accompanied | billie eilish

twenty

aria

we're lucky that we have another day before our next performance. we spend
all of it playing our setlist with finneas in the venue, over and over again, so that he knows what to do when we perform. lucky for us, he's an incredible musician and it doesn't take him long at all to figure out what he has to do.

"you've got it," i say delightedly, as finn plays back a chord progression for did you hear the rain to me perfectly.

"you know," he says slowly, playing the progression on his electric guitar again. "this song would be really cool, but it would be even better if it had a sequel."

i blink. "a part two?"

"yeah. listen to this."
he plays to me a new chord progression which i've never heard before; i can hear its similarities to did you hear the rain, but at the same time it's a completely individual piece.

"i like it," i say slowly. "wait- play it again-"
he does so, and i tap my hands on my thighs, figuring out a drum pattern to fit in with it.

"how about-" finn starts, pausing as ashley approaches us, looking grim.

"hold that thought," i say, tapping his shoulder reassuringly as i stand up and follow her. "what's up?"

"sam made a tweet regarding the whole. situation," she says delicately, leading me over to where tyler and shay are stood, looking as concerned as she is.

i frown.
we haven't actually publicly addressed the fact that sam left the vision yet. it doesn't feel real, honestly, and i don't think it will until we perform onstage without him.

"it's not pretty," tyler mutters.

i wince. "that bad?"

ashley passes me her phone, open on sam's personal twitter page. "see for yourself."

i tap onto his most recent tweet.

samsvision (ten minutes ago):
i am no longer a part of the vision. the idea of being associated with such disgusting people any more makes me feel truly sick. i have plans to embark on my own journey as a solo artist, but for now rest assured that the vision haven't heard the last of me, and not in a good way

"went right up to the character limit," laughs shay dryly.

my stomach is churning. "what does he mean we haven't heard the last of him?"

right on cue, mike hurries up to us, his hairline having seemingly retreated even further out of stress.
"guys," he pants. "you saw sam's tweet, right?"

we nod.

"his lawyer, from that time those kids vandalised his car, just messaged me. he thinks he has rights to a percentage of the royalties of all the content he's created up until yesterday with you, included unreleased stuff."

my jaw drops. "no way. our music is legally documented under the vision, and if he's not a part of the band then he has no rights."

the others nod in indignant agreement.

mike sighs. "i thought you'd say that. but if you deny him, he's suing."