Our Little Secret

"Billie Joe, I don't believe for a second that you're sick, and you either, Mike," Ollie scolded. "You two were fine yesterday; you expect me to believe you both get sick right at the same time? Billie, I've been around the block a couple of times; I'm not stupid. You're going to school. Both of you."

"But Mom, what if I drop dead at school?"

"Don't. Look, Billie, I don't have time to argue with you. You're going. Now go eat some breakfast and put some clothes on. I don't think the school would appreciate you going like that," she said in reference to their minimal clothing, which consisted of simply boxers, and socks for Billie. "Then the two of you are going to school. Okay?"

Billie knew better than to argue with his mom at this point, so did Mike, for that matter. They both sighed and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Well, this puts a little dent in our plans," Mike said under his breath.

"Yeah, and that's all it is—a little 'dent.' We'll just have to change our plans a little. We'll just drive around the block or something until my mom leaves."

Mike nodded in agreement, and the two teenagers ate the cereal that had been placed in front of them. They finished in record time, hurrying so they could leave the house quickly. The two of them tried to rush as they put their dishes on the counter to be washed later. As they hustled upstairs to get ready, Ollie followed them questioningly with her eyes, but she was too busy to bother with their antics at such an early hour.

Both boys were back downstairs within ten minutes, leading Ollie to wonder if they had even bothered to shower. They seemed to be miraculously better than they had this morning when they had been trying to escape going to school.

"Bye, boys."

"Bye, Ollie."

"Bye, Mom." Billie kissed her on the cheek, just as he always did.

He and Mike grabbed their backpacks and jackets—it was the first day of December, after all—and went out through the front door to Billie's car. They climbed in and threw their stuff in the back. "Once we get to the main road, I'll turn around, 'kay? Mom should be on her way to work at that point."

"Hey, if we're going out anyways, we should pick up some food and stuff for later," Mike suggested. He and Billie had made plans with Tre the day before as a form of celebration for figuring out all the details of the band. That was why they had been so eager to skip school. Tre was supposed to be to Billie Joe's house "as early as possible," although with Tre, Billie didn't know if that meant eight o'clock or noon. Perhaps in hindsight, it would have been a good idea to ask. Oh, well.

Billie nodded while he put the key in the ignition. "Yeah," he agreed. "What do we need to get, though? I guess we can figure that out when we get there, huh?" He turned in his seat to back out of the driveway, and Mike nodded his head at him.

They arrived at the nearest corner store not even five minutes later. There were no worries of Billie Joe's mom finding them as the restaurant she worked at was located in the other direction. Billie, upon seeing a pay phone, suggested they call Tre.

"That'd work if we knew his number," Mike joked. "And I don't even know if we're gonna have enough money for a few groceries."

Billie shrugged. "Good point." He pulled into a parking spot off to the side and killed the car's engine. Both of them pulled their wallets out to see how much money they had together. They had more than they thought they would—not that that's saying much. Neither one of them had a job at the moment, and most of the little money they had was in the bank to collect laughable interest. "What's this enough to buy us?"

"I don't know. We don't really need anything. I don't wanna waste all our money."

"Yeah, just beer and chips?" Billie asked, not really expecting a response. He pulled out a twenty and, instead of going inside, sat in the car in waiting. Billie wasn't going to try to buy any alcohol himself—he never did. He didn't want to risk getting caught. Rather, he and Mike usually found someone who was legal to purchase it for them, as did most minor friends.

By stroke of luck, someone the two of them knew from Gilman St. happened to pull up next to them. Billie would guess the guy was in his mid-twenties, so he knew he could manage to get them some beer. Billie had only spoken with him a couple of times, but anyone from Gilman was family. He just hoped this particular individual would see it that way, too.

Mike just nodded as Billie informed him that he'd be right back. He climbed out of his car a second before the other guy did. "Hey, dude!" The man turned slightly to look at Billie and cocked a questioning eyebrow. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" he asked skeptically.

"Nothing bad," Billie quickly answered in response to his hesitance. "Can you just buy us some beer?" he asked hopefully as he held out the twenty to him.

The man visibly relaxed and walked around the car, approaching Billie. He accepted the twenty in Billie's hands. "How much, exactly, do you think beer costs?" he asked, knowing full well twenty bucks would more than cover it.

"Oh, well, if it's not too much trouble, could you get us some chips or something? And then you can split the change with us?" As soon as he suggested it, he mentally cringed. They'd probably be getting a good amount of that money back, and splitting it is just as good as throwing it out. Even five bucks was a good amount of money for two jobless teenagers. He wasn't about to take his offer back now, though. He didn't want to be rude or jeopardize his and Mike's chance of having a fun time with Tre.

Billie's acquaintance debated it for only a second before agreeing. Once the man went inside, Billie got back in the car with Mike. They sat there quietly waiting for the guy to come back, not bothering to try at a conversation. It's safe to say neither one of them was a morning person.

Five or so minutes later, they were presented with their purchases and their half of the change. Mike took out the bag of chips while putting the beer in the back seat. He opened the bag and reached in, pausing when he noticed Billie looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Billie chuckled as he started the car. "Hungry much?"



"Tre's here!" Tre announced obnoxiously as he let himself into Billie's house. 'They really should lock the door. Anyone could walk in.'

Billie barreled down the stairs, nearly knocking into Tre at the bottom. "Hey, come on," he said hurriedly, verbally rushing Tre upstairs. He quickly ran back up the steps without waiting for Tre, who ran up after him. Since Tre didn't yet know his way around the Armstrong house, he just followed Billie into his room.

Billie pushed open the door to his bedroom and shut the door after Tre. Mike was sitting on Billie's bed in the corner, swinging his legs back and forth impatiently. "Took you long enough," he joked.

Tre looked around the room in awe, ignoring Mike's comment. "Your room's fucking awesome." He saw two guitars in the corner opposite the bed, the blue one Billie used for band practice and a red acoustic. But Tre was more enamored with all the band posters covering the wall. Billie's half-assed, black paint job on one of the walls just added to the atmosphere in Tre's opinion, and he couldn't stop himself from asking about it. "What's with the black?"

"I… miscalculated how much paint I needed. I figured what we had leftover in the garage would work... but it didn't. I think I like it better this way, though. An all black room just seems stupid when you're not on drugs."

"I tried to tell him that, too," Mike added. Now that Tre was here, he stood from the bed and got on his knees to dig under Billie's bed.

"Looking for Playboys down there, Mike?" Tre quipped.

"No, those are in his bottom drawer," he answered seriously, though his voice was slightly muffled.

Billie awkwardly looked away, trying, and failing, to subtly avoid the subject. When Tre started laughing, though, he jumped to defend himself. "Oh, come on. Like I'm the only guy with a couple hidden Playboys."

"A couple?" Mike asked incredulously, still somewhat distracted by whatever was under the bed.

"What are you looking for, Mikey-boy?" Tre asked. Billie just looked away, thankful for the change in subject.

Mike groaned at Tre as he pulled out a small box. "Is that going to become a permanent name?" he asked in annoyance. "It's dope," he said in response to Tre's previous question. "What'd you think we meant by 'celebrate'?" he asked jokingly.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I figured with Billie here, we'd end up practicing our asses off."

Billie rolled his eyes as he sat on the floor next to Mike. "I'm not that crazy about practice."

"Yeah, you are," Mike and Tre said in unison. Billie and Mike signaled Tre to come sit on the floor, and he did so, forming a pathetic circle with the other two.

"Well, no practice today. Unless we happen to be sober enough to play by the end of the day, then I guess we—"

"Billie..."

"Eh, we probably—hopefully—won't be able to play by practice time anyway if things go as planned." At the moment, Billie was really craving a high. And he'd had a tough week, so he felt he deserved it.

"Well, whatever. First thing's first," Tre said, grabbing the box out of Mike's hands.



A few hours later, noon had rolled around leaving the three teenagers hungry. Billie had run downstairs and grabbed the bag of chips and beer he and Mike had bought earlier. Now the three of them were back to sitting in Billie Joe's bedroom as they had been earlier, the only difference being that they were currently high off their asses. Anyone to walk in right then would be able to clearly tell.

"Oh, my God," Billie said at absolutely nothing in particular. He had given up on bothering with coherent sentences a while ago; they were too much trouble. He fell sideways into Mike and jokingly kissed his lips. They had done it a couple times before with Tre there, and according to Billie, they often ended up acting like this when they were high.

Tre rolled his eyes at the two's kiss. "I'm getting jealous over here," he slurred in jest.

Mike sighed and rolled his eyes, though his smile betrayed his facade of annoyance. "Get your ass over here," he said as he gently yanked Tre over by his collar. He sloppily placed his lips on Tre's, just the way he would always kiss Billie.

Billie got ready to shove Mike out of the way so he could get his turn at kissing Tre, but something downstairs cut him off. "Hey, did you two hear that?"

Tre and Mike separated and Mike pulled a questioning face. Tre just disregarded Billie's comment, figuring it was just the drugs fucking with his mind. He was still a little stunned from his kiss with Mike. Truth be told, he had never kissed another guy. He had just been joking when he had asked for his own kiss, and he hadn't expected either one of them to actually do it.

"Wait, yeah, what is that?" Mike asked with a hushed tone.

'Well, if Mike heard it too, maybe it's not Billie being crazy.'

"Someone's in here," Billie whispered.

All three of them froze. Billie silently inched his way towards the door to the hallway and pressed his ear up against it. He pulled away from the door to face Mike and Tre "They're coming upstairs," he mouthed frantically. He nervously turned back to the door to listen for any movement. He heard something from the guest room right next to his own room and jerked away from the door. He quickly crawled back over to the other two with wide eyes. "We're all gonna die!"

Mike's own eyes widened at Billie's outburst and he quickly threw his hand over his friend's mouth. "Not if you shut up," he threatened. Evidently, Billie's level-headedness went right out the window when he was high. Not so good in tense situations.

They noticed the sudden lack of sound coming from outside the room, and none of them was certain if that was a good sign or not. They froze once again. All three of them stared at the door, Mike's hand still covering Billie's mouth.

"Is he coming closer?" Tre asked when he heard some footsteps down the hall.

Mike didn't answer, but instead glared over at Tre. Tre shrank away upon realizing his mistake of talking. Mike, however, wasn't going to wait for another sound out of his mouth and grabbed him as well.

The faint footsteps they'd been hearing seemed to get louder until they stopped outside Billie's door. They all went dead silent, trying to make even their breathing as quiet as possible. Not one of them dared move a muscle. They all silently wished away whatever fate lied ahead, but their wishes seemed to go unanswered as the doorknob to Billie's bedroom turned.

As the door opened, Mike let go of Billie and shoved him towards the door. "Take Billie; he's the oldest!" he pleaded.

"Mike!"

"Sorry!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" the fourth person in the room asked.

The three teenagers looked at the older man and froze.

"David." Billie let out the deep breath he had been holding. "I—Why are you here?"

David shook his head. "No, Billie, why are you here? And what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well, we—I—Tre just…"

David eyed his younger brother. "Are you on something, Billie Joe?"

"…No."

David sighed. "Then why are your eyes all red? And why does it smell like pot in here?"

Billie looked over to Mike for help, but Mike didn't catch his silent plea. Billie looked back to his brother. "Um…" he nervously attempted as he tried to think of an excuse.

"You're supposed to be in school. You, too, Mike." He turned to Tre. "And you, too, probably. Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"That's Tre," Billie answered. "He—Well, we were… celebrating. He joined the band and, y'know, we were—"

"I'd advise you to leave," David said to Tre. "'Cause you'll be in a hell of a lot of trouble if you don't."

Tre just nodded in response and awkwardly left the room, still not fully understanding who the man even was. David waited until he heard the front door shut to begin berating Billie. And Mike wasn't left out of the lecture either; he was part of the family just like everyone else. "What are you two thinking? You're supposed to be in school, and instead you, what, skip school to get high enough to kill whatever brain cells you have left?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Billie, what aren't you getting? It's not that complicated. You should be in school," he said, emphasizing each word.

"There's no point in me going! I'm gonna drop out anyways! And even if I don't, I'll just flunk out!"

David paused to look at his brother questioningly. "Have you talked to Mom about dropping out?"

Billie Joe rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"And what'd she say."

"None of your damn business."

"Well, then, I'll let you take this up with her."

"You're not gonna tell her about this, are you?" Billie asked desperately.

David ignored Billie's question, as all three of the people in the room already knew he would. "What about you, Mike? You're smarter than this."

Mike shrugged half-heartedly. "It's just one day."

David sighed. He knew there was no way to get through to them in one short conversation. "Look, I gotta get back to work, but you can bet your ass that I'm telling Mom about this."

"David—!"

"Billie! I have to go to work. Just… try and clean up a little before Mom gets home. And Mike… at least you have a good head on your shoulders. Don't mess that up."

Billie opened his mouth, about to yell at his brother once again, but he was already out of the bedroom. Billie clenched his jaw shut and turned to Mike. "God, I hate him."