Michelle (Mrs. Stamos): Thanks for the review. I hadn't thought about the whole name thing, but you're right, they would figure it out since the stories are so similar.
Heres Chapter 2 please R&R
Silence Is Still Not Golden-Chapter 2
"Hey I'm home!" Stephanie said walking into the house.
"And you're early," Danny said walking in the living room from where he was in the kitchen.
"Deej!" Stephanie exclaimed when she saw DJ in the kitchen.
"Hey Steph," she said pulling her little sister into a hug.
"You've definitely grown since I saw you on Christmas," DJ said, looking Stephanie up and down.
"Hey Stephanie," Steve said from one of the stools by the counter, eating a bag of Doritos and drinking a Pepsi.
"Hey Steve," Stephanie said with a smile.
"Steph, we're about to eat so could you please, get out the silverware?" Vicky asked, pulling out 2 large trays of French Fries from the oven
"Sure mom," Stephanie said going to the silverware.
Ever since her dad and Vicky got married when Stephanie was 14 she had always called Vicky mom. And Vicky didn't mind, Michelle called her mom too, DJ called her Vicky though because she really missed Pam. And Stephanie and Michelle never knew her that well.
"Where did we get those trays from, they're huge, and why do we need 2?" Michelle asked, walking into the kitchen, "DJ!" she squealed pulling her sister into a hug.
"Did you just get here?" Stephanie asked DJ.
"Yeah like 2 minutes before you did we were late by twenty minutes," DJ said.
Michelle glanced over and saw Steve wave to her, "Hey Michelle," he said with a mouth full of Doritos.
"Those are mine," she said taking the bag from his hand, "And about the question about the French Fries, I got my answer," she joked.
Steve playfully nudged her.
"What's up squirt?" Kimmy asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Oh great, Kimmy's here," Michelle said sarcastically.
"What's up Michelle, Stephanie?"
Stephanie shrugged, "Nothing much, met a guy today, gave him a ride home and my number," she said making it sound much worse than it was purposely.
"Who is he? How old? What's his name? Did he leave any marks?" Danny asked.
"Dad, chill, his names Charles, he's seventeen, just moved here from Fresno, and unless he left a spot on my car, no marks, and no, no parts of our bodies touched," Stephanie said.
Danny mouthed Thank God.
Stephanie laughed and shook her head as she put the last knife on the table.
Stephanie was in her room doing homework when someone knocked on her door.
"Come in!" she said.
"Hey Steph," DJ said, glancing around the room which looked much different then it had when she had left it five years ago, "Wow the room looks different,"
Stephanie had a queen size bed in the middle of the room, her walls were covered with posters of bands like Simple Plan, Goo Goo Dolls, and Matchbox 20, she had movie posters of her favorite movies, The Perfect Score and The Notebook, and then posters of her favorite singers Ashlee Simpson, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, and Shifty. Her bedspread was pink and her walls were painted white with pink border. She had a computer, television, homework desk, computer desk, dresser, nightstand, and built in shelves on the walls that had books and pictures of her friends.
"Yeah, have you seen Michelle's room?" Stephanie asked.
DJ laughed and nodded, "Yeah, she is a lot different than she was when she was 9," DJ said.
"Yeah, dad ordered her a computer for her fourteenth birthday which is in 2 weeks so it'll be in by then and dad's going to hook it up in her bedroom before she gets home from school, but for now, she still uses mine," Stephanie said.
DJ nodded and took a seat next to Stephanie on her bed.
"So what was this about that Charles guy?" DJ asked.
"He just moved here from Fresno, he has lived with a foster family since he was in the fifth grade since his dad hit him, but now he lives with his dad again, which I think is dumb," Stephanie said.
"It is dumb, his father should be in jail for that, but that sounds like that kid you hated but secretly liked back in the fifth grade, his name was like Charlie or something wasn't it?" DJ asked.
Stephanie thought about it for a minute, it had been five years, "I forgot, I'll get the yearbook," Stephanie said reaching under her bed and pulling out a shoe box full of year books from past years.
She grabbed the one from her fifth grade year and turned to her class.
She tried to think of his name as she scrolled through the names: Jennifer Adams, Charles Anderson, Michael Brown, Elizabeth Bower, Jordan Davis, Angel Fisher, Harry Hung, Tommy Johnson, Jennifer Lawrence, Lily Mitchell, Lacey Nichols, Brian Onyx, Traci Patterson, Manuela Rodriguez, Robbie Smith, Stephanie Tanner, Anthony Thomas, Hilary Venice, Aaron Williams, Ashlee York, Raymond Zimmerman.
The names didn't boost Stephanie's memory so she glanced at the faces, as soon as she got past Jennifer's perky blonde hair, her eyes stopped looking, he was right next to her. Charles Anderson, she read the name. She glanced back at the picture, it was him for sure, the brown hair, goofy smile, and the puppy dog brown eyes. He had a scratch under his eye and a spot on his neck which she remembered him saying that it was from a softball accident, but the Charles she met today had that same spot on his neck, and it still didn't look like a softball accident. It looked like a cigarette burn. The Charles she met today was the same Charles she knew five years ago. The same Charles who had liked her, the same Charles she had liked.
"Oh my God," Stephanie whispered.
"What?" DJ asked, Stephanie didn't hear her, "Steph, what is it?" DJ asked.
"This is him," Stephanie said pointing to the picture.
"Oh, his names Charles, just like that guy you met...today, is it-"
"Charles? Yeah, the Charles I met today is the Charles in that picture," Stephanie interrupted.
A few hours after DJ left Stephanie was still awake, it was 11:45 and her dad always said she needed to be asleep by 11:40. Stephanie had never listened, she always stayed up until at least 12:30, and tonight she definitely wasn't going to be going to sleep anytime soon.
She would always try to think of something different but her mind always went back to Charles, she had wondered what he had been up to and if he ever thought about her since she was in the sixth grade, she always wondered about that. She had even thought about it this morning during breakfast, and then she saw him that afternoon.
He probably doesn't know who I am yet, I know he knows who I am in general but not right now he doesn't know I'm the girl he liked, and the girl that messed up his life, unless he looked through a yearbook like I did.
Monday morning rolled around and her alarm went off at 7:00 AM, school started at 8:00 so she had an hour.
She got into the shower and got out twenty minutes later, she blew dry her air and brushed it out pulling it into a messy bun. She brushed her teeth and put on her deodorant and lotion and then walked into her bedroom to pick out her clothes for the day.
She picked out a faded navy blue baby tee that said: "I went from candy and toys, to cell phones and boys!" on it in light pink lettering,she picked out a pair of Tommy Hilfiger flared blue jeans and her white K-Swiss shoes with sky blue stripes on them. She sprayed on a hint of perfume and then grabbed her white messenger backpack and said goodbye to her family and then went out the front door and into her car.
"And every time you try to tell me, you say the words that I'm the only, but I'm the one who's crawling on the ground, when you say love makes the world go round," Stephanie sang out the songs to one of her favorite songs, Love Makes The World Go Round by Ashlee Simpson.
Just then her cell phone rang. She turned down her stereo and reached for her phone, "Hello?"
"Stephanie? It's Charles,"
Stephanie's heart leaped at the sound of his voice.
"Hi Charles," she said coolly.
"Hi, you said you could give me a ride to school, my car doesn't get here until tomorrow, so could you-"
"Sure, be there in a minute," Stephanie cut him off and clicked off her cell phone.
Then she realized she had been driving to his house to begin with.
"Damn, when you say be there in a minute, you're really literal." Charles said getting into the passenger seat.
Stephanie shrugged, "I do what I can,"
Charles stared at his homeroom class.
He was standing at the front since the teacher had to "introduce" him.
She had been calling attendance when he walked into the room with Stephanie.
"Stephanie Tanner, actually on time for once," she greeted them.
Stephanie blushed, the class snickered.
"Take your seat," she had told her.
Stephanie took her seat behind Gia and next to a boy who he guessed was her boyfriend since she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Then her name stayed in his head while the teacher finished calling attendance.
Stephanie Tanner, that name sounds so familiar.
"Class, this is Charles Anderson he just moved here from Fresno, Charles take the seat in front of Gia," she said pointing to the only available seat.
Gia was sitting next to a girl with long dark brown hair wearing a navy blue hooded sweatshirt that said Roxy Girl on it.
"Hey Charles, you already know me and Steph but this is Mickey and the guy behind her is Stephanie's boyfriend Andrew.
Charles felt like he had gotten slapped in the face when Gia said the last part, he didn't know why.
The three got introduced and class begun.
"So Charles, what happened to your neck?" Mickey asked at lunch.
He was sitting at a table with Mickey, Gia, Stephanie, and Andrew.
"I was playing baseball with my little brother last week and the ball hit me in the neck," He said.
Liar.
He guessed Stephanie was thinking the same thing since she shook her head to herself and glanced out the window they were sitting next to.
"Ouch," Andrew said, cringing at the scar the "baseball" had left.
It wasn't a baseball accident it was a cigarette burn, it was back at the beginning of the fifth grade, his dad was mad and he held on to Charles' head and just stung him with it.
Charles remembered screaming at his dad afterward and then regretting it, he got it bad that night from doing that.
The next day he had to tell everyone he got so dizzy from getting hit in the neck with a baseball that he walked into a door.
A door named dad. He thought.
He remembered when he went over to his crushes house, they had to work on a project together.
Flashback
"Does your dad hit you?" Stephanie Tanner asked him.
"No, just forget it," Charles lied.
"Does he hit you hard?"
"It's my own fault for ticking him off."
"So that day when you walked into school with that spot on your neck it was a-"
"Cigarette burn,"
"And the black eye, you said you walked into a door,"
"Yeah, a door named dad,"
"Have you told anyone?"
"No. And you can't either. You have to swear on your mother's life!"
"My mother isn't alive."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Charles started, "My mother isn't alive either,"
Stephanie nodded.
"What time is it?" Charles asked.
Stephanie checked her watch, "5:30, why?"
"Oh man, I'm late. My dad's going to kill me!"
"Charles-"
"Look, Stephanie, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone this," he said.
"I promise,"
He had ran out the door and home as fast as he could, it wasn't fast enough though.
His dad had pushed him against a door and hit him and pushed him down the stairs.
That day was the last time he had ever seen Stephanie Tanner.
A week later Children's Aid showed up at the door and took Charles away from his dad telling him he wasn't safe.
He knew then that Stephanie had told.
He couldn't believe it. He wanted to scream at her and yell at her and tell her he hated her. But he couldn't even try to imagine it. He had liked Stephanie since the first day of the fifth grade when she had walked into the classroom.
He had eyed her, she was wearing a red tee shirt, her hair was in a high ponytail, and she had on a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts and red thong flip flops. Her skin had been tan from the summer sun and it made her strawberry blonde hair look even more blonde.
His heart would always flutter when he was around her but he would always just joke with her.
He had always wanted to kiss her, but he never had the guts to do it, besides, he was only 11. Stephanie was only 10.
But the last day he had seen her was the week after her eleventh birthday. He had made a joke about her on that day.
It didn't bother her though. It never bothered her, that's why it was always easy to pick on her.
She was popular and pretty she had friends. Charles on the other hand, was never very popular and his father had always called him an "ugly piece of shit" and he always believed him.
Stephanie never got called that, her dad was nice to her.
Charles always got called that, his dad was mean to him.
Whenever she got in trouble, she got a lecture.
Whenever he got in trouble, he got a bruise.
She was a girl.
He was a boy.
They were like yin and yang.
After he got taken away he moved in with a foster family, the Brown's.
They had a girl who was 10, a son that was seven, and another daughter that was five when he moved in. Now Emily was fifteen, Maggie was ten, and Justin was twelve.
They always treated him like their own son.
They had the picture perfect family, like Stephanie's family.
Emily was now the captain of the cheerleading squad, Maggie was in ballet and was great at it and Justin was the star of his little league team.
After Charles moved in with him, Emily helped him make friends in their age group, they were nice to him, but it was forced, Charles could tell.
The Brown's were rich, they had money.
They lived in Fresno, which was not as big as San Francisco but it was nice.
Charles had joined the drama club and the soccer team, he wasn't very good at either, nobody said it to his face but he knew it was the truth.
He remembered the conversation he had with Emily an hour before he left yesterday:
"So you're going back to your dad?" Emily had asked, combing her honey brown hair into a ponytail.
"Yep, back to hell,"
Emily had a weak smile, Charles always joked, but he was serious this time.
"I'm gonna miss you," she said quietly.
"I'll miss you too, sis," he said pulling her into a hug.
"See you, bro," The two always kidded around like that.
He gave her a kiss on the cheek and brought the last two boxes downstairs and then ran up to grab his two duffle bags.
A tear trickled down Emily's cheek. She got up and left the room.
All that was left in the room was an empty bed.
In the car ride there, Charles had thought about Stephanie, if he was going to see her and what she was like.
End Flashback
"Charles, hello?" Gia waved a hand in front of his face just as the lunch bell rang and everybody left the cafeteria.
Stephanie waited for him and they walked out of the cafeteria.
"God, I hate school," Charles muttered under his breath.
"It's your first day, relax," Stephanie said.
"Do you wanna ditch?" Charles asked.
Stephanie let out a laugh, "What?"
Stephanie looked for a sign of a joke in his face. There wasn't one.
"You're serious?"
Charles nodded.
"I've never exactly ditched school before,"
"It's easy,"
"Well, I'm sure it is, but what about your dad, won't he get mad if he finds out you ditched?"
Charles and Stephanie stopped walking and he pulled her against a wall.
"He won't find out," Charles said.
"How can't he?"
"Easy, do you have your cell phone?"
Stephanie nodded and grabbed it out of her purse and handed it to Charles.
"Okay, c'mon," he said leading her back into the empty cafeteria.
"The school is monitored by a video camera,"
Charles laughed and led her into the janitor's closet in the cafeteria.
"How are you going to find the school's phone number?" Stephanie asked.
"Its right here," he said pointing to a flyer hanging on a wall, it was the Custodial Services Code of Conduct.
Stephanie laughed, Janitor's Code of Conduct.
Charles punched in the school's number.
"What's your dad's name?" he asked.
"You're going to be my dad?"
"What's his name?"
"Danny Tanner," Stephanie said.
"Hello, this is Danny Tanner, Stephanie Tanner's father...yes the host of Wake up San Francisco," he rolled his eyes, Stephanie laughed, "My daughter has a doctor appointment today in fifteen minutes, I tried to schedule it for after school but they were booked, I will be there to pick her up in a few minutes...no thank you...uh huh...bye," he said and shut the flip phone.
"No way!" Stephanie laughed.
"Yep," he said proudly.
"How are you going to get out?"
"I need your car keys," he said.
"What? Are you insane? I'm not handing you my car keys,"
"You gotta, or else your "dad" will have ditched you,"
Stephanie laughed and handed him the keys.
The two got out of the closet.
He went out the cafeteria doors that led to the outside and Stephanie snuck out of the cafeteria.
A few minutes later the intercom system came on "Stephanie Tanner, please report to the main office, your father is here to pick you up,"
Stephanie laughed.
She grabbed her messenger bag out of her locker and her math and history book and then walked to the main office.
"Your dad is sitting in the car right there," the secretary said.
"He didn't come in?"
"No, but you can't miss Danny Tanner, he is such a looker," she said.
"Gee thanks," Stephanie said and walked outside.
Charles had on a pair of sunglasses so that the secretary wouldn't see his face.
"This is so Ferris Buelers Day Off," Stephanie said.
Charles laughed and they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Just so you know, the secretary thinks you're a looker," Stephanie said.
Charles laughed, "Can you blame her?"