Our Little Secret

Monday had slowly come and passed by. Each and every one of their teachers seemed to give them homework (and gave them shit for not having their previous assignments done), and the three of them wanted a damn break. So, when Billie suggested they skip the next day, the other two were quick to agree. And Mike had conveniently remembered that he had told Tre they all would have to hang out and buy him a present sometime, so they used that as their own personal excuse.

Billie and Mike met up with Tre at the local diner, a short ten minute drive from their school. Granted, it might not have always been the best place to skip, but hell, what was a teacher going to do if he caught them? And besides, Billie and Mike liked this spot as an escape. When they had been younger, their mothers had spent a lot of their time here, and they always dragged the two boys along. But they were always allowed to sit at a separate table, so it became one of their favorite places to go if for no other reason than a little freedom from their parents. Now, of course, they came here alone, more often than not while they should have been at school. It was an easy place to escape to, and so they welcomed Tre there as well.

"Okay," Billie said to Tre before they went inside, "Just don't piss off the old lady with the brown hair. She's pretty uptight, but the rest of them in there are pretty cool. Oh, and don't, like, tell 'em we're skipping, 'cause I think they all still talk to my mom. Just tell them we got the day off or something."

Mike scoffed and rolled his eyes while smiling at his friend. "You do realize they all probably can tell when we're cutting class, right?"

Billie opened his mouth to give Mike a smart response, but quickly closed it when he couldn't think of anything clever. "Yeah, well… Whatever." He turned back to Tre. "Still, don't tell them. And don't do anything crazy," he instructed. "We don't wanna get kicked out."

Tre nodded his head after feeling lectured like a child. "You got it, boss."

Mike rolled his eyes at his ridiculous friends. "Come on, you two. Let's eat and then we can hit up some stores for nitwit's present."

"Ha, ha," Tre said flatly. He walked away from the car and went ahead to open the door for his two friends behind him. They followed him inside and sat down at the booth nearest the door. There were a few other people inside—a group of older ladies and some scattered couples—but it was mostly just the three of them representing the younger generation.

An older waitress—one without brown hair, Tre noted—approached their table no sooner than they could sit themselves down. "Hey, you two," she greeted warmly. "And who might this young man be?"

"Hey, June," Billie said smiling. "This is our friend, Tre. He's new in town so we're just showing him around town."

"Oh, you got the day off school?" she asked knowingly. They never could seem to get anything past June. Luckily, she was pretty okay in their book, so there were no worries of her ratting them out to any coworkers, or Ollie, for that matter.

Billie smirked at her. "Yeah, something like that."

She smirked back. "Mm-hmm." She turned away from Billie and looked Tre up and down. "Nice hair," she said with a smile.

Glancing up, pretending to look at his own green hair, Tre grinned cheerfully. "Why, thank you. Yours isn't so bad yourself," he complimented.

She ran a hand through her semi-curly white hair and smiled whole-heartedly back at him. "Well, thank you, sir. 'Tre,' your name was?"

"Yup."

"Well," she said as she held out a hand for him to shake, "I'm June, Billie and Mike's favorite waitress," she jokingly introduced.

"Oh, please," Mike teased, "Everyone knows Marta's our favorite."

June looked back to one of the older waitresses behind the counter and scowled. "That old hag?" she whispered under her breath as she pointed to the one with light brown hair. "I'm losing to her?"

Billie chuckled. "Oh, come on, now. Of course you're our favorite, June. You always give me free pie," he hinted.

June rolled her eyes. "Oh, hush. Eat something healthy first."

Billie snickered. "Yes, Mom."



Once Billie had been satisfied with his free pie, the three of them sat in the booth discussing plans for Tre's birthday present. Tre had wondered if he should be present, but both Mike and Billie were quick to point out that they didn't really know him well enough to get him a proper present without his input.

"Tre, there's got to be something you want. Like a record or something for your drums or something," Mike said.

Tre shrugged. Sure, he wanted stuff, but he had known Billie and Mike for all of a week. And like he'd noted earlier, they didn't seem to have a whole lot of money to spare. He'd live without a couple extra presents that he hadn't even been expecting to begin with. "I don't know. I'm pretty good with the shit I already have."

"Well, we can head to the mall or something maybe. See if you want something," Billie suggested.

"Nice way to kill an hour or two," Mike added passively.

Once again, Tre shrugged. "Why not? We can at least get a nice afternoon out of it, huh?"

"Yeah," Billie agreed. "You wanna take off now?" he asked, standing up without waiting for an answer. Mike stood up after him and Tre followed. "We should head out to the record shop downtown," he proposed when they reached his car. "Unless you wanna head to the mall or something. They don't usually have anything worth buying, though."

"Eh, you can listen to music whenever. We might as well head out to the mall and make fun of all the shitty clothes they're selling," Tre said.

Billie chuckled unattractively and threw the keys over to Tre. "Here. Drive, birthday boy. We'll tell you where to go."



"I can't believe we still didn't figure out anything to get him," Billie complained.

"Yeah, but he seemed to get a kick out of dressing in those ridiculous clothes."

Billie snorted. "I didn't know they even made leopard print dresses that small. And I don't know how Tre could even begin to fit into that thing." Billie pulled his keys out of his pocket and found the key to the front door. "I think that may have fucking scarred me for life," he said chuckling. He opened the front door and let Mike inside ahead of him before shutting it behind him.

"Billie…"

Billie Joe froze. That voice was his mother's, and he was in trouble. He, Mike, and Tre had stayed out longer than they had initially thought they would, but it was only five and Ollie shouldn't have been home yet.

"Um, Mom," Billie tried as calmly as he could muster. "You're home pretty early."

"Yeah, I know. You're home pretty late. Why is that?"

"Well… Mike and I… picked up some extra shifts at work… 'cause we're a little short on cash." He nodded. 'That made sense, I think.'

"Yeah?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah. Billie blew one of our amps," Mike fibbed. "We're trying to save up for a new one."

Ollie nodded slowly. "Then why didn't you mention it this morning?"

"'Cause… it was pretty last minute. I thought it about it at lunch. We called from the payphone at school and headed to work right after. I didn't want to bother you at work to let you know 'cause I didn't think you'd even be home."

Ollie sighed. It was plausible, but this was Billie she was talking to. He wasn't known for being the most honest person around. "Okay," she breathed quietly. "But next time, let me know, okay? Then I won't have to worry about you."

Both Billie and Mike nodded stiffly. "Okay, will do." Billie looked down at the floor and shrugged. "Sorry for making you worry, Mom."

"It's okay, sweetheart. Just, y'know, in the future…"

"Yeah."

The three of them stood there for a minute, awkwardness settling in for the two boys. "Well… We should probably head upstairs. Homework and stuff." Billie waited as his mother nodded in acknowledgment and then he quickly made his way upstairs as Mike trailed slowly behind.