Bohemian Rhapsody

"Good morning, honey", the voice of my brother, William, sounded next to my ear. I smiled, slowly opening my eyes and taking in the scent of freshly made orange juice together with a pile of french toast.
"How did I earn such a nice surprise?", I smiled with a raspy morning voice. Will chuckled slightly and put down the tray full with goods.
"You are the best sister I could ask for and I wish you a happy birthday." I smiled widely and pulled him into a warm hug. "You're too kind", I mumbeled taking in his strong cologne.
I looked down on my plate and grinned as I saw the little colorful butterflies on the edge and my name in big clumsy letters:
JULIET
"I thought it fit best since you mentally just have left kindergarten." Will smiled sweetly and I hit him with one of the many pillows lying on the couch.
"You're the child in the family so shut up", I laughed and got his revenge in the form of a stuffed teddy bear flying just past my head.
"Eat your toast, Ju." Will nuged my side and I followed his command. He had always been a great cook. That's why he had a small diner below his flat. I earned some extra money with helping him with it since he only had one additional chef and one waitress.
It was convenient for me having that small job since I could pay the college its fees. Besides that I worked in a library next to the college. I wasn't able to manage a flat though with the income so thats why I stayed on Will's couch.
Today was a relaxing day since I had class in the afternoon and only for two hours. That meant I could help Will with his small business and maybe get some small projects done I've been working on.
After we had some delicious breakfast I lazily began my morning routine. I wasn't a fan of much makeup so I just used a little concealer and some mascara. I quickly brushed my blonde hair and put it up in a messy bun. While doing that i decided it was time to dye it again. My brown roots were showing making me look all messy. I didn't like my brown hair at all and I couldn't tell why. It just didn't look right.
After dressing in a simple black top and some blue jeans I was ready to work.
The diner was pretty full today with a lot of people who wanted to enjoy some breakfast. Most of them were students from the college I went to so I knew quite a lot of them.
I wasn't exactly popular but I had no enemies either. You could say I had a pretty simple and decent life.
"Ju, I know it's your birthday but I really need you to hurry up a little", Will laughed as I stood by the counter, caught up in my own thoughts.
"Sorry... I was a little out of it..." He just chuckled slightly and gently pushed me towards the kitchen.
I liked working for my brother since he was very easy to be around. He didn't expect too much of his employees but was still firm and even a little strict.
My shift at the diner went by pretty fast and soon it was time for me to make my way to class.
"Bye, see you tonight for a birthday dinner", William grinned and hugged me. I laughed and waved as I left the building.
On the bus I plugged in my headphones and just got lost in my favourite music which consisted mostly of classics like the Rolling Stones and David Bowie.
I've never liked following certain trends. Even in my photography class I never really liked working with digital cameras. It had much more appeal to me to go through all the different steps of developing a picture and seeing how it came to life.
Deep in thought I got off the bus and walked, still with headphones, towards the big old building that was my college.
Suddenly someone lightly hit my shoulder causing me to jump and rip out my headphones.
"Damn it, Juliet! Are you deaf?! That's not supposed to happen on a birthday!" It was my best friend Sarah, who beamed at me brightly with sparkling brown eyes and bouncing dark curls. I always envied her because she was such a natural beauty. Her skin was dark like milk chocolate and she had this slim but still curvy body. Her hair was this dark brown, almost black. Different from mine which was the ugliest brown I've ever seen.
Sarah always told me that I souldn't think about myself that way but I couldn't help it. I felt everything but attractive. To me that was the reason why I didn't have a boyfriend. I wasn't pretty enough.
But that's not relevant at the moment.
Sarah and I walked, chatting about whether or not I should throw a big party, over the small white pebbles that lead to the main entrace.
"So... How are you and Daniel doing?", I tried to distract her, referring to Sarah's now-boyfriend. She sighed.
"Its not as great as I thought it would be. He's pretty boring, you know? Whenever I want to actually do something and get out of the house he's like 'nah, let's just chill' and it fucking annoys me", she groaned. I slightly chuckled and positioned my backpack under the table I wanted to sit at. Sarah sat down besides me and continued about Daniel being a couchpotato.
"Why did you guys get together in the first place?", I asked, organizing my stuff for class.
"Ugh, I don't even know anymore... But whatever. Do you think we will talk about this assignment thing today?" I shrugged slightly.
Our professor wanted to wrap up the rest of the year with us writing a huge paper about different people in photography but she didn't give us any detail yet.
"Speaking of the devil", I mumbled, watching her walking into the room.
Ms. Shelton was a very tall, very skinny person, who looked like she would fly away like a feather if the wind was too strong. But she definitely had a strong personality and knew what she was talking about. I liked her very much.
"Alright guys. Settle down and listen", she smiled with a gentle, smoky voice. "I know you all want to talk about the assignment I said I wanted to give you. So, I assigned a topic for each one of you." A loud groan rolled through the class.
"Yeah I know. But I wanted to make sure that you fit your topic. This is an open assignment. You need to provide the information yourself and I don't want to read just another report with a few things from Wikipedia. Surprise me. I want to read something interesting." She smiled.
I changed looks with Sarah, who was not really fond of the idea of not choosing the subject herself. But I was curious. This definitely helped me going out of my comfort zone.
Ms. Shelton went through the rows of students and passed out a small sheet of paper to everyone. Sarah unfolded hers and smiled widely. "I got Annie Leibovitz!" I knew she was one of her favourite photographers so I was really happy for her. We shared a short squeeze and a quiet screech.
Then Ms. Shelton stopped in front of me.
"Juliet, I know this won't be an easy subject but I'm sure you can make something great out of it. I did this intentionally." She handed me the folded paper and went on.
"Who's yours?", Sarah asked confused and I shrugged, unfolding my paper.
As I read the name printed on there every color left my face and I felt all of a sudden very sick.
"Oh my god", Sarah whispered and looked on the paper, wide-eyed.
In black bold letters there was a name. "Andrew Biersack"

Notes