accompanied | billie eilish

eleven

two girls, completely identical in both appearance and uniform, step onto a bus together. they flash their bus passes at the driver, who nods; they proceed to slink into the back seats.

"first day of high school," the first girl sighs, running a steady hand through her hair. "you excited?"

her doppelgänger shakes her head. "i'm terrified," she admits. "you?"

"i'm not scared," replies the first girl honestly. "we know everyone from our old school who's going up, and sisi and matt will both look after us."

"true," the second girl nods, although she is still clearly unconvinced.

"aria. look." the first girl grabs her lookalike's hands and holds both of them in her own, both staring into each other's eyes. "i won't let anyone hurt you. i know not everyone was nice at our old school, but this is different, okay? this is a fresh start. everything will be fine, you'll see."

"you promise?" asks the second girl quietly.

"swear on my life."

✦ ✦ ✦

billie

"damn," i say in surprise as i step out of the taxi, onto the long gravel driveway. "that's one bigass villa."

"less of a villa, more of a mansion," finneas agrees from beside me.

i take a few moments to soak in the gardens; acres and acres of perfectly manicured flowerbeds and knee-height hedges and fruit trees, and fountains and ornaments and little gravel pathways, as far as the eye can see. we stand in the shadow of the villa, if it can even be called that, which looms white and welcoming above us.

"hey aria... fridge racing, round two," i hear sam whisper loudly on my other side. i turn and look at him.

aria checks if he's serious before shrugging. "alright."

"fuck yes!" sam cheers. "down the spiral staircase this time," he tells her before hurrying off over to tyler excitedly.

"why is he in your band," i ask aria, half-joking. she just smiles.

"sometimes i ask myself the same thing," she admits. "but, even though he's a fucking child, he's also insanely smart and talented. it's weird. oh, and his gran owns this gaff, so," she adds, giggling.

"gaff." i mimic her british accent, my nose wrinkling.

she nudges me playfully. "shut up."

"hey aria!" someone calls from behind her; both of us turn to see a tall, thin beanstalk of a man and a slightly shorter pregnant woman walking towards us.

"matt! sisi!" she says happily and hugs them as they draw closer. "oh billie, these are my siblings, matteas and sienna," she explains to me. "guys, this is bil, she and her brother finn are on tour with us."

i smile and nod at them politely, then drift off towards the house as the three of them begin to talk animatedly.

everyone sorts themselves into the bedrooms they'll be staying in for the week we're staying here. apparently even in a house as big as this there won't be enough rooms for everyone who's staying here, so everyone is doubling up; sam and tyler (oh dear), finneas and claudia (who'll be arriving tomorrow), shay and matteas, and ashley and sienna, which leaves me and aria to share.

"fuck yes! we've got the attic room," aria cheers as she peers into the door across the hall to see it's already taken. "up this staircase, look. you can climb up onto the roof really easy and see everything for miles."

"are you sure you don't wanna share with your sister?" i ask again as i haul my suitcase up the stairs.

"had to do it enough when i was a kid, and there's no point in reliving that trauma, right?"

she grins playfully at me before leading me into the room we'll be sharing.

"okay that's a really pretty view," i say, dropping my suitcase and hurrying over to the open window and breathing in the flower-scented air from outside.

"my favourite room in the whole house," she tells me.

"wish i was sharing with ash instead though," i say playfully.

she looks up from unpacking on her bed and grabs the nearest thing which just happens to be a pillow, throwing it at my head. i move just in time and it misses, sailing right through the open window.

we exchange slightly concerned glances; a moment later, there's a dull thump from down below on the ground, and i hear finneas yell "ow, what the fuck?"

i burst out laughing.

"maybe sharing with you won't be so bad after all," i tease,

even though i couldn't think of anything better.