Sal walked into Mrs. Packerton's classroom after waving off Larry. His eye found Travis' desk immediately, but he kept walking down the row to his own desk. Travis was staring down, his back straight and shoulders tense because he knew Sal had walked in. He couldn't handle looking at him and the possibility of him having a look of hatred in his eyes, it was too much. It hurt to think about. Meanwhile, Sal only wanted to make sure he was okay. He only ever wanted him to be okay and deep down, Travis knew that, but he got in his head about these things, he overthinks everything. All the time. The blonde boy went the whole period without looking back at Sal once, while Sal could only watch him, waiting for him to look at him. He wanted to smile at him, talk to him, just make eye contact, but Travis refused. He didn't want to get hurt. Travis walked out to the hall and quickly started his way down the hall, but before he could make it far enough, Sal grabbed his shoulder. And he knew it was Sal because of his gentle touch and soft voice. "Trav..." His whole body stiffened and it only made the blue-haired boy all the more worried. "Can we talk?" Travis slowly turned towards him but he refused to look at him, he just stared at his shirt, it was clearly Larry's because of how large it was compared to Sal. He smelled the weed fill the air between them from it, but he didn't care. He kinda found it comforting because it reminded him that Sal had friends that loved him and that's what he wanted, for Sal to be loved and happy. "About the note?" Sal clarified after a short moment of silence.
"There's nothing to talk about..." Travis spoke quietly, scared of anyone who might overhear their conversation.
Sal sighed. "Travis, please. I.." He paused, and let his eye examine his face to figure out how he was feeling. "I'm scared." His voice suddenly grew quieter, worrisome. Travis looked up at him, his eyes wide. Sal met his gaze. "You're all alone and I don't want you to.." He let out a shaky breath and his eye left Travis', starting to well up with tears because whatever he was trying to say was too hard for him. The thought of it made him want to throw up. Travis stared at him, his eyebrows furrowing with worry as he continued. "I don't want you to-" Suddenly, Sal's words were cut off by obnoxious laughter from across the hall. They looked over in unison and listened to whatever was happening.
"You deserve somebody better than me, somebody that isn't me." They laughed again. "What is this? The notebook?" Laughter.
Travis' heart sank, like actually fucking sank. He thought his heart actually stopped. He slowly turned back to Sal, who looked at him with the same horrified look. Travis gulped hard, so hard that it hurt, and he met Sal's eyes. "You passed it around..?" His voice was full of hurt, anger. Mostly hurt.
Sal's eyes widened. "I- No!" His heart raced with panic as he pulled his backpack out in front of him. "I have it right here-" His heart dropped when he saw that Travis' note was gone. He felt sick to his stomach. He looked back up to meet eyes with him again, Travis' face was red with embarrassment and his eyebrows furrowed with frustration; tears fell from his eyes. "Trav, I swear-"
Travis shook his head as he stepped back. "Just don't talk to me." He turned and began to pace down the hall, but Sal grabbed his shoulder again in an attempt to explain.
"Trav-"
In one swift movement, Travis turned and punched Sal across the face. His heart shattered when he realized what he had just done but he didn't attempt to fix his mistake, he just stared at Sal. Sal looked at him, eyes wide and full of tears, blood dripped down from one of the prosthetic's nose holes. "I hate you." Travis wanted to sound harsh, but it came out the complete opposite, it was high-pitched and wobbly. Then, he turned and walked away.
