Cinnamon // Sally Face

F o u r

"Man, Pizza Friday is the fuckin' best!" Larry rooted, taking his seat at the lunch table. 

Ash nodded her head in agreement. "I could eat pizza for five days a week." 

Violet was hardly listening. For the past week, she'd been nothing but stressed about her schoolwork. Her lunch period often consisted of working on her organic chemistry homework while Todd and Sal were around to help. They were much more versed on the subject than she was.

"You gonna eat that?" Chug asked her, referring to the untouched slice of pizza next to her binder. 

Without a response, the girl pushed it toward him with the tip of her pencil. At this point, it wasn't uncommon for him to ask for her food. It was practically routine.

"Little dude," Larry said with an eyeroll, snatching her pizza out of Chug's hand, "you should eat. School's not worth starving yourself, man." 

"I agree," Ash stated. "Besides, it's harder to learn on an empty stomach."

"I'd be happy to help you after school. Even Sal stops in from time to time," Todd offered. 

Violet sighed, wearily accepting her pizza back from Larry. "I hate organic chemistry. I wish I could drop."

"You're telling me," Sal grumbled, helping her put her homework away. "I can barely keep my head above water in that class. I'd be failing if it weren't for Todd." 

Suddenly, Larry snorted, drawing everyone's attention. "Hey, Sally Face. Travis is staring at you again." 

Travis had become an inside joke amongst the group. When he wasn't trying to get under Sal's skin, he was just...staring. Not in a way that other kids did, with judgemental glares and such. It was almost as if he was in awe. On top of this, his insults toward Sal always went in a particular direction. He almost always referred to him as a faggot or a queer. Violet was sure there was more behind those words than anger. She believed it to be a rather violent form of projection and the rest of the group agreed.

"Who cares?" Sal said. "We all know why."

"Sal, I think everyone except you knows why," Violet told him. 

Larry snickered this time. "Pucker up, Sally Face!" 

The entire group erupted with laughter. Even Sal couldn't help himself. Their moment of happiness didn't last long, however, as Travis stormed their way. 

"What do you think you're laughing at, freaks?" He sneered, clenching his fists. Seeing someone have such a visceral reaction over laughter was rather bizarre. This kid had a real issue with the happiness of others.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Ash retorted. 

Violet rolled her eyes. "You know, Travis, for someone who hates us so much, you sure spend a lot of time talking to us. Getting lonely by yourself over there?"

"Wanna say that to me again?" Travis raised a fist at her, anger burning in his eyes. Perhaps teasing him wasn't such a good idea. 

She didn't know how to handle physical confrontation, let alone from someone who seemed perfectly capable of hurting her. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, causing the muscles in her chest to tighten. It was hard not to feel terrified when faced with someone like Travis, especially in the state he was in. His eyes burned with pure hatred as he glowered down at her. 

"Hey, man, you better back the fuck off," Larry warned. 

Disregarding the boy's statement, Travis smirked down at Violet's cowering form. She prayed that seeing her frightened would be enough to satisfy him, but he didn't lower his fist. He seemed to enjoy watching her flinch at the sight of him. It wasn't just her reaction that amused him, however. The entire group was tense as well. Nobody knew what he was going to do next. Was this just an intimidation tactic, or was he really going to throw a punch?  

Sal had enough of his nonsense. For quite some time, he had done his best to avoid confrontation with Travis. He even managed to stay quiet when he witnessed Violet getting picked on at lunch on her first day. Now that the two were friends, it made biting his tongue impossible. The fear in her eyes triggered something in him. Something that made him want to seriously hurt Travis. He'd never felt this way toward a bully before. What was going on?

"Leave her alone," he growled.

"What was that Sally Face?"

He pounded his fist on the table, causing everyone to jump. The cafeteria fell silent. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Without hesitation, Travis turned toward him and swung his fist, causing it to collide with Sal's jaw. The force caused his mask to slide across the table and into Violet's lap. The room boomed with a mix of cheering and frightful shrieks. But, Travis wasn't satisfied. He knocked Sal to the ground, pinning him down and delivering a series of blows to his head. Larry sprung to his feet, doing everything in his power to separate them.

Chug, Maple and Todd froze in fear, Ash screamed at Travis to stop, and Violet silently hugged Sal's mask to her chest. Hot tears streamed down her face as she watched her new friend being beaten to a pulp. Worst of all, there was no one to blame but her. 

> > >

"It was terrible," Ash sobbed, earning a nod from the principal. "But it wasn't Sal's fault."

"He didn't intend to start a fight," Todd added.

Chug scoffed. "It was Travis's fault, sir. He's the one who came up to our table ready to kill someone!" 

Violet was speechless. Once the fight had successfully been broken up, everyone was separated for interrogation. The principal handled the friend group while security hauled Travis, Sal, and Larry elsewhere to settle them down. As the others explained what happened, she could do nothing but stare down at Sal's mask. All she wanted was to return it and apologize as many times as she could. He was probably so angry at her. After all, she was the reason Travis attacked him. Had she kept her mouth shut, none of them would be in this situation. 

"Violet, you haven't said much," the principal commented. "What's your side of the story?"

She looked up. "I-It was my fault, sir. I saw that Travis was angry and teased him. It's not any of their faults, but most importantly, it is not Sal's fault. He was trying to defend me."

"I see. You do realize, Violet, that I have to suspend you." 

"Yes, sir."

"You, Larry, and Sal will all face a suspension of one week."

"And Travis?" Ash cut in.

"We will handle Travis, Miss Campbell." 

"Good."