I had to slap Sonic's arm a whooping four times each moment he stared a minute too long at the new occupant of the once empty desk in the row on his right, one seat ahead. Just seconds before she would feel the sensation of someone staring at her from behind and would turn around to investigate, Sonic's ogling ass would be saved from the embarrassment of creeping too hard by yours truly.

I scribbled down a note in the margin of my notebook and twisted it to him, tapping his arm that was probably bruised from all my hits of "Come back to reality!"

ur being waaay 2 obvious.

He glanced back up to me after reading it, mouthing 'Really?' while arching a brow.

I nodded my head. Hard.

He tugged down a corner of his mouth, eyes widening for a split second that read "Shit." I stifled a laugh and turned back to the documentary playing.

But somewhere along the way of viewing black and white footage of this nation's history, my vision became a mirage of daydreams and distractions. And one of those distractions being the very girl I had to constantly scrape Sonic's eyes away from like eggs on a frypan. Now as he "watched" the film, my focus tuned in on Sally as if we had switched shifts and it was my turn to keep sights on the new treasure.

She sat leaning against the back of her chair, hands resting in her lap and one leg crossed over the other. She seemed to be more relaxed now in her foreign environment and actually bored, shoulders sagging slightly. Her face was hidden from our view so there wasn't much to spectate but her attire. I personally didn't care for it but Rouge's mantra of fashion playing a huge role in statement and expressing a lot about personality echoed in my head so I had nothing but that to fall back on for now. Of course I didn't believe it entirely, but I was also super bored, so I scrutinized her apparel. She donned a beige, skin clinching sweater with long sleeves a little past her wrists and a dark blue, woven high waist skirt complete with front button accents and small pleats. To her knees stretched out a pair of black, velvet boots with thick, small heels. The whole look I would say was preppy chíc. Whether it was her own style or the style she was forced to adopt to keep the air and imagery of sophistication and class of being her father's daughter was the real question though. Was she as bourgeois as she came off to be? We'd soon find out.

Before I had the opportunity to snap my head away, she had suddenly rushed to peek a scout back and I internally screamed at the foul move that I let slip and had done my best to keep from happening to Sonic. But as we bolted eyeballs with one another, her's didn't hold for long and were swift to glance away and hook onto the individual sitting next to me. I confronted my head towards Sonic and then saw… He had also been staring at her at the same time as I. We had both been caught.

Great! Now she probably thinks we're either creeps or hardcore judging her and neither is the case. Ugh. Way to make a first impression.

Her cheeks flushed in liters and she rotated her head back to the front with lightning speed. Sonic and I flashed a glimpse at each other, both feeling terrible and super humiliated to be discovered eagle eyeing.

I hastily jotted down another note and faced it again towards Sonic.

we're going 2 talk 2 her right after class ends!

Passing a short nod in agreement, he plunked his noggin down and buried it in his folded arms on his desk, refusing to pull it back up until the end of class.

xXx

The bell sounded off for third period and students were quick to bustle out of the room to move along quickly through the day. Sonic and I also rushed to shuffle our things back in our bags to catch Sally before she hurried off. Until we noticed, she was the only one lingering behind in the room, taking her time to sort out her papers and filing them away neatly, keeping out the ones she needed to navigate through the school and show her teachers.

Sonic and I met eyes and I nodded towards the door to indicate waiting for her outside and not hover over her, having already displayed enough unintentional, rude behavior. He promptly fell into step right behind me and we stood post right outside the classroom door to patiently await personally introducing ourselves and prove we're not weird.

Well.. We are weird… but the fun type of weird. Not 'freak out the new student' weird.

"Do you think we intimidated her?" Sonic questioned in hushed worry.

"Maybe. Maybe not. But I'm sure she'll at least spare us a second to explain our intentions. We just wanna invite her to sit with us at lunch right?"

"Right, right." He shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back and forth on his feet.

A few seconds later, Sally appeared into sight as she walked briskly out of the classroom to head to her third period.

Before she could step any further passed Sonic, I called out to her from her right.

"Sally!"

She undeniably jumped before stopping short, peering at me and then Sonic, then back to me, being caught right in between us.

"H-hi." She greeted, keeping her voice confident in tone. Her thin fingers tightened their grip on the folder held close to her chest with one hand, the other loosely clutching her bag straps as she fought to maintain her internal emotions balanced.

Oh gosh, did we actually freak her out from before…?

"Hi! I'm Amy Rose. And this is Sonic!" I waved before gesturing out to him behind her.

She turned to face him as he stood leaning against the wall on one shoulder, ankles crossed. His most amiable smile seized over his features, dazzling them evermore as he held out a hand for her to shake.

"Truly honored to meet ya!" He verbalized, his emeralds sparkling brilliantly.

My brows arched up high, impressed as I observed him keep his cool considering just seconds ago he was like a swinging pendulum, nerves clocking at him to spiral out of control and probably ticking away for him to just run.

But of course Sonic didn't run away from danger, he ran towards it.

"Oh wow.. Thank you! It's nice to meet you too…" She clasped her hand with his and shook it briefly.

"Listen," I spoke softly. She faced back to me after pulling away, a tad less guarded than before. "We wanted to apologize for our behavior back there… We didn't mean to straight out stare at you, really– it's just that ever since we heard about you coming here, we wanted to get to know you and were hoping actually… If you'd like to join us for lunch…? Sonic and I are always willing to make new friends and help anyone out around here, especially new students. But you're even more unique cause well…"

The giggle that relinquished from within her dissipated all sense of hostility she had been feeling from us and she nodded her head with a grin elevating up to crinkle her eyes, clearly understanding what I was referring to.

"Oh it's alright! I'm just glad to know now that my fear of being a target of any sort is nothing to worry about anymore. I honestly thought you guys were out to get me but I was so very wrong. You guys were just interested to befriend me. I apologize for misjudging."

"Exactly but hey, don't be! You have every right to be cautious in your position. I'm sure this is all very new to you? Public high school?" Sonic piped in.

"Yeah… It really is."

"Which is precisely why we're more than happy to be your guide- and new friends! This place can admittedly, be wild."

"Really? Gosh, thank you so much, this honestly means a lot! I'd absolutely love to join you guys at lunch!"

"Luckily lunch is at the same time for all grades and classes so just show us your fourth period class and we'll know where to find you." I informed.

She pulled out a sheet from her folder in hand and Sonic and I each flanked her shoulders to read over it.

"Oh hey you have AP Stat with Ms. Shahra- that's right next to my Calc class which is during fourth as well. Convenient! I can just wait for you right outside and we can head to lunch together." Sonic enlightened as we sighed with relief at the time saving coincidence.

"Sweet! That sounds perfect."

I nodded then glanced at the time on my phone, only a minute left to get to our next class.

"Shit, well I'm glad we worked this out but I better get going! You should show Sally to her next class Sonic, since you just have strengthening and conditioning next."

"Yeah, I can do that, if you'd like?" He looked to Sally for approval.

"Oh that'd be great actually." She smiled appreciatively.

"Cool. I'll see you guys at lunch okay?" I hollered, already speeding away from them and down the hall.

"Yeah okay!"

"Thanks Amy!" Sally shouted out.

"No need!"


"Hey, hey my favorite anthros, waddup! Are we going off campus for lunch today?" I took a seat on the bench next to Tails.

"Does anyone really want or need to?" He questioned as we glanced around at the other holders of the table for anyone showing signs of desiring to.

It was a glorious, sunny day, not too chilly, the final essence of Summer juicing out before Autumn made it's full debut, so Cream snatched one of the few large tables outside for the group. Blaze, Silver, Sonic and now Sally, had yet to arrive but the rest– Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Tails and Cream– sat in a semi-circle on one side of the round table, leaving the other half open for the remaining.

Shadow shrugged, "I think we should stick around here today. Thankfully there aren't many people outside like us."

Rouge shook her head in agreement confessing, "Yeah, I'm super tired for some reason, not really in the mood to drive anywhere."

"For 'some reason' Rouge?" Cream turned to her, simpering in a knowing way. Rouge flashed her fangs despite the tiredness in her eyes, unable to stop smiling devilishly.

Knuckles' muzzle heated up with a carmine glow at the indicative interaction as he muttered, "Really Rouge? Big mouthed Bat."

"Big mouths wanted." She winked at the half frowning echidna.

"RIGHT, well anyway I think it's a good decision to stay cause guess who's sitting with us!" I hurriedly switched the subject to the more hot topic at hand from Rouge and Knuckles' freak stories, as amusing as they were, but we'd never hear the end of their squabbles once they fired off.

"Sally?" Tails right away hit the nail on the head (figuratively this time).

"Well damn I was hoping to actually reveal that. Smartypants." I squinted at him with a puckered grin as he popped his collar in a mocking cockiness.

The weariness washed away from Rouge's aquamarine orbs instantly, ears alerting tall at my confirmation of Tail's correct guess.

"Really? She's joining us? How'd you meet her already?"

"Sonic and I have second period with her. Chaos it was so awkward at first. She caught us staring at her which clearly turned her off from us but then we apologized at the end of class and she was really cool about it. We were just curious about her, more so Sonic cause during the weekend he asked me to get to know her... He's taken a special interest in her… So yeah."

"Oh has he now? Hmmm. But that's not anything really new... Guess he wants a new toy. What better challenge than the new girl who also just happens to be Prez Acorn's princess." Rouge nonchalantly remarked, resting her head on Knuckles' shoulder.

I half shrugged, not entirely knowing of Sonic's intentions but getting the feeling Rouge was right. Sonic was most likely gonna grow bored of her after a few weeks like he did with every girl. Steadiness wasn't his thing. He liked to keep it fresh and adventurous.

He didn't mistreat the girls he was with though, and he made sure to not lead them on beyond what it needed to be. It was an art he mastered in sophomore year and since then he was always just having fun with girls as they did with him (if they truly knew about his ways) but sooner than later, it was "On to the next one!". Some didn't mind, some who didn't know any better did. He made sure not to leave those who did with a bad taste in their mouth, especially about themselves. They could berate him for all he cared, but his top priority was to never damage a girl's self-esteem and confidence in his little pastime. I personally didn't encourage his ways but I didn't hinder him either, as long as no one was too broken over it, and that was never the case.

The thing was, this school's social system moved at a bizarre, speedy pace. Either you were with it or you weren't. Relationships generally didn't last for long or friendships for that matter, sadly. One day you'd be hanging out with a group, the next month you'd be with an entirely new clutter of randomly assorted students, people you'd never think that would hang out with each other. There were no cliché cliques thankfully just… people knowing people knowing people who would end up together because of the mutuality going on.

Which is one of the reasons that made our group so exceptionally well-known– even after four years, we beat those frequencies and proved our friendship wasn't just a five days a week thing, or so expandable. We were thick as thieves from the beginning, and enjoyed and loved each other so much that after seeing the way the school's association scheme worked, it became more or less an unspoken vow to never lose each other. And we stuck by it, with little to no trifles.

So unless you were us, the best coping mechanism over a heartbreak by friends or a loved one was to just move along. Surround yourself with new people (but unfortunately in the same environment) if it didn't make you too anxious.

That, or be a loner… But it so happened often that all the loners would end up getting together so that worked out!

Or heck, we would "recruit" them. That's how we met Shadow sophomore year anyways.

And of course, there was enough of Sonic's endless benevolence to go around for everyone to take comfort in.

"Do you guys have any classes with her?"

"None so far." Cream responded. The rest shook their head in accord, except for Shadow.

"She's in my AP chem class first period." He informed.

"What'd you think of her?"

"I… Didn't think of her at all." He admitted bluntly.

I chuckled.

Glancing to my left, I saw a group of four making their way down the path towards our table and I immediately leaned away from slouching on it. The remaining division of our gang plus the anticipated addition had finally arrived and we scooted closer together to one side to make more room for them.

"Sup guys!" Sonic was the first to greet. He seized the open space next to me then patted for Sally to sit on his other side. Blaze sat down next to her and Silver sat next to Blaze, completing the circle.

"Everyone," Sonic called attention to, "I'd like for you all to meet the new girl, Sally Acorn! Sal, meet..." and then he named every new face to her respectively.

He beheld her countenance after he was done, smiling warmly as the spotlight shifted on her.

"Hi guys! It's so nice to be invited to sit with you all." She waved, skirting a glimpse around the table at everyone then to me as she spoke of the invite. I smiled in response.

"Hi Sally! It's so nice to meet you!" Cream chirped, waving back.

"Hey girl. Cute skirt you got on!" Rouge complimented, sitting up as well.

"Welcome to the gang." Tails smiled sweetly.

Knuckles and Shadow had similar salutations as they bobbed their head. Knuckles at least grinned though.

"You're in my first period class right?" Sally questioned Shadow.

"Yes." He affirmed, nodding his head once again.

"So, so far I have classes with four of you. Nice!"

"Four?" I inquired.

"She's in my math class." Blaze answered.

"Ooh ok. Cool!"

"So tell us about yourself. What brings you here?" Rouge started.

"Alright well, really it's just the whole not wanting to be living in my father's shadow ordeal. I just wanted to go subtle and get away from everything that had to do with my father as the nation's leader. It just sucks so miserably being forced to live up to a certain persona, being the daughter and all. I want to be my own person, have my own identity, make my own decisions and changes you know? Everything was becoming too hectic, I was losing sense of control over my life. I honestly regret not making this decision sooner."

"I can't ever imagine being in your shoes. I'd hate all the attention so much!" Cream commented, visibly shaking herself from just thinking about it.

Sally smiled. "I don't mind using my position for the greater good though, if anything the attention is a pro if I want to make a change in the world. I just don't want to have to while constantly being in the limelight. Just a simple tweet can make a big difference."

"Understandable." Tails nodded.

"So are you also interested in politics?" Sonic asked.

"To some extent. I like to dabble here and there. Business, crime, setting up organizations, debates and whatnot. At the end of it all, I feel like I'm going to in a way, follow my father's footsteps despite "running away" from all that. Not exactly becoming the president, Chaos no, but I do love to lead and guide, use my voice. I just need a break to find myself and live out my prime years while I still can before diving into all that." She bashfully confessed.

"Wow. You seem determined nonetheless." I spoke.

She smiled graciously.

"Yawn! What do you enjoy for fun?!" Silver intervened, wiggling his brows with a smug mien while jutting out his resting chin on his palm. The group chuckled.

"For fun, huh?," Sally leered, "Well, truth be told, I'm down for anything, and by anything I mean *cough* anything, if you know what I mean?"

"O-HO-HO-HOOO, she's down for the good good!" Silver clapped his hands, growing excited. Rouge smirked, along with Cream, Knuckles, Sonic and I, as we were greatly acquainted with what was all being referred of.

Shadow, Blaze and Tails more or less shook their head or rolled their eyes, not exactly fans of having their senses dulled.

"Aren't you paranoid if anything you ever do will get out to the media?" Blaze questioned.

Sally noticeably tensed, shifting her eyes around the table at everyone present. "Well… I don't have any reason to mistrust you guys… Do I…?"

Sonic was expeditious to answer and wipe away any obviously developing hesitation.

"No way! We'd never do anything to intentionally put you or your name in danger Sally, you have my word. We're chaotic, but not reckless. You can judge for yourself, this group's got a smart head on its shoulders."

I nodded my head ardently in verification next to Sonic as she peered at us both. She moderated back to insouciant, confident in Sonic's word.

"Well," Sonic picked back up, "except for those two over there." He pointed at Knuckles and Rouge, simpering impishly with tease.

Rouge instantly fired up, countenance pinching together in anger. "GTFO Sonic! Ugh, don't listen to him Sally," she looped her arm with Knuckles' and tugged him close, continuing, "Knuckie and I are just as trustworthy as the rest of them! We're just a little more on the… Adventurous side. Don't hate." She struck up her manicured middle finger towards the sniggering blue, evil eyeing him with poisonous glares.

Sonic took a breath from laughing and complied, "Yeah, yeah, I kid, I kid. They're trustworthy too. But if you're looking for an extra rowdy of a time, just go to them. They know where all the hardcore parties are at, haha."

Sally giggled, "I'll definitely keep that in mind."

Rouge arched a curious eyebrow at that, but remained quiet. I snickered to myself, observing her.

"But, if you're like Amy and I," he brought his arm near me over him and wrapped it around my shoulders, snuggly pulling me close as he explained, "and enjoy more chill hangouts, stick with us."

Sally nodded her head and expressed tenderness, "Will do."

Sonic pulled out his phone and peaked at the time. "Well we've got fifteen minutes left of lunch," he turned to Sally while putting his phone back and suggested, "how about we use this time to show you around?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me." She beamed.

Looking back to me, his face just inches away from mine due to the hold he still had me in, he inquired, "Joining us Ames?"

I shook my head, "Nah, you two go ahead." Then when Sally wasn't looking, winked at him.

A grin of unadulterated effulgence lit up his elements and he pressed me taut before letting go.

"Alright then," they stood up together, "catch you guys later!" Sonic saluted.

"Bye guys!" Sally waved.

We replied our goodbyes and focused back to one another as they strolled off.

"She seems cool. A little too perfect but I guess that's alright." Rouge shrugged acceptingly, crossing her arms.

"You thought so too? The girl seems to have no flaw about her." Blaze further expressed, "Not that I don't like her- I just find it eery."

"It's just first impressions and whatnot. No one's perfect." Silver countered, rubbing Blaze's arm soothingly.

"I guess you're right…" Blaze mumbled, relaxing into his touch.

"What do you think of her Miss-Ever-Opinionated-Rose?" Rouge playfully interrogated.

I looked to her with puzzled amusement, genuinely confused by the accusatory tone. "What in the world are you insinuating Rouge?"

Her puckered, half upturned grin transformed into a full fledged smile as she fought a snicker, while the rest of the crew scouted on at me with inquisitiveness. Even Shadow.

I brushed off the strange behaviors. "I think she's really nice. And that what she does with her fame is very smart and necessary. I'm just glad she's not as bourgeois and pompous as she comes off to be, especially with that red Porsche. She's hella down to earth."

"I agree! We don't need anymore sons and daughters of money bags around here, ugh!" Cream piped in, scoffing.

I laughed, "True."

"Well. We'll see more later." Rouge said.

"Typical, gossiping females. So quick to judge and look into everything unnecessarily." Knuckles casually remarked, poking at the fruit in his fruit cup.

"Oh no…"

"Amy Rose feministic outburst in 3...2…-"

"Knuckles what the fuck."


*Rewritten as of 1/22/16

Xx,

Venus