December Boys (BxB) | ✓

Chapter 22 - Trust

"Are you actually insane?"

"C'mon."

"We'll fall and break our necks! This is ridiculous! I'll sleep under a desk after all!"

I clutched the windowsill with one hand, keeping a tight grip on Axel's jacket with the other. The madman was already halfway out the window, climbing the wall and finding purchase in a decorative ledge.

"Are you listening to me?!" I yanked him closer, hoping against hope that he would regain his senses.

"It's fine," Axel said, shrugging my hand off. "There's lots of space to put your hands and feet. We'll be down in no time."

"This is the fourth floor!"

A black lump was barely visible on the ground below us. Axel's backpack had been the first item to go, and if it hadn't been for my loud and vehement protests, my own would have followed right after. Instead, my backpack was slung over my shoulder now - laptop safely stored inside - as I stood swaying by the window, watching Axel adjust his grip on the bricked wall. This was crazy. I knew Axel wasn't the most stable guy in town, but this was something else.

He hoisted himself off the ledge and let his feet land on a third-floor window. I had to lean over the sill if I wanted to continue watching him.

"Axel-"

"It's okay," he shouted, hand searching for a new place to hold. "Grab your stuff and follow my lead."

"It's not okay!"

His hair was a wild mess, and Axel moved with certainty. I could only watch as he continued to brave the bricked wall, occasionally stopping to consider his next move. Personally, it felt rather like my feet had fused with the linoleum. Picturing myself doing what Axel did was as ridiculous as the "heart to heart" we'd had earlier.

Axel's feet landed on a platform on the third floor. There used to be a balcony there, but that was before some foolish second year had climbed over the railing and broken his ankle. Now the door was locked, the railing had been removed, and a narrow platform was all that remained. I'd heard talk of its destruction several times, but things moved slowly around here, and no one expected any action from the administration. I found myself thankful for that now.

Axel bent his head back and stared up at me with his wild eyes.

"Come on!" His voice floated up to my window. "I'll wait until you're down here."

"No way!" I shouted back, ears reddening.

"I can carry you on my back if you want?"

A mental image of me piggybacking Axel as he descended the school facade popped into my head, and I stumbled backward. Something in me reacted at that image. Maybe it was my stupid boyish pride, maybe it was the loud rumbling of my famished stomach, or maybe it was the stress of the last few days catching up to me. Regardless of what it was, I found myself hoisting a leg over the windowsill.

"Great! Now, find the ledge!" Axel shouted from below. My body was trembling. Every fiber of my being began to fight my actions. I clutched the window as tightly as I could, before swinging my other leg out as well. I was balancing on the ledge now, the upper half of my body still inside the room. Oh god. Don't look down, Nao. Whatever you do, don't look down.

"Good job! Hold on to the window and put your feet further down."

"Where?!" I yelled, voice quivering.

"It's just below you! Use your right foot first - yes, like that - and there's the crack. It'll support you."

I huffed, sweat sliding down my nape. I'd found the spot he was talking about, but trusting a crack in the wall to hold me was easier said than done. I lowered my body in a slow, desperate manner. My fingers were the last parts of me to leave the fourth-floor window.