I Liked it Better When They Were Young

9:11am
Ok, so maybe this year wouldn't be so bad. I was walking down the corridors with a gorgeous punk boy who liked me and wanted to get to know me, unlike anyone else in this insane asylm. Tre was lumbering behind us, eavesdropping. I was talking to Billie.

"We have chemistry first, then maths, then Recess for fifteen minutes.

"Okay." I laughed at him.

"You sound confused!" Billie SMILED.

It was the most amazing smile EVER. Sort of smirking, kind of crooked and his eyes became softer, sweeter....

"I AM confused!" He said laughing.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I'm daydreaming. Again. Um, right! This is chemistry, try and get a seat at the back, this guy tends to ignore you if you're at the back. And that's a good thing, trust me!" Billie smiled again. I felt myself melting under his gaze.

"You've been such a great help to me and I've only know you for like ten minutes! I don't even know your name."

My name! Oh god, what was my name? Peaches! That was it! No, wait, that's my nickname. Oh God! Should I say Peaches or Sophie? Sophie was such a stupid name, so soppy, but Peaches was only a nickname to cover up what a saddo I was. Kinda like Tre...

"Sophie." I said eventually. "My name's Sophie." I should have said Peaches, I should have said Peaches.

"That's a nice name." Billie said, nodding. He walked into class. Dazed, I followed him.

"My nickname's Peaches!" I blurted out before I knew what I was saying. Billie just laughed and grabbed a seat at the back for us.It was three to every desk, but before I could take up the third seat with my bag, Tre had thrown his bag on the floor next to Billie's.

"Mind if I join you guys?" He said, his blue eyes glinting triumphantly. Umm, YEEESSSS!

"No." Said Billie, making room on the desk for Tre. Idiot! He didn't know what he was letting himself in for.

"Is that ok with you Peaches?" Tre asked innocently. I couldn't say no, Billie would think I was a bitch. So I sort of nodded and let him sit next to me (there was no way he was getting between me and Billie!).

"My name's not Peaches." I said as he sat down. "It's Sophie."

"But your name's been Peaches since last..." I elbowed him in the ribcage to shut him up. Billie gave me a quizzical look, then turned his attention to a small male teacher who had walked into class, wearing what he thought was his best tweed suit.

"Good Morning everyone!" He said, looking at us and smiling.

"Good Moring Mr Matheson." We all mumbled. He droned on for what felt like a decade. He's just as boring as Mr Beck. Only he THINKS he has charisma. Ha! He has the charisma of a used tissue. I saw a note next to me marked Sophie. I opened it.

"Soph, I'm meeting a couple of friends for lunch. You wanna come? Write back, Billie Joe."

Oh my god! He called me Soph! That was officially my new nickname! I glanced at Billie and he smiled at me shyly. Tre looked at the note.

"Are you gonna go?" I scoffed.

"God! Go back to work like a good boy, this is none of your business!"

"Yeah, whatever, are you gonna go?" I shrugged.

"Yeah. Why shouldn't I?" Tre got all flustered.

"No reason." There is a reason, Tre. Because you are a possesive pervert and you don't want me hanging about with other, more attractive boys. I turned over the note and wrote;

"Billie. I'll be there, where are you guys meeting? What time? Write back, Soph."

A few minutes later, I got another note from him.

"1 O'clock by the bike sheds. We're gonna go to this resteraunt where my mom works. Billie Joe."

The notes were so sweet, his handwriting was adorable! I had to write back, but I was out of paper! I searched in my bag. The rest of the class had started work, but I didn't care. God, where was a peice of fucking paper? Shit, I couldn't find any! I couldn't write in my jotter, I had to be discrete! Tre had gone to the toilet. He'd suddenly put up his hand, asked and ran away as fast as he could. Weirdo. Billie kept glancing over at me. He was waiting for me to reply. God, God, GOD!

Tre came back in, bright red in the face. He smiled at me as he walked up to the desk. I gave him a small smile. Billie wasn't looking over anymore. Great. Now he'd lost interest in me, and life would go back to it's usual boring self....

"Here." It was Tre. I turned to face him. He was holding several sheets of paper. He'd gone all the way to the art block to get these for me. It was like two floors away. I suddenly felt sorry for him. He'd be stuck in the school cafe this lunchtime with nothing but his school bag for company. Well, I coulc keep him company, but I had other plans. He is kind of my friend, I guess. Not that I'd admit that to anyone.

"Thanks." I said. He just shrugged and continued with his work. I pulled the top off my pen.

"Great, I'll see you there, who else is gonna be there?"

I then thought I'd better make a start on my work. I got out my science jotter. I had no sooner written the date when;

"My two friends Mike and John. Not a big crew, but whatever. Do you wanna bring someone? Write back, Billie Joe. P.S Man, your handwritng's neat!"

Screw getting on with my work. Billie Joe Armstrong was sending me love letters! I though about it. Who DID I wanna bring? Katherine would be with Becca, Renne, Frazer and Elliot had their own geeky crew. I could bring Megan. No, she'd start hitting on Billie. And I couldn't have that. I glanced over at Tre. He was an unbelivable pervert and desperate to get laid. Hello, he was hitting on me! But he'd been my friend for years, he was nice enough and he honestly cared about me. I ripped off a small peice of paper from the A4 sheet.

"Is it ok if my friend Tre comes?"

Billie read the note, threw a glance at Tre and nodded slightly. I turned to Tre.

"Hey, you doing anything for lunch? He shook his head, looking intrigued. "It's just that Billie has invited me to go to lunch with some of his mates and I wondered if you'd like to come." Tre looked amazed. "I'm not kidding." I said, to make sure he knew.

"Cool, sure." He said, trying to sound laid back but bubbling with excitement. I smiled and gave Billie the thumbs up under my desk.

12:44pm
I'm in English now, one of the few classes Billie's not in with me, staring at my watch, willing it to go faster. In a few long seconds, the bell will ring and me and Tre will head down three floors, across the playground to the bike sheds. I can't wait! I know I've spent most of my day with Billie, but I just can't get enough of him. Tre prodded me in the back. He's one desk behind me. Good for him, coz he can check out my underwear.

"What the fuck do you want?" I said in a sceptical tone. He laughed.

"Have you ever done, y'know "it"?" God, he is such a pervert. I can't believe I invited him to lunch.

"No."

"Me neither." I laughed.

"Doesn't take a genius to work out that Tre!" He sort of giggled weakly, looking a bit hurt. Nothing breaks your heart more than a pervert feeling sorry for himself.

12:57pm
Outside the bike sheds with Tre. It's freezing, but it'll be worth it. God, where was Billie? What would his friends look like? Tre looked happy to have someone to talk to. Misery likes company, you see. I looked at my watch.

"We're early." Tre just shrugged. Just then a tall guy with bleached blond hair, wearing a black wife beater and tight black pants walked up to the bike sheds.

"Is BJ here yet?" I frowned for a second, then assumed he meant Billie Joe.

"No. Who are you?" He smirked, like it was rare someone didn't know him.

"I'm Mike Dirnt." He held out his hand to me and then to Tre.

"Right gent you are!" I smirked, "You one of his friends?" He nodded.

"Oh yeah, we go way back. Who are you guys?"

"I'm Sophie Morgan." I curtsied. He laughed. "And this is Tre Cool." Mike raised his eyebrows.

"That's what your parents called you?" Tre bit his lip.

"Well, no."

"So what's your real name?"

"Frank Edwin Wright III." Mike sniggered.

"I can see why you changed it!"

"Drop dead!" I snapped. He gave me a playful punch, which was quite painful. His arm muscles were huge.

"Yeah, I've heard of you. You play for the Lookouts, right?"

"Yup." Said Tre, "Drumming's my thing." Mike smiled.

"So, you guys coming for lunch?"

"Yeah." I said, "Billie invited us." Mike shrugged and scratched his head.

"That's cool, just, y'know, didn't know you." Then another guy came out of nowhere. He was slightly shorter than Mike and had longish dark blond hair that was clearly real. He was wearing jeans and a loose white T-shit underneath a brown leather jacket. He was quite cute, I guess. Mike obviously knew him.

"Hey Al." He said casually. The other guy acknoledged his greeting with a nod. I frowned.

"Wait, Billie said someone called John was coming." Mike laughed.

"This IS John! But he changed his name ages ago."

"Oh. Then Hi!" John, or Al laughed.

"Guess we're waiting for Billie then." He said.

"I guess so."

1:12pm
Billie came ten minutes late.

"Where've YOU been?" Mike asked him. Billie smiled wryly.

"Just, y'know, around..." Mike and Al scoffed in disbelief.

"Shall we go then?" Billie said, and we all headed off, me and Tre following Mike, Billie and Al. We walked down a couple of alleyways and passed, "Tight Wad Hill" so called because the jocks played football there. We eventually came to a hault in front of a run down reteraunt. I read the sign.

"Rod's Hickory Pit?" I said, laughing. Billie laughed too.

"Yeah, well, my momma works there and so do we sometimes, so we're paying our money to my mom and believe me, she needs it." We walked in and took a seat at one of the big tables. Billie walked up to the counter. I listened to him ordering for us.

"Let's see, uh..." he counted on his fingers, "Five plates of hash and five sodas. Thanks." The waitress at the counter nodded and Billie took a seat with the rest of us. Oh god. Had he just ordered us drugs?

"Hash!?" I blurted out. I tried to stop, I swear, it just came out.

"That's, uh, chopped meat and potatoes. With spices." Mike assured me. Al sniggered. Billie kicked him under the table.

"Oh." I said. I felt like the biggest idiot in the world. Mike checked his watch.

"We've got thirty minutes and forty three seconds before we have to go back to jail." He said. Billie smiled. Then, out of nowhere, this hand came and clipped him 'round the ear.

"BILLIE JOE!"

"Oh, hi momma." said Billie, massaging his ear. So this was his mother! Short and quite stout wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt underneath an apron. She was wearing a lot of make-up and an expression of pure fury.

"What did I tell you 'bout bringing your friends here? You wanna give our family a bad name. I'm in an APRON! How does that look? IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT NO MONEY, THAT'S HOW IT LOOKS!"

"But we don't...." She slapped him smartly on the head. I swear his eyes crossed a little.

"Now, you listen to me; don't be coming for lunch here again, ok? Fine somewhere else to entertain your girlfriend." She gave me a look of disaprovel and waddled away. Billie watched her go, then looked at Mike, Tre and Al, who were close to hysterics and then at me. He coughed slightly, ruffled his hair and sat up, trying to regain his dignaty.

"There's a burger bar a few blocks down, uh, we could eat there..." He said awkwardly.

"I'm enjoyin' it here!" Mike said, crossing his arms behind his neck and leaning back. Billie gave him a frustrated look and the three of them filled out of the reteraunt, sniggering. Billie looked at me, blushing furiously, then left. I was thed last to leave. I didn't feel like the biggest idiot in the world anymore!

1:43pm
At Tight Wad Hill, munching on a hotdog. Mike, Tre and Al are over by the goals and me and Billie are at least ten metres away from them. Billie looked really pissed off.

"She always hits me." He muttered, staring at the ground. "So does her FIANCE." He took a huge bite of his burger.

"Is he your dad?" He scoffed.

"No way!"

"So where's your dad?" He looked at me with the most heartbreaking eyes.

""He, died when I was ten." I froze. God, I shouldn't have brought it up.

"I'm sorry." He shrugged.

"Just one of those things." He looked out at the football feilds. I could have cried. I changed the subject.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" He laughed.

"Try five."

"Five?" He nodded, looked amused at the stunned look on my face. "Six if you include Mike."

"Oh, are you guys related?" I looked at Mike. They didn't LOOK like brothers. Billie shook his head.

"No, but he rents a room at my house, so he's kind of my brother. How about you?" I shook my head.

"I'm an only child." He laughed.

"Lucky you!"

"So why doesn't Mike live with his parents?" Billie sighed, as if readying himself.

"His whole family's screwed up. His real mom was addicted to herion, so he was adopted when he was a baby by this couple. But they split when he was seven." He took a slurp of his soda, then continued. "At first, he lived with his dad in Oakland and his mom moved to Rodeo, but he missed his mom, huh, God knows why! And he moved here. Tha's how I met him. Anyway, his mom wants to move back to Oakland, and he wants to stay, so he's living with me 'til they work it out. If they ever do." He finished his burger and scrunched up the wrapping paper.

"Just a sec." He ran over the playing fields to the nearest bin. God, what troubled kids! I needed a slurp of something stronger than soda! Just then I heard the word, "Fuck!" eco across the playing fields and I saw Billie running towards me. Mike, Tre and Al were laughing again.

"Fucking wasp stung me! Right here!" He stuck up his index finger. There was a large, sore looking sting on it. He sighed and flopped down on the grass next to me.

"What's wrong with my life? Why isn't there anything worth sticking around for?" He looked at me and kind of leaned on my shoulder. "'Cept you of course." My heart wanting to curl my arm around him, but my head screamed, "You've only known him a day! Stop it!" I turned my head around so my eyes met his.

"Hey, your response to your day dying was, "Just one of those things" and now because a wasp stings you, your life's over?" Billie sat up.

"I guess you're right." He sucked his finger. I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"Mike, what time is it?" I yelled across the fields.

"You have a watch on!" He yelled back and Al and Tre laughed. Embarrassed, I checked the time.

"SHIT! WE'RE FIFTEEN MINUTES LATE!"