S. Chensu: Hello people, here is episode 12 of the Adventures of the STREKS
gang. As we haven't done this for a while, I felt that this episode would
be a good place to thank everyone who has either reviewed our story or gone
so far as to actually put the story in their favourites. Or even us!
Luff: It makes us feel really happy to know that our story is so appreaciated so here it goes. We would like to thank the following people:
Mai- I know you're desperate to find out what happens but it will all become clear soon. And Luff promises she will try and get chapter 8 of her Yu-Gi-Oh! story done at some point.
Yugi- Ditto but it's nice to hear your reviews too. Do try and remember to actually comment on the story at some point though, this is a Sonic story, not a Yu-Gi-Oh! story.
Yersi Fanel- We're trying to go as fast as we can but we have school AS Levels, GCSEs and life in general to deal with too. If none of that lot existed then we would update every couple of days.
Shadygoat2199- Nice to know you appreciate the story and hopefully if we don't get writer's block at any time soon (which has happened to all of our other stories) it will all be up by the summer. Of course if you want it all before then, you're going to have to review!
RichaCo- All right, all right! We're updating! And yes, there's meant to be a sense of foreboding, a new terror will rise! But not until episode 15! And we can't believe you don't have to wear uniform! Luff still has to but luckily S. Chensu is now in 6th form so she can wear what she wants! We apologise greatly for the boringness of the last couple of episodes but there won't be anymore boring parts. At least we don't think so... And in answer to your question, yes the bitch will get her comeuppance! There will be a fight, but it won't be too bad because we don't want to deal with the scary ff.net Agent Smiths.
1- Yes, there will be some freaky parts in this story. If the stuff now worries you then just you wait until episode 18! Then everything you ever knew to be true will go out of the window (but not in a Matrix style).
Dragon Master Naya- We're glad you find some of this funny but it gets a bit serious later on so you might not laugh so much then. And it will get more mysterious soon... Nice rhyme!
Ri2- In response to your question, we started writing this story before we had finished the game so we didn't know she was there! By the time we knew, we had already written the first 10 or so episodes and it was too much hassle to put her in. So she won't be appearing at all in this story. We're very sorry if this annoys you but it seems to working well without her.
S. Chensu: If you're not there it's because you haven't reviewed! Although we've done a personal message for each, if you read them all you may get some little bits of information as to what is going to happen. Now that's over and done with, we won't have to do it for another 12 episodes!
Luff: As we can't have another four episodes of them being at school, we have decided to squeeze the rest of the week into one episode and look at it like that. Therefore forgive us if things are a bit brief but there are only a few important events. There are also more notes but we'll use the same system as before.
S. Chensu: As usual, we don't own the Sonic characters, only the characters we mentioned in our disclaimer last episode. And the story itself. Luckily no songs today.
Luff: Time to go!
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Episode twelve: Day seven in the STREKS gang house...
Rouge and Tails arrived home to Eggman doing a lot of shouting while Sonic and Shadow looked on amused.
"A detention on your first day of term? How on earth did you manage that?"
"That's what I asked myself. And it wasn't my fault, he forced me too. He was trying to-" But Rouge interrupted him.
"Knuckles, don't go and tell everyone what happened ok?" She said sharply. Everyone turned towards her, suddenly realising that she and Tails were there.
"How am I meant to when you won't even tell me?" He snapped.
"Hey you two, sort that out later ok? So you beat up this person and broke his arm-"
"He was trying to hurt Rouge, I couldn't just stand by and let him assault my girlfriend!" Knuckles shouted.
"Why, why..." Knuckles looked at Eggman nervously and wondered what would happen if he exploded. He was relieved then when he heard Eggman's next words. "Why... Well, that's all right then."
"What?" Knuckles was shocked.
"If you were protecting Rouge then it's not quite as bad. I'm still slightly annoyed at you having a detention but she is your girlfriend and I can understand why you did it." He explained.
"But I told him not to attack Sean!" Rouge said.
"Yes but if he hadn't, what would he have done to you?" Eggman pointed out.
"Maybe you're right. I need to talk to Knuckles though, alone..." She emphasised and he followed her into her room.
"What do you think that was all about?" Sonic asked.
"She's going to tell him what happened of course. He did say he didn't know so it seems sensible to assume that." Tails suggested.
"You could be right there. What happened earlier with you though?" Sonic said and Tails sat down on the sofa.
"I had a very bad day, that's all. I'll be all right but please, don't be angry at Rouge. She probably would have understood it better than you." Tails said and Sonic shrugged his shoulders.
"Ok, if you say so. Anyway, I was going to tell you what happened today..."
************************
Knuckles shut the door behind Rouge and stood by it as she walked towards the window, leaning on it.
"Knuckles, I'm sorry. Eggman is right, I should be thankful for what you did." She admitted.
"Don't worry, I can understand why you were angry. I did act rather recklessly." He replied. They stood in silence for a few moments and he walked towards her slowly. When he was a metre away from her, he stopped when she suddenly announced,
"He touched me you know."
"What do you mean? I don't understand..." Knuckles said, frowning in puzzlement.
"He felt me... He put his hands up my top..." She whispered and put her hands over her eyes, trying to stop herself from crying. She couldn't stop the tears though and she shuddered. He held her in his arms and she put her arms around his neck.
"Rouge, it's all over. He's a stupid prat-"
"I know but he was sly enough to be able to do it! I can still feel them, the way he moved them..." She sobbed.
"Why didn't you tell anyone? He's assaulted you!"
"Because I don't want to have to remember it again and again. I know what he did but that's not the worst thing..."
"What else did he do to you?"
"Nothing but it's just that part of my brain was telling me to stop him." She paused, not wanting to say. Knuckles waited though and she took a deep breath. "A small part of me liked it. I felt something that I'd never felt before and it felt good." She looked away from Knuckles, ashamed but he didn't say anything or even move.
~A total stranger manages to make her feel good so easily... She must think I'm rubbish.~ He thought and he let go of her.
"Knuckles, are you ok?" She asked quietly.
"Hmm? It's just that you didn't know him at all..."
"I realise that but I had to tell you the truth or it would be on my conscience."
"Maybe it would have been better for you not to have told me at all..."
"Knuckles, it's important that we tell each other the truth, what ever happens." She looked at him but he avoided her gaze.
"Maybe I should leave now." He stepped towards the door and she grabbed his wrist.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm obviously nothing to you..." He muttered and she frowned.
"Why on earth do you say that?" She asked sharply but he didn't answer and left the room. "Knuckles, don't walk away from me without telling me what you mean." She shouted as he walked to his room. He ignored her and shut the door but she opened it and stormed into his room.
"What do you think has happened with them?" Sonic asked Tails, worried by Rouge's raised voice.
"I don't know but everyone has arguments. It'll be sorted out eventually." Tails reassured.
"If you say so... So then, where was I?"
"You had just finished telling me what happened with you today. So Sean and Gillian are at the top of the class hierarchy? Then maybe the incident with Knuckles and him will have helped you change things although I doubt Gillian will be very happy." Tails commented.
"I know but the weird thing is that I knew something like this was going to happen. I remember telling Knuckles that them two would create trouble for him and Rouge but he just said he could deal with it. He may have done so but it's come at the price of their relationship." Sonic sounded so serious that Tails didn't dare to ridicule him.
"And you told Knuckles this? I wonder why he didn't listen? I don't think their relationship has been affected that much by it." But Tails couldn't help privately agreeing with Sonic's words. ~The way Rouge talked about Knuckles earlier, it was almost like she would prefer to be without him...~
"Yeah, you're probably right as usual. Did you get any homework? Hang on, I've just suddenly realised that you never came home with your bag. What happened?" He asked.
"I had a bit of trouble at lunch and so I skived off the last lesson. I suppose in the confusion I left my bag behind-"
"You skived-" Sonic shouted but Tails put his hand over his mouth.
"Not quite so loud thank you. Yes I did but I had my reasons." He hissed.
"I didn't realise that school for you was quite so bad..."
"It isn't but lunchtime was pretty dramatic." Tails stared at Sonic's expectant look and sighed. "All right, I'll tell you but don't tell any of the others ok?" Sonic nodded his head and Tails began to re account the tale of lunchtime...
************************
"What are you trying to say? Knuckles, stop ignoring me!" She shouted as she shut the door behind her.
"I'm saying that he's obviously a lot better than me... I remember Sonic told me that he would create trouble for us two and he has, at least for me." He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"Knuckles, he may have made me feel good but you make me feel amazing..." She said, sitting down beside him. He leaned up on his elbows and she stared into his eyes. "And that is the honest truth."
"Do you mean that?" He asked seriously.
"Of course I do. I love you and that is never going to change." She whispered, hugging him close to her. ~Why did I say that? Have I totally forgotten about the conversation with Tails? Maybe that would be a good idea...~ She thought as she continued to hold him. "Just don't try and kill him ok?"
"If you want." He said grudgingly. "Will you be ok dealing with him?" Her grip tightened slightly but she didn't say anything. He looked at, concerned by her silence and he saw her nod her head slightly.
"I'll be ok." She whispered and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled slightly and she detached herself from him, making her way to the living room. He remained in his room though, thinking about what had happened.
************************
"Tails, I never realised! Are you sure you shouldn't tell the others?" Sonic asked once Tails had finished talking.
"No, don't tell anyone! I just want to forget about it." He sighed and Sonic nodded his head.
"Ok, I understand. What about this girl though? What are you going to do about her?"
"Nothing of course. Now I know what she's like I can handle her as long as she doesn't start trying to be friendly again."
"As long as you're sure..."
************************
Tuesday brought fear for Tails though as he walked into the school. The others had not said anything and were more concerned about what the day would bring for them but that was all right with him. The fewer questions asked, the better. Although he had told Sonic what had happened, he never explained how painful it really felt to not be able to be friends with Marie. He sat down at his desk and stared through the window even when the others walked in.
Nothing in particular happened until lunchtime when he was cornered by Sarah and Dan.
"What are you playing at Tails? Why won't you talk to any of us? And about yesterday, why didn't you help Marie when Bruce was attacking her? She thought you were a friend, and so did we..." Dan demanded and Tails frowned.
"Bruce wasn't attacking her, she was attacking me!"
"Do you really expect us to believe that? We saw the bruises that you gave her!" Sarah shouted. It was obvious that they weren't going to listen to him and this made him angry. In his anger, he said something, which he instantly regretted.
"It doesn't matter who did what because you've just said we're not friends anyway."
"We may not be friends but we have a duty to protect Marie from bullies like you." Dan said.
"Oh just fuck off ok? You're attempt at being tough doesn't really work."
"Ooh, you use the word fuck, that really shows your maturity." Sarah said.
"Yeah, like you know anything about maturity. Looking down at people and treating them like shit is not maturity." He turned away and ignored them when they started shouting at him.
Although he had felt angry then, now that the adrenalin had gone, he felt exhausted. Without thinking, he settled himself in the same tree as yesterday to waste the afternoon there.
************************
"So then, what happened?" Marie asked when Dan and Sarah returned.
"He denies that he hurt you and swore at us too!" Sarah exclaimed.
"He said that Bruce hurt you, not him." Dan added.
~Why do I get the feeling that they're confusing what I mean about hurting me? I wish I hadn't slapped him but it's too late now...~ Marie thought. "No he definitely hurt me." ~And in a way you'll never know.~ She added privately.
"Do you want us to rough him up a bit?"
"No there's no point on wasting our energy on a pathetic little creature like him. I'll deal with him myself later." The bell went and they stood in their line.
It wasn't until they got into the classroom that she realised that yet again, Tails was skiving.
~Why waste your energy on him Marie? He's obviously a troublemaker...~ She thought as she stared at his empty desk. But in truth she knew why she worried about him. ~I wish I could get to know him better but while he won't even go near me, that is never going to happen.~ She wondered what she could do and suddenly it came into her head. ~ I know, I'll talk to one of his friends! But which one? Sonic was the one who seemed the most worried so it should be him.~ With this in mind, she concentrated on the lesson and forgot about her troubles with Tails.
This time, Tails remembered to get his bag and he did so once the bell had gone, checking that no teachers were nearby. He walked out onto the playground and saw Shadow. Knowing that things would be easier if he looked like everything was ok, he greeted Shadow cheerfully.
"Hi Shadow, I didn't think you'd be here again."
"Yes well I was bored stiff so I thought you wouldn't mind some company until the others come out." Shadow explained and they waited by the gate of Maples. Unknown to them though, Marie was also waiting but she kept out of the way.
************************
"A detention? I haven't had one since year nine." Sammie commented as they sat in History. The teacher hadn't bothered to turn up so they used this opportunity to talk.
"What did you get one for then?" Rouge asked.
"For being mouthy to our Japanese teacher. It seemed she said something rude without realising it." Emily explained.
"And then I tried to explain that it was an accident, but she wasn't having any of it."
"Actually, I'm surprised you didn't get suspended. After all, you did break his arm. He did deserve it though."
"Suspended? Was it really that bad?" Knuckles asked worriedly.
"You broke his arm, knocked him unconscious and possibly caused him permanent brain damage-" Emily started.
"Hopefully you have." Sammie added.
"So you did quite a lot and you only got a lunchtime detention? Sammie got an after school one just for saying a rude word."
"Yes but he did attack Rouge so I suppose it made it slightly more acceptable." Sonic pointed out. Emily frowned when she saw Rouge and Knuckles exchange a look. "How long are lunchtime detentions usually?"
"Fifty minutes."
"Fifty minutes? When am I supposed to do my homework and eat lunch?" Knuckles demanded.
"You eat lunch after it and homework is hopefully not going to infect us today. However if it does, we'll do it for you." Sammie said.
"Yeah but won't the teacher realise I've copied yours?"
"Not if we do it on a piece of paper. We'll take a small part of each of ours and put them together, changing the occasional word of course." Just then the teacher arrived, apologising for being late and they settled themselves down to a state of stupor.
Lunchtime came around and Knuckles went to his detention while the others sat down to eat their lunch. They had managed to get some History homework but as they had the choice of doing one of three questions, they did an answer for question three and then they did either one or two. Once they were done, they decided to wait for Knuckles instead of going to find him.
"So what do you actually do in detention?" Sonic asked.
"I suppose we can tell you seeing as Knuckles isn't here, he probably would have been very angry." Emily said.
"Basically you have to do an essay, usually about two hundred words. He probably would have had to do something like 'Why I shouldn't go around beating people up'." Sammie explained.
"Yep, I can just imagine him coming out here, ready to rip Sean's head off when he comes back. Not that that would be a bad thing of course." Emily added.
"Well we'll soon find out because here he comes." Sonic said, nodding his head towards Knuckles.
"Three hundred and fifty words! Of all the cheek, the impertinence..." They heard him mutter angrily as he approached them.
"Had a good time I take it..." Sammie said cheerfully and was met with a glare.
"Three hundred and fifty words on why I shouldn't attack people!" He fumed and Sonic looked at Sammie in surprise.
"Wow Sammie, you guessed correctly! How did you do that?"
"You knew about this? Why didn't you tell me?" Knuckles shouted.
"Calm down! Do you want to have to write another essay?" Sammie demanded. Knuckles thought about this and sat down.
"I suppose you're right."
"I didn't tell you because I knew you would react as you've just done." Sammie said.
"That was a lot of words though. You only had to do two hundred after all." Emily pointed out.
"Only two hundred? I had to write about why I should respect teachers and I was totally stumped."
"I must admit, that sounds hard. It's over and done with now so it doesn't matter. As long as you don't try to kill anyone else..." Rouge commented. Knuckles had just started eating his lunch when the bell went.
"Oh damn it!" Knuckles exclaimed as they stood up.
"Just eat your lunch during form time. It doesn't matter as long as you don't make it obvious." Emily said and he put his stuff away so he could follow them back to the form room.
The afternoon passed without much happening and they all sighed in relief when the bell went. They left the school and were met by Shadow and Tails.
"Hi you two. Was school any better today?" Sonic asked Tails.
"It was fine." Tails replied shortly and they started to make their way home. As they did so, Sonic felt someone grab his arm and saw Marie. She put her finger over her mouth and he slowed down.
"Hello Sonic, I need to talk to you."
"Why? Don't you think you've hurt Tails enough as it is?" He hissed.
"But you don't understand, I did it for a reason. Please give me a chance to explain." Sonic pulled his arm out of her grip.
"Just leave us alone ok? I won't let you hurt him again, he's my best friend." He walked away and Marie sighed in frustration.
~This is going to be harder than I thought...~
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Sonic didn't tell the others about what Marie had said but he did wonder about it. ~She said she did it for a reason but what could that be? There's no excuse for hurting someone...~ He thought the next morning. Far from school being an opportunity to relax and take things easy, everyone found it hard what with the events of the last couple of days. And Wednesday didn't get any better either...
Tails arrived at school to find Marie waiting for him in the classroom.
"Tails, we need to talk." She said when she saw him.
"No we don't. Your cronies made it quite clear yesterday what has happened and I'm glad at least someone has." He snapped.
"But Tails I did it for a reason-"
"There is never a reason to lie to someone just so you can make someone's life difficult."
"But I think Sarah and Dan made a mistake when they talked to you yesterday."
"Why, were they meant to beat me up as well? Just like you did?"
"I've already told you I did it for a reason, weren't you listening?"
"I'm sorry but I don't listen to snivelling, spineless creatures such as yourself." He spat and she ran out of the classroom, tears pouring down her face.
He sat down at his desk but was surprised when he heard someone's voice.
"You didn't have to say that you know." He looked around sharply and saw Hannah appear from behind the door.
"Don't tell me you were told to listen so you can have a go at me when she'd gone?" Hannah looked slightly hurt and so he didn't do anything when she perched herself on the desk in front of him.
"No, she doesn't know I was there. I'm concerned Tails about what's happened. Unlike the others, I couldn't believe Marie when she said that you had hurt her, not literally at least."
"I'm glad someone does."
"There's no need to be like that, I'm trying to help you know. I'm the only one who knows what she's really been through."
"Do you go round and spy on everyone then?"
"No, not everyone but if I think that something is wrong then I have to. I know you think I'm naïve but I act like that because I don't want the others to get suspicious."
"What are you trying to say?
"I think you need to know why she attacked you. As you may know, she has two tails and she's been teased a lot because of it. The only reason she's left alone now is because she made a deal with Bruce, the main bully. She would become one of them in return for being left alone."
"So what are you saying?" Tails asked, confused by what he had heard.
"He controls who she beats up and he's chosen you as her next victim. That's why she's been telling you that she did it for a reason, because she has no choice." Hannah looked at Tails with hope but he shook his head.
"That may be so but she should be fighting him, not doing as he says."
"She's been too afraid to do so. She doesn't want things to be the way they are and none of us are meant to know about it. Maybe if you made up with her then you could stop him together."
"I'm sorry Hannah but if she's not willing to tell you the truth then why is she going to tell me? Until she's ready to apologise to me then nothing is going to change." He crossed his arms and Hannah sighed.
"Ok, I accept your reasons because I feel the same way. But if you won't talk to her then I fear you might get a visit at lunchtime."
"I don't care about them, they should know their friend well enough by now to work out what's going on." The bell went then and Hannah sat at her place, sighing softly to herself.
************************
The group sat at their table and just before the bell went, Gillian came over to their table and dropped a piece of paper on Knuckles' desk. He held it in his hand and was going to chuck it away but Sammie stopped him.
"Come on Knuckles, it might have something funny written on it." He opened it up and read what was written.
Are you still strong and silent? If so, I might have a piquant offer for you. Gillian xxx.
His eyes widened and he screwed it up. He could feel himself blushing and Rouge knew that meant the message was provocative.
"What did it say?" Sammie asked.
"Nothing I wanted to know." He muttered and Rouge took the note from his hand. She read it and clenched her fist in anger.
"How dare she? Right, we'll see about this." She went to stand up but Knuckles grabbed her arm. He shook his head and she sighed. Sammie shared the note between her, Emily and Sonic. While Sonic looked shocked, Emily and Sammie shrugged their shoulders.
"What's so bad about that? If you say yes then we might be able to get into the top of the class hierarchy. Then we can take them down, they'll never suspect!" Sammie saw his face and she frowned.
"Is there something really bad about that? Do you have an allergy to foxes?" Emily asked.
"I can't say yes because... What was the phrase you said Sammie? I'm already booked." Knuckles admitted.
"Oh I see but I'm sure she won't mind!" Emily elbowed Sammie.
"Don't you see what he's saying? He's going out with Rouge!" A look of realisation appeared on Sammie's face.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise! Why didn't you say anything before? I might have not embarrassed myself then."
"Because we thought it would be less hassle." Rouge said, holding her head in her hands.
"Right, we get the point that that isn't a option but we could do something else instead." Emily suggested. The others looked at her and she continued speaking. "Knuckles could agree to meet her and when they're together, we'll spring up on them and beat her up."
"But I can't do that, she's a girl!" Sonic said.
"You don't of course. You can keep a look out for teachers. We won't necessarily beat her up, just show her what happens when she thinks she can have whoever she likes." Emily explained.
"I can't agree to this! I won't do it!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"Oh come on Knuckles, Sean attacked Rouge yesterday and I'm sure she's in on what's happening. Just think of it as revenge for what he did." Sammie pleaded. He looked from one face to the other and stared at Rouge. The memory of yesterday ran through their heads and she nodded her head slightly. "Ok but I'm not happy about this." No one knew what to say about this when Sonic had one of his rare attacks of wisdom.
"None of us are. We have to do something or Sean will get away with it. If you're really uncomfortable about this then we can't force you to do it but I think all of us are fed up with them two."
"Maybe you're right but I'm just uncomfortable with the thought of her trying to kiss me while Rouge is watching."
"Hey, we won't let it get to that point. Any sign of her trying to shove her tongue down your throat will result in her being hurt." Emily reassured.
"Ok but what do we do now?"
"You reply to the message of course. Keep it short and sweet, I think she expects that of you." Sammie said, pulling a face. Knuckles got out a pen and wrote 'I accept' on the back.
He gave the note to her at break time and just before lunch; he got another note telling him to meet her in the paddock.
"Are you sure you're ok about this Rouge?" He whispered and she nodded her head, although her eyes narrowed slightly. He made his way to the paddock and they followed him, making sure they weren't seen. They hid around the corner and waited for Gillian to appear. Sammie saw Rouge looking nervous and confused and she hugged her.
"Don't worry, he can deal with it." She whispered and Rouge smiled. They turned back and saw that Gillian had now arrived.
"I see you didn't change your mind. I hope you can cope with your emotions." She whispered but he didn't say anything.
~I suppose I'll have to make an effort...~ He thought and he smiled cheekily at her. "I can but are you quite so sure yourself?" In reply she pushed him against the wall and kissed him softly. He panicked and shoved her away.
"What's wrong?" She asked sharply.
"Aren't you in a bit of a rush? We don't even know each other yet."
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were the sort of the person who needs to love someone before you can do anything with them. I only ever do this for the physical pleasure it brings." He frowned and she studied him. "But maybe I could make an exception with you." She leant against him and stroked the back of his neck. He couldn't help trembling slightly and she smiled. This time, he didn't protest when she kissed him and he even responded.
Watching Rouge seeing this had made Sammie feel guilty and so when they started kissing, Sammie jumped out.
"What do you think you're doing?" She shouted and Gillian stopped to look at her.
"Oh hello freak, do you always sit there watching other people?" She asked. Sammie was lost for a moment and Rouge took this opportunity to storm over and slap her hard around the face.
"Leave my boyfriend alone, you slut!" She screamed. Gillian gasped and then smiled.
"So it has been confirmed at last! You two are going out! I knew if I did something like this then I'd get a reaction. I didn't expect you to have to cheek to slap me though, you jealous cow!" She went to hit her but Rouge grabbed her hair and twisted her head round.
"I just thought I'd let you know that there's a new girl in town and she's not to be messed with. The dog may have got me but I'm not going to let you do the same to Knuckles!" She hissed in her ear.
"Oh please, did you really think I'd go that far? Sean only did it because he's gagging for it and he weren't getting any from me! I knew a kiss would be sufficient." She whispered and caught Rouge off balance by hooking her foot around her leg. Knuckles backed away and stood by Sonic, who was making sure that no teachers came along.
"Those two are at each other's throats literally!" Sonic commented but Knuckles didn't reply.
Meanwhile Rouge and Gillian were still fighting, now resorting to scratching and kicking. The others were starting to think that it would never end when Sonic suddenly shouted out,
"Quick, a teacher's coming!" Rouge had Gillian pinned down and when she heard this, she tightened her grip on Gillian.
"You say one word to anyone about this and you'll regret it." She threatened and then got up like nothing had happened. They walked away quickly and Gillian was left to hide until the teacher had gone.
************************
Tails didn't get beaten up at lunchtime but it wasn't much better than before. Now Marie would walk away from him if he was less than ten metres away from her and everyone, not just her friends, were giving him evil stares. He was considering another afternoon in the tree when he saw Miss Petrie walking over to him.
"Tails could you come with me please? I can't have you missing another afternoon." She said and he followed her reluctantly. She entered an office and Tails saw Shadow sitting at the desk.
"Hi Tails, Miss Petrie phoned and told us about you skiving off in the afternoon. Do you want to talk?" He asked and Tails shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll leave you two alone ok?" Miss Petrie suggested before leaving the room and closing the door. Tails sat down on the chair near Shadow's and stared at Shadow, daring him to say anything else.
"Don't look at me like that. It was lucky I was the one who picked up the phone and not Eggman. I don't expect you to tell me anything, I just thought you looked like you couldn't handle anymore time here."
"Too true, I think I might go on some travels and totally forget about school."
"But what about Sonic?"
"I'll be all right on my own. I've never needed anyone before and I don't need them now."
"But what about Marie?" He asked sharply and Tails frowned.
"What about her?"
"I know there's something going on with you two and you may try to pretend nothing's happened but I won't believe you."
"There's nothing going on between us!" Shadow didn't say anything though and just gazed at him. "Oh all right, something's happened but it's not a good thing..." And he proceeded to explain everything that had happened. And unlike Rouge and Sonic, he told Shadow everything, including how he felt about Marie. When he finished he sighed and looked at Shadow, who sat there in silence.
"That's quite a lot for three days. Maybe you shouldn't do anything about it for a couple of weeks and maybe you should talk to her now. I can't make any decisions for you and I'm certainly not going to give you any advice."
"It makes a change from everyone else. But maybe you're right... Maybe I should leave it for now." The bell went and Shadow smiled.
"So we did miss a whole afternoon!" He said and they walked out of the room. "I'll talk to your teacher and make up some sort of story but you'll probably have to go to all of your lessons from now on." Tails nodded his head and they strolled over to Maples High School.
It seemed from Sonic's explanation that after the fight not much had happened although Rouge did now have a black eye. She hadn't said anything to Knuckles though and everyone was worried he added quietly when him plus Tails and Shadow were talking alone. They had been walking quite slowly and soon the others had disappeared. As they walked though, they heard footsteps behind them and Sonic turned around. The others stopped and they saw Marie standing in front of them.
"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear this morning that I'm not listening?" Tails said and she glared at him.
"Who ever said I wanted to talk to you? I wanted a word with Shadow actually." She said coldly and Tails turned away. Sonic did the same but Shadow stood where he was.
"What did you want?"
"I want you to explain to Tails why I did what I did." She replied and he started to walk again.
"Why can't you do it yourself? And I'm surprised you actually had the guts to hit him." Shadow said neutrally and quickened his pace slightly.
"Oh so you're going to do exactly what Sonic did? What a big surprise! Tails has obviously told you what happened and if he did, you'll know why I can't talk to him."
"I know, he won't let you." Shadow said looking at her. "But you have to understand that your attack was completely unexpected and according to him, unprovoked. He won't listen to me, he won't listen to anyone. I'm afraid you're on your own here." She stopped walking but he continued to, not even looking back at her.
~On my own? I haven't been on my own for a long time, not since I made that deal with Bruce... I used to be happy then.~ She thought, as she stood on the path alone, the leaves blowing around her feet.
************************
For once, nothing happened and that can only be a good thing for us. Maybe it's just us but Thursday's never bring anything because they're too close to Friday, the end of the school week. And as well as being the end of the week, it's also the climax for the current events but definitely not the end.
************************
The most notable thing for Knuckles, Rouge and Sonic is that Sean came back to school.
"I was hoping that we could at least have today without him but never mind, we'll just have to survive." Sammie commented when she saw the looks on their faces.
"Do you think it's possible?" Sonic asked.
"Probably not." Was all she would say, which killed the conversation just a little. When Sean came over though, they all woke up slightly.
"I'm surprised you have the nerve to come over here after what's happened." Emily said as she stared at him.
"And that is what I want to talk about. I'm surprised you can all look like that after what you've done to me and Gillian."
"And you deserved it!" Sammie shouted.
"You keep your mouth shut unless you want us to rat you out." He hissed.
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Oh yes I would unless of course we can make a deal."
"Oh no, we are not available for deals of any sort." Sonic said seriously.
"Then we'll just have to tell them what happened with Gillian. I'm sure you don't mind being expelled do you Rouge?" He turned to her and the glint in his eye caused her to look away. "I thought not. Here are the conditions. In return for us not grassing on you, you have to do whatever we say especially you two." He looked at Knuckles and Rouge pointedly.
"And we cannot accept those terms. I don't care about everyone finding out about what I did to her, she deserved it." Rouge spat. He sat down next to her and gripped her arm.
"So it's going to be like that then is it? Then we'll just have to enforce our conditions as well as tell everyone your little secret." He stood up and faced the class. "I have an announcement to make everyone. It seems that our new friends here have something they want everyone to know. Our dear friends-" He stopped when he felt Rouge pull at his arm.
"Wait!" He looked at her and smiled. "Ok we accept your conditions."
"No Rouge! I don't know about you but I don't care if they all know about us." Knuckles whispered and she sighed.
"We are going to leave now so that we won't be here when you tell everyone about us." They stood up and left the classroom, leaving behind a group of very confused people.
"I would have preferred it if they had stayed because then I could have seen their reaction then. Class, Rouge and Knuckles are in love and going out." He announced and he was met with blank faces.
"So? We don't care to be honest." He heard someone say and turned sharply to them.
"That may not matter to you but you may be interested to know that they have attacked both me and Gillian, totally unprovoked." Sonic stood up and faced him.
"That's a lie and you know it! That slut was trying to make a move on Knuckles!" He shouted and Sean stared at him.
"Tut, tut. Shouting never solved anything but I doubt you have the intelligence to realise that."
"But they still attacked the both of you?" Someone asked.
"Yes they did and I say that we take them down before they can do anything else." The class started to whisper and Sean smiled at the thought of everyone being against them two but he never bothered to listen to what they were saying.
"At last, someone's taking them down!"
"They'll probably need our support."
"But why would they? When Gillian and Sean have gone then they'll just take over."
"But they've got Sammie and Emily. Can you remember when they actually used to be friends with Gillian? Well they refused to boss people around when they became popular."
"I remember now! As long as those two are there to stop them getting big headed, everything will be fine."
"Yeah but what can we do?"
"We'll protest together! They can't be the top of the class hierarchy when there isn't one!"
"No class hierarchy? Do you think that's possible?"
"Of course it is! Other classes have done it and so can we!" They turned to Sean with smiles on their faces.
"We'll do whatever you say." But they looked at Sonic, Sammie and Emily as they said this.
"You're not going to support him are you? I thought you all wanted to be free from the oppression of the hierarchy! But I can now see that you're willing to follow people who assault others!" Sonic shouted. The class exchanged puzzled looks and Sonic continued, not realising what he was saying. "That's right! He assaulted Rouge and then when Knuckles tried to stop him, he got a detention and was nearly expelled!" He stared at them but they didn't so anything. "Oh what's the point? You're not worth fighting for!" He grabbed his bag and walked out of the classroom, Sammie and Emily following.
"Did you hear that? You're not worth fighting for! But I think you are. For the class hierarchy and the sustainability of our class as a whole, we must fight now." Sean shouted and everyone cheered.
"He must be really stupid if he believes in that!" A girl whispered and her friends laughed.
************************
Tails, I think it's time for me to tell you the truth. But first of all, I want to make sure you want to hear it and for that I'll have to apologise. I'm sorry I hurt you and if you would just give me the chance, I could explain.
Tails read the note and screwed it up but opened it again after a few moments.
~Come on Tails, you can't hate her forever...~ He picked up his pen and paused for a moment, trying to think of a reply.
I need to think about this, I'm not sure I can forgive you. Give me time and I'll tell you what I've decided...
He passed the note over and she read it, her face not changing. She put the note away and he continued to write.
~He's not sure if he can forgive me? I never realised how much it had affected him, they're heavy words to use. I'll give it a week and if he hasn't said anything, I'll know I haven't got a hope in hell.~ She thought before turning back to her work.
************************
The group remained quiet during English and not much had been said when they saw a note flick onto their table. Although it was addressed to Knuckles, he didn't open it so sighing, Sammie took it and opened it instead.
I hope you read this Sammie or Emily. I knew that if I addressed it to Knuckles, he might not read it and Sean would get suspicious if I put your name on the front. When we said we'd do whatever you say we meant you, you ninnies! We are fed up with them two bossing us around and we want to help you take them down. We're willing to do whatever's necessary but we're not sure how to start. Do you have any ideas? Suzie.
Sammie smiled and looked at Suzie, a rabbit with dark brown fur. She didn't say anything though as she replied.
Hi Suzie, we haven't spoken in a long time, not since year 8 or 9 I think. How's Dan doing? I know you meant us when you said you'd do whatever we said but Sonic obviously didn't. I'm sorry about him, but we couldn't stop him, he gets angry quite easily it seems. We could call a meeting at lunch if you want, not everyone, just a few people. I don't know what Knuckles or Rouge think, they're a bit shaken from this morning. They were hoping for no hassle. (Sammie)
And they can still believe that they won't get any hassle. None of us care about the fact that they're going out; we think it's quite sweet actually. Although the boys weren't quite so happy, I think they were hoping that they'd have a chance with her but now they know she's already taken... A meeting sounds like a good idea, we would all go. Dan is doing well; he's still annoying though. (Suzie)
Aw, you can't say that about him. I think that the boys will be disappointed for a long time. I don't know why but I get the feeling that they actually love each other, and they're not together just for the sake of it. I haven't discussed this with the others but we can have a meeting in the form room, Gillian and Sean aren't there usually are they? It's been a long time since I've been in there at lunch. (Sammie)
Well I hope everything goes ok for them. The form room's fine, they don't go in there. Too busy trying to make other people's lives a misery I suppose. We eat lunch in there too so we can start at the beginning, that is if you don't mind eating in there. I remember how you felt about that subject. (Suzie)
Hey, I don't care to be honest. We're in year 11 and I want to break some rules. And if Emily doesn't agree then I'll have to tie her up! (Sammie)
Ok, lunchtime it is then. We'd better stop writing to each other now because Sean's looking at me weirdly. It was nice to talk again though; life's been very different without your cynical thoughts and Emily's funny stories. (Sammie)
Sammie smiled and put the note in her pencil case, ignoring the fact that everyone was staring at her. A few minutes passed when Emily nudged her.
"What did the note say on it?" She whispered. Sammie passed it over and she read it quickly. "Wow, I never realised that people actually liked us."
"Well it seems that we do and we have a duty to keep up their beliefs I suppose."
"When are we going to tell the others about the meeting?"
"Don't you mean when are you going to tell them? Have you seen the way them lot are looking at the rest of the class? I think they've lost the little faith they have in them. They haven't known them as long as we have and if we gave the note to them, they'd just ask why they haven't done anything before." Sammie explained.
"I see what you mean. I don't think they realise what it's been like to be under them. Maybe we should tell them." But Sammie shook her head.
"I'm not telling them my life story, just so they can feel sorry for us. We don't have to tell them anything, if they're not going to help then fine. We can do this ourselves, I don't care about breaking the rules anymore." She returned to her work, to show that the conversation was over.
The lesson finished and they went to break. As they walked back to the form room, they told the others about the note.
"So it wasn't really addressed to Knuckles?" Sonic asked and Sammie nodded her head. "But what I don't understand is why you haven't tried to stop them before." Sammie exchanged a look with Emily.
"I told you they would say that." Rouge turned to Sammie.
"What do you mean? So now you're the kind of person who thinks they can judge someone's character?"
"Only when it's obvious. None of you can say that we should have tried before. We haven't tried because we've never had the drive to." Sammie explained coldly.
"Look, it doesn't matter about the past because it's now that is important. You don't have to go to the meeting, we'll be quite all right by ourselves." Emily added and they walked away from them.
************************
Tails sat by himself at lunchtime when he saw Hannah and Peter walk towards him. They sat down beside him and he smiled at them.
"Hello you two, have you been given permission to talk to me?" They exchanged uneasy looks.
"Not exactly. I decided to tell Peter about what happened when I saw Marie pass the note to you." Hannah said.
"And?"
"Well, I was doubtful about Marie's story in the first place and when Hannah talked to me, it made everything clear."
"Yeah but how does you talking to me help?"
"We want to know what was on that note. Is there any chance of her talking to you?" Hannah asked.
"That's what the note was about. She wants to tell me about it but I told her I need to think about it."
"But why? Don't you want to help her?"
"I don't know, I'm not sure if she's worth it." He snapped and stood up. "Why am I talking to you anyway? Shouldn't you be talking to Sarah and Dan? After all you're her friends, not me." He stalked away but stopped when he heard Sarah's voice.
"What do you two think you're doing, talking to him? Didn't Marie bother to tell why we're not talking to him?"
"I'm sorry, but we forgot." Hannah said quietly.
"You forgot? Don't you realise what he's done to her?" Tails turned around and saw Peter and Hannah cowering against each other. Angry, he stormed over and stood in front of them.
"How dare you shout at them!"
"You keep out of this, Tails! I'm surprised you have the cheek to show your face!" Dan yelled.
"And I'm surprised you can afford to be so narrow minded! If only you knew the truth-" Tails stopped when he saw Marie walking up to the group.
"What's going on?" She asked. Sarah pointed to Tails, giving him an evil glare.
"He's trying to influence Hannah and Peter! We saw him talking to them!"
"I'm not influencing anyone but I'm not sure I can say the same for some of you." He stared at Marie and she looked away.
"Look you guys, let's just go ok?" She asked quietly and Tails laughed.
"That's it, run away from what's happening. You should be used to it by now, you've done it enough times." He turned to go away but she grabbed his arm.
"A little less of the mouth, if you don't mind." She said coldly.
"Why, you afraid they might hear something they shouldn't? Don't you think they've been waiting for long enough?" He pulled his arm out of her grip and walked off.
"That's it, this means war." Dan muttered.
"Dan, can't we just forget about this? He's not sorry for what's happened so what's the point in continuing?"
"Oh we haven't finished yet, no where near finishing."
************************
"It's obvious they don't want us there so we may as well not go." Sonic commented as him plus Knuckles and Rouge were talking during the forth lesson.
"Sonic, they were just angry, that's all. And I'm not surprised to be honest. We don't really understand what's going on and maybe if we go, then we might." Rouge pointed out.
"But will they let us? I mean, they haven't said anything to us at all, they won't even look at us." Knuckles said.
"Of course they will. We'll just have to see what happens." Rouge reassured and they returned back to their work.
When the bell went for lunch, they waited for Emily and Sammie but they walked straight past, ignoring them.
"That's it, I'm not going!" Sonic announced, crossing his arms.
"Oh yes you are. We've got to show them that we're sorry and this might be the only way." Rouge grabbed one of his arms and tried to drag him up the corridor. He wouldn't budge though and Rouge sighed. "I think we're going to have to resort to torture." She pinched his waist hard and surprised by the move, he jumped. Rouge took this opportunity to push him along the corridor and Knuckles followed, grinning.
They entered the classroom and stood by the door unsure of what to do. It appeared that no one was in the room and seeing this, Sonic walked in.
"Great, so now they've moved themselves! Wait 'til I see Sammie, I'll-"
"You'll what? Give me a mouthful of your 'wit'?" Sammie asked, standing up and crossing her arms.
"We're sorry about him, maybe it would have been better if we hadn't brought him along." Rouge said, pushing her way past Sonic. "Look, we're sorry for what happened earlier and we want to help. I don't want him to have another chance to attack someone-"
"You mean you. You're so popular, you must wonder what he sees in bothering with us." Sammie cut in. Emily stood up beside her and dragged her down to the ground.
"Shut up Sammie will you before you launch a war? I'm sorry about her, it seems we both have people who maybe shouldn't be here." She smiled and they walked over to her.
They now saw where everyone was. They were sitting on the floor, and the tables had hid them. Sammie glared at them but Emily plus some others made room for the three of them. They sat down hesitantly but became relaxed when they saw everyone smiling.
"Luckily you haven't missed much yet. We were just catching up on old times, we haven't spoken to some people for a couple of years now." Emily explained.
"Why? I mean you see each other everyday." Rouge asked.
"Well when we were in year eight, Sammie and Emily used to be friends with Gillian and Sean. They were popular enough but when Sean and Gillian started bossing people around, they refused to stay friends or talk to anyone because we didn't fight against them." Suzie explained.
"I've just suddenly realised that you don't know who anyone is. This is Suzie, and the others are Kelly, Dave, Rob, Shane, Fran, Oliver and Rich." Emily said quickly.
"Hi everyone, I suppose you know who we are. Why didn't you tell any of this to us before?"
"Because we thought it would be less hassle." Sammie muttered looking pointedly at Rouge, reminding her of her earlier words.
"Ok so we all had things we haven't told each other but now that that's out of the way, what are we going to do?" Sonic asked.
"We would like to know, if it's ok with you what actually happened between you and Sean and Gillian." Fran said quietly. Knuckles and Rouge looked uneasily at each other before she started to tell them what happened with her. She didn't go into much detail but that didn't stop her from having to wipe some tears away from her eyes. She leant against Knuckles and he put his arms around her. Emily started talking, knowing that they didn't appreciate everyone staring at them, not knowing what to do.
"Right so after that happened, we had a couple of days of freedom before Gillian decided to rear her ugly head." She then proceeded to tell them what had happened with her and Knuckles. She kept it short and sweet and once she had finished, she left everyone to think for a few minutes.
Sammie hadn't been listening much during Emily's speech and now stood up, bored. She wandered over to one of the windows and leaned against it, staring out. Emily did the same and turned to her.
"What are you thinking?" She whispered.
"I don't know, not much really." She paused and then turned to Emily. "I wish none of this was happening. We should have sorted this out a long time ago, we shouldn't have abandoned them. If we hadn't refused to talk to everyone then, I wouldn't feel so guilty."
"Hey, what we did is in the past. We needed them to realise what was going on remember?" Sammie nodded her head. "They do now so we just have to help them."
"I don't understand why we have to help though..." Sammie complained.
"Because let's be honest...they're weak minded. They haven't been through what we've been through..." Emily said very quietly.
"So what are we going to do then?" Oliver asked. Emily and Sammie walked back over to the group and sat down.
"We have to abandon the theory of the class hierarchy. It should never have started in the first place anyway." Sammie said.
"But how?" Dave persisted.
"We could smash their heads in and then dump them in a river." Sammie suggested.
"Or maybe not... Just do what they do. Interrupt them when they're talking-" Emily started.
"Are you sure we can't just beat them up?" Sammie asked.
"No we can't! Just pretend there isn't a hierarchy, if they tell you to do something, refuse. If they try to talk over you, just talk louder." Emily said.
"It's not that hard guys..." Sammie pleaded.
"What about everyone else? After all, they don't know about this." Kelly pointed out.
"Yeah, we didn't get a chance to tell them." Shane added.
"I think a lot of them knew something was going to happen this lunchtime. Most of them are in before Sean and Gillian anyway so we can tell them then." Dave commented.
"Right so everyone knows what's going on then. Any questions or comments?" Emily asked the group.
"Very efficient aren't you?" Rob joked.
"We had to wrap this thing properly. After all, this is an important event worthy of being put into the history books." Sammie said extravagantly.
"Yeah just imagine us motley lot in a history text book in fifty years time..." Rich said, laughing.
"Well I don't know about you but I'm eating my lunch." Sammie stated.
"Four years have gone past and you're still obsessed with your food." Suzie said. "Things haven't changed much have they?"
"No, they haven't..."
They spent the rest of lunchtime talking about things they had done in the past and although Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge didn't say much, everyone else was obviously happy. Gradually other people started trickling in and as they did, they were told about the plan. Everyone seemed prepared to follow it and the group sat down at their table, discussing what they were going to do at the weekend.
"So then, are we still doing this shopping thing tomorrow?" Emily asked.
"I don't see why we can't, that is if you're not doing anything tomorrow..." Rouge replied.
"Probably not, we never really go anywhere at the weekends." Sammie said gloomily, the thought of shopping depressing her.
"Well then, that's sorted. What are you two going to do?" Rouge asked.
"Eat, sleep, and do not a lot in general." Sonic stated happily.
"Typical..." Knuckles muttered. "I don't know what I'm doing, not a lot is my current thinking though."
"Why don't you-" But Sammie stopped when Emily elbowed her. The whole room had gone silent and their attention was turned to Suzie and Gillian.
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Gillian demanded.
"I'm not listening to you anymore." Suzie said, staring at her. Gillian stood up and Suzie instinctively backed away. She lashed out and pulled Suzie's head back by her hair.
"Are you sure? Even if I did this?" Gillian yanked her head back further and Suzie cried out in pain.
"Let go of her." Sammie had stood up and was now facing Suzie and Gillian. Gillian smiled and let Suzie go, who sat down quickly.
"You think you can beat me?"
"I could beat you a hundred times." Sammie said coldly.
Gillian stepped forward and swung her arm toward her, but Sammie caught it. She spun her around and gripping her other arm, she twisted it up her back. This caused Gillian to hiss and struggle against her grip.
"You do anything to me and you get expelled." Gillian taunted.
"I don't care." Sammie retorted sincerely. "I would be happy to do to you what Knuckles did to Sean."
"Knuckles? Pah!" Gillian laughed. "He's weak..."
"Weak enough to do this?" She pulled Gillian's arm tighter and tighter but stopped when she screamed in pain. Sammie looked at Emily, who smiled grimly and nodded slightly. She turned back to Gillian. "Did you feel that?"
"Yes."
"Well, unless you want to feel that again you are going to end this class hierarchy business OK?" Gillian nodded her head. "And Sean too. If anyone tries any funny stuff, they are going to regret it." She let go and Gillian ran out of the room.
Everyone stared at Sammie in silence as she walked back to the table. She didn't sit down but looked at Emily expectantly.
"You should..." Emily said and nodding her head, Sammie left the room too. It was just at this point that Miss Dink entered the room. She didn't say anything though until the register had been taken. When it had, she looked around at the silent classroom.
"Something big happened this lunchtime, didn't it?" She asked kindly.
"Yeah, you could say that miss." Rob replied loudly.
"And I'm guessing it has something to do with the levels of popularity here?"
"The class hierarchy you mean."
"Yes, that... Is that over at last?"
"We hope so. Sammie made it clear she wanted it to be at least." Miss Dink thought for a moment.
"I'm glad she has but I won't enquire into how, I don't think I want to know. I assume what happened is related to why she and Gillian are now gone for the moment."
"Yes miss, it is." Now that the whole event had been cleared with the teacher, everyone fell to talking, now much happier than before.
"Do you know what happened to Gillian to make her yell like that?" Sonic asked the others.
"No, no idea. Whatever it was though, it certainly did the trick." Emily commented.
"Yes, it did... But what about Sammie? Why did she leave the classroom?" Rouge asked.
"Yeah and about when you two were talking..." Knuckles added.
"Oh, that... Sammie and me just have this way of being able to understand one another; it's a bit hard to explain. As for Sammie, she's gone to talk to Gillian."
"But why would she do that?" Sonic wondered.
"Because it might not be Gillian's fault that she did what she did." Emily replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Just then, Sammie and Gillian entered the room. They were talking to each other cheerfully but Gillian stopped, looking nervously at the four of them at the table. Sammie said something to her before dragging her towards the table. She sat down beside Emily but Gillian looked like she was going back to her table.
"Come on Gillian, you're going to have to talk some time." Sammie said gently. Looking at Rouge, Gillian sat down beside her.
"Um, Rouge..." She started but Rouge waved her apology aside.
"It might have been better if you hadn't done it but Knuckles played his part too." She whispered, glancing at him. "And I encouraged him..." She added.
"But I thought you and Knuckles-" Rouge read what she was going to say.
"Yes but things are a bit rocky recently. It'll be fine..." She said, mainly to reassure herself.
"I wanted to say sorry anyway. I realise I haven't made things very easy for everyone..."
"Understatement. But at least it's over now." Sammie commented, smiling.
"Yeah, it is..."
************************
School finished and as usual, Shadow was waiting for Tails. They made idle chit chat while they waited for the others to come out of school. Sonic, Rouge, Knuckles, Emily and Sammie eventually walked out, not saying much to each other. They met up and started walking home, the feeling of the upcoming weekend finally waking them up.
"Well our first week of school is over at last..." Sonic commented.
"And we survived!" Tails added cheerfully. "Well, there were a few incidents..." He said, looking sideways at Knuckles and Rouge.
"Just a few! School has never been so interesting..." Emily said. They walked round the corner, only to be faced by Dan and Sarah.
"Oh hi you two, haven't seen you in a while..." Sammie said happily but her smile disappeared when Dan stepped forward and punched Tails in the face. He reeled away from the hit, falling to the floor.
"You leave him alone!" Sonic yelled and he manoeuvred himself between Dan and Tails.
"Don't worry Sonic, I can handle him..." Tails said angrily.
"No Tails! We need to clear this up right now!" He stared at Dan and was about to say something else when three people came running up to them. It was Marie, Peter and Hannah.
"Dan, Sarah! What are you doing here?" Marie demanded as she looked round. It was just then that she saw Tails. "What have you done to him?"
"We're giving him a little payback..." Sarah said sinisterly. Marie turned to her.
"You two can be so stupid! Don't you understand that Tails has been right about me all along?" She paused and everyone looked at her in silence. "I have been running away from what's happening! But not anymore... It's time I told you the truth about what really occurred. Peter and Hannah already know, they have a bit more sense than you."
"What do you mean?" Dan asked.
"I hit Tails not the other way round! Look, it's a bit hard to explain..." She took a deep breath and told everyone about what really happened and why she had done it.
The others stayed where they were, Dan and Sarah trying to sort things out in their minds.
"So you see, Tails was right all along..." She finished and walked away. Peter and Hannah looked at each other before walking back to their homes. Tails stood up and faced Sarah and Dan.
"Happy now?" He stormed off down the road, the others watching him leave. Feeling lost, Dan and Sarah also went back to their homes.
"Well, that was pretty eventful..." Sonic said thoughtfully.
"This will make Monday even more interesting. Are we still on for Saturday?" Emily asked.
"I don't see why not..." Rouge replied.
"We'll see you at ten outside the apartment block then..." Sammie said as she and Emily waved to them before walking home.
Shadow, Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge eventually got back to the apartment and found Tails sitting at the table while Eggman applied an icepack to his cheek. Tails held it on and sat in the living room, as the others put their stuff away.
"Tails, why didn't you tell me about this before?" Eggman asked as he sat across him. "Does this have anything to do with the phone call Shadow got from your school?"
"Yes, it does I suppose. I didn't tell you because I didn't think this would happen." Tails hissed in pain from the bruise on his face.
"Yes, even I wouldn't think them capable of it. Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Tails nodded his head slightly.
"I'll talk to them on Monday. It wasn't really their fault though; they didn't know what had happened to Marie. But now they know so..." Tails shrugged his shoulders.
"As long as you're sure. Well this week has certainly had its events, Knuckles getting a detention, Rouge being attacked as well as you... Sonic has been lucky."
"I'm sure something will happen to him. After all, he's got a whole year." It was at this point that the others sat down with him.
"How long will he have an icepack stuck to his face?" Sonic asked.
"Just for the rest of today. As long as he doesn't lie on it or bruise it any more then it will heal slowly." Eggman stood up and went to the kitchen to get dinner started.
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S. Chensu: Lots of bitchiness this episode! It's all gone a bit fast hasn't it?
Luff: Anyway, in case you were wondering about the current status of this story, episodes 14 and 15 have still not been written but hopefully 14 will be done this weekend as there has been a small lull in the homework.
S. Chensu: Yay! Things have been bad for me this week. Not only have I had an end of unit test in biology, I had to give in my English Literature coursework on 'Richard III'.
Luff: Next episode will see the problems between Tails and Marie finally being sorted out...
Luff: It makes us feel really happy to know that our story is so appreaciated so here it goes. We would like to thank the following people:
Mai- I know you're desperate to find out what happens but it will all become clear soon. And Luff promises she will try and get chapter 8 of her Yu-Gi-Oh! story done at some point.
Yugi- Ditto but it's nice to hear your reviews too. Do try and remember to actually comment on the story at some point though, this is a Sonic story, not a Yu-Gi-Oh! story.
Yersi Fanel- We're trying to go as fast as we can but we have school AS Levels, GCSEs and life in general to deal with too. If none of that lot existed then we would update every couple of days.
Shadygoat2199- Nice to know you appreciate the story and hopefully if we don't get writer's block at any time soon (which has happened to all of our other stories) it will all be up by the summer. Of course if you want it all before then, you're going to have to review!
RichaCo- All right, all right! We're updating! And yes, there's meant to be a sense of foreboding, a new terror will rise! But not until episode 15! And we can't believe you don't have to wear uniform! Luff still has to but luckily S. Chensu is now in 6th form so she can wear what she wants! We apologise greatly for the boringness of the last couple of episodes but there won't be anymore boring parts. At least we don't think so... And in answer to your question, yes the bitch will get her comeuppance! There will be a fight, but it won't be too bad because we don't want to deal with the scary ff.net Agent Smiths.
1- Yes, there will be some freaky parts in this story. If the stuff now worries you then just you wait until episode 18! Then everything you ever knew to be true will go out of the window (but not in a Matrix style).
Dragon Master Naya- We're glad you find some of this funny but it gets a bit serious later on so you might not laugh so much then. And it will get more mysterious soon... Nice rhyme!
Ri2- In response to your question, we started writing this story before we had finished the game so we didn't know she was there! By the time we knew, we had already written the first 10 or so episodes and it was too much hassle to put her in. So she won't be appearing at all in this story. We're very sorry if this annoys you but it seems to working well without her.
S. Chensu: If you're not there it's because you haven't reviewed! Although we've done a personal message for each, if you read them all you may get some little bits of information as to what is going to happen. Now that's over and done with, we won't have to do it for another 12 episodes!
Luff: As we can't have another four episodes of them being at school, we have decided to squeeze the rest of the week into one episode and look at it like that. Therefore forgive us if things are a bit brief but there are only a few important events. There are also more notes but we'll use the same system as before.
S. Chensu: As usual, we don't own the Sonic characters, only the characters we mentioned in our disclaimer last episode. And the story itself. Luckily no songs today.
Luff: Time to go!
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Episode twelve: Day seven in the STREKS gang house...
Rouge and Tails arrived home to Eggman doing a lot of shouting while Sonic and Shadow looked on amused.
"A detention on your first day of term? How on earth did you manage that?"
"That's what I asked myself. And it wasn't my fault, he forced me too. He was trying to-" But Rouge interrupted him.
"Knuckles, don't go and tell everyone what happened ok?" She said sharply. Everyone turned towards her, suddenly realising that she and Tails were there.
"How am I meant to when you won't even tell me?" He snapped.
"Hey you two, sort that out later ok? So you beat up this person and broke his arm-"
"He was trying to hurt Rouge, I couldn't just stand by and let him assault my girlfriend!" Knuckles shouted.
"Why, why..." Knuckles looked at Eggman nervously and wondered what would happen if he exploded. He was relieved then when he heard Eggman's next words. "Why... Well, that's all right then."
"What?" Knuckles was shocked.
"If you were protecting Rouge then it's not quite as bad. I'm still slightly annoyed at you having a detention but she is your girlfriend and I can understand why you did it." He explained.
"But I told him not to attack Sean!" Rouge said.
"Yes but if he hadn't, what would he have done to you?" Eggman pointed out.
"Maybe you're right. I need to talk to Knuckles though, alone..." She emphasised and he followed her into her room.
"What do you think that was all about?" Sonic asked.
"She's going to tell him what happened of course. He did say he didn't know so it seems sensible to assume that." Tails suggested.
"You could be right there. What happened earlier with you though?" Sonic said and Tails sat down on the sofa.
"I had a very bad day, that's all. I'll be all right but please, don't be angry at Rouge. She probably would have understood it better than you." Tails said and Sonic shrugged his shoulders.
"Ok, if you say so. Anyway, I was going to tell you what happened today..."
************************
Knuckles shut the door behind Rouge and stood by it as she walked towards the window, leaning on it.
"Knuckles, I'm sorry. Eggman is right, I should be thankful for what you did." She admitted.
"Don't worry, I can understand why you were angry. I did act rather recklessly." He replied. They stood in silence for a few moments and he walked towards her slowly. When he was a metre away from her, he stopped when she suddenly announced,
"He touched me you know."
"What do you mean? I don't understand..." Knuckles said, frowning in puzzlement.
"He felt me... He put his hands up my top..." She whispered and put her hands over her eyes, trying to stop herself from crying. She couldn't stop the tears though and she shuddered. He held her in his arms and she put her arms around his neck.
"Rouge, it's all over. He's a stupid prat-"
"I know but he was sly enough to be able to do it! I can still feel them, the way he moved them..." She sobbed.
"Why didn't you tell anyone? He's assaulted you!"
"Because I don't want to have to remember it again and again. I know what he did but that's not the worst thing..."
"What else did he do to you?"
"Nothing but it's just that part of my brain was telling me to stop him." She paused, not wanting to say. Knuckles waited though and she took a deep breath. "A small part of me liked it. I felt something that I'd never felt before and it felt good." She looked away from Knuckles, ashamed but he didn't say anything or even move.
~A total stranger manages to make her feel good so easily... She must think I'm rubbish.~ He thought and he let go of her.
"Knuckles, are you ok?" She asked quietly.
"Hmm? It's just that you didn't know him at all..."
"I realise that but I had to tell you the truth or it would be on my conscience."
"Maybe it would have been better for you not to have told me at all..."
"Knuckles, it's important that we tell each other the truth, what ever happens." She looked at him but he avoided her gaze.
"Maybe I should leave now." He stepped towards the door and she grabbed his wrist.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm obviously nothing to you..." He muttered and she frowned.
"Why on earth do you say that?" She asked sharply but he didn't answer and left the room. "Knuckles, don't walk away from me without telling me what you mean." She shouted as he walked to his room. He ignored her and shut the door but she opened it and stormed into his room.
"What do you think has happened with them?" Sonic asked Tails, worried by Rouge's raised voice.
"I don't know but everyone has arguments. It'll be sorted out eventually." Tails reassured.
"If you say so... So then, where was I?"
"You had just finished telling me what happened with you today. So Sean and Gillian are at the top of the class hierarchy? Then maybe the incident with Knuckles and him will have helped you change things although I doubt Gillian will be very happy." Tails commented.
"I know but the weird thing is that I knew something like this was going to happen. I remember telling Knuckles that them two would create trouble for him and Rouge but he just said he could deal with it. He may have done so but it's come at the price of their relationship." Sonic sounded so serious that Tails didn't dare to ridicule him.
"And you told Knuckles this? I wonder why he didn't listen? I don't think their relationship has been affected that much by it." But Tails couldn't help privately agreeing with Sonic's words. ~The way Rouge talked about Knuckles earlier, it was almost like she would prefer to be without him...~
"Yeah, you're probably right as usual. Did you get any homework? Hang on, I've just suddenly realised that you never came home with your bag. What happened?" He asked.
"I had a bit of trouble at lunch and so I skived off the last lesson. I suppose in the confusion I left my bag behind-"
"You skived-" Sonic shouted but Tails put his hand over his mouth.
"Not quite so loud thank you. Yes I did but I had my reasons." He hissed.
"I didn't realise that school for you was quite so bad..."
"It isn't but lunchtime was pretty dramatic." Tails stared at Sonic's expectant look and sighed. "All right, I'll tell you but don't tell any of the others ok?" Sonic nodded his head and Tails began to re account the tale of lunchtime...
************************
"What are you trying to say? Knuckles, stop ignoring me!" She shouted as she shut the door behind her.
"I'm saying that he's obviously a lot better than me... I remember Sonic told me that he would create trouble for us two and he has, at least for me." He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"Knuckles, he may have made me feel good but you make me feel amazing..." She said, sitting down beside him. He leaned up on his elbows and she stared into his eyes. "And that is the honest truth."
"Do you mean that?" He asked seriously.
"Of course I do. I love you and that is never going to change." She whispered, hugging him close to her. ~Why did I say that? Have I totally forgotten about the conversation with Tails? Maybe that would be a good idea...~ She thought as she continued to hold him. "Just don't try and kill him ok?"
"If you want." He said grudgingly. "Will you be ok dealing with him?" Her grip tightened slightly but she didn't say anything. He looked at, concerned by her silence and he saw her nod her head slightly.
"I'll be ok." She whispered and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled slightly and she detached herself from him, making her way to the living room. He remained in his room though, thinking about what had happened.
************************
"Tails, I never realised! Are you sure you shouldn't tell the others?" Sonic asked once Tails had finished talking.
"No, don't tell anyone! I just want to forget about it." He sighed and Sonic nodded his head.
"Ok, I understand. What about this girl though? What are you going to do about her?"
"Nothing of course. Now I know what she's like I can handle her as long as she doesn't start trying to be friendly again."
"As long as you're sure..."
************************
Tuesday brought fear for Tails though as he walked into the school. The others had not said anything and were more concerned about what the day would bring for them but that was all right with him. The fewer questions asked, the better. Although he had told Sonic what had happened, he never explained how painful it really felt to not be able to be friends with Marie. He sat down at his desk and stared through the window even when the others walked in.
Nothing in particular happened until lunchtime when he was cornered by Sarah and Dan.
"What are you playing at Tails? Why won't you talk to any of us? And about yesterday, why didn't you help Marie when Bruce was attacking her? She thought you were a friend, and so did we..." Dan demanded and Tails frowned.
"Bruce wasn't attacking her, she was attacking me!"
"Do you really expect us to believe that? We saw the bruises that you gave her!" Sarah shouted. It was obvious that they weren't going to listen to him and this made him angry. In his anger, he said something, which he instantly regretted.
"It doesn't matter who did what because you've just said we're not friends anyway."
"We may not be friends but we have a duty to protect Marie from bullies like you." Dan said.
"Oh just fuck off ok? You're attempt at being tough doesn't really work."
"Ooh, you use the word fuck, that really shows your maturity." Sarah said.
"Yeah, like you know anything about maturity. Looking down at people and treating them like shit is not maturity." He turned away and ignored them when they started shouting at him.
Although he had felt angry then, now that the adrenalin had gone, he felt exhausted. Without thinking, he settled himself in the same tree as yesterday to waste the afternoon there.
************************
"So then, what happened?" Marie asked when Dan and Sarah returned.
"He denies that he hurt you and swore at us too!" Sarah exclaimed.
"He said that Bruce hurt you, not him." Dan added.
~Why do I get the feeling that they're confusing what I mean about hurting me? I wish I hadn't slapped him but it's too late now...~ Marie thought. "No he definitely hurt me." ~And in a way you'll never know.~ She added privately.
"Do you want us to rough him up a bit?"
"No there's no point on wasting our energy on a pathetic little creature like him. I'll deal with him myself later." The bell went and they stood in their line.
It wasn't until they got into the classroom that she realised that yet again, Tails was skiving.
~Why waste your energy on him Marie? He's obviously a troublemaker...~ She thought as she stared at his empty desk. But in truth she knew why she worried about him. ~I wish I could get to know him better but while he won't even go near me, that is never going to happen.~ She wondered what she could do and suddenly it came into her head. ~ I know, I'll talk to one of his friends! But which one? Sonic was the one who seemed the most worried so it should be him.~ With this in mind, she concentrated on the lesson and forgot about her troubles with Tails.
This time, Tails remembered to get his bag and he did so once the bell had gone, checking that no teachers were nearby. He walked out onto the playground and saw Shadow. Knowing that things would be easier if he looked like everything was ok, he greeted Shadow cheerfully.
"Hi Shadow, I didn't think you'd be here again."
"Yes well I was bored stiff so I thought you wouldn't mind some company until the others come out." Shadow explained and they waited by the gate of Maples. Unknown to them though, Marie was also waiting but she kept out of the way.
************************
"A detention? I haven't had one since year nine." Sammie commented as they sat in History. The teacher hadn't bothered to turn up so they used this opportunity to talk.
"What did you get one for then?" Rouge asked.
"For being mouthy to our Japanese teacher. It seemed she said something rude without realising it." Emily explained.
"And then I tried to explain that it was an accident, but she wasn't having any of it."
"Actually, I'm surprised you didn't get suspended. After all, you did break his arm. He did deserve it though."
"Suspended? Was it really that bad?" Knuckles asked worriedly.
"You broke his arm, knocked him unconscious and possibly caused him permanent brain damage-" Emily started.
"Hopefully you have." Sammie added.
"So you did quite a lot and you only got a lunchtime detention? Sammie got an after school one just for saying a rude word."
"Yes but he did attack Rouge so I suppose it made it slightly more acceptable." Sonic pointed out. Emily frowned when she saw Rouge and Knuckles exchange a look. "How long are lunchtime detentions usually?"
"Fifty minutes."
"Fifty minutes? When am I supposed to do my homework and eat lunch?" Knuckles demanded.
"You eat lunch after it and homework is hopefully not going to infect us today. However if it does, we'll do it for you." Sammie said.
"Yeah but won't the teacher realise I've copied yours?"
"Not if we do it on a piece of paper. We'll take a small part of each of ours and put them together, changing the occasional word of course." Just then the teacher arrived, apologising for being late and they settled themselves down to a state of stupor.
Lunchtime came around and Knuckles went to his detention while the others sat down to eat their lunch. They had managed to get some History homework but as they had the choice of doing one of three questions, they did an answer for question three and then they did either one or two. Once they were done, they decided to wait for Knuckles instead of going to find him.
"So what do you actually do in detention?" Sonic asked.
"I suppose we can tell you seeing as Knuckles isn't here, he probably would have been very angry." Emily said.
"Basically you have to do an essay, usually about two hundred words. He probably would have had to do something like 'Why I shouldn't go around beating people up'." Sammie explained.
"Yep, I can just imagine him coming out here, ready to rip Sean's head off when he comes back. Not that that would be a bad thing of course." Emily added.
"Well we'll soon find out because here he comes." Sonic said, nodding his head towards Knuckles.
"Three hundred and fifty words! Of all the cheek, the impertinence..." They heard him mutter angrily as he approached them.
"Had a good time I take it..." Sammie said cheerfully and was met with a glare.
"Three hundred and fifty words on why I shouldn't attack people!" He fumed and Sonic looked at Sammie in surprise.
"Wow Sammie, you guessed correctly! How did you do that?"
"You knew about this? Why didn't you tell me?" Knuckles shouted.
"Calm down! Do you want to have to write another essay?" Sammie demanded. Knuckles thought about this and sat down.
"I suppose you're right."
"I didn't tell you because I knew you would react as you've just done." Sammie said.
"That was a lot of words though. You only had to do two hundred after all." Emily pointed out.
"Only two hundred? I had to write about why I should respect teachers and I was totally stumped."
"I must admit, that sounds hard. It's over and done with now so it doesn't matter. As long as you don't try to kill anyone else..." Rouge commented. Knuckles had just started eating his lunch when the bell went.
"Oh damn it!" Knuckles exclaimed as they stood up.
"Just eat your lunch during form time. It doesn't matter as long as you don't make it obvious." Emily said and he put his stuff away so he could follow them back to the form room.
The afternoon passed without much happening and they all sighed in relief when the bell went. They left the school and were met by Shadow and Tails.
"Hi you two. Was school any better today?" Sonic asked Tails.
"It was fine." Tails replied shortly and they started to make their way home. As they did so, Sonic felt someone grab his arm and saw Marie. She put her finger over her mouth and he slowed down.
"Hello Sonic, I need to talk to you."
"Why? Don't you think you've hurt Tails enough as it is?" He hissed.
"But you don't understand, I did it for a reason. Please give me a chance to explain." Sonic pulled his arm out of her grip.
"Just leave us alone ok? I won't let you hurt him again, he's my best friend." He walked away and Marie sighed in frustration.
~This is going to be harder than I thought...~
************************
Sonic didn't tell the others about what Marie had said but he did wonder about it. ~She said she did it for a reason but what could that be? There's no excuse for hurting someone...~ He thought the next morning. Far from school being an opportunity to relax and take things easy, everyone found it hard what with the events of the last couple of days. And Wednesday didn't get any better either...
Tails arrived at school to find Marie waiting for him in the classroom.
"Tails, we need to talk." She said when she saw him.
"No we don't. Your cronies made it quite clear yesterday what has happened and I'm glad at least someone has." He snapped.
"But Tails I did it for a reason-"
"There is never a reason to lie to someone just so you can make someone's life difficult."
"But I think Sarah and Dan made a mistake when they talked to you yesterday."
"Why, were they meant to beat me up as well? Just like you did?"
"I've already told you I did it for a reason, weren't you listening?"
"I'm sorry but I don't listen to snivelling, spineless creatures such as yourself." He spat and she ran out of the classroom, tears pouring down her face.
He sat down at his desk but was surprised when he heard someone's voice.
"You didn't have to say that you know." He looked around sharply and saw Hannah appear from behind the door.
"Don't tell me you were told to listen so you can have a go at me when she'd gone?" Hannah looked slightly hurt and so he didn't do anything when she perched herself on the desk in front of him.
"No, she doesn't know I was there. I'm concerned Tails about what's happened. Unlike the others, I couldn't believe Marie when she said that you had hurt her, not literally at least."
"I'm glad someone does."
"There's no need to be like that, I'm trying to help you know. I'm the only one who knows what she's really been through."
"Do you go round and spy on everyone then?"
"No, not everyone but if I think that something is wrong then I have to. I know you think I'm naïve but I act like that because I don't want the others to get suspicious."
"What are you trying to say?
"I think you need to know why she attacked you. As you may know, she has two tails and she's been teased a lot because of it. The only reason she's left alone now is because she made a deal with Bruce, the main bully. She would become one of them in return for being left alone."
"So what are you saying?" Tails asked, confused by what he had heard.
"He controls who she beats up and he's chosen you as her next victim. That's why she's been telling you that she did it for a reason, because she has no choice." Hannah looked at Tails with hope but he shook his head.
"That may be so but she should be fighting him, not doing as he says."
"She's been too afraid to do so. She doesn't want things to be the way they are and none of us are meant to know about it. Maybe if you made up with her then you could stop him together."
"I'm sorry Hannah but if she's not willing to tell you the truth then why is she going to tell me? Until she's ready to apologise to me then nothing is going to change." He crossed his arms and Hannah sighed.
"Ok, I accept your reasons because I feel the same way. But if you won't talk to her then I fear you might get a visit at lunchtime."
"I don't care about them, they should know their friend well enough by now to work out what's going on." The bell went then and Hannah sat at her place, sighing softly to herself.
************************
The group sat at their table and just before the bell went, Gillian came over to their table and dropped a piece of paper on Knuckles' desk. He held it in his hand and was going to chuck it away but Sammie stopped him.
"Come on Knuckles, it might have something funny written on it." He opened it up and read what was written.
Are you still strong and silent? If so, I might have a piquant offer for you. Gillian xxx.
His eyes widened and he screwed it up. He could feel himself blushing and Rouge knew that meant the message was provocative.
"What did it say?" Sammie asked.
"Nothing I wanted to know." He muttered and Rouge took the note from his hand. She read it and clenched her fist in anger.
"How dare she? Right, we'll see about this." She went to stand up but Knuckles grabbed her arm. He shook his head and she sighed. Sammie shared the note between her, Emily and Sonic. While Sonic looked shocked, Emily and Sammie shrugged their shoulders.
"What's so bad about that? If you say yes then we might be able to get into the top of the class hierarchy. Then we can take them down, they'll never suspect!" Sammie saw his face and she frowned.
"Is there something really bad about that? Do you have an allergy to foxes?" Emily asked.
"I can't say yes because... What was the phrase you said Sammie? I'm already booked." Knuckles admitted.
"Oh I see but I'm sure she won't mind!" Emily elbowed Sammie.
"Don't you see what he's saying? He's going out with Rouge!" A look of realisation appeared on Sammie's face.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise! Why didn't you say anything before? I might have not embarrassed myself then."
"Because we thought it would be less hassle." Rouge said, holding her head in her hands.
"Right, we get the point that that isn't a option but we could do something else instead." Emily suggested. The others looked at her and she continued speaking. "Knuckles could agree to meet her and when they're together, we'll spring up on them and beat her up."
"But I can't do that, she's a girl!" Sonic said.
"You don't of course. You can keep a look out for teachers. We won't necessarily beat her up, just show her what happens when she thinks she can have whoever she likes." Emily explained.
"I can't agree to this! I won't do it!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"Oh come on Knuckles, Sean attacked Rouge yesterday and I'm sure she's in on what's happening. Just think of it as revenge for what he did." Sammie pleaded. He looked from one face to the other and stared at Rouge. The memory of yesterday ran through their heads and she nodded her head slightly. "Ok but I'm not happy about this." No one knew what to say about this when Sonic had one of his rare attacks of wisdom.
"None of us are. We have to do something or Sean will get away with it. If you're really uncomfortable about this then we can't force you to do it but I think all of us are fed up with them two."
"Maybe you're right but I'm just uncomfortable with the thought of her trying to kiss me while Rouge is watching."
"Hey, we won't let it get to that point. Any sign of her trying to shove her tongue down your throat will result in her being hurt." Emily reassured.
"Ok but what do we do now?"
"You reply to the message of course. Keep it short and sweet, I think she expects that of you." Sammie said, pulling a face. Knuckles got out a pen and wrote 'I accept' on the back.
He gave the note to her at break time and just before lunch; he got another note telling him to meet her in the paddock.
"Are you sure you're ok about this Rouge?" He whispered and she nodded her head, although her eyes narrowed slightly. He made his way to the paddock and they followed him, making sure they weren't seen. They hid around the corner and waited for Gillian to appear. Sammie saw Rouge looking nervous and confused and she hugged her.
"Don't worry, he can deal with it." She whispered and Rouge smiled. They turned back and saw that Gillian had now arrived.
"I see you didn't change your mind. I hope you can cope with your emotions." She whispered but he didn't say anything.
~I suppose I'll have to make an effort...~ He thought and he smiled cheekily at her. "I can but are you quite so sure yourself?" In reply she pushed him against the wall and kissed him softly. He panicked and shoved her away.
"What's wrong?" She asked sharply.
"Aren't you in a bit of a rush? We don't even know each other yet."
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were the sort of the person who needs to love someone before you can do anything with them. I only ever do this for the physical pleasure it brings." He frowned and she studied him. "But maybe I could make an exception with you." She leant against him and stroked the back of his neck. He couldn't help trembling slightly and she smiled. This time, he didn't protest when she kissed him and he even responded.
Watching Rouge seeing this had made Sammie feel guilty and so when they started kissing, Sammie jumped out.
"What do you think you're doing?" She shouted and Gillian stopped to look at her.
"Oh hello freak, do you always sit there watching other people?" She asked. Sammie was lost for a moment and Rouge took this opportunity to storm over and slap her hard around the face.
"Leave my boyfriend alone, you slut!" She screamed. Gillian gasped and then smiled.
"So it has been confirmed at last! You two are going out! I knew if I did something like this then I'd get a reaction. I didn't expect you to have to cheek to slap me though, you jealous cow!" She went to hit her but Rouge grabbed her hair and twisted her head round.
"I just thought I'd let you know that there's a new girl in town and she's not to be messed with. The dog may have got me but I'm not going to let you do the same to Knuckles!" She hissed in her ear.
"Oh please, did you really think I'd go that far? Sean only did it because he's gagging for it and he weren't getting any from me! I knew a kiss would be sufficient." She whispered and caught Rouge off balance by hooking her foot around her leg. Knuckles backed away and stood by Sonic, who was making sure that no teachers came along.
"Those two are at each other's throats literally!" Sonic commented but Knuckles didn't reply.
Meanwhile Rouge and Gillian were still fighting, now resorting to scratching and kicking. The others were starting to think that it would never end when Sonic suddenly shouted out,
"Quick, a teacher's coming!" Rouge had Gillian pinned down and when she heard this, she tightened her grip on Gillian.
"You say one word to anyone about this and you'll regret it." She threatened and then got up like nothing had happened. They walked away quickly and Gillian was left to hide until the teacher had gone.
************************
Tails didn't get beaten up at lunchtime but it wasn't much better than before. Now Marie would walk away from him if he was less than ten metres away from her and everyone, not just her friends, were giving him evil stares. He was considering another afternoon in the tree when he saw Miss Petrie walking over to him.
"Tails could you come with me please? I can't have you missing another afternoon." She said and he followed her reluctantly. She entered an office and Tails saw Shadow sitting at the desk.
"Hi Tails, Miss Petrie phoned and told us about you skiving off in the afternoon. Do you want to talk?" He asked and Tails shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll leave you two alone ok?" Miss Petrie suggested before leaving the room and closing the door. Tails sat down on the chair near Shadow's and stared at Shadow, daring him to say anything else.
"Don't look at me like that. It was lucky I was the one who picked up the phone and not Eggman. I don't expect you to tell me anything, I just thought you looked like you couldn't handle anymore time here."
"Too true, I think I might go on some travels and totally forget about school."
"But what about Sonic?"
"I'll be all right on my own. I've never needed anyone before and I don't need them now."
"But what about Marie?" He asked sharply and Tails frowned.
"What about her?"
"I know there's something going on with you two and you may try to pretend nothing's happened but I won't believe you."
"There's nothing going on between us!" Shadow didn't say anything though and just gazed at him. "Oh all right, something's happened but it's not a good thing..." And he proceeded to explain everything that had happened. And unlike Rouge and Sonic, he told Shadow everything, including how he felt about Marie. When he finished he sighed and looked at Shadow, who sat there in silence.
"That's quite a lot for three days. Maybe you shouldn't do anything about it for a couple of weeks and maybe you should talk to her now. I can't make any decisions for you and I'm certainly not going to give you any advice."
"It makes a change from everyone else. But maybe you're right... Maybe I should leave it for now." The bell went and Shadow smiled.
"So we did miss a whole afternoon!" He said and they walked out of the room. "I'll talk to your teacher and make up some sort of story but you'll probably have to go to all of your lessons from now on." Tails nodded his head and they strolled over to Maples High School.
It seemed from Sonic's explanation that after the fight not much had happened although Rouge did now have a black eye. She hadn't said anything to Knuckles though and everyone was worried he added quietly when him plus Tails and Shadow were talking alone. They had been walking quite slowly and soon the others had disappeared. As they walked though, they heard footsteps behind them and Sonic turned around. The others stopped and they saw Marie standing in front of them.
"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear this morning that I'm not listening?" Tails said and she glared at him.
"Who ever said I wanted to talk to you? I wanted a word with Shadow actually." She said coldly and Tails turned away. Sonic did the same but Shadow stood where he was.
"What did you want?"
"I want you to explain to Tails why I did what I did." She replied and he started to walk again.
"Why can't you do it yourself? And I'm surprised you actually had the guts to hit him." Shadow said neutrally and quickened his pace slightly.
"Oh so you're going to do exactly what Sonic did? What a big surprise! Tails has obviously told you what happened and if he did, you'll know why I can't talk to him."
"I know, he won't let you." Shadow said looking at her. "But you have to understand that your attack was completely unexpected and according to him, unprovoked. He won't listen to me, he won't listen to anyone. I'm afraid you're on your own here." She stopped walking but he continued to, not even looking back at her.
~On my own? I haven't been on my own for a long time, not since I made that deal with Bruce... I used to be happy then.~ She thought, as she stood on the path alone, the leaves blowing around her feet.
************************
For once, nothing happened and that can only be a good thing for us. Maybe it's just us but Thursday's never bring anything because they're too close to Friday, the end of the school week. And as well as being the end of the week, it's also the climax for the current events but definitely not the end.
************************
The most notable thing for Knuckles, Rouge and Sonic is that Sean came back to school.
"I was hoping that we could at least have today without him but never mind, we'll just have to survive." Sammie commented when she saw the looks on their faces.
"Do you think it's possible?" Sonic asked.
"Probably not." Was all she would say, which killed the conversation just a little. When Sean came over though, they all woke up slightly.
"I'm surprised you have the nerve to come over here after what's happened." Emily said as she stared at him.
"And that is what I want to talk about. I'm surprised you can all look like that after what you've done to me and Gillian."
"And you deserved it!" Sammie shouted.
"You keep your mouth shut unless you want us to rat you out." He hissed.
"You wouldn't dare..."
"Oh yes I would unless of course we can make a deal."
"Oh no, we are not available for deals of any sort." Sonic said seriously.
"Then we'll just have to tell them what happened with Gillian. I'm sure you don't mind being expelled do you Rouge?" He turned to her and the glint in his eye caused her to look away. "I thought not. Here are the conditions. In return for us not grassing on you, you have to do whatever we say especially you two." He looked at Knuckles and Rouge pointedly.
"And we cannot accept those terms. I don't care about everyone finding out about what I did to her, she deserved it." Rouge spat. He sat down next to her and gripped her arm.
"So it's going to be like that then is it? Then we'll just have to enforce our conditions as well as tell everyone your little secret." He stood up and faced the class. "I have an announcement to make everyone. It seems that our new friends here have something they want everyone to know. Our dear friends-" He stopped when he felt Rouge pull at his arm.
"Wait!" He looked at her and smiled. "Ok we accept your conditions."
"No Rouge! I don't know about you but I don't care if they all know about us." Knuckles whispered and she sighed.
"We are going to leave now so that we won't be here when you tell everyone about us." They stood up and left the classroom, leaving behind a group of very confused people.
"I would have preferred it if they had stayed because then I could have seen their reaction then. Class, Rouge and Knuckles are in love and going out." He announced and he was met with blank faces.
"So? We don't care to be honest." He heard someone say and turned sharply to them.
"That may not matter to you but you may be interested to know that they have attacked both me and Gillian, totally unprovoked." Sonic stood up and faced him.
"That's a lie and you know it! That slut was trying to make a move on Knuckles!" He shouted and Sean stared at him.
"Tut, tut. Shouting never solved anything but I doubt you have the intelligence to realise that."
"But they still attacked the both of you?" Someone asked.
"Yes they did and I say that we take them down before they can do anything else." The class started to whisper and Sean smiled at the thought of everyone being against them two but he never bothered to listen to what they were saying.
"At last, someone's taking them down!"
"They'll probably need our support."
"But why would they? When Gillian and Sean have gone then they'll just take over."
"But they've got Sammie and Emily. Can you remember when they actually used to be friends with Gillian? Well they refused to boss people around when they became popular."
"I remember now! As long as those two are there to stop them getting big headed, everything will be fine."
"Yeah but what can we do?"
"We'll protest together! They can't be the top of the class hierarchy when there isn't one!"
"No class hierarchy? Do you think that's possible?"
"Of course it is! Other classes have done it and so can we!" They turned to Sean with smiles on their faces.
"We'll do whatever you say." But they looked at Sonic, Sammie and Emily as they said this.
"You're not going to support him are you? I thought you all wanted to be free from the oppression of the hierarchy! But I can now see that you're willing to follow people who assault others!" Sonic shouted. The class exchanged puzzled looks and Sonic continued, not realising what he was saying. "That's right! He assaulted Rouge and then when Knuckles tried to stop him, he got a detention and was nearly expelled!" He stared at them but they didn't so anything. "Oh what's the point? You're not worth fighting for!" He grabbed his bag and walked out of the classroom, Sammie and Emily following.
"Did you hear that? You're not worth fighting for! But I think you are. For the class hierarchy and the sustainability of our class as a whole, we must fight now." Sean shouted and everyone cheered.
"He must be really stupid if he believes in that!" A girl whispered and her friends laughed.
************************
Tails, I think it's time for me to tell you the truth. But first of all, I want to make sure you want to hear it and for that I'll have to apologise. I'm sorry I hurt you and if you would just give me the chance, I could explain.
Tails read the note and screwed it up but opened it again after a few moments.
~Come on Tails, you can't hate her forever...~ He picked up his pen and paused for a moment, trying to think of a reply.
I need to think about this, I'm not sure I can forgive you. Give me time and I'll tell you what I've decided...
He passed the note over and she read it, her face not changing. She put the note away and he continued to write.
~He's not sure if he can forgive me? I never realised how much it had affected him, they're heavy words to use. I'll give it a week and if he hasn't said anything, I'll know I haven't got a hope in hell.~ She thought before turning back to her work.
************************
The group remained quiet during English and not much had been said when they saw a note flick onto their table. Although it was addressed to Knuckles, he didn't open it so sighing, Sammie took it and opened it instead.
I hope you read this Sammie or Emily. I knew that if I addressed it to Knuckles, he might not read it and Sean would get suspicious if I put your name on the front. When we said we'd do whatever you say we meant you, you ninnies! We are fed up with them two bossing us around and we want to help you take them down. We're willing to do whatever's necessary but we're not sure how to start. Do you have any ideas? Suzie.
Sammie smiled and looked at Suzie, a rabbit with dark brown fur. She didn't say anything though as she replied.
Hi Suzie, we haven't spoken in a long time, not since year 8 or 9 I think. How's Dan doing? I know you meant us when you said you'd do whatever we said but Sonic obviously didn't. I'm sorry about him, but we couldn't stop him, he gets angry quite easily it seems. We could call a meeting at lunch if you want, not everyone, just a few people. I don't know what Knuckles or Rouge think, they're a bit shaken from this morning. They were hoping for no hassle. (Sammie)
And they can still believe that they won't get any hassle. None of us care about the fact that they're going out; we think it's quite sweet actually. Although the boys weren't quite so happy, I think they were hoping that they'd have a chance with her but now they know she's already taken... A meeting sounds like a good idea, we would all go. Dan is doing well; he's still annoying though. (Suzie)
Aw, you can't say that about him. I think that the boys will be disappointed for a long time. I don't know why but I get the feeling that they actually love each other, and they're not together just for the sake of it. I haven't discussed this with the others but we can have a meeting in the form room, Gillian and Sean aren't there usually are they? It's been a long time since I've been in there at lunch. (Sammie)
Well I hope everything goes ok for them. The form room's fine, they don't go in there. Too busy trying to make other people's lives a misery I suppose. We eat lunch in there too so we can start at the beginning, that is if you don't mind eating in there. I remember how you felt about that subject. (Suzie)
Hey, I don't care to be honest. We're in year 11 and I want to break some rules. And if Emily doesn't agree then I'll have to tie her up! (Sammie)
Ok, lunchtime it is then. We'd better stop writing to each other now because Sean's looking at me weirdly. It was nice to talk again though; life's been very different without your cynical thoughts and Emily's funny stories. (Sammie)
Sammie smiled and put the note in her pencil case, ignoring the fact that everyone was staring at her. A few minutes passed when Emily nudged her.
"What did the note say on it?" She whispered. Sammie passed it over and she read it quickly. "Wow, I never realised that people actually liked us."
"Well it seems that we do and we have a duty to keep up their beliefs I suppose."
"When are we going to tell the others about the meeting?"
"Don't you mean when are you going to tell them? Have you seen the way them lot are looking at the rest of the class? I think they've lost the little faith they have in them. They haven't known them as long as we have and if we gave the note to them, they'd just ask why they haven't done anything before." Sammie explained.
"I see what you mean. I don't think they realise what it's been like to be under them. Maybe we should tell them." But Sammie shook her head.
"I'm not telling them my life story, just so they can feel sorry for us. We don't have to tell them anything, if they're not going to help then fine. We can do this ourselves, I don't care about breaking the rules anymore." She returned to her work, to show that the conversation was over.
The lesson finished and they went to break. As they walked back to the form room, they told the others about the note.
"So it wasn't really addressed to Knuckles?" Sonic asked and Sammie nodded her head. "But what I don't understand is why you haven't tried to stop them before." Sammie exchanged a look with Emily.
"I told you they would say that." Rouge turned to Sammie.
"What do you mean? So now you're the kind of person who thinks they can judge someone's character?"
"Only when it's obvious. None of you can say that we should have tried before. We haven't tried because we've never had the drive to." Sammie explained coldly.
"Look, it doesn't matter about the past because it's now that is important. You don't have to go to the meeting, we'll be quite all right by ourselves." Emily added and they walked away from them.
************************
Tails sat by himself at lunchtime when he saw Hannah and Peter walk towards him. They sat down beside him and he smiled at them.
"Hello you two, have you been given permission to talk to me?" They exchanged uneasy looks.
"Not exactly. I decided to tell Peter about what happened when I saw Marie pass the note to you." Hannah said.
"And?"
"Well, I was doubtful about Marie's story in the first place and when Hannah talked to me, it made everything clear."
"Yeah but how does you talking to me help?"
"We want to know what was on that note. Is there any chance of her talking to you?" Hannah asked.
"That's what the note was about. She wants to tell me about it but I told her I need to think about it."
"But why? Don't you want to help her?"
"I don't know, I'm not sure if she's worth it." He snapped and stood up. "Why am I talking to you anyway? Shouldn't you be talking to Sarah and Dan? After all you're her friends, not me." He stalked away but stopped when he heard Sarah's voice.
"What do you two think you're doing, talking to him? Didn't Marie bother to tell why we're not talking to him?"
"I'm sorry, but we forgot." Hannah said quietly.
"You forgot? Don't you realise what he's done to her?" Tails turned around and saw Peter and Hannah cowering against each other. Angry, he stormed over and stood in front of them.
"How dare you shout at them!"
"You keep out of this, Tails! I'm surprised you have the cheek to show your face!" Dan yelled.
"And I'm surprised you can afford to be so narrow minded! If only you knew the truth-" Tails stopped when he saw Marie walking up to the group.
"What's going on?" She asked. Sarah pointed to Tails, giving him an evil glare.
"He's trying to influence Hannah and Peter! We saw him talking to them!"
"I'm not influencing anyone but I'm not sure I can say the same for some of you." He stared at Marie and she looked away.
"Look you guys, let's just go ok?" She asked quietly and Tails laughed.
"That's it, run away from what's happening. You should be used to it by now, you've done it enough times." He turned to go away but she grabbed his arm.
"A little less of the mouth, if you don't mind." She said coldly.
"Why, you afraid they might hear something they shouldn't? Don't you think they've been waiting for long enough?" He pulled his arm out of her grip and walked off.
"That's it, this means war." Dan muttered.
"Dan, can't we just forget about this? He's not sorry for what's happened so what's the point in continuing?"
"Oh we haven't finished yet, no where near finishing."
************************
"It's obvious they don't want us there so we may as well not go." Sonic commented as him plus Knuckles and Rouge were talking during the forth lesson.
"Sonic, they were just angry, that's all. And I'm not surprised to be honest. We don't really understand what's going on and maybe if we go, then we might." Rouge pointed out.
"But will they let us? I mean, they haven't said anything to us at all, they won't even look at us." Knuckles said.
"Of course they will. We'll just have to see what happens." Rouge reassured and they returned back to their work.
When the bell went for lunch, they waited for Emily and Sammie but they walked straight past, ignoring them.
"That's it, I'm not going!" Sonic announced, crossing his arms.
"Oh yes you are. We've got to show them that we're sorry and this might be the only way." Rouge grabbed one of his arms and tried to drag him up the corridor. He wouldn't budge though and Rouge sighed. "I think we're going to have to resort to torture." She pinched his waist hard and surprised by the move, he jumped. Rouge took this opportunity to push him along the corridor and Knuckles followed, grinning.
They entered the classroom and stood by the door unsure of what to do. It appeared that no one was in the room and seeing this, Sonic walked in.
"Great, so now they've moved themselves! Wait 'til I see Sammie, I'll-"
"You'll what? Give me a mouthful of your 'wit'?" Sammie asked, standing up and crossing her arms.
"We're sorry about him, maybe it would have been better if we hadn't brought him along." Rouge said, pushing her way past Sonic. "Look, we're sorry for what happened earlier and we want to help. I don't want him to have another chance to attack someone-"
"You mean you. You're so popular, you must wonder what he sees in bothering with us." Sammie cut in. Emily stood up beside her and dragged her down to the ground.
"Shut up Sammie will you before you launch a war? I'm sorry about her, it seems we both have people who maybe shouldn't be here." She smiled and they walked over to her.
They now saw where everyone was. They were sitting on the floor, and the tables had hid them. Sammie glared at them but Emily plus some others made room for the three of them. They sat down hesitantly but became relaxed when they saw everyone smiling.
"Luckily you haven't missed much yet. We were just catching up on old times, we haven't spoken to some people for a couple of years now." Emily explained.
"Why? I mean you see each other everyday." Rouge asked.
"Well when we were in year eight, Sammie and Emily used to be friends with Gillian and Sean. They were popular enough but when Sean and Gillian started bossing people around, they refused to stay friends or talk to anyone because we didn't fight against them." Suzie explained.
"I've just suddenly realised that you don't know who anyone is. This is Suzie, and the others are Kelly, Dave, Rob, Shane, Fran, Oliver and Rich." Emily said quickly.
"Hi everyone, I suppose you know who we are. Why didn't you tell any of this to us before?"
"Because we thought it would be less hassle." Sammie muttered looking pointedly at Rouge, reminding her of her earlier words.
"Ok so we all had things we haven't told each other but now that that's out of the way, what are we going to do?" Sonic asked.
"We would like to know, if it's ok with you what actually happened between you and Sean and Gillian." Fran said quietly. Knuckles and Rouge looked uneasily at each other before she started to tell them what happened with her. She didn't go into much detail but that didn't stop her from having to wipe some tears away from her eyes. She leant against Knuckles and he put his arms around her. Emily started talking, knowing that they didn't appreciate everyone staring at them, not knowing what to do.
"Right so after that happened, we had a couple of days of freedom before Gillian decided to rear her ugly head." She then proceeded to tell them what had happened with her and Knuckles. She kept it short and sweet and once she had finished, she left everyone to think for a few minutes.
Sammie hadn't been listening much during Emily's speech and now stood up, bored. She wandered over to one of the windows and leaned against it, staring out. Emily did the same and turned to her.
"What are you thinking?" She whispered.
"I don't know, not much really." She paused and then turned to Emily. "I wish none of this was happening. We should have sorted this out a long time ago, we shouldn't have abandoned them. If we hadn't refused to talk to everyone then, I wouldn't feel so guilty."
"Hey, what we did is in the past. We needed them to realise what was going on remember?" Sammie nodded her head. "They do now so we just have to help them."
"I don't understand why we have to help though..." Sammie complained.
"Because let's be honest...they're weak minded. They haven't been through what we've been through..." Emily said very quietly.
"So what are we going to do then?" Oliver asked. Emily and Sammie walked back over to the group and sat down.
"We have to abandon the theory of the class hierarchy. It should never have started in the first place anyway." Sammie said.
"But how?" Dave persisted.
"We could smash their heads in and then dump them in a river." Sammie suggested.
"Or maybe not... Just do what they do. Interrupt them when they're talking-" Emily started.
"Are you sure we can't just beat them up?" Sammie asked.
"No we can't! Just pretend there isn't a hierarchy, if they tell you to do something, refuse. If they try to talk over you, just talk louder." Emily said.
"It's not that hard guys..." Sammie pleaded.
"What about everyone else? After all, they don't know about this." Kelly pointed out.
"Yeah, we didn't get a chance to tell them." Shane added.
"I think a lot of them knew something was going to happen this lunchtime. Most of them are in before Sean and Gillian anyway so we can tell them then." Dave commented.
"Right so everyone knows what's going on then. Any questions or comments?" Emily asked the group.
"Very efficient aren't you?" Rob joked.
"We had to wrap this thing properly. After all, this is an important event worthy of being put into the history books." Sammie said extravagantly.
"Yeah just imagine us motley lot in a history text book in fifty years time..." Rich said, laughing.
"Well I don't know about you but I'm eating my lunch." Sammie stated.
"Four years have gone past and you're still obsessed with your food." Suzie said. "Things haven't changed much have they?"
"No, they haven't..."
They spent the rest of lunchtime talking about things they had done in the past and although Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge didn't say much, everyone else was obviously happy. Gradually other people started trickling in and as they did, they were told about the plan. Everyone seemed prepared to follow it and the group sat down at their table, discussing what they were going to do at the weekend.
"So then, are we still doing this shopping thing tomorrow?" Emily asked.
"I don't see why we can't, that is if you're not doing anything tomorrow..." Rouge replied.
"Probably not, we never really go anywhere at the weekends." Sammie said gloomily, the thought of shopping depressing her.
"Well then, that's sorted. What are you two going to do?" Rouge asked.
"Eat, sleep, and do not a lot in general." Sonic stated happily.
"Typical..." Knuckles muttered. "I don't know what I'm doing, not a lot is my current thinking though."
"Why don't you-" But Sammie stopped when Emily elbowed her. The whole room had gone silent and their attention was turned to Suzie and Gillian.
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Gillian demanded.
"I'm not listening to you anymore." Suzie said, staring at her. Gillian stood up and Suzie instinctively backed away. She lashed out and pulled Suzie's head back by her hair.
"Are you sure? Even if I did this?" Gillian yanked her head back further and Suzie cried out in pain.
"Let go of her." Sammie had stood up and was now facing Suzie and Gillian. Gillian smiled and let Suzie go, who sat down quickly.
"You think you can beat me?"
"I could beat you a hundred times." Sammie said coldly.
Gillian stepped forward and swung her arm toward her, but Sammie caught it. She spun her around and gripping her other arm, she twisted it up her back. This caused Gillian to hiss and struggle against her grip.
"You do anything to me and you get expelled." Gillian taunted.
"I don't care." Sammie retorted sincerely. "I would be happy to do to you what Knuckles did to Sean."
"Knuckles? Pah!" Gillian laughed. "He's weak..."
"Weak enough to do this?" She pulled Gillian's arm tighter and tighter but stopped when she screamed in pain. Sammie looked at Emily, who smiled grimly and nodded slightly. She turned back to Gillian. "Did you feel that?"
"Yes."
"Well, unless you want to feel that again you are going to end this class hierarchy business OK?" Gillian nodded her head. "And Sean too. If anyone tries any funny stuff, they are going to regret it." She let go and Gillian ran out of the room.
Everyone stared at Sammie in silence as she walked back to the table. She didn't sit down but looked at Emily expectantly.
"You should..." Emily said and nodding her head, Sammie left the room too. It was just at this point that Miss Dink entered the room. She didn't say anything though until the register had been taken. When it had, she looked around at the silent classroom.
"Something big happened this lunchtime, didn't it?" She asked kindly.
"Yeah, you could say that miss." Rob replied loudly.
"And I'm guessing it has something to do with the levels of popularity here?"
"The class hierarchy you mean."
"Yes, that... Is that over at last?"
"We hope so. Sammie made it clear she wanted it to be at least." Miss Dink thought for a moment.
"I'm glad she has but I won't enquire into how, I don't think I want to know. I assume what happened is related to why she and Gillian are now gone for the moment."
"Yes miss, it is." Now that the whole event had been cleared with the teacher, everyone fell to talking, now much happier than before.
"Do you know what happened to Gillian to make her yell like that?" Sonic asked the others.
"No, no idea. Whatever it was though, it certainly did the trick." Emily commented.
"Yes, it did... But what about Sammie? Why did she leave the classroom?" Rouge asked.
"Yeah and about when you two were talking..." Knuckles added.
"Oh, that... Sammie and me just have this way of being able to understand one another; it's a bit hard to explain. As for Sammie, she's gone to talk to Gillian."
"But why would she do that?" Sonic wondered.
"Because it might not be Gillian's fault that she did what she did." Emily replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Just then, Sammie and Gillian entered the room. They were talking to each other cheerfully but Gillian stopped, looking nervously at the four of them at the table. Sammie said something to her before dragging her towards the table. She sat down beside Emily but Gillian looked like she was going back to her table.
"Come on Gillian, you're going to have to talk some time." Sammie said gently. Looking at Rouge, Gillian sat down beside her.
"Um, Rouge..." She started but Rouge waved her apology aside.
"It might have been better if you hadn't done it but Knuckles played his part too." She whispered, glancing at him. "And I encouraged him..." She added.
"But I thought you and Knuckles-" Rouge read what she was going to say.
"Yes but things are a bit rocky recently. It'll be fine..." She said, mainly to reassure herself.
"I wanted to say sorry anyway. I realise I haven't made things very easy for everyone..."
"Understatement. But at least it's over now." Sammie commented, smiling.
"Yeah, it is..."
************************
School finished and as usual, Shadow was waiting for Tails. They made idle chit chat while they waited for the others to come out of school. Sonic, Rouge, Knuckles, Emily and Sammie eventually walked out, not saying much to each other. They met up and started walking home, the feeling of the upcoming weekend finally waking them up.
"Well our first week of school is over at last..." Sonic commented.
"And we survived!" Tails added cheerfully. "Well, there were a few incidents..." He said, looking sideways at Knuckles and Rouge.
"Just a few! School has never been so interesting..." Emily said. They walked round the corner, only to be faced by Dan and Sarah.
"Oh hi you two, haven't seen you in a while..." Sammie said happily but her smile disappeared when Dan stepped forward and punched Tails in the face. He reeled away from the hit, falling to the floor.
"You leave him alone!" Sonic yelled and he manoeuvred himself between Dan and Tails.
"Don't worry Sonic, I can handle him..." Tails said angrily.
"No Tails! We need to clear this up right now!" He stared at Dan and was about to say something else when three people came running up to them. It was Marie, Peter and Hannah.
"Dan, Sarah! What are you doing here?" Marie demanded as she looked round. It was just then that she saw Tails. "What have you done to him?"
"We're giving him a little payback..." Sarah said sinisterly. Marie turned to her.
"You two can be so stupid! Don't you understand that Tails has been right about me all along?" She paused and everyone looked at her in silence. "I have been running away from what's happening! But not anymore... It's time I told you the truth about what really occurred. Peter and Hannah already know, they have a bit more sense than you."
"What do you mean?" Dan asked.
"I hit Tails not the other way round! Look, it's a bit hard to explain..." She took a deep breath and told everyone about what really happened and why she had done it.
The others stayed where they were, Dan and Sarah trying to sort things out in their minds.
"So you see, Tails was right all along..." She finished and walked away. Peter and Hannah looked at each other before walking back to their homes. Tails stood up and faced Sarah and Dan.
"Happy now?" He stormed off down the road, the others watching him leave. Feeling lost, Dan and Sarah also went back to their homes.
"Well, that was pretty eventful..." Sonic said thoughtfully.
"This will make Monday even more interesting. Are we still on for Saturday?" Emily asked.
"I don't see why not..." Rouge replied.
"We'll see you at ten outside the apartment block then..." Sammie said as she and Emily waved to them before walking home.
Shadow, Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge eventually got back to the apartment and found Tails sitting at the table while Eggman applied an icepack to his cheek. Tails held it on and sat in the living room, as the others put their stuff away.
"Tails, why didn't you tell me about this before?" Eggman asked as he sat across him. "Does this have anything to do with the phone call Shadow got from your school?"
"Yes, it does I suppose. I didn't tell you because I didn't think this would happen." Tails hissed in pain from the bruise on his face.
"Yes, even I wouldn't think them capable of it. Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Tails nodded his head slightly.
"I'll talk to them on Monday. It wasn't really their fault though; they didn't know what had happened to Marie. But now they know so..." Tails shrugged his shoulders.
"As long as you're sure. Well this week has certainly had its events, Knuckles getting a detention, Rouge being attacked as well as you... Sonic has been lucky."
"I'm sure something will happen to him. After all, he's got a whole year." It was at this point that the others sat down with him.
"How long will he have an icepack stuck to his face?" Sonic asked.
"Just for the rest of today. As long as he doesn't lie on it or bruise it any more then it will heal slowly." Eggman stood up and went to the kitchen to get dinner started.
***************************************************************************
S. Chensu: Lots of bitchiness this episode! It's all gone a bit fast hasn't it?
Luff: Anyway, in case you were wondering about the current status of this story, episodes 14 and 15 have still not been written but hopefully 14 will be done this weekend as there has been a small lull in the homework.
S. Chensu: Yay! Things have been bad for me this week. Not only have I had an end of unit test in biology, I had to give in my English Literature coursework on 'Richard III'.
Luff: Next episode will see the problems between Tails and Marie finally being sorted out...