AN: Here is another update for all of you. Sorry that this chapter is so short. I hope you still like this. Please review.

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Chapter 33

After school, Joey and Phoebe caught a ride home with Carol. Terry had texted them earlier letting them know that they had to attend a last-minute meeting. And since both Monica and Chandler had to work, Carol offered to take them. Ross followed them to the house and they all gathered in the den to watch some TV.

"Did Terry tell you what kind of meeting?" Carol asked as they turned on the Smart TV. "Is it at the school?"

"He didn't say," Joey told her. "Do you think it's about Chandler's post?"

"It could be," Ross told them.

"This is getting out of hand," Phoebe sighed. "We all knew that it would be hard for them, but this is just too much."

"They just need to make it through graduation," Ross said.

"And then what?" Carol looked at him. "It will be just as bad in college. Maybe not as much, but still bad."

Charles and Terry showed up at the high school ten minutes early, hoping that they wouldn't run into any of the kids so as to not embarrass them. Thankfully, they didn't see any of their cars in the parking lot and Joey texted to let them know that Ross and Carol would be hanging out with them at the house.

"Charles, Terry," the door to the guidance counselor's office opened and an older gentleman came out to them.

"Mr. Smith," Charles shook his hand as they all walked into his office.

"So what is this about?" Terry asked as they all sat down.

"Before we get to that, I would like you both to read these," Mr. Smith handed over a folder and Charles opened it up.

"What-" Charles started.

"Read first, then we will talk."

They both started to read through several different writing examples for the next ten minutes before looking back up at the guidance counselor.

"Tell me your thoughts on what you just read," Mr. Smith told them. "Do you think it's well-written? Other thoughts?"

"It's very well-written," Charles said. "Whoever wrote this articulated their thoughts well. It is very easy to picture what was written."

"It's definitely by a professional," Terry added. "So why did you want us to read this?"

"What if I told you that it was not written by a professional?" Mr. Smith smiled.

"It wasn't?"

"What you just read was written by Chandler in his English class. I requested them from his teacher."

"Wait," Charles looked back through the papers. "Chandler wrote all of these?"

"Why didn't he tell us that he likes to write?" Terry asked.

"He didn't want anyone to know," Mr. Smith told them. "Monica found out by accident when he left his computer open and she saw them."

"So this is what Monica revealed to you that made Chandler uncomfortable?"

"Yes it is,"

"This is about his mother isn't it?" Charles asked.

"What?" Terry looked at him.

"His mother is a novelist making a profit from her writing," Charles said. "He hid this from us because he thinks that it connects him to her."

"I believe that is the reason," Mr. Smith told them both. "I am sure that Monica knows more about this than what she shared in our meeting."

"We'll need to talk to him about this," Terry said.

"I know that it's none of my business, but I am curious whether he has had any communication with his mother since he got hurt when he was younger?"

"No contact at all," Charles told him.

"Has he expressed any interest in seeing her again? Even if it is to get some closure once and for all."

"He has expressed to me in the past that he wants nothing to do with her," Terry told him. "We recently found out that she was back together with Steve, the one who put him in the hospital. So we don't want to risk it."

"Well, whatever the issue, I think that you both need to discuss with him about definitely considering pursuing his writing," Mr. Smith. "Chandler told me that he was planning on a major in business. So I suggested that he could minor in writing if he chose to."

"We'll definitely want to discuss everything with him," Charles confirmed. "We were just going to wait a few days to bring everything up. Especially if we're going to talk to him about what he posted on his blog."

"Just so you are aware, the principal tried to get the teacher to get Chandler to take it down,"

"We figured he would. There's a reason that he posted it on a website not associated with the school."

They all stood up and Charles and Terry shook his hand as he walked them out of his office.

Monica got home from work and found Joey, Phoebe, Ross and Carol in the den watching a movie while Charles and Terry were in the kitchen as they talked quietly. She put her things down in the hall and went into the kitchen.

"Hey," Charles smiled at her. "How was work?"

"Busy," she sighed.

"There's some ice cream in the freezer if you want it," Terry told her.

"Thanks," she went to the freezer. "So….how was your guys' meeting at school?"

"How did you know about that?"

"My friends from the drama club texted me," she told them. "They were worried we were getting threatened with being expelled again."

"You are not being expelled," Charles told her. "We were called in for a meeting with the guidance counselor."

"So he told you about what I forced out of Chandler during our meeting," she smiled.

"Yes," Terry nodded."How long have you known about this hidden talent of his?"

"Not long, just a few months. I didn't say anything to him because he's allowed to have his privacy."

"So why'd you bring it up now?"

"Because he was stressing about what to study when we go off to college,"

"Speaking of," Charles spoke up. "Have you guys talked about it? Do you know where you are applying?"

"We are definitely applying to all the schools that offered him scholarships," she told them. "We are researching any schools that have daycare centers on site."

"Ok, good to know. Why doesn't he express this to us?"

"Because you're his parents," Monica told them. "You guys may be close, but he isn't comfortable telling you guys everything."

"She has a point," Terry stated.

"Yeah, the only reason that I don't mind confiding in you is because you're not my parents. Though you are a whole lot better."

"Well thank you,"

"So we shouldn't expect him to open up to us about anything anymore?" Terry asked her.

"Not when it's something as important as this," she told them. "Not unless you force a conversation from him."

"We were planning on doing that in a couple days anyway,"

"You're talking about the blog," Monica looked at them. "You're planning to talk to him about it?"

"We were, but then Max talked us out of it. He thinks it's a kind of therapy for him."

"It is," Monica nodded. "He doesn't talk with anyone about the time he lived with his mom after the divorce. The only time that he mentioned anything to me was when he told me about being on antidepressants when you guys sent him to therapy when he was younger."

"We won't talk to him about his blog," Charles assured her. "But the four of us need to have another meeting. So that we can talk about your guys' college plans and some other baby-related issues."

"We were wondering when the next one would be,"

"We'll let you know when we want to talk,"

"I'll let Chandler know so that he doesn't try to avoid you again," she took her bowl and placed it in the sink. "He won't be back until late tonight anyway."

"He won't?"

"He's closing tonight. You guys approved it last week. He's covering for a co-worker who had a funeral to go to today."

"Right," they nodded.

Monica left them to continue to talk in the kitchen while she joined everyone else in the den.

"Hey," Ross smiled at his sister. "How was work?"

"I made decent tips," she said. "And my boss called me into her office to talk."

"Why?" Carol asked her. "Did you get fired?"

"No," Monica assured her. "She just wanted to know if I was all right. With the announcement about the wedding, and the pregnancy, Chandler getting hurt, and now his blog."

"So everything is still good?"

"Everything is fine," she looked at them all. "So how bad is it?"

"What?" Phoebe looked at her.

"Social media. Have there been any comments?"

"You mean about Chandler's post?"

"Yes,"

"Not from anyone from school," Joey told her. "But there have been a lot of comments from people who just found his blog."

"What do you mean?'

"Here," Carol took out her phone. "I have been taking screenshots of the comments all night."

Monica started reading and her eyes widened after each comment that she read. Chandler was gaining a following fast by individuals who had lived through lifelong abuse.

"This is incredible," Monica read through them.

"What is?" Charles and Terry came into them.

"The comments that Chandler has been getting on his post," Monica handed the phone over to them. "And not from anyone from school."

"Whoa," Terry started reading. "Someone commented thanking him for posting. That he has more courage than they do because his abuser lives only a few blocks from where he currently lives."

"He has a following," Carol told them. "Some of them could be from school. I haven't read through all of them yet."

"Do you think he knows about this?" Charles asked.

"He's been responding with likes, just not any comments."

Chandler finally pulled into his driveway as he saw a few lights still on, one of them being the light from his dads' bedroom. He pulled into the garage and closed the door behind him. He slowly climbed out of his car and made sure the garage was closed up securely before walking through the door leading to the kitchen. He went to his dads' bedroom door and knocked softly.

"I'm home," he announced. "You can stop pretending to be asleep now."

"Good night!"

"Good night," he walked away and made his way through the kitchen and started up the stairs.

He walked into his bedroom and saw Monica sitting up and typing away on her laptop. She looked up at him and smiled as he started into the bathroom.

"Were you waiting up for me too?" He looked at her.

"Sort of," she smiled. "I was doing some research on the colleges that the guidance counselor recommended."

"Let me take a shower real quick before we get into everything again," he told her as he pulled out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. "I got anchovy juice spilled on me tonight."

"Please go," she made a face.

Chandler disappeared into the bathroom and she heard the shower turn on. She continued to scroll through the college's website as she waited for him to come out of the bathroom.

"Ok," he came out and lay down on the bed. "Just a warning, I may fall asleep in the middle of us talking."

"Long night?" she looked at him.

"So busy," he mumbled. "So many last minute orders. There were a few upset people when we told them we couldn't take anymore orders because we had a late factory order."

"Good tips at least?"

"Very good," he smiled as he glanced at the computer screen. "UCLA?"

"I'm going through the list of schools that offered you scholarships,"

"And?"

"So far NYU meets all of our criteria,"

"Well we did say that it was our number one choice,"

"But we do need to pick some safety schools,"

"I know," he mumbled softly.

"We can talk more about this tomorrow," she closed her laptop and went to put it away.

She walked back to the bed and saw Chandler sound asleep. She smiled as she climbed in next to him again and turned the light out.

AN: So what did you think? I hope you liked this. Please review!