Cricket, chapter 14
A silent night in the city of Berkeley. Silence reigned the atmosphere outside of 17-year-old Billie Joe Armstrong's house. He sat on the porch steps, staring into the clear California night sky. Taking a deep breath, he took in the peaceful aura surrounding him. Reaching into his pocket, he fumbled around for a moment or two until...
"Aha," he whispered. Out came his notebook. Its cover was filled with scribbles and drawings and writing that couldn't be deciphered except by those who had scribbled on it. He smiled at this. Page by page he flipped through, smiling at each and every idea and thought placed onto the pieces of paper. Countless songs and guitar tabs lined each page, the most recent ones about recent experiences. Each song brought memories back to Billie. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.
A moment of pure brilliance, genius, and love. The definition of beauty could be expressed in no better way than the present moment. Billie was shrouded in a fog of concentration, his mind wrapped around nothing but memories. Inspiration flared in his eyes, and overall, the scene was a pretty quiet one. Suddenly, in the silence, an idea hatched. Billie's eyes lit up with excitement. The rushing of ideas in his head flowed freely onto the paper. Soon, the silence was shattered, as Billie began to sing, his angelic voice echoing in the darkness.
"Summer has come and passed, the innocent can never last, wake me up when September ends," he chanted softly. "Like my father's come to pass, seven years has gone so fast. Wake me up when September ends. Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are. As my memory rests but never forgets what I lost. Wake me up when September ends..."
A single tear slid down his cheek as he sang the final verse, the pain revisiting him once again. He smiled weakly as he reviewed his latest creation. Picking up his pen, he began to scrawl a final note under this new song.
"Dedicated to you, Dad. I'll never forget you," he whispered. He bowed his head respectfully and wrote 'WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS' over the lyrics.
"Billie?" a gentle voice emerged from behind him.
"Hey baby." He stood up and drew Christina into a huge hug. He kissed her and smiled.
"Wanna come inside to bed?" she asked.
"Okay," he murmured, putting his hand on her cheek.
As soon as they entered the house, he ran up the stairs and bounced onto the bed. Christina trailed behind him, jumping into his lap.
"Hey, you still got the necklace?" Billie asked. She dangled it in front of his face.
He took it and thanked her. As she watched her boyfriend put it on, she couldn't
help but wonder why it had such significance to him.
"Yo, Billie?"
"You're wondering about this necklace, aren't you?" he guessed. All she could do was nod. "Let's just say it was a gift."
"From who?"
Billie gazed up, his eyes shining. He grinned and simply whispered, "Dad."
Christina gave him a confused look, but she didn't question it. No matter how close you were to Billie's heart, you could never work your way inside of it. Same goes for his mind. He was a remarkable mystery, an unsolvable mystery. However, his mysterious trait is one of the many combined to make him the one and only Billie Joe Armstrong. And she couldn't ask for any better.
They lay on the bed with each other, just gazing into each other's eyes. Christina had never realized how much she loved Billie. Even if he was her boyfriend, she had never felt such a strong love toward him since their relationship began.
Maybe things were heating up, their love becoming more serious. He was such a rebellious punk, but he was still a pretty sensitive and honest, down-to-earth guy. She admired that. He chose his words with a dazzling respect, putting every last feeling into a song and separating them lovingly into magical chords.
And he loved her more than she could imagine. She was always there for him, a shelter in the time of rain. He loved the fact that she was a lot like him and had a serious interest in the band. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
"Hey babe, wanna watch some TV to help us go to sleep?" he asked.
"Okay."
He turned it on to find that it had been left on Sesame Street. Ernie came strolling up and said something that Billie didn't care about until he mentioned a simple phrase: GREEN DAY.
Billie snorted. Christina obviously hadn't heard it.
"What's so funny, Billie?" she asked.
"Heh-heh. Ernie is a pothead."
Christina stared at the little orange puppet man on the TV screen.
"What makes you say that?"
"He just said something about having a green day!" Billie laughed.
"Holy shit. I knew he'd come clean," Christina laughed.
She waited for another wisecrack, but heard nothing. She looked up at him. He had that huge smile again. Billie had another idea fluttering around in his brain.
"What now, Mr. Armstrong?"
"Green Day," he murmured. "I like it." He stood up and did a cartwheel. "GREEN DAY!"
"Green Day?" Christina asked.
"Fuck Sweet Children. I wanna be Green Day!" Billie explained.
"Ohh! I love the name! That kicks so much ass!" Christina agreed after wondering for a moment. Then she jumped to the floor and did a double backflip.
"You know what name I love more?" Billie asked.
"What?"
"Yours," he said, blushing a little bit.
Silence again. Until...
"Billie Joe Armstrong that was the cheesiest fucking thing I've ever heard!" Christina burst out laughing. He blushed and grinned.
"What if I kiss you?" he offered. Christina shrugged, contemplating it.
"I dunno, Billie."
"AWW! C'MON!!!" he pleaded.
"Hmm...Okay!" she said. Billie smiled and tackled her to the pillows, kissing her like never before. However, after a few minutes, their make-out session was interrupted by the doorbell.
"What the fuck?" Billie moaned. "It's three in the fucking morning! Guh, I'll get the damn door."
* * *
*the next morning*
Al Sobrante paced around his kitchen with the phone, waiting for Billie to pick up.
"C'mon, Billie. I got a date in twenty minutes," Al mumbled.
This morning, Billie had left a message for Al, pretty much yelling his head off into the phone.
"HEY AL, umm, this is Billie Joe. I have some really great news about Green Day! Oh, yeah. We ain't Sweet Children anymore, bitch! We're GREEN DAY! WOOHOO! But call me back when you get this willya? I gotta tell Mike now. So, um, bye."
"BEEP. Hey this is the Armstrong family. Please leave a message after the, uh..."
Then he heard a screeching sound so piercing that he had to hold the phone away from his ear.
Yep. Billie recorded this.
After Billie's mock 'emo screech' was over, Al rolled his eyes and began to talk.
"Hey Bill, this is Al. I was just wondering what you were pissing yourself over when you called me a little while ago. Actually, I think I'll just call Mike to find out. I'll see ya around then. Bye."
With that, he hung up and began to dial Mike's number. He heard the dial tone and sighed again.
"Hello?" he heard Mike answer.
"Hey Mike. This is Al. Did Billie call you?"
"OHMYGOD, AL! I'M SO GLAD YOU CALLED! Did Billie tell you yet?" he asked excitedly.
"Tell me what?"
"You're never gonna believe this," Mike sighed. "Guess who stopped at Billie's place last night?"
"Umm. Satan, Marcus...?"
"Nope! LARRY LIVERMORE! Oh, and Tré too."
"No way, dude. You don't mean Larry Livermore from Lookout! Records, do you?" Al asked disbelievingly.
"That's the one."
Al just about lost it at that point.
"GREEN DAY GOT A RECORD DEAL!" Mike screamed into the phone.
Al dropped it, ignoring the muffled scream of 'AL! AL!' coming from the kitchen floor.
"FUCKING HELL, YES!" Al screamed. Mike chuckled when he heard this and hung up.
* * *
Christina and Billie walked hand in hand to Pinole Valley High.
"Shit! I'm so excited for 'Green Day'!" Christina sighed. She couldn't believe it.
"Me too, babe. Me too."
"I think you're gonna be a big success."
"I don't care about the success. It's just something I love to do. Career or not. But hey, having money to buy lunch for a week would be awesome," Billie said. Christina smiled at this. He wasn't doing this for the money and popularity as much as the fun and the attitude. But still, he'd always wanted Sweet, er, I mean GREEN DAY to get a record deal. And what better place to get your band started than at Lookout! Records?
"So what do you wanna call your first album?" she asked. Billie stared ahead, thinking and wondering. He gazed into a basketball court and saw two kids playing. On the back of one kid's jersey it said '39'.
"Thirty-nine, ummmm," he mumbled, trying to think of a good album name.
"How 'bout 39/Smooth?" she suggested. Billie smiled. That WAS pretty catchy.
"I like it," he said, hugging her. "And I think we're gonna record some EP's too. I'm thinking we're gonna do 1000 Hours, the One I Want, Dry Ice, and Only of You for the track listing. And we'll call the whole package 1000 Hours."
"1000 Hours? Isn't that the one you wrote during lit class?"
"Yeah. We finally wrote some music to it."
"That's awesome!"
"And it's dedicated to you," Billie said lovingly, giving her a tender kiss on the cheek.
"Then we'll have another one called, um, hmm... Slappy!"
"Slappy?"
"Yes. Slappy."
"Hey Billie! Hey Christina!"
Tré and Katie caught up to them.
"Holy shit! Did you guys get a record deal or is Tré lying?" Katie asked Billie. He laughed and shoved her a little bit, getting a shove in return.
"Yes we did!" he announced. Katie's eyes widened with excitement. She nearly tackled Billie to the ground with a hug.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuck! I'm so happy for ya!"
"Yeah, now get off of me and go hug Tré," Billie laughed.
Katie grinned, let go of Billie, and pounced on Tré. They got into a fistfight and put on quite an entertaining show for the other couple. Then, Katie found Tré on top of her. She turned her head and saw him grinning dumbly at her.
"Tré! We're on a sidewalk!"
"So?"
"Tré, do you notice the way you're sitting on me?"
Tré nodded.
"You think other people notice the way you're sitting on me?"
Tré raised his eyebrows and looked away, pretending to think. He shook his head no.
"Tré!" she whined.
"What? I'm trying to give you ideas!"
"I don't WANT your ideas, asswipe!"
Tré sighed and got up. He then stared at Billie, then down at his baggy pants. Tré's face lit up and he dug through his pocket to find a camera.
"Dude! How the hell did you fit that camera in your pocket?" Christina asked, amazed at this.
"Cause I can. Now shove over, Cricket. I wanna take pictures inside Billie's pants."
Before she could stop him, he pushed her away. Then he stuck the camera lens down Billie's pants and began to madly press the button. After about ten shots, Billie pulled the camera out of his pants and slapped Tré across the head.
"You little perverted bastard!" he growled.
"Eww. Nasty thought, you guys. I just rubbed my beautiful camera lens up and down Billie's balls," Tré muttered, scrunching up his nose. "And by the way, Bill, kinda a delayed reaction there, huh?"
"Hey! That's not funny," Billie whined, looking down at his crotch.
"Oh Billie," Christina laughed. "I bet Tré is too thickheaded to have sex with you."
"HEY! YES I HAVE HAD SEX WITH HIM! TWO YEARS, A MONTH, FIFTEEN DAYS, AND THREE HOURS AGO!" Tré interrupted, blushing and sweating.
"You counted?!" Billie hissed into his ear.
"Yup. That was the weirdest night of my life," Tré sighed happily.
"Tré!" Katie moaned. He snorted at this.
"What? It was only with Billie!"
"Hmph," Billie and Katie both grunted.
"So Billie," Tré continued, ignoring Katie, "what songs of yours you gonna do for, um..."
"39/Smooth?" Billie finished for him.
"Yeah. That."
"Hmm, I dunno yet. But I know what we should do for our first EP's. We're gonna record two: Slappy EP and 1000 Hours EP. It's gonna be sweet."
"Haha, aren't you happy I know Larry Livermore?" Tré jeered.
"No. I actually feel pretty sorry for Larry."
"Hey! He loves me!"
"Sure..."
Just ahead, the four caught a fight going on in a vacant lot. Three guys with mullets were pounding mercilessly on someone.
"OW! OW! YOU GODDAMN RACISTS!" a familiar voice squeaked.
Billie and Tré stared at each other and rushed to the mullet guys and began screaming at them. Katie and Christina were trying to hold in their laughter. After a minute, the mullet guys ran away and the boys came back, dragging Marcus along with them.
"Marcus! What the hell were you thinking!?"
"I saw the mullet man, but it was the WRONG mullet man. I attacked the wrong fuckin' mullet man. Then his mullet friends showed up. And they beat me up. But the real mullet man was with them," Marcus panted.
"You poor thing, trying to save the world from Nazis and racists," Billie sighed, shaking his head.
"They should call me Superman."
"Sure, Marcus."
"I'm dead serious! I got everything a superhero needs! I'm strong, opinionated, and sexy! What else do you want?!"
"I beg to differ," Tré snorted.
"Oh yeah? And what superhero are you, Superfag?" Marcus growled at him.
"Well, I'm the sexy one of us. I'm Mr. Sexypants. I have supersucking powers and I am the definition of super-orgasm."
Billie snorted. Tré had too big, and too wild, of an imagination.
"AND YOU, BILLIE! You're Captain Shorty! You and your super sidekick. Both super little," Tré chuckled, poking Billie's crotch. Billie swatted his hand away and frowned. Christina gave him a big hug, trying to cheer him up.
"Y'know, Tré, not all superheroes are sexy," Marcus objected.
"Oh really? Like you?"
"No I was thinking you. You're WHITE."
"Marcus! Must you ALWAYS bring up this topic of discussion?!"
"I'm the cream of a chocolate-cream Oreo."
"Oh, SHUT UP..."
"OKAY YOU GUYS, I'M SUPER KATIE AND I CAN BURY YOU BASTARDS SIX FEET UNDERGROUND IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE FUCKING HELL UP!" Katie yelled. Tré and Marcus's jaws dropped. They shuffled back over to the rest of the gang and began talking like old friends, with very different attitudes toward each other compared to what happened only a few seconds ago.
"Hehe, Billie Joe reminds me of Mario!" Tré giggled.
"And Christina is his Princess Peach!" Marcus replied.
"No, no! Billie's Mickey Mouse!"
"Haha!"
"Actually, you'd make a better Mickey Mouse, Marcus."
"The frickin' thing's black AND white, Tré!"
"So are you!"
"Oh yeah. I forgot."
They all got to the school right as the bell rang. Rushing to their lockers and shooing Marcus away, they walked to class. For Christina and Billie, they had history first.
"UGH."
"Calm down Billie, we haven't even walked through the door yet."
"WHATEVER."
"Oh shut it."
When they walked in, they saw Kiefer next to their empty desks. He smiled and waved.
"Hey Kiefer," Christina whispered, high-fiving him.
"What's up."
"Nothin' much. Me and Billie are just bored as hell."
"I'm tired of being here. I think we should go to Gilman Street tonight. Just you and me," Kiefer said. Christina froze. He noticed this, so he continued talking.
"Cause I feel like we haven't really hung out in awhile. And if you get bored of it, we could always blow a couple hundred bucks at the arcade."
Christina grinned at him. Just like old times.
"Okay. But you gotta buy me an ice cream. You know I don't like going to the arcade without ice cream, or you could get me booze."
"No, I'll stick with the ice cream."
"Why?" she whined.
"Cause the booze is all for ME."
"I hate you Kiefer," Christina giggled.
"I hate you too Cricket."
"So meet me at 9:30?"
"Sure," Kiefer said. He grinned and relaxed in his chair. He couldn't wait.
"Aha," he whispered. Out came his notebook. Its cover was filled with scribbles and drawings and writing that couldn't be deciphered except by those who had scribbled on it. He smiled at this. Page by page he flipped through, smiling at each and every idea and thought placed onto the pieces of paper. Countless songs and guitar tabs lined each page, the most recent ones about recent experiences. Each song brought memories back to Billie. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath.
A moment of pure brilliance, genius, and love. The definition of beauty could be expressed in no better way than the present moment. Billie was shrouded in a fog of concentration, his mind wrapped around nothing but memories. Inspiration flared in his eyes, and overall, the scene was a pretty quiet one. Suddenly, in the silence, an idea hatched. Billie's eyes lit up with excitement. The rushing of ideas in his head flowed freely onto the paper. Soon, the silence was shattered, as Billie began to sing, his angelic voice echoing in the darkness.
"Summer has come and passed, the innocent can never last, wake me up when September ends," he chanted softly. "Like my father's come to pass, seven years has gone so fast. Wake me up when September ends. Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are. As my memory rests but never forgets what I lost. Wake me up when September ends..."
A single tear slid down his cheek as he sang the final verse, the pain revisiting him once again. He smiled weakly as he reviewed his latest creation. Picking up his pen, he began to scrawl a final note under this new song.
"Dedicated to you, Dad. I'll never forget you," he whispered. He bowed his head respectfully and wrote 'WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS' over the lyrics.
"Billie?" a gentle voice emerged from behind him.
"Hey baby." He stood up and drew Christina into a huge hug. He kissed her and smiled.
"Wanna come inside to bed?" she asked.
"Okay," he murmured, putting his hand on her cheek.
As soon as they entered the house, he ran up the stairs and bounced onto the bed. Christina trailed behind him, jumping into his lap.
"Hey, you still got the necklace?" Billie asked. She dangled it in front of his face.
He took it and thanked her. As she watched her boyfriend put it on, she couldn't
help but wonder why it had such significance to him.
"Yo, Billie?"
"You're wondering about this necklace, aren't you?" he guessed. All she could do was nod. "Let's just say it was a gift."
"From who?"
Billie gazed up, his eyes shining. He grinned and simply whispered, "Dad."
Christina gave him a confused look, but she didn't question it. No matter how close you were to Billie's heart, you could never work your way inside of it. Same goes for his mind. He was a remarkable mystery, an unsolvable mystery. However, his mysterious trait is one of the many combined to make him the one and only Billie Joe Armstrong. And she couldn't ask for any better.
They lay on the bed with each other, just gazing into each other's eyes. Christina had never realized how much she loved Billie. Even if he was her boyfriend, she had never felt such a strong love toward him since their relationship began.
Maybe things were heating up, their love becoming more serious. He was such a rebellious punk, but he was still a pretty sensitive and honest, down-to-earth guy. She admired that. He chose his words with a dazzling respect, putting every last feeling into a song and separating them lovingly into magical chords.
And he loved her more than she could imagine. She was always there for him, a shelter in the time of rain. He loved the fact that she was a lot like him and had a serious interest in the band. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
"Hey babe, wanna watch some TV to help us go to sleep?" he asked.
"Okay."
He turned it on to find that it had been left on Sesame Street. Ernie came strolling up and said something that Billie didn't care about until he mentioned a simple phrase: GREEN DAY.
Billie snorted. Christina obviously hadn't heard it.
"What's so funny, Billie?" she asked.
"Heh-heh. Ernie is a pothead."
Christina stared at the little orange puppet man on the TV screen.
"What makes you say that?"
"He just said something about having a green day!" Billie laughed.
"Holy shit. I knew he'd come clean," Christina laughed.
She waited for another wisecrack, but heard nothing. She looked up at him. He had that huge smile again. Billie had another idea fluttering around in his brain.
"What now, Mr. Armstrong?"
"Green Day," he murmured. "I like it." He stood up and did a cartwheel. "GREEN DAY!"
"Green Day?" Christina asked.
"Fuck Sweet Children. I wanna be Green Day!" Billie explained.
"Ohh! I love the name! That kicks so much ass!" Christina agreed after wondering for a moment. Then she jumped to the floor and did a double backflip.
"You know what name I love more?" Billie asked.
"What?"
"Yours," he said, blushing a little bit.
Silence again. Until...
"Billie Joe Armstrong that was the cheesiest fucking thing I've ever heard!" Christina burst out laughing. He blushed and grinned.
"What if I kiss you?" he offered. Christina shrugged, contemplating it.
"I dunno, Billie."
"AWW! C'MON!!!" he pleaded.
"Hmm...Okay!" she said. Billie smiled and tackled her to the pillows, kissing her like never before. However, after a few minutes, their make-out session was interrupted by the doorbell.
"What the fuck?" Billie moaned. "It's three in the fucking morning! Guh, I'll get the damn door."
* * *
*the next morning*
Al Sobrante paced around his kitchen with the phone, waiting for Billie to pick up.
"C'mon, Billie. I got a date in twenty minutes," Al mumbled.
This morning, Billie had left a message for Al, pretty much yelling his head off into the phone.
"HEY AL, umm, this is Billie Joe. I have some really great news about Green Day! Oh, yeah. We ain't Sweet Children anymore, bitch! We're GREEN DAY! WOOHOO! But call me back when you get this willya? I gotta tell Mike now. So, um, bye."
"BEEP. Hey this is the Armstrong family. Please leave a message after the, uh..."
Then he heard a screeching sound so piercing that he had to hold the phone away from his ear.
Yep. Billie recorded this.
After Billie's mock 'emo screech' was over, Al rolled his eyes and began to talk.
"Hey Bill, this is Al. I was just wondering what you were pissing yourself over when you called me a little while ago. Actually, I think I'll just call Mike to find out. I'll see ya around then. Bye."
With that, he hung up and began to dial Mike's number. He heard the dial tone and sighed again.
"Hello?" he heard Mike answer.
"Hey Mike. This is Al. Did Billie call you?"
"OHMYGOD, AL! I'M SO GLAD YOU CALLED! Did Billie tell you yet?" he asked excitedly.
"Tell me what?"
"You're never gonna believe this," Mike sighed. "Guess who stopped at Billie's place last night?"
"Umm. Satan, Marcus...?"
"Nope! LARRY LIVERMORE! Oh, and Tré too."
"No way, dude. You don't mean Larry Livermore from Lookout! Records, do you?" Al asked disbelievingly.
"That's the one."
Al just about lost it at that point.
"GREEN DAY GOT A RECORD DEAL!" Mike screamed into the phone.
Al dropped it, ignoring the muffled scream of 'AL! AL!' coming from the kitchen floor.
"FUCKING HELL, YES!" Al screamed. Mike chuckled when he heard this and hung up.
* * *
Christina and Billie walked hand in hand to Pinole Valley High.
"Shit! I'm so excited for 'Green Day'!" Christina sighed. She couldn't believe it.
"Me too, babe. Me too."
"I think you're gonna be a big success."
"I don't care about the success. It's just something I love to do. Career or not. But hey, having money to buy lunch for a week would be awesome," Billie said. Christina smiled at this. He wasn't doing this for the money and popularity as much as the fun and the attitude. But still, he'd always wanted Sweet, er, I mean GREEN DAY to get a record deal. And what better place to get your band started than at Lookout! Records?
"So what do you wanna call your first album?" she asked. Billie stared ahead, thinking and wondering. He gazed into a basketball court and saw two kids playing. On the back of one kid's jersey it said '39'.
"Thirty-nine, ummmm," he mumbled, trying to think of a good album name.
"How 'bout 39/Smooth?" she suggested. Billie smiled. That WAS pretty catchy.
"I like it," he said, hugging her. "And I think we're gonna record some EP's too. I'm thinking we're gonna do 1000 Hours, the One I Want, Dry Ice, and Only of You for the track listing. And we'll call the whole package 1000 Hours."
"1000 Hours? Isn't that the one you wrote during lit class?"
"Yeah. We finally wrote some music to it."
"That's awesome!"
"And it's dedicated to you," Billie said lovingly, giving her a tender kiss on the cheek.
"Then we'll have another one called, um, hmm... Slappy!"
"Slappy?"
"Yes. Slappy."
"Hey Billie! Hey Christina!"
Tré and Katie caught up to them.
"Holy shit! Did you guys get a record deal or is Tré lying?" Katie asked Billie. He laughed and shoved her a little bit, getting a shove in return.
"Yes we did!" he announced. Katie's eyes widened with excitement. She nearly tackled Billie to the ground with a hug.
"Fuuuuuuuuuuck! I'm so happy for ya!"
"Yeah, now get off of me and go hug Tré," Billie laughed.
Katie grinned, let go of Billie, and pounced on Tré. They got into a fistfight and put on quite an entertaining show for the other couple. Then, Katie found Tré on top of her. She turned her head and saw him grinning dumbly at her.
"Tré! We're on a sidewalk!"
"So?"
"Tré, do you notice the way you're sitting on me?"
Tré nodded.
"You think other people notice the way you're sitting on me?"
Tré raised his eyebrows and looked away, pretending to think. He shook his head no.
"Tré!" she whined.
"What? I'm trying to give you ideas!"
"I don't WANT your ideas, asswipe!"
Tré sighed and got up. He then stared at Billie, then down at his baggy pants. Tré's face lit up and he dug through his pocket to find a camera.
"Dude! How the hell did you fit that camera in your pocket?" Christina asked, amazed at this.
"Cause I can. Now shove over, Cricket. I wanna take pictures inside Billie's pants."
Before she could stop him, he pushed her away. Then he stuck the camera lens down Billie's pants and began to madly press the button. After about ten shots, Billie pulled the camera out of his pants and slapped Tré across the head.
"You little perverted bastard!" he growled.
"Eww. Nasty thought, you guys. I just rubbed my beautiful camera lens up and down Billie's balls," Tré muttered, scrunching up his nose. "And by the way, Bill, kinda a delayed reaction there, huh?"
"Hey! That's not funny," Billie whined, looking down at his crotch.
"Oh Billie," Christina laughed. "I bet Tré is too thickheaded to have sex with you."
"HEY! YES I HAVE HAD SEX WITH HIM! TWO YEARS, A MONTH, FIFTEEN DAYS, AND THREE HOURS AGO!" Tré interrupted, blushing and sweating.
"You counted?!" Billie hissed into his ear.
"Yup. That was the weirdest night of my life," Tré sighed happily.
"Tré!" Katie moaned. He snorted at this.
"What? It was only with Billie!"
"Hmph," Billie and Katie both grunted.
"So Billie," Tré continued, ignoring Katie, "what songs of yours you gonna do for, um..."
"39/Smooth?" Billie finished for him.
"Yeah. That."
"Hmm, I dunno yet. But I know what we should do for our first EP's. We're gonna record two: Slappy EP and 1000 Hours EP. It's gonna be sweet."
"Haha, aren't you happy I know Larry Livermore?" Tré jeered.
"No. I actually feel pretty sorry for Larry."
"Hey! He loves me!"
"Sure..."
Just ahead, the four caught a fight going on in a vacant lot. Three guys with mullets were pounding mercilessly on someone.
"OW! OW! YOU GODDAMN RACISTS!" a familiar voice squeaked.
Billie and Tré stared at each other and rushed to the mullet guys and began screaming at them. Katie and Christina were trying to hold in their laughter. After a minute, the mullet guys ran away and the boys came back, dragging Marcus along with them.
"Marcus! What the hell were you thinking!?"
"I saw the mullet man, but it was the WRONG mullet man. I attacked the wrong fuckin' mullet man. Then his mullet friends showed up. And they beat me up. But the real mullet man was with them," Marcus panted.
"You poor thing, trying to save the world from Nazis and racists," Billie sighed, shaking his head.
"They should call me Superman."
"Sure, Marcus."
"I'm dead serious! I got everything a superhero needs! I'm strong, opinionated, and sexy! What else do you want?!"
"I beg to differ," Tré snorted.
"Oh yeah? And what superhero are you, Superfag?" Marcus growled at him.
"Well, I'm the sexy one of us. I'm Mr. Sexypants. I have supersucking powers and I am the definition of super-orgasm."
Billie snorted. Tré had too big, and too wild, of an imagination.
"AND YOU, BILLIE! You're Captain Shorty! You and your super sidekick. Both super little," Tré chuckled, poking Billie's crotch. Billie swatted his hand away and frowned. Christina gave him a big hug, trying to cheer him up.
"Y'know, Tré, not all superheroes are sexy," Marcus objected.
"Oh really? Like you?"
"No I was thinking you. You're WHITE."
"Marcus! Must you ALWAYS bring up this topic of discussion?!"
"I'm the cream of a chocolate-cream Oreo."
"Oh, SHUT UP..."
"OKAY YOU GUYS, I'M SUPER KATIE AND I CAN BURY YOU BASTARDS SIX FEET UNDERGROUND IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE FUCKING HELL UP!" Katie yelled. Tré and Marcus's jaws dropped. They shuffled back over to the rest of the gang and began talking like old friends, with very different attitudes toward each other compared to what happened only a few seconds ago.
"Hehe, Billie Joe reminds me of Mario!" Tré giggled.
"And Christina is his Princess Peach!" Marcus replied.
"No, no! Billie's Mickey Mouse!"
"Haha!"
"Actually, you'd make a better Mickey Mouse, Marcus."
"The frickin' thing's black AND white, Tré!"
"So are you!"
"Oh yeah. I forgot."
They all got to the school right as the bell rang. Rushing to their lockers and shooing Marcus away, they walked to class. For Christina and Billie, they had history first.
"UGH."
"Calm down Billie, we haven't even walked through the door yet."
"WHATEVER."
"Oh shut it."
When they walked in, they saw Kiefer next to their empty desks. He smiled and waved.
"Hey Kiefer," Christina whispered, high-fiving him.
"What's up."
"Nothin' much. Me and Billie are just bored as hell."
"I'm tired of being here. I think we should go to Gilman Street tonight. Just you and me," Kiefer said. Christina froze. He noticed this, so he continued talking.
"Cause I feel like we haven't really hung out in awhile. And if you get bored of it, we could always blow a couple hundred bucks at the arcade."
Christina grinned at him. Just like old times.
"Okay. But you gotta buy me an ice cream. You know I don't like going to the arcade without ice cream, or you could get me booze."
"No, I'll stick with the ice cream."
"Why?" she whined.
"Cause the booze is all for ME."
"I hate you Kiefer," Christina giggled.
"I hate you too Cricket."
"So meet me at 9:30?"
"Sure," Kiefer said. He grinned and relaxed in his chair. He couldn't wait.
