A/N – It's been mentioned briefly before, but I hope you're all aware that this is a Sonadow fic. As in, Sonic/Shadow. MalexMale and all that. Er, carry on.

~Wednesday, March 9

Oh god, why did Eggman have to move his classroom to the 900's hall? That's the hall I tread through at least three times a day! And needing more room for lab equipment is the worst excuse I've ever heard. More like he did it on purpose because he wants to get back at me for that hellish year I gave him (like he does every week, only more subtly). What a way to start the day. I suppose it's too late to try and "unhear" morning announcements.

So far, as I'm making my way to Science, there is no sign of him. Hopefully I'll be able to blend into the crowd of people, although the blueness of my hair could be an obstacle.

I am definitely not looking forward to bumping into him and I sure as hell hope he doesn't try anything funny like starting a pointless conversation as I –

"If it isn't my most prominent student. What an unpleasant surprise, Sonic."

– walk pass. Damn it.

I tried in vain to suppress the twitching of my right eye as I replied, "And good morning to you too, Eg—Mr. Robotinik. Hope you didn't miss me, it's only been two years after all."

He chuckled evilly like the not-so-sane scientist he is. "Ho ho ho! Don't push your luck, you blue-haired brat. That's Dr. Robotnik to you."

"Alright. If you insist, Dr. Robuttnik," I said, cocking up a grin, "So what up with the big move? Couldn't find any more space to store your massive ego?"

And you know what he did next? He applauded, like I just pulled a white rabbit out of my back pocket.

"What rich words, coming from the likes of you." Alright, I'll admit he got me there.

"Touché." I shrugged, and then took a peek into the little window of his new classroom. From the looks of things, his class was getting more chaotic with each passing second.

"Well, you better get back to teaching the class how to blow up some more machines. I gotta run. Smell ya later, Eggy!" Wasting no time, I charged away, only able to catch this creepy glint that flickered across his glasses. I swear it does that no matter how bad the lighting is. Probably programmed it himself, the freak.

And if I learned anything from those days of cat and mouse, it's that a glint of the shades means trouble.

(It's a bit disheartening that Knuckles still doesn't get this concept, after all those schemes he was tricked into.)

Note to self: Send a death threat to Eggman complete with a googled picture of scrambled eggs and ketchup attached. That ought to teach him to not mess with me.

~Later

Law and Order sure is a cool elective. I learned a bunch of useful things today, like if I kicked Eggman in the balls in an act of self-defense, he can't sue me. All my problems are solved! It can't get any better than this!

~Later

Knuckles said I'm just using that as an excuse to be idiotic, which in turn would land me in prison, so I'm also considering kicking him in the balls later.

~5 Minutes later

Uh, I change my mind. Knuckles' fists might send me straight to the hospital for the next 6 months…so it's only rational that I don't do that.

As for Eggman, there doesn't seem to be any suspicious activity going on. I thought I saw some freshmen near the locker rooms pointing at me, but that's not really worth mentioning. They're probably making chitchat about how I'm going to lap everyone a billion times during the mile run without breaking a sweat. I can hardly wait for gym, by the way.

~Later

Well, 4th period gym came and went. Everything went according to plan, except, an irritating thing kept happening. I don't know why I'm so annoyed, actually. Not only were those couple of freshmen looking at me funny, the whole time I was jogging, there were dozens of eyes drilling into my back. And I'm certain I didn't imagine Vector making a weird face as I passed him.

My paranoia leads me to think that this is part of Eggman's scheme or something. But how could he have so much influence in such a short period of time? Could he have gained access to the texting network by hacking? Or implanted computer chips in every student's brain? Oh my god, they're really zombies being brainwashed into spying on me, then acting normal to coax me into a false sense of security, and then who knows what the devil they'll –

Whoa, just take a breather there, Sonic. You're thinking too hard about this. This whole mess will blow over in no time.

~Later

It's been two periods already, and the funny stares are getting worse! I am starting to lose my patience with these people and their obsession with rumors. After class, I signaled for Knuckles to meet me near the History classroom as he was gathering up his books.

He raised an eyebrow in question, but nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

I checked the hallway for potential eavesdroppers, and waited for him to catch up.

"Knuckles, do you know why people are acting like a bunch of weirdos? Is it because I did something?" I whispered, careful to observe the few students passing by.

"I thought you would have known, Sonic. You were talking all last night over the phone about how Silver kidnapped you for questioning yesterday." He shoved me as gently as he could, and sighed. "You don't have to lean so close, or whisper, for that matter."

I hesitated, still surveying the hallway. "What does that have to do with what I'm talking about? And whispering is necessary."

I leaned over again, making him grunt in annoyance. "The news that you're going to cause to apocalypse got out overnight yesterday. It might have been Silver and others in your English class that spread it."

"What!" I exclaimed, "They meant that? As in, literally?"

"Of course they meant it! Only you're oblivious enough to brush it off as a joke or something equally ridiculous."

"But—but, how?" I stammered, "No one believed Silver had physic powers before! Why would they believe some stupid, random vision he had?"

"That's because it's a prediction about you. You haven't been the main topic of conversation since two years ago. People will believe anything, especially when it involves bringing back the excitement and adventure that clings to you like glue." He rolled his eyes, and my jaw fell slack at what I was hearing.

"But I thought it was Eggman!"

"It's not, for once."

The late bell was threatening to ring any second, and I snapped out of my shocked daze in time to notice that Knuckles had already turned to leave. "H-hey, wait!" I called without thinking, "Do you think the world's going to end because of me?"

He didn't stop walking, but he gave me a shrug, "Who knows. Only you're crazy enough to make it work."

And on cue, the bell rang, forcing me to go to class without replying.

~1 Minute later

Okay, what was that suppose to mean, Knuckles?

~Later

He did that on purpose. Now I can't concentrate on this damned History quiz.

And my stomach is hurting for some reason.

~Later

It's bad enough that my classmates (including Knuckles) are acting so weird, but this is just—I don't know what the hell this is! It's Wednesday, which means I'm finally free from having to attend lunch detention. On top of that, I heard the cafeteria's serving chilidogs today. And yet, this inexplicable feeling in my stomach has been bringing me down all of a sudden. I can still feel it, tightening in a knot, making it unbearable to sit still in English.

It's almost like my conscience is running a marathon inside my head. It's not letting me forgive myself for…what? Running away at the sight of a lonely guy on the roof instead of going over and introducing myself like the friendly person I'm suppose to be? 'What happened to your confidence, your ability to stand out and do the right thing?' it taunted without stopping. I had half a mind to slap myself in public, sanity be damned.

This is stupid. I shouldn't be wishing to explode from this horrible, lurching feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Speaking of explosions…didn't Blaze mention something about them too? Maybe they were right. Maybe I really am going to cause the apocalypse.

And at this rate, I fear the world is going to end before I get to eat my last meal. FML.

~Later

For the fate of the world and my stomach (more so the latter), I decided to make a deal with my conscience as soon as the period ended. For the record, I had no idea abstract things could be so stubborn.

Anyways, the plan was for me to resume what I couldn't do yesterday—which is spend lunchtime on the roof, and politely introduce myself to Shadow—today. Only then would my conscience let up with the tormenting.

I think I got the short end of the deal. But it's been established that I don't have any other choice.

Knuckles would have to live with a half-assed excuse today.

~Later

The entrance to the roof looked the same as yesterday. The place was full of dust and it smelled of wood that hadn't been washed for decades. But this time, I noticed the fresh pair of footprints that trailed along the stairs, up to where I was standing.

So I was right about Shadow being his own company all this time. In rare cases like these, I wish I were wrong.

Cursing my conscience, which at this point was bawling at me to do something, I pushed the door open and headed for the familiar, red and black figure leaning against a familiar fence.

Every step, I tried my best to conceal any hint of nervousness. Things like slowing down my walking speed, and relaxing my muscles, and er, breathing were more difficult than I thought.

When I made it to a spot next to him, I leaned against the fence (casually, I might add).

I was so busy keeping track of everything else that wasn't functioning the way I wanted that I forgot the most important objective of this screwed up mission assigned by my screwed up conscience.

Acknowledging the other person's existence would have been helpful…I hate to admit.

I may as well sweated to death if Shadow didn't 'make the first move,' as the saying goes. It wasn't that he really moved or anything, but his apparent staring made it impossible for me to continue avoiding him. "Erm, hi." I said, blinking in disbelief at his…were those red eyes?

And me, being such a loyal fan of thinking before acting, pointed out, "Your eyes! They're red!"

He kept staring. Though, the air of confusion shifted a bit to amusement.

"And your hair is blue." He replied in a smooth, surprisingly mature voice.

I was more than a bit relieved at that response. "My name's Sonic. I'm pretty hard to forget thanks to the hair, haha. I've heard a lot about you, and uh, you don't seem to talk much, so I thought maybe I could hang around with you some time, you know, get to know you more." I was blabbering pretty badly and being overly cheerful, but I saw that his shoulders grew less tense the more I talked.

"Uh…" My voice died away, having said all there is to say.

A period of awkward silence followed, which consisted of me waiting for him to introduce himself and him not really getting the concept.

He seemed to be debating something mentally, but eventually gave in to whatever force telling him to be a normal person for a change.

"Shadow. I moved here recently."

In a movie cliché, this would be the part where we shook hands and started frolicking in a field of daisies.

In reality, Shadow slid his hands in his pockets in a guarded expression. He didn't say another word and he definitely didn't offer me a handshake.

I, on the other hand, had expected—more like preferred the movie ending, which would have made things a lot easier. I raised the hand I had prepared to offer to scratch the back of my head.

"It…turns out we're in the same grade. Cool, huh?" I shot him a grin.

The fence rattled, and he was taking in the view of the parking lot and beyond, totally ignoring me.

Talk about being antisocial… I huffed inwardly, and glanced outwards, trying to figure out what was so fascinating about school property. We remained like that for some time.

It was at this point that I realized something was wrong. I've pretty much fulfilled everything my conscience required me to do. But I couldn't bring myself to high-tail out of there.

The view was boring. The conversation was boring. The attempt to do the right thing was tiring. I was aching to leave. It's just, I still wasn't satisfied for some reason. The scary thing is that I'm beginning to suspect it's not my conscience pulling the strings here.

"You're dying to leave, but you're too much of a nice guy to do it, am I right?" Shadow spoke out of nowhere.

I looked up in surprise. Did he just read my mind? No, it's more shocking that he actually talked for more than a second.

"Er…well…"

"That's understandable, but troublesome for me." He continued, not tearing his gaze away from the fence.

"Wait, you think a person being nice to you is troublesome?" I positively gawked.

"And quite annoying. But knowing that still isn't enough for you to leave." I can't believe I gave up chilidogs for this prick.

"Well, how do you know I'm not here for my own enjoyment? The roof is a good place to escape to. This could be a one-time thing." I argued despite everything.

He blinked, and that flicker of amusement was back. "You were here yesterday. Don't think I didn't notice your presence at the entrance."

"You – how – ?"

"Your type is uncommon, but I have encountered a few over the years. They see a person alone and take it upon themselves to play the role of the hero. Even if I tell you I choose to be alone, you still believe otherwise. Stubborn, naïve, and having full confidence in bringing justice to the less fortunate—you're the hardest to get rid off."

"You know what? I liked it better when you barely spoke." I glowered. What an infuriating guy…

His kept the poker face expression on as he replied, "Just sharing knowledge from past experiences. Nothing personal."

I glanced warily to the entranceway across the other end of the roof. "So help me. What do you suppose I should do about my, uh, uncommon type? Trust me, all I want to do is be as far away from this place as possible, but I'm not letting myself do that and it's all really confusing…ughh."

I made to sit down in a heap of discontent.

"You don't need to sulk. There's a way to solve this." Shadow commented, kneeling down next to me.

"Oh?" I muttered, not convinced.

"How about we make a deal. If I win, you have to leave me alone. If you win, you can leave me alone, guilt-free."

I considered these stakes. "So it's basically a win-win situation for you either way."

"You still get to leave in the end, but whether or not you feel guilty about it afterwards depends."

I thought for a moment, and immediately piped up. "Hey, this might actually work. So what are we competing in?"

"A race."

"Oh, cool, a ra—" I did a double-take. Several thoughts sprang into mind, such as 'Does he even know about my fastest-runner-in-the-state status?' and 'Score! This is perfect! I'll win this deal hands down!' and 'But then, isn't that being unfair to him? I'd be cheating…' followed by 'Oh, screw that! Even if he loses he wins, so what's the hurt in keeping this piece of information to myself?'

"Yes or no." Shadow demanded when I started spacing out, "I don't have all day."

"Yes!" I answered, jumping to my feet. I can't remember the last time anyone's had the guts (or in Shadow's case, ignorance) to challenge me to a race. "I'll have the track field reserved right after school, with the timer and the equipment and the – "

"Better reschedule to tomorrow morning, an hour before school starts," Shadow cut in offhandedly.

"Why not today?" I replied, put off by the prospect of waking up extra early.

"Because the less amount of people that see us, the better."

"Wait, why – "

I was interrupted with a wave of his hand, and at the sight of him tugging the straps of his backpack into place. "Good. We have a deal, then." He dismissed over his shoulder, before disappearing into the entrance doorway.

~Much later

I. Do. Not. Get. This. Guy. At. All.

Especially those freakish red eyes. Is he an albino? Even if he is, it's still really freaky.

This is exactly the type of guy that gives off blearing 'do not approach' alarms, and I fell for the reverse psychology.

That's the last time I'm going to follow advice from my conscience. I should focus on Science homework now—got to finish it before dinner. Thanks to him I've been reading the same stupid sentence for fifteen minutes.

At least everything will turn back to normal after I beat him. First thing in the morning, that'll be a treat.

TBC

I don't get it. My chapters keep getting longer…this morning I was typing frantically because I was under the impression that this chapter would be a short one. 0-e Shadow is kind of OOC…(should have been more hostile to Sonic) but that's because they met under bad circumstances in the canon universe (*ahem* it's where the faker thing originated). Here they're just strangers chilling on a roof. I hope that makes sense. Ungh, so many subplots, so little time.