Life As It Is

"So am I going to drive you home?" Billie Joe asked Ella at the end of the school day.

"I'm sick of driving. It's a sunny day. Let's walk." Ella said.

So the two walked down the street. When they walked around the corner, Ella saw Jessica and her friends hanging out.

"Shit." Ella muttered.

"What's wrong?" Billie Joe asked.

"That bitch Jessica Marsh." Ella said when she saw Jessica approach her.

"Another Goodwill shirt, Ella?" Jessica said, giving her a pitying look as she walked off.

"Are you gonna let her treat you like that? Go say something!" Billie Joe said.

Ella opened her mouth and surprised everyone," Ok what the fuck is your problem with me? What's the big deal if I wear Goodwill? At least I don't wear crappy clothes to try to make myself look hardcore!"

Jessica looked surprised at Ella. She never expected her to talk back.

"Whatever, go hang out with your little stoner friend." Jessica said, pointing to Billie Joe and trying to keep her cool.

"He's not a stoner! He'll be more successful than you!" Ella said, walking off.

"Fuck off." Billie Joe said as he followed Ella and was more impressed by her than ever.

"That felt so good just to say that." Ella said.

"Yeah, never take shit from anyone."

The two then walked to Ella's house. Once they got there, Billie Joe and Ella went somewhere where nobody would see them.

"So what time are you coming?" Ella asked.

Earlier during the day, the two made plans to hang out.

"Probably around 7. So you have to be really careful." Billie Joe said.

"Ok, I will. See you then." Ella said, waving good-bye and heading to her front door.

As she opened the door she saw both of her parents and go a panicky feeling. This time though, both of them looked sober.

"It seems that we got a call from the school today saying you missed two class. Were you with that Billie Joe boy Eleanor?" Her mother asked sternly.

"No." Ella said weakly. After gaining all that confidence to talk to Jessica, she had lost it all.

"You fucking little liar!" Her mother said and hit Ella hard on the arm.

"And this time I don't apologize for it!"

"How dare you!" Ella's father said and hit his daughter as well.

Ella got scared. Her arms were starting to bruise up. She ran as quickly as possible to her bedroom.

As she went into her room, she collapsed on her bed and cried heavy sobs.
* * * * ** *
It was already quarter to 7 when Ella noticed her clock. Her pillow was wet from all the crying she had done. She continuously heard chatter going on outside he bedroom door but her parents never entered her room.

Suddenly, Ella heard little pebbles hitting against her window. As she went to her window, they stopped and she noticed it was Billie Joe.

She took a look at herself in the mirror and noticed her eyes looked puffy and red from all the crying. Ella shrugged and got ready to sneak out.

When she was finished, she made sure both of her parents weren't anywhere near her door. Ella then carefully opened her window and climbed down the ladder.

As she climbed down, Ella noticed Billie Joe at the bottom of the ladder, making sure she was ok.

"Hey!" Billie Joe said when Ella was finally down the ladder.

Ella turned to face him and Billie Joe noticed she had been crying.

"Holy shit, what's wrong?" He asked sounding worried.

Ella sighed and told Billie Joe the events that had happened as he nodded and listened sympathetically.

"You need to do something Ella." Billie Joe said at last.

"But what can I do? I'm not even 18 yet and I'm just plain scared."

"They could go to jail and shit."

"Yeah. Can we change the topic?" Ella couldn't even imagine her parents could go to jail. Maybe they would just not hit her was what Ella was hoping.

"Sure." Billie Joe said. Although he hadn't known her long, he cared deeply for Ella.

"So where are we headed?" Ella asked as Billie Joe was driving.

"My house. Mike, Tre, and Al are gonna be there."

"Oh great. I'll be the only girl." Ella said sarcastically.

As the two went into Billie Joe's house, both Ella and Billie Joe could hear the TV blasting from the living room.

"Jeez I can't leave you guys alone in my house for one fucking second?" Billie Joe said as he and Ella walked into the house to see a huge mess throughout the home.

"Nope!" The 3 guys said in unison.

"Hey Ella!" Mike and Al said together.

"Aren't you that chick from Gilman Street?" Tre asked Ella.

"Yep." Ella answered.

"You're hot!" He grinned.

"Wasn't I hot before?" She said jokingly.

"Don't mind him. He's a little hyper. When you met him he was a little dehydrated from the mosh pit." Mike said jokingly as well.

As Ella and Billie Joe sat on the couch, they all decided to give their attention to the TV and watch The Simpsons. Billie Joe looked at how cute Ella looked when she giggled at something stupid Homer Simpson did.

At the end of the episode, Tre started whining for candy.

"I want candyyy!" Tre whined.

"Not now." Mike said.

"But I want it now!" Tre said and threw a temper tantrum.

"Jeez I didn't know you were five." Mike said rolling his eyes. Billie Joe, Al, and Ella laughed.

By the time it was 10:00, everyone was having fun. Ella had never felt so included.

"Enjoying yourselves?" A voice said behind all 5 of them as they were all startled.

Ella turned around to see a woman's face. She looked as if she was going to jump into bed at any minute.

"Mom!" Billie Joe exclaimed. Of course it was his mom.

"Nice mess we have here," Billie Joe's mother said and looked at Ella," Oh, hi. You must be uh... Billie Joe's girlfriend."

Mike smirked at Billie Joe who shot him a "Don't even think about it" look.

"Actually this is just my friend Ella." Billie Joe said.

"Hi... Mrs. Armstrong?" Ella said, not sure if Billie Joe's mom liked to be called that.

"Hello Ella. You can just call me Ollie." Ollie said, smiling. It was that motherly smile Ella used to see from her mother.

"Uh, I was just about to take Ella home." Billie Joe said.

"Ok well this mess will be waiting for you. Mike, and Al to clean up."

"What about Tre?" Billie Joe said defensively.

"You expect Mr. Candy Stealer over there to do anything?" Ollie said as she nodded towards Tre stuffing his pockets with candy out of the nearest candy dish.

When all attention was on him, Tre stopped taking the candy and smiled innocently.

"Well uhh ok. Let's go Ella." Billie Joe said as he headed to the front door.

"It was nice meeting you, Ollie. See you guys around." Ella said politely as she followed Billie Joe to the door.
* * * * * * *
"Well that was fun." Ella said as Billie Joe and her got into the car.

"Yep, yep. Fun times. Oh and by the way you've got a nickname." Billie Joe said as he started the car.

"Really?" Ella asked. Nobody had also never gave her a nickname.

"Yep. It's El. You spell it E-l." Billie Joe said proudly.

"Clever." Ella said sarcastically.

As Billie Joe drove to Ella's house, Ella sat back thinking how her life was definitely changing ever since that one day in English class.

"Ella... Anyone home?" Billie Joe said, interrupting Ella's thoughts.

"Huh? Ohh, heh I'm home," Ella said," See ya."

"See ya." Billie Joe said as Ella smiled.

She got out of the car and climbed up the ladder carefully. As Billie Joe drove off, he thought of how pretty Ella looked. And this time it wasn't the drugs talking.