Be There, chapter 1
"Adie!" I yell as I run through the hallway backstage of the VH1 Studio.
"Myla! You're here!" Adie says as she hugs me. "Oh jeez, I haven't seen you for ages."
"How's everything?"
"Great, the guys are just finishing up. So did you just get off work?"
"Yeah, I got someone to take my place tonight," I say shrugging.
"So you're still doing the deejay thing at that club."
"Yeah, but the owner decided to host The Summer of Bands, basically putting me out of work this summer."
"But you still do weddings and stuff."
"Yeah, but I sort of crave the club stuff because that way I can rev up the audience," I say as I peer over the crowd to see my brother leaping off a speaker while playing Minority. Billie has managed to jam on his guitar while keeping the audience enticed and then there was Tre. I can't help but remember when the guys first started out.
"Myla, wake up," Mike whispers in my ear.
"What?"
"I think you should come with me today...Mom's not herself," he says awkwardly; Mom was always drinking a little too much or taking more than the "recommended dosage."
"I can hang with my friends, let me sleep."
"Please Myla; I'd rather if you leave with me now, then you can go with your friends," Mike pleads as we hear a crashing sound outside my bedroom door.
"Okay, I'll come," I say quickly as I get up. Mike leaves the room and I hear him trying to get Mom to calm down. I quickly get dressed and head out the door.
Mike and I walk down the street quickly, he had moved out into Billie Joe's house when I was twelve, but he always came to check on me though. Mike's cheek is red, Mom probably slapped him. She never really beats us, just when we really get her mad she'll slap us across the cheek.
"So, we got a new drummer," Mike says as he starts to slow down.
"What happened to Al?"
"Well he sort of disappeared, he left for college."
"Oh, so who's this new drummer?"
"His name is Tre Cool."
"He sounds like a laugh," I say poking fun at the cocky name.
"He is, but he's a wicked drummer, it's like he was eight arms."
"Sounds sexy," I say for the sole purpose to disturb my older brother.
We near Billie house where we see him tuning his guitar and there's a guy behind the drum set bashing away rhythmically.
"You're right, he is awesome," I mutter into Mike's ear as he walks up to his bass and puts the strap over his shoulder.
"You brought me a present!" the drummer says excitedly.
"Tre, this is my sister Myla, hands off or I'll neuter you with a screwdriver," Mike says warningly.
"Hi, you're a really good drummer," I say casually, causing Mike to roll his eyes. He knows that I find Tre attractive.
"Good drummer? I'm the best," he says taking a super hero pose.
"Getting cocky," I say as I take a seat on the dingy old couch in the garage.
"Hey girly, cocky is my middle name."
"Tre Cocky Cool?"
"I thought your middle name was Edwin," Billie says evilly as he sticks out his tongue. Tre turns beet red then whispers something inaudible from where I'm sitting.
"Myla, you came," Mike says as he comes to meet Adie and I.
"Yup, I wouldn't miss your birthday celebration," I say as I hug my brother.
"Oh my god, it's Myla!" Tre yells as he runs up to hug me.
"Ahh Tre, you're squeezing me," I manage to gasp.
"Oh, I'm not sorry," he says as he tightens his grip around me. "Jeez you should visit more often."
"Well some of us actually work," I say as he lets go of me.
"What do you call that? I broke a sweat," he says as he shows me his arm pits.
"Pleasant," I say as I push him away. "Hey Billie."
"Myla!" he says as he messes up my hair, stupid tradition he started the day he met me.
"Jeez, stop messing up my hair."
"Nope," Billie says as he ruffles it again.
"I'm going change clothes now!" Mike yells as he goes off to the dressing room. Billie and Tre follow behind.
"So is Mikey still with Brittney?"
"Yeah, he even got her name tattooed to his arm," Adie says laughing.
"Pretty serious then."
"Yup."
"Where's she now?"
"She's at the club setting up for the party," Adie says as we walk slowly down the hallway towards the dressing room.
"What about Tre?"
"Single."
"I thought he was dating..."
"That was just a rumor," Adie says rolling her eyes.
"Ha-ha I win!" Billie yells as he bursts out into the hallway.
"Win what?" I ask as Tre pushes past Mike to get out of the dressing room.
"You cheated!" Tre complains as he adjusts his bright green shirt.
"Riiiggghhhttt," Adie says as she looks over the three men adjusting their clothing.
"We wanted to see who could get ready the fastest," Mike says as he ties his shoelaces.
"Okay then, shall we go to the party then?" I ask amused.
"Yeah," Mike says as he puts his arm on my shoulders playfully. "So what have you been up to lately?"
"Just the deejay thing," I say as we walk down the hallway towards the door.
"And how's that going?"
"Well this summer the club owner decided to have bands instead, so I'm out of work from July to September. No biggy, I'll just do more weddings and stuff."
"Hmm. How about you come with us on tour."
"Mike."
"I'm serious, you can be our gofer," he says smirking evilly.
"Your gofer?"
"Yeah, you'll keep track of all the interviews and stuff we have, get us coffee blah, blah, blah."
"I'll think about it." We leave the studio and walk through the parking lot.
"Did you bring your car?"
"No, I took the bus," I say shrugging, "I didn't feel like driving through traffic."
"So I guess I'm stuck driving you," he says as he nudges me with his shoulder. As we drive to the party destination I think back to the summer when the guys started recording Kerplunk.
"You!" Tre yells as he points directly at me. I'm sitting on the couch in Billie's garage waiting for Billie and Mike to come meet me. They said they'd take me to their gig. "I need your help."
"Why?" he holds up a box of hair dye. "What?"
"I wanna dye my hair GRRREEEN!!!" he says as he flops down on the couch next to me and makes his blue eyes bulge.
"So why do you need my help?"
"Because, I can't do it myself."
"Coming from the guy who takes pride in being able to suck his own?"
"Yesh."
"Fine," I say as I grab the box from him and open it. I look over the instructions and mix the powder to the pastey stuff.
"So you want it all over or do you wanna be a skunk or what?" I say as I stand in front of him, putting on the supplied pair of rubber gloves.
"All over, I want to be just a green ball bobbing behind the drums," he says smirking evilly.
"Okay, here goes nothing." I start to smooth the pastey hair dye through his hair.
"Are you done yet?"
"Uhhh...Yeah," I say as I remove the gloves and shove them back in the box. "Now you have to wait half an hour."
"Argh!!!" Tre screams, "I don't want to wait that long." He runs off and sits at his drum set and starts playing Teenage Lobotomy. "Pick up the damn guitar; I know you can play this song!" he demands.
I pick up Billie's guitar and start playing along. This was one of the few songs I knew how to play; I had to force Mike to teach it to me. Mike and Billie Joe enter the garage and stare for like a millisecond before I stop playing.
"Blue!" Billie yells as he snatches it form me. "It's okay darling, no more evil wench to hurt you," he glares at me evilly as Mike just laughs.
"Tre, what the fuck did you put in your hair?" Mike asks as he steps closer to the drum set.
"Hair dye!!! I'm going green!" he says smirking.
"Okay then," Mike says backing away sitting on the couch. "We have to play at Gilman's tonight."
"Don't worry; I should be done by then," Tre says as he looks at his watch, then starts pounding away at his drums again.
"This is it, right?" Mike asks me as we near a club/bar.
"Yeah," I say checking the address. He parks the car down the street and we head into the club. Brittney was on the balcony over-looking the entire club which she reserved for the party. We walk up the stairs to where everyone is waiting. I don't recognize a lot of people, besides the Tre, Billie, Adie and Brittney the only people I knew were Jason and his girlfriend, I really couldn't remember her name. I decided to play it safe and hang out with Tre.
"Where's your date?" Tre asks as I near him, I knew why he was asking, he likes hassling my boyfriends.
"Don't have one," I say as I lean against the railing next to him.
"What? No wanna be punk rockers, no guys with Mohawks and three billion piercings."
"Nope."
"Not even a coindexter?"
"Sorry, to disappoint," I say shrugging.
"Okay then I'll be your date," he says as he puts his arm over my shoulders playfully.
"Then you'll have to interrogate yourself," I tease.
"So who are you?...I'm Tre Cool...so what are your intentions for Myla, you do know I'm not afraid to hurt anyone who hurts her...I'm just her date for the evening sir...damn right you call me sir," I burst out laughing at his split personality.
"Stop it Tre, you're being too harsh on him."
"You're right, he is pretty sexy."
"No not really, I just came with him as a last resort."
"I'm hurt," he says placing his hand on his chest. "You really hit me right here," he says motioning towards his heart, "And here." He motions to his crotch.
"Real mature," I say as I take the beer out of his hand and take a sip before handing it back.
"My beer!" he says angrily as he strokes the label.
"I always steal beer from my dates."
"As of now, I'm officially not your date."
"How's your love life going Tre?"
"About the same as a forty year old who lives in his mother's basement playing D&D."
"That bad?"
"Pretty much, except for the fact I'm sexy."
"Oh of course," I say nodding, while trying not to burst out laughing.
"You?"
"Blah, sucks monkey butt," I mumble as roll my neck.
"I heard you talking to Mike, so are you coming with us on tour?"
"Yeah I guess," I mumble as we watch people dancing to some techno stuff.
"How can you be single when you work at a club?"
"How can you be single if you the mere sight of you cause naughty thoughts in thousands of girls?"
"They're all underage!" Tre exclaims.
"They're all drunk!"
"Bah." Tre says as he takes a swig of beer and offers me some.
"Dates back on?" I ask as I take a sip from the bottle.
"Yeah whatever," he says shrugging. "I don't want to look pathetic and dateless."
"Awe," I say as pinch his cheek. He slaps my hand away and takes back his beer.
We don't move much from our spot against the railing, we only move to get more beer and in Tre's case he also left to 'drain the sea monster.' People start leaving around 3AM, then the remainder of us (me, Tre, Mike, Brittney, Billie, and Adie) are left leaning against the railing.
"I forgot birthday beats!" I yelp.
"Oh yeah," Tre says cracking his knuckles.
"Thanks for the reminder," Billie says smirking evilly.
"Oh fuck!" Mike yells as he dashes away. Tre and Billie run after him, I can't help but join in and chase after my older boyfriend.
"Shit!" I say as stop to take off my shoes before continuing the chase. I see Tre take a leap onto Mike's back causing him to fall backward.
"Aha!" Tre yells in victory. I run up to where Billie is standing and crouch next to him.
"So how old are you? Forty?" I ask evilly.
"Six," Mike gasps.
"Sixty?" Billie asks evilly.
"Fine, thirty-three," he says as he tries to wiggle free but Tre sits on his chest.
"One, two, three, four, five, six." We all chant, "Seven, eight, nine."
"Get off him," Brittney says she pulls at Tre's shoulder.
"No, birthday beats," Tre whines.
"You guys are so childish," Adie says laughing.
"True," Billie says punching Mike's arm again, "Ten!"
"I'd prefer Mike without bruises," Brittney says as she puts her hands on her hips.
"Let's leave it up to Myla," Billie says as he looks at me with big eyes.
"Two more punches then let him go," I say shrugging as I stand up and put my shoes back on.
"Eleven, twelve!" Tre yells following the blows. He removes himself from my brother's chest. "Next year, you're getting all thirty-four."
We decide it's time to leave.
"I'm taking it you'd like a lift home," Mike asks me as he puts his arm over Brittney's shoulders.
"Yes please," I say shyly.
"S'okay, I'll take you home," Tre volunteers. "I don't like the feeling of leaving a party alone; it makes me feel like a failure."
"Just as long as you know you're not getting lucky," I say as I follow him out to the street.
"I'll learn to deal with it," he says sarcastically as we near his SUV.
"Myla! You're here!" Adie says as she hugs me. "Oh jeez, I haven't seen you for ages."
"How's everything?"
"Great, the guys are just finishing up. So did you just get off work?"
"Yeah, I got someone to take my place tonight," I say shrugging.
"So you're still doing the deejay thing at that club."
"Yeah, but the owner decided to host The Summer of Bands, basically putting me out of work this summer."
"But you still do weddings and stuff."
"Yeah, but I sort of crave the club stuff because that way I can rev up the audience," I say as I peer over the crowd to see my brother leaping off a speaker while playing Minority. Billie has managed to jam on his guitar while keeping the audience enticed and then there was Tre. I can't help but remember when the guys first started out.
"Myla, wake up," Mike whispers in my ear.
"What?"
"I think you should come with me today...Mom's not herself," he says awkwardly; Mom was always drinking a little too much or taking more than the "recommended dosage."
"I can hang with my friends, let me sleep."
"Please Myla; I'd rather if you leave with me now, then you can go with your friends," Mike pleads as we hear a crashing sound outside my bedroom door.
"Okay, I'll come," I say quickly as I get up. Mike leaves the room and I hear him trying to get Mom to calm down. I quickly get dressed and head out the door.
Mike and I walk down the street quickly, he had moved out into Billie Joe's house when I was twelve, but he always came to check on me though. Mike's cheek is red, Mom probably slapped him. She never really beats us, just when we really get her mad she'll slap us across the cheek.
"So, we got a new drummer," Mike says as he starts to slow down.
"What happened to Al?"
"Well he sort of disappeared, he left for college."
"Oh, so who's this new drummer?"
"His name is Tre Cool."
"He sounds like a laugh," I say poking fun at the cocky name.
"He is, but he's a wicked drummer, it's like he was eight arms."
"Sounds sexy," I say for the sole purpose to disturb my older brother.
We near Billie house where we see him tuning his guitar and there's a guy behind the drum set bashing away rhythmically.
"You're right, he is awesome," I mutter into Mike's ear as he walks up to his bass and puts the strap over his shoulder.
"You brought me a present!" the drummer says excitedly.
"Tre, this is my sister Myla, hands off or I'll neuter you with a screwdriver," Mike says warningly.
"Hi, you're a really good drummer," I say casually, causing Mike to roll his eyes. He knows that I find Tre attractive.
"Good drummer? I'm the best," he says taking a super hero pose.
"Getting cocky," I say as I take a seat on the dingy old couch in the garage.
"Hey girly, cocky is my middle name."
"Tre Cocky Cool?"
"I thought your middle name was Edwin," Billie says evilly as he sticks out his tongue. Tre turns beet red then whispers something inaudible from where I'm sitting.
"Myla, you came," Mike says as he comes to meet Adie and I.
"Yup, I wouldn't miss your birthday celebration," I say as I hug my brother.
"Oh my god, it's Myla!" Tre yells as he runs up to hug me.
"Ahh Tre, you're squeezing me," I manage to gasp.
"Oh, I'm not sorry," he says as he tightens his grip around me. "Jeez you should visit more often."
"Well some of us actually work," I say as he lets go of me.
"What do you call that? I broke a sweat," he says as he shows me his arm pits.
"Pleasant," I say as I push him away. "Hey Billie."
"Myla!" he says as he messes up my hair, stupid tradition he started the day he met me.
"Jeez, stop messing up my hair."
"Nope," Billie says as he ruffles it again.
"I'm going change clothes now!" Mike yells as he goes off to the dressing room. Billie and Tre follow behind.
"So is Mikey still with Brittney?"
"Yeah, he even got her name tattooed to his arm," Adie says laughing.
"Pretty serious then."
"Yup."
"Where's she now?"
"She's at the club setting up for the party," Adie says as we walk slowly down the hallway towards the dressing room.
"What about Tre?"
"Single."
"I thought he was dating..."
"That was just a rumor," Adie says rolling her eyes.
"Ha-ha I win!" Billie yells as he bursts out into the hallway.
"Win what?" I ask as Tre pushes past Mike to get out of the dressing room.
"You cheated!" Tre complains as he adjusts his bright green shirt.
"Riiiggghhhttt," Adie says as she looks over the three men adjusting their clothing.
"We wanted to see who could get ready the fastest," Mike says as he ties his shoelaces.
"Okay then, shall we go to the party then?" I ask amused.
"Yeah," Mike says as he puts his arm on my shoulders playfully. "So what have you been up to lately?"
"Just the deejay thing," I say as we walk down the hallway towards the door.
"And how's that going?"
"Well this summer the club owner decided to have bands instead, so I'm out of work from July to September. No biggy, I'll just do more weddings and stuff."
"Hmm. How about you come with us on tour."
"Mike."
"I'm serious, you can be our gofer," he says smirking evilly.
"Your gofer?"
"Yeah, you'll keep track of all the interviews and stuff we have, get us coffee blah, blah, blah."
"I'll think about it." We leave the studio and walk through the parking lot.
"Did you bring your car?"
"No, I took the bus," I say shrugging, "I didn't feel like driving through traffic."
"So I guess I'm stuck driving you," he says as he nudges me with his shoulder. As we drive to the party destination I think back to the summer when the guys started recording Kerplunk.
"You!" Tre yells as he points directly at me. I'm sitting on the couch in Billie's garage waiting for Billie and Mike to come meet me. They said they'd take me to their gig. "I need your help."
"Why?" he holds up a box of hair dye. "What?"
"I wanna dye my hair GRRREEEN!!!" he says as he flops down on the couch next to me and makes his blue eyes bulge.
"So why do you need my help?"
"Because, I can't do it myself."
"Coming from the guy who takes pride in being able to suck his own?"
"Yesh."
"Fine," I say as I grab the box from him and open it. I look over the instructions and mix the powder to the pastey stuff.
"So you want it all over or do you wanna be a skunk or what?" I say as I stand in front of him, putting on the supplied pair of rubber gloves.
"All over, I want to be just a green ball bobbing behind the drums," he says smirking evilly.
"Okay, here goes nothing." I start to smooth the pastey hair dye through his hair.
"Are you done yet?"
"Uhhh...Yeah," I say as I remove the gloves and shove them back in the box. "Now you have to wait half an hour."
"Argh!!!" Tre screams, "I don't want to wait that long." He runs off and sits at his drum set and starts playing Teenage Lobotomy. "Pick up the damn guitar; I know you can play this song!" he demands.
I pick up Billie's guitar and start playing along. This was one of the few songs I knew how to play; I had to force Mike to teach it to me. Mike and Billie Joe enter the garage and stare for like a millisecond before I stop playing.
"Blue!" Billie yells as he snatches it form me. "It's okay darling, no more evil wench to hurt you," he glares at me evilly as Mike just laughs.
"Tre, what the fuck did you put in your hair?" Mike asks as he steps closer to the drum set.
"Hair dye!!! I'm going green!" he says smirking.
"Okay then," Mike says backing away sitting on the couch. "We have to play at Gilman's tonight."
"Don't worry; I should be done by then," Tre says as he looks at his watch, then starts pounding away at his drums again.
"This is it, right?" Mike asks me as we near a club/bar.
"Yeah," I say checking the address. He parks the car down the street and we head into the club. Brittney was on the balcony over-looking the entire club which she reserved for the party. We walk up the stairs to where everyone is waiting. I don't recognize a lot of people, besides the Tre, Billie, Adie and Brittney the only people I knew were Jason and his girlfriend, I really couldn't remember her name. I decided to play it safe and hang out with Tre.
"Where's your date?" Tre asks as I near him, I knew why he was asking, he likes hassling my boyfriends.
"Don't have one," I say as I lean against the railing next to him.
"What? No wanna be punk rockers, no guys with Mohawks and three billion piercings."
"Nope."
"Not even a coindexter?"
"Sorry, to disappoint," I say shrugging.
"Okay then I'll be your date," he says as he puts his arm over my shoulders playfully.
"Then you'll have to interrogate yourself," I tease.
"So who are you?...I'm Tre Cool...so what are your intentions for Myla, you do know I'm not afraid to hurt anyone who hurts her...I'm just her date for the evening sir...damn right you call me sir," I burst out laughing at his split personality.
"Stop it Tre, you're being too harsh on him."
"You're right, he is pretty sexy."
"No not really, I just came with him as a last resort."
"I'm hurt," he says placing his hand on his chest. "You really hit me right here," he says motioning towards his heart, "And here." He motions to his crotch.
"Real mature," I say as I take the beer out of his hand and take a sip before handing it back.
"My beer!" he says angrily as he strokes the label.
"I always steal beer from my dates."
"As of now, I'm officially not your date."
"How's your love life going Tre?"
"About the same as a forty year old who lives in his mother's basement playing D&D."
"That bad?"
"Pretty much, except for the fact I'm sexy."
"Oh of course," I say nodding, while trying not to burst out laughing.
"You?"
"Blah, sucks monkey butt," I mumble as roll my neck.
"I heard you talking to Mike, so are you coming with us on tour?"
"Yeah I guess," I mumble as we watch people dancing to some techno stuff.
"How can you be single when you work at a club?"
"How can you be single if you the mere sight of you cause naughty thoughts in thousands of girls?"
"They're all underage!" Tre exclaims.
"They're all drunk!"
"Bah." Tre says as he takes a swig of beer and offers me some.
"Dates back on?" I ask as I take a sip from the bottle.
"Yeah whatever," he says shrugging. "I don't want to look pathetic and dateless."
"Awe," I say as pinch his cheek. He slaps my hand away and takes back his beer.
We don't move much from our spot against the railing, we only move to get more beer and in Tre's case he also left to 'drain the sea monster.' People start leaving around 3AM, then the remainder of us (me, Tre, Mike, Brittney, Billie, and Adie) are left leaning against the railing.
"I forgot birthday beats!" I yelp.
"Oh yeah," Tre says cracking his knuckles.
"Thanks for the reminder," Billie says smirking evilly.
"Oh fuck!" Mike yells as he dashes away. Tre and Billie run after him, I can't help but join in and chase after my older boyfriend.
"Shit!" I say as stop to take off my shoes before continuing the chase. I see Tre take a leap onto Mike's back causing him to fall backward.
"Aha!" Tre yells in victory. I run up to where Billie is standing and crouch next to him.
"So how old are you? Forty?" I ask evilly.
"Six," Mike gasps.
"Sixty?" Billie asks evilly.
"Fine, thirty-three," he says as he tries to wiggle free but Tre sits on his chest.
"One, two, three, four, five, six." We all chant, "Seven, eight, nine."
"Get off him," Brittney says she pulls at Tre's shoulder.
"No, birthday beats," Tre whines.
"You guys are so childish," Adie says laughing.
"True," Billie says punching Mike's arm again, "Ten!"
"I'd prefer Mike without bruises," Brittney says as she puts her hands on her hips.
"Let's leave it up to Myla," Billie says as he looks at me with big eyes.
"Two more punches then let him go," I say shrugging as I stand up and put my shoes back on.
"Eleven, twelve!" Tre yells following the blows. He removes himself from my brother's chest. "Next year, you're getting all thirty-four."
We decide it's time to leave.
"I'm taking it you'd like a lift home," Mike asks me as he puts his arm over Brittney's shoulders.
"Yes please," I say shyly.
"S'okay, I'll take you home," Tre volunteers. "I don't like the feeling of leaving a party alone; it makes me feel like a failure."
"Just as long as you know you're not getting lucky," I say as I follow him out to the street.
"I'll learn to deal with it," he says sarcastically as we near his SUV.
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