𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐁𝐨𝐲 『 𝐒𝐚𝐥 𝐱 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 』

Second Chance

All he had to do was call and ask; that was it. Travis paced back and forth in front of the school, phone in hand and his Kenneth's number on screen. He couldn't just go to Sal's place; he had to ask, but he was scared shitless to do so. Kenneth was still pissed at him for sneaking out a couple weeks back and he really didn't want to risk anything. He had already told Sal it was fine, though. Fuck. Travis clicked the call button and put the phone to his ear, waiting...

Ring . . .
Ring . . .
Ring . . .
Ri—

"Hello, this is Kenneth speaking."

Travis let out shaky breath, "Hi, it's me." He could feel his whole body tense up in fear.

"I swear, you better not be in trouble." Kenneth already sounded angry, Travis could hear it in his voice. The anger, the disgust.

"No! No, of course not," Travis nearly yelled from panic but restrained himself.
"Then what do you want?"

Okay, here it goes...

"I have a group project; it's for school. I was wondering if I could go with my partner to work on it at their house?" Travis paused, he was nervous and felt sick to his stomach. "The parents will be home and I'll be home before bed." He added.

"Fine. Make sure you're actually working, and don't go anywhere else."

"Yes, I get—" Before Travis could finish, he was cut off by the end of the call. He stood there for a second, staring at his screen, wanting to say something to him.

But he didn't.

With a sigh, Travis shoved his phone back in his pocket and turned back to the school. He hesitated for a second, but hurried back in to grab his bag. He also decided to stop by the snack machine. He hadn't eaten lunch, so a little snack would be nice... He got some chips and slowly made his way out of the school, eating his chips on the way out. Once he got to the door, he threw the chip-bag away and pushed the front door open.

As Travis exited the school, he spotted Sal, and he spotted Sals friends. That already made him nervous. Did Sal tell then to hang back? Did they find outt they were walking together and chose to walk with them? Travis knew they hated him. For good reason... But oh fuck. He took a deep breath and began walking towards them. He dragged his feet and kept his gaze on the ground; he just had to stay calm. He couldn't argue with them, he couldn't fight anyone right now.

"Hey." Travis spoke clearly but still quietly and Sal turned to him. He slowly brought his eyes up to meet Sal's but quickly looked away.

"Travis, we've been waiting for you. Come on, we can go now." Travis could hear Sal's smile in his voice and he tried not to smile.  His voice was so beautiful...

"Sal was waiting for you. We were not." Larry scowled and glared at Travis. He looked over to Johnson for just a moment before looking over to the burnette girl; she looked equally pissed but didn't voice her complaints. At least, not in front of him...

"Don't be rude." Sal lightly hit Larry in the back and he rolled his eyes.

"Like he's been kind," He spoke up before Sal hit him again. "Ow; okay, fine...."

"Thank you."

◇

Travis stepped into the apartment and sat his bag by the door. Sal told him he could sit, but it still took until Sal left the room to sit down. He kept glancing around, as if looking for something out of place. He had driven past Addison apartments before, but never went inside. Now he was inside, and everything felt off. He could tell something was wrong; he couldn't put his finger on it, though. He tried to shake the feeling and tell himself nothing was wrong, but it never left. So, he just ignored it; let it boil in the back of his mind.