If love could win

The piano room

The morning after prom I was sitting in the music room, playing with a melody. I saw Wille's silhouette in the doorway. His grey sweater and blue jeans. A big smile.

"Hey," I said. He seemed happy. Happier than usual. He came inside and walked towards the piano stool I was sitting on. He then stood behind me.

"My mom just called," he said. "August's verdict came just half an hour ago." He pulled up an article from some magazine. The headlines said that a third year in the boarding school had been convicted to prison for crimes committed towards two younger students. I laughed and hugged him around the waist. He held me in his arms. I felt his nose in the crook of my neck.

"This is amazing, Wille," I said. "Thank you for doing this with me." I knew it had taken him a lot of courage to go to the police. And he still did it for me. Because I asked him to.

"I would do anything to make you happy," he said, almost like a whisper. I stood up to be able to hug him properly.

"Me too. I just want you to be happy," I replied. Just seeing him smile made me fill up with happiness. He had not had it easy. His own family had turned against him. He could literally not trust anyone. That people would not use him for his fame or use his fame against him. I hoped that he felt that he could trust me though. I never wanted him for the crown. Now he just happened to be the heir of one. And I guessed that I could live with that. Our noses and foreheads touched before our lips. We held each other as close as we possibly could. My heart beat so fast in my chest. I filled my lungs with his scent. Things had finally gotten into place. Justice had been served. And Wille was still here with me. That was all that mattered. I did not really care about what happened with August. I did not want to see him ever again. And he never got the satisfaction of ruining things between me and Wille. If anything, what he did made our bond stronger in the end.

"Have you done the homework in maths for today baby?" Wille asked. We had maths first period that day. First period was just minutes away.

"I have. And you?" I replied. I felt him sigh. So he had not. Or at least not finished it.

"I had too much anxiety yesterday and I never finished it. Mr. Englund won't be happy," Wille said.

"He won't be. I heard that Walter got detention last week for not handing in his," I said. Detention was a common punishment for not handing things in on time.

"Could I copy yours?" Wille asked. "I can fuck some up so that he does not notice. Just this one time." Wille was not great at maths. If he got all his problems right someone might suspect that it was not his homework.

"Okay," I replied. "But don't make this a habit, okay? And if you feel anxious you call me."

"Okay," he said. "I promise I will call you." I was not entirely persuaded by that.

"Promise?" I asked. "You will call me whenever you are anxious. It does not matter if it is in the middle of the night or early as fuck in the morning." Wille smiled and looked at me like I was delusional for not believing him.

"Yes," he replied. I got my homework out of my bag and Wille wrote down my calculations on his own sheet. He made some mistakes so that the teacher would not realise he had copied me. Then we went to maths class.

*****************

I heard my phone's ringtone as I woke up that night. It was Wille's name on the display. I picked up, still laying on my bed with closed eyes.

"Hi Wille," I said. "What's up?" I heard his breaths on the other side of the phone.

"I just wanted," he began. "I just wanted to hear your voice." It sounded as if he was crying.