As the bell rang at 3:00 signalling the end of the school day, Leila prepared her feet for the walk back home and proceeded to the gates.

"Leila! Wait up!" Emily ran up to her for the second time today. She smiled and nudged her friend, whispering in hushed tones "So, you didn't finish the story! Tell!"

"Don't you want to save it for tomorrow?" Leila sighed. "Besides I've pretty much covered everything."

"No, you left out the most important part! The end! How did he say goodnight?" The squirrel prodded and poked for the next round of gossip.

"He didn't say goodnight."

"Ohhh! So he-"

"He said goodbye." Leila stated flatly.

Sonic had parked the Tornado in the field that was Leila's back garden; he jumped out of the cockpit and whistled to himself.

"Wow, pretty nice place you have here! Palatial!" He gave Leila a hand down as she climbed out from the plane to join him on the ground.

"Nah, I prefer your place." She smiled to him, blushing. They had once again locked eyes, but this time Leila's eyes felt more like gentle pools than alarm bells. "Uh, so thank you for helping me Sonic. I guess I'd better let you go. But I'll see y-"

"Yep, that's a good job well done if I do say so myself!" Sonic chuckled, smiling his usual charming smile. He hadn't noticed Leila's face drop a little.

She composed herself and put on a smile again "Right." She laughed, her eyes darted about the floor a little as she mentally kicked herself for getting tangled up in the 'fantasy made real'.

"Goodbye Leila, it was great to meet you!" Sonic had gotten into the Tornado and was flicking the various switches before waving down to her as the plane started to move.

"Goodbye, thanks for the help!" She waved with a bright smile, she was lucky the wind from the propeller was so strong as it gave a good excuse as to why her ears were flat against her head.

"And that's it." Leila muttered to Emily, who was now very subdued.

"B-but, it doesn't make any sense! He was so interested in you!" Emily stuttered, thinking back to yesterday when she herself had come across Sonic.

"No, I guess it was just the way I perceived things." Leila said in a matter of fact tone, she had been trying to focus on only the good ever since that goodbye. And it had been working until now; it was only now that she had to recall the sloppy ending that the feelings of disappointment from the actual event had returned.

"But Leila, he asked m-" Before Emily could even finish her sentence, a dash of wind had taken the porcupine from the very spot she was standing in. Emily looked after the disappearing blue streak and sighed with a smile, before turning on her heel and making her own way home.

Leila opened her eyes to see a blur of shapes and a familiar wind against her face, she turned her head to see Sonic grinning at her cheekily.

"Hi!" He chirped with enthusiasm.

"Hi." She spoke, her eyes softening.