“Travis, since you care to sleep soundly during my class, obviously you must have already formed your own opinion on the matter of time?” Mr. Phase announced widely in front of the class, pacing around his classroom, ruler in hand, slipping his hand through his pure black hair. Travis sat up; his eyes peered across the room to the teacher glaring at him. He didn’t care, he was half asleep, and he had been awoken from his nap. Nothing made sense in front of him, at least for another 10 seconds.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your naptime, but you do realize you need this course to progress and get out of this school for good?” Travis looked up, his eyes fairly bloodshot, vastly visible red forearm marks across his forehead. Travis rubbed his cheek, slapping himself on the cheek to awaken from his slumber. He missed the dried drool on his chin unfortunately.
“First, call me Trav,” Trav said, as nicely as he possibly could stand to utter. “Second, of course I do. In fact, I have already formed my own intellectual response to this so called issue here,” Trav said with a lenient, gentle grin. Two boys from across the classroom looked at Trav, the two who knew him well enough to know he was completely bullshitting.
“What a tool, but he’s always been a good liar,” Andy said, leaning back in his chair casually spinning his pencil between his thumb and index finger. The other boy sitting next to Andy chuckled.
“Remember when he gave Clara that dead raccoon in elementary? That was one of the best days of my life,” Vince said, tapping on his desk trying to hold in his laughter. Andy was on the verge of chuckling hysterically, until the teacher’s harsh gaze finally pierced through their insightful conversation.
“You guys can enjoy your conversation in detention, if you wish to keep this up,” Mr. Phase said with a stern look. The boys stopped, leaning casually in their chairs, Andy continued to play with his pencil. Mr. Phase turned to Trav again. “Now, would you care to elaborate?” Trav stopped, glancing across the classroom quickly.
“Now?”
“Now.”
“Sure no problem man just let me remember what you were lecturing about,” Trav said, rubbing the back of his head carelessly. He looked down on the floor. “Let’s work together, see, we were talking something that involved paradoxes or something right?”
“Not really, but you’re on the right track, I guess,” Mr. Phase shrugged, annoyingly.
“Paradox huh? Does it involve a box of any sort? Like, you know those gingerbread boxes? That sexy chocolate gingerbread?” the class turned to Trav, most of the class laughed, the few ones with more sense remained vigilant and shrugged him off. Mr. Phase was among the few not amused.
“That is completely inappropriate language for my classroom,” Mr. Phase said harshly, placing his hands behind his back. “One more crack like that and you’re out of here. Understood?” Trav nodded. “Now, we were talking about the issue of time. Viewing time in a realistic sense, how would you say time changes our lives? Are we trapped in the margins of time? Do people bound and limit themselves, and make time their mortal enemies above all? Is time of the essence?”
Trav cleared his throat, staring seriously at his teacher for the first time. He took a deep breath, folded his arms, and began. “Time is not of the essence, and realistically, it does not have to be.” Trav stepped forward in front of the classroom. He turned around, facing his fellow peers, who now seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say on the matter.
“Time flows on, people are restricted by time, but they do not know that time is not the limitation placed on them, they are the ones trapped in the illusion of time, and they muddle up that with the reality of now. Maybe they have a deadline to meet, perhaps they have a curfew of nine, they think of the university they wish to attend, or they think out their long term goals for a successful future, so they can be satisfied during that future. Eventually, it will all end and it will all come, but what is happening right now, is the present time. This is the time we should be concerned with. This is the moment we are currently living right now. You are listening to me speak; we are in this classroom at this very moment. Take this time, use it wisely. It is fine to look back and reflect, and it is great to think long term, but right now, how do you feel, being in here? Bored as hell? Yep, me too. It’s fine to think of what you’re going to do after class, on a Friday night!” Trav ended his speech, raising his hands in the air fashionably. The whole class cheered at Trav’s speech, Mr. Phase looked on completely dumbfounded. Vince and Andy stood up from their desks and cheered Trav on.
“That was beautiful man! I have been blessed to hear the words of a God!” Vince said, kneeling before Trav. Trav stared at the entire classroom, somewhat bewildered by the cheers of his peers, but nonetheless he raised his hands back into the air proudly, like a true leader. It would only be their luck that now, the bell would ring, and Critical Thinking class was over.
At 12:00 pm, it was time for lunch, which excited Trav. Eating only a pop tart and tarter sauce for breakfast, he was hungry. Every day for lunch he always carried either a ham sandwich or a bean burrito for lunch, depending on his varying mood. If people left him alone most of the day, and things went his way, things looked up. Trav was for the most part a social solitude of the school, only keeping a handful of friends. Trav would find that trust was not something easy to come by, throughout his harsh life on the street at as early an age as 7, he was able to discover this mentality quickly.
Trav sat down outside at the picnic tables of the school, heedlessly taking large bites from his burrito. With the cold draft breezing by, Trav was for the most part alone outside. He swallowed his last bite heavily, nearly gagging for his overlooking of chewing his food. Trav slowly took a deep breath, inhaling in the chill air.
Trav turned his head to the right, noticing a girl no older than him sitting at the edge of the last picnic row on the last row. Trav examined the girl, noticing an odd aura about her. She had a book in hand, by the appearance; Trav would only guess it was a comic book of some sort. She flipped the pages, and adjusted her glasses. Her cold grey eyes scanned the colorless pages of the book, however, she seemed to be reading from right to left, as opposed to the traditional left to right way of comic books. Those clues led Trav to believe it was possibly a Japanese manga. Trav wrapped up his burrito in its wrapper he brought with him and stuffed it in his pocket. He snuck up behind the girl, attempting to catch a peak at what she was reading. The girl didn’t notice Trav in the slightest. He turned his attention toward her.
“Hey girl,” Trav said with no signal of respect. The girl did not turn to face Trav, or even acknowledge he was there. She flipped the page of her manga book. Trav turned to the book, noticing the manga was probably a genre of romance. Trav didn’t much care for the book however, he wasn’t sure why, but he was attracted to this girl. He felt he needed to talk to her, for whatever reason, he wasn’t sure and he didn’t care much. It’s not like there was anyone else around to talk to or observe. It was more complicated when she didn’t seem to have the mutual feeling. Trav raised an eyebrow, walked around her, and studied her face. She was delved into the black and white ridged world of the manga. Trav examined her again, and came to a possible solution to gain her attention, a cliché one, but one that always worked with the smart girls.
Trav reached for the girl’s glasses, and swiftly nudged them down her nose. The girl, as Trav had planned, looked up. She stared blankly, yet innocently, into his eyes. Trav cocked his head back a little, looking back in return, unsure of what to say all of a sudden. After recollecting his thoughts, phased from the memorizing gaze by the girl, Trav spoke. “Why you sittin’ out here alone?”
The girl closed her eyes, cocked her head slightly to the side, and smiled naively, in contrast to her smart appearance. “Why are you lounging out here all alone, Travis?”
Trav stood back, folding his arms, staring at the girl puzzled. “How the hell you know my name?” Trav said, pointing to himself for unneeded emphasis. The girl’s face twisted back into a nonchalant, blank gaze, as if Trav’s question had virtually confused her.
“I’m in your Critical Thinking and Gym classes,” the girl said as if it were common knowledge. School had just started back two weeks ago, and Trav made no intent on picking up anyone’s names. Trav grinned slowly; he felt he was right to approach this girl.
“Right, you’re the girl who never participates in gym?” Trav questioned, met with a civil nod. “I thought I recognized you somewhere. Maybe it was your little book you carry there. You always got it, you know.” The girl’s lips curved into a small smile. She turned back down to the manga book, flipping the next page. She wasn’t the talkative type, which was cool with him. He knew way too many girls who talked and gossiped way too much. “Well then girl, wanna tell me your name?” Trav said as politely as he could, but naturally he came off as a slightly smug jerk. At least the girl didn’t seem to think so, or saw through his rough exterior.
“My name is Yuki. It’s nice to finally meet you Trav.”
“Finally?” Trav said, shrugging it off the second he said it. He thought she probably recognized him after the first day, so he didn’t ponder on it. Trav waved. “Aight then, I’m heading back to class. Lunch is almost over. Guess you’d better get ready too.” Trav walked off, throwing his burrito wrapper in the trashcan, and pulling out a cold one straight from his backpack side pouch.
The bell after lunch rang. After the first bell, students had five minutes to get ready and head to their next class. Trav leaned casually against his locker, drinking the cold beer he dug out of his backpack after leaving lunch. Trav couldn’t help but keep thinking about the girl he met at lunch outside, Yuki. She was different than most people he’d met before. Trav wasn’t one to hold on to thoughts dearly, but she was unique. Trav took another sip, before getting the back of his head impacted against the locker from vigor in front of him. Trav dropped the nearly empty can of beer, choking on what he had attempted to gulp down. Trav held his chest coughing hysterically. After finally catching his breath, he panted heavily, looking up to see a furious black-eyed girl with red hair tied in two ponytails. The girl grabbed Trav by the collar of his shirt after he finished his business, pinning him against his own locker. She glared with a blind rage into his eyes. Trav glared back angrily.
“Clara, girl, what the hell is your beef?!” Trav angrily declared, raging. “You have any idea how close I was to dying?!”
“You think you can make a fool out of me? Where do you get off doing these third grade pranks?!” Clara irritably said, her voice calming down, but her eyes still blazing with an inferno Trav knew all too well, and nothing good was to come out of it. Trav coughed again, catching his breath once more.
“You know, I really don’t know what you’re talking about?!” Trav asserted, genuinely confused. A case of mistaken identity, but Trav, being an average delinquent, was used to being the first blamed for, basically anything bad that happened. Clara loosened her grip on Trav, sighing deeply. She placed one hand on her hip, glaring at two boys laughing and giggling making gestures at the opposite end of the hallway.
“It must have been those two imbeciles,” Clara said. She walked to her locker, which were only 4 lockers away from Trav’s. Trav observed from where he stood, as she turned the combination to open the door. When she opened it, it revealed a locker, completely covered in foil, including all of her stuff. Trav tried his hardest not to laugh, and managed to hold his laughter well. As Clara’s eyes glanced toward Andy and Vince on the opposite side, however, their laughter busted open at that moment. Clara knew then. Clara ripped the locker door off of its hinges, ran up to Andy, and struck him on his head. Andy fell down, face first, on the hard floor with a loud thud. Vince stepped back, cowering in fear. He crouched in a fetal position. Clara turned to Vince, an unstoppable rage bursting through the hallways. Trav watched from afar.
“Please Clara we didn’t mean to we won’t cover your locker in foil again!” Vince begged, staring hopelessly up at Clara. Clara looked down, and laughed slightly, which Vince feared even more.
“I know you won’t,” Clara turned away with a rather polite smile. Clara walked out of the hallway casually, as if nothing had happened. Vince looked up, and sighed in relief. Too bad for Andy though.
Three minutes had passed since the insignificant scuffle in the hallway. One minute was to pass before the bell rang. In that time between the classes, Trav already got Andy a near concussion, a suspension in Clara’s future (granted entirely it wasn’t his fault), and collected the homework a smart boy by the name of Jon in exchange for a free pass of not being thrown into the dumpster for two weeks. With the hallway clear, there was no one there but Trav, who was drinking the beer he nearly choked on three minutes earlier, what was left of it anyway. Trav heard footsteps echo across the hallway. He turned to look at the source.
A young boy about Trav’s age with a much smaller figure, with thin, casual features, crystal pool eyes, walked through the hallway, holding a schedule in hand. Trav examined the boy from his locker, about 20 feet away, closing in. Something about the boy perplexed him. He was all alone in the school, holding a schedule, looking around the doors and corresponding corridors, on the second week of school. Obviously he was new, even Trav could tell that about him. Trav decided to do the right thing, for once, and approached the boy, patting him on the back, as if they had a lifelong friendship since the day they first met, which was three seconds ago.
“Hey man, what’s the happs’?” Trav asked coolly, tucking his free left arm casually in his pocket. The young man looked up at Trav with a certain composure about him, he was completely relaxed on the outside, if Trav didn’t know any better, as if he had reached a certain level of tranquility. For being a boy lost in a large school that was an odd sight. The boy didn’t seem to mind the gesture, or at least made no visual sign that he didn’t appreciate it. He simply smiled slightly, yet politely. “You know you gonna be late if you keep wandering the halls like a blind bat, right?”
“I seem to be lost, perhaps you can help me out?” the boy said. Trav looked at his schedule, taking it from him without permission. The boy stood aside as Trav examined his schedule.
“Room 32B, that’s right down the next corridor on the right, take the nearest left and it’s the first room on the right,” Trav answered, handing the boy back his schedule. The boy examined the schedule, his puzzled expression finally dispersed.
“Ah yes, makes sense. Thank you,” the boy said, but as he began to walk away, he was met with a yank on the back of his shirt. The boy turned around slowly, turning to Trav smiling at him.
“English, ya know, we have a pop quiz in there today,” Trav said with a noticeable wink. The boy watched Trav, with a minor priority. Trav dug around in his backpack, the first thing he came across, a scantron with answers to a test already bubbled in. Trav nudged the boy. “Eh man? What do ya say? I mean, since it’s your first day and all, you can probably get out of the quiz anyway, but man, imagine the look on Mr. Rawkinhos’ face when you ace a quiz you weren’t even there for.” Trav said, his smile getting goofier by the end. He got closer to the boy, pinning him in a small headlock, which the boy seemed to detest due to the odor most likely. “Think about it, get a 100 on your first day, or maybe you can miss an answer or two to make it seem like you’re not a know it all, ya’ know?” Trav gestured with a small cackle. The boy broke free of Trav’s grip and stared back with a firm, confident smile, standing tall, despite Trav completely taller than him by at least a foot.
“No worries, but no thanks. I’m not a cheater,” the boy said. Trav smiled back at the boy with a generous nod.
“I hear you man. That’s respectful of you,” Trav said, holding out his fist for the boy to bump. “Names Travis, but call me Trav.”
The boy smiled, bumping fists back. “Names Willman, but my buddies call me Willy.”
“Sounds like a gesture to me Willy-man,” Trav said. Willy smiled. “Well Willy, we’d better get going. I got English too, so follow me.” Willy nodded, following Trav down the corridor into the English room.
Trav and Willy entered the English room, seeing as the door was shut and the hallway was empty, class had already begun. Trav chuckled. “Might wanna get ready for a scolding. Just hope you get off lucky cause you’re the new kid on the block and yeah,” Trav said. Willy grinned with a gesture nod. Trav walked inside next to Willy. Mr. Rawkinhos stopped mid-sentence to see the two. He folded his hands behind his back.
“Travis, decide to join us?” Mr. R said with a stern glance. Trav waved carelessly.
“Yeah, sure. Meet Willman guys,” Trav turned his gesture toward Willy, who looked at the class in a positive stance. Mr. R cackled slightly.
“Well then Willy, it’s nice to meet you. Choose your friends wisely around here though. Travis here has a habit of tainting certain newcomers with all the wrong ideas,” Mr. R said, glaring directly at Trav as he said it. Trav scolded and turned away silently. Willy nodded with a generous smile.
“I’ll do my best,” Willy replied. Mr. R motioned for Trav and Willy to take their seats. Willy took the lead, walking in front of Trav down the second row of desks lined up in the classroom. Willy’s eyes wandered around the room, Willy occasionally turned his head. At first, Trav thought nothing of it. Judging from Willy’s solemn demeanor all of a sudden, he began to get more suspicious. By the looks of things up front, Willy appeared to be searching for someone. Trav cocked his head to the side in wonder, but did not question Willy’s newfound suspicious curiosity. Willy took a seat on the third row, second desk, Trav on the fourth row, fifth desk, aka the final row and column. As Trav sat down, someone turned around to face him. Trav looked up, seeing Vince tap on his desk.
“Hey man, who’s the new kid you been hanging out with?”
Trav looked up oddly. “The new kid? How could you know? I just met him.”
“You walked in with him. I’ve never seen him here before, so, whazzup?”
“Your prying is annoying. He’s just the new kid that was lost. Probably a transfer student, that’s all,” Trav said, pushing Vince’s hands rested on his desk aside. Trav rested his head on his desk. “Wake me up before the quiz, or if the room spontaneously combusts.” Vince shook his head and turned back to face the front of the classroom, while Trav dozed off.
The bell rang for the end of 3rd period. The 4th and final period of the day, for Trav, belonged to gym. Trav walked out of the classroom with a loud yawn. Despite how interesting his day had been so far, to meeting Yuki, getting Andy slammed in the face by a locker door, and the most interesting of all, meeting the strange newcomer, Willy.
Willy walked out of the classroom, his schedule in hand. He looked nonchalantly down the hallway, glancing back at his schedule, a small hint of bewilderment in his eyes, still new to the school, realizing this Trav walked up to Willy again. “What’s next?”
“Gym,” Willy replied. Trav beamed a smile.
“Same here again dude. C’mon.”
Willy followed Trav toward the gym, walking down the hallway packed of students. Trav lead the way, he turned his head around slightly to face Willy as they continued to make their way. Willy glanced at Trav, signaling he had his attention.
“Trav, may I ask you something?” Willy asked quietly, but he had the sort of tone that, despite what Trav said, he would ask anyway. Trav nodded in confirmation.
“Well, have you noticed any new students around here within the last week?” Willy asked seriously. Trav’s eyes beamed in curiosity, even more so than before. His assumptions were now much more accurate. Willy wasn’t just here for an education or whatever they do here; he was in a search for someone. Trav shook his head.
“Well man, you gotta know that school just started back two weeks ago. Still early September here, ya know. I haven’t noticed a thing out of the ordinary.” Willy nodded in understanding; his eyes were flaring with a newfound confidence, a need to operate. Whatever was going on, Trav was sure he had beef with someone, by how serious Willy was.
“I see. No one at all eh?” Willy said, pondering deep in thought. Trav turned his eyes back around to Willy, who was now blindly following him, lost in his own cesspool of thoughts. “A sign of his appearance for sure.”
“Who, what? Did you come here with someone?” Trav asked, as he stopped to turn the corner, approaching the hallway with the boy’s and girl’s locker rooms respectively. Trav made a turn for the boy’s locker room, Willy followed.
“You could say that.”
“Kay students, line up,” Coach Keltz blew his whistle; the high pitch shrill reverberated across the gym. Coach Keltz, with his clipboard in hand, went down the line of students dressed out. Coach Keltz went through the list of students, marking them present and so. Trav stood next to Willy, staring at him from his angle.
“Next time, you might wanna bring your own gym clothes. You’re lucky I had a string,” Trav said, examining Willy in another pair of Trav’s gym clothes, which fit Willy hardly, as the shorts were baggy, and the T shirt spread down close to his knees, the sleeves of the shirt leaving off much excess sleeve.
“Yeah, but I kinda like this actually. It’s loose and comfortable,” Willy said, performing a sly hamstring stretch across the floor with his legs. Trav chuckled slightly. He bowed forward, noticing Willy’s attention rapidly fixed as Coach Keltz went down the list.
“Yuki… not dressed out again I see?” Coach Keltz said, looking up from his clipboard. Yuki held her manga book close, sitting on the bleachers in her casual clothes. Coach Keltz made a mark on his list and continued down the line. “… Vince, here… Andy, absent… … Clara… suspended it seems,” Coach Keltz made another mark on his list. Willy stood up straight, staring at the next young man down the list.
“… Sid?” Coach Keltz gazed down at a young man who was Willy’s height, appeared to be his age as well, with pure black hair that was slicker than Willy’s. He wore pure black clothes, chains on his pants. “Not going to participate today?” Sid stared up at Coach Keltz nonchalantly, with a cold grin, Sid nodded. Trav put two and two together, and realized it was Sid who he was staring at. Trav turned to Sid, examining him. His eyes widened slightly, as he turned back to Willy.
“You know him?” Trav asked. Willy didn’t answer right away, simply leaned against the closed in bleacher.
“Yeah.”
“He’s the one you were talking about? Funny, I talked to him about a week ago. He seemed cool,” Trav shrugged. “You got beef with him or something?” Willy turned away, and began examining the gym as the coach turned away. Willy turned toward a basketball rack at the right corner of the gym. Trav followed Willy’s stare to the basketball rack, and grabbed Willy’s shoulder. “Look man, I’m probably the last person who should be tellin’ you this, but don’t start anything on your first day,” Trav said, unusually more serious than usual. Willy smiled at Trav, patting Trav on the centre of his back.
“No worries Trav, it is all under control. I’m just playing along with his game.”
Willy turned quickly toward the coach, who still had his back turned. He turned a quick glance back at Trav, then back at Sid. Trav looked on in bewilderment at first, but that would soon turn into a look of plain shock. Willy darted toward the rack, at a speed that clearly track record breaking. Willy’s form alone was incredible; his speed was an entirely different matter. Trav looked on, completely befuddled. The entire class stared at Willy in amazement. Vince’s mouth dropped open. Even the coach turned around, completely in awe.
“Holy god, what the hell did I just see?!” Vince looked on, his eyes as round as teapots. The only two in the crowd not impressed, were Yuki and Sid. Sid watched Willy from afar in his casual clothes, his pure black eyes glared at Willy. Willy turned to Sid with a confident smile. He began dribbling the ball, picking up the pace over time. Willy dribbled toward the goal, held the ball, and performed a 360 spin toward the goal, completely nailing the twisted power drive. If anything, it seemed he was attempting to show off, for those that didn’t know any better. By his amazing form, the rest of the class was in admiration, for him with his size to perform such a technique so gracefully, was hardly heard of.
Sid folded his arms with a small conceited smile visible on his face. As the ball bounced slowly behind Willy, he turned to Sid, and grinned. Willy and Sid exchanged glares for a solid minute, before any other action was taken. The coach stepped in, finally.
“Uh… everyone, run 10 laps around the gym to start off the day,” Coach Keltz blew his whistle. The class took small steps to recover from what had just struck them in the face. Even Trav was dumbfounded. Vince tapped Trav in the shoulder.
“Nigg, did you just see that shit?” Vince said in awe. His eyes slowly wandered back to Trav. “You um, you got him on that super adrenaline or what?”
“I didn’t give him any drugs… besides, that’s definitely natural talent… it’s just,” Trav said, shaking his head. He couldn’t piece together what was going on. On the way, Willy refused to spill out any important details. Trav thought it must have just been an intense rivalry. “But man, maybe those are the work of drugs. I dunno anymore.”
Willy flashed a smile as Sid stepped into the front line of students, casually had his hands tucked in his pockets. He released his hands, clenching his fists with a silent vehemence.
“Sid? What are you doing? You can’t participate,” Coach Keltz announced, but was only met by a bitter glare by Sid. Coach Keltz’s eyes wandered for a minute, his eyes dilated. At the same moment this happened, Yuki clasped her manga book. Trav’s throat tightened, but Willy simply stared at Sid, his sights set on him only. Sid beamed back at Willy, walking up next to him. The Coach nodded. “The floor is yours Sid; everyone, get ready.” The coach blew his whistle, the race began.
Willy and Sid both ran together. They started out with a straightforward pace, and at the beginning were already lapping the regular group. Trav and Vince ran together, watching the two from their restricted locations. No one else stood a chance at keeping up with these super humans. Trav watched on, his eyes widened, teeth gritted together. “What the hell… are these guys?!” the endless conversations going on behind Trav made no mind to him, not even Vince existed right now, his best friend since 6th grade. He was focused entirely on Willy and Sid’s competitive race.
As they ran, side by side, Sid picked up his pace, running out, and his arms flailing effortlessly behind his back. Willy ran with full support, neither breaking a sweat. Three laps around the gym, neither one let any sign of stopping, in such a short time. The pure velocity of their dash was astounding, and in such perfect form. Their speed was nearly three times that of normal human capacity. No one could keep up. Yet the coach, this entire time, watched on.
Despite Trav’s distance, as they made the turn, he began to hear a conversation take place between the two.
“You should not have come, Willy,” Sid said with a cool tone.
“Not happy to see me again?” Willy said. Sid smirked slightly, closing his eyes.
“You are so foolish, to lead yourself to me. Once a fool, always a fool,” Sid was about to impact with the wall. Trav’s eyes widened at the sight, even Willy was caught off guard at first. Sid flipped up into the air, kicked off of the wall, using the gained momentum to land stylishly on his feet, even ahead of Willy, not losing his running pace at all. Willy sneered confidently.
“You won’t win this time,” Willy said, the next curve was coming. Willy attempted to use a stylish turn around Sid to pass by him, but what happened next even Sid didn’t seem to predict.
As the curve motioned forward, Sid positioned his feet for the turn, which Willy did not anticipate as early as he did. Willy tripped over Sid’s feet, the momentum from his current pace now backed up with the full power as he slipped across the gym floor, rolling at an unimaginable speed across the gym floor, his skin scraped the cement. Willy’s body burst out of the gym double doors, clashing with the supporting beam from outside. The whole class stopped. Trav watched on in horror. Sid kept running, simply staring back at Willy, almost in pity. “What a fool, I pity.”
“Willy?!” Trav ran outside of the gym, finding Willy face down on the floor, bleeding from his scraped up knee, arm, and the back of his head. Trav ran toward Willy, crouching down beside of him, holding his head up. Willy looked up in slight fatigue from the sudden fall. “Shit… that looks bad! Hang in there man…”
Willy finally awakened in the nurse’s office in the school. Bandaged from the top of his head and around his left arm and right leg, Willy looked up in exhaustion.
“Finally awake?”
“I think so,” Willy sat up, grunting in pain.
“Should take it easy man. I wouldn’t reopen those wounds. That was a nasty fall you took there.”
“I lost huh?” Willy said, his eyes gazed eternally on the ceiling. “Damn.”
“Can’t win them all, I guess,” Trav said, unsure of what else to say. After witnessing the events in the gym, seeing Willy in the nurse’s office was the last place he expected him to be. Trav turned to Willy slowly.
“Who are you, Willy?” Trav finally asked after an awkward moment of silence. At this moment, Trav wasn’t in the mood to play games. He knew something was going on, and he wanted to know what. Willy looked up at Trav.
“I’m Willy,” Willy replied vaguely. “I don’t like to lose.”
“I realized that,” Trav sighed. “I mean, who are you? Who is he? What are you doing here? I’ve seen the way you’ve been acting lately, you came here for him. Why?”
Willy did not reply right away. Trav felt he was going to hold things back. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t simple anymore. Things were real. “If you really want to know, I will tell you,” Willy replied, staring up seriously at Trav. He cringed in pain as he sat up straight. Trav stared back seriously into Willy’s eyes. “But do know one thing.”
Trav nodded, listening.
“Once I tell you, you’re in. When you’re in, you’re in.”
Trav nodded in confirmation. “I’m in.”
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