STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

15: LONG RUN

Salem ends up in the seat diagonal from Atlas, closer to the front. He's fidgeting like crazy, heart racing. He doesn't even know why he's so nervous, the hard part of being late to school is already done. However, due to the fact that Salem takes primarily advanced classes, it's rare that he has any with Atlas.

He actually can't even remember the last time he and Atlas shared a class together. In short, this is weird.

Then again, Salem didn't sign up for an advanced world history class. This is made apparent when he sees someone standing up from the corner of his eye. He turns his head, as does Mr. Morris, and finds Cam gathering his things. A second later and he's walking across the room, Mr. Morris pausing in his lecture and looking annoyed at the second interruption.

Cam walks over to the teacher's desk and grabs two papers, which have been stapled together. Then, he walks over to Salem and takes a seat next to him—in front of Atlas. Salem has no doubt in his mind that Cam didn't pay attention to who he was sitting in front of. He feels on edge from the conversation they had a few weeks ago, and he didn't tell Cam about. If Cam knew Atlas Di Angelo had it out for him, he'd probably never come to school again.

Cam reaches over and hands Salem the stolen syllabus, then turns back to pay attention once again. Mr. Morris just stares at him for a minute longer, probably wanting to quit his job, before continuing on with whatever he'd been talking about. Cam has a grin on his face, and he and Salem share a glance. Salem rolls his eyes, but is internally thankful.

About a half hour goes by before Mr. Morris stops talking, granting them about ten minutes of free time. Cam immediately turns to him. Atlas is still sitting there. Salem tries to appear calm.

"You're wearing your glasses! That's so cute." He mockingly gushes. Salem glares at him, irritated. This is partially due to the stress, since he's typically a pretty patient person. Especially when it comes to Cam, he kind of has to be.

"Shut up."

"You actually kind of look like shit. I bet you overslept." Cam continues, directly contradicting his earlier words. Salem sighs.

"No. I had a family matter." Salem lies. Cam raises a brow.

"Everyone knows that's a lie. Your entire family is like, dead."

Salem gives him a deadpanned expression. Yeah, Cam is definitely acting strange. He typically isn't that blunt.

"My phone didn't wake me up." Salem finally admits, and he starts reading the syllabus over. He can hear the amusement in Cam's voice when the guy speaks next;

"So you did lie."

"I didn't—okay," Salem turns to give him an exasperated look. "I did not lie. The girl in the office did."

"Probably 'cause everyone likes you." Cam says, mostly to himself. Then, a look of excitement crosses his face. "Actually—wait, wait, was it Lara?"

Salem shrugs, going back to reading the syllabus. Cam is way too excited for this situation. He must've had coffee or something, that's usually the cause when he gets like that. "I don't know."

Salem went to middle school with her years ago, how would he remember her name? "Oh my god, she has it bad. She wants you bro, holy shit, and Vanessa told me—"

"How much coffee have you had today?" Salem interrupts, not in the mood for Cam's gossiping. Cam does not seem pleased at the question nor the interruption.

"None." Cam lies. Salem doesn't believe that for a second. He is refusing to look away from the paper. "You probably should, though. You look absolutely horrible—where did you even get that shirt? I've never seen you wear it before."