Okay, she`d admit it. She was tempted to turn around and walk away now. Yeah, sure she was able to walk out on her step-mom, but that was nothing compared to this.
After leaving the diner, Amy had stopped at her place to get some of her things. She was planning on making more trips, of course, but she was so lightheaded from the prior encounter and really didn`t want additional trouble. The sooner she left the mansion the better, so she was out of there in five minutes tops with a day`s worth of supplies and a stuffed duffle bag of clothes. Over and over again she asked Rhonda if the plan was still ok, that she was sure that she would be a bother to her, and time and time and again Rhonda would assure her otherwise. She would have been irritated, but it was her sweet Amy who had just changed her life, so she was letting it slide. Oh, if only her father could see this girl now! How proud he would be!
Rhonda had an extra bedroom that Amy would be settled in. Rhonda had claimed it to be her permanent settlement, but Amy didn`t plan on burdening Rhonda for so long. Amy`s next step was to look into all possible college applications that she could afford under her current circumstances. If she couldn't make it in to anything by September, she would work full time until she could. Princeton would always be her first choice, but since she was rejected she realized she would have to apply a second time. She would just have to become smarter, she decided. How wonderful the outcomes of positivity were!
Amy started folding her clothing from her duffle bag and carefully placing them in shelves and her own closet. Her smile, which was ear to ear, started bright, but as the bag became emptier, the smile faded with a dawning realization. There was still something she had to do.
Amy stopped unpacking completely just as Rhonda came in to offer a drink.
"Amy?" Rhonda spoke after a second, seeing Amy's lowered head.
"Rhonda, I'm going out for a bit. Don't wait for me."
A few moments passed, and finally Rhonda nodded. "Do what you have to do, girl."
That's why Amy now stood in an empty corridor back in school, staring at the door to the boys' locker room that shielded her from horrendous body odor and overbearing shouts and yells.
Sonic was in there.
Some would perhaps reason that Amy's timing was absurd. After all, Sonic's final high school football game that would determine his future was starting in just a couple of minutes. But she had to. It was the final chance to save him. If he was going to stand up for himself, it was going to have to be now. And this would be the last chance for her to tell him how she really feels, time to finally convey what was on her heart, and finally leave her high school years without regret and without heavy burdens on her shoulders.
Deep breath in, she told herself, and she pushed the door open.
Not surprisingly, in any immature, indecisive and hormone-driven male teenager there is a natural tendency to over-react when a female walks into the boys' locker room. Heads turned and whistles were sung, unkind and inappropriate remarks were chanted in her direction, and a few towels dropped. To Amy though, she thought them lower than herself. She started to enter into the room. As she strode past lockers and boys, she glanced in every aisle in search of a speck of cobalt blue. She dodged the crude comments and snickers until she finally came to the last row.
Sonic, ready and wearing his dreadfully hot uniform, sat on the bench with his elbows digging into his knees, looking down. He appeared to be in deep contemplation, which was to be expected, for he was about to play the game that would ruin his future. Amy wasted not a second to stride up to him, her words ready at her tongue. But when Trip nudged Sonic and nodded his head towards Amy and Sonic looked up and his eyes locked with hers, she forgot.
Sonic jumped up in a flash, his eyes widened. "A-A-Amy!"
She continued walking until she was standing inches away from him. Before she had a chance to even open her mouth, Sonic began rambling, desperate to defend himself, especially to Amy.
"Okay," he said, palms facing her, "I know that you think that I'm just some-"
"Coward, phoney, jerk, betrayer, idiot with a giant ego-"
"Okay, I get it."
"Do you? Because I want to make sure that you know the extent of your little show.
"Okay, just listen-"
"No, Sonic. You listen." And he was silenced. Her confidence was overpowering, as well as inspirational, Sonic thought. "You turned out to be exactly who I thought you were. I never pretended to be somebody else. It's been me all along! You know that. And it was me that was hurt in front of everyone."
The room was silent. Every ear listened in on the conversation. Amy looked at Sonic, his hurt expression, and her anger subsided. She felt nothing but love and pity for him, and it was impossible to put so much dirt on him. He was just insecure and he still had to learn to fight for who he was. He had the worse half.
Amy sighed. "Look, I didn't come here to yell at you," and her tone and volume changed. "I just came here to let you know that I know what it's like to be afraid to show who you really are. Heck, I was, just a few hours ago. But I'm not anymore, and I just don't care what people think about me, because I believe in myself and I know that everything is going to be okay as long as I do." She paused a moment and let him gather what she said. "You taught me that," she added in a whisper. "And yet, even though I have no family, and no job, and no money for college, it's you that I feel sorry for."
"Yo!" Amy almost jumped when Obie swung around the corner. "Time's up. Let's go, Sonic."
"Just a minute!" Sonic yelled at him, so Obie wisely retreated. Sonic was sick of being bossed around and interrupted at the worst moments.
Amy shot a glance at Obie, who glared back at her, but she decided not to waste her eyes on him. She looked back at Sonic. "I know that guy who sent those emails is somewhere in there. I've had the privilege of spending so much time with him. But it doesn't matter how much I did in the past; I can't wait for him." Amy's voice cracked and her eyes stung, but she breathed in to try to calm herself. "Because waiting for you, Sonic, has always been like waiting for rain in a drought: useless and disappointing."
He was pained, and she couldn't take it. A feeling washed over her, and upon impulse she stepped forward and put her hands on his cheeks. "Please don't give up on yourself, Sonic. Please don't wait too long to fight, okay?" She raised herself onto the tip of her toes and she left the smallest of a kiss upon his lips. Then she turned and walked away.
When Amy burst out of the room, she began to cry. She tried to hush her tears so that they wouldn't be heard in the changing room. Her sharp inhales echoed in the empty hall as she walked forward, planning on heading back to Rhonda's. Or maybe Starbucks.
"Amy!"
She turned and found herself face to face with Knuckles.
"Knuckles?" she choked, wiping a tear. "What are you doing here?"
"Rhonda told me where you might be and I thought you could use a friend. Come here." He pulled her into an embrace and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. After a minute, as he rubbed her back, he smiled. "I'm so proud of you, Amy," he whispered. "Your step-mom AND Sonic in one day? You're incredible. " He didn't realize how amazing he made Amy feel with his words.
Rouge came along eventually and joined in the hug, Knuckles protesting because of the cramped and awkward three-man embrace, but his reaction led Amy into a fit of giggles because, really, he is just so hilarious when he's being teased.
When Amy had calmed down, she decided that she wanted to watch the game. Knuckles and Rouge raised their eyebrows at her, so she had to do some convincing.
"You sure you'll be ok?" Rouge asked, arm linked with Amy's as they walked to the bleachers.
"Yeah," Amy smiled. "Besides, it'll be our first and our last, right Knux?"
"Right." He wouldn't say it, but she knew that he was excited to see the game. It was graduating year, and never again would an opportunity like this present itself.
Amy claimed she wanted to see the game because it was an iconic graduation feature, but secretly it was to test herself. Would she be able to sit through Sonic throwing himself away? If she could, she would know that she had let him go.
The only way to be heard by the person next to you as you sat on the bleachers was to scream at them. Normally such behavior would be socially repulsive, but it was a special circumstance. How else were you able to communicate over the thundering of graduates' screaming cheers?
Amy already felt out of place. Sure, she was loud on occasions, but never like this. Seeing how rampage her peers were made her feel like a cockroach among bees. She was an outsider, always have been.
As the three sat in the middle of the third row below the stairs, Amy thought back to some of the many sacrifices she had made for Sonic. Coming to this game was one, but hardly significant. Some would call such efforts a waste, but she couldn't. Every second had been worth it, she knew. Her love for Sonic wasn't a burden, but something beautiful to cherish. She should be happy that it happened, that she was able to feel something so powerful while others live their lives only dreaming of it. But when Sonic lead the football team out of the locker room onto the field, bursting through a banner that had the school's name on it, she felt a devestating emotion of dread, because she realized it was all over.
Shelby Cummings was hopping and flipping around on the field level, she being a cheerleader. She could pull her shirt up a bit more, Amy thought. It'd be a nice start. Maybe get a longer skirt? She wasn't doing herself any favors. Perhaps that was envy talking; Shelby had been in a relationship with Sonic, after all. There had been no question about them; kissing and hugging and flirting had been done freely. Amy had had to restrain herself in any way to just not touch him. It had hurt to breathe sometimes, how much she wanted to just hold him. But Shelby never knew that pain, and Amy felt jealous of her for that.
Their eyes locked, and Amy braved herself not to submit to her gaze and look away. Half a minute passed before Shelby broke first and turned to her two friends.
"Sonic and I are almost back together," she told them, twirling her quills with her finger. "It's not official or anything yet, but it's on." She grinned at them, and they squealed and hugged her. This fantasy of hers had been stimulated by her feeling threatened by Amy's held stare. Sonic and Amy had a fling, after all, and Sonic had dumped Shelby for it. Amy Rose was a threat, an enemy. Public humiliation had not been enough to ease Shelby's fury. The only real way to get back at Amy was to grab Sonic back. She planned to before graduation in a few days.
The game was about to start. The team was doing their warm-ups, throwing the balls to each other and stretching and jogging in place. Amy found herself looking everywhere but at the field, where Sonic stood shooting a ball back and forth. It stunk because she was in clear sight of him, as he was closest to her on the field instead of on the other side.
She felt Knuckles' hand on her knee. "I'm glad you came, Amy," he told her, reaching over Rouge and smiling. Amy smiled back at the two of them, appreciating their support.
Sonic spared a glance into the crowd. His eyes caught Amy instantly, as it had always been a practiced habit to search her out among people. He almost missed the ball that was thrown to him, but he cued in at last minute. He had to keep his head in the game. He had to distract himself.
A familiar and unwelcome hand grabbed his shoulder. Not the sort of distraction Sonic would have hoped for.
"Alright, buddy," his father said. "This is the big moment. You stay focused, alright, and win it! Everyone is counting on you, alright?" Another unnecessary smack on the shoulder, and Blue jogged away. Sonic's jaw clenched and his muscles tightened as he threw the football more aggressively than he should have. Trip, receiving the shot, caught it but was knocked over from the impact.
"Dude," he groaned, clutching his stomach, "that was rough, man."
"S-Sorry, Trip. I didn't realize…."
"You're pissed?"
"…Yeah."
Trip walked up to Sonic and put a hand on his shoulder. "Remember: it's your choice. Make the right one."
Sonic looked at him, then glanced over at Amy again. Their eyes locked.
The right choice, huh?
ALMOST FINISHED!
This chapter was too hard to do. Seriously. There was NO inspiration for it. (can't you tell by how lame it is?)
And, someone once pointed this out to me, I spelled S/Chebly's name differently from the beginning to the end of the story. Starting now, as it started originally, it's Shelby. Too bad there are only two (or one) more chapters left.
