Know by Heart (boyXboy)

Chapter 14 - Top View

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Travis arrived at school just before the bell rings. He woke up late this morning for being up all night. The thoughts of yesterday kept swimming inside his head. He felt weird that had one of the best afternoon on his life spent with another guy, but at the same time he’s glad it happened.

He bolted towards his first class, lucky to arrive before the teacher did. His best mate Jason greeted him with a high five as he took his seat.

“Dude, where were you yesterday, you missed practice” Jason interrogated “I thought coach was going to be furious but surprisingly he didn’t care at all”

“I got injured during gym, I simply can’t exert too much to run around” He lied. He was perfectly fine after, he just doesn’t want to join practice.

“Oh yeah I heard about that” Jason began giggling “So how are the blue balls?”

The mention of blue balls made him winced a bit, recalling a picture that went viral on the internet. “shit's not even close” Travis retorted, gaining the attention of the teacher.

“Enough with the chit chat both of you” A man with a large beer belly ordered. The two boys listened to the man and kept their mouth shut.

Travis was bored through most of his classes. Sixty percent of the time he was either not paying attention or asleep. His thoughts seem far away, until the teacher snaps him back to reality. The lunch bell rang waking him up from his nap during health class. Before he rushes out the room, Miss Kelly stopped him.

“young man,” She said “I hope you are ready for a quiz tomorrow, I’m sure you already know the topic discussed a while ago since you were sleeping half the time” then she went ahead of Travis turning to the left.

Travis wasn’t worried at all, he thinks he can just wing the quiz tomorrow, knowing Miss Kelly usually have a multiple choice quiz.

He met with his friends and team mates at the spot they always eat their lunch.

“Hey guys” he said as he approached them carrying a juice box on one hand and a prepacked slice of carrot cake on the other that he got from the cafeteria.

“Hey” the other guys replied in chorus.

He took a seat near the glass wall where he can see the full view of the outside. He noticed a familiar person sitting with other two girls outside before he tries to remove the plastic covering of the bread.

He stood up and took his food with him “See you guys later” he told his friends not even staying to listen to their questions as he marches outside towards Zack. Seeing the guy instantly made their conversation from yesterday replay in his mind.

He approached the table where Zack was sitting with the two girls. The one with short bob hair noticed him first making the Zack and the other girl follow her gaze.

“Hi Zack” he greeted

Zack was speechless for a moment, wondering why Travis isn't with his friends. “Hi Travis” They stare at each other for a minute before one of the girls spoke.

“Hey Travis, how’s it going?” Gab asked

“Pretty good actually” he replied still not taking a sit.

“You guys know each other?” questioned Zack.

“of course, Gab here helps me with algebra” Zack didn’t expect that Gab would be helping Travis, since he recalls her saying she hates math.

“You remember Kyla right? Gab puts her arm around the girl with a short bob sitting next to her.

“Oh yeah Kyla” Travis honestly can’t remember her name but he do remember seeing her around.

 “uhm, Zack can I talk to you for a sec.”

“sure” Zack stood up and walked closer to Travis.

“I wanna show you something, if you want.” He proposed “you can take your lunch with you” Zack felt sceptical about this, but he trusts Travis.

“ok, let me get my stuff” he went back to the table and started gathering his food and bag pack.

“Sorry for leaving so soon, Travis wants me to see something.” Gab gave him a squint look, and then quickly replaced it with a smirk, like she suddenly realizes something.

“It’s fine, no worries” she replied.  “See you later then”

“Nice to meet you again Kyla” he said to the other girl

“same here. Hope to sit with you again tomorrow”

“Oh absolutely” Zack answered then turned his back to follow Travis. He thinks he heard the two girls whisper and giggle about something, but he brushed it off.

Zack followed Travis like a shadow as they climb several flights of stairs. He can’t contain his curiosity anymore, “where are we going?” he asked.

“Trust me, you’ll like it there” Travis gave him a reassuring smile. “We are almost there”

They reached the third floor of the building, yet they still continue to go further up another set of stairs. Travis stopped at his tracks, stepping aside to show Zack a large metal door.

“A door?” Zack raises his eyebrow

“Don’t be ridiculous, I just need to open the door” he responded. “look behind that old armchair, and hand me the crowbar”

Zack turned to his right and saw an armchair with a missing leg. He searched the back of the chair and saw the crowbar. He reached for it and handed it to Travis.

“Thanks” Travis wedged the flat end of the crowbar on the crack between the wall and the metal door. He slowly yanks the door open and a gust of wind passed through them while the bright light made Zack squint his eyes.

Travis walked out the door first then reached his hand for Zack, “come on”

Zack took Travis hand, and he led him out to a wide flat area of the roof. He can see some old pipes and a large rectangular metal thing on his left.

“How...”

“I discovered this place last year when I followed two seniors come this way. Thanks to them now know I can come here anytime. They were the ones who left the crowbar by the old chair. School staff never seemed to care, as long as you won’t commit suicide" he joked.

"but still they consider this a restricted area. So we must be careful not to be seen coming up or seen from below”

Zack was looking around. He can see the school grounds, the football field, the town, the surrounding buildings, the forest on the far east, and part of the park far ahead.

“You’re not afraid of heights now, are you?”

“No” Zack finally spoke “I told you I used to go up the roof top of the hospital”

“Good, so I was hoping we can have out lunch up here today”

Zack immediately turned around to face Travis. “ahw, that was nice of you m’sieur Travis” he said in a poor attempt to sound French.

“my pleasure, M’sieur Zack” Travis copied, both of them laughing.

They sat down, leaning against the door, to avoid being seen by other people from down below as they began finishing their lunch.

“The view here is fantastic”

“I know right” Travis responded Zack looked at him and gave him a smile. He doesn’t know why Travis was doing these things for him, but he sure loves it.  Travis took another bite of his bread then chews it as he gazes upon the view.

The more Travis does things like this, the more Zack is certain he likes Travis. Even if he remind himself that the boy is just showing him kindness, he still can’t shake off the idea that maybe Travis likes him too the way he feels about him. Travis never talked about any of his pass or current girlfriends, or any topic about girls for the matter like other guys he met before.

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