Life As It Is

Ella sat bored in her SAT Prep class. Earlier in the morning, she had noticed that the mark on her face from before was gone. She was relieved as ever.

Her teacher was going on and on about analogies but when she heard her teacher say "as honest is to honesty", her ears perked up. Lying to Billie Joe was the last thing Ella wanted to do but she was scared. She was really hoping that her parents might change soon. Maybe the fact that they were in debt all caused this. Or did it?

"Ms. Montgomery?" Ella's teacher said, completely interrupting her thoughts.

"Yes?" She asked, completely confused.

"You're dismissed. Please report to the office." Her teacher handed her a pass as she got up and put on her Jansport book bag.

Dismissed? Why would her parents come and pick her up at 11 o'clock in the morning?

As she approached the office, she explained to the secretary what her teacher told her.

"You can go." The secretary said and with that, Ella went outside to the parking lot.

When she went the parking lot, she saw Billie Joe standing in front of his beat-up car grinning like a goof. God she loved that grin...

"Hmm... Ferris Bueller in disguise?" Ella said to Billie Joe as she approached him.

"Hey, I know people who know people." He kept on grinning. Ella looked into the backseat of the car to see that Mike and Tre were there doing something she couldn't make out.

"Get in babe. We're gonna go have some fun."

Ella laughed. "You sure you're not kidnapping me?"

"Hey that's my job!" Tre pouted.

When the couple got into the car, Billie Joe mentioned to Ella something about playing another gig.

"Aren't you missing a drummer?" Ella asked.

"Al decided to go to the first day of that college fair shit today." Billie Joe grumbled. Mike gave Ella a look from the rearview mirror.

As the four arrived to a small little club, Billie Joe handed Ella a camera.

"How did you guys manage to even get a gig here?" Ella asked.

"I know people." Billie Joe gave her yet another goofy grin.

Tre was going to fill in for Al at this gig. As soon as the other members of Sweet Children started playing, Tre immediately and quickly started playing the drums.

"Whoa, he's awesome... " Ella thought as she was taking close-up pictures. It was hard to do that when half the crowd was moshing right behind her.

When their set was over, Billie Joe gave a sweaty hug to his girlfriend.

After the gig, the four drove around Berkeley. It was just fun meeting new people. Ella also got a chance to learn about some punk music after admitting she didn't know what The Sex Pistols were and getting three shocked faces looking at her as if she was an alien.

She took a glance at her watch. It was already 3 o'clock.

"Holy shit. I need to get home." Ella said.

Her boyfriend nodded as he headed toward the direction of her house. Billie Joe pulled Ella closer to him, accidentally pulling up her sleeve a little.

"What the fuck?" He said as he noticed the bruise on Ella's wrist.

"It's nothing... I accidentally banged it against something." She said quietly. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Ella, don't lie to me." Billie Joe said sternly. "They've been hitting you again haven't they?"

This caught Mike and Tre's attention, who were just looking at the window.

"Fine. Ok they've been hitting me again but they're my parents." Ella said crossing her arms. She knew Billie Joe was right anyway.

"So you need to tell someone!" Billie Joe cried out.

"I'm not up for talking about this. I'm really not."

"I'm just worried about you ok?"

"Well... don't be." She sighed.

When the car stopped, Billie Joe didn't even realize he had stopped right in front of her house which he never did. But right now he wasn't even focusing on his driving.
Ella got out of the car without a goodbye or anything. She was upset and feeling lonely for some reason. She went inside her house as quickly as possible.

Back in the car, Billie Joe had completely stopped driving.

"Why won't she listen to me?" He muttered.

"Don't worry man, maybe she needs to come to her senses or something... " Tre suggested, not really sure what to say.

All of a sudden, the three guys heard a crash in Ella's house. Then someone yelling.

Uh-oh...