They are twins. A double inside a quintuple. The only boys in their family, who would often band together to tease their sisters or play games the girls didn't want to. Sharing a room brought them closer, but it also led to some pretty epic arguments as they grew up. Two nearly identical (aside from a freckle under an eye and one being left-handed) brothers, with equally different personalities.
Austin was the leader, the one to take charge. He was the first into any situation, the first to try something. He was kind and loving and wicked smart; straight A's, top of his class. Austin was a friend to everyone he met, laughed easily and could recite nearly any rap song lyric from the past three years perfectly from memory. Austin was a star on a lacrosse field, already being scouted by top colleges as a Freshman, but didn't gloat about it. He used that moniker as a drive to always be improving and getting better at the game he loved.
Liam would charge into any situation regardless if there was a risk of danger or him getting into trouble. He was a thrill-seeker through and through. Jumping off furniture as a toddler, doing Par Kour tricks on the playground in Elementary school, throwing the most complicated skateboard tricks as a teenager; Liam Castle lived for the feeling of his heart in his throat, the adrenaline rush it brought. He had a way of living that was both reckless but also controlled. He'd much rather he get in trouble or hurt than one of his friends or family, which often led to him taking the rap from something that a group of people had done. (They fixed that fence, okay!) Liam had his mom's fierce loyalty and his dad's childish tendencies. And he shared with his twin a true knack for athletics, though soccer was more Liam's speed.
Twin brothers, surrounded by girls who stuck together through thick and thin. Though they didn't always see eye to eye, they always knew when the other was in trouble and needed help.
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"Hey, 'sup?" Austin asked his brother on that Tuesday night as he entered their bedroom. He took off his sweaty tank top, tossing it into the hamper as he walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on.
"Eh," Liam shrugged, "you know. It's all good. Hey, was anything from chapter six on the test?" Midterm exams were currently taking place, and Liam was dreading the one for Biology. He wasn't doing too hot in the class, and needed a good grade on the test to keep his grade up and remain eligible to be on the soccer team that semester.
"I'm not telling you," Austin retorts. He had taken the same exam earlier that day, was a known wiz at Biology, so Liam knew he'd aced it.
"Come on, bro! I've been studying literally all day. My brain is going to explode! Give me something!" Austin never replied, so Liam sighed and went back to his textbook, trying to pull something out of the words and diagrams on the page.
"No, chapter six is not on the test. Focus on cell stuff and proteins and fats and you'll be fine," Austin finally answers his brother, coming out of the bathroom, running a towel through his wet hair. He changes into pajamas and pulls out his own homework.
"Thank you," Liam sighs; truly grateful his brother gave him a lifeline, somewhere to finally direct his brainpower.
Austin could see the tension in his brother's shoulders and in the way he gripped a section of hair. His knee was bouncing, an outward sign of his anxiety and Austin wished there was another way he could help his twin. "What do you need? How can I help?"
"You could tell me what's on the test."
"Aside from helping you cheat," Austin replies with an eye roll.
"I just need more time! I'm almost there, I can feel it. I just need more time."
Their conversation paused; Austin thought hard how to help, and Liam continued to stress, his pencil tapping on his notebook in a fast rhythm.
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"It's a foolproof plan! Come on, Austin! Please." Liam said to his brother as they came downstairs the next morning for breakfast. "It's what brothers do for each other."
"No, don't play that card on me," Austin retorts, already annoyed with his brother's half-baked plan he'd come up with in the middle of the night.
"What's a foolproof plan?" Danielle asks, having jumped into their conversation mid-way.
"Liam wants me to fake a family emergency to get him out of his Biology midterm today. But, I told him: we are not Thor and Loki; we're not doing 'Get Help'."
Danielle laughs. "I mean, it's not a bad idea."
"That's what I said!" Liam smiles, glad his sister finally agreed with him on something.
But, off Austin's disapproving look, she changes her mind. "But if Mom or Dad found out, you'd be so grounded."
"Come on, guys, I'm desperate here!" Liam whines, scooting past his sister to the counter to make food. "No one will have to know."
"Seriously? Liam, Mom will know. She knows everything. Sorry, I'm with Tin on this one" Danielle says. Liam groans and spends the rest of the morning before school trying to come up with a plan to give himself a little bit more time to study.
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Third period arrives, and Liam enters the classroom even more stressed out than he was before. He takes his seat, smiling at his lab partner, Hailey, who appears to be more focussed on the novel in her hands than their test.
"So, are you ready?" Hailey asks.
"I guess," Liam shrugs.
"Yeah, the chapter on Difusion kicked my butt. I'm hoping it won't be on there too much." Her confession makes Liam calmer; finally, someone who was stressing too.
"Yeah, me too," He agrees, right as the bell rings.
"Alright, everyone: pull out a Number Two pencil and put everything else away," Mr. Olivero directs his students. He waits for them to comply before starting around the room, passing out test packets. "You will have the entire class to complete your test. If you finish early, you may read chapter nine quietly and begin taking notes on it. You may begin."
The room falls deathly silent as kids dig into the packet before them. Liam fiddles with his pencil as he reads the first few questions, smiling when he knows the answers. He turns the page and answers a few more, and then comes to one he doesn't know right away, and the nerves start to set in. So, he skips it and goes on. There are a few more questions after that he knows and he fills in their correct bubbles and then skips a few more. His system ends, however, when he reaches the end of the test and is forced to go back and read over the ones he'd skipped.
His heart starts to beat faster, stress and anxiety setting in. The room is so quiet it's loud; the hum of the air conditioning, the other kids writing on their papers, everything was becoming too much. Liam starts to doubt himself and all of the studying he'd done. Not even his twin's best mnemonic devices could help him now.
The ringing phone breaks the silence and makes a few kids jump at the noise, Liam included. He stops to try and listen to what his teacher is whispering, but can only make out a few words before Mr. Olivero hangs up and looks in his direction. The two lock eyes and Liam nods, looking back to his test.
"Liam? Grab your things, you're being signed out early. Bring me your test."
"Okay?" Liam says, totally confused. He scoops up his backpack, pushes in his stool and walks to the front of the room, handing his teacher his incomplete test.
"We'll schedule a time for you to come in and finish this, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Thanks," Liam says, taking the pass his teacher hands to him and leaving the classroom, making sure to not let the door slam. He walks down the hallway, dragging his fingers along the lockers, down the stairs, and into the office, stopping in the doorway. "Papa?"
"I'll explain in the car," Jim tells his grandson. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Yeah, I'm good. What's going on?"
"I'll tell you in a minute." The elder walks with the teen out of the school and to the parking lot.
"Are you going to tell me what's up? You're starting to scare me. Is mom okay? Dad?"
"Your brother called me this morning," Jim begins to explain as they reach the car. Both boys get in, buckle up, and Jim heads in the direction of his office. "He said you were having trouble in class and he wanted to help you, but didn't want your parents to be involved. He said something about brothers and 'getting help'. I figured, if it was important enough to the two of you, then I should try and help."
"He told me that was a dumb plan!" Liam cries. "I can't believe he actually went through with it.
"He has your back."
"Yeah, he really does. So, what did you say to get them to sign me out early?"
"I just told them it was a family emergency," Jim shrugs. "I'm on the list to pick you kids up anyway, so it wasn't too big a deal. Those ladies at the desk did say they'd keep us in their prayers, so-," both boys laugh at the reaction to the fake emergency.
"So what now? If I go home, Dad's gonna figure it out."
"I wasn't planning on bringing you home. You're coming to the office with me. I have meetings all day today before we go to court next week. So, you can study for a while and then come be a fly on the wall if you want."
"Yeah, I'd like that," Liam smiles. He remembered the questions he'd missed and knew exactly where to focus his studying this time.
"And don't worry: your secret is safe with me."
Liam finished his test the next day, confident in every answer. His parents never knew about what Austin and his grandfather did for him, but were very happy about the great grade he got on both the test and the class in general.