nothing lasts - b.e

|15|

The start of thanksgiving break means no school but extra soccer practice. I don't mind; I'm so amped up at the idea of destroying St Greggs in a few weeks—especially after Amyra sees me with Billie this weekend—that I practice harder than ever, getting to the gym earlier and staying later than my teammates.

Kaiya and I spend our downtime in the beginning off the week watching movies. Raya joins us as often as she can, but the restaurant she works at is busier than usual with the holiday, so she's swamped with shifts. One of the mornings she has off, the three of us drive to the old cinema to watch 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' for tenth time. When we leave the theatre, I have a text from Billie.

Billie Eilish: Planning my outfit for the party. Wearing red. Do not match me.

I can't help but laugh.

If you told me a month ago that I'd be rolling into Elodie Chandra's party with a crew comprised of Billie, Odessa and Asteria, I would've laughed in your face.

And yet here we are.

•

"You owe me", Billie says as we traipse up the front walk. She whispers it close to my ear so Odessa won't hear. Part of me wishes she would tell her about out arrangement.

"Owe you?" I ask with a demure smile, "hardly. Did you forget you're doing this because I impressed you with my big, chivalrous, note stealing gesture?"

"Yeah, my knight in shining armour", she says dryly.

Elodie's house is wild when we walk in. There are people everywhere with solo cups, making noise and posing for pictures. Enya and Elyssa stand against the foyer wall, watching everyone like they're not sure what to do with themselves.

"We just came from dinner", Enya says, hugging us. She squeezes Asteria round the middle and she goes exceptionally quiet, "Partridge Pizza".

"Brought some leftovers if you want", Elyssa says, passing a box towards us, "they have the best garlic sticks".

"Thanks", I say reaching for the box, but Enya holds up her hand.

"You might wanna check this girl's breath first", she said with a grimace.

"It's not that bad", Elyssa says, but now that I'm close to her, I can definitely smell a strong, funky garlic smell.

"Oh shit, that's bad".

"Told you", Enya says, "Dude put raw garlic bits on there".

Billie watches the interaction with her nose wrinkled.

When I turn away from the garlic sticks box, she grabs my elbow, "thank you. I would've refused to talk to you all night".

"Well, as it is, darling, maybe you can escort me to the kitchen".

"The way they flirt is so cute", Odessa whispers to Asteria.

"I completely agree", Elyssa says, standing as close to Odessa as possible while keeping her hand over her mouth.

Billie starts to head for the kitchen but I hold her back.

"What?" She whispers.

"You need to hold my hand. We're here to sell this to Amyra, remember?"

"God, you're a psycho", she says, but she takes my hand anyway.

We make our way through the throng of people of whom stare at Billie and then at me. By the time we reach the centre of the house, my heart is trilling, expecting Amyra's face to appear any moment. I scan the room out of the corner of my eye, but I don't see her anywhere.