Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

The Return: Conspiracy of Silence

In the conspiracy of silence, rumor is king." -unknown

Monday was a mere three hours away and with Monday came the start of another week of school. Julia laid awake in her bed staring up at the ceiling as she was unable to sleep. Thoughts of her parents and older brother keep colliding in her head and she couldn't shut them off. Frustrated, she threw her covers onto the floor and got up. She went to her desk and turn the little purple lamp that sat on its upper right corner on low. The light gleamed off of the two new gold medals and one new silver medal that had been added to her awards rack earlier in the evening. Even though she was the only child other than Shawn who had their own room, she was unnecessarily quiet as she crept to her book bag and took the tablet she used at school out. In spite of being alone, she was still afraid she might get caught as she was breaking two major house rules: 1) no electronics after 10 pm on the night before a school day or on a school night and 2) no electronics usage in a room alone. She wasn't likely to get caught unless her parents decided to check the monthly usage data, but she was still careful. She didn't want her father to find out she was breaking his rules but she desperately needed someone to confide in.

The thought of her father saddened her. He used to be the number one person on her list to talk to. Once she had confided in him she did not need to talk to anyone else, not even her mother, because if her dad could not make things right, then no one could. But he no longer had the time for serious conversations at this time of night or any time really. No doubt he would be on the phone right now talking to someone at the district about something that could wait until morning.

Her brother Shawn had become the stand-in for their father in his absence but that did her no good that night. She was sorely disappointed in him as he'd been acting strangely throughout her competition and didn't even bother to watch the programs she's worked so hard on for the last four months. He claimed he had but when pressed to name the music she skated to, he missed all three times and named the music for three different skaters that were not her. He had also promised to tell her what was going on when they got home, but when they got home Shawn holed up in his room with Cory and Topanga until the Matthews had to leave. Then he said goodnight to everyone and went to bed.

So Julia as she saw it had little choice but to break house rules and call the only person left who understood her and would listen. She opened the Skype app and clicked on the first contact on her list. Barely a minute went by before her screen with filled with the bright, smiling face of a handsome boy about her age.

"Hey, Princess!"

Julia couldn't help but give a quiet, happy sigh, when she saw the face on her tablet screen. DeAndre Brockman was as cute as boys came in her mind; he was easily the best looking guy at their school. His golden brown eyes were striking and they brought him a great amount of attention. And nobody rocked the short dreadlocks and high fade like he did. DeAndre's smile was always on high beam- wherever he went whether inside or outside light seemed to be attracted to him and would then reflect off of him lighting up everything around. This wasn't actual light, of course, but rather his boisterous personality and genuinely kind heart that came through. They had been friends forever, but things had changed in the last year and a dreamy sigh and goofy smile always seem to strike Julia whenever she saw him now.

When she didn't answer right away, DeAndre suppressed a grin. He loved it when she looked at him like that. Gifted with the ability to speak in just about every American English dialect and slang there was, some British, and a little Australian, he loved to use them to tease her about the nickname her father had given her the day she was born.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this late night chat with her royal highness?" he said with an overly dramatic posh British drawl. He had a hard time not cracking up during the delivery.