1. Follow blairimani on Instagram! She's a Black bisexual Muslim who posts Learn O'Clock every week to discuss different topics; her insight of issues involving intersectional privilege/oppression (e.g. how intersectional feminism examines the ways that misogyny against Black women often overlaps heavily with racism, including from white women) is outstanding and I have learned so much from her. (She gets a lot of hateful DMs on Insta, unfortunately, so if y'all follow her make sure to give her some love in her comments and interact positively with her posts!)

2. Because I will be starting college soon, I want to share some facts with you about college dating violence. Did you know that 43% of dating college women report abusive dating behaviors? That nearly 1 in 3 college women report having been in an abusive dating relationship? That more than 50% of college women report knowing someone who has been in an abusive dating relationship? College campuses are notoriously known for not addressing and/or poorly addressing issues of dating violence/sexual assault/etc., and these numbers show it (in fact, these numbers barely scratch the surface). If you are a victim of dating abuse in the USA, you can contact the Love is Respect/National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline; call +1 (866) 331-9474 or TTY +1 (866) 331-8453. (Information condensed from soyouwanttotalkabout on Instagram.)

On the topic of me starting college soon: I plan to keep updating weekly, but there is a chance my updates will be pushed back to every Sunday instead of every Saturday. If something drastic changes with my update schedule, I will definitely let you guys know. Thank you for sticking with me so far! And I'm sorry about that mean cliffhanger I left you guys on last week ;) Maybe this update will make up for it? Something is revealed here that people had many theories on earlier. Anyways - I hope you enjoy the chapter!

xXxXxXx

"You learned your speaking parts already?!"

Sonya's laughter had an edge of static to it as it filtered through his phone. "Yes. Memorization has always been a skill of mine."

Callum shook his head, impressed. "Wow. I sure wish it was one of mine." He was terrible at memorization. If he hadn't been allowed to have cue cards for their Renaissance History presentation, he could guarantee they'd all be doomed. But Professor Dupuy was the best, and they didn't even take off many points if someone was checking their cards often during their presentation.

Sonya laughed again. They were currently video-chatting to practice for their upcoming midterm, though Sonya had temporarily turned off her camera to adjust her hijab. "No, you really don't. You want to know what being good at memorization earned me?" A beat. "Five straight years of being the lead in elementary school plays. Sheer torture. I have so much residual trauma."

Callum snickered as he finished copying his cue line onto - well, onto the millionth flashcard was what it felt like, but in reality it was only the seventh. He was a notoriously slow study when it came to writing and memorization, though certainly not for a lack of trying. "Well, I'm sorry you had to endure such suffering."

"Mhm. So am I." She turned her camera back on, revealing that she'd fixed her signature pink hijab, the scarf no longer crooked. "Do you know how Rayla is doing with her parts of the presentation? I noticed she read the messages in the group chat but didn't answer."

Callum's grip on his pen tightened at the mention of Rayla, causing him to smear blue ink across the index card. He sighed and resigned himself to rewriting his cue line on a new one. "I think she's at football practice right now," he said. An honest answer, even if it was rather evasive. He also avoided Sonya's gaze, which was easier than usual, considering all he had to do was not look at his phone. "So she probably just hasn't had a chance to respond yet."

"Ah. I see."

Silence fell between them, the only sounds being the scratch of Callum's pen on his index cards and the lofi hip hop Sonya had on in the background. Her bringing up Rayla reminded Callum that he hadn't spoken to his girlfriend outside of academic-related topics since their… disagreement a few days ago. He didn't dare call it an argument, because that would mean acknowledging they'd fought, and he currently did not feel emotionally capable of handling that.

He was willing to acknowledge to himself that they needed to talk, though. Relationships demanded communication, and there was clearly an element or two of misunderstanding and stubbornness they needed to work through together.

Not that his self-awareness made it any easier to actually reach out to her. Hence why he hadn't.

"So…" Sonya said, breaking the lull in the conversation. "How are things between you and Rayla? Disregarding the project and class, of course."

Callum had never told Sonya that he and Rayla were dating, but he'd picked up shortly after their first meeting that she was incredibly perceptive of what went on around her, even when she was not directly involved. In other words, nothing got past her. "Er… things are good?" Ergh. That had come off way too much like a question. "I mean - things are good. Very good. Great. Fantastic, even!"

"If you look up 'overcompensation' in the dictionary, that exact monstrosity you just tried to pass off as a normal sentence will be there," Sonya said wryly. "Don't get me wrong - there's no need to tell me anything you'd rather keep to yourself. I just want to make sure that any personal issues - personal issues which may or may not exist - will be kept outside of our midterm. Our grades depend largely on cooperation, after all."

Callum managed a weak smile. "Yeah. No worries. We can handle it."

Sonya adjusted the angle of her phone on her desk before adding, "That said, if you want someone to talk to, I'm available. I doubt I'll be able to provide any advice beyond the most generic kind, but I promise you that if you just need to get stuff off your chest - well, I am a great listener. It's how I've managed to pass all my lecture-based classes so far."

"Pff," Callum said, shaking his head and laughing. "I think your intelligence and your meticulously-organized work ethic deserve some credit for your success, too."

She shrugged, giving him a small smile. "Eh. Maybe a little." Her expression became serious again. "But for real, Callum. I know we haven't known each other long, but it's clear that whatever is behind the tension between you and Rayla is upsetting you. So if there's anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask."

Callum couldn't help but give her a grateful smile. It was nice to have someone he could consider a friend, arguably even a close friend by now, that he also hadn't known since he was born. "Thanks." He chuckled, finishing the rest of his line on the back of an index card before reaching for a new one. "I'm thinking about first asking Claudia for advice. She's much better with relationship stuff than I am." It was almost funny how the people most knowledgeable about romance and love were never actually in a relationship, oddly enough.

Sonya frowned, an odd expression flickering across her face. "Claudia. You've mentioned her before. Long dark hair, white streak in the front?"

Callum chuckled, remembering how Viren kept insisting that she dye the streak black again with Claudia adamantly refusing to do so. "Yep, that's her."

"I think she's in my theatre class." Well, since Claudia had said the same about Sonya not terribly long ago, it seemed probable. "How do you know her?"

"Oh, we grew up together. Our dads are good friends."

"Huh. Cool."

He noticed an uncharacteristic tint to Sonya's cheeks, but it disappeared seconds later, and he wondered if he'd imagined it. He was tempted to ask her how well she knew Claudia, but for some reason he felt weird about broaching such a topic, despite there being nothing particularly odd about the question. He was saved from having to say anything further, however, when their video chat was interrupted by a series of texts pinging through on his phone.

"I gotta turn off my camera for a second," he apologized, grabbing his phone from where he'd propped it up against several textbooks.

"Go ahead."

Sparing her the angle of his face beneath his chin, he shut off his video before reading the messages.

Soren: hey can you come to football practice? like now?

Soren: i need to talk to you

Callum frowned. That was a… borderline ominous set of texts.

Soren: lol that sounded threatening

Callum: a little

Soren: so you'll be there

Soren: great! thanks bud!

Claudia and Soren liked to pretend they were total opposites, but in reality they had a lot in common - such as a bad habit of choosing the answer they wanted to hear on someone else's behalf. Callum did not really want to go to football practice, as there was a certain person there who he still hadn't figured out to talk to about… specific things, but he also did not want Soren to be pissed at him for not showing. And an angry Soren was rarely the lesser of two evils.

"Okay," Callum said, placing his phone back against his textbooks before turning his camera back on. "It looks like I am being summoned to football practice for some urgent but undisclosed reason, so I have to go. But I promise I'll be completely memorized for Thursday."

Sonya nodded. Then she raised an eyebrow. "Did Rayla text you?"

Callum tried not to wince. He was pretty sure he failed. "Ah. No. Soren, actually. Claudia's older brother."

Surprise was written all over Sonya's face. "Wait. The quarterback is Claudia's brother?"

Callum couldn't help but laugh at her shocked expression. "Yeah. You didn't know that?"

"No. I don't really pay attention to anyone, so…"

Callum snorted. "Okay. We both know that's not true." Sonya liked to pretend otherwise, but she definitely had a penchant for keeping tabs on gossip going around campus, though she herself did not participate in it.

Sonya rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Don't you have a football practice to be at?"

Callum took the not-at-all-subtle hint, laughing as he said goodbye before hanging up the call. Sonya added a new, fun dynamic to their Renaissance History assignments, and he hoped they'd continue to be friends even after the midterm passed.

He only wished Rayla was there, too.

Ugh. He really needed to talk to her. Their issues of 'pride' were proving to be a great annoyance. And there was definitely also some embarrassment involved. At least for him.

Callum sighed, shoving his phone into his pocket before grabbing his car keys off his desk. He'd just have to look out for and… avoid Rayla. Or something. Anything to keep himself from having to confront the hurricane of emotions swirling in his body. Not yet.

He had a feeling this practice wouldn't be very fun.

The drive to the football field, even though he had to take a detour to get around a new construction area, was not long. Maybe he should have taken unnecessary detours just to extend it. When he arrived, he noticed that he had several new messages on his phone, despite the brief time he'd been driving.

Soren: you can hang out with Claudia until i'm done if you want

And, as if she'd been cued to text him after her brother, Claudia's message had been sent only a minute later.

Claudia: I'm at the north end of the stadium! with the big ad for sprite lmao

Claudia: oh I'm right next to the cheerleaders. you'll see us literally the second you get on the field. they're practicing some hella cool stunts

She followed her text with three shocked emojis. It seemed to be her current favorite. Her previous favorite had been the devil emoji, so he considered the change an improvement.

Sure enough, he could see Claudia sitting and watching a group of people toss someone high up into the air, catching them in a vaguely basket-like formation. Upon noticing him as he walked down the sidelines towards her, Claudia jumped to her feet and waved enthusiastically before gesturing to the seat next to her on the bleachers.

"So, do you attend every football practice," Callum asked with an amused smile as he sat down beside his friend, "or just 99% of them?"

Claudia snickered at his question. "No, I don't usually come. Not unless it's before a big game. But Soren and I have to meet my dad after this, so I didn't really see a point in going back to my dorm for fifteen minutes before having to leave again and pick up Soren."

He supposed that was fair. Probably more environmentally-friendly, too. "Makes sense," he said before changing the subject to the main question sitting in his mind. "Anyways. Do you have any clue why Soren asked me to come here? I mean, what it is he wants to talk to me about so badly?" He kept his gaze trained on the cheerleaders. He didn't want to risk glancing at the field and seeing… Well. Someone. Though it wasn't as if KSU's cheerleaders had trouble keeping his attention - their stunts were awe-inspiring and little short of death-defying, and they executed them each time to perfection. Though a boy with indigo streaks stood in front of them, giving corrections every now and then. He seemed familiar - maybe Callum had met him before?

Claudia shrugged. "No idea. Probably something that's actually not very important, knowing him."

Huh. He hadn't considered that possibility. Still - Soren had seemed pretty serious.

"But who cares? That doesn't matter right now!" Claudia continued with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Since you're here, there's something I wanted to ask you about."

Callum raised an eyebrow. "Uh… okay?"

She chewed her bottom lip, as if trying to figure out how to best word her question. Something akin to concern glinted in her green eyes, and Callum had a feeling he knew what his friend was about to ask. "Did something… happen between you and Rayla? Like, the other day?"

Callum internally cursed his nonexistent acting talent as the blood drained from his face and he visibly paled at her question, breaking eye contact with her to stare down at his lap. "Ah… Would you believe me if I said no?"

"I mean, I didn't believe Rayla when she said no," was Claudia's pointed response. "But I didn't want to press her too much about revealing anything since I've only known her for three months. I have no qualms, however, about pestering you until the truth comes out. So spill. What happened?"

Callum had planned to ask Claudia for advice. Genuinely, he had. But he had not planned to do it so soon. "Er… do we really have to talk about this right now?" He was yet to force himself to confront the incident properly, so he couldn't even imagine being able to articulate it well to Claudia. Where would he even begin? What would he say?

Yeah, Rayla and I argued about her playing football while her hand was still injured and me not showing her my finished piece for the fall art showcase and now we're both too stubborn to admit that we were overreacting?

God, no.

Claudia looked like she wanted to argue, so Callum tried to beat her to the punch.

"We can talk later. I promise. Just… not right now. Please."

His quiet words made her gaze soften. "Oh, alright." She gently nudged him with her shoulder. "Hey - you know you're my best friend, okay? Whenever you need something, I'm here. And don't you dare forget it."

He laughed, a sense of warmth flooding through his chest at her reassurance. "Thanks, Claudia."

"It's what I'm here for."

His phone then buzzed, breaking the moment.

Soren: can you meet me in the locker room? we're finishing up post-practice feedback now

Callum responded with a quick "sure" before he realized that he had no idea where the boys' locker room was. He'd only ever been outside of the girls' locker room, when he was waiting for -

"Claudia, do you know where the boys' locker room is?" he asked, turning to face his friend and hoping he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt to say that out loud.

Claudia nodded. "Yup. Across the field, into that big hall, and take the first two lefts." She pointed when she spoke, as if drawing a miniature map.

Callum blinked. "Right," he said, because he'd definitely understood her instructions. Yeah, he was notoriously bad with directions, unless they involved explicit street names. He didn't know why his brain made that distinction, but it had. Harrow told him once that his mom had the same issue, but in reverse.

"You can walk with me. I'm going there now."

Callum turned to see the indigo-haired cheerleader from before. Now that he was closer, the guy really did look familiar. At least the hair, at any rate. "We've met before, haven't we?" He felt bad that he couldn't remember his name, but he figured he might as well as get his embarrassment out the way before he had to make small talk.

The boy chuckled. "Yes. Downtown, at Live After Five. I'm Lucas."

Callum nodded. "Right." He gave him an awkward smile. "Sorry. I'm the worst with remembering names."

"No worries." He gestured behind him, towards the opposite side of the field. "Shall we?"

Callum said goodbye to Claudia before following Lucas, shoving his phone into his pocket as he did so. "I forgot you were a cheerleader," he admitted, barely managing to avoid stumbling as he caught up with the senior. "How long have you been on the team again?"

"Since my sophomore year," Lucas replied, taking a sip from a bottle of blue Gatorade. "You may find this hard to believe, but there's a high demand for male cheerleaders."

Callum chuckled at his dry tone. "I mean, that does sound pretty unbelievable, but I guess I'll have to trust you."

"Your faith is inspiring." Lucas screwed the cap back onto his Gatorade. "So. What brings you to the stadium today? Meeting Rayla?"

Callum had been expecting a question along those lines and was thus able to maintain his composure as he answered. Or so he hoped. "Soren, actually."

Lucas nodded, not saying anything else. He didn't seem to be a man of many words.

Still, Callum felt awkward with the lack of conversation. "Uh… you said Felix convinced you to try out for cheerleading, right?" he asked, trying to remember what they'd talked about all those nights ago. "You're really good, so he must have known what he was doing when he gave you that advice."

Lucas chuckled. "Thank you. I took gymnastics in middle school and high school, so to some extent it was just a matter of remembering old skills."

Callum nodded. "You knew Felix back then, too, I take it?"

"Yeah. We grew up together. Our families were close, we were childhood best friends, all that jazz." He absentmindedly tapped the side of his Gatorade bottle. "It was actually a big deal - for me, at least - that he told me to try out for the team. I'd broken up with him a few weeks earlier, so things were still rough between us. But after he made the first move to talk to me again by telling me to try out… It helped us patch things over." He chuckled. "And now I'll never be rid of him. Though I suppose that's a good thing."

Callum blanched. "You and Felix dated?"

"Yes. For about two years, though we almost broke up after just two months because of how my family reacted when I was outed. Felix's parents, despite them being very religious Catholics, became more accepting of him as time went on after he came out. Even when they initially struggled to understand, they promised they didn't love him any less." Lucas's upper lip curled in disgust. "When I was outed to my parents, they threatened to disown me and even accused Felix of 'turning me gay', since he was so open about his sexuality once he started high school. Which is why I moved out of the house as soon as I was old enough." He then grimaced before offering Callum a hesitant smile - more emotion than Callum had ever seen on his face within such a short span of time. "Sorry. Didn't mean to dump my life story on you."

Callum hastily shook his head. "No, no, you're fine! It's all good." Embarrassing as it was, Callum's primary thought at Lucas's confession was that he must have really seemed ridiculous - like, more than usual - to Rayla when he'd been jealous of Felix, seeing as Felix would never have been interested in Rayla romantically in the first place. He could have sworn Soren had once made a reference to Felix liking girls, though.

Actually, knowing Soren, he either had no idea Felix was gay or he'd made that joke solely because Felix was gay. Either seemed plausible.

"If you're okay with me asking," Callum finally managed to say, "why did you break up with him?"

Lucas shrugged. "It's… hard to explain."

"That's okay!" he hastily added. "If you aren't comfortable with answering, don't at all feel obligated or pressured to."

Lucas gave him an amused smile. "You're very much a freshman, aren't you?"

Callum didn't know what that meant, but since Lucas was a senior, he was probably right. "Er… I guess so."

Lucas chuckled before his expression became serious again. Serious, but also… maybe a little wistful? "I just knew that I wasn't the right person for Felix. Not as a romantic partner. We'll always be important people in each other's lives, but we weren't meant to be together like that." A small smile crept onto his lips. "He told me the other day that he's getting to know a cute boy in his theatre class, so we'll see how that works out for him. No matter what, I'm always in his corner."

Huh. Lucas seemed to hold some… almost bittersweet sentiment about breaking up with Felix. Though Callum probably shouldn't have been trying to interpret anything besides what he was told directly. The fact that he hadn't known Felix was gay spoke wonders about his lackluster powers of deduction. "Oh." A fearful possibility suddenly dawned on Callum, his argument with Rayla slammed to the forefront of his mind. "How… How do you know if you're not meant to be with someone?"

Lucas glanced at him. "Something happen between you and Rayla?"

Okay. Was he really that obvious, or did gossip just fly quickly among the football team? "Possibly."

"Hmm. Well, to answer your question - it's hard to say." He took another sip of his Gatorade. "Let me ask you something instead. Do you want to work things out with Rayla?"

Yes. More than anything, yes. Being without her was as close to agony as he'd ever felt. "I do."

"Then that's enough reason to keep trying. Maybe you'll realize, eventually, that you aren't meant to be together. But if you don't make an effort, then worst case scenario, you could both lose the best thing in your lives: each other."

Callum hoped he'd be that profound when he was a senior. But even beyond his awe at Lucas's answer, he also knew… Lucas was right. He himself would have to make an effort if he wanted there to be at least a chance of working things out with his girlfriend. "Thanks," he finally said. "That's really good advice."

Lucas chuckled. "You're welcome. Hopefully it proves to be helpful advice, too."

Callum agreed.

This time, the silence that fell was a calm one, peaceful even despite the lack of conversation. Of course, Callum's luck eventually ran out - at the worst time, too. Ugh. Didn't it always?

As they walked down the main hallway towards the locker room, they ran into Rayla. She was talking to Felix, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall on her right shoulder. When she caught sight of Callum, her eyes visibly widened. Her entire body stiffened, and she dropped her gaze to the floor.

Callum couldn't say his reaction had been much better, as he was fairly certain he'd inhaled sharply upon seeing her and was fully certain that his step had faltered. If Lucas noticed, he didn't comment.

"I'll talk to you later," he heard Rayla say to Felix before she turned around and disappeared down the hall, heading in the direction opposite from which Callum had entered.

Lucas watched her go before glancing at Callum. His expression seemed to say keep trying, although Callum only saw it out of his peripheral vision because his overwhelming embarrassment refused to let him make eye contact with Lucas or Felix.

"The locker room is through there," Lucas proceeded to say, pointing to a door on the left. "I'll see you later, presumably."

Callum managed a nod, and he tried to smile at Felix as he walked past, though he was pretty sure it came across as more of a grimace.

"Soren is waiting for you," was all Felix said before he, too, left down the hall, Lucas falling into step beside him.

If Callum hadn't been so anxious about everything that was going on, he might have laughed at just how easy it was for a single, solitary event to completely change the tone of the room. In this case, change it for the worse. But seeing as his anxiety was through the roof, laughter was completely out of the question. Crying? Weeping? Grossly sobbing? Now those seemed like greater possibilities.

Callum entered the boys' locker room, taking care not to slam the door behind him. Soren was sitting on a bench on the far side of the room, reading something on his phone as a white towel hung around his neck. Unsure of whether or not to approach him, Callum found himself lingering by the door.

"You can come sit," Soren called, not looking up from his phone. "I showered, so I shouldn't smell too bad."

Callum smiled weakly at the attempt at humor, walking across the room and taking the open seat next to his friend on the bench.

"Give me a sec. I'm trying to finish an email to Professor Opeli about taking her midterm early." Soren sighed. "Normally this wouldn't take long, but my dad keeps texting me about where I am and how much longer I'll be and all his usual crap, as if I haven't told him a million times what my practice schedule is and given him both paper and digital copies of it." He rolled his eyes. "If he'd just listen to me or pay attention to even half of what I say every once in a while, both of our lives would be ten times easier."

"Oh, yeah! No - No rush," Callum hastily reassured him. He knew tensions between Soren and Viren were… well, tensions usually ran high between them. It was the main reason why Soren had chosen to live on campus rather than stay at home once he'd gotten accepted into KSU.

Soren chuckled. "Well, it kind of is a rush. Claudia and I do need to meet our dad in like, twenty minutes, so I'll try to keep this quick." He skimmed over something one last time on his phone before tapping the top of the screen and then turning the device off, dropping it into the red and gold duffel bag at his feet. "You and Rayla need to work out whatever funk you're in, okay?"

Callum blinked. "Rayla - we - what?"

"You guys clearly had some sort of argument," Soren continued, ignoring Callum's sputtered reaction. "If I was a betting man - which I normally am, but I don't bet on relationships because I have morals - I'd guess it has something to do with the fact that Rayla has been coming to practice with an injured hand and you being worried about her as a result."

For as much as people joked about Soren being a 'himbo' - a term Callum had only recently learned via the Internet - he sometimes forgot how perceptive his friend really was. "It… might have something to do with that."

"As I suspected." Soren looked pleased that his deduction had been correct, but his expression soon became serious again. "But for real. You're both really worked up over whatever fight you had, and that's not good."

Callum felt irritation spark in his stomach. Part of him knew that Soren meant well, but the rest of him was starting to get tired of being told to 'fix' everything. He was working on it, okay? He'd barely come to terms with the fact that they'd had an argument! "What, did our fight screw up Rayla's concentration at practice?" he grumbled, sweeping his shoe on the floor of the locker room. It squeaked, which was far less cathartic of a release than he'd hoped for.

Soren stared at him in disbelief. "Really, dude? You think this is about football?" He shook his head, scoffing. "No, Callum. I'm worried about both of you. Because you're my friends. And that's how it works." He gave him a pointed, knowing look. "I can tell that you're upset about whatever argument you had with Rayla because last night you didn't post your usual Monday brain teaser on Instagram that I never understand but I always try to guess something stupid and funny anyway."

Callum felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest. Soren was right - he hadn't posted because he'd been… well, preoccupied with obsessing over the details of his fight with Rayla. A weird coping mechanism, maybe?

"Also, I love you, buddy, but don't flatter yourself with the idea that Rayla can't perform at her usual level because you two had a fight. If anything, she's even better than usual. Her concentration and focus have been sharper and more precise these past couple days than I've ever seen from her."

Ouch. That kind of stung.

"But I don't think that's a good thing," Soren continued, evidently having noticed Callum's grimace. "She's… She internalized whatever happened. So she's playing great, sure, but she's like - like a robot, or something. I don't know. Her motions were all super methodical and she didn't smile at all during practice today." He paused. "Well, maybe once or twice, but you get my point." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "My point is, you're both miserable. And I don't want either of you to be miserable, because seeing you guys miserable makes me sad. I care about you guys and - and I want you to be happy, you know?" He held up his hands, as if surrendering. "Look, I can't tell you how to resolve this issue, because I don't know how, but I do think a good start would be texting Rayla and telling her that you're ready to talk whenever she is."

After overcoming his initial shock at the onslaught of words coming from his friend who normally preferred to punch his feelings out rather than ever actually speak to someone, Callum managed to gather his wits. He hesitated, then gave Soren a small, grateful smile. "You're right. Thanks."

He really wasn't sure what else to say. Fortunately, Soren seemed to notice, and he clapped him on the shoulder. "No problem."

They exchanged a few more casual pleasantries about upcoming midterms before Soren had to leave to go meet Claudia. It wasn't until Callum had returned to his car and started playing the Carole and Tuesday soundtrack for confidence that he got out his phone and actually prepared to text Rayla.

He could do this. More importantly, he wanted to do this. He wanted to try.

Callum: hey

Callum: can we talk?

He was relieved to note that she answered quickly, within a minute of his messages being sent.

Rayla: yeah. i think that's a good idea

Rayla: your dorm, tomorrow? in place of our homework session?

Callum took a deep breath before responding.

Callum: works for me

Rayla: see you then :)

Callum had never been so relieved to see a smiley emoticon. And even though he was more used to standard emojis, he responded with a smiling emoticon of his own. As the message sent… he found himself smiling, too.

They could do this.

xXxXxXx

Communication is key! I hope Callum and Rayla work things out :) Fun fact: one of my friends was like "there needs to be more drama with Lucas and Felix's relationship!" and I said "absolutely not no messy breakups in this house", so that's 99% of my editing process if y'all were wondering lmfao. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and wish me luck in college! Ya girl needs it!