Good day readers... Thank you for reading this far! I know my chapters are short, but I'm trying to spread it out. You probably have a general idea of where i'm going to go with this due to my message at the start of the last chapter, BUT there will be a LOT more stories as well. For example, Sonic's story, Shadow's story, Everyone... Not just amy.

Of course, I'm writing in third person full omniscience, so I KNOW ALL! But I will only reveal it at certain times because I gotta engage you, my lovely readers 3

Last time, Shadow pulled up to late to school on his bike with Sonic, clearly pissed off that he had to bring him to school. Amy was ditching class, smoking and singing pink floyd, and Shadow has pulled her to class. And now we're here!

There are some hints in this chapter as to what the characters might be in their pasts. See if you can find them...

Please review :D

Amy followed Shadow to the art room reluctantly. She felt safe in his hold, despite the fact he was just trying to do the right thing as all of his friends would as well.

He hardly knew Amy, but he knew the stories, and if there was nothing anyone could do - he may as well do his best to help her where he could.

In the art room was Sally, Blaze, Knuckles and Silver, amongst others - but they were the only ones she knew. "Come on Amy, let's sit over here," Shadow said, leading her to their table.

I prefer to sit alone... Amy thought, but followed him anyway.

"Hey, Amy! You're in class! Hooray." Sally exclaimed happily, giving her a hug. "We're doing landscape today, so we're supposed to draw or paint something that represents something in ourselves. You know... Whatever, Just paint what you want." Sally noticed her disinterest I n the topic, and knew that Amy preferred to create freely, without instruction.

"I found Amy outside singing, so I thought she could put such passion into art, and get some kind of credit towards her grade, huh? Isn't that a good idea?" Shadow laughed gently, patting Amy on the back. "I'll go grab some paint and stuff."

Soon enough, the attention drifted from Amy back to the latest gossip - Amy was a boring topic usually, as she was unable to be helped in most people's opinions.

And that was part of the reason why she disconnected...

"So Blaze, tell me more about your holiday," Sally said. Knuckles laughed and Silver blushed.

Shadow returned and sat next to Amy, passing her some paper and paint brushes. "Just block it out. It's all bull shit anyway, mindless crap." He was whispering to her. "You're better than that. You know it."

Shadow didn't know why he was saying this to Amy. But he had this kind of sense that Amy was higher than others, more capable, more connected in a special way. She wasn't part of gossip or boring shit about crushes and parties. Even though she was at a lot of parties, she sure as hell wasn't part of the shit that happened around it.

Maybe that's why everyone gossiped about her.. Because she was too hard to understand.

Moments passed as she painted and listened to her music, ignoring those around her. Shadow partially napped as he'd had a draining morning at home, and dealing with Sonic... And was woken up abruptly as the siren rang, time for lunch.

The group left with excitement, relieved to get something into their stomachs; all except for Amy, who was caught up in her art, unable to stop.

"Ames? It's lunch time." Shadow said gently. They were the only two people in the room, until the door swung open, and Sonic walked in.

"Dude, you won't believe what happened to me - oh, busy are we?"

Sonic smirked as he saw Shadow standing over Amy, admiring her work.

Shadow stopped and stared at Sonic. "What do you want, Sonic?"

"Well, funny story," Sonic began, "I um, lost my lunch money. Could I borrow some?"

"The fuck Sonic? You had $15 this morning."

Sonic grinned. "I know, right? I made a trade. Anyway, I'm pretty hungry now. You know... Munchies."

Shadow glared. "You spent your lunch money on drugs?"

Amy's attention was caught as she looked up. Drugs? She thought excitedly.

"Shads, come on, it's pot. It's not drugs. It's just a good time."

"Agreed," Amy said, looking back down at her art, smiling. "You should hook me up. I'm over cigarettes."

Sonic stared at her. Like I'd help you fuck up even more, he thought. Shadow glared at Sonic. Don't, he thought.

"Come on Amy, let's go get lunch. I'll buy you lunch, Sonic, but I won't give you any cash, damn it."

The three of them walked over to the cafeteria, Shadow leading, and Amy and Sonic following.

Shadow bought Sonic a Chilli dog, and himself a blueberry muffin, as Amy bought herself a coffee.

"Are you going to eat, Amy?" Shadow asked concerningly.

"Yeah, I like to eat at the end of lunch, though." she lied. The truth was, that she never had enough money to afford any proper food, just a $1.50 coffee. And because she only really ate once a day if that, she was rarely hungry. She was used to starving, even though it wasn't her choice, it was a result of her mothers decisions.

"Lots of stimulants in your body," Shadow pointed out, grabbing his change and walking away from the cafeteria. Sonic was chatting to someone in the queue, and Amy whispered,

"Yeah. The downers are for later."

Shadow's eyes was like she was proud of her reputation, and he was shocked at her openness.

Amy noticed his response and said more loudly, "What's your problem? It's not like I Don't know what people say about me. People in this place are quick to judge what's on the surface, but don't spend a split second to consider what the real reasons are. Catchya."

She walked away over to Sally's group, and Sally sprung up giving her a hug.

Shadow shook his head. I shouldn't have judged her like that... She's right. I don't know the first thing about why she is this way. And I sure as fuck don't want to be part of her gossip group.

Shadow walked over to Knuckles and Rouge, and the Chaotix. They always sat together at lunch time, in the corner of the main area.

"Hey, Shady. How was your first class?" Rouge asked slyly, as Knuckles was distracted: she snatched some money out of his pocket. "Oh, shoot. I am actually pretty hungry. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Shadow smirked and tried not to laugh at her antics. Knuckles shrugged, unsure of what had happened, and continued to talk to Shadow:

"Hey, we're going to the beach after school. It's a nice day. You wanna come along?"

Shadow sighed. "Nah. I don't like the beach. Sorry."

The truth was, Shadow loved the beach. He loved all nature-like things. But the real reason he couldn't go was because he was practically Sonic's brother, as much as he hated it.

Every school day, and every other day, he had been assigned to make sure Sonic was not getting into trouble, getting to school, and not getting high. Shadow hated Sonic, but Sonics father was a dark man: he had something on Shadow that was a huge threat, and insisted that Shadow keep him in place. Sonic was completely oblivious to his father's instructions, and his fathers activities, but Shadow had full awareness.

Sure, Sonic's father had done a good job raising his son. There were worse things that Sonic could be doing. Infact, he was more in line than most of the people in the school, even Shadow himself. Shadow hated it; he couldn't understand why someone so loved and popular just didn't care about his social status. Every girl would kill to be with him, but Sonic showed no interest whatsoever. Shadow was explicitly jealous: if he was in Sonic's shoes...

He would definitely take advantage of that admiration.

"Sure, okay. We'll just invite Sonic then-"

"Nah. I know he's busy today." Shadow said a little too quickly, as Knuckles raised an eyebrow. Of course, no one knew about Shadow's responsibility, and Shadow didn't want anyone to know. Sonic didn't give a shit - just like everything - but he knew that Shadow hated being some kind of brother, and didn't want a soul to find out.

before Knuckles could respond, Rouge walked back in with a wrap and a coffee. "I can't wait for today to finish and I've only been here a few hours. Ugh. I hate the people here."

"What's wrong, girl? People looking at you wrong? You know, you could fix that by dressing a bit more respective to the uniform." Knuckles laughed.

Rouge pouted and crossed her arms, saying, "Yeah, well if she can get away with it, so can I."

Rouge pointed to Amy walking by with Sally from a distance. Amy was dressed in black stockings with a sexy pattern, and a short dress. Her boots were black and spiky. But for some reason, Amy didn't appear to be a slut - she dressed sexy, in a way that was admired, not appalling. She was so thin that she hardly revealed anything anyway, so no one ever complained about her looks.

Shadow was dazzled seeing Amy walking from a distance, standing next to Sally. She was so gorgeous, so perfect - and her words from before had hit him. He knew that there was an underlying cause for her outside angst. her smoking in the trees, her singing out loud, her careless attitude. Something made her that way and still did... But she pulled it off so well, the bad-girl look, the I don't conform look. she was herself, and no one else could influence her choices.

And that was what he'd always dreamed of being: his own person.