A Boy And His Locker

• Joseph Whitehorn, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

“Poor Rob,” muttered Jenny to my left. “He’s got that haunted locker again.” She was right. The locker absolutely hated him. Every minute of the day and every day of the week, the haunted locker seemed to find new ways of aggravating him. Right now it was chastising him by trapping his key in the lock, which, sadly, was on a Lanyard around his neck. And it was quite a small Lanyard.
“Should we help him?” I finally asked. Jenny stared at me as if I was on a nudie run.
“Are you crazy? I'm certainly not going anywhere near that locker.” We turned our eyes back to the struggling boy, and realised it just before it happened. The key suddenly gave way, dislodging the lock and flinging the locker door across his temple. Jenny and I winced at the small clang. Rob’s eyes crossed slightly and he collapsed lightly onto the floor. Jenny turned her back on him and headed to the door. “At least he has a reason to be late to history,” she mused. I was not so convinced, because Rob was regaining his feet and facing his tormentor.
“Hey, Jenny!” I whispered quietly. “It’s not over yet.” Jenny spun on her heels and faced me.
“Just ‘cause you like him,” she said, rolling her eyes and emphasising her last word, “doesn't mean you have to watch him all the time.”
“Oh, really?” I said, my cheeks flushing, teeth gritting. “You wish!” I spun round and resumed my original spot of crouching down behind the cabinet. Jenny crept silently to me and murmured in my ear:
“Sometimes I don’t know why I even talk to you!” However, my mind wasn't concentrated on Jenny’s negative thoughts; I was more focussed on Rob and his locker. The poor boy was currently attempting to pull his English text books out of the gaps in the locker, which it had greedily swallowed up. That cabinet was truly evil. Jenny interrupted my thoughts. “What did those books ever do to deserve that?” I glared furiously at her.
“What did I ever to do deserve a friend like you?”
I was replied with a small shove.
“Keep it down!” Jenny warned. “The last thing you want him seeing is two girls watching him from behind a locker!”
I returned my eyes back onto Rob, and to horror of horrors, he was hanging upside down over the locker and being spanked by the door! I averted my gaze back to my obnoxious friend.
“Now do you feel sorry for him?” I questioned. Jenny snorted.
“Not in the slightest, Clarabelle!” She stood back up. “I'm going to be late for my history class,” she announced, flouncing off to the classrooms. I took one more look at Rob. Then I remembered. I’d had the same problem with Locker 13 once, as well. I stood up, and made quick plans to talk to him. Alone.
By Joseph Whitehorn