Henry nodded, lifting his arm from around her while he lifted his bag. "Can you make it to lunch? I can drive you home or something." He stood slowly, standing close enough to her to catch her if she fell again. Around them, other students stood up around them, starting the room buzzing with a conversation.
Babe stood, stretching and wobbling a bit on her feet. "Nah, I'm fine. I might just nap in my next couple of classes, too." She shrugged, her eyes barely open. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a small slip of paper and handing it to him. "I figured I should give you my number, by the way, for uh…project stuff, and hockey. And, y'know, 'cause I'm pretty sure we're friends now."
(I'm sorry I can't update right now my computer's dying and I'm super busy sorry, hopefully I'll be back tonight.)
((It's okay! Looking forward to tonight!))
Henry nodded. "I wrote my ideas down, the paper's on the top of your bag." Ripping out a piece of notebook paper, he quickly scribbled down a number and straightened up from the table. "Here. I'll see you at lunch!" The room was emptying quickly, so he leaned toward the door. She thought they were friends? Inside, Henry was grinning like a preschooler with candy.
"See you." Babe shot him a slightly sleepy smile, blinking down at the paper she had somehow not notice. She folded the paper up and stuck it in her jacket pocket, waving goodbye to him as she grabbed her bag.
Henry headed out the door and towards his next class, filled with worry about Babe. The rest of the morning seemed to crawl by, and once he finished he was fighting to keep himself from running to the cafeteria. He made it in while most of the other classes were just starting to get out. Finding his way to the hockey table, he looked around anxiously for Babe.
Babe looked quite a bit more awake than she had, nodding her head almost violently to a Metallica song as she picked her way through the mess hall. There was a slight limp visible in her step, and she skipped the lunch line to head straight for the table.
Henry's expression eased as soon as he saw her. The limp was subtle enough, but he caught it. At least she looked awake, that was a huge improvement. Once she reached the table, he slid over to make room for her. "How you doing? Did you manage to stay awake?" Stop sounding like a mother hen. he yelled at himself mentally.
"I slept through Spanish, not that I'm missing much. After that, I did." Babe said, bumping his shoulder with hers. She had no lunch with her, or at least, didn't pull one out. "I'm doin' alright, how 'bout you?"
Henry theatrically fell away from her shoulder, as if she'd pushed him much harder. "I'm doing great, as always. turned in my homework on time for the first time in about a year." He pulled out a small sandwich bag and placed it on the table as the rest of the team started to trickle in.
"Look at you go. Soon you'll be brawn and brains." Babe teased, waving as Kevin sat down. She was very obviously happy for Henry.
Kevin blinked at them for a minute. "Henry's not brawn. He's not really brains, either." A few of the others joined him to express their agreement, while Henry sighed. "Thank you, Babe. As for you all, get a life.' He teasingly threw pieces of bread crust at them.
"If he's not brawn or brains, what is he then?" Babe asked, raising an eyebrow at Kevin. She had to admit, he was a good guy. Her brother went through crushes like he did changes of clothes, but he had at least picked a good one this time.
Henry groaned as a huge smile lit up the boys' faces. Kevin turned to Henry. "He's… Twinkle Toes!" Henry lay his head on the table, shaking it slowly as the laughter of the whole table circled him.
Babe rolled her eyes, pulling a piece of brocolli off of somebody's tray and nailing Kevin in the nose with it. "They day I see you pull off an A and not break your ankles is the day I'll laugh at that. Are any of y'all aware of how hard that shit is?" She seemed really intent about this, waving her hands to emphasize.
Henry's humiliation felt complete, and he lifted his head from the table. "She has a point, I bet none of-" He was abruptly cut off by another of the team. "Right. Twirling on ice, with those ballet shoes and tutus, that stuff's real hard and manly." Another round of laughter filled the table, and Henry gave Babe a hopeless look.
"Male figure skaters don't wear tutus. Not even all women do." Babe shot a withering glare at the team. Kai had been a figure skater, back before he'd decided on things. "And regardless of this pathetic 'manliness' standard, he could still kick your ass on the ice. In fact…" An idea sparked a wicked glee in her eyes, and she grinned. "Why don't we test that?"
Henry startled, looking at her. What is she doing? His common sense told him to be afraid, but a tiny spark of adventure told him to do whatever it was Babe was suggesting. "Test it how?" He asked, cautious but interested.
"A little competition." Babe said, shooting Henry a wink. "Some sort of 'manliness' tester, since you seem to like that word. Loser has to wear a tutu to school for three days, since those are so bad-" That part was very obviously sarcastic. "-and I haven't quite decided what the winner gets."
Henry met Kevin's gaze. "Oh, it's on. Practice tonight. Be there or forfeit to the tutu." Kevin nodded hard, a cruel gleam in his eye. "I'd forfeit if I were you, Henry. A tutu's the least embarrassing thing for you."
Babe rolled her eyes, muttering something about 'boys' as her phone buzzed. She picked it up, fingers moving quickly in a response to the text from Kai. He seemed to be beating around something.
The boys took a few moments off from their teasing to eat their food. Henry practically inhaled the sandwich, saving a few bits of crust for emergency weapons, if needed.
Babe looked around the mess hall, the table her brothers had taken full, except for Kai. "Where…?" She looked slightly worried about something, fiddling with her necklace as she looked back at her phone.
Henry noticed her look. "What's up? One of your brothers?" He took a large sip of his water bottle, watching her closely for an answer.