I Promise

"Ok, bye Mike, I'll see you tomorrow...remember Tre's coming as well!" shouted Billie as he watched his best friend walk down the street with his beat up bass.

"I know Bill!" replied the young Mike.

Billie stayed there until he couldn't see Mike anymore. He sighed and then decided to phone his other best friend Tre.

*Ring Ring*

"Hello?"

"Hey Tre."

"Oh hey Bill, what's up...you still up for tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" laughed Billie.

"Crap I forgot I have homework...oh well my dog ate it."

"Uhh Tre."

"Yeah?"

"You don't have a dog."

"Oh..."

"Anyway I need to talk."

"Sure, what about?"

Billie sighed and took a deep breath "Mike."

"Oh..." Tre replied.

"Well do you remember the bruises we found the other day?"

"Yeah...he said he fell."

"Well there's more, but he keeps changing the subject every time I bring them up." Said Billie in a hurry

"Shit..." muttered Tre.

"I know, but do me a favor, meet me at the park in 5 minutes?"

"Yeah sure but I don't get how..."

Billie cut him off, "Okay bye!"

"BILL WAIT!" the line went dead, "Dammit."

*** In the Park ***

Tre walked into the park to find Billie sitting underneath a tree.

"Um Bill?"

"Oh hey Tre, c'mon lets go!" Shouted Billie while jumping up.

"Where?" asked Tre, getting annoyed now.

"Oh yeah I forgot to tell you...I was thinking."

"That's a change!" laughed Tre.

"Shut up! Anyway, I was thinking that recently Mike won't let us go near his house, he hardly spends anytime there so I thought that we should go check on him." Smiled Billie proudly.

"Bill... you know Mike's life aint been perfect I mean, being adopted and all that but do you think he would mind you snooping around?" questioned Tre.

"Nah come on."

***Meanwhile***

Mike had just got home to hear his adoptive parents arguing...he didn't used to mind it so much, but then Myla left and things got really bad.

Mike opened the door quietly and put his bass in then closed the door, trying not to be heard but it was too late. His so called 'Dad' had heard him and stopped shouting at his mother and started shouting at him.

Unknown to Mike, Billie and Tre had just gotten themselves cozy outside, where they could see in perfectly. They saw the way Mike tried to get in without being noticed, they saw the way Mike was scared and they saw Mikes 'Dad' was shouting at his mom.

"AND WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN MICHAEL?!?" His 'Dad' shouted at the top of his voice

"Billie's..." muttered Mike

"WELL IT'S GOOD TO KNOW YOU WERE HAVING A GOOD TIME! WHILE WE WERE HERE WORRYING ABOUT YOU!" screamed his 'Dad'

***Outside***

"Shit Billie!" whispered Tre.

"I know but we can't move, it will blow our cover," whispered Billie back.

***Back Inside***

"I told you where I was going," replied Mike.

"YOU LYING PIECE OFF SHIT!" you never told us anything!

That was it, Mike had snapped. After months off being punished for fuck all he had snapped!

"I TOLD YOU, BUT YOU WERE TOO FUCKING DRUNK TO EVEN STAND UP!" Shouted Mike.

His 'father' just frowned, "What did you say Michael Ryan Pritchard?"

"And its Mike Dirnt!" shouted Mike.

"Well Mr. Dirnt take this."

Mikes 'Dad' punched him full force in the face, splitting his lip.

"Shit," mumbled Mike.

"What? WHAT?" yelled his 'Dad.

His 'Dad' then started kicking him until he fell to the floor, his mother just watched; knowing what would happen if she tried to stop it.

***Outside***

Tre was holding Billie down.

"Look Bill, I wanna jump in there and kick his ass as much as you but then we would get kicked in and Mike wouldn't want that okay!"

Billie stopped struggling and got up to watch his best friend get knocked out.

Next his stepfather placed Mike's body on the couch and then went out in the car to the pub. His 'Mom' just grabbed a coat and started walking down the street as soon as she saw that he was safely out of sight.

Billie and Tre waited until they couldn't hear the footsteps of boots anymore and ran out of where they had been hiding. They found an open window and climbed in. This involved climbing a tree and jumping to the window. They soon recognized the room as Mike's bedroom. The Posters, the CDs, the bass strings.

"C'mon Mike's downstairs," whispered Billie.

They ran downstairs to find Mike still knocked out on the couch. They saw the bruises which had started coming and the black eye. They tried to wake Mike up at first it didn't work, but then after the first few attempts he opened his eyes.

"Bill? Tre? What the?" He started.

"Hey Mike," Bill smiled.

"How are you guys here?" asked Mike.

"Well to cut a long story short we came to see if you were all right," explained Tre.

"And it's a good job we did," said Billie firmly.

"Yeah well..."

"How long has this been going on for?" asked Billie.

Mike just shrugged.

"C'mon Mike, you must remember."

Mike sighed, "When Myla left."

"When Myla... WHEN MYLA LEFT! That was ages ago! Mike why didn't you tell us?" asked Billie, now getting very worried.

Mike was trying not to cry but he was failing, "I dunno, I just..." sobbed Mike.

"Hey it's okay," soothed Tre.

"Yeah, it won't happen anymore," Billie smiled.

"Really?" asked Mike looking into Billie's eyes.

"I promise," Billie said as he put his arm around Mike.

"Now c'mon, lets get you out of here," laughed Tre.

Mike tried to stand up but fell back down, Billie and Tre supported Mike and left the house and walked back to Billie's house slowly.

They knocked on the door because Billie had forgotten his key. Ollie, Billie's mom, came to the door took one look at the boys then shouted,

"Oh my Dear Lord, what happened?" she asked as she helped Mike in and sat him down. Billie and Tre explained what happened while Ollie poured them all a cup of coffee. Ever since Billie's dad had passed away Mike and Tre had all gotten really close to the Armstrong family and spent 99% of their time there, and Ollie thought of the two boys as her family.

"So mom, what are we gunna do, Mikes 'Dads' gunna be around here soon!"

"I'll tell you what we're gunna do..."