The nurse wasn't in the infirmary that day, so Amy and Rouge had to tend to Knuckles' nose on their own. The echidna continually made a hassle against their efforts, complaining about him being completely fine, not needing any help. A ridiculous declaration it was, of course, as he nearly collapsed on the way over. He was terribly heavy as well, to the point where it was irritating, so Knuckles' unappreciative retorts were not acceptable to the two females. At some point, Rouge was forced to throw her wrist at his head and begin quarreling with him, and surely Amy would have joined if it weren't for specific circumstances.

Sonic. His behavior had been…unexpected. There was an unforeseen difference in his handling of the entire situation, she had noticed. His impulsive anger at the assembled bystanders, for example, had been new. He had once been extremely conscious of his image with peers, but now seemed not to care of what they could think of him because of his actions. Additionally, he had been assertive with Shelby, who once held a domineering force of his. Amy recalled the time in the restaurant when Shelby had completely brushed off Sonic when he told her he wanted to break up, and how Sonic hadn't said anything as she walked away, and how he looked when they all left, as though he had wished he said something. Now, he left no words unsaid.

He had developed, perhaps? Gotten stronger. He was losing the need to be accepted, instead drifting towards accomplishing what he wanted of himself. That was much to say after just a day after the pep rally, of course, but he had wanted to stand up for her, hadn't he? He was willing to face the crowd and tell them they were wrong. The problem was that he couldn't face his father.

Amy had never liked Sonic's dad. She had met him once with her own, when they were playing football one-on-one. Sonic's dad had walked over, scorning at Amy slightly.

"Getting old, Hal!" he had called, grinning.

"Really, Blue?" laughed Hal, launching the ball to his daughter. "Strange, because I feel younger than ever before!"

"Oh, please, Hal! I am getting worried about you!"

It was one of those sort of conversations, but Amy sensed something deeper in their supposed friendship. Rivalry was the principle element of their relationship, it was clear. They had been on the football team in high school together, even best friends, Hal had said. Their differences were in their dreams, as Hal wished to run a restaurant, and Blue wanted to become a professional football player. Sadly, Blue could never measure up to Hal, whose strength and stealth was more superior than those of Blue, and Hal was the favorite of the coach. The coach offered the scholarship to Hal, but he hadn't shown up on the day of the game. Blue got the role of being the captain, and he led the team to victory and to the trophy, but had never been offered that scholarship. Blue hadn't been good enough.

The day of the game, Hal had gone to visit Bob at the restaurant he was working at. The store had just hired a new waitress…Amy's mother. Hal lost track of time, falling madly in love with Lily the moment he laid eyes on her. Instead of winning the championship, he went on a date with the girl he knew he was going to marry.

Blue hadn't been too pleased. He couldn't understand why he would give up football for a girl, nor could he understand how Hal could fall in love so easily. That day, their friendship ended with resentment.

Sonic had some similarities to his father. For one, the entire concept of females was remote to Sonic, just as it always had been with his father. Additionally, they both liked to start fights and run, and their entire silent demeanor was parallel. And, no matter how much Sonic wished to deny it, they looked terribly alike. Naturally, Sonic struggled with the inevitable genes that fought against him, those of his father, who hadn't taught him the important things.

Amy sat before Knuckles and Rouge, watching as they fought, and then crash at each other's lips. They were the strangest couple Amy had ever beheld, but was inwardly jealous. She had envisioned a relationship with Sonic for years, after all, and these two met years after she did with Sonic.

Deciding she didn't want to watch love in action, she claimed she was leaving and headed for the door.

"Wait, Amy!" Rouge called, rushing to her and taking her hand. "Let's just have a chat. A small one."

Knuckles had quieted down as well, allowing Rouge to lead Amy back to her seat. Rouge positioned herself on the spare bed and crossed her legs.

"Look, hun," Rouge started, leaning forward, "you've been through a lot this past week."

Knuckles nodded enthusiastically.

"And all of your troubles may seem to you like the only things in your life."

Again, Knuckles nodded.

"We just wanted to remind you, sweet, that you have people at your side."

His nodding continued.

"Please, don't forget that Sonic isn't the only man in your life, and that Princeton isn't the only school on Mobius, and your crazy step-family isn't the only family that you got."

Knuckles nodded and opened his mouth, ready to speak, but there was a message on the intercom, addressed to him, that bid him to the principal's office. Amy reached for his hand and expressed her worry.

"Don't worry about it," Knuckles smiled, getting up. "When I tell Pops all about what happened, he'll be cool about it."

"Until then?" Amy questioned, thinking back to the time Knuckles totaled his dad's car.

Knuckles shrugged and walked out. Rouge put her arm through Amy's and smiled.

"Ben and Jerry's?" she said, and with a silent agreement, she lead Amy out.

Meanwhile, the journey to the office was gruesome. Knuckles envisioned a thousand different punishments from his father, and neither of them were a comfort. The best option would be to flee now, but his dad always found him, no matter what. It was scary, to say the least.

When he opened the door to the office, he met Sonic's gaze. There was an unattractively stained tissue scrunched in his nose, and his eye was purple. Knuckles felt victories, despite his very own black eye. Grudgingly, the echidna slumped down one chair away from his nemesis, crossing his arms in front of his chest and stretching out his feet.

The boys said nothing to each other, sensing instead a mutual hate. If one so much as coughed, they received a glare from the other. The wait for their fathers was suffocating, so in that at least they could share their anxiety.

Twenty agonizing minutes passed before their fathers showed up. Sonic avoided his dad's gaze, knowing already the look of disappointment he would get, whereas Knuckles tried to use his eyes to say that there was more to this story than his father realized. Sadly, this message was not received.

"Stupid boy!" yelled Knuckles' dad, smacking him across the head comically. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get you into school in the first place!? You couldn't even pass the entrance exam, so I had to talk your way in! How do you think it'll be if you get into fights?"

Sonic would have preferred that sort of lecture instead of his dad's cold silence, the one that was deafening. They were called to the principal's office five minutes later. Admittedly, there was a shared sense of panic between the two students. The principal was known to be melodramatic and rather teary. Every student that left the office came out crying.

Mr. Larry preferred his students to call him by his first name; Petunia. Many wondered if this reference was a discipline tactic of some sort because such a feminine name could never measure up to the body that owned this title. Mr. Larry could scare off an army, for he was terribly large in frame and deep in vocals. He was buff, no less, and at every movement his muscles flexed hard enough to make one wonder if they would pop out of his skin. Gorillas were supposed to be buff, supposedly, but Petunia was just too much of an over-exaggeration.

Mr. Larry was sitting in his desk chair, its back facing them. His voice was deep and horrific to listen to, causing Sonic and Knuckles to shoot an earnest glance of fear towards each other. They'd be dead, they were sure. They were wrong though. Petunia hung up the phone and twirled to meet his clients. He looked sternly down at the people before him, gesturing that they take a seat. Without a word, the four of them obliged, their eyes never able to verge away from those of Mr. Larry. Silence lingered for two minutes. It felt that even noise itself was in subjection to the stare of Petunia, until his lips widened to reveal the widest smile any of them had ever seen. So cheerful his beam was that it was alarming.

"Good da see ya, man!" His voice radiated in the cramped office. "I been wantin' da meet ya'll so very much!" He leaned forward and looked at Sonic excitedly in the face, reaching his hand out for Sonic to take. With a nervous chuckle, Sonic placed his hand in the humongous one of his principal, regretting the action as soon as he felt his hand squeezed and shook up and down aggressively. Besides the fact that Sonic was sure he'd lose his arm, he felt his blood cease from flowing to it. Almost swung completely out of his seat, Sonic's hand was released as Petunia began praising him for all the amazing adventures he had been on.

"Even in ma old age, I be 'maginin' myself in yo shoes, travellin' da world and savin' peoples' lives. Yo my hero, kid. Can I get yo autograph?"

Almost miraculously, a pen and paper was shoved into Sonic's grasp.

"Ha ha, yeaaaaah. Suuuure." He gave back the paper, signed now, the next second. This excited Petunia immensely.

"Yo so fast, bro! I didn' even see ya sign dat!" Laughing profusely, the principle slapped Sonic's shoulder with too much enthusiasm, literally knocking the hedgehog out of his seat.

From the floor, looking up, Sonic caught a glimpse of his father's face, that of displeasure. Blue had never listened to Sonic's excited raptures of his adventures, instead cutting him off and asking, "So when are you going back to football?" It was because of Blue that Sonic never spoke his mind. Now that someone of such esteem was praising Sonic for his works, and in front of Blue's face, his father was no doubt irritated.

Knuckles almost yelped when he saw that the principal's focus altered to him.

"Ah, yo de sidekick of Sonic, eh?"

"No, no, no, no, no," Knuckles anger blareed, but the retort that was on his lips was swallowed when he was shoved in the ribs by his knowing father. "Ugh. I'm solo." Knuckles leaned over, clutching his now-bruised side.

"Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Petunia lifted his pointed finger and wagged it at Knuckles. "Yo de one dat protects dat emerald, eh?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yo cool, bro. Yo cool!" He lifted his hand and waited expectantly for a high-five.

The men assembled figured that this was the principal's poor attempts to 'bond' with his students. Looking at their children now, they wondered if it was really that, or if they were efforts in order to petrify the students into obedience. After meeting someone like Petunia Larry, no kid would ever want to set foot in the principal's office again.

"Can we please get along with this, Mr. Larry?" Blue's arms were crossed over his chest. "I've got football practice to run."

Petunia's eyes rolled. "Petunia, Blue. Petunia. Anyhow…yeah, da boys…."

In an instant, his face fell into such dramatic remorse that the boys felt like little children that broke their mother's favorite vases. They could already see their mothers' expressions, shaking their head with readying tears.

Mr. Larry shook his head and looked like he would start to bawl. Tears tickled his eyes as he reached for a tissue and blew his nose loud enough to be heard down the hallway through closed doors. "Imma very disappointed, boys. Violence…is snot da ansaw." He patted his eyes and inhaled sharply, and when he continued to talk, his voice cracked. "I hate 'a see ma boys hurt othas. I try'a so hard da raise ma students properly. I hope dat dey grow up and become great adults. But fightin' ain't gonna help ya in da future. It'll only haunt ya fo' life. Yo boys are graduatin' in a few days." After a pause, Petunia started to sob. "I don't wanna see ya ruin yo futures, boys! Yo can turn out so great if ya tried!"

A minute passed, full of tears. Once his face was dry, Mr. Larry inhaled and refocused his concentration.

"Yo got great kids," he started, curling his fingers amidst each other and leaning his chin upon his hands. His attention was suddenly emphasized on the parents. "But I dun like violence. I detest it. If word gets out dat I let two boys dat fought graduate, it'll be bad fo' me. Do yo know why?"

Blue was the first to jump. "Sir, I completely understand. If you'll just-"

"Not YOU, Blue. Yo' stupid." He looked at Knuckles' father. "Why do yo think?"

Knuckles' dad was calm and dignified. "People would think you to be a hypocrite."

Petunia nodded. "An' ma convictions are set, sirs. I stick ta ma word."

"Oh, do NOT expel my son, I beg you! I'll pay you! I'll compensate for his actions. You must-"

"Shut it, Blue. I dun believe in bribery." He looked at Sonic. "Do ya?"

Sonic looked from his father, whose eyes were stern and speaking. Sonic looked back at the principal.

"Be honest, boy."

Sonic had been around the age of twelve when his love for football began to waver. He much preferred running at that point, but not with a ball. As a result, the efforts he contributed to football were minimal. No matter how much pressure his father tried to push on him, Sonic was just unable to be as good as he could be. It came to the point that he was about to get kicked off the team. His father was horrified.

It was a Tuesday, Sonic remembered, when he overheard his dad's argument with the team's head coach. It hardly took any time for Sonic to catch on that the conversation was about him and football, and he was almost pleased when it was said that Sonic could no longer be on the team.

Sonic was still disgusted, even to this day, at how his father handled the situation. Bribery. His father had presented large sums of money in exchange for the unjust acceptance of Sonic's half-hearted involvement in the team. His team mates, unaware of the issues, could not fathom why Sonic was still on the team despite his noncompliance. But he knew, and it made him sick. Countless of boys who adored the sport would have killed to get on the team, but through agreements made under the tables, Sonic was the team captain.

His old man had never changed.

"I hate it," Sonic mumbled quietly.

"What's dat?"

"I hate it!" This time, he spoke with assurance and a loud voice, surprising even himself.

Petunia nodded. "Spoken like a true hero."

Mr. Larry gave a small lecture on violence, also hinting the features of bribery that disgusted him. That lasted ten minutes because he wouldn't stop tearing up. At one point, Knuckles felt his eyes watering. Then, the subject regarding the cause of the fight came up.

"Why did yo do dis?" the principle asked, and both of the boys shuffled in their seats. When neither would answer, the gorilla decided that the direct approach would be more appropriate. He asked Sonic.

"Well, he just came over and punched me!"

Knuckles felt his dad glare at him. "There's a reason!" he exclaimed, but he was talking to his dad in particular.

"Tell us, boy," said Petunia.

Knuckles growled, and crossed his arms. Finally, he spoke. "This guy here," he shot his thumb towards Sonic, "was a jerk. First off, he started e-mailing Amy, who, by the way, is my best friend, so anything that happens to her technically happens to me. They got this love thing goin', right, and then Sonic wanted to meet her at the graduation dance. So they meet, yeah? And then he wants to see her again, and tells her to meet him after the pep rally."

"What!" Sonic jumped out of his seat. "I never told her to meet me there!"

"That's a bunch of bull!" Knuckles hopped up too. "You gave a message for the intercom! The whole school heard it!"

"I wouldn't want the whole school to know! I never gave no message!"

"Boys!" Both of them nearly jumped out of their skin when Petunia's heavy voice shocked them. "Sit down!" They slowly complied. "Continue with your story."

He did. "Anyways, we went to the pep rally, which, by the way, sucked. We would have never gone if it weren't for Sonic."

"I didn't tell her to come!"

"Whatever. Anyways, the play started and whoever was acting was reading off the emails. Basically, they were making fun of Amy."

Petunia's eyes began to water. "Dat's so cruel." He couldn't believe his students would hurt another.

"Wait, those were your emails?" Blue was bewildered. When Sonic didn't reply, his dad started to mouth off at him.

"Shut it, Blue!" Petunia's word was the law, they learned, and Knuckles was gestured to continue.

"So, when everyone was laughing at Amy, Sonic didn't even bother to stand up and speak. He was at fault, you know, for emailing her and wanting to meet her and telling her to meet him at the pep rally! I'll bet it was all his scheme to embarrass her!"

"I would never!"

"Silence."

Petunia thought hard for two minutes. "Sonic." He locked eyes with him. "Is dis all true?"

"No. I did not call her to the pep rally, and I did not scheme to embarrass her."

"But de rest?"

Sonic listened to the clock tick for three seconds. "Yes."

His father was furious.

"Do yo like her, dis girl?"

"…Yes." It felt good to finally say this.

"Do yo…love her?"

It took a little while longer to say it this time. "…Yes."

Suddenly, Blue got up, slammed the desk, knocked over the chair, and walked out.

You have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter. -_- But I did it for you. This chapter is necessary because I believe it shows a character development, and also contributes to Sonic's overall view of his father, that will also affect future events.

Sorry if it sucks...