Southsiders Don't Mix With Northsiders

"C'mon, Amy! That dress isn't going to stay there forever!" exclaimed Rouge as she pulled me towards a store. I was starting to regret showing her that catalog with that dress. Once she saw something she liked, she was determined to get it. No matter what.

"Yeah, but that store isn't going anywhere either!" I snapped back, my arm getting sore from her pulling so hard. She just rolled her blue eyes at me and continued to drag me along. I sighed and blew a strand of hair out of the way. As we entered the store, Rouge squealed as she saw the lavender summer dress on display.

"Look! There it is!" she said in an excited tone. The store was packed with people. I looked around the store. It had black walls and the lights hung low and were dimmed. Loud music played and a large screen at the back showed the music video. This store was the new latest trend and of course, Rouge had to have this brand. She continued to tug me along, pushing past people and not even bothering to apologize.

"I'm sorry…" I said as I squeezed in between people. I suddenly slammed into Rouge and heard her gasp.

"Rouge, wha-"

"IT'S NOT HERE!" she exclaimed as I looked over to see the big SOLD OUT sign in front of her. She suddenly turned to me and and grabbed my arms.

"I have to have this dress, Amy!" she said, full determination blazing her eyes.

"We could ask someone when they're going to have it in stock again" I suggested, raising an eyebrow.

She shook her head. "Not good enough. I'm asking if they have it in another store" she said and the pulled me again.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, but she ignored me. She found someone and let go of me so I could stand next to her.

"Excuse me?" she asked in a sweet voice to a tan cat with blond hair in a side braid. She turned around and looked at us with her ocean blue eyes.

"Can I help you?" she asked us in a soft voice, her name tag shining the name 'Tatiana'. She wore a clingy, black V neck shirt that showed off her bust. She wore dark jeans and a purple belt with a silver heart on it.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering if you could tell me if that lavender dress is in stock in another store?" she asked anxiously.

"Let me check on the computer. Follow me guys" she said as she walked towards the cash registers. Me and Rouge followed closely behind her. She got to the computer and typed in a few things. Rouge tapped her red finger nails against the counter and watched Tatiana's moves cautiously.

"There's 5 in stock at the down town mall" she said looking up at Rouge. I shot Rouge a look but she didn't look back.

"Thank you" said Rouge as she pulled me out of the store.

"Rouge, there is no way we're going there" I said as she let go of me.

"Chill, babe. We're going to go and be back before you know it" she said as she ruffled my long hair.

I groaned and followed her to her car in the parking lot. The south side of Station Square was lurking with criminals. It was dirty, ugly, and it was most famous for the drug deals. I always tried to avoid going there because they all hated people from the north side. They all thought we were a bunch of rich snobs who only cared about money, which was not true. One guy that lived across my street took a trip to the south and got killed because he got spotted by the southsider's. I was enjoying my life right now and didn't want to get killed because I was on southsider turf. I got into the passenger seat of Rouge's shiny, silver, Chevrolet Volt. She sped off and almost hit another car on the way out.

"Rouge!" I said. She smiled and rolled down the window.

"I'm coming for you, dress!" she hollered at people walking down the street. She then turned on her radio and blasted the song Rihanna – Who's That Chick. I groaned and sunk into my seat. She sang along with the song at the top of her lungs.

"C'mon, sing with me!" she said, laughing. I just ignored her.

Rouge could be really embarrassing sometimes. The sun was setting and everyone was starting to get out of work. I reached into my black purse and took out my mirror. I looked at my long, wavy hair and ruffled it a little. I took out my clip and let my side bangs fall. I ran my fingers through it and pinned them back again. I looked down at my white shirt to check for any stains. I took a few fluffs off of my black shorts and took off my brown sandals for a bit. I looked over at Rouge's outfit. She wore a baggy, gray, tank top with silver flowers on it. She wore ripped, jean, shorts and wore black heels. She had her usual blue eye shadow that made her eyes stand out. Her lips were heavily glossed in pink lip gloss and her dark eye lashes fluttered gracefully when she blinked. I looked at myself and decided to put on a little lip gloss. I didn't wear any eye shadow or any blush. I only wore that when I was going out to a party or a club.

"Honey, you look fine" said Rouge looking over at me.

"I know, but I'm just putting on a little bit" I said as I puckered my lips. Rouge turned and parked in front of the mall. Litter covered the concrete floor and a few people were smoking in front of the door.

Fabulous I thought to myself as I put my sandals back on and got out of the car.

We approached the entrance and held my breath as I walked pass the cloud of smoke. Smoking was one thing I could not stand. It disgusted me in so many ways, not to mention it was a turn off. The two girls smoking shot us dirty looks before I went inside with Rouge.

"What's their problem?" I asked Rouge as we went inside the mall. She shrugged her shoulder.

"Jealousy probably" she said as she turned her head to look for the store.

"Over there" I said pointing across from us.

She practically ran towards it and I had to chase after her. There weren't as many people in the store like the one up north and we saw the dress as soon as we walked in. Rouge squealed and grabbed her size. The dress was pale lavender, strapless, and shimmered in under the lights. She smiled up at me and said "I'm going to try it on. Come with me". I followed her to the change rooms and sat in a chair in front of her room. In a minute, she came out and I smiled. The dress clung tightly around her body and outlined her curves perfectly. It came up to just above her mid-thigh and made her butt look great.

"What do you think?" she said, twirling a bit and smiling.

"You look amazing in it" I said as I checked her out. Her smile got wider and she closed the door to change out of it. She went to go pay for it and just in time too, because the store was closing. As we walked outside, I noticed that the car wasn't in its parking space.

"Where's the car?" Rouge asked me frantically. I looked around the half empty parking lot and didn't see her car anywhere.

"Oh, HELL NO!" Rouge yelled angrily as she walked towards the parking space. I saw a note where the car use to be and picked it up.

Thanks for the car, bitches. It works great.

I gasped as my mouth fell down to the ground. Rouge took the note out of my hands. She screamed and looked at me.

"I bet you it was those girls outside the mall!" she said angrily.

I looked behind me and saw that they weren't there anymore, so it seemed logical that it was them.

"Did you leave the keys in the car?" I said. She looked at me with a guilty expression on her face as I smacked my forehead with my hand and sighed. Rouge whipped out her phone.

"Daddy? My car got stolen!" she yelled as tears started to fall down her cheeks. I couldn't believe what was happening right now. I wanted to say I told you so to Rouge but knew that it would have been immature. "Okay…bye" she said as she sniffled.

She closed her phone and put it back into her purse. "My dad won't come get us until another hour because he's still working" she told me. I ran up to Rouge and gave her a huge hug. She hugged me back tightly and sobbed on my shoulder.

"That c-car was a g-gift from my g-grandpa!" she wailed. I patted her back lightly and tried to calm her down but I was also very upset. Rouge's grandpa died a year ago and gave her that car for her birthday, the day before he died. A tear escaped my eye and I pulled back to wipe it away. Rouge's mascara was running down her cheeks and her eyes were glossy.

"Let's go walk for a little bit" I said as I pulled Rouge along. We walked down the streets and didn't really notice where we were going, but we just kept walking. Neither of us talked because we didn't really have anything to say. We were both still in shock of what had just happened. I looked around me and we were walking past a few bars. I could hear some yelling as we passed by and me and Rouge picked up our pace. Rouge suddenly jerked me back and I looked at her with a confused expression.

"I think we wandered a bit too far" said Rouge in a quiet tone as she pointed ahead.

I followed to where she was pointing to and saw a dead end. That wasn't what made my breath get stuck in my throat but what did was the group of people hanging out there. A group of about ten people were all around their motorcycles and they were all either smoking or drinking. I pulled Rouge behind a van and we watched. I could recognize a couple of people there like Rouge's ex-boyfriend, Knuckles. They started dating about six months ago and when Knuckles had to move down here to work with his uncle, things went downhill. He started getting into a lot of trouble and started picking up bad habits, like smoking and becoming an alcoholic. One night, he called Rouge while he was drunk and started calling her a bunch of names and told her that he was hooking up with a bunch of hoes. Rouge was shattered and we had lots of nights that involved plenty of chick flicks and chocolate covered food. I thought that it was so out of his personality because he usually was a gentleman around Rouge. I saw him leaning against a motorcycle with a cigarette in his hand.

"Ugh, look at Knuckles…" said Rouge as she scrunched her nose in disgust.

I looked around and saw the bitchiest girl I had ever met, and not to mention the biggest slut ever. Fiona Fox was a slender, tan fox who thought that she was a princess. She was wearing a gold colored dress that looked like a tank top. I could even see her underwear peeking out from the bottom as she strutted around. The first interaction between me and her was about a year ago. I went out to eat some ice-cream with Cream and while I walked to the table, I accidently bumped into Fiona and spilled my ice-cream onto her shoulder. She gasped in horror and looked over at me, her eyes filled with hatred. "You little bitch!" she yelled at me before I could apologize and she threw her drink at me, right at my face. I yelled and we were both kicked out for a month. Ever since that day, I've hated her with all of my hate. I saw a black hedgehog with red streaks in his quills walking next to Knuckles to give him some props and then he leaned against the motorcycle, taking a swing of his beer that he held. He wore a white shirt underneath his black leather jacket. His dark jeans hung low and his shoes were all torn and dirty. I had to admit, he looked pretty hot but he spelled 'trouble'.

"Who's that?" I asked Rouge quietly.

"The dark hedgehog? That's Shadow. He's kinda their leader, from what I've heard" she replied.

Shadow… My eyes widened as I remembered something. When I dated Sonic (that was before I caught him in bed with Sally…) he mentioned about his cousin, Shadow. He told me that he hated him and that all he did was fight with him. Apparently, Shadow had gotten into multiple gang fights and that he has a large scar on his chest when he got cut up with a knife. I shuddered at the thought and looked at him. He was laughing with Knuckles, but that stopped when Fiona approached him. She looked drunk because she was wobbling from side to side.

"You never loved me" she slurred at him while poking her finger into his chest. "All you did was use me for your own satisfaction, you man whore!" she continued and hiccupped in between her sentence.

I heard Shadow chuckle and he shot back by saying "I'm a whore, huh? That's funny, 'cause last time I checked, I was the one who caught you in bed with another guy"

By this time, everyone had gone quiet. What broke the silence was Fiona slapping Shadow across the face, the sound echoing everywhere. Me and Rouge stared in awe.

"Don't you ever say that to me!" screamed Fiona angrily at him before stumbling away into a bar across the street. Shadow rubbed his cheek and turned to Knuckles, saying something.

"Oh…my….God…" said Rouge as she grabbed my hand.

"I think now would be a good time to leave" I said quickly. She nodded without hesitating and we took two steps away from the van.

"Rouge? Is that you?" called out Knuckles from a few feet away. Both me and Rouge locked in place.

"Shit" muttered Rouge as she started to turn around.

"Well, well, well…looks like we got ourselves a couple of filthy rich northsiders" chuckled a deep voice.

I turned my direction away from the group and saw a large, muscular, polar bear approaching us. He was wearing a black muscle shirt and long, black shorts. He had huge muscles going down his arms, along with multiple tattoos. His face was all scared up and he was missing a part of his ear. His dark eyes matched his dark smile. There was nothing funny about this guy. I gulped down the knot in my throat.

"What are a couple of brats doing down here?" he said as he stood in front of us.

"Brats?" I said angrily, taking a step towards him.

"Amy, please…" said Rouge as she tried to pull me back.

"Yeah, you heard right! A couple of rich, spoiled, pampered, brats!" he said, also taking a step towards me.

"Why you little…" I said, trying to get closer to him but was jerked back by Rouge.

"Amy, stop. Please" insisted Rouge.

By now, the whole group was watching us and I could hear mocking laughter. I felt everyone's eyes behind me, but it didn't bother me. The polar bear laughed darkly.

"What? You gonna hit me or something?" he said, smiling down at me. My blood was boiling by now and my adrenaline was shooting through the roof. He moved his face down so that his face was directly in front of mine.

"C'mon. I dare you" he said, slurring the second word.

I pulled back slightly as I caught a whiff of the alcohol mixed with tobacco in his breath. My temper was about to explode. Without even thinking, I rammed my fist into the side of his face and he jerked his head to the side. I heard everyone gasp, including Rouge who was behind me. "Amy…" she said in a shaky breath. The polar bear spit out some blood and he slowly turned to me, his eyes pooling with pure fury and rage. He then raised his hand to the top of his hand and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Rusty, man, chill. She didn't mean to hit you" said Knuckles as I heard him get closer. I opened my eyes to see that he was standing in front of me. I felt Rouge's grip tighten around my arms when Knuckles stood by. Rusty looked down at Knuckles and then back at me.

"I got my eye on you, brat" said Rusty after a while.

I opened my mouth to protest but Rouge dug her nails into my arms. I flinched at the pain not only from my arms, but now my fist was throbbing. Rusty walked away and into a bar and left without saying another word. Knuckles then turned to me.

"You shouldn't be here guys" he said sternly as he took a quick glance behind me. I felt him tense up and I felt Rouge tense up too. The way Knuckles kept looking at Rouge was making me uncomfortable. I saw a blob of black and red approach us from the corner of my eye.

"You got a lot of spunk there, Pinkie. No one would dare mess with Rusty…you're pretty brave" he said with a mocking voice along with his mocking smile. By now, I was fed up with all the nicknames. I just frowned at him but he got closer.

"I like that" he said into my ear, his warm breath sending a shiver down my spine. I pushed him back and gave him a look filled with disgust. His smile just got wider and it made my guts twist.

"You disgust me. I would never dare get involved with a southsider. Especially one like you" I spat at him, my voice icy cold.

He whistled at me and his eyes narrowed. "I can make you change your mind about me tonight….at my place…" he said.

Rouge pushed me passed both Shadow and Knuckles. I managed to mouth 'thank you' to Knuckles as we left, and he returned it with a quick nod.

"Don't forget to visit!" called out Shadow, as the group broke out into laughter and catcalls.