Page 56 of Escape Velocity
He sighs and pulls himself forward in his chair, picking his pencil back up and jotting down the next problem he has to solve.
He wishes Callum was a problem as easy to solve as his calculus ones are.
But he is more complex than any math problem that has been thrown at him. He is a theorem yet to be proved.
Callum can’t be figured out by coming up with theories and equations to prove the theories.
He has to be figured out with brute force. With relentless vigor.
Maybe it’s time for Mason to stop living in his head and to apply his knowledge to the most complex problem he had to solve yet, Callum Brown.
16
MASON
The “Welcome to Northwood”sign threatens him as it flies by the passenger seat window.
Mason lays his head on the window of his dad’s car, letting the chill of the glass fog up from the heat of his cheek.
It’s a bitter reminder of the promise he’s made to his parents that he would come visit them for a weekend in the middle of the semester.
He’s happy to try and forget about what he left behind in Northwood. He doesn’t have to face his parents every day, lying to their faces and pretending that he’s having the dandiest time ever in journalism.
Funnily enough, journalism has taken over his entire life anyway. All the drama and attention he gets is directly caused by his involvement in the paper, which was thrust upon him by his parents; therefore, by his calculations, all of the blame for his mental health spiraling could be blamed on his parents.
But he knows he can’t put the blame on them. It’seasier to, but ultimately, his own choices led him here. He has to make do with what he’s decided for himself.
He figures a weekend away could actually be a reprieve. No Callum or football team drama, just him doing homework with some family time here and there. Plus, his cousin, Elena, and his aunt were apparently coming down for the weekend too.
Even with the amount of schoolwork being piled onto him, he can’t stop thinking about Callum. Every article he writes, every test he takes, every problem set he finishes, it all winds up back to Callum some way, somehow.
Mason’s glad that Callum is listening to the boundary Jenna placed for Mason, but for some reason over the past week, he’s had fantasies about Callum throwing pebbles at his dorm room window in his dirty football gear, or barging into the library, calling for Mason and getting down on his knees, trying to apologize to him.
It would never happen in reality, Mason knows that. That kind of stuff only happens in the movies, and Callum is never one to embarrass himself like that, even if that is how he feels.
His dad, in the driver’s seat, turns to face him. “What’s got you so down?”
Mason immediately doesn’t want to answer. Everything makes him feel down. Callum’s absence. The expectation of being a good student. His lie to his parents.
“Exams have been pretty tough. Trying to get used to it,” Mason answers, keeping his head rested on the window.
“You have exams in journalism?”
Mason tenses, forgetting that he’s successfully managed to convince his parents about his lie. He thinks about coming clean and spilling his guts.
His dad would be better to tell first thanhis mom, the journalist. His mom is always the one thrusting this dream she has on Mason, and his dad just follows whatever she decides.
“I took a couple physics classes as electives. You know, to boost my GPA,” Mason says plainly. His parents know his passion for physics well, so it isn’t surprising for them to know he’s taking a couple physics classes.
He’s best at lying when it involves half-truths. He’s taking physics classes, and he’s taking journalism classes. He just didn’t tell them that one supplemented the other rather than being a main focus of his degree.
“Already in your first semester?”
“It calms me down. Physics always calms me down.”
His father says nothing to this, probably questioning Mason but decides not to say anything. His father never questions much. He’s the novelist. He lives in his own head most of the time.
His mother, however, is the one to question everything. She is a journalist after all.
