The Locker Wars

Walking home from school, Adele chose a different route. She took a short-cut through the few backyards of houses and found herself somewhere she’d never been before. But she just kept walking, not knowing where to go or when to stop or why she wanted to.

“Fucking stupid...” she muttered, kicking a rock. Of course, she was talking about how William Beckett and his crew had her right where they wanted her. And now, they were going to win. She knew that they were going to, because she was going to need her cat back very soon, or else she’d probably die heartbroken if they killed it. And now, it wasn’t fair, because they were getting into her personal life.

She guessed that this was worse than the time they (or more like William) came to her house and stole her new lacy underwear and then flung it everywhere in the cafeteria at lunch last year. Definitely worse.

This whole thing had turned into a war of differences instead of... well, the first thing that they actually called it was “This is my cubby” (they were in kindergarten and didn’t have a stretch of imagination at the time). But still, Adele didn’t know why a truce hadn’t been made.

Perhaps fighting was just fun. And a lot more fun in Adele’s competitive eyes.

She wandered to a park, where little kids were playing before their mothers called them in for dinner. All the while as she stared at them, she couldn’t help but think of her messed up childhood; fighting in the sandbox with some stupid boy, shoving him in the Class Circle, him tripping her as she walked in late to class. Those kids were lucky; because back then, things were more complicated with the opposite sex.

Then the sun was setting, and Adele thought she’d best get home to her parents, who probably worried about her not coming home from school. Not that it was a big deal, because Adele was a big girl now and practically almost an adult (nearly eight months until her eighteenth). She didn’t have to deal with parents nagging her to come home before dark. She didn’t need to worry about a childish war.

But it was totally tradition, and that tugged at her heartstrings (not that she liked it, but there was something that always told her she had to finish it, because it started when she was young and she didn’t want to break it). And on top of that, Beckett still had her cat hostage in his house somewhere, waiting to torture it if Adele did something bad to him.

All of it was thought, and Adele decided that she needed to stop thinking about it for good.

* * *

Jason Siska wasn’t really the clever type. He was doing all right in school, and he really liked to play sports. It was weird that he was friends with William Beckett, practically his opposite. William was smart and paid attention to music and school rather than sports anymore. But Jason didn’t complain, because it was all right to him.

Tonight, he thought as he sneaked into William’s house, he was going to help his friend let loose a little. All the stress of back-to-school homework, and then doing good in school so that it would be on his resume, blah blah blah, was piling on William and everybody knew it. Bill always became a bitch if he was under stress, and that wasn’t too much fun for his other friends.

Mrs. Beckett only smiled at Jason and Butcher as they crept up the steps in their mysterious dark clothing. Mrs. Beckett was already used to the antics of William’s friends and learned to accept it.

Jason and Butcher burst into William’s room to find piles of loose-leaf paper flying around. Books were stacked up on the floor, and the owner of the room was lying on his stomach on his bed, wide-eyed that someone had disturbed him during his sacred study time.

“We’re saving you, man,” Butcher informed, eyeing the textbooks disgustedly. William raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean—”

“We’re taking you out! Come on, bro, you gotta let loose.” Jason explained enthusiastically, as if it was terribly obvious and William was avoiding everything.

“On a school night?!” Bill was bewildered.

“Technically, they don’t call Fridays a school night,” Butcher rolled his eyes. Jason nodded. “So let’s go!”

“Where are we—”

“Mike’s house. Now get in my car before we have to drag you out the window.”

* * *

What they didn’t tell William was that they were actually going to party hard. And they all knew that William wouldn’t approve, but hey, he wasn’t their dad. And they’d make him drink. Screw the peer pressure thing anyways, because they weren’t going to do anything drastic. Maybe just walk around and trash things.

By the time they made William gulp his third beer in a row, they had made their way outside and everyone was feeling a little happier. William felt himself loosen up, and thought that this was a way better idea than studying on a Friday night.

“Hey, hey,” William started, but he didn’t finish. He took a swig from his bottle and swung his arm around Jason’s. “Where’s your little brother?”

“Psh, he can’t come,” Jason laughed. “Why’d you wanna know?”

“H-he hangs out with—with Adele Bradlee lots, I-I’ve seen ‘em together,” William hiccupped. “Pretty—pretty big for... for a freshman. I-I-I remember when Ad-dele didn’t talk to me.”

“What are you getting at?” Michael butted in. He was fitting in well with the group, and started to feel more comfortable around them. He was also filled in on the stuff about the war.

“Just—Just...” William trailed off. “He’s lucky, lucky guy. She talked to him.”

“Someone should have another beer,” Mike nodded, shoving a bottle in Bill’s hands. “You’re still thinking about the war and how we’re going to beat her.”

William frowned, but took the beer anyways. He downed a countless amount of big gulps before croaking, “No I’m not.”