Sorry for the late update, but life and work have both been keeping me busy. However its not as long as i wouldve like, it wil have to do so for now.
"Where can this boy be?" Kate said quietly to herself as she glanced back and forth from the clock resting high up on the wall, to the door and back again. She was wondering what was taking him so long, as when she got off the phone he was getting dressed and headed to school and here it was almost time for home room to start and he still hadn't made it in. All of a sudden she felt someone nudge her from behind before they rested a paw on her shoulder and softly spoke into her ear. "Where's Humphrey at? You didn't give it to him too hard last night didn't you?" the voice that she recognized as Sweets asked softly with a giggle.
"I don't know as when I called him he said he was getting dressed and would be on his way, but that's been like fifteen minutes ago. And for your information nothing happened between Humphrey and I last night." Kate replied with a slight blush under her fur as she turned around in her seat to face Sweets. "I helped him with his home work and then he sat down to draw me a picture of a car and I guess I fell asleep shortly after. The next thing I know is Lilly was waking me up and Humphrey was passed out with his head on his desk. Oh but it was so sweet because during some point…" Kate suddenly stopped as she was interrupted by the sound of the teachers voice as he suddenly walked in the room.
"You'll have to remind me probably but if I remember, I will bring in some pictures of my old Super Bee I had when I was your age." Mr. Sutton was telling someone as the door opened and he walked into the classroom as the tardy bell rang. This shocking his students because he was actually right on time for once and he was followed in by Humphrey who also had a smile on his face. As Humphrey took his seat next to Kate, Mr. Sutton started calling out names to check attendance.
"Here you go" Kate whispered to Humphrey as she discreetly handed him the sausage biscuits and he slid one into his hoodie pocket and the other he unwrapped to eat. As he did so, Kate couldn't help but notice how good looking he was in his "Pickle Uniform" as everyone that wasn't in the RCAC (Royal Canadian Army Cadet) Program called them. A couple of them out of their group were taking part in the Cadet program, but to Kate none of them looked as good as Humphrey did in the uniform. She wasn't trying to make it noticeable, but she had been looking over at him from the corner of her eyes long enough that Candy noticed and nudged Sweets as she motioned with her eyes towards Kate. Seeing this cause Sweets to smile and laugh softly to her self before pulling out her phone from her pocket enough that she could send Candy a text. Kate on the other hand finally got her fill for the moment and leaned over to Humphrey and asked rather quietly "What happened? I thought you were on your way when I got off the phone with you?"
Humphrey leaned over some as he choked down the last of the second biscuit and replied "I got pulled over by Officer Griffith and Deputy Fife who I thought was going to put a round in me for breathing." Kate's eyes opened wide upon hearing that and mouthed to him "What were you doing to get pulled over with guns drawn?" Humphrey just smile that goofy big smile and mouthed back with "It was a single gun and I was coming to school." Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head as she sat back up in her seat and got ready for class to begin.
Time skip to lunch...
As the lunch bell rang out, the hallways quickly filled full of hungry young wolves as they made their way to the cafeteria for lunch, while a few others went off school campus to their house if they lived nearby or across the street to Kings Pizza Emporium. The latter just happened to be the case for Humphrey and the gang as they made their way quickly across the busy street and into the pizzeria for a bite to eat. As they sat down and Humphrey, Salty and Shakey took off their uniform coats, a young waitress brought out the steaming hot pizza that was preordered and took everyone's drink orders before disappearing to the back to get them filled. None of them wasted any time and quickly dug into the massive Chicago style pizza as their lunch only lasted about thirty minutes. It wasn't long after that the waitress returned with their drinks and even placed a pitcher of coke on the table for them to refill their drinks with. After making sure everyone was ok and didn't need anything, she left them alone to eat their food.
"So I heard you and Humphrey fell asleep together alone in his room last night." Candy inquired jokingly as everyone dug in to their pizza. Upon hearing this Humphrey and Kate both blushed bright red and Shakey came close to choking on his mouthful of pizza. Before Kate even had a chance to defend herself, her sister Lilly chimed in as well with "You guys should've seen it, it was so cute. They were passed out beside each other looking all cute like." Humphrey just put his head down from embarrassment and Kate was blushing so hard that it was showing through her tan fur. A chorus of awe came from everyone in the group as Humphrey and Kate just glanced over at each other for help.
"Damn Humphrey, no wonder you were so late to get to school this morning, I'm surprised either one of you even showed up. I'm a little disappointed that you didn't tell me though." Shakey said laughing as he joined in on the fun and fist bumped Humphrey's shoulder.
"It wasn't what you..." was all that Kate could get out before Sweets interrupted her.
"You know I thought Kate was walking a little funny this morning down the hallway towards the lockers, but now I guess we all know why." Sweets commented quickly and everyone erupted into laughter except Humphrey who just wished he could crawl into a hole and die right now. Even Kate laughed about it some until she looked back over at Humphrey and saw the look of complete embarrassment on his face and knew she needed to intervene quickly before things got much more outta hand.
"Guys.. Guys" Kate stammered out trying to stop laughing from the last comment. "It wasn't what you all think as I fell asleep and then he fell asleep sometime afterwards. I just helped him with his homework." She tried to not make it sound any worse than it already did, but there really wasn't anyway around not making it sound any better than she had.
"Uh huh, we all know the "Official" story... "Helping with his homework" so I guess thats what we are calling it thee days.." Sweets picked at Kate before taking another bite of her slice of pizza. By now Humphrey had lifted his head and was slowly eating his pizza.
"Alright guys, we will leave these two "study buddies" alone." Shakey said. "I got the ok from my parents to use the lake house for spring break, but they just ask that we clean up before we leave and not to tear anything up." Everyone nodded as Shakey continued. "So has everyone asked about going?"
"I haven't but I'm sure that Mom and Dad won't care, although I don't think they would let me and Lilly go for the whole week." Kate replied as she nudged Humphrey with her foot paw from under the table. As he looked up at her with a confused look, she glanced about the table to make sure no one was paying attention before mouthing "I need a favor." His eyes got big as he quickly wondered what it could be and she smiled before mouthing "I'll tell you later when its just us." He nodded in reply before returning his attention to the main conversation at the table. Luckily his timing was perfect because Shakey had just finished giving the run down of everything for spring break and he was about to be asked a question.
"What do you think Humphrey, go for the whole week or just that weekend? like maybe leave on Thursday and comeback Sunday sometime?" Shakey asked.
"Well yea I mean if that's what everyone wants to do that's fine by me, sounds good." Humphrey replied before grabbing another bite of pizza to stuff his muzzle with.
"Alright then that will be the game plan." Shakey said as every one finished off what was left on their plates and glancing up at the clock to see how much time they had left on their lunch, which wasn't long. As they all got up from their seats and Salty went to pay the tab, they were all talking excitedly about the trip. All except Lilly, for she know that she would be the odd ball out as she always is anytime they go to the movies or any trips the group takes. She had a slightly bummed look about her as they all made their way out the door and dodged traffic to get back across the street to school. Kate looked back at her sister as they walked back through the doors and into the huge main hallway of the first floor of the school. Kate noticing the look on her sister's face decided that she would walk her to her next class and see what is up. They all said their good byes and went their separate ways to each of their classes. Well all but Humphrey and Salty as they had RCAC next together. So they walked together out the other set of doors and made their way up the hill to the other building on campus that had the classes for the bad kids on the upper floors and RCAC on the lower floor/basement.
"Ah inspection day, gotta love it." Humphrey said sarcastically as they walked up the hill and he glanced over his ribbons on his chest and the brass rank placed perfectly on his shoulders to make sure there wasn't any smudges on his freshly polished brass.
"You just better hope that the Commander isn't as picky this time, because I thought she was going to flip the last time your squad was inspected. Hell Nicholson's shoes were polished half assed and his brass wasn't even lined up right on his shoulders." Salty replied as they reached the doors leading into class.
"Yea no shit, ugh I could've killed him for that." Humphrey replied as he placed his paw on the door handle and looked at Salty with a sigh. "Here we go." As they walked in, all the cadets were double checking everything on each other and to Humphrey and Salty's surprise, everyone looked good from a distance. Only time would tell once they got into formation in the gym and the company inspection started. Their teachers, Master Warrant Officer Bemboom and Lt. Colonel Russell called their two groups into their class rooms, with the freshmen going with Lt Colonel Russell and the rest going with Master Warrant Officer Bemboom. Humphrey and Salty followed Bemboom into the class on the other side of the gym and took their seats along side the rest of the upper level cadets who were awaiting for class to start.
"Ok boys and ladies, its inspection day this Monday and your Battalion Commander and Company commander will be performing this particular inspection this month, as me and Lt. Colonel have other things that we need to attend to." Bemboom replied as he stood up from his desk at the front of the class. "Head out and prepare to get into formation." With that being said, the cadets filed out of the class room and into the gym to join the first year cadets to prepare for the monthly inspection. As they all looked each other over for a few minutes before the Battalion Commander entered the room, Salty took his place at the front of the group and stood at attention.
"Delta Company fall in." Salty barked out to the cadets under his command as Company Commander as the Battalion Commander and XO walked into the gym together. Once the company was in formation and standing at attention, Salty did an about-face and stood at attention while waiting for the Battalion CO and XO to stand before him. Luckily he didn't have to wait for long as they were standing there before him when he did his about face. He saluted them and they saluted back before he put his right paw back at his side. "Delta Company ready for inspection." Salty said while looking straight ahead at a spot on the wall.
"Cadet Master Warrant Officer would you join along side for the inspection of your Company?" The Battalion Commander inquired of Salty and which he replied with "Yes Ma'am"
"Then lets get started shall we."
"Company... Parade Rest." Salty ordered the cadets under his command and followed the CO and XO of the Battalion to the first squad. Upon reaching the first squad, the squad leader, a wolf by the name of Ronnie, ordered his squad to stand at attention so they could be inspected. Humphrey stood there and couldn't help but watch as they inspected each individual member of each squad, but he was careful not to get caught looking as he was suppose to be staring straight ahead. "It seemed like for ever before they finally got around to inspecting his squad and as they finished with the squad in front of his, Humphrey called out "Squad attention!"
"Afternoon Cadet Sargent. how are things going today?" The CO asked of him.
Never taking his eyes off the spot of the back of the head of the wolf in front of him, he replied "Pretty good Ma'am."
"That's good."
As the CO looked him over and measured the distances of his rank and ribbons to determine if they were within accordance to the Army specifications, they small talked about nothing really in particular. Although in the back of his head he hoped the rest of the members of his squad had gotten their shit together this time around. He had the last squad of his company, which meant it was the worst characters of Delta Company and he were responsible to get them in shape and keep them in line. If one of them acted out of line, the whole squad got in trouble and Humphrey had to deal out the punishment and receive it just the same. For it would seem to those on the outside looking in that he was the warden and prisoner in the same. Which he enjoyed the position, he just wished his squad didn't screw up as much as they did.
"Excellent job Cadet Sargent on your uniform and let's hope the rest of your squad has the same attention to detail as you." The CO said before moving on to the next cadet and this put Salty standing in front of him. The two made eye contact and like a thon in his side Salty reminded him of an old wager as he mouthed discreetly to Humphrey "Did you do it yet?" In which Humphrey immediately knew what he was talking about and without responding verbally, he merely took his eyes and looked through Salty. Salty shook his head and mouthed "I knew you wouldn't do it." before smiling and rolling his eyes at Humphrey. Humphrey didn't let it phase him though as he stood there at full attention. He knew he would deal with Salty later for trying to get in his head during this important moment, during the meantime, he was trying to make it through the rest of this class as the final period of the day was next and it was study hall for him.
Officer Griffith and Deputy Fife are references to an older american tv show called Andy Griffith in which Barney Fife is always quick with his revolver and shoots himself on accident in atleast one episode. There will be more references to the show as the story goes along.