A/N: Sorry that these two chapters are pretty slow. I'm really just trying to get the background info out of the way for the real drama you know? It was honestly so hard to write this chapter on some bits simply bc nothing was happening lmao. But I hope you guys enjoy- ;-)

3rd POV

When Sunday rolls around, Amy meets up with Shadow at the baseball field around noon to practice. Since the season was growing close to summer, the temperature outside was also increasing. She chose to wear sweats and a tank. Shadow wasn't going to make her run sprints, at least she hoped.

Opening the gate, she catches his eye and waves. He was wearing pretty much the same outfit and her nerves settled down.

Any rests her bag down in the dugout and greets the ebony hedgehog. "Hey." She says and he smiles.

"Hey," he pulls out a baseball and two gloves , "You ready?"

She laughs softly as they exit the area and onto the field, "as ready as I can be."

He had her stretch her arms first with him before they started the throwing the ball. The distance between them was minimal in the beginning as she learned the basics of tossing. Flicking your wrist, making sure to continue the throwing motion after the ball is released, extending your free hand to aim, how to adjust your grip, and so on. In about 30 minutes Shadow had Amy a good couple feet away.

He catches the ball thrown to him and he smirks, " You catch on fast, Rose."

Shrugging, Amy motions for him to throw, "It's not too hard. To be honest I was expecting it to be worse."

When the ball gets to her, she tucks it in her glove and places them in between her knees so she can pull her quills up. Even though they weren't doing any extensive activities it was warmer outside. She slides her hand back into her moist glove and looks to Shadow to throw.

"It isn't, you're right, but throwing is only a portion of the entire sport." He says. Pausing, he lifts his arm to firmly catch the ball and adds, "A more difficult toss is pitching if you want the give that a try."

Amy perks up and walks over smiling, "Yes please, I'd love to."

They move to center field where the pitcher's plate is and Shadow stands atop it. He rotated his arms and demonstrates the key motions of a pitch.

"You're going to want to move your arm like so before rotating your body and releasing the ball."

Amy nods and steps forward to position herself as Shadow did. Holding the ball in her right hand, she looks forward at home plate. But when she feels hands slide down her arms and gently clutch her wrists, she freezes. Cheeks burning, she stammers, "W-what are you doing?"

He huffs a laugh into her left ear, "I'm showing you how to move your arm."

Nothing he said however lowered her heart rate because he was so damn close. She could feel his chest practically touch her shoulder.

As she moved her arm, he followed until he released her and smirked. "Alright give it a shot."

The problem was, she hadn't registered any of the movements because of how his breath hit her ear or how his fingers grazed her wrists. But in a half hearted attempt she widens her arms and in one sweeping movement pitches the ball to the net behind home plate.

She smiles weakly, "How was that?"

He jogs to fetch the ball and turns around, reciprocating the smile , "Amazing. You threw that almost perfectly, but this time try it with more force."

. . .

Amy pulls into her driveway a couple hours later. Her arms were sore as well as we chest, but for two completely different reasons.

Peering over to Sonic's house, she notices the light of his room is on. Maybe he's playing games or talking to Tails.

The was beginning to set and she needed to head inside to eat dinner with her family, so Amy gathers her bags and enters her house.

Tomorrow she had tutoring.

"Are you doing anything after school?" Cream asks as her and Amy wait outside the school for the others.

She flushes and turns to hide her reddening cheeks, "Uh- ya I have tutoring."

The bunny laughs, "You? Tutoring? You have great grades. Whoever's tutoring you must be hot." She leans forward and smirks. Amy was avoiding all eye contact. "Oh my god who is it, who is it!" She tugs on her sleeve playfully. Amy attempts an escape from prodding hands and is cut off abruptly when Sonic and Shadow walk up to them.

"Hey guys." Sonic says. They were both wearing school Letterman's. Sonic's was decorated with awards and patches for Track and Shadow's decorated similarly with Baseball. The school colors were white, grey, and red, their mascot being the Savages. Sonic's main coat was red, while Shadow's was grey.

The blue hedgehog questioningly smiles at their situation; Amy grabbing both of Cream's wrists as she tries to dodge the attack. He shrugs, "As you were."

She looks to her left and Cream shoves her hands forward to poke again. She mouths "Who is it" and Amy repeatedly shakes her head.

Rouge and Knuckles show up a second before the bell rings, Tails was already inside having shown up thirty minutes earlier, and they all depart for their first classes.

Splitting to either sides of the school, Shadow turns around and calls, "See you after school?"

Smiling, Amy nods and gives him a thumbs up ,"Yeah, see you here." Immediately after she says those words, a soft gasp is released behind her and Amy's eyes widen.

"NO way!-" Cream shrieks, and Amy hurriedly tackles the bunny to keep her silent.

"It's a long story" She says,walking to their classes.

Amy decided they'd go to her house for tutoring. Thankfully, both her parents worked so no one would be in the building when they arrived. She didn't want to face the series of questions they would have lined up for them.

"Make yourself comfortable." She says, tossing her bag onto her bed when they get into her room. She had cushions and a coffee table on the other corner of her room for them to work at, which was for the best right now because Amy didn't how how'd she make it through the evening knowing Shadow was on her bed.

He plops down onto one of her seats and from the side of her vision can tell he's scoping out her room. He's never been here before. To her house before. She swallows. This is what she wanted. It was. In the end, she really wanted to grow closer to Shadow.

Taking out her notebook from her bag, she hears a slight buzz behind her, and turns around to look at her window.

"Pssst-" She hears and cautiously walks to her window frame. Poking her head out, she looks around to search for the noise.

"Pssst- Ames!" Her eyes widen when she sees Sonic's head hanging over the side of his house. He has to have at least half his body outside his window to get her attention. His room faces the street.

"Oh my god Sonic," Amy says, leaning out her own window to get closer, "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to fall out of your house?" He rolls his eyes, but averts them to the grass under him.

"Is that Shadow's motorcycle in your driveway?" He asks.

She glances around the corner of her house to acknowledge Shadow's ride. "Yeah." She says.

Sonic loses some of his balance but quickly recovers before adding, "Why is he at your house?" This was a hot topic today apparently. First Cream, now Sonic. Amy figures he's simply curious unlike her other friend, who continuously nagged her about him through their classes together.

"He's tutoring me."

"Really? You have amazing grades." He says, ears flicking.

Amy groans, resting her elbows on her window seal. She crosses her arms, "He's helping me for my Science final. Speaking of, don't you have like, a mountain load of make up work from when you skipped school last week?"

This time it's his turn to groan, "I do, but it's boring. Who knew teachers were so cruel?"

She laughs, and raises herself back towards her room. She waves, "Talk later." He waves back and his head disappears around the corner.

Amy turns around to situate herself with Shadow and notices his eyes flick down to his phone. Her cheeks redden. Was he watching her the entire time? Mentally shrugging any further thoughts, she grabs her notebooks off the bed and drops down onto the cushion beside him.

"Sorry, Sonic was talking to me."

Shadow tucks his phone away and smirks, "I always forget you live next to everyone." She nods.

"What part of town do you live in?" When she asks, Amy watches as he huffs out a chuckle and rubs the back of his neck.

"I live out of town." He says offhandedly. Her jaw drops at his statement.

"You live in Emerald Estate?" Emerald Estate was a closed off cubicle of houses that only the rich could afford. This meant that Shadow's family lived in what could closely resemble a mansion. Amy and Rouge have spent hours standing outside their gates wondering what it would be like to go inside. The forbidden land of Emerald Estate. Rouge said that one of her main goals in life was to befriend anyone who lived in there just so she could experience what it is like.

Shadow lived there.

His cheeks have a speck of blush and Amy realizes that he may not view the area the same way she does. "Why haven't you said anything?" She asks.

Shadow shrugs. He catches her eyes in his and his lips flatten, "Everyone else who live there are all snobbish pains in the ass. I don't necessarily want anyone to think of me that way."

"Other kids at the school live there?" She asks incredulously. The only people she's heard rumors of that live in Emerald Estate go to their rival school. The one Shadow left.

"Sally Acorn. You know her right?." He leans back into the chair. Amy fumes. If there was anyone to dislike at their school it was Sally. Not because she was popular, or mean, or even rich, but simply because she and Amy didn't get along. Their personalities clashed far too often in school. Sally speaks before she thinks which results in punishment, except for some unknown reason everyone else will pay for her poor choice in words. Now Amy understood. She had money and a higher reputation.

"Yes." Amy grits, pouting. Shadow laughs.

"Not fond of her either?"

She shakes her head and faces Shadow, "She's not my type."

Their study session turns into sporadic conversations in between reviewing work. They talked about school and friends and family; Shadow learned that Amy's older Brother was Scrouge. He's a familiar face at the school since he's the kid always getting himself into trouble. It's a game at this point not only for his own entertainment but to torment his and Amy's parents.

"I didn't see his room coming up." Shadow questions, gesturing outside her room with his pencil. She shrugs and uses her own pencil to point to her ceiling.

"His room is in the attic, courtesy of my mom."

"What did he do to get put up there?" He asks.

Smirking, Amy responds, "Caught having sex in the girl's locker room during school hours."

Shadow laughs, cheeks tightening from his smile and she feels her face heat up because frankly, it was an attractive trait. She's come to the realization that Shadow has a lot of those; attractive traits.

The two hours in her room with the hedgehog opened her eyes to a lot of things. One, he definitely was attractive and was most probably taken. Two, they had a lot in common and whenever they disagreed to something it was easily resolved. For example, Amy thinks Dr. Pepper is better than Coca Cola while Shadow thinks otherwise. They ended their dispute mutually loving Mountain Dew. And lastly, and most unfortunately, she might be developing a small crush on the guy. It was inevitable wasn't it? Her catching feelings. It's what any 18 year old does this time of year.

She lost track of the time roughly an hour ago and because of this it was a heart retching realization her parents were home when she heard her front door open. Her eyes widen with embarrassment the second her mom calls, "Honey, whose motorcycle is parked outside?"

Shadow chuckles under his breath as Amy lowers her head into the palms of her hands.

"I'm so sorry." She mutters. She lifts her head up, face heated and adds, "If I don't play this right, you might be staying over for dinner so please play along." And with that she stands up with Shadow following behind to walk down the staircase and face her parents.

Her mom was the only one at the bottom of the stairs; Amy's dad already elsewhere in the house after arriving. Upon noticing Shadow, her mom's eyes widen with a pleasant smile.

"Who is this handsome young man? I haven't seen him before, is he related to Sonic next door they do look oddly similar. Weird because I always thought you'd end up with that blue fello-"

Cheeks burning, Amy hastily grabs onto Shadow's wrist and drags him out of her house before her mom can ask any more questions to embarrass them both.

Trailing behind and grabbing the door knob, Shadow waves goodbye to Amy's mom who smiles sheepishly in return.

Amy inadvertently keeps a hold of his wrist until she's gone all the way to his ride. Her heart is racing for a multitude of reasons and she bites her lips after releasing her grip on Shadow.

Laughing awkwardly, she rubs her arms against one another, "Sorry about that, my mom's just curious."

Shadow nods in acknowledgement, having heard everything her mom said before he was hurried out of the building. Her comment about Sonic had him intrigued to say the least.

"It's good. She seems very nice, you're lucky to have a mom like that." He says. It's a sweet testament, but Amy can't help but notice the off-toned message that lies beneath. She's unable to ask about it because he's already lodged atop his motorcycle, revving it up to drive home.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Rose." He smirks, and waves goodbye. She smiles as he leaves, heart still beating unusually fast, and in her head concludes that there is a lot more to Shadow the Hedgehog than he's letting on. She truly was going to get to know him.

. . .

Walking out of the baseball field, players were just making their way in for the official practice that Shadow wasn't attending that day. As they move past one another, a few of them recognize Amy and say hi or give her an offhand- high five.

Her and Shadow are behind the bleachers when she decides to bring up his previous comment.

"Hey, Shadow? Could I ask you something?" He stops walking and turns around to face her.

He nods, "Anything."

She adjusts the strap of her bag in procrastination of her question, but swallows and speaks up. "Yesterday, you mentioned something about how i'm 'lucky to have a mom like that'. Is, uh, is everything alright at your place?" She peers up and finds his face shocked. His jaw slacks for a brief moment before he awkwardly smiles.

"Ah. I guess it could be taken that way." He says to himself, and avoids eye contact. Amy's concern grows as he doesn't answer. Her fears of him being in an abusive household were causing her stomach to sicken and knot. If his mom was neglecting him, or worse, she wanted to help. Shadow looks over towards the field, then back at Amy and in a hushed voice responds, "I'm an Orphan. I live with foster parents because when i was a baby, my mom died and my father left me." He pauses, eyes cautiously scanning the pink hedgehog, "I didn't mean to worry you. The family i'm currently with is very caring."

Amy's shoulders slump as she releases the breath she was holding. Outstretching her hand, she gently rests in amongst his arm. "I'm sorry." She says simply, locking his eyes with hers. They were pools of emotions, and yet she could only see so many. As if any more could manifest, Amy thinks about if this causes him to hold back from anything. She smiles, "But on the bright side, like you said, you have a very caring family and that's great. So let's go to Waffle House and meet up with everyone because they're probably going to wonder why the hell we're late."

He chuckles, appreciative of the mood change. "Let's go."

. . .

At the fast food joint, Sonic is the first to see Amy and Shadow walk in together. Did they come from the same place or coincidentally arrive at the same time? Amy spots him and he signals for them to come their way.

"Finally," Tails whines. He is sitting in between Cream and Rouge while Sonic and Knuckles sit across the booth. "This is the first time in forever that i'm able to come out with you guys and i'm not allowed to order anything until the entire party arrives. What were you two doing to be thirty minutes late?" Amy's cheeks flush and she turns her attention elsewhere but Sonic catches the shift in color. His chest tightens. Amy hardly blushes like that nowadays. What were they doing?

Shadow is the one to answer, "I'm helping her study for exams." He moves to sit next to Rouge and Amy sits next to Sonic. The waiter comes in and they all order, Tails obviously first.

"Exams are a little ways away, what are you stumped on?" Rouge asks. Sonic leans over to face Amy who shrugs. Her cheeks were still slightly headed, but her mannerisms show no fluster.

"Science. I'm afraid that by the time exams get here I wont be able to retain enough knowledge to pass." To that, Rouge pops her lips in acknowledgement.

"Rumors have it that teacher's gonna have 2 exams." Knuckles pitches in. "So it's smart to start early. You really are the brains of this group, Ames." They laugh.

Sonic can't help but let his laugh falter. She went to Shadow instead of him. They were best friends, and she normally came to him for everything, but this time it wasn't him. As he sips his water, he thinks maybe his crush was getting the best of him. Amy has the class with Shadow, of course she'd go to him. But then again, he also has the same science class, just different periods.

He was over analyzing. At least that's what he told himself.

Knuckles elbows him when the others get into a heated discussion. "You okay man? You've been thinking pretty hard the past few seconds."

Sonic adjusts himself to face the echidna so his words don't carry, "I'm just confused why Amy didn't come to me for tutoring." His friend flattens his lips in thought.

"You could offer to help tomorrow? Amy's a pretty flexible 'hog. I'm sure she'd say yes. And if you're feeling really ballzy, ask her out to dinner."

He nods with determination.

The time came and Sonic jogs to catch up to Amy before she enters her car.

"Ames! Wait up-" He calls. She smiles and he can feel his face tingle with a familiar sensation and emotion.

"Hey, Sonic." She says, closing the door to her car. The sun was setting behind the two of them, causing her eyes to shine a vibrant emerald and he has to stop himself from staring too long.

"So if you'd want, I could help tutor you tomorrow after school? Maybe after that we could head out somewhere for a bite." He asks, letting it all out before he stutters or slips up his wording. He watches her face soften. But, it was ridden sad. Or guilt? He hopes it's his imagination playing games again.

"That's sweet of you to offer, but Shadow's been an excellent tutor so far. I know you're busy with all your makeup-work and I wouldn't want to be a burden." Amy rubs her arms together. He knows that gesture. There was more on her mind that she was saying.

"I promise you're not a burden." He assures, "But i get what you're saying. How about dining then? Anytime this week whenever you're available i can take you out someplace to eat." When he says this, her face instantaneously reddens.

She opens and closes her mouth a few times. Amy laughs slightly, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Sonic sheepishly smiles, "Uh- yes." The girl in front of him sighs and reaches over to hold his hands. Her smile is constant, and it makes him ache.

"We've been friends since forever," She begins, "And I had no clue you felt this way about me. I'm just not on the same page. This is super awkward, and i'm sorry for making it so, but I'm going to have to reject."

They stand in silence, and as if time has stopped the rest of the world grows silent as well. Sonic swallows.

"Yeah this is awkward." He says, and they both gently laugh. "So, forgetting I said anything, let's pretend i didn't make this weird?" Amy lets go of his hands and opens her car door.

"I won't make it weird if you don't." She says. "See you tomorrow, Blue."

As she drives away, Sonic is bummed that the situation didn't play out like it did in his head, but in the end, he can't be sad for too long because he still has an amazing friend under his belt. Walking to his own vehicle, he shakes his head. It was going to be hard getting over her.