A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long to post the next chapter; I've been a bit busy with school. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Bill tried to concentrate on his algebra homework—he still had twenty problems to get through—but a certain George Denbrough was making that a bit trickier than it normally would be. Bill needed a lot of silence to fully concentrate on schoolwork, and silent is certainly what Georgie was not, at the moment. While Bill was seated at his desk doing algebra work, his brother was sitting on his bed singing a medley of Disney songs as he drew his favorite characters with his box of crayons.
"G-G-Georgie, can you please stop singing?" Bill said, audibly frustrated. "I'm trying to do my homework!"
"Okay, fine," Georgie said in a sassy manner. He continued coloring in Peter Pan's green pants until he heard the doorbell ring from downstairs.
He heard his mom call out, "Georgie, Ms. Thompson is here!"
"Ugh, Ms. Thompson!" Georgie said, annoyed.
"Come on, go d-d-do your piano lessons," Bill said, motioning with his hands for Georgie to shoo out of his room.
"I hate piano lessons!" Georgie pouted as he slammed his crayon down on the bed. "Dad's already forcing me to play baseball; why do they gotta force me to play piano, too?"
"You'll learn one day th-that extracurricular activities are g-good for you," Bill said.
"Why are you talking like Mom?" Georgie asked.
"Georgie!" Sharon called out again.
"Alright, I'm coming!" Georgie yelled as he walked out of Bill's room and ran down the stairs.
At least now Bill wouldn't be bothered by Georgie's singing for the next hour. But then he realized that he would have to listen to something much worse—the sound of Georgie fumbling over his piano music from downstairs.
He heard the first few seconds of Für Elise play on the piano, only to be interrupted by a wrong note being played. Then it would be back to the beginning—maybe it would go on a bit further, only to be interrupted by an error once again. And thus, the cycle continued. Bill wasn't even the one playing, and he was still getting stressed just listening to his younger brother constantly mess up. As the class went on, though, Georgie did seem to be improving, at least. Hopefully he would actually practice this week so that progress wouldn't be lost.
Finally, he heard the front door close, meaning Ms. Thompson had left for the week. Bill could get some peace and quiet at last. That is until he heard the unmistakable sound of little feet trotting up the stairs and toward his bedroom. The door swung open, and Georgie entered the room dramatically.
"Ugh, Ms. Thompson is so annoying!" Georgie said.
"Why do you s-say that?" Bill asked.
"'Cause every time, it's the same. 'Georgie, you have to practice! I can tell you're not practicing, Georgie! You'll never get better if you don't practice!'"
"W-well, is sh-she wrong? You never p-practice as much as you should."
"I know! I know I don't practice enough! But I don't even like playing piano! Mom's only making me play it because she likes to play piano. Same thing with Dad. The only reason I play baseball is because he likes baseball. But they're not thinking about what I want."
"T-true. But maybe they're more thinking about w-what would be best for you in the long run, whether you like it or not at this p-present moment. And anyways, j-just because you don't like piano doesn't excuse y-y-you from practicing it."
"I know. But there's so much other stuff to do. I have baseball practice I gotta go to every week. And I gotta do homework for school. And I also want to have fun playing, and drawing, and watching TV."
"I know, i-it's a lot to balance. But that's what life is. Sorry to say, Georgie, b-but it's only going to get tr-tr-trickier to balance all your stuff out from h-here."
"It's easy for you to say! You don't have to play sports, or play instruments, or anything like that!"
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And you kn-know what? Sometimes I wish I did. 'Cause look at m-m-me—I didn't do any of the cool stuff y-you do, and now I'm known as a loser t-to everyone in school."
"If you wanted to do that stuff, why didn't you?"
"'Cause, just like you, I-I didn't want to do any of that stuff when I was younger. The difference was that Mom or D-Dad didn't force me to do a-anything, so I just didn't. Now? M-maybe I kinda wish they did f-force me to do something. 'Cause at this point, I'm t-too lazy to do any of that myself," Bill chuckled.
"You are lazy!" Georgie said in flittering laughter.
"Yeah, I am; I'll admit it," Bill said with a slight grin.
"A big, fat, lazy butt!"
"Okay, now that's going too far!" Bill said, laughing. "And anyway, just because I may be a b-bit lazy doesn't mean y-y-you have to be, and that's why I think it's important th-that you do these sort of things."
"I guess so," Georgie said a little longingly.
"Believe me, I know you may not like it now, but I'm sure you won't regret it in the future," Bill said as he smiled sincerely at his brother. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I r-really have to get back to my m-math homework."
"And I have to get back to my drawing!"
Bill playfully rolled his eyes as Georgie continued to sing while doodling with his crayons. It's not the peace and quiet he was hoping for, but Bill has learned to be adaptable when living with a seven-year-old sibling in the house.
A/N: Sorry, I know most of this chapter was just Bill lecturing Georgie, so if you didn't find it that interesting, I completely understand. The things both Georgie and Bill have gone through in this chapter were very personal to me, so not everyone will be able to relate.
In a weird way, I see myself in both Bill and Georgie's position in this chapter. I almost sort of wrote it as a dialogue between me and my younger self? I guess? I don't know. You see, when I was a kid, I was like Georgie in the fact that my parents made me do stuff that I didn't want to do like play sports or play piano. But once I got into high school, I became more like Bill in that my parents didn't make me do those things anymore, but then later on, reflecting back, I almost sort of wished that they had, since that sort of allowed me to be more secluded, as well as kinda lazy XD
P.S. You probably already noticed this, but Georgie playing Fur Elise is a reference to the book, since that's the song Sharon was playing on the piano on the day Georgie died. Not only that, but it's a favorite song of Jackson Robert Scott, the actor who played Georgie in the 2017 movie, so there's a little bonus trivia for you.