Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

the
table, taking her plate with her and dumping her
uneaten spaghetti in the bin.
    'I've got coursework to do,' she said, leaving the
kitchen and going back upstairs.
    She grabbed her portfolio and pencil and made
a start on her drawing, but it was hopeless, she
couldn't concentrate. She threw down her pencil in
frustration, then opened her jewellery box, searching
for her birth certificate. She opened the pale
pink document, staring at her real name – Angel
Adams. When Frank and Michelle finally told her
she was adopted, on her sixteenth birthday (what a
great one that turned out to be – not ), and after
she'd stopped crying and shouting, she told them
that she wanted to be called 'Angel'. She could tell
that her mum didn't have a problem with it, but
Frank said it was a bloody daft name and that he'd
still call her Angie as that's what she'd been to him
for the last sixteen years, a comment which Angel
had never really forgiven him for.
    The bombshell about the adoption confirmed why
she'd always felt like an outsider in her family. She
was so different from the others. They were practical
and seemed to know what they wanted, whereas she
was passionate and needed more reassurance. And
however much her parents said that they loved Tony
and her equally, in her heart she didn't believe it.
Tony was their real son so they must love him more.
She reached for her mobile, about to text Gemma
and find out what she was up to, then she
remembered she was out with her brother.
    'Bollocks,' she said out loud, her bad mood
worsening. She was stuck here for the rest of the
night. It was at times like this she longed to meet
her birth mother. Maybe when she met her,
everything would make sense; she would find the
love she had always longed for and she wouldn't
feel alone anymore. But she knew she couldn't look
for her until she'd left home as Michelle would
never be able to deal with it.
    She lay back on her bed listening to her iPod,
deliberately selecting songs which fitted her blue
mood, starting with Mariah Carey's 'I've Been
Thinking About You' (no change there then), 'We
Belong Together' (yes, Cal, when are you going to
wake up to that?), Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful',
Alicia Keys' 'Fallin', Sugababes' 'Too Lost In You'
and Whitney Houston's 'I Have Nothing'. Finally,
when even she was ready for a track that told her
she'd survive, she chose Sugababes' 'Stronger'.
    And all the time, thoughts of her family and Cal
chased round her head. What was it with Cal and
her birthdays? It was on her sixteenth that they'd
ended up having a furious row, just after she'd
found out she was adopted. It had been such a
huge shock to her and had left her feeling
vulnerable and emotional, and furious that she
hadn't been told before. Unfortunately it was Cal
who received the brunt of her anger. The two of
them had ended up alone in the living room and
Cal had said, 'I heard the news. You're so lucky,
Angie. I wish my mum had had me adopted. I'd
have loved parents like Frank and Michelle.' Angel
had looked at him, not believing her ears, and
suddenly the anger she'd been trying to contain
had reached boiling point. She'd sprung up from
the sofa and before she'd realised what she was
doing she'd slapped Cal hard across the face.
    'Hey, calm down,' Cal said, clearly surprised by
the force of her reaction and holding a hand up to
his face, where a livid red mark was already
showing. 'I was just trying to help.'
    'Well, don't bother,' Angel had shouted. 'Fuck
off back to your fucking perfect girlfriend and leave
me alone!'
    A year on, the memory still had the power to
make her squirm. Yes, Angel , she said to herself, you should give tips on how to get a man – hit him and then tell him to fuck off . . .
    But one thing was certain, she decided, trying to
push that memory out of her head – whatever
Frank said, she was going to go to art school. She
was going to get a job and save up and when she'd
finally got enough, she'd move out and get a