Maple Stream Riding Academy

Chapter Twenty-One: Telling the Dorm

Mason opens his eyes, but squints them as if he's staring at a bright light. "Guys, I'm okay," he mumbles. He tries to stand up but fails, falling to his knees.

"Mason, we're going to the campus doctor," I say, putting his arm around my shoulder and lifting him up with Reagan's help. Ms. Holt and Alex bring Flame, Apollo, and Gypsy back to the barn as Reagan and I lead a barely conscious Mason to the doctor.

"I know there's something between you and Mason," Rea says after we brought Mason to the doctor. She sent us out to the waiting room to examine Mason.

"What? No," I say, looking away.

"Oh, shut up Cam! Everyone in our jump class saw you head straight to Mason after your run. You usually go to me or Alex," Rea says. "Plus, when he fell, you were the first to his side. Also, you're shaking like crazy right now."

"He's my friend. I'm concerned about him," I snap.

"Okay, whatever you say..." she replies. "Cam, you can trust me. What did you actually do during lunch?" I sigh.

"Well. We got my jacket from Lynn," I say.

"And..."

"And Mason and I held hands and went to the park," I say, blushing. Reagan looks at me grinning.

"And..."

"And he kissed me." Reagan squeals loudly. "Rea, shush!"

"There's more," she says, looking straight into my eyes.

"Well, we've kissed once before," I say, sighing. "He also asked me out today."

"Oh my gosh, my little Cami is growing up!" Rea shouts, taking my hands.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, slightly offended.

"Well, I guess now is a good time to tell you," Rea explains. "Today at lunch, when I was throwing my lunch away, Sam, you know, Mason's roommate?" I nod. "Well, he came up to me and asked me out!"

"Oh my gosh, Rea!" I exclaim, hugging her. "I'm so happy for you!"

At that moment, the campus doctor opens the door with a healthy looking Mason.

"He's okay, the fall just knocked him out," the doctor says. "His helmet took most of the impact, thankfully. He should get some rest though. You guys go back to the dorms, I'll excuse you from your final classes."

Mason looks at me and smiles. "I nudged him a little to hard," he says. We all laugh and I take his hand as we walk back to the dorms. He whispered in my ear "Does Reagan know?" I nod to reply.

"We should watch a movie when we get home," Reagan suggests, walking next to me.

"Okay, I just need to Skype with Callie before it. I haven't talked to her since team try out day," I say, squeezing Mason's hand. We walk back to the dorm cracking stupid jokes like 'What's white and can't climb trees? A refrigerator!' or 'What's gray and can't fly? A parking lot!'.

We walk inside and I instantly go upstairs to my dorm room. I take off my team jacket and hang it up, pull out my laptop, and call Callie. She got out of school yesterday. She picks up the call as soon as I call her.

"Cami!" she shouts, waving at the screen.

"Hey Cal, are Mom and Dad home?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'll get them. One minute," she says as she leaves her room, leaving me by myself. Mason pokes his head into my room.

"I'm gonna tell them, come back in five minutes," I say. He nods his head and carefully shuts the door. Callie comes crashing into her room with Mom and Dad.

"Hi Cameron," Dad says.

"Hi guys, something happened here at the academy and I just wanted to make sure that it's okay with you guys," I say.

"Oh? What happened? Are you alright?" Mom asks, sounding concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine," I laugh. "I'm actually really happy at the moment."

"Spill it, Cami," Callie says giggling.

"Okay, so you guys remember Mason, right?" I ask. Mom replies with a nod. "Well, today, he asked me out. And I said yes." Dad frowns.

"Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you!" Mom exclaims, clapping softly. "Is he at the dorms right now?"

"Uh, yeah, he's downstairs," I say. "Why?"

"Can you go get him?" Dad asks.

"Yeah, one minute," I say, standing up and sticking my head out of the door. Mason and Reagan are talking downstairs. "Mason! My parents want to see you." He groans and walks up the stairs to me.

We walk back into my room and I sit down at my desk chair, Mason standing behind me. Callie's face lights up when she sees us together.

"Cam, can we talk to him for a minute?" Dad asks, his voice gruff.

"Sure," I say, standing up and going downstairs to Reagan. She's making whirli•pop on the stove. It smells great.

"Mason-parent conference?" she asks.

"And Callie. But yeah," I say sighing. I hear laugher coming from my room.

"Seems to be going well," she says, handing me a bowl of butter to melt in the microwave to melt.

"Cameron Anne, come back up here!" Mason shouts. I take the melted butter from the microwave and go back up to my room. Mason scoots over on the chair so I can sit with him.

"I was a bit hesitant about this at first, but after talking to both of you, I've decided I'll allow the relationship," Dad says.

"Yay! Thank you Dad!" I say, hugging Mason.

"Okay, well we need to go," Mom says. "It's snowing here, and we need to shovel. Have fun, guys!"

"But not too much," Callie smirks before ending the call. Mason and I both laugh and walk downstairs to Reagan who set up the movie. I grab a blanket and flop onto the couch next to Mason, cuddling into him and draping the fuzzy blanket over us. The movie is 'Frozen'. It's been out a while, but I haven't seen it yet. Only a half hour into the movie, I drift off to sleep in the comfort of Mason's warmth.

~

"Aw, look how cute they are!" I hear someone gush. I'm still part asleep, but I can feel Mason's arms around me and his chin resting on the top of my head, keeping me safe. I want to wake up, but I'm too tired so I drift off to sleep again.

~

Mason and I both wake up at dinner time to the scent of box macaroni and cheese. When he wakes up, he moves his mouth down to my ear and whispers "Good afternoon." I smile and look up at him. We get up and make way to the kitchen where everyone's eating.

"We ate in the kitchen so we wouldn't wake you two lovebird up," Reagan says.

"Hey, I wouldn't be talking," Mason says, pointing to her hand intertwined with Sam's. He gets me a bowl of food and we eat telling the story of Mason's tumble. When everyone's done eating, we go back into the living room to watch another episode of 'The Flash'. Mason and I sit where we fell asleep and everyone stays up until 10:30, lights out, catching up on the show on Netflix. Mason walks me to my room when it's lights out.

"Today was awesome," I say, giving him a hug.

"It was," he replies, burying his face in my hair. "Oh, I wanted to tell you this. Lynn gave me permission to go to your show tomorrow."

"Oh, really?" I ask, excited. I hear Laura calling for us to go to sleep. "Okay, we have to go. I'll see you tomorrow." He leans down and kisses me. I stand there dazed for a few seconds before going into my dorm and changing my jeans to yoga pants and setting the 6:30 alarm on my phone. I drift off into a peaceful, dreamless slumber.