21| The Invisible Barriers

It was about 12 at night when Travis finally dropped Maya at her house and drove back to his own house. If luck goes with him, his mother might not even notice his absence and he could easily walk to his room. Praying for that miracle, he walked out of the car and locked it.

A memory of some hours before flashed in front of his eyes. "You are a good person, Zoey." He had told Zoey while they were munching the shrimps on the food table. She had grinned sheepishly in return and her bright eyes started to twinkle.

He was afraid of the new aspects of Zoey's personality he was witnessing. He was afraid that the harmless crush he had on Zoey will start to resurface again. He didn't want that as it could only result in one way; heartache. He needed to get himself together and focus his attention back to the studies. It was senior year and he couldn't afford any lagging.

With that thought in mind, he braced himself and walked inside the house. Closing the door silently behind him, he tiptoed silently towards the dark kitchen and opened the fridge for some water. He was gulping the water down when the kitchen suddenly lit up.

He turned around surprised, only to find his mother leaning against the doorframe, watching him with cautious eyes. Rose's eyes trailed down his body clad in the expensive looking blue suit, his eyes narrowing to small slits gradually.

"Where were you, Travis?" She asked firmly.

"I... um... I went to drop Maya to the Harper's Gala." Travis said, nervous of what to say and how his mother will react.

"In a suit?" She asked.

"It's Zoey's friend's. I needed to give Maya her phone back so Zoey took me inside the party." He said, clearing his throat.

"You seem quite friendly with Miss. Zoey these days." She said and Travis shifted in his position.

"I... We... We are just friends." Travis chose to say although he wasn't sure if they were even friends.

Hearing this, Rose's expressions changed to a strange apprehension. "She is my boss, Travis. In a way, she is your boss too. Our relationship with them is not of friendship." Rose said and Travis felt a feeling of bitterness inside his chest.

"Why?" He whispered and on seeing the dejection in his eyes, Rose's heart drowned. She hated that she couldn't provide him with the lifestyle he deserved. Because of her job, he had to consider himself inferior in front of his classfellows but that's how the world works. For the Crawfords, she was a maid and Travis was the son of their maid.

"We don't belong to their class, sweetheart. They are the elites of this society and we are just some average people. I don't want to see you get hurt by getting close to them." Rose said.

Travis heart broke at her words. He knew Zoey and his world were far apart but hearing this from someone else's mouth just strengthened the doubt in his mind.

"Do you understand what I am saying Travis?" She asked and Travis nodded. She walked closer to him and then patted his head. Although he was considerably taller than her now, he was still her little boy. "I am sure you will be a great man one day. Till then, there are some prejudices in the world and we have to keep them in our mind."

Travis lowered his head and placed a kiss on his mother's forehead. After he had entered his room, he lay down to sleep. But that night, he couldn't sleep and Rose's words keep ringing in his ears

••••••••••

"They chose the worst photo of mine." Althea said as she showed Zoey her photo posted in the newspaper.

"It's cute." Zoey said, not wanting to aggravate Althea by saying it wasn't.

"Cute is the last thing I want to look." Althea said and Zoey rolled her eyes.

They were walking towards the ground to see Ethan and Zachary's practice in the free period. On her way, Zoey found Travis sitting on a bench, engrossed in his study while his other friend Mario was busy ogling at the cheerleaders. Excusing herself from Althea, she made her way to the bench to ask him about their literature presentation.

"Hi." She said.

"Hi," he replied without bothering to lift his head from the book.

"We didn't work on our presentation last week. We just have few more days." She said slowly.

"Okay." Travis replied, still looking disinterested. Mario was watching them with curious eyes and Travis' dryness didn't escape his notice.

"So your house or mine?" She asked, coming straight to the point.

"Neither." He muttered.

"What?" Her eyebrows furrowed.

"We can work during the school hours." He replied calmly, putting his book back in the bag. Then he stood up and towered over her, his eyes narrowed to small slits.

"I don't get it. What happened?" She asked. Last night when he had told her that she was a nice person, it made her feel ecstatic but now, he was back to being a dick and she couldn't figure out why.

"Nothing happened, Zoey. I just don't think we should meet at each other's houses. We aren't friend. We are just two classfellows stuck as partners for the rest of the semester." He replied dryly.

The negativity in his voice caught her off guard and she clenched her fists. She hadn't expected him to be like this after last night's events. Gritting her teeth, she said, "You know what? I don't know what crawled up your ass Anderson and I really don't care. If you want to study, you can come to my house and if you don't, no worries because this won't be the first time I would fail a subject."

Saying this, Zoey turned around and walked back to Althea and Olive. She was done with his stupid mood swings and she was done with him condescending her every time. If they were going to work for the rest of the semesters, it will be on her terms now.

"What happened?" Althea said, noticing her face flushed with anger.

"Nothing." She groaned. "I hate boys. Especially these tall, dark and handsome type with their heads up their asses."

"Tell me about it." Althea agreed and that's when Zoey noticed the look of disgust on her face. Zoey's eyes followed her gaze and landed on Ethan, who had a new girl glued to her.

"That's why I swing the other way." Olive appeared out of nowhere, sweat covering her body and her blonde hair sticking to her neck. She looked like she was just coming back from her soccer practice.

"Olive, go take a bath. You stink." Althea groaned.

"This is what victory smells like, babe. Guess who scored the most goals?" Olive grinned and threw her jersey at Althea after wiping her sweat with it.

"Ew. This is so unhygienic. Go take a bath first." Althea said, throwing the jersey back at her.

"Ugh, fine. I am going." Olive said, raising her hands in defeat.

••••••••••

"Mario told me how you behaved with Zoey today." Maya said once they all were seated inside the car and Travis gave a hard glare to Mario on snitching on him.

"What? Somebody needs to instill some sense into your thick head." He replied and Travis rolled his eyes.

"I did nothing wrong. We are not friends and I just told her that." Travis shrugged carelessly although he could feel both pair of eyes boring holes in his skull.

"But why?" Maya asked in a frustrated voice.

"Because there is a barrier between us." Travis said, remembering what his mother had told him.

"What barrier? There is only one barrier and that's inside your stupid head." Maya smacked his head and he winced in response.

"Are you guys my friends or hers?" He snarled back, revving the engine.

"Yours, idiot. And we know that a part of you wants to be her friend, or maybe more than just friends." Mario added.

"There can never be anything between us." Travis said dryly and started the car.

"Tell that to your junk who gets excited whenever she looks hot." Mario said and earned a kick on his shin from Travis.

"Ew." Maya said. This time, it was Mario who received the smack. "You need to wash your brain with acid, Mario."

"What did I say?" He acted innocent.

Ignoring both of them, Travis kept his eyes on the road and turned the car towards Mario's house.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Is what Rose said true?