"The Value of a Life"
Chapter 7 Drugs Are Bad, M'kay? (Rewritten)
Sorry this is so long. 6.7k chapter.
Forgot the favorite review when I first posted. So I'll put two :/
"Great chapter i believe that it came out quite nicely and look at humphrey the perfect gentlemen if i was in the predicament kates in i wouldnt mind waking up to humphrey next to me ;) and oh the puns lol there great! Everytime you come out with a new chapter i go on a roller coaster of emotions excitement when i see the chapter blliss when im reading the chapter and sadness when it over" –Wolfies soul
"Awesome chapter. You gotta love over thinking any situation, as it usually leads to very bad thoughts or to high of expectations.. lol. I love how you compared Kates eyes to the tranquility of wood burning in a fireplace. Nice choice of words there. Also It seems as if someones hormones are invading their thoughts as they become more comfortable. We shall see where the road leads ;) Very good work Nick, keep it up." –Squid84
(Humphrey's POV)
My eyes shot open to a loud, rhythmic sound seemingly inches away from my ears, rousing me from a very pleasant dream involving me, Kate, and some large piles of money. Once I made sense of the music, I exclaimed a hushed "Oh shit.". I forgot to turn off the alarm on my phone, greatly interfering with the plan to wake up before Kate. Frustration included, it was hard not to smile as I turned it off, remembering who set the alarm in the first place. Thinking about that person, I looked from my phone to a lightly grumbling and squirming form on the bed in front of me and I froze as to not make any further sound. Eventually, Kate's stirring subsided with a sigh and I stopped holding my breath.
I got up and walked to the bathroom and washed my face in the sink to cleanse the sleep from my eyes. The cold water energized my loose, tired skin and I looked up from my cupped hands to see myself in the mirror. The same, cold, blue eyes as always stared back at me grudgingly, so I splashed another cold wave of water into my cheeks, turned off the water and walked out into the hall to think about what my next move would be. Kate was probably still sleeping off the drugs and I hadn't said a word to Lily, so breakfast would be a nice gesture, but I couldn't leave Kate to go get some. I'd have to tell her sister to watch her, and then I could ask what they would eat.
I walked down the hall to Lily's room and stood in the entryway, peering through the still open door. I knocked gingerly on the doorframe. Lily resentfully picked her head up from her pillow and looked over her shoulder at me with glaring eyes. She looked absolutely ridiculous lying on her front on top of her blankets, with her limbs spread out like a starfish over her bed, and trying to have an angry expression.
"What?" she asked grumpily.
"Sorry it's just…I…I was going to get breakfast but I didn't want to just leave Kate." I said, burning a hole into her carpet with my eyes as then noticed her attire, a blue tank-top and black sleep shorts. "I-I should have waited for you to come down so you could get dressed, sorry.". She sat up on her bed to face me.
"Humphrey, it's like seven in the morning on a Saturday." She grumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She noticed my flushed, timid expression and sighed. "It's ok Humphrey, I'm not naked or anything.". I brought my eyes up to make contact with hers and I saw her smiling kindly at me. I grinned back, happy that I hadn't actually angered her with the intrusion. "So, you said something about breakfast." She said, encouraging me to continue conversation.
"Y-Yeah. Do you guys like McDonalds?" I continued, annoyed by my persistent stuttering.
"Yeah, that sounds great."
"Well, what would you like?"
"A couple of sausage egg mcmuffins please." She entreated sweetly.
"Okay. What do you think for your sister?" I asked, holding back a chuckle and toothy smile at how nice Lily can be when she's not threatening me.
"Probably the same." She suggested, rising to her feet from the bed and starting toward me.
"Starbucks?" I asked as she came closer to me.
"Vanilla Frappuccinos." She answered, tiptoeing further. It was like sharks, slowly creeping towards prey.
"Got it." I spouted nervously as she stepped to within feet of me, staring me down quizzically. "U-Umm…" I said as I tried to speak, only to have the words catch in my throat, and she stepped forward once more, so I had to look down to see her pale face, covered delicately by almost purely white bangs, probably a whole foot below mine.
"Why do you always look so scared?" she asked, through narrowed eyes.
"I-I...umm…I'm not scared." I declared, possibly able to intimidate a fly in the room. I shifted uncomfortably on my toes and fidgeted my clammy hands at my sides. She leaned forward slowly and menacingly, before her arms moved abruptly and violently. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but she only reached around my shoulders and gave me a quick hug.
"Not scared my ass." She said, giggling to herself. I stood there, growing increasingly wary of the power that she was gaining over me, a truly terrifying thought, before deciding that a change of subject was in order.
"So, you're going to keep an eye out for Kate right?" I said, retreating from her clutches.
"She's just sleeping. I'm sure she can manage that by herself." She quipped back.
"If she burns the house down it's your fault." I said as I started to walk away, feeling appropriately indemnified.
Before I made it down the stairs, I heard her softly say "Thank you."
From the bottom of the stairs, I yelled up, "You're welcome."
I walked back into the house fifteen minutes later with a large bag of breakfast sandwiches and three coffees, thinking about how I maybe shouldn't have left it unlocked with only the two girls in the house, but I let myself forget it because it was morning already and a pretty nice neighborhood. I closed the front door behind me with a much louder than intended slam, and placed the food on the counter in the kitchen, before walking back upstairs to make Lily aware of my return.
When I was able to peer over the stairs and into the hall, I could see Lily's door at the end, open and showing her asleep on the bed again. 'She's surely an accountable one huh?' I thought to myself. I continued up and to her room where I knocked on the doorframe again and in a low tone, said "Lily, I'm back.". She wormed around a little before starting to get up.
I left her to her own devices as I walked into Kate's room. I prayed that she wouldn't mind me waking her up as I sauntered over to her bedside and just about whispered her name. Upon hearing my voice, a smile crept across her face and she stretched her arms, before opening her eyes with a flutter.
"Hi Humph." She said in a delicate tenor as she looked up at me. There was something deeply warming to know that the first thing she saw in the morning was me and that made her smile.
"Good morning. I got you guys McDonalds and Starbucks." I said, cheerily reciprocating her happiness and noticing the way she still looked beautiful when waking up and with, as far as I could tell, no makeup on.
"You didn't have to get us breakfast. I invited you over here."
"It doesn't matter if I have to, I wanted too." I said while I started to make my way out of the room and back downstairs.
"Wait up." She said as she practically jumped out of bed to follow me. I obliged her request and walked down with her at my side. At the kitchen table, we saw Lily voraciously eating without us, but I took it as a form of gratitude.
"Hi Lils." Kate greeted. Lily looked up from the death stare she had on her food to wave at Kate with a free hand.
She took a break from chewing to say "Humphrey got breakfast." and handed Kate her sandwiches.
"I know." She responded. I noticed that Lily had taken only her two sandwiches and Kate's from the bag, leaving in it another pair, and three hash brown patties.
"Lily, I got you a hash brown too, even though you didn't ask." I explained, grabbing my three items and doling out the other two patties. I un-wrapped my sandwich, broke the hash brown down the middle, and put one half inside. "That's how I like to eat my mcmuffins.". They both looked at me like I was from outer space. "What?"
"You're weird." Kate chastised me, although doing the same to her sandwiches. "Hey how'd you know that I like sausage egg mcmuffins?"
"A little birdie told me." I responded, pointedly glancing at Lily's indignant face.
"I'd say I'm at least a big birdie." Lily exclaimed, almost being able to sound irate.
"You're right, more of an ostrich really –Ow!" I said sarcastically, earning a not incredibly hard, but still far from soft punch in the arm from across the table.
"If anything, I'm a penguin." She declared.
"Okay, you're an emperor penguin." I stipulated in defeat, however, still managing to deserve another punch. "Ow!" I cried, rubbing my now tender shoulder. "What was that for?"
"Empress." She defended and it wasn't worth mentioning how that doesn't make sense because it's the species name.
"I don't think that would hold up in court." I said, not learning my lesson about sarcasm and still rubbing my sore arm. I stopped when I felt something else doing it for me with a smaller, electrifyingly warm hand. I looked to my right to see Kate looking at me and soothingly rubbing my bicep, or again, what passes for one. I smiled appreciatively at her, before turning back to Lily. "So this is how you treat me when I go and get you free food?". She just laughed my comment off.
"Why did you do that anyway?" Kate asked from beside me.
"Well, I'm the only guy here, I woke up early, and you're sick, so guy code pretty much demands it. Lily's just lucky I'm being nice." I said with a cheeky grin. Kate scoffed at my answer and retracted her arm, much to my dislike, and crossed it with her other.
The younger girl sardonically chimed in, "If you call waking me up before the earth exists on a Saturday morning being nice."
"And what does you being a guy have to do with it?" Kate asked in faux anger.
"Chivalry. I'm more commonly known as Sir Humphrey of the round table." I said with a voice full of fake bravado and gesturing to the geometry of the furniture on which we were eating. The two girls laughed at me, which is hard to complain about, considering the huge ass I was making of myself. I tried to go back to eating before my food got cold because cold egg sandwiches don't really strike my fancy.
The rest of the meal was spent in relative silence, excluding the sound of Lily sucking air through her straw into the coffee that she finished five minutes prior. I rubbed the temples of my head, very aware of the fact that my coffee had not yet given me enough energy to slap the cup from her hands.
I pleaded, "Lily, for God's sake, stop, please.". In response, she graciously continued her slurping, but at a much higher decibel. I found myself wishing more and more that stabbings weren't't illegal. Thankfully, I didn't have to resort to killing. Kate snatched the cup from Lily and collected our garbage that had accumulated on the table.
"Hey!" Lily exclaimed, crossing her arms and pouting, possibly ironically, but I believed it. "There was still some whipped cream on the bottom!". Kate didn't pay any attention to her outbursts and continued to the trash can, sneakily hidden in one of the cabinets under the countertop.
"I'm gonna watch some TV." She said as she turned and started to walk toward the kitchen door behind me. On her way past, she grabbed my head under my jaw and kissed me sweetly on the cheek, which turned a deep shade of crimson. "Thank you." She said and continued on her path, almost in a skip. I froze at the contact, staring widely at Lily as my cheek seared when her lips touched it and felt contrastingly numb afterward. I absentmindedly rubbed the skin with my fingers and looked at Lily questioningly.
"What?" she asked.
I mouthed back, 'What was that about?' and she shrugged her shoulders in response. I then glared an accusation at her.
"What now?" she asked, sounding annoyed.
"Why aren't you that grateful?" I joked.
"So that's the reason you did this. You were just pining for kisses." She said in thankfully a hushed tone, so that we couldn't be heard in the other room.
"No, but it wouldn't hurt if you took a break from beating me up to say thanks." I retorted, still not grasping the concept of what sarcasm gets me. "What are you doing?" I asked as she got up and started walking around the table toward me. She stared intently at me, and I suddenly empathized with gazelles under the watch of a lion. I tried to scramble out of my chair, but it was too far gone. I realized that I was way too late to make a difference as I was able to rise to a stand before being forced to the ground by the small girl and receiving a small peck on the opposite cheek from Kate's. "Blecc." I spat as I started to rub my face to get whatever she left, off of me. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and got up.
"Happy?" she asked bitterly.
"I was happier before-Oof!" I said, propping myself up on my elbow, and receiving a responsorial, soft kick in the ribs. I finally took the hint to shut my stupid, war-mongering mouth. 'That's it. I'm swearing off kissing. It brings nothing but trouble.' I thought to myself before quickly rescinding it at the thought of the difference between Kate's touch and Lily's. There was something magical and entrancing about the way that her soft, plump lips graced my skin that led me to only imagine the fireworks they would light if they met mine.
I rose from the ground in a bit of shame, because of the size of the person that put me there. I had to have had at least 70 pounds over her and she pushed me over like I was nothing. I trudged my way through the kitchen and into the living room, to join Kate on the couch. We sat in a bit of awkward silence as I'm sure we were both thinking about the last thing that happened between us, until I suggested that we continue playing The Last of Us. We spent most of our lazy day getting much further in our progress into the game and time seemed to slip away until I realized that it had become dark outside. Kate just died in the game and handed me the controller after the gruesome death scene, nuzzling into my arm like yesterday. I paused the game and turned to talk to her.
"So Kate, when are your parents coming back." I said, realizing that as far as I knew, they were about to come home any minute and beat the ever loving shit out of me for some suggestive reason.
"Tomorrow night." She replied. "Why? Do you want to go?" she asked somberly.
"N-No." I answered in my recent, awkward, stuttering fashion. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm never usually this…frazzled when it comes to talking. It's usually blunt, hollow conversations. "I-I just wanted to know if you wanted me to stay again." I said, avoiding eye contact again and awaiting a harsh rejection.
"Only if you want to." She replied, unsurely burrowing her head into my shoulder.
"Sure. I'm having fun." I said, feeling her rub against the soft cotton of my t-shirt and holding back the real amount of my excitement. Thinking about my t-shirt, I was suddenly hyperaware of the fact that I had been wearing it for a while and conscious of the possible grime accumulating and probably permeating through her nose. I shifted uncomfortably her.
"You smell nice." She blurted out suddenly and out of the blue. How could she be reading my mind like that? She must just be a really good liar.
"Really, because I haven't showered at all today?" I said, full of suspicion.
She laughed and said "Yeah, it's kinda manly and outdoorsy.". Yup, she is just a really good liar. No, she's not a liar, just impossibly nice and a mind reader.
"Thanks." I said honestly, albeit nervously. "Hey don't you need to take your meds again?"
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot." She said as she popped up from the couch and scampered off into the kitchen, where I could once again hear the pill bottle rattling. "So where did you sleep?" she asked, seeming randomly.
"Umm…I kinda slept in your room in the corner. Sorry I didn't ask first but you fell asleep on the couch and…and I carried you up to your room and…I was kinda too worried to leave you alone and you don't have a guest room anyway, so I sat on the floor."
"That's okay. Thanks for caring." She said fondly. It struck a chord of curiosity as to where she originally intended me to sleep but I thought she probably didn't really think it through.
She came back and we continued playing the game for a little while as the drugs started to kick in. I noticed that as she played, she was getting worse and worse with the shooting, the sneaking, and her reaction times. I looked at her face to see her with tired looking, half-closed eyes and her mouth hanging open. I looked back to the screen to see her walking in circles.
"Kate? You alright?" I asked earnestly.
"Em fin" she said in slowed, slurred speech.
"Tired?" I asked, chuckling a bit at how she was completely gone.
"Little bit." She responded as she shakily held up her index finger and thumb in a gesture to show a small amount, but then stared at it intensely. "Woah!" She said, sounding incredibly surprised and interested in her two digits. "I think dass the closest anyone's finger's ever been." she said and I stifled a loud laugh with a hand over my mouth. "Humphwey call the news." She commanded sleepily.
"Come on Kate. Let's get to bed, alright?" I insisted, standing to turn off the ps4 and the lights before, extending my hand to help her up.
"Alright." She said sloppily and grabbed my hand. I pulled her from the couch and wrapped her right arm over my shoulder and holding her under her left. As I walked her to the stairs, she started giggling profusely.
"What's so funny." I asked, hoping to hear more off her drug induced comedy gold.
"Nothing. Just you asking me to get to bed." She responded snickering into her palm while I did the lion's share of walking for the both of us.
"Oh." I said as my cheeks burned under my skin. At least she won't remember any of this. I hope. I walked her up the stairs, on which she tripped three separate times only to be caught by me, I helped her to her room, and closed the door behind me. I walked over to my corner and looked back at Kate, to see her stepping out of her pajama bottoms and already with her top off. "Oh sorry!" I almost squealed as I snapped a hand over my eyes. Sure I had seen her in her underwear only a couple of days ago but that was sober Kate and this sure as hell wasn't, so I wasn't going to take advantage. High-as-a-kite Kate didn't seem to notice the problem at all as I heard her climb into bed and under her comforter.
I sighed in relief, removed my hand from my face, and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. I looked back up to the bed and saw Kate staring back at me.
"What?" I asked.
"You can sleep in the bed if you want." She soffered, thankfully still sounding like a dumb drunk, otherwise, I might have obliged that.
"No Kate." I said sternly. It would not be very gentlemanly or responsible to get into bed with a girl whose head is on cloud nine and who I probably have feelings for. I knew that I had to treat the situation the same way I would if she had too much to drink.
"Why not?" she asked, sitting up on her bed and distractingly letting her blankets roll off of her.
"Because you're all drugged up." I said, causing her to pout at me like a baby. "Kate, I…" I started.
She interrupted me loudly, almost sadly asking "Don't you think I'm pretty?".
"Kate you're very pretty." I said with probably more honesty than was necessary and surprise at the outlandishness of the question.
"Then why won't you sleep with me?" she asked a little too loudly, rising from the bed and exposing the entirety of her half-naked self. So that's what she was implying by 'you can sleep in the bed'. That's not fair God! You can't make her that smart and funny and beautiful and nice and then make her vulnerable, naked, and horny. That's a really low blow.
"No Kate. You don't mean that." I said with pained words. "I-I…I should go." I said standing up and getting ready to leave. When I got onto my feet, she ran over and blocked my way to the door.
"Please don't leave." She practically begged. She started getting really worked up and almost like she was about to cry. I tried to calm her with a shy, tentative hand on her shoulder, as if I thought her skin might burn me.
"H-Hey, shh. It's okay, don't cry." I comforted. She lunged forward and brought her arms around me. I heard her sharp intakes of air and felt inordinately guilty as I held my arms up in the air like I was proving myself unarmed. She seemed to sob a little harder. It took an incredible degree of will power to not cry myself, as wimpy as that sounds, so in an attempt to cease her balling, I brought my arms around her back, placed high and platonically. She brought one of her hands from my back to hers, and grabbed my arm to move it lower. Despite the internal war it caused me, I was able to stop my hands at her waist, refusing to go lower. It felt really wrong and forced but at the same time her skin was so soft and warm and I could feel the ridges of her hips in my palm.
She was calming down and everything seemed like it might be okay and that I could just slip out of the room. Suddenly, she moved her hand to my chest and started to trace a line down it with her finger. No matter how tantalizing and attractive the offer was, I had to stop this before it got any worse. I backed away from her and she started to sniffle a little. Every option seemed like the worst one because I was caught between making her cry and absolutely taking advantage of her.
"Please don't go." She pleaded sadly once more. It was so hard to resist and my eyes searched the room frantically for an answer. I sighed and let out my response.
"I'll stay but I can't sleep with you." I said quietly, hating how the last words came out of my mouth, but knowing that I had to be resolute in them.
"Okay." she finally agreed, seemingly regretfully. So many things were wrong about staying but I couldn't bare thinking about two things: that I would be making her cry, and that I left her when she did definitely need me. I couldn't just let her be this drugged up and crazy and then add to that being upset and then just go. I sat back down in my now lonelier corner and pulled out my phone to look at the messages I'd received since it was on silent.
From Charlie I got two from last night, one saying, "Couldn't get enough in one night?" and the other saying "Don't ignore my sarcasm. It makes it not worth it."
From Paul I got one, saying "Charlie told me where you are. I trust you, just be responsible.". That had too many implications to bear thinking about.
I started a new message to him. "I need to stay at Kate's one more night. Her parents won't be home until late tomorrow and I'm worried about her and these drugs. Sorry.". I waited for the response this time.
"Like I said, be responsible." He said, sounding a little worried himself.
"I am Dad." I texted back, and re-silenced my phone. I put it in my pocket and drifted off to sleep.
(Time skip: 7:00 a.m.)
I woke up again to the alarm on my phone. Kate didn't move, so I got up quickly and went downstairs. I put my shoes on and practically ran out of the door, into my car. I was going to just go home but I decided that since I was bailing on Kate and Lily like this, the least that I could do is get them breakfast again. I came back to their house with the food in tow and sneakily putting the bag of breakfast sandwiches and hash browns on the counter and the coffee in the fridge. The receipt for the food was in the bag so I removed it and placed it on the table, pulling out a trusty pen from my pocket. On the back of the paper, I wrote:
Sorry Kate but I have to go. I got you and Lily breakfast and there is coffee in the fridge. This was really nice and I had a good time. Thanks for having me over. :)
-Signed Humphrey.
After leaving the note, I got out as fast and silently as I could and drove back to my house. I tiredly stumbled into the house at around 7:30 and was met by none other than I smiling Charlie on the living room sofa, watching Sunday morning cartoons.
"Aww shit." I muttered under my breath, gazing at her too excited face. Her mouth opened as if she was going to say something but I stopped her. "I don't want to hear it." I grumbled out grouchily as I walked past her into the kitchen, where I saw Paul cooking. "Hi." I said, devoid of any feeling. Too much had happened and I had gotten too little sleep thinking about it.
"Hey Humphrey." He said with a smile. I knew what he was going to try and ask but I almost wished he wouldn't beat around the bush as much as he was going to. "So how'd it go." He asked, almost nervously anticipating the answer.
From the other room, Charlie yelled, "Nothing happened. He'd be in a better mood.". I could hear her trying to contain a cackle, but failing miserably.
"Thanks Charlie." I yelled back angrily. I looked back to Paul and his quizzical face. "What she said." I admitted, feeling all new levels of embarrassment. "She was on drugs anyway. It wouldn't be right."
"I'm proud of you." He said in a very fatherly tone.
"I'm tired of me. I'm gonna sleep some more." I said before heading up to my room.
(Time skip: Monday morning)
Normal day, normal routine. I walked to first period Calculus with Kate, who seemed to be a little less excited than usual and possibly avoiding looking at me. In Calculus, we got a spiel about how there was going to be a test on Wednesday before we were told to basically do whatever. I let out a long, exhausted sigh and looked over to an atypically quiet Kate. She was already looking at me and averted her eyes to her desk. She was acting very strangely.
"What's up with you today?" I asked, both with genuine concern and wanting to just start a conversation.
"Umm…" she began. There was a long pause before I waved her to continue with my hand. "Lily told me…some things she heard…from a couple of nights ago." She said nervously.
"I don't think I like where this going." I said with a laugh, attempting to provide some comic relief and failing miserably. "What did she tell you?" I asked squeamishly.
In a whisper she said, "I think you would know more.". I could tell that she didn't quite have the full picture, so it'd only be fair to clue her in.
"You don't remember?" I asked, trying to complete my understanding.
"Not really. I kinda have this feeling like I should be embarrassed but I'm not sure why."
"Umm…yeah. That's kinda appropriate." I said before starting to shyly recount everything that happened, up to and including the part where she propositioned me.
"Oh God." She mumbled with her head in her hands. "Did…did we…did anything happen?" she asked, trying to break through her shame to get to the question.
"Umm, no. I turned you down but you were pretty upset when I said that I should leave, so I stayed, but in the corner. It was really hard to say no to you when you were sort of crying."
"Oh, thank God." She sighed, seeming very relieved, although maybe damaging my ego slightly. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean like that…it's…I mean, we're not even dating." She said, with a nervous chuckle and returning her eyes to her desk.
"No it's ok. You're totally right, plus you were high anyway and that's not how I'd want it." I said. There was an awkward silence following what I just unintentionally let slip. I basically told her that I wanted to have sex with her. Why can't I ever shut my mouth when it's good for me? She did seem like she was suggesting that we start dating but I bet I'm reading the signals way wrong. There's no way that would happen. Eventually I worked up enough courage to ask "We're okay right?"
"Yeah, definitely." She responded, the first happy words to come from her today. We were finally able to return to our lighthearted banter for the rest of the day, until lunch when I was heatedly staring daggers at Lily from across the table. The only other notable thing that happened was I caught Garth looking over at Kate a couple of times throughout the day. I shrugged it off as nothing because I stare at stuff meaninglessly all of the time.
The final period ended and I told Kate that I'd drive her and her sister home after I found Charlie, who I hadn't seen since that morning. Kate said that she'd wait at our lockers for me. Eventually, I got to Charlie outside, who so casually forgot to tell me that she was hanging out with friends today, and not coming home with me. She's really, really, irresponsible.
I walked back inside and down the hallway that housed my locker. Approximately where it would be, I saw a huddle of guys, leaning up against the wall. I didn't think anything of it and continued to scan for Kate, until I saw the creamy mid-thigh and below of clearly a girl, coming from under a seemingly familiar white skirt that was barely visible between the crowd of guys around her.
"Kate?" I called down the hallway as I approached. When my voice rang out, a guy whose back was to me spun around and revealed his identity, Garth. From behind him ran a very flushed and upset looking Kate, who came to me and cowered behind my right arm, clinging to it. "Are you alright?" I asked, calmingly addressing her before the problem in front of me. She nodded hurriedly and was evidently frightened. I looked back up to see the mess of three guys in front of me, Garth in the middle, Candu on his right, and that nameless asshole on his left. "What's going on here?" I asked, trying to remain level-headed.
"Listen Wilson, none of your business. Kate was just telling me how much she wanted to go out with me this weekend." He answered, stepping closer than I would have like to me. He had a threating way of carrying himself and it was not very compelling. As he stepped a little closer, I slowly tucked my arm and the girl clinging to it behind my back a little bit more. Garth began again, "So as I was saying, I was going to ask you out on Friday, but you were absent. I could help you get the homework. There are some people around that absolutely love to give me their answers for some reason.". The more words that came out, the impossibly more infuriating he seemed. "I was thinking, maybe you could come over and we get some pizza and a movie. I have a Jacuzzi y'know and…" he rambled on, slowly inching towards us, until I cut in.
"Garth I think she changed her mind." I said, attempting to be tactful and reasonable, but still cautiously keeping Kate behind me. Our grip had changed so that I held onto one of her arms by the wrist, trying to be gentle but inadvertently tensing around it more than I wanted to, while her other still draped around my forearm.
"What? Like you know her so well." he almost growled.
"Garth, just leave it alone." I tried, again wanting to be calm.
"I don't think I want to." he said, still pushing closer toward us. I started to back away slowly as my body prepared itself to either run out of there as fast as possible or start swinging. He kept following as he edged to within four feet of us. I stared him in the eyes intently, trying to judge what would happen next. Kate seemed to be trembling behind me and I just held onto her tighter. He noticed how adamant I was about this and decided to change tactics. "Maybe I will actually." he said, which sounded like a relief until it very obviously wasn't. "Yeah, maybe I'll hit up her freshman sister." he almost boasted.
"Don't bring her into this." I asserted, feeling every muscle in my body contract and stiffen.
In my ear, I heard a soft, frightened voice say "Humphrey let's just go."
I let out a calming breath and said "You're right, let's go.". I turned around, ushering Kate away and managing to keep myself between her and Garth, but I was only able to take one step before I heard something very escalating said behind me.
"Or maybe I'll give Charlie a late night call." He said. I stopped in my tracks and peered over my shoulder to see Garth grinning like he'd accomplished something, a few feet ahead of his buddies who looked like they would much rather not be there. That meant they probably wouldn't want to fight over this.
"Humphrey." Kate called and I thought about it once more. I really didn't want this to go any further, just move on and ignore them for the rest of high school, but I was sorely at my limit. He was prodding a leaking dam, but I just barely had enough integrity to maintain myself. I tried to calm myself down once more and I looked at Kate, standing in front of me, shaking and scared. She looked like she really wanted to just walk away from this. I was being selfish, making this about me. I almost got to take another step forward.
"Your bitch ass won't do anything." Garth scoffed. "Just kill yourself." he spat irritatingly and with a laugh. That was a fairly commonly used remark around assholes who don't know any better, but right now it was directed at me and it meant something much, much more. And suddenly, it seems all extraordinarily worth it. The dam broke and the torrents broke loose.
I didn't even think about the fact that I lunged at him, practically snarling and bringing him to the ground. I didn't think about the first, very satisfying, smacking sound of a fist connecting with his jaw. I also didn't think about the second, third, forth, or fifth time I heard the same, still satisfying, in fact increasingly so, sound of my knuckles meeting his face. I could have sworn that no other sound could have been heard, although there was some barely audible yelling in the background and possibly some fingers pulling at my shoulders. That seemed unlikely considering how I was able to stay on the bleeding mass of bulbous flesh below me and continue my ferocious barrage.
Something did break the near silence that I heard. It was a shrill, feminine scream and it made everything else go out of focus.
"HUMPHREY!" I heard being called. I looked behind me to see the weakly standing girl who looked as if she were about to cry again. I got up and walked with Kate away from the scene, not looking back at the havoc which I had wreaked. We walked outside to the parking lot and Kate asked, "Lily left without us. Do you want me drive?".
Through uneven breaths, I said "No". We entered the car and as I put my hands on the steering wheel, I noticed the set of four split knuckles on my right hand and the blood splattered across the back of the other. I drove off, trying to keep my anxious lead foot under control. I looked to the passenger beside me and took note of the way she abnormally straightened her left side and looked as though she was grimacing. We arrived at the house and I asked, gesturing to my knuckles, "Can I get some paper towels?". She nodded but winced as she leaned over to undo her seat belt. That was also dually noted.
She led me into the house and into the kitchen. She grabbed a couple of squares from the roll of paper towels and I held out my knuckles as she wiped the blood from them. It hurt, but not enough to make me react with all of the adrenaline still in me. When she bent over to throw the now soiled cloth into the garbage, she recoiled sharply and looked like she was going to scream, but trying not to. I bent down to throw the trash away for her, before looking at her sternly.
"What happened?" I asked, pointing a finger at her left side ribs.
"Umm…nothing. I just fell down the stairs on the way to my locker." She very blatantly lied. I stared at her accusingly.
"Show me." I commanded more than asked, though I was sure that I didn't want to see it. It was more callously than I intended, but she was hiding something and I needed to get a point across.
"Humphrey, I-I…" she started.
"Kate." I interrupted seriously. She slowly grabbed at the base of her shirt and timidly raised it up to where I could see the very bottom of the cups of her bra, though that was very far from important at the moment. I stopped her hand from going any further up when I saw, on her left side, a rather large bruise forming with five, somewhat defined branches sticking from a central circle. It was definitely not from falling down the stairs and more than likely from a too forceful hand. I breathed out slowly and measuredly, before allowing her to drop her shirt. "I'm gonna kill him." I coarsely said, before searching around the room for a ziploc bag, and upon finding it, filling it with ice and wrapping it in a paper towel. I placed it gently on her side and put her hand over it to keep it there.
"No you're not." She said, responding to my previous outburst.
"Yes I am." I said, full of conviction. She stared back at me with soft, forgiving, and convincing eyes that told me to wait and think this out.
"You've done enough. You'll be lucky to not get suspended already."
"I'm sorry." I said, glumly.
"For what?" she asked earnestly.
"I should have been there sooner and it wouldn't have happened if…" I frantically said.
"Humphrey it is so far from your fault, just don't go making this worse than it already is."
"I-I…I'm going to do something. Maybe I can come up with an idea that doesn't involve homicide but it will take a while." I said moving towards the door.
"Okay, and thank you." She said, moving with me to the door frame. I made myself extra sure that I saw Lily's backpack by the door, just to make sure nothing else happened.
"Anytime." I said, stepping out of the door and closing it behind me. I walked to my car, sat down inside, and let out another deep breath. Homicide still sounded good to me.
A/N: Please review, especially if you're pointing out a grammatical mistake because I wanted to get this posted tonight and I couldn't preview all of it and still do that. Special thanks to Squid84 and all my reviewers, but especially him tonight because he really helped me with this chapter, even suggesting part of the Garth scene.
Thanks a bunch,
-Nick (Ncham9)