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It all began when the new student walked into Travis’ mathematics class. The confusion. The torment. The shame.
When Travis bothered to lift his drooping eyes from the algebra textbook laid before him up towards the new student, his eyes drooped for no longer; because right there, standing in front of him, was a small boy with bright blue pigtails and pierced ears, timidly gazing down at his tattered trainers. But what stood out the most to Travis was none of those details – it was, instead, the curious mask donned on the student’s face. He had never seen such a strange accessory in his life, although perhaps Halloween outfits were an exception in that matter. Travis raised his eyebrows, tentatively inspecting the boy from head to toe. It was made evident that everything about him was strange.
“Please welcome our new student, Sal Fisher,” Mrs Packerton announced to the class, placing her unpleasant hands on his shoulders. Sal visibly flinched at the contact, presumably out of disgust. It was rather difficult to tell with that odd mask concealing his expression. “I know you’re all wondering why he’s wearing this mask. Would you like to explain, dear?”
The boy hesitated. “It’s a prosthetic,” he murmured. Travis was taken aback. The student sounded perfectly normal, despite wearing the strange “prosthetic”. He had assumed that he would be mute or something of the like, too. “I just have to wear it all the time. I hope you guys understand. I look forward to meeting you all.”
Travis watched the students around him smile and greet the new boy. Why were they smiling at this abomination? Just looking at his outrageous mask caused a shiver to travel down Travis’ spine. He must surely be ashamed to walk into a public school whilst wearing such an item. Travis wondered what could be under it. Was this boy’s face that ugly? So ugly that he wore a mask to uplift his little self-confidence? Although it was true he had mentioned that it was a prosthetic. Did he have a face at all? What kind of situation could cause this boy to lose his face and force him to wear a prosthetic like so? How was he even alive? So many questions, yet no particular answers. He glared at Sal as he made his way to the vacant seat between Larry; who welcomed him with a friendly smile, and Chug; who gave Sal a thumbs-up. It seemed that Larry, Chug, and Sal had already been acquainted. It made sense when given thought, it was perfect; the trio of weirdos.
It had taken Travis everything not to turn around and continue staring at the new student throughout the whole lesson. He was certain the same applied to everyone sitting in front of Sal.
Travis recalled his appearance. The mask was peculiar enough, but his hair? His piercings? In fact, Travis was not sure if the student that walked in was male or female, until he heard his voice. He had never met someone who dared to appear so… different, before. He thought about him in what was something between disgust and bewilderment. But was it truly disgust? Perhaps envy was more fitting. He envied Sal’s freedom, his freedom to express himself, his freedom to appear however he liked, with no-one to tell him otherwise.
Sal had bright blue pigtails and multiple piercings. But Sal was not horrendous. He was not abominable. No, Sal was strangely beautiful.
He physically recoiled as the phrase permanently etched itself into his mind. Strangely beautiful? Was Travis going insane? Describing someone, a male, who appeared so outrageous, as strangely beautiful? He accidentally broke his pencil after drawing a line on his textbook with greater force than necessary.
After the class was over, dozens of students huddled around Sal, giving him warm welcomes and acknowledgements. Travis watched awkwardly from the threshold of the classroom, with his eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t know the name of this emotion, but it vexed him. Before he took his eyes off of him, Sal noticed his presence and gave him a small wave. Travis sneered in response, and stormed out of the classroom.
His face, however, was flustered and his cheeks were tinted with a faint blush. Travis felt honoured that Sal noticed him, let alone the sole fact that he waved at him. He wanted to turn around, go back to the classroom, and talk to Sal for himself; but something within him reprimanded for considering such a thing. What if Father found out that he was associating with an abomination like that?
“Hi,” a male voice from behind him interrupted his contemplations. Travis lifted his head, exasperated, only to be met with Sal himself, who was now walking beside him. “I hope I didn’t make you angry, I’m not really keen on making any rivals here.”
Travis’ eyes widened, as he glared at the boy next to him. It was impossible to tell what expression he was wearing, but his posture was relaxed enough. He was astounded that Sal made the effort to follow him, for seemingly no reason but to clear any tension between them.
“Uh…”
“You can call me Sally, by the way,” he stopped walking and reached out a hand, awaiting for Travis to take it. “Hope we can get along.”
He wanted to shake hands with Sally. He wanted to hang out with Sally at recess. He wanted to say, “sure, we can be friends, if you want. Let me show you around the school, you can tell me all about yourself. Also, I think you look really cool.”
“Get lost, freak,” is all that Travis managed to say. He instantly regretted it, as he watched Sally recoil nervously. But he quickly stood upright, rooted to the ground, adamant that he would bring about a friendship between them.
“I know I don’t look like everyone else, but we could still-”
“Didn’t you hear me? I told you to get lost, you creep.”
With that, Sal whispered a curse and walked away. All Travis could do was stare as he made his way back into the classroom.
“Shit,” Travis murmured, continuing to walk. Now he had really done it; Sally would never associate with him ever again. He had missed his chance to escape from the unyielding chains of his Father’s expectations, his chance to know what it was like to defy everyone’s suppositions.
Travis would have to watch Sally from the distance. He made his way into the school bathrooms, and locked himself shut in one of the cubicles; only him and the silence of his thoughts filling the small compartment.