Present
White Chapel, Ontario, 2011

The sounds of thunder, rain, and mysteriously tense piano music came from the living room television, as an eight-year-old girl watches from the floor, a fluffy light pink robe covered her arms that held tight around a long stuffed bunny rabbit. She was watching a very popular movie serious, "Dusk" which basically tells the story of a human teen girl falling in love with a teen-looking vampire guy and their edgy romance, or something like that.

A male teen, who sat watching it with her, wasn't really paying attention. He loved the kid, but her movie taste wasn't his favorite thing about her. At the sound of shuffling in the kitchen, he looked over to see the girl's older brother carrying many snacks in his arms over to the already snack covered dining table. "Look at all this. Did you rob an ice cream truck or something? Did you force Will to buy all this?"

The dark brown haired teen asked another teen that had entered, arms also full of snacks and sweets, just happened to be afore mentioned Will's younger brother, Benny. "Tomorrow, we officially join the high school brotherhood," Will rolled his eyes his brother and turned back to looking over Jane, but still listening to their conversation. "We are men, we must mark the moment."

"Let's make it a Sunday to end all Sundays." The other teen, Ethan, sat down at the junk food covered table and started to open bags, digging in. Benny sits down next to him and also starts to munch on sugary treats. As Ethan grabbed a jumbo bag of mini marshmallows, he recalled something from forever ago. "Remember grade five when you put 176 of these in your mouth?"

"Yeah right, it was 186." Benny scoffed.

"No way, I did 172. You did 170." Ethan denied, and tried to make his best friend recount the memory.

"You barely hit 150!" They both paused, before Benny jumped to reach for the marshmallows to have a rematch, yet Ethan was already opening the bag and digging in. "I got it! I got it!" "No, mine!"

They continued to bicker between each other, shoving the fluffy treats into their mouths. Will scoffed at them, before hearing some thuds from outside the house. Jane seemed to have heard them too, looking back to him with silent confusion. He nodded and went to stand. "Hey Ethan, do you hear that?"

The duo were too busy counting the sweets in their hands before forcing them into their already full mouths, to notice both the thuds, and Jane's question. Will walked over and reached out to her, pulling the girl up from the floor.

She held up her bunny, appropriately named Abby, and complained about the teens to her, "teenagers really are dumb," before shooting Will an apology glance, but he chuckled and waved her off. Will nodded towards the front door and they sneak out, since Ethan was in charge that night.

Will usually watched over the boys and Jane, but was normally busy with football practice, as he is the new captain of the team. He was lucky to get out of it early today so he can basically watch over the kids while Jane's parents were out on a date night, which they do almost every Friday. Today, they were bowling in a little neighborhood competition.

Anyways, they quietly walked out the door and over to the driveway where the thuds were coming from. Turns out, it was just a red-headed teen with a hockey stick and some tennis balls, that he was hitting towards the garage door. Will stayed back on the porch, keeping an eye out, as Jane headed for him first, getting mad the closer she got. "What, are you doing?" her tone accusatory.

The unknown teen had missed his shot when she made herself known. "What does it look like I'm doing?" He had shrugged at her, not caring since she was so young and so little. He knew she couldn't doing anything to him. Yet, she answered back with some attitude, "Trespassing."

Clearly, the ginger was tired of her and tried to shoo her away, "Why don't you make like an egg and beat it?" but she stood her ground. "I'm gonna tell Billy."

She used the nickname Will uses while at school, and it sent a chill down the teen's spine, yet he scoffed at her. "Yeah right, like Billy knows a kid like you. Especially if it's through your nerdy brother."

That was Will's last straw. He walked out from the porch to see the younger teen grab Abby from Jane, toss it on the ground, then turns to her to say, "Fetch" before hitting it with the hockey stick. Abby was sent flying to the garage door, just like the tennis balls were moments ago. Jane yelped out the bunny's name before running over, effectively switching spots with Billy.

The jock walked up to the teen with a smirk, ready to interrogate him, give him a proper push to leave the property, but they both heard some strong wind from right above them.

They both looked up to try and see, however only the trespasser got a closer look, as he was plucked up off the ground with such speed and strength, that he didn't even get time to scream. Billy looked up with a frightened awe, almost as if he knew something.

Jane ran back to his side, and they both turned to face the road, staring up at the sky. Until a shoe fell from above right in front of Jane. Her scream sent Will in brother mode as he quickly bent down to comfort her, but jumped in his skin as car lights appeared in front of them.

Mr and Mrs Morgan hurried out of the car to sooth their daughter, "Honey? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Why are you outside? Will, why are you two outside?" before yelling out for their eldest, "Ethan!"

Said teen ran out the front door, quickly trying to spit out the marshmallows that were still in his mouth, Benny following behind him. His mallows were still in his mouth, however, as Will had to hold back a chuckle at the look. "Hey! You're home early. How was date night?"

Mr Morgan stared at his son with disbelief at his awkward response, before moving to kindly check on his daughter, "You okay, sweetheart? You good, Will?"

Both nodded as the adults, and Billy, watched the grade nine teens with disappointment as Benny was about ready to spill over with the marsh, but smiled and shrugged at Ethan with false reassurance.

The oldest teen shook his head at his younger brother, and motioned him an invisible cross-body satchel, signaling to 'grab your things'. "I'm sorry, Mrs Morgan. I promise to watch over her better next time. And over them."

She dismissed his apology, "It's okay, William. I just expected better from him, and I didn't even know you'd come over after practice. Thank you for that, by the way. Who knows what could have happened if you weren't here."

When Benny walked back out, his arms and satchel filled with half of the snacks he made his brother buy, Will said 'goodnight' to the Morgans and tugged Ben's ear, pulling him away towards their house.

Which was literally next door.

The younger teen yelped and complained the whole way inside. "Ow! Ow! OWW!! That hurts, you know? Plus, it wasn't even my fault! It was Ethan's."

"Not only were you guys shoveling marshmallows into your face together, you're both practically bound at the hip. You two act more like brothers than we do, and we're actually brothers!" The taller compared to the smaller, but he got waved off as Benny headed for the stairs. "Yeah yeah."

"And put the snacks in my room!" Billy yelled up at his brother. "Awe come on, Liam!"

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The next day, William was dressed in his jeans, band t-shirt and his varsity jacket. He was freshened up after a early morning jog, and heading to his father's office, with a bag of the adult's favorite chips that Benny had forced him to buy yesterday. He walked in quietly, knowing the estate agent was sleeping deeply in the next room. Billy placed the snack on the paper ridden desk, and quickly attached a small note, wishing him luck and care for the day.

He stopped and smiled softly at a framed photo of the brothers when they were ten and seven, and had visited America for the first time. Bill's once blonde hair shifted to brown as he aged, but this photo shows that he still had some of the lighter toned pigment. Both boys wore such big smiles pointed at the man behind the camera, eyes bright with excitement and wonder. Ten year-old Will's arm was wrapped around seven year-old Benny's shoulders. It was a great memory to look back on.

He shook the nostalgia away and left the office, walking over to the stairway on the other half of the house and away from the snoring parental figure. "Benji, let's go!"

His grandma walked up from the stairs that led to the basement, a thick old leather bound book in her hands. Will smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on her temple, "Morning Gran. Learn anything important down there?"

"Morning dear, and I was just making a new bottle of something. Have a good day at school today, Wilbur." She nodded to him, before heading to the kitchen to make a good breakfast for her currently sleeping son. "Benjamin Weir! We need to go sometime this year!"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm coming." said teen grumbled as he walked down the steps. The eldest brother ruffled the younger's hair, moving his arm to around his shoulder and basically shoving him out the door. "Hey! Watch it! I worked hard on this hair!"

"Sure, whatever. Bye Gran! Heading to school now!" Forcing Benny out the door was the easy part of the day. They both climbed into Liam's red 2008 Acura that he alone saved up for, for two years. Which was hard considering Benny always went to him for money, and literally not anyone else.

Ben went to climb into the passenger side, but was pulled back by Will, "Hey, you know the rules. It's Ethan's turn."

When he first got his car, they agreed to switch from passenger and back seat between Ethan and Benny every school morning. While they always tried to cheat to sit up front to seem more cool, Wilbur always kept track. And it was different every morning since they walked back as the driver had practice after school. "Ughh! It should be first here wins instead."

He had complained but went to the back seat anyway, accepting defeat. Billy got behind the wheel and backed up, going onto the road, but still reversing until they were a house over, sitting idle in front of the Morgan's. After waiting for a few seconds, he looked through the rear view mirror to his brother, "Message Eth, will you? Tell him to hurry." before putting the parking brake on, turning off the engine, and getting out of the car. Bill walked to the front door, giving the doorbell a good ring or two, before opening the door himself.

"Morning! We gotta go E!" He called out, but instead of getting the teenage boy, he got a little girl, still in her sleep clothes, running over from the dining room, "Will! Good morning!"

She gave him a hug as he leaned down to her level. "Heya J! Mom taking you to school, or dad?" He questioned her while he waited.

This was a normal thing for him. Liam is always ready and leaving the house 45 minutes before school actually starts because the two younger boys always take forever to join him in the car. "Hey, morning Will. Wanna join us for breakfast before you leave?"

Mr Morgan walked out from the kitchen, dressed and ready for work. Wilbur thought for a moment, before shaking his head, "No thanks, Ross. These boys are gonna make me late if they take any longer."

The adult nodded in understanding, since this happens every school day. "I'll go check on him real fast."

"No, it's okay. I can do it." Will ruffled Jane's bedhead as a gesture of goodbye, and headed up the stairs, walking down the hall to Ethan's bedroom. He knocked twice before entering, not waiting for a response.

Which, at the time, probably wasn't the best idea, as Ethan was still in the process of changing. But seeing the bare back and the very visible band from his boxers that were mostly hidden by his cargo pants, as he pulled down his plain mauve shirt, which sent a slight shiver down Liam's spine into his stomach. "Did you know there's a mole on your back?"

He had a joke tone but tried to hide the flirty one with a chuckle. There really was a small mole he wanted a closer look at though, he wasn't joking about that. Ethan jumped up at his voice, not expecting anyone to have walked in at all.

"Jeez, Lee you scared me," and turned away from him to face his desk to hide the embarrassment of a light scarlet hue that had crawled onto his cheeks.

'Lee, he called me Lee. He hasn't done that since we were kids' Wilbur had thought at the rare nickname Ethan had given him as a child, wanting to give the older his own nickname that only he can call him, akin to how only Benny calls him Liam. He thought he had forgotten it, since the whole Morgan family calls him 'Will', and the school 'Bill/y'. "I missed that..."

"Hmm?"

"Lee... I miss when you called me that."

"Oh! Sorry, it was just um, impulse I guess. I-I'll stop if-"

"No please! Keep calling me Lee. But only in private." They walked closer and closer in this unintentional intimate conversation. Will crept towards Ethan, who still faced away from him, with half-lidded eyes and a soft smile on his face. He reached out, wanting to hug him, to hold him, at least touch him, before he shook off the tense feeling and turned around heading back downstairs, "Uhh... Hurry up or we're gonna be late."

He cleared his throat, saying his goodbyes to the rest of the family, before walking back to his car. Stopping to lean against the door of the passenger seat with his arms crossed, waiting. "So uh, what took you so long?"

Benny had questioned, since he had stayed behind in the car. "It's been like, ten minutes since you walked in. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, uhh... all good."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The car ride to the high school had some tension, but was quickly eased up by Mr. Comedian Benny Weir, who cracked a joke or two to the other inhabitants of the vehicle. The freshman headed inside while the junior found his normal parking spot after dropping them off in the front, and grabbing his backpack and football bag from the trunk.

It wasn't hard to find his locker, since it was so close to the guy's locker room, which wasn't the best place because of the smell but was best for his after school activities. And it didn't take long before he was crowded with other jocks and cheerleaders, even some senior guys from the drama club, the popular type of crowd that wondered the halls aimlessly. Sure, he liked them, they were all friends, but he was more excited to see his best friend, and line backer to his quarterback, his co-captain, Noah Brown.

Noah Brown, how to describe him. Hmm. Let's just say he's a geek turned jock. He's sweet and kind, but has his silly dumb moments, and has his unintentionally mean moments where he just doesn't understand whats going on. Yet he's strong and confident and knows the best things to say in your worst times. With short quiff-ed brown hair, hazel eyes and a soft smile, he is the perfect best friend to a emotionally driven William Weir, and knows everything he can about the quarterback captain.

Well, not everything. He knows Billy has a younger brother, but doesn't know who it is, among other things. Actually, no one in the entire school knows about the Weir brothers. Expect Ethan. The brothers are such opposites, that no one has ever made the connection between them.

Billy Weir, the kind, popular, smart jock.

And Benny Weir, the annoying flirt of a geek.

It's whatever, it doesn't bother them. They accepted their differences and silently agreed not to talk to each other while at school.

No matter how much Ethan wants to.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Classes on the first day of a new school year were always the same. Teachers giving out syllabus after long syllabus, ice breaker after awkward ice breaker, and busy hallway after crowded hallway. When lunch break came around, a sigh of relief sounded throughout the entire student body, and most teachers, happy to be halfway done with the day.

Students paid for lunches and gathered where ever they could. The cafeteria tables, the hallways, and even some tables placed outside the buildings in the chilly air. Yet, they still tried to stay away from cliques that aren't even close to the likes of theirs. Space between every group at all the long cafeteria tables, said groups sitting as close together as possible.

Almost all the walls were decorated with school spirit, club adverts, sign-ups for after-school activities, the norm. Except for one, which was covered with "Dusk" t-shirts, and movie posters of the newly released third movie. A table with a sign-up sheet sat in front of the posters, as a blonde junior teen girl, Erica Jones, was seated behind it. She was watching the movie on her laptop through her red framed glasses with a calm interest and awe as the male lead read off romantic vampire puns you would normally see on a cringey valentine's card.

Another teenage girl walked past her, and at the movement, the vampire obsessed geek looked up and recognized the girl as her best friend, "Sarah, wait up!"

Erica hopped out of her seat and followed after Sarah Fox, who's shirt was recently smothered with a certain dork's sloppy joe sandwich meat. "Where have you been? I've been texting you all morning. Oh! What happened to your shirt?"

Sarah scoffed at the question and sat down at an open spot at the table, the "Dusk" geek following her lead. "Ugh. Don't ask."

"Okay guess what? I already have 200 tickets sold for the screening," she took a big gasp before continuing, "Only seven more days. I seriously think if I had to wait eight more days instead of seven more days, I would go crazy."

Sarah slightly cringed at not only how fast her friend was talking, but how excited she was, yet she agreed with her anyway. "Yeah me too."

"You skipped math today. Were you with Jesse?" Jesse, president of the drama club and a senior who always seems to catch everyone's attention no matter where he goes, and Sarah's boyfriend. "Yes."

"Ugh. If I had a cute boyfriend, I'd totally skip class too." The brunette looked up at her blonde friend with doubt. Erica stared back with offense. "What? I would! Do you think you're the only one who's allowed to break the rules?"

Sarah scoffed, "No, but you're a good girl."

"So are you." Erica rebutted softly.

Sarah looked off to the side, muttering to herself but the dusker still heard her. "I don't know anymore."

"Straight A's, always nice to everyone. Trust me, you are. Anyways," she listed only to change the topic back to, you guessed it, 'Dusk'. "I saved you two seats. Jesse's coming right?"

"Um, no. He's not a real 'Dusk' fan." The blonde was going to respond, disbelief written all over her face, but with the arrival of certain popular jock, the girls' conversation stopped in its tracks. "Oh hey, Sarah, Erica! How have you two been? It's been awhile."

Bill had planned to walk by them to his normal spot with Noah and his team, but after actually recognizing them from a past school project, and more recently, hanging around Jesse, he couldn't help but stop to say 'hi'. The females just smiled at him with kindness, finishing up some quick catch up, before he continued on his way, his red and black letterman jacket worn with pride.

Seated at another table, was Benny, Ethan, and their weird blonde friend Rory Keaner, who they reluctantly re-grouped with for the new school year. They had watched the interaction between the juniors, Benny particularly glaring down his brother for making Erica, the girl who he dreamed about marrying, smile and laugh. He wanted to be the one making her laugh, not him.

Yet, Ethan was glaring at Erica, for a different reason. After the run-in he and Lee had that morning, his stomach was fluttering with nerves at the slight mention of the jock. Since he can remember, he always looked up to Billy, in more ways than one. For a while, Ethan saw him as an older brother, since his parents treated him like family at the Morgan household. But not too long after, it transformed from admiration, into a small child-like crush.

During a sleepover with the brothers, young Ethan awoke from a nightmare and was too scared to fall back asleep, or wake up Benny. He was lucky that Will had woken up moments before him and gone downstairs to grab a glass of water, because when Ethan walked downstairs, he met with Will and expressed his fears and discomfort.

When Benny found them the next morning, they had fallen asleep together on the sofa in Billy's room, side by side, still sitting up. The boy's head was on the teen's shoulder, and the teen's head was on the boy's. Benny teased his friend for weeks afterwards, but later forgot about that part of the sleepover all together.

The crush never went father then just that, a crush. Which Ethan had smothered down for as long as he can, but this morning, the crush was re-lit and burning hot.

"No way. That babe you branded is friends with her?" Benny asked astonishment. Ethan looked to where Benny's eyes lead. "Who? Stage one dusker girl?"

"Her name is Erica, and she is the princess Leia to my Han Solo." Ethan laughed at the comparison, as Benny did a double take, shooting him an offended look. "And hey, maybe, she's your babysitter for tonight."

"Okay, in no universe are you Han. I-I doubt it's the same Erica." Ethan stuttered a response. Benny stared with a tight lip, before agreeing as an idea popped into his head.

"Yeah, you're right. Probably too good to be true," He snapped his fingers in false defeat. "I'm gonna go find out."

He immediately stood and walked over to the girls they were just talking about. Rory had cheered him on, "Way to go, Benny!" but Ethan clearly did not like this idea. "Wait, what? Benny?"

The teen in stripes sat before the dusker Erica and good girl Sarah, greeting them with a confident smirk. "Hi there. Are you by any chance babysitting the Morgans tonight?"

"Yeah, why? Do you know their kids?" she questioned back.

"Yeah, one of them's my buddy, sitting right over there..." He turned to motion towards an embarrassed (and trying to shrink by ducking his head into his arm) Ethan, while Rory watched with a smile and a wave, "He's a bit shy. See ya around."

He walked back with a proud smile. "Yeah, I think she likes me. She likes me!" He whisper-yelled in excitement as Rory gave him a high-five.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

After school, most teens quickly group up with friends and start the trek back to their homes or parks, either rides from those with a license, by bus, from family, or just walking. Sure, some stayed behind for extracurricular classes, clubs, or sports.

However, since it is the first day back, most clubs haven't started yet. Yes, there are sports sign-ups being held around the building, but very few sports are in already action.

For example, football has been in action for a month now, with tryouts being held midsummer, and then boot camps, and long daily practices soon after.

Every new school year, most students just like to stay home to delay school as much as possible. No one wanted to hold some big celebration on the new semester, not even the teachers!

Yet, for some reason, word went around that the drama club seniors were holding a super cool party tonight, and since Noah was a good friend of them, he invited Billy as his plus one. He didn't want to go, but he has no practice today, for once. Noah really wanted him to come have a fun day off with him, and where better to have some fun than at a party.

Noah dragged Billy over to Jesse's car that was parked out front, but upon arrival, it seemed that the senior was in an argument with his girlfriend, Sarah. He had cornered her against a tree, but only on one side. She was clearly annoyed with him as she crossed her arms and goes to walk away, "It's too late to turn back now!" he had exclaimed, following behind her as she got stopped by her friend, Erica.

Noah greeted his darkly dressed buds with a cool yet simple handshake, before nodding towards the fighting couple, Billy by his side. "What's with them?"

"Not sure. Sarah's just being pushy or something." One of the seniors responded to the line backer, dark sunglasses covering his rolling eyes.

"I love vampires! That's exactly what I told her." Jesse exclaimed, pointing towards Sarah, who sighed and moves to leave. "You know what, I gotta go."

Billy watched with interest, quickly saying his 'later' to Noah, before following after her. His bags bouncing on his hip and back as he jogged. "Hey! Sarah, wait up!"

He wanted to comfort her, and make sure she was actually okay. That Jesse wasn't hurting her or pressuring her.

And once again, a trio of geeks had stood by and watched the upperclassmen interact. Ethan shook his head with a sneer, "Something's not right about that drama club."

Looking back, the sunglasses wearing seniors turned to get in the grey car that had been parked behind them the whole time. The taller curly haired teen, grasped Erica's arm, wishing her a 'see ya later', before hopping into the passenger seat, Jesse at the wheel.

Benny smiled with awe at the older female, "I am so going to your house tonight."

Ethan scoffed, "Great. The more mathletes the merrier."

He had said with sarcasm, but Rory hadn't caught on. "Can I come?"

"No!" The brunettes said in unison. Turning back to the road only to jump back as the silver car sped at them, turning last second to not actually hit them. The curly haired one from earlier poked his head out the window, yelling "Watch it nerds!" before laughing loudly as they drove off.

-~-~-~-~-~-

(Edited on 9-13-22)
(edited again 7/22/23)

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