The cold bathroom walls pressed against Travis as he hissed in pain. The blonde didn’t even try to shift into comfort, he knew moving would only irritate the open gashes. He was stupid to open his mouth, stupid to even try to throw a hit back at Ethan. The last time he was in the school bathroom, Sal was sat against the stall door, telling him he was “good” and shit. Travis had a feeling he was lying, yet his voice had been dripping with honesty.
The school wall felt like salt pressing on his back. All he wanted to do was sink into the linoleum tile and empty his mind, rid himself of sin.
“Travis?” a familiar voice called out, along with a pair of blue sneakers appearing at the stall door.
“Oh fuck off!” Travis yelled with a groan, was he not just talking about how he never wanted this to happen again? Did god really hate him that much?
“I heard Ethan hit you pretty hard,” Sal said casually, almost shrugging with his vocal cords.
“So what?! Here to make fun of me?!” Travis shouted back, pushing himself up from the ground.
“No, I just wanted to check in, Lar told me there was a lot of blood,” Sal said calmly.
“Oh of course he did!” Travis cried out, his voice coming out as a plead of frustration rather than the intimidating growl it was supposed to be.
“You need any band-aids or anything? I’ve got a lot in my bag,” Sal vocalized, seating himself in front of the stall.
“No…” Travis answered, throwing his vision to the brown tiles, eververting from Sally’s scuffed converses.
“You wanna talk? You’ve been pretty tense since Bologna Day-” Sal said before being interrupted by Travis’s stretching voice cutting off the other.
“I don’t want to talk about that! I don’t want to talk at all!” Travis sneered back, eliminating the possibility of another serious conversion.
So the two sat, sat together in silence. Just as Travis wanted. The tranquility of the room stood hushed, making Travis uneasy and confused. Had Sal really given up that fast? It was uncharacteristic. At least from what Travis knew.
“I gotta go, Lar’s gonna get worried and come looking for me, and we both know you’d rather have me bugging you than Larry,” Sal added before standing to his feet, leaving as fast as he came.
Madeleine sat on the curb of the school’s perimeter, picking at the grass pouring out of the cement cracks.
“Are you ready to go?” Travis asked, wiping his clammy hands on his freshly ironed jeans. She nodded, picking up her bag and standing tall at 5'10". Her bleached hair cascaded down her back to her hips, swaying in the wind as she tucked her book away, which had been resting on her thigh.
Travis played with his hands as the two strolled down, staring off into the open distance.
“Do you know when Mary’s coming home from college?” Travis inquired, picking off the remnants of his nails.
“She’s not gonna be here for a few more days, maybe on the 20th of decmeber,” Maddie answered with a shrug, not caring to turn to Travis. “Though the flight might take a bit, so she’ll most likely take a day or two.”
“And will mom be back?” Travis added, turning to face her hopefully. Madeleine didn’t answer, looking at him as if it was a childish thing of him to say. “Okay,” He didn’t need an answer to know.
The two approached the Phelps residence, letting it loom over the twins momentarily before entering. Travis slacked up the stairs to his room, while Madeleine carefully placed her Mary Janes evenly next to her white bag.
The sun shone down on Travis as he sat on his balcony, straddling his journal between his legs.
11/23/93
Sallyface was annoying again; he tried talking to me. Then I failed my stupid math test, and Madeleine was quiet on the way home. I can’t wait for Mary to come home.
“Travis! Dinners ready!” Maddie yelled from downstairs.
11/27/1993
I think Sal tried to mouth to me across the room, he was doing that stupid head bob like he does when he talks. He does know someone without lips cannot be lip-read. Does he even have lips under that stupid mask?
“Hey freak!” Travis shouted, glaring at Sal with disdain. “Do you even have lips under that stupid mask?”
“Why Travy? Wanna kiss them?” Sal answered back, jokingly batting his eyelashes at the blonde before exiting to his class.
12/9/1993
Sal was incredibly annoying today, he made me change seats. I wish his stupid absences were longer, or at least fall break.
“Travis?” An uncenrten voice asked from behind him.
“What do you want, Fisher?” Travis grumbled, not needing to turn around to know it was him.
“Your uh in my seat,” Sal said, bobbing his head side to side as he spoke.
“I’ve sat here since Thanksgiving break” The blonde replied, leaning back and tilting his head to finally look at Sal.
“Yeah but I’ve been absent, I had a medical emergency over break. So I checked the seating chart when I got back and it says I sit in 15,” Sally said lightheartedly, tapping the written number on the desk sincerely. Travis looked up at him, glaring at him with intensity before giving up and moving over to seat 16.
“I fucking hate you,” Travis muttered, pulling his backpack to his side of his now-shared desk. Travis drifted Mrs. Packerton babbled her mouth off during the class.
12/12/93
I punched Sal again. In my defense, he was being stupid. I’m hiding in the school bathroom now, Larry’d kill me if he knew. He’s probably already planning my demise.
“No one likes a goody two shoes Salllyyy” Travis said angrily, raising his pitch to mock Sal.
“No one likes a Cliché bully Travisss” Sal called back, grinning under his mask.
I forgot the stupid dialogue
“I’m not talking to you bitch!” Travis spoke back curtailing her word out of the argument. They weren’t important. She’d stuck her nose into something unrelated to her.
“You know maybe if you took that stick out of your ass you’d actually enjoy yourself. Make a friend or two,” Sally said back, his voice and posture toughening up.
“Fuck off F-ggot! I have more friends than you’ll ever have!” Travis shouted back, standing up straighter as well.
“You kiss your daddy with that tongue-” Sal began to retort before a swift punch hit his cheek. All Sal could make out was Travis’s quick footsteps and the crack of his prosthetic over the ringing in his ears.
I need to be put down (someone please remind me of the dilonge so I can actually write this in full) I had to censor the slur bc Travis is the D 1 slur sayer and the wiki is not a fan
