Insomnia // Billie Eilish

Chapter 7

I walked into my first class and smiled when I saw Jasmine, but it quickly faltered when I saw the substitute we had. I'd had her before. She let out a heavy sigh. "Ms. Jones, go take your seat."

I sat down and started tapping my foot on the ground.

"My name is Ms. Modest," she started. "It's just like it sounds, I'm very modest." I let out a small laugh and rolled my eyes. This bitch. "Is there a problem, Ms. Jones?"

I shook my head and she continued. "I don't like to repeat myself. I like to have respect. When I'm talking, you need to listen. Now, I understand you were given work when your teacher was here. Get started."

I turned towards Jasmine and pulled my feet up into my chair. "So, what do you have so far?"

"One second," she said as she rummaged through her backpack. "I've got to find my notebook real quick." She pulled it out and the front cover tore off. "My notebook," she shrieked, frowning and I laughed.

"Ms. Jones," Ms. Modest said sternly. "Come up here and sit by my desk."

I pursed my lips and grabbed my backpack, making my way up to the front. She pulled a chair out from one of the desks and put it beside hers. I sat down. "What'd she do?" Jasmine asked.

"You don't know?"

"No," Jasmine answered, uncertainty evident in her voice.

I laughed at Jasmine and pull out my notebook. "What's your name?" Ms. Modest asks.

She smirked. "Jasmine."

"Go to the hallway."

She slid out of her desk and left. "Wait, what'd she do?" I asked, knowing she'd send me into the hallway too. It was ridiculous, as we were about to graduate high school, but it was funny.

"She was back talking—I don't have to explain myself to you," she stated. "Do you want to go too?"

"Uhhhh." I acted like I was thinking, although I already know what I was going to say. "Sure, yeah. I'll go." She opened her mouth and then closed it as I left. I pushed my back up against the wall, and Jasmine pulled one of my feet out from under me so I fell. "Ow." I groaned.

"Sorry," she apologized as she laughed.

"It's fine."

"How are you enjoying the hallway," I inquired.

"Loving it," she said with a laugh. I let out a small chuckle.

Eventually, the bell rang and we went to our next class. It was boring, of course. I managed to make it to fourth block and started an argument with Olivia. No surprise there.

"What's wrong, Mack," Olivia asked.

I shrugged and mumbled a quick, "I don't know."

"Bored?"

"Yeah, you kinda left me," I replied. "As per usual." I'd gotten used to acting like her friend and how she wanted me to act. She planned this argument out yesterday and texted me about it. It was something I called "having too much free time."

"Well, sorry, but don't you have somebody else to talk to?" she asked.

"No."

"You can find somebody. Make a new friend."

"I'm not like you, Olivia. I can't just make friends like you. Nobody fucking likes me." It was pretty easy to have that argument with Olivia, as we'd had many similar ones in the past. When we were still friends.

"I don't know what to tell you, M," she said. "I'm sorry, but you constantly following me and wanting to talk to me gets annoying. You have to leave me alone sometimes."

I lowered my voice. "Oh, I need to leave you alone sometimes? You're literally blackmailing me."

"Shut up, dumb fuck. You're talking too loud. We can't just all of a sudden be perfect. We used to argue sometimes so we still need to argue sometimes."

-

I finally made it home and tossed my backpack down, laying like a starfish on my bed. My phone dinged and I huffed as I struggled to sit up, do to my severe condition called laziness.

Crazy, right?

It was a text from Billie. My heart skipped at the sight of her name.

billieeilish: wanna hang out?

I smiled and typed a quick reply.

mack.jones: sure. pick me up?

She replied with "see you in ten minutes" and a winky face.

"Daaaad," I called.

"Whaaaat," he called back in a mocking tone.

I stood by the banister so he could hear me better. "Can I go over to Billie's?" I asked.

"Sure." He walked into the corridor with an apron and a bowl of chocolate batter.

"Good, 'cause she's already on her way," I said with a smile.

"Cam!"

"Dad!"

"What?"

I huffed. "Stop calling me by my middle name."

"Uh, let me think about it," he said, thoughtfully. "No, Cameron."

I cringed at my middle name as I pulled on my green jacket. After my dad annoyed me for six more minutes, Billie finally shows up.

"And you know when I was younger-"

"I'd love to hear more—honestly—but Billie's here," I interrupted with a laugh.

"Alright, we can eat brownies and continue our conversation when you get home."

I groaned in response and walked out of the door. "Hey, Billiam," I teased.

She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Get in the car, Kenz."

-

Finneas looked at me and then whispered something to Billie. A slight blush dusted her cheeks as she hit him. "Bro—dude! Shut the fuck up!"

"Billie," her mom said. "Language!"

Finneas made his way over to me and threw an arm over my shoulder. "Hey, Mackenzie."

"Hey." I laughed. Billie watched him carefully as he talked and I wondered what he said to her.

She introduced me to her dad and we all talked with each other for a little bit before we went upstairs.

"So, how's your music coming along," I asked.

"Good," she responded. "But let's talk about you for once. You don't ever talk about yourself. What do you do in your free time? How many siblings do you have? Like, what the hell is your favorite color and when's your birthday? That's the shit I wanna know."

"Okay," I said, clearing my throat. "Well, my full name is Mackenzie Cameron Jones. I'm seventeen. My birthday is on March 2nd. My favorite food is watermelon and my favorite movie is The Lucky One. I play soccer and I'm in choir. My favorite color is indigo. I have a brown lab named Neko. I have a big brother, as you already know, but he left with my mom. I also have an adopted little brother. Please never make me do that again."

"What happened with your mom?"