"Dear Clarence,..." ~a teen idol story

Someone to connect with

Daniel was in the garden, helping Mr. Miyagi to trim his bonsai trees.
It was an activity that was growing on Daniel over time, because it helped him to find a level of inner peace that kept him from going crazy.
Though he was taking a break from working as an actor, not really being able to do the things he wanted to do made him realize, a break wasn't what he needed at all. He needed change.
He needed to feel normal again.. Whatever that meant.

Daniel looked up when he heard his mom coming and saw her carrying a box.

"Mom, is that my mail?" he asked, while he jumped up and started running to her.

"Since when are you so excited to get your mail?" Lucille asked with a curious smile and Daniel grinned sheepishly.

"No particular reason? Don't be so nosy!"

"Hey, you don't talk to your mother like that, young man!" she warned and teased him with not handing over the mail, laughing.

"Come on, Mom. Give me the box, I'm serious?"

"You're serious?"

"Yeah, I'm serious! Come on!" he complained and she finally gave in.

"Here. But don't you wanna know what Terry said? I talked to him this morning."

"Really? What did he say?"

"He said that he will support you going back to school, when you finally agree to do The Moment of Truth 2" she smiled, but Daniel wasn't so happy.

After a moment of consideration, he sighed. "You know what.. If that's what it takes.. I'll do it. As long as he's not bothering me all the time.. I never wanted to, because the second movie is never as good as the first but you know what? I hope it flops. So I can end my carrier.."

"You don't mean that, Danny.. I thought you love acting.."

"I do. But I want to do good movies in the future and grow as an artist.. I want to go to UCLA and study acting. Maybe screenwriting.. Terry just wants to milk the cash cow.. And I'm the cow. Did you hear back from the high school, yet?"

"I'm still waiting for the call.. They said they will consult the matter, since having a famous student could interrupt the natural flow of the school routine.."

"You can say it, Mom.. They worry I'll distract all the girls, right?" he joked in a cocky way and she laughed. "Yeah, they actually do."

"I'll just try to be myself as much as I can and they'll all run." Daniel mumbled and walked away with his box, looking for a comfortable spot, where he could look through the mail in peace and decided to settle by the koi pond.
He browsed through the letters and the moment he spotted the one he was hoping to find, his heart jumped in his chest.

"There you are!" he said happily and hesitated to open it for a minute but then just ripped it open and unfolded the paper from the familiar notebook, Clarence had used before.

His smile faded and he flipped the page around, but there was only one sentence written on the whole thing.

'Dude.. Did you come to my home?'

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Daniel asked out loud and Mr. Miyagi, who just walked by, settled next to him.

"Problem, Daniel-san?" he asked and Daniel just shook his head. "Yeah, no.. I don't know.. I waited for a letter from someone and this is not the reply I expected, I guess?"

"What you expect?" the old man kept asking and Daniel sighed. "I don't know.. more? Something like.. happiness? Gratitude?"

"For what?"