Our Little Secret

Tre walked over to the lunch table by himself. Normally, he would have been joined by Billie, and Mike would be waiting for them with their food. However, neither Billie nor Mike had showed up to school that day. Tre's morning had therefore been uneventful; he still hadn't quite branched out and made any other friends. He could have sworn some of the other students were even avoiding him. Well, fuck them.

"Good 'morrow, good Tre sir," Billie greeted from behind Tre with a horrible English accent.

A very confused look passed across Tre's face. 'Billie?' He turned around to face him. "What the hell are you on?"

"I don't know," he mumbled. "You can tell I'm high?"

"Well, you sure don't seem sober; that's for sure."

Mike put his arm around Billie and led him over to his usual seat. "We kinda skipped our morning classes. Obviously. Billie had something… more important to do," Mike blatantly hinted. Mike and Tre both sat down along with Billie. "Just be glad you didn't see him this morning; he was pretty fucking pissed. You don't wanna be around Billie when he's that angry. He's so much more… pleasant when he's high. So am I, for that matter. I mean, I don't get angry very often, but… God, John sure pissed me off last night."

"Ah. So that's what had Billie so angry?"

"Yep."

"Y'know, I can speak for myself," Billie said. Aside from some slightly slurred speech, you really couldn't tell he was even on anything. "And of course I'm angry about John. Why shouldn't I be?"

'Mike was right,' Tre thought. 'Billie does seem a little bitchy today.'

"Although, I do want to apologize to you, Tre. John was being an ass, and you shouldn't have had to get involved." He paused for a minute, not really wanting to continue and admit he was partly to blame in this. "And maybe I got a little bit carried away, too. I probably shouldn't have punched the guy, but… he just fucking… pisses me off," he finished angrily.

Tre waited to make sure Billie was done talking, not wanting to interrupt his little rant for fear of angering him more. After he was sure he was done talking, Tre let Billie know he was okay with the ordeal. "It's fine, really. I've dealt with my own band squabbles. I mean, none of them have ever ended quite that badly before, but we've never really dealt with a dick like John before."

"Well, you sure are right about that—John is a fucking dick."

"Billie," Mike warned. "I know we're all pretty pissed at John, but we kind of have to calm down and think about this rationally, maybe?" he suggested.

Billie glared at him a moment before looking down and shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess," he mumbled.

Mike smiled a little, just relieved his friend's anger seemed to be somewhat dissipating. "Okay, well, for one, I know you make some pretty rash decisions sometimes. Are you really sure John's out of the band for good?"

Billie rolled his eyes. "Of course he is. Even if hell froze over and I actually let him rejoin, he wouldn't choose to come back. He looked pretty damn angry when he left. Not that he had any right. He's the one who started the whole damn thing."

Mike just listened to Billie's miniature rant, knowing his friend well enough to know there would be no use in trying to interrupt him. "Okay," Mike said once he was sure Billie had finished, "Then what are we supposed to do without him? It's a little tough to have a band without a drummer. And a manager, for that matter."

"Look, I don't know. We can ask around Gilman and see if there are any drummers or something. But, come on, Mike, there was no way in hell we could have kept working with that guy. He's so unreliable, and his whole attitude is just… ugh. He's lucky I never strangled him while he was working with us. I probably would have, too, if I didn't think we needed him for the band."

"Billie, do you realize what you just said? 'We needed him for the band'? That's exactly my point. I don't know if you're just totally missing my point or if you're just too doped up to realize it, but we need a fucking drummer. And the sooner the better, considering we've got quite a few shows booked. And we'll probably have to cancel the one on Saturday."

Billie sighed, knowing that his friend was right. "Okay, I'll cancel Saturday's show," he said sounding rather depressed. Tre kind of realized at that point how important Green Day really was to Billie Joe. "But we can still go and watch and maybe talk to some people there, see if any drummers are looking for an awesome band like ourselves."

Mike chuckled at Billie's bragging. The three of them—or rather the two of them—had to put their little discussion on hiatus. They were cut off by the bell, letting them know lunch was over. That was definitely one reason Billie hated skipping just morning classes; he always seemed to miss half of lunch, which was really the only appealing thing Billie could come up with about school. The three of them all stood up, said their goodbyes, and went off to their next classes.



Tre leaned over in his seat and poked Mike. "Hey," he whispered. "Mike."

Mike swatted his hand away. "What?"

"I've been thinking…"

"Something tells me you don't really do that very often, huh?"

Tre opened his mouth to speak, then stopped short to glare at Mike after realizing what he said. "Anyways… as I was saying… if you and Billie really need a drummer, I figured I could let you guys know that I happen to know a drummer who's free."

Mike perked up. "Really? Who is it?"

"Yours truly." Mike cocked his eyebrow. "Well, I already told you about our band's issues. I doubt we have a snowman's chance in hell of actually working out." Mike rolled his eyes at Tre's phrasing. "So I figured I could help you guys out. And plus, like I said earlier, I don't really know what the hell I'm gonna do if I'm not in a band, so I'd be benefiting, too."

Mike nodded, a smile on his face. "Y'know, that'd be cool if you could help us out. But we'll obviously have to talk to Billie first; we need his input before any big decisions. And I'd be sure to mention that last part, how it would help you and whatnot, 'cause Billie's not gonna want any charity. I doubt he'll ever admit it, but he's got too much pride for that."

"Mmm. That fits. Billie kinda seems like he'd be like that—not admitting he's got all that pride."

"Don't tell him that," Mike joked.

Tre chuckled. "I wouldn't dare. But as for the band, if you think there's a chance we could actually start working together, I'll check with Larry and Kain about leaving the band. But like I told you earlier, we're probably gonna have to break up anyways."

"Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure you've got a chance. Besides, it'd be nice if we could work with someone we already know. I'm pretty sure suggesting The Gilman was just Billie's last resort. I don't think he honestly would have wanted to recruit someone we've never even met before."

Tre grinned. "Okay then. I'll check with the band and see what I can do."

"And I'll check with Billie, and we'll let you know."