A/N: Hey guys! So here i am again making a new STH story bc i couldn't help myself. The chapters are going to be longer, which means more content in fewer chapters. This story wont be as long as Ebony Rose for sure. I'm expecting around maybe 5-6 chapters for this story so yeah :-) i'm excited. Heads up, characters and scenes may seem all over the place but i'm going to try and fix that in later chapters. Another side note, it may seem like it, but i'm not dissing Sally in this story what so ever. Her and Amy's characters simply dont get along. It's not only bc of Sally and it's not only bc of Amy. Its just a clashing personalities sort of situaion. I hope you guys enjoy Pitcher as much as i am and i'm going to try and get it all done as soon as possible (So i can go back to writing Ebony Rose lmao)
3rd POV
They all were friends. An odd group of people but the seven of them were inseparable. Amy and Sonic have been friends since middle school. He lives right around the corner from Amy and so they have always been able to hang out freely. This also goes with Tails and Cream. The two of them were close friends as well and Tails more specifically was Sonic's best friend. The two were always beside each other.
Amy and Sonic's freshman year, they met Knuckles who got along with them too easily. It was uncanny how well Sonic and Knuckles bonded. Shortly after, Amy met Rouge who intrigued the pink hedgehog with her fashionable looks. The bat was a chill girl who sometimes had an attitude but Amy liked it. Ever since then, the four of them have been friends.
Sophomore year, Tails and Cream are finally in High School and are able to meet the other members of their squad. Sonic and Knuckles the year before were in different sports. Sonic being Track and Knuckles being in Football. Tails ran a tech club after school for people who wanted to build machines out of scraps during their freetime. Amy wasn't interested in doing anything, but joined her Sophomore class representatives in order to help set up their year.
Junior year is when High School life starts to get interesting. Sonic and Knuckles never drifted off from their group, but they definitely expanded their horizons with other people. They became some of the most well known sports players in the grade. Sonic was accepted as Track team leader for his record setting speeds and Knuckles wasn't too far behind with Football. In her classes, Amy was introduced to a new girl names Sally who constantly bragged about her expensive clothes and her expensive car and the fact her father was a billionaire who lived up the city. Amy didn't like her because of her ego. Rouge admired her outfits, and so did Sally, but when Sally asked Rouge to start hanging out with her instead of Amy, the bat declined. "No offence, but i'd rather hang out with genuine people rather than a rich-snoot like you, Hon." is what Rouge said, and embarrassed Sally had continued her business elsewhere. Junior year was the year the last member of their group came and joined. His name was Shadow, and he had relocated to their High School from another. He was already the Baseball captain there and after trying out at their school was formally accepted to replace their current one. Sonic and Knuckles liked the dark hedgehog immediately. They would always talk about how good Shadow was at pitching and how he should go check out their sports games. Amy never got to know Shadow as well that year, but Rouge did. She would tell Amy about him when they skyped or went out shopping over the weekend. Amy would've spent more time with Cream, but Junior year for Amy was a quiet time between them. What she didn't know was that Cream and Tails had been dating since their freshman year. So when Cream would state she was busy with work or other activities, it was because her and Tails were together.
Finally, it is Senior year and the group of friends, how diverse they are, are closer than ever. The first week of school, they all went to watch Sonic compete against their rival school (Shadow's former School) in the Track meet. Sonic won first, helping their school beat the other team and afterwards they all went to Waffle House to get pancakes.
"I swear one of the guys ate, like, ten bugs." Rouge says mid bite. They all laugh.
"Yeah! I saw that guy!" Sonic chuckles, sitting next to Amy with an arm resting above her shoulders on the back of the seat. "When i was running past him, he totally choked a little."
Amy laughs, spitting her orange juice back into her glass and they all laugh harder. People in the diner were giving them side glances but none of them cared about how loud they were being. Some other students were in the Waffle House as well.
"It's crazy how fast you were this match though," Knuckles says across from them, "I bet you hit a new record."
"I won't know until tomorrow, Knux." The blue hedgehog stuffs his face in more pancakes.
"I don't get why they can't tell you your time now." Shadow says. He's sitting at the edge of the booth next to rouge and and Knuckles. Amy looks over Sonic to glance at the ebony hedgehog.
"No clue." Sonic finishes.
The first four months of school holds the Track meets. Amy normally finds Sonic pulling into his driveway on the other side of the street later at night because of practices. She's had a crush on him since middle school. While these feelings linger inside, Amy has never acted on them. Something has her holding back; as if confessing will ruin their strong friendship. Cream knows about her crush, as well as Rouge who may or may not have already told Knuckles. There weren't many secrets between the friend group either.
They all know each other's most embarrassing stories. For example, Knuckles once got locked in a port-a-potty over night after a concert. They know what is happening in each other's lives and so on. Their group is a tight knot. Of course, not everyone is as close to another. Cream and Knuckles, while having mutual friends, haven't ever truly done anything together alone. They don't need to. Amy is the same to this by the fact that she has yet to really get to know Shadow. He's always busy. During school in their Literature class or their Science, he's always across the room working with his partners and after school he always disappears. Baseball season was coming up in a few months and Amy was certain they'd all go out to support him.
After Track, Football started and this year Knuckles was promoted to the team captain. When Amy sits in the bleachers with Rouge, Sonic, Shadow, Cream and Tails, they're always amazing by how strong Knuckles can be. Watching him run with a ball and plow through other players always has the group's jaws dropping. Like a form of tradition, after a game the group goes out to eat and celebrate no matter a win or lose.
March rolls around and Spring sports are now in season. Baseball is active and so is Golf (but no one pays attention to their Golf team because there's only three members).
Amy wakes up when her phone alarm goes off and she promptly gets dressed for the day. She puts on black tights and a cropped hoodie that hugs her hips along with matching converse. Amy doesn't normally care about how she looks but cares enough for her sanity. Throughout the years, Amy has always made sure to keep her quills shoulder length. It looked right on her. There was this one year in middle school when Amy decided to let her quills grow out and it became a mess. They would always get in knots and putting them into a ponytail never seemed to work for her.
Amy collects her bookbag and a poptart from the counter, says goodbye to her family and drives off to school. She picks up Cream first since the bunny only has a permit. She alwalys teases her about getting her license but Cream still states she's not ready.
"At some point, i'm going to have to charge you for gas." Amy says, backing out of Cream's driveway.
"Noooooo." Cream giggles and turns up the radio.
Before classes begin, the hallways are always hectic. Amy prefers to hang out at the entrance of the school since the traffic flow is reasonable. Because of this, everyone naturally gathers to say hello in the morning at that spot.
Amy and Cream walk up to Sonic who's wearing his Track T and blue jeans. He smiles and gives Amy a hug.
"Hey guys, what's up." He says. Cream gives him a half hug shortly after.
"Nothing much," Amy begins, smiling, "Just trying to convince Cream here to just suck it up and take her drivers license test."
Sonic laughs out loud, "Dude! You gotta do it! Don't be so scared, it's much easier than it looks."
Rouge, Knuckles and Shadow walk up and say goodmorning and shortly after Tails shows up. They chat for a few minutes before the warning bell rings and the group disperses between classes. Luckily, some of them have classes together so they're not completely split up all day.
Amy's first class, second, and third class are spent with Rouge. No surprise they're her lowest grades. Rouge tends to talk a lot between lectures and prefers to do school work at home instead of an opportune time. Ever since junior year, Amy has persistently told Rouge she'd have more time after school if she did her work when told. The bat just shrugs it off and goes back to discussing off topic events.
Amy takes a seat in her literature class and right beside her is Shadow. Unfortunately for Amy, this specific class isn't quite open for conversation unless they discuss books or analyze texts. Amy also has her science class with Shadow, and Cream who sits next to her, but Shadow sits across the room where she can't talk to him either. Ever since he's become friends with everyone, Amy's been struggling to grow closer with the ebony hedgehog.
He has a game today after school, it's a Friday and the Baseball team always have their games on Fridays. Sonic's texted her about five times in their group chat reminding everyone to show up so they can support Shadow. Of course she'll be there. Amy can't deny a chance to hang out with Sonic outside of school. She can't get enough of him.
Sometimes she feels as if he may want to be with someone else, so Amy distances herself. Them being life long friends doesn't mean he can't be with others. Amy replies back to the texts with a thumbs up. Immediately Knuckles responds with an OK emoji.
The sun is beginning to set low and the trees around the field burst into life with orange hues of life. Amy sits on the bleachers towards the left of the home plate next to Rouge. Amy called Cream about an hour ago asking if she was heading out since she didn't see any responds to Sonic's reminder, and the rabbit declined. She said she had some extra work to finish but would show up next time. Amy doesn't think about it too much as of late. This year with her friend has been slightly absent but Cream appears when necessary. Although, something in the back of Amy's mind does find it odd how many times Creams and Tails have missed group hang outs. She made a bet with Rouge that they were dating. The real bet was for how long. Of course the other three dorks heard and pitched in a bet as well. Amy, Shadow and Rouge's vote was since Sophomore year, but Sonic says Freshmen.
"GO SHAD- GO 18- PITCH IT FAST MAN!" Knuckles yells at the fence of the field. Sonic is right behind him, pumping a fist into the air and crying out chants. Over in the dugout, Amy can see Shadow turn is head over and flick the guys off. He's smirking though, and Amy nudges Rouge to show her.
"Those guys are idiots." She says laughing.
The game is about to start. The High School is up against their rival team. Ironically, Shadow had relocated from their School Junior year and replaced his position of rival Pitcherman to winning pitcherman. Amy can see the other team scowling across the field at Shadow as he walks towards the center of the field.
"Their panties are all in a bunch because Shadow left them." Amy says. Sonic and Knuckles had joined them a few minutes earlier and brough drinks along for them to share. Sonic sat beside Amy and Knuckles beside Sonic. Rouge stuck her tongue out at the red head when she saw him sit where he was.
Sonic laughs, "Shadow was telling me how he found that they'd made a separate group chat just to talk shit about him. He has a friend on the team still, and that's how he found out."
Knuckles leans forward to face the rest of them, "YEAH, and apparently just to freak them out Shadow replied to one of their messages and the entire chat froze because of the spams of panic."
They all laugh and the crowds around them get loud.
Amy smiles and watches Shadow position himself in his white and red uniform. He side eyes her, and she waves slightly. Then, he pitches. The rival team's batter misses the swing causing them to get a strike.
"YES! GO SHADOW!" Sonic yells, jumping out of his seat. Amy blushes beside Sonic, smiling up at the hedgehog. He always gets so excited during games.
Amy looks back to the field to spot Shadow. She found it amazing how fluent his actions were. Rouge whistles.
"I'm glad he's on our team." she says. Leaning over both Amy and Sonic, she snatches the large drink out of Knuckles hands. Taking a long sip, Rouge smirks, "He's so damn good."
"Hey-" Knuckles whines from the other side, "I'm the boyfriend."
Sonic chuckles and grabs the drink from Rouge. The four of them redirect their attention back to the game. They missed a short bit of the play, but from what Amy could see, no one has made a hit yet. And Shadow's pitches were on point causing the rival team to strike out.
She feels Sonic's arm rest behind her back and their proximity causes her cheeks to flush. She tries to hide the rosiness of her cheeks and watches Shadow throw his next pitch.
Amy notices the way Shadow stares at the batter. His eyes are intense and she'd surely crumble beneath his gaze if she were in that rink. It's such an experience watching him pitch, she thinks to herself.
Her cheeks are grow warmer as she continues to stare and his throws the pitch. Unknowing her draw drops when he makes another strike.
Rouge nudges her and says over Sonic's hollers, "You're drooling a bit, Hon."
She shuts her mouth and glares at the bat, but her cheeks never falter.
. . .
Their school won, not that they were concerned. The rival team got mercy ruled since they pretty much scored nothing.
Amy heads toward the dug out to congratulate Shadow while the other three discuss were to head out for dinner. She was awed by the way Shadow played. He's normally calm and collected but there was a demeanor that loomed around him during the game that caused her sense of self to act in foreign ways. Now, whenever she looks at him there is an essence that strikes her as powerful, and alluring.
Turning the corner to the dugout, she congratulates the rest of the team members and gives some highfives before stepping up to the ebony hedgehog. He pulls his back up over his shoulder, and Amy notices that he hasn't even broken a sweat.
Shadow spots her and smirks, "Hey, Rose." He says, lifting the fingers under the strap of his bag to wave. She smiles back.
"You were pretty amazing today." She says and he chuckles.
"Thanks. The other team's not so pleased with that though."
"Yeah we were poking fun of them over on the bleachers during the game." She says, and begins to walk out with him.
There is an itch under her skin that Amy can't seem to place. She has been wanting to spend more time with the hedgehog. He's just always busy when would they ever get together? She bites her lips in thought briefly before her eyes widen with an idea.
"Hey Shadow, so this is sort of random but are you any good with science?" She asks, peering up. He knits his brows together.
"Yeah, I'm pretty good. What's up?" He asks, steps becoming synced with her's.
Amy flushes, immediately regretting ever starting this plan. If it backfires she would be humiliated for the rest of senior year. For sure.
"Well finals are coming up and I'm struggling a bit with the class. I was wondering, if you're available, if you could loan me a hand with studying?" She spits out, and looking up to see his reaction, Shadow stops and faces her.
"You want my help?"
She nods. He pauses in thought and Amy begins to panic that he'll say no— he smirks.
"You owe me something in return then." Shadow says.
She huffs in exasperation, "What do you want then?"
This pause is longer, more drawn out and Amy swears it's just for the suspense of keeping her waiting. Amy puffs out her lips and he chuckles.
"How about this," He begins, "I'll help you study for the Science final if you learn to play baseball."
Play baseball? Amy smiles, "ok-"
"-With me, after school everyday before my practices." Shadow interrupts. He's leaning forward now, that smug smirk of his still displayed across his face and Amy's cheeks warm up. Private baseball lessons with him along with private study halls that she doesn't even need because she's acing the class?
Sticking out her hand, Amy nods firmly, "Deal."
Shadow takes her hand, binding their agreement and they continue over to their group.
Amy's heart is pounding in her chest the rest of the night.
What has she gotten herself into...