Living a Lie

Bill sat with his family for his mom's 34th birthday. He loved that his mom was so young, even if that did mean that he was born when she was 17.

He smiled across the table at his 16 year old brother, Andreas. Andreas had blond hair that swept across his face, and brown eyes. Bill himself had brown eyes,too, and blond hair dyed black. He looked at his parents, Carli and Dylan, who both had black curly hair and blue eyes.

People always thought that it was weird that the boys looked nothing like their parents, but Carli and Dylan always insisted that Bill and Andreas were their sons. Bill was 17, and Andreas a year younger.

The family was always moving, and they had just recently moved to America. Bill sometimes felt like they were running away from something. But whatever happened, they always seemed to have plenty of money, which was strange, because neither of their parents worked.

Bill and Andreas were very smart, and knew how to speak fluent German, English, French and Spanish.

And the two boys were best friends. They never felt like they were brother, they didn't even look alike. But they believed their parents. Carli and Dylan wouldn't lie, right? They were the coolest parents in the world. They never yelled at the boys or grounded them. They listened to cool music and dressed like they were still teens. Bill loved his life, but he always felt like something was wrong.

As they ate cake, Dylan gave everyone a bottle of beer. Obviously, Bill and Andreas weren't old enough, but as long as they didn't tell anyone, they could drink as much beer as they liked.

"Are you two ready to start school tomorrow?' Dylan asked.

Bill rolled his eyes.

"Why do we have to move so much? I'm getting sick of going to a new school every 4 or 5 months."

"But you'll like this one! It's a performing arts school!" Carli said.

Bill sighed.

"Great, so I'll love it, just to be gone by April."

Carli sighed.

"Bill, stop being so emo! And we may stay here a while, it's nice here."

"And fucking cold!" Said Andreas.

"It's January!" replied Carli,frustrated.

"Maybe we can take a trip to Niagara Falls," suggested Dylan.

Bill laughed.

"Why? To see a bunch of old people take pictures of falling water? I have a better idea: just throw me into the falls and leave me to drown. That sounds like fun!"

No one else seemed to think that that was fun.

The next morning Bill and Andreas woke up early for their first day of school.

"So when does the school bus come?" Andreas asked.

"Oh...you have to take the metro," said Dylan.

Bill and Andreas were shocked.

"PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION?" Bill screamed. "Do you know how many freaks ride the bus?"

Obviously they didn't, because Carli and Dylan still made the boys take it.

When they walked into the huge school, they received their schedules. Bill was disappointed to see that they were split up. He was a vocal major, and Andreas was visual art.

"Andreas, why can't you sing well?" Bill whined.

Andreas rolled his eyes.

"Why can't you draw well?"

Bill had no reply to that. He went to his 1st period class. In the room was a large piano with about 60 chairs. He went up to the teacher.

"Hello, I'm Bill Lyerz. I'm new."

The teacher smiled.

"Welcome. Are you a tenor or a bass?"

Bill wasn't sure.

"Uh...a tenor? I think..."

The teacher smiled and pointed to an empty chair.

"You can sit there. Grab a choir folder first and turn to page 65. We were just working on a new German piece."

Bill smiled.

"Ja? I speak German!"

The teacher was surprised.

"Really? Are you from there?"

Bill shrugged.

I don't know. I think that I lived there once, but my family moves so much that I'm not sure."

"Really? Very interesting. Where else have you lived?"

"We just came from New York city, and before that I lived in Spain, Italy, Paris, London, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and I even spent a bit of time in Tokyo. I loved it there the most, except I don't know much Japanese..."

"You've lived in all of those places?" Someone asked.

Bill nodded.

"Yes...those were the main ones."

Bill loved that first period. To just be able to sit in a room and be graded on nothing but singing, which he did best, was amazing. It didn't even feel like school. At least not until the bell rang and he had to go to math.

He didn't see Andreas again until lunch.

"So what do you think of it so far?" Bill asked.

Andreas shrugged.

"It's alright. I got lost going to first period, to be honest. I ended up missing the whole class."

Bill smiled.

"The school isn't that big! And there was at least 20 minutes left in the period - how can it take that long to find one room?"

Andreas smirked.

"Well...it didn't take me THAT long. But I have to admit that I stopped in the bathroom to have a quick cigarette."

Bill laughed.

"Andreas! You don't want to get expelled on your first day, do you?"

Andreas shrugged.

"If it gets me out of school, I'll smoke as many cigarettes as I need to, not only in the bathroom, but maybe right outside the principles' office, too."

Bill rolled his eyes.

"You say that, but would you actually do it?"

Andreas smirked and stood up.

"Watch me."

Bill grabbed Andreas' arm and tried pulling him back to his seat.

"Sit down!"

Andreas laughed.

"Jeez, Bill, calm down! I'm not going to get expelled!"

"You better not," Bill replied.

As they were speaking, a girl came over.

"Hi! Are you two new here?"

Bill and Andreas nodded.

"Welcome! I'm Nikki."

"Hi, I'm Bill."

"I'm Andreas."

"Cool! Can I sit here?"

She didn't wait for a reply but sat down anyways.

"Bill, you're in the select choir, right?"

Bill nodded.

"Wow, you must be a really good singer to get into the select choir, it's hard to get into. I don't know if you saw me, I was sitting in the soprano section."

"Oh...cool."

"So how do you two know each other? Are you related?"

"We're brothers," replied Andreas.

"Really? Wow, you don't look that much alike. Well, where are you from? Originally, because I heard that you move around a lot."

Andreas shrugged.

"We think we're German.But our parents don't like to talk about it."

"Well, what language do you speak at home?"

"English," Bill said. "But I remember when I was younger speaking German a lot."

"Sweet. You two have to teach me German sometime. See you later!" She said as the bell rang.

When Bill and Andreas finally got home from school, they were tired. Bill decided to take a nap, and he soon drifted off to sleep. After a while he had a dream.

Bill was about 4 years old and standing outside a daycare, with a boy about his age with dreads. They were talking and laughing.

The boy with dreads soon looked up at the daycare owner, who was waiting with them until their mom came to pick them up.

"Miss, I have to go peeee!" He complained.

Bill looked up at the woman also. She sighed.

"Tom, I told you to go before we came outside! Bill, stay right here, we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere or talk to strangers, OK?"

Bill nodded.

After a few minutes a car pulled up with a man and a woman in it.

"Hey, little boy. What's your name?" The woman asked.

"Bill. But I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

"But we're not strangers," she said.

"Your not?" asked Bill.

She shook her head.

"Nope. We know who you are, so we're not strangers! You're Bill!"

Bill giggled.

"But I just told you that!"

The woman smiled.

"Yes, you did. Hey, Bill! Do you want to come with us?"

"And go where?" Bill asked.

"Anywhere you want." She said. "Get in the car."

Bill took a step back.

"But miss told me to stay here. I'm waiting for mommy and Tomi so that we can go home."

"But don't you want to come with us? We have candy!"

Bills' eyes lit up.

"Candy?"

"Yes, candy!"

"I like candy."

The woman smiled.

"Then get in."