Song of the Century

Interrogation

"Who's Gemma? Is she your older sister?"

"No, I have no sisters. Only a little brother and an older brother. Gemma is the woman who took me from my family."

"You were taken from your family?"

"From my understanding, I was kidnapped when I was five years old."

"Was Gemma nice to you up till now?"

"Gemma started hitting me three years ago when she got a divorce. But before that, yeah she was nice. We were a real family."

"Who did she divorce?"

"My stepdad's name is Jefferson Hatter."

"Jefferson Hatter," Matt whispered to himself, "Why'd they divorce? Where is Jefferson now?"

"They argued every single day of their relationship. I have no idea what he was thinking when he proposed to Gemma. She was controlling, rude, and a huge bitch. I don't know where he is now, but he calls me two days a week every week. We talk for hours. He's like my third best friend."

"How many other best friends do you have?"

"Just two. Luna and Matthew."

"That Matthew has a nice name."

I rolled my eyes and laughed, and said sarcastically, "It's okay, I guess."

Matt scoffed, "Wow. Now, do any of your friends know anything about your mom?"

"Luna and her family do."

"Why didn't they call CPS?"

"I begged them not to. An orphanage is the last place I wanna go."

"So, you sacrificed your safety, just so you wouldn't be put in foster care?"

"Yes. And I don't regret it. If I hadn't done that, I would never have met my family. I believe I did myself a favor. And whenever I felt like I couldn't handle Gemma, I would stay a couple of nights with Luna and her family."

"When's the last time you had to stay at Luna's house?"

"2 days ago, when I..."

"When you, what? Lillie Joe?"

"I... uh..."

Matt frowned, grabbed my hands in his, then whispered, "What did you do, Lillie Joe?"

I tried to blink my tears away, but a couple slipped out, "I stabbed her. I didn't mean to! She was attacking me- she was literally on top of me and hitting me. I grabbed my scissors off my desk and stabbed her in the face, then I escaped out the window where Luna was waiting to take me to her house."

I broke down into a sob, then Matt pulled me onto his lap, hugged me, and rubbed my back, "Tell me how you found Billie Joe." He instructed.

I took a deep breath to calm my crying so I could speak, "There was a party at school and Green Day was the entertainment. Luna, Matthew, and I were in Luna's mom's car when Mike, Tré, and Dad arrived on their motorcycles."

"Who are Mike and Tré?"

"Dad's bandmates. They noticed that I looked exactly like Dad, and they convinced him that I was his missing daughter. In the middle of their performance, I saw Gemma staring at me from the other side of the parking lot. She had scissors in her hand. I ran inside the school to try and find a place to hide, but had a panic attack in the hallway. Dad found me and that's when he realized I am his daughter. Uh, we went to the football field and talked until Gemma interrupted us. She attacked my Dad, then I hit her on the head with a baseball bat. Tré took the bat from me, and Mike called the police. Then when they took her away, she was screaming, saying that she was gonna kill me. Then I went home with Dad."

I was still sitting on Matt's lap when I finished answering his questions.

"Thank you for answering my questions, Lillie Joe," he thanked me, "you did amazing."

"Why were you asking about all the people who knew about my mom?"

"I need witnesses for court. Now, what I'm gonna need you to do is give Foggy Jefferson's number and Luna's parents' numbers, when he comes back in here please."

"Okay. When will he be coming back?"

"I'm not sure. It depends on how many questions your Dad has. In the meantime, you wanna tell me more about yourself?"

"Yeah, okay."
××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Matt and I spent our time waiting for Dad and Foggy to come back, getting to know each other. Matt is a cool and funny guy, he even gave me his number and Foggy's number. Speak of the devil, he just returned with my dad. They were laughing together and Dad was holding some papers in a folder.

"Hi, Dad! Hi, Foggy!" I greeted happily.

"Hey, Lillie Joe," the greeted back in unison.

"How'd everything turn out, Mr. Armstrong?" Matt asked my dad.

"Turned out great," Dad nodded, "and you can call me Billie, or Billie Joe, or Beej, or BJ. Not Mr. Armstrong."

"Or Mr. Bossman," I added, "that's his name on his Disney Plus account."

"Well, Mr. Bossman, when is court gonna be?" Matt asked him.

"Next Saturday at 11:30," Dad answered.

"Don't worry, Beej, we're gonna get that asshole behind bars in no time!" Foggy said cheerfully while patting my dad on the back.

"Thank you, guys, for helping us," Dad thanked them, "it means a lot."

"Justice needs to be served," Matt said proudly.

"Alright, Batman," Foggy muttered under his breath while everyone laughed, "how 'bout we all go and get something to eat? It's an hour after lunchtime and I'm starving!"

Everyone chuckled, grabbed their belongings, left the building, and went to the nearest diner. We joked around, ate, and got to know each other better. Eventually, our happy moment had to come to an end. We drove Matt and Foggy back to their houses. Matt and Dad are in the front with me and Foggy in the back. After we dropped Matt off, I climbed into the front seat of the car and leaned my head on the headrest of the chair.

"Did you have a good day?" Dad asked me as I sighed.

"Yeah, I did," I answered, "Matt somehow managed to trick me into being instantly comfortable with him and tell him everything that's been going on with me."

"How'd he do that?"

"Said he wanted to get to know me. Asked my favorite color, then my favorite TV show, and proceeded to ask about my life with Gemma. He's a very smart man. He got everything he needed to win this case for us all in a matter of seconds."

"Wow, that's impressive."

I nodded and yawned.

"Someone's tired," Dad teased, then said, "Go ahead and sleep I'll carry you in the house."

I smiled softly, "Thanks, Dad. I love you."

"No problem, Lillie, I lo-" he was cut off once again by a phone ringing.

He groaned and answered it, but I immediately fell asleep, so I couldn't tell who it was. Well, it's none of my business anyway. Maybe he'll tell me about it in the morning. But right now, all I can think about is sleep.

WORDS: 1727