Billie Joe Armstrong Is My Step-Father...and I Hate It

So it was officail. We were moving into Billie’s house for a while in three days. Frightening. The day after I was told, dance class had resumed. I was staring at myself in my celtic Irish dancing dress. Mum was out with Billie, Kage, Jake and Hollie, whilst I stayed here with Joey. The house was strangely silent except for the t.v going on downstairs, even if Joey wasn’t in the living room. I stroked a strand of my own hair absent mindedly as I looked at myself. All I saw was a girl standing in front of me, looking quite awkward. The sequins glittered proudly and I raised myself higher in my white socks and black shoes by straightening my back. My own brown eyes stared back into me. My legs wanted to move but I couldn’t tell my brain to make them. I bit into my bottem lip and watched my reflecrtion mimick my move.

The doorbell made me jump. I snapped my hand away from my hair and emerged from my room, jumping down the stairs yelling, “COMING!” I answered the door to see three boys, and I’ve never seen them before. I blinked and stood there, holding the door open yet blocking the open doorway with my body. What would three boys, around my age, whom I’ve never met before, be at my doorway?

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“Oh, yea, hey, Joey said he’d be here” one of them said. I raised one eyebrow.

“Why is Joey any of your concern?” I asked, pointedly and obnoxiously. “You his friends?”

“Yea, actually we’re-!”

“Then why haven’t I met you?” I ordered. They all paused, looking at me.

“What?” another asked back.

“I’ve met Rosalette, JJ, John and Leon. I’ve never seen you three lurking about” I said, in a snappy tone. “Why haven’t I met you?!”

“Oh... well, we were on holiday” one said, pointing to another.

“You guys related?” I asked, refusing to give them what they wanted; Joey.

“Yea... look, is Joey here? Coz we-!”

“JOOOOOOOOEY! THREE BOYS ARE HERE FOR YOU!” I screamed suddenly, causing them to jump back slightly. I paused, eyeing them again before adding, “AND THEY DON’T HAVE NICE HAIR!” I met three glares.

“Who are you anyway?” one asked.

“It’s my house, so who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Cole” one answered. “This is Max”, he pointed to one of the others, “And this is Travis.” The other one slightly smiled at me. I only raised one eyebrow before scoffing.

“You’re Emily’s Army, aren’t you?”

“Yea, you know?” one of them asked, brightening up.

“Oh, don’t lift your spirits, I only know coz Billie told me when he was driving me to dance class” I seethed. Finally, Joey appeared, a wide grin spread across his face, which fell slightly when he saw me scowling back at him.

“Haven’t you taught your mates decent manners?!” I snapped. “They don’t even know who I am!”

“Alright, fine. Guys, this is Grace” he said, frowning.

“She looks nicer in person” the Max person said, grinning at me.

“Back off!” I growled, lunging foward threateningly. I stormed back upstairs, and sat on my bed and crossed my arms over my chest as I sat on the bed. And there I remained until mum came home.

Mum drove me to dance class. I waved goodbye to her before running into the studios, where I practised. I have been chosen to perform in Ireland in some dance finals thing. I was looking forward to it but at the same time, I wasn’t. It was nearly a year off though, so it leaves plenty of time. But I was still nervous.

After an hour of dancing, we were excused.

“Oh, and Grace? Make sure you remember it’s kick THEN twirl, not twirl then kick” Mrs Robinson called out behind me as we crowded out the door. Lately, I’ve been trying to master the Riverdance but it was hard. I mixed everything up. And it was all down to the stress. Not because I had a year to do it. Because I knew when dance class was over, I would leave the hobby my dad loved to see me do and return to suffocating in Billie’s grip. I ran out, ready to see mums black volvo sitting out, waiting for me.

Instead, Billie’s car was there.

I felt the colour leave my face and the happiness of todays escape fade drastically. I clenched my fists and scowled. What was he doing here?! Maybe... if I’m lucky... it might be mum driving. When I got close enough, I saw Billie, staring out the window boredly, sitting in the drivers seat. I groaned loudly and in a very aggrevated tone and tore the passenger door open to sit in the passenger seat.

“Hi Grace!”

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Oh, good, you’re in a good mood, coz I’m gonna take you out!” I blinked out the window before turning my head to look at him. He looked estatic, like I had just told him that I really did like him and that I wanted him to be my dad.

Fat chance.

“No. You’re. Not” I said, stubbornly. “We’re going home.”

“Noooo, we’re going out! First, we’re gonna get food coz all that dancing must have made you hungry or... something” he said, starting up the car. “Then, we’re gonna do what you wanna do.”

“Oh, I’d like to go to a funeral home. I need to arrange mine after I commit suicide when this day is over” I said, with fake enthusiam.

“... Looks like we’re doing what I wanna do then” he said, grinning. I wished I hadn’t have spoken.

He drove me around town, talking animatedly to me about different things that I really could care less about... alright, yea, so SOME of the Green Day thigns he mentioned were pretty interesting, but I was never going to tell HIM that. He was obviously trying, really hard as well. He was trying to show his fatherly figure to me, trying to tell me that he wasn’t that bad. I didn’t fall for his tricks.

After two hours, I sat in his car with him, eating fast food. I picked around it half heartedly, wishing I was anywhere else but here.

“Tell me about your dancing” he said, through a mouth full of fries and ketchup before sallowing it. I watched him, my nose wrinkled up in disgust before shaking my expression away.

“I go in... I dance... I come back out” I said, shrugging and speaking in a blunt tone. “What’s there to tell?”

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“... If I wouldn’t, would I still be there?” I asked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Oh... how’d you get into it?”

“My dad” I said, slightly louder than nesscary. Silence fell.

“Oh... right, yeah, he was Irish, right?” Billie asked, after clearing his throat to break the silence that had fallen like a pile of bricks. Yet, his voice fell on me like a pile of scrap metal.

“Yes... he was” I said, blankly.

“Do you... wanna talk about it or not?”

“I’d rather not talk to you, full stop” I said. “But yet... do I have a choice?”

“You could not talk to me but you’re not” he pointed out.

“That’s coz I like insulting you” I said, chuckling darkly. “Let’s talk about YOUR life. You were in therapy, right?”

“Yea... why?” he asked, getting uncomfortable now. I grinned and leaned up.

“What for?”

“Do I have to talk about this?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’m not gonna.”

“I hate you.” I sat down again and sulked into my fries. Silence fell. “What about Joey?”

“What?”

“He’s in a band, right?”

“Oh….. oh, yeah, he is!” Billie grinned.

“Is he good?” I asked.

“Yea, he’s great.”

“I think he’s only getting places coz of you” I said. Another silence fell. “Oh, c’mon, it’s no fun if you’re not gonna fight back!”

“Then let’s go have some fun!” he said, brightening up strangely. It almost scared me. He started the car again and in no time, we were off.

He dragged me through a shopping mall, insisting me to pick something for him to buy for me. I picked the pricey stuff. He made sure I was happy with whatever we were doing. I made sure I whined extra. He got me a drink. I said I didn’t like coffee. He was right. I was having fun. Having fun defying him. But he didn’t even seem to notice, so it killed the effect slightly.

When we drove home, it was six o’clock. He stopped outside some flashy lookign shop. “Stay here” he said, climbing out of the car and running off, disappearing through the doors. I did what i was told, only because there was no where I could go. Unless I wanted to get drunk in the bar next to me. Which I didn’t. When he came out, he wasn’t empty handed.

“Here” he said, dropping a small bag on my lap. I looked at it, as if it were a poisinous spider. “Well? Aren’t you gonna open it?”

“I’m not sure I want to...” I muttered. However, I opened the bag and looked in. Something gold was sprawled inside. I picked it out to look at it. It was a locket. It had the letter G on it, studded in diamonds. I looked at before opening it.

Inside surprised me. I was half expecting a picture of him but when I opened it, dad’s flashing smile grinned out at me, along with mine. He obviously had this reserved. I looked at it for a long length of time. I gulped down the hard lump that had formed in my throat. It was the picture in my room. The one where dad had me in his arms and I grinned away, showing my teeth, one of which was missing because I was five. I felt my eyes sting. I closed the locket slowly. It was a beautiful locket.

“Y-yeah, um... thanks” I muttered. It was the only thing I could say. I didn’t know if it was a bribe or not but I didn’t think about that right now.

I switched off until late that night.

“Grace? Are you still awake?” I looked over to hear the lazy voiced of Joey at my doorway. He peered in. “Grace, it’s one in the morning, all you did was sit up here all day!”

“I’m... I’m sorry, I just...” I placed my face in my hands before sighing.

“... Grace? Are you alright?” I looked up, noticing his eyes fell on the locket on my bed. “That’s nice... where’d you get it?”

“I dunno, Billie got it for me” I said, looking at it.

“I suppose you hate it then...” he said, as if he was bored of the whole situation.

“... no, I don’t” I said. “I hate him but... not this.”

“... yea... right, well go to sleep, yea? You look fucking awful” he said. I stuck my finger up at him and then he left. I sat up a while longer before getting dressed into my night clothes and lying in bed. I closed my eyes but sleep didn’t come.

Another long sleepless night was looking me in the face.