The next morning, Charlie decided to wake up with a completely new attitude. One that was more appreciative and understanding to her adoptive family. She got out of bed with a smile on her face and greeted Stolas and Octavia happily.
"Good morning Stolas." She said entering the kitchen. "Good morning Octavia."
"Good morning Charlie." They each replied to her.
"Feeling better today Via?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, I don't feel yucky anymore." She said. "But I liked missing school."
"I know what you mean." Charlie chuckled. "I wish I could miss a few days of school. But since you're feeling better, I have an idea. Why don't we play a game when we get home later today?"
"Really?" Octavia said getting excited.
"Uh-huh."
"Oh boy! What are we going to play?"
"You choose."
"Well we could play tea party or checkers or puzzles or star-gazing."
"We'll play whatever you like, I promise."
For breakfast Stolas once again served that bland and flavorless oatmeal that he'd always make and she ate every last spoonful of it without one complaint. Much to Stolas's surprise.
"Thank you for breakfast Stolas." She said gratefully. "It was very good."
"You're...You're welcome." He said.
"So how is everything with Stella and the issue with the alimony?"
"It's still a mystery to what happened to all the money. We'll get to the bottom of it eventually but that might take some time and a lot of late hours. I hate to do this to you Charlie, really I do, but I'm afraid you may have to babysit Octavia every night this week and possibly next week."
"It's okay Stolas." She said. "I understand."
Stolas gave her a puzzled look. He wasn't expecting her to have that reaction at all.
"Charlie is everything is alright?" He asked her.
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Well recently you've been very angry and upset, particularly with me, but now all of sudden you're happy and cheerful, and you like my cooking apparently. Now it's not that I don't like this new attitude of yours mind you but I find kind of strange that it just appeared like this. Has something changed around here that I don't know about?"
"Well...Yes. I did a lot of thinking last night and I realized that I have been acting a little bratty lately. I mean it's not your fault that Stella is being unreasonable and you are doing the best you can. And maybe I need to stop whining so much and try to help you out more. After all you have done a lot for me."
Stolas didn't know what to say. He never expected Charlie to come to this realization. At least not while she was still sixteen, and at first it pleased him very much that she had matured in the circumstances they were given. But something about this bothered him. As much as he wanted Charlie to be more mature and understanding about his job and his divorce and looking after Octavia, he didn't expect it to happen so fast. Especially when there hasn't been any change to the situation. Or rather there hasn't been any changes that he knows about.
"Charlie why don't you go upstairs and get your jacket? It's supposed to be very windy outside today."
"Alright. Do you want me to get Via's too while I'm up there?"
"Yes. Thank you."
As soon as Charlie got up from the table and went upstairs, Stolas turned his attention to Octavia. Now teenagers don't always tell their parents everything, but sometimes they trust their brothers and sisters with secrets.
"Octavia."
"Yes Daddy?"
"Has Charlie told you anything that I don't know about?"
"What kind of things Daddy?"
"Secrets."
"I don't think so."
"Are you sure? Think real hard."
"Um..." She thought. "I don't know."
"Has she been doing anything new? Making new friends? Going out with someone besides Vaggie?"
"No. She only goes out Vaggie."
"And does she ever tell you where they go?"
"They go to tutoring."
"No where else."
"Nope."
"Hmm..." He wasn't convinced but he knew that Octavia didn't lie. If she said Charlie only went out with Vaggie for tutoring than Octavia truly believed that was the case. However that didn't make it true.
"What's wrong Daddy? Is Charlie in trouble?"
"Hopefully not. You go on and brush your teeth. I'm taking you girls to school today and I'll be picking you up."
After he dropped off the girls, he decided to make a quick phone call to Vaggie's mother before getting back to settling things with his ex wife.
"No, I haven't noticed anything different about Charlie." Inez told him over the phone. "From what I've seen, she behaves no different than usual. Wish I could say the same for Vaggie though."
"How do you mean? If you don't mind me asking."
"Well recently she's been acting more and more distant from me. And more angry too. I mean she's always been temperamental but now...I wonder if it has anything to do with her hanging around that Gianelli boy."
"Who? Angel? Oh you've got nothing to worry about from him Inez. He's harmless. A little on the peculiar side but who am I to criticize?"
"But he likes her. I can tell he does."
"So what? Boys will be boys."
"Boys can be predators."
"So can girls. In fact a woman was a bigger predator to me than any man I've ever known. But I swear to you, Angel will not go any further than sex jokes. Unless of course he wants his grandmother to castrate him."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Now if it was his cousin, that would be something to raise concern. He likes to take things fast and rough. But lucky for both of us, Blitzy isn't into teenage girls."
"I'm sorry, Blitzy?" She responded in a skeptical tone.
"Um...Not important." He replied, blushing real hard. "Now what were you saying about Vaggie and her anger?"
"Well for example, last night we got into a fight and I told her we would discuss things this morning but she refused to talk to me at all. Told me to go away, I would have persisted but I have work. I only hope she's willing to talk when I come home."
"Good luck with that. I can't get Charlie to talk to me about anything and what's really odd is that this morning she acted completely cordial and understanding to my situation. And this happened before I talked to her or we could compromise, which you must admit, knowing girls this age is highly unusual."
"I agree but at least she's getting better. I'm scared that Vaggie is just going to get worse. I mean she got suspended yesterday."
"Really? For what? Again, if you don't mind me asking."
"She got into fight with a girl from school who's been bullying Charlie."
"Charlie's been getting bullied?" He said obliviously. "How long has that been going on?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything apparently, I don't even know how to help my own daughter."
"Well you're a smart woman, Inez. I'm sure you'll think of something."
"There is something I have been considering but I don't know for certain if it'll help or hurt Vaggie."
"Well what did you have in mind?"
"I think a lot of what's wrong between us is stemming from the separation between us and her father. So I'm thinking that maybe the time has come for me to tell her the truth about Ernesto and why I really left him."
"You still haven't told her?"
"You don't understand Stolas, Vaggie loves her father the same way Octavia loves you. Now imagine how that child would feel if you did what my ex husband did and she found out?"
"Oh...I see. No wonder you kept putting it off for so long."
"I'm afraid to tell her because she might end up hating herself, feeling like everything that went wrong in our lives was her fault. That she might lose any and all self-worth and I can't bear that. But I'm also afraid that if I don't tell her, I'll lose her and I can't bear that either. Oh Stolas, I don't know what to do."
"I wish I could give you the right answer Inez, but to tell you truth, we're pretty much in the same boat. Single parents who have no idea what the hell we're doing and praying to God everyday that we don't screw our kids up. But I will give you this bit of advice and this is probably the only good thing that ever came out of my ex wife's mouth. Life isn't fair but that's the way it is so you try to make it work for you."
"Wait a minute, ex wife? You're not a widower?"
"No. We're divorced."
"But I thought Stella was dead."
"What? Why?"
"Because Charlie always referred to her as something that haunts you."
Stolas had to force himself not to laugh. That girl definitely had her father's savage streak.
"No, no, no Stella is very much alive, unfortunately. She just happens to behave very much like some unholy terror from beyond the grave."
"Sheesh and I thought my divorce was messy."
"Well thanks for answering my questions Inez. I do hope things work out for the best between you and Vaggie."
"You're welcome Stolas and I hope for the same between you and Charlie."
"But for future reference, if you notice anything strange or unusual happening to Charlie, would you mind giving me a call about it?"
"You'll be the first to know. I promise."
"Thank you Inez and I'll do the same for Vaggie."
He hung up and proceeded to drive down to meet with his lawyer. However during the ride he couldn't stop thinking about the new information he had learned from Vaggie's mother. Charlie was bullied? That would explain why she always behaved like the world was against her or why she would get so angry when things didn't go her way. Or why she wanted to spend all her days performing in theater shows, reading books, and playing with toys and costumes. She probably preferred to retreat into a fantasy world because she thinks the real world sucks. And if she's been getting bullied all this time, who could blame her for feeling that way?
"How could I not know?" He kept asking himself over and over again.