Hiya peoples! I am sooo sorry I didn't post this chapter before Christmas! On Christmas Eve morning, I woke up to find my laptop completely 100% frozen. Task manager wouldn't pull up, and when it did, it said "Windows Task Manager Not Responding." When that happens, that means two words: You're screwed. BUUUT... on the plus side, I was quite surprised to find a new laptop under the tree with my name on it! :D So I can promise you that the unreliable computer issues won't happen anymore! :D
Also, something really funny: my sister knows how big of a Sonic fan I am, so she got me red extra high top converses with a white tongue, so they look like Amy Rose boots! XD
Anyway, I know a lot of people were complaining about me posting music lyrics, but I fixed it, and now my story is 100% music lyric free! :D
So, here is Chapter 11! Oh! Happy Chapter Eleveniversary! :D Enjoy! Have a frabjous day!
Chapter 11: Science and Try-Outs
Ms. Allen's Class
"Welcome back to another wonderful day at Emerald Coast High School!" Eggman exclaimed over the intercom as the Sonic gang sat impatiently in Literature class. "Here are some announcements: Football and Cheerleading try outs will be held tomorrow afternoon for anyone who is interested." He informed the school, instantly making Sonic and Shadow look at each other in interest. "Also, Guy's Pep Squad (where 4 guys paint themselves the blue, grey and white (school colors) and cheer for the football team in the student section) try outs are tomorrow afternoon as well. So… pretty much anything to do with Friday Night Football is holding try outs tomorrow! Also, next Friday afternoon, Ms. Peterson will be holding auditions for our upcoming production of the musical "Wicked". There are 3 leading roles: two female parts and one male part. So for all of you future Broadway stars, we hope to see you there! Well that's all for today! Have a good day!" he said, hanging up the intercom.
"Oooo! I am sooo doing cheerleading!" Amy squealed.
"As much as the word "pep" makes me cringe, I wouldn't mind trying out too, Amy. Plus, those uniforms would look fabulous on me!" Rouge said excitedly.
Shadow and Sonic stared at each other as if they were waiting for someone to say something. "I call QB!" Shadow told him, making Sonic slam his fist on the table.
"DANGIT!" Sonic cried, glaring at Shadow in jealousy.
Meanwhile in Science with Tails, Mina and Cream…
"Alright class, I've got a meeting to go to, so I'm going to trust you all to behave by yourselves. If anyone leaves this room, you will have detention. Do I make myself clear?" asked Mr. Andrews. After receiving 20 nods, the navy blue and white weasel left the room with a mug of warm coffee in his hand, heading towards his meeting. About 30 seconds after the door shut and the students heard the sound of his footsteps fade about half of the class got up and left for the dorms. Being the good kids as they were, Tails, Mina, Danny and Cream stayed along with about 6 other kids.
Mr. Andrews let the students pick their own seats every day because he knew what it was like to be stuck with a crappy lab partner: miserable. That day, Mina was partners with Tails, and Cream was partners with Danny.
When Scourge and Fiona weren't around, Danny tried to spend as much time with Cream as he could since they banned them from being friends.
"Thanks for not pounding my face in with the dodgeball yesterday. That was really sweet of you." Cream thanked him.
"No problem! I didn't want to hurt you; even if it was just a ball. Thanks to you too! I really like my face. Thanks for sparing it." He joked, making Cream blush. Quickly, Cream's smile turned to a frown as she deeply sighed.
"What's wrong? You okay Cream?" he asked sympathetically, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Oh nothing… I just miss my chao, Cheese. They wouldn't let me bring him here." She explained, the thought of Cheese not at her side bringing tears to her eyes.
"You have a chao? No way! Me too! High five!" Danny cried, giving Cream a high five while shocked at the fact of Cream owning a chao.
Cream perked up, "Really?" she asked in excitement.
"Yup! Her name's Lulu, and she's a hero chao. I'm in the same boat as you: they made me leave her home because they didn't want pets in the dorms." He said, looking down to the ground in disappointment.
"Gosh… you must miss her terribly." Cream assumed.
"Yeah, I really do; Lulu was like my best friend. I've never left her since the moment I first got her." He informed her.
"Me too. Cheese meant the world to me. Maybe over Christmas break, we could have a chao play date! You can bring Lulu over and she can play with Cheese while we hang out." She suggested.
"I'd love that, and so would Lulu!" Danny excitedly exclaimed.
I wonder how Mina is doing with Tails. Cream thought, looking over at the pair to see Tails working on some metal box as Mina happily observed next to him. He had packed the necessary tools and brought them to Science to show Mr. Andrews, who was very impressed with Tails on the first day of school.
As Cream watched, she was too far away to actually hear the conversation, but she could tell that they were having a good time. Every few seconds, Tails would say something and Mina would giggle in response, and then she would reply and he would either blush or laugh.
"So what's that you're working on Tails? Whatever it is, it looks pretty complicated!" Mina asked in interest.
"I'm working on a base design for hydropower hover shoes for Sonic in the water. Since he can't swim, I'm making him these so he can hang out with all of us in the water at the beach." Tails explained. "These shoes will enable him to hover over the water and still allow him to run at maximum velocity." Tails talked in a nerdy way, leaving Mina staring blankly. "I'm sorry… I'm going all geeky on ya."
"Oh no! It's fine! I like hearing you explain things like that to me… its pretty awesome. So Sonic would be able to run at his top speed in these shoes? That's so cool! Tails, you're a genius!" Mina exclaimed looking at the complicated blueprints lying out across the table.
"Thanks Mina… it's not that great of an invention." Tails blushed as Mina handed him a wrench.
"You know, I can run pretty fast myself. I mean, not as fast as Sonic or Shadow or anything, but I guess faster than normal. I don't like to tell many people that though; I'm pretty shy, but thanks for being so nice to me. You're one of the few people who I've opened up to around here."
"No problem! You're one of the nicest people I know." Tails complimented, making her blush.
"Where did you get all of this stuff? Where do you have the time and space to work on this kind of stuff?" she asked eagerly, wanting to know more.
"Well, back at home I've got my own lab that's probably the size of a football field, but since I'm gonna be away from home for a while I built a smaller replica inside my dorm." He explained.
"Wow Tails! That's awesome! You've gotta show me sometime! Do you think you could pull some strings and give me a behind the scenes tour?" she joked.
"Hmmm I'll pencil you in." he joked back, causing both of them to laugh until Mina began to talk again. While Tails went back to work, Mina quietly hummed a tune to herself, making Tails start to tap his foot and swing his Tails to the beat.
"Watcha singing?" he asked Mina.
"Oh, I was just humming the pitches to "Defying Gravity" front Wicked." She informed him, blushing that he noticed she was singing.
"Well you sounded great!" Tails exclaimed, giving her a warm smile.
"Really? Thanks! I've got a question for you." She said.
"Okay, what's up?"
"What do you think of me auditioning for Wicked? I mean, I know I probably won't get a main role against Layla and Fiona, but-"
"Mina! That's a great idea! I was actually thinking of working stage crew; I've got some pretty good ideas for the technology and engineering part of the set." He informed her. "Plus- I think you'd make an amazing Glinda."
"Awww! You really think so Tails?" she asked humbly.
"I know so!" he assured her.
"Aww… thanks Tails! You're the best!" she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck for a hug, making them both blush.
Next day: Football Tryouts
"Alright guys! Let me see what you've got! Guys wanting to play defense: left end zone! Offense guys: right end zone! Let's move out!" yelled Coach Richardson at the group of about 50 guys standing along the sidelines of Land Shark stadium. Sonic and Shadow quickly followed orders, dashing at supersonic speed towards the right side of the field. Coach Richardson slowly followed, on the way instructing the players to get in a line. At the front of the line stood Shadow, who was wearing shoulder pads, a helmet and an old blue and grey ECHS uniform.
Sitting and watching nervously on the empty bleachers were Rouge, Amy, Knuckles, Silver, Mina, Tails, Danny, Cream, Blaze and Layla. Since Fiona and Scourge were sitting and making out in Scourge's room, Danny found it okay to leave and hang out with the Sonic gang; they didn't even notice he was gone. Although they found Danny hanging out with their crowd suspicious, they still cautiously welcomed him to hang out, but that didn't mean they didn't watch him to make sure he didn't try to pull anything.
"You ready, kid? Your pretty scrawny lookin' to try out for the football team, don't you think?" he asked insultingly, looking down at Shadow in superiority. "Well, whatever. So here's what's going to happen: you need to pick a partner. Then, you and your partner are going to run a play: one of you is QB; the other is a wide receiver. The quarterback will through the ball to the WR at least 10 yards ahead, after that, the wide receiver will run the ball 10 yards. Once reaching that point- if you can even get there- the WR will through a backwards lateral pass to the QB, and then run it for another 5 yards, letting the WR get a small lead. Then, the QB will do a handoff to the wide receiver, and they will run it into the end zone for a touchdown. Any questions?"
"Uhh…" Shadow zoned out, completely confused by his football terminology.
"Good! Let's start! Oh, and by the way: we'll be timing and recording you. We've got camera men and timers set all around the field. Go on hedgehog! Choose a partner."
"C'mon Shadow! You've got this!" Layla cried at Shadow, making him smile and blush underneath his helmet.
"Alright Sonic, you ready?" Shadow asked Sonic with his hands on his knees, crouching just behind the football.
"Let's do it." Sonic agreed, as Coach Richardson blew his whistle for them to begin. Quickly and perfectly, Sonic and Shadow maneuvered the play; Sonic is the wide receiver and Shadow as the quarterback. Coach Richardson hadn't even finished blowing his whistle by the time they were in the other end zone.
In shock, Coach dropped his whistle the ground and looked at his stop watch: 1.16 seconds.
"Hey camera man! Did you get that all on tape?" Coach asked the golden retriever standing behind the huge tripod.
"Yup, I got everything." He clarified, motioning him towards the camera. Slowly, the two watched Sonic and Shadow's play frame by frame, soon to realize that they pulled it off perfectly.
"That's- that's incredible!" Coach Richardson cried in excitement as he grabbed his megaphone off of the bench and shouted, "Attention! I have a very important announcement!" Layla and Amy grabbed each other's hands in suspense, wanting their boyfriend and best bud to make the team. "For the first time in Emerald Coast High School history, we have sophomores as our star wide receiver and quarterback! Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog will be our starters every Friday night!" he exclaimed as Layla and Amy squealed from the bleachers while everyone else cheered and clapped.
"Wooo!" Sonic cheered running laps in celebration around the field; the only thing people could see was a blue blur zipping around and around. In excitement, Amy and Layla ran onto the field to congratulate them. Amy instantly ran to Sonic, giving him an overbearing Amy Rose trademark hug.
"Oh Sonikku! I'm so happy for you! You'll be the best wide receiver ever!" she cheered, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thanks Ames. I hope you make the cheerleading squad!" he hoped, hugging her tightly.
"Thanks Sonic; I hope so too. If I do, we'd be like the ultimate high-school-preppy couple! The cheerleader dating the football star… oh Sonic, can't you just picture it? It'd be sooo adorable!" Amy squealed in glee, making Sonic blush and roll his eyes in a "that's-so-typical-Amy" kind of way.
"Shadow! That was incredible! Congratulations Mr. Quarterback!" Layla cried, running up to Shadow where he stood with waiting open arms. Jumping into his arms, he held her tight, spinning her through the air in celebration. While in the embrace, he thought I've never felt so happy around anyone before… has she brought out another side of me?
"Thanks Layla. Would you like to join me in a victory lap?" he asked, extending his arm in invitation while looking into her eyes. Completely lost in his gaze, Layla zoned out, unable to respond.
"Shall we?" he asked again, to get her attention. Coming back to earth, Layla smiled and blushed.
"We shall." She responded in a cliché way, linking arms with him as they jogged/ skipped/ danced around the field like a pair of idiots hyped up on Red Bull.
"Hey Sonic, wouldn't Shadow and Layla make the perfect couple? I mean- they've only known each other for 3 days, and they're already best friends." Amy pointed out.
"Sure; I guess they'd make a good couple. Shadow acts so different around her; it's like he's actually happy. Look at him now!" Sonic realized, pointing to Shadow and Layla who were skipping around the perimeter of the field, dancing, joking around and making funny faces, acting like total retards together. Eventually, Shadow said something, making the two falls against each other for support because they were laughing so hard. Shadow and Layla acted as though they had known each other for months; years; decades; an entire lifetime.
"I don't understand; I've known Shadow for years and he's never opened up to me like that before. I'm not jealous; I'm happy for the guy, but I think it's just odd the way he just suddenly came out of his shell for Layla. Maybe they have something more in common." Sonic thought, when-
"Amy! We're going to be late for cheerleading tryouts!" Rouge cried from the bleachers.
"Okay! I'll be right there!" she replied, "You coming with us?" Amy asked Sonic.
"Sure, why not? I don't want to miss yourtry out." Sonic smiled, taking Amy by the hand and walking towards the rest of the group, leaving Shadow and Layla laying on the empty side of the astroturf field, gazing at the clouds and laughing their butts off.
Passing by the practice field, the Sonic crew saw an orange echidna wearing nothing but swim trunks covered in flowers standing alone on the field next to a few buckets of paint and a bunch of blue white and grey swim trunks laying all across the grass. At sight of Sonic, Amy, Cream, Danny, Silver, Blaze Mina, Tails, Rouge and Knuckles, he quickly ran to catch up with them.
Approaching the group, he pointed at Danny, Tails, Knuckles and Silver and instructed, "Hey you four! Come here and try these on for me!" Holding up a bathing suit, he motioned towards the field.
"Uh… okay. Sure." Knuckles agreed, walking towards the field. "I'm Knuckles, and this is Danny, Silver, and Tails."
After about 2 minutes, Danny, Knuckles, Silver and Tails were shirtless with the swim trunks on, standing in a line in front of the echidna. "It's a perfect fit!" he exclaimed, receiving weird looks from them.
"I think this dude is on something…" Knuckles whispered to Silver.
"By the way, my name is Coach Watson. Due to lack of interest, you four are the new Pep Squad! Congratulations!" he exclaimed.
"WHAT!" the four cried as Sonic, Amy, and Rouge fell on the ground dying of laughter.
"That's right! You four are stuck being the Pep Squad! Cheerleading tryouts are happening in about 10 minutes in the gym, and since I'm also head coach of the cheerleading squad I have to get down there right away, so… I had to pick people to do it, and you four are the lucky winners!" he exclaimed in a somewhat gay voice. Still receiving gaping expressions from Silver, Tails, Knuckles and Danny, he explained, "Look, Pep Squad isn't as hard as you think; it's actually pretty fun! Every football game, you four stay after school with about 4 or 5 friends of your choice and paint yourselves blue, grey or white; each of you will also paint a letter on your chest to spell out ECHS. Danny, you can be the 'E', Silver the 'C', Knuckles the 'H' and Tails the 'S'. Then, that night at the football game, you guys will stand in either the students section or by the cheerleaders and keep the crowd motivated and on their feet. Got it?" Coach Watson asked.
"Uh… okay." Silver agreed.
"Woooo! I get to be shirtless! This'll be awesome!" Danny cheered enthusiastically.
"And if you want… you can even get a few girls together, get them in cheerleading shorts and tank tops and use them as the exclamation points… but you didn't hear that from me!" he informed them, Cream and Mina instantly raised their hands in interest.
"Well I've gotta run to cheerleading tryouts! See you fellas at the game!" he shouted as he jogged towards the school.
The second he was gone, Sonic went up to Knuckles and joked, "Guess Amy and Rouge aren't the only cheerleaders in our bunch! Nice swim trunks Knucklehead! Those flowers look really manly!"
"Grr… shut up Sonic!" he hissed.
Cheerleading Tryouts
Around the large wooden gym, dozens of girls stretched, flipped, cart wheeled, and shouted, waiting for the tryouts to begin. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Silver, Danny, Cream, Blaze and Mina let Amy and Rouge go to prepare for the tryouts while they sat on the bleachers and watched.
"Alright girls! Find a partner and come up with a routine! You have 10 minutes, and you will be judged on the loudness of your voice, enthusiasm, movement, and activeness! Get started!" shouted Coach Watson over a megaphone. Instantly, Rouge and Amy ran to each other, ready to practice.
"This'll be a synch; we do flips and stuff all the time in fights," Rouge said.
After about 10 minutes, Coach Watson came back on the megaphone, and shouted, "Okay girls! Time to start! Who wants to go first?" he asked, getting no volunteers.
About half a minute of silence went by, until Amy grabbed Rouge's arm and raised her hand, "We'll go!" she volunteered.
"AMY!" Rouge yelled.
"Ooo! You were just volun-told Batgirl!" Knuckles shouted from the bleachers.
"Shut up Swim Trunks! I'll show you!" Rouge taunted. Standing up at the front of the gym on the cheerleading mat, Rouge shouted, "5-6-7-8!"
"Pound the Panthers! Eat the Knights! C'mon Land Sharks Fight! Fight! FIGHT!" they both cried, doing a back flip while waving their pompoms in the air, landing in a spilt. Getting up, Amy cupped her hands as Rouge sprinted towards her, jumping into her hands and launching her into the air, doing a series of flips until she hit the ground, landing on her feet. While Rouge was in the air, Amy did a cartwheel triple front handspring, landing right behind Rouge as they both screamed, "GO LAND SHARKS!"
Gaping, Coach Watson stood clapping vigorously, "That was amazing! You two definitely made to squad! Congratulations girls!" he informed them, making Rouge and Amy squeal in joy. Overjoyed, the two ran back to the bleachers to their friends.
"Congrats Ames! You were amazing out there!" Sonic told her, giving her a hug.
"Aww thanks Sonic!" she blushed, hugging him tightly.
"Wow Rouge… you really proved me wrong." Knuckles admitted, "You were incredible!" He said, giving her a half hug.
"Thanks Knuckie. Never thought I'd hear you tell me that before." She realized, hugging him back.
"Well I'm just stating the facts. You were pretty awesome."
"No, I mean calling me Rouge. You didn't call me 'Batgirl'." She pointed out, putting her hand to his forehead to see if he had a fever. "Are you okay? That wasn't like you at all."
"Well maybe I'm ready to end this constant battle. Plus, we're going to be living here together for the next year to 3 years, so we're going to have to learn to put up with each other. What do you say? Truce?" he asked, offering his hand to shake.
Rouge stared at it for a good 5 seconds before questioning, "Is this an excuse to hold my hand Knuckie? You little creep!"
"No! No you crazy Batg- Rouge! Why would you think that?" he shouted defensively as he thought Yes it is…. no, no! No Knuckles! Stop! You don't like her!
"Okay then! Truce!" she declared shaking his hand awkwardly. Breaking the awkwardness, Rouge leaned in for a hug, as did Knuckles. Not even realizing it, they stood for about 15 seconds hugging, until-
"Well look who's oddly out of character!" Sonic interrupted, making Rouge and Knuckles quickly break apart in embarrassment.
"Heh, I think we've all been a little out of character since we first got here." Knuckles joked.
Back with Shadow and Layla…
Back at Land Shark Stadium, football try outs had been long over, but Shadow and Layla remained lying on their backs on the field on the 50 yard line, right smack in the middle of the ECHS logo.
"Hey Shadow- I think I'm ready to tell them." Layla informed him, rolling over onto her stomach, looking at Shadow with a smile of excitement.
" Hmph?" he simply replied, too caught up in looking at her to comprehend what she just told him. "What are you talking about?" he asked, rolling over as well.
"You know! Telling Sonic and the others my secret. Maybe even Silver, Blaze and Mina too. They might as well know; no point in hiding it from them too."
"Really? Alright, let's tell them tonight." Shadow agreed.
"Shadow- you swear they won't tell GUN?" Layla asked in cautiousness.
"I swear on my life." Shadow reassured her.
"Pinky promise?" Layla asked again.
Shadow chuckled, "he he he," he laughed.
"What?" she asked, confused by his amusement.
"Why do you do pinky promises, Layla?" he questioned.
"Well… I don't know. I always thought of it as a true friend making an unbreakable promise, because locking pinkies means 'friendship'. So, I guess it means two friends promising on their friendship… making the pledge even stronger." She explained.
"Wow, never looked at it that way before." He realized.
"Well?"
"Well…?"
"Pinky promise?" she asked, holding out her hand.
Smiling back at Layla, looking into her deep violet eyes, Shadow locked pinkies with her as he pledged, "Pinky promise." Even after his promise, Shadow stood staring, breath taken by her beauty.
Am I in love? They both thought, looking into each other's eyes.
Yay! Done with Chapter 11! Will Layla build up the courage to tell the gang her secret? Find out next chapter! :D (which should be posted tomorrow or Wednesday! :D)
