Star Stickers

Star Stickers
X~*~X

The twins sighed quietly as they stepped out of the back of their mother's car and ran to the front entrance of their school. It was Friday and that meant reward day. Both honey brown eyed boys slipped into their classroom and sat down in their seats at their shared table side by side.

To most of the children in the classroom, Friday was one of the most beloved days. Each child who had earned five or more stars throughout the week earned a prized. For every five stars the child received a bigger reward along with the smaller ones.

The star system was very simple. For each good thing a student did, a certain number of stars were received. It could be small things like opening the door for someone or bigger things like earning the highest score on their addition tables. Of course earning stars is just as easy as losing them. Things like arguing or not sharing crayons and markers with each other were examples of ways they could lose stars. The student with the most stars got to choose something from the Treasure Box which happened to be a container that held everything from small stuffed animals to pieces of candy.

Everyone except for one child seemed to be chattering away happily about today. But one student seemed to be dreading today, and that student happened to be the none other than the five-year-old Bill Kaulitz.

Bill was not a fan of behaving. He couldn't sit still for less than a second and was always one to voice his opinion even at this young of an age. His small fingers traced circles on the table-top and his right foot bounced persistently under the table. Even now, after only sitting in his seat for three minutes, he was dying to stand up and move around the room but he didn't. Instead his eyes flickered around the room until he found his brother's gaze who grinned back.

The day went as usual. Simple addition facts first, and then the class worked on patterns and then the alphabet. They were handed worksheets with different letters and pictures to color in along with boxes of fresh crayons. That in itself was a mistake.

Bill couldn't handle a new box of crayons without breaking at least six of them on purpose just to listen to the delicious snap they made. His smirk grew wider with each sound until he was giggling quietly to himself. His brother, on the other hand, found it extremely distracting and snatched the box away from his brother adding a small, "Shh!" with it.

"Tom, don't snatch things from your brother…" their teacher said sternly bending down to get a better view of the two. "Bill, stop breaking your crayons as well." She added softly. "I know you like the sound but it's distracting other children from their work and I'd like it to stop." She smiled sweetly.

The younger twin crossed his arms quickly over his chest. "Fine." He snapped reaching for his box that was still being held tightly by his brother. "Tomi! Gimme 'em!" he said holding his palm out flat and waiting impatiently.

Tom slowly extended his hand and placed the box into his twin's hand.

X~*~X

Soon it was reward time and the students turned their attention towards the bulletin board in the back that had black paper covering it and in neon green block letters the children's names were written on the left side. To the right of the names were shimmering gold star stickers lined one after another. Some children had twenty or thirty of these stars in a row while some only had ten or fifteen. Bill had three stars. Two of them being a mistake since the twins were identical and one because he had been the teacher's assistant for a day since he couldn't sit still for long.

That also meant that Bill had never been rewarded except for a small applaud from some of the students that actually cared enough to pay attention.  His honey brown eyes stared down at the table and he let his soft blond hair fall in his face to shield his disappointed look.

"Alright and that wraps up the rewards… This week's most gathered stars goes to Tom Kaulitz with twenty-three stars!" she clapped excitedly as the blond walked up to the box she held in her hand. He dug his hand into the box and glanced up at her with questioning eyes with each item. "If you choose that you can get something else smaller with it." She answered quietly.

Once satisfied the older Kaulitz twin smiled and walked off keeping his rewards to himself and not letting anyone see what he chose. He had a habit of hiding things like that. Back at his seat, Tom stuffed the two items into his backpack at his feet and sent his twin a small smile once more.

Soon it was time to go home and the children gathered their belongings and ran to the front entrance to be picked up by their parents.

Bill shuffled from one foot to the other, with his hand clasped in his brother's, waiting along with the other students until Simone Kaulitz* pulled up. Both boys climbed into the back of their mother's car and shut the doors.

"How was your day, boys?" She asked glancing at them in the rear view mirror as she started the journey back home.

"Fine." Bill muttered quietly.

As Tom started to go into detail about the day, the younger of the two stared out of the window not really looking at anything. His small hand pressed to the cool glass and he sighed wishing that he could've been the one to tell their mother about how he got to get something from the reward box instead of Tom.

When they got home, both boys headed to the kitchen for a snack before heading upstairs to their room like they did every day.

Tom shut the door behind him and dropped his bag to the floor, kneeling down next to it.

Bill watched him curiously from the edge of their shared bed as the older of the two dug around in his bag never once looking up. The younger blond shifted his gaze to his lap after a while, seeing that his brother was too busy to even acknowledge his presence.

Finally, Tom looked up with an innocent look and pulled three things out of his bag. "Billa..." he called softly. He wandered over to where his brother was sitting and placed the items in his lap.

The first thing Bill saw was a stuffed bear. He shook his head and looked up. "Nein, deine teddy." He said softly, handing the stuffed bear back to his twin.

Tom shrugged and picked up the next thing in Bill's lap, opening them. He smirked and handed three pages back to his brother. "Yours." He said, nodding.

The younger blond smiled when he noticed that the pages were filled with golden star stickers. His small fingers worked carefully, peeling one off and he stuck it to his brother's forehead with a snicker. He repeated this process sticking the stars all over his brother's face and arms and chest.

Tom did the same thing with his to Bill, laughing as well.

X~*~X

The next day was Saturday and when Simone opened the door to wake her two boys she couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Both boys and their bed were covered in golden stars. The twins were curled up around each other, sleeping peacefully and their innocent faces were brightened sweet smiles.

X~*~X