•discontinued• i need this-Sally Face and Travis

~3~

Sal felt bad for leaving Travis so directly but what else was he suppose to do about the situation. Travis is gay, he's conflicted about it because of the beliefs he dad pushed onto him too harshly. But Sal felt bad about it, he went in there to help Travis but he didn't know if he was gay or not. He'd had a crush on Ash when they first met, but Travis just seemed so hurt. Sal had to shake the thought, he had more important things to worry about. But none the less Sal turned around. He watched Travis exit the bathroom and he sprinted towards him.

"What do you want faggot?" Travis sounded hurt, in pain almost. He was biting the inside of his lip.

"Travis I-"

"I shouldn't have expected anything from you. I try not to trust anyone too much anymore so I guess it doesn't matter too much."

"Travis listen to me. I'm fucking sorry," Sal nearly yelled, causing Travis to flinch backward. He began breathing heavily. "Travis it's okay, calm down. Come to my place after school okay? Addison Apartments, room 402." Sally hugged Travis before he walked away again.

Larry walked up to Travis and looked him up and down. Travis didn't even notice Larry but for once in his life, he broke down, right there for everyone to see. But nobody really cared, they all seemed to think it was what he deserved. He just stayed there sobbing for a few minutes until Larry finally picked him up off the ground and asked if he was okay. Travis shook his head. He wasn't okay. He didn't know how to feel anymore. He ran from Larry back into the men's bathroom where he stayed for the rest of the day.

When the school bell rang Sal hopped on the bus and landed a place next to Larry again.

"So... what the hell is going on with Travis?" he asked Sal hoping he wouldn't get the same nagging response about how there were better things to talk about then Travis. But Sal just sighed.

"I don't exactly know but I think he's conflicted about being gay."

"Gay? The boys only insults are 'Faggot' and 'Queer' how would the little preacher boy be gay?" Larry said, a hint of both confusion and disgust in his voice.

"He uses homophobic terminology because of how his father treats him and to defend from ever being called gay himself, to defend him from the truth," Sal said a little hesitantly. "You know also the fact that his father hits him."

"I've noticed, shouldn't the Nockfell school board do something about that? I mean it's not like he hides his bruises and he comes with a bad bruise almost every day," Larry said, he was beginning to feel bad for Travis, what was going on with him?

"I dunno man, I just want him to be happy enough to stop bullying kids and not be ashamed of being gay. I invited him to my house for dinner tonight," Sal didn't want to mention Travis had a massive crush on him. "I wanna clear his mind."

Sal was sitting on his bed, his dad was hanging out with some old friends out of town and wouldn't be back until tomorrow so he had the place to himself. He heard a knock on the door and he walked slowly towards it. When he opened the creaky green door Travis' face poked around the corner.

"H-hey," He stuttered.

"Come on in Trav, don't be scared." Travis awkwardly walked through the door into the apartment.

"Travis I just wanna know if you're okay right now, tell me what's going on. Tell me what you need," Sal comfortingly led him through the door and they sat down on the couch together.

"My dad," Travis started, "My dad is abusive. I think it started in first grade when he asked if there were any girls I liked and I said a boy was cute. My mom calmly explained that being gay wasn't normal and I would simply grow out of it and I should make that boy my best friend. My dad thought it was wrong that I would ever think a boy is cute and he started hitting me when I would talk lovingly about the boy," Travis looked at Sal's emotionless prosthetic. "Later the beating just got worse. Any time I did anything wrong he'd scream about me being 'a fucking faggot' I was so angry and so hurt that by the time I moved to Nockfell High I didn't want to ever be called names. So I turned into my dad, I became the person who punches kids and calls them 'homos' and 'gays' And then in my junior year, in Mrs. Packertons math class I met you." Travis stopped there and took a shaky breath in.