BitterSweet- Salvis

4

(Why am I updating this a year later? I don't know, on with the story!)

--Travis pov--

"Morning," I said as I skipped down the stairs. Finally, a week without that old bastard. Still a miracle. The fragrance of pancakes filled the kitchen, mom always makes delicious breakfast even when father puts her down. I leaned down against the counter and stabbed two of them onto a plate.

"Morning Travy," she kissed my forehead, "hope you like them" she said with a yawn.

"C'mon mom, I'm not five." I waved my hands to shoo her away while laughing. Six in the morning, too early to function. "Soooo, about that Sally boy..." She teased. "Do you have classes with him?" My face was slowly burning up, but I still nodded and held up two fingers, my mouth was already full of food. "Ask to study with him, that's a classic way to know him better. And I know it works because I read it in a book-"

"One of your cheesy romance novels that always have the same ending?"

"Yep, what else? He can come over anytime this week. I'll even buy icecream and movies for my boys special someone!"

"Mom, never say that again. And of course, it's totally possible that the boy who thinks I hate him ever says yes to spending more time with the idiot himself. Who agrees to that? Gotta leave, see ya tonight." I tried to push my smile back down as I rinsed my plate. I then grabbed my bag, slipped on my shoes, then headed out the door.

"See ya Travy!" She waved.

"Stop calling me that!"

"You know you love it! Also, you never know until you try, hon" she waved.

Asking Sal to study could help, if only I wasn't such a dick. My grades need it, but never in hell would I do that. I would end up embarrassing myself or going too far again. While I passed the Addison Apartments a shiver went up my spine, sheesh. What a creepy building. I continue walking down the path.

Only 6:15, I have time for a stop. My feet crunched on branches and leaves while my hands were busy swatting at spider webs. I continued until I found a fair sized tree log with overgrown moss and bugs scattered around. It sat next to a small creek. I sat down. Mushrooms grew around it and ants trailed across the sticks. I picked up a beetle, placing him beside me. I leaned into my knees, taking in the environment. The rush of the creek was relaxing. Nockfell is a strange place to live but the forest makes it worth it. I placed my backpack on the ground and picked up a worm crawling around by my feet. He squirmed on my hand, curious about this new environment. While I watched him squiggle and adventure I didn't notice the crunching of leaves coming towards me.

"Playing with the bugs now? I guess they are interesting, Unique little critters." The sudden voice made me jump, shit they scared me. I looked over, Sal's white mask stood out against the darkness of the night. He sat beside me, gently placing his hand in the water, cupped it, then let it slowly drain. "Sorry I scared ya, I saw you walking over here and decided to come with. Hope that's cool" he commented.

"Okay freak. Suit yourself." Why did I call him that, he's so calm right now. It's amazing, the wind softly blowing his pigtails, I can see part of his face from here. A couple of gashes and cuts, black and red scars scattered. He kept his hand in the water, sometimes moving to draw pictures in the mud. Nothing an art student would make, but it was entertaining to watch. An awkward silence filled the air, suffocating me. There was no more to say but the silence was deafening, I prayed that he said something so I didn't have to.

"How's life?" He titled his head from side to side with each word.

"None of your business, I have to get going." With that I stood and grabbed my belongings, briskly walking off to school. Sal caught up, but I could tell he was struggling to keep the pace. I subconsciously slowed down to aid him. My mind raced, why is he here now of all times? I can't say I don't like it, but it's strange nonetheless.

We walked to school together, but the hanging silence still rang in my ears. The old, chipped bricks of the school finally appeared. We parted our ways, I walked to my locker and he ran over to his dork friends. I heard bits of Larry talking to him. "Walked with Travis? Do you not care about what he's done to you? Cmon Sal. Okay, as long as nothing..."
Then Sal pitched in, "don't worry, nothing much happened."

Hm, he didn't say anything of interest. I forced myself to walk to class, soon slouching on my desk. The rhythmic talking of Mrs. Packerton made me doze off, she is so monotone it's painful.

--Sal pov--

"Hey, person in the class. Wake up." I jumped and fixed my mask quick enough for the stranger to not see anything. Shit, How long did I sleep? I let out a soft hum to the person next to me, "Hey, you fell asleep. Here's the project, you can work alone or with someone," she said. I didn't quite catch the details of the person, they walked away as soon as I adjusted to my surroundings. I still felt as if I was asleep in a dream world. My good eye skimmed over the packet, just multiple choice algebra questions, easy enough. I started to get to work, until I noticed another person slacking off. Travis Phelps. I've never seen him sleep in class, a rare, strange occurrence. Well, I better wake him up.

"Hey, Trav. Trav. Trav. Travis. Travy. Travis. Travis Scott. O' great Travis, wake. The fuck. Up." I tapped him a couple times, damn he sleeps like a rock. I laid my packet on his desk then sat next to the sleeping boy. He was in the calmest state I've ever seen. His blonde hair covered his eyes. He must take good care of it too. It looked soft, but I resisted my weird urge to touch or braid people's hair. Larry and Ash let me play with theirs, it feels nice. I tapped him some more, yet to no avail. Guess I'll partner up with him so he doesn't seem like he's just slacking off in front of Mrs. Packerton. I let him sleep while I worked on my part of the packet.

But I couldn't stop looking at this phenomenon. I noticed marks on his neck. The sides had deep purples and dark brown circles and dots. That's probably not good. Shit, it's weird to stare like that. I need to focus

Travis groaned and sat up finally, covering his face and yawning. He looked out of it and tired, still processing the world around him.

"Hey sleepyhead, awake finally?"

"What are you doing here, freak." I tilted my head back, of course that's the first response. I slide the given assignment onto his desk.

"Here, I did the front and you can do the back. You were sleeping so I just saved your ass from the teacher, partner" I let out a chuckle, that sentence came out so weird.

I could see a hint of a grin from him, unfortunately it didn't last long. He swiped the paper away from me, starting on his portion of equations. He went very slow, only writing his work one line at a time. Either he's out of it or just bad at math.

"Hey, I-"

Nevermind, I would get turned down as fast as Gizmo runs to the food bowl, he would never accept help from anyone. Let alone me.

"What, freak?"

"Nothing, it's fine"

"You think your better than me just cuz you can speed through quizzes, huh? I'll shut your ego up"

"No, I was going to offer a study session for this. I could use some refreshers on these, if your up for it"

I awaited for his response, he just turned away back to the paper. I could tell he was thinking about something deeply, whether it be my offer or the sheet.

"Sure, whatever"

The bell rang, nearly scaring me out of my body. As I recollected myself I replied, "cool, after school at that forest place we met this morning?"

He nodded, slumping back into his chair putting his belongings in his bag. He practically ran out of class, I followed soon after and prepared for what the next class would bring. All that I could think about was Travis though, the one time he was calm he seemed like a completely different person. Images of his dirty blonde hair and his half-grin flashed in my mind between thoughts.

This will be an interesting day.

1,515 words

(Apologies if there's any spelling errors. Hope you like this chapter! Comments appreciated <3)