Chapter 3: Cables, Keyboards & Monitors

Well, it's my second day at Emerald High and so far, things have been going smoothly. Those bullies were nowhere to be seen this morning, I took my classes normally, and I had lunch with Charmy and Cream again. But the one thing I've been looking forward to is my first meeting with the tech club.

The end-of-school bell just rang which meant that it was time for the afterschool clubs. So I went ahead and started looking for the library, because apparently that's where they have their meeting. To be honest, I found it a bit odd since, wouldn't they have some sort of computer lab or some sort of dedicated class for clubs? But I guess the only way of figuring that out is to come and see for myself.

A few minutes later, I found the place. And I gotta say, it's a lot bigger than I expected, bigger than the ones in elementary and junior high too. There were bookcases and desks as far as the eye can see. But that means finding the tech club is gonna be a bit hard without some directions, so I asked the librarian and she told me it's in the deepest corner of the library, away from the door.

So I went there… only to find two people and exactly one computer. Oh boy. I guess I shouldn't have expected much from a small-town school. Anyway, those two people looked older than me. One of them is a white hedgehog boy who's wearing a white shirt (with its sleeves rolled up), a green vest, a watch on his left wrist, some tan trousers, and a pair of brown loafers—which is pretty sharp and neat for a high schooler, I'd say—and the other one is a purple cat… girl, I think? Judging from her figure it's a she, but from the way she's dressed, —with her gray t-shirt under a denim jacket, a pair of black jeans and red sneakers—I guess it's easy to see how people could confuse her for a boy. Anyway, they looked like they were kinda arguing so I held back for a while. After all, they might just be a random couple and not part of the club.

"Silver, please, you know the deal. I have to go now," said the cat in a clearly feminine voice. Okay, guess that cleared the confusion.

"Oh come on, Blaze! Just this once? Pleaaase? What if there are actually people who-" said the hedgehog, who stopped once he noticed I was standing next to them, quietly observing their conversation. Then, outta nowhere, he straight up grabbed both of my shoulders and looked at me with this sorta desperate look in his eyes. "H-hey! You're here for the tech club, right? Right?"

"Silver, take it easy! What if he's not here for-"

"N-no no, it's okay. I'm here for the tech club," I said, cutting her off nervously. Just then, I could see the desperation in Silver's face turning immediately into gratitude.

"Oh, thank goodness! Someone actually came! You see, Blaze? I told you it wasn't all in vain!"

"Yeah, but it's still just one. Look, I'm sorry Silver, I really am, but you know how it is: I can't skip practice twice in a row or they'll sack me off the team."

"Awwh, but Blaze…" At this point, he was on his knees begging. It's… I dunno what to say about it, to be honest. Kinda felt like I just walked into a soap opera.

"NO, SILVER!" She finally snapped, and then an almost angry "Ssh!" was heard throughout the rest of the library. Her face started to turn red after that. "Oh look what you've made me done! Goodbye, Silver," she said, marching away angrily.

"B-b-but we…" He said while reaching his hand out to her, but she was already too far. He then hung his head in defeat, letting out what is probably the saddest "Aww…" I've ever heard. It's… kinda funny, I gotta admit, but pretty sad at the same time.

"Umm… if you don't mind me asking… what's all that about?" Silver then let out a sigh before explaining things to me.

"Well, where do I even begin? That there was Blaze, she was supposed to be our "vice president." …okay, I say it like that because she actually didn't want to be, but no one else would! In fact, this is supposed to our second week, our second meeting! And we still don't have enough members to meet the minimum requirement! I'm afraid the school won't allow this club to exist if that's the case!"

"Wait, how many people came last week then?"

"None! That's the problem! I-I've dreamed about running a club like this for so long! I mean, we're the very first instance of this club in this school, but soon we'll also be the last! Aww, I'm absolutely devastated…" He said while sitting next to me with his head staring at the bottom, still resting on his hands.

"Well, I… guess it could be worse. At least you have me this week," I said, trying my best to cheer up the poor guy.

"…yeah, I suppose you're right. Ah! Where are my manners? I haven't formally introduced myself. Greetings. My name is Silver, 3rd year student and president of the tech club. And you are?" He confidently stood up and offered me a handshake. Well, he sure cheered up fast. Not sure why or how, but… whatever.

"Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails," I said while returning the handshake.

"Ah, Tails I see. So, what's your primary motivation for joining this club?"

And again, no mentions of those firsthand even though they're clearly sticking out like a couple of sore thumbs, which is nice. I guess that kinda gives me more faith for the people in this school. And another thing I've picked up about Silver is that he likes using big words here and there. Heh, and I thought I was the nerd here.

…actually, no. I don't think I should think of him like that. I mean I'm pretty much a nerd too, so… anyway, I said back to him.

"I… guess it's because I'm kinda interested in computers, heh. I've never even used one, to be honest. I've only heard it from my dad who works with them often."

"Oh, is that so? Well, you're in luck, my friend! Let me show you the potentials of this wonder machine!"

And from there, Silver booted up the only computer in the library. It made a bit of noise and beeps at first (not sure why they'd put it in the library in the first place, but everyone doesn't really seem to mind), but later on it calmed down to a mild whirr. He then went on to explain the computer's specs in great detail, which… kinda confused me at first, hearing words like "RAM," "megabytes," "EGA," "refresh rate," all that kinda stuff, but I'm sure I'll get used to it the more I listen to him. He also explained its features in great length and I gotta say, listening to Silver talk about technology and computers—even if it's for hours—can be pretty exciting. I'm not sure if it's just me who happened to have a common interest that's only been discovered now, but I've a feeling that Silver's the kinda guy who can easily 'click' with anybody he talks to. He's really smart and I respect him for that. It's a shame not many people are interested in his club, really… he seems very passionate about it. Maybe the other kids are just scared to get into this club because they're not used to hearing about computers and think that they're "too futuristic and complicated" to understand? I dunno.

"You know, despite all the features I've shown you, this model can actually be considered quite obsolete since- oh my, look at the time," Silver said looking at his watch. Apparently we've been talking for around an hour or more. "I suppose that's all the time we have for today. Say, you'll come back next week, won't you?"

"Sure, I will. I guess I just found a new interest thanks to you, heh."

"Really? Well, I'm glad to know that. Anyway, Tails… this is a tad embarrassing, but… you don't suppose you could do me a favor? You see, we're still short on members, and… if you could ask some of your friends who might be interested in this club, that would be most appreciated."

"Oh yeah, sure, no problem. No need to be embarrassed about it."

"A-actually, I was about to get into the embarrassing part… if none of your friends are interested, maybe you can… umm, offer them to be listed as "pseudo-members" of the sort? That means they don't need to come regularly but are still listed as members, for administrative purposes, that is."

Wow, he's willing to resort to that. I really pity the guy. So how could I say no to him?

"O-oh. Well, that's okay too."

"Hey, that's great! Hopefully with your contribution, this club would finally be legitimized! Anyway, I'm going to stay here for a little longer to finish my assignments. You can go ahead and leave if you'd like."

"Okay, guess I'll do just that, then. See you, thanks for today!" I said, waving him goodbye as he waved back.

So that was the tech club. It wasn't bad, but at the same time, it's really unfortunate how I was the only person in this entire school who's interested in the club's subject. Right, that means I need to work hard to find members for Silver. I think the obvious first choices would be Charmy and Cream, and then the rest of my classmates, and then-

"Hey you! Get over here, will ya!?"

Oh no. It's them. I guess they've been loitering in the bathroom for who knows how long. Seriously, don't they have anything better to do? I couldn't imagine staying in that disgusting place for hours with nothing to do. Anyway, I reluctantly turned around to walk to them and oh boy, do they all smell like cigarettes. Of course, they just had to do it in the bathroom. Wait, does that mean… Sonic smokes too now!? Why, I'd never…! I can't believe he stooped that low!

"Remember how we said ya ain't no good to us if ya can't help us? Well, time to prove it," Knuckles said as he handed me four math books. "Ten problems each, in three days. Shouldn't be too hard for a nerd like you, yeah?"

And… there it is. Homework. I told you it would happen. I mean, I've done lots of homework for my past bullies so I'm kinda used to it, but y'know what? I want something to change this time. I'm sick of putting in a lot of effort for someone else's responsibility and getting nothing in return. So, I asked them:

"What's in it for me, though?"

"Well, lemme put it this way," suddenly, Vector yanked my shirt to pull me closer to his smelly face and breath, "if ya do this for us, ya get to keep all your teeth 'cause we won't have to punch it all outta your stupid mouth. How's that sound, huh?"

Ah, of course. Resorting to violence. I'm not surprised, really. It's the only thing they got going for them and nothing else. But I guess it was still worth asking. No other choice but to suck it up. Again.

"Okay, okay. Fine. Just lemme go." And so he did.

"Attaboy. Now disappear, scumbag," Knuckles said. And so I did too.

Well… no, not literally. I just walked away.

Great… just great. Looks like junior high's about to repeat itself again. But you know what the worst part of all that was? It's how Sonic was just standing there, seemingly fine with seeing me being threatened to get beat up. Me, his best friend. But even then, I'm not so sure anymore. I just hope he comes back to his senses one day.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Holy crap, this took me way too long to write for a short chapter and I apologize. I've so many doubts and worries about this one, like it nearly felt that I was just writing mindlessly because I (ironically) overthought too much on the trivial aspects. Seriously, I had to look up what old computers were like, some model numbers I could use, how they worked, how they could connect to the internet back then, when did computers and the internet become commonplace in high schools, and so on… only to realize that all those questions matter little since I wanted to focus more on Tails' daily encounter with Sonic and his gang of jocks. And because of that, I fear this chapter might feel pretty filler-ish, but to remedy that, I'll try to involve all the supporting characters in this chapter (and previous ones too) in the story's final chapters. Because yes, as it turns out, I suppose this entire story still isn't as 'fleshed out solid' as I had imagined it earlier (sorry for saying otherwise in the previous a/n), so I still have a lot to develop as I write. But that's normal, right?

Oh yeah, and for context, this story is supposed to take place around early- to mid-90's (even though I wasn't even born in the 90's yet which kinda makes getting the small details right a bit challenging, not to mention my different cultural background lol), which explains why computers were a novelty to the characters, hence the tech club and all of that (maybe I should've put this earlier at the top and not the bottom?). But the reason I picked this timeframe has more to do with Sonic and Tails' dynamics rather than the tech club, so I'll explain in later chapters.

(also I have absolutely no idea what to pick for the title lmao sry)