Come Out and Play (Billie Eilish)

Chapter 1: 2 Years Ago

"Why do you even work at a record store, if you aren't even into music" I laughed looking at my co-worker Lewis. He chuckled, "I need the extra money. I'm going to do, what I need to do" he said as he repacked the cds in order.

"Morning everyone" The owner, Marlon Fitz, said walking towards us from the back of the store. "Morning Mr Fitz" we all greeted back as we prepared for the store to open.

"The store is in good shape, thank you very much" he said as he looked around, "New stock is coming in today, I need you, Amanda, to sign them off. Everyone else, keep doing a good job... we need it. To the new kids, be polite, help all you can, make sales, have fun" he continued looking around at all of us, "And Billie," he said looking directly at me, "Please tie your hair up, just to keep a neat look" he told me.

I looked at him then nodded before using the rubberband I had around my wrist to tie my hair.

"Thank you very much," he said smiling at me, and then continued looking around at everyone else, "It seems like we're all good here. I'll be next door, you know where to find me right?" he asked, a few nodded, "Okay, get to work" he said before turning around and walking towards the exit

Mr Fitz was an old man, probably in his sixties. He owned this record store, as well as a barbershop next door. He lived with his wife and eldest son, and had these two businesses to... keep himself busy I guess. His son took care of him and his wife, as his wife had suffered a stroke a couple of years earlier, which left her paralyzed below her torso. I guess to cope with that, he wanted to keep busy... so here I am working for him.

He exited the store and everyone just got to doing their own thing. There were five of us in the store. Lewis and Amanda were the ones who were basically in charge of stock and keeping track of it, while Amanda was also almost like a manager, and Lewis did store packing. I also did packing, but my main duty was just to help customers get what they needed. Jasmine was the cashier, and kept track of the money, and Trevor was the sign man, for both the record store and the barbershop. Trevor and I were new in the store, Lewis had been here for six months, and the rest, I didn't know.

The only person I knew prior to coming here was Lewis. We weren't friends or anything, we were just classmates back in school... acquaintances... so it was very easy to just start conversating with him.

We opened the store, and there was nobody coming in immediately... as expected. So we all just sat around and chilled.

"I'm going out too. I guess I'll be back for lunch or whatever" Trevor said grabbing the signs and walking out of the store.

"So, you just finished high school" Amanda said looking at me.

I nodded.

"Why aren't you going to college" she asked. "It's not for me" I told her keeping the answer short and simple. The nodded then turned around and decided to talk to Jasmine instead.

I didn't really talk... especially to people I didn't know. I had been told many times that I came across as rude... but I was just not into those 'casual' and unnecessary conversations and friendships.

Why wasn't I in college though? College was just not for me. I didn't want an annoying office job. I didn't want to work for someone my whole life. There are a lot of people who didn't go to college, let alone finish high school, who were billionaires. If they could do it, I could do it. At least, that's what I believe.

Of course my family hated me thinking that. My older brother went to an animation school, and he was now a creator of his own show. He made a great deal of money, not a million yet, but he could support himself. My parents wanted the same for me. They were mad that I didn't have a plan, and always stressed me out about it. which was why I got the job. I told them to give me this year to just try find myself, and promised that I'd at least get a job for that time period. So here I am.

Did I know what the hell I was doing? Nope. I was just hoping inspiration would hit me at some point and I'd find something that spoke to my soul... I really hoped.

After half an hour of no customer activity, I started just randomly walking around the store.

A career in the arts? Music to be exact... that could be great, right? That would mean finding a producer though... could I even write lyrics... I just seemed like too much.

As I walked around, I passed by Lewis who was sitting on a chair at a corner. He was busy on his tablet. I started walking really slowly after what was on his screen caught my attention. It looked like he was editing a video of him busy with a snake. I got curious so I went to him and stood beside him.

"Hi" he said feeling my presence.

I chuckled, "Hi" I replied looking at him. "How can I help you" he asked me putting on an awkward smile. "You have a snake?" I asked him.

He smiled, "Yeah... more than one actually... Really a bunch of reptiles" he told me.

"What are you doing over there" I asked him pointing at his tablet screen.

He kept quiet a little before speaking, "I have a youtube channel... about owning reptiles" he told me. I nodded my head interested. "So you want to be a youtuber?" I asked him raising my brow. He laughed, "Well... I have bigger ideas... but basically youtube is the start" he told me. I nodded. "Cool, I'll check your channel out" I told him smiling before I started walking away.

"Thank you" he said smiling as he continued doing what he was doing.

A few minutes passed before finally, the first customer came into the store. A soon after that we actually started working.