Paper Lanterns

You decided to come downstairs just as the conversation ended, but then again you didn't know there was a conversation in the first place. You said 'hi' and walked into the kitchen to get something to eat for breakfast. They all came in to get something to eat and John had a creepy grin on his face.

"Hey John, everything um, alright 'cause that grin is freaking me out." You say inbetween spoonfuls of cereal.

"Yup" John says with that creepy grin still plastered on his face. "I know something you don't know!" Mike glares at him.

"I don't wanna know." You say smiling.

Mike realizing you think something happened between you and John. "No, it's a surprise."

"Alright." You said laughing. "Eh, what's with him?" You say pointing at Billie Joe who is just sitting there, collecting dust.

"Haven't the slightest idea" Mike lied.

"Whatever. He better not run off the road when he takes us to school today." You say putting your empty bowl in the sink. You snap your fingers in front of Billie Joe's face. He doesn't flinch. "Is he alive?" And with that, you take a spoon and poke him.

"Huh?" Billie says snapping back to reality. "Oh hi." You walk out laughing and shaking your head.

You all get to school alive, which is amazing considering Billie Joe's been out of it all morning. You go through the usual, normal stuff. Always interrupted by Slutzilla. Today in US II, you noticed something on her wrist. That son of a bitch.. She had on your bracelet that 'broke' last Saturday. Billie must've given it to her.

"What are you looking at?" Slutzilla asks you. She looks at your bracelet that she's wearing. "Oh this? Billie Joe gave it to me."

You look at Billie Joe. "Nice bracelet you gave her. I had one just like it..but I lost it Saturday." Billie went to say something. "I don't want to hear it, Armstrong." Another one bites the dust.

The rest of the day involved a super long practice since you weren't going to have practice tomorrow. Tomorrow's your birthday. You got home and sat up on the roof. I know you're out there somewhere. I need someone to talk to. You were thinking about your brother. Your mom said he died or something like that. Then you're almost positive Uncle Mike was about to compare John to your brother the other day. You climbed in through your window and went to sleep.

You woke up and found Mike and John sitting on your floor, waiting for you to get up. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIA!" They said when you woke up.

"Thanks guys" You say rubbing your eyes. You opened your presents from them. Mike got you a new notebook to write more songs in. He wrote something on the first page:

Maria,
Don't listen to what other people say, unless of course
it's nice things that they're saying or if it's something
I say because I am ALWAYS right. Haha. Just kidding.
I hope you'll use this to write more songs. Listen to your
heart, kid.
Always, Mike.

John got you two books, The Outsiders and That Was Then, This Is Now. You read bits and pieces of The Outsiders and you liked it. You thanked them again and went downstairs. Billie Joe was downstairs flipping through tv channels. He didn't even acknowledge your birthday, let alone your presence. Even after you fell over his stuff, he didn't so much as look at you. That's not like him. Even how things are right now, he'd at least pretend to be nice. Something's up.

You got to school, and still no 'happy birthday' from Billie Joe. Oh well. This was expected. You opened your locker and found a box. You opened it and there was an envelope. Inside a note said:

Meet me at Uncle Mike's bar tomorrow at 4:00PM.
There is a surprise waiting for you there.

That's odd. That's when our show is. You shrug off the note as if it were nothing, then all of a sudden you felt someone tap your shoulder. You turn around to see Lisea and Dani. "Happy Birthday, Maria!!"

"Thanks you two" You say as they hand you a box. Inside was a bunch of bracelets and a picture frame. The picture inside was of the three of you at Dani's house and you were swimming.

"You're welcome" They say.

You get to homeroom and tell Mike about your show on Saturday. "It's at 4 at Uncle Mike's." You say

"Cool. We got a set there at 5, so I'll come by early." He says.

"Awesome."

The rest of the day consisted of nothing but what you wanted, Billie Joe to at least say 'happy birthday' to you. Even when you got like a zillion phone calls from his family and Uncle Mike and his 'associates', he didn't bother. Ollie told you when she called that she wouldn't be back until Sunday evening, instead. What a great birthday..The only person who matters doesn't even bother to say 'happy birthday' to me. You felt miserable. You didn't resort to cutting though. It was a one-time thing. Instead you climbed out your window and went for a walk.

You just walked to no particular place. You were just some 16-year old walking aimlessly around Rodeo, California. As for your sense of direction, you could end up in Mexico. You actually ended up somewhere close to that. Jingle Town. It's a predominately Mexican neighborhood in the hard bitten industrial section of Oakland, California. How you ended up there? You don't know. You just followed your heart. I guess my heart's Mexican.. You walked into a bodega.

"Buenas noches! Que desea Ud.? came from the lady behind the counter.

"Cuanto cuestan el agua y las papas fritas?" You asked her. Thank God you know spanish.

"El agua es un dolar y las papas fritas en tres dolares." She replied handing you your water and french fries (Me: if you ask for refresco, or soda, you get seltzer water..so yeah)

"Perdon, pero que hora es?" You asked as you handed her the money. You needed to know what time it was because it was getting dark.

"Son las siete y media" She answered handing you your change. It's 7:30.

"Gracias, Senora." You said before leaving.

Now how to get back home? After sitting on the curb for a few minutes while you ate your french fries, you tried to figure out how you were gonna get home. You finished your food, stood up and started walking. You figured if you just follow your heart, you'll get home. That's how you ended up in Jingle Town, anyway. On your way home you thought about everything. How things have so dramatically changed between you and Billie Joe, in one fucking week. You're not sure if things will ever be the same, wait you know things won't ever be the same. Will it be a good or bad change, you don't know.

After all that walking, you finally reached yours and Billie Joe's house. You reluctantly climb up onto the roof of the garage and in through your window. You go to turn on the lights, but someone grabs your wrist. "What the hell?!" You yell.

"Around." You answer apathetically.

Not giving up, Billie asks again. "Exactly where have you been?"

"Not like you care or anything, I somehow ended up in Jingle Town." You answer coldly.

"Now why wouldn't I care about you? You're one of my best friends." Billie Joe says.

"You apparently didn't finish reading that note the other day, did you?" You said.

Billie Joe smirked. "No, I read it alright. But it still doesn't matter to me. You're always going to be my best friend, even if you don't want to be mine." Be strong. Don't give in. It's a trap.

"It's not true." You said. Why must I alway defy my conscience.. "You just...nothing. It's nothing."

"Tell me." Billie says.

You think for a minute. "Hm, where to begin? Oh I know. Thanks for saying 'happy birthday' to me today." You say sarcastically.

"Oh shit, Maria. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Billie Joe says, but you're not sure you believe him.

You laugh to yourself. "Whatever."

"Why are you so cold to me?" He asks.

"Oh I don't know, Billie. Give me a reason why I shouldn't be?" You snap.

Billie opens his mouth to say something, but he then shut it and walked out of your room. Well done, Maria. Now look what you've done.

The next day you woke up around 2PM because you were up all night arguing with that stupid voice in your head that wouldn't go away. God damn conscience. Now, Maria. You know you like him. As much as you hate to admit it, you do. No, you're not going insane. You're conscience is just getting the best of you.

"MARIAAAA!" You hear Mike yell from downstairs.

You stick your head out of your door and yell back to him. "What?!"

"Lisea and Dani are here!" He hollers back up.

Shit, gotta get ready reeeal fast now. So you got ready and flew down the stairs with your guitar. You grabbed Lisea's arm who grabbed Dani's arm as you ran out the door.

"What was that for?" Dani asks as you get into Lisea's car.

"Didn't want Billie Joe to ask where I was going." You say climbing into the backseat.

Lisea made a weird face that you saw via the rearview mirror. "Why would he do that?"

"He caught me sneaking in last night." You said. "I went for a walk and he didn't know and I went all the way to Jingle Town and didn't get back home until after dark. Not like it's any of his business." "Maybe he likes you, even though he's with Slutzilla." Dani looks back and grins. Lisea glares at her and the grin is wiped from her face. I wonder what she knows that she's not telling me. Whatever.

You got to Uncle Mike's with an hour and a half to prepare for your set. You still hadn't figured out what songs you were going to play. (Me: i know the following song titles are from current artists. but in this lifetime they don't exist. you have all their songs at your disposal...or something like that. * = ashlee simpson; - = avril lavigne. sorry if you hate them.) After about an hour of thinking of songs, Lisea finally composited the final list, in this order:

Love Me For Me *
Unreachable *
Giving It All Away *
Take Me Away -
He Wasn't -
Tomorrow -
Don't Tell Me -

Finally it was time for you guys to go on. Uncle Mike came onto the stage. "And I'd like you all to give a warm welcome to Atomic Rave." Everyone applauded. You were nervous as hell, but when you walked on you felt fine, which was rather odd. You saw Mike, John, Billie Joe, and to your total and complete suprise, Slutzilla. You looked at Dani because she saw her too and shrugged her shoulders. You all began to play. You stole glances at all four of them. Slutzilla had a 'Maria thinks she's the shit but she's not' look, while Mike, John, and Billie Joe had the same look, shock.

Finally, you got to 'Don't Tell Me'. Before you began it, however, you decided to introduce it. "This next song, which is our last song, is a song I recently wrote. On Monday, to be exact. It's last for a reason." You said into the mic. "The person it's for, would've missed all my other songs had this one been first because they surely would've left. And now, without further interruptions, I give you 'Don't Tell Me'. When you sang it, you had a feeling Billie Joe knew it was about him because he wasn't sure if he should be angry or sad about the song. Once you finished, everyone applauded. "Okay. Well now there's like, what, a 15 minute intermission, inter--something and then Green Day'll be up..." You trailed off because you were cut off.

"WOO! YOU ROCK, MARIA!!" John and Mike screamed at the top of their lungs. You smiled.

"And so feel free to eat stuff, drink stuff, not bug Uncle Mike...and then listen to Green Day when they come on." You said as you all made your way off the stage.

"You guys were awesome!" John greets you as you, Lisea, and Dani make your way over to where they are. Slutzilla glares at you while Billie Joe looks away.

Mike agrees. "Best I've ever heard. Amazing. Well, we gotta go get ready so yeah."

"You staying to watch us, Maria?" John asks.

"Sure, why not?" You say smiling.

You walked over to another table, as Lisea and Dani followed you. The last thing you wanted to do was sit by Slutzilla. You saw them get up to prep and to your surprise, Billie didn't give Slutzilla even a kiss on the cheek. They went on stage after the intermission and went on the stage. The songs they played were; Don't Leave Me, 1000 Hours, Dry Ice, I Want To Be Alone, and Why Do You Want Him. You recognized 'Why Do You Want Him'. Billie Joe had written that when you were both 14 and you were going out with that guy who used you and cheated on you and stuff. You never thought nothing of it until now. The song after that you remember clearly. Going To Pasalacqua. Billie Joe sung the one part in your ear that more after...you know.

After that song was over Billie introduced the next song, sort of like what you did. "This next song is for a close friend of mine who I haven't been that nice to lately due to a distraction. The name of the song is Only of You." He took a breath. "I'm sorry, Maria. Happy Birthday. I told you I'd make it up to you." You gasped. That was the song he left in your room. You looked over at Slutzilla who was infuriated. You laughed to yourself. You looked at Billie Joe who winked at you. You smiled as tears fell down your eyes. So he didn't forget all along. The last song played was The Judge's Daughter. "You're the one I wish I had, and now my girlfriend's getting mad."

After that, you saw Slutzilla slap Billie Joe and say 'we're through' and threw the bracelet he gave her that was originally yours that he gave you. (Me: wow, that's a confusing sentence) Billie Joe smiled and walked over to you. "Maria, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" You nodded as he grabbed your hand and you followed him out of the bar. "I think this belongs to you." He put the bracelet back on your wrist. "Look Maria. I'm sor--" You cut him off by kissing him.

"You need to expand your vocabulary, Billie Joe." You say laughing. "Thanks."

"For what?" He asks.

You smile. "For remembering after all."

Billie puts an arm over your shoulder. "How could I forget your birthday? That's like forgetting to ...do something really important."

You laugh. "Nice analogy."

"I try my best." Billie says kissing your cheek. "Hey, what's an analogy?"

You roll your eyes. "Come on. We better get back inside before Uncle Mike jumps to conclusions." Billie lets go of you, but doesn't move an inch. "Come on, Armstrong." You say pretending to get impatient.

"I need to ask you something." Billie Joe states.

You can't help but smile. "Anything....depending on the subject." You add.

"I know I caused you a lot of pain this week, but um.." Billie Joe trailed off. "Will you be my girlfriend, Maria?"

"I don't know..you did cause me a lot of pain and there's no such thing as second chances." You say. Billie frowns. "But I'll give you one anyway. Of course I will." His face lit back up. He took your hand and you both walked back into the bar.

"What'd she say?" John, Mike, Lisea, Dani, and much to your surprise Uncle Mike say. (Me: wow, you get more surprises in one day than i've ever gotten in my entire life. AND a song dedicated/written to you. no fair.)

Billie kisses you. "She said yes."

"I told you the note in her locker thing would work." John says.

"And I told YOU, Mike, that my plan would work." Billie Joe states proudly like he won something.

"Maria, before I forget, this is from me and the rest of 'us' (Me: us means his associates) who were unable to come today." Uncle Mike says handing you a small, wrapped up box. You opened the box to find a locket. "It's been in 'the family' for generations, and we think that you can have it now."

"Oh thank you, Uncle Mike. Tell the rest I said thank you as well." You said hugging Uncle Mike.

You all go home, well to yours and Billie Joe's house. Why, you don't know. You get there and Billie puts his hands over your eyes. "Billie, you know I don't like surprises that much."

Mike or John or someone opens the door and flicks on the light. Billie takes his hands off of your eyes. "SURPRISE!" comes from numerous family, like Ollie who called and said she wouldn't be back until Sunday, friends, and Uncle Mike's associates, as well as Uncle Mike. How he got there before you guys, remains a mystery.

"Oh my. Wow. I've never had a surprise party before." You say. "How'd you get John not to tell me any of this?"

"I explained the consequences of him telling you." Uncle Mike says laughing. "He got the picture."

So you had cake, presents, and played games. It was the best birthday ever. A surprise party, a family heirloom, an awesome show, and a boyfriend all in one day. Any girl would kill to be in my shoes right now, you think to yourself as you turn out the lights and go to sleep.