Back by popular demand! (Eg. 100% of the people I polled about it xD) I'll be posting the rest of the story over the coming weeks. Enjoy!
Chapter 35: Fair warning.
Humphrey's POV:
Eleven days later, Friday morning.
I grinned at Kate as I walked into homeroom and took my seat next to her, returning her greeting in a whisper because the teacher had chosen that moment to stand and begin taking roll. I'd been running a little late that morning which meant that I arrived at homeroom seconds before I would've been considered late. As the teacher finished noting down the attendance and began to read the daily announcements, the most notable of which being the basketball game that evening, I couldn't help but glance over at Kate thoughtfully. Things had been a little awkward between us on the Monday after the party at Sam and Angel's house but things had gone back to normal before long; a development that I had mixed feelings about.
The teacher finished going through the short list of announcements, leaving us a few minutes to chat amongst ourselves before we had to head to class proper and I turned to Kate, just in time to see the classroom door open and a furious looking Garth enter the room. He scanned the room and his expression grew even darker as he spotted me and began to stalk towards me, his hostility clear to all.
"I warned you." Garth growled at me as I stood up just in time to get slammed back against the table, his fist swinging towards my face from the right. I had no idea what I'd done or what had driven Garth so angry but it was clear I wasn't going to get out without some fight this time as I used his arm for leverage and slid off the table, avoiding his punch. He followed through however, shoving me back towards the shelves at the back of the classroom and charging after me, raising his fist once more.
Kate's POV:
Kate yelped and dived to the side as Humphrey dodged Garth's punch, landing a kick on his stomach and launching him back towards desks. Garth crashed into them but it didn't even seem to faze him as he grabbed a nearby chair, hurling it towards Humphrey before charging after him once more. Kate watched on in horror as Humphrey barely dodged the chair which collided with the wooden shelves, the cracking sound almost making Kate sick as she imagined Humphrey's ribs if he'd taken the hit. Humphrey rolled once before coming to his feet, backing out into the hallway as he avoided the wild swings Garth was throwing.
The teacher seemed to have snapped out of her shock as the two of them disappeared into the hallway, yelling at the remaining students to take their seats as she headed for the doorway. Kate was closer however and ran towards the door, worried since she couldn't see them immediately outside. She looked around in panic as she got outside the class and let out a sigh of relief as she saw them some twenty meters down the hallway with Hutch standing between the two, staring down Garth as he firmly held him back. Kate's momentary relief was dashed as she looked past them and saw Humphrey sitting on the floor behind Hutch, a line of blood trickling down his face as he looked up at the others.
Kate ran towards them as, after a tense moment of silence, Garth seemed to back down, turning and storming away from them.
"Garth!" She heard Mrs. Stiller yell after Garth but Kate ignored them, her mind filled with concern as she knelt down next to Humphrey and saw that he had a cut above his right eyebrow, just below his hairline that was bleeding quite a bit. Kate pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, grateful to Silas who always that she and Lily carry one, and gently placed it against the cut on Humphrey's head to try and stop the bleeding.
Humphrey's POV:
I looked up as Hutch turned to face me and Mrs. Stiller came over to us, both of them looking angry at first and then concerned, presumably at the blood that was running down my face. I didn't think it was too bad since I couldn't feel any pain but as Kate moved the handkerchief to readjust it I saw that it was already more red than white. As she placed it back against my face I gave them all a weak smile, trying to lift the mood a little as Hutch looked like he was very much looking as though he wanted to lecture me but was holding back, the teacher was caught between shock, anger and concern and Kate looked as though she might be about to have a panic attack.
"We'll talk about this later. Nurse's office. Now." Mrs. Stiller said as she looked at me before instructing Hutch to go to the office and call an ambulance. I honestly thought they were all over reacting since it was just a scratch but the look on her face told me not to argue as I clambered to my feet. I felt Kate slide her hand under my arm as she stood up with me and I looked over at her with a smile.
"I'm alright." I said, addressing all three of them even though I was looking at Kate.
"Really?" Hutch said sarcastically and I turned to him with a shrug as we walked slowly past, Mrs. Stiller returning to the classroom, no doubt to regain some semblance of control over the others.
"Yeah man. I'll be at the game tonight." I said, guessing that was what he'd been so angry about earlier. I must've been spot on because he finally grinned and we bumped fists on the way past as he headed towards his own classroom.
"You'd better be." He shot back as he rounded the corner. I laughed a little and shook my head, earning myself a smack on the arm from Kate as she wasn't ready for it, the handkerchief coming loose as some blood leaked down my face once more.
"Sorry." I said with a small smile, feeling a little guilty as I saw that there was blood on her arm but she just shrugged and smiled at me. We headed up to the nurse's office, laughing a bit as I described how I'd misjudged one of my dodges and grazed one of the locker handles which had lead to the cut I'd gotten.
The rest of the morning passed fairly normally once we finished in the nurse's office, I'd even managed to convince her to let me play that evening, although Charlie would be another matter. I was sitting at our usual table at lunchtime with everyone, thankfully now only getting a few looks since the whole school had heard what happened by this point. There was no sign of Garth in the cafeteria and it seemed like he really had left the school entirely like we'd heard. We sat around and chatted as usual, the only difference to a normal day being that I was subject to numerous terrible puns and jokes about the state I was in. I honestly didn't really mind since I knew it was all in good fun but after lunch as we headed for the science classroom Chris came over and apologized on behalf of the others, asking if I was okay.
"It's fine man, don't worry. Besides... compared to being chased out of town by an angry farmer for sleeping with his daughter this isn't much." I said with a sly grin as we chuckled.
Later.
"Come on you have to. Even the nurse said it was okay." I begged Charlie as we walked out of the change rooms behind the rest of the team. She had refused to put me in the game after seeing the state I was in and Hutch and I were desperately trying to convince her to change her mind.
"For the last time Humphrey, no." She snapped, getting annoyed at us now as Hutch went to join the others in their warm ups and Charlie and I headed over to the bench. "Hutch told me the state you were in. What if something happened?" She added after a moment, a little concern creeping into her tone that made me feel a little bad about arguing with someone who was just looking out for me.
"I'll be careful I promise. Please?" I said, trying one last time to win her over as I put on my best puppy dog expression.
Charlie's POV:
Charlie smiled in spite of herself as Humphrey pulled out the puppy eyes. She knew it was all an act but it was certainly convincing as his lower lip trembled as though he were about to cry, his piercing gaze almost making her change her mind. She may not have been his mother but she was still his guardian and couldn't help but worry about him, even if usually he was more reliable than almost anyone she knew. 'Are all children like this?' She thought to herself with a shake of her head, already foreseeing problems in her future.
"Fine then, you can play..." She said after holding out for a long moment, sighing as she did so. Humphrey's face instantly lit up in a smile and she marveled at how childlike he sometimes acted as he moved to join the others and warm up.
"Thanks coach." He said, grinning at her. She caught his arm as he went to go onto the caught, giving him a stern look to show she was serious as she spoke.
"But. If anything happens, anything at all. I'm benching you. Understand?" He nodded with a serious expression as she warned him before heading out. Charlie resolved herself to keep a watchful eye on him as she watched the team going through their warm up exercises, noting with some satisfaction that Humphrey was taking it a little slower than usual. A minute or so later the buzzer sounded to indicate that the game was about to begin, half the team moving to the bench as the starters took their positions.
Humphrey's POV:
After the game.
I let out a sigh as I lay on the low bench in the change room, a trickle of blood leaking out from the bandage and down my face. The game had been going well but I'd been fouled hard in the second quarter and the cut on my head had started bleeding again so Charlie had subbed me out immediately. The only reason that I wasn't already at the hospital already is that after she'd brought me back here I'd insisted that she return to the others until the game finished. I was fine and the team was up so I wanted to make sure we won, otherwise me playing at all would've been pointless.
"Sounds like it's over." I said quietly to myself, dragging myself into a sitting position a moment later as the team made their way back into the change room and I matched their grins as I saw we must've won. We were only allowed a few moments of celebration however before Charlie came in, ordering me in no uncertain terms to follow her as we were going to the hospital and I didn't argue since I'd already asked a lot of her today and I wasn't about to push my luck.
I said goodbye to the others and followed her out of the change rooms, heading through the school and towards the car park, getting into Charlie's car which was in the teacher's only parking zone right outside the door. I had her fill me in on the details of the game during the twenty minute drive to the hospital, relieved as she perked up a little whilst describing the game and I could tell she was proud of the way the team had played.
Kate's POV:
Kate and Brittany were silent as they walked through the school towards the front, Kate as she was deep in thought and Brittany because she was texting someone, presumably some new boyfriend. 'I hope it's nothing serious.' Kate thought to herself. She'd seen Humphrey get injured and go off during the second quarter and he hadn't come back to the game afterwards so she was a little worried. She hadn't been able to catch him after the game either, learning from one of his teammates, James she thought his name was, that he'd left almost immediately with Charlie to go to the hospital.
They arrived out the front of the school and Kate said goodbye to Brittany as she saw her sister standing over by the car, waiting for her.
"Finally. What took you so long?" Lily said as Kate ran over and they both got into the back of the car and Silas greeted them, maneuvering the car into the queue of others waiting to leave the car park.
"What? Nothing. The hallways were packed is all." Kate responded, looking out the window at the city that twinkled in the distance.
"Sure. You and Humphrey were probably just getting busy." Lily said after a moment, her tone sliding from sarcastic to sly as she laid the accusation out. Kate blushed and turned quickly, giving Lily a scandalous look before it changed to a glare as she grew angry at her sister's constant attempts to wind her up. Kate loved her sister completely but sometimes she swore she'd like nothing better than to punch her in her smug face.
"Lily!" She replied angrily, glaring at her for a moment before letting out a sigh and looking back out the window. "He's in the hospital anyway." She added after a moment in a morose tone.
Later that night.
Kate's eyes snapped open as her phone went off, notifying her that she had a message. She'd sent one to Humphrey earlier to check that he was okay and figured she must've fallen asleep while she waited for the reply. The light from the display hurt her eyes a little in the dark room but after a moment they adjusted and she saw that it was only just gone 10pm as she opened the message.
H: Hey Kate. Waiting for scans. Bored. Hospitals suck.
Kate laughed as she read Humphrey's message. He was almost always doing something productive with himself so she knew that with him being forced to wait around and do nothing must be driving him crazy with boredom.
K: I can imagine. U okay?
H: Fine. Don't know what the fuss is about. Just want to go.
K: Hang in there. Better safe.
H: I'd rather take my chances than spend time in this place.
Kate went to reply but paused, wondering about Humphrey's response. It was hard to tell via message but she thought that he sounded like he was more bitter than joking. She knew his parents had passed away and figured that may well be connected to his disliking of hospitals.
H: Sorry, gotta go. They want me back in there.
K: K, see you.