Luckily, I had more determination to write this next chapter, and I'm glad to have been able to put it up earlier than I usually update.
The population of the anthropomorphic wolves spread throughout the rest of the world, having originated in the Eastern hemisphere. Now North and South America have been founded. But this happened countless years ago. Now we move our story to the city of Jasper, Canada.
Humphrey Chambers, a grey wolf, was walking through the streets of his neighborhood outside of Jasper, just after dusk, with a flashlight in one hand, and a travel bag in the other. He doesn't normally go out after dark, but he couldn't turn down what has just come up earlier that day. He got an invitation from his friend, Kate Ramirez, to visit her for a sleepover. He has visited her many times before, but this is the first overnight invitation. But Humphrey found out that Kate had also invited her boyfriend, Garth Burton, to join them.
This didn't give Humphrey as high of hopes as he wished; he has been deeply in love with Kate ever since the start of middle school 3 years ago, but she has already been taken by Garth, which caused him a great devastation when he found out. Not only that, but going to this sleepover was just going to make him feel like a third wheel…
But, regardless, he couldn't say no to her. It was just not in him. She only lived three streets away, so getting there on foot was not a difficult task. He turned off his light as he made his way up the driveway, and rang the doorbell. "Come in!" he heard Kate's mother, Eve Ramirez, shout from another room. Humphrey opened the front screen door, and came inside. "Hello?" he said loudly, "Kate? Lilly?" He heard footsteps, and a young female wolf with golden fur appeared. Kate.
Her face lit up, "Humphrey!" she said in delight, before rushing over and giving him a hug. Humphrey gave all of his passion as he returned the hug. "I'm so glad you came!" she said. Suddenly, Kate's younger sister, Lilly, appeared from the hallway. Lilly looked much different than Kate; her fur was pure white, she was shorter than Kate, and her mane had more of a comb-over to the side of her head rather than the back, like with most of the other wolves.
"Humphrey, you're here!" she said, also coming over to hug him. Humphrey only gave her a friendly hug with moderate passion. "Alright, what's going down?" said a voice that Humphrey knew all too well…and sure enough, it was Garth, a large wolf with rust-red fur. He came out the same hallway Lilly came out of. "What!?" he said the second he saw Humphrey, "Who invited you, Coyote?"
Coyote…that was the nickname Garth and his friends gave Humphrey at school. He didn't like it. But Garth thought it made sense, because he was burly and muscular, while Humphrey was thin and scrawny. But, Kate was shorter than Humphrey, even if by a few inches, so why hasn't Garth called her Coyote? 'Cause their all boyfriend-girlfriend. Humphrey thought with disgust.
Garth and Kate were more of the popular people at their school. They won the elections for the Sophomore King and Queen at the Homecoming. Humphrey was one of the lower-level students; not very popular or easy to recognize. The opinions of others in the yearbook were filled with comments on them being together ("Yeah, I think Burton and Ramirez are perfect for each other." "They're such a cute couple. 3" "I can never picture them with anyone else…"). Humphrey was so angry as he read all of these comments, that he ended up throwing his yearbook copy against the wall, taking it outside, and shooting it with his airsoft rifle (his pistol's turn came afterwards). School has just ended for the summer a few days ago, (Thank God, no homework for over two months… Humphrey thought), so their relationship won't be supported by a large group.
Humphrey only thought for a split second before Kate answered Garth's question: "I invited him, Garth. Don't be a stick in the mud about it." Garth narrowed his eyes, "But, why him?" Kate also gave him a stern look, "Because, he's my friend. I really like him, and I figured that a sleepover wouldn't hurt." Humphrey decided to interject: "Yeah, don't ruin everybody's night, Barf." Humphrey snickered in his head as he said this. Since Garth had given Humphrey a bad nickname, why not give him one? He was thankful to have watched "Spaceballs" to give him the idea.
Garth glared, "It's 'Garth'!" he said, furiously. Kate raised a brow, "Hey, that's my line!" she said. Humphrey and Lilly laughed a little. "So," Kate started, "what should we do, now that we're all here?" Garth was suddenly struck from behind by something cloth-like. It was Lilly, with a pillow in her hand, "Pillow fight!" she shouted. Garth rushed to grab another pillow, "Oh, you're not gonna get away with that!" he said, rushing towards her. Lilly squealed and ran across the room.
Humphrey laughed, Sure, they may be for 6-year-olds, he thought, but…oh, what the hell? He made a dash for a pillow on the sofa, and smacked Garth over the head. Kate rushed after Lilly, grabbing her by the tail and hitting her with a pillow repeatedly. All of them were either laughing or screaming with joy.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Eve was in her bed, reading a book. But this was hard due to the noise from downstairs. She set the book down, "Winston!" she called into the bathroom. "Yes, honey?" her husband, who had just come out of the shower, replied. "Would you mind telling those four to quiet down out there?" she nudged her head towards the door. Winston smiled, "Oh, Eve. They're just kids. C'mon, let them have their fun." Eve sighed, "If you say so." She said, absently, turning on the television to block out the noise.
The four young wolves continued to fight for 15 more minutes, before Kate and Humphrey managed to disarm Lilly and Garth, get them on the floor, and hit them both over and over. It wasn't too long before they started to slow down and pant. "I'm tired…" said Humphrey. "I'm hungry," said Kate, "you guys wanna order some pizza?" she asked all three of them. "Heh, you read my stomach!" Lilly said while sitting up again. Humphrey's mouth began to water, "Yeah, and it should have pepperoni, and mushrooms…" Kate continued: "…and sausage, and garlic…" Lilly picked up next: "…and olives, and parmesan…" Garth chimed in as he stood up: "…and apple slices, and shrimp, and white chocolate…"
Everybody looked at Garth as though they just tasted a tart lemon. "…What?" he said, "It's actually pretty good!" Kate made her way to the phone, "Well, let's just make it a reasonable order…" she said. She called Dominoes and requested two large pizzas with the toppings they wanted (though, definitely not Garth's…). She hung up the phone and went straight to her room. A few minutes later, she came out rifling through her purse.
"Oh, Kate!" Humphrey said suddenly, "We can pay for you!" Kate simply continued to search, "I-it's fine, Humphrey. I've got cash to burn, anyhow…" Humphrey walked up to her, "Kate, really, it's no big deal. I brought twenty dol-" "No, Humphrey. You're my guest, and I have to host this event for everyone." The four decided to let Kate pay half of the $36 while the other three paid for the other half. It was about 15 minutes before the pizzas arrived. After they paid, Kate carried them straight to the kitchen.
They opened the two boxes to find two half-and-half, 18-inch pizzas. One was pepperoni on one half, on the other was pepperoni and mushroom. The second one consisted of a sausage side, and an olive side. The smell was very appetizing to all four of them. "Break out the soda, Lilly!" said Kate. Lilly nodded, went into the garage, and came back with two 2-liter bottles. One was Coca-Cola, and the other was root beer. "Let's eat!" said Humphrey. Everyone grabbed their first slice and each filled a glass with their desired beverage. They pretty much gorged at everything.
They continued until very little of the pizza remained, and the soda was almost gone. All of them lay on the floor from overeating. Kate had her lips pressed to a glass like she was still drinking from it, but it was empty. She lifted it, "S-so much…alimento…" she moaned with a Spanish accent on the last word as she dropped the glass, and it rolled away. Garth lay on two chairs with a pizza box on his face. He, too, lifted it to speak, "I will not eat…for-*hic*-for a hell of a long time…" he took another bite of pizza, and put the box back over his face. Humphrey was the first to summon the strength to stand, "Well…wha' should we do now…?" he asked.
Lilly, laying on the countertop, put her hand in the air, "I've got an idea!" she said, weakly. Humphrey sighed, "Yes, Lilly, what is it?" Lilly sat up, "How about we watch Bad Lip Reading?" Kate and Garth stood bolt upright, "Yes! I haven't seen those in, like, two weeks!" said Garth. "Damn, those vids have a direct line to my funny bone!" said Kate, enthusiastically, "I'll boot up my laptop!" she said afterward. They followed Kate to her room, where she logged on to her computer, accessed YouTube, and searched up "Bad Lip Reading".
There were quite a lot of results. They watched Twilight, The Hunger Games, Jeff Who Lives At Home, High School, and several music videos. They could not understand how whoever made these videos could match up the words with the lipsyncing. Sometimes it made sense, other times it didn't. But they were just plain Hilarious with capital "H". All four of them laughed so hard that tears leaked out of their eyes. "O-o-o-o-oh my Go-o-o-o-d!" Humphrey said while laughing, "This stuff is pri-i-i-i-iceless-s-s-s-s-s!"
Just as they thought they were all about to suffocate from excessive laughter, the four wolves decided to take a break. They went outside in Kate's backyard to get some air, where Kate and Humphrey lay side-by-side on the large trampoline, staring at the sky. Lilly and Garth, meanwhile, were playing checkers on the patio. As Garth Kinged his fourth player, he let out a sigh. Lilly looked up from the board, "What's wrong?" she asked. "Well, I really want to spend a bit of time with Kate. But I know trying won't work, 'cause she's just been attached to the Coyote all night."
Lilly smiled, "Well, you two have spent a lot of time together. Why not just take a little break, like Kate?" Garth darted his eyes back and forth uncertainly. He was her boyfriend. It was his duty to be at her side whenever possible. He started to think Lilly said that because she was jealous; he knew that she was still single. Then again…maybe Kate just wants a little time apart? "Well…alright. I give Kate some space." He said, knowing he couldn't deny what Kate wanted. Lilly nodded, "Good. It's not a big deal, really." And with that, they resumed their game.
Kate and Humphrey lay on the trampoline, looking at the stars. "I've always wondered…" Kate said, "…how do you find the North Star?" she asked Humphrey. The grey wolf pointed towards the northern sky as he spoke, "Well, first you look at the Big Dipper, follow the direction that the rim of the ladle points, and you find the Little Dipper, with the North Star on the end of the handle." Kate followed the direction Humphrey pointed, and eventually found it.
"Oh yeah!" Kate said, "It does look somewhat distinguishable from other stars, to be honest." She looked away from it, and at the rest of the sky, "But all of them are just beautiful, aren't they?" Humphrey nodded, "Yep." He said, looking back up, "Up above the world, so high. Like tiny Crystals in the sky…" Kate looked over curiously, "Crystals?" she asked. Humphrey made eye contact again, "What?" he responded. "I'm pretty sure it's 'diamonds', not 'crystals'."
Humphrey was confused, "Well, I meant to say 'diamonds'…but why would 'crystals' jump out of my mouth…?" Kate shrugged her shoulders. Afterwards, they both fell silent for a while more. Kate placed her hand on Humphrey's forearm. Humphrey's eyelids shot upwards and he inaudibly gasped. He started patting the trampoline nervously with his other hand. Kate had never done this before. Plus her touch felt…different from how he has always felt it as. Instead of being casual or friendly, the sensation seemed full of care and passion. It was quite pleasant to Humphrey.
Kate was taken at how soft Humphrey's fur was. Garth's fur was very coarse and ragged, which made it difficult to make physical contact with him. But Humphrey…the sensation of his soft, silk-like fur was something she wanted to experience every day. She couldn't remove her hand, not just on account of the feeling, but also because she thought Humphrey would enjoy it, too. After a bit more time, she decided to move closer to him.
As Kate pressed her side to his, Humphrey started to blush a bit, "Uh…Kate…ah…heh heh…eh, what are you doing?" Kate looked into his teal eyes, "Oh, well, I just wanted…well…y'know…extra warmth…?" Humphrey smiled, and he moved closer to her as well. Kate let out a relieved hum as she snuggled her head up against Humphrey's chest. "Thanks, Humphrey. Is this alright for you?" Humphrey stammered as he spoke: "O-oh, it feels p-pretty girl-p-p-pretty good! Pretty g-good. Yeah, it feels…pretty good."
"Good," said Kate, "I'm glad you're not stubborn, like Garth." The two lay for a good period of time. Humphrey had several thoughts going through his head: Damn, how is all of this happening? He said in his head, Don't question it, Humphrey. Just enjoy it. He closed his eyes as he wrap his arms around Kate, and the two became more distant from the world as time passed…
Confused? I have to admit, I am (even with my own writing). Anyways, I was thankful to have a better motivation to write this sooner; I figured that a prologue left alone was too vague. That's it for now! Keep holding on…