Billie Joe - 3rd Grade, chapter 7

"How about we don't call you Tricia, how about we call you princess? Would that make you feel better?" Allen asked.

The three stared at him.

"Yeah, that pushed it over the faggot edge man." David smirked.
"Fuck you. I was bein' nice." Allen replied, as Billie and Tricia laughed.
"You laughing at me boy?" Allen said, butting Billie's head.

Billie squirmed, squealing with excitement as he battled his brother's friendly shoves. Allen tickled him, while Billie giggled and pushed against him. Allen took Billie and put him high on his shoulders, as Billie yelled with delight and rested his head on his brothers own, hanging on tightly. David looked at Tricia.

"You wanna do that? You don't have to, but Billie's like us, he'll rub it in your face that he got a shoulder ride and you didn't." David smiled nervously as Tricia beamed. She'd never had any older boy be so good to her. She really loved Billie's older brothers. David nodded and hoisted Tricia up cautiously, trying to be as soft as he could. Tricia was at first scared, but then the adrenaline flowed through as she realized she was safe.

"HEY! NAH NAH I'M HIGHER THAN YOU!" Billie jeered as Allen ran around with him. David ran after Allen and came to race with him. Tricia was having the best time of her life.
"Naaaah Billie I am!" She smiled, and poked her tongue out at Billie, who felt ecstasy in knowing Tricia was happy now. She looked really pretty, when she was happy. Billie watched as her face lit up in the afternoon sun, and David sped around with her on his shoulders.

Billie raced past her, as Tricia raised her arms out, David holding her legs tighter. Tricia felt the cool breeze fly under her fingertips, closed her eyes and raised her head to the warm sun. She was flying... she felt better than she ever had in her entire seven year span of living. Billie was transfixed on her. He really liked this girl. It felt funny. Tricia contently fluttered open her eyes, grinning and resting on David's head. David and Allen came to walking, and David looked closely at Billie watching Tricia.

"Hey... Allen?" David smiled, as Allen raised his eyebrows in response.
"I think someone's in love." David said, looking up at Billie. Tricia also looked at Billie, who blushed a hot red. Tricia smiled shyly and looked away from Billie. No one ever really loved her before. Not in a good way, but she could feel this was a good love, and she felt flattered and giggly, like the princess Allen said she was.

"AM NOT!" he yelled at his brother defensively, as David laughed.
"Oh yeah you are Billie, you lover boy!" David teased.
"Let's get him Billie eh?" Allen asked, chasing David, who ran away grinning.
"Yeah well if you catch us Billie's gunna marry Tricia!" David called out, but Billie said nothing.
"Ooooh! HEY! Hey David! He didn't tell me to slow down or say yuck or anything!" Allen teased his baby brother well. Billie smacked him playfully over the head, causing Allen to swiftly and strongly bring him down off his shoulders and tickle him, holding his small body off the ground gently. Tricia watched happily as David carefully lifted her town too, holding her small hand and leading her over to Billie and Allen.

Allen let go of his younger brother and watched as Billie blushed while Tricia looked on politely and curled her fingers over his hand. Billie blushed deeper and tried to hide the steadily growing smile on his face. On seeing his, Allen and David held in their laughter, not wanting to embarrass Billie. Billie led Tricia inside, where his mum was setting the table. The door shut quietly behind them, immediately allowing David and Allen to burst out into fits of laughter, slapping each other on the back.

"Awww man that's so fuckin cute!" they joked, shoving each other.
"BJ's got himself a girl! Damn man!" David said, sitting down and grinning to himself.
Allen nodded joyfully, but soon seriousness took over his face once again.

"We're gunna have to teach him to be real careful with her though hey?" Allen concluded, looking at the grass.
"Yeah. We will. Man what the fuck is wrong with some people? How can they do that to a kid?" David shook his head, and felt anger take over him.
"She's real sweet too. Fuck... it pisses me off. I wonder if mum and dad know." Allen asked, rubbing his forehead.
"Probably. If her fuckin dad comes over here I'll beat the shit out of him. Equal things out for her." David's voice shook with hate.
"Some people are so friggin low. They've screwed up her life. She was frickin petrified for BJ when you were holding him upside down." Allen recalled, shivering. He could never imagine hurting a child. It was disgusting.
"Yeah. Well don't worry; Billie's a smart boy with good morals. He'll help her out. With us of course, I mean, he won't understand everything." David said. He really wanted to make sure this stopped. He was sure he couldn't live with himself if he was to become one of the arseholes that sat around and watched a pedophile destroy a girl.
"BJ really likes her thought huh? Did you see his face?" David continued, smirking.
"Nuh." Allen replied nonchalantly, flicking a rock across the garden.
"Haha man it was priceless. He was all dreamy eyed and crap." David chuckled to himself.
"Serious? Hehe that's real cute ey?" Allen sighed, kicking off his shoes and taking in the evening air.

David nodded. A quiet sense of both change and responsibility filled their minds. They were intimidated but ready to protect Tricia. Andy silently opened the door and walked over to his other sons, looking at them intently. It wasn't long before one of them responded to his sorrowful gaze.

"Yeah... we know. What can we do?" David asked, as Andy looked at the sky.
"I'm not too sure. She's staying here the night even if her parents call." Andy confirmed.
"But then won't they phone the cops or something?" Allen worriedly questioned his father. That would only make things worse for Tricia.
"No. We've called social services. Apparently her teachers have contacted them already and they allowed her to stay the night here after child welfare dialed the principal, who told them we were good people and she was glad they were finally doing something about Tricia's situation. They're detaining her parents tonight and interviewing her tomorrow morning."

"Shit that was fast." Allen remarked, widening his eyes.
"Yeah... apparently they'd attempted to investigate before, but her dad had hidden her somewhere and said she was out. But they knew he was violent, they interviewed her at school that day. They um 'lost the paperwork'. In other words, they were too fucking hopeless to follow it up. But now they are. Or we're keeping her here until they do, I'm not gunna let that girl go home to that again." Andy finished, folding his arms.

The boys nodded. They respected their father a lot, but this made them realize it more.

"Well... if they do take her, will we still see her? I mean, new place and everything, someone should be there, you know, calm of the familiar?" Allen asked.
"Yeah. I'll make sure we'll see her. She's not going to face this all alone, that's cruel." Andy said.

All three of them were silent, hoping it would never come to that for Tricia.

"Anyway, dinners done. Its good tonight, burgers and stuff. No rabbit food." Andy laughed, and the quietly smiled and walked inside. Andy patted them on the back.

"I saw you playing with BJ and her before, which were real good of you boys." Andy said proudly.
"Thanks dad. We just wanna help her too... I can't sit by and watch." Allen said, David nodding.
"That's good then. You kids are getting more like me every day." He joked, and Allen punched him playfully.

They shut the door and the memories were left sitting on the once childlike bench. Where before a family had had little experience with abuse, they now had taken a chance on a girl in urgent need of rescuing, and in the days to come, the Armstrong family would be pulled closer together than ever before.