Chapter 8: No Place Like Home
A/N: Hey everyone! I kinda dropped out of the radar, but if any of you are still alive, here's the next chapter. Work has been dragging me down, but I decided to pick up the story again. Hope you enjoy it. I'll be updating Regret soon as well.
Humphrey's POV:
I pulled up to my driveway ready to embrace another lonely night. I really try not to think too much about it, but my mind always drifts back to my family. We were always close. We fought from time to time, and we sometimes never saw eye to eye, but we always stayed close. Every day when I walk in the house, I'm always picturing my mom and dad and siblings there around me, never wanting to forget their faces. It's emotional at times, but I can get through the days.
I walked in through the door and tossed my bags aside. Since Kate was such an awesome partner, I already finished all my homework. I cooked myself some of my mom's world famous stew soup for myself, and I settled down on my family's couch and turned on the TV to watch it. I slowly ate the steaming bowl while watching a Discovery channel program that I didn't even catch the name of. I wasn't really thinking about it either. My mind kept drifting off in its imagination. I kept thinking of how pretty Kate was, about all the coincidences that kept popping up between us on the first day. I was also somewhat calculating any possible chances I had with her. I had no gun show (not that I really wanted one, but they help sometimes), my face dotted with an unappealing number of zits, my hair's always ruffled from constantly running my hand through it, I've got no experience of talking to girls yet I write poetry, I can't really dance, I've got no extraordinary physical traits that could help me in sports (which for some reason seems to be the sex appeal for many girls), and my confidence is all the way down at rock bottom. She was too perfect to me. We share the same interests, but she's already turning many heads at school… plus… Garth was her ex. We already have problems in band, I don't want to put more tension on anything, especially since we're in the same clique. We don't need a civil war right now, especially at the beginning of the school year.
"It's such a long shot, but if it happened, things would definitely look up. I guess I'll just hold on to whatever I've got that could make me happy," I worked out in my head. I had enough of overthinking things, I already did that at school. I retreated to a place where all of my worries faded away. I had my own job that gave me enough money to supply for everything I need, but the government still sent money to me since I decided to live on my own. I save most of what they give me for emergencies, but I always saved a bit with some of my salary for what I love most: music. I had a room solely for making sweet music. I had a lot to play with: An electric guitar, a marimba to practice my band music and for writing my own percussion music, an acoustic guitar to one day serenade that special lady, a marching snare drum to hack around when I have nothing to do, and my prized possession: my own DW Collector's edition drum set equipped with my dream Meinl cymbals. It's a little extensive and a lot of money, but the government sent me a lot of cash. Plus, when all I can think about is my family, it's a good way to get my mind off things. Music is the one thing that can set me free from the pains of the day and put me in a blank world where my imagination can run wild. The dead silence of my house becomes the canvas for the next masterpiece I create, my drumsticks the paintbrushes. I settled in and plugged my mp3 into a stereo jack of a speaker to blast my favorite tunes. I settled in on a Breaking Benjamin song and started grooving away, putting my own spin to the music. I stayed in the room for a few hours. After I was done, I checked the clock on my phone and found that it was already hitting nine o'clock, and I wasn't surprised of how late it was because I tend to lose track of time when playing music, but something else caught me off guard… I had a text message.
Kate's POV:
I settled into my house again after I came home from my first day. I quickly ate dinner served by my mom and dad and settled into my room to finish up the last pieces of homework. I dropped my backpack down in my room, opening to get out the papers I needed, but I just realized that I finished all my work with Humphrey's help. I sighed with relief at this, and I plopped down on my bed and pulled my phone and headphones, ready to spend night drowning out the hours with music and texting like the normal teenager. Ever since I noticed that my homework problem was already taken care of cause of Humphrey, I started to think about him.
He seemed nice and was the only guy who actually bothered to help me around the school. Not even my sister wanted to help me to get to my first class today, and I was almost late to first block. Humphrey was nice enough to not only get to my classes (which we surprisingly shared a lot of), but he also gave me a rundown of all the ropes of Jasper Pioneer High. He was sweet kind, and it was nice that he wasn't staring at my body like all the other dumbass jocks at the school. He was genuinely a friend, and I decided to thank him for his help. The one problem: I didn't have his number. Dreading of what to do next, I called Lily into my room.
"What do you want?" She asked half-annoyed. She seemed to busy practicing her music, and I felt kind of bad to interrupt her.
"By any chance do you have that guy Humphrey's number? I want to thank him for showing me around the high school." I honestly told her. "Oh, someone has a crush I see," Lily slyly remarked as she pulled out her phone. I rolled my eyes at her typical response, but I didn't deny it. He was pretty cute, but I don't know if I sweet guy like him would like a person who would date a really bad person like Garth. She gave me his number, I thanked her, and she slipped out of my room. I added his number to my contacts, and I spent the next couple of minutes thinking of a kind response. After finally typing out a message, I sent it out. I then turned up my music and relaxed, waiting to see if he'll respond.
A/N: Sorry for a bland chapter, but I hope you guys like it. Like I said, I'll be updating Regret as well, but for now, enjoy this.
-MLW22