Ch 2

"So Manic, hace you found a girlfriend yet?" asked my mother as we drove home. She had talked to Sonic and Sonia to catch up, and now it was my turn.

"Well...no...actually no" I answered honestly. I would be in bigger trouble if I lied. "Why not sweetie?"

Cause I don't want to bitch!

"Because I've been so busy with work and college that I don't have time for that kinda stuff" I answered as I continued to drive. "But you're 17 years-old" she said. "I skipped a couple of grades" I said. How could she have forgotten?

"Oh"

I jumped off the van when we got home and opened the door for my mom. "Thank you darling" she said.

Then I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap! Don't just stand there! ANSWER!

I reached into my pocket and opened my phone. It was a text, not a call. It read:

Hey Manic, wats up? ;)

I decided to walk inside the house to not raise suspicion and went to the living room and sat in the couch. Then took out my phone.

Nothing' much :3

"Who ya texting?" asked Sonic, who was now sitting next to me and trying to read my texts. "Is it a girl?" asked my mom smiling.

I blushed out of embarrassment since I was now the family's center of attention. "It is!" exclaimed Sonia. "What's her name?" asked my mom. "Do we know her?" asked Sonic. "How old is she?"

"How'd you meet her?"

"When did you started dating?"

I noticed Sonia hadn't asked anything. Maybe she sensed how uncomfortable I felt. "C'mon let's give Manic some space. I'm pretty sure that the last thing he wants is being interrogated" said Sonia. Thank you, sis. I owe you a whole lot! I thought.

So wen can we meet up?

How bout da Station Square park?

Sounds great c u there in 10 mins

kk Ttyl

k

I put my phone away and left my room. I walked through the kitchen and made my to the front door. "Where are you going, Manic?" asked my mom. I turned around to face her and answer. "I'm going to meet someone" I answered simply before turning around and leaving out the door.

I found Shadow leaning against a tree with his eyes closed. I walked up to him until I was right in front of him. I guess he didn't sense my presence. "Hey Shadow" I greeted. His ears twitched and his eyes opened slowly.

Man, I loved those red eres of his. They make him look like some kind of bloodthirsty vampire or demon. They seemed to be filled with hatred and evil. No. More like loathe and evil. But somehow I could see a bit of sadness in them. It was just amazing.

"So are you going to stare at me all night or...?"

I broke from my thoughts when I heard his voice. I hope he didn't notice I was staring.

"Wha-?...u-um"

"Heheheh...so wanna walk around? Maybe we can get to know each other better..."

We walked around the park for...I don't know. An hour or two I guess. I talked to him about my childhood and why I moved here 4 years ago (and now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have)

He decided to not talk about his childhood. He said it made him feel uncomfortable. I hope I didn't made a mistake by telling him I had gone through a gay stage during my teenage years (because so far he thought I was straight)

"So for how long have you been listening to Metallica?"

"4 years"

"4 years?! HA! I've been listening to 'em since they started!

"Hey! I wasn't born yet, grandpa! and how fucking old are you?!" I yelled. This is what I hate about Metalheads from the 80's, they treat us teenage Metalheads like we're babies or pussies! Come on! We have the right to listen to whatever the hell we want! Just because we were born years later it doesn't mean we have to listen today's junk! But back to the subject, how old was he? I mean the band started about 32 years ago and this guy looked my age.

He just laughed. "I was kidding jeez! I've been listing to them since I was...hhmmmm...12" He answered while putting his hands in his pockets. "Are you tolerant?" he asked turning his head to look at me. "Yeah" I answered. "Good. Because I don't want any of my friends being racist or sexist or anything like that" he said in a serious tone. "Okay" I said. "Good" he said with a grin, "wanna go to my house?"

I couldn't believe I actually agreed to come to his house. It was already 10:30 pm. Sonia would yell at me for sure when I get home.

Music was blasting through the house when we go there. (It was Red Hot chili Peppers)

A white bat came out of a room wearing red short shorts (that bearly covered anything) and a black tank top. "Hey Rouge" said Shadow, "This ia Manic, Manic this is Rouge"

"Hi" I said to Rouge. "Hi Manic, nice to meet you" she said to me then turned to Shadow. "Knuckles and I are going to be busy for a while just so you know" she said before returning to the room.

"She's my roommate. Don't get any ideas" said Shadow.

I tiptoed into the house hoping to not wake anyone up. It was 1 in the morning and I knew Sonia would scowl at me if I got ca-

"Where have you been Manic?"

Damn! I was so close!

The kitchen light turned on and revealed my mom standing in the kitchen. I was actually expecting Sonia to be standing there.

"Um...hi ma"

"Answer my question"

Darn! What do I tell her now? If I tell her I was put with a buddy she'd be suspicious, if I say I was just out or "doing stuff" she'd think I was stealing, but if I tell her I was out with a girl...

"I was out with my girlfriend" I said. Her angry expression turned into a happy one. "Oh alright. I'm sorry Manic I was just worried about you. You must be tired, let's go to sleep"

Shadow and I kept hanging out for a while (when I wasn't at school) and became best friends even though we had only know each other for about five months.

So far mom thinks I've been hanging out with my girlfriend, and so do Sonic and Sonia.

Sonia had decided to cook dinner tonight and it was about 8 p.m.

"So Manic, when are we going to meet this girlfriend of yours?" asked my mom. That made me choke a little on my food, but Sonia patted my back. My mom stared at me when I stopped coughing waiting for an answer. "I...I don't know yet" I said.

"Can we at least see some pictures of her?" asked Sonic. Damn it Sonic!

"I haven't taken any...I will tomorrow though"

"Really? Cool!"

"Yeah"

Shit!

The next day I talked to my best friend, Mina Mongoose, after school. We had grown very distant since we started college. Though Mobians college is different than human college since we dont get pressured as much and aren't to it for more years.

"Hey Mina, long time no see"

"Hey greenboy, what's up?"

"I need your help" I said. It was going to be harder Than I thought, but I had no alternative. So I told her everything. "So could you be my pretend girlfriend?"

She blushed slightly and rubbed her arm awkwardly. But then an evil smirk appeared on her face. "With one condition" she said. "What?" I asked, knowing it was going tp be no good for me. "Hhmmm...I'll let you know later" she said. "Okay...thanks Mina"

"Oh don't thank me yet, green boy"

"Whatever...so can we take some pictures now?" I asked as I took out my phone. I turned it around and kept it away from Mina as I stood next to her. I pressed my lips against her cheek and pressed the button to take the picture. I looked at the picture making sure it came out well and it did.

"Hoy could've at least warned me first!"

"Stop whining, babe" I said with a wink. "Oh well, boo. Let's take another pic" she said with a short laugh. I positioned the phone to take the picture. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine. I closed my eyes and took the picture quickly.

She pulled away and looked at me. "Just out of curiosity,did you feel 'anything'?" she asked. I thought about it for a minute. "No..." I answered honestly, "No. I didn't"

Shadow sent me a text telling me to go to his place. We were going to watch the soccer game America v.s Chivas

I got there and he was wearing a yellow America T-shirt with the team's blue logo in it.

"Chivas?"

"fuck no!"

"come in"

We watched the game from start to finish. It was already nigt when it ended, so I decided to go home. "Well I gotta go" I said getting up from the couch, but Shadow grabbed my hand.

I could feel myself blush at his touch. "Wh-what?" I asked. "I...I have to ask you something" he said blushing as well. Wait, he was blushing?

"M...manic" he said as he got up and got closer to me. "I've felt this for a long time...and I can't take it anymore!"

"What are you talking about? Felt what?"

"This!"

Then he kissed me right on the lips.