How Can You Say You Love Me? (Sal x Travis)

Apology

- Sal's P.O.V -

Ash had helped me wash the blood from my lip in the genderfluid bathroom. Even though I had a mask on, the blow was hard enough to have the inner lining smash against my lip and made it bleed a little. I didn't mind Ash helping me, she's seen my face before and I trust her since she's one of my closest friends. Though, I've never seen him look that distraught over a comment before. Not even Larry's insults had gotten him to act in a physical way like that. So I wonder why my comeback had caused him to deck me. But I tried not to think too much of it, we were already late for class.
I thanked Ash before we went our separate ways. She had Art and I had Chemistry. Though, I couldn't focus much. I was too busy thinking about Travis and what caused him to get so riled up in the first place. Every day, at one point or another he would yell out slurs or insults towards me and the group. Normally, we aren't so offended by them but the others get pissed at him for whatever spews out of his mouth. I'm pretty sure they all dislike him because of how he acts. But I don't, I know there's something else going on with him. While some people genuinely are assholes, the way Travis acts doesn't seem like he's that bad of a person, but rather putting up a front. He rarely ever gets physical and he's consistent on only bullying me. But during lunch, he sits alone at a table with another kid named Phillip, I'm not sure if they know each other but they barely talk. Other than bullying me, he's quiet and keeps to himself so much. It's strange, what type of bully would only go after a single target? I will admit, I am the odd one out of the school, but there's other people who are different too in this school. Yet, he only goes after me.
I stay thinking about it for the rest of class. I may or may not have forgotten to take my ADHD medication today, but to be fair they don't really help me much anyways so it's okay if I skip a day or two of using them. There aren't any major consequences, for me at least.
Third period comes around, math class. I'm pretty sure me and Travis both have Packerton. Maybe he'll let me talk to him some. I doubt it though, he just kind of ignores me because he knows he'll get scolded for spewing slurs or insults at me in class. I walk in and he's there with his head down on the desk. I sit in the row next to him a few seats down. He seems so exhausted and tired already, it's not even lunch yet. Did he stay up all night or something? Whatever it is, he immediately picks his head up off his desk once Packerton walks into the room and starts writing on the chalkboard. She's talking about a group project based off of everything we've learned so far in class. We could work in a group of three or in a duo. Most of the class already either picked their friends or formed their own groups and duos with each other. That left me and Travis.
I get up from my own seat and walk to his desk. He looks at me with an annoyed look and scoffs, looking in the opposite direction right after. It seems he knows the situation already and isn't so happy about it. That bruise on his eye... Is that new?
"Lets just get started on the stupid project." He told me, an irritated tone lacing his voice as he tapped his fingers on the desk and rattling his leg.
It caught me off guard that he actually accepted it pretty quickly. Well, we would get terrible grades otherwise if we didn't do so well on this project. So I put a desk together with his and I sat down. We didn't have any actual materials to start on the project yet, but Packerton did give everyone the rest of class to plan and talk about it.
"So what the heck are we going to do?" He asked me, taking out a notebook but still avoiding any eye contact with me. I pitched an idea about using a poster board and dividing it into different sections to explain each topic we've learned and then decorate it afterwards just to make it look nice. He seemed to not have any issues with that and started writing the idea down. Then something came out of his mouth that I didn't expect.
".. I'm sorry. About punching you. I didn't mean to, it's just something that slipped out. But don't think this makes us friends or anything." He quietly apologized to me for earlier. It was shock hearing him apologize for it, but it was sincere. At the same time, it makes sense. Travis was never a physical fighter when it came to bullying me. It was always verbal, but never physical assault. The fact he was apologizing for it meant that he didn't mean to go that far. I could see where he was coming from with the apology.
"It's alright Travis, really. I didn't get hurt much. Though, you might want to avoid Ash and Larry for awhile. They're pretty upset about it." I didn't want to make a big deal about him apologizing to me. It'd make him feel like I was mocking or teasing him, but I didn't want to do that. Just the fact that he didn't mean to get physical means that something bigger is going on here. But I won't force it out of him, it won't make anything better.
"Whatever, just shut up and continue talking about the project. Where are we going to meet up to actually work on it? We can't go to mine, father hates having company over." He completely dismissed my acceptance, or at least acted like he did. Though, I could hear that his voice got softer and he didn't sound as irritated as before. I couldn't help but give a soft smile of my own beneath my prosthetic, even if he couldn't see it.
"We can meet at mine then, maybe after school? You can give me your number and I'll text you the address. My dad won't be home anyways since he works late hours." I offered him to meet me at my place so we can start working on the poster-board. He seemed a little hesitant to accept the offer but he gave a nod of confirmation. He wrote down his number on a piece of his notebook page and tore it off to hand it to me.
"Fine, but only for the project. I don't need your homosexual germs on me from close contact." His voice was stern, but something in me told me he didn't really mean it and that he didn't really feel that way.
"Alright then, I'll see you after school then."
For the rest of the time, we talked about what we'd do for the project and what we should start with first. Once the bell rang, he left for his next class. I lingered behind a bit to make sure I had my stuff and I pocketed the paper with Travis' number on it. I want to help him if this is what I think it is.