Babe burst into a fit of laughter that sounded suspiciously like giggles, leaning against the desk to keep herself up. Once she had calmed herself, she shook her head, cheeks flushed from laughter. "Your payback is staying on the team, Jacobs. We need our captain."
Henry thought for a minute. "I was serious, though, I have three goats at home. And I have been dragged across my yard by them before. But I'll stay on the team, that's for sure." He did his best to look annoyed with her, nudging her foot with his.
"Alright, alright, my apologies." Babe shot him a brilliant smile that made it obvious she wasn't too apologetic. "If you wanna keep your team, let's get you back on track, right?"
"Yes ma'am. These problems aren't going to answer themselves." Henry said, packing away his math and pulling out another of the various textbooks for his high school subjects. They spent about ten minutes going over that, before Babe yet again corrected his small mistake that had ruined his understanding of the mistake. (I'm running out of high school things, skip to when he has to go home?)
((Sure!))
Babe, oddly enough, didn't exactly want Henry to leave. She didn't voice that though. "Okay, got all your stuff? We don't want you leaving anything to be sucked into the void that is my house." She joked, watching him gather up all of his stuff.
He laughed, checking the row of books a last time. "I think I got everything. I'll see you tomorrow, in class. And just so you know, the team is expecting you to sit with us again. It's fine if you don't, you just wouldn't want to disappoint them." He headed to the door, waving as he walked out.
"I'm being emotionally manipulated, aren't I?" Babe asked, limping along to walk him to the door. The last thing she needed was one of her brothers cornering him while he was alone.
"That, Babe, is exactly what is happening. I'm a master at it." He grinned as he walked down and out to his car, waving as he turned to step into the driver's seat. (Skip to the next day in school?)
((Sure! Lunch, or beginning of the day? Maybe they get paired for a class project??))
(Beginning sounds fine, and pairing them is a good idea!)
((Cool!))
Babe hummed along to the song playing in her earbuds as she entered her locker combination. She looked like she'd barely slept at all last night, and she hadn't. Thanks to her ankle, which looked like it wouldn't chill out for a couple of days. Great. She'd be functionally useless at practice today, just dragging the team down.
Henry was energetic that morning, walking into school with a spring in his step. For the first time in months, almost years, his homework was done. Completely finished. He stashed his books in his locker before headin gfor their first class, where it would be project time.
Babe shut her locker after shoving her stuff for her next class into her bag, still drowsily humming. She slipped into her first period class, taking her usual seat in the back and resting her head on her arms.
Henry nudged his sleepy classmate with his leg. "Babe, wake up. Didn't you sleep last night?" He asked teasingly, but still concerned. "And how's your ankle doing?"
It took her a second to realize that he was using her name, and not the petname. "Huh? Oh, uh, not really. I had…things to do. Ankle's fine." Her sentences sounded cut together and short as she pulled one earbud out to look up at Henry.
"You look awful." The truth sounded blunt, even to him. "I mean, not awful, just tired." She even sounded tired. He pulled out the workbook, starting to plan their project. "You should try to get more sleep."
"Sleep is for the weak." Babe stated, sitting up, only to kind of…fall against Henry. The effort it took to stay sitting up was not something she was interested in. "What's the…project thingy. That we're doing."
Henry caught her with one arm, holding her upright but not letting go, either. "I'll take care of the project. Try to get some sleep, or something. We have an hour or so. He flipped through the book with his spare hand, scribbling down notes and ideas he had.
"I'm not just gonna let you do it yourself." Babe insisted, looking up at him. There were deep bags under her eyes, and her eyes were a bit red and puffy, almost like she had spent quite some time crying. "At least…just wait. We can meet somewhere after school. I'm working straight after till five, but you could always drop by."
"Are you coming to practice tonight? You don't have to." He kept on focusing on the page, still keeping one arm around her to keep her up. He was more focused than usually, having finally gotten an acceptable amount of sleep. Unlike Babe, apparently.
"I will. Promise." He was warm. A good warm, but one that made her even sleepier. With a sigh, she scooted her chair closer to his before resting her head on his shoulder and nestling into him. "If you come up with an idea, I'll…bring some of my mom's cupcakes to practice. They're super good. That's her talent."
"In that case, I'll have multiple ideas." He started sketching out possibilities, trying not to think about Babe's head on his shoulder. "Get some rest. I'll tell you what I've come up with tonight or tomorrow." And as the class time trickled by, he was able to come up with several potential projects they could do, as long as they interested Babe.
Babe huffed a laugh, and was out like a light. She'd occasionally mumble something, or her face would twist into a frown, like she was having a bad dream.
Henry shook his head frequently as he finished a page of notes for the project and reached over to tuck the paper into her bag. Two minutes before the end of the class, he gently shook Babe to wake her up. "Babe, you need to wake up. Class is almost over." It was the only class they had together before lunch, so he was pretty worried about her through the rest of the morning.
"Hm?" Babe made a questioning noise, shaking her head as she sat up. "I-oh, damn. Is it over already?" She asked, blinking the sleep out of her eyes as she turned to look at Henry.