Fuller house: Working With the Stars (or, how Michelle&Steph built careers)
Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 9:29 pm
To distract Jackson and Ramona from clashing on his 7th birthday, Michelle shares how a chance meeting from one “Full House” book led to her fashion empire and Steph’s career. Alludes to Olsen twins existing in canon, their show explained more in my fic “Under the Weather”
A/N: This is the first ongoing show I’ve done fanfic for, except for one parody of Star Trek: Voyager and one where a bunch of tribbles lead to them getting home.
So, while I don’t own “Fuller House,” or any other thing I’ve done fanfic for, I said on fanfiction.net I give creators rights to any of this they want to say is canon – or any of my ideas for “Full House” fanfic that can tie in to “Fuller House”. Think of it as a pundit predicting a game or season.
This NetU fic references the book “Full House Michelle: My Best Friend is a Movie Star” by Cathy East Dubowski). It’s figured here to be NetU, it was already deemed TVU due to both calendar conflicts with more clearly Book Universe books and also characters being more like TVU. It also separates what’s been done with TVU, showing how things might have developed with Stephanie and Michelle in the NetU, just as my “Who Let the Dogs In” with Steve and D.J. not kissing at the prom as the Point of Departure. (Also the actor playing Steve was signed for a season 9, so the Prom as a POD makes even more sense with a TVU where they keep going.)
The first episode mentioned Michelle having a fashion empire but “Ramona’s Not So Epic Party” mentions her getting a designer dress “by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen,” and it’s clearly their brand, so MK&A is not just Michelle’s brand name. Her's I think it could go in the Tanners’ world
Melanie is adopted by Jesse and Becky to give them another kid in TVU – since in NetU they have no other kids Denise’s seemed like a very good family. Darcy is a book Universe friend in a different Middle School but same high school here, unlike Allie who knew Stephanie since Kindergarten but moved away in TVU and here. It’s said Darcy designed some sports team uniforms in one or two books.
Working With The Stars
“You ate my ice cream,” Ramona Gibbler, six and a half, complained to Jackson Fuller, who was celebrating his seventh birthday.
“Did not,” Jackson retorted. “You had your ice cream with everyone else.” The other children had left his party, and Jackson’s mother D.J. and father Tommy were chatting for a moment with Ramona’s mother Kimmy – the women had been friends for as long as they could remember – and D.J.’s youngest sister, Michelle, who was there visiting.
“I mean the extra scoop my mom gave me just now,” Ramona replied.
“Well, maybe it was payback for you blowing out my candles and riding away on my pony last year,” Jackson retorted. She’d misbehaved in a couple other small ways there, too, the result of a sugar rush and just being a Gibbler.
Ramona tried to get out of admitting it. “I did not ride off on your pony.” It had been a rental for the party anyway, so she was partly right.
“Then how come there was still a saddle on your timeout chair next time we came over?” Jackson retorted. It hadn’t been the saddle from that pony, but a play one instead; she had just forgotten to remove it afterward.
Jackson grabbed some M&Ms from her plate and ate them. “Hey, you ate my M&Ms now.”
“Did not.” “Did too.” After a couple more rounds of this, Ramona said “Did too” and Jackson replied, “Did three.”
“Did four,” Ramona said, a bit too caught up in the counting, especially when Jackson came back with “Did five.”
The children went up to “eight,” but Jackson said, “Did ten.”
“Ha, you skipped ‘nine,’” Ramona said triumphantly.
“Nuh-uh, seven ate nine,” Jackson explained. “Since I’m seven, I can eat nine, ‘cause seven eight nine.” He ate a few more off her plate.
Ramona stood and walked hastily into the living room complaining, “Mom, Jackson says he’s seven.”
“Of course he’s seven; that comes after six,” Kimmy said as Jackson walked in, too.
“But then he said seven ate nine,” Ramona griped.
Michelle looked at Kimmy’s confused face as Ramona’s mom tried to figure out what the complaint was. “Jackson, what are you to?” Michelle asked. “You know it’s not nice to make Kimmy’s brain freeze up.”
“So you want to start a new counting system?” Kimmy finally said.
Tommy put an arm around him, knowing that shortly before Jackson had been griping about his last birthday. He figured this was behind whatever arguing was going on. Jackson crawled onto his lap as the fireman spoke. “Son,” Tommy said, “I know it’s rough, but you have to remember Ramona’s apologized. And, she’s a Gibbler, so things will be a little weird sometimes.” Kimmy left to answer a text as the discussion continued.
“I know. Aunt Stephanie says she and Kimmy argued a lot when she was my age.”
“Right; but, your mom and Ramona’s mom are best friends, and you need to learn to at least get along. Plus, she’s a girl, and you know how we’ve talked about how we treat girls with respect.”
Jackson looked downcast. “Sorry I took your ice cream and M&Ms and stuff just now,” he told her. “I do want girls to like me. That sounds kinda cool, the way you and especially Uncle Jesse talk about it.”
“It’s really cool.” Tommy put an arm around D.J., and they kissed. “Someday, you’ll meet one as special as your mother,” he finished dreamily.
“One who takes you shopping,” Ramona boasted, ignoring Jackson’s sour look. She liked shopping a lot more than he did. “I like your Aunt Michelle more than you ‘cause she’s got great fashion stuff!”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
Kimmy returned. “Hey, Deej, can Ramona stay here for a while? There’s an emergency with the party planning somewhere, and Fernando’s still out racing.”
“Sure. Oh, there’s the baby,” D.J. said as she heard Max on the baby monitor. Tommy said he had to get down to the fire station.
“Come here, you two,” Michelle said. They sat on opposite sides of her on the couch. “You can both love me; it doesn’t have to be a competition. Tell you what, why don’t I tell you a story. Because, Steph and I both wound up getting into the celebrity scene the same way.”
Ramona tried to think. “Isn’t she the one with the songs?”
“You kids hear the Disneyfied lyrics on some of them,” Michelle said with a nod. “That’s how she got started as a deejay for lots of parties where they play her songs – and others. Anyway, I met this girl who was about my age on the beach one spring, when I was in fourth grade. I learned an important lesson when I invited her to my house – where your Grandpa Tanner lives,” she told Jackson. “She didn’t want to be treated like a superstar, she wanted to be treated like a normal kid. She was upset when I went overboard, but we made up and had a couple play dates when she came up to San Francisco. Then, that summer, she invited us to Los Angeles…”
FHFHFHFHFH
Michelle, nine, looked at her friend from the beach. After a couple months, they had become good friends. As she saw the trailers and looked at all of the work people were doing, on the movie set they were standing in, she had a new appreciation for why her new friend had not wanted anything to do with show business when Michelle invited her to her house.
“This is nuts,” Michelle stated bluntly. “You guys are on set all day? You don't get to do anything else sometimes.”
The girl smiled. “I still love it, though. It’s a lot of fun. I just like to be able to relax sometimes and not have to be in costume and everything. I like to be me. All the work isn’t the only reason I like the chance to just be a kid. But, that's one of them.”
“I can see why you like it. It seems so glamorous,” Stephanie, fourteen, said to her. “When our dad decided to bring us here for a small vacation – thanks again for showing us around, by the way – I really looked forward to it.”
Jesse Katsopolis and Rebecca Donaldson, the girls’ uncle and aunt, were behind them. “Sure,” Jesse spoke, fondly reminiscing, “that's one of the reasons I loved music so much. It was a lifestyle, man. I had so much fun.”
“I'm glad we could bring you girls down,” Becky said. “Joey and the boys were so excited to see some of the cartoon stuff.” Joey Gladstone lived with them and the Tanners. He’d taken their twin sons, Nicky and Alex, to see that.
Stephanie walked around the set, currently not in use, and whistled. “I could certainly get used to this life, too,” she told Jesse.
“Everyone thinks being a movie star is just wall to wall good times,” Michelle's friend said. “But, you need time to relax, too. I sure do.”
“That’s why we’re so glad she met you, Michelle,” the girl’s mom said.
“Well, there are jobs outside of performing that still let you be involved. Look at what your dad and I do,” Becky pointed out.
“Oh, you got some great stars, just like that guy with the longest last name ever,” Jesse teased.
“Well not all of our interviewees are celebrities in the normal definition of the word,” Becky confessed.
Stephanie found herself taking a pen and notepad out of her purse as she meandered. She thought maybe she could get an idea or two from this to make a school project out of it when it started again next month. She knew she'd have creative writing assignments, for instance.
“Hello,” Stephanie said to someone. “Are you an actor?”
“No, I assist the man who produces the musical score for this movie.”
Stephanie was intrigued. She hadn't realized someone actually wrote music for movies and shows, though it made sense when she thought about it.
“That must take lots of talent,” Stephanie said. “My Uncle Jesse over there used to be in a band, I don't know if you ever heard of Jesse and the Rippers?” She was sure he wouldn't have heard of one Jesse had been in for less than a year, the Monkey Puppets. “Anyway, he always found it difficult to remain consistent, although he did do quite a few good advertising jingles. I've tried to write some, too.” She chuckled inwardly at how she was trying to impress this young man. She supposed it was just part of her being intrigued at the idea of working in Hollywood.
“Is that what you were writing?”
“This?” Stephanie began. She flipped through the notepad as she spoke. “No, it's just random ideas for inspiration. Although, I did write this down and copied it in my diary.”
She showed the young man prose she had written after Michelle's horse riding accidents over a year earlier. It had been inspired by the fact that Michelle remembered her first because of the first day of kindergarten and how she had clung to Stephanie. Michelle had then clung to her a bit more for a few days even after recovering her memory, which was the normal thing for any amnesia victim. Yet, Stephanie and Michelle had had a big fight right before it.
“I like this. May I show this to someone?”
Stephanie shrugged, but with a small bit of hope that whoever it was would like it. “Go ahead.” She walked back over to the others and told them what had happened. “He should be back soon.”
“Great,” Jesse encouraged her. “That's the way to do it if you want to get ahead. Make sure you get advice on what you’re good at and how to improve it, and put your stuff out there as much as possible.”
“Michelle and her friend want to go over to see a TV set,” Becky explained. “She says Mary-Kate and Ashley might be over there, too. We’ll go, you can wait here,” she told Jesse.
“Cool,” Jesse said, knowing that this child they were going to meet starred in shows for kids. “Yeah, Michelle loves them on that show.” He had matured a lot from his wild days before moving into take care of the girls after Danny's wife died - at the same time he and his best friend Joey had moved in - but was still not as interested in kid stuff if he didn't have to be.
“You talk like you were never dying to see an episode. Remember this past May?” Becky trailed off with a grin.
Jesse held up a finger. “That was only because the time travelers were bringing Elvis forward,” he insisted. The show had begun – after cancellation of Joey’s “Surf’s Up” cartoon – as a combination of “Back to the Future” and “Indiana Jones,” but with a family element. However, much like he Fonz on “Happy Days,” the Olsens had quickly stolen the show, and soon the time travel was secondary to the family atmosphere of the present day, with people from the past brought forward for comic or other purposes and staying for a while at times..
A short time after Becky, Michelle, and her friend left, the young man returned with his boss. The older gentleman shook Jesse's hand. “I believe I heard you and the Rippers playing live once,” he said truthfully. “Weren't you number one in Asia somewhere?”
“Yeah, it was Japan,” Jesse affirmed with pride.
“Anyway, my assistant was showing your niece's one poem to me. I'm very impressed.” Turning to Stephanie, he asked how often she wrote.
“Oh, once in a while.” She explained briefly what had inspired that particular one. “So, you like it?” She asked slowly, not exactly sure where this was headed, except that she hoped it would be some kind of stardom.
He could sense her excitement. “Yes, I think it shows great potential. You know, you might be able to work with your uncle and turn it into a song.”
“Look, I know I pushed too hard with your guitar playing, Steph …” Jesse said, trying not to force things this time yet hoping she would want to do it, with or without him.
Stephanie nodded. She admitted, “When I was nine they said I had talent to go to dance school, but I wound up not having a life. I guess maybe I could have advised Michelle about that with her friend. I mean, I just don’t want to be in a position where I’m only doing that.”
When asked, the man was told the family was from San Francisco. “Tell you what, if you don’t want to work with your uncle – and I understand there can be pressure with family - I’ll give you the name of someone who can maybe help you learn how to put music to something like that. If you’d like, you can work with that poem, move some words around to make it fit into a normal pattern for a song, things like that. And, you can just work at your own pace.”
“Thanks.” Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s so confusing. I mean, I’d love to be able to write like that… I like to be able to hang out and have fun, too, though.”
Jesse snickered. “Well, Steph, if you just write the songs and let other people sing ‘em, you don’t have to worry about all that rehearsing.”
“True.”
They talked for a few minutes until Becky returned. “Danny and D.J. saw us, they’re with Michelle. She met the twtins. They and her friend are talking with some people about fashion,” Becky shared.
“Michelle did mention an interest in that after meeting…” Stephanie began. Before she could say the first girl’s name, however, D.J. came running up to her.
“Steph, this place is so cool. It almost makes me want to reconsider veterinary school and go back to Journalism.”
“You’ll do great at whatever you do, Deej,” Becky spoke confidently.
“I’ve learned so many interesting things about how this works,” D.J. continued. “Did you know they have specific jobs they put out for people with five lines or less?”
“What’s it called?”
“Fine lines or less,” D.J. told Stephanie.
“I’m wondering about commercials, too. You know, I got so busy with dance and other stuff I never really tried to do any more after ‘Oat Boats,’” Stephanie pondered aloud.
Jesse smiled wistfully. “Yeah, that was a lot of fun for you. Don’t be afraid to chase your dreams, Steph. And, no matter what happens, whether you succeed or not, we’ll be here for you.”
“Thanks, guys,” Stephanie said as she hugged them.
A/N: This is the first ongoing show I’ve done fanfic for, except for one parody of Star Trek: Voyager and one where a bunch of tribbles lead to them getting home.
So, while I don’t own “Fuller House,” or any other thing I’ve done fanfic for, I said on fanfiction.net I give creators rights to any of this they want to say is canon – or any of my ideas for “Full House” fanfic that can tie in to “Fuller House”. Think of it as a pundit predicting a game or season.
This NetU fic references the book “Full House Michelle: My Best Friend is a Movie Star” by Cathy East Dubowski). It’s figured here to be NetU, it was already deemed TVU due to both calendar conflicts with more clearly Book Universe books and also characters being more like TVU. It also separates what’s been done with TVU, showing how things might have developed with Stephanie and Michelle in the NetU, just as my “Who Let the Dogs In” with Steve and D.J. not kissing at the prom as the Point of Departure. (Also the actor playing Steve was signed for a season 9, so the Prom as a POD makes even more sense with a TVU where they keep going.)
The first episode mentioned Michelle having a fashion empire but “Ramona’s Not So Epic Party” mentions her getting a designer dress “by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen,” and it’s clearly their brand, so MK&A is not just Michelle’s brand name. Her's I think it could go in the Tanners’ world
Melanie is adopted by Jesse and Becky to give them another kid in TVU – since in NetU they have no other kids Denise’s seemed like a very good family. Darcy is a book Universe friend in a different Middle School but same high school here, unlike Allie who knew Stephanie since Kindergarten but moved away in TVU and here. It’s said Darcy designed some sports team uniforms in one or two books.
Working With The Stars
“You ate my ice cream,” Ramona Gibbler, six and a half, complained to Jackson Fuller, who was celebrating his seventh birthday.
“Did not,” Jackson retorted. “You had your ice cream with everyone else.” The other children had left his party, and Jackson’s mother D.J. and father Tommy were chatting for a moment with Ramona’s mother Kimmy – the women had been friends for as long as they could remember – and D.J.’s youngest sister, Michelle, who was there visiting.
“I mean the extra scoop my mom gave me just now,” Ramona replied.
“Well, maybe it was payback for you blowing out my candles and riding away on my pony last year,” Jackson retorted. She’d misbehaved in a couple other small ways there, too, the result of a sugar rush and just being a Gibbler.
Ramona tried to get out of admitting it. “I did not ride off on your pony.” It had been a rental for the party anyway, so she was partly right.
“Then how come there was still a saddle on your timeout chair next time we came over?” Jackson retorted. It hadn’t been the saddle from that pony, but a play one instead; she had just forgotten to remove it afterward.
Jackson grabbed some M&Ms from her plate and ate them. “Hey, you ate my M&Ms now.”
“Did not.” “Did too.” After a couple more rounds of this, Ramona said “Did too” and Jackson replied, “Did three.”
“Did four,” Ramona said, a bit too caught up in the counting, especially when Jackson came back with “Did five.”
The children went up to “eight,” but Jackson said, “Did ten.”
“Ha, you skipped ‘nine,’” Ramona said triumphantly.
“Nuh-uh, seven ate nine,” Jackson explained. “Since I’m seven, I can eat nine, ‘cause seven eight nine.” He ate a few more off her plate.
Ramona stood and walked hastily into the living room complaining, “Mom, Jackson says he’s seven.”
“Of course he’s seven; that comes after six,” Kimmy said as Jackson walked in, too.
“But then he said seven ate nine,” Ramona griped.
Michelle looked at Kimmy’s confused face as Ramona’s mom tried to figure out what the complaint was. “Jackson, what are you to?” Michelle asked. “You know it’s not nice to make Kimmy’s brain freeze up.”
“So you want to start a new counting system?” Kimmy finally said.
Tommy put an arm around him, knowing that shortly before Jackson had been griping about his last birthday. He figured this was behind whatever arguing was going on. Jackson crawled onto his lap as the fireman spoke. “Son,” Tommy said, “I know it’s rough, but you have to remember Ramona’s apologized. And, she’s a Gibbler, so things will be a little weird sometimes.” Kimmy left to answer a text as the discussion continued.
“I know. Aunt Stephanie says she and Kimmy argued a lot when she was my age.”
“Right; but, your mom and Ramona’s mom are best friends, and you need to learn to at least get along. Plus, she’s a girl, and you know how we’ve talked about how we treat girls with respect.”
Jackson looked downcast. “Sorry I took your ice cream and M&Ms and stuff just now,” he told her. “I do want girls to like me. That sounds kinda cool, the way you and especially Uncle Jesse talk about it.”
“It’s really cool.” Tommy put an arm around D.J., and they kissed. “Someday, you’ll meet one as special as your mother,” he finished dreamily.
“One who takes you shopping,” Ramona boasted, ignoring Jackson’s sour look. She liked shopping a lot more than he did. “I like your Aunt Michelle more than you ‘cause she’s got great fashion stuff!”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
Kimmy returned. “Hey, Deej, can Ramona stay here for a while? There’s an emergency with the party planning somewhere, and Fernando’s still out racing.”
“Sure. Oh, there’s the baby,” D.J. said as she heard Max on the baby monitor. Tommy said he had to get down to the fire station.
“Come here, you two,” Michelle said. They sat on opposite sides of her on the couch. “You can both love me; it doesn’t have to be a competition. Tell you what, why don’t I tell you a story. Because, Steph and I both wound up getting into the celebrity scene the same way.”
Ramona tried to think. “Isn’t she the one with the songs?”
“You kids hear the Disneyfied lyrics on some of them,” Michelle said with a nod. “That’s how she got started as a deejay for lots of parties where they play her songs – and others. Anyway, I met this girl who was about my age on the beach one spring, when I was in fourth grade. I learned an important lesson when I invited her to my house – where your Grandpa Tanner lives,” she told Jackson. “She didn’t want to be treated like a superstar, she wanted to be treated like a normal kid. She was upset when I went overboard, but we made up and had a couple play dates when she came up to San Francisco. Then, that summer, she invited us to Los Angeles…”
FHFHFHFHFH
Michelle, nine, looked at her friend from the beach. After a couple months, they had become good friends. As she saw the trailers and looked at all of the work people were doing, on the movie set they were standing in, she had a new appreciation for why her new friend had not wanted anything to do with show business when Michelle invited her to her house.
“This is nuts,” Michelle stated bluntly. “You guys are on set all day? You don't get to do anything else sometimes.”
The girl smiled. “I still love it, though. It’s a lot of fun. I just like to be able to relax sometimes and not have to be in costume and everything. I like to be me. All the work isn’t the only reason I like the chance to just be a kid. But, that's one of them.”
“I can see why you like it. It seems so glamorous,” Stephanie, fourteen, said to her. “When our dad decided to bring us here for a small vacation – thanks again for showing us around, by the way – I really looked forward to it.”
Jesse Katsopolis and Rebecca Donaldson, the girls’ uncle and aunt, were behind them. “Sure,” Jesse spoke, fondly reminiscing, “that's one of the reasons I loved music so much. It was a lifestyle, man. I had so much fun.”
“I'm glad we could bring you girls down,” Becky said. “Joey and the boys were so excited to see some of the cartoon stuff.” Joey Gladstone lived with them and the Tanners. He’d taken their twin sons, Nicky and Alex, to see that.
Stephanie walked around the set, currently not in use, and whistled. “I could certainly get used to this life, too,” she told Jesse.
“Everyone thinks being a movie star is just wall to wall good times,” Michelle's friend said. “But, you need time to relax, too. I sure do.”
“That’s why we’re so glad she met you, Michelle,” the girl’s mom said.
“Well, there are jobs outside of performing that still let you be involved. Look at what your dad and I do,” Becky pointed out.
“Oh, you got some great stars, just like that guy with the longest last name ever,” Jesse teased.
“Well not all of our interviewees are celebrities in the normal definition of the word,” Becky confessed.
Stephanie found herself taking a pen and notepad out of her purse as she meandered. She thought maybe she could get an idea or two from this to make a school project out of it when it started again next month. She knew she'd have creative writing assignments, for instance.
“Hello,” Stephanie said to someone. “Are you an actor?”
“No, I assist the man who produces the musical score for this movie.”
Stephanie was intrigued. She hadn't realized someone actually wrote music for movies and shows, though it made sense when she thought about it.
“That must take lots of talent,” Stephanie said. “My Uncle Jesse over there used to be in a band, I don't know if you ever heard of Jesse and the Rippers?” She was sure he wouldn't have heard of one Jesse had been in for less than a year, the Monkey Puppets. “Anyway, he always found it difficult to remain consistent, although he did do quite a few good advertising jingles. I've tried to write some, too.” She chuckled inwardly at how she was trying to impress this young man. She supposed it was just part of her being intrigued at the idea of working in Hollywood.
“Is that what you were writing?”
“This?” Stephanie began. She flipped through the notepad as she spoke. “No, it's just random ideas for inspiration. Although, I did write this down and copied it in my diary.”
She showed the young man prose she had written after Michelle's horse riding accidents over a year earlier. It had been inspired by the fact that Michelle remembered her first because of the first day of kindergarten and how she had clung to Stephanie. Michelle had then clung to her a bit more for a few days even after recovering her memory, which was the normal thing for any amnesia victim. Yet, Stephanie and Michelle had had a big fight right before it.
“I like this. May I show this to someone?”
Stephanie shrugged, but with a small bit of hope that whoever it was would like it. “Go ahead.” She walked back over to the others and told them what had happened. “He should be back soon.”
“Great,” Jesse encouraged her. “That's the way to do it if you want to get ahead. Make sure you get advice on what you’re good at and how to improve it, and put your stuff out there as much as possible.”
“Michelle and her friend want to go over to see a TV set,” Becky explained. “She says Mary-Kate and Ashley might be over there, too. We’ll go, you can wait here,” she told Jesse.
“Cool,” Jesse said, knowing that this child they were going to meet starred in shows for kids. “Yeah, Michelle loves them on that show.” He had matured a lot from his wild days before moving into take care of the girls after Danny's wife died - at the same time he and his best friend Joey had moved in - but was still not as interested in kid stuff if he didn't have to be.
“You talk like you were never dying to see an episode. Remember this past May?” Becky trailed off with a grin.
Jesse held up a finger. “That was only because the time travelers were bringing Elvis forward,” he insisted. The show had begun – after cancellation of Joey’s “Surf’s Up” cartoon – as a combination of “Back to the Future” and “Indiana Jones,” but with a family element. However, much like he Fonz on “Happy Days,” the Olsens had quickly stolen the show, and soon the time travel was secondary to the family atmosphere of the present day, with people from the past brought forward for comic or other purposes and staying for a while at times..
A short time after Becky, Michelle, and her friend left, the young man returned with his boss. The older gentleman shook Jesse's hand. “I believe I heard you and the Rippers playing live once,” he said truthfully. “Weren't you number one in Asia somewhere?”
“Yeah, it was Japan,” Jesse affirmed with pride.
“Anyway, my assistant was showing your niece's one poem to me. I'm very impressed.” Turning to Stephanie, he asked how often she wrote.
“Oh, once in a while.” She explained briefly what had inspired that particular one. “So, you like it?” She asked slowly, not exactly sure where this was headed, except that she hoped it would be some kind of stardom.
He could sense her excitement. “Yes, I think it shows great potential. You know, you might be able to work with your uncle and turn it into a song.”
“Look, I know I pushed too hard with your guitar playing, Steph …” Jesse said, trying not to force things this time yet hoping she would want to do it, with or without him.
Stephanie nodded. She admitted, “When I was nine they said I had talent to go to dance school, but I wound up not having a life. I guess maybe I could have advised Michelle about that with her friend. I mean, I just don’t want to be in a position where I’m only doing that.”
When asked, the man was told the family was from San Francisco. “Tell you what, if you don’t want to work with your uncle – and I understand there can be pressure with family - I’ll give you the name of someone who can maybe help you learn how to put music to something like that. If you’d like, you can work with that poem, move some words around to make it fit into a normal pattern for a song, things like that. And, you can just work at your own pace.”
“Thanks.” Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s so confusing. I mean, I’d love to be able to write like that… I like to be able to hang out and have fun, too, though.”
Jesse snickered. “Well, Steph, if you just write the songs and let other people sing ‘em, you don’t have to worry about all that rehearsing.”
“True.”
They talked for a few minutes until Becky returned. “Danny and D.J. saw us, they’re with Michelle. She met the twtins. They and her friend are talking with some people about fashion,” Becky shared.
“Michelle did mention an interest in that after meeting…” Stephanie began. Before she could say the first girl’s name, however, D.J. came running up to her.
“Steph, this place is so cool. It almost makes me want to reconsider veterinary school and go back to Journalism.”
“You’ll do great at whatever you do, Deej,” Becky spoke confidently.
“I’ve learned so many interesting things about how this works,” D.J. continued. “Did you know they have specific jobs they put out for people with five lines or less?”
“What’s it called?”
“Fine lines or less,” D.J. told Stephanie.
“I’m wondering about commercials, too. You know, I got so busy with dance and other stuff I never really tried to do any more after ‘Oat Boats,’” Stephanie pondered aloud.
Jesse smiled wistfully. “Yeah, that was a lot of fun for you. Don’t be afraid to chase your dreams, Steph. And, no matter what happens, whether you succeed or not, we’ll be here for you.”
“Thanks, guys,” Stephanie said as she hugged them.