accompanied | billie eilish

seventeen

two teenage girls, around fourteen or fifteen, walk down a school corridor together.

"...so i told him there was no way i was going anywhere with him and he could suck it," one of them grins, reaching up to push her frizzy afro hair out of her face.

the second girl, aria, nods, impressed. "good for you, ash."

"anyway, my mum said you can come over for dinner tonight if you want," the girl named ash offers. "barbecue."

"you can guarantee i'll be there," aria sighs. "now matt's gone to college it's so hard to be at home right now."

"you'll get through this," says ash softly as they enter the dinner hall. "anyway, here we are."

the two girls slide into the seats opposite their two male friends, who were clearly waiting on them.

"what took you so long, dude?" asks one called tyler, pulling his beanie further down onto his head.

ash shrugs. "sorry. ms bennett held us behind cause apparently me and aria need to be moved down a set." she looks at the girl next to her.

the girl, aria, rolls her eyes. "i'm gay, i have an excuse for not being able to to maths. you're just stupid," she teases ash.

"my mum did some baking last night," the boy who hasn't spoken announces, pulling a large tupperware box from his bag and removing the lid to reveal cake inside.

"is that cherry cake? fuck yes, go shay's mum," the boy with a beanie, tyler, cheers, reaching out for a slice, but shay slaps his hand away.

"we're saving it for lunch, look," he grins. "just wanted to give you all a reason to sit with me."

the bell rings, and the four kids stand up, sighing.

"music with mr daniels next, are you kidding me," tyler groans as he checks his timetable.

"hey we're working on that new project again," aria reminds him. "shay finally let me on percussion, so it won't be that bad."
she nudges him playfully and the group make their way to the music classroom.

"settle down class, into your seats," the teacher calls, clapping his hands together. "we have a new student joining us today."

aria leans over to whisper to her friends.
"i know who he is," she tells them. "sisi was telling me, this kid's older brother is in her year. bunch of fucking weirdos, apparently."

"this is sam. sam parker," mr daniels announces. "he'll be needing a group to join- ah, aria, can he join yours? i'll give you extra time to fit him into your project."

"no, nonono," aria seethes through her teeth quietly, while she smiles and nods at the teacher.

and so sam joins their group.

"come on," says aria gloomily and they all head off to their assigned practise room.

"so what do you play?" ashley asks sam as she pulls her bass guitar out of its case.

he shrugs. "most things."

shay, holding his acoustic, blinks. "most things?"

sam nods. "look- give me that, i can show you," he offers. shay slowly and reluctantly hands over his guitar, only for sam to run off with it, giggling mischievously.

"hey-" shay yells.

"bunch of fucking weirdos," aria repeats under her breath.

but when sam comes back, he's holding a capo as well as the guitar; he sits down on the stool in the middle of the room and simply starts to play.

after a few moments, aria stands up from her seat by the drum kit, looking surprised.
"maybe you'll be a little helpful," she concedes.

"welcome to the team, bud," shay grins,

not realising how much that one sentence means.