[Words I Might Have Ate] [Mike Dirnt] [Chapter 21: Reunited and it Feels so Good]

[Carrie's POV]

The fresh new start of the brand new week started today. It was also starting a new month. The date was April the third, but it was still gonna be a hell-filled day.

Mike seemed to be doing better as time progressed. He said he enjoyed my company at his house, so he let me stay with him. I hadn't seen Billie Joe since Friday, but Mike said he had. He also said I didn't want to see him. I just went along with it,

I was also doing better since that little escapade Tre and I had at his house. All I needed was some sleep and a pick-me-up--Same with Tre.

It was now second period, which I had with Mike. Even though I said Mike was doing better, he was acting weird... like, he was acting weird around me. He kept giving me awkward looks, and stuff. I tried to ignore it, but it had been bugging me.

"Mike, are you okay?" I asked once he sat down in his desk beside me. He smiled and nodded.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I shrugged.

"I don't know why they are, but I have a reason. You're acting all..." I moved my arms in a twitching sort of way to prove my point. "Weird." Mike chuckled.

"Eh, I'm fine. I'm great, actually." He was in denial... about feeling great, I mean. I just shook it off though, and focused on the teacher. Oh yeah. Over the weekend, I finished reading the book and did the 1,000 word essay on it. It wasn't hard to do either, cause Mike was playing his bass practically all day when he came home.

"Everyone take out your homework assignment and the books from Friday and have them out on your desk." Mike looked at me in question.

"I wasn't here Friday." I shrugged and pointed to the teacher.

"Ask the teacher for a book." He nodded and went up to the teacher's desk and... you know... he asked him for a book. After he explained what he was absent for, he claimed his book and sat back down in his desk.

"Is it really a good book?" I nodded with a smile.

"Very good book. I like it, anyway."

* * * * * * *

Second period came and went. The bell had rang and Mike and I jumped from out seats and ran out the door. We had practically chitchatted through the whole class--both of us earning detentions--but it was still boring as hell.

I met up with Pepper in the hallway and Mike met up with Tre and busted lip Bill. Tre made up that nickname for him because he thoughtwas stupid for getting his lip busted. I did too, so I called him that also. Not to his face of course, because I didn't want to talk to him... even though I did. It's confusing, so nevermind.

"Where's Jimmy?" I asked. Pepper shrugged.

"I think he's at The Wall early today."

"Me and Mike have detention right now." Pepper's eyes widened with a smile.

"Ya'll were fooling around in class and got caught, huh?" I laughed and shook my head.

"No, we were just talking." Pepper smirked.

"Talking about what positions to try tonight?" I laughed.

"God, you're just like Tre." Pepper shrugged.

"Sexual minds think alike, I suppose." I chuckled.

"Walk me to detention, will ya?"

"Of course Madame!" We hooked arms with each other and began our walk down the hallway to the detention room. Mike was at the door with Tre and busted lip Bill whenever Pepper and I reached the room.

"Hi Carrie!" Tre grinned, waving at me. I waved back, along with Pepper. Busted lip Bill walked off andI sighed.

"He does look bad," I chuckled, hugging Tre.

"Yup," Tre nodded. "Dumbass."

"Finally!" Pepper shouted. "Somebody sees it my way." Tre chuckled. So did I, cause Tre said that exact same thing at Billie's house when me and Mike were over there.

"No, I just wonder how he got the shit beat out of him." Pepper giggled.

"Cause he's a dumbass." As Tre and Pepper were insulting my ex-boyfriend, Mike and I walked into detention, surprised to see two people we knew.

"Hey Jimmy," we greeted, doing that hand-slap thing.

"Eggplant?" I questioned to this guy with really shaggy, dread-locked hair who was sitting in the back. He raised his brow in surprise.

"Carrie?" he also questioned. I nodded while walking towards him and engulfed him in a hug.

"I haven't seen you in like, forever!" I exclaimed. He laughed.

"I only moved five months ago."

"Yeah... when'd you get back?"

"Saturday."I laughed.

"And you already got a detention?" He laughed and shrugged. Eggplant/Eggy/Egg/Plant was a guy who was friends with busted lip Bill before he moved. Billie introduced me to him, since we were going out at the time. I wonder if B.L.B knows he's here...

"Does Billie know you're here?" He shook his head.

"I think I'll surprise him."

"He'll definitely be shocked." Egg nodded with a smile. "You do remember Mike, right?" Egg nodded.

"Hey Mike, why didn't you give me a hug?" Mike smiled and walked to us and gave Egg a hug.

"It's been so long," Mike sighed.

"That's exactly what I said." Eggplant chuckled.

"So how have you guys been?" Mike and I just shrugged, meaning, 'could be better.' "Not so good, eh?" We nodded. "Well, what's going on?" We sighed, then laughed at each other's similarity.

"Well, here's some shocking news that you would have never thought would happen. Billie and I aren't dating anymore." His eyes widened and he raised his brow in surprise.

"What? You guys were great together. What happened?" I shrugged and turned to Mike. "Okay, what's your beef man?" Mike looked down at the floor and scuffed his shoe on the carpet.

"Just... something bad happened on Friday... something worse than a gig canceling, which also happened."

"Oh. I'm sorry man." He shrugged and went to his seat. I decided to sit in the back with Eggplant--to catch up on old times. Of course, he asked me more questions about me and Billie, and more about Billie.

"Heh. If you see him, don't ask him what happened to his lip or face. He might get pissed." Egg nodded.

"Why, what happened to him?" I sighed.

"Apparently on Friday, he got all depressed and shit and got drunk and decided to leave his house and got the shit kicked out of him by someone." Egg nodded slowly.

"So everybody had a bad Friday?" I nodded. I kinda had one, cause everyone else was having one, but I soon forgot everyone after I was at Tre's for a while.

"That doesn't sound like Beej." I shrugged.

"Things have changed since you left, Eggy."

"Tre still the same?" I nodded with a smile and Egg laughed. He quickly stopped laughing once the door opened and the teacher stepped inside, grunting.

"Alright, let me see who all's in here," he sighed, clearly not wanting to be here, along with the rest of us. Eggplant and I sat down in our desks and waited quietly. "Corey Almond?" Corey raised his hand and the teacher nodded. "Jimmy Hibbs?" Jimmy raised his hand, and so on. "Mike Pritchard?" Mike did the same thing. "Edward Thomas Ramsey?" I snickered. Eggy glared at me and raised his hand.

"Mr. Spec, you don't remember me?" Mr. Spec looked up and his face fell.

"Christ," he muttered. "When did you get back?" Eggy smiled.

"Today. And I have brought you a gift!" Egg got up from his desk with a brown paper bag that I didn't notice. He handed it to Mr. Spec, and Spec looked at it curiously.

"What is it?"

"My lunch," Eggy grinned. "Tuna sandwich with potato salad and manderine oranges. Actually, I'll take the oranges." The room snickered as Egg took out his oranges and sat back down in his seat. Mr. Spec didn't look amused, but continued on with the attendance, setting his new 'lunch' on his desk.

* * * * * * *

The ball rang for detention to be over, which meant we all had to go to fourth period... which I had with busted lip Bill. The whole time in detention, I noticed Mike giving me more weird looks. I was kinda glad I didn't have any more classes with him, cause I wasn't sure if I could take any more of the awkwardness.

I looked at Egg's schedule and discovered he had two classes with me: Scienceand Study Hall. There was good things and bad things about that. Good thing, I got to have a class with justhim; Bad thing, busted lip Bill was inScience with us. They were going to be talking a lot, I knew it.

I had told Eggy how bad Billie Joe had been treating me, but I didn't know if I told him not to say anything about it. I think he has enough common sense though... but then again, Eggy was the kind of 'hear something, do something' guy. I hope he doesn't confront him while I'm in there.

I had just walked into the classroom with Eggy when Billie looked up and saw him. Perfect.

"Eggplant!" he exclaimed, getting up from his desk and engulfing Egg in a hug. "Dude, when did you get back?"

"Well, I originally got back Saturday, and today's my first day back to school."

"I missed you man." I knew it. Once Billie saw Egg, they'd forget all aboutlittle old Carrie Marie. Egg took a seatbehind Billie, which was down diagonally from me. Remember, Billie and I still sat next to eachother because we had no choice.

I just put my head down and closed my eyes. I couldn't help but here them talking, since they were just right there. I listened to their conversation since there was nothing else to do.

"So why'd you guys break up?" I knew that was gonna come up. Billie didn't say anything though, which meant he signaled to him to shut up, or he just shook his head. Something like that. He didn't like to talk about me when I was around--except when we were dating. He wouldn't stop gloating to everyone about me, but I was flattered.

He made me feel special, cause I always thought I wasn't much to look at. I still don't think I am, and I'm not so sure what he thinks anymore. His mind's fucked up.

About50 minutes later, the bell rang and we all went into the hallway. Pepper, Tre, and Jimmy were waiting for us, and Tre practically screamed likea little girl when he saw Eggy, causing practically everyone in the hallway to look our way. Egg just laughed and hugged Tre.

"Dude, when did you get here?" Egg laughed.

"Saturday. You know, everybody's been asking me that." Me, Jimmy, and Tre all began our walk to our Math class, with Eggy, Mike, Pepper, and busted lip Billie following. They were all talking to eachother while I talked to Pepper, since the guys were so engulfed in their guy-ness.

Nothing special happened in Math. Tre was just telling Jimmy who Egg was cause Jimmy never really knew him. He got here after Egg left, so he was kinda confused. I just did that crap that I had to do and prepared myself for doing Tre's homework. I knew he was gonna want me to, so I just went ahead and did his work.

The lunch bell rang and we all sprung up from our seats and ran out the door. Egg, Billie, Pepper, and Mike were all in the hallway, waiting for us, of course. The awkward weirdness got to me again. I can understand Billie giving me a weird look, but Mike too? It wasn't an evil look, but just another one of those awkward looks he was giving me all day. It was really creeping me out.

"You're definitely sitting with us bud," Tre smiled,putting his shoulder around Eggy.Egg nodded and we all walked down to the lunch room in this huge group of punks. It was kinda funny. We looked like a gang of misfits, which we kinda were. And Jimmy with his mohawk and Tre with his green hair made it all better.

There was nothing good/edible on the lunch menu--not like there ever is anyway--so I just went to our table and sat down. Pepper came with me, of course, while all the guys got their 'almost as disgusting as Tre's mind' lunch.

"Guys are stupid," Pepper sighed randomly. I nodded anyway with a titter.

"Yeah, they are," I nodded. "Why are they?" Pepper shrugged.

"It's coded in their DNA. They can't help it." I nodded again.

"Then why do we like them?" Pepper smiled.

"Because we have control over them. Their narrow-minded minds can't over power ours." I nodded with a smile.

"You're so right."

"Oh, I didn't tell you what the dumbass did, did I?" I raised an eyebrow, then shook my head. "Oh. He called my house on Friday and was begging me for help to get you back. He was drunk too. I could tell by how he was talking and his tone." My eyes widened. He must have been drunk to call Pepper.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"You were getting fucking up with Tre, which I am very jealous of." I smiled, but it quickly faded.

"What'd you tell busted lip Bill?" Pepper giggled.

"I still love that nickname. Oh, I basically told him to fuck off and he doesn't deserve you. He disrupted my doings." I sighed.

"Pepper, you should've helped him," I whined.

"If he needs my help to get you back, then he's not worth any more of your time." I sighed again.

"I miss him," I pouted. Pepper sighed.

"Carrie, why?"

"Because I still love him, and... I liked having control over him. He was like my bitch." Pepper laughed.

"I should have gave you tips on how to train him." I laughed and nodded.

"Hello all you cheerful ones!" Tre grinned, sitting down at the table with his disgusting food. Mike and Egg were with him too, so they sat down as well.

"Hey guys who aren't assholes," Pepper greeted, just as Billie was walking up to the table with Jimmy. He justrolled his eyes and sat down. I chuckled a bit. His lip actually didn't look that bad, but you could tell that it was busted. There was just a slight discoloration near his eye.

"Pepper, shut up," I hissed.

"So, Carrie," Eggy started. "... You still living with your parents?" I shook my head.

"I'm staying with Mike right now... not really living there. It's just temporary."

"How come?" I hate it when people come back. They always have a buttload of questions to ask. I sighed.

"Because, they were really pissing me off, and they want me to switch schools, and they want me to move far, far away." He gasped.

"That's horrible!" I nodded.

"Yeah, so now I'm staying with Mike, since I can't officially move in with him. I don't think he'd want me to anyways." Mike looked in our direction with a paranoid look.

"Who said my name?" I shook my head.

"I was just telling Eggy that I'm staying with you for a while." He nodded and went back to talking to Billie.

"I'm sure Mike would let you," Eggy started. I shrugged. Pepper rolled her eyes.

"Carrie, you know Mike would. You can't tell he has a thing for you?" I didn't say anything. "I know you have a thing for him too. Just ask him if you can. I know he'll say yes." Hm... she was right though. I never told her about that kiss me and Mike had at Billie's. She'd flip if I told her. It'd bea happy flip, but still a flip. I just shrugged.

"Okay, fine. I'll ask him when we get home." Pepper smiled.

"There ya go!"

"Oh, Eggy," I started, getting his attention away from Tre. "If you ever need some really good weed, or acid, or whatever you want, just ask Jimmy, the one with the mohawk that's sitting next to busted lip Bill down there." He looked to Jimmy, then back at me with a nod.

"Yeah, Jimmy's got some good shit. Way better than Two Dollar Bill's." Egg laughed.

"He's still dealing?" I nodded.

"Yeah, but he ran out. Tre bought his last joint last week." Eggy chuckled.

"Busted lip Two Dollar Bill. Dumbass."

* * * * * * *

The bell for the end of the day finally rang, and I was super relieved. I couldn't take anymore questions, awkwardness, and evil looks. Instead of taking the bus, or hitching a ride, me, Pepper, and Jimmy walked home... again. I liked walking home though. I got to talk to my friends.

"Oh Jimmy, I told Eggy about you."

"What do you mean?"

"I told him you had good drugs. You'll probably be getting more service." Jimmy chuckled.

"That's fine with me. I'll talk to my dealer. Heh. My dealer's in my family."

"You serious?" Pepper asked. Jimmy nodded.

"My uncle Kevin. He gives me discounts too."

"You're fucking lucky," Pepper sighed. "I wish I had a dealer in my family. That would rule." I nodded.

Once we reached Pepper's house, we said our good-byes, and Jimmy went to his house as well. I just walked the rest of the way to Mike's by myself, but it was okay, cause it wasn't even far. I walked inside and dropped my crap I was carrying to the floor.

Mike was on the couch, watching Tv. I suddenly remembered the question I wanted to ask him about moving in permanently. Hopefully he would say yes. I sat down on the couch next to him, and let out a breath.

"Mike, could I ask you something?" He nodded and turned off the Tv.

"Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you." I raised my brow and nodded for him to go on. "Okay... I know you're wondering why I've been acting weird today, and it's because I wanted to ask you this question, and I want you to give mea straight, honest answer." I nodded again.

"Will you got out with me?" I blanked for a second. Mike just asked me out... weird... no wonder the weird looks today. He was happy... and excited. Wow. He just asked me out.

"I know that you still really love Billie and all, but... that kiss we had... you're a really cool person Carrie, and I like you... a lot. I'm sorry if I offended you, or seem insensitive, or--"

"Yes Mike," I smiled. His eyes widened for a second, but then he grinned.

"Really?" I nodded. "Sweet!"