The Locker Wars

And that’s when William’s world came to the awful realization.

“Oh,” was all he could really say.

Adele opened her mouth to talk.

At the same time, William started to get up to leave.

Before any of them could finish what they were doing, Adele’s mom burst through the door. “William, honey, why don’t you stay for dinner!”

“Mom!” Adele cried. “I was uh... I was gonna talk to him.”

William sat back down, feeling sort of strange.

“Oh,” Mrs. Bradlee sighed. All of a sudden, she smiled really wide at her daughter, one of those smiles that was happy, but suspicious all the same. She winked at the two teenagers on the couch. “I get it. Be sure to stay for dinner, dear.” She nodded at William again before disappearing up the stairs.

“What did you do?” William rushed out before Adele could speak. Adele stretched and leaned back into the couch, staring at the Christmas tree.

“I didn’t think you’d forget the rules,” she murmured, “I’m not going to... I can’t tell you.”

“So, like, are you... feeling guilty?”

“Kind of.”

William’s heart raced in his throat. He was going to throw up. He kept anticipating her next words, something of a confession. Or some sort. Something that sounded close to what he wanted to hear. The early Christmas present that he never got every year he hoped.

Adele moved on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest, and then moving so she was sitting on her legs. A sign of nervousness and/or anxiety. William remembered it from some psychology thing that he learned.

“So, you’re gonna... talk... to me,” William spaced out the words to understand. “Talk, like real civilized people, like a conversation?”

“God, Beckett, you’re not too sharp are you?” Adele laughed a little.

William didn’t laugh.

“What’s it about?” he asked, trying not to be so eager. “Okay, I mean, I’ll let you talk.” He put his hands up, creating space between them. Adele only looked baffled.

She turned her whole body towards him. William swooned. “I don’t get...” she whispered, shaking her head. Her eyes studied his face, and he could only gulp. “Okay...”

William’s eyes darted to everywhere in the room except for Adele’s eyes. He couldn’t look at her when he was like this. All fidgety and nervousand with the girl he liked and vulnerable and sort of sweaty and shaky and about to have a damn seizure or something.

“I need to talk about something,” Adele started, “Like, between us and stuff, you know, crazy stuff.”

William nodded.

“I think, well, I think that...” Adele continued, biting her lip. “Umm... something that should just really be decided...”

William bit his lip. Was she ever going to go on about it?

“I was gonna just maybe come up with it, but I wanted to ask you first,” Adele sighed. William leaned in closer, groaning on the inside.

“Thinking, you know, it’s senior year, and I’ve got all this work to do,” Adele shrugged. “It’s never been done before, but... could we postpone the war? I mean, hold it off for a few months so that I can concentrate on exams?”

William facepalmed. In his mind, of course, or else he would have looked like an idiot, which was how he felt.

“Oh,” was his same voice as moments before.

“What?” Adele asked, her eyes racing with thought. “If this is some cruel thing, you know, I really want to get into University. I have to apply soon and my next few Law and Business Studies classes have tests that I need to ace and then there’re finals that I need to train my sleeping schedule for—”

William cleared his throat, and Adele shut up. “Okay, I get it. You want a few months? How long is that? Are we going to tell the groups? I mean, this hasn’t really... stopped. Except for that one time where we weren’t able to continue because of lost members...”

“But there’s nothing in the rules that says that I can’t stop it! It’s not like I’m putting up a white flag. Just a while until I can finish studying—”

“God, it’s always what you want, isn’t it?” William cried, standing. “Whatever you want. That’s always what happens. You ask, I let you. And now, you’re... you’re breaking tradition? I can’t believe you! You started this whole damn thing, you should own the fuck up.” Tell me you fucking like me, dammit!

Adele curled up into a ball on the couch. She didn’t know where this had come from.

“Yeah, whatever, you can have your fucking way again. I just honestly can’t believe you.” William grabbed his coat.

“Where are you—”

“I’m going home. See you in a few months.” William tugged on his boots and disappeared into the white abyss outside, slamming the door behind him.