If love could win

The forest ridge lunch

When we got back to school after the winter break there was someone missing at lunch. August. I did not mind him not being there, obviously. I despised him. No, I hated him. What he did to me and Wille was unforgivable. Nothing could repair the damage he had done to us. No one mentioned him or his absence. Yet, all I could think about was the police investigation Wille and I had started by giving our first statements. What if something had happened during the break? Like him getting arrested. That would be something. Then we would not have to see him around the halls everyday. It had made me anxious to have to see him each day. It felt like he could do something like that again. Like I was not safe. I felt that at home too. I had asked mom for thicker curtains for my bedroom after the video. Even if August was not likely to come to my house, I had reporters from news agencies knocking on my door after the tape.

"Hey, can we talk?" Wille asked me quietly. He had been looking down on his phone a bit during lunch. I nodded and we excused ourselves to leave the room, saying we had a project to complete before next period. We walked down to his dorm and he shut the door behind him.

"So what is happening? And why is August not in school?" I asked. Wille had a grin on his face.

"Minou just texted me this at lunch. Look at this," Wille said. I smiled as I saw the texts. August was not coming back to Hillerska anytime soon. He had been arrested earlier that morning, before going to Hillerska. The royal court had gotten a call that they had made an arrest on a suspect in our case and they had reached out to my mom too. Would this finally end? An end where Wille and I got some justice for what had been taken from us?

"This is great, Wille," I said. I laughed, so happy I did not know what I was supposed to do with myself. We threw ourselves into each other's arms. I felt tears flood my eyes. I felt Wille's hands caressing my back. I felt the fabric of Wille's shirt go wet from my tears against my cheek.

"Are you crying, darling?" Wille asked and tried to look me in the eyes. I nodded. "Why?" He touched my cheek and dried some tears with his fingers.

"Because I am so happy, Wille. Seeing August around school, knowing what he did to us, has been so hard. Since that video was released I have been on tenterhooks, not being able to relax for even a moment," I replied. "And now that he is arrested, it feels like I can finally breathe again." And it felt like maybe we could just be us again. Me and Wille. And I could not lie. I had been scared for him, more than I had been able to admit to even myself. Scared that he would do something stupid, like when he almost fell asleep on the football field in the middle of the night. And that I would not be there to save him. If something were to happen to him, I did not know what I would do. I needed him. Without him, I would never be complete.

"I am happy too," he replied. Wille sat down on his bed and pulled me into his lap. He held me close and I listened to his heartbeat. It was strong and rhythmic. "He can't hurt us anymore." I leaned closer to his face and kissed him. He was right. August could not hurt us anymore. Well, if he was convicted of the crimes he had committed. Our lawyer had said that our chances and evidence was good. We could win against him. Together. I heard a loud baning on Wille's door. People usually just went inside in this school. Private life was something we apparently could not afford to give each other.

"Who is it?" Wille asked loudly.

"It is Felice and Sara. Can we come inside?" I heard Felice's voice outside the door. That explained the sudden respect for privacy. It was my sister and her best friend. Wille's friend, as well. Wille looked at me and his eyes asked me for an answer. I nodded a little. I guessed that it was okay if they came inside.

"Okay," Wille replied. I saw Sara open the door and the girls both walked inside.

"How are you?" Sara asked. "We heard from Walter and Henry that you guys left lunch in a hurry, so we thought we would check up on you." I was still on Wille's lap, who was sitting against the wall. His hand was in mine. He looked at me and smiled big.

"We are better than we have been for a while," I said. I thought I could say so for the two of us.

"So what happened?" Felice asked.

"Have you guys seen August since we got back from the winter break?" Wille asked. The girls both said no. "That is because they have arrested a suspect for the crime August committed last semester." They sat down on the opposite bed. The bed Wille did not sleep in. They smiled and told us it was great news. I knew Sara had been worried for me. I knew she had been sceptical towards Wille, mostly because she had gotten the picture that he needed to be saved. And she wanted me to be in a relationship where I did not need to save someone all the time. In her eyes, I had attempted to save both her and our dad. And then Wille came along and also needed me. He had been a queer mess when we first fell for each other, and we had definitely concluded that a weird second cousin and a dead brother did not really make that easier.

"So can you admit that you are a couple now, or what?" Felice said teasingly. Wille and I giggled a little.

"Maybe," we said with one voice.

"Simon, you spent like half of the winter break at Wille's. And do I have to point out that you are sitting in his lap?" Sara said. "What is he if he is not your boyfriend?" I thought for a second. We had called each other boyfriends before, but not in front of other people. Well, Wille had talked to his royal driver about me and told him how in love with me he is.

"My very cute prince," I proposed and Wille laughed.

"Babe, what have we said about you using my titles?" Wille replied.

"That is not your title though," I replied. "Your title is something like Crown prince of Sweden and duke of something like Värmland. Your official title cannot be prince of Simon." I flirted with my eyes. Both the girls and Wille laughed loudly.

"I am not the duke of Värmland first of all," Wille replied. I giggled. I actually had no idea what Wille was the duke of, or even if he was a duke of anything. But the royals had their weird traditions, so I bet they all had some kind of title other than prince or queen.

"And second of all?" I replied teasingly.

"Second of all, you are lucky that you are so cute," he replied and touched my chin. "But I would actually not mind being your prince."