Wow. Sorry this part took so long! I lost interest in the story, and then lost the interenet for several months. But here I am again, with a new chapter. I apologize again for taking so long, and I hope you guys are still interested!! The next part won't take so long, I swear!
--
Lily couldn't remember ever having been as relieved as she was that Monday, when she saw Travis in the hallway. Even though it was only a brief flash as he passed her by, even though he didn't say hello, didn't even look at her, he was there. He was alive, and well.
Well...he was alive.
The baggy hoodie he wore covered his arms, his chest, his neck, left everything to her imagination, which ran wild. Cuts, scars, bruises, so many possibilities, so little time before class. She was left to wonder as she slammed her locker, and ran to her first class.
First period could not have gone fast enough for her. On a blank sheet of paper, she counted out the minutes until her next class, where she could see Travis, and scratched out the minutes as they passed by. This did nothing to make time speed up, and in fact seemed to slow things down for her.
When the bell rang, she gathered her supplies and shoved them into her bag, creasing papers and losing all track of where everything was. She slung the bag over her shoulder and beat linoleum to the English classroom.
Travis wasn't in his seat. As the other students filed in, she began to think he wouldn't show.
Her heart skipped a beat when he walked through the door, but sank a moment later.
He looked awful.
The black hoodie hung off of his frame, which was slumped forward as if walking was too much of a chore. His eyes were ringed in dark circles, and his hair, usually neatly spiked, fell into his forehead in bangs that hung over his tired eyes. His messenger bag was missing, too. In fact, it appeared he had simply gotten out of bed and showed up with little or no regard to school itself. No English book, not notebook, not even a pen, unless it was hidden in one of his pockets.
He slid into the desk beside hers and slumped forward onto the desk, staring at the blank chalkboard with equally empty eyes.
"Travis?" she said, leaning over, tapping his desktop.
He regarded her with a slow, tired look, and without a word turned back to the board.
"Travis, you're -" she started to say.
"Class! Books off your desks," the teacher said cheerily, entering the room in a sudden frenzy, her skirt swooshing around her legs. "Pop quiz!"
"She sounds so happy," someone mumbled from the back of the room, and snickers broke out.
"Quiet now, kids, and prepare," Mrs. Good said, writing on the board. "An essay!"
Now, a chorus of groans.
"Hush," she said rather happily. "Our latest book, Fahrenheit 451. Such a controversy. Banned in some places, as a matter of fact. I trust you all read the ending as asked?"
There were some coughs and mumbles.
"Good," she continued. "Then, in essay form, that is to say formal, and no less than five paragraphs, all with topic sentences and supporting facts, tell me about the book and your personal opinion of it. I'll be looking for references, specifics relating to the book, so you can't slide your way past on this one. I will be able to tell if you read it or not."
Out of habit, Lily looked over at Travis, who showed no signs of caring.
"Need a trusty number two?" she asked, leaning over as Mrs. Good passed out lined paper.
He blinked in response.
"Ms. Randall, Mr. Strong," the teacher said as warning, slapping some paper down on Lily's desk. "This is a test. No talking until everyone's papers are on my desk."
Lily smiled her apologies and took her two sheets of paper, neatly arranging them. After she had passed on to the next desk, Lily reached into her bag and fumbled around. A few seconds later, she slyly slid a mechanical pencil onto Travis's desk.
"You're welcome," she whispered when he made no move to even acknowledge her favor.
Mrs Good returned to the front of the class. "You have forty-five minutes."
Lily bent over her paper, quickly making an outline of her topic sentences and some facts she wanted to use, trying to remember specifics from the novel they had been reading. Finishing that deserved a break, she thought, so she sat up straight, cracking her knuckles, and taking a moment to peer over at Travis.
He was still sitting, staring straight ahead, not having moved an inch.
She wanted to nudge him or tell him to get to work, but that would get the both of them in trouble, both of their papers torn up, both of them accused of cheating. She bit her lip and turned to look at the clock.
Uh oh. Spotted.
The teacher narrowed her eyes, looking to her and then back to Travis.
"Mr Strong, I suggest you get to writing soon, there are only twenty minutes left of class," she said, much to Lily's relief. No mention of cheating.
Travis shrugged, and muttered a barely audible, "So?"
"Excuse me?" the teacher asked, stepping forward as if to hear better.
"I said," Travis said calmly, loudly. "So?"
The teacher looked taken aback. "Mr. Strong..."
"What?" he said sharply, looking up with a glare.
Mrs. Good blinked a few times, not used to this quiet student acting out. Her eyes narrowed. "I don't appreciate that tone."
"And I appreciate yours?" he said icily. "I don't appreciate being spoken to like a three year old."
"Then I suggest you act your age," the teacher said.
"Oh, but I am," Travis responded, folding his arms. "Is it not appropriate for teenage boys to act out, and cause trouble in the classroom? After all, it's what I see happen day after day. And for the record, I doubt a three year old could be so articulate."
Mrs Good took another step forward. "Mr. Strong...I suggest you take yourself to Principal Waller's office."
"And I suggest you stop being such a bitch," Travis said, and a collective gasp came from the students. "But you don't take my advice, so why should I take yours?"
Mrs Good's eyes flashed angrily. "Get up. Get in the hallway. Now."
Travis smirked, but didn't move.
Lily stared openly and incredulously at her friend. This was not like him, not at all.
"I said -"
"And I heard," Travis said quickly.
"Then move!" the teacher shouted, losing her patience.
Without another word, Travis stood up and walked to the front of the room, turned, and passed her, disappearing into the hallway.
She could hear the students turning to look at each other, hear their whispers, and she sunk down in her chair.
Something was very wrong.
What else was new?
--
Lily didn't see him again until lunch, which made her wonder if he'd spent all that time in Waller's office. Pondering this as she bought her lunch and snagged a bottle of Jones Soda, she kept her eye on him as she strode to the table he occupied with Robbie and Ray.
The latter two were eating their food quietly, while Travis glowered. They exchanged glances as Lily sat down.
"Hey," she greeted, then turned to Travis. "Did you just get out or what?"
"Out?" Ray asked, jumping on a chance to speak after the quiet silence. "Where were you?"
Lily raised an eyebrow, then looked back to Travis, who merely nodded.
"I can't believe the look on Mrs. Good's face...I can't believe you went off on her," Lily said, trying to make light of the situation.
"You went off on Mrs. Good?" Ray sputtered in disbelief.
He and Ray leaned forward.
"Come on Swami, give us the details!" Ray said.
Lily winced, wondering if things were cool enough between the two for him to get away with the nickname.
"Don't," Travis shot, "call me Swami."
Ray merely sat back a bit and nodded in acceptance.
"Did you get in trouble?" Robbie asked.
"Or did they let you off cos it was your first time?" Ray said hurriedly.
Travis shook his head and stared at the table.
At that moment, a group of popular seniors walked by the table, laughing loudly, and jostling past each other in attempts to squeeze past the RFR gang's table and the next.
One senior boy shoved another, who went crashing into Robbie, spilling his drink all over Ray, who pushed his chair back in surprise.
The kids gave a glance to the table, but kept walking, and in a flash, Travis was on his feet. He grabbed the kid who had fallen by the sleeve and whirled him around.
"Hey!" the boy said in protest.
"Apologize," Travis said, jerking his head in Robbie and Ray's direction.
"What?" the kid laughed. "You crazy?"
Travis sneered, and repeated in an icy voice. "Apologize."
Jerking his sleeve out of the smaller boy's grasp, the senior laughed and looked to his friends.
"Man, he IS crazy," the kid said loudly. Several other tables turned their attention to the scene.
"Freak," the senior muttered, starting to walk away. "Better never touch me again."
Before Lily, Robbie, or Ray could even react, Travis threw himself into the midst of the seniors, seeking out the blonde kid who he'd accosted seconds before. He threw his weight onto the kids back, spilling them both onto the floor, and there, on his knees, turned the kid onto his back. With one tightly clenched fist, and the other heavily casted arm, he began beating and punching, alternating blows between the kids face and stomach.
Caught off guard, it took his friends a moment to pull Travis off of him.
"What the hell?!" they shouted, shoving him back.
Travis's three friends got to their feet, exchanging shocked glances.
Travis's face was a mask, slack and clear of emotion, but his eyes held a fiery rage, and he let out a feral scream as he executed a well-placed kick, catching the nearest senior in the solar plexus.
Said senior went down, clutching his chest, and two of his friends grabbed him by the arms before he hit the ground.
Though none of them made any move to fight Travis back, he zoned in on the one nearest to him, shoving him out of the way to get back to the original boy, who backed up, fear in his eyes.
Travis was not a big kid. He was slight, and looked so pale and weak that he could not possibly have done this kind of thing, this kind of damage.
Yet there he was, backing this blonde kid up against the wall and placing a savage punch with his casted hand to the boy's nose. Blood spurted from his nostrils, but Travis showed no signs of feeling any pain in his broken arm.
"Robbie, Ray!" Lily cried, surging forward.
Snapping out of it, they followed her into the group of students who had now accumulated in a ring around the fight.
Travis was panting heavily, sweating profusely as she approached him, but as she screamed his name, he appeared not to hear.
She grabbed him around the waist, pulling him back, and instead of bucking her off like she expected, he went slack in her arms. Not expecting him to give in, she was pulled down with him as he sank to his knees.
Awkwardly hugging him from the waist, she could hear Principal Waller screaming for the cafeteria full of bystanders to let him by.
She felt hands pulling her off of him, but was reluctant to let go.
She saw Waller and one of the male gym teachers pulling Travis to his feet, as if he would put up a struggle, but he just let himself be pulled up and escorted out of the cafeteria.
Two other teachers, one male and one female, gathered the entire group of seniors and soon they, too, were out of sight.
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Lily turned around, tearing her gaze from the double doors Travis had disappeared into.
"Let's go," said a voice, belonging to Mr. Sykes, the history teacher.
Robbie and Ray, looking confused and upset, were also wrangled up, and they exchanged glances. It was more than worrying about spending the second half of the day in the office.
It was more about what the hell had just happened.
Lily felt like throwing up.