The morning air was surprisingly cold, considering it was still late August. Sal pulled the oversized hoodie tighter around himself, unable to keep the chill out.
Larry, on the other hand, wore only a t-shirt and didn't even look bothered, it didn't even look like his nose was getting red from the air.
Todd and Chug had gotten rides to school from their parents, but Sal and Larry had the choice of riding the bus or walking and it was too late to walk if they wanted to be in first period on time.
They'd been up for a few hours, in that time they played some video games, smoked a little, and fussed about Sal's outfit for about an hour. Despite all the time Sal spent making sure he looked great, he had decided to wear one of Larry's Sanity's Fall hoodies which reached almost to his knees, covering up everything but the rips in his jeans.
He was a little paranoid that he smelt too much like weed and that everyone could tell he was just a little bit high, even if the only person around was also high and had done most of the smoking between them. Sal didn't really smoke, he got paranoid when he did any drug, really, and the fact that it was illegal and he was underage only made that paranoia worse.
"Dude, calm down. I wouldn't have let you have a hit if I knew you'd get like this, I thought it'd make you less nervous for your first day." Larry elbowed Sal, which made him stumble. The older boy looked way more relaxed, almost like nothing had changed. It had been two hours since they'd actually smoked, and since he smoked more often, Larry didn't really look or feel very high and even though Sal's high was wearing off, going to an unfamiliar place combined with him only smoking once before made him feel more high than he was.
Sal opened his mouth to speak when the bus came into view, slowing to a noisy halt in front of the apartment complex. It's doors opened with a squeak to reveal a bored looking woman with graying hair and not one bit of happiness on her face.
Larry entered the vehicle first and Sal sort of cowered behind his friend, using him to block people from being able to see and stare at him.
They walked to about the end of the bus before Larry took a seat, flinging his bag between his legs, Sal mimicking him. The shorter of the two made sure to press their shoulder's together as a way to calm himself, he was sure people were staring but he didn't want to look up at them, so he instead stared down at his own shaking knee.
He didn't notice when a kid switched seats to be right across from himself, nor did he notice the glare Larry gave the kid, so he jumped slightly when the strange boy spoke.
"The fuck you wearing that for, girlie?" The kid was tan with light sandy hair, his voice was sort of high pitched, or maybe it was just the way he spoke that sentence, either way, it was a little annoying.
"Um, well, I'm a boy and it's a prosthetic, actually." His voice was very quiet and almost raspy, he kind of sounded like he'd lost his voice on most days, but there wasn't anything he could really do to change it. When he was younger it was a little better but puberty after his injury just turned it into an absolute mess. He couldn't yell or speak up, he couldn't sing, but at least he could speak.
"You sound like one of those old people with a hole in their neck." The kid scrunched up his nose at Sal, looking him up and down.
"He doesn't sound a thing like that, Travis. Just fuck off!" Larry glared and Sally leaned into him, wanting out of this situation and finding comfort in knowing Larry was there.
"Let your boyfriend speak for himself, faggot." He looked directly at Sal once again. "Why do you sound like that?" He didn't seem like he actually wanted to know, but either way Sal just pointed to his neck and hoped they would be left alone after that.
Sal had a clear scar running along his neck that couldn't be covered up by the prosthetic, and it wasn't as bad as the ones on his face so he didn't care that much. There were a few other ones around his neck and upper body, as well as a bit of his left ear gone, but all that small stuff paled in comparison to his face. "I had a thing happen, now just shut up. I'm not Larry's boyfriend, either and by the way you said it, it seemed like you were jealous." Sal was only teasing, he didn't actually think the kid, Travis, was jealous, but it got him fed up enough to switch back to his original seat a couple rows down.
"You didn't have to point out your scar, dude." Larry spoke when Sal turned back to face forward, he looked angry and concerned all at once.
"He only would have pointed them out when he saw them, I didn't actually tell him anything." The urge to cover his neck with his hands came up the more he thought about the interaction. It was true that people would tell, or eventually tell that he was scarred, but for a while, just being in the apartments, he had almost forgotten he looked any different because everyone there but his father treated him like any other person.
The rest of the bus ride was mostly silent with Larry beginning to fall asleep on Sal's shoulder as the bus screeched to a halt in front of the one story high school.