Chapter Sixteen

"All rise," the bailiff said, and the judge called the courtroom to order. Travis was half asleep, thanks to insomnia caused by a combination of his nervousness and the side effects of Dr. Hu's treatment. It had been a week since school ended, and he'd had his first dose. The first two days after the injection, he had little energy and slept most of the time. Then he couldn't sleep more than two hours at a time due to the migraines and nausea.

"Mr. Turner, I asked you a question," the judge said. "Do you have anything you'd like to say before I render my verdict?"

"Sorry, Your Honor. I'm on a new medication that makes me drowsy. I would like to reiterate that I didn't set out to hurt anyone that day, but I thought my life was in danger and used appropriate force to defend myself."

"Very well then. I find you guilty on all counts. Given the severity of your crimes coupled with your health issues and this being your first offense, I'm inclined to go easy on you. But I feel you should be punished to deter you from further criminal offenses.

"Thus, I'm sentencing you to serve 1,000 hours of community service, placing you on two years' probation, and requiring you to attend anger management classes. Let this be the last time I see you in this court, Mr. Turner, or next time I won't be so sympathetic. If you'll follow my secretary, she'll give you the information regarding your probation officer, local anger management classes, and timesheets for your community service. Good day." She banged her gavel, and Travis's father led him out by the arm.

Travis couldn't believe this was happening. His whole summer was gone, and it was all Giovanni's fault. Damn him and his red-orange rat's nest. He cursed the day they ever met.       

***

On a muggy Monday, Travis found himself in Dr. Douglas Dull's Class for the Aggressively Challenged. The class wasn't scheduled to start for another ten minutes, but his mother had to work a double shift at the hospital, and the twins' babysitter was running late, so she'd elected to drop him off early. As they were saying goodbye, Giovanni and his mother arrived.

"What are you doing here?" they all said in unison.

"It was part of Joshua's--" Mrs. Giovanni began.

"Sentencing?" his mother said. "Same with my Travis, but I refuse to let him be in the same room with your ruffian of a son."

Mrs. Giovanni balled up her fists and cut his mother a dirty look. "The feeling's more than mutual." She stalked toward the other woman, and an argument ensued. Travis's face flushed as others arrived for the class.

"God, this is so embarrassing," he said to no one in particular.

"I know," Giovanni said. "Talk about the battle of the Beckys."

Travis turned to him, glaring. "Hey, your mom started it."

"Did not." Giovanni got in Travis's face. "I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you!"

 Travis, rage on the verge of exploding outward, clenched his jaw. "Me? You're the one who started the fight that landed me here, and now my summer's ruined." He shoved Giovanni back and was about to punch him in that cocky little face of his when someone whistled. 

"That's enough. Ladies, is this any example to set for your children?" said a man who introduced himself as Dr. Dull. "And boys, I'm sensing some animosity between you. What say we talk things out before you do something you'll regret?"

Travis sneered at Giovanni. "Too late. This supercilious simpleton is the reason I'm in this class."

"Oh, you think you're so smart using big words. Compensating for something else, eh? Maybe that face of yours?"

Travis lunged at him, and they tussled on the ground before Dr. Dull separated them.

"What are your names, boys?"

They gave him their names, and the man checked his stack of papers. "It would seem you're in my course. As class hasn't officially started yet, I'll let this incident slide, but one more outburst, and I'll contact your probation officers. Understood?"

Travis's mom sneered. "My son isn't going to be in any class with him."

Mrs. Giovanni stuck her nose in the air. "The same goes for my Joshua."

Dr. Dull paused a moment, then cleared his throat. "Perhaps we could all use this as a teaching moment. The boys are already here, so why not let them attend class and see how things go? If it eases your mind, I'll assume full liability should something happen."

Travis's mom and Mrs. Giovanni talked it over a minute with Dr. Dull before agreeing to let them stay. 

"Now boys, how 'bout you go inside and take a seat?" 

"Yes, sir," they said in unison and entered the classroom. Travis took a seat in the front and booted up his laptop while Giovanni sat in the back. "Asshole," he mouthed as he passed. Travis flipped him off, shooting him side-eye.

During the first class, they went over the syllabus and course policies. They were allowed two excused absences, one unexcused absence, and if they were more than ten minutes late, that counted as half an absence. Attendance and class participation were factored into their grade, and any altercations meant an automatic failure.

Dr. Dull took attendance and had them each tell the class something about themselves when he called their name. 

"I hate stupid people and am only here because a moron and his friends decided to jump me at school," Travis said when he was called on.

Giovanni shot out of his chair. "Who ya calling a moron, fatso?"

Travis was out of his seat and heading for Giovanni when a burly guy in a red bandana stepped in front of him. "He's not worth it."

Travis wanted to kick Giovanni's punk ass but wanted to stay out of jail more, so he went back to his seat.

"Yeah. You'd better have walked away," Giovanni said.

Travis glared at him, and the lights flickered. 

Calm down. He centered himself, and the lights returned to normal.

"Thank you, Buford, for defusing that situation. And Travis, you showed good restraint. Where'd you learn those breathing exercises?"

"A book on Zen Buddhism and meditation."

"Excellent. Meditation and having some form of spiritual practice are great ways to focus your mind and redirect your aggression. However, I'm disappointed in you and Joshua. Name-calling will not be tolerated in this class."

Travis nodded, and the class continued with them learning various breathing exercises and ways to de-escalate situations. The class closed with them doing trust falls. Travis's skin crawled at the thought of all those strangers touching him, but he endured it until Dr. Dull asked him to pair up with Giovanni.

"Hell no!"

Giovanni shot him a dirty look. "Not like I want to do them with you either. God knows I don't trust ya, and you'd prolly crush me anyways."

Oblivion whispered into Travis's ears, "Don't let him besmirch you."

With rage hotter than hell, Travis stared down Giovanni. "Disrespect me again, and I will lay you out and fill your mouth with your mother's menses."

"Both of you outside, now!" Dr. Dull led them by their arms. Once outside the classroom, he lit into them. "What is the matter with you? Joshua, why do you antagonize Travis so? And Travis . . . I don't even know where to begin with what you just said to him. By all rights, I should kick you out of class and call your probation officers." 

"Don't!" they said in unison, glaring at the other.

"Why shouldn't I? You two have animosity that goes far beyond aggression issues."

Travis, lachrymose at the thought of dying in juvenile prison, graveled. "Please don't. We promise not to disrupt class again and do the trust falls."

"Yeah," Giovanni said.

Dr. Dull scratched his salt-and-pepper beard. "I'll make an exception in this case, only if you both agree to start therapy with me and complete an assignment for me."

"Anything," Travis said, and Giovanni agreed.  

"I'll give it to you at the end of class, assuming you make it that long."

Travis nodded, and they returned to class and did the trust falls. Travis was tempted to let Giovanni fall on his ass but caught him at the last second. Giovanni's lithe frame fit in his arms almost too perfectly. 

When class ended, Dr. Dull called them to his desk and told them their assignment was to learn as much as they could about each other before their first therapy session after class next Monday. 

Shrugging, Travis said, "Easy. I still have your contact info, so we can do this online."

"No, it's too easy to create false personas online," Dr. Dull said. "I want you to do this face-to-face. You may go now, but I'm warning you. One more altercation and I will call the police. Is that understood?"

"Yes," they said.

"And if your parents ask, tell them I'll assume full responsibility should anything happen."

Giovanni requested a rideshare on his phone while Travis called a taxi. Travis turned to the other boy. "Hey, when do you wanna do this assignment?"

"I have community service most days from 9:00 am till 1:00 pm. You?"

"Six am till one pm most days, then nine am to five pm every other weekend. How's this Wednesday at three pm sound?"

"Fine." 

They parted ways when Giovanni's rideshare arrived. Travis's taxi came a few minutes after Giovanni left, and he loathed the conversation he'd have with his parents.

When his father came home at eight o'clock that night, he told him the situation.

"Whelp, you made your bed, and now you have to lay in it. I'm sure your grandfather's trust will cover the cost of therapy, but we best not let your mother know about this, yeah?"

"Yeah," he said and went to bed. He had an early day; tomorrow was his first day of community service, and he was dreading being around more strangers so soon. 

***

Five am came too early for Travis, but he ate a quick breakfast of Fruit Loops, then got ready for the day, dressing in basketball shorts, a Jordan jersey, and his favorite pair of beat-up Chuck Taylors. If he was going to be doing slave labor, then he'd be comfortable.

The SMART bus dropped him off half a mile from St. Michael's Episcopal Church, and he walked the rest of the way. He told the receptionist he was there for community service, and the middle-aged Black woman showed him to the kitchen entrance. "Joan will tell ya what needs to be done. Bless you." 

"And you, too," he said, though he didn't mean it, and entered the kitchen. He was struck by the heat, but more so the sight of a tall white woman with fiery serpents for hair.

"Something wrong?" she said.

"Nothing. Just trying to figure out who you remind me of."

She cocked her head to the side, placing her hands around her face. "People tell me I look like Miley Cyrus all the time."

"Yeah, that's it. I'm Travis."

"So, you're the first newbie. I'm Joan," she said, handing him a hair net. "I'll start you off washing dishes, and once you've mastered that, I'll move you to dispensing soup."

She showed him the proper way to clean off dishes before washing them and then set him to work. It was monotonous, but it allowed his mind to wander back to the vision of Joan. As he worked, he caught glimpses of her scuttling about micromanaging everyone, but she looked normal. Maybe it was another side effect of Dr. Hu's treatment? He'd ask him next time he went up to the cabin.

Once Travis had worked his way through his stack of dishes, he was about to see what Joan wanted him to do next when a dark-skinned boy around his age plopped a stack of dirty dishes at his station. For the briefest of seconds, Travis could have sworn he saw a reptilian creature reminiscent of the Chupacabra movie he watched last night on SYFY. He blinked, and it was gone.

Two hours and many stacks of dishes later, Travis took a bathroom break, then resumed washing dishes until Joan told him to stop. "The next volunteer will be here in a bit, and I want you to train him, then go work the soup line. Understand?"

"Yeah," he said. Hey, if it means I can slack off, I'm happy.

 At ten to nine, Giovanni showed up, and Travis groaned. Of course, it'd be him.

They glared at each other, but Travis, being the bigger man, trained Giovanni--or tried to.

"I'm not some idiot. I know how to wash dishes."

"Could have fooled me. Being a Giovanni, I'd expect you'd be pampered and have help for everything."

Giovanni flipped him off. "For your information, we only have a maid four days a week, and the rest of the time, I have to take care of things myself. You know what they say when you assume things."

Travis gave him an exasperated look. "Let's try to get through this day without killing each other."

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Giovanni agreed, and they continued with Giovanni washing while Travis dried and stacked. Joan showed up a while later and told them they made a good team.

"Don't say that," they said in unison. 

Joan laughed. "Travis, come with me." She showed him to the front of the dining hall, where people were lined up awaiting their plates. The stations were organized assembly-line style, with soup being the last stop, and once all the food was on the plate, it was distributed to the people.

Joan placed her hand on his back, and he struggled not to cringe. "I have to warn you. Some people will try to get more than they're allotted, but you can't give it to them, understand?"

"Yeah."

He took his place next to the dark-skinned boy from before, who introduced himself as Dylan De Leon. Travis nodded at him and told him his name, then he got to work slinging tomato soup. He kept his eye on the clock, and as soon as it hit one o'clock, he had Joan sign his timesheet, and he was out of there.

The next two days passed without event, and at the end of his shift Wednesday, he was set to go home and murder M. Bison when Giovanni called to him. 

"We're still on for today at 3:00 pm, right?"

I forgot. Scheisse! Ich bin ein dummkopf. "Yeah, why?" he said all smooth.

"Well, why don't you come over now? It doesn't make sense for you to go home and have a taxi take to you to my place, right?"

There was a twinkle in Giovanni's eyes and almost a pleading tone to his voice.

"Thanks, but I have things I need to do first. Like, wash the funk off me. And I suggest you do too because you're a bit malodorous."

"Huh?"

"You have major BO."

Giovanni's face went red. He discretely sniffed himself and made a sour face. "Dude, I reek."

Travis suppressed a laugh and went to get his timesheet signed, then left. The bus was only a few minutes late, and he made it home with plenty of time to shower, tinker with Cha, and curb stomp M. Bison. With a little over an hour before he was due at Giovanni's, he had second thoughts.

Why do we even need to meet up? We could do this asinine assignment online, and Dr. Dull would never know. I'll Skype him right--   

 "Kid, you're going, even if I have to hijack your body to do it."

As if you could.

"I been doing it for we--shit! I wasn't supposed to tell ya that."

What do you mean? 

"Nothing."

The lights flickered, and a wind kicked up as realization dawned on Travis. You've been body-jacking me, haven't you? And that's why I'm so tired all the time.

"On a scale of one to ten, how pissed are you?"

Infinity plus one.

"Imma go."

How long has this been going on?

"Bro, calm down."

How long!  

The overhead lights shattered, tripping the circuit breaker.

The screams of the twins and their babysitter broke through the haze of his fury; he used the breathing exercises Dr. Dull had taught them, and once he'd collected himself, he changed the fuse and cleaned up his room. Once the Wi-Fi was back on, he logged on to Skype to see if Giovanni was on.

"I get it. You're scared to be alone with him."

Do you want me to come in there and kick your ass? Because I will.

"Anything to keep you from seeing Giovanni, right?"

I'm not afraid of being alone with him.

"Then go over there already."

Done.

He called a taxi and told the babysitter he'd be gone an hour max.

***

The Giovannis' house was a mansion in a gated community, and the guard at the entrance side-eyed Travis upon hearing why he was there. "You're not the type JJ hangs with. How do you know him?"

"We attend Azure Plains Preparatory Academy together. Call him, and he'll confirm it."

"I'll do just that."

A few minutes later, Travis keyed in the passcode to the Giovannis' gate, walked up the driveway, and rang the doorbell.

Here goes nothing. 

Author's Note: Will Travis and Josh get through their assignment without coming to blows? Find out, next chapter.

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