The Long Road

~Leslie's P.O.V~

When I woke up then next morning, everything felt as though nothing had really happened, but at the same time, everything felt completely different. When I went upstairs, The Armstrongs and the band each gave me a huge hug, ncluding a kiss from Joey. Adrienne made us a huge breakfast and after I felt like I was going to burst, Tre came over to check up on me. As I walked over and hugged him tightly, I had a feeling inside that told me Tre really was going to be a great dad.

But the mood changed when Adrienne took me over to the lounge room and had a serious talk with me. Turns out that when I got home, she called my mum on Harry's phone and explained everything about us being over here. I should have been angry, but I knew she was going to find out sooner or later.

'She got on a flight last night, so she should be over here by late afternoon. ‘Adrienne explained. 'You’ll have to explain a lot to her.'

'God, she is gonna be so pissed!' I groaned, leaning against the wall. I could imagine the look on her face when she stormed on over here and broke the door down.

'Hey, she used to be friends with the guys, alright?' Adrienne reassured me. 'We'll all get along fine.'

I nodded and smiled at her. Hopefully it wouldn't all be too bad. Now all we had to do was wait for her to get here.

We waited around the house for most of the day, letting the guys tell stories about their latest tour for 21st Century Breakdown. At five in the evening, we heard a knock at the door. We all stopped and held our breath as Adrienne open the front door. We heard the two give each other a friendly greeting as they made our way into the room.

My mum looked flustered, with her waist length blonde hair tied back in a long braid and shadows under her eyes. But suddenly, her face lightened up as she looked over at the guys.

'I never imagined myself saying this, but you guys have changed so much!' she laughed. The guys stood up and Billie and Mike gave her a huge hug.

'Still sexy as per usual Jules?' Mike joked, looked her up and down. My mum rolled her eyes at Mike's comment. They were right, they really were old friends.

When my mum faced Tre, they both blushed and just shook hands. There was still that awkward tie between them. But now, I had to get some questions answered.

'So, Mum, why did you never tell me you knew the guys?'I questioned, after everyone settled down. My mum sighed and looked awkwardly at me.

'Well, I don't really know. I guess I was afraid of your reaction, that you might be angry with me. I thought that if I ran away from my problems, they would just disappear. But I had you and life was hard. I instantly regretted not staying put in America, just to stay in the flat I rented out. These guys were the only real friends that I had, and I chucked it away.'

Billie reached over and put an arm around my mum's shoulders.

'We felt like complete crap when you left, and we really did believe that Rowan was the dad. But you know it was Tre, we always knew.'

My mum nodded, not looking at Tre, who looked sort of heartbroken.

'But when Leslie got into Green Day, I was afraid she would find out.' She looked over at me, and surprised me by smiling.

'But her finding out was the best thing that's happened to us.'

I shifted in my seat a little. 'So, you’re not angry for coming over here with the band?'

'Well, I was at first, when Adrienne called me, but I'm not anymore. You deserve to have a father in your life.'

We both smiled at each other. And now we both knew, that the truth had finally come out. And as I gave Tre another hug, which brought a grin onto his face, I knew the long road had finally stopped.

~Three Months Later . . .~

We were in Mountain View, California, and we were about to go onstage for as warm up band for Green Day. I was constantly tuning my guitar over and over, purely from nerves. Harry was pacing the room, the bass slung over his back while Hamish warmed up his voice. Katie had three cans of Coke and was almost bouncing off the walls, the same going for Justin. Suddenly the door opened and Billie walked into the room.

'Okay guys, you’re up for your set!' he said cheerfully.

We all slowly got to our feet and made our way to the side of the stage, where we could thousands of voices bouncing off the walls of the amphitheatre. After us, the drunk bunny would mess around on the stage for a little while before Green Day.

After my mum had come over, we all went back to Australia for the first week of school, sending emails back and forward to Green Day back in America. But then we struck up a deal with the guys and our parents. We were allowed to do a couple of openings for the guys for their North America tour, and we would get to go to New York with the guys to see American Idiot on Broadway. During all of this, my mum and dad (I felt joy in just calling him Dad) agreed that I would get to come to America to visit every holiday. It was a deal that stuck fine with me.

And as for Joey and I, we were cool with having a long distance relationship. At least we both had web cams and my visits during the holidays. Nothing would stop us from being together, even there was a whole ocean between us. It just made us love each other more.

'We are so gonna screw up!' I moaned to myself as we approached the side of the stage. We had never ever performed in front of a crowd this big.

'With an attitude like that, you will.' Mike put in, coming in from behind us. 'You guys are gonna do great, alright?'

Tre came over as well, looking very confident with drumsticks in hand. He put an arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head.

'Look, this is just like every other show you've had, just more people, that's all!' he whispered to us. 'And if they boo you, we won't play for them!'

We all smiled at the guys. They really were good a bringing our confidence back. Tre suddenly stepped in front of us.

'Look, I'll even introduce you guys! Follow my lead.'

Tre suddenly strutted out onto stage, a huge wall of screams coming down on him. He motioned us to come on. Billie and Mike each patted us on the back as we walked onto the stage. The lights instantly blinded my vision. I could not see a single person, except for the first three rows of seats. We all set up while Tre walked up to the microphone.

'Hello, ladies and gents! Now we've got a fucking good band playing here right now, and if you don't cheer them on, I won't get naked for ya!'

Wolf whistles and laughs came from the audience. I couldn't help but laugh along with them as I slung my guitar over my shoulder.

'This band is all the way from Sydney, Australia, so give it the fuck up, for Black Beauty Boulevard!'

A huge round of applause and cheers filed the theatre. Tre gave us a wink and left us to it. I looked around at my friends, who all had smiles plastered onto their faces. I looked at Billie, Mike and Tre smiling at us from the wings, including my mum, who had gotten closer with Tre over the past three months. Joey had come as well, giving me his usual cute grin as we locked eyes on each other

I turned back to the crowd, a huge feeling of joy filling up my heart. So this was what Green Day felt like. They felt happiness, and belonging. And as we broke into our first song of the night, cheers of approval coming from the audience, I truly felt that right here, in between countries and the sense of things, was where I will always belong.

THE END