The Value of a Life
Chapter 1 Checked Out
A/N: This is the first chapter of my newest story, The Value of Life. It is a high school alternate universe love story between Kate and Humphrey. I imagine the characters, the only oc of which so far is Charlie, to be humans but I will not hate you if you imagine them as wolves or anthro wolves. I only made them as people because I think anthro wolves are unnecessarily confusing. I'm not hating on the stories or the writers that have them (This story is inspired by a few, Kellylad13 mostly). It will probably be more from the perspective of Humphrey (sorry to you female viewers if you can't relate, though I doubt that you exist. If you do, please tell me. I would love to hear a female perspective on my story). Anyways, the story…unless you came here just for my author's notes. In that case, welcome all the same.
(Humphrey's POV)
I awoke to the sound of a loud ringing that seemed to bounce around the walls of my skull. My eyes opened so that I could make sense of the noise. I looked onto the desk that was adjacent to my bed, and to the alarm clock that rested on it, spewing its racket at me. I turned it off saying, "God I hate that sound.". It wasn't that I didn't like to get up early, although I did despise the idea, I just really do not like that alarm sound. It sets me on edge. I was actually on edge a lot lately. I say lately, I mean the past two years of my life in high school. The first day of junior year was not looking optimistic.
I slowly dragged my sixteen year-old body out of bed. I walked to my shower in my underwear, feeling dead inside as I climbed in, obviously after undressing. The shower was quick, but unenergetic. I walked out of the bathroom, after brushing my teeth, clothed only by a towel around my waist. Back in my room, I put on fresh boxers, a light blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and socks. I walked out of my room and downstairs, into the kitchen.
Sitting in the kitchen, I saw my sister, Charlie (short for Charlotte) eating breakfast.
"Morning sleepy head." she said as she took a break from her frosted flakes to talk. She smiled happily. I put on a fake smile, although its emptiness kind of hurt me.
"Good morning Charlie." I said, walking over to her and giving her a hug. We weren't all that close but I did love her all the same.
"You look nice today." I said. It was true but I didn't really mean it. She was beautiful, and even I as her brother could see it. She was 5'11", a few inches shorter than me at 6'3", even though she was almost a whole year older. She was well proportioned and had a symmetric, unblemished face, with long brown hair.
"Are you saying I don't look nice every day?" She asked sarcastically.
"Just take the stupid compliment." I replied, chuckling a little at her sarcasm.
"Thank you." She said. "You look good today too." She continued. I don't know how much truth there was to that. I was tall and had tanned, unmarked skin, apart from a scar on my back from a bicycle accident a few years ago, but it wasn't that big and was hidden most of the time. I also had a fairly muscular build, with visible veins running out from under my shirt, down my forearms and onto the back of my hands. I didn't work out much apart from a short run every day. I guess my body sort of evened out over time. All this being said, I still wouldn't really call myself handsome, and it seemed like most of the girls that I met agreed. I didn't get a whole lot of attention from them, even though a lot of them were fairly good friends.
Pulling myself out of my own thoughts and back to what I was doing, I let go of Charlie, who didn't seem to mind the kind of long hug, and made my way to the fridge. Opening it, I grabbed our milk and set it down on the counter. I poured myself a cup of the coffee that Charlie had made; put the milk and some sugar into it, and took a long sip.
"Thanks." I said. When she turned around to say 'What for?', I pointed to my coffee mug. She smiled at me and turned back around to her breakfast. She knows that I cannot do anything in the morning without this coffee. After downing it quickly, I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. I walked out of the kitchen and put one on the counter next to Charlie on my way.
"You should really eat something." She said. I didn't have much of an appetite lately either. Maybe that more explains my fitness.
"Nah." I said. She gave up, knowing that I wasn't going to.
The other water bottle, I placed in my backpack, which was leaning against the wall by the front door. My black and blue Nike shoes were also there, so I put them on. Out of my backpack, I grabbed my phone, wallet, and keys, and put them in my pockets.
I walked back into the kitchen to grab a pack of gum off of the counter that encircled the room and saw Charlie working on the last bit of her cereal.
"I'm walking to school. Coming with?" I asked. We could drive there but I didn't feel like wasting the gas. I drive a red Ford Mustang 2015 and it isn't the most efficient of vehicles. Charlie doesn't have a car because she doesn't like to drive. She usually just bums a ride from me or one of her friends. Anyway, school wasn't that far away. Both Charlie and I went to Jasper High School, as it is the only high school in Jasper.
"Yeah, just a sec." She answered with food in her mouth.
"K" I said as I pulled out my phone and waited. I turned it on and looked at the screen. I didn't have any messages. 'Sounds about right.' I thought. I returned my phone to my pocket and heard Charlie scooping up the last bites of her cereal before putting her bowl in the sink. She quickly went to the door, put on her shoes, collected her backpack and walked out of the door. I followed behind at a much less energetic pace as I picked up my backpack and walked outside. She was waiting there for me. As we walked the twenty minute trek to school, I remained quiet, occasionally looking at my phone for the time. We were going to be about twenty minutes early.
"So are you excited about junior year?" she asked in an attempt to dissipate the awkward silence.
"Meh." I responded dully. I didn't really feel like talking and I rarely ever did.
"Okay whatever. I tried." She said in exasperation.
"Sorry." I responded. I wasn't trying to make her mad or anything, just not much of a conversationalist.
"It's fine." She said as she pulled out her own phone and put her headphones in to listen to music. The rest of the walk was spent in silence, apart from the music that she was playing too loudly in her earphones. It annoyed me. 'You're just edgy.' I thought to myself, trying not to rip the earphones from her head and yell at her. It worked for long enough for us to make it to school.
Walking through the school's main doors, I said 'Later' to Charlie and walked away from her, down an opposite hallway from hers. On my way down the hallway to my locker, I saw my group of three friends, Salty, Shaky, and Mooch. Salty was, a short, dark haired guy, wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt. Shakey was much taller but rather lanky in appearance. He was wearing skinny jeans and a hoodie. Finally Mooch was a rather over-weight guy, who was sloppily dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie.
As I walked by, Salty said, "Hey Humphrey.". He seemed sort of downtrodden to see me. It was the appropriate response because ever since about the second half of freshman year, I grew away from them. I still considered them my friends and harbored no resentment, but I enjoyed their company less and less. This year I didn't even talk to any of them all summer. I was a miserable person so why would I want them to partake in that?
"Hey.' I responded to all of them, blankly and bluntly as I kept walking. They didn't follow me, knowing that I wasn't going to be great company and that is kind of what I wanted. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone anyway.
I continued beyond them to my locker. Finally reaching it, I opened the lock and inside place my phone, keys and wallet, as to not lose them throughout the day. I had become very forgetful as of late as well.
I was staring off into space with my locker door hanging open. I wasn't really thinking about anything. It was just blank, empty thought. While looking off to my left and staring, I noticed a girl, standing in the middle of the hallway, looking at the classroom numbers. She was wearing a grey shirt, with the neck intentionally cut so large that it only hung off of one shoulder. It was cut kind of high so that when she stood on the tips of her toes to see over people's heads to see the room number, it revealed a couple of inches of the small of her back. She also had on a pair of skinny blue jeans and a pink backpack.
Something about this girl seemed oddly familiar, as if I recognized her long, blonde, wavy hair that flowed effortlessly down her back, or maybe the way she stood, at 5'9" or 10", or just something else about her that would bear recognizing. All that I knew for sure was that she seemed lost.
I shut my locker door and walked over to her. Once I reached her, I tapped her on the shoulder lightly so that she would turn around to face me.
I asked politely, "Excuse me miss, can I ask you something?"
"Umm sure." she answered before turning around fully. When she did she stared at me kind of weird.
"Firstly, do you need help, and secondly, do I know you from somewhere?" I asked, in an attempt to both satisfy my curiosity and provide her some help, something I still liked to do, even though I had become quite the antisocialist.
"Humphrey?" she said, confirming my suspicion that I had seen her before. As she said my name, though, something in my mind clicked. The voice was extraordinarily familiar to me. I raked my mind for a memory of who this girl was. Suddenly I remembered.
"Kate? Kate Williams, is that you?" I asked. Kate had been my best friend from middle school, but before we got to ninth grade, her family moved out of state somewhere, New York I think. It wasn't far from this New Jersey town of Jasper, but it was still a couple of hours' drive. I hadn't seen her since she left.
She beamed a smile at me and closed the small gap between us, giving me a big hug. Of course I returned it. As we stood there embracing, I heard a few exaggerated 'Oooooohhh's from the students around us.
"Oh, shut up" I said to them, not that angrily. Sure it was a bit annoying but I didn't really care. Kate, however, looked like she might have. As soon as she heard them, she let go of me and had a very embarrassed blush on her face. It was pretty endearing.
"Sorry." She muttered.
"Don't worry about it. I don't really mind them." I said as I pointed over my shoulder to the people walking by us. I continued, "Hey so what gives. Why are you back in Jasper?".
"Oh umm, my dad's job is letting him work from home a lot more and he said he liked Jersey better so we moved back."
"That's great."
"Wow, Humphrey. You really filled out." She said, walking in a circle around me.
"Thanks. You too. Can you stop checking me out though?" I said in my usual, sarcastic way. It kind of runs in my family.
"Sorry." She said, returning to my front with that same blush and a emitting a nervous laugh. 'Why is she so embarrassed?' I thought. 'Was she actually checking me out?'
"It's alright." I said, trying to relieve the tension. "So…umm…do you need help finding your classes?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah actually. Here." She said as she handed me her schedule. When I saw it, I did a double take. She had almost the exact same classes as me. We had our first four together, then I had computer science and she had an acting class, then we both had lunch and our last two periods together.
"Cool. You have most of the same classes that I do. You wouldn't be stalking me now, would you?" I said, again sarcastically. She laughed and playfully pushed my shoulder. I continued, "In all seriousness, it is pretty good that we share all these classes. It's gotta be rough being new, especially here. This isn't the most nurturing of environments, since the only people that came here from our middle school are Salty, Shaky, and Mooch."
"Sounds good for you. You've got all your friends." She said.
"Yeah…" I responded plainly. It wasn't really worth telling her how they weren't really my friends anymore. Not to mention that I really don't like to make people feel sorry for me. I hate to be such a downer. That's why I put on a brave face every morning when I see people.
"So…should we get to class yet?" she asked me, pulling me from my contemplations.
"Umm, yeah let's go."
"Alright. Lead the way." she said. I walked her to our first period, Calculus. As we walked, I found it hard not to notice the sway in Kate's hips as she walked. She was so sexy. I tried to not think about her like that. I don't see women as just sexual objects for my viewing pleasure, but man did she look great. Her chest had grown out nicely, her hips were perfectly wide enough, and God did her ass look fantastic. There I go again. No harm was really done by these thoughts; I was just really appreciating how beautiful Kate is.
"Now you're checking me out." Kate said smugly, interrupting my thoughts yet again.
"Huh? Oh, no I was uh just thinking y'know. Sorry." I said embarrassed and only half lying. I was checking her out but I was thinking about it a lot too. The kids that were in the hall with us gave me a 'Really?' look. I tried to ignore it.
"Uh-huh." She said smiling in that same smug way.
"Whatever." I said laughing. That laugh felt really weird to me. It was really genuine and happy, something that hadn't come from a laugh or a smile in a long time. Maybe today would be a good day, unlike the crap streak that I have had the past two years.
We walked the rest of the way to Calculus class in silence. It didn't feel like an empty silence, though. It was more like that nothing needed to be said; we were just enjoying each other's company, rather than just being devoid of talking.
(Time skip: the middle of Calculus class)
Because it was the first day of class, the teacher just gave a short orientation on what was expected from us, what to expect from class, and handed us a curriculum of the homework for the year. She said it was 'subject to additions' which sounded ominous. After that she gave us the rest of the period off. I didn't mind the speech, although it was ungodly boring. It was made much better by the fact that I had Kate sitting next to me because of alphabetical order. Her surname is Williams and mine is Wilson.
"So Humphrey how's your sister?" Kate asked, breaking the silence that I was enjoying but talking to her was just as good.
"A pain in my ass, but she's good. She's a senior now." I said, making it seem like I was joking more than I was. It got a laugh out of Kate. In return I asked, "How's your sister? She ought to be in what, ninth grade now? What was her name? Lilith? Lillian?". I was struggling to remember it.
"Lily. She's good. Yeah she's a freshman now. It's weird how old she's getting. Can you believe that she was born after 2000?" Kate said.
"No. That is weird." I answered. After saying this, I closed my eyes and leaned my head backward. I couldn't actually sleep now because of the caffeine from the coffee, but I was going to give my eyes some rest. I was growing tired of the conversation, not because Kate is boring, but because I was losing my ability to hold one for any duration of time. Nodding off to sleep was the only tactful way of ending the conversation. I was, however, really enjoying having Kate sit next to me. She didn't seem to mind me not talking, and in fact, she went to sleep as well, after letting out a long, relaxed sigh. I calmly sat in my seat with my eyes closed, waiting for the bell to ring. When it did, I stood up, grabbed my bag, and looked back at Kate. She was still asleep. She looked really pretty and peaceful as she slept. We did have to go, so I regretfully woke her up.
Softly, I said, "Kate. It's time to go.".
"Hmmm?" she groaned as she stretched her tired muscles and opened her eyes to look at me. Man, those amber orbs that she called eyes were gorgeous. They looked so bright and happy. I wish I could say the same about mine. To me, they always looked like a cold and dead icy blue.
"Come on Kate. Let's get to second period." I said as I picked up her pink backpack and slung it over my right shoulder. It wasn't very heavy and I didn't mind being seen with that color. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. She got up slowly and admittedly, looked very tired.
"Ok." She responded as she walked with me, out of the classroom. When we made it into the hallway, she wrapped her arms around my left arm and rested her head against it. She closed her eyes as well. As much as I wanted to believe that it meant more, I knew it was just so that she could close her eyes and not walk into things. 'Why did I want it to be more?' I thought. I questioned whether or not I had a crush on her. I wasn't sure, but it seemed reasonable to. She was very attractive and from our previous friendship I knew that she was kind, generous, confident, and most importantly that we got along very well. Anyway, while I was walking her to our next class, English, I resisted a powerful urge to run her into lockers, doors, and the like. I thought maybe she wouldn't like it that much, but it would be funny.
(Time skip: fourth period)
The next two periods had gone much like the first, where there were ten minutes of speeches and then there was free time. During the presentations, Kate barely managed to stay awake, resting her face on her hand the whole time, much to my amusement. After both of which, she fully went to sleep. I kept carrying her stuff between classes. I didn't mind and she seemed to appreciate it.
It was fourth period (physics) now and our physics teacher, Ms. Smith, had just finished her orientation and distributing of curriculums. I liked this classroom. Instead of the normal, one person desks that the others had, this classroom had lab tables, which seated two people. This meant that I got to sit at the same table as Kate, which I was a fan of. Speaking of whom, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Kate was lifting her head off of her hand and was slowly putting it onto the desk.
"You really are tired huh?" I asked her when she began her motion.
"Mhmm." She answered, obviously tiredly. With a smile she said "Goodnight Humphrey.". I thought the way she said it was very cute and I laughed that same genuine laugh again.
"Sweet dreams Kate." I replied. Finally completing the resting of her head, she laid it down on my arm, which had been lying on the table. It surprised me even though it was really no different than when we were walking in the hall. Still, I wasn't expecting it, but I made no objections. It was actually quite comforting to have her this close and I was happy to help in anyway. Speaking of being close, she was actually close enough for me to smell her perfume. It wasn't particularly noticeable, but if you had noticed it, you would have called it sweet and definitely feminine. I liked it.
At this moment I felt her soft breathing on my forearm. It wasn't as annoying as it sounds. It was actually making me want to sleep too. Well, what I really wanted was to lay my head down against hers and kiss her an actual goodnight. Why was I thinking like that so much? I should go and have a talk with my psychologist about this. Ugh, my psychologist. I liked her as a person but it is always really depressing to go and see her to talk about, well, my depression. I have felt this way for the past two years. She says that it is because of all the stress involved in high school and everything, but we're still not entirely sure. Today felt better than most though.
Anyways, because I couldn't really go to sleep, I elected to just stare at the wall and have a long think, about Kate, my life, and everything in general. I do this a lot. I catch myself just sitting still for a half of an hour, blankly staring at something. Most of the time I'm thinking, but sometimes, when I'm having more of a bad day with my depression, I just stare with nothing. My thoughts would be completely empty. Those days are the worst.
(Time skip: end of period)
The bell rang, but this time the sound of the other students leaving was enough to wake Kate. She got up, off my arm, still evidently tired but it looked like her naps had helped. I got up too, put my backpack on, and once again lifted hers. Then I realized that our next classes were different. As Kate stood up, she once again stretched her muscles and looked at me.
"Morning Humphrey." Kate joked.
"Morning Kate. How was your sleep?" I asked, laughing
"Surprisingly good. This desk is softer than it looks."
"Oh yeah?" I asked sarcastically, holding up my arm, showing the slight, red pressure mark that was on my arm were she had her head, and laughing.
"Oh, I'm sorry Humphrey. Look I got some makeup on you and now you'll smell like my perfume." Kate said rubbing my arm in an attempt to get the substance which I believe is known as blush off of me. I only laughed some more.
"Kate that's like the third time you've apologized today and you still didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry about it. I'll wash this off and I don't mind the smell. You actually smell really nice." I said. Oh God! I hope that didn't come out as weird as I thought it did. She laughed at the stunned expression that I had when I realized what I had said.
"Thank you. You smell good too. And for what it's worth, you make a really great pillow."
"I try." I said. We were rudely interrupted in our moment by Ms. Smith saying 'You guys should get to class.'
Looking back from the teacher and to Kate, I said, "She is right. We should get going. So, your next class is three doors down the hallway on the right and mine is a little bit up the hallway." I held up her backpack, as to help her get her arms through the straps. "After fifth period is lunch. I'll come down to your class and pick you up and then we can go. Sound good?" I said as we walked out of the classroom.
"Sounds great. And Humphrey, thanks for everything." Kate said, hugging me as the last sentence was voiced. I hugged her back. We might have gotten a few more 'Ooohhh's this time but I didn't pay any attention to the people around me. I was just enjoying the contact that I had with her.
We broke it and I said, "You're welcome. I'll talk to you later.". She began to walk away, but before she got too far, I said "And Kate, try not to get into trouble for falling asleep."
She turned around, smiling, and said "Oh haha." before walking away.
The next forty minutes of my life were spent in computer science, playing video games while the teacher was telling me how boring his class was going to be. All that I could think about was Kate and how much I was looking forward to seeing her again. While she was gone, my face went back to its usual way of feeling as if it weighed a ton and I couldn't bring it up to smile if I tried.
After that monotony of a class was over, I went to pick up Kate at her class. She was there waiting for me, as expected.
"You ready to go?" I asked politely.
"Yeah, but umm…can my sister sit with us?"
"Sure. Lily's cool and I normally sit alone or with my sister anyway."
"Thanks. If I can see her in the cafeteria, I'll wave her down."
When we got into the cafeteria, I quickly got my food from the school menu and sat down at an empty table, as had become normal. Kate did the same and kept an eye out for Lily. Eventually she found her. Lily came over with her food and sat down across from Kate and I. Why Kate chose to sit right next to me when we had the whole table to ourselves is beyond me.
As Lily sat down, she said, "So Kate, who's you're guy friend?"
She answered, "Oh, Lily you remember Humphrey Wilson right?"
"What? That can't be him. Humphrey was that short, little boy in your grade in middle school." Lily said, although I'm pretty sure she believed Kate.
"Yeah what is up with that? Now you're like six inches taller than me." Kate asked me.
"Growth spurt? How would I know? I was convinced this whole time that everyone around me was shrinking." I said jokingly. I noticed that Lily's body had matured also, but not to the same degree as Kate's. It still freaked me out that I was having a conversation with someone who was born after 2000.
"Maybe." Kate said in a laugh.
"So Kate why were you so tired in class?" I asked.
"I have no idea. Maybe looking at you just exhausts me." Kate said sarcastically.
"Really? All that excitement you feel making you drowsy?" I retorted knowing that I had bested her comment. She laughed nervously again and had that same blush as earlier. As she looked away from me in embarrassment, Lily mouthed something along the lines of 'What is that all about?'. I shrugged my shoulders.
The three of us finished lunch (I was actually surprised that I ate at all) and Kate and I said good bye to Lily to go to our next classes. The rest of the day went normally. Kate managed to stay awake through seventh period and eighth was Phys Ed so she didn't get an opportunity to sleep. That whole period, I was staring at her. She had changed into a tank top and short-shorts. Her legs looked so amazing. Thankfully, I don't think she noticed. After that, I said goodbye to Kate and received a goodbye hug in return.
On my way out of school, I collected my things from my locker and waited at the main entrance for Charlie. She got there, about ten minutes late, and we left to walk home. She had never been much of the responsible one. On the way she asked me about my day at school, being aware of my depression, and for once I said 'pretty good'. I also made mention of Kate's return to Jasper. After her numerous attempts to connect the two, I held strong and did not reveal that I might 'like' Kate. Finally we reached the house and my day was done.
A/N: Kinda long right? I wouldn't expect all of the chapters to be like this. I had a lot of ideas and no real, good place to end it before I did. I did, however, enjoy the level of detail that I was able to go into as compared to my other story, which if you haven't read, I've heard that it's worth a look. Anyway, please tell me what you think of the chapter. I'd really like some feedback.
See you next chapter,
-Nick (Ncham9)