Sonic stared blankly at the bulky building in front of him. The words "Green Hill Schools" was plastered above the entrance in faded black. It'd been years since Sonic last set foot within the structure and he was not looking forward to it at all. He saw Tails shift uncomfortably in his peripheral, repositioning his backpack. He offered a smile to the fox and patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"Don't worry so much, bud. We've faced worse," he said.
He watched Tails face scrunch up. "I just wish we were in the same grade or at least the same school system."
"I know. You've got the brains to be in college already, but seems like the principal got the final say."
"It's not fair," Tails said, looking deflated.
Sonic winced at the sight. "Hey, if all goes bad, we'll just ditch and go move to the next town over"
They started up the stairs. It was still early in the morning, so there were only a few students wandering around. A pair of cat Mobians pointed at them and whispered to each other.
While Sonic decided to ignore them for now, he had a feeling they wouldn't be the only ones to do that. He was kind of popular around the city, being a officially recognized hero and all. Eggman made his debut when Sonic was in middle school. Back then, it was all small scale. Capture all the pets in Green Hill, possibly send a couple robots to steal stuff. But then he discovered the Chaos and Master Emerald's existence, and everything started going crazy. Eggman moved on from his petty villainous plans and decided to conquer the city instead.
Sonic remembered their first encounter clearly. He had been running late on the day Eggman sent a robot army to destroy the city. He ended up fighting one, and then a dozen, and the rest is history. Since then, Sonic made it his unofficial job to sabotage the Doctor's plans.
Everyone overlooked the fact he technically never graduated 8th grade since he was busy saving the day. But four years and a bunch of shenanigans later, Eggman was missing, and the government thought it was a perfect opportunity to reintroduce their resident hero to the world of education.
Sonic and Tails entered the building and took a left into an office. They stopped near the entrance and looked around. The wall was decorated with awards ranging from best principal to football championships. Tails had researched the school early and found that it was quite successful. Despite that, it gained a reputation among the city folk for housing crazies and misfits.
A koala looked up from his computer and beckoned them forward.
"Welcome, welcome. You're Sonic and Tails, right?"
Sonic nodded. "Yup, that's us."
He returned back to his computer and started printing out two sheets of paper.
"Wonderful! I'm Mr. Steel. These are your schedules." He handed them the papers with enthusiasm. "We've set up guides for you to get you acquainted with the campus. I believe Tails's guide is right around the corner. Let me call her in."
The koala got up from his seat and walked to the door. "Cream! They're here!"
A short bunny poked her head around the corner and skipped over. "Really?"
Sonic nudged Tails.
"Er, yes. That's me," Tails said.
The girl beamed and offered a hand to him. "Nice to meet you, Tails. I'm Cream the Rabbit and I'm gonna help you today."
"Nice to meet you, too." Tails looked a bit awkward, but Cream either didn't notice or didn't care as she shook his hand a few times too many.
Tails looked back at Sonic, as if asking for help. He laughed and stepped forward, bringing the girl's attention onto him. "I'm Sonic, Tails' brother. He can be a little shy at times but I'm sure you'll get along."
Cream turned to face Sonic and clasped her hands together. She bowed abruptly. "Mr. Sonic thank you for saving the city! I promise I'll make your brother feel comfortable here."
Sonic rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh no problem. But you don't need to bow, Cream."
The koala cleared his throat. "Cream, I think you should start the tour soon."
"Oh right. I'm sorry for taking up your time." She grabbed Tails' wrist and motioned to the hallway. "The middle school classrooms are this way. Let's go find your first class!"
Sonic grinned, "Have fun, Tails!"
Tails waved with his free arm. "I'll see you after school, Sonic."
He watched as Cream led Tails away before turning back toward Mr. Steel. "So is my guide nearby?"
The older man gave a sheepish chuckle. "Sorry, Sonic. Your original guide called in sick today. We're still looking for a replacement with a similar schedule to you. You can wait here for now."
Sonic waved off the suggestion and headed toward the door. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it, sir. I'm sure I can find the way on my own."
Mr. Steel blinked in surprise. "A-are you sure, Sonic? The campus can be quite confusing."
Sonic smirked and offered a gloved thumbs up. "Nothing I can't handle. Besides, I have some time to kill before class actually starts, right?"
He watched Mr. Steel hesitate. "Alright, but you can always ask for help if you get lost."
And with that, he was gone.
XXX
Sonic sucked in a breath as he looked over his schedule again. History was his first period, and it was in a room called B122. From his knowledge of the alphabet, B comes after A. So why did the room letters jump from A to G?
He sighed in defeat. Perhaps he should have waited for a new student guide to come along. Curse his impatience. Just before he was about to suck up his pride and head back to the office, a hand tapped his shoulder and he heard a girl's voice.
"Excuse me, are you lost?"
Sonic whirled around and came face to face with a pink hedgehog. She jumped a bit at his sudden turn. Her face also froze when she noticed just who was standing in front of her. "S-Sonic the Hedgehog?!"
He winced at the shrill disbelief that colored her voice, and began to wonder if he should just continue to wander the hall. Luckily for him, the girl managed to pull herself together quickly and smoothed out the ruffles of her skirt. She blinked a few times as if to confirm that he was real.
"I'm sorry… I just didn't… I didn't expect to see you here," she said.
Neither did I. But here I am, he thought. Outwardly, Sonic nodded and took a step back to assess the girl. She appeared to be a bit younger than himself, but definitely a high schooler since she was on this side. He also noticed her star struck look and slightly bashful demeanor as he observed her.
"Well, er, I am a bit lost. Do you think you could help me?" The girl perked up. She nodded vehemently and reached out to grab his schedule.
A small, pessimistic side of him wondered if this hedgehog was a crazed fangirl who would take pictures of his schedule to sell to other enthusiasts. He couldn't be too careful nowadays.
"Looks like your class is across the courtyard," the girl said, snapping Sonic out of his thoughts.
"Courtyard?" He hadn't seen anything like that while being lost. She handed his schedule back and started to walk forward.
"Yeah, it's just a bit ahead." The girl paused mid step and gasped. "I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Amy Rose, a freshman here."
"Nice ta meet you, Amy. I'd introduce myself, but it seems you already know about me." He fell into step next to her and she started fidgeting with a gold band on her glove.
"Sorry. Is that creepy?" Sonic took back what he had thought earlier. She seemed like a good person.
"Nah, it's cool." Most people didn't apologize while oogling and him, so that automatically put Amy near the top of his list. It got a bit annoying when he couldn't talk to other people like a normal person. Though he did enjoy the hero worship at times…
Amy shifted her gaze to the ground. "So, why are you here?" A pause. "I mean, not that I don't want you here! It's great that you came to this school! And I..."
Her pitch was increasing again, so he decided to intervene. "Some of the higher ups thought I should go to school. Doesn't look too good if an uneducated kid solves problems that the military can't."
Amy looked at Sonic with stars in her eyes. "So it is true? You can run faster than sound?"
"Heh, you bet. They don't call me the fastest thing alive for nothing?" Sonic paused when they came upon what he supposed was the courtyard. "Is this it?"
The area was occupied by other mobians. Stone benches were placed around square patches of grass, and in the center was a large fountain. The air was live with chatter since it was getting close to the start of the school day.
"Yep, this is the courtyard. Over there," she said, pointing at a small brown booth to his left, "is the snack booth. It's closed in the morning but it opens during lunch."
He nodded, wondering if they sold chili dogs here.
"And the building over there is where your class is." The mentioned building was two stories and painted a strange yellow color.
"Alrighty. Thanks a bunch, Amy!" He took a couple steps in front of her and turned slightly. " I think I got it from here. I don't wanna keep you from your class."
The pink hedgehog frowned at that. She didn't quite want to leave him yet, but he was already walking ahead. She reached out a hand as if to stop him. "Sonic!"
The hero stopped to look at her. "Yeah?"
She bit the inside of her lip, unsure what she should say next. So she opted for something friendly and simple. "Good luck on your first day!"
"Thanks, Ames!" He unleashed a ten megawatt smile and waved.
As he was walking away, he could of sworn he heard her say, "He's so cool" accompanied by a sigh.
He chuckled to himself and crossed the courtyard. The sunlight and chatter set a rather comforting mood, and if this had not been a school, Sonic could see himself relaxing near the fountain. He approached the building and entered through the glass doors.
Inside was a row of classrooms, and, to Sonic's relief, he spotted B122. He fidgeted by the door and was disappointed when he couldn't peer inside due to the small window being blocked. He swallowed before opening the door and submitting to the torture.
The first thing he noticed was a cold blast of air hitting his face. The second was a stocky cat's flabbergasted face. Honestly, he was getting kind of tired of that reaction. It was flattered at first, but now he just wanted them to stop gaping. The cat was wearing a tie and standing near a big desk, so he assumed that was the teacher.
"Heya, teach. I'm Sonic," he said.
The teacher shuffled his papers, and walk toward Sonic quickly. "I recognize you, of course. I just didn't expect to see you here so early."
Sonic quirked an eyebrow at the comment but ultimately let it slide since he had a reputation for showing up to things late. "Psh, I wouldn't wanna get a tardy on the first day."
"You may call me Mr. Jeorge. Take a seat anywhere. Preferable near the front since you must of missed a lot." The teacher waved toward the desks dismissively and had a expression that bordered disgust.
Sonic frowned. He supposed the teacher wasn't too fond of him. He had no clue why, but guessed it was because of he'd missed four years of school. He took a seat near a window a few rows from the front in case of emergency.
"So, uh, what exactly are we learning today?"
"We are covering the First Mobian War. I hope you're at least familiar with it," the teacher drawled, almost sarcastically.
Sonic crossed his arms over the desk and leaned toward the window. "Yup. That Schizio the Snake tried to rule the world, right? And the other Voodoo witch lady stopped him."
The teacher gave a humorless laugh. "Not even close, Hedgehog. As I expected I have a lot to teach you."
Sonic shrugged in response. "I'm a fast learner, teach. Just point me to the books and I'll memorize it in no time."
"No. It's obvious you need to catch up, and to do that you'll need extra lessons." The cat moved over to his desk and grabbed a dry erase pen. He uncapped it and began drawing a diagram on the board. "And were going to start it right now. We have 15 minutes before class starts so pay attention."
Sonic groaned softly as Mr. Jeorge started to drone on about the war in the most monotonous voice he'd ever heard. Seems like this will be a lot worse than he previously thought.
XXX
And thats the first chapter, folks. This story is minimally edited so you will encounter multiple errors. Updates will also be slow. I'm trying not to make it a typical High School AU since I can't really write drama well. I'm a little iffy about adding romance just because I don't know who to pair up... Anyway, thanks for reading.