•The Note• {Travis x Sal}

3

Travis POV:

Monday soon rolled around, and Travis was about to get on the bus. He pondered if he should ride his bike to school, but he felt too weak to even walk towards the chained up contraption. It was red, and rusty. He was also pretty sure the chain had fallen off, so if he had missed the bus he'd just have to walk to school. He did not want to walk, he knew he'd pass out if he even tried to step on the side walk.

He sat at the very back of the bus, on the left hand side. He kept his vision locked on the window, hardly even blinking.

The zone out costed him his focus on surroundings, not realizing they had stopped at Addison Apartments. Once Travis did look over, he felt his heart drop to his stomach, and swore he could've saw a shadow of an anvil growing around his feet. It was Sal. It was Sal and his blue hair fixed into uneven pigtails with even darker blue hairbands. Travis felt his face blush, and he looked away, pretending not to notice the boy.

Though, his plan came crashing down and burning into a pathetic crisp as Sal had sat down right next to him.

"Travis?" Sal asked, turning the blank mask towards Travis. It wasn't really blank, technically. It had scuffs and scratches and dents and dirt all speckled around the plastic. Most of them caused by the one and only, Travis. But, moreover, the blankness was expressed from the face of the mask. It made Travis wonder if Sals lips actually looked like what the mask portrays, or if his nose is the same shape, or if it was a completely different persons face made to cover Sals.

"Hello? Earth to Travis." Sal said, waving his hands infront of Travis' eyes. "Go away, Sal." Travis held back spouting a slur, he needed to be better. But he also needed to be better for his father, so maybe calling him a slur is the right decision.

"Travis, if you need to talk I'm here, okay? You don't need to act so offensive towards me anymore, I'm here for you." Sal said comfortingly, trying to get in Travis' head that he wasn't a threat.

"If I'm seen with you they'll think I'm a faggot! So go away, please." The last part of his sentence was shaky, and seemed like he was going to cry. He couldn't take being around Sal, he would start bawling his eyes out if he tried, especially in front of an entire audience of snobby high schoolers.

Sal sighed, and placed a pale hand of Travis' shoulder. "I'll move, but please just know that I am here for you." Sal moved and Travis let out a huff of frustration. Why does Sal make him feel this way? Why can't he be normal?

They reached the school and Travis stood up, his body screaming with pain and nausea plaguing him as he forced his legs upright. Unlike every other time Sal has ridden the bus, Sal waited for Travis to pass him, and walked right behind him.

He didn't like people walking behind him, especially his father. But even more especially Sal. It sent shivers down his spine and Sal took notice of it, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, making Travis flinch harder then he probably ever has. Sal, suddenly remembering what Travis had said earlier, retracted the hand quickly.

Sal POV:

Sal couldn't help it, seeing someone so distraught, no matter how mean, how bitchy, how awful, he just had to comfort them. It was in his blood. It was just like his mom, passed unto him. Kindness was all Sal knew to portray.

It hurt Sal to see someone so obviously suffering, so plain as day. It hurt him even more to know that no one would help, so he had to at least try.

The bell twang, causing a mild headache to make itself known. Some hours had passed, and he was in math class now. He saw Travis hunched over his desk, angry. He looked angry. He seemed angry, with his furrowed brow and scowl. With his thousand yard stare, he wasn't angry though. Sal knew that.

He knew Travis was thinking about something. Sometimes Sal wished he could just take a peak at his thoughts, to just know what he was thinking about. Who he was thinking about. He silently hoped it was him, but that was a weird thought. He brushed it away, and focused on the quiz. Though, Sal hadn't taken notice that he had already completed it.

"What?" He whispered to himself, barely above a whisper. It was at least a ten page packet, and he had absent mindedly completed the entire thing. He flipped through each tab, every question was complete. And they were all correct.

This was not right, but, he wasn't gonna decline a free pass in math so Sal shrugged and laid his head on his arms.

It was uncomfortable, the plastic digging into his skin, but, it was better than holding his head up. He has scars on his arms from falling asleep with the mask on, forgetting to take out his glass eye and uncoil the mask from his tangled hair.

He felt his mind drift, his eyes beginning to close as he saw a faint vision of Travis and his bleached blonde hair staring at him, just barely. Only enough to see his never ending scowl.

"Sal Fisher!"

Sal jolted awake, caught off guard. He blinked a few times and internally groaned at the fact he couldn't rub his eyes. "You need to stay awake." Mrs. Packerton scolded. "I finished my packet, though." He sighed. "I know dearie, and I'm sure you aced it. But, sleeping is a violation of code, you'll need to stay awake for the remainder of class." Sal simply nodded and began to scratch doodles into the sides of the paper.

"Travis Phelps, eyes on your own paper." Sal looked up at the name, seeing Travis let out a huff and turn away from Sal. It gave him a short-lived rush of excitement, which was enough to startle him and keep him awake.

If he could just survive 10 more minutes he could make it to lunch.

He held in a yawn, mainly because of how awkward it looks. The mask restrains his jaw from moving outwards so it makes it frustrating to eat, yawn, talk, or anything that requires his jaw to be open more than an inch or so.

10. More. Minutes.