Green Day, Graffiti, Chilli, J, AJ, Bee, Clare, The Mainstreet, and The Underbelly, chapter 10
"Tré?" Mike walked in his room where Tré was now lying on the floor with photos strewn around him, singing to himself.
"I've got some scattered pictures lying on my bedroom floor. Reminds me of the times we shared. Makes me wish that you were here... "
He sniffed and a tear drew its path down to the floor and onto one of the photographs. They were all of Tré and Chilli. The one he was holding had Tré sitting on the sofa in the lounge and Chilli was sitting on his knee, kissing his cheek. The one closest to his head, which had just been marked lightly by a teardrop, was outside the mall a few weeks ago...Tré and Chilli are sitting on a bench making-out. Mike remembered when he had taken that photo and smiled, but it quickly faded as he shot back into reality and Tré let out a soft sob. Tré was staring at the photos and tears were gushing down his face.
"Tré, you need to speak to Chilli, I know it might be hard, but you two deserve to be together," Mike murmured in a comforting tone.
Tré turned and looked at him. "I love her, but I just fucking hit her. I said I didn't love her. It's tearing me up inside!" Tré whispered back, now crying.
Mike sat next to him patted his sobbing friend on the back, "She's upset Tré, but she needs you as much as you need her. Remember when you first saw her? You couldn't take your eyes off her. You stopped her from rolling off that cliff. She told me herself, that if it were anybody else, she would have just kicked 'em and gone, but she loves you. You two are meant for each other," Mike whispered.
"I love her so much. More than anything in the whole universe, but how can I speak to her now? I said that I never loved her! I hit her! She left. I saw her go," replied Tré miserably, not taking his eyes off the Chilli who was laughing in a photograph by his hand.
"You may have hit her, which was bad," Mike said to the drummer, "But she loves you with all her heart and she wants to speak to you. She came back after AJ went and spoke to her. She's downstairs. Go and talk to her." Tré nodded and got up, sorting himself out and wiping tears from his face.
***
Chilli was sitting alone on the couch staring blankly at the TV, which was switched off. "Y'know, it's usually more entertaining when it's on," Tré said softly as he walked up behind her.
She laughed weakly, stood, and walked around the sofa to face him. The cut running part-way up the side of her cheek had stopped bleeding, but was now surrounded by dried and drying blood.
"I love you, Chilli," Tré whispered, "I know I don't deserve you after what I did." Chilli slowly walked towards him, "What I said." She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared up at him, "All I've ever done to hurt you." He tenderly wiped some drying blood away from the cut in Chilli's cheek, "But I love you, forever and ever, and I have ever since I first saw you. Nothing's ever gonna change that. I was drunk and-"
Chilli cut him off with a soft kiss, "I love you too. You are the only person I could ever love... and maybe that guy who sells chocolate down the road." Tré laughed.
At these words of love for the drummer, Billie Joe, who had been listening in from just outside the door, felt a rush of various emotions course wrathfully through his veins.
Sadness... Anger... Jealousy... Hatred... Betrayal... Love...
He slid down the wall and closed his eyes. Thinking about what was going to happen, and how he had to come to terms with the strange thoughts were now buzzing through his head.
***
Ok, it's been a while since that, er, incident. Let me fill you in. Clare has started dating Benji Madden (She is on tour with Good Charlotte), and AJ is now going out with Pierre Bouvier (She is in Canada with Simple Plan). Mike and Bee still haven't admitted to being together, but everyone knows it. Even the media does. They aren't very good liars. Bee's gone back to The Mainstreet in Australia for a while to keep things going while they're in Oakland. The Underbelly are planning to make an American branch here. Expand around the globe. Y'know. Tré and Chilli have been walking around town for hours and hours and hours and hours. As they're wandering back home, Chilli sees a flyer taped to the pole of a street light.
'Beach Party, this Saturday. All punks attend for a rocking night! 7pm Be there!'
Tré grinned and nuzzled in behind her neck, "You want to go to a party?"
"Nah, of course not, why would I ever want to do that?" she replied sarcastically.
The two change their path, and arrive at Billie's to find Mike there too, and they tell them about the beach party. Fun.
*The beach party*
Chilli's POV
Loud punk music blasted around the whole beach as a giant bonfire burned on the sand. I spotted a familiar face and couldn't believe my eyes. I ran up to the figure and gave him a huge hug. "Hi Johnny," I said and couldn't wipe the grin off my face.
"Hey Chills!" the guy replied also smiling widely. Johnny had longish fair hair, dark brown eyes cuz he's so full of shit, and tattoos scribbled up his muscled arms. He wasn't exactly the tallest person I've ever met, but he wasn't a short-ass either. Just a little taller than Billie Joe. He had freckles on his nose and cheeks, and a tan because he surfed so much. He was the first person I had ever met on the streets, and he was one of the greatest people in the whole universe!
His happy smile rapidly faded when he spotted Tré walking up alongside us.
"Oh," I said also seeing Tré, "This is my boyfriend, Tré. Tré this is my bestestest friend EVER!!!" I took a deep breath, "Johnny."
Tré grinned, "Hey Johnny! Great to finally meet you!" he said enthusiastically.
Johnny didn't respond immediately. He always acted like this when there was someone else around us. He is really territorial or something. "Hi," he said coldly after a while.
Johnny and I went and sat down by the bonfire and we began to talk. Tré left us alone because he knew that Johnny was my best friend and I hadn't seen him for AGES. Johnny was sitting next to me in the sand and staring at me, frowning.
"What?" I asked looking over at him.
Johnny paused as I stared at his face, flickering in the light of the bonfire flames, "You've changed."
"What do ya mean?" I asked as I sat up straight.
Johnny paused again and frowned, "You're different. Just... different. You always said you wouldn't become a sell-out and leave the Underbelly."
"Yeah... well-" I started.
"Well what? You've changed Chill. And I don't like it-" Johnny said.
"Who said you had to? Just as long as she's happy," Tré said as he walked up behind us.
"The fact that she promised herself that she wouldn't do anything like this to herself doesn't bother you?" Johnny asked coldly.
"It's her choice, besides, people can change," Tré said.
"Times change!" Johnny shouted, then added in a sad whisper, "People shouldn't... "
"That's too bad," Tré said coolly, "Stop putting down my girlfriend. Stay the fuck away from her if you don't like who she is!"
"Tré!" I exclaimed.
"Stay out of this Chill," Johnny said as he stared at Tré with anger flashing through the brown of his eyes.
I sighed and stood up off the sand. I walked over to three familiar people standing near one of the coolers, talking and drinking. "Hey Chilli," Adrienne said as she saw me approaching.
"Hola," I muttered and grabbed a beer from the cooler.
"Who's your friend?" Billie Joe asked as he took another sip of his beer and watched a group of laughing teenage girls run past in bikinis. Adrienne scowled and punched him in the arm. Mike grinned and held back a laugh by closing his eyes and drinking deeply from his beer bottle.
"Oh... that's Johnny," I mumbled as I glanced back at Tré and Johnny, who were now shouting at each other, "He doesn't get along to well with Tré... "
I watched Tré and Johnny fight as Adie punched Billie Joe, harder this time, for watching the same girls run past again, this time with no tops on.
Tré and Johnny argued with each other throughout the entire night until at the very end...
"Johnny! Please calm down!" I plead.
"Shut up!" Johnny yells.
"Jo-" I begin.
"I said SHUT UP you fucking little slut!" he screams.
He never acts like this.
"Johnny, I think-" Tré tries.
"Oh no, don't you come into this, you fucking asshole!!" Johnny retorts angrily from the top of the cliff, as we watch anxiously from below.
Johnny was drunk. Very drunk... but I know that what he is saying is exactly what he means.
"Johnny," Mike's voice floats from the top of the cliff also; he is trying to get Johnny to relax.
"Shut the fuck up!" Johnny roars at him before he turns back to face us; looking down on us, he yells at me, "Chilli, I loved you-"
What?! Did he just say he loved me? I actually... do love him, I always have ever since that night, ever since I met him I've had this crush on him, but I have to admit. I wasn't quite expecting THAT!!
"But that was before," he continues, "Then you started going out with little pieces of SHIT like this." He points to Tré who's standing by my side, also staring up at Johnny, "And you got hurt! You always started off sad, got happier, and then, you got worse! I'm not in love with you and I never will be! I was, once... but then you changed. I don't love you... you don't even get to be a memory! You-"
"Johnny, seriously!" Mike butts in as tears pour steadily down my cheeks.
Johnny ignores him and opens his mouth to continue, "I thought that when I saw you... sitting there... all alone... that you were so beautiful. When you poured your heart out, I thought you were the perfect girl for me. When you taught me how to surf and I taught you to play, I even thought of telling you how I felt... " He takes a swig from the bottle of alcohol in his hand, "Then, you got a boyfriend... you broke up with him and guess who had to deal with all the tears, guess who had to put up with all the shit, Chilli?! ME!! I was there when you cut yourself, I was there when Mitch dumped Bee after fucking her, I was there when you had both your little baby moments! And you never even noti-"
Johnny staggers, he slips... and he falls. Down onto the serrated rocks awaiting him below.
"Oh my fucking god... " Billie Joe whispers under his breath as blood splatters and dapples the golden sand of the beach in front of us. Adie gasps and covers her face with her hands in shock, Mike is gazing shaken over the cliff top, and Tré is staring traumatized at Johnny's bloody body.
I stare blankly at the corpse for a moment, then down at the rocks, which are so soaked and slick with fresh, crimson blood that they are glistening in the ghostly, eerie, shimmering glow of moonlight, and then back to my dearest friend's torn body.
I know that he is gone...
I turn and run. Run as fast as I can to get away from here. This place. I need to be alone. I wipe my eyes as I walk into the graveyard, and fall to my knees in front of a very familiar tombstone.
"This has got to stop," I whisper quietly to myself as I undo the chain, which ropes my pocketknife, around my neck once again. I stare down at my scarred wrist in disgust and slash it open yet another time.
And another.
And another!!
Blood droplets stream steadily down my arm and mix into the dirt below me and I cry, not from the pain, now searing through my body, but at the thought that I had just lost a friend and a love.
That I was shattered once more...
"I've got some scattered pictures lying on my bedroom floor. Reminds me of the times we shared. Makes me wish that you were here... "
He sniffed and a tear drew its path down to the floor and onto one of the photographs. They were all of Tré and Chilli. The one he was holding had Tré sitting on the sofa in the lounge and Chilli was sitting on his knee, kissing his cheek. The one closest to his head, which had just been marked lightly by a teardrop, was outside the mall a few weeks ago...Tré and Chilli are sitting on a bench making-out. Mike remembered when he had taken that photo and smiled, but it quickly faded as he shot back into reality and Tré let out a soft sob. Tré was staring at the photos and tears were gushing down his face.
"Tré, you need to speak to Chilli, I know it might be hard, but you two deserve to be together," Mike murmured in a comforting tone.
Tré turned and looked at him. "I love her, but I just fucking hit her. I said I didn't love her. It's tearing me up inside!" Tré whispered back, now crying.
Mike sat next to him patted his sobbing friend on the back, "She's upset Tré, but she needs you as much as you need her. Remember when you first saw her? You couldn't take your eyes off her. You stopped her from rolling off that cliff. She told me herself, that if it were anybody else, she would have just kicked 'em and gone, but she loves you. You two are meant for each other," Mike whispered.
"I love her so much. More than anything in the whole universe, but how can I speak to her now? I said that I never loved her! I hit her! She left. I saw her go," replied Tré miserably, not taking his eyes off the Chilli who was laughing in a photograph by his hand.
"You may have hit her, which was bad," Mike said to the drummer, "But she loves you with all her heart and she wants to speak to you. She came back after AJ went and spoke to her. She's downstairs. Go and talk to her." Tré nodded and got up, sorting himself out and wiping tears from his face.
***
Chilli was sitting alone on the couch staring blankly at the TV, which was switched off. "Y'know, it's usually more entertaining when it's on," Tré said softly as he walked up behind her.
She laughed weakly, stood, and walked around the sofa to face him. The cut running part-way up the side of her cheek had stopped bleeding, but was now surrounded by dried and drying blood.
"I love you, Chilli," Tré whispered, "I know I don't deserve you after what I did." Chilli slowly walked towards him, "What I said." She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared up at him, "All I've ever done to hurt you." He tenderly wiped some drying blood away from the cut in Chilli's cheek, "But I love you, forever and ever, and I have ever since I first saw you. Nothing's ever gonna change that. I was drunk and-"
Chilli cut him off with a soft kiss, "I love you too. You are the only person I could ever love... and maybe that guy who sells chocolate down the road." Tré laughed.
At these words of love for the drummer, Billie Joe, who had been listening in from just outside the door, felt a rush of various emotions course wrathfully through his veins.
Sadness... Anger... Jealousy... Hatred... Betrayal... Love...
He slid down the wall and closed his eyes. Thinking about what was going to happen, and how he had to come to terms with the strange thoughts were now buzzing through his head.
***
Ok, it's been a while since that, er, incident. Let me fill you in. Clare has started dating Benji Madden (She is on tour with Good Charlotte), and AJ is now going out with Pierre Bouvier (She is in Canada with Simple Plan). Mike and Bee still haven't admitted to being together, but everyone knows it. Even the media does. They aren't very good liars. Bee's gone back to The Mainstreet in Australia for a while to keep things going while they're in Oakland. The Underbelly are planning to make an American branch here. Expand around the globe. Y'know. Tré and Chilli have been walking around town for hours and hours and hours and hours. As they're wandering back home, Chilli sees a flyer taped to the pole of a street light.
'Beach Party, this Saturday. All punks attend for a rocking night! 7pm Be there!'
Tré grinned and nuzzled in behind her neck, "You want to go to a party?"
"Nah, of course not, why would I ever want to do that?" she replied sarcastically.
The two change their path, and arrive at Billie's to find Mike there too, and they tell them about the beach party. Fun.
*The beach party*
Chilli's POV
Loud punk music blasted around the whole beach as a giant bonfire burned on the sand. I spotted a familiar face and couldn't believe my eyes. I ran up to the figure and gave him a huge hug. "Hi Johnny," I said and couldn't wipe the grin off my face.
"Hey Chills!" the guy replied also smiling widely. Johnny had longish fair hair, dark brown eyes cuz he's so full of shit, and tattoos scribbled up his muscled arms. He wasn't exactly the tallest person I've ever met, but he wasn't a short-ass either. Just a little taller than Billie Joe. He had freckles on his nose and cheeks, and a tan because he surfed so much. He was the first person I had ever met on the streets, and he was one of the greatest people in the whole universe!
His happy smile rapidly faded when he spotted Tré walking up alongside us.
"Oh," I said also seeing Tré, "This is my boyfriend, Tré. Tré this is my bestestest friend EVER!!!" I took a deep breath, "Johnny."
Tré grinned, "Hey Johnny! Great to finally meet you!" he said enthusiastically.
Johnny didn't respond immediately. He always acted like this when there was someone else around us. He is really territorial or something. "Hi," he said coldly after a while.
Johnny and I went and sat down by the bonfire and we began to talk. Tré left us alone because he knew that Johnny was my best friend and I hadn't seen him for AGES. Johnny was sitting next to me in the sand and staring at me, frowning.
"What?" I asked looking over at him.
Johnny paused as I stared at his face, flickering in the light of the bonfire flames, "You've changed."
"What do ya mean?" I asked as I sat up straight.
Johnny paused again and frowned, "You're different. Just... different. You always said you wouldn't become a sell-out and leave the Underbelly."
"Yeah... well-" I started.
"Well what? You've changed Chill. And I don't like it-" Johnny said.
"Who said you had to? Just as long as she's happy," Tré said as he walked up behind us.
"The fact that she promised herself that she wouldn't do anything like this to herself doesn't bother you?" Johnny asked coldly.
"It's her choice, besides, people can change," Tré said.
"Times change!" Johnny shouted, then added in a sad whisper, "People shouldn't... "
"That's too bad," Tré said coolly, "Stop putting down my girlfriend. Stay the fuck away from her if you don't like who she is!"
"Tré!" I exclaimed.
"Stay out of this Chill," Johnny said as he stared at Tré with anger flashing through the brown of his eyes.
I sighed and stood up off the sand. I walked over to three familiar people standing near one of the coolers, talking and drinking. "Hey Chilli," Adrienne said as she saw me approaching.
"Hola," I muttered and grabbed a beer from the cooler.
"Who's your friend?" Billie Joe asked as he took another sip of his beer and watched a group of laughing teenage girls run past in bikinis. Adrienne scowled and punched him in the arm. Mike grinned and held back a laugh by closing his eyes and drinking deeply from his beer bottle.
"Oh... that's Johnny," I mumbled as I glanced back at Tré and Johnny, who were now shouting at each other, "He doesn't get along to well with Tré... "
I watched Tré and Johnny fight as Adie punched Billie Joe, harder this time, for watching the same girls run past again, this time with no tops on.
Tré and Johnny argued with each other throughout the entire night until at the very end...
"Johnny! Please calm down!" I plead.
"Shut up!" Johnny yells.
"Jo-" I begin.
"I said SHUT UP you fucking little slut!" he screams.
He never acts like this.
"Johnny, I think-" Tré tries.
"Oh no, don't you come into this, you fucking asshole!!" Johnny retorts angrily from the top of the cliff, as we watch anxiously from below.
Johnny was drunk. Very drunk... but I know that what he is saying is exactly what he means.
"Johnny," Mike's voice floats from the top of the cliff also; he is trying to get Johnny to relax.
"Shut the fuck up!" Johnny roars at him before he turns back to face us; looking down on us, he yells at me, "Chilli, I loved you-"
What?! Did he just say he loved me? I actually... do love him, I always have ever since that night, ever since I met him I've had this crush on him, but I have to admit. I wasn't quite expecting THAT!!
"But that was before," he continues, "Then you started going out with little pieces of SHIT like this." He points to Tré who's standing by my side, also staring up at Johnny, "And you got hurt! You always started off sad, got happier, and then, you got worse! I'm not in love with you and I never will be! I was, once... but then you changed. I don't love you... you don't even get to be a memory! You-"
"Johnny, seriously!" Mike butts in as tears pour steadily down my cheeks.
Johnny ignores him and opens his mouth to continue, "I thought that when I saw you... sitting there... all alone... that you were so beautiful. When you poured your heart out, I thought you were the perfect girl for me. When you taught me how to surf and I taught you to play, I even thought of telling you how I felt... " He takes a swig from the bottle of alcohol in his hand, "Then, you got a boyfriend... you broke up with him and guess who had to deal with all the tears, guess who had to put up with all the shit, Chilli?! ME!! I was there when you cut yourself, I was there when Mitch dumped Bee after fucking her, I was there when you had both your little baby moments! And you never even noti-"
Johnny staggers, he slips... and he falls. Down onto the serrated rocks awaiting him below.
"Oh my fucking god... " Billie Joe whispers under his breath as blood splatters and dapples the golden sand of the beach in front of us. Adie gasps and covers her face with her hands in shock, Mike is gazing shaken over the cliff top, and Tré is staring traumatized at Johnny's bloody body.
I stare blankly at the corpse for a moment, then down at the rocks, which are so soaked and slick with fresh, crimson blood that they are glistening in the ghostly, eerie, shimmering glow of moonlight, and then back to my dearest friend's torn body.
I know that he is gone...
I turn and run. Run as fast as I can to get away from here. This place. I need to be alone. I wipe my eyes as I walk into the graveyard, and fall to my knees in front of a very familiar tombstone.
"This has got to stop," I whisper quietly to myself as I undo the chain, which ropes my pocketknife, around my neck once again. I stare down at my scarred wrist in disgust and slash it open yet another time.
And another.
And another!!
Blood droplets stream steadily down my arm and mix into the dirt below me and I cry, not from the pain, now searing through my body, but at the thought that I had just lost a friend and a love.
That I was shattered once more...
