Amy Rose sighed mentally as she allowed her ungloved hand to trail through the water. She was sitting behind the curtain of a willow tree, unseen to the couple who sat just a few feet away from her. It was Princess Sally and Sonic, oblivious to everything except for each other. It's not fair! thought Amy, wishing that it was her sitting there with Sonic, and him smiling that special smile he saved just for Sally. Then she noticed Sonic starting to tilt his head a little, and Sally beginning to lean towards him. Amy knew it was time to make a quick but silent retreat.

Tails watched in silence from his perch in the tree as his Aunt Bunnie and Antoine walked by, arm in arm. Antoine said something that made Bunnie giggle then she kissed him on the nose and ran away crying, "Yer it, sugah-fox!" Antoine grinned and raced after her. Tails' heart received a small pang as he was reminded yet again that he had no one. A part of him wasn't sure he did want someone, after what had happened with the fake Fiona. (Archie comics storyline) But the rest of him had become lonely, and it was painful to watch other couples doing things together.

A single tear dropped from his eye, but he quickly wiped it away as he stood up. If you didn't know Tails, you'd think he was being careless, just standing on a tree branch without holding onto anything. But Tails wasn't worried if he fell, all he'd have to do was start whirling his two tails, as he was now, and his fall would be cut off in mid-air. He flew out of the tree and landed on the ground, only to have Amy Rose knock him over and land right on top of him. "Oh! Sorry about that Tails," Amy apologized half-heartedly. She got to her feet, offering Tails a hand up. Tails acceptedthen proceeded to brush himself off. "S'okay, Amy. No big," he reassured her.

"So, what sorta thing made you wanna rush through here like that?" Tails waited for an answer, but none came. He glanced her, finding that she had zoned out on him. "Yo, Mobius to Amy! Tails here, requesting the coordinates of your position in outer space! Come in, Amy!" "HuhWha!" said Amy Rose as she snapped back to reality. She looked over to see Tails grinning at her.

"Exactly how much did you hear of what I said?" he teased her. "First you knock me over going 50 miles an hour, and then all of a sudden you're in La-la Land." Then he noticed something else. "And look at that!" He pointed to her hand. "You're missing a glove. What's up, Amy?"

Amy remembered what she had been thinking about and flushed slightly. "It's nothing Tails, really!" She tried to persuade him, but she her voice lacked conviction. "II've got to go get my glove!" she said evasively, and sped off to the ring pool. Tails watched her go, a touch of worry showing on his face.

That night in the mess hall, Amy picked at her food, remembering the day's happenings. I'm going to have to be more careful with my actions if I don't want people asking questions, reflected Amy. Especially around Tails, since he probably already suspects something. Tails. Now she remembered something else that made her squirm in her seat. When she ran away from him, she had made sure she was out of his sight before doubling back. She hid behind a tree near him, wanting to see what he would do. To her surprise, he had been staring in the direction she had gone, worry written on his features.

This disconcerted her. She and Tails had never been close friends or anything; in fact, most often they got on each other's nerves. The adults thought they were a pain when they were together. Why should Tails be worried about her? The thought stayed with her as she tossed and turned in bed, until finally she fell asleep.

The next day in school, Tails carefully watched Amy for signs of yesterday's distraction, but she seemed to be back to her old self. He felt relieved, but couldn't understand why. He had never used to care about her feelings; why should he now?

At recess, Tails lined up with a bunch of other kids to be chosen by captains so they could make teams and play baseball. But neither captain picked Tails. One of them, a young fox named Rick, sneered and said, "Sorry weirdo, these teams are only for normal people. Maybe you should consider getting one of your tails surgically removed!"

This particular captain had picked Amy Rose. She had heard what Rick had said, and it angered her. She knew she and Tails didn't get along, but not because she prejudiced him because of his namesakes. She kept a straight face and skipped over to where Rick and Tails were standing. Ignoring Rick, she turned to Tails and said, "You know, Tails, I don't really want to play-," here she faked a yawn, "-baseball today. Why don't you and I go to the black top and play foursquare with those kids over there?"

"But Amy," pleaded Rick, "you gotta be on our team! You're one of the best batters in the school!" (Due to the constant use of her Pico Pico Hammer.) Amy turned to him and replied, "When you learn how to treat people fairly, I'll start playing with you guys again." She grabbed Tails' hand and stalked over to the blacktop, leaving Rick to stare after them open-mouthed.

Once at the blacktop, Tails stopped. Amy dropped his hand and turned to him. "Why'd you do that Amy? Now you'll miss out on the game!" She sighed. "Because I really hate it when people are judged by their looks, or where they came from, or things like that." "Well…thanks," he said with a crooked grin. Silence. Amy became uncomfortable, so she ran over to the foursquare game and called, "Come on, Tails!" Tails looked at his hand, smiled, and trotted after her.

Amy, as usual, is pining after Sonic—to the point of distraction. And it seems to have Tails worried. What promises might this hold for the future?