|| Wednesday, Early afternoon ||

Callum was still soaring over kissing Elliot the day after. He had gone to bed late because of the kiss. He kept playing it over and over in his head. Not to mention the fact Elliot had described what he felt during the kiss, and Callum had recognized the feelings as joy.

Elliot was actually enjoying the kiss, which had to mean he was at least a little into Callum. Even if Elliot didn’t really feel the right emotions that came with having a crush yet, he felt joy.

And the fact Callum’s kiss had triggered such a positive emotion made him feel better than ever. He was still afraid Elliot would eventually turn him down, but at least he didn’t mind kissing in the mean time. And Callum planned on doing everything in his power to make Elliot fall for him.

But as soon as he got out of bed, went downstairs, and found his mother in the kitchen, he knew something was wrong.

Freddy’s apologetic look didn’t help.

“Morning,” Callum greeted them both, grabbing cereals and yoghurt.

“Morning,” Freddy greeted him back, shuffling in his seat. He was reading the paper, and he was trying to focus on doing just that. But something made him look at Callum every few seconds.

“What’s going on?” Callum asked, mostly because of Freddy’s behaviour, and the fact his mother had sent him a disapproving look, not greeting him back. “Why are you home?”

“Sit,” she simply said, pointing to the table. “Freddy, could you go and put the laundry in the dryer?”

Freddy nodded, and left Callum alone in the kitchen. Breakfast bowls from Ayla and his father were still on the counter, and it seemed as if his mother was trying to clean out the cabinets. However, as soon as Callum sat down, she turned around and walked over to the large wooden table to sit across from Callum.

“What?” he asked, getting impatient.

“Your father and I talked this morning, and we’re forbidding you from seeing that Ainsley kid again.”

“Huh? Why?” Callum frowned. He knew his mother wasn’t really approving of him tutoring Elliot, but up until that moment he had thought his father was supportive of it.

“Because you two are from completely different classes, and you shouldn’t hang out with him. You can tutor Constance, Lewis and Gio. Their parents are paying you. Mrs. Ainsley isn’t paying you…”

“I offered it myself,” Callum snapped, annoyed by her attitude against someone who wasn’t ‘from the same class’. “I can’t and won’t back out now. We’re making progress…”

“Too much progress, if you ask me,” his mother cut him short, folding her hands on the table. “We’ve seen what you’re doing with him, and I am disgusted by your behaviour. People will laugh at you—at us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This,” she said, grabbing her phone, unlocking the device, and opening a picture that made Callum’s blood run cold.

The picture was taken the day before, when Callum was about to leave Elliot’s home. He had stolen a quick kiss, and that was exactly what was showing on the picture. It wasn’t even properly making out; it was just a kiss on the lips.

But Callum knew it didn’t matter how small or insignificant the kiss actually was. It was a kiss nonetheless. It was a kiss with someone who had a completely different background. It was a forbidden kiss.

Well, forbidden, not in words or laws, but in unspoken agreements amongst all of society. Callum wasn’t supposed to be with someone like Elliot. And the picture of the kiss could backfire badly if more people would see it.

And since his mother had already received to picture, Callum figured there had to be someone that had sent her the picture on purpose. Someone had seen him kiss Elliot, deliberately taken a picture and spread it.

It was anyone’s guess how many people had already seen the picture.

Callum felt sick to his stomach.

This wasn’t just about him, this was about Elliot too. People would give him shit for it too. They would probably assume Elliot had led Callum on with some sort of blackmail.

Why else would Callum kiss a guy like Elliot? It didn’t matter that Elliot was handsome and kind. Society would say that Callum should’ve known better than to hang out with someone like Elliot.

“Callum,” his mother angrily snapped. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I…” Callum’s shoulders slumped down in defeat. He sighed deeply, shrugged a shoulder and mumbled, “I don’t know.”

“You will never see him again, do you understand?”

“Mom,” Callum protested weekly. “I can’t help it, I like him, okay?”

“I don’t care. You two can never be together. You know you can’t. It’s… not normal.”

“I don’t care what normal is, mom. I hate the whole society telling me I can’t be with someone like Elliot, simply because his EQ is lower than average. You know how intelligent he is?”

“Well, I do care about what is normal, and Elliot doesn’t fit in that picture. You’ll find someone like us, marry them and live a good life. Hopefully with talented kids like yourself and Freddy.”

“Do you even hear yourself? What about Ayla, mom? What about her? Is she not allowed to be with ‘someone like us’, or are you going to change laws and rules to make sure she’ll have a good life? A life Elliot deserves too.”

“Ayla is thirteen, and if she won’t be able to catch up with the help of Freddy, she will get a scholarship and spend a year on boarding school. She will catch up.”

“But what if she doesn’t, mom?”

“This isn’t about Ayla!” his mother shouted, angrily slamming a fist on the table. “This is about you, going behind our backs, abusing our trust to spend time with Elliot.”

Callum didn’t miss the disgust that seeped through when she said Elliot’s name, and it stung. But Callum knew there was little he could do. Not just his parents would think about it as disgusting and wrong. No, his friends would think so too.

Everyone in society would think so.

“If you want to keep your privileges, like your phone, television, your bows and arrows, you will listen to me. You won’t be seeing him any longer. If he talks to you, you tell him to leave you alone. Am I clear?”

“Yes, mom,” Callum whispered. His heart was breaking at the thought of having to tell Elliot to leave him alone. He was prepared to give up anything to keep seeing Elliot, but this was just the start.

If he disobeyed, punishments would get worse. It wouldn’t be limited to his phone, television or archery equipment. They could cut him of from money completely, refuse to pay for his driver’s license, take away his housekey to keep him inside as much as possible.

No, Callum knew his parents well enough to know, in that moment, it was best to obey their wishes.

And in silence, he would try to find a way to see Elliot again.