6 Going On 7, chapter 3

"Yooshood haff shum, itsh show goodddff," mumbled Tre', who was munching on a huge pile of candy he had hastily collected. Wrappers surrounded his sturdy frame, releasing the lovely scent of the candies they once held. Smiling from ear to ear, he almost reminded one of a 5 year old in Go Bananas, but in this case, he wasn't going bananas, he was stuffing his face full of sugar. Jakob and Joey had managed to sneak a few pieces from him without complete havoc breaking loose, but other than that, Tre' was completely hogging all the candy.

"Uncle Tre', why are you offering it to us if you'll practically bite our head off if we so much as look at it?" Joey questioned, looking at the man who had some sort of pink substance smeared all over his face.

Before Tre' had a chance to answer, Adrienne, being the motherly figure of this household, cut in, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Tre', you filthy, greedy scoundrel, give the children some candy or I'll take your drumsticks and beat you with them!"
"But my drumsticks are at hom-"
"NOW!"
"Yeah, rob the baby of his candy, will you," Tre' mumbled before tossing a couple of candies that he disliked over in the kids' direction.

Adrienne smiled. "That's more like it." But putting on her stern facial expression again, she added, "But don't eat too much or you won't have enough room for dinner."

Mike, changing the subject of candy, as it was making him crave sugar, clapped his hands and said cheerfully, "So... who's up for a movie in Billie's own personal theatre?"

Billie rolled his eyes and made a disgruntled noise, indicating that his own personal theatre was only his, for private reasons.

"Own personal theatre? When did Billie get one of those?" Adrienne questioned, cocking her head at her husband, who was sending Mike death glares.

"Didn't he tell you? He got it installed in the basement so he could watch por-"

"AHEM," Billie cut in annoyingly.

"So, what do yah wanna watch, Jakey?" said the guitarist, changing the subject quickly.

"SCHOOLOFROCK," Jakob screamed, putting the words together and not making much sense. It was obvious he was going to pick that movie. It had been his favorite since his dad had taken him to see it a year before. Joey loved it just as much Jakob. This was surprising considering him and his brother never agreed on much of anything. Billie smiled. He was glad his love of music had carried on in the family.

"Sooo... I'm just gonna go get the movie so we can set it up, 'kay Jake?" Billie sneakily confirmed, slowly slipping away from his youngest son and motioning for everybody to follow him into the room where they stored all of their DVD's and such. "Mike, you stay here, for reasons that I'm sure I don't have to explain," the guitarist added before disappearing from the room completely, followed by his eldest son, his wife, and the drummer. Mike rolled his eyes. Billie probably wanted him to watch Jakob to make sure he didn't walk in on anything to do with his birthday gifts.

The bassist shifted his gaze to the little boy who was sitting on the floor, stuffing his face with the sugary treats Tre' had left unattended. Mike smiled. Just like Billie. Rebelling against what he was told to do. He was going to be awfully hyper soon, and too full to even look at his big birthday dinner.



"Okay Mike, Jake, you guys can come in now, the movie just started!" Billie yelled from the basement.

Silence.

Upon receiving no reply, he tried calling to them a few more times, assuming they just couldn't hear him. After five minutes of repeatedly yelling the names of the bassist and his son, Billie gave up and marched upstairs to retrieve them.

"Hey guys, time to come downstairs to watch the mov-"

Billie stopped.

They weren't there.

Uh oh... shit shit shit. No, they're probably just upstairs or something. Don't panic. Don't panic.

He raced up the stairs, checking every room and even every indent in the wall.

Nothing.

Then, upon dragging himself back into the kitchen, he noticed that the front door was wide open. He looked to the ground and noticed a small, gleaming object covered in something that stood out in its deep red color.

Billie's eyes widened. "ADRIENNE, TRE', JOEY, COME HERE!" he shouted from the kitchen where Jakob and Mike were supposed to be. The three people quickly scurried up the stairs to the man calling their names frantically.

"What is it hun?" Adie asked, her eyes wide and worried. "They're gone!" he exclaimed, covering his face with his hands.
"You're kidding, right?" Joey asked, with a nonbelieving stare. Billie shook his head, pointing at the knife on the ground just a few feet away.

"Wait, where's Tre? Shouldn't he have said some smart ass comment about how you're overreacting by now?" Joey stated, looking all around him.
"You're right," Adrienne added, "And don't swear, Joey."

"T'sup homies and homettes?" announced Tre' upon his arrival back from wherever he had gone. Billie sighed a deep sigh of relief. Well, he had found one of the missing three. "Tre', Mike and Jakob are gone. They're not anywhere. I even checked outside."

There was silence the room for a moment.

"Tre must be deep in thought. He has that face on again," thought Billie as he awaited the drummers response.

Tre's face lit up.

"I know!" he shouted enthusiastically, making all jump a little. "Let's raise money for a search party! We can have a bake sale!"

"Maybe not so deep in thought after all..." Billie added to his assumptions.

"Come on, let's walk down the street and look for them. Maybe they just went for a walk or something," Adrienne added in her reassuring voice.

Billie sighed yet again. "Maybe you're right Adie, maybe I'm just overreacting. But I still don't understand the knife.."

"It's ok, hon, we'll find them and they'll be fine."
Adrienne smiled sweetly and raised her hands to massage his tense shoulders.

"But I still would have rather had a bake sale... I was really looking forward to wearing that tight pink and orange apron that makes me feel manly."

"Yeah Tre', and it also makes you look like you have a rabies-infested squirrel eating at the insides of your ass." Joey added, smirking to himself.

"Joey! Language!" Adrienne sternly retorted.

"Yeah Joey! Language!" Tre' mimicked, sticking his tongue out at the boy.

Joey rolled his eyes.

"Come on guys, we better start looking." Billie sulked as he grabbed his jacket and slipped on his shoes. Everyone did the same, and were on their way out.
"Wait!" Tre' quickly shouted. "I've gotta blow my nose."

He ran to the kitchen table and grabbed what looked to be a small napkin.

Now it was Billie's turn to roll his eyes. "Ok, let's go," announced Tre' as he came back from his little depressed moment in the kitchen.

Billie shot out the door like a race dog, followed quickly by his wife, kid, and fellow band mate.