|| Wednesday, late evening ||

Things were bad. Things were very bad. Callum had decided to clean up his room to have some distraction. He sorted out his clothes, threw away empty cans and bottles of drinks and stacked a few plates that were left behind after a few nightly gaming sessions.

His grey-washed wooden floor hadn’t seen much daylight in the past few weeks, while his bed was shoved in a corner with sheets that hadn’t been changed equally long. The only thing that was reachable, clean and useful was his desk and desk chair. It was the only part of his room that he obsessively kept tidy.

Gaming while surrounded with piles of clothes and rubbish caused him to get distracted.

Plus, cleaning up his room that day had an advantage to it. He had been in a fight with his mother all day, and his father hadn’t proved to be very useful when he came home from his governmental duties either.

On the contrary, when his mother had shown him the picture, he too became angry. He had barged up to Callum’s room, threw the door open, and demanded an explanation.

An explanation Callum couldn’t give him. Not without telling him the truth.

He had repeatedly asked if this was what Callum did with their trust; go behind there backs and start a secret—and mostly forbidden—romance. His father felt betrayed and had claimed that Callum had used tutoring as an excuse to date Elliot.

That wasn’t far from the truth, wouldn’t it be that Callum had indeed tutored Elliot for real.

After their fight, Callum had refused to eat dinner with them, locking himself away in his room. In the mean time he was ignoring his phone. He had even turned it off after the dozenth call from a friend, and a huge amount of texts from them, asking what was going on between him and Elliot.

Gio had even sent him a ‘I knew something was off’, before telling Callum to get his shit together, also reminding him that Elliot wasn’t good enough for Callum.

During the rest of the evening, things had only gotten worse. During dinner, Callum had felt safe enough to leave his room and go to the upstairs bathroom, when he overheard the dinner conversation.

His mother had told his father ‘things really needed to change’ and that they needed to take action before things would get out of hand. She had also complained about Callum setting the wrong example for people all around Terraqua. Someone as talented as Callum, with his background, kissing a guy like Elliot could lead up to other people thinking it was okay. And according to the Marlowe’s, it wasn’t okay.

Callum had a bad feeling about his mother’s reaction, but he couldn’t exactly explain why his gut was wrenching and flipping in a bad way whenever he heard her rant.

He knew his mother all too well to know she was up to something big. If it affected one of her kids, she always acted irrational.

Callum knew that her forbidding him to tutor Elliot was only just the beginning. She wouldn’t let this slip like it was nothing. She needed to sweep it under the rug in order for them to keep their spotless reputation.

If he wouldn’t know his mother any better, she would simple keep him away from Elliot. But this was Eleanor Marlowe he was talking about. She needed to find a scapegoat, and the only person who she could push into that roll, was Elliot.

Which was why Callum sent out a long text to Elliot to explain what happened since they last met at his house to kiss and discuss the feelings and emotions Elliot was experiencing for the first time. He didn’t expect a reply—he expected Elliot to already know what was going on—but it still stung that he still hadn’t gotten an answer two hours later.

Elliot was probably keeping a low profile, avoiding harassment over the kiss from others; like Callum’s closest friends.

Giovanni was in the same class as Elliot, and knowing him, Callum realized Elliot must’ve gotten a shitload of shit because of their kiss, while Callum was hiding in the safety of his room, avoiding any and all backlash he could get for kissing a guy like Elliot.

Eventually, at ten in the evening, he picked up his phone, turned it back on and called Elliot. He needed to talk to the boy, without others knowing. He needed to know if Elliot was affected by the picture.

“Hello?” Elliot picked up with his usual emotionless voice.

“Elliot? It’s Callum,” Callum answered, though Elliot probably knew he was the one calling him. “They took a picture of us.”

“Eh, yeah, I know,” Elliot replied flatly. “Your friends were pretty angry about it. Maybe we should stop seeing each other.”

“Yeah, I’m not even allowed to see or talk to you again.”

“Then why are you calling me?” Elliot asked without missing a beat. He didn’t sound surprised or happy about it, nor did he sound annoyed. It was really hard to read Elliot over the phone, since his plain voice was all Callum heard.

“I… I…” Callum started, stuttering a bit. “Because… I wanted to know if you’re okay. My parents are pissed.”

“My mom was pretty happy when she found out. I mean, she said she admired you for not caring about the differences between us. Just accepting me the way I am. And how other people should take your example,” Elliot explained.

Callum could almost call him careless, just not entirely.

“Well, I was just calling to make sure nobody gave you shit for it.”

“Your friends did. Especially Giovanni. He said I was brainwashing you and I should stay away from you.”

“I’ll kill Gio if he ever bothers you again, you have my word,” Callum promised, thinking to himself he was going to tell Giovanni to back the fuck off. This wasn’t any of his business. “But that’s not why I called.”

“Didn’t you just say you wanted to make sure nobody bothered me?”

“Well, yes, that too. But I feel like something bad is going to happen. My mom went ballistic about it and I’ve never seen dad so mad. Dad feels betrayed, mom keeps repeating ‘something needs to change’ and you have no idea how much power she has.”

“Oh, I might not feel much emotions, but I’m not stupid, Callum. I know how much power the Marlowe family has. It’s why I was as hesitant to accept you as my tutor. Your family has restricted families like mine a lot.”

“I…. know,” Callum sighed. “And something tells me this isn’t the end of it.” He admitted, suddenly feeling very tired.

“Is it that bad?”

“Yeah, and I don’t think mom will stop until she made sure we won’t be seeing each other, ever again.”