The officers and Chris look at me in shock. Chris is the one who breaks the silence. By laughing. He actually laughs. 

He places a hand on my shoulder "nice try Connor. You're not gonna dig yourself out of this pile of shit." And he leaves. He leaves me alone with the officers.

"Connor you're going to need to come with us" officer Harris says.

"I already told you I'm not Connor. I'm Roman, his twin brother. I can prove that to you I swear."

"Perhaps we should allow him to prove himself to us" officer Maria suggests. 

"I know teenagers like Connor, Valerie. They think they can lie and get away with these things. Connor, come with me please." Officer Harris explains and he walks out the door.

I reluctantly follow. He points me to a waiting room while he makes a phone call. Officer Maria sits down beside me.

"How were you planning to prove you're not your brother?" She asks.

"Well, Connor doesn't know the things I know. I remember things. Like the text that Kailin sent to break up with me."

"Oh wow she broke up with you by text? That's tough" officer Maria says.

"And I remember the conversation Chris and I had this morning," I reply "and the fight" I say, too quiet for her to hear.

"What was that last part?"

"Nothing," I snap "can you talk to officer Harris and convince him to give me a chance to prove that I'm not my brother. Please."

She stands up "alright I'll try."

She leaves. I'm left alone with my thoughts for about 3 minutes, when she returns with officer Harris and...Chris. I'm shocked Chris came back.

"Apparently you think you can prove that you're not Connor?" Chris says doubtfully.

"Ok, in order for me to do that I need you to do two things," I explain "firstly you need to call Grey's Academy and ask for mine and Connor's final reports for the 10th Grade. Second grab Kailin's diary if you've still got it."

"Alright we can do both of those things," officer Harris says "give us 10 minutes and we'll reconvene in the interview room."

He and officer Maria leave. Chris sits next to me. We sit in a very awkward silence for a while. 

"Do you remember what I said I'd do in the kitchen this morning if you tried to contact Connor?" Chris asks.

"You said you'd kill me. You said that you'd go to prison for neglect and that as soon as you got out you'd make Connor and I wish we'd never been born."

"Fuck you really are Roman."

"Yep. I'm sorry. I took the blame for Connor."

"So where is he?"  

"I don't know. If I did I'd go and get him back myself."

"I'll kill him when I get my hands on him."

"Chris," I say, Chris looks at me "I'm sorry. For everything. I want to have some kind of civil friendship with you but, you need to stop with the drinking. Please."

Chris stands up and screams "FUCK OFF" before he leaves the waiting room, slamming the door behind him.

It takes way longer than 10 minutes for the officers and Chris to come back. During this time I'm thinking about Connor. Where he could be, what he could be up to, who he's with? These are all questions I have no chance of getting an answer for but it takes up time thinking about them. 

The other thing that comes into my head is the day Connor was expelled. I remember it well. He simply sent me a single text:

Connor: Skinner just expelled me. I'll meet you outside the gates at 3:30.

That was it. I had to wait a full 4 hours to discover what on earth had happened. Then he told me as we walked home.

2 months ago:

"God Chris is going to kill you" I said.

"Yep, but he doesn't have to know about it" Connor said.

"Connor we can't just hide something like this from him, he's going to find out eventually."

"I won't tell him if you won't."

"Fine" I replied. We continued the walk home. I unlocked the door and we both went in.

Chris was sitting on the couch, beer in hand as usual. 

"What's for dinner?" Connor asked once we'd dumped our bags in our rooms.

"Fuck knows," Chris replied "either make some shit or grab the phone."

Connor ended up choosing the second option and 45 minutes later we're able to convince Chris to sit at the kitchen table to eat the pizzas we ordered. 

Chris looks between the pizzas we chose, pepperoni and ham and pineapple. He picks up a piece of the latter and looks at it as though it's gone off or something.

"Who the fuck eats pineapple on pizza?" He says and he tosses it over his shoulder. It lands on the floor with a splat. He doesn't even care. 

Connor or I will have to clean that up later. 

"How was school?" He asks, pretending that he cares. What he actually means is are there any field trips he can send us on to get rid of us for a bit.

"It was ok," I reply "I got a B on my English assignment."

"Huh, nerd," Chris says, he looks at Connor "what about you, Roman?"

"I'm Connor," Connor replies "and it was nothing special. Just the usual getting complained at by teachers for doing fuck all."

Chris stands up. He towers over Connor. "I TOLD YOU THERE'S NO SWEARING IN THIS HOUSE!" He shouts "YOU ARE SERIOUSLY TESTING MY FUCKING PATIENCE. THE DAY YOU TURN 18 I'LL..."

Chris is interrupted as his mobile starts ringing. He taps the screen a few times and puts whoever it is on speaker. 

"Yes" he says, slurring slightly.

"Mr Raklowski? This is Mr Skinner. The principal at Grey's Academy. I assume the boys have already told you what happened today?"

"No they haven't told me anything" Chris replies, glaring at both of us. Connor looks scared. I don't think I've ever actually seen my brother act like this. He's pretty much shaking, though he could be angry too I guess.

"Well Mr Raklowski, this morning I had a report from one of my teachers that Connor was caught smoking drugs behind the science block during recess" Mr Skinner explains.

The change is Chris' expression is like day and night. He glares at both of us. 

"So what exactly do I do now?" Chris asks.

"Well you could see if John Banks will give him a chance" Mr Skinner suggests.

"The private school. I'm not fucking paying for him to go there!"

"Mr Raklowski please, this is your son's education."

"AND HE'S NO FUCKING SON OF MINE!" Chris shouts and he slams his phone down hard on the table.

Connor stands up, I do the same. 

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Chris shouts "WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THIS?"

"We wanted to wait until you weren't drunk," Connor replies "but you're always drunk."

"GET OUT!" Chris shouts "IN THE HALLWAY, NOW." 

Connor leaves. I follow him. 

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"I'm not dead yet so that's something."

Chris comes out and points towards our rooms at the end of the hall. "Just go to your rooms, I don't want to see either of you."

"What did Roman do exactly?" Connor asks.

"FUCK ALL TO STOP YOU FROM SMOKING THAT'S WHAT." 

Connor and I share a look and he goes into his room. I retreat into mine. I sit on my bed and look at the picture on the cabinet. A happy smiling couple with two identical twin boys standing by their feet. 

I hear the door to my room being slammed shut. I stand up to open it again and confront Chris about this but as I hover my hand over the door handle I hear a click. Chris has locked me in. And from the hammering on the door I can hear across the hall I'm not the only one. 

The door to the waiting room opens and the two officers are standing there. 

"Roman, we're sorry for the confusion. Your foster dad just explained that you really are not Connor. That was a kind thing you tried to do for your brother. Please don't waste police time in the future though." Officer Harris says.  

"You're going to be given a caution for wasting police time, but don't do this again." Officer Maria says. 

"Thanks," I reply "and I'm sorry."

"Roman, do you know anything about where your brother is? Have you heard from him?" Officer Maria asks. 

"No, nothing" I reply. 

I leave and head out of the station. Chris is waiting for me. He doesn't say a word as I open the door to his 4x4 and get in. All I will say is that if officer Maria or officer Harris knew I was lying when I said I hadn't heard from Connor they didn't show it. After all they don't need to know what he texted me yesterday evening.