How to Steal Mason's Heart

TWENTY – THREE

Friday was like heaven. Everyone loved a Friday. Without Friday, there wouldn’t be a Rebecca Black. And if there wouldn’t be a Rebecca Black, there wouldn’t be a hit song Friday.

To be completely honest, Rebecca was just out of tune and I guessed her fame skyrocketed to the peak because of her horrible voice. I wished I had a horrible voice like her, you know? Because I would stand out completely against everyone.

And that wouldn’t be it. I wanted to be in a concert with Rebecca Black as the first act, singing that song even though the tour would be dated on a Monday.

It was a surprise I was currently listening to her song Friday and it was also a surprise why I illegally downloaded it in the first place. Like, did any one of you downloaded her song on iTunes? Or downloaded it from MP3 Skull?

“Alexa,” Mason called which completely caught me by surprise because my precious phone fell on the ground—with his picture on each of the album art—as my eyes grew wide.

My heart suddenly beat loudly against my chest. Oh dear, no, no, no.

I knelt on the ground and snatched it before Mason could fully grasp it but his reflexes were faster than mine. We were still crouched on the ground, our eyes locking towards each other but then he looked at my phone’s screen.

The screen was black.

I let out a very huge breath of relief. I almost got caught red handed. I mean, my hand wasn’t red, it was just red was a cool colour to connote to the situation.

He handed me the phone gingerly, our skins barely touching, like a shivery whisper of the morning.

“Yeah?” I replied back an answer, but it almost came out like a stutter. My breathings were heavy, like I was running on a marathon. But truth be told, I almost died from a heart attack.

“Uh,” he said in a contemplating manner, his lips pursing while he was fiddling with his thumbs, “My family will have a camping trip this weekend and as well as Tom. Aunt Rose approved to bring Tom along. He said that I need to invite you because he misses you.”

My heart melted, my mind remembering Tom and his sweet gestures. I adored the kid that much but I was afraid my father would restrict me in this camping trip. I was a girl scout in elementary before, I remembered how to pitch a tent and build a fire. I missed doing those stuff since it happened almost four years ago.

“I will ask permission to my parents,” I answered, my voice laced in hesitance. I badly wanted to go to this camping trip. Let us just hope my father would allow me to go.

“Okay, cool. Uh, I will pick you up tomorrow noon.”

“But you don’t know where—“

He turned around and walked to the opposite direction whilst the bell rang, signalling the start of classes. I hated History but I dragged myself forcefully towards the room, my eyes trained at Dr Williams who was setting down his laptop, connecting some wires to the projector.

I hoped he would stop talking about Germany anymore.

+ + + +

Father was surprisingly inside the living room, watching a sports channel quietly while mother was in the kitchen, cooking some chicken curry. I dumped my bag on the plastic chair, causing father’s head to turn towards me. I immediately walked towards him and placed the back of his hand on my forehead, a sign of respect which was a tradition on my country.

I couldn’t stop doing it. It was already a habit of mine.

“Dad,” I called, biting my lip while thinking of what appropriate words I should say. He always forbid me—and it was a surprise he allowed me on camping in Girl Scout before—to go someplace that was dangerous. I hoped he wasn’t too tight gripping me on the neck. I felt suffocated because of too much restriction when it came to going out of the house.

“Hmm?” he replied nonchalantly, the LA Lakers getting ahead of Miami Heat.

“Uh I have this seminar tomorrow and Sunday. It’s more on leadership stuff. I was hoping if you could allow me to go. It will help make my grades go up,” I lied, my heart erratically beating on my chest, pounding loudly against my eardrums.

“Okay, but go home immediately,” he answered calmly. I almost jumped up in the air in happiness but I slowly stood up and left him peacefully with his basketball stuff. But before I could completely leave, he asked.

“Do you need money?”

I thought he was going to ask me where it would be because I had no idea where Mason and his family would go camping.

“Yeah, sure. For snacks,” I answered. He handed me a hundred bucks.

My eyes widened in surprise. I accepted the bills on his hand and kept it in my pockets, mumbling a grateful response. He nodded. I went up to my room, starting packing my clothes and placed them on a medium-sized travel bag.

+ + + +

At noon, Mason was already standing in the front door. He was leaning against the stairs while a white metered taxi was parked peacefully, the low rumbling of engine signifying it was alive.

I raised a brow. “I thought your family owns a car?” I asked in confusion.

“No, we are not using it,” he answered simply, grabbing the travel bag from my grasp and placing it at the baggage. “We actually rented a van. I just hailed a taxi to take us to the van,” he added, sitting at the backseat. I was about to ride shotgun but he grabbed my hand forcefully, his grip slightly tight against my wrist as he sat me down on the soft cushion.

“No, you’re going to sit beside me,” he said lowly, causing my heart to jitter while a shiver left my spine. He then commanded the driver to the said address.

“How did you know my address?” I asked once the driver took us off to the destination.

“Jason told me,” he answered in a bored tone, grabbing a bag of chips from his knapsack. My stomach lowly grumbled, even though I had eaten lunch which consisted of bacons and sunny side up eggs. He chuckled.

“Want some?” he offered, pushing the bag of chips towards me, placing them on my lap.

I slowly slid my fingers inside the Doritos bag, the chip tainting my fingers with cheese. I bit it, the crunchiness being grounded by my teeth. The ride was silent yet it wasn’t painful. We didn’t need words to fill in a conversation. I loved the feeling of comfortable silence, how it could be sometimes more powerful than words because it was basically an indication how you two were close enough not to utter any word.

The driver stopped us in front of a large dark blue van. Mason’s father was dragging two Coleman containers into the trunk while Jason brought the large bags, his arms flexing on his Barbie printed tee.

I laughed once I was in a meter radius of the Ward family.

Jason stopped what he was doing, the sunglasses blocking his eyes. He stuck a tongue out at me childishly.

“Wow, I-I you look so freaking hilarious over that shirt. Is that yours?” I asked him. He leaned against the van and glared at me when he took off his sunglasses.

“It’s actually mine,” Greyson’s voice filled in, giggling at the sight of his older brother. There was a hard glare on his features but his eyes were trained towards me.

I let out a guffaw when he crossed his chest, the Barbie print still not covered by his arms.

“I don’t have any other shirts left dammit!” he exclaimed, ruffling his hair in frustration.

“Okay kids, get inside the van,” Mr Ward instructed and we immediately followed, the cool air condition pricking our skin. The winter air was chilly and turning on the AC wasn’t going to help ourselves from warming up.

But they looked like they got used to turning on the AC even though the temperature was below zero. I was slightly shivering.

Jason offered me his jacket.

“Here,” he said, throwing the black clothing towards me. It smelled of Axe chocolate. I almost basked in the glory of the smell of his jacket but that would be weird, so I slowly covered myself with it, slightly feeling warm.

“Dad, we should stop by over Courtney’s,” Jason said.

Mr Ward nodded stiffly. Greyson was in the front seat while Mason gloriously took the very back part of the van which left me and Jason to sit beside each other. Mr. Ward’s grip on the steering wheel was a little bit too tight, his knuckles growing white.

He was acting the way Courtney’s mother would.

Did they share a history with each other?

Or they simply hated each other’s guts?

What if, what if they were ex-lovers?

That could be the very plausible reason why Courtney’s mom hated Jason. Before I could venture off my thoughts, we were already parked a few metres away from Courtney’s dingy apartment. The façade of the building was slightly cracking.

Jason jogged towards a standing Courtney who was carrying a small luggage. He placed a kiss on her lips and I could hear Greyson puke in the background while my heart stilled. I stood up before they could get inside the van, pleading Mason to leave a small space for me. He didn’t argue.

“I’m so excited for this trip!” Courtney was exclaiming as Jason slid the door open. She had a very bright smile on her face.

“Hello Mr. Ward,” she greeted. Mr. Ward only smiled in response, revving the engine to life.

“Hey Alex!” she almost screamed once she saw me sitting at the back. “Are you joining for the camping trip, too?”

I rolled my eyes sarcastically at her, giving her a light smile. “No, I am just going to sit here until I die,” I answered sardonically.

“She was just asking a question,” Jason said in a defending tone.

“Uh, it’s pretty obvious?” I offered.

“We’re going to make a short stop at Tom’s house,” Mr. Ward’s voice interrupted our conversation. The prospect of Tom coming made me smile in delight.

+ + + +

“Alexie Pixie!” I groaned when Tom called me by an annoying nickname Jason made. His voice was high and joyful, his little arms almost choking my neck when he embraced me in a hug.

“Tommy Mommy,” I called back, wishing I made up a better rhyme for his name.

Greyson burst out laughing like a maniac. I gave him a suggestive smile.

“I’m not a mommy,” Tom said in disgust, slightly scrunching his nose in disagreement.

“You’re not,” I said lamely. “You’re Tommy Mummy.”

“You’re so lame giving nicknames,” Jason antagonized, rolling his eyes at me. Tom sat beside me whilst Mason decided to sit at the trunk, his eyes closing, dozing off to dreamland. I couldn’t sleep, given that I had enough hours of rest.

“Says the guy who created Alexie Pixie,” I retorted in annoyance.

Courtney let out a high shrill laugh. I didn’t know she could laugh like that. She always had a low voice, almost like that of a guy, but hearing her high-pitched voice made me cringe. I could spot Greyson covering his ears.

“Could you give me a nickname Jase?” Courtney said in her high-pitched voice, giggling like a schoolgirl.

“I should call you Sticky Courtney,” he answered dumbly. I almost pushed the back of his head. An awkward silence filled in the air. Mason abruptly woke up with his eyes wide. Hmm, he must be a very light sleeper.

“St-sticky Courtney?” she asked, raising her perfect brow at him. I restrained myself from laughing since Courtney had a slight glare on her face. Jason cowered in fear.

“That sounded so wrong in so many levels,” he groaned under his breath.

“You think so?” she calmly questioned. “Of course it is so wrong in so many levels!” she screamed, almost getting us in an accident when Mr. Ward hit the brakes, sending us flying forward.

I thought there was an explosion at the centre of the Earth, destroying a satellite that could give us free Wi-Fi during camping.

All of us, except Tommy, Jason and Courtney, burst into fits of laughter. I almost had tears on my eyes.

“Why is Sticky Courtney so funny?” Tom asked wide-eyed, his eyes directly gazing towards me.

“Because Jason is a dumbass,” I supplied but Jason pushed my head, making it collide on my soft seat. I glowered at him.

“Don’t listen to what Alexa is saying. She is the dumb one,” Jason countered.

“What does dumb mean?” he asked again.

“It means—“

“Don’t teach a child a bad word,” Courtney chastised before Jason could finish his sentence. She was still emanating a dark aura which was certainly directed towards him.

“We’re here,” Mr. Ward announced, breaking our conversation. He stopped the engine as he went to the baggage part of the van where Mason helped Mr. Ward bring all the bags to a grassy area of the forest.

Tall trees surrounded us, the leaves barren on every twig but it seemed like snow wasn’t dominant on this area which was a surprise. The air was still cold and I was still wearing Jason’s jacket, the scent never leaving his clothing.

“Yay!” Tom squealed in utmost delight, holding my hand, trying to cover it with his small one. I enclosed my fingers around him. He looked up at me in sheer awe and I felt my heart jump jovially.

“I am so happy you went to this camping with us,” he whispered on my ear when I stooped down to his level, his words laced with pure happiness. I had never seen a child like him so delighted to see me most especially the kids around my neighbourhood when I was living in the Philippines were scared to see me because I was slightly huge for my age.

But Tom, just seeing me with a twinkle on his eyes gave me hope that people could like me if I was just being myself.

“Alexa!” Jason shouted. “Could you help me set up the tent? Courtney told me you were a Girl Scout way back your sixth grade!”

I nodded, telling Tom to go with Greyson who was raising his iPhone in the air, clearly desperate to search for some signal. They disappeared, as well as Mr. Ward, Courtney and Mason.

“Where are Mr. Ward, Mason, and Courtney?” I asked, grabbing the sticks, inserting them inside the holes of the flat piece of clothing lying on the ground.

“They went to look for wood and dry leaves that could set up a fire,” he answered.

I suddenly barked out in laughter.

“What’s so funny?” he asked with confusion written all over his face.

“Your tee. I mean out of all the shirts Greyson could have lend you, that’s the shirt you wear,” I replied in between laughs.

“This is the only shirt that fits me. All of my shirts are in the laundry basket whilst the remaining two shirts are packed inside my bag,” he said embarrassed written on his features.

“Can’t Mason let you borrow?”

“He is very strict when it comes to clothing. He doesn’t like someone else will wear a plain shirt. He says it will steal his identity.”

“Wow, Mason has copyright issues,” I commented, almost finished in setting up the tent.

“Tell me about it.”

I started placing the bags inside the enormous tent. But Jason opened another tent, so I reached out and helped him, the sun almost setting in the sky, the chilly air making Jason shake slightly.

I threw the Jacket towards him. “I think you need this more than I do,” I said.

“You’re shivering Alex, I don’t want you to catch hypothermia or whatever.”

“I have this thing called fats that could keep me warm.”

“I don’t want you to catch hypothermia,” he insisted, throwing the jacket back at me.

“Aww, is little Jason caring about my health?” I cooed. He rolled his eyes.

“If you get sick it’s not my fault,” he said in finality.

“Fine,” I grunted, wearing the jacket forcefully around my body.