Page 8 of Escape Velocity
Craig snorts. “With Callum as the QB, we’ll for sure have it in the bag.”
Callum smiles bashfully at Craig. “And with you as tight end.”
Craig bumps his chest twice with his fist.
Joel snorts and shakes his head.
Callum’s phone buzzes on his bedside table, and he goes to pick it up.
Tammy
How was your first week?
He immediately throws his phone back on the table.
He has to give it to his stepmom; she is adamant about being a good mom.
He just hates how quickly she’s tried to weasel her way into the position. Right when his dad started seeing her, she was already acting like she knew so much about him and that she was going to be a good mother figure.
He barely had a good father figure to begin with, so she had a tough bill to fill if she wanted to take on that role.
As Joel starts tinkering on his phone, Callum picks up his phone and opens up Instagram. He throws Joel a furtive glance as he types Mason’s name into the search bar. He’ll be damned if he'll let Joel get under his skin and pester him about Mason and see him look up Mason on social media.
His chest clenches as Mason’s profile pops up. He sees the familiar thick-rimmed glasses and dimpled face smiling at him in front of the Montgomery campus.
Mason taps the picture and looks at the caption.
masonjar13: Montgomery, here we come! :)
Mason’s arm in arm with Jenna Winston. Mason remembers how they were always together, giggling and with their noses in books together in the Northwood High halls, Mason’s dimples often lighting up the somber hallways.
“Are you going to let me do all the unpacking for you, or are you going to ogle your phone with puppy eyes?” Joel’s voice startles him from his reminiscence.
Callum coughs. “Yeah, sorry. Coach sent me an email,” Callum says instantly, closing his phone and throwing it on his bed.
“Wow, personal emails. He must really like you a lot more than the rest of us, man,” Craig says, jutting his lip out and nodding his head, his expression impressed.
Joel’s expression remains unchanged.
All he wants is to be alone right now, but he knows he can’t. He looks around the room, at his posters and his teammates. Sometimes he wonders how he even got here, like the past few years were all a blur, and his friends just materialized next to him, unable to determine why they were there other than being on the same football team.
“Whatever helps us Hornets beat the Ravens for the first game,” Joel says.
“Hey—do you think all hornets are boys and all bees are girls?” Craig asks Joel.
Callum lies on his bed and tunes Craig and Joel out as they start to bicker.
He thinks of the picture of Mason and his mom. Howhas everything gone so wrong? How does he seem to have everything but nothing at the same time?
He shouldn’t feel so upset about his life right now. He’s on the brink of stardom and everything he had been hoping for for years.
Recruiters are at every game. He could get drafted as soon as this year. He’s been told time and time again that he’s made of something different. His coach told him that he was the best player he’d ever seen in his years of coaching.
But why doesn’t he feel that way on the inside? How can everyone tell him how amazing he is and he still feels like the most insecure person?
Putting on a fake, winning smile in front of the crowd, and having them scream and cheer for him.
Why isn’t that ever enough?
