Did he just wink at me?
Holy hell.
I bite my lip and lift my shoulders, shrugging excitedly.
“Madeline!” Mason’s sharp tone jolts me back to reality.
“Ugh! I’m coming.”
I blow out a quick breath to try and rein in my overactive hormones before Mason, the master detector, figures out I may have an itty-bitty crush on his friend.
That’s the last thing I need.
I take one step inside the cabin and freeze.
First, I realize I somehow lucked out like Mason and only have one roommate. But even better, I have way more space than him.
My cabin is meant for four beds but is only set with two. AndthenI notice my incredible setup. “What is all of this?”
The whole side of my bunk is decorated in my favorite color,blurple—the name I made up when I was six for the perfect shade between blue and purple. The bedspread, my pillows, and even purple and blue lights are strung around my bed.
But what’s sprawled across my desk is what steals my breath.
Two things I love most: bead-making materials and top-of-the-line sketchbooks, graph paper, and drafting pencils.
The kind I know, foronealone, costs a fortune.
A lump lodges in my throat, and my vision blurs when I turn into Mason, throwing my arms around his midsection and hugging him tightly.
“Hey.” He gently tilts my head. “What’s up with the tears?”
“How did you do this? How did you pay for this? Do you even know how much thisonepencil is?”
He shrugs. “A lot, I guess, by your reaction.”
“Thirty dollars. For one!”
Mase grabs it from my hand. “That’s crazy. It’s a pencil.”
I gasp in horror. “It’snotjust a pencil. It is theperfectpencil.”
“If you say so.” He shakes his head, not understanding.
“If you didn’t have gorilla hands, I’d let you try it for yourself and see, but you’d probably snap it in half. It glides like perfection.” I pick up the compasses and protractors next to seea familiar brand that my art teacher has mentioned. “Seriously, how did you afford this?”
“I didn’t. Nate bought them.”
I freeze at his name, and my curiosity piques. “Nate?”
Without using the ladder, he jumps up on my bed and lies down, his legs hanging off the end. “Yeah. I knew how upset you were about coming here, so I asked him to pick up supplies. Now, you can use your downtime to work. I had no clue what you would need, so I asked for his help. He and Leo are going to USC in the fall to study architecture.”
I stand there, my mouth gaped open wide in shock.
“USC?” I repeat.
“Yup. You should talk to them while you’re here. They have a lot of connections and can help you with letters of recommendation.”
I slap his arm hard. “Why have you never mentioned this before? USC, Mason. U-S-C.”
