Cosmo prayed from under her bed that Galaxina wouldn't find her. She did like always.
"Cosmo, I'm not even coming in. Come out from under your bed, you have to go to school." Cosmo reluctantly complied.
Downstairs at the table Lucas and Galaxina chowed away at Earthia's pancakes. Earthia was washing pans and pots. She briefly stopped in nod Cosmo's entrance.
"Good morning starlight."
"You promised to stop calling me that," Cosmo reminded. "I'm eight now." Lucas and Galaxina just laughed at that to Cosmo's consternation.
"Sorry Cosmo, I forgot that you're all grown up now," Earthia teased.
"I don't see how you can mistake the woman before us for a little girl," Lucas added.
"Alright dad, alright mom, I think we've gotten our fill of torturing Cosmo for the morning." Cosmo just pouted at her sister in a failed attempt to glare.
"Can I stay home please?" Her parents and sister just sighed, not this again.
"Are you being bullied and don't want to tell us?" Lucas managed to sound concerned and annoyed at the same time.
"No," Cosmo said desperately. "I just like the solitude of my room," she insisted.
"Cosmo you don't have any friends-"
"Galaxina!"
"Mom it's true, I mean everyday after Cosmo comes home she just locks herself in her room and stays on the computer until meals." Cosmo felt her eyes moisten. "That isn't healthy."
"Cosmo's eight. She can't be expected to be the belle of the school at that age, and so what if she's a little introverted?"
"You say that now but when she's in high school she'll be a miserable loner if nothing changes."
"Galaxina this isn't a movie," Lucas walked over to his youngest daughter. "Are you being bullied," Lucas tried once more.
"No!" Cosmo's tone was contradictory.
"There's no shame in it," her sister softly added.
"I'm not, I just like staying home." Lucas didn't appear too happy with that answer but swallowed it anyway.
"I'll take you to school then," Cosmo followed behind her father ignoring her sister and mother's glances.
The ride to school was quite as usual. Lucas wasn't the sort to be bothered to make small talk. His daughter wasn't the sort to start a conversation. The seedrians pulled over into the school curb.
"Here's some money for the cantina," Lucas put some bills in his daughter's hand. "Get something healthy," he said to her as she walked out.
Cosmo watched her father drive out of view, silently counting down. As soon as hit zero they appeared. Her tormentors: the monkey, deal, and coyote. Her only form of retaliation was not learning their names.
"Give it here," the coyote held his hands out. Cosmo knew the drill.
"Thanks," The monkey punched her in the gut. "Keep paying and that'll be the worst thing that happens to you today," he said to her as she writhed for air on the ground.
After regaining breathe she simply looked on at the trio in shame and anger as they entered the building. Steeling whatever courage she had left she trudged inside as well. She count her lucky stars that her worst tormentors were at least not in her class.
"Gahhh," Cosmo screamed in surprise as an eraser fell on her head. She was further disoriented by the laughter of the class. She meekly rubbed her skull and slouched to her seat near the teacher's desk.
"Told you it would nail Cosmo and not the teacher." She heard one of her class mates say. The room went quiet and everyone ordered themselves as they heard the teacher approach. Mr. Robotnik paused at the door way before picking up the eraser. Behind him was a fox, with two tails that caught everyone's attention.
"Good morning class," Robotnik placed the eraser back on the board. "As you can all clearly see we have a new student," he gestured at the shy kit. "Please introducing yourself. . ."
"Miles Prowler," Tails said nervously. A few people in class giggled at the pun of a name. "But you please call me Tails," the kit waved his two extra appendages.
"Thank you now please take a seat," he noticed the empty one next to Cosmo. "Take that one," he pointed at it.
Tails shyly moved hoping to melt away from everyone's scrutiny. The fox buried his face and arms into his desk, everyone's attention changed as Robotnik began the day's lesson. With the attention off him Tails looked to his new neighbors hoping for some kind of warmth.
She just sheepishly smiled at the cute fox, wait cute? Tails interpret annoyance from her internal confusion and buried his head back in the desk. Cosmo remembered her sister's words.
"Cosmo you have no friends," it replayed over the droning of Robotnik.
Cosmo decided to test a cliche she saw on Netflix. She ripped a small piece of paper from her note back and wrote on it. The seedrian hastily placed it on his desk before she could doubt herself.
The fox didn't notice her note with his eyes trained on the wood in from of him. Cosmo tapped him on the head. He craned his neck at her and then his eyes fell upon the note in front of him. As did Robotnik's.
"It's seem Cosmo and our new student have something to share with us." Both of them blushed red and were panicked still. "Let's see it," Robotnik scooped the note from Tails's desk.
The whole class was grinning ear to ear. They all couldn't wait to have a new tid bit to tease Cosmo with. Eggman cleared his voice in imitation of a game show host.
"Dear Tails," the note started. "I think your are rather cute," Robotnik stopped to allow the class to laugh at the mortified Cosmo and Tails. "You're new and I don't have any friends. How about we help each other out?" Robotnik stalked towards the two as the class watched in anticipation.
"Mr. Robotnik Tails didn't do anything wrong," Cosmo managed to let out.
"Cosmo, no matter how lonely you are, please try seducing Mr. Prowler on your own time." Cosmo squeaked incoherently. Tails turned to their raucous class mates for some pity.
"Now back to," Robotnik's return to form killed the uproar.
Now Cosmo mirrored Tails's attempt to bury himself in his desk. The two didn't bother trying to listen. Despite their best efforts they couldn't ignore the occasional chuckle directed at them.
"For homework," Robotnik listed their assignment as they bell rang.
Cosmo and Tails waited for the class to empty. A few kids whistled and made kissing noises at them while passing. When Robotnik left, closing the door behind him, they finally deigned to get up from their seats.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Tails bowed his head profusely.
"It's alright," Cosmo laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm used to it."
"What?"
"Do you know what your next class is." Cosmo hoped Tails wouldn't linger on the subject like her family would.
"Gym," he stated sourly.
"I can relate."
"Well it can't be as bad for girls as it can be boys," Tails reasoned.
"I'm the exception," Tails, thankfully, seem to know when she didn't want say anything more.
"So where's the Gym?"
"Follow me." The kit silently shadowed the plant girl. It wasn't that far a walk and the halls were empty so they rounded the Gym promptly.
The entrance to the Gym was marked by a double wooden door. On each side of it was a metallic door for each sex's locker room. Cosmo and Tails shared a moment of unspoken terror of their most feared class.
"I just realized," the kit's eyes widened. " I didn't bring any gym clothes." The Fox brought his hand to his throbbing temple.
"They're provided for you." The fox let out a sign of relief.
"So," she began awkwardly. "I'll see you inside," she ended hopeful.
"Yes," Tails didn't even waste a beat. They both hurried inside the locked room not wanting to risk being late. There was nobody in either room with how long they took. They didn't have to wait long to see eachother. Cosmo came out in the issued shorts and white t-shirt seeing Tails in the same attire on the opposite end of the room.
"Tails!" She beamed brightly only to either at the chuckles prompted. She held her head low and shuffled over to Tails. Various kids pointed at her, no doubt spreading the story of class before.
"Where are the teachers?" Everyone was just loitering about talking to friends.
"Sometimes the Gym teachers feel to lazy to come up with a game," Cosmo said bluntly.
"Oh," Tails saddened at the obvious apathy of the staff.
"We still have fun." Cosmo never had fun in Gym but wanted to cheer the boy up.
"How?" His brow wrinkled.
"It'll come to me." Cosmo smiled apologetically while Tails just giggled at her silliness.
"Here it is," came the voice of Zoe from behind her. The fox girl yanked down Cosmo's shorts exposing her underwear to the world.
Cosmo's mouth hung open in shock as the entire room cackled at her expense. She regained autonomy only to realize Tails was looking wide eyed at her black star printed panties. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face as she ran out not even caring she left her shorts behind.
Cosmo couldn't even hear her own sobs over the crowd. She collapsed into a broken mess as soon she ran far down the hall from the Gym entrance.
"Cosmo!" Cosmo could make out the kit through her water soaked vision. He ran after her with her shorts in his hand.
"Go away Tails," She draped her palms over her face. "Go hang out with some one cooler." The seedrian sat back against the walls and continued to cry.
"Uhmmm," Tails cautiously approached with her shorts. Cosmo could still feel her modesty in her grief racked state. The kit sat down next to her as she quickly slipped her shorts back on.
"Can't you see what a total loser I am." Her sobs were slowly hiccuped alway but water still flowed. "What you just saw is pretty typical," she exaggerated.
"Then that's all the more reason why I should stay," Tails talked he balanced his head between his knees. "My twin Tails and over intelligence, as one teacher put it, got me put in the exact same boat as you in my last school."
"Well you're free," Cosmo spat. "Let me give you a secret on how to get popular. Simply just mess with the weird plant girl," that was how Zoey got all her new friends after ditching her.
"I would never do that," Tails rested his hands over Cosmo's. "Is the offer still open?"
"What offer?"
"To be your friend." Cosmo felt her first genuine smile in a while coming on.
"Ahhh," It was her three tormentors from this morning. "Even a freak has her Romeo." The monkey kicked the sitting fox.
That snapped something in Cosmo's mind. The monkey was sucker punched to the ground before she even realized she was doing it. Cosmo could swear someone was pulling her nerves like joints as she experienced herself kneeing the seal hard in the groan. The coyote tried to retaliated only to be tackled to the ground by the Seedrian.
"Cosmo!" That restored Cosmo back into control. Mr. Robotnik removed the seedrian's hand from the coyote's neck. "We are going to the office young lady."
"But Mr. Robotnik," Tails grabbed the girl by the waist. "Cosmo was defending me." Cosmo felt the fox slip something into her pocket.
"Violence is still violence Mr.Prowler." Robotnik dragged Cosmo away by the wrist. Cosmo used her free hand to see what it was Tails put in her pocket.
It was her note. She turned it around to see Tails added his own print.
"I'd like to be friends," he wrote along with his number.
Cosmo dully knew her father was going to give it to her when she got home. Yet she couldn't wipe the goofy grin off her face.