Page 25 of Escape Velocity
“Callum? What are you doing here?” Jenna says, walking out of the auditorium, the rest of her classmates pouring out alongside her.
He freezes up, wondering how he can possibly tell her why they are talking for any other reason than that he was singing Callum’s praises in the paper.
“I was just congratulating him on his game,” Mason answers for Callum.
Jenna squints at him. “You? Congratulatinghim?”
“He did it in a thousand words,” Callum says, taking his eyes off Mason and meeting Jenna’s eyes.
“Wait—how did you find out about that?” Jenna asks.
She looks at Mason. Then at Callum. Then back at Mason.
Then she gasps, the realization hitting her.
“Oh! Does that mean you got intoThe Goldberg?” she asks excitedly. Mason nods, with a small smile on his face.
She shrieks and gets a few bewildered stares from her classmates, but she ignores them. “Yes! I knew it. Iknewit. I know you hate it when I say you have a talent for writing, but youdo! This just proves it,” Jenna cries, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“Physics, writing, and living his truth, what can’t hedo?” Callum asks, but not in a sarcastic or disparaging way. It almost sounds prideful, like he’s proud of Mason.
But Callum’s wrong. Mason isn’t living his truth. He’s pretending to under false pretenses.
Mason feels uncomfortable celebrating around Callum. He’s always felt like Callum perceived Mason’s successes as him showing off with how his friends made fun of him for being so involved in his academics, but he seems… placid.
Jenna smirks as she looks between Callum and Mason, like she can tell something else is going on between them. Mason doesn’t want to name it, but Jenna seems adamant about doing it for them and he wants to disappear again.
Callum starts backing away, accidentally hitting someone’s backpack. “Good job, Fanning. Uh—Mason. Look, I have to get back to my dorm and eat my post-workout meal, but congrats on the paper.”
“Thanks, Callum,” Mason says, nodding once, his voice strained, hating how much it pains him to be nice to him.
His hatred and his affection are battling with each other, waiting for the other to say “uncle” and he doesn’t know which will win in the end. It’s easier to hate Callum than to show affection for him, because liking him only means pain and disappointment.
Mason hopes that eventually his hatred will win, but the road not taken looks more appealing with each interaction he has with Callum.
Even if he does start to like Callum as a person again, as far as Mason knows, Callum likes girls, and that will just make things even more complicated. And he doesn’t need complicated right now.
Jenna looks back at him expectantly, like she’s trying to smoke him out and get him to admit to something, but he’s resolute.
“What was that?” she asks.
“Oh, nothing. I was waiting for you to get out of class before he accosted me, wondering why I wrote that article.”
Jenna squints. “Huh…”
She’s not completely convinced, and he knows she likes to press things, so he tries to distract her.
“Time for an apple chai latte?” Mason asks expectantly.
“Duh.”
Mason grins and interlocks his arm in hers.
“My treat. You just got into the school paper, so it’s the least I can do.”
Mason smiles and walks alongside her out of the biology building and across campus to their favorite cafe.
Jenna starts complaining about a girl from her class who hums songs during lectures and how much it distracts her, but he can’t stop thinking about what doing Sports for the next semester means and how much he will have to write about Callum.
