• adopted by billie eilish •

T H I R T Y - E I G H T

paisley

we reach the pool and billie sets our stuff on a chair. "paisley, i know you know how to swim, but for today just be in the kiddy pool." billie says as she lets go of my hand. "okay, mommy." i say and smile.

i grab elliot's hand and walk over to the kiddy pool. there are a couple of other kids in the kiddy pool.

we walk into the water and almost immediately a girl and a boy around our age walk over to us.

"hello!" the girl says and waves. "hi!" i wave back. "my name is june and this is my brother august, what's yours?" she asks. "my name is paisley, and this is my friend elliot." i respond.

"how old are you?" august asks. "we are both two." elliot says and holds up two fingers. "we are twins so we're both three." august says and smiles.

"i'm turning three soon!" i say and smile. "do you wanna swim with us?" june asks. "sure." i say and smile.

~

"june, august, where are you?" a voice asks. i look up from playing with the twins. "over here, may!" august yells.

"who's may?" i ask. "our older sister, she's seven." june explains. "oh, everyone has a sister or brother except me." i say and frown.

"just ask your mommy for one!" june exclaims. "she's too busy for another kid, maybe in the future." i say and shrug.

"hello children!" may says as she walks over to us. "you're like, two years older than us." august says. "actually, four." may says as she sits in the water.

"hello, i'm paisley and this is my friend, elliot!" i say as i wave to may. "hi, i'm may!" she says and smiles.

we all talk and play for about twenty minutes before the other two kids in the pool swim over to us.

"hi." the boy says. "hi!" i say and wave. "wanna play with us?" i ask the two of them. "okay!" the boy says and smiles. "i'm austin and this is my younger brother nelson." austin introduces.

we all say our names and we all start playing games.

~

"okay, so is everyone clear with the plan?" may asks. "yep, we wait for a couple minutes and then we run to the tiki bar to get snacks." june replies.

"but don't we need money?" austin asks. "true." august replies.

"i got this." i say as i smirk. i get out the pool and open the gate to walk over to billie.

"hey little baby, what are you doing?" billie says as she looks down at me from her chair. "nothing." i say and smile. "oh okay." billie says as she goes back to scrolling on her phone.

i walk over to her jacket that is on the ground and put my hand in one of the pockets. i pull out a bill and run back over to the kiddy pool.

"is this enough?" i ask, walking over to where everyone is. they are all out of the pool.

"i don't know, i can only count to ten." elliot says. "i can count to twelve." nelson says. "ooh, i might know, let me see." may says as she walks over to me.