Runaways by Beth Szymkowski Page B

she saw him waiting for her outside of school, but she wanted to have the fight and just get it over with.
    Still, she didn’t approach him and made him chase after her. “Why are you avoiding me?”
    “Why would I want to meet with you when I know it’s so you can break up with me?” It seemed like a good question to her, but Mason seemed genuinely confused.
    “What are you talking about? I’m not breaking up with you. Ever.”
    Kaylee finally stopped to face him. “I really thought we had something. Something more than all this.” She gestured to the school and the few students nearby.
    “We do. You know I’d do anything for you. Anything.” His eyes pleaded with hers.
    “You’re lying. I know about the money. I saw you with my father. I know you cut a deal.” Mason finally understood why she’d been avoiding him. What a mess.
    “Please, let me explain.”
    “There’s no explaining what you did. I thought I meantsomething more to you. I thought you knew that money couldn’t buy what we had.”
    “Money can’t buy what we have. Nothing can. People could spend their whole lives searching and never have what we have.”
    The more Mason protested, the more upset Kaylee got. She never believed he could be such a hypocrite. “I trusted you.”
    “I deserve your trust! I would do anything for you. I know I’m lucky to have you.”
    “You’re lying.”
    “I’m not. I won’t. I will never do anything to hurt you.”
    Kaylee couldn’t even look at him. She knew if she did she’d burst into tears. She tried to escape before she lost it, looking down so he wouldn’t see her eyes, but Mason grabbed her. “Look at me. Yes. I took the money.” Kaylee yanked away, but Mason wasn’t letting go. “But I’m not breaking up with you.”
    “You took my father’s money,” Kaylee spat out the words.
    “I did. I took his money. He offered me money to break up with you, and I took it. But I’m not breaking up with you. I never planned to break up with you. Ever. If you’ll have me, you’ll be stuck with me forever.”
    Now it was Kaylee’s turn to be confused. Mason shook his head. “I can’t be bought. Not by him or anybody else.”
    “But he paid you.”
    “He did. But he’s a fool who thinks he can fix problems by throwing cash at them. He offered money and I took it.” When Mason recounted this part, he seemed pleased with himself, like he’d outsmarted someone who was trying to trick him. But Kaylee knew her father better than Mason did. He wouldn’t give up that easily. She didn’t like what her father did trying to buy Mason out, and she was secretly relieved that Mason wasn’t breaking up with her, but his double crossing her father worried her.
    “My father isn’t going to just walk away. You took his money. He’ll make things hard on you. Maybe on your father. You need to think about what you’re doing.”
    “He won’t do anything.”
    “You don’t know him the way I do.”
    “I know something. Something he doesn’t want anybody else to know.” Mason held her gaze. He thought she would be pleased he had bested her father. He expected her to ask what the information was, but instead Kaylee looked concerned.
    “This thing you know. Does it have something to do with me?”
    Mason smiled. “You don’t have any secrets this big.”
    Kaylee wished he was right.
    “I need to show you something.”
    Mason took Kaylee’s hand and guided her around the cornerof the building to where a dark gray Mustang was parked. It was a muscle car, all waxed and sexy.
    “What’s this?”
    “It’s the car your father bought us. You don’t have to ride around in my old piece of shit anymore.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Your father gave me the money. I bought a car. It’s simple.”
    “My father must be furious,” Kaylee said. Mason hugged her. “Let him be furious,” he said. “He can’t hurt us.”
    Kaylee looked doubtful. If she’d looked up toward the balcony, she