Age Is Only A Number!, chapter 13
It was a funny day to Katie; work called her and told her she could do her work from the Armstrong's house. Billie Joe was out with Adrienne, Joey and Jakob were left to Katie's care, few people called the house and most of all she had no disturbances from Joey nor Jakob that often. It was weird to Katie yet good. She ordered some Chinese food for lunch and let Joey have some; Jakob had the breast milk that Adrienne left in a baby's bottle.
Katie and Joey were eating some noodles when the phone started ringing. Katie put down her box of food and went up to the phone and picked it up and said "Armstrong residence, who is this"
"Katie is that you" Tre replied, he had no utter clue Katie was at Billie Joe's house, he just thought she was at a hotel. She then said "Hey Tre, I'm staying at Billie's for a while."
"Cool, erm well could you tell Billie that I need to talk to him" Tre told Katie, he felt a weird feeling like he didn't want to hang up on Katie, he didn't know what it was but knew that just hearing Katie's voice would make him feel better. "Sure, how have you been doing, I heard about you and Lisea" Katie said, there it was her voice it just made Tre feel so alive. He couldn't speak and Katie was wondering what was happening until she heard Tre's voice say "Ye I've been surviving though, its official next month." Joey came running into the kitchen tugging on Katie's arm and whining "Katie come in I'm bored come in pleaaaase." Tre heard Joey's voice and figured that she was stuck babysitting and said "Well I can't keep you from Joey so bye." Katie didn't want him to go but he had to and replied "Bye." Katie put down the phone and went inside with Joey, the boy was strong tugging her in and he then plopped down on the sofa and carried on eating his noodles, Katie had finished hers and she reached out and saw two fortune cookies and gave one to Joey "Crack this open, it gives you a fortune." Joey took the cookie and cracked it open and read out the fortune "Someone will come into your life and woo you" Katie grabbed the piece of paper off him and said "That's for when your older, much older." She then cracked open hers and read it "Someone you didn't think of is thinking of you" then saying "Interesting" and putting the pieces of paper down.
Katie went onto working Joey was beside her colouring in and drawing. She was picking which pictures to use, she looked at the timing of the pictures, the really bad ones were when the guys found out it was Katie doing the photos. She hated when they found out, she looked at a photo of Tre alone, he had his hands together and his body was leaning away, his eyebrows were raised and it was in black and white. She always loved black and white it just had a classic beauty about it. She carried on flicking through the pictures and the door opened and it was Billie Joe and Adrienne holding hands and laughing, Katie felt a pang of jealousy that while they were happily married Katie didn't have a boyfriend of any kind. She put down her laptop and went inside to see the couple giggling incessantly; they stopped and saw Katie there. "So what have you been up to today?" Billie Joe asked
"Nothing, Adrienne your mother called and Billie Tre called" Katie told Billie Joe, Billie Joe saw that Katie had been doing bugga all and he realised that Mike and Tre were coming over in the evening to sort out some band issues and practice, he then suggested to Katie "Look me and the guys are doing some practice wanna join us tonight." Katie lit up and said "Sure I'll join you."
After dinner Joey went to sleep and Jakob was far from awake, the doorbell rang and Adrienne got it, it was Tre and Mike. Adrienne pointed them to the direction of where Billie Joe was. Katie was sitting on an amp and Billie Joe had his guitar on him playing without the amp. Mike and Tre went in and they saw Katie on the amp. Katie waved at them and they waved feebly back, they plugged there instruments into various amps and started playing some songs. Katie just watched them and fiddled around with some of the amps and instruments. Tre looked at Katie, that feeling came back to him, his heart skipped a beat, just looking at her smile made butterfly run a loose in his stomach, and worst of all his hand-eye co-ordination went amok. When it did Mike and Billie Joe stopped and looked at Tre in an evil way and he said "Sorry my minds elsewhere." Katie wondered what was up with Tre but just let it go. There practice was over and Mike had to leave because Estelle was sick. Billie Joe left the room to attend to Joey who needed help. It just left Tre and Katie in the room. "So how are things at home doing?" Katie asked. Tre looked at Katie and only just noticed it was him and her in the room alone. "Not bad, Ramona getting bigger every day and more intelligent" Tre answered, Katie came off the amp and walked over to Tre, every step looked like she was walking on clouds to Tre. Katie then said "Cool, sorry about yesterday and fooling you twice, it's just I want to be treated like the adult I am, after I told you it was me the pictures started getting worse and worse."
"Sorry, also sorry about making that joke when your boss called you rookie" Tre told Katie, she felt better that Tre said sorry. Tre didn't know what to do; he was in love with Katie but didn't want to admit it. "So did you enjoy practice?" Tre asked, Katie stepped closer and said "Ye it was great, I loved that song you did all by myself it was hilarious." Katie smiled and so did Tre, it was always fun when he sung that song. They laughed a little and suddenly got closer together as they emerged into a kiss, it felt like heaven to Tre, he figured out what was the feeling. He was in love. They separated but neither person wanted to, they looked at the time, it was 10.30. Neither realised the time, the practice was for 3 hours and they had been talking for around 10 minutes. Billie Joe and Adrienne were asleep and so were the boys.
They locked into another kiss, they started moving occasionally bumping into the walls, Katie started opening the door but had trouble, they kept on kissing, breathing hard every moment the could. They got in and fell on the floor, Katie started unbuttoning Tre's shirt and Tre took off Katie's top. Tre stopped for a second remembering what happened last time and panted out "Are you sure about this?"
"I'm not a virgin anymore trust me" Katie told Tre, it made Tre feel so much better. They got off the floor and went into the bed she was staying in. They finally got the barrier of clothes off and to put it lightly they fucked like bunnies. They were done and both were amazed by the other, they laid there looking at the ceiling. Katie looked at the clock and saw that Tre had to go and she then said "You have to go" and grabbed her top and put it on. Tre got his underwear on and pants and gestured to the shirt and said "You keep the shirt; it'll remind you of me." Katie then thought 'Why is he so charming?' and picked it up and said "What will you wear?" Tre then thought about it, something he always knew about Katie was that she loved boys clothing and they always fitted him. He then replied "Well I could take one of your tops that's a mans top" Katie thought about it and every top she bought was from the market and was usually a top that Mike or Billie Joe would recognise as hers and said "Look take your shirt, the guys would recognise we had each others tops." He took his top and put it on; Katie changed into her pyjamas and sneaked Tre out the door. His final words to her were "I bid you goodbye, I hoped you enjoyed this fine evening of fine music, thou is more beautiful then the summers eve of which I met you" knowing her love for the Shakespearean language since high school.
Katie woke up the next morning early and started packing to go back to the Big Apple, she avoided waking the family up. She wore what her friends described as her 'granny's' jumper, it was from the '70s but she loved it too much, her hair was all over her face and made her look like a boy and she had her baggy jeans on. She wheeled out her bag and saw that Adrienne was awake and was cradling Jakob. Katie didn't have much time on her hands but she had a bit to spare for the older woman. She went up to Adrienne and said "Hey." Adrienne looked up at Katie and raised her eyebrow, Katie didn't know if Adrienne heard last night but her nerves went down when Adrienne asked "Where are you going?"
"Home" Katie answered, Adrienne understood and let Katie go, Billie Joe then came in frazzled with a jumpy Joey in his arms. Katie thought of a nice picture and got out her old ordinary camera and took a picture of the happy family. Katie had something planned for it but she wouldn't tell. She left the Armstrong residence and went to the airport, she got on the plane and put her CD player on and started Led Zeppelin I-IV. She didn't have any surprises of people she knew, this time she sat next to a guy who was her age but was a jobs worth and loved his boss and was his bosses slave practically. The plane landed and she got off and she found Aaron and Abi there with an A4 sheet of paper and saying 'Welcome Home Loser' she went up to them and hugged them. They drove home and listened to Guns'n'Roses Welcome to the jungle on repeat and singing along loudly. It was on for the fifth time and they were singing along and Katie sung very loudly "Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here everyday, you learn too live like an animal, in the jungle where we play." Aaron was driving while Abi and Katie were head-banging, but while Abi had long hair Katie didn't have much to work with. Then Aaron asked "So fuck anybody, please say you fucked somebody." Katie didn't want to tell both of her best friends she was Tre's mistress for a night and lied wistfully "I don't fuck and tell." They had a game that whenever they had to go somewhere for work may it be in America or even Iceland they had to have a one-night stand.
They got home and found that the apartment was actually much neater without Katie for a couple of days. She sat down with her usual Ben and Jerry's Phish Food; she loved the stuff and usually had it after either something really good or after something really bad. Abi wondered which one it was. She knelt down beside her best friend and asked "So I'm having a guess this is to do with your one night stand." Katie faced her best friend, she couldn't lie to her and said "I on't 'ow 'y I 'id 'it" with a full mouth of chocolate ice-cream, this was just standard procedure to Abi vice-versa for Katie when it was Abi with the tub and she said "Swallow, tell me what happened?" Katie swallowed the lump of ice cream, she faced Abi and couldn't lie to her and admitted the truth and said "Look don't tell Aaron, but I did Tre, the shoot was for Green Day and I stayed at Billie's and he was there and it was just the moment." Now this wasn't standard procedure, Abi didn't know what to say, she had no clue this would ever happen. "I won't tell Aaron, but still, wow I can't believe it, my best friend mistress of Tre Cool now that's a claim to fame" Abi joked, it made Katie feel better that her friend made the joke. She put the ice-cream down and started telling her best friend all the juicy details on what happened.
New Years came and went and Katie was still boy-friendless while Abi and Aaron were happy with there boyfriends and girlfriends. It was nearly the end of January when Katie finally got the pay-raise she so rightly deserved, Abi was now seriously dating a guy called Dave, and Aaron was dating a girl called Hannah who was as described by Abi and Katie an absolute air-head but they didn't say anything in Aaron's best interests. Tre on the other hand was somewhat a wreck, Lisea and him were officially divorced and she was now living in New York along with Ramona. Billie Joe and Mike couldn't get him out of his slump, they tried everything but it just didn't help, Tre just was depressed and he thought nothing would help.
At least he thought.
Now Aaron, Katie and Abi weren't the ones to visit on the spot but they decided it was needed. They got on the plane and went to Berkeley, Katie arrived home and saw the family in the living room, it was her mum, dad, her little brother Harry and her little sister Annie and they were watching a documentary together about the government. She looked in and said "Hey guys, I'm back for a week." They all noticed her and waved at her, Harry and Annie got up from sitting on the floor and hugged Katie. Harry was now 16 and had longer hair than Katie and Annie was now 17 and had so many boyfriends Katie could never catch up to which one she was dating. She went upstairs and unpacked her stuff in her room. Nothing changed in her room; all the same posters were there, same colour walls, even the same books. She looked at her posters and thought to herself how much had changed since she was 18 musically, Smashing Pumpkins weren't as popular, people weren't getting over that Kurt Cobain was dead, Guns'n'Roses were definitely broken up and Axl Rose was on the brink of sanity, and finally Boyz II Men had broken up. Annie came upstairs and peaked her head through the door and saw Katie looking round her room. Katie turned around and saw Annie there and said "How long have you been there?"
"Not long" Annie replied, she came into the room and looked around and said "I can't believe in 5 years music changed so much, my room has totally different posters." Katie had to agree with her and remarked "You eighties born kids don't know a thing, we seventies born kids have better sense of music." They both laughed a little and they both sat on the bed and laid there and looked up at the ceiling, they were so much like each other it scared them. Annie then asked "Katie, why did you move all the way to New York?" They had been through this at Thanksgiving '98 and it was now only January of '99. Katie stayed silent for a moment and Annie said "Don't give me that reason that you wanted out of Berkeley, we all know that you love it over here."
"I did want out though, all my life I had been living here and any holiday we had was in California, New York always seemed like a dream, I love Berkeley with all my heart and no matter what I always be a Cali' girl but other than that I have a life in New York and I'm not leaving it... well until I have the money to I'm not leaving" Katie explained. It was good enough for Annie.
Morning came and Katie woke up early, she got changed into a pale blue t-shirt that showed her midriff and some tight jeans and her hair was in a Mohawk. She went down for breakfast and saw her brother and sister getting ready for school, she had a look at there textbooks and saw that Harry had extra-calculus textbook and Annie had science textbooks beyond what Katie ever had. She couldn't believe it her brother and sister was smarter than her and Jake ever was, while she was a photographer and Jake was in the business side of things, Harry and Annie were doing extra-curricular sciences and maths. Harry came in and took the text book away from her and put it into his bag. She wanted to see her old high school again and suggested "Hey Harry, why don't I take you to school, I've always wanted to see how it's been doing since I've gone." Harry saw no objections and said "Sure, I can introduce you to my friends." Katie grabbed her mum's car keys and Harry and Annie went into there mum's car. Katie put on the radio and they listened to whatever was on. They got to there school and Harry and Annie got out and so did Katie, she locked the car and made sure Annie and Harry weren't going to do any bad things. She met Annie's friends and they all thought she was the coolest person ever; they even loved the short hair. They went to there lockers and Katie then went up to Harry and his friends; they were all staring at her like she was a goddess, and it flattered her a bit. She went up to Harry and he said "Oh ye this is my sister Katie, Katie this is the guys" Katie said "Hi" and shook there hands. Harry didn't understand why they were staring weirdly but didn't really care. Katie waved goodbye to Harry and went back to the car and drove off back home. "Dude, why didn't you tell us your sister was hot" Harry's friend Daniel asked. "That's my sister you're talking about; she's 6 years older than us" Harry replied punching his best friend on the arm.
Katie was home alone and just watched T.V. it felt good to be back home. She got up and went into her room, she looked outside her window and saw Tre walking around, she didn't know why he was but she decided to greet him. She ran downstairs and went outside and went up to Tre and tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hey Tre, I'm here for the week." Tre turned round and saw Katie. How he wanted her so much, he then replied "Hey Katie." Tre looked up and down at Katie and she just looked so naturally beautiful, she then asked "So what are you doing down my street?"
"I'm on my way to the music shop, I'm hanging with the owner for a day" Tre answered, Katie saw that something was wrong; he just had that glazed look in his eyes. She asked him "What's wrong, you seem down?"
"It's nothing; just I've been feeling down since I divorced Lisea; it's now official I'm a divorcee" Tre answered, Katie saw how upset Tre was about the divorce. No-one wants to be known as a divorcee, sure it was more popular now then when they were kids but it was still embarrassing. "You shouldn't feel down about it, it didn't work out and you made the right decision, it's another stepping stone to finding your true love" Katie explained. It always intrigued Tre how young Katie was but how much she knew about life and love. "Hey wanna instead hang out at my place, I'm all home alone" Katie suggested, Tre nodded and she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her house.
They weren't far from her house; Katie opened the door and led him in. Tre looked around and saw that it was an All-American house; it had an American flag in the corner, it had a 'God Bless America' sewn above there mantelpiece and most of all it had your All-American Sweetheart right next to him. Katie then tugged him up to her room; Tre looked around and thought her room would be the same as the downstairs. He went into the room and saw it wasn't like the other rooms, it had posters all around the walls hiding the lilac walls behind them, the desk was covered in various CD's and also various pictures and photos, the bookshelf was covered all in murder mystery books, adventures and classics, the edging of the room was in twinkle lights in blue and white. Tre loved it; it had every aspect of Katie, her art, her knowledge, and most of all her girly side. "So what do you think?" Katie asked seeing Tre's face, Katie then sat down on her bed while Tre looked around and answered "It's great, I love the twinkle lights." Tre sat down next to Katie and she put her head on Tre's shoulder and said "The idea of the twinkle lights came from Christmas when Jake asked why we didn't use twinkle lights any other time but Christmas so I bought some that weren't green and red and put them around the edging of the ceiling." Katie faced Tre and they locked into a heavy kiss, Katie fell down and Tre fell with her, in breath breaks Katie unbuttoned Tre's shirt and Tre took off Katie's top. In breaths Tre said "I want you so bad" Tre was kissing down Katie's neck and she said "Same" and they got a condom for safety
Afterwards they sat in bed and looked up at the ceiling, they didn't expect this to happen, especially for the second time but it did. They laid there and looked at the twinkle lights go on and off, Katie rested her head on Tre's shoulder and Tre put his arm around her shoulder. Katie then said "Do you ever wonder what would happen if I never got the scholarship?" Katie looked at Tre and he stayed silent for a moment and looked back at the ceiling and answered "I don't know, maybe you would have gone to a university out of California and it would've been quite cheap." Katie looked at the ceiling and shrugged her shoulders; she looked at the time and saw she had to pick up Harry and Annie. She quickly got dressed and threw Tre his clothes, got his underpants and pants on and asked Katie "What's happening?" Katie quickly spiked her hair back up and checked herself in the mirror and saw she was okay. "I'm picking up Harry and Annie, my little brother and sister and I don't wanna have that 'just fucked' look" Katie answered, she went downstairs and grabbed the car keys, Tre followed her and asked "Why don't I come with?" Katie put her jacket on and looked at Tre, he was being serious, she just shook her head and replied "Too many teenagers would haggle you, why don't you go back home." Katie went outside and went into the car. Tre started walking back to his house and said to her "Till we meet again milady" Katie smiled and drove off.
She got to the high school and saw Annie and Harry standing there; she got out the car and met up with them. They threw there bags in the boot and went into the car. Katie drove off, they were just driving when suddenly a coke hit the window and they heard a shout saying "Go away stupid grunge asshole; get away from Berkeley you don't belong." She saw that the boys shouting were from across the street, they resembled someone she knew but didn't know who. "Harry are they bullying you?" Katie asked, Harry couldn't lie to his sister and said "Ye so what?" Katie pulled over and went out the car, Harry and Annie followed her. Katie went up to the four kids and said "Are you bullying my little brother?" The three kids were the same height as Katie but bulkier and the oldest said "Ye, what are you going to do about it?"
"Well I used to go to this high school, I know the guard Tomer very well, and he can make your lives living hell for the rest of high school" Katie told them, they looked only a bit scared. One of the other guys then said "So what are you doing this Saturday sweet thang?" Katie's rage got the better of her, she hated people who did that, acted like women were there property, and her fist went into his face and said "I'm going back to New York bitch." Annie and Harry couldn't believe it, Katie went back into the car and told Harry "I don't think there gonna bother you from now on." Harry and Annie went back into the car and they drove back home.
Katie went back to New York after the week with Aaron whose dysfunctional family made him slightly depressed and Abi got along with her family but found that her little sister hated her for moving. They got back to New York and were glad for it, it seemed to Katie she had the best time but she did regret seeing Tre. They went back to the apartment and found a letter there. Aaron picked it up and saw the handwriting and asked Katie "Why has Tre sent you a letter?" Katie and Abi suspected what it was about but Aaron was oblivious and saw there faces and asked "Katie why is this letter to you?"
Katie and Joey were eating some noodles when the phone started ringing. Katie put down her box of food and went up to the phone and picked it up and said "Armstrong residence, who is this"
"Katie is that you" Tre replied, he had no utter clue Katie was at Billie Joe's house, he just thought she was at a hotel. She then said "Hey Tre, I'm staying at Billie's for a while."
"Cool, erm well could you tell Billie that I need to talk to him" Tre told Katie, he felt a weird feeling like he didn't want to hang up on Katie, he didn't know what it was but knew that just hearing Katie's voice would make him feel better. "Sure, how have you been doing, I heard about you and Lisea" Katie said, there it was her voice it just made Tre feel so alive. He couldn't speak and Katie was wondering what was happening until she heard Tre's voice say "Ye I've been surviving though, its official next month." Joey came running into the kitchen tugging on Katie's arm and whining "Katie come in I'm bored come in pleaaaase." Tre heard Joey's voice and figured that she was stuck babysitting and said "Well I can't keep you from Joey so bye." Katie didn't want him to go but he had to and replied "Bye." Katie put down the phone and went inside with Joey, the boy was strong tugging her in and he then plopped down on the sofa and carried on eating his noodles, Katie had finished hers and she reached out and saw two fortune cookies and gave one to Joey "Crack this open, it gives you a fortune." Joey took the cookie and cracked it open and read out the fortune "Someone will come into your life and woo you" Katie grabbed the piece of paper off him and said "That's for when your older, much older." She then cracked open hers and read it "Someone you didn't think of is thinking of you" then saying "Interesting" and putting the pieces of paper down.
Katie went onto working Joey was beside her colouring in and drawing. She was picking which pictures to use, she looked at the timing of the pictures, the really bad ones were when the guys found out it was Katie doing the photos. She hated when they found out, she looked at a photo of Tre alone, he had his hands together and his body was leaning away, his eyebrows were raised and it was in black and white. She always loved black and white it just had a classic beauty about it. She carried on flicking through the pictures and the door opened and it was Billie Joe and Adrienne holding hands and laughing, Katie felt a pang of jealousy that while they were happily married Katie didn't have a boyfriend of any kind. She put down her laptop and went inside to see the couple giggling incessantly; they stopped and saw Katie there. "So what have you been up to today?" Billie Joe asked
"Nothing, Adrienne your mother called and Billie Tre called" Katie told Billie Joe, Billie Joe saw that Katie had been doing bugga all and he realised that Mike and Tre were coming over in the evening to sort out some band issues and practice, he then suggested to Katie "Look me and the guys are doing some practice wanna join us tonight." Katie lit up and said "Sure I'll join you."
After dinner Joey went to sleep and Jakob was far from awake, the doorbell rang and Adrienne got it, it was Tre and Mike. Adrienne pointed them to the direction of where Billie Joe was. Katie was sitting on an amp and Billie Joe had his guitar on him playing without the amp. Mike and Tre went in and they saw Katie on the amp. Katie waved at them and they waved feebly back, they plugged there instruments into various amps and started playing some songs. Katie just watched them and fiddled around with some of the amps and instruments. Tre looked at Katie, that feeling came back to him, his heart skipped a beat, just looking at her smile made butterfly run a loose in his stomach, and worst of all his hand-eye co-ordination went amok. When it did Mike and Billie Joe stopped and looked at Tre in an evil way and he said "Sorry my minds elsewhere." Katie wondered what was up with Tre but just let it go. There practice was over and Mike had to leave because Estelle was sick. Billie Joe left the room to attend to Joey who needed help. It just left Tre and Katie in the room. "So how are things at home doing?" Katie asked. Tre looked at Katie and only just noticed it was him and her in the room alone. "Not bad, Ramona getting bigger every day and more intelligent" Tre answered, Katie came off the amp and walked over to Tre, every step looked like she was walking on clouds to Tre. Katie then said "Cool, sorry about yesterday and fooling you twice, it's just I want to be treated like the adult I am, after I told you it was me the pictures started getting worse and worse."
"Sorry, also sorry about making that joke when your boss called you rookie" Tre told Katie, she felt better that Tre said sorry. Tre didn't know what to do; he was in love with Katie but didn't want to admit it. "So did you enjoy practice?" Tre asked, Katie stepped closer and said "Ye it was great, I loved that song you did all by myself it was hilarious." Katie smiled and so did Tre, it was always fun when he sung that song. They laughed a little and suddenly got closer together as they emerged into a kiss, it felt like heaven to Tre, he figured out what was the feeling. He was in love. They separated but neither person wanted to, they looked at the time, it was 10.30. Neither realised the time, the practice was for 3 hours and they had been talking for around 10 minutes. Billie Joe and Adrienne were asleep and so were the boys.
They locked into another kiss, they started moving occasionally bumping into the walls, Katie started opening the door but had trouble, they kept on kissing, breathing hard every moment the could. They got in and fell on the floor, Katie started unbuttoning Tre's shirt and Tre took off Katie's top. Tre stopped for a second remembering what happened last time and panted out "Are you sure about this?"
"I'm not a virgin anymore trust me" Katie told Tre, it made Tre feel so much better. They got off the floor and went into the bed she was staying in. They finally got the barrier of clothes off and to put it lightly they fucked like bunnies. They were done and both were amazed by the other, they laid there looking at the ceiling. Katie looked at the clock and saw that Tre had to go and she then said "You have to go" and grabbed her top and put it on. Tre got his underwear on and pants and gestured to the shirt and said "You keep the shirt; it'll remind you of me." Katie then thought 'Why is he so charming?' and picked it up and said "What will you wear?" Tre then thought about it, something he always knew about Katie was that she loved boys clothing and they always fitted him. He then replied "Well I could take one of your tops that's a mans top" Katie thought about it and every top she bought was from the market and was usually a top that Mike or Billie Joe would recognise as hers and said "Look take your shirt, the guys would recognise we had each others tops." He took his top and put it on; Katie changed into her pyjamas and sneaked Tre out the door. His final words to her were "I bid you goodbye, I hoped you enjoyed this fine evening of fine music, thou is more beautiful then the summers eve of which I met you" knowing her love for the Shakespearean language since high school.
Katie woke up the next morning early and started packing to go back to the Big Apple, she avoided waking the family up. She wore what her friends described as her 'granny's' jumper, it was from the '70s but she loved it too much, her hair was all over her face and made her look like a boy and she had her baggy jeans on. She wheeled out her bag and saw that Adrienne was awake and was cradling Jakob. Katie didn't have much time on her hands but she had a bit to spare for the older woman. She went up to Adrienne and said "Hey." Adrienne looked up at Katie and raised her eyebrow, Katie didn't know if Adrienne heard last night but her nerves went down when Adrienne asked "Where are you going?"
"Home" Katie answered, Adrienne understood and let Katie go, Billie Joe then came in frazzled with a jumpy Joey in his arms. Katie thought of a nice picture and got out her old ordinary camera and took a picture of the happy family. Katie had something planned for it but she wouldn't tell. She left the Armstrong residence and went to the airport, she got on the plane and put her CD player on and started Led Zeppelin I-IV. She didn't have any surprises of people she knew, this time she sat next to a guy who was her age but was a jobs worth and loved his boss and was his bosses slave practically. The plane landed and she got off and she found Aaron and Abi there with an A4 sheet of paper and saying 'Welcome Home Loser' she went up to them and hugged them. They drove home and listened to Guns'n'Roses Welcome to the jungle on repeat and singing along loudly. It was on for the fifth time and they were singing along and Katie sung very loudly "Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here everyday, you learn too live like an animal, in the jungle where we play." Aaron was driving while Abi and Katie were head-banging, but while Abi had long hair Katie didn't have much to work with. Then Aaron asked "So fuck anybody, please say you fucked somebody." Katie didn't want to tell both of her best friends she was Tre's mistress for a night and lied wistfully "I don't fuck and tell." They had a game that whenever they had to go somewhere for work may it be in America or even Iceland they had to have a one-night stand.
They got home and found that the apartment was actually much neater without Katie for a couple of days. She sat down with her usual Ben and Jerry's Phish Food; she loved the stuff and usually had it after either something really good or after something really bad. Abi wondered which one it was. She knelt down beside her best friend and asked "So I'm having a guess this is to do with your one night stand." Katie faced her best friend, she couldn't lie to her and said "I on't 'ow 'y I 'id 'it" with a full mouth of chocolate ice-cream, this was just standard procedure to Abi vice-versa for Katie when it was Abi with the tub and she said "Swallow, tell me what happened?" Katie swallowed the lump of ice cream, she faced Abi and couldn't lie to her and admitted the truth and said "Look don't tell Aaron, but I did Tre, the shoot was for Green Day and I stayed at Billie's and he was there and it was just the moment." Now this wasn't standard procedure, Abi didn't know what to say, she had no clue this would ever happen. "I won't tell Aaron, but still, wow I can't believe it, my best friend mistress of Tre Cool now that's a claim to fame" Abi joked, it made Katie feel better that her friend made the joke. She put the ice-cream down and started telling her best friend all the juicy details on what happened.
New Years came and went and Katie was still boy-friendless while Abi and Aaron were happy with there boyfriends and girlfriends. It was nearly the end of January when Katie finally got the pay-raise she so rightly deserved, Abi was now seriously dating a guy called Dave, and Aaron was dating a girl called Hannah who was as described by Abi and Katie an absolute air-head but they didn't say anything in Aaron's best interests. Tre on the other hand was somewhat a wreck, Lisea and him were officially divorced and she was now living in New York along with Ramona. Billie Joe and Mike couldn't get him out of his slump, they tried everything but it just didn't help, Tre just was depressed and he thought nothing would help.
At least he thought.
Now Aaron, Katie and Abi weren't the ones to visit on the spot but they decided it was needed. They got on the plane and went to Berkeley, Katie arrived home and saw the family in the living room, it was her mum, dad, her little brother Harry and her little sister Annie and they were watching a documentary together about the government. She looked in and said "Hey guys, I'm back for a week." They all noticed her and waved at her, Harry and Annie got up from sitting on the floor and hugged Katie. Harry was now 16 and had longer hair than Katie and Annie was now 17 and had so many boyfriends Katie could never catch up to which one she was dating. She went upstairs and unpacked her stuff in her room. Nothing changed in her room; all the same posters were there, same colour walls, even the same books. She looked at her posters and thought to herself how much had changed since she was 18 musically, Smashing Pumpkins weren't as popular, people weren't getting over that Kurt Cobain was dead, Guns'n'Roses were definitely broken up and Axl Rose was on the brink of sanity, and finally Boyz II Men had broken up. Annie came upstairs and peaked her head through the door and saw Katie looking round her room. Katie turned around and saw Annie there and said "How long have you been there?"
"Not long" Annie replied, she came into the room and looked around and said "I can't believe in 5 years music changed so much, my room has totally different posters." Katie had to agree with her and remarked "You eighties born kids don't know a thing, we seventies born kids have better sense of music." They both laughed a little and they both sat on the bed and laid there and looked up at the ceiling, they were so much like each other it scared them. Annie then asked "Katie, why did you move all the way to New York?" They had been through this at Thanksgiving '98 and it was now only January of '99. Katie stayed silent for a moment and Annie said "Don't give me that reason that you wanted out of Berkeley, we all know that you love it over here."
"I did want out though, all my life I had been living here and any holiday we had was in California, New York always seemed like a dream, I love Berkeley with all my heart and no matter what I always be a Cali' girl but other than that I have a life in New York and I'm not leaving it... well until I have the money to I'm not leaving" Katie explained. It was good enough for Annie.
Morning came and Katie woke up early, she got changed into a pale blue t-shirt that showed her midriff and some tight jeans and her hair was in a Mohawk. She went down for breakfast and saw her brother and sister getting ready for school, she had a look at there textbooks and saw that Harry had extra-calculus textbook and Annie had science textbooks beyond what Katie ever had. She couldn't believe it her brother and sister was smarter than her and Jake ever was, while she was a photographer and Jake was in the business side of things, Harry and Annie were doing extra-curricular sciences and maths. Harry came in and took the text book away from her and put it into his bag. She wanted to see her old high school again and suggested "Hey Harry, why don't I take you to school, I've always wanted to see how it's been doing since I've gone." Harry saw no objections and said "Sure, I can introduce you to my friends." Katie grabbed her mum's car keys and Harry and Annie went into there mum's car. Katie put on the radio and they listened to whatever was on. They got to there school and Harry and Annie got out and so did Katie, she locked the car and made sure Annie and Harry weren't going to do any bad things. She met Annie's friends and they all thought she was the coolest person ever; they even loved the short hair. They went to there lockers and Katie then went up to Harry and his friends; they were all staring at her like she was a goddess, and it flattered her a bit. She went up to Harry and he said "Oh ye this is my sister Katie, Katie this is the guys" Katie said "Hi" and shook there hands. Harry didn't understand why they were staring weirdly but didn't really care. Katie waved goodbye to Harry and went back to the car and drove off back home. "Dude, why didn't you tell us your sister was hot" Harry's friend Daniel asked. "That's my sister you're talking about; she's 6 years older than us" Harry replied punching his best friend on the arm.
Katie was home alone and just watched T.V. it felt good to be back home. She got up and went into her room, she looked outside her window and saw Tre walking around, she didn't know why he was but she decided to greet him. She ran downstairs and went outside and went up to Tre and tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hey Tre, I'm here for the week." Tre turned round and saw Katie. How he wanted her so much, he then replied "Hey Katie." Tre looked up and down at Katie and she just looked so naturally beautiful, she then asked "So what are you doing down my street?"
"I'm on my way to the music shop, I'm hanging with the owner for a day" Tre answered, Katie saw that something was wrong; he just had that glazed look in his eyes. She asked him "What's wrong, you seem down?"
"It's nothing; just I've been feeling down since I divorced Lisea; it's now official I'm a divorcee" Tre answered, Katie saw how upset Tre was about the divorce. No-one wants to be known as a divorcee, sure it was more popular now then when they were kids but it was still embarrassing. "You shouldn't feel down about it, it didn't work out and you made the right decision, it's another stepping stone to finding your true love" Katie explained. It always intrigued Tre how young Katie was but how much she knew about life and love. "Hey wanna instead hang out at my place, I'm all home alone" Katie suggested, Tre nodded and she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her house.
They weren't far from her house; Katie opened the door and led him in. Tre looked around and saw that it was an All-American house; it had an American flag in the corner, it had a 'God Bless America' sewn above there mantelpiece and most of all it had your All-American Sweetheart right next to him. Katie then tugged him up to her room; Tre looked around and thought her room would be the same as the downstairs. He went into the room and saw it wasn't like the other rooms, it had posters all around the walls hiding the lilac walls behind them, the desk was covered in various CD's and also various pictures and photos, the bookshelf was covered all in murder mystery books, adventures and classics, the edging of the room was in twinkle lights in blue and white. Tre loved it; it had every aspect of Katie, her art, her knowledge, and most of all her girly side. "So what do you think?" Katie asked seeing Tre's face, Katie then sat down on her bed while Tre looked around and answered "It's great, I love the twinkle lights." Tre sat down next to Katie and she put her head on Tre's shoulder and said "The idea of the twinkle lights came from Christmas when Jake asked why we didn't use twinkle lights any other time but Christmas so I bought some that weren't green and red and put them around the edging of the ceiling." Katie faced Tre and they locked into a heavy kiss, Katie fell down and Tre fell with her, in breath breaks Katie unbuttoned Tre's shirt and Tre took off Katie's top. In breaths Tre said "I want you so bad" Tre was kissing down Katie's neck and she said "Same" and they got a condom for safety
Afterwards they sat in bed and looked up at the ceiling, they didn't expect this to happen, especially for the second time but it did. They laid there and looked at the twinkle lights go on and off, Katie rested her head on Tre's shoulder and Tre put his arm around her shoulder. Katie then said "Do you ever wonder what would happen if I never got the scholarship?" Katie looked at Tre and he stayed silent for a moment and looked back at the ceiling and answered "I don't know, maybe you would have gone to a university out of California and it would've been quite cheap." Katie looked at the ceiling and shrugged her shoulders; she looked at the time and saw she had to pick up Harry and Annie. She quickly got dressed and threw Tre his clothes, got his underpants and pants on and asked Katie "What's happening?" Katie quickly spiked her hair back up and checked herself in the mirror and saw she was okay. "I'm picking up Harry and Annie, my little brother and sister and I don't wanna have that 'just fucked' look" Katie answered, she went downstairs and grabbed the car keys, Tre followed her and asked "Why don't I come with?" Katie put her jacket on and looked at Tre, he was being serious, she just shook her head and replied "Too many teenagers would haggle you, why don't you go back home." Katie went outside and went into the car. Tre started walking back to his house and said to her "Till we meet again milady" Katie smiled and drove off.
She got to the high school and saw Annie and Harry standing there; she got out the car and met up with them. They threw there bags in the boot and went into the car. Katie drove off, they were just driving when suddenly a coke hit the window and they heard a shout saying "Go away stupid grunge asshole; get away from Berkeley you don't belong." She saw that the boys shouting were from across the street, they resembled someone she knew but didn't know who. "Harry are they bullying you?" Katie asked, Harry couldn't lie to his sister and said "Ye so what?" Katie pulled over and went out the car, Harry and Annie followed her. Katie went up to the four kids and said "Are you bullying my little brother?" The three kids were the same height as Katie but bulkier and the oldest said "Ye, what are you going to do about it?"
"Well I used to go to this high school, I know the guard Tomer very well, and he can make your lives living hell for the rest of high school" Katie told them, they looked only a bit scared. One of the other guys then said "So what are you doing this Saturday sweet thang?" Katie's rage got the better of her, she hated people who did that, acted like women were there property, and her fist went into his face and said "I'm going back to New York bitch." Annie and Harry couldn't believe it, Katie went back into the car and told Harry "I don't think there gonna bother you from now on." Harry and Annie went back into the car and they drove back home.
Katie went back to New York after the week with Aaron whose dysfunctional family made him slightly depressed and Abi got along with her family but found that her little sister hated her for moving. They got back to New York and were glad for it, it seemed to Katie she had the best time but she did regret seeing Tre. They went back to the apartment and found a letter there. Aaron picked it up and saw the handwriting and asked Katie "Why has Tre sent you a letter?" Katie and Abi suspected what it was about but Aaron was oblivious and saw there faces and asked "Katie why is this letter to you?"
