December Boys (BxB) | ✓

Chapter 40 - To Beef or Not to Beef

I'd never been very good at spying on people. In fact, sneaking around, pretending like I belonged in places I didn't, generally doing things that were considered suspicious — not my strong suit in the slightest.

But spying and sneaking around was what we were doing. Mia had picked up on some strong vibes from the sports department, and our task was therefore to explore that arena. Now, the fact that the word "beef" had even been brought up, spoke volumes about how far this whole feud had spread. I knew the football team hated me, knew they'd put my head on a stake and parade it around the school if it wasn't illegal and kind of gross. The fact that Mia had heard rumors about these people didn't surprise me in the slightest.

What did, was that it didn't seem to be the football team after all.

"You see them?" Axel asked, head leaning in, breath ghosting against my neck. I released a nervous laugh but focused my attention on the task at hand. We were in the locker rooms on the 2nd floor, hiding behind a door while we snooped on the football players' drills. The coach was yelling something intelligible at the keeper.

"I've got them in sight," I replied, singling out Leo — the guy that had punched me in the face back at Fort Violet. "They're kicking a ball around."

"Wild," Axel said.

"Wild."

We'd spent the better part of the morning ditching our project duties in favor of this investigation. So far we'd heard nothing suspicious, and the more we watched, the less likely it seemed that these people were behind the rat incident.

"I sincerely doubt these people are intelligent enough to pull it off," I said, watching as Leo scored an impressive goal.

"Yeah," Axel murmured, breath warm. "I think you're right. But who else?"

"That's the question." My hands were clammy against the wood of the locker room door. We'd cracked it ajar, just enough to give me a clear line of sight for the gym, but Axel's words against my skin were getting kind of unbearable. I wondered how long we could keep this up before we had to return to our chores. If it wasn't the team, who else indeed?

"Oh, no," I said, flinching away from the door. The back of my head bumped against Axel's chin, but there was no time to analyze that. "They're heading this way. Like five of them."

"Let's hide." 

Axel's hand closed around my arm, and before I knew how, I'd been dragged into the closest toilet stall. The action of it pulled me right back to Fort Violet and the closet, and I instinctively recoiled at Axel's touch. The door closed with a loud, metallic wham. Faint voices could be heard from the gym, drawing nearer.

"They'll see our feet!" I hissed, voice hitching. The stall wasn't completely shut. Unless we pasted ourselves to the walls, our filthy shoes would be spotted by the football players.

"Not if we get up there." Axel cocked his head sideways, pointing out the toilet. "You get up on the cistern, I'll take the seat." His instructions were delivered in such a deadpan way that any sense of insanity went out of their meaning.

That's how we ended up with my legs over Axel's shoulders, the back of his head between my legs, and two frightened hearts beating as rowdy voices drowned out our hurried breaths. The football team was crowding into the locker room outside the stall, and all I could do was hold my breath and pray for this to end quickly. Axel hugged his knees, adjusted himself on the toilet seat, and I tried very much not to think about where his head was.

"Oy, lend me your water bottle, Leo," a voice came from outside, and we both froze.

"What? I don't want your germs. Just drink from the tap."