gotta get out [billie eilish]

Chapter 1

One

The peach sky darkens to a blue violet, and the smell of flowers and lawn seep in through the open crack in my car window. I immediately slow down and turn the dial on my radio to lower the music volume. A girl with neon green clips in her black hair, lugs a huge bag over her shoulder as she makes her way down the sidewalk.

I have no idea where she could be going, considering it's gonna be dark soon. I resist the urge to stop and ask if she's okay. She's just doing her thing and I'd probably be bothering her. I shake my head to reset, and focus my attention back on the road.

As I enter the parking lot, I notice a curly-haired boy reaching into the back of his car, and I park next to him. Kai has that charm about him that makes every girl love him. I'd probably find him really hot if I was into guys.

"Hey Maddy," Kai smiles, bringing me in for a hug. I oblige, wrapping my arms around him.

"You smell like bud," I chuckle as I pull away.

"Thank you," He puts his hand over his heart as if he feels honoured.

"I'm grabbing Dylan another beer," He tells me as we walk to the sand, adding, "I swear I'm his slave!"

I deeply inhale the salty air. The boys and I used to come to this beach every day after school finished, but we just don't have the time anymore so we try to make it on friday nights at least.

"Madison! You came!" Dylan shouts excitedly when he sees me. He kneels on a picnic blanket with a collection of empty glass bottles beginning to accumulate next to him. "I thought you said you had too much homework to do or some shit."

"I finished it already," I explain.

"Have you ever tried not studying?"

I raise an eyebrow, earning an eye roll. "Stop judging me anyway. I saved you so many times with those last minute study sessions," I defend myself.

He huffs in defeat, then recovers and takes a sip of his beer. "There's drinks in the car if you want one," He offers.

"Nah, I gotta drive home in a bit," I explain. If I was gonna hang the whole night I might have one, but I plan on making it an early one.

"Suit yourself," Dylan shrugs, causing his blonde hair to shake against his forehead.

"How'd last night go, man?" Kai asks his best friend.

"Oh, I had sex with Stella again."

I spin around to shoot him a look of disapproval. "Dylan! I told you to leave that poor girl alone!" I tell him, hitting his shoulder. "She's completely in love with you and you're just leading her on."

"It's not leading her on if you tell her you don't want a relationship and she still wants to fuck." He justifies with a smug look on his face.

I roll my eyes. "I'm getting ice cream," I announce nodding towards the ice cream stand nearby.

"Maddy," I hear as I'm deciding whether to get double chocolate or cookie dough.

"Hey Liam," I give him a small smile and turn back to the menu.

"That sweatshirt is cute on you but one of mine would look better," He smirks, giving himself an unattractive, arrogant demeanour.

"I'm gay," I sigh, "I've told you that so many times."

"I know, but I'm just asking you to give me a chance. Trust me." He continues.

"Bye," I tell him and retreat back to where I just came from.

"What's wrong?" Kai asks, concerned.

"I really wanted ice cream but then Liam –" I start.

"Liam's talking to you again?" Dylan cuts me off. "Jesus, the amount of times that guy has tried to get in your pants is ridiculous."

"And it's not gonna work so you guys don't need to worry about it," I reassure, noticing him getting angry.

"He should take a fucking hint," He grumbles.

"There's this girl I keep driving past in my area," I say, changing the subject.

"Is she hot?" Dylan questions, giving me his full attention.

"She's gorgeous," I reply honestly.

"Then you should definitely tap that."

"She's always carrying this big bag with her though and I'm so curious what she's up to."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Kai inputs.

"Yeah, I'll just creepily pull over next to her and ask her some questions." I say sarcastically.

"I'm just saying," Kai raises his eyebrows and puts his hands up defensively. "It's not that hard to start a conversation with someone."

"Yo, when are we playing..." Dylan jumps in, and I zone out when they start talking about some video game that just came out.

As I'm driving home through the shadowed roads, I see a girl laying across a bench strumming a ukulele. The same girl. A tight beanie holds her hair in place next to her face, blocking my view slightly, but I swear I can see her lips moving. The street lamp is like a spotlight shining on her in the middle of the dim park.

Without thinking, I pull over. She glances up for a moment, then goes back to her music, not phased. Why am I even here? If I tried to talk to her I would probably be bothering her.

I start the engine and drive away without looking back.

"Where were you?" My mom questions me as I put my keys in my pocket and close the front door.

"I was just hanging out with the boys."

"How's Kai?" I watch as she raises and drops her eyebrows suggestively.

"I'm not going to date Kai, mom."

"Oh come on," She pushes, "You know you guys would be perfect for each other."

I give her a look and then go to my room, unpin the pride flag that's on my wall and move it to the front of my door so you can see it from the hallway.

Vote if your gay af for her <3