Silence Is Still Not Golden-Chapter 5
"You stupid kid! You're late, why are you late?!!" Charles' dad screamed at him in fury.
"Dad," Charles choked, "I'm sorry. I didn't know what time it was and I was at Stephanie's and-"
"I don't want no excuses boy! I'm surprised that blonde rich brat would even want you as her project partner!"
"Don't you ever say that crap about Stephanie again!" Charles exclaimed.
That did it for his dad. He slammed him against the wall-hard.
"I'm sorry!" Charles whimpered.
"I don't care! Maybe you need 2 cigarette burns!" His dad yelled.
"Dad!"
But it was too late.
Charles' dad grabbed the cigarette that hand been in his mouth and stuck it in Charles' backside of his calve.
Charles winced in pain.
"You useless boy. I hate you!" his dad exclaimed and pushed him down the stairs.
Charles screamed in anger and fury.
"I hate you, dad! I HATE YOU!"
Charles' dad stalked over to him and kicked him in the chest, "What was that?!"
"Sorry," Charles choked up, trying to breathe, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Charles' dad kicked him once more, "Worthless kid," he said and then walked to the phone to grab the phone book and give the school an excuse since Charles wouldn't be able to go to school the next day.
"Hello, Mrs. Wexler. This is Joel Anderson, Charles' Anderson's father. He's in the fifth grade,"
Well duh, dad, you've called them at least five times with excuses, Charles thought to himself.
"He fell down the stairs just a few minutes ago. He tripped on a sneaker that was at the top of the stairs. I tell him to put them away, but you know how kids are. Yes, I am terrible sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you...uh huh, bye," Charles' dad hung up the phone.
Charles' dad walked over to him and spit in his face before going back to his recliner to watch TV.
Home Alone, Home Alone, Home Alone. Charles thought over and over in his head.
One week later...
Charles was able to walk again.
"Can I see the remote?"
Charles' dad slapped his hand across Charles' face.
"Why would you ask a stupid question like that? No way am I giving you the remote so you can watch Ren and Stimpy or whatever bull shows you watch."
Just then the front door knocked.
Charles' dad grunted but got off the couch, double checked in the mirror to make sure he looked suitable and then opened up the front door.
One minute later two police officer's and a woman were standing in front of Charles and pulling him off of the couch.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Taking you out of this dump." One of the cops said.
They dragged him into a car and the woman got into the drivers seat.
"We'll be back to get your things later,"
"Huh?" Charles asked with confusion.
"You're not safe here, we got an anonymous phone call reporting you had been beaten before, we just saw your cigarette burn, that was all the proof we needed." The woman said.
"Wait so you're from-"
"Children's Aid. You're going into foster care." She said.
Stephanie told. She told! I told her not to! God I hate her! Charles thought to himself.
No, I don't what am I saying? I love her.
"I love you Steph," Charles uttered.
"Charles, wake up. Charles!" his dad said, shaking him until he woke up.
"What?" Charles asked, sitting up.
"It's nearly noon, you need to wake up," his dad said.
"So I was dreaming?"
Charles' dad nodded, "I didn't think I could hear Stephanie's name repeated so many times in an hour, but it's possible, you proved it."
Charles blushed with embarrassment.
"Judy, the kids, and I are going out for lunch in Chinatown. Do you want to come?"
"Isn't that in LA?" Charles asked.
His dad nodded.
"Pass," Charles said and flopped back onto the bed.
"Well then go take a shower," Charles' dad said pulling him out of the bed.
"I said pass," Charles objected.
"I know you did, but take a shower. You need to wake up."
"Thanks for the sympathy dad," Charles said, "It means a lot, really," he said sarcastically.
Charles' dad chuckled, "You better believe it. We'll be back around 6, don't get into too much trouble," he patted him on the back and walked back downstairs.
Charles groaned and grabbed some clothes and stumbled his way into the shower
Stephanie began applying pink nail polish to her last toe.
Just then her phone rang.
"Perfect timing," she said and hobbled to the phone trying not to mess up her toes.
"Hello?"
"Steph, its Charles,"
Stephanie's heart did three back-flips.
"H-hey Charles, this is Stephanie,"
"I know...I called you, remember? And it's your own phone line,"
Stephanie slapped her hand over her forehead, Why am I always such a loser?
"Oh, right, so what did you call for?"
"Did you maybe wanna go see a movie or something?"
"Yes!" Stephanie exclaimed, hoping she didn't sound too excited.
"Okay awesome, well-"
Just then Stephanie's call waiting beeped in.
"Hold on, got another call." Stephanie pressed the FLASH button.
"Hello?"
"Hey Steph, I'm heading over to your house in about an hour," Andrew's voice said over the phone.
"Why?" Stephanie asked, her heart sinking lower and lower.
"We've got a date remember? We've been planning it for like a month, the big concert is tonight, and we've gotta go to LA and then we were going to do some things before the show, remember?"
No, I didn't until you just told me! Stephanie said, her heart reaching an all time low.
"Uh, sure," Stephanie lied.
"Okay, be there in an hour. I can't believe we're going to see Sheryl Crow in concert. I can't believe I let you talk me into seeing Sheryl Crow, but still it'll be awesome, love you,"
"Y-yea, love you too, bye," Stephanie said and pressed the FLASH button again.
"Charles?"
"Yeah?"
"I can't go,"
"Lemme guess, Andrew?"
"I'm so sorry. We've had these tickets to see a Sheryl Crow concert in LA for a month, and I can't cancel, we're going with Gia and Mickey there and I-"
"Don't worry about it, it's cool, I'll see you Monday, Steph. Have fun at the concert," Charles said and hung up the phone.
"Thanks," Stephanie said softly to the dial tone.
"See ya Steph, have fun!" Michelle called from upstairs as Stephanie ran downstairs.
After she hung up with Charles she took a shower and changed her clothes.
Her air was now spiral curled and had glitter hair spray throughout it.
She had on a black baby tee that had a swirl of rhinestones on it with a denim sandblasted mini skirt. She had on a pair of black high heeled thong flip flops and some glitter all over her body. She was wearing a silver necklace that had an S on it and matching earrings. Then she had on a pink shoulder bag purse and vanilla body spray.
Just then Andrew's car horn honked.
"Okay, see you later!" Stephanie called and walked out the door.
Charles was sitting in his white Mustang convertible with the top down.
Gia and Mickey were sitting in the backseat and Charles had the front passenger seat open for Stephanie.
"Hey, Steph," Mickey said coolly.
From what Stephanie could see she had on a mint green baby tee belly shirt with Happy Bunny on it that said "Its cute how you think I'm actually listening" and a pair of Mudd Flared Blue Jeans. She had her long black hair up in a high ponytail and a necklace with an M on it.
She, Gia, and Stephanie had all bought the necklaces for each other on Christmas. Gia was wearing hers too and it had a G on it.
She had on a light pink shirt, one side was long sleeved and the other was just a spaghetti strap, then she had on a white mini skirt. Her wavy dirty blonde hair was straightened and was hanging just below her tan collarbone.
"Hey," Stephanie said and got into the car next to Andrew.
Andrew gave her a kiss on the cheek and they drove off.
Simple Plan was playing on his stereo. The words to My Alien were thumping;
"She has two arms to hold me, and four legs to wrap around me. She's not your typical girlfriend...she's my alien."
Stephanie loved that song. She was humming along to it.
Andrew smirked at her and placed his hand on her thigh.
Stephanie nearly
shrieked out loud, Andrew barely ever did that, especially not around
their best friends.
Stephanie gave him a shy smile and then stared
ahead at the road.
"...so I, can rock on...Thank you LA, you guys were great!" Sheryl Crow ended her show.
Stephanie, Gia, and Mickey jumped up and down screaming, they were practically front row center, they were the first row on the section just above the floor level.
Andrew covered up his ears and tried yelling through all the screaming and echo's throughout the Staples Center, "GIRLS! I THINK I LOST MY HEARING...TOO MUCH SCREAMING DOES THE EAR BAD!"
Stephanie glanced back at him and let out a laugh.
They grabbed their purses and walked out of the Staples Center.
"You guys that was amazing," Gia said, as they walked back to Andrew's car.
"Stop screaming!" Andrew said covering up his ears.
"Aww, we hurt the baby's ears." Mickey cooed jokingly.
"How could we ever do such a thing?" Stephanie asked, playing along.
"Oh ha-ha-ha, you guys won't be joking tomorrow when you're deaf now will you?" Andrew replied sarcastically.
They got into Andrew's Mustang and drove out of the parking lot.
"Well it couldn't have been noisier than the Simple Plan show we went to last year," Stephanie said.
For the past 2 years, one Saturday in April they would see if anybody they liked was playing close to wear they lived and they would go to a concert, for the past 2 years, Andrew had been able to drive them without and adult since when Stephanie and Mickey were 15, Andrew was 16 and so was Gia. But Gia was almost a year older than Andrew since she had been held back in grade 7 for 2 years while Andrew just started late. And now Andrew and Gia were 17.
"See, there's where we differ, I happen to like Simple Plan so, I had no problem whatsoever with seeing them in concert,"
"Fun sucker," Stephanie said sticking her tongue out at him.
"Keep that up and he might actually have you suck his...fun," Mickey said.
Stephanie had to think about it for a minute until she figured out what Mickey meant by "fun"
"You are so gross!" Stephanie exclaimed.
"Dirty mind, dirty mind," Andrew said shaking his head jokingly.
Stephanie laughed as they headed home.
"Hello?" Stephanie answered her phone which rang as soon as she walked into her bedroom.
"Hey Steph, how was the concert?" Charles' familiar voice asked.
Mickey and Gia walked inside Stephanie's bedroom with their duffle bags and sat them on the floor. The two were having one of their weekly sleepovers.
"Hey. It was awesome, a lot of fun,"
"That's cool, well I just wanted to see how it was, it's like 2 AM so..."
"Yeah, I know, and Michelle isn't even home," Stephanie said.
"Well maybe she's staying at Lisa or Denise's houses,"
"Doubt it; she's probably at a house party or a rave,"
"God, thirteen year olds have changed extremely since we were their age, huh?"
"Totally, well hey, I gotta go, but I'll call you tomorrow, K?"
"K, see ya Steph,"
"Bye Charles," Stephanie said and clicked off her phone, tossing it on her bed.
She turned around and saw Gia and Mickey staring at her, eyes wide, surprised smiles on their faces and hands on their hips.
"Charles?" Gia asked.
Stephanie added.
"Do you like him?" Mickey asked.
"Why?" Stephanie asked, looking at the carpet.
"It just seems you might have the smallest crush. But hell, I can't blame you, he has FINE written all over him," Gia said.
Mickey nodded, "Fine is written repeatedly, all over him, not my type, I have a boyfriend, but still he's good looking"
Gia nodded, "So do you like him?"
Stephanie lifted her eyes towards her friends, "Please promise you won't tell Andrew,"
Gia and Mickey glanced at each other and smiled and then went over and hugged Stephanie, "We promise," they ended up saying in unison.
And they really meant it.
Sorry that the chap is shorter than the others...hope ya like it!