December Boys (BxB) | ✓

Chapter 51 - A Complication

I gnawed on an apple the next time we worked on Operation Nao. The room Seth had booked for us was the only place that wasn't decorated, and therefore served as a sanctuary for those of us who preferred to keep the festival at a safe distance. In that room, Axel was a gargoyle statue, Lily a scented candle, and Seth a hurricane.

And me? Well, I was a puddle of goo.

Two days past, Axel had opened the door, and it hadn't been just a crack, as I was accustomed to. He had kicked the entire thing down, exposing the full truth of things I never expected him to discuss out loud. The floodgates had been opened, and I was not the right person to confide in. I didn't even remember what I told him, memories muddled now with the sight of Axel wringing his hands, reliving events that should never have occurred.

He did not act any different now, two days later, as we sat by the table and discussed the plan. He had looked at the apple I ate and said nothing, but I supposed he'd gotten the message anyway. Saying things out loud was something we were terrible at, and Axel's directness had poked a hole in our fragile status quo. Could I be honest with him, too, I wondered.

"How do we know he's gonna show up?" Lily asked, adjusting her feet as they rested on the table. She wore platform shoes that elevated her height, allowing her to stand taller than both Seth and myself. Only Axel rivaled her stature.

"He'll show," Seth said, confidence dripping from his voice. "He's on the hook. He'll show up thinking you're there, and BOOM," he clapped his hands. "We nail him to the door as he did with the rat."

"Artsy," I commented dryly.

"You're just angry I'm the one who came up with it." He sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "It'll be the talk of the town once he admits it."

The snare was closing around the stalker's limbs, or at least that's what Seth was saying. The posters seemed to have done their job, and a secret message was to be interpreted by the perpetrator, and the perpetrator only. Lily wasn't very invested in the operation anymore, but hung around to avoid the pestering from her teachers and classmates. She was studying Axel's face as Seth continued talking.

We were in the middle of a new argument when the door to our sanctuary burst open. This had never happened before, which meant we all whirled around in alarm, hands ready to hide any evidence of our operation. The apple slipped out of my fingers and tumbled to the ground.

But it wasn't the principal or Mr. White who stood in the doorway heaving for breath. It was our burly classmate, Kurt.

"Guys," he huffed, hands resting on his knees as he tried to regain his composure. "You need to come."

"Kurt?" Seth rose from his seat. "What's going on?"

Kurt only shook his head. "No time," he gasped. "Shit's out of control. Come."

We chased Kurt's form as he sprinted back up the stairs, breath wheezing, arms waving, and hair floating behind him. No one spoke, and Lily was barely keeping up in her impractical footwear. The stairs flew by as we ran, our confused eyes trained on the broad shape of Kurt's back.

We reached the fourth floor in a whirlwind of gasps and thigh strain. I vowed to practice running once and for all. This was bordering on embarrassing now.

The media department was in disarray. My class had been uprooted by something, but this time there were no rats mounted on our classroom door. Instead, people were rushing down the hallways, checking alcoves and unlocking storage rooms, nerves bouncing from one person to the other. By the time we found ourselves inside the classroom, the mood had caught us as well.