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"It Seems Like Forever Ago" By
Av 17 years ago she lay on the cold bathroom floor, a knife a few inches from her bloodied wrist. It was his fault she almost had killed herself. She had spotted him and Amanda making out in the janitor’s closet. One thing remained on her arm, a scar that said his name… End of FlashbackBillie Joe Armstrong woke up from the haunting memories of his ex-girlfriend in high school. Her parents treated him like shit now, but when Sammi and him went out, he was the center of attention when they talked about Sammi. “…Oh, Sammi’s boyfriend is such a charming young man…” they would say. He opened his eyes, because if they were closed they would only see that terrible scar… He got up and walked downstairs to the band room, where his band practiced. Tre and Mike were already down there, tuning their instruments. “Hey, Billie Joe,” Mike said. “Mornin’,” Tre said in a fake southern accent. “Hello, dudes…” Billie said. “Remember Sammi?” They nodded. “Isn’t she that girl you cheated on?” Tre said. Billie Joe nodded. “I had…the dream…again,” he confessed. “BJ, you need to talk to her,” Mike said, setting down his bass. I shook my head. “I can’t, what if she has a boyfriend?” he said. “Oh well fucks to the boyfriend…talk to her!” Tre said, tossing his drumsticks at the wall. He laughed and hoped she still had the same number. It rang five times, and then came her answering machine. “Hi, this is Sammi’s house. If I don’t pick up the phone leave a message. Byes.” Beep. “Uh…Sammi…its me…” Billie Joe heard a click and someone answered the phone. “’Lo?” It was Sammi. “Sammi? It’s…Billie Joe,” he said. “Oh you…why did you call me?” she said. “Cause…I still love you even though it was 17 years ago,” Billie said. SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW Oh my god…he still loves me… “Ok…that’s nice, bye,” I said. “NO! Wait…I need to talk to you,” he said. “Fine…but my kids just got in so I have to go…meet me at Starbuck’s, ‘kay?” I hung up. “MOM! WHERE’S THE BREAD?” my oldest, Mark, called from the kitchen. “Don’t shout, ‘kay? I need you to baby-sit Matilda for a while, I’m going out for a business meeting. The bread’s in the pantry,” I said. “Okay…when do you leave?” he asked, walking in with the bread. I checked my watch. “Five minutes. See you,” I said before I left. Once at Starbuck’s, I saw Billie Joe sitting alone at a table, occasionally sipping from a cup of coffee. I ordered one, too, and sat next to him. “What do you want to talk ‘bout?” I said. “Are you married?” he asked. “No…I was though,” I replied. “Will you marry me?” he asked suddenly. “No!” I said loudly. I got up and ran out of the store to my car, crying along the way. “Why marry me when you know you’ll cheat?” I said through sobs. ----------------- STILL SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW “Mom! Mark tried to kill me!” Matilda said when I first got in. “MARCUS TODD LENDER! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!” I shouted. He dashed in, his arms behind his back. “What did you do?” I said harshly. “I made her listen to…” his voice trailed off. “What?” I asked. “Um…Green Day,” he muttered quietly. “HAVEN’T I TOLD YOU THAT THEIR MUSIC ISN’T GOOD? GIVE ME YOUR CD PLAYER RIGHT NOW, AND ALL OF YOUR MUSIC!” Inside of me, I did like Green Day, but for my kids to, no way. “Fine…” he went upstairs and brought his CD player and his CDs back. “Now go to your room and stay there until dinner,” I said. I locked myself in my room as well and stared at the scar on my wrist. “BJ,” was etched there permanently. MARK’S POINT OF VIEW “Well, fuck you too!” I said under my breath. Damn, I love my mom but sometimes she gets so bitchy! Ding! It was my Instant Messenger. I muted my computer. It was my friend Julian Dirtz. Jdirtzi: hey man whats up MaRkLeNdEr989: my mom’s mood is down Jdirtzi: ooo that sux MaRkLeNdEr989: I can’t leave my room til dinner and no music Jdirtzi: pufss…band practice tomorrow MaRkLeNdEr989: gtg bye I signed off when I heard Matilda call my name for dinner. SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW “You can have your music back now,” I said after dinner. “Thanks mom,” Mark muttered. Ring…ring…ring! “Matilda, will you get that?” I asked. She nodded and answered the phone. “Hello?” she sad. “No it’s Matilda…no…we’re eating…ok…” She handed the phone to me. “Hello?” I said. “Its Billie Joe,” he said. “Call later.” I hung up and finished eating. The next day, two Green Day tickets arrived in the mail, along with one word: sorry. I took one to Mark and saved one for myself. “Matti? Wanna go see Grandma?” I called into Matilda’s room. She squealed and said “yes!” and hugged me. I took her to my mom’s house and then drove to the Green Day concert. ((NO ONE’S POINT OF VIEW SAMMI’S FAMILY Sammi is 32 pronounced Sam-Me Sammi’s ex boyfriend (Matilda’s dad), Lennon, is 34 pronounced Len-Non Matilda is 4 prounounced Ma-Till-Duh or full name Ma-Till-Duh Lin Kris-Holm Sammi’s ex husband (Mark’s dad), Menden, is 30 prounounced Man-Den Mark is 11. pronounced Mark or full name Mar-kuss Todd Lenn-Are UNCLASSIFIED Green Day are 32 you know how to pronounce it Julian is 11 Yul-Ee-In Macks is 11 Max Juli is 11 July Jax is 35 Jacks Steve is 30 Steev Eliza is 18 Ah-Lies-Uh Grace is 15 Grase sorry so short…I have to go, bye bye. )) BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW I glanced around the crowd, hoping to get a glimpse of Sammi. There she was, with no doubtly her son Mark. He was taller than her, had her face, but shaggy blonde hair. He looked like a bigger fan than her, although she seemed to be enjoying herself. I introduced one song, “This is to a very close and nice friend, I hope she’s here today.” Sammi turned a shade of bright red and sat down. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW I called Jax and asked if she could pick me up. She did a few minutes later. “Aw, man, mom, why do we have to go?” Mark asked. “I am tired…” I replied, faking a yawn. BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW What?! She’s leaving already? I held up my hand for them to stop the song. “And to that very special friend, who is here today, I would like to invite her to come up here, right now, this second.” She stopped in her tracks and spun around. Her son did, too. She shook her head and said to Mark something I couldn’t hear. She turned around and continued walking. “SAMMI I LOVE YOU!” I shouted into the mic. She turned around again, so did her son. Her son asked her something and then they kept walking. We continued the song but I didn’t sing as good. SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW I buried my head in my face when I got to the car. “Fuck you too Billie Joe…” I whispered. “Mom, what was that? Billie freaking Joe Armstrong wanted you onstage! You denied him?” Mark asked. “Flip off…” I said. Riing bing ding! Riing bing ding! “Hello? Oh hey Jul…whaddup? Oh yeah what I saw was awesome. No, my mom didn’t go onstage…yeah stupid. Haha…gotta go, we’re home…g’night!” Mark hung up. “Who was that?” I asked. “Jul…Juli, my girlfriend,” he explained. I nodded. “Okay, we’re at Granny’s house.” I went into my mom’s house to get Matilda. As I got into the car, I heard my phone ring. Ping ring ring ba-ring! I pulled out my phone. “Hello?” I said. “Um…it’s Billie Joe,” he responded. “Oh, it’s you again.” I was angry. “Why don’t you leave me alone?” “Cause I love you!” he said. “No, if you loved me you wouldn’t have gone out with…her,” I said, emphasizing ‘her’. “I…” he started. “I don’t want to hear it!” I shouted into the phone. “Whatever. Have a nice life.” - click, beeeeep – BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW Damnit. “Get over her,” said Tre. “She’s not worth it!” The problem was, I couldn’t get over it. I loved her so much, and now I couldn’t see her again. “Yeah, get a new girlfriend,” Mike said. Fine, I thought. I will find another girl… “Omigod, like its Green Day! OMIGOD I LOVE YOU BILLIE!” shouted some girls outside. I waved and turned back to my friends. “Omigod! Like, he waved!” one said. “E-liza! You like have to like calm down ya know!” the other said. “Yeah, like Gah-race! You like have to stop calling me E-liza, like totally!” Eliza said. “Soh-ry…what-eva! Let’s like go in!” Grace said, opening the door. “Like, we love you guys like so much! You are like the three hottest guys in the like entire planet!” They walked in. They both had blonde hair, Eliza had blue eyes, the other had green eyes, extremely short skirts, and bikini-like shirts. “Um, ok then…” Mike said. “Like, do you want to like go out with me Billie?” said Eliza. Mike’s words played over again in my head. “Sure…whatever…” I said. “Like, oh-mygosh! Like you have to see my like house!” She winked and told Grace she’d be gone for awhile. She pulled up in front of a nice house. We went into it and she said, “You like have to see my room…it’s like amazing!” She pulled my arm and showed me to the bedroom. It was nice. She pulled me over to her bed… ------ STILL BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW I woke up in an unfamiliar place. Oh yeah…my mind raced to what happened last night. I looked beside me and saw someone I didn’t love, Eliza. I love Sammi, I realized… SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW I want Billie Joe… I opened my eyes and looked around my room. The room I had lived in since I had graduated. I looked at my phone. “You have two new messages and fourteen old messages,” the monotonous voice said. “Hi, Sam, it’s Steve, wondering how you are. Give me a call, 656-6432. Bye.” Beep. “Sammi…I need you to pick me up…it’s Billie. I’m at 432 East 12th Street…help…there’s this teenie bopper…I will tell you later, hurry!” I swung my legs over the bed and went out to pick up Billie Joe. “There’s a teenie bopper…fucked me…girl…friend…” he panted as he dashed into the car. “Poor you, where do you need to go? Some other girl’s house?” I said. “No…the arena…” he continued. “Oh, nice to know,” I said, not interested. I dropped him off. Why do I have to like him so much? I thought. I watched him walk away. “Will I ever see him again?” I asked my reflection in the windshield. “Billie Joe!” I said, the same time he said, “Sammi!” I covered my mouth as I laughed. “Billie Joe, I love you…” I said, my voice trailing off. “I love you, too,” he said more confidently. We stared into each other’s eyes and were about to kiss but… “Like, Billie! What are you like doing?” It was a girl’s voice and we both turned to see who it was. It was a blonde girl with blue eyes wearing a mini skirt and a tube top. “Like, Billie, like is this like your mom?” she said. “Um, Eliza, this is my fiancé,” he said, raising his eyebrows at me. “Like…what? You like like her? Like but she's old! I am like so dumping you! Like you fucked my like last night and like left like this morning!” she shrieked. I stared at Billie Joe. “I KNEW I COULDN’T TRUST YOU!” I got back into the car and sped off, crying. Riiing riiiiiiiiing! “Damned phone.. Hello?” I said. “I’m sorry…marry me…please, I love you, and have since I met you…29 years ago…” It was Billie Joe. “Fine…I love you too,” I confessed. I hung up and decided to go see him. We went on a ‘wedding-shopping-spree’ and bought a few things. As far as I knew, we weren’t having a huge wedding. Just a small private one, so we only bought a dress, a tux, and enough food for 10 people to have 3 or 4 servings. The wedding was set up like this, in case you want to know: BEST MEN: Tre, Mike, and Mark MAID OF HONOR: Jax FLOWER GIRL: Matilda—duh And we invited some other people, old friends and family. It was a pretty quiet wedding. In fact, it didn’t get out until 5 months later, because Rolling Stone ‘had’ to have an interveiw with Billie Joe. I tried to make the kids (Matilda and Mark) stay upstairs out of their new dad’s way, but Matilda was extremely thirsty and bolted downstairs to get some juice. She stared at the reporter, her eyes wide. “Well, who is this young lady?” he asked, smiling wide. She dashed upstairs and held onto my leg. “Mommy! There’s a MAN downstairs!” she squealed. “I know, he’s with…Billie Joe,” I said, not sure what to call him. “BILLIE JOE! MOMMY…” I covered her mouth. A muffled sound came out. She spit on my hand. “Ick…” I whispered. Matti went downstairs and came back with a bag of candy for us to share. “Mommy! He has glasses and looks like a fut…a fucker!” she said excitedly. “Where did you hear that word?” I demanded to know. “Daddy says it all the time!” she said. “Which daddy?” I asked. “Billie Joe Daddy!” she said scaredly. Aw…she called him daddy. “BILLIE FUCKING JOE! COME UP HERE RIGHT NOW!” I shrieked down the stairs.
“Excuse me,” I said to the reporter and went upstairs. “What?” I asked. “You taught my four year old daughter how to cuss!” Man, was she pissed off. She went on for a few minutes when the reporter called, “Can I take some family shots? Just do what you normally do…” So there were some pictures that got out. We all were interviewed, and yes, even Matilda was. ------- SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW The phone rang for the 24th time that day. I answered it. “Hello?” I said. “Like is Billie there?” It was Eliza. I hung up. “Argh…biznotch!” I said. ELIZA’S POINT OF VIEW Like, Omigodzzzz…such a retarded little fuck that like bitch is… Like omigodzz an aim like popped up GracieTracie: lyk omgz LizaBug: lyk wat GracieTracie: lyk thiz hotE askd me out! LizaBug: lyk who iz thiz hotE GracieTracie: lyk frank wright LizaBug: lyk omgz cool thatz tray cool GracieTracie: lyk do u want 2 mEt hm LizaBug: lyk totally! I like met her at like the like coffee shop like near my house. Like omgz he is hot! Just like Gracie told like me. Like he wore like a tie that was like red. He was like with a guy who like said his name was like Mike. Like that guy was like hot! SAMMI’S POINT OF VIEW The door flew open. “MATTI! MARMAR! GRANNY’S HERE!” Crap, I forgot I had invited my mom over. “Shit…Billie, go hide somewhere!” I told him. “Where?” he asked. I pushed him into the closet. “I can’t breath!” I closed the door and ran downstairs. “Hey mommy…what's up?” I asked her. “Nothing, dear, where is this new husband of yours?” she asked, just as Billie came dashing downstairs, his tie askew and hair ruffled. “There’s…a…fucking…spider up there!” he panted, clutching a stitch in his side. “This…mom, this is my husband…Billie Joe,” I said. My mom looked him up and down, frowning. “This, dear? May I speak to you about…hooligans?” She took my sleeve and pulled me into the kitchen. “Your husband, Bill, is a hooligan, dear,” she said, patting my shoulder. “I would like to request that you divorce him.” I was speechless. Mark came in, grabbed some cheerios and left randomly. “What? Divorce Billie Joe?” I nearly shouted. I was close to tears. “Yes, dear,” she said. “And if you don’t, I will tell him to divorce you!” I ran out of the room. BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW Sammi ran out of the kitchen, crying. “Honey, what is it?” I asked her. She shook her head. “She wants-hic-me-hic-to divorce you!” ----- STILL BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW
NURSE (Amanda) GRENDIN’S POINT OF VIEW A hot guy walked into the waiting room. I recognized him, but I don’t know where from. He held a woman and two kids, one small one and a bigger one, were following him. “Mark…Mattie…find a seat…” he said to the kids. “Excuse me, my…friend collapsed,” he said to me. “Okay, where and when did this happen?” I checked the woman’s pulse. It was beating, though faintly. “She collapsed on the floor in the kitchen about 15 minutes ago,” he responded. I took some notes, and rang in a doctor. He took her to the emergency room. “Sir, can you fill out this paper?” I asked him. He finished in about 25 minutes and brought it back. “Thanks,” I said, and put it in a file, but not before I glanced at the name. It said “Sammi Becker”. The girl who dated Billie Joe Armstrong in high school. I looked at him, and he had strong resemblance to Billie Joe. It was him. “I am Amanda Grendin,” I started, “would you like to come have lunch with me?” I slid my hand onto the counter, trying to look casual, yet sexy. “Um…sure…” he said, obviously unsure. MATILDA’S POINT OF VIEW Billie Joe just took the nurse on a date! I tried to point that out to Mark, but he wasn’t listening. “Will the Becker-Armstrongs please come to room 191?” a voice over the loud-speaker said. “Wha…?” Mark woke up finally. “Let’s go,” I said, dragging his arm towards the elevator. I pressed 1 and we dashed into Mom’s room. “Um, mom? Hello?” Mark waved his hand across her head. “Excuse me, where is your father?” a nurse asked. “He’s with I don’t know but he’s somewhere,” Mark said. She whispered something to my brother, who’s expression changed from worried, to confused, to sad. “No!” he shouted.
Riiiiiiiiiiing riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! I answered my ringing phone. “Hello?” I said. “Hi, I am from the hospital,” a woman’s voice said. “We are sorry to report that your wife, Sammi, died today at precisely 1:15.” I hung up. No, not Sammi… ------- ONE YEAR LATER, BILLIE JOE’S POINT OF VIEW, AT A RANDOM GREEN DAY CONCERT “This is for my wife,” I said.
“Thought I ran into you down on the street WHAT HAPPENED FROM THE DAY SAMMI DIED – NOW, NO ONE’S POINT OF VIEW Sammi was buried in the cemetery, next to her sister’s grave, two days after she had died. After the funeral, Billie Joe adopted Mark and Matilda as his own children. He never wore his wedding ring again, but he kept it, in a drawer with all of Sammi’s other possessions. He continues to write many songs about her and the days he spent with her. THE END
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