A/N: I seem to be doing a lot of these notes huh? Oh well, sorry this chapter is later than expected. Life happened. Enjoy. And review, please. I want to know how to make this story better for you all.
Chapter 26: Little Secret.
Humphrey's POV:
I smiled as I said goodbye to Kate, noticing as I hung up that we'd ended up chatting for just shy of an hour. 'Now what?' I thought to myself as I put my phone on charge and stood up with a stretch, heading downstairs for a snack. I wiled away the remainder of the weekend with a mixture of basketball practice, working out and looking around for possible work. I'd asked Kate over the phone about the amount of homework we had and she'd said this was pretty much as it was, maybe even a bit more than usual with the essay.
Monday morning, outside Jasper High.
I pulled into an empty space and sat for a moment, smiling as I listened to the rhythmic grumble of the engine before I cut it off and got out. I grabbed my bags from the trunk and headed towards the doors, looking around as I walked to see if I could spot anyone I recognised but there was no one. 'Guess I'm a little early.' I thought to myself as I went inside and made a line for my locker to drop off my sport bag before deciding that I may as well just go to class, sitting down by the doorway wait.
"Ah Humphrey, just who we needed." A voice said from nearby and I looked up to see that it was Hutch who had spoken and that he was accompanied by Kevin, another of my teammates. I grinned and nodded a greeting to them as I stood, tilting my head a little as I wondered why they wanted to see me, not that I minded, they seemed like good guys I'd like to be friends with.
"Since we have a game on Friday we wanted to make sure that you have a uniform sorted, can't have you out there without one after all." Hutch explained. I was admittedly a little surprised that it seemed to have already been decided that I'd play given that I'd only really been involved in one team practice.
"If it's about that then it's fine, I've already spoken to coach and the uniform is ordered, although I don't know what number I'll be yet." I replied, to which Hutch let out a small sigh of relief that there wasn't an issue and Kevin chuckled.
"If I know the coach then it'll be 13 for sure." He said, causing Hutch to smile and nod in agreement. "It's the next prime number that's available. All our jersey's are prime." He continued, answering the unspoken question from my confused expression. He was roughly the same height as me but stocky where I was lean and probably not far off Hutch in terms of muscle mass. Kevin seemed to like keeping his black hair very short and already had a fair bit of stubble despite only being a sophomore in high school.
"Alright if that's sorted then we gotta go. We'll see you at practice if not before Humphrey." Hutch said as the two moved away. "Later H." Kevin called as they walked down the corridor and around the corner, disappearing from sight. I figured it must be getting close to time and sure enough a moment later I heard the first bell ring, the corridors filling with students quickly after that. Just as I was about to go into the class and take my seat I saw Kate, Abby and Chris round the corner with Kate leading the way and Abby and Chris behind, chatting about something. I raised an eyebrow seeing Chris with them, not to mention chatting away with Abby since normally conversation between members of the two groups being minimal except for myself.
Kate's POV:
Kate's attention was pulled away from the homework conversation of the two behind her as she looked up and saw Humphrey waiting outside their Science classroom. She smiled and waved a little when she caught his eye, which he mimicked as he waited for them to arrive, a brief exchange of 'heys' ensuing before they all headed inside together and took their seats.
"So how come you weren't out the front this morning? Didn't want to see us?" Abby said in a teasing tone as she grinned at Humphrey who looked a little distressed as he shook his head quickly.
"No, not at all. I just got here early and by the time I got to my locker and finished talking with Hutch and Kev I didn't think I'd have time to get back to the front so I came here instead." He explained hurriedly, looking confused when Kate and the others burst out laughing at him. After a bit he seemed to realise that they'd been pulling his leg and gave them an annoyed look before smiling along with them.
"Alright quiet down." The teacher said loudly as she entered the room. Kate and the others brought themselves under control as they got their things out for class. The teacher gave them a brief explanation of the topic before directing them to read a number of pages from the textbook and answer a few questions. Kate read the pages quickly and set about answering the questions seriously, not wanting to get slammed with any additional homework by not finishing in time. She noticed as she moved on to the second question that Humphrey seemed to be in a good mood as he quietly hummed to himself, reading through the pages at a much more leisurely pace than Kate had. 'I doubt he'll finish in time if he keeps that up.' She thought to herself as she returned her attention to her own work.
Humphrey's POV:
Before I knew it the bell rang for lunchtime and I couldn't help but wonder where the morning had gone with both Science and Social Studies having flown by. It helped of course that the topics we'd covered in both classes were of some interest to me, particularly in Social Studies, where we'd been looking into the effects that major technological innovations had on society throughout the ages.
"I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving." I said to Barry as we arrived at the cafeteria and joined the queue. Kate wasn't with us since she'd made a detour to her locker but I'd decided not to since I was starving and as I had basketball all afternoon I'd need to get my sport bag after lunch so it wasn't really necessary. We ended up being the first at the table and chatted away about the weekend as we ate and the others joined us in ones and twos throughout the lunch period.
"It's a shame there's no mall or anything close by to the school, otherwise we could go and get different food on the days the cafeteria has nothing good." Brittany said as she joined the table, looking down in disappointment at today's food, which was spaghetti bolognaise that was mediocre at best.
"We'd need a car for that though so it doesn't really matter." Sam replied from across the table, also inspecting her plate with an expression that said it all. "All the same..."
"Well we all know about Humphrey's car." I'd been looking down at my plate, thinking about where I might apply for a job when I heard Abby's words, my head snapping up as I found everyone looking at me with what appeared to be a mixture of jealousy, envy and longing. I held their gazes for a moment before shrugging and looking away. 'It's not that big of a deal.' I thought to myself, not to mention there wasn't a mall near enough to go at lunchtime so it didn't really matter.
Kate's POV:
"I wish I had a car like that."
"It's so beautiful."
"How did you get it?"
"You're so lucky to have a license and a car."
Kate watched on with a smile as the others put in their two cents about Humphrey's car, though she didn't say anything herself. Humphrey himself sat in silence as well, picking at his food for a while as the others continued talking, about what car they'd have if they could and where they'd drive. Despite the conversation having moved on Humphrey still looked down and Kate was worried that what they'd said had reminded him about his past too much.
"Kate...?" Hearing Angel say her name Kate quickly turned to look at the other girls, all of whom were looking at her in a slightly bemused way.
"What? Sorry." Kate replied, wondering what they'd asked her as heads shook all around the table. Abby let out a sigh, an amused expression on her face.
"You've been spacing out a lot lately you know Kate. Something you want to tell us?" She said in a bit of a knowing tone, raising an eyebrow at Kate as the others all turned her way expectantly except for Angel, who's eyes were flicking between Kate and Humphrey. 'She knows that something is up.' Kate thought to herself as she saw Angel's concerned expression. Thankfully she was keeping quiet for now but Kate made a mental note to call her later and explain what was going on a bit. Just as Kate opened her mouth to reply to Abby however her attention was diverted as Humphrey suddenly stood up, saying something about needing to go to his locker before leaving the cafeteria in a hurry.
"Humphrey, wait..." Kate said quickly, her voice trailing off since it was clear he wasn't listening or couldn't hear her. She stood up as the others exchanged confused glances, taking the tray he'd left behind over to the disposal chute along with her own. She detoured past their table on her way out where the others were questioning if Humphrey was okay and whether or not it was something they'd said.
"I'm sure it's probably nothing but I'm gonna go check on him 'kay? I'll see you in class." She said as she grabbed her bag, the others nodding and giving her encouraging smiles as she grabbed her bag and half-ran out of the cafeteria. Humphrey was nowhere in sight but she figured he probably was heading for his locker since there was a good chance that corridor would be almost deserted and he had basketball after lunch so he'd need his sports gear. Kate headed quickly in that direction and sure enough, as she rounded the corner she was just in time to see Humphrey ram his fist into the locker.
Humphrey's POV:
I was struggling to hold back tears as I left the cafeteria but thankfully I made it to the corridor where my locker was located before they would be denied no longer, a few drops slowly running down my face. I was sad but even more than that I was angry, half at how I'd reacted but half at what had been said earlier which I knew was wrong of me but I couldn't help it as I slammed my fist into the locker, not even feeling the impact. 'Lucky? Me? I love that car but I'd give it up in a second to get them back.' The thought, while I knew was true, surprised me since I never normally thought that way.
I was amazed how much I was reacting to things since starting here at Jasper High. It's not like there were more triggers here than anywhere else during my travels but something about seeing all these people with their perfect lives and happy families just set me off. After a moment I let my fist drop from the locker, letting out a deep sigh as I brought myself under control and put a stop to my runaway thoughts. 'It's not their fault, they don't know and didn't mean anything by it.' I forced the thought to sit at the front of my mind for a while, knowing that I wasn't mad at my friends. I was brought back to earth by a gentle hand on my shoulder, turning to see Kate looking up at me with eyes full of concern.
"H-Humphrey... A-are you okay?" She said hesitantly, looking into my mind as though she would be able to see my thoughts if she looked hard enough. I couldn't help but notice again how her eyes seemed to have so many layers as I nodded, a small sigh escaping my lips as I did so. She hardly seemed convinced and continued to gaze at me with that worried expression before I realised how I must look.
"Seriously Kate, I am okay. Just a little... emotional." I said, adding some conviction to my voice as I wiped a hand across my face to remove some of the traces that I'd been crying. Her concern seemed to have been abated somewhat as she gave me a small smile, rubbing my shoulder a little. We stood this way for a while before I gently removed her hand, doing my best to give a warm smile as I turned and opened my locker, quickly swapping my bags over.
"Thanks Kate, I... I appreciate the support. I'm fine now." I said, slinging my sports bag over my shoulder as I turned back to her. There was still at least five minutes left of lunch break but I wanted to get to practice before the others. "I'm gonna go early and err... clean up a little."
"Sure thing Humphrey. If you're okay then that's fine. What are friends for?" She responded and we both chuckled a little before Kate turned to head back to the cafeteria.
"Kate?" I said suddenly, stopping her in her tracks as she turned back to me, tilting her head a little in an unspoken question. "D-Don't tell the others? Please?" I asked her quietly. I was sure that they weren't the type to gossip about these things but I didn't want them knowing I was like this. I felt a surge of relief and gratitude as Kate smiled, nodded and winked, doing a little victory pose as she promised that it would be our 'little secret' as she put it.
I turned and headed off to practice, arriving several minutes early despite taking a back way to avoid running into anyone on the way. After changing I went to the sinks and washed my face a bit, looking much more like normal after a few rounds of cold water as I left the change rooms and headed into the gym. I grabbed a ball from the basket to do some warm up shooting practice before the others arrived.