirror, but decided against it. She sprayed her favorite perfume, coughing as she sprayed far too much. She couldn't mess this up, she had dreamed about this day for far too long. 

A date with the guy half the school lusted over- how lucky was she, an unpopular girl who was on the brink of being labelled as crazy for the rest of her high school career. The doorbell rang- he was ten minutes early than he said he'd be! Angelica exclaimed in frustration when her mother interrupted her. Angelica was secretly quite glad she was finally back, the doctors insisting she was ready to be moved to home care. They had done the best they could for her in the hospital. Secretly, Angelica knew they had reached their breaking point with her, which, to be fair, happened to anyone around Ibis Sparrow for too long. 

"Angelica, love, you have a visitor!" Mrs. Sparrow called up the stairs, and Angelica ran down, taking them two at a time. 

"Alright, I'm coming!" Angelica yelled. "Don't get up!" 

But when she reached the door, Mrs. Sparrow was already holding a plate of homemade cookies and was up and about on her crutches, bandages wrapped around her chest to hide the horrible scarring. She was opening the door for Levi, who, Angelica hated to admit, looked very handsome in his suit, clutching his skateboard. Jesus, did the boy go anywhere without it? He certainly knew how to put on the charm, at any rate. 

"Thought I'd show up early, just in case," He gave an exaggerated bow. "And perhaps to impress the famed Mrs. Sparrow. How are you, ma'am? Angelica said you'd been in the hospital a while. 

Of course, she hadn't, but her night time trip to the police station certainly hadn't gone unnoticed in the papers. Angelica gave him a sideways glance, and a few purple spots floated in her vision for a few seconds. He shook his head, as if to say he would answer her questions later. But how did he know? Come to think of it...how did he know she had a crush on him in the first place? She'd worked hard to keep it a secret. 

"You're very polite, Mr. Jones," Mrs. Sparrow smiled. "That will serve you well in the future. Please, call me Ibis." 

"Yes, I hope you understand, I'll do my best to look after Angelica while she's under my care," he stopped quite suddenly and Angelica facepalmed herself when she realized why- Mrs. Sparrow was nonchalantly trying to hide a huge bell by the door by frantically throwing it into the bushes, which only caused a cacophony of noise again around the neighborhood, the doorbells all clinking as one of them was tugged from the line. 

Mrs. Number Seven stuck her obnoxiously long neck out the window again. 

"Your daughter doin' anything dangerous again, Mrs. Sparrow?" she called, and Angelica wanted to sink to the floor in embarrassment as Levi looked faintly amused. 

"No, no, everything's quite alright, thank you," Mrs. Sparrow was positively glowing as she looked at Levi approvingly. "My daughter's got a date!" 

"A DATE?" Mrs. Number Seven called, which only caused more windows to open, and Angelica to grow even more red. "My goodness, Harold- Angelica Sparrow has a date!" 

Angelica tugged Levi away from the house as her mother gushed to Mrs. Number Seven when she came down from her room with a polaroid camers. 

"Come on, let's get out of here," Angelica muttered as they slunk into the bushes.