Saved//Green Day

Chapter 29

*Two Days Before the Trial*

Chelsea's POV

I walk downstairs(of the Armstrong household) and see my father and Billie talking at the dining table. They are laughing, looking as happy as ever. Once I step foot in the kitchen, my father is gone and Billie has his elbows on the table, running his hands through his hair as he cries. I sit next to him and watch him sob. Suddenly, he stops crying and says, "You did all of this." I stay quiet and shake my head, full of confusion. "Don't deny it. When that trial comes around, you'd better expect me to tell the truth about what you've done," he adds. "But I—" I begin.

Someone shakes me vigorously and I awake from my nightmare. It takes me a few seconds to realize that it's Jake and Joey. I rub my eyes and look at the clock on my nightstand. It reads three in the morning. "Wha—" I begin, but Joey cups his hand over my mouth. "Sh-h-h. You have to be quiet. We have a surprise because we really don't know much about you and you're kinda our sister now.... Just think of it as an initiation thing, kay?" he says. I nod my head and he removes his hand. Jake turns on my bedroom light and I flinch at the sudden brightness.

They pull me out of my bed and I notice that they're in pajama bottoms and t-shirts(I'm wearing sweatpants and a hoodie). I slightly laugh, but follow them downstairs and into the garage. "Where are we going?" I ask groggily. "If I told you, then there's no surprise," Joey smirks. I roll my eyes and watch as Joey manually opens the garage instead of using the button - probably so that he doesn't wake up Billie or Adrienne. Jake walks next to me as we all make our way to - what I am assuming - Joey's car. "If it makes you feel better, I have no clue what we're doing either. He dragged me out of bed and said follow my lead," Jake admits as we get inside Joey's car.

Jake sits in the front seat, Joey drives, and I sit in the backseat. "So, Chelsea, you haven't heard much music yet, huh?" Joey asks me. "Nah. The only music I know perfectly is classical," I answer honestly, watching closely as he drives. He turns on the radio and an upbeat song starts to play. "You're on your knees, begging please stay with me, but honestly I just need to be a little crazy. All my life I've been good, but now I'm thinking what the hell. All I want is to mess around..." the girl sings strongly. I never thought someone could be so honest...especially in a song where everyone hears you... I think to myself.

"Please change the station. I've heard this song too much lately," Jake mumbles to Joey. Joey does what Jake asked and flicks through the different radio stations. He finally settles on a station with another upbeat song. "It just takes some time. Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything will be just fine. Everything, everything will be alright alright..." the song goes. I'll have to ask Billie what song that is, I make a mental note to myself. We continue to drive with a few other songs playing as we go - all upbeat. Joey is a somewhat okay driver, but not when it comes to stop signs. Most of the time, he doesn't even stop at them, and instead, goes for it. It doesn't necessarily make me feel unsafe, but I'd prefer that he waited at the stop signs.

The car slowly comes to a stop once we pull into a parking lot. I look up at the huge, bright sign at the top of the store, and it reads "7 ELEVEn"(Lame and useless fact: the 'n' in 7 eleven logo is actually lowercase unlike the rest of the letters) in big letters. "Um, probably a dumb question, but where are we?" I ask awkwardly. "Seven Ele-oh my god. Are you telling me that you've never been to a Seven Eleven?!" Joey exclaims. "Nope, never been," I reply honestly. Jake and Joey share a glance with each other and they both look at me with dropped jaws. Jake gulps, and then says, "Tonight, we are on a mission to make you a normal, American person. And, yes, that means trying every Slurpee flavor inside and trying every single chip brand. Operation Make-Chelsea-Live-a-Little is in full circuit." Joey does a quick nod - his head moves down and goes back to its resting position - and we all get out of the car. Jake and Joey walk on either side of me as we go inside the average sized, convenience store, where I will be tasting a Slurpee - whatever that is.

Both of them immediately pull me to these colorful machines with spouts at the bottom that are activated by levers right above them. There are about 6 different spouts - all different colors - and Jake grabs three cups out of the dispensers underneath the machine and so does Joey. They fill each cup with a different colored flavor from the machine, and I look around at everything inside. There's chips, hot dogs, pizza, candy, chocolate, the Slurpee machine, cigarettes, alcohol, and the sales clerk. It looks like an almost average store to me. Joey and Jake each hand me one drink from their hands and guide me to the counter to pay, but before Joey does, he grabs multiple different chip bags(all different brands and flavors). He pays the clerk with the fifty dollars that Billie gave him yesterday and gets about $32 back. The clerk puts all of the chips in bags and we grab the Slurpees.

We get in the car and drive home with music playing through the radio. The music makes me so happy, and I honestly have no idea why. Maybe it's the fact that people are expressing their thoughts and opinions in an artistic way rather than just saying it out loud. Whatever the reason, I still like it a lot.

When we get back inside, Joey instructs us to follow him into his room, to which Jake and I obey him. Joey closes the door once we're all inside and we all sit on the floor. Jake takes the chips out from the bag and lays(Pun intended) the chips down in front of me, a large smile forming on his face. I look at the drinks that are still in my hands and Joey says, "Drink it. Trust me, you'll thank us." I do what he says and sip the blue drink through the straw poking out if the lid. It's a freezing drink, but it's one of the best things I've ever had. It tastes like berries and heaven. I don't know who's idea it was to invent them, but I love whoever it was. I smile as I continue to drink it quickly. "Wait, Chelsea! You're gonna get a brain freeze!" Jake yell-whispers. Before he can say anything else, my head pounds with pain and I stop drinking as I place a hand on my head.

"Yeah, we forgot to tell you. Don't drink these too quickly or else you'll get a brain freeze," Joey sighs. The pounding stops and I take a drink of the rest of the Slurpees, which all taste great, but blue is my favorite. Next, Joey hands me different types of chips that all are amazing, but I have to say that I hate Hot Cheetos. No food should ever be florescent red and be as spicy as Hot Cheetos.

After tasting the chips and Slurpees, we talk about ourselves and laugh a lot. Sometimes, I say things that aren't that funny to me but are hilarious to Jake and Joey, and vise versa. They both are very funny as well and it's easy to be in a good mood with them around. The more I get to know everyone, the more I feel like I belong in the family...but I guess I shouldn't get used to it since my mother will probably win the case, and I'll go to jail.

A/N: heyyy beautiful people!!! How are u all doing?? Sorry for the wait on the new chapter! I kept having to rewrite it bc it would sound awkward or very stupid! I wanted it to be a good chapter rather than one thats carelessly thrown together! I hope u all forgive me! Ilyasm!!!!! XOXO

-Victoria

P. S. I didnt read over it so im sorry for any mistakes. I'll probably fix them tomorrow!