Screen Burn

Episode 2

He found Mateo leaning against the college wall, a lit cigarette positioned between his lips and his motorcycle parked nearby. His friends were sprawled out on the pavement, or straddling their own bikes.

Jake had spent the previous day carefully crafting a speech worthy enough to repeat, but the words fled his mind when he found himself walking towards the group. Suddenly, the plan that involved asking Mateo not to flirt with Astrid and teaching him how to do the same, seemed absurd. He was about to turn around and run back into the building, when he noticed that Mateo's entourage was looking at him. Turning back was therefore, not an option.

His hands started to sweat as he neared the intimidating group, so he swiftly wiped them on his pants. It did not help that were observing every move he made, like they were waiting for him to show signs of weakness, or provide entertainment.

The tense moment would've been almost unbearable, if not for the girl humming what seemed liked a popular song by Fifth Harmony. One glance from Mateo, however, made her stop.

"Hello," Jake said, standing directly in front of the person he had come to meet.

Unfamiliar situations always made him behave in a formal manner, so he held out his hand, waiting for the other boy to shake it.

Mateo looked unimpressed by the friendly gesture. He stared at the offered hand until it dropped limply to Jake's side, evoking a few titters from their audience.

"What do you want, white boy?" he asked, sounding irritated.

Jake was at once highly aware of the fact that he was, indeed, the only white male around. He had known that Mateo's inner circle consisted of people from different races and ethnicities, but he'd wrongly assumed that it involved white people. Despite having been educated about racism and micro-aggressions, he found himself feeling threatened, and his body took a slightly more defensive stance.

Of course, he immediately felt ashamed for letting stereotypes color his perspective even for a moment, and tried to look unbothered. Although he was offended by the fact that his skin color, not his name, was important in this situation. Besides, Mateo was biracial, and looked significantly paler than his companions, so he was in no position to emphasize someone else's low levels of melanin.

"I wanted to know if we could hang out."

The sentence had spilled forth from his mouth without permission, and clearly was not one that had been given much thought. Jake sounded like he was twelve years old, and was mortified by the realization.

"No," Mateo answered swiftly, disgust evident in his tone.

Jake almost expected him to say, 'You can't sit with us at lunch!' in true Mean Girls fashion and sashay away. Instead, he continued to stare at him, his face devoid of emotion. This would've caused a chill to go down Jake's spine any other day, but he was convinced that he'd seen something playful, if not exactly friendly, in the wink that he'd received the day before.

Despite his eerie ability to perfectly mask his emotions, Mateo could not hide the interested spark in his eyes. It was almost like he was enjoying the interaction, and the reactions his brusque behaviour was getting. He wanted to push Jake around, make him feel suspicious and scared. He wanted to see if he would react like a spoiled, wealthy, white boy who couldn't get what he wanted.

Jake decided to play the role that he was being forced into, because that seemed the only way to get Mateo's attention. He wasn't rich (his parents had to sell their house to afford his tuition fees), so he couldn't offer him money. He convinced himself that the second-best offensive action would be to give him something in exchange for his company. Perhaps the outrageous nature of this manoeuvre would convince Mateo that he was worth his time.