Nuclear Family

Sitting in class the week before finals for the semester, Rita Mae stared down at her notebook, trying to ignore her history teacher's ramblings and the glares from a classmate.

The kid that had thrown the water bottle at her turned out to be one of the juniors in her global history class. His name was Josh Rosen, and he was out to make her life a living hell.

A note landed on her desk from a few seats over, and it went unnoticed by the teacher, Mr. Hayes, so she discreetly opened it, dreading what it would say.

Hope you don't plan on applying to Cal. There's no way you'd get in, even with your daddy's name.

She didn't need a signature to know that it was from Josh. Rita had been wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans and a golden yellow Cal Berkeley sweatshirt that her mom had gotten from one of her Alum weekend visits.

Looking down at the word "Cal" spelled in block letters and the silhouette of their mascot, the Golden Bear, underneath that, she sighed and slumped her shoulders. She folded up the note, dropping it into her backpack so that she could deal with it later.

Josh had been harassing Rita nonstop since the incident at the New Parish. He shoved her into lockers, made snide comments, and since he was on the baseball team, he got a few of his teammates in on it too.

Drew and Logan had told her to tell a teacher or administrator, but she didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing.

"Nothing?! Mae, he's bullying you! He's fucking belittling your existence, and all you want to do is sit back and take it?" Logan was horrified as the girl shrugged. They were eating lunch in the cafeteria now, huddled together at a table far away from Josh Rosen and his jock friends.

"Your dad would be so disappointed to see you being so passive about this." Drew shook his head and Rita glared at him. He had no right bringing her father up when it came to this.

"Are you sure there isn't a teacher that you can tell?" Matt tried to ease the tension that was quickly escalating and succeeded.

Rita Mae thought, remembering her biology teacher that she had the year before. The woman had been a great teacher, and really reached out to Rita when she was in a funk when Green Day was on a tour last year.

"I think I can talk to Mrs. Wagner… But only if things get bad, alright you guys?"

"As long as you do it before it really starts to escalate, Mae. We don't like seeing you upset." Logan said as they all shook their heads, cleaning up their lunches and heading to their next classes.

---

At 3:05, school let out and Rita made her way to her locker so she could grab a few things before meeting Jack at the middle school down the street. It was extremely convenient on behalf of the school district, because they both got out at the same time and they could be picked up together.

Texting Jack that she was leaving to meet him, Rita didn't notice the baseball player that was flanking her right. She was too focused on typing out a message to Drew about practice to realize that Josh was closing in.

A foot shot out in front of the girl, causing her to trip and tumble onto the cement outside of the school. Acting on instinct, Rita used one hand to try and stop her fall while the other wrapped tightly around her phone and pulled it toward her chest.

She landed on her knees and shoulder; her face barely inches away from the ground. The girl was panting, her adrenaline in high gear as her heart raced rapidly. What the hell had just happened?

"Walk much, little bitch? You gonna cry about not being able to keep track of your own two feet?" Josh chided the girl, watching as she sat up on her shins and dusted herself off.

"I have better things to do than cry over the things you say." Rita stood, sending the junior a glare and continuing on her way, only to see Jack walking towards her from down the street.

"Who's this, your boyfriend? Kinda sad that you have to outsource to the middle school, isn't it?"

Jack looked from his sister to the husky, dark haired kid that towered over her, wondering what exactly was going on. He could see that Rita was near tears, so he decided to say something.

"You must be an idiot if you can't tell that we're brother and sister."

Josh crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the younger boy as he tried to think of a comeback.

"He's not worth the breath, Dange. Let's just go." Rita tossed her hair over her right shoulder and adjusted her backpack, walking away and motioning for Jack to follow her back toward the middle school.

"What was that about?" Jack asked once he had caught up with her.

"He's the kid that hurled the water bottle at me last week… He's been making my life miserable ever since." Rita shrugged, avoiding making eye contact with her brother.

"Have you told anyone?"

"Just you and the guys. No one else knows, and you're not gonna spill the beans."

Before Jack could say anything else, they saw their father's BMW in the parking lot. Upon closer inspection, they both saw him wearing a leather jacket and a pair of Ray Bans, and he was drumming on the steering wheel in an impatient manner.

Rita got into the front seat while Jack got into the back, trying not to set the man off.

"So how was your day, kiddos?" Billie asked as they sat at a stoplight only a few blocks from the school.

They both murmured back a variation of 'fine' and Billie nodded, asking if they had homework only to be told that they didn't.

When they got home, Jack tried to talk to Rita about what had happened, but she merely ignored him and went to her room to do her homework.

She wasn’t going to tell anybody else about what had been going on at school, and she certainly didn’t want to talk about it with her brother.

Rita sighed and saw that she had a mountain of chemistry homework, so she pulled her calculator out of her backpack and got to work, hoping that neither of her parents would say anything about the foul mood she had been in.

---

Rita Mae was acting unusually giddy for some reason, and Billie Joe wanted to know why. After seeming so down in the dumps lately, she was constantly on her phone, texting God knows who, and smiling at the device. It was distracting him as he sat at the piano in the basement, and he was going to put an end to it.

"Get off that thing and help me out already!" Billie groaned, pressing a few keys together and playing a foul sounding chord, catching his daughter's attention.

"What? Sorry… Okay. Play it again. I promise I'll pay attention this time." Rita straightened up, putting her phone beside her as she sat on the floor and looked at Billie purposefully.

Billie Joe played for about a minute, holding his breath and waiting for her reaction when he was done. He saw a thoughtful look on her face once he turned to face her, and he waited.

The girl got off the floor and sat on the bench with Billie, telling him that what he had played was interesting.

"I'd play it like this, though… Your meter is weird." Rita went on to repeat his notes exactly, but she played it in a way that made it seem totally different.

"That's much better. Thanks, baby doll." Billie wrapped his arm around Rita's shoulder, pulling her into him for a hug.

Rita Mae sighed contently, leaning her head against Billie and smiling to herself, something that didn't go unnoticed by Billie Joe.

"Wanna go across the Bay and look at some new guitars? I hear they've got some new Gibsons in." Billie offered, knowing that she loved going and looking at instruments with him, even if they didn't leave the store with any new toys.

"Actually, I have plans. My friend Carter is coming to get me and we're going out." Rita tried to sound nonchalant so he wouldn't ask questions, but if her plans involved any boy other than Drew and her other two band mates, all hell was let loose.

"Who is he? Where are you two going? Is this a date?"

Rita felt her father's grip on her increase, and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable, so she answered his questions as fast as she could.

"A friend from school, we're going to the aquarium, and I'm not sure."

At first Rita had been suspicious of Carter Kirkpatrick and the attention he was showing her, but she liked it regardless. He had come to the last show she played in Oakland during the first week of winter break, and they talked afterwards and got along rather well.

Carter was tall, with dark blond hair and brown eyes that lit up when he smiled. He played soccer, and he was lean and fit, which Rita liked. Carter was a grade ahead of her, which meant he could drive and he had even offered to take her to her gigs so he could go too.

The girl thought it was weird that he was interested in her, especially since they had only said two words to each other throughout school. He had started texting her out of the blue, and she didn’t even know how he got her number in the first place.

She couldn't talk to Billie about her reservations though- he would tell her to drop him like a bad habit, and Rita wasn't about to tell the cute boy to leave her alone.

Rita briefly hugged her father before saying she had to get ready and bolting upstairs to change for her pseudo date. Pulling on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a red and black striped sleeveless Billabong top, Rita laced up her trashed black Chucks. Shrugging on a black leather jacket, she grabbed her canvas RPM bag and was ready to go.

After checking her hair and makeup, the girl darted downstairs as the doorbell rang, and she hoped to get there before Billie did.

Billie Joe opened the door to see a tall boy wearing jeans, Vans, and a zip-up RVCA hoodie standing there with a smile on his face. Billie smirked, figuring that he was here for his daughter.

"Why hello. Who might you be?" Billie crossed his arms over his chest, glad that he answered the door.

"I'm Carter, sir. Is Mae ready to go? Not that I wouldn't love to stay and chat with you- I hear that you're a fascinating man."

Mae? Since when did everyone call Rita that? Billie shot the kid a glance, glaring slightly until Rita appeared from his right.

"Hey, sorry to make you wait. I see you've met my dad... Dad, this is Carter. Carter, this is my dad, Billie."

"It's Billie Joe. Have a good time; if you need anything I'll probably be in the basement jamming. Mike and Tre are coming over." He looked to the kid to see if he was fazed, but he still wore a neutral expression towards Billie. Then when he looked at Rita, a smile broke across the kid's face.