Dreams of Tomorrow

Athalya’s supposed ‘sleep over’ with Johnny ended up with Jimmy and Brian... That wasn’t part of the plan but Athalya had felt guilty for not inviting them. It was just the four of them now as Athalya’s grand parents had headed to bed a couple of hours ago.
At the moment, they were watching movies. Horror movies and Athalya was sleeping. Her feet resting on Johnny’s lap, her back resting on Jimmy’s as her head was resting on Brian’s lap. Jimmy had drummed on her stomach earlier but he had stopped as soon as Brian had glared at him.

Athalya had not purposely chosen to be in this position, it had just ‘happen’ well, Jimmy forced her to sit on his lap because she was sitting on the floor, and then Brian and Johnny argued, so Jimmy laid her down on them. And she fell asleep.

She woke up a couple times, opening one eye and glancing at the TV screen before closing it again and falling back asleep.

The movie ended.

Athalya stirred and opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times before she moved off their lap and stretched.

“I’m heading to bed.” She said, pulling at her t-shirt.

“Yeah, sound goods to me.” Said Johnny, yawning as he glanced at the clock. 2.04am.

“So, where are we sleeping?” asked Jimmy, as Brian was switching off the TV and the VHS player.

“My bedroom...” she replied, rubbing her neck. She grabbed the empty bowls of pop-corns and empty cans of all sort and put everything in the kitchen before leading the way to her bedroom.

“I’m sleeping on the French side!” called Jimmy, jumping to the left side of the bed. Then, he turned and took a look at the some Eiffel tower on her nightstand.

“I thought it was bigger...” said Jimmy, but the look on his face told her he was only joking. She shook her head, chuckling.

“Guys you can sleep on my bed, I’ll sleep on the mattress.” She explained, nudging the mattress with her foot. Her grandmother had put the mattress in Athalya’s room earlier that day, when she remembered that Johnny was supposed to come. Now that they were 4 instead of 2, the sleeping arrangement weren’t as easily made.

“No way!” protested Brian.

“Yes, way!” Athalya said. “You are my guests, therefore, you sleep on the bed, I’ll sleep on the mattress.”

“That’s not how it is supposed to be.” Replied Jimmy. “It is your bed and for that reason, you’re sleeping on it.”

“No. That’s how I was raised. The guests got the bed, the owner of the bed get the mattress. End of discussion.”

“Fine then, but don’t you think we’ll be a bit crushed being 3 boys in the bed?” asked Jimmy, a small smile on his face, glancing at Brian.

“That’s right, I didn’t think of that...” she mumbled, biting her lip.

“Well... Brian and Jimmy on the bed and Johnny with me?” she suggested, retrieving her PJS from under the pillow.

“Since I’m the tallest, I’d say I take the Shortshit with me...” said Jimmy.

“If you think that’s best.” Said Athalya with a shrug. “I’m going to change.” She said and left the bedroom, heading to the bathroom.

Jimmy got up from the bed with a proud smile on his face when he caught Brian’s eyes on him.

“You did it on purpose?” he asked.

Jimmy grinned.

“Of course I did, I’m not your best friend for nothing!” he said, before taking off his T-shirt and pants and throwing them at the end of the bed. Staying with only his boxers on. Then he removed his socks, throwing them on the pile of his clothes and slide under the covers. Johnny did the same as Jimmy. And so did Brian, except that he kept his T-shirt on.

“I should have taken some PJs...” mumbled Brian, rubbing his neck as he slide down under the covers of the mattress.

“Aw come on, Athalya won’t mind. Just try to keep your excitement under control and don’t get a boner, that’d be embarrassing...” said Jimmy.

Brian was about to retort when someone knocked and the door cracked open.

“Can I come in?” Athalya asked, looking at her feet, in case one of the boys was still changing.

“Yeap!” said Jimmy. Athalya closed the door behind her and dumped her clothes on the desk chair. She was wearing dark cotton pants with a Green Day t-shirt.

“You can use the bathroom if you want.” She said, running a hand through her hair. Jimmy switched on the small lamp that was on the night stand and Athalya switched the bigger one off.

“Nah, too lazy!” mumbled Johnny, curled up under the covers.

Athalya smiled and slide down under the covers, next to Brian. She wiggled a bit, trying to find the position that suited her and Jimmy switched off the lamp.

“I’m warning you Shortshit. I hope you don’t fart nor snore when you sleep!” whispered Jimmy in the darkness.

Athalya couldn’t help the chuckle that past her lips and she could feel Brian’s body shaking with repressed laughter next to her.

Johnny grumbled something.

There was a chorus of ‘good night’ and then everyone fell silent.
Jimmy and Johnny fell asleep almost immediately, shortly followed by Athalya. It took a little longer for Brian to fell asleep. Sharing the same bed as Athalya, both laying on a single bed mattress and being so close to one other wasn’t doing any good to his hormones...

**

Athalya was getting ready for school. It was Thursday, two days before the ‘party of the year’, that’s how the ‘group of friends’ were calling it. They had already started stocking alcohol in Zacky’s basement.

As the days passed, Athalya was becoming used to the idea of not seeing the Armstrong family this week end, still, she avoided thinking about them as much as possible. Her moral was going downhill every time she thought about Joey and Billie Joe.

David, her step father, had called a couple of days before. He said he was coming for Christmas. That little news had brightened Athalya’s week. She missed him.

Her time was shared between school and hanging with the guys and the girls. Michelle, Jimmy or Brian was always by her sides. Always. Even when Athalya wanted nothing more than to be alone for a moment.

She was trying her best to keep up with school as well as studying for other subjects. She was going to graduate here and in France. Her decision had been made when she realized that she would dedicate her life to Green Day. She was sending a lot of letters to her old school in order to get herself sign up on the list for the final exams. It was as if she were homeschooled. She’d have to go back to France to pass her exams but that had already been taken care of by David, since he was still in France.

Athalya walked downstairs just in time for her to be picked up by Jimmy. Like usual. It had become a habit, a routine. They picked up Johnny on their way and they were off.

Lunch time arrived fast, Athalya’s morning classes went by in a blur and soon she was meeting her friends at the cafeteria. Brian was here as well. Like always. And of course, once again, the conversations were only revolving around Halloween.

“Oh, and before I forget... The math teacher has the flu, he went home this morning.” Said Michelle, smiling.

Athalya gasped and dropped her sandwich on the tray. Everyone turned to look at her as she jumped off her sit, as if she was possessed.

“I’m done for the day.” She said. “And I don’t have school tomorrow morning... My French and Chinese teachers are away.” She added, her eyes sparkling. “Ji-...” she started, about to ask him to drive her home.

Brian smiled and shot up from his seat as well. He grabbed his sandwich in one hand, his jacket and car keys in the other. “I’ll drive you.”

“I’m going to grab my stuff, I’ll meet you at your car!” she hurriedly said, storming off the cafeteria.

“What the fuck is going on?” asked Matt, completely confused and upset. He didn’t like being kept away from stuff.

“I’m driving Athalya to the airport, she’ll take the next flight to San Francisco. That way she’ll be able to see them and then be back for the party on Saturday...” He said, smiling.

“Oh.” Was everyone’s reply. Except for Jimmy, who smiled proudly and patted his best friend on the back.

“Thanks dude.”

Brian nodded, grabbed Athalya’s half eaten sandwich and hurried to his car.

**

“Mamie!” shouted Athalya, swinging the door open and rushing to the kitchen.

“Mamie, I’m off to SF! I don’t have school this afternoon and tomorrow morning!” she said, her hands moving quickly as she spoke, her eyes wide with hope. “Can I?”

Suzan smiled and nodded.
“Of course Athalya, hurry up, I’m calling Bil-...”

Athalya cut her off by throwing her arms around her and hugging her tight.
“Thank you Mamie! I love you! Don’t call them, it’ll be a surprise!” she said. Suzan laughed at Athalya’s enthusiast.

And then Athalya was running up the stairs and to her room.

“Don’t fall Lya!” shouted David from the living room as he heard his granddaughter running.

“Lya?” asked Brian, frowning slightly after he had shaken hands with David.

“Athalya’s nickname. Joey sai-... you know about Joey?” asked David, looking at Brian.

“Yeah, yeah... Athalya told me about Joey.” He said with a small smile.

“Well, he calls her Lya... and after hearing him calling for Lya through the phone, it got to us. And Lya is shorter.” Said Suzan, smiling as she entered the living room.

She greeted Brian with a hug and a smile as Athalya ran down the stairs once again, making the house tremble with her steps.

She was grinning from ear to ear, holding a small backpack and a ticket in her hand.

Brian waved at Suzan and David as Lya hugged them quickly and then ran to Brian’s car. She was literally bouncing on her sit.

“Thank you so so so fucking much Brian, thank you for driving me to the airport!” she said, smiling brightly at him.

“No problem at all Lya...” said Brian, as he drove down PCH, towards LA. He would have driven her to SF himself if there was a need, just to see her smile like this.

Athalya smiled as he used her nickname but said nothing about it.

When they got to the airport. Athalya hugged Brian tightly, kissed his cheek and left the car shouting a “Thank you Brian!” as she did so.

Brian just smiled and waved before driving back to Huntington and going back to school.

**

Athalya walked out of the taxi, smiling. She swung her bag over her shoulder and headed to the big iron doors. She pressed the code, Billie Joe had given it to her. She hurried down the path and up to the stairs before reaching the front door. She lifted up her hand and knocked on the door, 3 times.

After only a couple of seconds, the door opened and Adie stood there, wiping her hands on an apron.
It took the woman less than 2 seconds to realize that Athalya was standing there.

“Lya!” she said, wrapping her arms around the younger girl. Athalya just smiled brighter and held onto her tightly.

“How are you doing? How come you are here? Did anything happen?” Adrienne was bombarding her with questions as she led her to the kitchen.

“I’m fine, thanks. I had some teachers that were absent, so I jumped on the occasion to use my ‘emergency’ plan ticket!” said Athalya, sitting on one of the stool. “Where’s Joey? And Jakob is taking a nap I guess... and how’s Billie Joe?”

Adrienne chuckled,
“Joey is at school, Jacob is in fact sleeping and Billie Joe is at the studio with Tré and Mike.” She explained.

“When is Joey coming out of school?”

“I guess we should start getting ready to leave...” said Adrienne, taking off her apron.

Just when Jacob started crying in the baby monitor. Adrienne made a move to go and get him but Athalya was quicker.

“I’m going!” she said. Adrienne just smiled and nodded. Lya hurried up the stairs and to Jacob’s room.
The little boy was standing up in his bed, gripping the edge with his small hands and gazing at the ajar door. Athalya pushed the door open and smiled at him. She walked closer to him, wiped his tears away and picked him up before going to open the curtains.

He smiled at her and started pulling at her hair, blabbering as she proceeded to change his nappy. Then, she dressed him and they were off.

Adrienne was standing in the hall, about to grab her coat when Athalya and Jacob made their appearance.

“Nice job... I had no idea you were en expert with babies...” said Adrienne as Lya set him down.

“I’m not an expert, really... I just always wanted to have a baby brother...” she explained as she sat down and help Jacob putting his shoes on. Well, the only thing Jacob did was holding onto Lya’s shoulder. He was just so damn cute, the smile on Athalya’s face didn’t falter.

She took his small hand in hers, the three of them left the house and headed towards Adrienne’s car. He had definitely improved his walking skills since the last time she had seen him.

Athalya strapped Jacob in his seat and then went to the passenger door.

“I’m really happy you came!” said Adrienne, glancing at Athalya before starting the engine.

“And so am I.” Whispered Lya, leaning back on her seat, smiling.

“We’re going to pick Joey up, and then I’ll drop you at 880 studios. How does that sound to you?”

“That sounds great!”

The drive to Joey’s school was spent with small chat, both girl and woman talking about what had happened in their lives since the last time they saw each other.

Adrienne parked the car and Athalya unstrapped Jacob from his seat, she helped him out of the car seat and held his hand as the three of them went to stand by the school entrance.

“Oé!”

Athalya blinked and looked down at Jacob who was pointing in the direction of the school as children started pouring out of the school gates.

“Oé!” he repeated.

Athalya just blinked again and looked at Adrienne who was chuckling lightly.

“Joey.” She said, “He can’t pronounce the ‘J’ yet, so he called him ‘Oé’... don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” Adrienne said.

“LYA!”

Her attention was brought by a boy, running towards her. Adrienne reacted quickly and picked up Jacob before he could get crushed as Joey jumped on Athalya, squeezing her to death.

“You came! You came!” he cheered. “See Mom, I told you she would come! She promised me!” said Joey, slowly releasing Athalya from his death grip.

“Yes, yes I’m here Joey!” said Athalya, laughing lightly.

He smiled brightly and then went to hug his mother and kiss his baby brother’s cheek before taking a hold of Athalya’s hand. And the 4 of them headed back to the car.

This time, Adrienne was the one to strap Jacob in his seat, and Athalya sat in the middle of the backseat, with Joey to her left. Adrienne chuckled, seeing Athalya squeezed between the baby seat and Joey.

“We’re going to drop Lya at the studio so she can surprise Dad, okay?” said Adrienne, as she started the car.

“Yeah!” cheered Joey as Jacob just smiled and clapped his hands, ‘Ad’.

“Let’s go...” she then said, putting the car in reverse and getting out of the car park. She turned on the radio and put a CD in the player.

“I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world!” sung Joey, jumping on his seat.

Jacob blabbered, Adie sung too and so did Lya.
The two girls were smiling at each others, while singing the song.

**

Adrienne stopped the car, they had arrived at the 880 studios.

“I’ll be right back.” Said Adrienne as she left the car and hurried to the studios. Athalya slowly unbuckled her seatbelt and when Adie returned, she tried to get out of the backseat without squashing Joey or Jacob in the process.

“The guys are in there, I was just checking if they were alone or what... Because if they weren’t, they probably wouldn’t have let you in...” explained Adrienne, rolling her eyes. “Security those days... Anyway... You’re free to go in!” she added, smiling.

Athalya hugged her and then jogged to the building. She waved at Adrienne and the kids as they drove off before she walked in. She hurried down the corridors until she could see some lights under the door. She carefully placed her ear against the wooden surface and smiled as she heard Tré laughing. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She heard a shuffling sound and then the door opened.

Tré was there, his hair spiking up in every direction.

“Hey there!” he shouted, reminding her of Jimmy. He hugged her.

“Is that the pizza guy?” asked someone from the couch. Mike. She smiled.

She followed Tré inside the room and bend over the couch,
“Bouh!” she said, startling an almost sleeping Billie Joe. He held onto the coffee table, trying to prevent himself from falling on the carpet.

“What the fuck Tré!” he muttered.

“I didn’t do anything for once!” said the drummer, sitting back on his armchair.

“Guess that wasn’t the pizza guy!” said Mike, with a smile as he got up and walked over to Athalya, hugging her.

“Lya?” asked Billie Joe, one eye opened.

She just smiled at him.

Billie Joe pushed himself off the coffee table and went to the young girl, wrapping his arms around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled happily. The hug lasted a few seconds longer than it did with Mike and Tré. Billie Joe broke their embrace and looked at her.

“What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be at school?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Technically, I should be home. It’s 4pm.” She replied, heading towards the couch and sitting down on it, kicking off her shoes and sitting cross-legged on the armrest of the couch.

Billie Joe looked at her, worried.

“Nothing happened B, some of my teachers were away, so I put my ‘emergency’ ticket you gave for my birthday in good use and took the first flight I could catch to SF.” She explained. “And we went to pick up Joey from school and Adie dropped me off at the studio.” She added.

It kind of amazed her how relax and uncaring she could be when she was with the Armstrong family. If she had been with Brian or Jimmy, she would have never kicked her shoes and sat down like that without anyone telling her to take a sit.

“I bet the kid was glad” said Mike, taking a sip from his beer. Lya smiled.

“He squeezed me in a bear hug... nearly squashing Jacob on his way...” she said, laughing at the memory.

“That’s my boy!” said Billie Joe, chuckling. He stretched his arms above his head, he looked like cat as he scratched his ear.

“Want to drink something?” he asked, turning to look at the only girl in the room.

“Yes please!”

“The fridge is in the corner, make yourself at home and take whatever you want to drink...” said Billie Joe, pointing at something over his shoulder before he went to lie down on the couch once again. His feet next to Athalya.

“Is that how you’re coming up with the new Green Day album?” asked Athalya, as she crouched down to look at the bottom of the fridge. It was full with cans of beer, but at the bottom, a few cans of coke remained. She grabbed one, closed the fridge and took back her previous position on the armrest.

“We’re working, even if it doesn’t look like it.” Said Mike. And to his comment, Tré yawned. “It’s nap time” he commented, yawning again.

“We’ve got a couple of demos so far.” Explained Billie. “Castaway, the one you heard last time you came, and two other songs... But most of the time, we’re just jamming... Not really into the ‘creative’ mode...” he added.

“That’s a shame...” she mumbled, putting her can on the coffee table. “I’m in desperate need for some new Green Day material.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot that our biggest fan was among us...” said Billie Joe, a playful smile on his face.

Lya pursed her lips and reached down to smack his arm. She lost her balance and fell on him, her head on his chest.

“See, I’m not the only one thinking it’s time to take a nap!” said Tré, leaning in his seat, and closing his eyes.

“Yeah, let’s take a nap!” added Billie Joe, laughing as he wrap his arms around Lya’s torso. She tried her best to hide her reddening cheeks but none of the guys commented on her blushing.

“I can’t sleep! I drunk too much coffee!” whined Mike, propping his feet on the table, knocking several down empty Starbucks cups of coffee while doing so.

“When are you going back?” asked Tré.

“Back where?” mumbled Lya, her face pressed to Billie’s T-shirt. He was comfy, she could totally take a nap laying there.

“Home.”

“When Billie is leaving.” She answered, yawning.

Tré gave her a funny look.
“No, I meant, when are you going back to South California?”

“Ah... Well, probably Saturday, around midday.” She said.

Home... She wasn’t considering Huntington as her home... She remembered her grandmother telling her that “home is where your heart is”. Very well then, her home was wherever Billie Joe, Adrienne, Jacob and Joey were. Simple.

“So, how’s school?” asked Mike. “Do you get good grades?”

“Fine... My grades are allright, I’m not a straight A student, but I could do worse...” she replied with a shrug.

“Good good...” he replied, nodding. That made Billie laughed.

“Dude, you’re not the one to talk... You barely graduated.” He said.

“And you didn’t even made it to graduation...” pointed out Mike, laughing.

“Lya, I have great plan for you. You’re going to graduate, go to college, be a doctor and make uncle Mike very proud of you.” He said, leaning close to the couch and patting her head on BJ’s chest.

“Since we all are school failure, you better go to college.” Said BJ.

“Hey! I went to college...” protested Tré. Both Mike and BJ turned to look at their friend.

“Tré, you wanted to be a clown! It doesn’t count!” said Mike.

“You even lost one of your family jewels while being there...” added Billie Joe. Lya couldn’t help but to laugh lightly, hiding her face in BJ’s shirt as Tré glared at his friends.

“No, seriously... What do you want to do after graduation Lya?” asked Mike.

“Huh... I don’t really know...” she said. “I’d like to work in the cinema or musical industry but other than that, I don’t have a real idea.” She explained.

“Ah music!” said Tré, relaxing in his seat and putting his feet on BJ’s ones, just to annoy him. “Are you a musician?”

“Nope... a little bit of piano, but that’s all. I love the sound of guitar though, but I don’t know how to play. I don’t wanna be in the spotlight...”

“Under.” Said Mike.

“Huh?”

“It’s under the spotlight, not in”. He explained.

She blushed, and Billie Joe glared at Mike.

“Never mind if it’s under, in, on top or whatever...” said Tré. “What do you want to do then?”

“I don’t know... I wanna be helpful... Like, help bands with whatever they might need and stuff of the kind.” She explained. “I wanna travel with the bands, I don’t think I’d really appreciate being stuck in an office...” she explained.

“You know, if you were older, we could take you on tour with us, so you would see what it’s like.” Said Mike.

“She is old enough...” retorted Billie Joe.

Athalya eyes widened, she slammed both hands on BJ’s chest and pushed herself up so she could see him.

“Are you kidding?” she asked, her voice more high-pitched than usual.

“No, I’m not kidding.” Said Billie Joe. “When we go on tour for our next album, you can join us if you’re up to it...” he added, trying to sound casual about it.

Athalya blinked a couple of times, still holding herself up on her hands. She stayed like that a few more seconds before squealing and throwing herself at Billie Joe, squeezing him in a hug. “Thank you!” she yelled.

Billie Joe laughed, wrapping his arms around her before she pushed herself off him and ran to Mike, hugging him and then hugging Tré.

“I’m going on tour with Green Day!” she squealed, doing a little victory dance using some of Michael Jackson’s dancing moves. “Woohoo!”

The 3 men were laughing at the young woman.
“Fuck yeah!” she said, clapping her hands before rushing to hug them once again.

“I love you guys, Green Day rule the fucking world.” She said, tears prickling her eyes.

Going on tour, with Green Day. Green Day. She couldn’t believe it.
It was a dream, a dream coming true.

She let herself fall on the carpet, grinning.

“Hey Mike, she looks like you when you found that bass line for Longview, ya know... when you were stoned out of your mind, sitting in the middle of the room.” Joked Tré.

“Thank you guys, really...” she whispered, biting her lip.

“It’s nothing Lya, really... We are happy to consider you as a future ‘temporary’ member of the Green Day crew.” Said Billie Joe.

“I can’t fucking wait!” she said. “Now move your asses off of those damn seats and start working on your next album.” She said.

Billie Joe laughed at her but got up anyway.
“Come one guys, let’s jam...”

Athalya followed them as they exited the room and went to another one. Lya stopped dead in tracks when she caught sight of the guitars lining up against the walls.

“Huh!” was all she managed to say as she pointed a finger towards the wall. Mike smiled and patted her head.

“Yeah, I know!”

**

Heaven, to Athalya, looked very much like Oakland, with the 880 studios and the Armstrong’s household.

The Green Day guys had played a few songs, much to Athalya’s pleasure and now, she was back in her room, getting ready to go to the restaurant. Billie Joe had insisted on that as soon as they came back. He was inviting them to the restaurant. Nothing too fancy, just a basic pizzeria, but still, she needed to change.

Athalya was looking through the few clothes she had brought and found nothing to wear. She knew she wouldn’t stay long, so she hadn’t bothered with much clothes. She rubbed her neck and wander outside her room, down to BJ&Adie’s room.
She knocked softly.

The door opened to a shirtless BJ.

“Lya? What’s wrong?”

“I... huh... I kinda forgot to bring clothes. I mean, I knew I wasn’t going to stay long, so yeah... I brought the strict minimum” she explained, rubbing her neck.

“Come in Lya, we’ll find you something to wear!” said Adie from inside of their room.

Athalya followed Billie Joe.

“Here, try that...” said Adie, passing her a pair of dark pants. “And that...” she added, throwing her a white shirt, after rummaging into the closet.

Athalya headed to the adjacent bathroom and quickly got changed, she didn’t even checked herself in the mirror before going back to the bedroom.

“So?” she asked, finally looking at herself.

“Well, you look great.” Said Billie Joe. Athalya’s cheeks tinted pink. “Those are my pants... rock star pants” he added.

Adrienne laughed.
“They fit you perfectly. And my shirt is looking good on you.”

“Thanks!” she said, smiling and trotting out of their back, back to hers.

She went to her bathroom and checked herself in the full length mirror. She wasn’t very fond of skinny jeans, but those actually looked all right on her, much to her surprise. She was wearing Billie Joe’s pants. She grinned.

She brushed her hair with her fingers and tied it into a loose ponytail. That would do it.

Lya walked downstairs, and spot Joey watching TV.

“Hey buddy, what are you watching?” she asked, letting herself fall on the couch next to him.

“Videos...” he said with a shrug. “I saw Green Day a few minutes ago.” He added. “Basket Case.”

“Ah, I love that video!” she commented, relaxing on the couch. Joey snuggled close to her and she wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

“Hey look Lya, Michael Jackson!” he said, pointing at the screen.

Joey was right, Michael Jackson was on the screen, it was the video for ‘Beat it’. She felt her legs twitched. She wanted to dance. Badly.

She bit her lip, her left arm moving on its own, to the music. It had been a while since she had last dance on that particular song.

‘To hell with it’ she thought and she got up.

“Come on buddy, let’s dance.” She said. She didn’t bother with warming up, she just picked up at the chorus.

“Beat it, beat it...” she snapped her fingers, dancing.

Joey was by her sides, his gaze glued on her as he tried to keep up with her.
The song ended.

With a sigh, she let herself bend over, her arms touching her feet, Joey mimicking her action, but without being able to touch his feet.

“You know, if you ever fail in your career in the musical industry, you could easily become a professional dancer... Or if that fails to, try being a teacher.”

Lya froze.

She stood up and looked over her shoulder to see BJ standing in the doorway, his arm around Adrienne’s shoulder as Jacob was making his way towards Lya and Joey.

Her face became red and she rubbed her neck.
“Huh... Thanks.” She mumbled.

“Lya’s the best dancer ever!” cheered Joey. His parents laughed and Lya juts blushed a darker shade of red.

“Come on kids, let’s go!” said Billie Joe, heading over to the hallway.

Jacob turned around and started running after his father. Following his older brother.

Lya switched off the TV and followed the happy family, still feeling embarrassed.
Jacob tripped on something, and in two long strides, Lya caught him just before he hit the ground.

“Watch out little one.” She whispered, setting him back on his feet and taking his hand in hers. The last thing she wanted was for him to fall and get hurt.

They walked together to the hallway, where everyone had already put their coats/jackets on.
‘Da!’ screamed Jacob, letting go of Lya’s hand and rushing to his father, tripping on his way.

Once again, Lya was quick to react and caught him right before he fell.

“Watch out buddy!”

‘A!’ Athalya blinked at the toddler before smiling, realising that the ‘A’ might be his own way of saying ‘Lya’.

Athalya held Jacob’s hand as he slowly walked down the few steps of the porch. Billie Joe and Joey were all ready seated in the car and Adrienne was opening her door when Lya reached the car with Jacob. She picked him up and installed him on his baby seat before Joey got out of the car so she could sit in the middle of the backseat.

They made small chat during the drive, talking about Joey’s school and the upcoming week end.

Billie Joe parked the car and the family headed to the restaurant.

A waiter lead them to a table at the back of the restaurant, and brought a baby chair for Jacob. Joey sat next to Lya, at her left, at her right was Jacob, then it was Adie and then Billie Joe. Which means that he was sitting between his wife and eldest son.

The waiter came back with the menus and Joey asked for a pen, tugging at his father wrist.

It took a moment for Lya to realise, as she was scanning the menus, that she was sitting in a restaurant, with Billie Joe and his family. She was sitting at the same table as the lead singer of a famous pop/punk (or whatever) rock band. A man that could rock an arena. The man that had caused one of the most famous mud fight ever. Woodstock 1994. And then, here he was, scanning the menu, holding his wife’s hand on the table, while making small chat with his eldest son. It was surreal.

She was brought back to reality when Joey nudged her.

“Lya! Look!” he said, pointing at the table. She snapped out of her daze and looked at the table as well. There were paper place mats in front of each persons of the table. And there were games printed on them, for the kids. There was a labyrinth and a game where you had to find the 7 mistakes between two pictures.

Joey was pointing at the labyrinth where the rabbit was supposed to find a way through the garden to the carrot.

“Yeah, that’s great Joey. So, where should the rabbit go?” she asked, playing along.

“That way.” He said, pointing to entry B. Because yeah, there were only 4 possibilities: A, B, C or D.

He opened the pen and pressed it to the paper, ready to trace the way.

“Are you sure?” she asked, looking at him.

“Huh...” he put the pen down.

“Look,” she said, pointing her finger on the B and she traced the way with her finger.

“There’s a wall!” said Joey.

“That’s right...”

Joey squinted his eyes, looking attentively at the piece of paper before his eyes.
“C” he said.

“Are you sure?” asked Billie Joe, smiling at Lya.

Joey frowned and put his finger on the C and traced the line until it reached the carrot.
“Yeah!” he cheered.

Lya handed him the pen with a smile as Billie Joe and Adrienne chuckled.
Athalya really had a gift with kids.

The rest of the evening went by just great. Joey was just too happy to be with Lya, and he was even gladder seeing than he had her whole attention.

**
“I don’t wanna leave you!” he said.

“Joey...” she whispered. “Buddy, I don’t wanna leave you either, but you need to go to school. I promise I’ll be there to pick you up when school’s over.”

“I don’t want to!” he said, tapping his foot on the floor and crossing his arms.

“Well, you have no choice.” Said Lya, before sighing. She knelled down at his level. “Listen buddy... I woke up just so I could walk you to school, all right? If you go now, just have fun and the day will go by very quickly and soon I’ll be there again, waiting for you so we can go back home and then off to play basket ball or whatever you want to do.” She said.

“We can play base ball?” he asked.

“Whatever you want to do, I swear. But first, you need to go to school, okay?”

He nodded.

“Good, I’ll see you later then?” asked Athalya.

He nodded and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She smiled and hugged him before she stood up and took his hand, walking him to the school gates.
She waved at him as he ran off to his friends.

Sighing, Lya turned around, shoving her hands in her pockets and heading back to the Armstrong’s house.

It was quite a walk to go there, but she didn’t mind, and neither did Joey.

The day before, just as they were about to go to bed, she had told Billie Joe and Adrienne that she would take care of Joey the next morning. Both adults looked exhausted and she knew there were some tensions going on between the couple. When she had helped Joey getting ready for bed, she had heard them raising their voices at each other’s downstairs. And when she had checked on Jake, she had seen Adrienne walking to her bedroom with red eyes and Billie Joe had stormed down to the basement.

She felt bad, and she felt as if it was her fault... to her, they were perfect for each other’s and it hurt her to see them or hear them fight. She decided to do her best to give them some spare time.

It was 9am when she arrived back at the house, she kicked off her shoes and then hurried to Jake’s room. Jake was wide awake, standing up in his bed, in the same position she had found him the previous day, after his nap. Except that he wasn’t crying at the moment.
She picked him up, went to open the curtains and walked down to the kitchen.

She placed Jake on his baby chair and then proceeded on preparing his bottle. While shaking it, she went over to the TV and switched it on, lowering the volume and flickering to the channels until she stopped on MTV.

She sat on the counter and gave Jake his bottle. She watched closely as he put it into his mouth and started drinking, she had no idea if he could manage to hold it or what. She didn’t have a precise idea concerning what a baby was supposed to do at 1 year old...

When Jake was done drinking, she put him into the ‘park’. The house was huge and there were stairs everywhere, she wouldn’t take the risk to let him out of her sight.

Lya then grabbed a bowl and poured some cereals and milk. She grabbed a spoon and went to sit cross legged on the floor, not far from Jake as he was happily playing with his toys.

Jake was cute, but she liked hanging with Joey better. Jake was too young to understand what she was saying.

Lya sat there for a while, slowly eating her cereals and watching Jake playing. The house was silent, except for Jake’s blabbers.

“What time is it?”

She jumped up and turned around to see Billie Joe, in his boxers and T-shirt, standing in the doorway, rubbing his neck while stretching.

“10 am” she replied, glancing at the clock before she stood up and went to put her bowl in the sink.

“Thanks for walking Joey to school.” He said, as he went to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“You’re welcome.” She whispered, as she picked up Jake. She went back in the kitchen and sat at the counter, Jake on her lap.

Lya felt weird. There was a nagging feeling deep inside her chest, where the beating muscle had its place. She kinda felt angry towards BJ, because he made Adie cry and she would have never thought he would be capable of doing so.

“Are you mad at me?” asked BJ.

Athalya’s attention shot back to him, and her eyes widened, her face betraying her.
“No I’m not. Why would I be?”

“I’m just asking, you seem upset...”

“Nothing to worry about” she said, holding Jake close to her chest.

The worst scenarios started playing in her mind. What if they had to divorce, what would happen to Joey and Jakob? And to Green Day?

She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes briefly, trying to get rid of that thought and when she opened her eyes, Adrienne walked into the kitchen. She dropped a kiss on BJ’s cheek as she head to the coffee machine. Lya felt a wave of relief wash upon her and she smiled at Adrienne, calmed. They were okay.

“I’m gonna give Jakob his bath.” She said, standing up, putting Jakob down. “What are the plans for today?” she asked.

“We are going shopping.” Said Billie Joe, glancing at his wife as Lya groaned.

“What for?” she asked. She had a bad feeling about it.

“So you can have clothes here whenever you come. That way, if you ever want to drop by and didn’t bring clothes with you, you won’t have to borrow ours.” Explained Adrienne.

“Ah, that...” mumbled Lya. She wasn’t thrilled, because deep inside she knew she would end up with a lot of clothes.

“Yeah, that” said Billie Joe, flashing her a bright smile. She rolled her eyes and took Jacob’s small hand in hers as they both headed to the stairs, slowly but surely.

**

“Are you sure this is necessary?” she asked, scrunching up her nose.

“It is” said Adrienne, smiling as she grabbed Lya’s wrist and dragged her into the shop.

Lya found the nearest chair and let herself fall down. Shoes.
She wasn’t in need of shoes. Because she wouldn’t come to Oakland bare feet, so it wasn’t necessary to buy her shoes... It seemed pretty logical to Lya, but not to Adrienne and BJ. Sighing, she forced herself to actually look happy and walked over to the Converses section. She grabbed the first black pair she found, checked the size and tried the right shoe on. It fitted.

“Done!” she said, putting back on her old Converse and heading to BJ and Adrienne with the shoe box under her arm.

“All ready?” asked Billie.

“Yeah...”

Adrienne smiled, took the box and went to pay for the shoes as Lya stayed behind with Billie Joe, who was trying on some new designed Converses.

“I don’t mean to be rude or whatever but those shoes looks horrible on you.” She said.

“I think so...” laughed BJ, taking them off. Lya shook her head and chuckled.

**

“I’m beat...” she mumbled, as she let herself fall on the backseat of BJ’s car.

“Well, at least now you have some clothes to wear.” Said Adrienne.

“Some clothes? You bought me a whole fucking garde-robe.” She mumbled, yawning.

“Lya, it’s only jeans and some T-shirts.” Said Billie Joe, closing the trunk of the car.

“2 jeans and 5 t-shirts to be exact. Not to forget the hoodies, the shoes, the socks, the underwears, the swimming suit and the brand new stereo for the spare room.” She said, counting on her fingers.

“You mean for your room.” Said BJ, getting on the driver seat.

Lya stayed silent and they drove off to Joey’s school. It was already time for them to pick him up. They had eaten lunch at Mc Donald’s and then kept going with their shopping spree until Lya reminded them of the time.

**

Lya was lying on the couch, her arms crossed behind her head, her eyes closed. Billie Joe and Adrienne were busy cooking dinner, Jake was in his park and Joey was lying on top of Athalya, his arms wrapped around her, his head resting on her chest.

There were too many things going on into Lya’s mind. It was a constant buzz of thoughts, some darker than others. She still had trouble with the whole ‘you’re-family’ kind of thing. They bought her a stereo for thespare room, her room. Adrienne had asked her if she had any posters to put up on the walls and even offered her to go buy some. Billie Joe had given her some CDs from his own collection.
When she went to pick Joey’s up, they were just on time and the teacher asked Joey if he knew Athalya before letting him go. He had said that she was his sister.

There was a war going on in Lya’s mind. And both part were fighting, and fighting hard and ugly. No mercy.

Huntington Beach vs. Oakland and the bay area.
The Armstrong’s vs. her grandparents
Green Day vs. her friends

2 part of her life, 2 different worlds, 1 fight.

It was killing her slowly.

She wanted to be at 2 different places at the same time, but it was impossible and she was becoming aware of it.

She felt the headache coming.

Then, out of nowhere, she felt two small warm hands on her cheeks and another weight added to the pressure on her chest. Joey had made some room for his little brother. Her guess was that either BJ or Adie put him up there. And Lya had become a comfortable mattress for both kids. Billie Joe’s sons. Her brothers.

She knew Billie Joe wasn’t her father, but his sons were as good as her brothers now, especially Joey.

If she had to choose between getting attached to the Armstrong’s or the guys back in HB. She would choose the Armstrong’s. Because she had a feeling that they would never let her down.

She extracted her hands from under her head and wrapped her arms around the 2 small forms squeezing her.