Untitled, chapter 1
"NOBODY LIKES YOU. EVERYONE'S LEFT YOU. THEY'RE ALL OUT WITHOUT YOU, HAVING FUN!"
"Gaia, honey."
"Yeah, mom."
"Shut up."
Gaia smirked and deliberately placed her mucky, disgusting, worn out sneakers up next to the headrest of the passenger seat next to her mother. "It's a good song, mom."
"Be sure to tell Ollie to tell Billie Joe then. Still, there's no need to sing it at the top of your lungs."
"Ok, mom."
Jill flashed her daughter a suspicious look via the rear view mirror. The girl barely behaved, and pissing people off no end was mainly how she got her kicks. The way she sat back now, silently smug, with her dirty shoes up on the leather of the classy Porsche and the nonchalant way she gave her that 'ok, mom' was a sure sign there was hell to come.
Gaia had always been so irrepressible and damn near fearless, traits which unfortunately went hand in hand with her intense love and expert skills of torment. Jill lightly applied the brakes and slowed as she watched the mailboxes for the right number. Maybe she'll get lucky and Ollie (for reasons too unimportant just now) will have a candy store's stash of chocolate and Gaia will settle down to the important business of pigging out, hence silencing any... oh wait, she might have a sugar high instead.
They pulled up into a driveway and parked behind a black BMW, with Gaia uncharacteristically humming the Black Eyed Peas quietly to herself. Once again mother suspiciously eyed daughter as they made their way towards the front door from the car.
"You are going to behave yourself, aren't you?" Jill asked. Gaia smiled, and it was almost scary the way she could seem so innocent yet devilish at the same time. When Jill didn't knock, Gaia reached around and did it for her.
There was a frantic scramble of footsteps towards the door, and the moment it swung open it was pandemonium. The woman in the doorway barely had eyes as they had been swallowed up by the enormous smile on her face, and her arms were wide open, ditto her mothers'. Into each other's they went. High pitched oohing and aahing followed, along with "I missed you" and "how have you been?" and "you've changed so much!" Rolling her eyes Gaia quickly followed them into the house. No way was she going to be seen by even a stranger on the street with two bordering hysterical women.
Her mother and Ollie were almost gasping for breath as they joyously gabbed away madly like two school girlfriends. They instinctively moved toward the living room, but Gaia was hesitant to follow. She was bored already.
"Oh, I brought my daughter along - hope you don't mind... " Jill finally turned back to her. "This is Gaia." And nudged her.
"Hi Mrs. Armstrong," she said on purpose. But with her cute smile. "It's nice to meet you."
"Oh, I'm not Mrs. Armstrong anymore. Just Ollie." And she smiled back.
As they headed for the couch Jill gave her a look that clearly said she was confused about the Mrs. Armstrong thing. She and Ollie seated themselves and prepared for more catching up. Gaia, meanwhile, had other plans.
"I, uh, I'm just gonna go check out the backyard."
"It's weedy," Ollie said with a laugh. Jill sent her a mild warning stare. She just shrugged and left them to it.
Gaia was curious to see Billie Joe's room, if it hadn't been converted to a guest room or storage space or something. She found the stairs and climbed them, emerging at the top at the beginning of a corridor. She counted four bedroom doorways, one with the door shut, and a bathroom and toilet at the very end.
Of course, she marched right up to the closed door and banged on it.
"What... " came a mildly irritated voice. The door opened and there stood Billie Joe, t-shirt crumpled, dark hair disheveled, annoyed green eyes pinning her down.
"Uh, hi," she said, taken aback. Damn, the black BMW was his! Duh, if only she'd been quick enough to deduce that earlier, she wouldn't be so caught off her guard now. Oh well, didn't matter. This is gonna be fun.
"I'm Gaia," she said, and stuck out her hand. When Billie Joe was a bit slow to extend his, she grabbed it and shook enthusiastically. Then she pushed past him into his room, which was a clothe-strewn mess, open suitcases yet to be unpacked, unsightly underwear that she was sure not supposed to see. She smirked. His visit to mommy's house was about to take a turn for the worst.
Billie Joe was a bit stunned at her boldness, but was fast getting over it. Still, as his mouth opened, probably to shoo her out, she grinned and ploughed on.
"Our freakish moms met when my mom went to L.A. with my dad on vacation and was shopping and apparently they hit off quite well and she said they had coffee and shit and did all sorts of hanging out and got to know each other a bit too well in the span of about four days and found they had lots in common which is probably why a year later she comes back here and has the indecency to bring me along but that's all right coz I'm meeting you here, now, and it's the first time I've met anyone famous which is cool, with you being a rock star and all. Good timing by the way if only you'd come a day late you would've missed me completely." Gaia paused and drew in breath. "So, you got a secret stash of booze or what?"
Billie Joe gaped as she swaggered over to his bed and plopped herself down. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"Then what the hell do you want the booze for?"
"I wonna see what it's like to be well and truly pissed." Gaia frowned. "What, don't you have any tucked away in your closet or something?"
"Why would I have a secret stash of booze?"
"Coz you're a rock star. Rock stars tend to like alcohol. Lots of it. A lot."
"No shit." Billie Joe rolled his eyes. "I'm 33. I don't need a secret stash of booze anymore, all right?"
"Oh, okey dokey."
For a moment, he stood opposite the bed, glaring at her. She sat calmly smiling back.
"What?"
"Your fly's undone."
He looked down. Oh fuck, it was. With a red face he hurriedly yanked it up, feeling like a complete dick in front of the goddamn fifteen year old. When he determinedly looked up again she was still at it with that maddening smile.
"Look, if you don't mind, I was kinda in the middle of something. So... "
Gaia shrugged, smiling. "Nope. Don't mind."
Sighing, he went back to cleaning up the mess that was his room. Now with this infuriating chick just placidly sitting on his bed watching him, he felt embarrassed his room resembled that of a teenager. Why the hell won't she go away? She'd made no indication that she was a fan, she hadn't swooned over him (thank god), hadn't begged for an autograph, or smothered him with incessant babble about the band or... anything.
But she did demand booze.
"It's funny, I can almost see the wheels turning in you head."
He straightened up to snap with a comeback he didn't quite have, so instead he asked, "What's with the accent?"
"I'm from New Zealand, dipshit. A place you guys really need to play at more. Coz when you do once every goddamn lifetime all the Green Day freaks just go crazy. And it's not fun in the moshpit when you're so fucking tiny compared to the rest of the crowd and you're always having to yank the hair of the bitch in front of you coz it keeps getting into your mouth."
Billie Joe smirked and turned to study her properly for the first time. She was petite, slightly taller than average for her age. Her hair was a waterfall of sizzling red curls, framing high cheekbones, determinedly arched eyebrows and a pair of sapphire eyes. She was dressed in scuffed shoes, excessively baggy cargo pants and a fitted... halter incorporated into a low cut long sleeve top, best he could tell (god, the shit girls wore these days) displaying the words 'Will Trade Boyfriend for Chocolate'.
"Ahem."
"Yeah."
"I'm bored."
"So?"
She sighed and slumped back completely on his bed like it was her own. "I'm bored shitless. I'm bored with everyone and everything. I'm SICK of everyone and everything. The most exciting thing that's happened to me is... well, nearly getting mugged."
"What?!"
"Well, not the getting mugged part." Gaia frowned at the ceiling. "Asshole thought he could take me, so I knocked him flat on his ass. Now THAT was fun."
"You took on your mugger," Billie Joe said disbelievingly.
"I'm sure I permanently maimed his balls, yeah."
He stared at her doubtfully, but she never met his eyes. "You sure it wasn't some kid your age from school pulling a prank," he muttered.
"It musta been some prank then. Complete with fake toy gun, too."
"Shit." He paled. "The bastard pointed a gun at you?"
"Yeah, and when he was out cold I took it to the cops. They were a bit wary, but who wouldn't be, and they never found any of my fingerprints on it anyway, coz I was holding it with my sleeve, and they printed me and checked for GSR too."
"What?"
"Gunshot residue. Know your CSI terms, mate."
"What'd you do, karate chop his ass?"
"Close. Jujitsu."
This girl was making his head spin. He didn't know whether or not she was even capable of doing what she claimed she did, but by the looks of things so far she was not the lest bit shy to do or say what she wants. And she didn't tolerate any bullshit, either.
"Well, uh, most people would find coming to the States exciting. Look, I gotta change, could you go?"
"What's cool about the States? You got a loser for governor here in Cali, an even bigger loser for president, and a whole population of losers who voted them into power."
She had a good point. Billie Joe picked up a clean pair of pants. "Gotta change."
"And sure, you got Disneyland, but then so does France and Japan, and what weirdo would want to go there anyway? Vermont is nice, I heard, but it's not EXCITING like I'll jump up and down and get a huge adrenaline rush visiting... "
"Hey! Girl! Shut up and get out!"
"The name's Gaia. Don't wear it out but still, you gotta remember it."
"ALL RIGHT! Can I change now?"
Gaia sat up and winked at him flirtatiously. "Why, I'm sure you're a god. Can't I watch?"
Billie Joe stood clutching his pants, then flung them away and stepped forward to scoop her up.
"HEY! PUT ME DOWN YOU SICK FUCK! LET GO!"
She squirmed like crazy and punched him in the shoulder, but Billie Joe held her tightly and hauled her to the door, outside which he dumped her unceremoniously and slammed it in her face.
"Open up you insensitive jackass! I'm not done pouring my heart out to you about my screwy life yet!" She pounded the door and kicked it once, just to piss him off some, then sat cross legged against it and pulled her harmonica out of her pocket.
"Gaia, honey."
"Yeah, mom."
"Shut up."
Gaia smirked and deliberately placed her mucky, disgusting, worn out sneakers up next to the headrest of the passenger seat next to her mother. "It's a good song, mom."
"Be sure to tell Ollie to tell Billie Joe then. Still, there's no need to sing it at the top of your lungs."
"Ok, mom."
Jill flashed her daughter a suspicious look via the rear view mirror. The girl barely behaved, and pissing people off no end was mainly how she got her kicks. The way she sat back now, silently smug, with her dirty shoes up on the leather of the classy Porsche and the nonchalant way she gave her that 'ok, mom' was a sure sign there was hell to come.
Gaia had always been so irrepressible and damn near fearless, traits which unfortunately went hand in hand with her intense love and expert skills of torment. Jill lightly applied the brakes and slowed as she watched the mailboxes for the right number. Maybe she'll get lucky and Ollie (for reasons too unimportant just now) will have a candy store's stash of chocolate and Gaia will settle down to the important business of pigging out, hence silencing any... oh wait, she might have a sugar high instead.
They pulled up into a driveway and parked behind a black BMW, with Gaia uncharacteristically humming the Black Eyed Peas quietly to herself. Once again mother suspiciously eyed daughter as they made their way towards the front door from the car.
"You are going to behave yourself, aren't you?" Jill asked. Gaia smiled, and it was almost scary the way she could seem so innocent yet devilish at the same time. When Jill didn't knock, Gaia reached around and did it for her.
There was a frantic scramble of footsteps towards the door, and the moment it swung open it was pandemonium. The woman in the doorway barely had eyes as they had been swallowed up by the enormous smile on her face, and her arms were wide open, ditto her mothers'. Into each other's they went. High pitched oohing and aahing followed, along with "I missed you" and "how have you been?" and "you've changed so much!" Rolling her eyes Gaia quickly followed them into the house. No way was she going to be seen by even a stranger on the street with two bordering hysterical women.
Her mother and Ollie were almost gasping for breath as they joyously gabbed away madly like two school girlfriends. They instinctively moved toward the living room, but Gaia was hesitant to follow. She was bored already.
"Oh, I brought my daughter along - hope you don't mind... " Jill finally turned back to her. "This is Gaia." And nudged her.
"Hi Mrs. Armstrong," she said on purpose. But with her cute smile. "It's nice to meet you."
"Oh, I'm not Mrs. Armstrong anymore. Just Ollie." And she smiled back.
As they headed for the couch Jill gave her a look that clearly said she was confused about the Mrs. Armstrong thing. She and Ollie seated themselves and prepared for more catching up. Gaia, meanwhile, had other plans.
"I, uh, I'm just gonna go check out the backyard."
"It's weedy," Ollie said with a laugh. Jill sent her a mild warning stare. She just shrugged and left them to it.
Gaia was curious to see Billie Joe's room, if it hadn't been converted to a guest room or storage space or something. She found the stairs and climbed them, emerging at the top at the beginning of a corridor. She counted four bedroom doorways, one with the door shut, and a bathroom and toilet at the very end.
Of course, she marched right up to the closed door and banged on it.
"What... " came a mildly irritated voice. The door opened and there stood Billie Joe, t-shirt crumpled, dark hair disheveled, annoyed green eyes pinning her down.
"Uh, hi," she said, taken aback. Damn, the black BMW was his! Duh, if only she'd been quick enough to deduce that earlier, she wouldn't be so caught off her guard now. Oh well, didn't matter. This is gonna be fun.
"I'm Gaia," she said, and stuck out her hand. When Billie Joe was a bit slow to extend his, she grabbed it and shook enthusiastically. Then she pushed past him into his room, which was a clothe-strewn mess, open suitcases yet to be unpacked, unsightly underwear that she was sure not supposed to see. She smirked. His visit to mommy's house was about to take a turn for the worst.
Billie Joe was a bit stunned at her boldness, but was fast getting over it. Still, as his mouth opened, probably to shoo her out, she grinned and ploughed on.
"Our freakish moms met when my mom went to L.A. with my dad on vacation and was shopping and apparently they hit off quite well and she said they had coffee and shit and did all sorts of hanging out and got to know each other a bit too well in the span of about four days and found they had lots in common which is probably why a year later she comes back here and has the indecency to bring me along but that's all right coz I'm meeting you here, now, and it's the first time I've met anyone famous which is cool, with you being a rock star and all. Good timing by the way if only you'd come a day late you would've missed me completely." Gaia paused and drew in breath. "So, you got a secret stash of booze or what?"
Billie Joe gaped as she swaggered over to his bed and plopped herself down. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"Then what the hell do you want the booze for?"
"I wonna see what it's like to be well and truly pissed." Gaia frowned. "What, don't you have any tucked away in your closet or something?"
"Why would I have a secret stash of booze?"
"Coz you're a rock star. Rock stars tend to like alcohol. Lots of it. A lot."
"No shit." Billie Joe rolled his eyes. "I'm 33. I don't need a secret stash of booze anymore, all right?"
"Oh, okey dokey."
For a moment, he stood opposite the bed, glaring at her. She sat calmly smiling back.
"What?"
"Your fly's undone."
He looked down. Oh fuck, it was. With a red face he hurriedly yanked it up, feeling like a complete dick in front of the goddamn fifteen year old. When he determinedly looked up again she was still at it with that maddening smile.
"Look, if you don't mind, I was kinda in the middle of something. So... "
Gaia shrugged, smiling. "Nope. Don't mind."
Sighing, he went back to cleaning up the mess that was his room. Now with this infuriating chick just placidly sitting on his bed watching him, he felt embarrassed his room resembled that of a teenager. Why the hell won't she go away? She'd made no indication that she was a fan, she hadn't swooned over him (thank god), hadn't begged for an autograph, or smothered him with incessant babble about the band or... anything.
But she did demand booze.
"It's funny, I can almost see the wheels turning in you head."
He straightened up to snap with a comeback he didn't quite have, so instead he asked, "What's with the accent?"
"I'm from New Zealand, dipshit. A place you guys really need to play at more. Coz when you do once every goddamn lifetime all the Green Day freaks just go crazy. And it's not fun in the moshpit when you're so fucking tiny compared to the rest of the crowd and you're always having to yank the hair of the bitch in front of you coz it keeps getting into your mouth."
Billie Joe smirked and turned to study her properly for the first time. She was petite, slightly taller than average for her age. Her hair was a waterfall of sizzling red curls, framing high cheekbones, determinedly arched eyebrows and a pair of sapphire eyes. She was dressed in scuffed shoes, excessively baggy cargo pants and a fitted... halter incorporated into a low cut long sleeve top, best he could tell (god, the shit girls wore these days) displaying the words 'Will Trade Boyfriend for Chocolate'.
"Ahem."
"Yeah."
"I'm bored."
"So?"
She sighed and slumped back completely on his bed like it was her own. "I'm bored shitless. I'm bored with everyone and everything. I'm SICK of everyone and everything. The most exciting thing that's happened to me is... well, nearly getting mugged."
"What?!"
"Well, not the getting mugged part." Gaia frowned at the ceiling. "Asshole thought he could take me, so I knocked him flat on his ass. Now THAT was fun."
"You took on your mugger," Billie Joe said disbelievingly.
"I'm sure I permanently maimed his balls, yeah."
He stared at her doubtfully, but she never met his eyes. "You sure it wasn't some kid your age from school pulling a prank," he muttered.
"It musta been some prank then. Complete with fake toy gun, too."
"Shit." He paled. "The bastard pointed a gun at you?"
"Yeah, and when he was out cold I took it to the cops. They were a bit wary, but who wouldn't be, and they never found any of my fingerprints on it anyway, coz I was holding it with my sleeve, and they printed me and checked for GSR too."
"What?"
"Gunshot residue. Know your CSI terms, mate."
"What'd you do, karate chop his ass?"
"Close. Jujitsu."
This girl was making his head spin. He didn't know whether or not she was even capable of doing what she claimed she did, but by the looks of things so far she was not the lest bit shy to do or say what she wants. And she didn't tolerate any bullshit, either.
"Well, uh, most people would find coming to the States exciting. Look, I gotta change, could you go?"
"What's cool about the States? You got a loser for governor here in Cali, an even bigger loser for president, and a whole population of losers who voted them into power."
She had a good point. Billie Joe picked up a clean pair of pants. "Gotta change."
"And sure, you got Disneyland, but then so does France and Japan, and what weirdo would want to go there anyway? Vermont is nice, I heard, but it's not EXCITING like I'll jump up and down and get a huge adrenaline rush visiting... "
"Hey! Girl! Shut up and get out!"
"The name's Gaia. Don't wear it out but still, you gotta remember it."
"ALL RIGHT! Can I change now?"
Gaia sat up and winked at him flirtatiously. "Why, I'm sure you're a god. Can't I watch?"
Billie Joe stood clutching his pants, then flung them away and stepped forward to scoop her up.
"HEY! PUT ME DOWN YOU SICK FUCK! LET GO!"
She squirmed like crazy and punched him in the shoulder, but Billie Joe held her tightly and hauled her to the door, outside which he dumped her unceremoniously and slammed it in her face.
"Open up you insensitive jackass! I'm not done pouring my heart out to you about my screwy life yet!" She pounded the door and kicked it once, just to piss him off some, then sat cross legged against it and pulled her harmonica out of her pocket.
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