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

When I got home, I slammed the front door behind me and leaned against it for a while, as if trying to block reality from getting in. I couldn’t believe it all happened. Did Jessica really do that? Or was this another nightmare? All I could do was stand there, almost lifeless. But I knew I had to move, so my hands pushed me off the door and I walked through the hallway. I looked around. A house is supposed to be something you’re lookingforward to getting to, somewhere you can call your shelter.

For me, it was almost like living in Hell.

I peered in the living room to see Hollie talking to Billie about something.

“Will it be a boy or a girl?” Hollie asked.

“I dunno yet. Maybe they’ll tell us” Billie replied, shrugging.

“Really? They can tell us?” Hollie asked, her eyes widenening like saucers.

“Sure. Although, your mum likes surprises” he said. I felt a lurch in my throat. Oh, he WOULD know that, wouldn’t he? He was one, anyway.

“So do I” Hollie said. “I don’t want to know either. Wait... I do. Oh, but then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”

“Well, your mum will decide when she gets the baby checked” Billie told her. Hollie looked at him before pulling herself onto his lap. I felt my insides boil.

“Will you the baby’s daddy?” she asked.

“Of course I will, who else would it be?” Billie asked her, hugging her tight like a real father would, emphasis on the real of course.

“Well... it might be MY daddy” she said.

“No, your daddy is de-... oh... um... no, I just know these things, Hollie” Billie said. “Did you know I have a sister with the same name as you?”

Hollie, being easily amused, giggled. “Really?”

And so continued the story of Billie’s life. Hollie hadn’t heard it before, and she, naturally, loved new stories so she listened. But I couldn’t listen to his voice anymore, so I walked past the door. Or at least, I got halfway past it.

“Oh, hi Gra-!” I began to run when Billie attempted to greet me. Half way up the staurs, I heard him finish with “.. cie”. I just ran upstairs, managing to bump into Joey. I dragged him into my room.

“OW! Grace, let go of me!” Joey yelled, snatching his arm away once I shut my bedroom door.

“Jessica knows!” I hissed. He stood there, confused.

“Knows what?”

“About... about... that.”

“And what would that be?” he asked me.

“Yenno what I mean! Yenno the... the monopoly set-...”

“Shit, seriously?!”

“Yea! You’re idiotic brother let it slip to one of his friends and that friend happened to be the younger brother of Harriet and you KNOW what Harriet is like she told EVERYBODY!” I said, using one breath to say that whole sentence.

“How did you know?”

“She told me. She told me to me face, Joey, to my face. This IS NOT good” I said, getting worked up about the whole thing.

“Oh God, if my dad hears about that...”

“You’re dad can’t be THAT bad” I seethed. “He’d probably congratulate you!”

“Oh... oh no” he said, looking me straight in the eye. “You haven’t seen him angry yet...”

“... Now I have no desire to do so, but can we focus please?!” I ran a hand through my hair before looking at him. “We need to convince them that Harriet is lying.”

“Oh, yes, why not, let’s convince the whole town that one girl is lying!” Joey said, sarcastically.

“What if it got... twisted about?” I asked, softly.

“What do you mean twisted abo-?”

“What if someone randomly added something to make it worse?”

“You mean like add in sex?”

“Yes! That!”

“Then we’re screwed, aren’t we?”

“Shut up, you’re no help at all!” I hissed.

“Well, lets find some form of positive... it’s not the end of the world...”

“No, but it better fucking end on 2012, I can’t take this anymore” I snarled.

“... alright then, positives are out according to Grace.”

“There IS no fucking positive!” I seethed.

“Well... well... did anyone ever tell you that you’re a very depressing person?” Joey whined.

“Yes. You did. And we better-!”

“SHIT!”

I stopped and looked confused when I heard my mother scream. “What was that?”

“Sounded like your mum...” Joey said. “Jesus, what’s her issue?” I looked out the window and widened my eyes.

“TRACY!”

“Who?”

“Tracy, aunt Tracy! We didn’t know she was coming over!”

“You have an aunt Tracy?”

“No, it’s the name of our pig” I said, sarcastically.

“Oh, ha ha, very funny” he said, also using sarcasm. “I was just curious!”

“Curiousity killed the cat... although I wish it’ll kill you” I hissed. I shoved past him, banging my shoulder into his. And I caught is scent, just for a split second... but I did. I slowed my pace a bit, just to savour it before running downstairs.

Tracy was at the doorway when I arrived at the foot of the stairs. I truely loved aunt Tracy. She spoke with a welsh accent because she lives in Wales and she picked up the accent there. She moved to Wales when she was seventeen, so she spent most of her life there, and married to her husband, Sam, when she was twenty four. He wasn’t there though. Tracy was a fun loving girl, the sixteen year old she once was is still there. Punk rock also left a mark on Tracy. Basically, she was mums best friend. They talk on the phone, over e-mails and once, Tracy wrote to us once. She never did it again though. But right now, mum looked rather tooken back, even slightly annoyed, at Tracy’s arrival.

“Hiya Sammie!” Tracy squealed, giving mum a huge hug. “Gracie!” She flounced through the hallway to hug me next. “Oh my God, how long has it been!”

“Tracy, what are you doing here?” mum asked, bewildered.

“I want to meet the man of the moment before you marry him!” Tracy said. “And knowing you, you might just squeeze in a date anywhere!”

“Wait, what are you-?”

“So, where are my other two hugs I’m looking for?” Tracy inturrpted. Kage showed up out of the kitchen. “KAGIE!” I wasn’t sure what it was about Tracy adding “ie” at the end of everyones name, but she quite liked to do it. She gave Kage a massive hug and Hollie jumped out of no where for her hug. Billie approached from the living room.

“Whos this, Sammie?” he asked her.

“This... is Tracy, my sister, who appeared out of no where without warning” mum said, adding the last part with gritted teeth and glaring at her younger sister.

“Oh my God, it’s you!” Tracy squealed, hugging him too.

“She... does that a lot” mum explained, nodding.

“You’re even better looking in person!” Tracy grinned. “You scooped nicely, Sammie!” Mum closed her eyes and just nodded because Tracy’s bubbliness was over whelming her with what seemed irratation.

“Yes well... I was always the good looking one” mum said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Tracy snatched my mothers wrist after detacthing herself from her soon to be brother-in-law. She examined the emerald ring around her finger and gasped.

“Shit, Sammie. It’s beautiful” she cooed, placing a hand over her heart. She turned to Billie. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go crack open a bottle of something strong!”

“Well, actually Tracy, you’ve caught us in a bad moment” mum said, as Billie abcked away from the display of Tracy’s over-reacting. “I was just about to stay at Billie’s for a while and-”

“Shut up! Seriously? What the hell didn’t you tell me!” Tracy said, scowling at her older sister.

“Well, you just waltzed in and I didn’t have the time to... oh Jesus, where are you staying?”

“I booked a hotel” Tracy said. “Well... where does he live and I’ll come visit you there!”

“He lives around here somewhere, thus... us meeting” mum said, as if it were obvious.

“Really? Shut up! You never told me you lived next to him!” Tracy gasped. She looked at me and pointed at me. “You could’ve told this one, yenno! Leaving her wallowing in depression when you could’ve told her she lived close to the lead singer of one of her favourite bands!”

“Oh, trust me, if you told her now, she wouldn’t be as happy” mum said, rolling her eyes before realizing she let too much slip.

“What?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all” mum said. “Grace! What are you still doing here, go get the we-have-a-guest potato chips and the dip!”

“Yea” I muttered, realizing I couldn’t protest about being in the same room as Billie when Tracy was around. I walked into the kitchen. I ignored Billie and took out the fancy dish mum used when we had a guest. Then I took out the potato chips and that dip mum had.

“Your aunt is... well...” Billie said, trying to think of a reasonable word.

“Shut up” I said.

“Um... no” Billie said, in a sneering tone. I glared at him before resuming pouring out the potato chips. When he finally had the drinks poured out (remembering mum wasn’t supposed to drink alcohol), he left me in peace. I took the potato chips in shortly afterwards. I was about to leave but Tracy insisted I stayed.

“Sit down, sweetie! It’s been a whole year!” she exclaimed. I did so, hesitantly, realizing the only space was next to... well, you can guess. If you haven’t, it was Billie Joe. Tracy took a sip from her wine before looking at Billie. “I hear you have two boys.”

“Yea... I do” he said.

“Tell them to get down here!” Tracy ordered. “I want to meet them.”

“Oh, Tracy. Leave them be” mum moaned.

“They can’t stay up there forever anyway” Tracy said, crossing her legs and taking another sip. “So, you’re also pregnant, Sammie?”

“Yes, Tracy. And you know, so stop asking questinos you know answers to” mum said, rolling her eyes.

“I was just starting a conversation! Wow, what’s this, number four?” Tracy said, leaning back into her seat. “It just seemed like yesterday when this one was born.” Tracy smiled at me, to which I replied with a smile back.

“I know” mum said. “Now she’s all grown up and moody.”

“So, tell me, what do you see in our little Sammie?” Tracy asked Billie. Billie, who had remained silent up to this moment, looked at her as if shocked she’d ask him a question.

“Well, she’s just... made of awesomeness” Billie said, smiling at mum. Mum smiled back and laid her head on his shoulder. “And she’s pretty and all, but even if she wasn’t, I’d still love her.”

“Cheesy. Put it in the speech” Tracy said, setting her glass down on the table. “Do you like Grace?”

“Oh, I love Grace” he said, honestly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, gag or glare at him. And I had to really force on that tight smile I gave him.

“Oh, nice” Tracy smiled. “Do you like him, Grace?”

“... wha?” I asked, looking around cluelessly before saying that. “Oh... um... he’s alright, yea” I lied.

“I love to see bonding” Tracy grinned.

The evening drawled on and finally, Joey and Jakob made an appearance. And, of course, Tracy over reacted.

“Are these your boys?” she asked.

“Yea, those are my boys” Billie said, smiling at them proudly.

“Come on in, boys, let me get a good look at you” Tracy ordered. They stood there, awkwardly. Jakob jabbed an elbow at his older brother and beckoned him to go first. Reluctantly, Joey walked in and sat onthe arm of the chair beside me.

“Aw, that one looks like you” Tracy cooed, poiting her glass at Joey and smiling broadly. Joey forced a smile at her. “Oh, yes, I forgot. I’m Tracy Soloman. Samia’s sister.”

“Hey... I’m Joey” he said, softly.

“Is that your legal name?” Tracy asked.

“Tracy!” mum barked, glaring at her sister again for what had to the twentieth time today.

“What? I’m curious!”

“Oh, shut up” mum muttered, sipping on her orange juice, obviously wishing she could join Tracy in her wine drinking. “I’m gonna get some more juice.” She stood up and left. Billie sat there for a while.

“I’m... going to the bathroom” he said, getting up. I was left alone with Joey, Jakob, kage, Hollie and Tracy. And Tracy with kids means madness.

“How are you two getting along?” Tracy asked her, eyeing Joey.

“You mean me and Joey?” I asked, meeting his glance before hastally looking away. “Yea, um... pretty alright.”

“Oh” Tracy said. “Interesting.”

“Isn’t it just?” I asked.

Tracy mainly focused on questioning Joey and Jakob whilst mum and Billie were gone for quite some time. When they finally arrived, they were grinning. They reamined at the doorway. A long silence fell.

“Do you have something you want to tell us, Sammie?” Tracy asked, after the silence.

“Yes, actually, we do” mum said. She looked at her fiancé. “You tell them.”

“I’m not telling them, you tell them!” he replied, pulling her close to him.

“... oh, alright” mum said, grinnign even more. She looked at us, mainly Tracy. “We’ve set a date.”

“Oh my good God” Tracy gasped, setting down her glass and getting up. “Sammie, I’m so happy for you!”

Me and Joey stared at each other in shock for two seconds before staring at mum and Billie again. Even Hollie knew it was huge news by Tracy’s reaction. “When?” I asked.

“Sixteenth of August” mum replied.

Sixteenth of August. Dad’s birthday. Even Tracy fell silent. The whole room was just... silent. Dad would’ve been thirty eight this year.

I cleared my throat, “As in... next year?” Mum looked slightly nervous, and I could already predict the answer.

“No, this year.”

“Oh my God, Sammie, that’s six weeks away!” Tracy screamed. She grabbed them both in one of her deadly hugs. “Holy shit, this is huge, you have to tell mum and dad and... and, oh! Do you still know that guy from the curry shop? He was lovely, he was. And you have to bring Jack and Katherine.” I slightkly cringed at my dad’s parents names. My grandparents from my dads side of the family. “And we need to get you a dress and... I am a bridesmaid, right?”

“Yes, you and Grace” mum said. I looked up, with huge eyes.

Me? A bridesmaid? I sat there, in shock, but I seemed to just be a little spec on this announcement. Suddenly, everyone seemed far off, distant.

“We need to get you a dress, we’re going to look tomorrow, alright? You, me and Gracie over there, do you want to come Gracie, of course you do” Tracy waved me off as if I had said an uneven answer. As if I had said anything at all, because all I could do was sit there and stare out the window in shocked anger. “And the venue, oh my God, I know this lushious place, I have to take you there tomorrow but we’ll focus on the dress mostly tomorrow, and then we need the flowers and the bridesmaid dress and-!”

“Grace? Are you alright?” I heard Joey’s voice ask.

Suddenly, Tracy’s babbling faded away as I passed out on the sofa.