7A few days later, Humphrey still had made no progress in his friend's request to try to be more open and well, try to get rid of the whole "Callous Clam" person everyone knew him for. It was increasingly obvious just how bad he became at socializing with people. Oh, and his trust issues seemed to be worse than he thought.
Well at least for the most part anyway.
He wasn't so sure he could call the progress he made positive, it felt like much more of a nuisance than anything. Other than utter torture of course.
The "progress" he was referring to, of course, was the princess herself. Something that made him more and more wish that he had just failed his first semester. Then he wouldn't be on the honor roll. Then again it was weird that out of all the kids in the regular classes, he was selected. He wasn't the only student to switch to the honor roll from regular classes. But he had gone to the honor roll while people who had actually performed better than he did hadn't.
It was a bit confusing, to say the least. Maybe even a little bit sketchy. But maybe he was overthinking it. He had a tendency to do that. Actually, now that he thought about it, his previous thought process was just interrupted because of that tendency.
How annoying.
Back to the princess. They had developed a kind of... interesting dynamic to say the least. While they worked on their project (Kate clearly putting in most of the effort), they would banter and tick each other off as if it were a game. Whoever blew up first would lose. Or whatever unspoken rules were set. It seemed Kate had tried so hard to rile a real reaction out of him, something other than his usual impassive and calculated comebacks. She even did as much as smiled when she somehow got him to laugh at one of her previous statements about his lack of work ethic.
They could at most tolerate each other for a good hour or two. After that, both of them were exhausted from dealing with each other, to which Humphrey would make his way home and take a power nap before he went to work. He had a full-ride scholarship from the school somehow. Something about his MCAS* scores being high. Though last he checked MCAS scholarships didn't work for anything outside of MA. But even though he had a full-ride scholarship for whatever reason he had it. He still needed to make money for his own personal needs. He was just happy he was able to get a job in the on-campus local coffee shop. Which surprisingly had very few students from the actual campus. And he never worked with them either, they had different shifts.
Something that he was always relieved about.
That being said, today seemed to be different. The two students had done the unthinkable, they were dealing with each other going on now 2 and a half hours, by far the longest the two had dealt with each other. In any situation really. While their group of friends had slowly (somehow) started to merge, the two of them couldn't actually stand each other for too long. To be honest though, Humphrey also never actually joined the group on its hangouts. Which were quite often now. Of the four days, the two groups had hung out for three of them.
Honestly, Humphrey didn't mind. He didn't have to deal with the other group and he was quite happy to see his friends so happy to make new friends they could constantly hang out with. It wasn't like they didn't have friends, but it was always hard for them all to hang out. Either they were busy or whatever else was the case. He was just happy to see the three of them smile so widely. They always had some interesting stories to tell when they got back to the dorm they shared. Where he gladly listened to them retell the events.
He hadn't seen the three so eccentric in so long.
Sadly back to reality though, he had been in the same room as Kate, next to her, in his own opinion, for far too long. She actually hadn't done much to really tick him off today, but just her presence annoyed him. As his presence did the same for her. That was the power of the rumors. They both had bad images of each other already and they hadn't legitimately given each other a genuine chance to show otherwise.
And honestly, he didn't want to give that chance.
And neither did she for what he knew. They just wanted to get this damn project done in their own fashion. He had gone as far as to try to tell her the philosophy he fell under at the beginning just to move things along quicker, but Kate, ever the studious girl she is, told him she wanted her own research done so she could have a genuine piece. Something he found rather annoying. By effect, he also had to work hard enough to get genuine research done so he could get an accurate assessment of her philosophy. Which only served to make the project that much more troublesome.
Did she enjoy trying to rile him up so much that she wanted to drag out this project just to torture him? Was that the kind of woman he was dealing with? His own fatigue from his thinking caused him to sigh. Something he immediately regretted as soon as he did so. "What's on your mind Clam?"
Humphrey was caught off guard by that wording, but he didn't show it, instead of keeping his stolid expression. "What makes you think it's something on my mind princess?" As he spoke he kept on his research trying to find a good match to the questions Kate had answered. He had gotten some decent matches. And only one that he was really sure of, that Kate was in line with existentialism. Which was something that he was surprised about, part of him saw her as an absurdist.
Kate grinned at him and he already knew he wasn't gonna like hearing this, "Well Mr. Clam, as much as it is believed that you are just so very cold and unreadable, you happen to be quite the opposite. At least in terms of being read. You always frown slightly whenever you're caught up in your own thoughts, something that seems to happen a lot. So again, what's on your mind?"
Humphrey resisted the urge to smile, something he had to do a lot. He wasn't about to give her any more ammo to use on him. She already did with the whole chuckle he gave her. "First of all princess, quite creepy that you watch me so closely like that. Secondly, those rumors were never made by me, as much as I wish I was this unreadable person that no one could figure out. And lastly what I was thinking about wasn't all that important,"
Kate's grin only grew into a wide smirk, he was playing into her hands, wasn't he? "Oh yes, so important that you couldn't resist the urge to sigh?"
Humphrey nearly sighed again, he didn't want to prove her point. "As you said yourself, I sigh all the time, it could just be a sign of fatigue for being in this library for the past couple of hours, working on a project... Also, you basically admitted to watching me, creepy," he honestly couldn't resist the urge to say it.
Kate snickered at that. "While that is possible, we both know it wasn't what happened. You've made it a point to try to not sigh around me. And you've done little to no research on the computer. You haven't actually touched that keyboard for a few minutes. Also, don't flatter yourself Clam. I'm just an observant person,"
He should have sighed.
Humphrey knew he was cornered here. No matter what he said he had been beaten by Kate. She was a genius when it came to socializing and social manipulation. Or at the very least she was compared to him. When did he become so antisocial again?
Oh yeah, Junior year.
He should just accept defeat. "I... could have been reading an article..?" His lack of confidence in his own statement was obvious. That was the dumbest thing he's done in so long. Right up there with taking that corner seat in Philosophy.
"Reading? From the Google home page?" Kate said pointing at his computer screen, her condescending smirk shining brighter now. She was enjoying every second of this. That smirk was gonna haunt him for so long. His silence was more than enough to show he had surrendered. She had won the day, "Now stop trying to avoid the topic and speak Clammy,"
Still, as impassive as ever, Humphrey sighed, "Could you not call me that?"
"Okay, what was on your mind peasant?"
Humphrey sighed, his face changing from its natural impassiveness to a glum expression. He took the opportunity to lay his head on his arm that rested on the table, his eyes now closed as if he was trying to nap in the library. "I'm gonna save up for a casket,"
"Dark and moronic. But you didn't really reject the new nickname," Kate said with a smile as she shifted closer to Humphrey. Taking the opportunity to look over Humphrey's notes. For someone that showed little to no work ethic, she was surprised to see how his notes were. Compared to hers it was nothing special, but his notes which had both his questions and her answers also had some of his little own thoughts on the side. Something that further intrigued her. He didn't have too much written, but from what she could tell, he hadn't actually jotted down everything he thought about. A bunch of the stuff he jotted down seemed unfinished or a bit unorganized. It both annoyed and intrigued her.
Then she got to the bottom of the notes. Peering at my notes I see.
The note was enough to catch her off guard and she quickly looked away, resisting the urge to tsk or make any other incoherent sound that would give away her surprise. She didn't get away unscathed though, she had a huge blush while she tried desperately to hyperfocus on her own notes. Somehow that little note he put was enough to make her feel like she was some child who got caught stealing from the cookie jar. It was extremely embarrassing for her.
"I'm gonna go now, we've done enough," his voice was enough to get her to calm down, she didn't want him to catch her so off guard. She had the advantage against him at the moment and she didn't want that to change. She wanted superiority in whatever this relationship could be counted as.
"Uh no you aren't, we have shit to do,"
Humphrey looked at her unimpressed, "Uh yes we are. This has been the longest session we've had. I'm pretty sure we both are rather exhausted from dealing with each other. And in a bit, I have to get ready for work. So a little downtime for me to nap is the one thing I want before I have to do that,"
Kate's curiosity once again was peaked, "You have a job?"
That question was almost insulting. As if it was so hard to believe that he could have a job. "Uh... yeah?"
Kate smirked, she was probably planning something again. He could guess what she was planning. She wanted to probably purposely go to his workplace and annoy him with her presence. Too bad for her though, she wouldn't actually be able to do that. "Where do you work?"
"That information is classified," even if she couldn't possibly annoy him at his job site, he wasn't gonna let her learn anything about him. He didn't see the point of telling her. Besides she could probably find a way to make his life a living hell, she had shown how smart she could be in certain situations. And with her connections (her father) literally owning everything on Campus. She could easily do anything with one call.
She looked at him unamused, "Rude. Scared I'm gonna annoy you or ruin your job?"
Was he that obvious?
"Judging from that look I would say I hit the bullseye. That's how low you think of me? Really? I know you don't like me but I'm not some evil witch whose sole purpose in life is to ruin yours," she looked rather offended at him for his predetermined opinion of her. "I was just genuinely curious,"
"Sorry, but past rumors don't quite make me trusting of you. Plus as you said, we don't like each other,-"
"I never said that,"
"Huh?"
Kate chuckled at that, "I said you don't like me. I never said I don't like you,"
Humphrey looked at her quizzically. Not because he was confused, but because he simply didn't believe she liked him. At all. She had made that completely obvious. But he decided to play along anyway, even if he knew the answer, "Do you like me?"
"Not particularly, but you are far more tolerable than you let on at first. And you're way more tolerable than most of the other people at this university," Humphrey continued to look at her quizzically as if telling her that she was spouting bullshit. Again Kate couldn't resist the urge to chuckle. "And you said I had trust issues? Damn Clam. But fine, I'll explain it to you as you so clearly can't comprehend what I'm saying. It's crazy to think sometimes that your friends called you a genius,"
"What happened to your other nickname?"
Why the hell did he say that?
Kate giggled at that before she caught herself by covering her mouth to stop the giggling. "I knew you liked the new nickname! Anyway seriously, I did absolutely despise your existence at first. I really did. But just like most other people, my opinion of you came from the infamous 'Callous Clam' rumors. About how you were so cold and you didn't give anyone who spoke to you the time of day. How you acted like you were so superior to everyone. And then you showed up, looked around the room, eyed a few seats, then took none of them and walked to that corner seat. Then you didn't pay attention to the teacher showing that superiority complex I was pretty sure you had. And then after that, you somehow nearly manipulated our conversation to try to make me blow up on you in some masterful plan. To which I hadn't noticed until third period when I was talking to Jasmine about it in Culinary. Thanks to Mooch. Anyway, after that I reluctantly set this whole thing up because well, I need a good grade to get back into AP. And through this, I actually started to notice little things. Instead of being outright cold, you're rather aloof. Always caught up in your head that sometimes when I talk to you, you don't respond. Or how you're so damn lazy but so naturally smart, and you hold that back constantly. You're probably the only person in this school that probably challenges me in intelligence. But unlike me, it seems to be far more natural for you, as if the information and other things just stick. That genius that Mooch, Salty, and Shakey talk about. It's both annoying and cool. And in general, you pique my curiosity. Why is someone so overwhelmingly negatively seen by the school, also someone so heavily praised by three of some of the more highly positively seen? Does that explain it a bit?"
Humphrey sighed, what the hell was she on? Did she have a fever? "So basically, I'm not dirt because I piqued your curiosity,"
Kate tsked at his wording and his sigh, but she responded anyway, "I guess you could put it like that,"
Humphrey looked straight at her, his gaze was something unique Kate noticed. It was somehow a weird mixture of piercing and gentle. Maybe the fact that his eyes were an icy blue had something to do with it. "Well allow me to shed some light. Although this is already known by you. Salty, Mooch, Shakey, and I were all childhood friends. As in we met in kindergarten. So naturally, we all have naturally high opinions of each other. Consider your mystery solved. Am I dirt yet?"
Kate looked at him annoyed, "You really have a lot of disdain for me. But no, as much as you apparently want that to be the case, I am not considering my mystery solved. For one thing, while you all have high opinions of each other the three of them seem to hold you on some sort of pedestal higher than anybody else in your group. You're the common highest opinion in your friend group,"
Feeling a bit guilty Humphrey softened his expression, he couldn't keep acting like a dick. It was really getting to him. Also, Kate had proved to be the most stubborn person he knew. "Sorry... I mean that. I'm just... I'm a piece of shit,"
Kate rolled her eyes but smiled, "Clearly. You're being an asshole to me, but I guess I understand as someone who does the same thing. I can't expect you to be nice to me when I'm still being an asshole to you, though on a lesser scale,"
"Noted. Anyway. I'm nothing that special,"
"Debatable, considering the whole thing with your friends,"
"Let me finish,"
"Sorry,"
Humphrey looked at her unamused, she was definitely enjoying this. When she saw his face she chuckled again. "Anyway. I'm partially being an asshole because of my trust issues and the rumors around you aren't exactly welcoming. But a lot of it also is because of the way I am. I'm the kind of person who wants nothing more than to be as irrelevant as possible. I don't really want to get into it, but I'm sorry, I'll try to... be friendlier. It's just hard,"
Kate gave him a smile at that. A genuine smile. Something that caught Humphrey off guard at first. "Alright, well then let's make a deal. Starting today, for just a month, let's just forget everything about rumors or anything else. Let's just try to be friendly to each other. If at the end of the month we still don't like each other then we can just say fuck all and never talk to each other again. And if we actually grow to like each other then we can try to be friends. It would be helpful if we did anyway, considering both of our friend groups seem to be merging. So... deal?" She put her hand out.
Humphrey was hesitant at first. He hated making deals and promises. Both were just absolutely awful to him. But after a bit of consideration he sighed, a bunch of air he didn't know he was holding releasing as he did so, "Deal," he said accepting her hand for the shake.
"Was it that hard of a decision to make genius?" Kate asked with a smirk.
Humphrey gave her a smirk back, but after a moment it was gone replaced with a frown, "Don't call me that,"
Kate chuckled before quirking a brow, "How is it that when I called you peasant you didn't mind it, but as soon as I call you genius you have a problem?"
Humphrey couldn't help but sigh this time around. "Because it simply isn't true."
"And you being a peasant is?"
Humphrey sighed again, "Not my point, but it kinda is true in comparison to you. A genius has the power to change the world as we know it. To progress us to a better future and whatnot. You know the whole spiel. I'm not that. I'm just Humphrey,"
Kate looked confused, "And what's Humphrey?"
Humphrey looked away. Kate could tell the topic made him uncomfortable. Shakey did mention that he had a problem with opening up about himself. She had kind of seen what he had meant when she had to ask him questions related to philosophy. But this was on a whole new level. Who would have thought that the clam would have been so... insecure?
Was he insecure?
Humphrey looked at the clock, he really had to go soon. Could he convince her to let him leave? He wanted nothing more than to avoid the topic, sadly from his personal experience though, she wasn't the type to just let things go.
She couldn't actually stop him from leaving, but somehow it felt like she did have that power.
He rubbed his nape before he unconsciously started to scratch it. Why did he suddenly feel super itchy?
Oh yeah, anxiety does do that.
He forced himself to calm down, taking a deep breath. He noticed that Kate was waiting patiently, something that went against what he had heard about her. He knew rumors had a habit of being exaggerated, some actually would be completely untrue. A few of the rumors surrounding him had been the case. It wasn't that much of a stretch to believe the same thing would have been the case with Kate. Either way, her patience to let him calm himself down, to not force him for an answer. It had surprised him.
It was a rather welcoming surprise though.
"I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about that. About how I really see myself. At least not in detail. I know that will make the whole philosophy thing a bit harder... So sorry about that. But I need to get to work. See ya... Kate."
Kate looked at him with a bit of concern. It was only natural to. He clearly wasn't okay. That whole "opening up" problem that she heard about was actually making a whole lot of sense. But if she had to guess, he was either insecure to reveal some things or simply a mixture of his own negative thoughts and his trust issues. Either way, she wasn't gonna pry into him for an answer. She would have to be patient with him. "It's fine Humphrey. Good luck with work, same time tomorrow?"
A simple nod is what he gave her in return before he packed up his stuff and left.
He definitely wasn't the stereotypical douchebag she thought he was at first. Sure he was a bit of an asshole, but both of them had been doing that to each other. And clearly, just like her, he had his reasons for doing so. Maybe he was doing what she was doing. She had a few lash outs to steer people away from her. She thought if she had shown this whole bitchy side people would stay away from her. It had worked wonders. Until he showed up in the class. The one person who probably had a worse reputation than her.
People had hated her because of her short fuse and overall attitude. But with him, it seemed his strategy had somehow worked better. People didn't fear him but they definitely didn't like him. He was seen as someone with a huge superiority complex. He had been so cold that people just didn't want to bother being anywhere near him.
Now though it doesn't seem like he really had a strategy. A bunch of the rumors could have been exaggerated. That or maybe just like with her, he was just so caught up in his own head that everyone around him disappeared from existence. It made her wonder what exactly he thought about that detached him from reality so much.
At that moment she remembered something, he had perfectly evaded telling her what he was thinking about earlier. "That sly bastard," she was a bit irritated at not getting an answer about that, but she couldn't help but let a grin form.
She was making progress.
Once again, for the third time now, Kate was hanging out with the merged group of her and Humphrey's friends. Well, minus Humphrey anyway. Hopefully though with their new deal, he would at least attempt to hang out with them. Probably not, but she could hope.
Wait, what? Did she really want to hang out that much? Maybe part of it was to show that the rumors about her simply weren't true. Well, at least they weren't the whole truth. Some of the stories were a bit exaggerated.
By the time she had actually gotten herself ready to hang out with the group (Basically, she went to her dorm, washed her face, put her school things away, and grabbed a hoodie to wear. She didn't expect the day to be this cold, also, she just wanted the extra pocket for her phone,) the group had already hung out for a bit. It was currently 2:30 pm. She could tell they had already done a few things by the fact that Gloria had a coffee. She grabbed the fluid whenever she needed the boost of energy. Which was often when she was hanging out with people.
The struggles of being an introvert Kate guessed.
Now that she thought about it. Didn't Humphrey do the same thing? She kinda put together that he was an introvert. But he also had a coffee canister with him the whole time they were together. Actually, he always brought one into class. Was that because he needed to wake up or because he needed the extra boost so he could deal with people the whole day?
If she found out that then maybe she could have an easier time understanding how he thinks. For her philosophy assignment of course.
Okay, maybe part of it was because she just genuinely wanted to be friendlier.
They were kind of in the same boat in that aspect. Humphrey had a tendency to just not acknowledge people's existence and Kate had a problem with getting angry at people too easily at times. Sometimes purposely and other times just because people got under her skin. She had gotten much better at it since last semester, but she still had her moments. Either way, it made them both look unfriendly. Which they were. But from what she gathered, both of them wanted to be friendlier overall.
Where was she going with this again? Her thoughts were just flying around in her head and she couldn't organize them.
"Hey Kate, we were thinking about going to the arcade for a bit, then we could head to Ava's Family Diner, you in?" Lily's voice was enough to disrupt Kate's thoughts. Something that Kate was more than thankful for at the moment. That was weird. She never was one to really do that. Humphrey had proven to be quite the confusing phenomenon in her head. She had both known and didn't know what she wanted when it came to him. She would have to think about that later though.
"Sure,"
6:00 pm. Humphrey had been working for 3 hours now, he was halfway through his shift today. He was clocking out at around 9 pm. The most annoying part would probably be the 20-minute walk back to his dorm.
He actually quite enjoyed his job. He was a chef at the restaurant. After doing dishes for about 3 months and taking lessons from the chef whenever the opportunity presented itself, he was promoted to being a chef himself. It earned him much more money than being a simple dishwasher and he wasn't bad in the kitchen. So it just seemed like a no-brainer.
"Ay yo Mackey," upon hearing the nickname that was given to him by all the waiters he turned his head, currently, he was finishing the steak that was ordered earlier. "You got a special order from your buddies again, also some girls are joining them so you got a huge order," as she finished saying that she handed him a ripped paper from the notepad she used to take the order. She was right. It was gonna be a big order, manageable, but big.
"Alright thanks, TT(TeeTee)," With that, he gave her a quick smile.
She simply smiled back before she stuck her tongue out at him in a playful manner before leaving. The action causing Humphrey to chuckle. Talking with his coworkers was so much easier than talking to the students on campus, probably because he was forced to talk to his coworkers. That forced him to get comfortable with them, otherwise, he'd have an awful time working here.
He immediately got too work, if he had no distractions he could get the order done in about an hour or so.
"So wait, you know one of the chefs in the back?" Jasmine asked.
Mooch smirked at her, "Yeah the chef in the back is a good friend of ours. He's pretty good,"
Shakey laughed at that, "He may be good but no one will ever get to your level of expertise!" His comment got Mooch and Salty to laugh. Some of the girls found themselves chuckling too.
Kate raised a brow, "Who's the chef?" She was curious, she knew the three of them had more friends than the Clam. But from what she heard, there wasn't exactly anyone that they hung out with outside of their classes.
Well until now anyway.
"Oh... uh... his name is Kenneth, we just call him Kenny though," Salty said waving his hand, his voice had gone up an octave throughout his speech. He sounded nervous, like he was trying to hide something. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Kate.
That led her to a few different scenarios.
Scenario 1 was probably the one she had the least belief in. That the three of them were just completely lying about the whole thing. That they didn't actually know the chef. But they didn't really have a reason to lie about that.
Scenario 2 was far more likely, but something that she didn't know she could fully trust in yet. It could very well be that the chef in the back was someone they didn't want them to know about. But who would they hide? Maybe Humphrey? That would fit well with the fact that Humphrey didn't tell her about his job either. Maybe it was something that he wanted to keep secret. And maybe they agreed to keep that secret.
Scenario 3 was probably as likely to her as scenario 2. That or it could even be a little less likely. She could have left Salty's voice change to a simple voice crack. And maybe the nervousness was something she was looking too far into. But part of that didn't make sense. He may not have been much of a talker, but he wasn't exactly scared to speak. It could have something to do with the chef. But that still didn't make too much sense to her.
Maybe she was overthinking it though. Either way, she wouldn't ask. She didn't want to risk sounding stupid because she overthought it and she didn't want to make the atmosphere around them awkward if her assumption was right. It was better to just look past it.
"Ooo can we meet him!" Jasmine looked excited, which is something that Kate wasn't too surprised about. Jasmine was always a fan of meeting new people, but she was especially excited to meet people in the food industry. Which only made more sense because she was interested in owning a restaurant herself. She wanted to meet as many people as possible and learn as many things as possible.
"I'll send him a text, if he says he's fine doing so then definitely!" Mooch said taking out his phone. Once again though Salty looked a little nervous about it. Though this time around Shakey seemed to join him.
That made it clear, there was no way this Kenneth existed. And scenario 3 was completely lost too. That meant that either these three were completely lying, or that this secret chef was Humphrey. It didn't make sense for them to keep a random person's secret. Humphrey was the only person who wanted to remain a secret from what she knew.
She didn't know if she should just call them out, help them out, or just do nothing. She could easily get the answer from them at this moment, she could help them out and take the anxiety completely off of them. Or she could just wait to see what happens. There was no way Mooch would agree to let them meet this chef if he couldn't keep his word right? He wouldn't corner himself or his friends like that.
She ultimately decided that she would just wait and see what happened. She had to give them some credit. Salty and Shakey were more reserved than someone like Mooch. There could have been something she hadn't thought of before that could have been a factor. Like maybe this Kenneth person was just someone that was close to Mooch specifically?
After a few moments, Mooch had sent a text to this supposed Kenneth and the topic was dropped in favor of a new topic. "So Kate, any progress with Humphrey?" Mooch had said, his expression was more serious than she had ever seen him have before.
The topic actually got her to smile, "I actually think we might be making progress. The Clam is very adamant about his reservation. He didn't talk too much at the beginning as usual. Just the normal stuff really, we asked a few philosophical questions so we could progress on our project. But after a while, I noticed that he had stopped working. So I called out to him and he didn't respond. Which led me to believe he was in his own world, so like you three said to do, I just let him be until I saw a sign that he would have broken out of it. A few minutes later he sighed so I took that as the sign-"
"That usually is the sign honestly, he isn't the animated type when it comes to snapping out of most things," Shakey interjected, something he did a few times. It ticked Kate off but she had quickly learned that he wasn't trying to be rude. It just was how he was, he sometimes thought out loud. Or felt the need to explain things.
She nodded, trying to hide the fact that the interruption had ticked her a bit, "Yeah, I suspected as much. I ended up asking him what was on his mind. He never answered me though. But we did end up having a pretty decent talk. It was actually the most I heard him talk in one sitting I'm pretty sure. Anyway, the gist is that we agreed to just put rumors and other shit about us to the side for a month. During that month since we'll already have to deal with each other for this project and because we're all starting to hang out with each other we'd just treat each other friendlier as if we are already friends. If by the end of the month we still don't like each other then we can just not deal with each other and if we do start to like each other then we can start a real friendship,"
She looked at the three hoping to see if their reactions would give her a sign that she did the right thing. She was honestly scared to propose the plan to Humphrey. "That was probably the best course of action really. Humphrey is pretty good at doing anything when someone else gives him a reason to. If he agreed to your proposal, that must mean you did something that gave him enough reason to go through with it. I do have to offer one thing of advice though, just so you don't accidentally make the mistake. Humphrey isn't the kind to make promises. It takes a lot for him to even consider making one..." Salty had paused, only to gather his thoughts. "What I'm trying to say is. That it took a lot for him to make that agreement with you. And while I believe in your abilities, as much as I don't hate you or anything anymore. I feel the need to make this clear. Please don't make Humphrey regret making that deal with you. I don't think you will. But I just... want to make sure he's gonna be okay,"
What he said probably sounded a little harsher than he intended. But Kate had figured that from the beginning. He was looking out for his friend. Besides it all made sense. His hesitance to agree to her deal was far more clear now with this context. And from what Salty had implied there was at least one (possibly multiple) reason for his loathing of making promises or deals. "I understand. I won't do anything to hurt him,"
After that the group would just have a casual discussion, most of it Kate felt wouldn't be that memorable. Not to say she wasn't listening but she wasn't gonna exactly make a note that Shakey broke his tailbone because he fell from a tree. Soon enough though the food had arrived and if she was honest, it was better than she had remembered. Oh, the power that came with knowing a chef.
Honestly, that didn't matter to her, the food was good and she was gonna enjoy it.
After a bit a ding caught everyone's attention, Mooch had just gotten a text message, it was the moment of truth. "Oh he said he'd be alright meeting y'all, he just works until late tonight so if we want to stop by we'll have to wait until later,"
Most of the group agreed to do so, minus Kate really. She couldn't be out for too long, she had a goal to make it back to AP. Her demotion to the honor roll was something she still didn't understand the reason for. But she wanted to make it back to her rightful place in AP by next semester. The only way she would do that was by being the best student possible and outperforming everyone else. That meant both honor roll and AP students. Maybe then her father would reveal why he had demoted her in the first place.
At first, she thought it was her behavior, so she just stopped lashing out at people. She had accomplished her goal before anyway, the extra lashing out was just to make sure no one would annoy her later on. But even after doing so, she was never even given a sign that she would go back to the AP course. Could it be that her father thought she would misbehave anyway? But if her behavior was the reason she would have been punished far earlier than when she was. But she couldn't think of another reason. She had ranked number 1 in all her classes. Nothing should have caused her to go down to the honor roll. Well, nothing other than the multitude of complaints about her many explosive outbursts in class.
But her father had told her that he was keeping his reasons to himself. Which implied that behavior wasn't the reason.
So why?
"Hey Kate, you okay?"
The soft voice of her sister was enough to interrupt Kate's thoughts, it seemed like she just did a Humphrey. Everyone was staring at her with concern. And from their expressions, they were staring for a while at this point. "Uh, yeah I'm fine. Why what's up?"
"Um... you looked like you had a lot on your mind, I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Lily said, she clearly hadn't believed Kate. Her sister was too precious for this world sometimes, far too gentle and kind for her own good. But sometimes she worried a little too much.
To calm her nerves, Kate gave Lily a reassuring smile to tell her she was okay. She would tell her the details when they were in their dorms. But in reality, her sister was probably thinking it was something more serious than what it actually was. Lily returned the smile, though hers came off more sheepishly than Kate's. Yeah, Lily definitely didn't believe her.
It was gonna be a long night of explaining to her.
The time now was 9:30, the closing time for the restaurant, the group had made their way back to meet the chef. Part of Kate thought they would have forgotten about doing so and they would just go off and do their own thing. But the group had remembered, specifically, Jasmine did, maybe she was excited to see who made their food? Or maybe she wanted to ask questions about the meal to further her own knowledge. Either way, she looked very excited to meet the mysterious Kenny.
"What's Kenny like?" Jasmine asked the three guys.
Mooch was the one to respond, "Kenny's a nice guy, he's very shy and can be a bit awkward, but he's a good guy,"
"Yeah, he's got a bit of a stutter too," Salty made sure to add, "Just try not to overwhelm him,"
Soon enough, a guy in a partially dirtied chef's uniform walked out, but something about it looked strange to Kate. Wasn't that a little small for him? The uniform looked a little too tight, and it didn't look like he had been wearing it all day. Maybe it was because of the size, but the uniform looked like it was messily put on, almost as if he was in a rush to put it on. Three of the buttons weren't even fastened. "Oh, what's up! I didn't actually expect you all to be here, the names Kenneth, you can just call me Kenny! I hope you all enjoyed the meal today!"
His voice was loud and confident. Where was his stutter? Was he trying to play his anxiety off? It didn't seem like that was the case. It seemed too natural for it to be the case. Either this Kenny was an amazing actor, or this person wasn't even Kenny.
Something was off.
Should she call him out on it? Would anybody else do so? Salty, Mooch, and Shakey all seemed caught off guard for a moment, but then they just played it off as if this guy was their buddy. Quickly Kate scanned how her friends reacted, they all seemed to notice it too. Would they say something? For the moment at least everyone was just going along with it.
Jasmine ended up asking a question about the steak she had, from the answer she had received it sounded like Kenneth didn't know what he was talking about. But she seemed to just be nodding to whatever he was saying.
Soon enough Kenneth went back inside and Kate got a small glimpse, the sight shocked her. Just barely in view, talking to the person that was their waitress a few hours prior was Humphrey. Except he was wearing a shirt that was a bit too big for him. Suddenly it all clicked for her. Her earlier theory was right, the group was covering for Humphrey. They lied to them so they wouldn't know it was actually Humphrey who made the food.
Why was it so important for him to hide where he worked? Why was he so secretive about it in the first place?
Jasmine was the first one to say something, "Kenneth wasn't the person who made our dishes was he?"
Salty, Shakey, and Mooch sighed in defeat. They had known they were caught when the wolf left the restaurant and started speaking. "No, that isn't even Kenny. I'm gonna guess Kenny left early. Anyway, we're sorry for lying,"
"It's fine Mooch, just why would you lie though?"
Kate took the opportunity to step in, "It was for Humphrey, wasn't it,"
The three looked away in guilt. Before Shakey finally turned back to them, "Yeah, it was for Humphrey. He was the chef. He..." Shakey couldn't finish, he didn't know how to explain it. He didn't know how to tell them anything without making his friend seem like a bad person. And he didn't want them to think that. Humphrey wasn't a bad person.
"He's just secretive," Kate finished for him. She kind of understood what he was trying to say. Even if she didn't know why. "The reason why you three know is because of how close you all are. But he doesn't want other people to find out. It's understandable,"
Salty smiled, "Yeah. Thanks for understanding. Again, we're sorry. I hope this doesn't cause much of a dent in our friendship,"
Diane sighed, "We may have our problems Salty, but no. This won't do much. You were just being loyal to your friend. We understand,"
With that, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. It was getting late, and they still had class tomorrow. They would need to be well-rested.
At least Kate would love to get well-rested, but she would end up talking to Lily until 1:30 a.m. Turns out, Lily was far more worried than Kate had originally realized.
*MCAS - Also known as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. It's a standardized test taken in the state of Massachusetts, where high scores can give you good scholarships. For the common student, it's taken from 3rd grade to 10th grade. They have yearly tests for Math and English for every year except year 9. Which gets replaced by the one Science test that you take that year.
And with that, I finally finished this second chapter. I had a bit of a hard time with this one. The beginning came easy to me, but after that it was hard. I think I'm content with how it turned out though.
I actually can't think of much more to say so, I'll just see you all in the next chapter!