Another day, another post... sort of. I'm very, very excited for the coming chapters. I've been planning the Spring Break sequence for a long time, so I hope everyone has as much fun reading these chapters as I did writing them. I also went over the last chapter and fixed a lot of typos and awkward phrasing for easier reading.
Guest: I'm glad to be posting more as well! Thanks for the smiley! ^^
Anyway, on with the show! Have a good evening!
10: I'm a Capable Adult! ...Right?
After the April Fool's underwear prank, time slipped by at record speed. Homework started piling on, effectively ending all the free time Amy and her new friends had to get into trouble. She had never been so tired in her whole life. She was so very exhausted that she completely forgot about her bizarre new relationship with Rouge... so tired she forgot about Scourge's looming threat...
So tired that she completely forgot about Spring Break.
The only reason she remembered was because she was busy studying with Blaze and Shadow on the Tuesday before break after classes. Her head pulsed as she tried to decode the physics homework sitting before her on the table. She tapped her pen, gritting her teeth. Blaze and Shadow were sharing headphones as usual. They ignored her fidgeting, waiting until she actually built up the nerve to ask for help.
"Amy!" Silver slammed a Mountain Dew down on the kitchen table, causing Amy to jump in her seat. Blaze and Shadow, who were both studying at the table as well, remained impassive. Silver bounced on his heels, grinning, "Amy, guess how many days are left!"
She frowned, "Left until what?"
Silver giggled, "Spring Break, silly! Don't worry—I'll tell you: just three! It starts Friday!"
Amy's heart dropped. Spring Break? How had she forgotten? It seemed like only yesterday she was begging the time gods to fast forward to vacation season. Her fur prickled at a revelation; she hadn't made any plans! She jumped to her feet, "Oh no!"
Silver cocked his head, "What? What's wrong? Don't you want to get a break from all this work?"
Shadow spoke without looking up from his notes, "Something tells me that's most certainly not the case."
Amy shoved a hand into her pocket, searching for her cell phone. She waved at the others, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna try calling my parents!" She swept through the kitchen and out the back door, dialing her mom's number. The tone rang a few times. Amy bit her lip in anticipation.
"Amy? Is that you sweetie?" It was her mom's voice.
"Thank goodness," Amy let out an exhale of relief. "Hi, Mom!"
She heard rustling on the other line, "Hi, honey! How are you enjoying college? You haven't sent us a text or anything yet!"
"Sorry about that. I've been having a good time, still doing fine in all my classes. Listen, I was actually calling about next week..."
"Oh yes! Your father and I are going to be changing locations on Saturday!"
Amy rubbed her head, confused, "What? Changing locations?"
Her mother continued; she could almost see the orange hedgehog checking her nails, "Yeah, honey, didn't you get my email? We're touring East Mobius! We're heading to somewhere called," she turned to Amy's father in the background, "what was it dear? Spain?" She leaned back to her cell, "Spain, Rosy-Rose! Don't the humans have funny names for things?"
Amy slowly sank down to the floor, trying to ignore the looming feels of disappointment filling her core, "Ha, Spain... yeah, that is a funny name, Mom."
"Anyway, pumpkin, I have to go now. There's a street food cart right here and your father wants to try some crazy hot dog combination! Talk to you soon! Have fun at school! Ta-ta!" The line went dead. Amy, too shocked to react, simply allowed her arm to droop back to her side. She stared out over the back lawn, which faded away into the trees that lined the border of Linehardt's campus.
Her parents weren't going to be home for Break, which meant she couldn't go home either. If things were the way they were two months previous, she would have assumed that she could stay with Rouge for the week, but things had been icy with the bat ever since the pot incident. Amy briefly considered asking someone from SLK if she could spend the break with them, but if she knew them at all, they most likely already had plans.
What am I whinging about? Amy patted her cheeks, setting her brow in determination, I'm an adult now. I'll figure this out by myself! She stood and dusted off the back of her jeans before slipping her phone back into her pocket. Then, she went back inside, optimistic that she'd come up with a plan to enjoy her break all on her own.
Silver bounded up to her when she came back into the kitchen, "So what'd they say, Amy? Is your family going to go on a totally rad vacation? Are they going camping? I bet you're going to have so much fun!" He danced around the kitchen, beaming with delight at the different options.
Amy gave him a small, uncomfortable smile in reply, "Um... Actually, they're on vacation right now... and won't be back in time for Spring Break."
Silver stopped his over-eager celebration, "Vacation? Oh no, Amy... What are you going to do? Do you need somewhere to stay?"
Blaze walked by, grabbing a juice box from the fridge, "You can always come with us. I'm sure Vector won't mind us showing up with an extra face. Heck," she sucked the juice box down in one gulp and tossed it into the garbage can, "he probably won't even notice."
Amy shook her head, "No, that's fine. I'm sure Rouge and I can figure something out." She stooped to gather her things into her (new) backpack. "I'm actually gonna head back; I've got to clean my dorm and stuff."
"You sure?" Shadow finally looked up, his eyes just the smallest bit concerned, "We haven't gone over your math work yet."
She was already almost out the door, "Nah, I'm good! It's not due till Friday!" The front door slammed and she was gone.
The others looked at each other with nervous expressions.
"Spring Break? I thought you would have made plans with your parents ages ago." Rouge was flitting about the room, pulling papers and books together and looking for a missing sock. She tugged it from underneath her desk and pulled it on. She looked back at Amy, pushing out a pouty lower lip, "Sorry. I would have reserved another ticket for you if I knew you didn't have plans." Amy fell back on her bed, kicking her feet into the air with an exaggerated sigh.
"Dang it..." She popped back up, looking at Rouge hopefully, "Can't you get one now?"
The bat shook her head, "They're all full up, sweetie. Heck," she stood, pulling her backpack over her shoulder, "I could barely get my hands on one, and you know how I am with... getting things." Amy rolled over and buried her face into her pillows.
"A cruise sounds so nice... ugh, I wish I'd been paying attention."
Rouge shrugged on her way out the door, "There's always summer. Sorry again, hope you figure something out."
Amy sat up after Rouge had gone, looking at the doorway sadly. Normally, Rouge would have reserved a pair of ticket and convinced Amy to go along with her on whatever crazy adventure she had planned. Was this the price of her "adulthood" speech? She fell back on her bed again and kicked her shoes off.
"I'm such an idiot sometimes!"
Amy continued to fret as the week passed. She tried bringing her dilemma up to Sally and Tikal in the library, but Tikal only gushed about how excited she was that her dad was taking her on an ancient history tour in the southeast. Sally had narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow before asking why Amy didn't just tag along with Sigma Lambda Kappa, since she seemed so close to them these days. That had caused Amy to change the subject and escape. On Friday, Knuckles nudged Amy in the middle of Global History.
"Hey."
She looked up at him, dark circles clouding under her eyes.
"You've looked... kind of upset lately, Amy. Is something wrong?"
"Oh," she snapped out of her blurry thoughts, "No... I'm just thinking about what to do for Spring Break." She leaned back in her seat, rubbing her eyes drowsily. Knuckles rubbed his chin.
"Aren't you hanging out with your roommate? That's what Silver said."
"No, she uh," Amy looked away, embarrassed, "she already has plans. Like my parents." Noticing Knuckles' troubled frown, she quickly waved a hand, "Don't worry about it! I figure I can just use the time to get ahead in all my subjects. Then maybe Shadow won't want to kill me over equations." She chuckled before resting her forehead on her arms.
"Oh... okay." Knuckles didn't exactly buy her happy-go-lucky facade, but it wasn't any of his business. He listened to her whimper in her sleep and patted her head with a large hand. Still, even if her problems weren't any of his business, it couldn't hurt to text Sonic about it.
It was a dazzling sort of afternoon. The sun shined across the city, causing the skyscraper windows to twinkle like daytime stars. The fountain in the courtyard of Linehardt—underwear carefully removed by the campus staff—glistened invitingly with its bright cerulean water. The school was awash with activity. Students were rushing in every direction: turning in last-minute assignments, grabbing a snack from the cafeteria, or stowing their luggage away and driving off in great hordes, ready to celebrate the first break of the school year.
Amy stuck her tongue out at nobody in particular, glaring at all the soon-to-be fun-havers. She hadn't succeeded in securing a place to go and she wasn't looking forward to spending a week alone in an empty dorm. Sighing, she began to trudge back to her dorm, figuring that SLK would already be heading out by the time she reached the end of the road.
"Excuse me, Amy?"
She turned, curious as to who would be talking to her at this particular time. It was Espio. He was holding out a cell phone to her.
"Sonic apparently doesn't have your phone number," the chameleon explained. "This is a text from him for you, since we share the last class of the day together."
"Oh," Amy blinked, "thanks." Espio nodded. Amy took the cell phone gingerly, careful not to press anything on the screen without reading it first. She tapped the text notification.
-so... ames... your room is the last one in the hall right?
The thought took a moment to sink in, when she realized that the older boy was most likely going through her room (or worse, someone else's room), she quickly typed a reply.
-Sonic! What are you doing in my dorm?!
The phone buzzed after a few moments, what? it's not me, it's blaze and shadow
Worse. It was worse. Why? Get out of there, you guys are gonna get me in trouble!
-haha nah, they're coming back now.
She chewed a nail fretfully. Why had they been there in the first place? The phone buzzed before she could reply.
-shadow says you wear some pretty racy underwear ;)
-oh, nevermind, he said that was your roommate's dresser. blaze just smacked him
-sisdjcd
-she just smacked me too. anyway, tell espio to hurry up and bring you back here. we have to get this show on the road!
Amy handed the phone back to Espio, trembling, "He says to take me over to your dorm? I-I... I don't know why though... Why were Blaze and Shadow in my room?"
He narrowed his eyes, "Well... packing for you, I think, since Vector can be kind of impatient."
"Packing?"
"Yes. Now, please excuse me." Espio darted forward, picking Amy up in a princess hold. She blanched.
"Wha—Why?"
"Because this is the quickest way back." He secured his hold on her one final time, then darted down the street. The wind whipped by, tugging on their clothes. Amy felt that it wasn't quite as nice as being pulled by Sonic, even though she did feel more secure being held and not dragged.
They arrived at the end of the road in just over a minute. Espio set Amy down gently, disappearing into the house before she could say anything. She studied the yard, noticing a massive van parked in the driveway next to Chaos Control. A pile of bags were on the lawn. Knuckles was picking a couple of the up at a time and placing them in the back of the van. Silver and Sonic where wrestling in the yard, their letter jackets discarded and their quills full of grass blades. Suddenly, a large hand clamped down on Amy's shoulder. She squeaked and looked up.
It was a huge crocodile. He was wearing headphones and a massive, gold, chain necklace. He grinned warmly, "So! You must be Amy Rose!"
Amy gulped, "Y-yes... that's me... who...are you?"
The crocodile's head snapped up in the direction of Sonic, "Hey, Sonic! You didn't tell her about me? I'm hurt!"
Sonic paused his wrestle with Silver, "Huh?" Silver seized the opportunity of his distracted opponent and tackled him, causing him to disappear with a cry of "oof!" and a fresh eruption of grass blades. Their sneakers appeared over the hedge that lined the yard, kicking back and forth while they shot playful insults at each other. Shadow and Blaze exited the mansion, holding their suitcases and looking at the pair of fools on the lawn disdainfully. They approached Amy and crocodile.
"What's up, Vector?" Shadow and the crocodile, who Amy realized was the 'Vector' that Blaze mentioned earlier in the week, exchanged a slick handshake.
Vector bellowed, "Good to see you, Shadow! Blaze, too!" Shadow nodded while Blaze flicked her chin up in silent greeting. Vector waved a hand in the direction of Sonic and Silver, "See these dorks haven't changed. Still nothing but a bunch of kids around here. Except," he leaned down to attempt to whisper in Shadow's ear, "I saw this cute bat leaving the sorority across the street. Whooo, you should've seen what she was wearing!" Shadow rolled his eyes.
Silver shoved Sonic off him with his telekinesis and popped up, "Ew! You shouldn't talk about ladies like that, Vector!"
Sonic burst out laughing, despite being lodged in the pile of luggage, "As if, Silver! This coming from the guy who has a Hatsune Miku body pillow!"
Silver turned pink and laid back down on the grass, disappearing from Amy's view.
"I meant her jewelry!" Vector snapped. "Anyway," he slapped his hands together, "get the rest of this gear in the van! We've got a long drive ahead of us and I want to beat traffic!" He smiled at Amy again, "I know you're gonna have a great time in Knothole! You couldn't have picked a better group of brats to stay with!" He stalked off to join Knuckles in loading the van up. They dumped Sonic unceremoniously in the grass and laughed when he landed on his face. He spat out the grass in his mouth, then sped down to stand in front of Amy, grinning wildly.
"So? Are you happy?"
She looked around, dazed and touched, "You... you really want me to come with you guys?"
He ruffled her quills, "Duh! We wouldn't have infiltrated your dorm if we didn't really want you to see our hometown! Well, mine anyway."
Heart fluttering, Amy's eyes filled with tears, "I'm... I'm so lucky!" She covered her face with her hands, "You guys spoil me!"
Shadow sighed, "Why are you crying now?"
The pink hedgehog wiped her eyes, "I just... don't wanna take you guys for granted!"
Blaze smirked, "Then pay us back by having a good time."
Amy nodded emphatically, "I will! I will!"
"Okay!" Vector boomed as he climbed into the driver's seat, "choose your seats! I wanna make it back to Knothole while I'm still young!"
"Pfft!" Silver squeaked with laughter, "You're already old enough to be a grandpa!"
Vector frowned, "I'm twenty-five, you albino menace! Get in the car!"
Shadow and Blaze yanked open the side panel and crawled to the seats farthest in the back. Espio chose the middle seat, hoping to take a nap. Knuckles chose the front passenger's seat, which left Amy to be pulled in between Sonic and Silver in the row behind the driver's seat. Silver bounced excitedly.
"You got the playlist I sent you, right Vector?" He leaned forward to paw at the stereo controls.
Vector slapped his hand away, tsking, "Back off! If you wanted to control the music, you should've ridden shotgun!" Knuckles turned around, waving his mp3 player in a taunting manner. Silver growled.
"Noooo, you only wanna listen to like, old people music!"
Knuckles frowned, "I'm a year older than you, dude."
Silver blew a raspberry at the echidna, "Yeah! That's saying something!"
Knuckles rolled his eyes, "Okay... I'll throw some techno in for you, ya big baby!" He turned around and began tapping furiously at the screen of the player. Amy looked to her left and right, happy that she got to sit next to Sonic, but a little claustrophobic sitting between him and Silver. She hoped they wouldn't get too hyper on the drive. Vector rolled the windows down to let the breeze in. She inhaled, sensing that same feeling of fate that blew by on the breeze on the first day of school. An electric feeling pulsed through her as the van rolled out onto the street and the journey began.
Sonic tapped her shoulder, "Hey."
Amy turned to him, green eyes shining, "Yeah?"
He smiled, "You don't have to hold back so much, you know?"
Her expression faltered, "What do you mean?"
"If you need something to do or someone to hang out with," he flashed her a smirk, "we're pretty much always available. And we don't hate you, so just call us up."
That smirk made her tongue feel numb, "I... I don't have your phone number." When did he get so close?
"Well, here." He snaked a hand over her to reach into her cardigan pocket and pull out her cell. He opened it and tapped her contacts button. "This way you can contact me whenever you want." He entered the information and tucked her phone into her hand. "Text me sometime, 'kay?" With a wink, he pulled away from her and leaned back in his seat just as music started blaring through the van.
"Oh come on!" Silver shouted over the noisy drum beat, "Knuckles! Play some real techno!"
Vector was right, Amy thought. The ride is going to be long.