I Liked it Better When They Were Young

Saturday 28th August 10:01am
I love the weekend. Why? Because I get a lie in! I can lie in my bed til eleven if I want to. I do enjoy it. I'm awake surprisingly early for the weekend. I'll just watch some Friends. It's always on. It annoys some people, but I love it. My favourite character is Joey. I do like Phoebe though. And Monica. And Chandler. Rachel's quite cool too. The only one I hate is Ross. He's such a whiner! Moan, moan, MOAN every episode.

12:30pm
I'm up and dressed and I've had some breakfast. I wonder what I should do today.

1:03pm
On the phone to Tre.
"Hello?"

"Hey Tre, it's Sophie."

"Hi!" He said, sounding ecstatic, "How are you?"

"I'm good, it's the weekend! I'm a bit bored though, M and D are busy sorting out bills." He laughed.

"That sounds exciting!"

"Doesn't it? Anyway, you wanna go hang out at the mall?" I know it sounds like social suicide, taking a boy to a shopping mall, but Tre's the closest thing I have to a girl. And he's pretty close anyway.

"Yeah, sure. Come 'round to mine when you're ready." He hung up.

I went and put on some make up and did my hair. It wouldn't behave itself so I tied it back in a pony tail. Tre lives two streets away, so we're not that far apart. The mall's ages away though, so we'll have to get the bus.

"I'm going to Tre's!" I yelled and I dashed out the door before mom and dad could respond.

1:23pm
I got to Tre's house and rang the doorbell. I heard him running down the stairs yelling, "I'll get it!" He opened the door.

"Hey!" He said, beaming.

"Hi. So, you ready?"

"Yeah, just let me get some money." He disappeared into the house and ran up the stairs. I heard him rummaging around in his room, then he came downstairs again with twenty dollars.

"Right, let's go!" He said happily.

We walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus to come. It was ten minutes late. When it finally arrived, we got on and Tre paid for us. Mike was on the bus. He waved us over. I waved back and went up to him. Tre followed me, looking a bit annoyed. I guess he was hoping it would just be me and him.

"Hey there!" Said Mike, "Where are you guys going?"

"Shopping." I said, "Just for something to do. It's so freaking boring at my place!" He smiled.

"I know the feeling." He looked at Tre. "Hey Frank Edwin Wright III." I giggled. Tre looked a bit hurt.

"Just Tre is fine..."

"Okay!" Mike said, leaning back in his seat, smirking. I changed the subject.

"So where are you going?"

"I'm going to the mall as well." Tre looked very disappointed.

"Really? Can't picture a guy like you in Agent Provocateur!" I grinned. He punched me. He does that a lot. He doesn't mean it to hurt, but he's really strong, so it does.

"I'm not going there, bonehead! I'm going to Starbucks to meet up with some friends." I was on full attention.

"Anyone we know?" He squinted in thought.

"Well, BJ's gonna be there..." There's what I wanted to know! I played it cool.

"Anyone else?"

"That you know? No, I don't think so." Tre was looking really pissed off now. This was not the shopping trip he had hoped for.

"Cool." I said. I knew if I said anything too much, I'd end up saying something really stupid. I was going to see Billie! The day wasn't so boring anymore.

2:00pm
In Lush with Tre. Mike ditched us at the door. Clearly he's too macho to go shopping with a couple of girls. Tre's bought way more than I have. He loves shopping. Is it any wonder he's considered a freak? I was browsing over Lush products when I heard a voice. A distinctly familiar, charismatic West coast drawl.

"Hello stranger." I turned around. Sure enough, there was Billie, wearing his leather jacket, vans, eyeliner and a smile. I smiled back, looking extremely surprised. I didn't want him to know I had planned to see him!

"Billie! What are you doing here?" He tilted his head to one side.

"Aren't you pleased to see me?"

"Yes! Yeah, just surprised." He laughed.

"You can cut the crap, ok? You knew I was at the mall! Mike told me he saw you guys on the bus. He said you might be here." Ok, so maybe I'd overdone the surprised look. He continued. "Anyway, I came to tell you that we're all having a coffee in Starbucks, and once you're all shopped out, you're more than welcome to come join us." He was so smooth. He grinned and walked out of the shop. As he was walking off, he glanced back at me over his shoulder. He saw I was looking at him and looked away shyly. My knee's nearly buckled. Tre came over with two huge shopping bags.

"I'm out of money!" He wailed. I looked at his buldging shopping bags and then at him.

"You don't say." He nodded gravely. Honestly, sarcasm is utterly wasted on him. Or any other kind of humour for that matter. He shrugged.

"Anyway, I'm beat. You wanna get a cup of coffee somewhere? Recharge?" Finally he'd made a worthy suggestion.

"Yeah, you wanna go to Starbucks?" I said, dead casual. He looked a bit worried.

"Isn't that where Mike's going?"

"Yeah, so? We can still go, I thought you were friends with this guy."

"I am."

"So, are we gonna go?" I could almost hear him going, "No, no! This isn't meant to happen!" But being Tre, he didn't. Instead he shrugged and said, "Ok then." I grinned, grabbed his arm and hauled him off to Starbucks.

2:30pm
In Starbucks with Tre. Billie and Mike are there with some of their rougher friends. They are all at least eighteen with tattoos and leather jackets. Tre looked over at them nervously. Billie looked around the cafe and saw me and Tre. Without missing a beat, he got up and walked over to us.

"Hey guys. Didn't think you were coming."

"Neither did I." Tre muttered under his breath.

"So, you want some company and a couple of comfy seats?" Billie asked us.

"Sounds good to me!" I said laughing, "These chairs are doing my back in!" Billie laughed. One of his friends looked over at us.

"Oi! Billie! That your new girlfriend?"

"Which one?" He yelled back, and the table exploded with laughter. Tre looked at the ground, waiting for it to swallow him up. Once they had finished laughing, Billie spoke again. "Nah, she's just a friend. Why?"

"Well..." His friend began.

"She won't go out with you." Billie said flatly. He looked at me expectently. "Will you?" I shook my head. He looked smug, but not at all surprised. He turned back to his friends. "But we could use some help getting some more comfy seats..."

"We're on it!" Said one of his friends and he stood up, flanked by two others. They walked up to a couple of kids that were no older than second year in comfy seats. "Take a hike, you two!" They looked positively terrified and fled the seats. Billie's friends rolled them over to their table. Billie smiled and indicated the way with a twist of his head Mike was sitting on the big leather sofa and Billie's leather jacket was lying next to him. Billie's other friends were sitting in little leather armchairs, like the ones they had just nicked for me and Tre. Billie sat down on the sofa next to Mike and indicated for me to join him. I sat down next to him and Tre sat in one of the armchairs next to one of Billie's tattooed friends.

"So..." Billie began, "Whatcha been buying?"

"Not much." I said, digging in my one shopping bag to show them, "A new CD, a t-shirt, an eyeliner pencil."

"Erm, this is awkward. I was actually talking to Tre." The whole table sniggered. Billie looked at Tre. "So come on. Tell us. Whatcha got in the bags?" Tre was actually about to show them when Billie laughed and gave him a genuine smile. "I'm just kidding!" Tre looked relieved. Billie turned towards me.

"Maybe I should introduce you guys, This is Sean, Jason and Dillon," He pointed to each as he said their name, " And, you know Mike. And guys, this is Soph and Tre." I smiled at them in acknowlidgement and they all smiled back.

"Where's Al today then?" I asked Billie. He shrugged,

"Probably doing coursework, as usual."

"So how do you know Billie?" Sean asked me.

"From school." Billie's eyes widened in horror.

"From where sorry?" Sean said, looking intrigued. All of Billie's friends were listening intently, but before I could repeat myself, Billie had dragged me off to a corner of Starbucks, out of earshot of our table.

"What the...?"

"Idiot!" He said, pushing me slightly, "They don't know I go to school! They think I'm eighteen!"

"Oh. Why don't you tell them you're not?"

"Coz it's embarressing, Soph! I don't wanna be known as an effing school kid!"

"What's wrong with school kids?" He snorted.

"What's right with 'em?"

"I'm a school kid." I said, folding my arms. He looked uneasy .

"Yeah, but you're different."

"How? How am I different?" He shrugged

"I dunno, you just.... are." I persisted.

"In what way?"

"Look, just forget it. Whatever you do, do not mention school, Ok? Find somewhere else to know me from." He lead me back to the table. I turned to Sean.

"Sorry about that. Anyway, where we we?"

"You were saying where you knew Billie from?"

"Oh, yeah. I know him from Rod's Hickory Pit. I waitress there sometimes." Billie gave me a small smile. This was obviously a plausable alibi.

"Oh." Said Sean. This clearly wasn't the answer he'd been hoping for.

"So how do you know him?" I asked Jason.

"We meet sometimes at Christie Road."
"Where?"

"I don't think you'd know it, it's near the station. We go there if we get bored."

"But what is there to do at a train station?"

"Well we take joints...." Jason began. I looked at Billie, eyebrows raised. He looked at me, realised I was looking at him and stared at the ground. I tried to catch his eye, but he kept looking away.

"So joints?" I said to Jason. He nodded.

"Yeah, it's real cool, you should come by sometime. Actually, the guy I get the blunts off is kind of a rip off, you know any cheap dealers?"

"Ok, we're leaving now." I said quickly to Tre. He looked very pleased and stood up. "Nice to... to meet you." We walked briskly towards the doors. All of Billie's friends kind of jeered at us. As we left the mall, we heard someone following us.

"Soph!" It was Billie. I quickened my pace. He kept following us. "Aww Soph, come on!" Tre stopped, unsure of what to do.

"Keep moving!" I hissed and he started walking again. Biliie stood up straight and started to run after us. I ran to the bus stop. Tre fell hopelessly behind, but Billie was starting to catch up. I stopped at the bus stance and turned my back on him.

"Soph." He looked around my shoulder. I turned away again. He walked in front of me and held my shoulders so we were face to face.

"Soph!" I looked at him from under my eyelashes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even know you were there." He sighed.

"Ok, I know that must of come as a bit of a shock for you..."

"No, Really?!"

"BUT! But, it's not like it's crack or anything, it's just joints." I sighed.

"Look, I know this isn't a big deal for you, ok? But I'm not like you, ok? I'm a real sensible wuss when it comes to stuff like this..." He loosened his grip on my shoulders.

"I'm not asking you to do it, just try and accept...."

"Oh well, that changes everything!" I looked away. My worry made me sour. I pretended to read the bus times. He followed my gaze.

"I could give you a ride home..."

"No, you could go and join your junkie friends in Starbucks. Christ Billie, you have any friends that aren't felons?!" He shook his head sighing.

"You know, that is so unfair." He turned around and walked in the direction of the mall. Just before the doors he turned to face me.

"I thought I had you. Guess I was wrong." I leant my head against the bus shelter. Suddenly, I heard heavy panting and Tre came hurtling 'round the corner.

"There you are! Why so fast?" I shrugged, watching Billie go back into the mall. He didn't even give me a backward glance.

"No reason. So, are we going home?" He nodded.

"We can get the three fifteen bus." He looked at me. "Is something wrong?"

"A headache." I said coolly, redoing my lip gloss.

6:15pm
Having tea. I can't stop thinking about Billie. God, how could he take drugs? He's only sixteen. I mean, not that that matters, it's bad whatever age you are.

9:09pm
In my room. I turned on Friends. Oh, I've seen this one! I'll watch the OC.

9:11pm
"California. California. Here we come."