Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to SEGA. I own nothing.
Sonic woke up to the sound of Tails' voice calling him. The hedgehog shook his head, leaned forward, and looked to the lawn below him. Tails was there, looking up at him impatiently.
"Sonic, it's time to get up! We're going to be late for our first day!" Tails called up to the roof of his workshop. Sonic looked to the horizon groggily; the sun was just starting to rise.
"It's kinda' early, Tails. And first day for what?" Sonic asked while he wiped his eyes and stretched.
"I told you yesterday and the day before. It was also brought up several times a few weeks ago. We're going to school today," Tails complained about Sonic's ignorance. Sonic give a wide smile and narrowed his eyes.
"That's a good one, Tails. That joke just doesn't get old!" Sonic said cheerily then laid back down on the tiles of the roof that he rested on, with his head resting on his hands. "Give me a few more minutes to wake up and I'll go on my morning run."
"Sonic. This isn't a joke, and it never was. I'm tired of you not taking this seriously. I enrolled us at the nearest High School. The school year starts today!" Tails became impatient with Sonic. The hedgehog sat up again and sighed; Tails really was serious. But the hedgehog didn't want to do that. Perhaps this wasn't a funny joke… maybe it was payback for something. Tails couldn't really have the intention of making Sonic go to school for his own good- the hedgehog didn't need it, and neither did Tails! The hero jumped down from the roof and landed in front of Tails.
"I don't understand, Tails. We're doing just fine without school. I'm busy running and being a hero, while you're already a genius," Sonic said.
"I wanted to see if there was anything else I could learn and for you to experience it with me," Tails said sadly. Sonic sighed.
"Perhaps I could go for one day to try it. How hard could it be to sit still for six hours?" Sonic said sounding chilled out about it. Then he realised the meaning of what he'd just said. "NO!"
Tails was shocked to see Sonic's sudden outburst. The hedgehog ran off into the distance to avoid being stuck inside a building all day, even though it for his friend. The fox sighed and turned to go inside his workshop. It didn't surprise him that Sonic refused to go to school, so he wasn't all that disappointed. Tails wore his usual gloves and shoes, because there's no need to change what he's wearing for the sake of this story.
As he flew to Station Square, he realised that he would most likely be all alone. Not only would none of his friends be there, he would also be the youngest person in the school. The child genius was too smart to go to a school for his age, so he managed to get himself into High School instead. The fox was also in the highest year, as he hoped to challenge himself. But as a result of doing this, he would be very lonely. But his goal was to learn and perhaps make new friends… not just to hang out with old friends. Sonic ran during school hours anyway, so Tails wouldn't miss out on anything. However, it was a shame he had no one to experience the joys of learning with him.
Sonic was afraid of sitting still, so he couldn't attend. Knuckles was busy guarding the Master Emerald. Amy was just a little bit too young to go to High School, even if she did chose to attend. The same applied to Cream. People like Cosmo and Maria were dead, so they definitely couldn't attend. The situation with the same with Silver and Blaze. If they were to go to High School, they would do it in their own timelines and dimensions instead of warping through time and space to get an education. The Chaotix ran a detective agency, which involved solving mysteries and managing their own business, so they didn't need education either. Rouge and Shadow worked for GUN, thus they were already in the adult stage of life with careers. No one needed or wanted to go to High School. Especially not the freedom fighters of Knothole. (If we're going to refer to that universe) Sally was a princess, she would more likely rule the world as monarch rather than go to a High School.
So Tails was alone.
Tails went to his first class and sat down near the front, eager to learn as much as he could. The teacher hadn't arrived yet, and the students began to flood the room to find their seats. There were no humans in this class; it seemed as though the school had separated anthropomorphic creatures from humans during lesson times to reduce bullying and fallings out. This stopped people from picking on each other due to difference in species, but it didn't stop others from picking on Tails due to his age. The students he joined were nearly ten years older than him. Probably not smarter than him, but bigger than him nonetheless. They were even bigger than Sonic! Sitting alone and standing out from the crowd, Tails became an easy target for bullies.
A male student that sat in front of Tails (we shall not go into detail about his appearance and backstory, for that doesn't matter one bit, you'll only forget when the story is over anyway.), turned around and looked class mate mischievously.
"Hey there, pipsqueak. What are you doing here? Did you stumble into the wrong class?" he teased. Tails became nervous and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I was sent to this year because of my intelligence," Tails said, unsure of whether that would better the situation or not.
"Ha! He's a nerd!" the bully yelled, expecting the class to join in. But instead there was silence, and everyone looked slightly afraid. Tails smiled triumphantly as he looked up at the adult stranding in front of his enemy's desk. The cruel boy's ears drooped when he realised what had happened. He nervously looked up at the teacher who'd arrive without him realising.
"Oh yes. I did hear everything. This school has a strict 'no bullying' policy. I've received reports about you, young man, and I'm not happy to see that you've started your dreadful behaviour at the very beginning of the school year. You're old and mature enough to know not to pick on small children. Now go to the principal's office," the anthropomorphic female teacher said angrily, then pointed to the door. The boy left feeling ashamed that he'd gotten caught.
"You're Tails, right?" the teacher asked. Tails nodded. "I've heard of your excellence and I'm looking forward to teaching you. Now, if you have any trouble from [insert cliché bully's name here] or anyone else, tell me or another one of your teachers and it will be sorted immediately."
Tails was put at ease by those words. No one could hurt him, after all, that bully seems quite afraid of the teacher. In reality, most bullies wouldn't hurt others if they knew that there would be consequences to their actions. And Tails wasn't afraid to stand up for himself when necessary.
When Tails went outside during break time, he noticed that most of the pupils were having fun. There weren't many divisions, since the majority of people hung out with their friends, regardless of what they looked or acted like. Furthermore, he wasn't picked on for being the new kid. Instead, he was welcomed with open arms by the majority of the pupils in his classes. Everyone he spoke to seemed happy to meet him and liked the new addition to their grade/year. After all, it was still the first day of the school year, so serious problems weren't going to arrive as soon as he walked through the door. He had the rest of the year to get through, so it would have been a shame if the first one was a disaster, right?
Despite everything going so well, Tails wasn't happy when he got home. The fox was very unsatisfied with what he'd learnt that day. What had he learn that day? Nothing. Everything that came up in class, he knew already. In fact, the genius ended up correcting two teachers and chipping in more information for the rest. When the principle heard of this, he even joked about making Tails a teacher… or making him a tutor of some kind. But Tails declined both opportunities, even though the second was a serious proposition.
Sonic ran through the door of the workshop that late afternoon, wanting to hear how Tails got on. His ears drooped when he saw that Tails looked melancholy.
"Tails, what happened?" Sonic said sympathetically and sat down beside him at the cluttered work bench.
"I quit…" Tails sighed.
"What!? Was it really too hard for a genius like you?" Sonic asked.
"Of course not, Sonic. I hate the sound arrogant, but the work was too easy! Realising this, I looked into the syllabuses for all of my courses and it turns out I know 99% of everything. The other 1% I could teach myself. Going there would have been a waste of a year."
It was true. If Tails was able to rival Eggman's intelligence, and Eggman had an IQ of 300… then Tails was just too smart for High School. He already had the skills of a professional scientist and mechanic. Other info, he picked up whenever he saw it elsewhere. He wasn't perfect… but he was too advanced for the level of education taught at High School.
"Why not try college or university?" Sonic asked.
"It'll cost money. We don't have enough of it," Tails sighed.
"Perhaps Professor Pickle could take you on as an apprentice or something. You two seemed to get on well, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you asked to join him in his research," Sonic said, cheerily.
"Sonic! That's a great idea! I've got his address, so I'll send him a formal letter tomorrow!" Tails said and swooped in to give Sonic a brotherly hug; they embraced each other and patted each other's backs firmly.
X Silly fan girls and boys. Sonic and Co wouldn't go to High School. X
Author's Note: This story isn't 100% serious, hence jokes such as 'Insert Cliché bully's name here' etc. But this is meant to make fans of this overused topic think about what they're writing and how little it makes sense when the plot isn't explained. Most people just jump into the story without justification and expect everyone to accept it. It's time to think about this and try something different.
