Starting In The Deep End Part III

Previously:

Humphrey, Lilly and the rest, just got to school. They were called up to the principal's office office for some reason. Principal Clinton has 'dismissed' the wolves from school, saying that they don't really have to attend anymore since they have high grades. Winston concluded by saying that their official rowing training begins now and they were on their way to Woodland Park/Dam.

Lilly's P.O.V.

Humphrey just slept quietly beside me. He really looked kinda cute while sleeping. Scar saw me looking at him and laughed. I then growled at my future coach.

I saw a couple of freeway board signs saying that Woodland Dam was just 2 miles away. It really was a long drive here. I gently poked Humphrey on the shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"Huh... what?" Humphrey groaned as he opened his eyes.

"We're already at the dam so get up now." I ordered. He just looked at me then stretched out with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night." He said. "Why, we slept basically the same time?" I asked, really confused.

"9 hours of sleep for you is 3 hours of sleep for me." Humphrey explained, making me laugh at him.

The bus stopped just outside a huge gate. I could still see just a bit of water from where we were. The gate finally opened after about 5 minutes of waiting. I noticed that there were many boats packed onto trailers and it looked kinda difficult because the heavier looking boats were packed on top. The bus parked next to a dark green and blue trailer.

"Welcome to Woodland Park, you may call it a dam but who cares?" Claw said while Garth was explaining the basic rules of rowing to Kate.

Humphrey got his kit bag and went with the rest of the boys to go get changed, I went with girls of course.

In the girl's changing room:

While I was changing, Steffany noticed the bandages around my abdomen. I didn't really expect that anyone would notice it because it blended in so well with my fur color.

"New girl, what happened around your waist?" She asked, inspecting the bandages around the injuries.

"Uh... it's just a small injury." I was clearly lying and Sweets knew I was guilty. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"A small injury huh? So if I touch or tap your stomach, you wouldn't scream in pain?" She asked. I gulped and nodded.

She walked closer and jabbed her finger into my waist. I held my breath so I couldn't make a sound. I actually thought I had it all under control.

"Your face is red. You were holding your breath so that you couldn't scream, I've been in this situation many times before and I already know the tips and tricks." She busted me without trying. I never expected her to catch me out like that.

"Damnit, I just don't wanna feel useless." I said. Maybe coming clean could help give me a shot at this.

"Look, I know that feeling and I really want to help but I'm the captain and as your captain, I can't allow you to go. I've got to look out for all the girls." She explained.

When I think of it in her perspective, I actually get what she's saying. In her position there's not really much she can do. I continued dressing in silence.

"Unless if Winston knows about this and allows you to come join us." Steffany sighed, giving me just a little bit of hope.

"Winston was there when I was in hospital so I guess he knew what he was doing." I concluded.

"Fine, but take it easy. No one wants to see you drowning." She said, making me feel even more uneasy about this. I hope I'm not gonna start of rowing in a single's boat.

Humphrey's P.O.V.

I finished changing before everyone else so I could get a chance to talk to Winston about this situation we're in.

"Winston, I'm so confused. What exactly are we doing training so early and during school?" I asked him.

"To get you prepped up and at least semi-professional for races as soon as possible, and why do you care if it's school times? You basically graduated already." Winston replied.

"Right, being graduated by the principal feels like an expulsion from school." I said, making Winston chuckle.

"Just get in a boat." Winston ordered. "No one assigned me a boat." I responded bluntly.

"Smart-ass, your coach will probably give a double, and boats are called shells." He said, making me wonder what is a double.

"What the hell is a double anyway?" I asked him, making him facepalm.

"A double is a two-wolf shell, common sense Humphrey." Winston replied.

Craig and Serena walked up to Winston saying something about changes to the rowing rules.

"Uh, excuse me Humphrey, I have to talk to the coaches about something important." Winston dismissed himself and left with the coaches.

"What was that about?" I asked myself. I walked to the trailer and checked out the boats... I mean 'shells' . They all had names and some, really weird names. I looked to the side and saw Kevin untying a single's shell.

"Need help Captain?" I asked him. He acknowledged by pointing at the the other end of the boat. I began untying the end of the boat that had a ball-thing at the end.

"What's this rubber thing in the end?" I asked him while pointing at the ball-thing.

"That's the bow-ball. It's used to show the front of the shell because rowing is done facing backwards. The slit above it is for the lane numbers for when we go for regattas or boat races." He explained even though there's still more than half the rowing terms that I still don't understand.

"Mind helping me carry the scull?" Kevin asked. Once again, I had no idea what the terms meant, so I took it almost too literally and definitely in the wrong way.

"What 'skull' ? I asked, looking around for a bone. Kevin just sighed and shook his head.

"Scull with a 'c',it's rowing slang for a single's boat. I think you already understand double sculling, where the two both have oars. Jasper High doesn't do sweeps anymore. Then there's the coxed four's, then coxless four's. A cox or 'coxswain' is basically a wolf that steers the shell. Eight's are boats with eight rowers, obviously, which are sweeps but as I said, we don't do sweeps. Octuple sculls have all eight rowers with oars." He concluded. I feel a lot better now that he explained the boats and everything but I still feel like that's only half of what I need to know.

"Do we even have an octuple?" I asked, looking around the trailer for a boat that might be long enough to look like it.

"Why are you looking around the trailer? The octuples are in the Jasper High boat shed." Kevin pointed to the large structure, across the trailer. I felt like such an idiot right now.

"So these shells that are in the trailer are packed here for upcoming races? I asked another question.

"Correct." He nodded as we lifted the boat, upside from the trailer. He directed me on where to walk since I was holding the boat in at the bow. Once we got to the docks, we flipped the boat over and set it into the water. The dam really looked enormous up close.

Kevin took the oars which were on the grass, next to the dock and I hadn't even noticed. I saw him check the oars, as in which ones go where.

"I know that look on your face Humphrey, you're about to ask why I'm checking the oars. Well the thing is, you don't want to have the wrong oars going on the wrong side of the boat. The end of an oar which goes in the water is called a blade, if that is facing the wrong way, well you're screwed. Imagine it this way, wearing your left shoe on the right foot and vice versa." He explained.

"Rowers may I have your attention!" I heard Winston call out and boy, did he have a loud voice. King and I walked back to the trailer. We got there and saw the others already there.

"I've just been informed that there are some slight changes to the rowing rules." Winston started. This made me feel very uneasy.

"These changes are so dramatic that-" Winston was cut off by Scar.

"Let's just skip to the point, the officials have lifted the cross sexual rules of sharing a boat, in other words, boys can fuck around with the girls on a boat." Scar concluded, she really had a way with words. I had a feeling that this was gonna be a long season.

A/N: I had to keep this chapter short and sweet because I'll be working on another fic for awhile called Alphas VS. Omegas: Battle Royale, don't forget to review on this chapter.

Humphrey and Lilly will be on a boat together,

ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD