School...Whoever thought of this whole concept needs to be shot and thrown into the deepest river in the world, wrapped ever so tightly in a body bag tied with about six knots. If that's possible. I can't stand school. More likely, I can't stand sitting in one classroom for about an hour, then alternating halfway across the damn building just to go to another class, then having to do the exact same thing an hour later. The only things I had to look forward to in school were Gym class and lunch. Lunch on Fridays, especially; that was buffet day, where we got to pick from a bunch of different foods, all in which were surprisingly good for school cafeteria food.
It was right smack in the middle of third period, which meant two more before lunch started. I had third period with Tails and Mina, who had transferred to our school shortly after it was rebuilt. So, odds are, I would've met her eventually, anyways. Third period was Strategy, which I didn't exactly like to sit through and listen to. Believe it or not, they dropped all of the stupid subjects-like math and such-and started teaching us all about Netbattling and all about Star Carriers. So, in a way, I guess we ARE technically learning about the other stuff, too. Don't get me wrong; I know some of that knowledge is important, but more than half of the things you learn in school, you'll more than likely never get to apply after high school. You know, when it REALLY matters.
After I saved the world from Chaos, I didn't really like fifth period, which was Battle Practice. Everyone in the classroom knew of my accomplishments, and so, everybody and their damn mothers was challenging me every single day. It was exhausting, to say the least. Of course, I would tackle them and win, but still...having to go through them all was a pain in my ass. The chips I used were properly selected for the situation; as such, I never used a Program Advance, and I certainly never went into FullSynchro; I didn't want to turn it into an actual fight. I knew I'd get in deep trouble for doing that, so I always stuck to the normal cuts and minor bruises after every battle.
At last, the bell rang for fourth period. Between every period, I would meet Mina in front of the library, and we'd walk to class together. During third, though, I'd just walk her directly to class along with Tails; oddly enough, they had the same fourth period, too. I'm just glad they have stuff to talk about. She'd peck me on the cheek after walking her to class every period, and I'd dash off to my own period, sometimes being late to class in the process. When I dropped her off to fourth today, she put her finger on my lips and she smiled.
"We're still on for today, right? After school?"
Ah, right...The shopping trip. "Sure thing. See you at the flagpole."
"Okie dokie." She kissed my lips and walked into class. I hurried off to my fourth period.
Fourth period was Technique, which is where we all learned about some cool new tricks to uncover with both our battling skills and Star Carriers themselves. Of course, I didn't really have to listen; I already knew everything that came out of his mouth and into my ears. I ended up falling asleep about halfway through the period, and when I did, I felt a sting on my forehead; the teacher had thrown a large piece of chalk at me, landing a direct blow and pushing me backwards out of my chair and onto the cold, tiled floor. Damn, that hurt.
"Mr. Sonic," the teacher started, "If you're going to fall asleep during my lectures, then perhaps YOU'd like to instruct my class!"
I slowly rose back to my feet, a bit of anger in my voice. "I would, teach', but I don't wanna bore everyone to death!"
The whole class started laughing at my comment, and the teacher pointed a finger at the door, telling me to leave the classroom. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed, exiting the classroom and going over to sit in the lobby.
Believe it or not, we had lobbies in each section of the school. There were four houses: red, white, blue, and gold. Red was below white, and blue was next to gold, which were both on the other side of the building from where I was at. Each house had a really nice lobby filled with sitting spots, comfty chairs, and even awesome HD televisions hanging at different angles from the chairs, meaning I could very well just sit back and relax while everyone thought I was being punished. Works for me. Hell, there were even vending machines not even a few feet away from the bathrooms, which were about ten feet away from me.
I plopped down into a lounge chair, sitting in front of a TV, slouching in my seat. I released a sigh as I sat alone in my seat. It was at this point that something started to bug me. About Shadow...Why? Why did he let us live? And why did he make it look like he killed Silver and Scourge? I can't believe I even got to meet him. That was the project: I literally did battle with the ultimate life form, the most powerful being on the planet. He could have-
"Are you always getting yourself in trouble like this?" I heard a voice behind me, and when I lunged out of my seat in shock and turned to see who it was, I saw a perfectly recovered Silver standing before me.
"Silver! You're...perfectly fine!"
"Whaddya mean? Of course I'm fine. What'd you think happened to me?"
"Well...Shadow..."
"Oh. That's what you meant. Rest assured; he'll get what's coming to him. Mark my words."
"So, Silver, what's an Official doing here? At my school?"
"I came with Director Blaze."
"Say what? Blaze is here, too?"
"Yes. We're doing an investigation on a recent crime that took place on school grounds."
"Oh? What happened here?"
He crossed his arms. "Witness reports tell that a young woman with blonde hair was seen being chased by a thug, and she was chased all the way to the school grounds. That's when she called for help, and luckily, there were campus police there to investigate."
"So, did she make it out all right?"
"Yeah. The woman was reported to have no physical injuries, except for a scar on her right arm that she claimed came from running through the woods."
"Oh...Well, why didn't you come and get me?"
"Director Blaze thought you could use some time away from the constant Official work. I, on the other hand, get no breaks, so I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave of you." He turned to face the other direction, but before I gave him the chance to move any further, I stopped him.
"Hey...Silver."
"What?"
I smiled, which is something I don't normally do when it comes to Silver. "I'm glad you're all right."
This apparently caught him off guard, as he turned to face me with a puzzled look. About two seconds later, he threw that serious glare on his face again, and turned back around to walk away. "Thanks. Glad to see you're all right, too."
He had left the area, leaving me alone and bored, until finally, the bell to fifth period rang, saving me from both lonliness and boredom. I bolted off to meet Mina at the library, and like always, she was there, waiting for me.
I took her by the hand, and we walked together to her fifth period. This was pretty convenient for the both of us, actually; she had choir class, and I had gym class, and the two were practically right next to one another, so we didn't have to go very far away. We both had the same lunch period, too. It was a pretty sweet setup, if you ask me. I walked her to class and found my way to my own, meeting up with Knuckles on the way. We both had this class together.
"So, Sonic, you ready to fight?"
I smirked at him, walking down the hallway to the gym. "Yeah, you know it. I'm just beaming with excitement."
He laughed. "It must suck, knowing that every day, every kid in our class is gonna ask you to fight them."
"It's only because they know I'm strong, and they wanna be that way, too."
"I understand that. Hell, I kinda wish I was as strong as you were."
I grinned at him. "Dude, you're stronger than I am. I just have more speed and dexterity. Oh...and more skill."
"Whatever! No way are you smarter than me!"
We started running down the hallway, and wouldn't you know it, I was already steps ahead of him. I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed. "See?" Told you I was faster than you!"
We busted into the gym, seeing the rest of the class ready and willing to battle. Everyone in class had lined up to fight me, of course, and the first up was a rough-looking guy. That fight didn't last very long, and neither did the one following it. Or the one after that, or the one after that, or...Well, you get the concept. It wasn't long before I was pooped and ready for lunch, which is when the bell to lunch rang for us to go.
Mina would always wait for me down the hallway, and we'd always walk together hand in hand, with Knuckles there with us. Tails had Programming Skills for fifth, and Amy had Dance class. These were both on the other side of the hall from gym and band, meaning that we all had the same lunch, too. We would always sit at a certain table every day, and I'd always hit up the middle line for some reasonable grub. We'd all meet up after getting our food, and we'd converse and carry on like always. But during lunch today, I was otherwise quiet. I didn't really say anything. And apparently, the only one who noticed was Mina. Yeah, I ate my food, but after that, I didn't really have anything to do with the lunch period.
I don't even feel like talking about sixth or seventh period, other than those were the two most boring classes of my day: Tech Ed and Net History. They were so dull and uneventful, I almost fell asleep during them both, but since I conveniently remembered what had happened during third period, I tried my best not to sleep. It worked out pretty well, to my surprise. It was finally the last bell, the one that sends us all home for the day. I raced myself up to the flagpole, ready to meet my beautiful girlfriend and take her shopping. Oh...I wasn't really looking forward to the shopping part.
We finally met in front of the flagpole as arranged, and we started walking for the mall from there. It wasn't too long of a walk, but it wouldn't have hurt if we had some kind of vehicle. At last, we reached the mall, and not a moment sooner were we bombarded by the public that loved their hero. There were girls my age and older who were squealing like five year-olds at the mere sight of me. It really annoyed me; just because I saved the world, that doesn't mean I need all of this fame and popularity. It really cramped my style.
Our "adventure" started off in a shoe store, of all places. Mina wasn't exactly too fond of picking out flashy shoes or heels or anything like that; she was pretty plain and ordinary, and that's part of what I liked about her. She wasn't one of those girls that showered themselves in makeup every day to make themselves look good, only to find out that they look rather funny with all of that paint on their face. She never wore makeup. Never. Then again, she didn't really need it, in my opinion. She was just as beautiful without any of that on her body.
Our next stop was the food court, so we could grab a bite to eat. We didn't really eat anything at a restaurant; we just stop at the Cookie Co. and grab something to go. She got the same thing I did: an M&M double doozie, which consisted of two cookies with delicious whipped cream in the middle, making it a deluctable cookie sandwich. Guess we had more in common that I thought before.
After about two more hours of shopping, Mina was apparently done with everything she needed. Or, wanted, to be honest. We started for the exit door on the east side of the building, and that's when we witnessed a thug-looking man dash right by us, chasing a young girl in the distance. I set aside Mina's bags for the moment, and I ran after the man. I'll give the guy credit; he was fast, but nothing I couldn't handle myself. Eventually, I caught up to the guy and kicked him into a nearby wall, running up behind him and pinning his arms so he couldn't escape. I had him up against the wall, and Mina had just started to call the police on her SC as soon as I had him locked. This thug was going to jail, that I would make sure of.
Shortly after calling the police, Mina and I approached the woman to speak with her. She was a rather stunning girl, with hair long and of a goldenrod blonde, eyes of a refined, dazzling blue. Her figure was curved quite elegantly, and it was clothed in a blue top that was complemented very accurately with a blue skirt that reached halfway down to her feet. To be honest, her choice of clothing was a little...old-fashioned, but she still managed to pull it off.
"Are you all right?" Mina asked, attempting to comfort her.
"Y...Yes," the woman stuttered. We could both tell she was terrified.
"It's all right, now." Mina walked up to her slowly and held her hands gently. "You don't need to be afraid. We're not gonna hurt you."
"Y...Yes."
I walked forward a couple of steps. "Do you know who that guy was?"
She shook her head hesitantly. "N...No. I have no idea. He's been chasing me for the past few days..."
I blinked. "Few days? Wait...so...are you the woman who got chased to my school?"
She looked up at me slowly. "Y-Yes."
"So, you're the one Silver's looking for!"
Mina looked over at me. "Silver came to school today?"
"Yeah, and he said he was investigating an incident that happened at school. Apparently, a woman was chased onto school grounds by a thug and she managed to call for help. But the thug ran off, and he was never caught."
"But we got him this time," added Mina, who looked back at the woman with a smile. "So no worries about that. He's going to jail."
"Yes...Thank you. Both of you."
I grinned at her. "No problem."
"So, hey, can I ask you your name?" Mina requested.
I was going to ask her first, but I didn't really think now was the right time to. I guess Mina beat me to it. But oddly enough, the woman seemed a little hesitant to reply to Mina's request. She didn't seem scared, but she was a little uneasy. Who could blame her? She had been chased by a thug for the past few days, and she was forced to run for her life. Who wouldn't be a little cautious with who they trusted after that? But eventually, she stood up straight and looked directly at both Mina and I, and what she said nearly made me drop to the floor in shock:
"My name...is Maria. Maria Robotnik."