My Christmas Star ( A Santa Clause Story Ft Bernard x OC)

Chapter 1: Offense and Defense

Christmas time was Stella Calvin's favorite time of the year because it was the one holiday that she didn't have to spend with her mother, Laura and her stepdad Neal. She disliked the fact that Neil and Laura tried to make Charlie grow up too fast.
One day her younger brother, Charlie, who is only six years old came home from school one day in tears because this older kid told him there was no such thing as Santa Clause and she overheard Neal talking to Charlie about how Santa was more like a feeling and/or state of mind than a person. This, of course, made Stella very upset because no adult should ever tell a child there's no such thing as Santa Clause. It didn't matter that he's was a psychiatrist. Once Stella heard this, she felt like she had to intervene so she burst into Neil's office with an angry look on her face.

"--How dare you say such a thing to my brother!" she yelled.
"Stella, this is a private matter," Neal told Stella. She looked down at her brother who had red eyes and dried tear stains on his face.
"I don't care," Stella snapped. "Private or not you do not get to use psychology tricks on my brother to try and convince him whether or not Santa Claus is real. That's not your decision to make. Charlie has the right to believe in whatever he wants to believe without anyone's help," Stella hissed at Neal.
"Stella–"
"--NO," Stella exclaimed. "You and I need to talk alone. Charlie," Stella looked down at her brother. "Go play in your room."
"But, Stella–"
"Please, Charlie," Stella said with a sigh.
"Okay, fine," Charlie said glumly before leaving the office. Stella closed the door behind him and faced Neal.
"Just because you're the new stepdad does NOT mean you get to tell my brother such things," Stella said.
"Stella, I didn't tell Charlie Santa didn't exist, I just told him that Santa is more like a feeling than a person. A state of mind, even," Neal explained.
"And what does that tell Charlie, huh? That there's no North Pole where elves work on his toys, there's no reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh? That there's no Santa Clause. It still leads him to think that there's no Santa Claus. And do you know what that does to a child? It destroys them and gives them a real reason to see a psychiatrist. So if you're trying to do this to get Charlie's approval, just know it's not working and I'm not going to allow it to," Stella fumed, her fists were balled, her face red with anger. Neal stared at her, no facial expression shown itself onto his face.
"Stella, Charlie has already told me that I listen better than his own father. What does that tell you?" Neal asked as he stepped closer to Stella.
"Don't you dare talk bad about my dad!" Stella yelled.
"--What's going on in here?" came a voice. It was Laura, Stella and Charlie's mom. Stella looked between her mom and Neal and stormed out of the room.
"What happened? Why is she angry this time?" Laura asked.
"Stella's just defensive about Charlie and her dad at the moment. Just let her cool off," Neal told Laura.
"Why? What made her defensive?" Laura asked as she stepped in the office and closed the door.
"Well, you know how that kid at school made Charlie cry because he told him that Santa wasn't real?" Neal asked. Laura nodded.
"Well, I told Charlie that Santa was more like a feeling. More like a state of mind than a person," Neil explained.
"So you basically told him that there's no Santa Clause without telling him there's no Santa Claus?" Laura asked, trying to understand.
"That's one way to look at it. The way Stella looked at it was that I told Charlie there was no Santa at all and got defensive about how I have no right to tell Charlie what to believe just because I'm their new stepdad," Neal explained.
"Okay but, I just heard her yell: Don't you dare talk bad about my dad, what was that all about?" Laura asked as she crossed her arms.
"All I told her was that Charlie told me that I listen better than his own father," Neal replied.
"And what led to that part of the conversation?" asked Laura.
"Well she went on about how once a child is told there's no Santa Claus, that gives them a real reason to see a psychiatrist and that what I did was a way of getting Charlie to like me," Neal explained further, putting his hands in his pockets. Laura sighed.
"You know she's sensitive about her dad and defensive with Charlie. Ever since the divorce–"
"I know, I know. And I admit, I did say the wrong thing, but I'm new to this step dad thing. It's different from being a psychiatrist, believe it or not," Neal replied.
"Maybe you should try apologizing to her," Laura suggested.
"I want to give her time to cool off first," Neal replied. Laura sighed.
"Alright," Laura replied. Laura left Neal's office and as soon as she did, Stella came down with a suitcase in hands.
"And where do you think you're going, missy?" Laura asked her daughter.
"To dad's," Stella replied, not making eye contact with her mother as she walked past her to the front door.
"Oh no, you don't," Laura said as she caught up with Stella at the front door.
"I'm sixteen, mom! I have the right to live with any parent I want. Right now, that's dad," Stella replied. Laura groaned.
"How long are you going to be gone this time?" Laura asked.
"After Christmas. Maybe New Years. Haven't decided yet," Stella replied as she opened the front door.
"But that's almost a whole month! What about your birthday?" Laura asked.
"What do you mean what about my birthday? I'll be celebrating with Dad. If you want to drop Charlie off to celebrate with us and pick him up later, that's fine. But there's no way in hell I'm celebrating anything here. Not my birthday, not Christmas and most likely not New Years," Stella said before she shut the door in Laura's face. She headed to her car and started up her car that she got when she got her license a few months ago. She started to make her way to her father's place. Driving usually cooled her off because there was something about driving that calmed her and gave her something else to focus on.
Once she got to her dad's place, she got out the spare key from her purse and unlocked the door. She took her suitcase up to her room and unpacked.
It was only four o'clock so she thought that making dinner for her and her dad would be nice. It would be a nice thing to do for her dad after a day full of meetings.
She decided to make some chicken, mashed potatoes and corn.
Soon enough as the chicken was finished cooking, her dad came home.
"What's that smell?" her dad, Scott Calvin asked himself as he walked through the front door.
"I'm in here!" Stella yelled from the kitchen. Scott rushed to the kitchen.
"Stella? What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you until Christmas Eve," Scott said before taking another sniff of the air. "Mmm, that smells good."
"I got into an argument with Neal and decided to come stay with you for a while," Stella replied.
"How long?" asked Scott.
"The rest of the month," Stella replied as she got the chicken out of the oven.
"The rest of the month? Your mother is going to have my head on a silver platter," Scott told Stella.
"She'll get over it," Stella shrugged.
"What was the argument about?" asked Scott. Stella sighed.
"I just got a little defensive about something he said to Charlie, that's all," Stella replied as she started to cut up the chicken.
"What did that scum-bag say to Charlie?" Scott asked. Stella giggled.
"Don't worry, dad. I took care of it. It's not really my business to tell," Stella replied. Scott growled.
"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like that guy. Anyways, you can stay as long as you want," Scott told his daughter.
"Why, because I made you dinner?" Stella asked with a chuckle as she brought Scott a plate full of chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn. Scott gave his daughter a cheeky smile.
"That's exactly why."
Stella and Scott had a nice dinner together followed by a movie night on the couch. They watched The Flintstones movie.

As the days passed by it was soon Stella's birthday on the 7th of December and Scott and Stella celebrated by going out to Dinner. Charlie tagged along too, per request via Stella. They went to Olive Garden and had a nice dinner together. Laura, of course, had to pick Charlie up right after the dinner. Once he was picked up, Stella and Scott went to the mall to go shopping for her birthday and Christmas. She got Charlie a new hat and a radio. For her birthday she got a new cell phone, some new clothes, and makeup. Typical teenage girl stuff.
Soon enough, Christmas Eve rolled around and boy...what a night.